Kirstie was mortified. She'd never told any of her friends, not even Scott and Mitch, about what had happened to her. In fact, she'd never told anyone, other than the police officers involved in the case, about it. Now Avi knew her deepest and darkest secret and she didn't know how to feel about that. She didn't think, not even for a second, that he'd ever use it against her but it was still terrifying to tell someone something so personal.
Although Kirstie felt sick after reliving the worst moment of her life, she was still able to revel in the feeling of being nuzzled into the crook of his neck. Each time he'd kiss her head, the pain would lessen, as if he were forcing out the pain with love. She felt like she was finally where she was supposed to be. She'd never felt like this with any past boyfriends.
Suddenly overwhelmed with emotion, she pushed back and stared up into Avi's eyes and leaned in. He seemed surprised but quickly fell into the kiss. Kirstie felt like she was drowning; she'd never experienced a kiss that felt quite like this. The feeling of his beard softly scratching her made her giggle and break the kiss. Avi looked confused and she just smiled and leaned back in for another kiss.
After what felt like it could have been years, the pair pulled apart to catch their breath. Avi was looking at her with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. He looked as if he expected her to slap him. Instead, she smiled and hugged him around the neck. His arms immediately enfolded her, holding her in place. She could feel his heart beating wildly through the thin material of his t-shirt, making her giddy. Did she really have that big of an effect on him?
Avi spoke and she smiled at the way his deep voice reverberated so strongly in his chest. "That was... amazing. What brought that on?"
She smiled again, feeling as if she'd never stopped, and pulled back to look into his hazel eyes. "I... it felt right. You make me feel good." Her smile faded just a bit and she looked at him seriously. "I've never told anyone about what happened."
Avi felt incredible in that moment. She'd trusted him enough to tell him something huge, something no one else knew about, and to top it off, he made her feel good! Unable to stop himself, he leaned in and pecked her on the lips. "I'm glad I'm the one you came to. I kind of feel like I need to send Eric a thank you note since you're here because of him."
Kirstie rolled her eyes at him good-naturedly. "Send him a fruit basket. He's allergic to strawberries, so be sure it has some."
Avi laughed softly at her snark and pulled her back into his chest. "So... If I were to ask you out, hypothetically, of course, what would you say?"
She smirked. "It depends. Are you seriously asking me out or are you just hypothetically," she made air quotes, "asking me out?"
His face flushed and he cursed his pale skin. "Well, ah... seriously. I really want to date you, Kirstie, if you'll let me. I want to see where this will go."
Kirstie knew the ball was in her court now. She hoped her voice wouldn't shake. "Then in that case, I'd be more than happy to go with you." She leaned up and placed a soft kiss on his lips and stepped away from his embrace. "We really should eat." She held her burned hand up and mock glared. "I don't want to have been burned for nothing."
Avi took hold of her hand and very gently kissed it. "We wouldn't want that, would we?" Just as quickly as he'd taken hold of her hand, he dropped it and made his way back to his seat. Kirstie just stood there with her mouth gaping, wondering how he'd managed to make his voice sound so sensual.
Kirstie shook her head and followed Avi to the table. Dinner was quiet, although it wasn't awkward. Kirstie caught Avi looking at her a few times and each time she'd smirk back at him, making him quickly look down at his food. He may be able to stun her with his words but she could still stare him down like nobody else.
Once they were done, Kirstie tried to clean up but wasn't very effective with one hand. Avi took over and sent her to the couch, where she found Olaf asleep on the blanket nest that he'd commandeered over the past few days. She gently sat down beside him and began to stroke his fur. "I'm glad you like Avi, because it looks like he's gonna be around a lot more from now on."
Avi came into the living room a few minutes later, only to find Kirstie sound asleep next to Olaf. The scene warmed his heart; he hoped this would be a common thing in the future. He leaned over and kissed Kirstie's forehead and patted Olaf and went into the kitchen to leave Kirstie a note, telling her that he was going out to get some gauze for her hand and that he'd be back soon.
Avi made it to a Walgreens in no time at all and quickly located the gauze pads. There were lots of different brands, so he just grabbed the first one he saw and headed to the counter to pay for it. Just as he reached the counter, the sliding doors opened and Mitch walked in. He disappeared into the aisles quickly, making Avi wonder what the tenor was doing there so late. He tried to think back over the past few days to see if he'd noticed Mitch getting sick but couldn't recall anything out of the ordinary. Avi decided that he must've come down with something after they'd gotten back from tour; he hadn't talked to any of the other members of Pentatonix, other than Kirstie, since they'd gotten back.
After getting the gauze pads paid for, he made a beeline for the exit, suddenly not wanting to speak to Mitch. The younger man had a reputation for being able to get anything out of anyone and Avi didn't trust himself to not tell Mitch all about the past two days. Once he'd made it safely to his car, Avi wasted no time in leaving the parking lot and started on his way home.
Seeing Mitch made Avi realize that if he and Kirstie were to get into a relationship, it wouldn't just affect them alone. It would affect the whole of Pentatonix. He and Kirstie needed to talk to them as soon as possible if they wanted to do this.
They'd have to tell the fans, too. As far as they knew, Kirstie was still happily dating Eric and Avi was single. There were some of them that had started shipping Kavi, as they called it, a while back, though. If anyone would be supportive of a relationship between himself and Kirstie, it would be them.
Avi pulled up to his house and sat in his car for a moment, trying to come to terms with the sudden change in his life. He'd always liked Kirstie but it had never been anything over the top. He was excited to see where a relationship with her could lead.
Grinning to himself, Avi exited the vehicle and made his way up the walk way. He let himself inside and poked his head into the living room to check on the still-sleeping pair before heading into his bedroom and changing into some more comfortable clothes, a pair of gray sweatpants and a black v-neck. He quietly went back to the living room and kneeled down in front of Kirstie. "Hey, Kirst."
She groaned and blearily opened her eyes. "Avi?"
He ran a hand through her hair. "You can take my bed tonight. We'll get the spare room ready tomorrow. I'll take the couch." He didn't want her to get a crick in her neck from sleeping on the couch, even if it meant he would.
She frowned at that. "How about we both take the bed?" It seemed as if her brain caught up with her mouth, because she suddenly blushed. "We're both adults. We can sleep in the same bed." She smirked in spite of the sudden tension. "You'll just have to keep your hands to yourself, Mr. Kaplan."
"I don't know," he started. "It'll be kind of difficult to keep my hands to myself if you're with me, Ms. Maldonado." It had been a while since he'd flirted with someone but he thought that wasn't half-bad.
His voice changed from playful to serious. "First, though, you should wrap your hand with some of the gauze pads I went out and got." He certainly didn't want her to get an infection from not using appropriate supplies on her hand.
Kirstie got up from the couch, petted Olaf's head, and followed Avi into the kitchen and began rewrapping the burn. Once she finished, she sent Avi to his room, with a promise to be there soon, while she went to scrounge up some sleep clothes from her suitcase. She quietly laughed at her reflection; her hair was a mess and her clothes (a simple PTX t-shirt and some old basketball shorts) were wrinkled. At least she wasn't worried about impressing Avi. He'd seen her like this hundreds of times during tour.
Kirstie left the bathroom and walked down the hall to Avi's bedroom and paused just outside the door. She was suddenly nervous, although she didn't know why. Steeling herself, she pushed open the door and bravely walked inside only to pause a few steps in. Avi was spread out on the right side of the bed, dead to the world. She smiled softly and quickly climbed into bed. A few seconds passed before Avi rolled over in his sleep and pulled her snugly to his side, making her heart race. Deciding to make the most of the night, she allowed herself to enjoy the closeness and drifted to sleep.