Avi, Kirstie, and Taylor had just finished putting up the last decorations.
Avi looked at his phone. He had a text from Esther saying that they had an emergency meeting.
"Hey, Kirst. I gotta go. Esther just texted. The party starts at 4 right?" He asked.
"Yeah. It does. Text me when you're on your way back." She told him, picking up a trash bag.
"Alright. I will." He said, before leaving the house.
He made his way back to the hotel that the band was staying in. When he arrived to Esther's room, the whole band had confused looks on their faces.
"Is everything okay?" He asked, furrowing his brows.
"Can you explain this, Avi?" Esther said, showing him her phone.
On the screen was a picture if Avi, Kirstie, and Adeline. They were decorating for her party. Taylor had posted it with the caption, "I love these two! The best parents ever!! 😭❤️"
Avi sighed, handing the phone back to Esther.
"Please tell me this is a joke?" Esther said.
"What if it isn't?" He asked.
"Are you serious?!" She yelled.
"Esther calm down-" He said, holding his hands up.
"Do you realize that if the label finds out that I let you two be together, have a child at that, that they could fire me, because I didn't tell them?!" She threw her phone down, pacing back and forth.
"Can you guys give us a minute?" He asked the band.
They all nodded, leaving the room.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just found out a few days ago." He told her.
"She didn't tell you?" Esther asked him.
He shook his head. "Well, she's got a good record of doing that." Esther said, angrily.
"Are you still mad at her?" He asked.
Esther didn't say anything.
"Wow, Es. She was your best friend. She had no choice but to leave. The label fired her for being pregnant." He said.
"As they should have." She crossed her arms over her chest.
Avi furrowed his brows. This was not Esther. She would never say anything like that.
"I can't believe you're saying this." Avi said, raising his voice.
"Oh, come on! If she would have never came to the concert, you wouldn't have found out. She was never going to tell you!" Esther told him.
"Well I know now. That's all that matters. I'm leaving. We can talk when you get whatever you have against Kirstie out. I'm not dealing with this." He said, walking to the door.
"If I see you with her again, you're out of the group." She told him through gritted teeth.
He scoffed. "It was you who told the label wasn't it?"
"So what if it was?" Esther asked.
"Why would you do that?"
"She was a distraction to you." Esther stated.
Avi took a deep breath, trying not get even more mad.
"I can't believe you. I can't believe you would get my girlfriend fired just because you didn't like her." Avi said glaring at her.
"I did what was best for you." She said.
"Whatever. I'm leaving. It's my daughter's birthday today. Don't try to call me. Oh.. and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures with Kirstie and Adi." He told her, before slamming the door.
* * *
Avi texted Kirstie that he was on his way. Taking a deep breath, started driving back to Taylor's house. Esther had called him 3 times and sent various text messages to his phone.
He ignored them all. He didn't want to speak to his sister for a while.. not after what she had done.
Once he was back at the house, he made himself calm down. He didn't want Adeline to see him angry. He got out of his car, grabbing his bag with his costume in it and walked inside.
As soon as Adeline saw him, she hugged his leg. "I missed you!"
For a moment, every drop of anger left his body as he focused on her. He smiled, picking her up, "I missed you too!"
She giggled, hugging his neck. Kirstie walked in the room and laughed. "You guys are too cute."
"Not as cute as you." Avi hadn't want to say it, it just slipped out. He mentally cursed himself.
Kirstie blushed brightly, as she smiled. "Well, thank you."
He took a breath of relief when he realized she wasn't upset by it. Walking into the living room, he put Adeline down on the couch to watch a Barbie movie.
Kirstie called him, "Hey, can you come here, Avi?"
"Uh, yeah." He said, leaving Adi alone.
"What's up? I saw you outside before you came in. I take it the meeting didn't go well?" She asked.
"Oh. No it didn't. Esther told me some big news that I wasn't happy about. But it's not important right now." He said brushing it off.
"Okay... If you want to talk about it, I'm here." She told him.
He smiled, "Thank you."
She nodded. "Adeline, your party starts in an hour. Do you want to put on your costume now or wait?" She asked her.
"Now! I wanna show daddy." She said, running to the kitchen.
"Okay, come on." She took Adi upstairs.
Avi waited patiently for them to come back down. Minutes later, he heard Adi's voice, "You have to close your eyes!"
Laughing, Avi put his hands over his eyes, "Okay! They're closed."
Adeline ran down the stairs. Once she was down, she jumped in front of Avi.
"Okay! Look!" She told him.
Avi uncovered his eyes. Adi was dressed as a Ladybug. He smiled, "Oh, you look amazing!"
"Thanks! Mommy is getting ready." She said.
"What is she going to be?" He asked her.
"It's a surprise!" She told him.
"Oh, right." He laughed.
Kirstie came down a while afterwards. Turning around, Avi saw her.
He had to clench his jaw so it didn't fall on the floor. She was absolutely stunning.
Kirstie laughed, snapping her fingers at him.
"Avi! I asked if I looked okay." She told him.
Embarrassed that he had been staring, he cleared his throat and nodded, "You look more than okay."
"I can tell by your heart eyes." She said, laughing again.
Avi rolled his eyes, jokingly. "I don't have heart eyes."
"Alright, whatever you say, Lover boy." Kirstie told him, walking into the kitchen.
'I definitely have heart eyes." Avi thought.