Duet: an Avi Kaplan fanfic

On tour

A/N: Sorry that this has taken forever. I've just been working on a bunch of other stuff. But I have a week off and I will try to get as much of this up as possible in that time.

That night, Esther has to go rearrange the rooms. Livvie doesn’t even want to be in the same room as Scott, there is no way they could share a bed. I know she’d want to stay with me, and I know that we are going to have some serious sister time later in the week, but right now, I just need to sleep in the arms of the man who will be the father of my baby.

As I lie in bed, dozens of questions surface. Will Avi and I get married because that’s what your supposed to do? If not, will he still be there as the father and as my boyfriend to help me? How is this going to affect my career? His? What’ll happen when he goes on tour next year? I can’t take care of a few month old baby by myself for a few months.

I’m so wrapped up in my thoughts that I jump when Avi runs a finger over my forehead, smoothing out my worry lines.

“Babe, what’s bothering you? Tell me,” Avi murmurs to me.

“Its just...all these questions about how our baby is going to affect our lives. I mean, what’s going to happen to us? What do I do about my job? I’m a teacher and I’m supposed to be setting this good example and I don’t think that the school would call this a good example. What about how this is going to affect you and PTX? Its just all so much,” I babble. I don’t notice that I’ve started crying until Avi wipes away a stray tear.

“Arya, don’t worry about that right now. It’s so early on, we have a few more months to figure this stuff out. It’s going to be okay. I’ll be right here the entire time. I promise. I’m not Connor, I would never do that to you.”

“Are we going to get married?” I ask. The look on Avi’s face makes me immediately regret asking.

“I don’t know. I hope that someday, we do get married. But it’s not going to be because of the baby; it’ll be because I love you and you love me. Okay?” he says, eyes softening. I nod because, really, that’s what I actually wanted. I don’t need to be married right now. I just need to be with him.

 

I’m in a hospital room and I know I’m dreaming because why else would I be able to see myself sitting in the bed. Avi stands next to me and there’s a bundle of blue blankets in my arms. As I approach dream me, a few things become almost real. I can’t see my baby’s face, just the blankets. I can almost feel him in my arms and almost hear his little infant whines and cries. I can almost taste his name on my tongue. Almost but not quite.

 

I wake to Avi hovering over me. “Who’s Tony?” he asks.

“What?”

“You kept saying Tony over and over. Who is he?” Avi asks again.

“I have no idea,” I say. Then, after a second, I realize something. “I actually do have an idea of who Tony is.” I place a hand on my stomach. “I think that’s what this little one’s name was in my dream.”

“Hmm...I have an idea,” Avi says with a grin.

“And what is this idea?”

“I’m taking you out to breakfast, so get up.” When I protest that I want to stay in bed, Avi scoops me into his arms.

“Avi! Put me down!” I squeal. I don’t mind being held, just not right now. I don’t feel so great.

“Never!”

“If you don’t put me down, I’m going to vomit on you.” He carries me quickly into the bathroom and gently sets me down. I can feel what’s left of last night’s dinner rising in my throat. A few minutes later, my stomach is grumbling and I’m starving.

“Food, Avriel! Let’s get breakfast,” I say, laughing. Avi shoots me a look that clearly says, ‘You are completely crazy’ so I giggle, “Oh don’t give me that look. You’re the one who picked me when you could have had just about anyone else.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say ‘picked’...” Avi muses, “More like, we just fit and there’s been no looking back.”

“That’s for sure.” I giggle. We get dressed and head out after letting Esther know that we’re going to get breakfast.

When we get to the little cafe-type place, we see that the people who work there ar frantically trying to set up for a slightly bigger group. One of the girls notices us and calls, “I’ll be with you in just one second,” and makes her way over to us. “Hi, do you two mind a bit of a wait? We’ve got a group of eight people coming in soon and we’re trying to figure out how to fit the tables in right. We know it’s a concert day when we get a call from one of them asking us to set aside some space. Sorry, I’m rambling.”

“It’s okay,” Avi assures her. The girl seems to melt, hearing his luxurious voice, until I give her a hard look and she snaps out of it. Avi turns to me, not seeming to have noticed. “Arya, it’s up to you. You want to wait or go find somewhere else?”

“I can wait a little longer,” I say and we settle onto a couch by the door.

Soon, the group that seemed to have caused the staff’s stress shows up. Eight girls, about 17-19 file in, all imersed in their own conversations. The two in the back catch my attention.

“...I mean, I would kill to be chair girl. Let’s face it, those four boys are hot.”

“Agreed. But, you’ve gotta remember, Carly, Avi’s got every girl in the audience to choose from. There’s not much you can do to guarantee you’re chosen,” her friend reminds her.

I guess Avi had noticed their conversation too since he says, just loud enough for the two to hear, “Well, you could just ask…” Carly and her friend whip around.

“Oh my god, it’s really you!” the friend says, barely containing her excitement.

“Yep,” Avi chuckles.

Carly takes a long look at me and asks, “Who are you? Are you part of the tour crew?”

“Nope, I’m Avi’s girlfriend, Arya,” I answer with a smile. I love that I can say that.

“How’d you two meet?” the friend asks then.

“Well, we were doing a concert in LA and Arya and her sister and best friend had backstage passes and we...bumped into each other.”

“He means that literally. We were turning the same corner, going opposite directions and we ran into each other. We got together not long after that, and as Avi so aptly said this morning, there has been no looking back,” I say.