Hallways

5: Jealous

Emails and texts where sent. Flirting might have taken place. Time continued.

Back and fourth between two people until June 27th rolled around. That's when I packed my suitcase and dufflebag into a car and drove to Mount St. Mary University in Los Angeles. The drive wasn't long but as I rushed to refresh my memory of the song parts Avi and I had gone over it felt even shorter. And as I pulled into the university's parking lot my heart race, my eyes searching for my car's clock quickly and checking the time. I had a solid twenty minutes till I had to be in their rehearsal hall for a quick meeting and sing song before getting our own dorms and settling in before dinner together. I sighed loudly before finishing the song I was on and getting out of my car.

I looked at my trunk uneasily before deciding that I would wait to get my suitcase till later, there would be plenty of time and a lot easier than lugging around my suitcase and dufflebag into the performance space. I briskly walked towards the rehearsal hall, pulling out my phone and texting Avi quickly.

Why am I nervous?

It only took him seconds to reply.

Don't be.

I sighed loudly as I walked on the concrete, following the signs that were in place to lead me towards the hall.

I'll meet you outside.

And with one text he had me smiling. I hadn't seen him in person in almost three weeks and to say I was excited to see that long haired bass was an understatement. The texts or emails were never enough when it came to communication. The video chats barely kept me together. I hated myself for being so consumed by him in every way possible. After he left that night I went straight to my computer and watched almost every video I could find of him. His voice echoed through the lonely apartment, making it seem almost like home.

And by home, I mean my rehearsal room in Manhattan.

I knew he was good but I can truthfully say that I have never heard anything like Avriel Kaplan. Don't even get me started on how he sounds when he sings classical pieces. I was already making plans for a duet between the two of us, he didn't know that yet.

"Hey you." His voice broke through my thoughts as he walked towards me with his arms open. I walked into them, wrapping my arms around his torso and resting my head on his chest. We pulled apart shortly after the hug began, looking at each other closely.

"Hey to you, too." I smile up at him as he quirks an eyebrow. I cock my head to the side questionably.

"Are you wearing make-up?" He ask out of the blue, I blush slightly as I remember that I decided against it this morning. I was hesitant towards the decision but finally decided it would be for the best if I didn't want my eczema to flare up.

"Um. No. I decided against it this morning." He smiled slightly before touching my shoulder, gently leading me towards the doors. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Why do you ask?".

He looked at me slightly confused until he realized what I was referring to, "Oh. I noticed that the redness in your cheeks were prominent. You look just as great without it as you do with it." He smirked at me gently, before gesturing to a seat for me to sit in. I followed his command and took my seat, watching as he sat next me with a heavy sigh.

"So when are the kids coming in?" I asked, making small talk a priority for the moment. He turned to me, looking right past me for a moment then back to me. I looked over my shoulder to see a women leaning over a table, her curly blonde hair cascading over one shoulder. She looked beautiful and in that moment I felt my heart sink slowly. I turned back to Avi to see him staring at me with a guilty look on his face so I slide a smirk onto my lips to hide the disappointment in my eyes. I nudged him softly, cocking my head towards the girl.

"Has the blonde beauty over there caught your attention?" I asked before looking towards her, my eyes scanned over her. She was practically perfect with her soft curves, her shining blue eyes, and I bet she was a wonderful singer. She straightened her posture and sauntered past Avi and I, completely ignoring the both of us. My eyes followed back to Avi, his head turned to the side as he stared after her.

My heart sank.

He cleared his throat shortly, "Um. I don't know. New development. She's a intern." He said before getting up to hug a man who walked in and to introduce me, I stood to try and match height but my stance of 5'4'' made me a munchkin compared to the two men in front of me. The man smiled at me happily before sticking out a hand for me to shake.

"Hi. I'm Mario. I've been a friend of Avi's for a long time now. It's nice to me you." I smiled brightly at Mario, his smile making me want to return the kind gesture.

"It's so nice to meet you, Avi has told me a lot of great things about you. I can't wait to work with you." Avi smiled down at me before Mario nudged him.

"I like her. You should keep her around." I blushed before sitting back down and turning my attention to my phone. I had a text from my mother and Zella. The latter was congratulating me on my 'whole two weeks with Avi' and the one from my mother was telling me about the cello we were getting my father for his birthday in October. My family is a very musical one and my dad's favorite instrument ever is the cello which he learned to play when he was a 6th grader in middle school, ever since then he's loved it. So I thought that a new cello would be the smartest idea. Mom agreed.

"Here's your packet, the meeting is starting." I took the half-inch think stack of papers from Avi's hand before watching him start to walk towards the stage. He seemed more at ease once he was standing there, a mic in his hand with a packet in the other. We began the meeting by all standing and singing an four part harmony.

Then Avi began introducing people.

"We have a new counselor this year. She's a friend of mine whom I met at the California All-State Convention where she conducted a women's choir. She is currently living in New York, New York with a Masters in Choral Directing from NYU, a Bachelors in Vocal Performance from NYU, and she has just been accepted into the doctorate program at NYU to receive her doctorate in Choral Directing. Her name is Kelli Zimman and she is a beautiful first soprano. Kelli, come on up."

I blushed as he spoke, my feet carrying me up the steps and towards Avi who wrapped his arms around me. I pulled away before going to walk off.  Until Avi stopped me with a "Oh no you don't." His hand caught my arm and pulled me back to center,

"You've got to sing for us. Prove that you can be apart of "the squad"."

"You've got to be kidding me, Kaplan."

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" He sent me one of his "angry frown"s or as I like to call them "Dragon-OverLord Face"s.

"No. But then again you're face is a joke itself." Everyone laughed as I basically burned Avriel. He rolled his eyes playfully. I smirked up at him.

"Okay, then Miss. Zimman," He chuckled at me before he handed me a mic. I took it in my hand, our fingers brushing softly making me blush slightly. Which he smirked at smugly. Almost as if he knew that blush was for him.

So I decided that I liked the idea of word titles, but I'll also keep numbers there too! I hope you liked this chapter, if you have any comments, or complains please tell me down below. And if you liked it a lot you can vote for it! I love feedback from you guys! -RegularBookie