Three Years

nine

Kirstin regretted putting the song Bohemian Rhapsody as her ringtone the second the loud music blared in her eardrums and caused her to almost fall off the bed. Kirstie made a mental note to never, ever leave her phone next to her while she was sleeping. 

Or to at least change her ringtone.

She groaned as she tiredly grabbed her phone, put it to her ear and croaked out, "Hello?"

"Kirst? Hey, it's just me, Avi," His deep voice vibrated through her cellphone and this time she actually fell of the bed, landing on the cold, hard ground. She had honestly forgotten that the two had exchanged phone numbers at the dinner last night, so hearing his voice was a surprise to her. 

"Oh, hey, Avi," Kirstin said as casually as possible, sitting up from where she had fell. "What's up?" She face palmed herself for being so awkward.

"Nothing much, I just wanted to know if you'd like to hang out today." A pause. "As friends, of course." Kirstin smiled, she was happy to know she wasn't the only who was acting awkward; she actually found it quite adorable at how nervous he sounded.

Shut up, hormones.

"Yeah, that'd be great," she replied cheerfully, getting up from the floor. She didn't see a reason why they shouldn't. "Maybe we could meet for breakfast?"

"Rock 'n roll. Do you know where Gracie's is?" 

Kirstin chuckled at his silliness, "Avi, I haven't lived in Los Angeles for over three years. I have no clue where anything is." 

"Oh, damn, I forgot about that. Okay, I'll come pick you up in thirty minutes and then we can go together. See you later, Kirstie." She said a quick goodbye before hanging up. She had no time to spare, within thirty minutes she had to call her daughter, shower and get ready for breakfast with Avi. 

Her ex...

Was it a bad idea? I mean, they were only friends and friends was all they would ever be. But Kirstin didn't trust her feelings as they constantly messed her around. 

Oh, well. She had already agreed. No backing out now.

After getting ready within twenty five minutes, she had five minutes left to chat with Sierra before Avi came; she didn't want another incident like last night. Coincidentally enough, just as she was about to punch in the numbers, Tori's name flashed across her screen, indicating a call from her. 

"Mummy!" Sierra's innocent little voice came through the phone and it tugged at Kirstin's heartstrings. She missed her pretty, little princess. 

"Sierra, how was your day?" Kirstin asked, knowing it was night time in London. 

"It was great, Mummy. Me and Tori baked cookies today, she let me frost them too!" Sierra yelled which caused Kirstie to hold the phone a little bit away from her ear. She smiled brightly nonetheless, she was glad to know her daughter was in good hands. Kirstin was about to respond when she heard a knock at her door, which could only be Avi. 

"That's great, honey, but unfortunately Mummy has to go and do adult stuff now. I love you so much," Kirstin said sadly. She wished she had more time to talk to her daughter, but right now she had to talk to someone equally as important. 

"Okay, Mummy. Enjoy your adult stuff!" 

Kirstin took a long look at the door and smiled, thinking of the man who was behind it, "Yeah, I think I will."

***

"And so? What do you think?" Avi asked nervously with hope in his eyes, pointing towards the coffee he had ordered for her. Kirstin smacked her mouth and swirled the drink in her hand, acting like she was a professional critic. 

"It's a bit too bitter for my liking..." she watched as Avi's face crumpled before her. 

"But nothing a little sugar can't fix," Kirstin smiled as she set down the warm cup and grabbed a sachet of white sugar off the table. Avi let out a deep breath that he didn't he even realise he was holding in; he had told Kirstie that this was the best coffee shop in Los Angeles so he didn't want to let her down. Truth be told, Kirstie actually despised the coffee and was dreading the moment she would have to drink it all, but she took one look at Avi and she had melted, so she would deal with it for him.

She had no idea why she was suddenly caring about him and his well-being so much, just a day ago she had wanted to kick him where the sun didn't shine. Well, deep down inside, she knew she still loved him a lot, and now it seemed like those dangerous feelings were coming back up.

Avi too, was also surprised at her sudden loving nature towards him. He felt a bit of hope rise in his chest but he quickly pushed it back down. He had to remind himself that she was unavailable; she was engaged, for goodness sake. He wasn't the type of guy to make a move on someone else's girl but as time passed, he found it harder and harder to control himself.

After a few minutes of absentmindedly staring, Avi finally spoke up and said quietly, "I'm really glad you took up my offer of friendship. I was slowly going insane without you these past three years.

"You have no idea how much I missed you, especially since raising a little daughter on your own isn't the easiest job in the world," Kirstin blurted out unknowingly, taking another sip of the disgusting liquid, trying hard not to grimace. 

"Daughter?" Only then did she realise what she had just said, and it caused her hand to raise to her mouth in shock. How could she let something like that just slip out? 

It's this awful coffee, it's affecting my ability to think and speak properly, Kirstie had come to the conclusion.

"Daughter? Did I say daughter? I meant... my dog! I have a dog who is a girl so sometimes I refer to her as my daughter as a joke," Kirstin covered up her words with a lie. Luckily, Avi seemed to believe her and just smiled in response. All the weight of the world was lifted off her shoulders and she made a mental note to be more careful of what she said around Avi, from now on.

What Avi didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

This was exactly 1100 words! I tried to make it a bit longer than usual as my usual chapters are normally 400-600 words :)