A/N: wow over 500 reads! Thank you so much guys! So this chapter's still in Avi's point of view but the next one is going to be in kirstie's.
Over the next few weeks I continue to get closer to Jess and end up asking her to be my girlfriend. Her group leave the competition but Pentatonix make it through to the final. "Good luck babe, you'll be great" Jess smiles as she reaches up to kiss me. Her lips are soft and warm against mine and it's a kiss full of possibilities, a kiss with a future. I pull her into a hug and then walk over to where the others are sat. We've already done our first performance which went pretty well. Next we're going to be performing Give Me Just One Night with Nick Lachey. It's been fun in rehearsals and we're all really looking forward to it.
The performance is mostly focused on Nick obviously although Kirstie has a pretty big part in it. Essentially she has to be sexy which she's frustratingly good at. It's been hard focusing on the performance in rehearsals. There have been quite a few times that she's had to do it in the show and it's not getting any easier. Being with Jess has made it less bad though. She's really pretty and funny and sweet and easy to be around. I'm so glad I met her and it's made me more convinced that I'm getting over Kirstie. Although hearing her speak Spanish turns me on a lot more than it should. Scott and I had a conversation about it a few days ago. He's a good guy. He's just looking out for both of us. Especially Kirstie. They are best friends after all.
We get on stage and I manage to get through the song without getting too distracted by her. It helps that due to the positions we're in on stage I can't really look at her all that much. There aren't any judges' comments this time so we just run off stage. "Well done babe" Matt is waiting at the side of the stage and Kirstie practically jumps into his arms. "Maybe you could try the Spanish out on me later." He says, loudly enough that we can all hear him. Kevin raises his eyebrows and Mitch barely stifles a laugh. Kirstie glares at him and blushes. It's obviously slightly ruined the moment because Matt says goodbye and kisses her on the forehead. "Sorry Kirst. It was just funny for some reason." Kirstie rolls her eyes "Whatever Mitchie."
It's time. We're stood on the stage. It's us or the Dartmouth Aires. This is it. As soon as Nick finishes up with this stupidly long pause we'll find out whether it's all been worth it. I take a deep breath and focus on Mitch and Kirstie's linked hands and Kevin's arm touching mine. We've made no real plans about the future of the group and the idea that this could be the last time we're on stage together perversely makes me wish that time would go even slower. "Pentatonix!" And suddenly my ability to think clearly disappears. My arms wrap around Kevin and Kirstie and we fall into a group hug. The crowd are screaming and Kirstie's crying and shaking.
It's the only time I've ever seen Scott lost for words and I have no idea how we're even going to perform. As soon as the beat kicks in though we're unstoppable. Yeah maybe not every note is as perfectly pitched as it could be and I'm pretty sure Kevin and I get out of time with each other at some point but we get through it. As soon as we finish singing we're practically attacked by people. I can't really isolate anyone in particular. There's just a wall of people and sound. From somewhere amidst the crowd I feel a warm familiar hand grab mine. We wait for a moment until everyone is watching Scott and Mitch dramatically re-enact their emotions when we won and then sneak offstage almost unnoticed.
"Thanks for getting me out of there." She smirks at me. "You looked like you needed help."
"You were my knight in shining armour."
"Yeah, you're a little bit manly to be a princess. Plus if you got kidnapped by a dragon I doubt you'd want saving." We both laugh slightly and then there's a brief silence before she almost leaps into my arms. "I can't believe we did it. We actually won." I lift her off the floor and spin her around "I know! We actually won the sing-off." When I put her down we're both dizzy and giggly and as I put my hands on her waist to steady her I know exactly what's going to happen next. The worst part is that I can't bring myself to mind.
Her lips touch mine a little more tentatively than last time. I can't work out who started it but all thoughts of ending it are quickly squashed by the soft yet insistent way her mouth presses against mine. I have a girlfriend and she has a boyfriend and this is stupid and wrong but I can't seem to make myself want to stop it from happening. Her hands are linked with mine and she's kissing me almost lazily. There's none of the rush of last time. It's slow and deliciously, dizzyingly sweet. We both smile against each other's mouths until it's not possible for us to kiss any more. "We did it, we won." She whispers into my mouth. I pull her into another kiss and she wraps her hands around my neck and pulls gently at my hair.
"Maybe we should go somewhere a little more private?" My voice comes out even deeper than normal and she grins her usual lopsided smirk. "My dressing room's just round the corner." As she pulls me towards the door I have a moment to reflect on what's happening.
I have no idea where we're going to go from here. Kissing her is bad enough but what if it goes further? As she shuts the door behind us and moves to rest her hands on my chest I know that I have to say something. "Kirst. This might not be the best idea." The instant I finish speaking the moment is broken. She moves away and sinks down onto her chair, putting her head in her hands.
"Hey, Kirstie." I moved to kneel in front of her, gently taking her hands in mine and then lifting up her chin. "It's not just your fault ok. It was me too." She has tears in her eyes. "I'm so fucking confused Avi. I'm with Matt and I want him and I want to be with him but then there's you and I don't know how I feel." I want to comfort her and tell her that it'll be ok. I want to just hold her in my arms. I want to kiss her until we both forget we were ever upset. "Kirstie. I liked you. From when we first met that day I liked you. I probably still do. I know I feel something." I don't know what to say to fix this. All I seem to be able to do is make it worse. "I like you too." She wipes the tears from her face and laughs sadly.
"What?" She smiles at me, tight-lipped. "We're such idiots." I laugh with her this time and when we make eye contact there's an element of happiness mixed in with the sadness and frustration. We made our decision and we have to stick to it. As much as it hurts and as much as it'll be difficult we have to get over whatever feelings we have for each other and move on. But it doesn't mean that we can't be friends. "So this is it then. We're going to get over it and move on." I nod at her and then place my hands on her cheeks.
"Since it's never going to happen again." I slowly move my face towards hers and kiss her on the lips. I do my best to put every bit of emotion that I'm feeling into it. I want to show her how I feel. This is never going to happen again but it doesn't mean that I don't care about her or that I don't like her it just means that this was a whole lot of bad timing and not being quite ready for whatever this could have been. I want to show her that I know that it's better for me to be with Jess and for her to be with Matt but it doesn't mean that part of me doesn't wish things were different. When I move my lips from hers I gently kiss her forehead and then walk out of the room.
