The Moon, The Sun, and Everything Else

In This Moment

"Alright, thanks, yeah, I'm okay. Love you too, bye." Avi said into the phone and sat down, placing his head in his hands.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kirstie came around the corner and kissed the back of his head. She proceeded to take the seat next to him.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Babe, but not really." He looked up from his hands.

"Okay, I'm here if you ever need to talk though, you know that right?"

"Of course I do." Avi forced a smile and kissed the back of her hand.

"Just making sure." Kirstie smiled and started leaving the room, heading to the kitchen to make something for dinner.

"Yeah, just like how you "Just made sure" I was serious and not kidding when I proposed to you!" Avi called to her, earning a chuckle from his wife.

"Exactly like that!"

Avi sighed and climbed the stairs, closing the door to his and Kirstie's shared bedroom behind him. He laid atop the mattress, figuring that if he'd fall asleep, Kirstie would wake him for dinner.

After all, that's what he needed. Sleep. Even though he had just received the call, something told him that he wouldn't be getting much sleep anytime soon.

In what felt like five minutes (but it was really more like an hour), Avi was slowly opening his eyes. He jumped slightly when his vision focused to see Kirstie laying beside him.

"Well, good morning." She said.

"Good morning."

"Hey, dinner's ready downstairs." Kirstie stood up and kissed his cheek.

"I love you!" Avi called after her as he got up himself.

"Love you more!" She responded.

In that moment, everything was calm, everything was happy, everything was normal. It's what he wanted to last, but knew it wouldn't. Not after what he had just learned.

Avi smiled when he saw the nicely presented plate for him on the table. "Hey," He cleared his throat. "Kirst, I'm going to take this upstairs, I have a few emails to send, but I'll be right down."

"Okay." She nodded.

He took his plate upstairs and sat in front of the computer. Did he really have emails to send? No. Did he need quiet and space to wrap his mind around this whole ordeal? Most definitely. Avi quickly gave up on eating and set his plate aside, considering the effort it took to actually eat, and the constant clink of the fork against the plate disrupted his thoughts.

He soon found his head in his hands, hot tears starting to fall down his cheeks.

Now, in this moment, nothing was calm, nothing was happy, nothing was normal. In this moment, it was his stress, his overwhelming thoughts, and this horrible situation all closing around him at once.

Downstairs, Kirstie had finished eating, finished doing the dishes she had used, and had begun to climb the staircase to figure out what had happened to her husband.

Sending emails shouldn't take this long.

"Avi?" Kirstie asked, turning the corner to the room with the computer. The first thing she saw was the half eaten plate, and the second thing was her husband now up from the chair, pacing, obviously still lost in whatever he was thinking about. "Babe?" She asked once more, stepping into the room and suddenly freezing. It didn't take long to notice that the window was opened.

"Kirstie?" Avi's head snapped up from his thoughts. "Oh, Kirstie! Hi, sorry, I needed air, but obviously it's too cold to go all the way outside, and I just finished those emails, and I was just about to--"

"Avriel," Avi cringed at her use of his whole name. "Look at me. What's wrong? Because earlier you said you didn't want to talk about it, and I respected that, but now you're up here, with open windows, in below freezing temperatures, mind you, and you're pacing. That's your 'in your head' thing. What's wrong? Why are you being so distant? I only want to help you."

"What do you mean? It's fine. Everything's fine." He picked the plate and fork back up and tried to take another bite to validate his claim, but it was incredibly obvious that his hands were shaking and that he was holding back tears. A now constant ring filled the room as the fork repetitively bounced against the plate in result of his shaking fingertips. Kirstie slowly walked up to him and grabbed the edge of the plate, beginning to take it away from him. "Everything's fine, Kirstie!" Avi snapped as she took the plate away from him.

"Look, I know you're stressed. I can see it in your eyes. Just tell me what's wrong so that I can help you." Her voice was calm. Kirstie pulled up another chair and sat across from him.

"Kirst, really, I'm..." His voice trailed off.

"You're what?" Kirstie grabbed his hands in her's.

"Fine." Avi forced on a smile, and nodded gently, even though it was clear that his voice had broken on the verge of tears.

"Don't even think about playing that game with me." Kirstie stood the two of them up and wrapped him in a hug. "What's happened?"

"She told me not to come just yet, but--" He spoke quickly as if each word in the story was laced with poison.

"What are you talking about?" Kirstie still spoke softly.

"Esther told me not to go back yet because they still have to run tests, but...but she said it's not looking good, but she also told me to stay with you guys and finish rehearsals and all, and, and I don't know what to do!"

"Run tests on who? For what?"

"The treatment they had going failed and I guess so did his kidneys, and he fell and hit his head on top of it all, and..." Avi's arms wrapped tighter around Kirstie.

She gasped quietly to herself. "It's your dad, isn't it?"

Avi nodded. "But what do I do?"

"What do you feel like you need to do?"

"I need to finish the album, but I also have to go be with my family, but Esther told me not to come yet, and--"

"Avriel Benjamin," There's that full name again. "Your family is obviously more important than the album right now. Ignore Esther, she's in a state of shock too, and being who you both are, you're both trying to focus too much on work as means of distraction. She doesn't know what she's saying right now. Go to your family." Kirstie was now looking at him and running a thumb under his eyes. "I can come with you if you'd like, but if you wouldn't, that's totally perfect too. Either or, but go to your family, Avi."

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" He whispered.

"You have, many times." Kirstie laughed and kissed his lips briefly. "Now, I'll take your plate and book plane tickets, I'll be to bed shortly. Please rest at least for now."

Avi nodded and kissed her once more. He crossed into their shared bedroom and actually got under the covers this time.

Kirstie came back about forty minutes later, ready for bed. "Flight leaves at three o'clock, not tomorrow, but Wednesday, that's the soonest possible flight I could get."

Avi mumbled a rough "thank you", half asleep already, and out of habit, wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I love you, Avi."

"Love you more. I'm sorry for being so distant, I didn't mean to."

"It's okay, I understand." She kissed his forehead and turned off the lamp beside them.

In this moment, they were with the one they loved. And that's what mattered.

~~~~~

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it!!

Also, comment a wink emoji if you picked up on the reference to another story of mine...😉

Love y'all!

Xoxo,
Tay 😘❤