The Moon, The Sun, and Everything Else

I Told You So

Kirstie walked in late to rehearsal. Something that never happened. She was always at least a half hour early. "Hi. Sorry, I'm so late, I--" She started rummaging through her belongings, obviously avoiding all eye contact with the rest of the band. Her voice trailed off after a while, like she had given up on finding a reason why she was late, even though, there had probably was a serious reason. Kirstie looked up a moment later after not finding whatever she was looking for, and right away, everyone in the room could tell that she was about to cry.

"Kirstin." Avi stepped up to her, out of genuine concern.

"Avi, please." She jumped back slightly at his hand coming to her shoulder. "I'm okay." Except, he could tell she wasn't. This was all a facade. Kirstie walked towards her designated mic to actually start their rehearsals. Then Avi stopped her.

"I'm not letting you touch that mic until you tell me what's bothering you."

"I said nothing." Kirstie pushed past his shoulder, but he stepped in front of her again. "Avi!" She sighed in utter frustration, tears brimming in her eyes. She heard Scott whisper to the others, something about space, and Avi and Kirstie both ignored them as they shuffled out of the room. 

"What is going on with you, Kirstin?"

"Nothing! Nothing is going on, Avi! Just give me my mic so we can start! I've already--" Kirstie stopped when she noticed the tears actually falling down her cheeks. 

"It's not nothing if it makes you cry." Avi took her into a tight hug. "What's happened?"

"Nothing's happened, Avi, it's just..." Kirstie sighed once more, wiping the falling tears away from her face. She had broken herself away from the hug, but it wasn't too long until Avi brought her back against his chest.

"You can tell me anything." He reassured her quietly, even though nobody else was in the room.

Kirstie pulled away from the hug once more. She needed space. "I-I need a break! I've had Kinky Boots every night until 11:30, and then we have rehearsals at six the next morning, and meetings, and press, and shoots, and there's not even time to breathe anymore!" She took deep breaths, which sounded more like she was panting, after her sentence. "And I'm trying not to fall apart, and I'm trying not to fall asleep during interviews, and I'm just trying not to fall apart in general because if I fall, I'm going to shatter." Her hands ran up and down her face and behind her neck as she spoke. "I just...I need a break, Avi."  

"Hey, hey, calm down, calm down. I understand." He sat down on the sofa that was in the studio with open arms. He hoped Kirstie would accept his invitation and sit down. "We can always talk to the heads and push tour back. We understand, the fans understand. If you need two or three weeks in between the wrapping of Kinky Boots, and the start of the tour, we'll give them to you, gladly." Avi coaxed. "Come here, come sit down with me, I can call the others in, and we can talk about what you need to do."

"Okay, thank you so much." She said quietly.

"Of course." Avi kissed the top of her head before standing up and going to get Scott, Mitch, and Kevin. A good minute later, the rest of the band was sitting in various beanbags and chairs around the studio. Avi helped her through it, so she wouldn't get too overwhelmed, but Kirstie said basically what she told Avi all over again. "And, I told her that we'd get the heads to push tour back two or three weeks so she can actually take some time and relax." Avi pitched his idea after Kirstie finished talking.

"Kirst," Scott turned his gaze from Avi back to the girl. "If you were basically suffocating, and not really sleeping or  breaking when you needed it, we would've called rehearsals. You should've just--"