Duet: an Avi Kaplan fanfic

Birthdays

We grab my wet clothes in a plastic bag and head out to Avi’s car. On the way to my house, I tell him about my little brother, Sean, and my little sister, Carissa. I tell him that they are just as bad as I am as far as Pentatonix obsession goes. I tell him that my dad won’t be there, that we haven’t seen him in five years. I don’t explain that he didn’t run off or anything, he’s just gone.

I walk up my front sidewalk and realize I don’t have my clothes. “Hey, babe? Will you run back to grab my clothes from the car?” I ask sheepishly. He takes off.

I reach my door and am met by my brother and a girl I don’t recognize. “Hi guys,” I say walking in. I hug my brother. “Sean, who’s this? Did you turn straight all of a sudden?” I half tease.

“No, that’s Carissa.” He says then walks out of the room. I turn to look at the girl with the black and blue pageboy haircut and a nose ring to match mine.

“No way. What happened to the long blonde hair? The hipster glasses?” I ask, incredulous.

“I didn’t like them, so I got rid of them. And you shou-” she stops talking mid-word, her eyes going wide.

I hear a whisper in my ear, “Hey, Arya. I got your clothes for you.” I know it’s Avi, which explains my sisters reaction. Sean walks back in and stops dead in his tracks. Then, he turns on the charm.

“Hey, gorgeous. What are you doing here?” he says, shooting Avi a look. May I just point out that Sean and I used to always talk about how hot Avi is and how amazing it would be to meet him. His crush on Avi is nearly as big as mine and is only rivaled by his crush on Mitch.

I snap at him, “Hey, no flirting with my boyfriend. ‘Kay Sean?” Carissa’s eyes get, if possible, even wider.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” my siblings yell in unison.

Mom rushes in. “What is going on here?” she says.

“Sorry about this Mrs. Jennings. I didn’t realize that Arya hadn’t told any of you about us. I’m Avi, by the way, Arya’s boyfriend.” He says, handling the situation.

“How long have you two been together?” mom asks.

“About three and a half weeks now.” I answer, grinning up at Avi.

“Well. You need to go get some decent clothes on if we are going to go out to dinner for your really late birthday celebration.” She says, effectively ending the discussion. I run up the stairs to my room. I swap out the sweats for a nice pair of jeans. I dry my hair and braid it over my shoulder. I keep on Avi’s shirt though, because it’s my favorite.

By the time I go back downstairs to the rest of my family, Avi is sitting alone one my couch, trying really hard not to look at my mother.

“Mom, what did you do?” I say as I sit next to my boyfriend. She sends an insulted look my way.

“I did nothing. All I did was let Avi know that, since you don’t have Dad around, I’m the one to watch out for if he hurts you in any way. I was just giving him a heads-up.” Mom says, innocently.

“She did a good job of it too. Even borrowed a line from you.” Sean cut in.

“What line would that be? Who was I talking to?” I ask, nervously.

“You were talking to Eric, and when he dumped me, you looked like you would have gone through with the threat.” Sean started.

“Oh, god. Not that line, please, not that line.” I beg.

“Yep. It was the same one. Should I remind you? Carissa didn’t hear it either time, I know she wants to.” He continued. I still haven’t looked at Avi, this is just so embarrassing.

“No, please don’t.” I plead again.

“She said and I quote,” Sean took a deep breath, and in that second I wanted to strangle my little brother, “’If you do anything and I hear about it, I will personally cut off your testicles and hang them from your ears. Got it?’ Oh, it was great.” Sean laughs, as do Carissa and Livvie. I want to curl up and die. I can feel Avi looking at me and I know my face is deep, deep scarlet.

“I was surprised when I heard your mom say it. I am amazed to hear that you said it first, Arya.” Avi chuckles. I shrink down into his chest so I don’t have to look at him.

Mom breaks the awkwardness by yelling, “Okay, enough of that. If we don’t head to the restaurant, we will have to wait an hour for a table. You coming, Avi?” We all go to our favorite Japanese place and at the end of the night; Mom gives Avi a hug and tells him to be careful driving back.

On our actual birthday, a month ago, Livvie and I had all of our friends over. There were people from college and a few people from Livvie’s part-time job and of course, our five newest friends.

We were all at the house, just hanging out, drinking a little. Well, for most of us, it was just a little. No surprise to Livvie or I, Mel got pretty much plastered, as did Mitch. It was getting really hot in the house, so Avi and I snuck out to the back porch.

we just looked out at the night when he whispered, “I can’t believe I got so lucky.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, looking at his profile under the multi-colored party lights.

“I have you and you’re just so, I don’t even know. You don’t pretend you’re someone you’re not. You are you. youre just so…real.” He turns to look at me out of the corner of his eye.

“You think you’re the lucky one? I can’t believe I’m this lucky. You could have almost any girl in America, not to mention all the girls all over the world that would kill to be with you. You could have anybody. And yet you pick me. Why? Why me? I’m nothing special. I’m mean, I’m not particularly smart, not particularly talented. I’m nowhere near as pretty as so many other girls, so why? Why me?” I half-whisper.

Avi turns fully to look at me. His eyes search my face, looking for god knows what. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me close. Two sets of green eyes meet and he speaks. “Why? Because, you are firey, and funny and you are smart but you aren’t a know-it-all. And not talented? Don’t make me laugh. You are a great singer. I know you are fiercly loyal to your sister and Mel. I can hear it in your voice when you mention your brother and little sister that you really love them and that you would do anything for them. I haven’t known you long, but I know that you are an amazing girl. That’s why you.” he pulls me in closer and says one last thing, “And you are beautiful, whether you think so or not.”

Our lips meet softly, slowly. It was the perfect kiss. It was exactly what needed to happen right then. When we broke apart, we walked back into the house, smiling, arms around each other.

A/N: Hey, guys. Sorry it took me so long to update, I’ve been in New Jersey for my sisters national cycling competitions. She got three silver medals!!! There will most likely not be any updates for the next two weeks. I’m sorry. I will be in West Virginia then Tennessee on mission trips and I wont have internet access. Two weeks with no Wattpad, how will I live?!?! Jk, kinda. Hope y’all enjoyed this one. I might be able to get a bit more up before I leave Sunday morning, so I’ll try. Aslo, shout out to one of my good friends, MoonWolf129, for giving me the dreaded line. I love y’all.

-Emmi