A/N: so this is going to be a fairly short story, maximum 5/6 chapters long. The idea came to me the other night and just wouldn't leave me alone. I have the whole plot planned out to the minutest detail so it'll probably be finished quite quickly and shouldn't get in the way of me updating my other story.
"Hey Avi." "Scott what's up, how's Texas?" He pauses and I can hear Mitch's voice on the other side of the line although I can't make out what he's saying. "Well Mitch and I are fine but Kirstie's stuck in LA."
"What happened?"
"Well she was planning to get a later flight than us and now all of the flights have been cancelled because of the storm out here."
"Oh no, is she ok? Is she in her apartment?"
"Whoa Avi calm down. She's upset that she can't see her family but she's ok I think. I know you're going home tomorrow but do you think you could go and check on her tonight? Just to make sure she's not feeling too down." I'm already grabbing my jacket and walking to the door before he's finished his sentence. The thought of Kirstie on her own in her apartment, unable to see her family hurts me in a way that I'm not willing to analyse. "Will do Scott, enjoy Arlington."
"Thanks, enjoy home."
As I'm about to leave I have an idea. I scroll down to the correct number in my phone and press the call button. "Hi mom." We make vague small talk for a minute until she gets to the point. "Are you still coming to stay tomorrow?"
"That was actually what I was calling to talk about. I still want to stay tomorrow but I was just wondering if I could bring Kirstie with me? I haven't actually asked her yet but she's stuck in LA because of the storms in Texas and I don't want to leave her on her own." "Of course you can bring her along. We'd all love to see her and I'm sure Esther'll be thrilled."
"Thanks mom." She carries on talking for a while but I don't catch most of it. I'm anxious to go and ask Kirstie. The more notice I give her the more likely she is to agree and I really want her to say yes. I feel like we haven't had the opportunity to spend all that much time with each other recently. I mean we see each other pretty much every day but we're always surrounded by other people. "Avi, are you listening to me?"
"Sorry mom."
"Well I'll see you tomorrow. Love you." "Love you too."
Rather than just calling her I decide to go and speak to her face to face. That way I'll have still checked on her even if she says no. The drive doesn't take too long and it's only about fifteen minutes before I'm knocking on her door. She's obviously surprised to see me and her eyes narrow in confusion behind her glasses. "Hi."
"Avi. What are you doing here?"
"Scott told me what happened and since everyone else is out of town I thought I'd come and say hi."
"Oh right, come in." She fetches us both glasses of water and I sit down on the couch. "I'm sorry you couldn't go home Kirst."
"Yeah." Her voice is sad and wistful "I really miss my parents, I haven't seen them in ages." I rub her back gently and she turns her head to smile at me. "Are you driving home tomorrow then?"
"Yep. I am. Would you like to come with me?" I had planned to slowly work up to asking her but the nerves got to me I guess so now I've just blurted it out.
"You mean come with you to see your family?"
"Yeah. I mean if you want. You probably have other plans and I don't even know why you would want to anyway but I asked my mom and she said it was fine." Great. Now I sound like a ten year old. "Really? You want me to come with you? Wouldn't I be intruding?" She actually sounds like she wants to come. "Of course you wouldn't be intruding. My family love you, you know that." It's embarrassingly true. Her and Esther have always got along well and my other siblings think she's really cool. My parents think she's wonderful. They like Kevin and Mitch and Scott but they adore Kirstie. It's not really all that hard to see why. "Well if you're sure then yes. I'd love to come."
"Brilliant, my parents are going to be ecstatic." She giggles sweetly and our eyes meet. "Thank you Avi, it means a lot that you're doing this for me." Her face is serious now and it's an effort to choke out something that sounds like "you're welcome."
The drive there takes longer than usual but she still manages to sleep most of the way. "Are we here?"
"Yep. You're getting good at sleeping on the road." She grins sleepily, her eyes still half closed and her nose wrinkled by a yawn. "Well I've had a lot of practice." We get out of the car and grab our bags from the trunk. "Mom, we're here."
"Avi, Kirstie I'm so happy to see you both!" She gives us both extremely enthusiastic hugs and then gestures towards the dining room. "Thought you might be hungry so there's some dinner on the table. Leave your bags there. Don't worry, your father'll take them upstairs." We move to sit at the table. "Esther's still up but the other two are in bed so try not to wake them when you go up. It's lovely to see you both again." We arrived later than intended due to me forgetting my phone charger and then Kirstie managing to leave her phone at my place when we went back to get it. Combine that with the heavy traffic and it's not really all that surprising that everyone's going to sleep. She ruffles my hair, causing Kirstie to smirk, and then leaves the room.
We eat as much as we can in between a semi-whispered conversation about the family photos on the table and then once we've cleaned our plates we head upstairs. "I need to grab something from my room and then I'll show you where you're sleeping." We step into my room and I start looking around for the book that I need to give back to Esther. "Um Avi. Why is my stuff in your room?" I look round to where she's stood pointing at her bag which has been placed neatly beside mine in the centre of my bed. "I'm not totally sure. I'm just going to go and speak to Esther. Do you mind waiting here?" She shakes her head and sits down on my desk chair. I walk down the hall and knock softly on Esther's door. "Come in."
"Hey, um why is Kirstie's stuff in my room?" "I don't know, I'm assuming you brought it here." She doesn't even know Kirstie's here? So mom wanted Kirstie's visit to be a surprise then. I quickly explain the whole situation and then Esther bites her lip. "Isn't it kind of obvious?"
"What do you mean?"
"They think she's your girlfriend." "Why would they think that?"
"Well you brought her to stay with your family."
"Yeah but that doesn't mean that she's my girlfriend."
"Plus you talk about her a lot."
"I do not."
"Actually you kind of do Avi. Hi by the way." I turn around to see Darien enter the room. "Look Avi. Everyone else is asleep. I'd let her sleep in here but as you can see that's not possible. You guys can share a room for one night, you practically live together anyway." "Yeah but there's only one bed." She rolls her eyes "so sleep on the floor. Listen, I promise I'll help you sort it out tomorrow but right now I'm really tired and I just want to go to bed."
"Ok. Fine. Night Esther, night Darien."
I walk back towards my room nervously, deciding at the last minute that it might be best to knock. "One minute." There's some shuffling about that sounds like clothes being moved and then she comes to the door. She's dressed in the shorts and T-shirt that she sometimes wears to sleep in when we're on tour and she steps aside to let me into the room. "I saw Darien when I went to the bathroom so I'll take the floor."
"What? No. You're the guest, I'll sleep on the floor."
"It'll be fine, I'm sure it'll be comfortable."
"Well if it'll be comfortable then you won't mind me sleeping on it."
She sighs and climbs onto the bed, effectively ending our whispered disagreement. I start to sit down on the floor but she shakes her head. "Avi we've known each other for three years. We've spent a ridiculous amount of time together and you're one of my best friends who I've fallen asleep on during countless long journeys. I think we can manage sharing a bed for one night." "Ok, turn around so I can get changed." She rolls over obediently and I pull my shirt over my head and change into some sweatpants. I slide myself under the covers beside her and she rolls back to face me. "You aren't wearing a shirt." "No I normally sleep shirtless. Is that a problem?" "Erm no, it's fine. Night Avi." "Goodnight."
