A Burning Thing {Avi Kaplan fanfic}

-6-

Neither of us was ready to talk about … well … any of it yet, so we tried to be casual in front of her family. But at breakfast we both found ourselves smiling an awful lot at nothing in particular. At one point Ellie tried to convince her mother that her good mood was the result of an overwhelming love of maple syrup, but Austin looked suspicious.

I had stayed the extra day in Georgia so that I could spend some time with Austin at the studio going over the footage for the video, so I didn't get a chance to see Ellie again until it was time to grab my bags and head to the airport. As I stuffed the last of my things into my duffle bag, Ellie snuck up behind me and ducked into my arms, planting a kiss on my chest next to my pendant.

"I like this," she said, picking up the small disc and running her finger over the raised bass clef. She put it back down, then stroked a slow, gentle finger down each side of the chain and placed a warm, soft kiss on my collarbone. A shiver went down my spine and an ache began to form below my belly.

Still worried about giving us away, she insisted she would stay home while Austin drove me to the airport. "Do you really think it would be so bad if Austin found out?" I asked.

"Not 'bad', exactly, but we haven't had much time together yet and I just don't want to anything to spoil this amazing feeling." She reached her arms around my neck and stood on tiptoe, pressing her forehead to my cheek. "I want to stay in this little bubble with you a while longer."

I leaned down to kiss her but my lips had barely touched hers when her mom called from upstairs. I grabbed my duffle and we headed outside to where Austin was waiting by his truck.

Ellie gave me a quick hug, and whispered "Call me!", then ordered her brother: "Take good care of him Mattie! Drive safe!"

In the car, Austin was uncharacteristically quiet. I wasn't anxious to know what he was thinking, but at the same time I thought I'd better make sure we didn't have a problem

"'S'up man?"

"Nothing really, Avi, it's just been a bit of a strange couple of days," he said thoughtfully. "I'm having a hard time getting used to my baby sister being all grown up. I don't know how to protect her any more without pissing her off."

"Maybe you don't really need to protect her any more," I suggested, staring hard at my hands.

We were both silent for a moment. "You care about her don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," I blurted a little too loudly, somewhat relieved to say it out loud but hoping he wouldn't want more details. Please don't ask if I've kissed her yet. Our touched her in any way. Oh god, I really don't want to get thrown out of a moving vehicle.

"Listen, I'm not going to interfere like I did with Tim – I don't think she was ever really into him and I would have killed him if he started something with her that he never intended to finish. But I saw her look at you before we left and I think maybe this is different. I don't really want to know anything until she's ready to tell me, but just promise me you'll be good to her, okay?"

I was touched and relieved to hear it. "You don't need to worry about me, I know how special she is. To us both."

Austin seemed glad to have that conversation over with, and we spent the rest of the drive talking about music and making plans for another collaboration.

~~

As I sat at the gate waiting for my flight, fiddling with my phone and trying to compose a text to Ellie, a message flashed across the screen.

/ Wish I was with you, hope to see you soon. <3 /

A sappy smile – which I feared was becoming my permanent expression – once again crossed my face and I was lost in thought and memories until I heard my flight called over the PA. I stood up and picked up my bag, then glanced again at my phone. 4:05. In six hours she'd be sitting in almost this exact spot, waiting to board her own flight.

I thought for a moment, then sat back down. After another moment I stood back up and went up to the counter.

"Is there any chance I could switch to the late flight?"

"Absolutely!" the attendant said with an excessively perky smile. "I've got a few standbys here and there are still seats on the red-eye, so if you don't mind waiting you'd make someone very happy." After a bit of keyboard clicking she handed me a new boarding pass and radioed for my bag to be taken off the plane (oops – forgot about that – I guess I probably wasn't making everybody happy). I decided to wander down the hall and find a restaurant to hang out in for a few hours. Normally I hate delays when I'm travelling, but this time I was excited as I found a comfortable seat and waited to surprise Ellie.

The time dragged by until suddenly I realized it was after 10 and Ellie could already be waiting for the flight, and I hadn't yet figured out what I was going to say. It suddenly hit me that this could be way too pushy, way too fast. Am I being stalker-ish? It was a little late to worry about that, so I took a deep breath and headed to the gate. As I drew closer I saw her directly in front of me, sitting near the desk and absorbed in whatever she was doing on her phone. I quickly typed out a text message.

/ I hope you meant what you said earlier. /

I saw her startle, then smile and type back.

/ Of course I did. I'm sad to think I'm in Georgia without you, even though I'm right behind you. /

I smiled and tapped again.

/ You're not behind me, you're in front of me. Look up. /

She looked puzzled, then raised her head and looked right through me for a moment before focusing on my face.

"AVI!" she shouted, running towards me. I nearly toppled as she leaped into my arms, hugging me so tightly I could hardly breathe.

"Wow, you're strong for such a little girl!" I said giving her a quick kiss.

She looked up at me with heavy-lidded eyes. "Oh mister, I'm no little girl."

My knees turned to jelly as I leaned in for a more serious kiss. I pulled away as I heard the other passengers start to clap, and we both blushed and walked shyly to take a seat until it was time to board. This was shaping up to be the most fun I'd had in an airport yet!

~~~~~