Standing By

A Pentatonix Heart-To-Heart

(Kevin)

My heart was torn. I knew Jonathan would be the quick and easy call. It'd take a couple of minutes. Five, tops. I was actually dreading the call with Avi. Last I'd talked to him, he'd seemed pretty down. Upset. Yeah, we'd patched things up—I thought—but I could tell he wasn't happy. And I had been the only one of us to really reach out to him. It would've been better—easier—if any one of them, or all of them, had given him a call, if nothing else, to say hey, happy Hanukkah. Individually. Not with me hanging around, urging them along. Granted, I was states away, and yes, it's a super hectic time of year. But there's always time for kindness and compassion. And they thought they could delay the inevitable, calling Jonathan first. Mitch could see some of the problems with that at least, but Scott and Kirstie were bound and determined. And now Mitch had planted the seeds of doubt of the potential for hurting Avi further. We can't do that. We can't hurt him any more than he already had been. Just can't. Rob was right—friends before business. And gosh darn it, Home Free was near split too. When Elliott had issued his final and deciding vote, my heart broke. Couldn't hurt him further—but we were about to. Driven to tears with the final decision, I buried my head in my arms, unable to hold it back. I was hurt they were willing to possibly hurt Avi more. When Scott spoke up with a very shaky 'wait', I looked up, allowing myself a little bit of hope that he'd seen the light. The way he was talking, the words he said practically lifted from my heart... he'd had a change of heart. He changed his vote, thus shifting the majority. I gave him a small but grateful smile. Avi. We were calling Avi first after all. I was glad we'd chosen to do that.

Scott stared down at his phone in his hand. "Um, my cell or KO's?"

"Yours," Mitch and I said immediately as Kirstie indicated for mine, Scott agreeing with her.

Austin eyed us amusedly. "Ya need us to put this to a vote for ya too?"

I groaned at my three best friends. "Guys. Come on now. Can't the four of us see eye-to-eye on anything? Or even make our own decisions amongst ourselves?"

"Don't look like it," Kirstie remarked with a grimace.

"Not without Avi," Mitch said sadly. "We need our fifth person. Our fifth mind, our fifth opinion, our...our... Avi."

Scott shook his head decidedly. "I'm not flipping on this. The call needs to come from KO. He's his bestie."

"Scott, it has to come from you," I insisted, a hint of desperation in my voice. "He needs to know you care enough to make the call." Oh great. More tears. Man up, KO!

"I agree with KO." Mitch nudged Scott. "Please, Scotty."

On this matter, Scott was firm. "No. He needs it from his best friend."

I buried my head in my arms again. Sweet Lord have mercy. Heaven forbid the four of us had any major life-altering decisions to make. We'd never come to a solution.

"God, guys!" Tim muttered before turning to his own group. "OK, y'all. Pentatonix has suddenly become completely incapable of making any decisions on their own whatsoever. Home Free, show of hands. Kevin's phone."

Rob, Austin, and Chance held up their hands.

"Scott's phone." This garnered Chris', Tim's, Adam's, and Elliott's hands.

"Besides, poor Kevin is a basket case over there," Elliott reasoned out.

"Fiiine," Scott grumbled, pushing buttons on his phone. "Here goes... something."

"Speaker phone?" Austin asked hopefully.

"We're friends with him too," Adam explained, looking concerned.