AVI

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Day 16 of Tour: Kansas – Night

Avi was sitting just outside the motel room in one of the two wicker chairs that were outside almost every room. He'd brought his guitar outside with him but so far he's just been watching the stars. The others were watching a scary movie, Avi hated scary movies so he came out here, here was so much better anyway. Actually Kevin was doing homework in the second room, the one Avi was actually sat in front of because he didn't want to hear the suspenseful music or his friends screams.
     He wasn't alone for long though, Esther soon joined him in the night air.
     "Couldn't hack it?" Avi asked, smirking a little.
     "Puh-lease, I can handle my horror, I've seen it before, besides I wanted to have a chat with you," she sat down. She seemed too serious now and Avi didn't like it.
     "Damn, everyone else had their chat before we went out today, thought I'd avoided mine," he tried to joke.
     "Avi, you are a stupid, clueless chicken," she spoke bluntly. She knew there was no point skirting around the issue because he just wouldn't cotton-on to what she as saying.
     "Okay Es, don't hold back," he frowned, where had this come from? "Why?"
     "Avi you're doing something really dumb and I'm 99 percent sure you don't know you're doing it."
     Avi's frown didn't disappear, he was just more confused now, "What am I doing? Damn it Esther if this is about me playing with the front of my pants when I'm nervous then I'm gonna lose it."
     "No, it's not about that even though you should definitely make a conscious effort to stop that," she spoke less seriously about that. "This is about Kirstie."
     "What about her?" He said quickly, "You like her, why would you think it's a dumb thing for me to date her?"
     "No Kirstie's great and I don't think that-"
     "Then what, we're not... you know, so if you think that's the dumb thing then you don't have to worry, not that you should be judging anyone because you're no saint, I heard you."
     "You what? No, actually let's stay on topic," she held her hand up before he could interrupt her again. "If you stop interrupting me then I'll tell you what the problem is." She waited a moment before she continued to be sure he'd stay quiet. "Your problem is quite the opposite Avriel. Did you know that most couples in their first few months of being a couple are practically unable to keep their hands off of one another?"
     "Ew."
     "What do you mean ew?" She got loud.
     "I mean ew thinking about how many guys you've dated. And ew I don't want to talk about this with my sister."
     "Okay, well you can 'ew' all you like but I already know you won't talk to Kirstie about this, and Kevin has no knowledge of it, so you're stuck with me."
     Avi slid down in his seat, his hand went up to block his view of Esther.
     "Do your problems with Kirstie have to do with high school?" Esther chose to ignore his posture.
     "Kirstie and I don't have problems," he snapped.
     "Yes you do," she was blunt. "That response tells me it's entirely to do with high school. Avi what do you think is going to happen?"
     "That it's all going to happen again."
     "You really think Kirstie's going to do what that bitch did to you?"
     "Well, no, but I never would have thought that Ti- that she would have done that either."
     "But there were so many signs, so many things that you know about now, so you're always going to be extra vigilant," she spoke caringly. "She was messing with you from the start, the main thing being that your relationship or whatever the hell that was," she gestured over her shoulder, "She didn't want anyone to know about it-"
      "That's not how it went," Avi said, bitterness laced his tongue.
     "It's the gist of it. But you've met Kirstie's family, everyone important to her knows you're dating her, that you are her boyfriend. That in my opinion, is the biggest point of difference, other than the fact that she really, really likes you," Esther gave him a small smile, his hand long dropped and he just stared at the ground.
     "And I don't even know why."
     "You don't even know why, what?" Esther frowned.
     "Why would a girl like Kirstie even like me in the first place?"
     Esther's heart broke just a little, how could her brother even think that?
     "That's why it's so hard to believe. You look at her then you look at me, like somethings wrong there, something got lost in translation. Kirstie is so gorgeous; she could have any guy, why did she pick me?"
     Esther cleared her throat before she spoke, "I don't know why she chose you Avi, maybe she sees something in you that you don't see, or maybe she's sick of dating jerks because you are a good person Avi and someone like you is probably exactly what she needs. But the why isn't what's important because she did pick you and that's all that matters, she did choose you, she wants to be with you, those are the facts."
    "I guess so," Avi spoke quietly.
     "There's no guessing, it's true. Now onto the next matter, or should I say the first one since you interrupted me with ew," she glared at him.
     "I thought we were done now," he groaned, this was so awkward.
     "No, Avi you need to start actually treating Kirstie like she's your girlfriend and not just a friend you occasionally peck on the lips."
     He was confused, "How do I not treat her like my girlfriend?"
     "Remember how earlier I mentioned the thing about new couples not generally being able to keep their hands off of each other?"
     He nodded, "Yeah," he resisted the urge to say 'ew' again.
     "That doesn't happen unless you actually touch her in the first place, and I'm not just talking about hand-holding."
     "How much has she told?" Avi asked in annoyance.
    "Avi, there's nothing for her to tell!"
     Avi just stopped and realisation crossed his face, hitting him hard.
     "I get that you're scared because of what happened in high school but you are upsetting Kirstie in the process. You may say that she is the most beautiful girl ever but does she know that, that you feel like that? Because she thinks that maybe you're not interested in her like that."
"     But I've told her that I am," he stressed.
     "Saying something is very different from showing it."
     "So what, I have to have sex with her so that she knows I like her?" He scoffed, sitting up in his seat.
     "No, not at all, but can you please explain to me why you said that as though it were a bad thing? Why wouldn't you want to have sex with her?"
     Avi was silent, he concentrated, he thought, he had absolutely no good reason, "There's no reason."
     "No there's not," Esther agreed. "Now I'm not saying it has to happen right away because you might not be ready and that's okay. But you need to start showing her that you're interested or you won't have a girlfriend for much longer."
     "But how, how do I do that?"
     "You really want me to tell you?" She asked amused.
     "You might as well, this conversation has already far surpassed awkward."
     "Okay then, how about you start with taking her on an actual date? We have plenty of spare time coming up, you should use it. Kiss her more, and affectionate little touches go a long way, I've seen you tuck hair behind her ear, and guide her along as you cross the road together. That's along the right track, a bit more of that, but more affectionate, I mean I've seen you do those things to mom so..." she trailed off. "And when there's the opportunity for you and Kirstie to share the bed, take it, it makes her feel pretty crappy when you don't. Sharing a bed doesn't have to mean sex, you can just talk and cuddle, Kirstie's a very cuddly person, she likes the physical touch, you should give that to her in whatever way you feel comfortable; and you'll quickly find out what she likes and what she doesn't, the things she responds to, and it'll get easier and feel more natural with time.
     "So that's all it is?" Avi asked with surprise.
     Esther nodded.
     "Oh well, I can do that," Avi smiled.
     "Of course you can, it's easy. Most people figure it out all on their own, but you just needed a little push in the right direction," she shrugged. "Now, what was this about you hearing me?"
     "You know what," Avi jumped up from his seat, "I'm gonna go to bed," he picked up his guitar and ran off.
     "Avriel!" Esther yelled.

A/N: So that was the chat, it felt like a lot to live up to and I hope you guys liked it and yeah :)

Do you think Esther went in the right direction with that hat with her little brother?

Hannah.