All of sudden, she misses Avi.

Sudden, she vaguely thinks. Is that sudden?

She first realized she misses him when Kevin sent her the file of their new album, a month before release date. They were chatting, she was on her bed and Kevin was still in the house he used to live with their former bass, but the guitar belongs to Avi was no longer in the space right behind where the beatboxer sat. She didn't know she did notice it until then.

"Do you think it's good, Kirst?", Kevin said, almost like whispered, like he was about to say something really important.

Kirstie sat straight up, cut the music on her headphones. She knew what he was trying to admit. The soprano smiled awkwardly, scratched her head. "What do you mean? We give this album our best, is there anything wrong?"

"I don't know about you, but I feel that we can do better than... this. It misses something but... but... no, well... never mind. It's just me."

Even through the blurred screen of Skype, she could feel that he was lying. Stiffen up, the soprano said, a little bit scornful which made her regret immediately. "You have to get over it, Kevin. It's not like we banned him or something, he left!"

"But--"

"No, I don't wanna know. I'll see you later, I need to go feed my babies right now. Bye Kev."

Slammed the laptop lid close, she walked off bed. Feed the dogs? This time? And the dogs weren't even there, for God's sake! Jeremy took care of them during the tour, and a hundred percent that Kevin knew she was the lying one this time. Even if the dogs were with her.

She is always this fucked up anytime it involves to Avi. Avi fucking Kaplan.

Kirstie opens her eyes again, shakes her head as her mind is drifted to the thought of him again. She hates it, she hates thinking about him, she hates the desperate feeling tingling in her fingertips when she touches her hair, because it's nowhere as soft as his hair.

Since he's been gone, she notices people's more often, trying to find something she doesn't know. Scott's hands are big and warm, but they don't intertwine with hers like Avi's usually do. Mitch is sassy sometimes, but when Avi accidentally cut his beard and got sassy, he was even sassier than the tenor. She loves Kevin's food, but they're way too healthy, unlike the way Avi cooked for them, all of the worst things for their diet. And there's Matt. She likes Matt, like, like-like, not love-like. She likes him as a colleague, maybe a friend, she respects his bass and the efforts he put into their songs, but that's the problem, efforts. Until she saw Matt worked, she just realized how effortlessly Avi did these lines.

Kirstie finds herself plugs in her earphones and listens to "Light in the Hallway". She is gonna do it again, sing it again, perform it again, and again, and again. Without him. Kevin seemed uncomfortable when Scott said they will perform it, but she looked cold, she bets. It's not like she agreed with Scott, but this is their jobs, they do this for passion and money. Whenever Avi is here or not, they will still do anything to please their audiences, not their own desires.

Takes a breath, she starts singing. Line to line, careful as it should be, she sings "Light in the Hallway". Because he told her to.

"Do you mean it?", took the water bottle from the snack table, she asked.

The bass stopped his movement, smiled. "Mean what?"

"When you sing 'From now on, if you need me, you can sing this song', do you mean it?"

"Yea, why not? I always mean it.", rumbled a deep laugh from his throat, Avi turned to her. "Give me your hand."

Frowned, she groaned, but put her tiny one is his rough, thin hand. Avi lifted it up and put it in his chest, right on where his heart should be. There was so long since they were that close, but as being hypnotized by the slow heartbeats under her palm, Kirstie couldn't move.

"You are here, in my heart. And my heart belongs to you. Whenever you miss me, sing the song and I promise our heart will beat together to the sound of your voice."

Liar. He is a liar. He isn't here, how the fuck can she know they're in the same rhythm? He is a liar. Liar. Liar!

"Hey,", the fainted voice comes to her ears, "Don't cry. A beauty should never let a tear falls."

Kirstie looks up, surprised as the sight of the skinny man in front of her. Mitch.

He pulls some tissues from the box besides and gives it to her, also stops the music for her and puts her earphones in her purse. It fell off when she was crying, she guesses.

"The show is on in 20, enough for me to redo your makeup as long as you don't cry.", the tenor smiles kindly, pulls a box with him. "Wanna confess?"

"No."

"That's okay. You can tell me when you feel like it, but you totally don't want to disappointing our special guest today."

She raises an eyebrows, which gets a scold from Mitch because he is working on her eyes. "Guest? Aren't they just our parents or something..."

"God bless if they could come but no they can't.", Mitch shrugs, adapt some foundation on her. "But maybe this one will give you kinda the same feelings as family."

"I swear, if y'all invite Jeremy--"

"Not him, young lady."

"Hey! I'm older than you!", she laughs, makes a fake shock across her face.

Smirks, her friend strokes her cheek as he puts back all the tools. "There you go, smile more my dear."

Kirstie pouts at Mitch, holds his hand when they come to the backstage.

Not this feeling. Wait, what? Shut up!

"Who's the guest?"

"You will know, girl.", gives his bandmate her micro, Mitch smiled. "You will know."

The show was flawless as always, she can say. Paris, city of love, the fans are so loving as well. This is a job that they do so well for these six years, singing, and pleasing. "Light in the Hallway", the one made her cry earlier, still good like the first time she heard it. Because they don't sell V.I.P tickets this time, the band stay on stage after the last performance for signatures and photos. She watches a group of teenagers go through the theater's door, waving at them. They are the last group tonight, though.

"Hey, you!", Scott shouts on his mic, his ocean eyes twinkle with excitement. Looks to the direction of Scott's eyes, she spots a man in too familiar the jacket and his hair tied, who is leaving his seat. The baritone lower his voice. "Why don't you stay for a little while?"

The man stops walking, but turns to face them.

She gets shocked at the emerald of his eyes glance pass her, or just his appearance.

He himself is a shock already.

Scott smirks, tilts his head innocently. "Pretty please, Avi?"

-

A/N: This is not the end, don't you think? xx