Mitch.

"Good afternoon, what can I get you guys?" The waitress' smile never faltered as she talked to us and waved her pen around. I still tried to figure out why she seemed so familiar, but I couldn't tell exactly what it was.
Before I answered her I looked at my friends, they seemed as confused as I was and to be honest that was a great comfort. So I wasn't the only one losing my mind?

I noticed Scott gulping in some air, before he looked back up at our waitress and started to fidget with something he had just found on the table. The menu.
"I think we may need another minute to decide, but uhm... may I ask: What's your name?"

Confusion filled her face, but she tried to look as friendly as possible when she answered and for a split second I felt guilty for making her uncomfortable. Or at least she seemed uncomfortable, how should I know what was going on in her head? Momma can't read minds.

"Esther."

She didn't add anything else, but turned around and wandered off to another table. My shoulders slumped slightly and I looked in equally long faces. I wasn't the only one that had noticed her familiarity and I wasn't the only one that felt weird now.
Silence filled the air around us and it was heavy enough to hold our heads down, we hadn't even looked at the menu yet, but something told me we wouldn't be visiting this place again. That idea only gained weight as we heard the door open and saw the 'mysterious' duo enter.

I turned my head and watched Avi and Kevin gesturing at each other. They looked excited and Kevin nodded every now and then as if the movements translated to words for him. Wait what? I turned my body as far as possible to get a better view; the duo had already seated themselves, but kept the 'conversation' up. A broken sound sometimes escaped Avi and that was about it. Of course whenever Kevin laughed the whole café could hear him, but that wasn't what glued my eyes to the duo. I was fascinated by the noises coming from Avi, they flew out of his mouth so casually as if he didn't care who heard him.

But I felt weird spying on the duo; it was different than watching them in school. I felt as if I was seeing something I shouldn't.

"Children," Kirstie huffed and I looked back at her. "Too cool to talk to anybody in school and using ASL outside like their own made up thing."

"I don't think they're doing this for fun."

And Scott was right. All three of us watched the duo happily signing; they seemed to be in their own little world. Neither Avi nor Kevin had noticed us yet and we were adamant to keep it that way. It was none of our business, but it felt like we were finally able to understand the worst math problems ever. Of course we only knew what we saw, but it helped us understand.

Suddenly Avi's head snapped up when the waitress, Esther, walked over to them. Her grin had grown far more sincere since the last time she was with us.

"Now babies, want me to get you the usual?" She leaned in, placing her utensils on the table and ruffled through Kaplan's hair. Avi huffed, a slight blush crept across his cheeks, but he nodded nonetheless. Kevin laughed out loud and playfully punched his friend's shoulder, disturbing him while he tried to fix his hair.

"Don't be like that, you know Esther is only playing with you."

The waitress, Esther, nodded and bent down to place a quick kiss on top of Avi's head, before she hugged both boys and strolled towards the kitchen.

"Who would have guessed that Kaplan goes for proper women?" Scott murmured more to himself than to us and I once again felt a dull pain radiating off of my heart. He was only playing with Rachel and unconsciously with me, too. I pressed my hands to my face and took a deep breath; it was a pathetic way of calming me down.

I forced back whatever emotion had dared to cloud my mind, blinked back some tears, rubbed my hands over my face and gave my friends the prettiest fake smile I could muster, which in reality turned out to not be convincing at all. Kirstie crossed her arms, a frown had crept on her face and I felt myself shrinking under her stern look.

"Listen," I tried and my voice broke mid-word, but she wouldn't have any of my shit.

"No."

"But..."

"No."

Scott watched the two of us; one of his invisible eyebrows lifted as he leaned back and crossed his arms. He tilted his head, shrugged and let out a huff.

"Am I missing something?"

"No."

I don't think Kirstie and I would've managed a proper conversation at this point, it seemed as if she could only muster the strength to say the same word over and over again without sounding as annoyed as she looked. And damn she looked annoyed.

I fixed my hair and let out an exasperated sigh, before I turned back to Avi and Kevin. The waitress, Esther, had returned to them with some drinks and a single piece of cake. She then leaned down and took a sip from Avi's drink before she whispered something to him. Afterwards she straightened her back and talked just loud enough for the duo to hear. I strained my ears and even leaned closer to them, but I only made out snippets.

"Have you noticed...so rude..."

"... he likes... always staring... like a lot...maybe ...?"

"Is it... Want me to...?"

Kevin then just nodded, before she turned away and marched right over to us. A tight-lipped smile graced her face and I could see her jaw working. I wrapped my arms around myself and looked up at her with wide eyes. Truth to be told I expected her to scold us.

"Can I take your order now?"

I let out some air and relaxed visibly, before I shook my head. None of us had even glanced at the menu, we were too preoccupied with the duo and honestly, I still had no clue what was the matter with them.

"Okay," she said and leaned forward. I knew it, she wanted to scold us! "Today is the anniversary of a tragedy regarding this café and its employee's, we simply cannot afford to waste space to non-customers, so if you would at least look at the menu instead of my brother that would be lovely, right." The waitress, Esther, looked each one of us deep in the eye, before she stopped and focused on me. I was the one that did most of the staring and the realization send chills down my spine. My breathing started to become shallow and rapid as I bit my lip. The way she looked at me, silently ripping me apart, it felt way worse than most of Rachel's actions.

"It wasn't his fault," the waitress explained as if I knew what she meant. "You know some people can't sleep after traumatic experiences, but he was out within seconds. Well, I..." She stopped herself and took a deep breath. Whatever was going on was definitively not what I expected. Honestly, I was just confused and send a brief glance over to Avi and Kevin, both were watching us and I noticed Avi having obviously mixed feelings about whatever Esther told us. He looked about ready to come over and save us, one foot already in position so he could jump up and sprint here. But he didn't move.

"Like... when I tried to wake him the next morning he didn't protest." Esther continued, her voice had somehow gone soft and smooth as if she needed to comfort me; actually it seemed to me more like she was the one needing a hug. I almost lifted a hand to place it on her shoulder, but Kirstie's voice stopped me.

"Okay, but like, what are you even talking about?"

Scott hummed in agreement and I could see the gears turning in Esther's head. Her face fell when she finally realized we had no idea what she was talking about, she then straightened up with a slight blush on her face.

"I'm sorry, but I was right, you guys know my brother?" We shook our heads no.
"Avi Kaplan?" she tried again and we nodded, a small smile played along the edges of my face, she was his sister, Avi didn't go for older women.
"Have you ever talked to him?" I looked at my friends and the confusion was evident on their faces, so I shook my head and waited for more to come.

"You know, Kevin told me about the rumours regarding Avi and let me just tell you... no. Avi is the sweetest guy ever."

"Just get to the point." Scott interrupted her and when I turned to him, he had his head in his hands and rubbed his temples. But damn he was right, momma became impatient too and I just wanted to know what was going on.

"You know what, I'm trying to help you understand him, but how about you ask him yourself? I mean, after all you can't take your eyes off of him, right?"

Did this weird behavior run in the family or what was going on?

Esther stormed off and left us even more confused than before. I shook my head and looked over to Avi and Kevin.
Kevin was smiling, he almost looked like one of these annoying friends that would always wave and shout at you as soon as they saw you, but only almost, after all he didn't wave. However he did look a little bit embarrassed.
Avi on the other hand looked like his personal worst case scenario had just happened and I swear he was close to banging his head against the table. Whatever actually happened wasn't what he had expected.

I heard Scott hum next to me; Kirstie looked as if she couldn't decide on being either annoyed or confused and cute. The only thing I could think of right now was to leave.

"I think we still have some leftovers from yesterday."

We hurried, almost ran out of the café and swore to never go there again. It was just not okay and we felt weird and uncomfortable and I really just wanted to go home with my friends, eat and watch Spongebob.

And we did that.

After we were done, we went to my room. Scott and I had somehow arranged us on my tiny bed while Kirstie said on the floor; she leaned back and stared at me.

"Let's never talk about today again, 'kay?"

"Like never ever again."

I just hummed in agreement. I didn't even know what they meant, because my mind was still pre-occupied with what Esther had said to us. Oh wait, never mind.

"But what if she is right and he is a really sweet guy," I tilted my head and crooked an eyebrow.

"Mitchie?"

"Hey Scott, what did you say your new boyfriend's name was?" Okay, that was pathetic, but I really didn't want to talk to them about it. Of course they were my best (and only) friends and of course I told them (almost) everything, but the way they talked about Avi made me somewhat angry. I would never yell at them, but like sass them maybe?

Kirstie jumped up from her place on the floor and ran over to my closet. She opened it and started to throw some of my clothes on the ground. For a short moment I thought I might have mistaken a lunatic for my best friend, but then she turned around with my favourite shirt in her hands and a wide smile.

"We'll find out if he really is that nice."

"No!"

"You're gonna ask him out."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Yes."

"I hate you guys."

°^°

As already mentioned this is going to be a short story with maybe two more chapters, but don't you worry! I'm already working on some other stuff including a maybe longer Mavi story and some Home Free stuff.

Anyways if you liked this chapter please consider giving it a vote or a comment.