The New Neighbour

Avi's POV

Avi sipped his hot chocolate, hearing Kevin do the same from the stool next to him at the kitchen counter. He still couldn't believe that Kevin had hung around after his mental breakdown. Avi decided that Kevin was special, and he would do anything in his power to try to gain his friendship.

"So, you never actually told me what you do for a living," Kevin said. "I'm assuming you have to do something to be able to afford this place?"

Avi nodded and smiled a crooked smile, remembering to 'look' in Kevin's direction as he spoke. "Well, I do work, but I could never afford this place if it wasn't for my sister's fiancé Darien's uncle," Avi replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "The guy is big into real estate and is really well off. He has investment properties all over the west coast and Darien and Esther convinced him to let me rent this place for next to nothing as a favour. I mean," Avi grinned, "It's not like the guy needs the money... and Esther didn't like the idea of me living by myself in any of the areas I could afford."

"Great deal if you ask me," Kevin replied. Avi could tell the bigger man was smiling, instead of judging him for accepting help. It was a really nice feeling. "You know, I don't own my place either. My parent's actually bought it after I got my internship so I would have somewhere to live that was close enough to walk to work," he continued. "Interns don't make much."

"Neither do struggling musicians," Avi grinned and took another sip of his drink.

"You're a musician?"

Avi chuckled and nodded. "Kind of. I dabble in a few different things."

"Come on man," Kevin said with a grin, putting down his mug and turning to face Avi, "You can't just give a cryptic answer like that and expect me to accept it! Come on dude, spill."

Avi's grin widened at Kevin's eagerness. He seemed to actually care about what Avi said... it was... refreshing. "Okay, Okay," Avi replied, putting his hands up in surrender. "Technically I have three jobs... but only two of them pay. There is a music store close by that has a few soundproof rooms in the back. They offer private lessons for guitar, piano whatever students want to learn. I give voice lessons... you know, teach people to read sheet music, sing harmony... whatever they request really. I also occasionally give guitar lessons if the usual guy is busy."

"Wow, that's really cool! So you can sing huh?" Kevin asked.

Avi shrugged again. "I'm okay, I guess. I used to sing bass in an a cappella group in college. We were actually pretty good," Avi smiled, good memories of his time in college resurfacing.

"Were you in choir too?"

"Yeah, back in high school I was. You?"

"Yeah," Kevin replied, "I was in choir in high school and my church choir. So we're both choir nerds!? That's cool!" Kevin finished with a chuckle. His laugh was so light and joyous... it was infectious. "And you said you play guitar?"

"Yeah, I'm not that good, but I enjoy it. It helps me with my song writing... that's my other job. I write songs and sometimes the production companies will buy them from me for one of their signed artists to use. It's pretty good money when it happens... but it's not exactly a stable job."

"That's awesome, dude! Have you written any songs I may have heard of?"

"Uh, maybe... I wrote one a few months ago called 'Tumbleweed'," Avi replied.

"Oh yeah," Kevin grinned, "I remember that one! Nice, man."

"Thanks," Avi mumbled with a lopsided smile, dropping his gaze down towards the counter. He had never really been good at accepting praise from others... it always made him feel self-conscious and a little embarrassed.