A New Light

A New Light

By �isl�ng

Bryan had finally come to the point where he'd had enough of Kian whining about not having
anyone special to come home from tour to. "Well, you have Kerry, Shane has Jie and Nicky has
Georgina" Kian complained "All I have is me mam. Why can't I find the right girl for me?".

Kian was not a stranger to dating. In fact, he dated a lot, but always found one excuse or
another not to turn it into a serious relationship. The girls were always beautiful, but they
didn't have "it"; that special something that would make Kian want to take the relationship to
the next level.

Bryan mulled over all the girls that he knew trying to think of anyone that could be the "it"
girl for Kian. He had asked Kerry to help him come up with names and he listed off girls that
he thought might do. Those that appeared in their videos, their dancers on tour, even TV show
hosts that they had met when doing promotions for their albums. Nobody seemed to fit the bill.
Kerry was racking her brain trying to think of anyone else there could be when suddenly it
dawned on her. "Bry, why not Aisling?" she squealed.

{Just to give you a little background on how this all started: Aisling was now in Ireland but
when she was living in Calgary, Canada, she met Mark while he was visiting relatives. Aisling
was close friends with one of Mark's cousins and they spent a lot of time together while he was
in town.   There was no mention of Mark being 1/5 of Westlife, as Aisling wouldn't know who they
were anyways since they had not made a go of America yet.   The two developed a strong
friendship, so when Aisling made the move to Ireland for a job, Mark introduced her to his
friends to make it an easier adjustment for her. Naturally, his friends included the likes of
Shane, Kian, Bryan and Nicky.}

"Are you serious?" Bryan questioned "Kian already knows Aisling and he's never considered her
before and I don't think she's ever looked at Kian that way either". "Exactly" Kerry jumped in
"They can't see past the friendship. But sometimes that's the perfect place to start. We
already know that they like each other because they're friends. It's just a matter of getting
him to see her in a whole new light and her to do the same with him".    Kerry was elated that
she had come up with the perfect plan.
Bryan and Kerry wrote out a list of qualities of their friends just to make sure that this
matchmaking attempt wasn't going to be a total disaster. On paper it appeared that Aisling
would be best suited for someone more reserved and serious than Kian. Kian had a wild streak
that would lead to many early morning returns from the clubs and a daring nature that would have
him skydiving or bungee jumping. But despite the differences between them, Bryan and Kerry
believed that they could bring Kian and Aisling together.

"Ki" Bryan said as he spoke through the receiver "Kez and I are having a party tonight. Can ya
make it?". "Em, hello Bry? Do you know who you're talking to? If it's a party, I'm there"
Kian laughed. "Great man, see ya around 8 o'clock" Bryan told him and hung up the phone.

Kerry rang Aisling and told her all about the party. "Sounds like a blast" Aisling said "Who
else is gonna be there?" "Just the usual crowd, Mark, Nicky & Georgina, Kian, Shane & Jie.
Maybe Ronan & Yvonne if they can get a babysitter" Kerry said. "I'm in for sure" Aisling
replied.

Aisling started to get ready for the party quite early. She figured it had been a while since
she'd gotten together with the Westlife crowd because the lads had been on tour, so she may as
well make herself look presentable. In Aisling's mind, it didn't matter how she looked, she
would always be seen as the quiet, innocent one in the crowd. She didn't see herself at all
like Kerry, Georgina or Jie who could make a guy look twice. Aisling was beautiful in her own
way, but much more plain looking than the other girls. She often hid behind her glasses and had
her hair up in a wrap making her look much older than she was.

On this night however, Aisling felt she wanted to do something different - just for fun, she was
not going to wear her glasses (she didn't really need them anyways) and she was going to have
her hair down.   She figured nobody would really notice the difference anyways.

At 8:05pm, Aisling rang the doorbell. Kerry answered the door and brought Aisling inside.
"Wow, you look brilliant" she told her. Kerry thought to herself "Kian would have to be blind
to not see Aisling differently tonight". She led her into the den where everyone was gathered,
sitting around talking and laughing.   Shane & Jie were in the corner talking to Ronan and
Yvonne, Nicky and Georgina were playing pool in the loft and Kian was trying his best to beat
Mark at "Nintendo".

Aisling went up to Shane and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey stranger" she said as he turned
to see her standing there. "Ash, howya doing? It's been ages" he replied "And don't you look
great". He pulled her in and gave her a big hug. "Ya Ash. What's with the new look?" Jie
asked "It definitely looks good on you". "Don't go anywhere, ok" Aisling said as she excused
herself to go say hi to the others.

Aisling had seen Kian and Mark playing "Nintendo" and decided to go and say "Hi". "Hey lads"
she said cheerfully "who's winning?". Mark turned to smile at her and brag that he was kicking
Kian's ass at the moment. Kian didn't turn around at first, but he muttered "Hey Ash, good to
see ya". Not five seconds later, the game was over and Mark had won....again. "Damn Feehily,
you beat me" Kian ranted "I'm done with this". With that, Kian put the control pad down and
turned to see Aisling sitting there.

At the moment their eyes met, for the first time in Kian's life he was speechless. Here was his
good friend Aisling, the one that always wore her glasses, had her hair up and looking
quite...well, plain but tonight that girl was nowhere to be found. She was the most beautiful
girl he'd ever set his eyes on. He struggled for words "Uh, uh Ash, wow it's great to see you".
"You too, Kian. It's been too long" she replied.

Kian had always found himself dating models, actresses, all the "don't hate me because I'm
beautiful" type girls. But looking at Aisling at that moment, he couldn't understand how he'd
never noticed her before. She was just so natural, there was nothing fake about her at all by
way of looks or personality.

They made their way to the couch, perfectly positioned in a quiet corner of the room, and took a
seat. "So what have you been doing with yourself?" Kian asked, not wanting to look away for an
instant. "I've been working a lot" Aisling told him "And I've been writing some new songs too.
Louie even said he'd take a look at them and give me some pointers".

They sat for hours, almost the entire party just catching up, remembering the old days and
laughing a lot. As Aisling laughed, Kian noticed how her eyes sparkled and her smile was so
beautiful, it practically lit up the room.

Kian couldn't get over how he was feeling sitting next to Aisling. He was hanging on to her
every word, he'd never done that with any girl before. He even caught himself off guard, with
thoughts about Aisling he'd never experienced before. What it would be like to kiss her? How
she would feel dancing in his arms? What it would be like to wake up next to her?

It felt different for him to have such feelings for someone who has been in his life for such a
long time. How could he have not seen it before? How could he have not thought of Aisling as
someone he could share his life with? After all, they were friends, which is the place the best
relationships start, the fact that he was in Westlife wasn't an issue because they were friends
before Aisling was even aware of that fact, and the most important thing, Kian always had such a
good time with Aisling. He definitely listed her amongst his closest friends, but never as
anything more.....until now.

"Ash, do you want to take a walk with me?" Kian asked quietly. "That would be nice Kian, ya"
she replied. He took her hand and led her outside into the garden. It was a beautiful spring
evening, the stars covered the sky and the moon was shining down on them. It couldn't have been
more romantic. For just a moment, neither of them realized that they had not stopped holding
hands since leaving the house. Then Aisling looked down and almost startled, removed her hand
from Kians.

"What's wrong?" Kian asked. "Nothing, I just didn't think you'd want to keep holding my hand.
You were just helping me up from the couch" Aisling laughed. Kian stopped Aisling dead in her
tracks and stood in front of her, his hands on her waist, staring deep into her eyes. Wow! Her
eyes - he'd never looked so deep into them before. She always had them hidden behind her
glasses.

"You have the most beautiful eyes" he told her. Aisling felt herself getting very nervous.
"Why do you wear your glasses if you don't need them all the time?" Kian asked. "I dunno" she
said "just because I like them I guess". Kian and Aisling both knew that something was
happening between them; that after this night their relationship would be changed forever. But
both worried that it might not be better, it might be worse.

Kian wondered if Aisling felt anything for him more than friendship; Aisling worried that Kian
was just being this way because he was lonely and she happened to be there. "Kian, what's
happening here?" Aisling asked. "I'm not sure" he answered "it's kind of caught me off guard as
well". They both giggled nervously.

Kian took Aisling's hands in his. "Ash, we've been friends for a long time. Have you ever
thought about being more?" He asked with slight hesitation. "I have Kian, I have. But I didn't
want to say anything because of our friendship. The last thing I want to do is lose you as a
friend" she told him.

"I want to see if we can make it work" Kian said "You know me better than anyone, you are my
friend because of who I am, not what I am and you're the only one that can make me laugh on the
worst days". He paused "Oh and that Canadian accent of yours really turns me on". Kian always
made a joke when he was nervous. That was how Aisling knew everything he'd just said was
straight from the heart.

As Kian held Aisling's hand, the rest of the group peered out the window to see what was going
on. "I think we may have hit the jackpot with this one, Kez" Bryan said confidently. "What are
you guys up to?" Jie asked sounding a little confused by what Bryan had just said. "Oh, Kez and
I are playing matchmaker" He explained. "Kian is always complaining about how he's not in a
serious relationship and we thought we'd give him a little push in the right direction. In
Aisling's direction". "Ya?" questioned Shane "but how do you know Aisling wants to take on the
likes of Kian?". "Shane honey" Jie spoke up "Look at her. It's exactly how I looked at you the
first time I realized I was in love with you. Can't you see it?".

Jie was right - the look in both Aisling and Kian's eyes was one of love. They always knew they
loved each other as friends, but as Bryan said they just needed a little push to see that they
in fact loved each other much more than that. "Ok lads" Ronan said "Let's leave those two alone
to sort it out" and with that, the curtains fell closed.

Aisling's heart was racing a mile a minute. "Do you think it's worth the risk?" she asked.
Kian responded quickly and with little thought "Ash, I have never wanted anything....anyone more
in my life than I do you right now. This might be the biggest risk I'll ever take in my life,
but I'm willing to take that risk if it means I get to love you". He then leaned in and kissed
her softly, sending shivers down her spine and his.

Aisling had no choice but to give into her feelings. She knew Kian was right - it was a huge
risk to take, but an even bigger risk to lose the greatest love they both could ever know. "I'm
willing to take that risk too Kian" Aisling said as he removed his lips from hers. "I'd rather
have the chance to love you, be with you, than wonder the rest of my life what it would have
been like".

They kissed again, knowing that this night would change their lives forever.   As they
re-entered the house hand in hand, their friends tried hard to appear as if they had no idea
what was going on.   "Hey what's with the hand-holding?" Jie asked. Neither Aisling nor Kian
answered her question.

Kian raised Aisling's hand to his lips, kissed it and then released her hand, making his way
over to Bryan. "Thank you" he whispered to Bryan, giving him a hug. "What was that for man?"
Bryan asked. "Thank you for having this party, thank you for knowing it was her" Kian told him.
"All the time I was looking elsewhere, it turns out that she was right there in front of me,
that Aisling was "it". "I'm happy for you man" Bryan said cheerfully "You both deserve it".

"I'd like to make a toast" Kian shouted "To Bryan and Kerry - for knowing how to recognize love
when it's right there in front of you. Slainte". As he raised his glass, Kian once again took
Aisling's hand in his and then privately toasted her. "And to you, Aisling" he whispered "for
taking a chance at a lifetime of love, for giving me your heart. You are my friend, my heart &
soul. I promise you that this will be the greatest risk of your life. I love you".

**The moral of this story is**
Know that while you are searching elsewhere for the perfect love, always be
aware that it could be much closer than you think

And to quote (by way of paraphrasing) Westlife on this fact:
"I've been a fool, I couldn't see behind the friend in you.
And baby don't you ask me why it just couldn't be love.
Cause from the start you would be the one to cure my heart.
But I just didn't look this way. And now I can't get enough
All my life I waited for someone
All this time, you were the one..."