~*~ Chapter 15 ~*~
ORLANDO, FL - O-Town House
Kirstin was relieved. Ashley remembered not only that she used to call him Superman, but that he used to call her Princess.
'Maybe he’s right. Maybe we are meant to be together.' she thought,
while kissing him. She pulled back.
She wanted to see inside Ashley, and in order to do that, she had to look him
deeply in his eyes. She stared at his amazing blue eyes and could tell his feelings
for her were for real. She then felt his index finger slowly trace her face.
When it felt on her mouth, she kissed the tip of his finger gently. He leaned
forward and gently pressed his lips to hers. Kirstin closed her eyes when their
lips touched. She deepened the kiss. His hands slid over her back and her hair.
Kirstin’s hands were at Ashley’s waist. She opened her mouth and moan when she
felt his tongue sliding over her lips, and then entering her mouth. Ashley pulled
her against him and Kirstin led them to bed. He was on top of her and he heard
Kirstin moan as his mouth left hers and trailed kisses down to her neck, where
he kissed and sucked her soft skin. Kirstin was going crazy as he unbutton her
red blouse. All she could feel was Ashley’s hot mouth on her skin. She hadn’t
felt like that in a long time. She had had sex, yes, but this was all new to
her. She could hear both their hearts beating together. Kirstin smiled as Ashley
continued to kiss her, now heading to her bellybutton. She wanted to feel his
lips on hers and his body, so she took his t-shirt off and captured his lips,
kissing him passionately. Now that Kirstin had control, things started to heat
up pretty quickly. Ashley pulled her to him and she gasped when she felt his
arousal. ‘Stop’ she thought ‘We can’t do this’ Kirstin pulled
away, breathing heavily, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Ashley looked
at her with half-closed, desire-filled eyes. Kirstin took a deep breath.
“I gotta go.”
“What? Is something wrong?” he asked, worried.
“No, nothing’s wrong.” she lied and glanced down.
“Then why don’t you look at me when you say that?”
“It’s nothing. Really, Ashley, I’m fine.”
“Kirstin, I know when you are lying. It’s the second time today that this has
happened. Please, don’t think I’m pressuring you, I just wanna know if you have
a problem with…”
“Ashley, what time is it?” she asked all of a sudden, trying to change the subject.
“It’s 12:20.”
“Shit! I gotta go!” she got up and went to find her blouse.
“Why? Why can’t you just stay here so we can talk?”
“I don’t wanna talk. And I can’t stay here. I don’t know what time we’re leaving
tomorrow, but Andy said it would be in the morning, so I really should go.”
“No, stay, K!” he pleaded with a puppy dog face.
Ashley was sitting on the foot of the bed and Kirstin was up, buttoning up her
blouse.
“I can’t! I have to be in my room tomorrow morning so Andy will call me up when
it’s time to leave.”
“Can’t you call him?”
“I’m not gonna call my boss after midnight! Please Ash, this job is really important
to me, I can’t mess with things now. I haven’t even started to work yet. I can’t
ruin this.” seeing the despair in Kirstin’s face, Ashley said:
“Ok. But I’m driving you to the hotel!”
“Ok, fine.”
“Then just give me a minute.” he said, as he disappeared into the bathroom.
“Take your time.” she smirked, as she realized he was still turned on.
Kirstin scanned the room once again. It wasn’t a real spacious room, especially
with a king size bed in it, but it was nice. It felt cozy, even with all those
Superman symbols and the walls those colors. She went to check out his desk,
in the corner of the room. She went through the stuff that was lying there:
tour schedules, airline tickets, his wallet. She picked up the wallet and opened
it. Inside there was some money and some pictures, 3 to be exact. A picture
of Ashley with his mom and stepfather, he was probably 15 in the picture. The
other picture was of Taylor, Justin, Emily and Anne, Ashley’s siblings in front
of a Christmas tree. Kirstin could tell it was a pretty recent picture because
she knew all Ashley’s siblings and everyone had grown so much, especially Emily.
She used to be close to Emily. And the third picture really made Kirstin smile.
It was a picture of her and Ashley in front of her house at the prom night.
Mrs. Addams didn’t let them go to the prom before she’d take a picture. They
were both so happy in the picture. Ashley had his right arm around Kirstin’s
waist. She was wearing a baby blue long dress and a blue corsage, and Ashley
had a black tuxedo on with a baby-blue tie to match Kirstin’s dress. Kirstin
still had her smile on when she put the wallet back on the desk.
She
then saw Ashley’s portable CD player. “What’s Mr. Angel listening to now a days?”
she said out loud, opening the CD Player. Inside there was the 'You are not
alone' single, by Michael Jackson. Kirstin frowned. That single was kinda old
for him to be listening to. She just shrugged, closed the CD player and went
through this pile of cds. She found Third Eye Blind, Goo Goo Dolls, Craig Davis,
Boys II Men. She then picked up this cd-case that was opened. She closed it
and found the cover of 'You are not alone' single.
“I
see you found your song.”
“Oh
my God, Ashley! You scared the hell out of me!” she said, placing her hand over
her chest.
“Sorry…”
he apologized getting near her.
“But
what do you mean my song?”
“I
listen to this song all the time, ever since our prom night. I feel like the
lyric is about you. Especially the part that says ‘You are not here with me
/ You never said goodbye / Someone tell me why / Did you have to go / And leave
my world so cold’.”
Kirstin
looked down. She had hurt Ashley. She felt ashamed.
“Ashley,
I’m sorry I hurt you. I never meant to. I never thought you actually had feelings
for me, so I thought that me leaving wouldn’t…”
“Sh!”
Ashley placed his index finger over her mouth “That’s alright, K. It’s over
now. We are together now and that’s what counts.”
“But
I really am sorry and…” she was silenced once again, but this time by Ashley’s
tender kiss. He backed away and said:
“Forget
that.”
She
put the CD case back on the desk and told him:
“You are gonna have to find us another song.”
“I
definitely will” Ashley grinned, taking Kirstin’s hand and headed out of the
house.
They
got inside Ashley’s Ford Explorer. Ashley started the car and asked:
“What
hotel are you staying in?”
“Hyatt.”
“Ok.
So… Kirstin, how’s your family doing?”
“Well,
my dad is fine, still working at the factory. My mom quit her job at the bank.
She was getting tired of working. And Kelly, she’s going to U.C.L.A probably.”
“Really?
Your sister is going to UCLA? That’s cool! That’s where I would go, if you know,
this hadn’t happened.”
“Yeah,
but I’d say you're doing much better this way.” she grinned “But what
about you? What about your family?” she didn’t want to mention the fact that
she went through his wallet. She didn’t know if he would be cool with that nosy
act of hers.
“Everyone’s
fine really. My dad was not really happy that I joined the band, though.”
“Really?
Why?”
“He
has his motives, I guess. But it was bad at first, now it’s ok. It was even
in an episode of Making the Band. Haven’t you watched our show?”
“I've
tried not to, you know? Because of the whole… but what about the rest of your
family?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Just
fine. Nothing new.”
“When
was the last time you saw them?”
“It’s
January now. It wasn’t a long time ago. We got the holidays off, so I spent
it in Redding.”
“Oh,
nice!”
“Did
you go home for the holidays?”
“No,
I stayed in NY.”
“Yeah,
I know…”
“What
do you mean you know?”
“It’s,
uh… you see, I…”
“Yes…?”
“I
drove to your house.”
“My
parents house?”
“Yes.
I always do that.”
“What
do you mean you always do that?”
“I
always drive to your house, every holiday since you left, to see if you’re there.”
“You
are joking.”
“I
wish I was.”
“Why
would you do that for?”
“Because
I never heard from you Kirstin. And I wouldn’t stop by your parents’ house and
ask them for your number. So I’d always drive by the house to see if there was
any sign of you there, but there never was.”
“Yeah,
well… I haven’t been back there since that day.”
“What day?"
"The prom."
"Really?”
“Yes.”
“You
have never been back there since our prom? Really? Never?”
“Nope.”
“You
haven’t seen your family since then?”
“Oh,
no! They come to my place for Thanksgiving every year. But I don’t go to Redding.”
“Why
is that?”
“Because.
I don’t like it there. That’s all there is Ash. Now, we’re here.” she thanked
God they have arrived at the hotel, so they could stop talking about that. Ashley
pulled over.
“K,
we haven’t talked yet about how things are gonna be with you in NY and me here
or traveling all the time.”
“Yeah…”
“Well?”
“I
don’t know Ashley. I’m not good at this.”
“Ok…
here’s how I see it. First of all, you are gonna have to give me your phone
number.”
“Oh,
yeah! Right! That would help!” Kirstin smirked and went through her purse to
get 2 pieces of paper and a pen. While doing that, Ashley continued:
“I
don’t know when we’re touring again, but I’ll try to call you everyday, alright?”
“Promise?
Because I really want this to work, Ash.”
“I
promise. I want this to work just as much as you do Kirstin. Maybe even more.”
he said, and then got the piece of paper and pen out of Kirstin's hand, wrote
his numbers down and handed it back to her “And it will. You’ll see. And whenever
I’m in NY, we are going to see each other. Nothing will stop me from doing that.
And don’t worry, we’re in NY all the time.” he grinned.
Kirstin
took Ashley’s hand gently in hers and stated:
“Ashley,
I know we’re gonna be seeing too little of each other. I really don’t care that
much about it because we’ve been apart for 2 years and managed to get back now.
The 'always away' part is not really a problem to me. But I do have a problem.
And I want to ask you for just one favor, before going in too deep in this relationship.”
“Yes…
anything you want.”
“If
you ever stop liking me or if you find someone else, please, please, please,
talk to me first before you do anything. It will hurt me to know you have found
someone that is better for you than I am, but it will hurt me much more to see
that you were not completely truthful to me. That’s the only thing I ask. I
know we are not boyfriend and girlfriend, and that this may be too much to ask,
but can you promise me that you’ll talk to me first before letting anything
happen with someone else?”
Ashley
looked deeply into Kirstin’s big brown eyes. He could see she was sad for some
reason. He didn’t like that. He leaned forward and gently kissed her. Then backed
away and answered:
“Yes,
Kirstin, I do promise you that. But you don’t have to worry, because that will
never happen.”
“Oh,
trust me, you can never be too sure of that.” she was serious, but she thought
of something to say that swept that serious look away from her face, giving
place to a smile “And don’t forget I’ll be watching you! And not the edited
version. I’ll see the real deal. I’ll have all the tapes in my possession. I
won’t be there in person, but the cameras will be my eyes. Don’t forge that
Mr.!”
“Oh,
that’s so not fair! You’ll be seeing me and I won’t be seeing you! I want a
job where I can see you all day long, too!”
“Oh,
it’s not my fault you chose to be this big pop star.” she said and then
noticed the clock on the car “Oh my God! Is that the time?” Ashley nodded “It’s
1:30 am! I have to go!” she was opening her door when Ashley stopped her.
“Don’t!
Please. Allow me.”
“Oh,
what a gentleman!”
Ashley
got out of the car, opened Kirstin’s door for her, and offered his hand to help
her out.
“Ashley,
I’m gonna get used to this. And it’s not good, because I won’t have someone
to do that for me in NY.”
“Don’t
worry, whenever I’m there I’ll make it up to you.” Ashley’s blue eyes totally
hypnotized Kirstin. They started at each other’s eyes for a brief moment and
then Kirstin informed:
“Well,
now I really have to go.”
“Ok.
But K, call me when you get in NY, alright?”
“Alright.”
“Then...
goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
Ashley held her in his arms and kissed her passionately. Kirstin deepen the
kiss this time. She was actually sad to be leaving. First, she didn’t want to
go to Florida, now she didn’t want to leave.
When they broke apart, they just glanced at each other once more. Without saying a word, Kirstin smiled, turned and headed into the hotel.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kirstin woke up to the sound of a phone ringing. Without even opening her eyes,
she unhooked the phone and in a sleepy voice, answered it.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!”
“Who is this?” she asked angrily. She was usually grumpy when she was woken
up.
“Wow, chill out! It’s Andy. Listen. Our flight leaves at 11:30! It’s 8 o’clock
now. Get dressed and we’ll meet at the restaurant, ok?”
“Yes, ok.” she said more calmly. She couldn’t yell at her boss. If it was Grace,
she would have hung up by now.
“Good, then see you soon.”
Kirstin still had her eyes closed when she sat up. She had got to her room last
night at 1:40 am, went straight to bed, but couldn’t sleep. Her mind was full
of concerns. She didn’t know if she could believe Ashley on what he promised
her. But she was so tired she eventually fell asleep.
Now she had a tank top on, blue jeans and sunglasses. It was a sunny day, not
too hot, though. When she got to the restaurant, she scanned the place until
she located this guy, sitting at a table by the window, waving at her.
“Hey Andy.” she greeted, in a terrible mood, sitting on the chair in front of
her boss.
“Someone’s grumpy early in the morning. What’s up with you?”
“Nothing. Just tired.”
“What time did you get here?”
‘Should I tell him the truth?’ she figured she shouldn’t. “Hm, I think
it was about 11, 11:30. You left what? Around 10?”
“Yeah, around that. So it didn’t take too long. Why are you so tired , then?”
“Oh, the flight and everything.”
“I see. And how did it go yesterday with that O-Town guy?”
“Good, I guess.” she answered, taking a sip out of her orange juice.
“What did he want? Was it something about the show?”
“He... hm... he actually wanted to know how things were with me, my family,
what I was doing with my life. Things like that.”
“So, nothing about the show?” Andrew sounded kinda disappointed, taking a bite
from his bagel. He thought that with Kirstin working on the show, the guys would
cut them some slack about the editing.
“Hm... just that it was such a coincidence, me working on the show."
“Was he happy about it?”
“Oh, he seemed pretty happy about it, yes.” she smiled slightly.
“Good, that’s good.”
They finished their breakfast, went to their rooms to finish packing, met at
the lobby to check out and made their way to the airport. During the ride to
the airport, Andrew informed:
“Oh, Kirstin. I forgot to tell you. In the hotel room, I got a call from one
of the show’s producer and he said we’ll be getting the first tapes tomorrow.”
“Oh, good!” Kirstin couldn’t wait to start working. “So, what time do you need
me there tomorrow?”
“I don’t know about your school agenda, but do you think you can start working
everyday at 2 pm?”
“Until what time?”
“Well, there isn’t really a time to leave. It depends on how much we get done
that day.”
“Oh, ok. Well, at Tuesdays and Wednesday I have classes at 7 pm. Do you think
that will a problem?”
“Oh, not at all. So 2 pm tomorrow, ok?”
“Yes, sure. Great.”
Before she knew it, they were at the airport. The flight was relatively boring, but was filled with chitchat.
~*~*~*~*~*~
ORLANDO,
FL - O-Town House - Same
day
“Good morning, sunshine!” Trevor greeted Ashley, who was getting into the kitchen
that moment. He was rubbing his eyes.
“Good morning.” Ashley answered, half asleep.
All the O-Town
members, minus Erik, were up and having their breakfast at that moment.
“So…?” Dan was egger to know how things were the night before.
“So, did you brush your teeth?” Trevor joked “What do think you
so what, Ashley? How were things with Kirstin last nigh?”
“We are together. But she said she doesn’t wanna be my girlfriend.”
“She doesn’t wanna be your girlfriend? What is that?” Jacob was now standing next to the table where all the 3 guys were sitting.
“Wow… this girl is kinda messed up, don’t you think, Ashley? She runs away, she then kisses you, leads you to bed and then stops it, and then she doesn’t wanna be your girlfriend?”
They
were all silent for a second when the phone rang. Jacob was already standing
up, so he answered it.
“Hello.
Ok… Alright. Yeah, we’ll meet there. Ok, bye.”
he hung up and looked at his friends “That was Mike. We gotta go. We
have rehearsal with Doc in 40 minutes.”
“Ok, I’ll get Erik.” Dan said, getting up. Trevor went to do whatever and so did Jacob. Ashley finished his breakfast and, too, was off to get ready for rehearsal.
~*~*~*~*~*~
NEW
YORK CITY, NY
Kirstin
and Andrew got to the airport and went their separate ways.
When
Kirstin got to her apartment, there were 2 messages on her answering machine.
She placed her bag on her couch, pushed play and when to the kitchen to get
something to drink.
The machine’s female voice announced ‘First Message’.
“Hey K. It’s me, G. It’s 2 pm and you haven’t called me yet to tell about how
things were in Orlando. Guess you’re not here yet, but call me as soon as you
hear this. Bye!”
‘Second Message’
“K, it’s me again. Now it’s 4 pm and you still haven’t called. And don’t forget!
Today is Thursday! You know what that means. Call me!”
Kirstin smiled to the sound of her best friend’s voice on her machine. She would
call her. But not now. Now she would take a nap. She lay on her couch and before
feeling asleep, she managed to say:
“I’m too tired to go out tonight.”
* Thanx Caitlin for editing and correcting the grammar on this chapter
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