~*~ Chapter 18 ~*~
NEW YORK CITY, NY - Kirstin's Loft
Kirstin
dropped her keys on the kitchen counter and went to take a bath.
“Hello?”
“Hey G, it’s me, K!”
She first told her friend about her work and then the whole thing with
Tom. When she finished talking, Grace asked:
“Friends, huh?”
“Yes. He’s great, G! You are gonna love him! I thought we knew Tom, but
we didn’t. At all! And it’s totally fine between us. Sometimes, it felt like
nothing happened.”
“But something did happen.”
“I know I’m with Ashley now. Well, kinda. But I don’t know… it’s different
with Tom. He’s so sweet! I miss having a guy friend, you know? I haven’t had
one since, well, Ashley.”
“And look how you two turned out to be!”
“Gee, it’s different. I’m not in love with Tom!”
“Not yet, anyway.”
“Jesus, why you have to be so negative?”
“It’s not that, it’s just that… Never mind…”
“Oh, come on. Tell me.”
“It’s nothing. Just be careful, though. Especially when you tell Ashley
about it, because he may get the wrong impression and you can hurt him… again.”
“I know…” Kirstin leaned her head on the wall “I will be careful.”
“Good.”
“So, let me call him now before it’s too late.” she read the digital
clock on her nightstand. It was 10:45 already.
“Ok, hun. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Yeah, buhbye!”
Pressing the speed dial, Kirstin got a hold on Ashley.
“Hello?”
“Hey, you!” she smiled to the phone.
“Hey! How is it going?” Ashley asked, all enthusiastic.
“Good, good… you?”
“Great… So… how were things with Tom?” Ashley didn’t have the enthusiastic
tone in his voice anymore. He was worried about that every since he heard Kirstin
say she was with Tom at the coffee shop he worked at.
“Pretty good, actually. We talked for hours. He’s a great guy, Ashley!”
she heard nothing on the other end “Not as much as you, though.”
“Well, I am one of a kind!” his mood seemed to had got better. That made
Kirstin grin.
“Yeah, yeah…”
“So, the awkward phase is gone now. You don’t have meet him again, right?”
“Well...” she didn’t know how to put it. She felt like… betraying Ashley
for some reason “We are gonna hang out again. We exchanged numbers. We are gonna
be friends, you know?”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why? Why I wanna have a friend?”
“No, it’s… why do you want him as your friend?”
“Because he is a terrific guy and I miss having a guy friend.”
“But I’m your guy friend.”
“Yeah, but… you’re more than my friend.”
“That, thank God, I am!”
“See? But Tom and I are just gonna be friends, friends.”
“Really?”
“Yes! Of course!”
“Promise?”
“Promise, Ash!”
“Ok!” Ashley wasn’t too glad about the situation, but he didn’t wanna
extend that conversation and didn’t wanna say something wrong, so he changed
the subject, talking about Kirstin’s first day at work and more. Approximately
30 minutes later, Kirstin stated:
“So, ok. I gotta go get some sleep. I have to go to the library tomorrow.”
“But tomorrow is Saturday!”
“I know, but I have this paper that’s due to Monday. I was gonna work
on it Thursday, but some band called in asking for an immediate meeting at work
and I had no time to work on it. So I have to do this on a weekend.”
“Man, what a mean band!”
“I know! Tell me about it!” they giggled “Baby, I really have to hang
up now.”
“Really?”
“Really…”
“Really really?”
“Really really really!”
“Wow…
you really have to go, huh?” Kirstin giggled again “Ok, so go. Go have your
Beauty Sleep.”
“I
don’t need that. I’m naturally beautiful!”
“Yeah,
right!”
“Ashley
Angel!”
“Just
kidding, girl! You are a true Princess.”
“Thank
you!”
“So,
I’ll call you tomorrow as soon as we land in Indianapolis.”
“Ok,
great. Then talk to you tomorrow.”
“Bye…
Sweet dreams!”
“You
too! Buhbye!”
Kirstin
was too tired to go back downstairs to put the cordless phone on its proper
place, so she just placed it on her night stand, got up to turn off the lights
and got to bed.
~*~*~*~*~*~
ORLANDO, FL - O-Town House
“Dan, can we talk?” Ashley knocked and asked outside Dan’s room.
“Yes, come on in. I’m just finishing packing.”
“Too excited to go to bed?” Ashley leaned on Dan’s closet.
“Yes! It’s great coming home! Well, almost home.”
“Yes, it is.” that reminded Ashley of something that made him rub his
forehead “Oh man, I still have to pack
my things.”
“What’s up Ash? What you wanna talk about?”
“Oh, yeah!” Ashley got all excited all of a sudden “Kirstin called!”
“Really? That’s good! And… what happened?” Dan asked, shoving some socks
in his bag.
“Well, I didn’t like the part where she said how great that Tom guy is
and how cool is gonna be when they hang out again.”
“Ow… I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, they decided they are gonna be friends. And that scares me a bit.”
“Because usually a guy is just friends with a girl when he’s after something
more?”
“Exactly! It scares me, especially if he already had something with the
girl and that particular girl is my girl. And besides…” Ashley looked down.
“Besides?”
“I know how Kirstin is around guy friends. In high school, she didn’t have too many guy friends, just me and this guy named Jared. And, how can I put it? She’s a “touchy” type of girl. When she’s friends with a guy, she touches him too much, like, hugs all the time, and kisses on the cheek, and stroking in the head, and sitting or laying on his lap, you know? And guys do tend to get the wrong impression about girls that do that. Jared did, and I know Kirstin totally blew him off, but I worry anyhow.”
“Oh,
I see… But what did Kirstin say about it? Them being friends, I mean.”
“She
didn’t seem to want to talk too much about it, she only said he’s a great guy,
they are gonna hang out again, as friends, and promised that’d be all.”
“Well,
there you have it. Now, what’s left for you to do is trust her.”
“Yeah,
I guess…”
“And
was she excited when you told her you are gonna be there in 3 weeks?”
“I
didn’t tell her.”
“You
didn’t? At practice you couldn’t wait to get home and tell her. What made you
change your mind?”
“I
thought of surprising her.”
“Nice!”
“Yeah,
I thought so, too! I didn’t tell her we are going to Europe either. She’s not
gonna like it that much, I think, so I thought of telling her that in person.”
“It’s
better that way, yes. Done!” Dan exclaimed when he zipped up his bag.
“Oh,
I’ll go do mine now. Dan, thanks for listening man. Again!”
“Hey,
don’t mention!” they ‘male hugged’ each other and Ashley left Dan’s room.
~*~*~*~*~*~
It had been 3 weeks since Kirstin had bumped into Tom. And a lot had
happened during those weeks. Kirstin and Tom had developed this amazing friendship.
Every time Tom would have a short shift at the bar, or no shift at all, he would
sleep over Kirstin’s. On her couch, of course. Sometimes, Grace and Lexie would
sleep over too, but most of the times, especially if it was on weekdays, it
was just Kirstin and Tom. And they were both fine with that. They felt comfortable
around each other. Tom had even got a copy of Kirstin’s loft key. Now Grace
wasn’t the only one with a copy. Kirstin felt so safe around Tom. She felt she
could tell him anything without being judged. And that Friday, she told him
something not so many people knew.
“A tattoo?”
“Yes… why are you so shocked?”
“I don’t know… I wouldn’t take you as a tattoo type of person.”
“Well, most people don’t.”
“But…” he didn’t know how to put it “How come I didn’t see it when… you
know?”
“When what?” Kirstin knew exactly what he meant by that, but she was
trying to make him feel uncomfortable, so she even faked a serious look.
“When we… you know!”
“No,
I don’t! When we what?” now
she had a confused look on.
“When
we almost did it.”
“Oh!
That time!” she smirked and Tom realized she knew all along what he was talking
about “I don’t know. It’s not that big and it’s really covered. It’s not everyone
that can see it. Just a few selected people.” she winked.
“Where
is it?”
Kirstin
and Tom were sitting on her couch on their sleeping clothes. Tom wore a black
Adidas pants and no t-shirt on (despite how cold NY was during the beginning
of February, Kirstin’s loft was really warm) and Kirstin wore a big and old
white t-shirt with the Coca-Cola logo on it. The t-shirt was pretty long and
went all the way down her knees. Underneath it, she had on really short, black
lycra shorts.
“Come
on! Where is it?”
Kirstin
got up, pulled her shirt up, pulled her shorts down a little and revealed her
tattoo. As Kirstin had told before, it wasn’t too big. The tattoo was about
1 and a half inches and it was a heart with a chain around it with a lock. It
was on the right side on her lower back.
“It’s
cute.”
“I
like it.” she stated, rubbing her thumb on her tattoo and sitting back on her
couch.
“Is
it suppose to be your own heart?” Kirstin just nodded “But why is it locked?”
“Because
if no one can get to it, no one can play with it.” she answered, glancing down
“I gotta go to the bathroom. Be right back.”
Tom knew Kirstin had been hurt, but he wanted so badly to know who would do such a thing to a girl like Kirstin. He wanted to know the whole story, but couldn’t and wouldn’t ask her to tell him. Not yet, anyway. He then went to grab the remote control to turn on the TV, but was stopped by the doorbell ring.
“The pizza is here!” he yelled to inform Kirstin that their dinner had arrived. He got his wallet from the kitchen counter and went to get the door “Hey, how much is it again?” he was going through his wallet and when no one answered, he looked up and saw that the figure standing there wasn't holding a pizza.
“Oh,
I’m sorry, I thought it was… Hey! I know you!”
* Thanx Stacie from http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/otownified/ for correcting the grammar on this chapter
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