~*~ Chapter 24~*~
NEW YORK CITY, NY – Hotel – Sunday
It was almost 2:30 pm and the guys from O-Town were already waiting for the Mikes at the lobby. In one sofa sat Erik and Dan, in other one sat Trevor and Jacob and in another one, far from the other four guys, Kirstin and Ashley were cuddling.
“So, Mike said 8 pm, but it might take longer for us to get back. If we get here after 10, I don’t think I’ll go to your house.”
“Why not?” Kirstin sounded hurt.
“Oh, baby, I’ll be too tired. And you will be too. So, if I get here after 10, we’ll see each other tomorrow after all my appointments are over, ok?”
“Yeah, ok…” Kirstin looked down.
“What? What, K?”
“Nothing, it’s just that… it’s just that it sounds like you don’t wanna see me anymore today.”
“Oh, Kirstin, come on! You know it’s nothing like that. I love being with you and you know that better than anyone else. It’s just that I’m still pretty tired from last night.” Ashley winked, but got nothing from Kirstin “I hadn’t had the time to rest. And also, today is a pretty busy day. Tomorrow things will be easier because I only have one TV show and that’s it, then we can spend the rest of the day together.”
“Ok…” Kirstin played with Ashley’s fingers. He was about to say something, but was interrupted by Mike Cronin, yelling from the exit door, to let the guys know the limo had arrived to pick them up. Ashley got up and so did Kirstin. They kissed, a quick kiss, and Ashley left. Kirstin stood there, just watching him go. When the limo took off, she took a deep breath and headed to the parking lot to get her car.
~*~*~*~*~*~
NEW YORK CITY, NY - Kirstin’s Loft
Kirstin dropped all her stuff on her couch. She glanced at her answering machine. One message. She pushed play and the voice that she heard made her smile.
“Hey KeeKee, it’s Tommy here. Wassup? We haven’t talked, like really talked, in a while now. I wanna know what’s going on with my baby girl. So when you get back and hear this, call me and maybe I can swing by later? Call me! Love ya! Buhbye”
Kirstin’s smiled faded. She really hadn’t been a good friend. She hadn’t had a real conversation with Tom since Ashley had gotten to New York. And Kirstin really missed their talks. She missed Tom. His stupid little jokes and pranks. His advices. She really liked him, maybe even more than she should. She felt happy around him. Especially at that particular time, when she had so much going on in her mind, she missed feeling happy, nothing but happy. No worries.
She picked up her cordless phone and, heading upstairs, dialed Tom’s cell phone number.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Tommy.”
“KeeKee!!! How is my little girl?”
“I’m fine, how are you?” Kirstin smiled.
“I’m ok. I just really miss you, that’s all.”
“Oh, me too, honey. Me too. So… come on over!”
“Really? Won’t you hang with Ashley today?”
“I just left his hotel. He’s gonna be out for the rest of the day and doesn’t know when he’s coming back. I might not even see him again today.”
“Oh, I see… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.”
“Yeah… so what I can do to make my baby girl feel better? Because I sure can feel you’re blue.”
“Just come over. Like… now! I can really use some friendly talk right about now.”
“I’ll go for sure, but I can’t right now. Can we make it at 9 pm?”
“Oh, ok… sure!” Kirstin got a bit upset. Tom didn’t detect that.
“Ok, so see you at 9!”
“I’m waiting, then. See ya.”
“Bye.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
NEW YORK CITY, NY - O-Town’s Limo
“Listen up, everybody!” Mike Morin shouted to get the guys attention “It was scheduled for us to leave Tuesday at midnight, but that’s not gonna happen. I could only get tickets to Tuesday at 8 am. So tomorrow night, get your packs ready. That’s it. Any doubts?”
Ashley was not pleased with that information. He had less time to spend with Kirstin. But he was already planning to do something really special that would make the next day unforgettable for her. But, for that, he would need this one person’s help.
~*~*~*~*~*~
NEW YORK CITY, NY - Kirstin’s Loft - 9:20 p.m.
The doorbell rang, but Kirstin didn’t bother to answer it. She knew it was Tom and she smiled at the sound of his key unlocking the door. She was heading downstairs after changing to more comfortable clothes. When Tom was closing the door behind him, Kirstin called out his name.
“Tommy!” she ran to his encounter at the door, hugging him tightly. He held her up.
“Hey baby! How are you?”
“Much better now!” she smiled a big smile at him when he put her back down.
“I’m much better now, too.” he smiled also.
”Come, come sit.” She said, taking his hand and leading him to the couch “You look great by the way. Where were you?” she asked Tom, that was wearing a black button-down shirt and khaki pants. Tom would usually wear just jeans and t-shirts, so Kirstin figured he was coming from somewhere, or else he wouldn’t be dressed like that.
“I was in an interview for this new job. I quit Dean & Deluca.” he said while both of them were sitting on the couch.
“No! What happened?” Kirstin asked surprised.
“Oh, no biggy. My supervisor was a pain in the ass, I couldn’t stand him anymore, so I quit. So, I was looking for a job where I could get paid more.”
“Yeah… and what was the interview for? But… an interview in a Sunday?”
“I thought it was weird too, but last night, at Luna, I got to meet one of the managers and we were talking and he said he was looking for someone to supervise the bartenders and the waiters at the VIP section, also to talk to the VIPs to know if everything was in order, you know? Stuff like that. So… I said I was interested and he asked me to go today to meet his partner.”
“And… how was it?”
“If I want it, the job is mine.”
“No way!”
“Way…”
“But… you don’t seem too excited. What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know… maybe it’s because I’ll have to quit Inferno too and I really love that place. I have great friends there and… that’s… where I met you. So it’s a special place for me.” Kirstin grinned.
“It’s not gonna be cool to leave some of your friends there. But, about me, you can see me anytime you want now. You don’t need Inferno for that anymore.”
“Yeah, I guess. And it’s a huge step for me, too. To be supervisor. And I’m gonna get so much more money.”
“See? I think it’s a great opportunity for you and you should definitely take it.”
“Yeah, I guess I will.” he glanced down and smiled.
“What?”
“Nothing, it’s just that I... miss this.”
“This what?”
“This. Us. Talking. It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.” now Kirstin was the one glancing down.
“Don’t be. I understand.”
“But I am. I love our time together. I feel like I can talk to you about anything, any time, anywhere.”
“I know you do, but I bet you feel the same way with Ashley, so…” Tom saw no expression on Kirstin’s face. She gazed down and played with her hair.
“No, I don’t.”
“Why not? I mean, you’re not his girlfriend, I know that, but you guys go way back. You were best friends in high school, you have a history. You must have a lot to talk about.”
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s great, a great friend. But not like he used to be. He’s… weird now. Not weird, I mean… I don’t know. He doesn’t have the time to talk or do anything whenever we feel like it. He’s always in a rush because of his job. I’m not complaining about his job. I couldn’t even. This life he has now has been a dream for him from way before I met him, so I’m really happy for him to be where he is now, but… I don’t know… After we had sex, things... ”
“I’m sorry... You two had sex?”
“Yes…”
“I know it’s not my business and if you don’t wanna answer it, that’s fine, but… When was that?”
Kirstin didn’t wanna discuss her intimate life with Tom, but maybe, if she did, she would know if Tom was jealous of her, so she’d know if he still had feelings for her. For some sick reason, she wanted to know that.
“Last night.”
“After you two left the club?”
“Yes… here at the loft.”
“Oh... Ok.” Tom glanced away. Kirstin sensed he was a bit jealous on his own weird way, not talking about it. She continued.
“So, after last night’s thingy, things felt better, like I could really talk to him, trust him. I felt a better connection between the two of us today. So, I opened up to him and told him things I never told anyone. But then, later today, he said we probably wouldn’t see more of each other today because he would be too tired and wouldn’t come over.”
“What? He’d be tired to see the girl he claims to love? What the hell is that?”
“I know! I felt the same way, Tommy! I mean, if he really loves me the way he’s always saying he does, things would be different. He’d never be too tired to see me, because I would never be too tired to see the person I love. So, now I’m afraid that…” Kirstin, again, gazed down.
“What? What, K, baby?” Tom lifted her chin up and saw that Kirstin was crying “Oh, baby, don’t cry. Come here.” Tom hugged her tightly. Kirstin had her head rested on his right shoulder “Why are you crying?”
“Because I feel that, maybe, now that we had sex, he got what he wanted ever since high school and he wants nothing to do with me anymore, because he saw that last night was not what he always dreamed it would be like. Maybe he got disappointed. Maybe I’m not what he dreamed of.”
“Sh, Kirstin. Don’t say stupid things. You’re way better than you give yourself credit for. You’re every man’s dream. Well, I don’t know about every man, but I do know you are my dream.”
Kirstin broke their hug and looked deeply into Tom’s light, bright green eyes. She just looked, did not say a word. A while later, she got up from the couch and said, while trailing to the kitchen counter:
“You’re gonna have to stop doing that.”
Tom followed her to the counter. Kirstin had his back to him.
“Doing what?”
Kirstin turned to face him.
“Saying things that make me wanna kiss you.”
“You too.” he replied.
The second Kirstin heard Tom say that, she didn’t even think twice. She grabbed his head from behind and pressured his lips on hers, kissing Tom hard on the mouth.
* Thanx Stacie from http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/otownified/ for correcting the grammar on this chapter
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