~*~
Chapter 6 ~*~
“C'mon people, let's do it!” Ashley was standing in the lobby, talking to his
4 sleepy band mates, who were sitting on the couch. They were waiting for the
limo to arrive and take them to the radio station where they would be doing
an interview later on.
“Oh, shut up! It's 8 o'clock in the morning, for crying out loud! I can
hardly keep my eyes open. Why are you so hyper, anyway?”
Jacob wondered, holding his head back on the couch.
“Today he has his big date!” Erik
told Jacob with a sarcastic look.
“Oh yeah. That's right. While you go on a date with your high school
sweetheart, your actual girlfriend is gonna be here, waiting for you in your
hotel room, totally clueless.” Jacob was kinda upset with Ashley's decision.
Noticing the emotion in Jacobs's voice, Ashley looked at his band mate:
“Jacob, you don't have to get mad at me. I already told you it's not
a date. Yeah, I liked Kirstin when we were on high school. We were friends.
But I'm not that kind of guy. I'm not gonna get involved with Kirstin if I'm
with Jen.”
“But from what we're seeing, you seem pretty interested in Kirstin, Ashley.”
Dan spoke up “I just think you should talk to Jen about it.”
“Me too. I already told him that, but he refuses to listen to me.” Erik
informed Dan.
“Well, if you must know, I will talk to her. I thought about it when
we were in our room last night and I will talk to her, but just when I come
back from seeing Kirstin. When I get back from my date with her, I will be able
to see if I have any feeling left for Kirstin.”
“I thought it wasn't a date.” Jacob just shook his head.
There was silence for a moment. Ashley couldn't pretend it anymore. He
was really thinking of it as a date. Actually, not just a date, but their first
official date. He would consider the prom their first date if Kirstin didn't
keep on saying that they were going to the prom just as friends. He closed his
eyes for a second. There, he was able to see the image of Kirstin that night.
When he came to her door to take her to the prom, she looked so incredibly beautiful
that she took his breath away for a moment. She was wearing a long baby blue
gown. The gown was plain and simple, but it showed all her curves and how tall
she really was. She wasn't wear shoes with big heels, or else she'd be taller
than Ashley. And she hated when she was taller than guys. It was something she
totally hated about herself, but Ashley always liked that. Her being that tall
made her even more beautiful and it made her stand out from everybody. When
Ashley touched Kirstin's skin while putting on the corsage on her wrist, he
felt a chill down his spine. He didn't know what it was. He had never felt like
that before. He was so afraid. He had being with a lot of other girls before,
but none of them made him feel the way he did when he was around Kirstin.
“Ashley? Hello? Let's go! The limo is here.” Trevor woke Ashley from
his thoughts.
“Hey!” Grace greeted sitting on a chair at the table Kirstin was finishing
her lunch.
“Hey, what's up? You are kinda late!”
“Oh, nothing much. I had to talk to this teacher after class. So… what
time will you pick me up tonight?” Grace asked excited. She loved their Thursday
nights.
“I'm sorry, what?”
“Hello? It's Thursday! What time will you pick me up so we can go to
Inferno?”
“Oh yeah… about that. I don't feel like going out tonight.”
“What are you talking about? Since our first night out, we have never
skipped one Thursday night. And you, especially you, love our Thursdays nights
out for obvious reasons.” Grace was kinda intrigued. Her best friend had been
acting really strange for the past week. She wondered what was wrong with her
“K, I know you don't like sharing your problems with anyone, but I'm
your best friend! We have known each other for 2 years now and I have never
seen you so strange like you have been in these past 2 weeks. Please, tell me
what's going on. I may not be able to help you, but just getting whatever this
problem is off your chest might help. Please, tell me what's wrong!”
Seeing her best friend's true intention to help, Kirstin realized that,
maybe, it was time to talk to someone about it. She couldn't keep it to herself
anymore. She was gonna freak out pretty soon if she didn't talk to someone.
And who better to talk about it than to her best friend?
“Ok Grace. I guess you are right. But this conversation will stay here,
ok?”
“Yes, of course! You didn't even have to ask, K!”
“Ok, so here's the thing. There was this guy I went to the prom with…”
“Ok guys. Thank you very much. I think I have everything I need for the
article. If I need anything else, I'll call one of your managers.” this blond
female journalist told the O-Town members while they were shaking hands. After
saying their goodbyes, they went to their limo to go back to their hotel.
“What time is it?” Ashley asked but then realized he was wearing his
watch and saw it was 3:15. “Oh my God! I gotta go meet Kirstin! We agreed to
meet at 3:30! Mike, can the driver drop me at MTV before taking you guys back
to the hotel?”
“Yes, just let me tell him that.” Mike Morin moved from his seat to one
near the driver and informed him.
“So… if Jen asks where you are, what do we tell her?” Erik asked Ashley.
“Hm… tell her that I got stuck at the interview and I'll call her as
soon as I get out of there.”
“Oh man! I see you getting busted already.” Jacob just shook his head
in a negative way.
“I won't! Don't worry about me, guys. Everything is gonna be fine.”
NEW YORK CITY, NY - MTV Studio
Minutes later,
they got to MTV.
“Ok guys. Later then.” Ashley got out of the limo. Kirstin was not there
yet. It was 3:30 sharp.
~*~*~*~*~
“Oh my God!!! Oh my God, oh my God!!! It's past 3:30! I gotta get out
of here.” Kirstin noticed the time. She just put all the files she was organizing
together in a folder, then placed it in a drawer and left the room. On the waiting
room, she informed “Marge, here's the key to the office. Thanks. See you tomorrow!”
she said in a hurry heading to the elevator.
“Ok. What's the rush, dear?”
“I'm late for something. But we'll talk tomorrow, ok?! Bye!”
She got out of the elevator and was going to the back exit door when
she saw Ashley standing there already. But he wasn't alone. There were 2 girls
talking to him and he was writing something on a piece of paper 'Wow… he
has fans already!' Kirstin thought. She would have never guessed her best
friend from high school someday would have real fans, not just the people who
would watch him at the Friday night games. She didn't wanna go there while the
girls were still there, so she waited. The girls were all agitated, excited
and happy. Kirstin smiled at that scene. Ashley was being so nice to the girls,
smiling and giving hugs and kisses on the cheek. When the 2 girls finally left,
she approached Ashley. He wasn't facing her when she greeted him.
“Hey.”
“Hey!!!” he turned to see her.
“I'm sorry I'm late. I'm so sorry.”
“It's ok. Not everybody freaks out and gets mad at people for getting
late, you know?” he said through a smile.
She just smiled, glanced down and shook her head lightly. Ashley knew her too well. He still knew her too well.
“Well, either way, I'm sorry.”
“Don't worry about that.” he still had a smile on his face. She did too.
Her big, famous smile. He was so happy it ached. He decided to break the awkward
silence.
“So… where are we going?”
“I don't know…” Kirstin said turning to face the street. “There's a Starbucks
right there. We can go there.” she said pointing.
“Ok, let's go then.”
On their way to the coffee shop, they didn't say a thing. Ashley wanted
so badly to take her hand in his, but had to control himself not to. He had
a girlfriend and she probably had someone too. He wanted to find that out soon.
He would wait for the right moment to bring that up, though.
At the coffee shop, Ashley ran to open the door for Kirstin. She forgot
how much of a gentleman he was and smirked at him as she walked through the
door. At the table, he pulled the chair for her to sit on and went to get them
both coffee. Kirstin, who was sitting on the table, had a frown formed on her
face while watching Ashley make the order. He hadn't asked her how she wanted
her coffee. Ashley was soon coming back with the order.
“Here it is. Black, 2 sugars, no cream.”
“You know it! That's impossible! We never went out for coffee before.”
“Well, no. But remember those days when I'd sleep at your house and we'd
have breakfast together? Well, I'd watch you prepare your coffee and it was
always black, 2 sugars, no cream. So, here it is.”
“I'm impressed Ashley Angel! I thought you were always too sleepy at
those times to notice anything, especially how I'd prepare my coffee.”
“Well, I'd always pay attention to you, no matter what.” he said through
a weak smile. Kirstin was embarrassed. She didn't know what to say. He was being
too nice to her. She had to do something to resist the temptation.
“So, how are things with the band?”
“Good. Fine. But I don't wanna talk about the present right now. I wanna
know what happened. I wanna know what really happened at the prom night.”
“Why? The past is in the past! It's done. There's nothing we can do to
change it.”
“I know there isn't, but I have to know what happened. I wanna understand
the past so I can understand why we ended up like this.”
“Like what?”
“Like what? Like this! We haven't talked to each other in 2 years. We
used to do everything together! Go to the mall, to the movies, have lunch together,
sometimes dinner. Heck! We even had breakfast together! What happened, Kirstin?
Did I do something wrong? Why did you run away the minute high school was over?”
Kirstin just hold her head down. She was a little ashamed. She felt responsible,
and she was responsible, for ruining their relationship. Now she had to explain
herself. And she didn’t feel prepared to do so.
“It wasn't your fault. I loved the time we spent together, doing all
the things we used to do. Even when we were in my room, not doing anything,
just for being there, I was happy. Whenever we were together, whatever we would
do together, I was having the time of my life.”
“If you were as happy as you claim, then why did you run away from all
of that?”
“I was scared!”
“Scared? How could you be scared of something so great?”
“I have my reasons, Ashley. And I can't discuss them with you.”
“Oh, that is so typical of you! Why not? It involves me! I have the right
to know!” Ashley was already getting angry at Kirstin's behavior.
“I'm sorry Ashley, I just…”
“You have to tell me! You can't run away from it again Kirstin, you have…”
“Because I love you alright?” Kirstin raised her tone interrupting Ashley. His jaw dropped. He couldn't believe that the girl he loved, loved him back. But when Kirstin saw his face, she realized what she had just said and tried to fix it “I mean, I loved you. Back then, I loved you. I know I never told you, but I did.”
She couldn't face him.
“If you loved me, then why did you run away after our kiss? Not just
ran away from it, you moved here the very next day! If you loved me like you're
saying you did, then why didn't you just stay there? We could have talked. We
could have worked something out!”
Kirstin turned to face him again:
“Work something out? What do you mean by work something out? Ashley,
if you love someone, you don't work something out. If two people are meant to
be together, things will happen naturally. And as you can see, that wasn't our
case! We are not meant to be.”
“How can you say that? You didn't even give us a chance! We were great
friends, we liked each other's company, I love you…” he didn't intend on telling
that too. He tried to explain himself just as Kirstin did
“Man, that must be contagious or something!” he said through an embarrassed
smile “What I meant was, I loved you
back then too. We could have been great together. But you chose not to give
us a chance!” he was looking directly into Kirstin's eyes. It was making her
feel like melting inside. She always felt that way whenever he would just stare
at her with his big blue eyes. She couldn't let him take over her, so she turned
her gaze once again.
Ashley,
not knowing what to say, excused himself and went to the bathroom. Kirstin was
happy and worried at the same time. She didn't know what to do now that Ashley
said he loved her 'Maybe he still loves me.' She thought 'If he
fixed that like I did, maybe he still loves me like… I love him…' She suddenly
heard a phone ring. She went through her purse, got her cell phone out and realized
that it wasn't her cell phone ringing. She then noticed Ashley had left his
cell phone on the table when he went to the bathroom. She didn't know whether
or not to answer it, but thought she'd better do it and take a message.
“Hello…”
“Hello?
Who is this?”
“I'm
sorry, do you wanna talk to Ashley?”
“Yes,
but who is this?”
“He's
not here right now. This is Kirstin. Do you wanna leave a message?”
“Yes,
please! Tell him that his girlfriend called. Tell him to get back to me right
away.” It was Jen talking in an angry tone.
Kirstin
was confused. He had a girlfriend. He had a girlfriend and had just confessed
that he loved her?
“Hello?
Are you still there?” Jen asked.
“Yes,
I'll give him the message as soon as he comes back.” she hung up not saying
goodbye. She put the cell phone down on the table and rubbed her forehead. She
was confused. She really was. Then he didn't love her after all. 'I should
have expected that, of course. Why would it be any different with Ashley? It's
always like that. I fall and I get hurt. And what's worse is that I don’t learn
my lesson. I keep making the same mistakes, over and over!” She thought.
She then heard Ashley's voice.
“What's
wrong?”
When
she lifted up her head to face him. Faking a smile and an enthusiastic tone,
she said:
“Oh,
nothing. But your girlfriend just called!”
* Thanx Caitlin for editing and correcting the grammar on this chapter
~*~ Chapter 5 ~*~
~*~ Chapter 7 ~*~
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