~*~ Chapter 15 ~*~
REDDING, CA - The Addams' House - Christmas Dinner
Ashley was placing his empty plate on the table when he saw Kirstin and Tom, hand in hand, stepping down the stairs. He smiled when he made eye contact with her and she did the same. Tom didn’t smile, but didn’t have that hatred look he had on before. Practically everyone in the living room watched as Tom and Kirstin made their way into Ashley and Hailey’s direction. Ashley was standing next to the dinning table and Hailey grabbed his hand when she noticed the other couple getting closer to them. When they stopped, Kirstin placed her plate on the table and smiled even bigger to Ashley.
“Ashley, I believe Tom has something to say to you.” Kirstin, Ashley and Hailey all looked at Tom. He felt pressured.
“I… I am… ahn…”
“Honey, it’s ok.” Kirstin smiled at him to give him confidence.
“I’m sorry.” Tom looked directly at Ashley when he said that. He actually meant that. He knew he had done something wrong, something that was unnecessary.
“Hey, don’t worry, man. I’m sorry too. It was my fault too, you know?” Ashley smirked, but Tom didn’t. He just nodded.
“But you shouldn’t have hit him. I mean, how brutal are you?” Hailey wanted to defend her boyfriend.
“Hailey, don’t. It’s ok. I’m ok. He said he was sorry and that’s enough. Everything is fine now. Right?” Tom just shook his head. Kirstin elbowed his side.
“Yes.” he said placing his hand where Kirstin had elbowed him “Everything is fine now.”
“Good. Because, frankly, Kirstin, I don’t…”
“Hailey, I said it’s all right.” Ashley stopped his girlfriend and then smiled at Kirstin. Tom wasn’t really comfortable with that, but his conversation with Kirstin had helped him be more confident about their relationship, so he let that go without arguing. Kirstin then turned to Hailey. She knew just how to make her mood get better and make her forget about the whole incident. She had to say nice things about her.
“So, Hailey, what a wonderful skirt you’re wearing!” she pointed to the skirt that was pink and had some details in a darker shade of pink. The piece of clothing went all the way to her knees.
“Oh, thanks! I did a photo shoot wearing it and asked for it later and they just gave it to me!”
“Really? Wow, that’s fantastic!” Kirstin faked an enthusiastic tone of voice. Ashley picked that out and smiled down.
“Yes, it is!”
“Wow! That’s just… great!” Kirstin looked at Ashley and noticed him smiling down. She smirked too and continued the conversation with Hailey “So, I don’t imagine you live in our old neighbor hood anymore. Being a model and everything.”
“Oh, no! I’ve moved ages ago. To San Francisco.”
“San Francisco? Well, that’s nice.”
“Yeah. I got my own apartment. Everything is great. And Ashley lives just a few miles away from me, so…”
“What do you mean just a few miles away? Orlando is all the way…”
“I’ve moved.” Ashley informed her “To Santa Monica.”
“Oh…” Kirstin was caught by surprise.
“Oh, really? Well, that’s just nice! Isn’t it, KeeKee?” Tom sounded happy. He should be. That way, Ashley would be pretty far away from him and Kirstin.
“Yes. It’s good.” Kirstin's expression didn’t really convince him everything was good “Are the rest of the guys still living with you?”
“Yes. We’re all in Cali now. It’s actually helping us write for our second album.” he smirked. Kirstin just nodded. Tom was actually smiling too.
“He couldn’t live too far away from me.” Hailey wrapped her arms around Ashley’s waist. He just smiled.
“How long have you two been together?” Tom was interested.
“Nine months. Almost 10.”
“That’s a lot. I’m happy to know that.” Tom was having a blast talking about their relationship for a change.
“Yes. We’re pretty much in love.” Hailey hugged Ashley even tighter.
“I can see that.” Tom just nodded and smiled. Kirstin had no expression on. After a while, she decided to talk.
“Well, if you excuse me, I’m gonna check on my mom.” Kirstin informed before heading to the backyard with Tom.
A while later, Ashley was in the bathroom when he heard a knock on the door.
“Just a second!” he said while zipping his pants up. He washed his hands and opened the door.
“Oh, it’s you.” Kirstin smirked.
“Yes. Well…” Ashley smirked too and didn’t know how to act around her. An awkward silence felt down.
“Why does this feel awkward?” Kirstin asked.
“I don’t know! I was just about to ask you the same!”
“Well, we can’t let that happen. We talked about everything already. We’re fine!”
“Yes, we are.”
“Good.” Kirstin smiled and was entering the bathroom but stopped when Ashley asked something.
“What did he say about the ring?” he pointed down to her finger.
“Oh.” Kirstin looked down and twisted the piece of jewelry in her finger “He didn’t say much. When he saw it, he figured it was your gift. I didn’t even have to say anything.”
“Really?”
“Yeah… I just can’t hide anything from him. It’s like he can read my mind or something.” Kirstin let a nervous laugh out.
“I see… But wasn’t he mad?”
“No. We talked about it and I said we are gonna be friends and nothing more than that and he understood it completely. I just had to make him see you not as a threat. We are friends and that’s all. He doesn’t have to fear losing me for you.”
“Right.” Ashley just looked deep into her eyes. She didn’t like that. She knew he could read her too.
“I really gotta use the bathroom.”
“Oh, sure. Of course. Sorry.”
Kirstin smiled and looked deeply into his blue eyes until the door blocked their eye contact.
When Kirstin got out of the bathroom, she decided she needed a break from all that festivity that wasn’t going exactly well. So she decided to go to her bedroom before going downstairs again. She closed the door behind her and sat on her side of the bed. She took off her high heel shoes.
“God! Now I remember why I never wear these!” she exclaimed and massaged her foot.
She took of her earrings and opened the drawer to place them inside it. When she did, she saw the piece of paper Ashley had given her earlier. She smiled and picked it out. Before opening it, she smiled at it and brought it closer to her nose, inhaling Ashley’s scent that was on the letter. She slowly opened it and started reading it. While reading, she was also frowning. Nothing was making much sense. When she was done, she felt puzzled “What is this?” she asked out loud and took another look at the paper. There were words out of order, scrambled words, some ‘K’ letters spread here and there in the paper, some little hearts drawn and some had ‘x’ marks over it. She decided to read the part that made more sense once more time.
She
said it wasn't my fault
She
said we gave it our all
And
she walked away
Suddenly
he's all alone with you
He's
looking in your eyes like I wanted to
Suddenly
I'm all alone
Suddenly
I'm all alone with her
She's
everything that I wish you were
Suddenly
I'm all alone
She
said it wasn't the same
She
said our life's been so plain
Then
she walked away
I
want to make things brand new
Tell
me is there something I can do
She didn’t really get it. Maybe it was a poem? She suddenly looked up when she heard the door being opened. She quickly folded the piece of paper and threw it inside the open drawer, shutting it.
“What are you doing?” Tom asked her after closing the door behind him and going to her direction.
“Oh, nothing. I was just taking a break. My foot hurts.”
“Oh, poor baby! Here. Let me massage them for you.” Tom sat on the floor in front of Kirstin and took her left feet on his hands.
“Thanks! You’re my life saver.” she smiled down at him.
“So, I talked to Ashley.”
“No way!”
“Yes!”
“And…?”
“Nothing much.”
“Oh, come on! You gotta give me more than that! He came to talk to you or you went to him?”
“He came to me.”
“And? What did he want?”
“He wanted to know if everything was ok about the ring.”
“And you? What did you say?”
“I said it was cool. It was just a friend’s gift, that I’m fine with it. I wouldn’t make a scene because of a gift.” Kirstin smiled.
“Was that all?”
“Pretty much. After that, he just asked what I was working on and I said I was working at Luna as a supervisor on the VIP area.” he took Kirstin’s other feet “And then he said when he goes to New York he’ll check that out again.”
“I’m so proud of you, Tommy. Thank you so much for understanding this and how important this is for me.”
“If it’s to make you happy, it’s totally worth it.” Kirstin leaned down and kissed him softly on the lips.
“Thanks for the massage and thanks for being such a wonderful fiancée, but now, let’s go downstairs.”
When they got to the living room, Kirstin scanned the place looking for Ashley. She had to ask him what that piece of paper meant. With Tom by her side, she headed to the back yard, because she had no luck looking for Ashley or any of his family members inside the house. Outside, she had no such luck also. When she was going into the kitchen, she saw her sister. She pulled her aside and left Tom talking to her father.
“Did you see Ashley anywhere?” Kirstin was practically whispering.
“Why are we whispering?” Kelly asked.
“Just answer me!” Kirstin was not up for jokes.
“No, I didn’t see him. But what’s wrong between those two?” Kelly glanced at Tom.
“Oh, it’s a long story. To sum it up, they used to hate each other.”
“Used to? They don’t hate each other anymore? Like… in matter of minutes, that’s changed?”
“Apparently so. But I really doubt it. Because I know Tom is just trying to be nice to Ashley because I asked him to. I’m pretty sure he still hates Ashley's guts.”
“What about Ashley?”
“I don’t know what he feels about it. I haven’t talked to him about it yet.”
“I see.”
Mrs. Addams got near her daughters.
“What are you two whispering about?”
“Nothing much, mom. Have you seen Ashley?”
“Yes. He just left.”
“He left?” Kirstin was surprised. He hadn’t said goodbye to her.
“Yes. He asked me to say goodbye to you and Tom because he couldn’t find you and he had to leave urgent. Something was wrong with Hailey.”
“What? She ran out of lipstick?” Kelly joked about the situation. Kirstin didn’t pay attention to her sister. She wondered ‘He left? Great! Now what?’
* Thanx Taryn for reviewing and correcting the grammar errors *
~*~ Chapter 14 ~*~
~*~ Chapter 16 ~*~
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