~*~ Chapter 29 ~*~
NEW YORK CITY, NY – Yankee Stadium – Jan. 12th, 2002 – Saturday
“Hey…” Ashley didn’t have a happy voice when he greeted Kirstin from behind.
“Oh, hey!” she said getting a straw from the balcony and taking a sip from her soda “Want some?” she offered her drink to Ash.
“No, thanks.” Kirstin smiled waiting for Ashley to say something. She felt he wanted to say something. But nothing came up. He was just looking at her eyes.
“What’s up?” she asked him. They stood there, looking at each other.
“K, we are friends, right?”
“Yeah…” Kirstin wasn’t getting him “What’s up with this question?”
“It’s just that… if I asked you something, you wouldn’t be mad at me, would you?”
“No, I don’t think so. I don’t know what kind of question you’re asking, but I don’t think so.” Kirstin sincerely answered.
“Right.” Ashley just nodded his head up and down and didn’t say anything else for a while.
“Ash, come on! What’s going on? You’re scaring me now.”
“It’s just that…” he stopped talking again.
“Yes…” Kirstin was trying to encourage him to talk. She was getting worried of what Ashley wanted to talk about.
“Did you really mean when you said everything is fine between you and Tom? Like, with the engagement and everything?”
“Of course! Why would I lie to you about that?” Kirstin was feeling offended.
“No, I know you wouldn’t lie, but you could have hidden something from me, you know?”
“No, I don’t know. Ash, please, can you be clearer here? What are you talking about?”
“It’s just that I saw you and that baseball guy flirting and…”
“What? Were you spying on me?” Kirstin felt offended again.
“No, Kirstin! It’s just that I was looking that way and I saw you two out there, you weren’t exactly being discreet.”
“What? Are you judging me now?” Kirstin was getting mad.
“No!” Ashley was getting confused “It’s just that… I happened to be looking that way and then I saw you two flirting and then he leaned in to kiss you and…”
“He didn’t kiss me!” Kirstin snapped.
“I know, I didn’t say that.” Ashley realized she was agitated “K, are you alright?”
“Why? What? What do you mean with are you alright?”
“You seem to be agitated talking about it.”
“Well, Ashley, you come here to talk to me and starts judging me and all.”
“I’m not judging you. I’m just asking you something. It’s you that is getting offended by my questions. They are simple questions.”
“No, they are stupid questions.”
“Well, if they are stupid, then why won’t you just answer them and stop hiding things?”
“I’m not hiding anything!” Kirstin yelled.
“Jesus, what’s the problem, Kirstin? What’s really going on?”
“You! You are the problem! You are here making stupid question. I don’t owe you any explanation!”
“I know you don’t owe me any explanation. I was just trying to help, to see if there’s something wrong between you and Tom, if I could help you out.”
“Oh, you’d love that, wouldn’t Ashley? To come rescue me if Tom hurts me so I could just run to your arms and we could live happily ever after.”
“Kirstin, listen to yourself! Don’t be ridiculous! I’m just trying to be your friend here!” Ashley was starting to loose it too. Kirstin looked down, took a deep breath and continued.
“Ashley, I’m a big girl. I don’t need you protecting me anymore.” she was calming down. She had a calmer tone of voice “Just… let me leave my own life. Please. You can be a great friend and not get into my personal issues. I’m not having any problems with Tom. And about Barry, if you must know, he’s just a friend of mine that has got the wrong idea about my feelings for him. That’s all.”
“Really?” Ashley asked and Kirstin just nodded “Can I really trust you on that?” Kirstin nodded and smirked at him.
“Really, Ash. There’s nothing you should be worried about.”
“Ok. Then I’m gonna trust you. I was about to break that baseball guy nose if he was gonna try to kiss you.” Ashley grinned but Kirstin didn’t.
“Ash, please, don’t do anything like that if he ever tries to do something like it. He knows I’m getting married and I won’t let anything happen. Ok? Promise me you won’t try anything stupid like that. Don’t be like Tom was at Christmas dinner.”
“Ok, K. I promise you. Don’t worry.”
“Good.” now Kirstin grinned.
“We are still up for after the game, right?” Ashley asked.
“Yeah, but… ahm… Grace, her date and Barry are coming, alright?”
“The baseball guy?” Ashley didn’t like it.
“Yeah. I hope it’s alright.”
“Yeah, ok. Yeah, of course it’s alright. Why wouldn’t it be?” Ashley played the good guy.
“Good. Then after the game we meet here, alright?”
“Ok.”
“Then let me get back to my seat or else Grace will freak out. Actually, I don’t think she’ll mind, she’s just sitting there, with her eyes glued at Mark’s every move.”
“Mark?”
“Yeah, her date. The baseball player. Mark Mulder.”
“Oh, ok.”
“Then let me get back. Bye.” she kissed him lightly on the cheek.
“Bye…” he waved at her while she was heading back to the field. When she was out of sight, he turned and left too.
* Thanx Taryn and Stacie for reviewing and correcting the grammar errors *
~*~ Chapter 28 ~*~
~*~ Chapter 30 ~*~
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