~*~ Chapter 36 ~*~
NEW YORK CITY, NY – KIRSTIN AND TOM’S LOFT – JAN. 12TH, 2001
“Hey…” Kirstin said as soon as she stepped into the kitchen.
“Hey. What was that all about?” Ashley took a sip from the water glass.
“Well… G is going to Oakland with Mark this week.”
“Yeah…” Ashley wasn’t following. Or at least he was pretending he wasn’t.
“Well… and I have to go try on my wedding dress this week and I was counting on her to go with me. You know? That’s what maid of honors do.” Kirstin grinned. Ashley did too, putting his glass of water down in the sink.
“Yeah…” Ashley didn’t know what to say. He knew she was gonna ask him to go with her, but he just didn’t want to hear the question because he didn’t know if he wanted to answer it.
“Do you… I mean, I totally understand if you say no, so don’t worry about saying no.” Kirstin was agitated. Ashley just smiled weakly “Do you think… ahm… are you gonna be here on Tuesday?”
“I am. I’m gonna be here until Friday.” Ashley answered her.
“Oh, nice.” Kirstin smiled and took a while for her to talk again “Ok, then.” she shook her head “Do you think… ahm… can you… I mean… Can you go with me?”
“Go with you so you can try on your wedding dress?”
“Yes.” Ashley didn’t say anything, so Kirstin continued “I mean, as I told you already, you don’t have to say yes. I would totally understand it. I mean, it would be awkward. I know it would…”
“Nah, I’ll go.” Ashley cut her off. It took a couple of seconds for Kirstin to speak again. He didn't sound too worried as he headed towards the living room.
“Are you sure?” Kirstin asked following him around. He surprised her. She didn’t expect him to be that cool with it “I mean, you don’t have to.”
“No, that’s alright. I’ll go with you.”
“Really? You wouldn’t mind?” Kirstin frowned as he stopped walking.
“No, of course not. Not at all.” Ashley was trying to play cool, but he sensed he wasn’t doing a pretty good job. Was she noticing it? Was she noticing he was not alright with that?
“That would be so great, Ash. Thanks so much.” Kirstin smiled weakly and hugged him tight.
“No problem.” Ashley was trying to play the best friend, but he was loosing it. ‘What am I doing? Am I crazy? See her on her wedding dress?’ he thought, while inhaling her perfume “K, listen…” Ashley backed away from their hug “Is it ok if I leave now? I’m really tired and I…”
“Of course. I’m so sorry to keep you here.”
“No, you didn’t keep me here. I stayed because I wanted too. I just don’t wanna leave if you’re still feeling bad.”
“No, I’m fine. I’m fine. You can go.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, Ash, of course. I’m just gonna take a bath and try to sleep.”
“I think that’s the best thing you could do right now. Get some sleep. You sure need it.”
“Don’t I know?” Kirstin grinned. Ashley did too.
“Well, I’m going then.” Ashley headed to the door and Kirstin followed him.
“Thanks, Ash. For everything.” Kirstin hugged him once again.
“No problem, baby. And if you need anything, please, please, call me, alright? I can come over any time.”
“Thanks, Ash. I’ll do that.”
“Bye.” Ashley kissed her cheek and disappeared into the elevator.
NEW YORK CITY, NY – HOTEL – JAN. 12TH, 2001
Ashley passed through the lobby and headed for the elevator. Dan and Erik were at the bar and saw when their friend took the elevator to go to his room.
“Man, I’m worried about Ashley. Did you see his face?” Erik said to Dan.
“Yeah. I’m worried about him too. I mean, I don’t know what the problem is.” Dan was confused.
“Well, I do. It’s that Kirstin girl that showed up again. She’s always messing with Ash’s head. She’s just trouble.” Erik shook his head.
“I don’t really see her like that. I mean, he obviously has feelings for her, but it’s not her fault he hasn’t moved on. Like, she’s getting married. He gotta realize he won’t have her back.”
“So, you’re on Jake’s side now?” Erik asked kind of mad.
“I’m on no one’s side. This is just what I think. I know it is pretty hard to forget a girl you’ve been in love with for the last 5 years, but… I don’t know…”
“I think we should talk to him.” Erik suggested.
“Yeah, me too. See if everything is alright and if he needs some help.” Dan agreed.
“Ok, then let’s go.” Erik and Dan headed to the elevator.
Ashley took off his shoes and collapsed into his bed.
“Man…” he mumbled as he rubbed his face with both his hands, covering his eyes “What am I gonna do now?” he stopped wondering when he heard a knock on the door. He got up and headed to get it “Hey.” he said to Dan and Erik in a not so cheery tone of voice and trailed back to his bed, leaving the door open for his friends to get in.
“Hey, Ash, we’re worried about you man.” Erik said, sitting in a chair next to Dan.
“Yeah, like… that fight with Jacob at the stadium and then you left with Kirstin and now you get here looking like shit. What happened?” Dan was clearly worried.
“The Jacob thing happened just because he won’t take care of his own business. Man, I know I shouldn’t… love Kirstin anymore, but what can I do? If I still love her, I don’t want a friend of mine judging me for that. I want my friend’s support!” Ashley was getting mad.
“Yeah, I understand that, man. But you know Jacob. You know how he is with this love thing. He takes it too seriously and he sees Kirstin like… playing with your feelings and instead of getting mad at her, he does that to you.” Dan explained Jacob’s point of view.
“But she’s not playing with my feelings!” Ashley snapped.
“I’m sorry, but I think she is.” Erik said.
“What?” Ashley kind of yelled “You seriously think she’s playing me? Do you know Kirstin? Do you know how confused she is right now? A guy called her slut just about an hour ago and you think she’s playing with my feelings? She’s totally confused about her own feelings, how dare you say she’s playing with mine?” Ashley was yelling the whole time.
“Dude, chill!” Erik exclaimed.
“I’m sorry, but I won’t take you guys talking shit about Kirstin! That’s just not gonna happen.” Ashley got up and paced around the room.
“Ash, we don’t know Kirstin. We just think what we see. And what we see is a girl playing with our friend’s feelings because he was with you and then she trades you for the waiter guy and then she gets engaged to the waiter guy and then a lot of things happen and you’re still in love with her and it seems like she doesn’t give a shit about your feelings. That’s what I see, anyhow.” Dan spoke his mind.
“Yeah, Ash. I agree with him. And if that’s not what’s happening, I’m sorry, but then tell us what’s happening.” Erik tried to understand his friend.
“Yeah, like… what is this slut calling thingy?” Dan frowned.
“Oh, man. You have no idea.” Ashley was getting calmer and sitting on the bed “We went out with those baseball dudes.”
“The one that was hitting on Kirstin?” Erik asked.
“Yeah. And the other one.that is having this thing with Grace.” Ashley said and both of them just nodded, so he continued “So, we went to her house first and the baseball guys met Tom.”
“The waiter was there and you were there?” Dan asked.
“Yeah, but it was like I wasn’t even there. I was just observing everything. So, the waiter boy was… man, it was ridiculous. Barry was clearly hitting on Kirstin right in front of him, like, rubbing his hand on her thigh and Tom, the baseball fan, wasn’t even noticing it.” Ashley stopped and shook his head “Then, anyways, we left. At this bar, there were too blondes that sat on Barry’s lap. Then I don’t know what happened, one of them left and Barry asked Kirstin to sit on his other lap.”
“Wow…” Dan sounded surprised.
“I know! How dare him, right?” Erik and Dan just nodded. Ashley continued “So, when Kirstin refused, of course she would refuse, she’s not just some girl, he came up to her and said she was getting married but she clearly wanted him, so she called her a slut.”
“What?” Dan snapped.
“A slut?” Erik asked.
“Yeah! How dare him? But that wasn’t the only thing. Then he pushes her to him and forced her to kiss him.”
“Wow.” Erik and Dan said together.
“Then I pushed him and punched him on the face.” Ashley finished.
“What?” both of them snapped.
“I punched him.”
“Ashley! Why did you do that?” Dan asked, trying to be reasonable.
“Because! He called Kirstin a slut! I couldn’t allow him to do that!” Ashley exclaimed.
“But…” Dan started.
“No buts. I wouldn’t allow him to do that! Come on! Kirstin is not like the girls he’s used to deal with. She’s not just some one that would sit on his lap just because he’s famous! So I couldn’t just leave it like that!”
“I think I’d do the same.” Erik agreed with his friend’s attitude.
“Yeah… I think I would do it too.” Dan gave in.
“See? I just couldn’t not punch the guy.” Ashley was happy his friends agreed with him.
“Ok, but now what? How is Kirstin?” Dan asked and seemed really worried.
“Well, I got her home and then we talked for a while. Man, that was the worst part, at her house.” Ashley shook his head and placed his head on a pillow.
“Why? What happened?” Erik questioned.
“She said she needed me and tried to kiss me.”
“What?” they both snapped again.
“She tried to kiss me but I didn’t let her.”
“Why?” Erik frowned.
“Because she was too confused! She was fragile. She didn’t really know what she was doing. She said she needed me because Tom is never around, he’s always working.”
“But what’s the problem? She wanted to kiss you. That’s all you want, right? To kiss her?” Erik asked.
“Yeah, but…” Ashley played with his fingers “Not like that. Not when she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Not when she’s confused about her feelings for her fiancée. I want her to want to kiss me when she’s sure that’s what she wants. When that’s the only thing she’s thinking. To kiss me. Not when I’m just… an answer to her problems.”
“I think I understand you.” Dan nodded.
“Yeah…” Erik said after Dan.
“But you guys don’t know the worst part.”
“There’s a worst part?” Erik couldn’t believe it.
“Yeah.”
“Man, all that happened in one day?” Erik asked again.
“Yeah… it doesn’t seem like it, does it?” Ashley frowned, but continued “Wow. Anyways, so, Grace called and she’s gonna be the maid of honor. She’s traveling tomorrow with that baseball dude. And she can’t go with Kirstin to her wedding dress fitting. And Kirstin asked me and I agreed to go with her.”
“To a wedding dress fitting?” Dan asked.
“Yeah…” Ashley just looked down and shook his head.
“To her wedding dress fitting?” Dan asked again. Ashley just nodded this time.
“Man… what were you thinking?” Erik wondered.
“I don’t know. I kind of panicked. I don’t want her to think I still have feelings for her, so I couldn’t just say no. I would be too obvious.”
“But it’s gonna be so hard, Ash. For you, I mean.” Dan pointed out.
“I know. It’s gonna be hell! Her in a wedding dress? To marry the waiter boy?” Ashley rubbed his forehead.
“I don’t even know what to say.” Erik told Ashley.
“I don’t think there are things to be said. He knows it’s gonna be really hard seeing her in a wedding dress. And there’s no way out to him.” Dan was being more realistic then needed.
“Thanks, Dan, for all your support.” Ashley joked.
“But… I’m sorry, but you gotta be real here. It’s gonna be hard and you know it. Just try to prepare yourself to that.” Dan explained himself.
“I don’t think that’s possible.” Ashley
put a pillow over his face. ‘Now what?’ he thought.
* Thanx Taryn and Stacie for reviewing and correcting the grammar errors *
~*~ Chapter 35 ~*~
~*~ Chapter 37 ~*~
Feedback: [email protected]