~*~ Chapter 5 ~*~
Redding, CA – K-Mart – Sunday
Tom crossed his arms across his chest and just looked at Ashley’s face, great delight in his eyes and smile.
Ashley was speechless. He held his jaw a bit open and had no idea what to say. ‘How can she be engaged to Tom? She wasn’t even sure about her feeling for me and we have a history together! Now, this Tom guy, she knows him for such a short time, and is with him for less than a year and she is already engaged to him? I can’t believe it. Maybe I’m not good enough for her. Maybe she’s right. Maybe we don’t belong with each other.’
Kirstin didn’t say anything. She looked at Tom and saw he was satisfied with the situation. She wasn’t, but she felt hopeless. She couldn’t do anything.
Then Hailey spoke up.
“Oh my God, Kirstin! You are engaged?” Kirstin just smiled weakly at her and raised her eyebrows “Let me see the ring!”
“It’s… we really have to go now, Hailey and…”
“Come on! There’s always time to see an engagement ring! Come on! Show it to us!”
Kirstin, for the first time since she had bumped into Ashley, took her left hand off her pocket, reveling the ring.
“Oh, my Lord! Look at the size of this rock, Ashley!” Hailey showed the ring to Ashley, but he didn’t bother to look. He was trying to make eye contact with Kirstin, but she wouldn’t look at him “It’s huge! Wow!”
“Yeah, well… Let’s go now, Tom.” she grabbed Tom’s hand. She thought she should get out of there before anything worse happened. Tom didn’t move his glare from Ashley. He was enjoying that moment very much “It was great meeting you again, Hailey, Ashley.”
“But you’re going already?” Hailey said.
“Yeah, well… We have to go.”
“But… weren’t you guys buying a turkey?”
“Yeah, but we’ll get it somewhere else, Hailey. Don’t worry about us.” Kirstin answered. When they were trailing off, she felt Ashley’s grip on her arm.
“We have to talk, Kirstin.”
“No, we don’t.” she said.
“Yes, we do! I mean… what… how… why… when…?” Ashley stuttered.
“Listen, pretty boy, didn’t you hear her? She doesn’t wanna talk to you. Now, get your hands off of her.” Tom took off Ashley’s hand that was still holding Kirstin’s arm.
“Ashley, leave it. We’ll talk some other time.”
“When?”
“I don’t know… We’ll see, ok? I really should go now.”
“But… Kirstin…”
“Bye, Ashley.”
“Bye, Kirstin!” Hailey waved goodbye. Ashley didn’t say a word while watching her leave.
Tom and Kirstin’s walk to the car was quiet. When they got in, Tom yelled, hitting the wheel.
“I can’t believe it! That guy just won’t disappear!”
Kirstin was fastening her seat belt, not saying a word. Just thinking. She had a lot on her mind.
“And you, Kirstin! You think I didn’t notice that the second we met him, you shoved your hand down your pocket to hide the ring?”
“Tom, it’s not that…”
“Come on, Kirstin. I’m not stupid. I’m not like Hailey over there. I saw your face when you met him. You couldn’t face him. Did you feel something? Is that it?”
“No, Tom! It’s not like that. It’s just that… I don’t know how to react around Ashley anymore. I mean… I don’t know what I mean. Just forget it.” she just sighed.
“No, Kirstin, you have to tell me. Did you feel something for him? And look at me when you answer me that.”
“No, Tom! I swear I didn’t!” Kirstin faced him and answered with the truth. She hadn’t felt anything, like love or anything like that “I just feel bad, you know? About the way I broke up with him. I mean, the guy loved me and I felt something special about him too, but I just treated him like I didn’t care about his feelings. We were best friends for a long time and I just… the way I ended things with him was just… it must have been devastating for him, I could see it in his eyes that night. The same sad eyes he had that night, he had today. I’ve already hurt him so much, I just didn’t wanna hurt him again. He doesn’t deserve it. He’s a great guy, whether you think it or not. He’s my friend. Well, he was, anyway. And I didn’t wanna hurt him any more then I already did by showing him the ring. Even if he doesn’t feel anything about me anymore, I know it would hurt him. I know Ashley. That’s why I couldn’t say anything, too. I just… felt bad, that’s all. Nothing like you think.”
“Really? Can I believe you?”
“Of course, Tom. I love you. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have accepted this.” she rubbed her ring.
“Yeah, I think…” he took Kirstin’s left hand and took another look at the ring he had bought her “It is pretty, isn’t it?”
“Yes. The prettiest ring I’ve ever seen.” Kirstin smiled and kissed him softly on the lips. When they pulled back, Tom smirked and, in a high pitch voice, imitated Hailey.
“Look at the size of this rock! It’s huge!” they both laughed.
“Stop it, Tom. Don’t be mean!”
“Oh, come on! She was asking for it. She’s such a… preppy girl. I hate those type of girls.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Me too.”
“Oh, you can not say that. You were preppy one day, too! You were a cheerleader, for crying out loud! Not just any cheerleader, you were captain!” he imitated Hailey again when he said the word captain “I still can’t believe it!” he shook his head, smiling.
“Come on! Stop it! So what I can cheer?”
“It’s just something I can’t quite picture.”
“Well, you don’t have to picture. I think my mom still has my outfit somewhere around the house. If you want to, I can cheer for you tonight.”
“Hm… I like the sound of that.” Kirstin just shook her head.
“Come on, Tom. Let’s find somewhere else to buy that damn turkey.”
Tom kissed her softly on the lips and started the car.
* Thanx Stacie and Taryn for reviewing and correcting the grammar errors *
~*~ Chapter 4 ~*~
~*~ Chapter 6 ~*~
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