NEW YORK CITY, NY – CLUB LUNA – MAR. 20TH, 2002 – WEDNESDAY

     It was 4:20 p.m. and the club hadn’t opened yet.

     “Hey, Tom!”

     “Yeah, man?” Tom asked when his co-worker opened his office's door.

     “There’s someone outside that wants to talk to you.” Jeremy, Tom’s co-worker, answered.

     “Who is it?” Tom frowned. Who could it be at that time?

     “I have no idea. It’s a girl. And she’s kinda hot.” Jeremy raised both his eyebrows.

     “Oh…” Tom got up from his desk and headed out his office’s door. He knew who it was already.

     As Tom saw her and got closer to her, his heart skipped a beat.

     When Kirstin saw him, she smiled. He was so special to her... she couldn’t deny it.

     “Hey.” she greeted with a half-smile.

     “Hey.” he greeted back and looked down. He didn’t know how to act around Kirstin anymore. Especially after all he had said to her that night at the hospital. Now Kirstin knew everything he felt for her. Tom wasn’t so comfortable knowing that.

     “So… you never came back to visit me at the hospital.”

     “Yeah, well… you didn’t need me. You have Ashley now to protect you, to be there for you.” Tom half-smiled at her and gazed down. Kirstin could sense he was feeling a bit embarrassed and awkward. She took a few steps closer to him. Tom didn’t even have to look up to sense her getting closer.

     “Tom…” Kirstin started “Look at me.” it took a while for Tom to do what he was told to “I do need you.” Kirstin placed the palm of her hand on his face and soon took it off “I need you as my friend right now. I know I have Ashley to protect me and to love me. But I need you to be there for me as well. You’re my friend now. I always need a friend around. Come on, you know me and you know how much I love my friends.”

     “I… I wasn’t aware I was your friend.” Tom still couldn’t face Kirstin.

     “Well, you are.”

     “So… does that mean you forgive me? For everything I did to you?” Tom still kept his gaze down.

     “Yes. But... could you look at me, please?” Kirstin didn’t wanna talk to him without facing him “That’s much better now.” she smiled at him when he looked up at her “I’m never really gonna get over the fact that you cheated on me and how much that hurt. But I guess I can relate to that and maybe I even deserved that.”

     “Oh, K, please, don’t say that. You didn’t deserve that. You were always too good to me.”

     “Maybe I deserved it, not for something I did to you, but for what I did to Ashley. I can totally relate to what you said to me at the hospital. It was a weak moment. I know that because it happened to me. When I got with you. I was feeling lost, I didn’t know what I actually felt for Ashley and then I let things happen with you. I never really intended on having a relationship with you. You were my friend.” Tom wasn’t enjoying hearing that. So, she was saying they shouldn’t have been? “But I was so confused that I mixed things up.” Kirstin frowned as she saw Tom’s gaze leave her eyes “And when we happened, I got even more confused. I thought I loved you. And I’m pretty sure I did.” Tom returned his gaze to her eyes “But I guess everything had to happen for me to see and learn once and for all that what I felt for Ashley was real, that he was the one for me. Not you, unfortunately.” Kirstin got even closer to Tom “I know this hurts, Tom, but Ashley is the one for me.” Kirstin saw tears forming on Tom’s eyes “Oh, please, don’t cry. We were never meant to be. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t love you, Tom. I loved you too much. That’s why it hurt when I saw you with that girl in my loft. Because I loved you and I didn’t wanna lose you. But that had to happen. And I want you to realize that it was not your fault. It happened because it was meant to happen. It happened because it had a reason. And the reason was for me to see that Ashley was the one for me. So don’t feel bad for what you’ve done. From what I see, what happened was good for both of us. Because now I’m with the one I should be with. And now, you’re free to find the one you should be with.”

     Kirstin took a few steps closer and wrapped her arms around Tom’s waist tightly. It took a while for Tom to wipe the tears away from his eyes and wrap his arms around Kirstin.

     “Thank you for setting me free.” Kirstin said.

     “Yeah, sure.” Tom closed his eyes and inhaled Kirstin’s perfume.

     They stayed like that for 10 minutes. Then Kirstin broke their hug.

     “So… can we be friends now? I really need you, Tommy.” she looked pleaded at him.

     “Yeah, of course.” Tom faked a smile.

     That whole conversation and situation was just hurting him too much. Not being able to be with Kirstin and still having to be around her was gonna be torture. But eventually he’d get over it. He had to. He had to let her live her life happily. Even if that meant that he wouldn’t be her lover, only her friend.