REDDING, CA – THE ADDAMS’ HOUSE – APR. 5th, 2002 – FRIDAY

     Kirstin turned the TV volume down when her phone started ringing.

     “I’ll get it.” she yelled so her mother would hear her “Hello?”

     “Hello. Is this the residence of Kirstin Addams?”

     “Yes…” Kirstin frowned.

     “May I talk to her, please?”

     “This is she.” Kirstin still had the frown on.

     “Oh, Kirstin, it’s Jared. Jared O’Connell.”

     “Oh, Jared, hi! Don’t know how I didn’t figure out it was you. No one else I know is that polite.” Kirstin grinned “But, hey, how did you get this number?” Kirstin wondered.

     “I checked the list for Addams and I remember your mother’s name is Dawn, so…”

     “Oh, ok.” Kirstin nodded then frowned ‘What does he want?’

     “So, you must be wondering why I’m calling you, right?”

     “Pretty much, yeah.” Kirstin giggled.

     “Well, I just wanted to apologize for Cindy’s behavior this afternoon.”

     “Oh, Jared, you shouldn’t apologize for her! You didn’t do anything. If she feels sorry, she must be the one doing this, not you. And I guess she’s not sorry, so…”

     “But, still… She didn’t mean it.”

     “Oh, come on, Jared, we both know she did mean it. So you don’t have to cover up for her. That’s alright. I don’t like her too, so I don’t care what she thinks of me.”

     “But…” Jared started, but decided to be honest “Ok, so she doesn’t like you. I mean, she kept talking bad things about you the whole day. I just couldn’t hear her anymore.”

     “Well, that’s Cindy. And we knew she was like that, Jared. Or don’t you remember her during highschool?”

     “I do.”

     “So, no one bad like she was would change into some great and noble woman after highschool. She’s exactly the same.”

     “Yeah…”

     “I just don’t know why you’re with her, that’s all.”

     “Well, it’s complicated.”

     “Well…” Kirstin sensed Jared didn’t wanna talk about it “Ok. I guess understand.”

     “Kirstin?”

     “Yes?”

     “What…” Jared hesitated but decided to carry on “What do you say we get together to talk? There’s a lot we need to catch up.”

     “Hm…” Kirstin thought for a while “I guess we could do that. When do you wanna get together?” Kirstin felt happy Jared wanted to talk to her. They were good friends once, so why not give the guy another chance? He didn’t do anything that wrong in the first place.

     “I don’t know… I have to volunteer during the day, but I’m free for lunch. We could go grab something to eat.”

     “That sounds good.” Kirstin grinned.

     “Ok. Where should we meet then?”

     “Hm… what do you say about The Peach?” Kirstin suggested.

     “Yeah!” Jared agreed “I used to like that place so much. Gosh, it’s been ages since the last time I’ve been there.”

     “Great. Then it’s settled. The Peach at 12:30?”

     “Yeah. Ok. Perfect.”

     “I gotta hang up, I’ve got a call waiting. But I’ll see you tomorrow?”

     “Yeah, sure. Bye.”

     “Bye.” Kirstin pushed the flash button and answered the other call “Hello?”

     “Hey, baby.”

     “Hey, Ash. How’s it going?”

     “Nothing much. I’m just tired. I just got back to my house.” Ashley answered and Kirstin looked at her watch. 9:35 p.m.

     “Really? Wow… what did you do today?”

     “A lot! 2 radio interviews, some photoshoots, meet and greet…”

     “That’s a lot…” she recognized.

     “Yeah. So, what are you doing?”

     “I was watching TV then the strangest thing happened.”

     “What?”

     “Jared called me.”

     “O’Connell?” Ashley sounded really surprised.

     “Yeah! I was surprised to hear from him too.”

     “That is strange. Why did he call you?”

     “He wanted to apologize for Cindy’s behavior, something I told him I couldn’t accept.”

     “The guy was apologizing on Cindy’s behalf?”

     “Yeah…”

     “Come on! The guy doesn’t have any self-respect!”

     “Oh, Ash, it’s not like that. It’s just… I don’t know. People tend to push him around a bit because they know he can be easily pushed. I remember I used to do that sometimes with him when I wanted something and wasn’t so sure he was cool about it.”

     “But you didn’t use the guy as much as Cindy does now.”

     “Oh, no, God, no.”

     “See? Man, he’s like… her little pink poodle.”

     “Ashley!”

     “I’m sorry, K, but that’s how I feel.”

     “I guess… you are entitled to have your own opinion, so... Well, he asked me to have lunch with him tomorrow.”

     “What?” Ashley was really surprised “You said no, right?”

     “I said yes, we’re having lunch tomorrow. Why would I say no?” Kirstin frowned.

     “Why would you say yes?”

     “Because. He was once one of my best friends and I think I should give our friendship another chance.”

     “But…” Ashley was about to start an argument with Kirstin, but, instead, decided to take a deep breath and try to understand her “Ok. Fair enough.” Kirstin frowned on the other side of the phone “Where are you going?”

     “Oh…” that was not what Kirstin expected to be Ashley’s next line. He was changing, wasn’t arguing about every friend she’d go out with or over every little thing. And that was great “The Peach!”

     “Oh, yeah?”

     “Yeah.” Kirstin nodded.

     “Nice.”

     “I think so, too. By the way, what are you doing tomorrow?”

     “Oh, yes! That’s why I called you! We’re going back to Los Angeles tomorrow.”

     “What? Why?” Kirstin sounded disappointed.

     “We need to do some album arrangements.”

     “I see…” she didn’t sound too excited “When are you coming back?”

     “Probably Monday, but we might end things earlier and come back on Sunday night.”

     “Ok. Will you call me then? To let me know exactly when you’re coming back?”

     “Yeah, sure.”

     “I can’t believe you’re leaving me alone here in Redding, Ashley.” Kirstin sighed.

     “I’m so sorry, K. I really am. I had no idea we would have to go back to Los Angeles. Not now, anyway. There’s…”

     “Nothing you can do about it. Fine.” Kirstin completed the sentence for Ashley.

     “Are you mad? I don’t want you to be mad.”

     “I am kinda mad, but… that will pass. I’m just a little mad for now.”

     “I’m sorry, K. I really am.”

     “I understand. Let’s just stop talking about it or else I’ll be even madder.”

     “Ok. Subject dropped.” Ashley told her.

     “Good.” Kirstin let out a sigh.

     “You’re mad.”

     “Ashley!” Kirstin exclaimed.

     “Ok. Sorry. Moving on… Oh! You know what I found today?”

     “No, what?” Kirstin didn’t sound too interested in the conversation.

     “My class ring.”

     “Oh, really?” Kirstin asked with no enthusiasm and then thought ‘So what?’

     “Yeah. Do you still have yours?”

     “I don’t know. I gotta search for it. No idea where it is.”

     “I really like this ring. It’s pretty.”

     “I guess…” Kirstin didn’t understand why Ashley was talking about their class rings.

     “Can I come to your place before I leave for Los Angeles?” Ashley asked.

     “Yeah, sure. What time do you wanna come over?”

     “Around 11 a.m.”

     “Alright.” she agreed.

     “Good. Let me hang up now because I wanna get some sleep.”

     “Ok. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

     “Ok. I love you.”

     “I love you, too.” Kirstin smiled “Bye.”

     “Bye, baby.” Ashley said.

     Kirstin pushed the off button and stared into the phone. She had been having this idea in her head for a while now, but she didn’t really know how to do it properly. And at that moment she realized she had just found the answer to what was missing for her to complete her mission. She abruptly stood up and ran to get her mother.