~*~ Chapter 72 ~*~
NEW YORK CITY, NY – KIRSTIN’S LOFT – APR.13th, 2002 – SATURDAY
Kirstin dropped her purse and keys on a chair near the sofa and collapsed onto it. It was almost 11 p.m. and she had just arrived home from MTV. She had worked her ass off during the entire day, not once stopping. Why did they have to loose a tape of a one and a half hour show?
She closed her eyes for a second, hoping it would make her feel less tired, but it was not working. She then opened them again and realized her answering machine had 5 messages for her to listen to.
Kirstin gathered all the remaining forces she had left to get off of the couch and press the play button.
The machine announced: Message One.
“Kirstin, what the hell?” Kirstin grinned a little and collapsed again onto the couch while listening to her best friend Grace’s message “You just vanished last night! What happened? You got me worried sick about you, girl. I tried your cell today, but I only got voice mail. Call me as soon as you hear this message, girl!” Kirstin just shook her head and smiled.
The machine announced this time: Message Two.
“Hey, baby. How is it going? Just got back from your house. I miss you, I miss your smell, I miss your tattoo, I miss that little birth mark you have under your bellybutton, I miss the softness of your bed… I miss everything already. God, have you ever imagine loving someone just as much as I love you? ‘Cause I’ve never.” Kirstin’s eyes filled with tears and she let them fall “For Christ’s sake, I just saw you half an hour ago and I already miss you this much! It’s a good thing I’m gonna have you forever now. Well… I’m gonna stop babbling. I just wanted to say I’ve made it to the hotel and I have no idea if we have something scheduled for today. But in that case, I’ll call you and let you know, alright? Love you with all my heart. Buhbye.”
Kirstin wiped the tears away from her face and smiled while the machine announced the third message.
“Kirstin, it’s me, Tom. How are you? Well, you left the party last night without saying goodbye. I hope that’s a good sign. Let me know how everything went with Ashley, so call me as soon as possible. Bye.”
Kirstin smiled. She had to call Tom and thank him. He had helped her so much the night before. He was so supportive of her and such a good friend she could never imagine loosing him again.
It was time for message number four.
“K, baby, it’s Ash. Listen, now it’s… 1:30 p.m. and we have studio for an hour and a half and then a photo shoot for the cover of the album. I have no idea when I’m coming back, but as soon as you listen to this, call me on my cell, alright? It will be on all day. Love you. Take care. Bye.”
The machine finally announced: Message Five.
“Hey, baby. Me again. You haven’t called all day. I’m a bit worried. Is something wrong with your cell phone? I tried calling it all day but got voice mail. It’s 9 o’clock now and I’m kinda worried you haven’t called yet. Just ring me as soon as you hear this. Love you.”
Kirstin sat up and got her purse from the chair near her.
“Nothing’s wrong with my cell! What are these people talking about?” she got through her purse and found what she was looking for. Her cell phone was turned off “Oh, great!” With the sudden announcement that she had to be at work that day, she clearly had forgotten to turn on her cell phone.
She decided she’d first call Ashley, of course. She picked the cordless phone and dialed his cell phone number. It only rang once.
“Thank God! Where have you been?” Ashley sounded worried.
“I was working!” Kirstin smiled at his concern “You knew that.”
“But until this late?”
“You have no idea how hard it is working behind the cameras, baby. You, who only have to work in front of it, have to have the glamours life of being on TV. I, on the other hand, work as a slave to edit an hour and a half show.”
“Oh…”
“Yes… Oh…” she giggled.
“So, you’re tired…”
“I feel terrible. I look like trash.”
“That would never be true.”
“Aw…” Kirstin grinned “You’re too sweet. But if you were to see me know, you’d agree.”
“Can I?”
“Can you what?” Kirstin frowned, not understanding his question.
“See you now?”
“But, Ash… it’s almost…”
“Does it matter?” Ashley asked, cutting her off. She smiled.
“It does not.” and it really didn’t matter. To see Ashley, she’d make time.
“Ok. So I’m going.”
“Ok. So I’m waiting.” she grinned.
“Love you.” he said.
“Love you more.”
“Impossible.” he informed her.
“Not really.” she said and smiled after hearing his chuckle.
“We’ll see about that. See you in a sec.”
“Bye.” she hung up the phone still wearing her smile and headed to the kitchen. She had just realized she was starving.
She ate her sandwhich and drank her can of coke in about 20 minutes, and went to put the can in the garbage. Returning from the kitchen she heard the door being unlocked, and trailed straight to the door.
After eating her sandwich and drinking her can of coke, which took her around 20 minutes, she went to put the can in the garbage. Returning from the kitchen, she heard the door being unlocked. She trailed straight to the door.
“There you are!” Ashley said the second he opened the door and shut it behind him.
“Here I am!” she opened her arms out to him and he swung her around.
“Oh, God, I missed you.” he said, embracing her and kissing her passionately. He pressed his lips hard against hers and soon his tongue slid through her mouth and savored her. He smiled at the sound of her moaning.
“God!” she said as he backed away “I missed you, too.” Kirstin quickly pecked his lips “Come, let’s sit.” she led him to the couch.
“You know what I was meaning to ask you during the whole day?”
“What?” Kirstin smiled at him.
“I don’t know if you’ll agree or not, maybe that’s not exactly what you have in mind, because I know girls dream about their wedding since, I don’t know, they’re five, but…” Ashley took her hands in his.
“Yes?” Kirstin was frowning now. She was a little concerned. What could that be about?
“What do you think of a small ceremony?” Kirstin’s face had no expression whatsoever “Let me explain here.” Ashley continued “I would marry you like… today, if that was possible, but I know it is not and it’s not the most romantic thing. And I want this to be romantic. I want our wedding to be as romantic as it could be, so it will be unforgettable. It occurred to me today that we’ve never actually spoken of how our wedding would be like. And that’s what I was thinking. A small ceremony, just family and friends. I would not invite any celebrities, because that’s not the type of ceremony I wanna have. And a small ceremony could happen sooner and I just want my family and friends there anyway. But… with girls it’s different. You probably have been thinking about this day for a long time, and if you say no to my idea, that’s fine, because I want you to have it your way. I wanna make it your night. Not mine. It’s gonna be your night and you’ll have it your way. I just wanted to tell you what I was thinking for the day. So…” Ashley stopped talking and waited for Kirstin’s reply.
“You are right, we never actually talked about it.” she said calmly.
“Yes. Maybe because it happened all of a sudden. You never thought of marrying me before. You didn’t have enough time to assimilate all that and so we never stopped to talk about it.”
“You’re wrong.” Kirstin shook her head with a small grin on her face.
“I’m wrong?” Ashley frowned “About what?”
“About me never thinking of marrying you before.”
“What?” Ashley asked, surprised.
“When I was a girl, I never really had anything planned for a wedding. Never really gave enough thought to it. And after my first two boyfriends, well… I just washed that idea off my mind. But after meeting you, after getting to know you and…” Kirstin felt her cheek burn a little.
“Yes?” Ashley asked tenderly.
“After meeting you and pretty much falling in love with you immediately, I’ve always dreamed of marrying you some day. Never thought it would be possible though, so I never really gave it too much thought. So… for me, there’s only one thing that would make my marriage ceremony perfect and just as I dreamed it would be.” tears were taking over Kirstin’s face and Ashley was forcing his own not to drop “To have you, Ashley Ward Parker Angel, waiting for me at the altar.” she almost couldn’t say that last phrase due to her emotion. She had never told anyone about that dream of hers, ever. And to say that exactly to the man she dreamed of marrying and having him looking back at her like he was, with tears starting to drop from his eyes, she couldn’t feel better for knowing they shared the exact same feeling. She wiped a tear from his left cheek and tried to control herself “So… I don’t care who’s there to watch the ceremony as long as you’ll be there to hold my hand after I walk down the aisle.” Kirstin looked at him tenderly “Will you?”
“Oh, yes. Even if that cost my life, I’ll be there to hold your hand.” he quickly leaned in and kissed her with every fiber of his being. And Kirstin felt it. She felt it would be ok. Better than ok. Ashley would be there for her at the church, and most importantly, Kirstin felt Ashley would be there for her for the rest of her life.
After a while, he pulled back.
“So… can we have the small ceremony after all?” Ashley asked.
“Of course, baby. And I don’t want our wedding to be my night. I want it to be our night. Our special night.”
“Ok. But you’re planning it, alright? Women are better at these things.”
“Ok, ok.” Kirstin giggled “I’ll do it. Should we start with the guest list, then?” she said getting up to get a notebook and a pen.
“Now?” Ashley turned to look at her “Like… right now?”
“Yes, now! I wanna marry you as soon as possible, too!” she stated, going up to her room.
Ashley shook his head and smiled on the couch.
* Thanx Taryn and Sammy for reviewing and correcting the grammar errors *
~*~ Chapter 71 ~*~
~*~ Chapter 73 ~*~
Feedback: [email protected]