Life After That (6 page)

"I see." Jen noticed a worried look on her boyfriend's face while he was getting his shirt and pants off to join her in bed "Are you ok? You seem a little worried."

"It's nothing, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah…" he said leaning to kiss her on the lips.

"Thanx Steph. See you tomorrow." Kirstin jumped out of Stephanie's car and got into her apartment building. When she got to her loft, she went straight to her room. She was tired. She had been at the library since the afternoon; at least their paper was done. But it wasn't the paper she was worried about. While she changed to go to bed, her thoughts were driving her insane:

"Why did I agree to that stupid date tomorrow? Oh man! It's gonna be a disaster! What am I gonna say to him when he asks me why I ran away from him after the kiss? 'Cause I know that he is gonna ask me that for sure! He already mentioned the kiss today! Oh God, why did he had to find me? And if he saw me yesterday, why didn't he come and talk to me then? That's what I am gonna ask him. But he does look good. My God, his eyes! They still drive me crazy! I could just look at them for the rest of my life…" realizing what she was doing, Kirstin criticized herself. "Kirstin, stop it. You know you can't fall for him. Not again. You will get hurt. Just like you did before. You can have coffee with him, that's nothing, but just don't fall for him again. Tomorrow you go, have coffee with him, have a nice chat and that's it. You're never gonna see him again anyway. Just… don't fall for him." What Kirstin didn't wanna face was the fact that she was already in love with him. She had always been. She was just fighting back her feelings. And it wasn't working. The next day, she'd have a date with Ashley. And she couldn't wait for it.

NEW YORK CITY – HOTEL LOBBY - THURSDAY

"C'mon people, let's do it!" Ashley was standing in the lobby, talking to his 4 sleepy band mates, who were sitting on the couch. They were waiting for the limo to arrive and take them to the radio station where they would be doing an interview later on.

"Oh, shut up! It's 8 o'clock in the morning, for crying out loud! I can hardly keep my eyes open. Why are you so hyper, anyway?" Jacob wondered, holding his head back on the couch.

"Today he has his big date!" Erik told Jacob with a sarcastic look.

"Oh yeah. That's right. While you go on a date with your high school sweetheart, your actual girlfriend is gonna be here, waiting in your
hotel room
, clueless." Jacob was kinda upset with Ashley's decision. Noticing the emotion in Jacobs's voice, Ashley looked at his band mate:

"Jacob, you don't have to get mad at me. I already told you it's not a date. Yeah, I liked Kirstin when we were on high school. We were friends. But I'm not that kinda guy. I'm not gonna get involved with Kirstin if I'm with Jen."

"But from what we're seeing, you seem pretty interested in Kirstin, Ashley." Dan spoke up "I just think you should talk to Jen about it."

"Me too. I already told him that, but he refuses to listen to me." Erik informed Dan.

"Well, if you must know, I will talk to her. I thought about it when we were in our room last night and I will talk to her, but just when I come back from seeing Kirstin. When I get back from my date with her I will be able to see if I have any feeling left for Kirstin."

"I thought it wasn't a date." Jacob just shook his head.

There was silence for a moment. Ashley couldn't pretend it anymore. He was really thinking of it as a date. Actually, not just a date, but their official first date. He would consider the prom their first date if Kirstin didn't keep saying that they were going to the prom just as friends. He closed his eyes for a second. There, he was able to see the image of Kirstin that night. When he came to her door to take her to the prom, she looked so incredibly beautiful that she took his breath away for a moment. She was wearing a long baby blue gown. The gown was plain and simple, but it showed all her curves and how tall she really was. She didn't wearshoes with big heels, or else she'd be taller than Ashley. And she hated when she was taller than guys. It was something she totally hated about herself, but Ashley always liked that. Her being that tall made her even more beautiful and it made her stand out from everybody. When Ashley touched Kirstin's skin while putting on the corsage on her wrist, he felt a chill down heis spine. He didn't know what it was. He had never felt like that before. He was so afraid. He had being with a lot of other girls before, but none of them made him feel the way he did when he was around Kirstin.

"Ashley? Hello? Let's go! The limo is here." Trevor woke Ashley from his thoughts.

NYU – Lunch Time

"Hey!" Grace greeted sitting on a chair at the table Kirstin was finishing having her lunch.

"Hey, what's up? You are kinda late!"

"Oh, nothing much. I had to talk to this teacher after class. So… what time will you pick me up today?" Grace asked excited. She loved their Thursday nights.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Hello? It's Thursday! What time will you pick me up so we can go to Inferno?"

"Oh yeah… about that. I don't feel like going out today."

"What are you talking about? Since our first night out, we have never skipped any Thursday night. And you, especially you, love our Thursdays Nights out for obvious reasons." Grace was kinda intrigued. Her best friend had been acting strange at the past week. She wondered what was wrong with her "K, I know you don't like sharing your problems with anyone, but I'm your best friend! We have known each other for 2 years now and I have never seen you so strange like you have been in these past 2 weeks. Please, tell me what's going on. I may not be able to help you, but just getting whatever this problem is off your chest might help. Please, tell me what's wrong!"

Seeing her best friend's true intention to help, Kirstin realized that maybe it was the time to talk to someone about it. She couldn't keep it to herself anymore. She was gonna freak out soon if she didn't talk to someone. And who better to talk to about it than with her best friend?

"Ok Grace. I guess you are right. But this conversation will stay here, ok?"

"Yes, of course! You didn't even have to ask, K!"

"Ok, so here's the thing. There was this guy I went to the prom with…"

O-TOWN PHOTO SHOTTO / INTERVIEW SECTION

"Ok guys. Thank you very much. I think I have everything I need for the article. If I need anything else, I'll call one of your managers." this blond female journalist told the O-Town members while they were shaking hands. After saying their goodbyes, they went to their limo to go back to their hotel.

"What time is it?" Ashley asked but then realized he was wearing his watch and saw it was 3:15. "Oh my God! I gotta go meet Kirstin! We agreed to meet at 3:30! Mike, can the driver drop me at MTV before taking you guys back to the hotel?"

"Yes, just let me tell him that." Mike Morin moved from his seat to one near the driver and informed him.

"So… if Jen asks where you are, what do we tell her?" Erik asked Ashley.

"Hm… tell her that I got stuck at the interview and I'll call her as soon as I get out of there."

"Oh man! I see you getting busted already." Jacob just shook his head in a negative way.

"I won't! Don't worry about me, guys. Everything is gonna be fine."

Minutes later, they got to MTV.

"Ok guys. Later then." Ashley got out of the limo. Kirstin was not there yet. It was 3:30 sharp.

"Oh my God! Oh my God, oh my God! It's past 3:30! I gotta get out of here." Kirstin noticed the time. She just put all the files she was finishing organizing together in a folder, then placd it in a drawer and left the room.

On the waiting room:

"Marge, here's the key to the office. Thanks. See you tomorrow!" she said in a hurry heading to the elevator.

"Ok. What's the rush, dear?"

"I'm late for something. But we'll talk tomorrow! Bye!"

She got out of the elevator and was going to the back exit door when she saw Ashley standing there already. But he wasn't alone. There were 2 girls talking to him and he was writing something on a piece of paper 'Wow… he has fans already!' Kirstin thought. She would have never guessed her best friend from high school someday would have real fans, not just those people who would watch him at the Friday night games. She didn't wanna go there while the girls were still there, so she waited. The girls were all agitated, excited and happy. Kirstin smiled at that scene. Ashley was being so nice to the girls, smiling and giving hugs and kisses on the cheek. When the 2 girls finally left, she approached Ashley. He wasn't facing her when she greeted:

"Hey…"

"Hey!" he turned to see her.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I'm so sorry."

"It's ok. Not everybody freaks out and gets mad at people for getting late, you know?" he said through a smile.

She just smiled, glanced down and shook her head lightly. Ashley knew her too well. He still knew her too well. "Well, either way, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about that." he still had a smile on his face. She did too. Her big, famous smile. He was so happy it ached. He decided to break the awkward silence.

"So… where are we going?"

"I don't know…" Kirstin said turning to face the street. "There's a Starbucks right there. We can go over there." she said pointing.

"Ok, let's go then."

On their way to the coffee shop, they didn't say a thing. Ashley wanted so badly to take her hand in his, but had to control himself. He had his girlfriend and she probably had someone too. He wanted to find that out soon. He would wait for the right moment to bring that up, though.

At the coffee shop, Ashley ran to open the door for Kirstin. She forgot how much of a gentleman he was and smirked at him as she walked through the door. At the table, he pulled the chair for her to sit and went to get them both coffee. Kirstin, who was sitting on the table, had a frown formed on her face while watching Ashley make the order. He hadn't asked her how she wanted her coffee. Ashley was soon coming back with the order.

"Here it is. Black, 2 sugars, no cream."

"You know it! That's impossible! We never went out for coffee before."

"Well, no. But remember those days when I'd sleep at your house and we'd have breakfast together? Well, I'd watch you prepare your coffee and it was always black, 2 sugars, no cream. So, here it is."

"I'm impressed Ashley Angel! I thought you were always too sleepy at those times to notice anything, especially how I prepare my coffee."

"Well, I'd always pay attention to you, no matter what." he said through a small smile. Kirstin was embarrassed. She didn't know what to say. He was being too nice to her. She had to do something to resist the temptation.