Life After That (8 page)

Ashley wiped the one tear away from his face. He lifted his head up, took a deep breath and got off of his chair, leaving the coffee shop. He took a cab to the hotel. He had made a decision. It wasn't an easy one, but it had to be done. There was no other choice.

"I'll be there in 15 minutes, G."

"Wait. You gotta tell me about your date! You're killing me! What happened there that made you change your mind about going out tonight?"

"Not now. It's late already and we're gonna have plenty of time to talk about it in the car. Alright?"

"Fine!" Grace was not too happy about it. She was really anxious to know about the date. Kirstin explained at lunchtime that Ashley had an important role in her life and how things were with 'Mr. Prom Guy'. "I'll be waiting for you then in 10 minutes."

"Great! Later!"

Kirstin got out of the phone and went to get her car key. She planned on having fun that night. Forget about everything that happened to her that day. And she was gonna do it.

"Ash, are you sure you wanna do this in a public place?" Erik asked his band mate while waiting on the hall for Jen to get ready.

"Yes, I am."

"Are you doing this in a bar so she won't make a scene?" Trevor, who was going to the bar with Erik, Ashley and Jen, asked him. Jacob decided to stay at the hotel with Janie and Dan wanted to get a good night of sleep 'cause they were going back to Orlando the next day.

"It's not that Trevor. Jeez, you make it sound like I'm a jerk! It's just... To tell you the truth, I don't know why I'm doing this. It's gonna be really difficult, you know? How am I suppose to make things better? What am I suppose to say? 'Hey Jen. Remember that girl that answered your call on my cell today that I told you she was the journalist? Well, it turns out she was not. She was the girl I'm madly in love with for the past few years. So, I'm gonna have to break things up with you now, so I can go after her and make things right between us so we can live happily ever after.' It is not something you just spit out!"

"Yeah, well, but that's the right thing to do, to tell her about this other girl. You can't be with Jen if this Kirstin girl is really the one you love." Erik made his point.

"And she is. Oh, man, she really is! Today, when I was waiting for her at MTV and she came up to me and said hey, my heart started beating so fast, you know? And I felt my hands all sweaty, I was so nervous. But once she smiled, all that nervous just disappeared, and I felt so much alive!"

"Well, I don't know about you Erik, but that sounds like love to me!" Trevor smirked.

A little later, Jen got emerged from the room.

"Ready?" she asked the 3 guys waiting for her by the door.

"Yes, let's go. You look great by the way." Ashley told her holding her hand. She was wearing a black short dress, with go-go boots. She sure looked great. But she wasn't Kirstin in Ashley's eyes. "Where are we going anyway?" he asked Erik, who was in charge of where they would be going that night, 'cause Erik, being from NY, knew the cool places to go to.

"We're going to this great bar, that has also a dance floor. It's nothing too chick, just laid-back people, it's great."

"Ok! Let's go party then!" Trevor yelled on the elevator.

Kirstin and Grace were getting into Inferno. Grace was already up-to-date with the whole 'tragedy', as Kirstin described the event, that was Kirstin and Ashley's date.

Inferno was a really nice place. It had an upstair floor with tables and you could see part of the dance floor and the bar from there. Downstairs were the dance floor and it had some tables around it. The bar was downstairs too and it had red stools all around the counter. The DJ booth was under the upstair floor, at the end of the dance floor.

Kirstin and Grace sat on their usual table, which was downstairs, in the middle where you could see the whole dance floor. As usual, Tom was the one serving them that night.

"Hey ladies!" Tom smiled at Kirstin. He remembered Kirstin was flirting with him the week before, but he was a little confused. He didn't know whether or not she meant that, 'cause minutes later, she was making out with another 'Thursday Guy'.

"Hey Tom, baby!" Kirstin greeted him with her big smile.

"What's it gonna be tonight?"

"I'll have a beer." Grace ordered.

"And I'll have the tequila shot! Actually bring me 2, would you?"

"Sure. Salt and lemon?"

"Of course! Thank you"

Tom then went to get their drinks.

"K, do you really think that you getting drunk will make you forget about all that happened at that date?" Grace was worried about her friend.

"No! But it will make things better, I can assure that! And stop being all maternal, alright? I'm 20! I can take care of my own life! I've done great so far."

"Fine, you are right. You are a big girl. Just do whatever you want."

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Kirstin suddenly said. At that exact moment, Ashley was walking into Inferno. And he wasn't alone. Clueless about what to do, Kirstin turned her head towards the dance floor and put her left hand over her face so he wouldn't see her.

"What? What is it, K?" Grace had no idea what was going on.

"Ashley's here! And that slut he's holding hands with must be his girlfriend!"

"You're kidding me! Where?"

"They are heading this way, probably to go upstairs. He's with that girl in that black dress and two other guys, one of them looks kinda latin. Do you see them? Don't look directly at them. I don't want Ashley to see me here."

"Oh, I see them. Man, she does look like a slut. Who dresses like that to come to Inferno?"

"I know! And the nerves of that guy! How dare he come here? This is here we hang out!"

"Well, I don't know K, but isn't it possible that he doesn't know we come here?"

"Don't look, he's coming over, he's coming over!"

"He's not coming over, relax!" Grace said, turning her head to face Kirstin. Ashley and the other people he was with passed through them and headed upstairs. "He didn't see you. That's good, right?"

"Hell yeah! I am embarrassed of all the things I told him earlier. I can't face him! Especially when he's with that girlfriend of his." Kirstin looked up to see them sit at their table. "Oh, thank God, he has his back to us. He can't see us, great! I thought we would have to change tables."

"K, do you wanna go home? This is clearly disturbing you." "No G. We're staying! If he can go to a bar and have fun with his girl and friends, why can't I? Besides, we were here first! We're staying!" she then spotted Tom getting closer to their table. "Actually..."

"Oh no! Don't play with Tom!" Grace sensed what her friend was up to.

"Relax!"

"Here Grace, your beer. Kirstin, your 2 tequila shots."

"Thanx Tom." Grace thanked him and held her head down. Poor Tom. She knew Kirstin was gonna use him for her own good.

"Thanx sweetie." Kirstin started saying "And you know what? I think tonight I'm gonna find someone to do body shots with! Hey Tom, are you up to it?" Tom was taken by surprise, obviously, and didn't know how to react to that request. Feeling embarrassed, Kirstin continued to tease him. "C'mon! You know you want to!"

"I'm working and..."

"What time do you get off? I can wait for you." She smiled at him. Tom couldn't resist her. He liked her. A lot. So he told her

"I think I can find someone to cover my shift."

"You can? That would be fantastic Tom!" Kirstin then turned her gaze to Grace that was just shaking her head slightly. Grace couldn't believe Tom was getting into Kirstin's trap. He was so naive. She felt bad for the guy.

"Can you give me 30 minutes?"

"Sure baby!"

Tom then left.

"Oh Kirstin. That was so mean! He doesn't deserve to be part of this sick little revenge you got going on here."

"Grace, will you stop it? Why are you so worried about Tom anyway? He's gonna be my 'Thursday Guy' tonight and you never had a problem with that before. And last week, you were the one telling me I should go for him, that he digs me and now that I finally got the courage to go for a guy, you are holding me back? Wait, do you like him? You know, like…"

"No! It's not that! I said he digs you cause I thought he could be the one you would go steady with, you know? Stop fooling around? And Tom is a great guy! He's sweet, and he truly likes you. He's not like the other 'Thursday Guys'. But you know what? Forget it! I didn't know about Ashley last week, so forget about all I said to you last week."

"Yes, let's forget about it and have some fun already!" she said drinking the 2 tequila shots, one straight after the other.

"Erik, man, this is a great place!" Trevor was all excited. "On our way up here, I saw so many hot chicks! C'mon! Let's shake our asses Erik. Find some girls for us at the dance floor!"

"Yeah, alright! Let's do it!" Erik and Trevor were off to the dance floor.

"Great, I thought they would never leave us alone." Jen told Ashley and kissed him on the lips. Ashley didn't allow her to deepen the kiss.

"Jen, we need to talk."

"Oh no. That's never good. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, it's not that." Ashley rubbed his forehead before continuing. "I don't know how to say this to you..."

"Now you are really making me nervous. Just say it already!"

"Ok, we have been together now for what? 5, 6 months?"

"5 months. 6 months next week." she replied with a sweet smile.

"Right" Ashley smiled back, nervously. "It's been 5 great months. But the thing is... remember when you called me today and that girl answered?"

"Yes, the journalist."

"Well, actually, she wasn't a journalist. She was..."

"Did you lie to me?"

"Please Jen, let me finish. I have a lot to say here."

"Ok, carry on." Jen said in an angry tone, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So, she wasn't a journalist. She was this girl I went to high school with and I found her at MTV yesterday and..."

"What do you mean, you found her?"

"Jen, I was looking for this girl ever since our prom night. She disappeared after that night and I never heard from her again. So I ran into her at MTV yesterday, turns out she works there, and I asked her to have coffee with me today."

"You asked this girl on a date?"

"It wasn't a date! It was just 2 friends drinking coffee and talking. And before you ask, I didn't tell you about it because I didn't want you to make a fuss out of it. I decided to go, have coffee with her and find out if I still had any feeling left for her."

"Still, you should have told me!"

"I know, and I'm sorry."

"And? What did you find out?" Jen glanced down. Somehow she already knew what was coming.

"That's the hard part, Jen. I don't know how to make this easier, so I'll just say it. I love her. I'm really sorry Jen, but I have to be truth to my feelings, and I can't go on with our relationship thinking about this other girl 24/7. It wouldn't be fair to you. You are a great girl, you deserve so much better. I never..."