Life After That

by Barbara Kevin

  WEDNESDAY – 2 P.M.

  Mike Cronin, Mike Morin, Dan, Trevor, Erik, Jacob, Janie, Ashley and Jen were entering the hotel from a radio interview they had earlier that day.

  "So, now we have 1 hour 'til we leave for MTV. Today it won't take long there. You're just gonna do a segment that will be on an 'Ultrasound' special. So be back here at the lobby at 3."

  Then everyone but the Mikes went to the restaurant to have lunch.

  "Good afternoon, Marge."

  "Hello Kirstin, dear. How was your day?"

  "Ok… well, let me get to those files soon 'cause today I gotta be off at 3:30 sharp! Can't be late 'cause a friend of mine will come pick me up."

  "Alright, honey. Don't let me keep you. Mr. Goodman's office is already unlocked."

  "Thank you." Kirstin smiled at the nice secretary and headed to Mr. Goodman's office.

  O-Town and their managers were arriving at MTV and were on their way to the dressing room.

  "Why didn't Jen and Janie come today?" Trevor asked Ashley and Jacob.

  "Well, Janie said she was gonna stay at the hotel 'cause she was feeling a bit tired." Jacob answered his friend.

  "Hm, busy night she had?" Trevor teased Jacob who just smirked and shook his head lightly.

  "And Jen decided to keep her company." Ashley added.

  "They are becoming good friends, aren't they?" Jacob asked Ashley who looked at his band mate and replied,

  "Yes, I think they are. That's good, I think…" and at that exact moment, when he turned his look to the corridor, there she was. Again. He couldn't believe it. This couldn't be a coincidence. He had seen her twice. And in a row. It couldn't be his imagination. This time he wasn't gonna stay there. But when he was about to go to her, she disappeared into the elevator. He then ran and caught another elevator that had just opened its door. He was in such a rush he hadn't even heard his managers and friends scream his name while he was running to catch the elevator. He just needed to catch up with her. He needed to see if it really was her. He just wouldn't and couldn't let her go this time.

  The elevator stopped and he ran out. He scanned the place looking for Kirstin. He couldn't see her. She wasn't there, not in the building at least. He was frustrated. But, when he turned to get back to the elevator he found her. She was standing by the back exit door. She was just standing there, 'Probably waiting for someone' he thought. That wasn't gonna stop him. He made a bee-line in her direction. When he was close enough, he took a deep breath and placed his hand on her shoulder.

  Chapter 5

  Kirstin felt a hand touch her shoulder. When she turned around to see who it was, she was shocked. It was Ashley. She didn't know but he was shocked as she was. He couldn't believe it was really her. They just stood there, staring at each other, no expression on their faces. They weren't even hearing anything or seeing anything but each other. It felt like the world had simply stopped the minute their eyes met. A while later, uncomfortable with the silence, Ashley decided to speak, but all he could think of at that moment was:

  "It was you."

  It took a moment there for Kirstin to say something. She couldn't believe Ashley had actually found her. She refused to believe that the man and the feelings she had been running away from for the past 2 years was back in her life.

  "What?"

  "It was you that I saw yesterday. I couldn't believe it was you. I thought I had gone crazy."

  Kirstin didn't know what to say. She just stood there, her eyes never leaving his. She was so confused. What would happen now? She heard a horn. Turning her gaze, she saw Stephanie waving for her from her car. She felt a bit relieved. She could run away from him again and pretend nothing had happened. She knew Ashley wasn't gonna let that happen, but she had to give it a try.

  "I'm sorry, I have to go now." she said leaving, beginning to walk away, not looking at Ashley "My friend is here and…" she stopped. Ashley had grabbed her wrist.

  "You can't go. I won't let you. We need to talk, Kirstin! It took me 2 years to find you again and do you really think that I can let you go now? Do you have any idea how these past 2 years have been to me? You ran away after the prom, you don't call, you don't leave a number, address, anything! Just vanish! I thought you felt something for me, especially after YOU kissed ME! I thought we were feeling the same way. Obviously, I was wrong. Do you have any idea how much it hurt when I went back to your house and you were gone? I spent the last few years trying to find a reason for that, thinking it was all my fault, that I had done something wrong…"

  "Ok, stop it right there, Ashley. You don't think it was equally bad for me? It was worse, I bet. It's much harder when you're the one running away. But I couldn't do it. I had to go away." Ahorn was heard again and Kirstin continued "I'm sorry, but I really gotta go now."

  "So you're running away again? Is that it?"

  "I'm sorry, but I got this paper to do…"

  "I'll let you go if you promise me you'll meet me tomorrow."

  Kirstin didn't wanna say yes, but now that Ashley had found her, she knew he wouldn't let her get away from him again.

  "Ok. We'll meet here."

  "Here at MTV? By the way, what are you doing here?"

  "I work here. But I don't want to meet at MTV. Instead, we'll meet out here, by these doors. And then we'll find some coffee place around here where we can talk."

  "Ok, great. What time?"

  "I get out of work around 3:30. We'll meet here then."

  "Ok, it's a date."

  Kirstin smiled and headed to Stephanie's car. Ashley was left with a smile on his face. He was happy. He had found her. He had found the girl he loved. When Kirstin was out of his sight, he turned and headed back to the MTV studios.

  "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting."

  "Don't worry about that. But was that that guy from O-Town?"

  "Ashley, yeah. You know them?"

  "My sister is a big fan. What did he want from you that took so long?"

  "Oh, nothing much. We went to high school together. He saw me and thought of asking me what was going on with my life."

  "Oh, that was sweet of him."

  "Yeah, I guess…"

  "Were you close friends?" Stephanie kept asking. Kirstin really didn't wanna talk about it, but she didn't wanna be rude to her friend, so kept answering her.

  "Well, kinda. I joined the high school he was on when I was a junior, so we only had 2 years of high school together, and I haven't seen him since then."

  "I bet he was Mr. Popular!"

  "Yeah, he was…" Kirstin couldn't hide her smile. She remembered the Friday night football games and people treating Ashley like he was a king every time they would win a game. And then later in the evening he would go to her house and they would stay up all night talking, out on the swing Kirstin had on her front yard. One thing she never understood was why he spent so much of his time with her when he could be out on a date with any cheerleader he wanted to. She remembered when she asked him that one question all he said was "Because none of them has your smile." It was the one time he made her blush.

  "Ok, we're here." Stephanie's voice woke Kirstin from her thoughts. They got out of the car and went to the library to get their paper done.

  Ashley found his way to the O-Town dressing room. When he got in, everyone was looking at him, waiting for an explanation, but only Jacob felt the need to say something:

  "What the hell happened?"

  "I'm really sorry. I saw this friend of mine from high school that I haven't seen in years getting the elevator and I had to go. Sorry."

  "Was that the same one from yesterday?" Jacob asked.

  "Yesterday?" Dan faced Jacob.

  Disregarding Dan's comment Ashley continued:

  "Yeah, as a matter of fact, it was her yesterday. It turns out that she works here."

  "Oh! She! I thought it was strange for you to go chasing a dude, but it's a 'she'! Now I get it." Trevor joked about the situation.

  "Shut up. Anywa
y, we have a date tomorrow at 3:30. Do you think we'll be free at this time?" Ashley asked Mike Morin who was standing near the couch.

  "Yes. The thing you guys had to do here tomorrow was cancelled, so you just have one radio interview and a photo shoot in the morning then you're free for the rest of the day."

  "Terrific!" Ashley said with a big smile on his face.

  "Wait a second. Did you just say date? What about Jen?" Jacob asked seemingly confused about the situation. And Ashley was too. He hadn't actually thought about Jen 'til that moment.

  "It's not an actual date. We're just gonna talk. Remember the old times. It's gonna be at 3:30 in a coffee shop! How much of a date is that?"

  "I don't know… judging by the big smile you had on your face when you told us you had met her, I'd say it's a big date!" Erik answered his band mate.

  "Well, it's not. I have a girlfriend and she probably has a boyfriend too, so…" the thought of her with another guy made Ashley's smile disappear.

  "If you say so…" Erik said dropping the subject.

  AT THE HOTEL

  "Yo, Ashley, wait up!" Erik called from the elevator to Ashley who was going to his room.

  "Yes?"

  "Are you gonna tell Jen about the 'not-a-date' thing that you have tomorrow?"

  "I thought about it on our way here and I decided not to. It's not a big deal. It's just two old friends having coffee."

  "If it's not a big deal, then what's the problem on telling her that?"

  "I'm not afraid to tell her. I just don't see why it's so important for me to tell her that."

  "'Cause she's your girlfriend and she should know what's going on with her boyfriend's life."

  "Well, I'm not gonna tell her. If something important comes out from this date, then she'll know about it."

  "Ok, it's your choice. But I just think you should tell her. It would be worse if she finds out about it some other way."

  "She won't find out about it and thanks for trying to help Erik, but it's ok."

  "Ok then. Later dude!"

  By the time Ashley got to his room it was late already, 11 P.M., but Jen was awake and watching TV.

  "Hey Ash. What took you so long today? I thought you were gonna get here and I'd be sleeping again."

  "We had the MTV thing to do and they we got stuck on this photo shoot and magazine interview that we had to do, so…"

  "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.

  Chapter 6

  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 you
r 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.