Life After That (4 page)

One hour later, everyone was in the lobby heading to the limo so they could go to MTV. When they got there, they were sent to the dressing room.

"Man, it's kinda early isn't it? It's still 1:30 and we don't go live 'til 3:30!" Jacob was already complaining.

"Yeah, but we gotta do make-up and you know how long it takes for Ashley to get that hair of his ready!" Trevor told him pointing to Ashley.

"Oh, drop it!" Ashley pushed Trevor that was sitting by the edge of the couch and made him fall out of it.

"Stop it you two." said Morin. "We gotta go to the studio to see how the show is gonna be, your marks, sound check, and a lot of things before going to make-up, so let's do that already."

"Jen, baby, are you gonna stay here?" Ashley asked his girlfriend.

"Yes, Janie is gonna stay here, so I'm gonna keep her company."

"All right, it won't take too long." He kissed her lips softly and left the dressing room.

After doing everything they were suppose to do on the set, which took an hour or so, the O-Town guys got back to their dressing room. Jen and Janie were sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Hey, you said it wouldn't take too long!" Jen got off of the couch and put her arms around Ashley's neck. He put his on her waist and said,

"I know, I'm sorry. We had some problems with the mics and some other stuff."

"Oh, I see…" She then gave him a passionate kiss.

"Get a room you two!" Trevor joked from the couch. They separated from the kiss and Jen smirked to Ashley.

Mike Cronin got into the dressing room and said,

"Guy, you're needed in the make-up room. We're on in less than an hour!"

"I'm gonna stay here. Will you come back before the show starts?" Jen asked her boyfriend.

"Maybe. I don't know how long it will take in the make-up room."

"Come back! I wanna wish you good luck before getting in."

"Ok, so I'll definitely try to come back then!" he said kissing her and leaving the room.

"You two are doing well, aren't you?" Janie asked when only the two of them were left in the dressing room.

"I guess so. I really love him! We've been together for 5 months now, and I think it's going great. He's really kind to me and all."

"Well, that's nice."

"Yeah…" Jen smiled. She was happy with her relationship. Really happy.

"Well Marge, I'm outta here. If you need me, call me on my cell phone, ok?"

"Ok dear. Have a nice day and see you tomorrow."

"Ok, see you!" Kirstin said leaving the office, heading to the elevator.

"Guys, you're good to go." the make-up artist informed the O-Town members when his work was done.

"Great, thanks!" Mike Morin said leading the other guys out of the room. "We gotta go to the set right away guys."

"Oh Mike, I can't. I gotta go back to the dressing room real quick." Ashley told Mike, who was not happy at all with that.

"Yeah, me too." Jacob said walking with Ashley on their way to the dressing room.

"Ok, but don't be long!" Mike Morin told them, and then headed to the set with the other 3 guys.

Ashley and Jacob were on the corridor on their way to the dressing room. They were kinda in a hurry, 'cause they couldn't take long. TRL was starting in less than 15 minutes.

Then Ashley abruptly stopped. He saw standing there, in that same corridor, the girl he took to the prom. There, less than 30 feet away, was the one person he couldn't take his mind off. There, waiting for the elevator, was Kirstin Addams.

"Ash, are you coming?" Jacob asked. But Ashley wasn't paying any attention to Jacob. Actually, Ashley wasn't paying attention to anything. He was staring at this one spot and his feet were glued to the floor. He just stared at Kirstin's figure waiting for the elevator. She was there, looking for something on her purse. She was gorgeous. She was just as he remembered. Her hair was longer now, but that was the only thing different about her that he could notice from where he was standing. He wanted to go there, but something wasn't letting him. Then, in a matter of seconds, she was gone. She had taken the elevator. A frown formed on Ashley's face and a moment later he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Ashley? Are you ok? Ashley?"

"What?" he turned to face Jacob "Oh, I'm fine."

"You were lost there for a moment, you were frowning and everything. Are you sure you're ok?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. It's just that I thought I had seen someone I knew. It probably wasn't though…" he turned to look at the spot Kirstin was before, but instead a bald guy was standing where she had just been. "Yeah, it probably wasn't." Ashley said again, more to assure himself than to assure Jacob.

"Let's go to the dressing room then."

"Hey, baby!" Jacob said as he opened the door to the dressing room and headed towards Janie who was on the couch and kissed her softly on the lips.

"We gotta be quick or Mike will cut our heads off." Ashley told Jen as she got off the couch and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck on the show." she told him giving him a kiss and as she was about to deepen the kiss, he didn't let her.

"Thanks, but we really gotta go. We're gonna be on soon."

"Is something wrong?"

Noticing the hurt look on his girlfriend's face, Ashley said,

"No, baby, it's just that we really gotta go. We'll be back here as soon as it's finished, ok?" he kissed her lips softly. He didn't want to upset his girlfriend, so he tried to take whatever was on his mind that moment, aside for a while. "Let's go Jacob!" Ashley said pulling away from her and they both headed out of the dressing room.

Kirstin got to her loft. She put her purse down on the counter at the kitchen and went to get a can of coke and a pack of Doritos. She was feeling pretty tired. She hadn't slept well the night before and at that moment she just wanted to relax, so she sat at the couch in front of the TV and flipped through some channels. Nothing interesting was on so she decided to leave it on MTV. TRL was just getting back from the breaks and Carson was shown. The camera was only focused on Carson at that moment and he started saying:

"Welcome back everybody. Before the break, we were talking to the guys from O-Town." Screams were heard from the audience and then the image opened to show O-Town on set.

Kirstin sat up. She couldn't believe it.

Ashley managed to do TRL without thinking about what had happened before. But every time they went to a break, he would go back to his thoughts. Because of the concerned look on his face all of his band mates had checked on him to know if he was alright. He would always say yes, but he wasn't. And on their way to the hotel, Jen couldn't help but notice that too.

"Ash, are you ok? You're quiet. You had barely said 2 words since we left MTV. What's going on?"

"Nothing, really." he wanted to talk to somebody about it, but the last person he would do that would be Jen. "I just have a bad headache, that's all." He realized he had to stop thinking about seeing Kirstin and so he asked his girlfriend "Are you enjoying this? Being on the road with us, I mean."

"Yeah. I get lonely sometimes when you're doing your stuff but Janie's a great person. We're having a good time."

"Really? It's nice to know that you two are hitting off."

"Yeah, we are…"

At the hotel, Mike Cronin gathered them all near the elevators and Morin informed they were having a radio interview in an hour and a half and it would take probably 2 hours.

On their way to their room, Jen asked,

"Do you want me to go to this one too?"

"It's really up to you. Are you up to it?"

"I don't know. This radio thing starts at 7 right?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm kinda tired. I think I'll stay here, take a nice bath, eat something and wait for you then."

"Ok, have it your way."

"Hope when you get here I won't be sleeping already."

Ashley smiled "Me too" and put his right arm around her waist and led her into their room.

Kirstin was at the supermarket near her loft getting something for her dinner. She was thinking about O-Town being on MTV. A lot of questions kept popping into her mind 'Was Ashley there while I were there?' 'Did he see me?' 'If he did see me, why didn't he come talk to me?' 'Would he be glad to see me 2 years after what happened?' She couldn't help but wonder about so many things. 'If he was there, while I were there and we didn't see each other, maybe it's fate. Maybe it's supposed to be this way. Maybe I should take it as a sign that we're not suppose to see each other ever again. Maybe I should just leave it behind already, because I'm going insane! He was there, he's not coming back any time soon and when he comes back, that if he does, it'll just be like this time, we won't see each other.'

"Miss? Miss?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. What?" Kirstin asked the cashier.

"That'd be $9,25."

"Here it is. Thanks" Kirstin got her bags and left the store heading to her loft.

When Ashley got to his hotel room, Jen was already sleeping. He had come from the radio interview and decided to stay at the hotel bar. He went through all that had happened to him that day. He knew Kirstin was in NY, he knew he could bump into her in the city anytime soon, but MTV? What would she be doing on MTV? He couldn't find any explanation for that, as hard as he tried to, so he eventually gave up and went to his room. Seen Jen there, lying on the bed, he smiled, but he did have a concerned look on his face. If it indeed was Kirstin, what would happen now that he had found the girl that had been constantly on his mind for the past 2 years? He stripped to his boxers and joined Jen in the bed. It had been a long day.

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."