Life After That (5 page)

"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.

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. Anyway, 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…"