Life After That (9 page)

"You know what Ashley? Spare me from all of this pity talk. It's bullshit and you know it! I knew I was the only one in love in this relationship, but I thought you just needed some time for it to grow on you. I had no idea you were in love with a girl from your past! I can't believe how foolish I was." she shook her head in disappointment. "And you bring me here to talk about it? Were you expecting me to make a big scene about it? You are an asshole Ashley! But you know what? I'm gonna be the better person in this relationship and wish you all the happiness in the world with this... girl!" she said getting up. "Have a nice life!" And just like that, she was out of Ashley's sight. He was left with his hands over his face. He had a big headache.

"I'm gonna go dance. I don't wanna be here when Tom gets here." Grace was off to the dance floor.

Kirstin didn't wanna be alone at the table, so she went to sit on a stool by the bar. At the other side of the counter, she saw Tom talking to this other guy she assumed was the other waiter that would be covering Tom's shift. She yelled so Tom would listen to her over the loud music.

"Hey handsome! What's taking you so long?"

Tom faced her and said:

"Just a second, K!" he turned back so he would face Kirk, one of Inferno's waiter "Please, Kirk, I beg you!"

"I don't know man. I was just getting ready to leave. I'm really tired man, had a busy night."

"I know, but please, cover my shift. Just this once. I can cover yours tomorrow if you want me to."

"No, you don't have to do that. But are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, you know I dig this girl. And she's practically throwing herself at me! You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this."

"I do know. And she is pretty hot. But dude, she's gonna play you, just like all the other guys."

"I don't care! I'd rather be played by her than have nothing to do with her at all. Please?"

"Ok, alright. Go! Before I change my mind."

"Oh dude, thanks! I owe you! Big time!"

"You sure do. Now go!"

Still on the other side of the counter, Tom got near Kirstin and said on her ear:

"I'm just gonna go chance this shirt and I'll be right back."

"Ok, I'll be waiting right here. Oh! And when you come back, bring the tequila! And don't forget the salt and lemon!"

"Ok! Be right back!"

Kirstin was a bit drunk already. 'But not enough' she thought. She still had the date on her mind and Ashley was at the bar. And he still hadn't seen her. She thought that was weird. Maybe he pretended not to see her and was now avoiding her? She hadn't looked up to see him since the first time she saw them get settle on their table. She was curious. She decided to take the risk and look up. When she did, she saw a picture that made her frown. Ashley was alone at the table, holding his head down. 'Where's the slut?' she thought.

"What's wrong?" Tom saw her frowning when he got to her.

"Oh nothing. So, did you bring the drinks?"

"Yeah, here they are." he pointed to the drinks that were lying on the counter behind her stool. She was sitting and he was standing.

"Great!" she said taking the salt from the counter. "So, do you wanna do it first?"

"Are we really gonna do the body shot thingy?"

"Yeah, Tom! C'mon! You'll love it! Here, let me do it first, so you'll loosen up a little." She held his head, and turned it a little to the side and put a bit of salt on his neck. She held the glass with tequila on her right hand, the lemon on her left one. Then, very slowly, she licked Tom's neck to get the salt, drank the tequila and sucked the lemon. After that, she gave him a sexy look, licked her lips and smiled. "See? It's good! Did you like it?"

"Oh yeah!" Tom smiled, actually pretty turned on by that.

"Great! So now it's your turn." she told him handing him the salt.

He did exactly like she did before. Brushed her hair away from her neck and put the salt on it. When he was licking her neck, Kirstin turned her gaze and made eye contact with this guy standing upstairs, staring at her. It was Ashley.

She kept her eyes on Ashley's and a frown formed on her face when he headed for the stairs. Tom, who was done doing the body shot, turned to see what Kirstin was staring at.

"What? What's wrong, K?"

Seeing that Ashley was getting closer to where she was, she replied:

"Nothing's wrong. Come here." She ordered pulling Tom's shirt and kissing him hard on the lips... She kept her eyes opened while kissing Tom and when she noticed that Ashley was still going to her direction, she, who was sitting on the stool while Tom was standing on his feet, wrapped her legs around Tom getting him closer to her and closed her eyes.

Ashley wanted to get nearer, see if that image of Kirstin all over that guy was the real deal. See if that was really Kirstin, 'cause the Kirstin he knew wasn't like that with guys. The Kirstin he knew was sweet and shy. She wasn't the type of girl that would lick some guy's neck and wrap her legs around him. Unless he was her boyfriend. But, he couldn't be her boyfriend. She couldn't have a boyfriend after everything she had said at the coffee shop about her not being the relationship type of girl. Ashley was standing 10 feet away from them when they pulled apart, and when they did, he approached her.

"Kirstin, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"I'm sorry Ashley, but can't you see I'm kinda busy here?" she asked him wrapping her arms around Tom's waist.

"Please, it'll only take a minute."

"Hey man, don't you get it? She doesn't wanna talk to you!" Tom answered Ashley loudly.

"Tom, chill! And Ashley, if you have something to say to me, you can say it in front of Tom."

"So, I'm assuming this is your boyfriend." Ashley asked pointing to Tom.

Kirstin, looking at Tom hoping he would realize she wanted him to go along with her lie, answered:

"Yes, he is. Ashley, this is Tom, my boyfriend. And if you have something to say to me, you can say in front of him. So, what…"

He interrupted Kirstin with an angry tone in his voice:

"I just want you to know that I just broke up with Jen."

Kirstin was shocked. Her jaws actually dropped. She did not expect that. Not paying attention to Kirstin's reaction, Ashley asked for a pen and a piece of paper from the bartender and wrote something on it.

"And, as you are not available for talking in private at the moment, here's my cell phone number. Call me when you feel like talking, I'm outta here." he told her shortly, and he was out of her sight in matter of seconds.

"Good!" Kirstin said to no one in particular when she could no longer see him. She felt pretty bad on the inside but she wouldn't let that feeling take over her.

"Who was that?" Tom asked.

"Nobody, just a person I once knew. Don't worry about him." she was still staring into the crowd, hoping she would be able to see Ashley just one last time. Waking from her thoughts, she turned to look at Tom's face "Tom, can you get us more drinks, honey?"

Tom was actually happy with all that. Kirstin had dismissed that guy 'cause she would rather be with him. At least that was how he understood the situation.

"Yeah, sure. Wait right here, baby!"

Ashley went on search for Erik and Trevor. It was really hard to find anyone on the dance floor, which was packed. He found Erik first. He was dancing with this really petit, redheaded girl. He approached Erik:

"Hey Erik, I'm sorry to get in the way of your dance here, but I'm leaving. Meet you guys back at the hotel, alright?" Erik could tell from the sound of Ashley's voice that he was mad about something.

"No, no, no. I am going with you. Just give me a second, alright?"

Ashley backed away so Erik would finish saying goodbye to the girl he was dancing with. It didn't take too much for Erik to say goodbye and then he left the crowded dance floor and found Ashley.

"Let's go find Trevor." he said.

They soon found Trevor dancing with 2 blond, attractive girls. Erik was the one that decided to get Trevor so they would go back to the hotel.

"Yo, Trev, I feel bad for interrupting this little private party you got going on here, but we gotta go. I think things didn't go to smoothly with Ashley and Jen and he wants to leave and I think we should go with him."

"Yeah, of course. Just give me a moment here to say goodbye to the ladies." he said with a big smile.

"Ok, we'll be waiting over there." he pointed to somewhere out of the dance floor. While leaving the dance floor, Erik managed to scope out the 2 girls who were seemed to be writing their phone numbers on the back of Trevor's hand "Lucky bastard!" he said, shook his head and smiled.

When the trio was out of the club and were waiting for a cab, Erik wanted to know what had happened that caused Ashley to be so unhappy, so he asked, "So, how were things with Jen?"

"Not good. Not good at all. She called me an asshole and left. Probably won't be at the hotel when we get there."

"That's messed up, man." Trevor just shook his head.

"I know. But that wasn't really the worst part of my night." at that moment, a cab pulled over and they got in.

"So, what was the worst part of your night? Because you sure seem mad about something."

"Man, you are not gonna believe it, but Kirstin was there."

"Kirstin? The girl from the coffee shop date?" Trevor asked and Ashley just nodded. "There? There where?"

"There at the bar!"

"No way!" Erik was surprised.

"Way! She was there. Wait, you haven't heard the messed up part yet. After Jen left, I was left alone at the table. I was thinking about the solid relationship I had just ended for this girl that I love and who wants nothing to do with me."

"Oh, don't say that Ash. You don't know that." Trevor cut Ashley's talking.

"Oh yes, I do. And wait 'til I finish and you'll see I'm right. Anyway, so I was there, with my head down when I figured everything would be great. Kirstin and I were gonna be together, no matter how hard I'd have to fight for it to happen and that it would all be worth while. So I decided to go find you guys, and when I got out of the chair and scanned downstairs to look for you two, I saw her. She was sitting on a stool by the bar, licking this guy's neck!" Trevor and Erik both raised their eyebrows at the same time. "Then a few seconds later he was the one licking her neck and that was when she saw me staring at them. I decided to go there and talk to her, stupid idea by the way, and tell her all that had happened, but she didn't let me talk. She totally blew me off so she could be all over her boyfriend!"