A few days later, while Ashling was sitting in her living room reading, her doorbell rang. She went and opened the door to find Tom standing there, a grin on his face. Stepping back, she allowed him in, then closed the door. About an hour later, while they were watching a movie, Ashling worked up her courage, and turned to him. "Tom?"
He turned his head to look at her. "Hmm?"
"I think I..." She paused. "That is to say... I think I have feelings for you." She paused, then said, "I mean, I know I do. I'm sorry if that's weird for you..."
With a frown, Tom shook his head. "I'm sorry. I mean, I can appreciate the fact that you do, but... I don't feel the same way."
Ashling frowned, but nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry. I-" She stopped herself short when she heard her doorbell ring again. "Hang on..." she mumbled before heading for the door. She opened it. To find Tom. Her mouth fell open. "How did you...?" She looked back inside. "You were just inside. I was just talking to you." She stepped back to allow him entry.
"Nope. I just got here." He noticed the pained look on her face, causing him to frown. "What's wrong?"
"Emotional roller coaster is all." She sighed while heading back into the house.
"Care to elaborate, darling?"
She sighed. "Not really. I don't feel like being disappointed again. It took a lot for me to tell you once already."
"But maybe I won't give you the same response. Perhaps your hallucination was just a possible scenario."
"I... I'm not sure I want to find out.." she mumbled, heading for the kitchen. She opened the fridge and extracted a beer. She sat down at the table and opened it. She took a swig as Tom entered the kitchen.
He looked at the time. "Ashling... it's two in the afternoon."
"I know. But I need it. I was just majorly disappointed. And this is better than drugs, or cutting." She chugged half the beer.
Tom made his way to the table and sat down. He reached over and took her free hand. "Talk to me. Please. I don't know what your brain came up with, but what if my answer isn't disappointing?"
She glanced at him, then shook her head. "I'm not so sure that I'm willing to take that chance right now." She took her beer to the living room. Ciaran walked over as she sat down, and stopped in front of her. She reached out to pet him. "Hey, buddy."
A few seconds later, Tom walked in and sat down next to her. "How am I supposed to fix it if I don't know what to fix?"
"Just... don't worry about it. There's nothing that you need to fix. I'll get over it at some point."
He turned to face her. "Get over what?" He paused, then said, "Please talk to me..?"
"Too embarrassing," she mumbled, shaking her head.
Tom frowned. Then he remembered what Ben had told him. Could that be what this was about? He turned to face her. He moved closer to her, leaving only a few inches between them. When she didn't move her head to look up, he hooked his finger under her chin, and brought her face up. He looked into her eyes when she finally brought them up to meet his. He searched her eyes for a moment, then leaned down and got within inches of her face. When she didn't object, or move away, he gave her a small grin, closed the distance, and placed his lips over hers, then put his hand on the back of her neck. He soon noticed her returning the kiss, and relaxing under his touch. He mentally smiled, and wrapped his other arm around her waist. Eventually, he pulled away. He opened his eyes and looked at her. She slowly opened her eyes while a grin spread over her face. "Oh."
