Thursday night. 11pm.

Janet and Eddie had both gotten off work late tonight, around 7:30. It had been a long week for both of them. Sully had recently made some menu changes that weren't exactly going over swimmingly with the Ridge regulars, and Janet had gotten earful upon earful nearly every night for the last week. As for Eddie, he and Nick had run up against some major setbacks with the school project and Eddie felt like he'd been kissing so many butts in an effort to smooth the waters that his lips were getting chapped. That night Eddie had come over to Janet's. He'd picked up dagwoods from Murph's on his way and they'd dined by candlelight in Janet's little kitchen, tasty sandwiches, Lay's BBQ chips, baby dills, and a couple of longnecks to punctuate their marathon days.

Eddie was too tired to go home and had to be up early so, as had become a comfortable habit lately, he'd climbed into Janet's bed to get a good night's sleep before facing the chopping block again tomorrow. In spite of the ever tightening vice work had been lately, he felt a comfortable grounding here in her bed, laying on the white, 300-count, super clean sheets that smelled of Tide and Janet. He smiled to himself, remarking at how the woman had shown him the domestic light, as it were. Before dating her he hadn't known sheets from shinola. But even hanging out with her doing laundry had become a fun pastime. He was amazed how many quirky things he'd learned about her just doing mundane things together. Like her disdain for fabric softener. Unlike Eddie's mom, who'd purchased Downy by the palette and softened every washcloth and towel within an inch of its life so that actually drying off after a shower was next to impossible, Eddie knew that Janet eschewed fabric softener altogether. She preferred her sheets crisp and her towels absorbent. Who knew? So, while these sheets weren't the softest he'd ever felt, they were so clean, so crunchy, and so firm you could bounce a quarter off them.

These were the thoughts running through his head as he waited in bed for Janet while she brushed her teeth. He laughed to himself. He must be exhausted if all he could think about were sheets and fabric softener as he awaited his girlfriend in their love nest. He hadn't even noticed the music playing in the background. Janet must've put in the mix Eddie had made her when they very first started dating. He loved to kid her about her taste in music so he'd "brought her to the light" with a power ballads mix. He could hear Boston in the background. Boston – now there was a band. It was the final lines of "My Destination" off Third Stage. And, feeling the way I do, wouldn't last a mile without you. When I'm losin' the way, the things that you say take me there…my destination, is by your side, right by your side. For a two-minute song, that baby sure packed a wallop. As if on cue, Janet walked in just then. How could it be that girl could rock his holey, gray Knight's Ridge football t-shirt that was now a full decade old? Her hair down, her socks still on, his t-shirt hanging to mid-thigh; she was a grungy vision. He whipped the sheets back on her side of the bed and lay out his arm parallel to her pillow, an invitation for her to nuzzle in. She RSVP'd with pleasure.

Neither of them said a word for what seemed like forever. Janet felt warm, safe, and happy laying with Eddie. He slept in his underwear – yum – and Janet could still hardly get over his scent as she cozied up to him in bed at night. He was a feast for her olfactory senses; one part Eddie, one part day-old Speedstick, one part Crest. This combination meant home to her now. Content and totally beat, she started to nod off.

"Janet?" Eddie whispered. Janet startled a bit. Oh no, he wants to talk, she thought as she wiped the tiny droplet of drool that had just started its voyage from the corner of her mouth to Eddie's chest. In their few short months of bedtimes together, Janet had discovered that Eddie had this quirky yet endearing habit of turning into a complete chatterbox in bed at night. That is, if they weren't engaged in other bedtime extracurriculars. It was so funny. Here was this masculine guy's guy who didn't think twice about chest-butting his friends and shot-gunning High Life, but get him in bed at night and all the emotions and events of the day started leaking out like spaghetti water through a sieve. It was his processing time. Janet had hoped he'd be too bushed to process much tonight. No such luck.

She replied, stifling a yawn, "What's up, Buttercup?"

He smiled quizzically at her unconventional term of endearment. "Have you been OK lately? I mean, is anything going on at work? You just seem kind of tense and stuff whenever I stop by the bar, and when I ask how work's going you just roll your eyes. I'm gettin' kinda worried about you. What goes on?"

Janet was still half asleep and hoping against all odds she could make this quick. It really was sweet of him to be concerned, but she had to get some rest before re-entering the culinary lion's den tomorrow.

She was too tired to even lift her head, so she just talked right into Eddie's chest. "That's sweet of you to ask. Yeah, I mean no, everything's cool. It's just, I told you about how Sully pulled some stuff off the menu and added some new stuff and everybody's got their underwear in a bundle over that. I mean, why shoot the messenger? Like I have control over the master chef? I'm a glorified bus boy."

"Bus girl, I believe," Eddie joked, playfully grabbing Janet's butt through his Knights tee.

An involuntary yawn interrupted her laugh. "'Scuse me. Fine, bus girl. So it's been a little tense. Plus, Rooster's been a real pill lately. Makes for kind of a toxic work environment."

"What crawled up his ass?" Eddie inquired. Truth be told Eddie had never really liked the guy. He was a pest, a kind of ever-present mosquito, always hovering around Janet. It was all just too Pretty in Pink; Janet was like Andie, Eddie was Blaine, and Rooster was all Duckie, an unwelcome third wheel with a colossal chip on his shoulder. Though Eddie couldn't bust his chops too much. He seemed harmless enough.

Janet couldn't keep her eyes open and had nodded off again already but realized Eddie was still talking. She wasn't sure what he'd said last, but she was pretty sure it had been interrogative in nature. Oh yeah, Rooster. "Yeah, I don't know what's got him so creased. He's just never been the same since he kissed me."

Oh shit. Had she just said that out loud? Eyes like saucers, she was wide awake now. And she had been excommunicated from Eddie's lazy embrace as he'd had yanked his arm out from under her and was now on his side facing her, a simultaneously incredulous and disgusted look gracing his ruggedly pretty face.

"What?" he said, his voice going up in that kind of half-laugh way it does when he's either ticked or confused. "That freak kissed you? When? What the? Why didn't…" Uh oh. An inability to complete his sentences usually signified some fairly intense anger for Eddie. He had a hard time thinking when he saw red.

Janet reached for his hand hoping to quell the tsunami of fury she cold see roiling in Eddie's eyes. "No, it's not like that at all. It's just…It wasn't a big deal and I didn't tell you because the circumstances were really embarrassing." She took a breath and scanned his face for a reaction. She couldn't believe it had come out like this. She knew she'd have to tell him eventually about Rooster's kiss and the whole practice make-out session, but she'd hoped to keep it under wraps until her relationship with Eddie was on a little more solid footing. She knew Eddie had a quick temper and often struck first and asked questions later. Deep down she didn't think he'd actually be jealous of Rooster. Eddie was too secure in himself for misplaced envy. What really killed her was how stupid the whole situation made her look. I mean, who is so nervous about getting naked with their boyfriend that they have to plot their attack with a coworker? She felt pitiful. And things had gone so well since then. So very, very well. With the gift of 20/20 hindsight, she knew she'd been worked up for nothing. Lord, what she wouldn't give for a mulligan right now.

She gazed at Eddie. His expression was irritated but not violent. At least he wasn't on his way out the door already on a mission to pummel Rooster. "Well, you've got my attention, Janet. What in God's name would've given that little twerp the idea that it was OK to kiss you?"

Knowing it was no time to start weaving a web of lies, Janet thought for a minute, choosing her words carefully so as not to paint herself as some desperate, pitiful sexual newbie. She knew that a lack of confidence was not exactly an attractive quality in women; she didn't want to give Eddie any fodder for questioning their relationship at this point. Although, truth be told, he had acted like a serious ass toward the beginning of their courtship, what with standing her up for Allison Rowan's birthday barbecue and all. That certainly hadn't helped her confidence much. Getting just the slightest bit indignant now, she began,

"OK. You know how amazing things were between us after Homecoming, those first months we were dating? I've never felt anything like it. But after a few months when we hadn't had sex yet, I was starting to worry that you were beginning to see me more as good friend than girl friend material. It didn't help my confidence much, and I couldn't figure out what to do. I knew I wanted our relationship to move to the next level, so badly, but I was really nervous. I guess a part of me was scared because I'm not typical Eddie Latekka material, and part of me was nervous that you didn't quite have the same intensity of feelings I had. So I knew that the On the Waterfront night was going to be the night. But I was petrified."

So far so good, Janet thought. Honest and not too desperate sounding. But the expression on Eddie's fact hadn't changed an iota.

"So, what does all this have to do with Rooster kissing you?" he interjected impatiently.

"Well, OK this is where it really gets humiliating. I talked with Allison Rowan at Sully's one day about how I was feeling, and she suggested I do a dry run so I'd feel more comfortable when you and I were finally together."

"A dry run? That's an interesting choice of words…"

Janet cut him off, "Yes, OK, it was stupid. I know! But I asked Rooster to come over and kind of run through things with me. I mean, he's been my friend for a long time, he's a guy..."

Eyebrows raised, Eddie cocked his head, "I don't know if I'd go that far."

"Eddie! You know what I mean. Well, anyway, come to find out, he's wanted to be a little more than friends for a while."

"Can't say I blame him there." Finally, a hint of a smile from Eddie. Thank God. As Janet suspected, Eddie wasn't the least bit threatened by Rooster.

"Well, so I kind of ran through the moves I had planned,"

"Moves? You mean that whole night was orchestrated? A calculating seduction? Why, Janet Meadows, " Eddie was almost laughing now. Janet felt the mood lighten just a smidge. Things were moving in the right direction. This was going better than she'd hoped.

"Well, no, I didn't plan everything. Or even if I had, I grossly underestimated the Eddie quotient."

"The Eddie quotient?"

"Yeah, like your complete and blatant disregard for my choice of musical accompaniment?"

"Well, come on, I think I kicked the fun quotient up a few notches. Anyway, you're not getting off that easy. I'm still waiting to find out how in the hell Rooster planted one on you."

"OK. OK. I know. Well, I just wanted to make sure nothing I did that night was too stupid or corny. So Rooster and I kind of walked through things and when we got to the part where a kiss would, well, happen… he actually kissed me, like full on! I was stunned. I pushed him off and looked at him and I can't even describe the expression on his face. It was like, embarrassment and adoration and confusion all mixed together. And then I knew. Rooster has a crush on me! I felt so stupid that I hadn't known. I tried to talk to him about it but he ran off so fast his Chuck Taylors left skid marks on my floor! And the rest, as they say, is history. He'll hardly look at me at work. He won't even answer a question directed right at him. And he will NOT talk about it with me. So that's the whole story."

Janet took a deep breath and allowed herself to savor the sweet feeling of relief for a few seconds. She felt so much better. She hadn't realized how much it was dragging her down, keeping this secret from Eddie. She was glad it was out in the open. She looked at Eddie, hoping to see evidence of a similar relief on his face. But his brow was furrowed, his mouth twisted.

She looked at him expectantly for a number of seconds until she couldn't take it any longer. "OK, you have to say something. Anger I can handle, mocking, irritation. You can even laugh at me! But please say something."

Eddie shook his head slightly. "No, I'm not mad. I just…I just find it kind of sad that you felt that nervous, or insecure or whatever, and instead of talking about it with me you worked it through with Rooster."

All right, so the insecurity really wasn't so attractive, just as Janet had feared. "I know, I'm sorry, Eddie. You're right, I should've just talked about it with you. But I guess I just didn't feel like we were there yet. I mean, I so wanted things to just progress and go well for us. And I don't really like to admit it but I was still kind of shaken by those feelings when you stood me up for the barbecue. You know, once you get hit with that kind of rejection it's pretty easy to be a little gun shy."

At that last comment Eddie clearly bristled, sat up rather emphatically in bed, swung his legs over and stood up. He was shaking his head, trying to get his words out. "Geez, Janet. I thought we'd moved past that whole thing. I did a shitty thing and I've said I'm sorry like two million times. How many times do I have to pay for that one mistake?" Pacing, Eddie paused for a split second. "So, is this gonna come up every freaking time we have a discussion about something? I mean, how's your kitchen sink working, Janet? You might as well throw that in for the hell of it, too."

Now Eddie wasn't the only one who was pissed. Janet stood up on her side of the bed. "Well I'm so sorry. You know, I'm sorry I'm not as smooth as you, not as sure of myself, not as cooooool (said with a mocking sneer). I was nervous. I was scared. And yeah, I'm afraid I may never forget the day of that barbecue. I have forgiven you. I get what was going on. But it really hurt then, and it still kinda hurts now. I mean, I put myself out there for you and you left me hanging. Things are way better now, I'm not stuck on it. But don't judge me because I felt the need to rehearse things a little bit to make sure everything was perfect for Eddie Latekka, King of the One Night Stand." As soon as those last words left her mouth she knew she'd gone too far. Oh, how she wished she could reach out into the air, grab that incendiary remark, and douse it under the mattress.

Eddie winced when we heard her last words. He walked over to the chair in the corner where his jeans, flannel, and socks were flung, and grabbed the clothes. He then sat down on the bed with his back to Janet and started putting his socks on.

"You know, Janet. The whole reason I didn't make a move to get you into bed sooner was because I respect you so damn much. I'm well aware of my history, and I don't need you or anyone to throw it in my face. But with you, from day one, it's been different. I was afraid maybe I was cursed somehow. I just could never seem to, or never wanted to sustain a relationship past the first night of sex. I so badly did not want that to happen with us. That's why I waited."

Janet's heart fell with a thud. She wanted to say something but words eluded her. She could feel her eyes welling up.

Eddie stood up and pulled on his jeans, put one arm then the other in his flannel, then turned around and faced Janet as he started buttoning. He looked right at her and said, deflated,

"I'm gonna go before I say anything more I might regret. I'll talk to you later."

He looked at her quickly before he walked out of the room. There she was looking like a wounded little girl in her socks and his gray t-shirt, tears running down both her cheeks. She simply said, "Eddie…"

But he couldn't say any more. He turned and walked out of the room and out of her house. As she heard his truck turn over, she grabbed the pillow Eddie had been laying on and pulled it to her face, sat on the edge of the bed, and, as Brett Michaels began to croon the first verse of Every Rose Has Its Thorn, she began to sob.