Ch 14

Eddie came down the stairs pulling on his Bo-Sox jersey the rest of the way. He looked around for Janet but she was nowhere in sight. "Janet?" he looked at the front door and noticed it was left ajar. He scouted around the house in confusion and then his eyes landed on the laptop screen. He knew it had been tampered with because in his haste he closed the lid but not all the way down. Now it was tilted upward, like someone had been standing up.

"Oh my God," he breathed in horror. His profile page and her message were opened and on display. Piecing the puzzle together he realised that she had obviously seen it and now knew the whole story. It probably looked pretty bad.

He grabbed his coat and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him. Moron! He scolded himself, Couldn't just delete the damn message altogether, could ya? Now look what you've done!

Eddie walked the streets of Knight's Ridge like a crazy person, scanning them for any sign of Janet but it was all in vain. Suddenly icy cold droplets from the sky began to fall on his face and he looked up to see the storm clouds roll in. Great, he thought irritably, Now I'll never find her in this weather.

By the time he decided to give up the search, he was already drenched and was on the verge of heading back home when his cell phone rang. Snapping out of his state of torment, he quickly dug around his pocket and fished it out, "Hello?" he said eagerly, hoping it was Janet on the other end.

"Eddie, it's Nick," Nick's voice called through the phone. Nick sounded extremely agitated and annoyed.

"Hey man, now's not a good time," Eddie said quickly.

"Why not? You wouldn't happen to be looking for Janet would you?" Nick pressed.

"Yeah, why? Have you seen her anywhere?" Eddie asked but got no response, "Nicky if you know where she is, please tell me man, I'm beggin' you."

"She was here at Hannah's but…," Eddie hung up and ran back to his house. He got into his truck and drove over to the Daniels' house and hopped out.

"She's not here," Hannah said coldly with her arms crossed.

"I just need to talk to her for a minute Hannah," Eddie insisted.

"Fine," Hannah shrugged, "But you won't find her here. She left about fifteen minutes ago," Eddie could tell Hannah was about ready to rip his arm off like a puma.

"Where did she go?' he asked hopefully.

"I don't know. But even if I did…" Hannah began.

"Hannah," Nick jumped in, "Eddie maybe you should come on inside. It's freezing out there." Hannah turned her back on the two and went inside.

"I have to find Janet," he said suppressing a sob, "I have to find her."

"You can find her later. She's not going to be out there and you'll catch your death if you stay out in the rain much longer. Just come inside." Eddie didn't budge, "Come inside, and you can go back out once the rain lets up," Nick commanded. This time Eddie went in.

Janet wiped away her tears as they fell, with the back of her sleeve and kept driving. She felt numb all over so she couldn't understand for the life of her why she kept crying. She didn't feel any pain at all. Just numbness. She pulled into her father's hardware store parking lot and sat there in silence. She knew she couldn't be anywhere in the Ridge because wherever she was, Eddie would find her. Going to her parents' was a bad idea because the interrogation would begin and she'd have to tell them what Eddie had done. Sweet, precious Eddie, who could do no wrong in their eyes… The thought set a sour taste in her mouth.

The rain was coming down hard and beating against the glass. She didn't have anything dry or warm to wear. The longer she stayed in the car the colder she got. Pulling her hood over her head she quickly ducked out and made a break for the door of the store. Standing on her toes she felt around the frame for the spare key and unlocked the door.

The entire store was dark and she was too afraid to take another step in any direction for fear that she may trip on a saw or sharp object and that would be the end of that. Staying where she was, she felt around for the light switch and flicked it on. The hardware store was exactly the same as it was while she was growing up. Her father even let her cosy spot remain as it was at the corner of the store. It was a big comfy couch with two duvets from her childhood bedroom sprawled over it. There was a tiny table in front of it and a reading lamp with a small miniature bookshelf.

Janet smiled tearfully at the sight. She couldn't have loved her father more than she did at that moment. Her saving grace. Turning on her reading lamp she walked to the end of the store and turned on a couple of the heaters and came back to her spot.

Stripping off her wet clothes, Janet curled up under the duvet covers and hugged it closed to her body. She knew it wouldn't be long before someone found her, most likely her father. But for now she was happy to be in her private sanctuary in the corner of her father's store.

Eddie and Nick sat in silence for a long while, until Nick finally spoke up, 'Why?"

Eddie looked over at him, "I don't know."

"That's not good enough Eddie. How could you do this? Do you have any idea how many people you've hurt?"

Eddie frowned at him, "What are you talking about?"

"Hannah was ready to go to the ghetto on you until I talked her out of it. And as soon as Janet's family finds out what happened you can forget about ever going there again. What were you thinking?"

"I don't know," Eddie repeated.

"I thought you loved her," Nick said quietly.

"I do," he replied quietly.

"Well so, what happened, Eddie? Why'd you do what you did?"

"Nicky,' Eddie began brokenly, "I didn't mean for her to find out like this. I swear. I was just thinking of a way to tell her and then she walked in and saw it."

"But why didn't you say something before? Why did you ditch her at the restaurant?"

"I was afraid, okay?" Eddie exploded standing up, "Is that what you want to hear? I was afraid. Eddie Latekka was afraid, I couldn't believe that the one girl I've ever loved has been my best friend this whole time. And then I thought about losing her, and what if it didn't work out? And the thoughts just snowballed from there and before I knew it I was on my way home."

"So you didn't run out on her because of…"

"Because of what?" Eddie asked.

"Well because of the stupid jokes the guys and I were cracking before you left," Nick said sheepishly.

"Don't be an idiot. Of course I didn't care what you dorks thought," Eddie said dismissively. "Besides…," Eddie said wistfully, "She looked beautiful that night."

"Yeah?" Nick smiled, "I don't think I've heard you talk about any girl like that before."

Eddie looked at him bitterly, "What the hell does it matter now anyway? I've ruined everything."

Nick frowned thoughtfully, "Hm. Well don't get me wrong, right now you're public enemy around here, but I believe that no matter how dirty something gets you can always clean it up. I know that you two were close. And Janet isn't about to give up your friendship for a stupid muck up like this."

"You don't know that," Eddie replied, but hope rose within him despite himself.

"Maybe not, but you have to talk to her. Did you try her cell phone?" Nick asked and Eddie pulled his phone out again and speed dialled her number.

"It's this stupid weather, signal's out," Eddie said putting his phone away, "But you know I think I have an idea as to where she is, thanks to you. She's probably at her parents'. I should go over there," Eddie got up from the couch only to have Nick pull him back down.

"Are you crazy?" Nick asked bug-eyed, "You don't want to go over there. What if she's told them what you did? You won't make it out of there alive."

"Can't make it worse, things can only get better. You can come with me if you want," Eddie said getting up and pulling on his coat.

"She told me to tell you not to look for her. She doesn't want to see you," Hannah said coming into the living room, "Stay away Eddie."

"You don't understand. I have to talk to her. She's my…"

"Your what?" Hannah challenged, "Look no one in this room hates you more than I do right now, but if you go there after she specifically told you to stay away, any chance you have of making amends will be gone. Just give her time to be angry Eddie. She needs to be angry right now."

Eddie looked at Nick and he nodded in agreement, "Give her a couple of days, man."

"That may be too long," Eddie said brokenly, allowing tears to surface for the first time.

Hannah reluctantly walked over to Eddie and took him in her arms and hugged him, "She needs to be alone," Hannah said quietly "When she's ready, she'll come find you. You have to let this one go Eddie. Just don't hold back how you feel any more you idiot," she smacked him upside the head, "If you love her, stop running away from it. It's not doing either of you any good." She pulled away from him and stared up at him, "You know what really made me mad? The fact that you saw how miserable she was these past couple of days and you still didn't do anything about it. How could you do that?"

"I didn't know how to tell her after the fact without risking losing her," Eddie admitted.

Nick, Hannah and Eddie stood in her living room in silence, not having anything else to say.