I do not own the song "Dancing Away With My Heart" by Lady Antebellum
I finally asked you to dance on the last slow song
Beneath that moon that was really a disco ball
I can still feel my head on your shoulder
And hoping that song would never be over
I haven't seen you in ages
Sometimes I find myself wondering where you are
For me you'll always be eighteen and beautiful
And dancing away with my heart
I brushed your curls back so I could see your eyes
And the way you moved me was like you were reading my mind
I can still feel you lean in to kiss me
I can't help but wonder if you ever miss me
I haven't seen you in ages
Sometimes I find myself wondering where you are
For me you'll always be eighteen and beautiful
And dancing away with my heart
You headed off to college at the end of that summer
And we lost touch
I guess I didn't realize even at the moment we lost so much
I haven't seen you in ages
Sometimes I find myself wondering where you are
For me you'll always be eighteen and beautiful
And dancing away with my heart
"Is it true Janet?" Tyler asked her.
"Hmmm?" She looked up from the notes she had been writing, not hearing anything but her name. "What?"
"Do you really know Eddie Latekka?"
"Yeah. We went to high school together."
"Do you think you could get me an autograph?"
"Seriously?" Her friend nodded his head eagerly.
"Do you have any idea how much the autograph from the quarterback from the reigning super bowl champions; our very own New England Patriots is worth?"
"Tyler, I haven't talked to Eddie since my freshman year of college. Do the math. It's been twelve years. He probably doesn't even remember who I am." She didn't believe that but she wasn't telling Tyler that.
"Ten years isn't that long. I am sure he will remember you. You are unforgettable Janet. It's worth a try."
"Give it up Ty." She answered, rolling her eyes. "Don't you have sutures to remove?" Before he could respond, her pager paged. "Duty calls." Grabbing her lab coat and pager Dr. Janet Meadows left the break room to care for her patient.
An hour later, Janet was in limbo, waiting on test results, so she made her way back to the doctor's break room and was pleasantly surprised to find it empty. Returning to the table and her chart notes, she had every intention of finishing them but when she tried to focus, her mind wandered back ten years ago, to the end of and the summer following her senior year in high school.
"Okay class of 1995, this is the last dance, you will ever dance as a high school student so grab that special someone and make it count."
Hearing that announcement, Eddie looked around the hotel ballroom for Janet Meadows; the one girl he hadn't snagged a dance with. Her dance card was quite full. Every time he wanted to ask her to dance, someone beat him to it. Finding her, he saw that she wasn't on the dance floor but the bad news was he saw Mikey Ferguson making his way over to her. It was not going to happen; Eddie was going to end prom with Janet in his arms. He rushed over, practically, mowing people over on the way to her, but he made it just before Mikey.
"Where is the fire?" Janet asked with a smile.
"Would you dance with me?" He asked holding out his hand.
"I will." She answered, joining her hand with his. "I thought you were never going to ask." She told him as he led her to the dance floor.
"I tried but you were dancing with everyone but me." Eddie choose a spot in the middle of the floor, under the disco ball.
"Everyone but you asked." He pulled her to his chest and she settled her head on his shoulder.
"Your head fits perfectly there."
"It's because of the heels. Without them my head would probably just come to your stomach."
"You're not that short."
"We should try it without my heels sometime to see who is right."
"I would like that." Eddie mumbled.
They both grew silent and moved to the music in perfect sync; as if they were reading each other's mind. It was so perfect that neither wanted the song to end. Suddenly, Eddie had the strongest desire to look into her baby blue eyes that he could not put off. He brushed the curls back away from those eyes and at the movement she turned her head; looked into his brown eyes and he instantly got lost in them.
"What?" Janet asked him. Eddie didn't answer her. Before he actually realized what he was doing, it was as if his body was acting without the permission of his brain, he was leaning into kiss her. Just before his lips met hers, he closed his eyes; she closed her eyes and when their lips met it was magic. "That was nice." She breathed when they broke apart.
"Yeah it was, wasn't it?" Their lips met again and stayed connected until the last notes of the song faded out.
That dance was the beginning of a whirlwind summer romance. They were rarely apart. They graduated from high school the following week and then started their summer jobs. Since they lived in such a small town, there weren't many summer job options were available to teenagers so they ended up working at the state park with mostly every other teenager they went to school with; Eddie was a lifeguard and Janet worked at the concession stand and using his charming personality, he was able to have the boss schedule them for the same shifts so they could spend even more time together. When they weren't working, they were together, taking advantage of every minute they had because they both knew that too soon, the summer would draw to a close and they would be going their separate ways.
"You are awfully quiet." Eddie commented as he leaned over, pulling her tank top strap down and placed a soft kiss on Janet's bare shoulder.
"Just thinking." She answered, staring out at the lake, avoiding eye contact.
"About?" Now he moved up and kissed her neck.
"I think you know." She turned to Eddie with tears glistening in her eyes.
"Yeah, I do." Eddie lifted his face and they shared a slow, sweet kiss.
The next day, Eddie was leaving for Ohio State University. He was attending school there on a full football scholarship and Janet was leaving Knights Ridge for Northwestern in two weeks on a full academic scholarship so Eddie had set up an evening at a special spot near Crystal Lake that only very few people knew about and those very few people had strict instructions from Eddie to stay away. He wanted to spend his last night at home, alone with his girl. In an attempt to make it a special night Eddie had his mom pack a dinner for him with dessert and he had his older brother buy them some beer. For comfort, he had an air mattress blown up in the back of his truck topped off with pillows and blankets. The sun was beginning to set and it was the perfect romantic evening.
"I'm gonna miss that.' Janet mumbled when they broke their embrace.
"Me too."
"Eddie, I am not sure about this long distance thing. We aren't going to see each other until Christmas break." They had checked his football schedule and he would be at a game over the Thanksgiving holiday. "After today, we won't see each other for months. How can our relationship work like that?"
"There is always the phone."
"Long distance calls that cost a lot of money that we probably won't have."
"Do you want to break up?"
"No! Of course not."
"What's going through your mind babe?"
"I just wish that we would have been an us back when I was making my college choice. I would have chosen differently."
"You would have come to OSU with me?" She nodded.
"I had a scholarship offer from them too."
"Why are you going to Northwestern then?"
"Their premed program is fantastic."
"Then that's where you need to be."
"I know." She admitted softly "But I am going to miss you like crazy."
"I am going to miss you more."
"I have something for you." Grabbing her backpack she had brought she reached in and pulled out a small gift for Eddie.
"What is this for?" He asked, surprised.
"It's just a little going away gift." She watched as he slowly unwrapped a cassette tape. "I made it for you. One side is music to get you pumped up. I thought that you could put it in your walkman so you have something to listen to during your workout and the second side is some songs that we listened to this summer so you can remember our summer together."
"I will never forget this summer."
"I know it's nothing big but I…" He stopped her mid sentence with a kiss.
"This is the coolest thing anyone has ever done for me. I hate the stupid music they play in the workout room. Now, I won't have to deal with it anymore all because of you. Thank you."
"You are welcome." He opened the cassette to check out the songs she recorded for him and found a picture of the two of them that was taken at the town 4th of July celebration with the tape. "Another reminder." She told him.
"I have something for you too." He reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a velvet satchel bag and handed it to her. With a shaking hand, she pulled out a gold chain with a heart shaped pendant attached to it.
"Eddie….wow. It's beautiful." Janet whispered.
"I am glad you like it. Open it." He demanded, excitedly. Very slowly Janet opened the locket and found the same picture she gave him shrunk down inside the locket. She looked up at him and he gave her a wink. "Great minds think alike. I wanted you to have something to remember me by too."
"I love it." She exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him. "Will you put it on?"
"Of course." Janet lifted her hair off of her neck while Eddie got on his knees leaned over her and clasped it to her neck. "It's perfect." He told her.
"I have something else for you to remember this summer."
"Really?" Janet responded by lifting her tank top over her head. "Whoa. What are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Eddie closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew exactly what her shirt off meant and he wanted to have sex with her; he really wanted it. He has had condoms in his wallet for about a month in case this situation arose but he didn't want her to feel like it was something she had to do because he was leaving the next day.
"Oh it's obvious."
"Then what's the problem?"
"Is this because after today we aren't going to see each other for five months?"
"No. It's because I have been waiting for weeks for you to initiate this and since you are too much of a chicken to do it, I am taking matters into my own hands."
"Are you sure this is what you want?" His eyes widened in joy when she reached behind her, removed her bra and dropped it on top of her tank top.
"I'm sure. Are you sure that no one else will come up here and ruin this?"
"We are safe." Janet reached out and pulled him towards her, falling back onto the air mattress in the process.
"Then what are you waiting for?"
"I love you." He whispered.
"I know." She lifted her head and pressed her lips to his.
Even though Eddie and Janet had the best of intentions when it came to making their relationship work long distance it didn't last. Eddie was very busy between football and his classes. Eddie always did okay in high school but college was a different story and he had to work hard to keep his grades up while playing football to keep his scholarship and Janet spent all of her free time studying and working a part time job. Keeping her grades up in the difficult premed program was very important to her. When Christmas break rolled around and they were supposed to finally see each other, Janet ended up going to Rhode Island for the first 2 weeks of the break to spend time with her grandparents and during the last 2 weeks of the break, Eddie was out of town with the football time so on New Year's Eve, during a phone call, they both decided that it was for the best to end their relationship but they promised to remain friends and keep in touch but unfortunately the phone calls and letters became less and less until they ended up falling out of touch.
The shrill beeping of Janet's pager caused her jump bringing her out of the trip down memory lane she was taking. Reaching for the annoying pager she realized her hand was holding the locket he gave her 10 years ago. Long ago, she had bought a longer chain for it so she could always wear it under her shirt without having to answer the awkward questions about its origin. A small smile played on her lips as she pushed it back under her shirt and headed to the emergency room.
"What's going on?" Janet asked one of the nurses. The ER was packed with tons of people and news crews with cameras and microphones.
"Didn't you hear?"
"No. That's why I am asking."
"The Pat's quarterback hurt his knee and just arrived."
"Eddie Latekka?"
"Yep. That one. I didn't realize you followed football Dr. Meadows."
"I don't."
"Then how..?"
"I was paged." She ended the conversation about Eddie. "Where are the test results in for Daniel Craden?"
"Right here."
"Mr. Latekka, we are going to take you down for an MRI now so we can see exactly what is going on with your knee." Eddie just nodded. He didn't care what they did to him at this point; just as long as the pain stayed away.
"Sure. Whatever." He mumbled.
Once out of the cubicle on the way to the MRI Eddie glanced around to check out his surroundings, hoping there wasn't any reporters wanting a comment when from a distance on the other side of the room he caught a glimpse of a very familiar woman.
"Janet." He whispered.
"What's that Eddie?" His trainer Don asked. Eddie closed his eyes, opened them again and she was gone.
"Nothing." He swore it was her but since vanishing into thin air is impossible, he figured the pain meds he was given was playing tricks on his brain. "I just thought I saw someone I knew once." Closing his eyes, he laid his head back and enjoyed the effect of the pain meds with images and memories of his one true love floating through his drug induced mind.
The following afternoon, Janet was still at the hospital and during a lull between patients, she decided to pay Eddie a visit. He was so close, she could not, not visit him. His room was easy to find; it was the one room in the hospital that had guards posted outside.
"Name please?" The security guard asked
"Meadows. Dr. Janet Meadows." He looked on his clipboard.
"Sorry. You are not on the list."
"I am an old friend."
"You and every other person in this hospital. Friend or not; if you aren't on the list you can't go in." Sighing, Janet turned to leave and walked right in Eddie's mom.
"Janet? Janet Meadows is that you?"
"Hi Mrs. Latekka." Eddie's mom embraced her.
"It's been such a long time. By the lab coat, I am assuming you became a doctor?"
"Yes ma'am I did."
"And you work here?" She nodded. "What a small world. Did you just come from seeing Eddie?"
"I'm not on the list."
"Well I will take care of that." Mrs. Latekka marched Janet over to the security guards. "Janet Meadows needs on the list." She turned to Janet. "Eddie was just talking about you. He is going to be thrilled to see you again." Suddenly, Janet got cold feet. She pulled out her pager that never when off.
"Oh no. I just got paged. I am needed in the ER."
"What a shame. A doctor's work is never done I guess." Janet nodded. "When you have another chance, please come up and see him. I think seeing you will raise his spirits."
"Thanks, I will."
Janet rushed away to the elevator. Since she found out that he was the hospital, she has wanted to see him but now that it was actually happening, she wasn't so sure that she was ready to see him. She had changed a lot in the last twelve years. She wasn't the same girl she was when he left Knights Ridge for Ohio. During high school she played sports and was able to keep herself in decent shape. Since college where she spent most of her time on her butt studying and snacking while studying, she had put on some weight. Her weight gain hadn't bothered her until right now when she was going to face her old boyfriend who probably remembered a different woman than she was now and if she was honest with herself, she was afraid of his reaction to the woman she was now. He used to tell her all the time that she was beautiful; would he see that beauty today? Janet wasn't ready to find out.
By the end of her shift, eight hours later, Janet realized what an idiot she was being. The man she knew from twelve years ago wouldn't let a weight gain change his opinion of her. If he once thought she was beautiful, Janet was confident that he would think she still was.
"Go on in Dr. Meadows." The security guard from earlier told her when she arrived at Eddie's door.
"Is there anyone else visiting because if so, I can come back."
"He is all alone."
"Thanks." With a deep breath, she knocked on the door.
"Come in." Very slowly, like she was walking towards her death she walked into the room. "Oh my…." Eddie gasped when he saw her. "Janet." The smile he gave her was the same adoring smile he had for her back in high school and all her anxiety vanished.
"Hiya stranger." She greeted him with a grin.
"Well get over here and give me a hug." She walked over into his open arms and they hugged each other tightly, probably for a little longer than necessary. "Hi" He whispered as they broke their embrace.
"Hi again."
"I can't believe you're here." He shook his head. "I have always wondered where you were and what happened to you and here you are."
"Here I am."
"You've changed. Every time I think of you, you are eighteen and beautiful but now seeing you, you are definitely not eighteen anymore."
"No I'm not."
"And I didn't think it was possible but you are even more beautiful today then you were then." Janet was shocked. She wasn't quite sure how to respond. Her silence made Eddie worry. "Are you really here or are my pain meds playing tricks on my brain?"
"I am really here."
"Thank God." He motioned to the chair beside his bed. "Pull up a seat and stay awhile." She did as he asked. "Yesterday, I thought my pain meds were playing tricks on me cause I swore I saw you in the ER; one second and then the next you were gone and that sucked. Did I see you yesterday?"
"You probably did. I was there when you were."
"Why were you there? Are you sick?"
"No Eddie. I am not sick."
"Your husband; kid or kids? Were they sick?" He interrupted before she could explain.
"I have none of the above." His grin widened when he heard that. "I work here Eddie."
"You're a doctor." He said proudly. "You became a doctor."
"I sure did."
"That's great Janet. I always knew you would. What kind of medicine do you practice? Orthopedics by any chance?"
"My ortho rotation was 9 months ago. Sorry. Right now, I am doing another ER rotation. This is my last rotation and when I am all done, I am going to be a family doctor working with people of all ages."
"Any way you sneak me in as a patient?"
"Sorry. No can do."
"I bet you are a real good doctor."
"I am."
"Wanna play doctor?" She laughed at his playful suggestion.
"I do that every day and it's not as fun as you may think."
"You have never played with me."
"Okay. Maybe your pain meds should be cut off." He pouted. "What's the word on your knee?"
"I tore my ligaments….starts with an a I think and I tore my meisiscueses."
"ACL ligament and your meniscus?"
"Yep. That's it and it's bad. I am out for the rest of the season."
"What about next season?
"My doctor will know more tomorrow after my surgery."
"Who is your doctor?"
"Lambert. Kyle Lambert."
"He is the best orthopedic surgeon in the state. If anyone can make you better then it's him."
"I hope so. I am not ready for my football to be done yet." He yawned and closed his eyes.
"Look Eddie, I can see you are tired so I am going to go and let you get some rest." His eyes popped back open.
"Please don't go. Haven't seen you….so long." His eyes drifted closed again.
"Doctor's orders. You need your rest."
"Do you work tomorrow?"
"I am off."
"Will you come back tomorrow?"
"I will."
"Promise?"
"I promise." She stood and he grabbed her hand, pulling her down to his chest for another hug. When he did that, her locket slipped to the outside of her shirt.
"I remember that necklace." Without responding she leaned down and kissed his forehead.
"Goodnight Eddie."
"G'night Janet." As he drifted off to sleep, she gathered her purse and coat she noticed his wallet was on the bed next to him, on the other side where she was sleeping. Picking it up to put it in the bedside drawer, she realized it wouldn't close, On closer inspection, she saw a picture had been pulled out from it's normal spot and that picture was the one she had given him their last night together before he left for school Smiling, she returned it to it's normal spot and wondered what that meant.
As promised, Janet returned the next day and the following three days that he was in the hospital she came to visit him whenever she had some free time at the hospital. She would bring her charts and when he was sleeping, she would sit next to him and chart and when he wasn't drowsy from the pain meds, they would talk about anything and everything; their lives together before college; lives after college; football, doctoring and whatever else came to their minds.
Once he was discharged from the hospital he returned to his Boston condo, much to his mother's dismay; she wanted him home in Knight's Ridge where she could take care of him but he wanted to be in Boston, close to Janet. He lost contact with her once and he wasn't going to let it happen again. When she would leave work, she would stop by his place for a couple of hours and on her days off, she would spend it with him at his condo since he was still pretty immobile. When it came to his physical therapy, he chose to have it done at the hospital so he could spend time with Janet, usually in between patients in the cafeteria.
The doorbell roused Janet from her sleep. She had worked a thirty six hour shift and went straight over to Eddie's afterwards and apparently fell asleep on his couch. Reluctantly, she pulled herself up and made her way to the bathroom. When she returned a few minutes later, Eddie was setting food out onto the table.
"Hey sleepy head." Eddie commented when he saw her approach.
"I am so sorry I crashed."
"Don't be. The longest I have ever been up was for twenty six hours and I was probably drunk for sixteen of those hours." He pulled out a chair and motioned her to it.
"That was last week, right?"
"Shut up." He told her with a grin. "I hope you still like seafood."
"I do." She answered as she examined the takeout bag. "It's from, Quiontons'. I didn't think they delivered."
"It's amazing what some people will do for a former super bowl champ."
"I can only imagine what people would do for you." They shared an enjoyable dinner with fantastic, easy conversation and laughter. When dinner was finished and the table was cleared Eddie put on some music and they made their way to the living room.
"I can't." Janet said when Eddie handed her a glass of wine. "I will never be able to drive home if I drink that." He placed the glass in her hand and sat beside her.
"Then stay." In response, Janet gulped down half the glass in one swig.
"I recognize this song." She commented.
"What about this one? He asked after forwarding the CD to the next song.
"Yeah that one too." He continued to change the songs until Janet realized it was all the songs that she put on the tape she made him.
"So how is the knee?" She asked nervously.
"Is that really what you want to talk about now?" He noticed she began to play with the chain of her locket, something she did when nervous.
"That's not the same chain that came with the locket." He commented.
"Huh?" He reached out and pulled the locket from out of her shirt and opened it, smiling at the picture of the eighteen year old versions of themselves smiling back at them.
"I think it's time for a new picture."
"Yeah. The one in your wallet has seen better days." He raised an eyebrow.
"Been going through my wallet?"
"I found it on your bed the first time I visited you in the hospital. Been looking down my shirt?" She playfully shot back.
"It fell out of your shirt during said visit and yes I have been looking down your shirt."
"You are shameless." She said shaking her head as she reached out for his hand. "I have only taken this locket off a few times since the night it was given to me."
"The picture has never come out of my wallet."
"I dated others but I could never take the locket off because I never got over you." She admitted softly.
"I dated too but there was never a picture that I wanted to replace yours with because the night of prom, you danced away with my heart and I never got it back."
"Why? I have asked myself over and over why, if we felt so much for each other why didn't we make it? Why did we just give up?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's because we were young; maybe because we didn't know how to fight for love; maybe we weren't meant to be at that time of our lives but what's the point of asking why when we found our way back to each other and we are together now?" He reached out, cupped her cheek and she linked her fingers with his. "I have never been happier to have an injury because it brought us back together." They closed the distance between and shared a long, slow, sweet, yet passionate kiss.
"I love you Eddie." Janet whispered breathlessly when they final broke their embrace. "I never stopped."
"Our last night together, I told you that I loved you and you responded with "I know." If you loved me then why couldn't you tell me?" That had haunted him for years.
"We were barely together two months. How could you love someone you had been with for such a short time and I thought you said it in the heat of the moment and didn't really mean it so I didn't want to say it back because then you would think I was a crazy, clingy girl."
"That's ridiculous." He told her with a smile "You loved me so why couldn't I love you?" She shrugged.
"I was eighteen; not thinking clearly."
"Are you thinking clearly now?"
"Never been clearer. I love you Eddie Latekka."
"I love you Janet and I am never losing you again. " He told her, sealing that promise with a kiss