The next day

After not a wink of sleep all night, having cried so long and so hard that she shuddered every time she breathed in and her face was a gooey, snotty mess, and having rehashed their first real fight over and over and over, once the mercy of daylight had finally blessed her Janet had dragged herself into work. The day passed agonizingly slowly, like pulling a band-aid off one arm hair at a time. Thank God Rooster wasn't working – that clearly would've put her over the edge. She'd somehow robotically made it through the lunch rush. Even the jibes and ribs about the new menu hadn't fazed her, she was like a Teflon frying pan today. Sensing the gray cloud hanging over her head, everyone had pretty much stayed out of her path. She checked her cell phone and her home voicemail every twenty minutes or so to see if he had called. But there was nothing. Every time the door of the bar swung open she looked up, hope welling inside her chest, but Eddie never appeared. She didn't know what to do. But she knew she couldn't go on like this.

She got up the gumption to call Eddie on his cell. Since they'd been dating Eddie ALWAYS took her calls. She tried not to abuse the privilege and she'd tried to find it sweet, rather than disgusting, when she found out he even answered her calls when he was in the can. Why is it that guys don't realize the flushing sound transmits loud and clear through the phone line? Then again, maybe they know and just don't care. This thought made her smile. She'd give anything for a flush right now.

Eddie's phone rang four times and rolled to voicemail. Shit. She didn't even leave a message. OK, she thought, desperate times call for desperate measures. (Oh God, isn't desperation what got her into this mess in the first place?) She knew down deep, though, that she really was the one at fault here. In all honesty Eddie had handled everything amazingly maturely last night. He really did seem to be growing as a person. But she wasn't. She'd acted stupidly then gone too far defending herself and her actions. She had a feeling she'd made a pretty egregious rookie relationship error – she'd fought a little too dirty. She needed to make it right.

She called Best Friend Windows and Nick answered the phone.

"Hey, Nick, it's Janet. Is Eddie there?"

"Hey, Janet. No, he's actually been on site at the school for the last few hours. He was really in a foul mood this morning, though, stormin' around and stuff. What goes on?"

"Well, we had our first official fight last night and unfortunately it wasn't pretty. But it's really my fault and I need to see him. Do you think you'll see him before the end of the day?"

"Yeah, he's gotta come back in because we have to review any changes from today and map out next week's schedule before the weekend."

"Good. I haven't been able to reach him on his cell all day. When you see him will you tell him that I'm going to come by his house tonight around 6:00? And then will you do whatever you possibly can to make sure he's there?"

"Absolutely. I don't think you have much reason to worry, though. I asked him earlier if he wanted to have a few drinks after work today and he said no, he just wanted to go home and get some sleep. I know this is eating at him too. I'm sure he'll be there."

"Thanks, Nick. I owe ya one."

"You owe me nothing. Just do me one favor? Try to keep my boy happy?"

Nick could hear Janet exhale on the other end of the line. "I'll try Nick. I really will."

When Janet pulled up outside of Eddie's house, she took a minute to compose herself. She looked at herself in her rearview mirror. She looked pretty good, considering. She'd been able to get home and take a quick shower before heading over here. Her face finally felt normal again. All day it had felt so puffy and tight and salty – the after effects of the previous night's bawl fest. She'd taken special pains with her appearance tonight. She had a feeling there may be a few more tears to come so she'd opted for her waterproof mascara. And now in her car she put on some of the Burt's Bees cocoa-colored lip stuff she knew Eddie liked so much. Glorified chap-stick, it smelled and tasted of peppermint, and it looked pretty and natural. She thought about rehearsing what she wanted to say, but she stopped herself. She felt she needed to speak from her heart and just try to be in the moment with Eddie. In her constant rumination today she'd realized that part of the problem is that she just cared too damn much what people thought, which led her to kind of dampen her feelings before sharing them. She knew she needed to be real with Eddie tonight if they were going to be able to get past this.

Satisfied with how she looked – clean and natural and like she'd made an effort but not too much of an effort - she took a couple deep breaths, said a little prayer for her own strength and Eddie's clemency, and walked up to the house. Physical Phil opened the door before she could even knock.

"Hey, Janet. Come on in. Eddie's in his room."

"Thanks, Phil. Is he OK?"

"No, but I get the feeling he's glad you're coming over."

Janet smiled a rueful smile and walked back to Eddie's room. As she walked through the house she could hear the words to Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill hit her ears. She smiled. Eddie was listening to the mix she'd made him for their one-month anniversary. Although they didn't always see eye to eye when it came to music (Bay City Rollers??), Eddie had actually come to appreciate Janet's eclectic musical sense. She really loved music, and knew a lot about it. All time periods and all genres. She'd turned him on to pre-Sledgehammer Peter Gabriel, and it made her happy to hear it now. She realized it had been awhile since she'd made that mix for him; now might be a good time for a new one. She made a mental note to upload her Chicago 16 CD to her iTunes. "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" seemed more than appropriate at this juncture.

Eddie was laying on top of his made bed, his work boots still on, when Janet found him. She stopped short of walking into the room, leaning into the doorway instead. Her heart about leapt out of her chest when she saw him. Their fight last night seemed like an eternity ago. It felt like months since she'd seen him. He looked absolutely incredible laying there with his five o'clock shadow, crumpled jeans, and white undershirt. He had his arms behind his head and she could see a faint ring of damp at his armpit. He wasn't a profuse sweatter. Must've just been a heck of a day.

"Hey," she said, looking right into his eyes, fighting with all her might her instinct to run over and kiss him silly. The situation called for a bit more decorum.

"Hey." His "hey" only halfway came out. He was hoarse. Someone else had shed a few tears in the last 20 hours or so. He looked at Janet, took her in. He had expected that his anger would tweak up again when he saw her, but much to his astonishment it didn't. He was just honestly and completely glad to see her. She looked fantastic. Tired, but fantastic. He could tell she had just showered. He could tell her make-up was fresh. He stared at her bronzey lips. He would've liked to have kissed her then and there. But he knew there needed to be some words first.

After a minute of looking into each other's eyes from across the room, they both started to speak and said, "I'm sorry," nearly in unison. Well, maybe Janet started half a second sooner, but the effect was the same. They both smiled awkwardly and looked away. But neither moved. Then Janet spoke first,

"Eddie, I am sorry. With everything I have I'm sorry. What I said last night was totally out of line and I need you to know, I hope you already know, that I didn't mean it. I was hurt and embarrassed and I lashed out. I was wrong. It was all my fault. I am so sorry."

"No, you were right. I overreacted and I obviously didn't have a clue what you'd been feeling. And I didn't get how badly I hurt you with the whole barbecue thing. I mean, I thought I'd gotten it, but I guess I didn't understand that it still might be affecting you. I thought I'd pretty much wiped the slate clean when I kissed you at Sully's in front of the whole entire world the night of the Homecoming game. But I can understand that you still may have felt unsure. And truthfully, I really hate myself for making you feel that way."

The music was still playing in the background. The soft sounds of Sting's "Fortress Around Your Heart" now filling the air between Janet and Eddie. And if I built this fortress around your heart, encircled you in trenches and barbed wire. Then let me build a bridge, for I cannot fill the chasm…

Janet thought about what Eddie had just said. "Eddie, I have to admit that I've struggled with feeling worthy of you. It's not that I don't think I'm a fantastic person, or that I don't think I deserve someone as amazing as you. I do. I know I do. I just, I guess I just sometimes still have to pinch myself to be sure that this is all real, you know? I've dreamed about having someone like you come into my life for so long. And now here you are and you're better than the dream. And I'm so afraid I'll wake up, so afraid I may lose you that I cling for dear life. But I want to get over that. I want what we have to just be real, not some fairly tale."

"Me too. It is real Janet. We're real. I'm real. I'm not some mythic figure that can only score touchdowns, swill beer, and screw women. You know that. You have to trust me. I'm in this. And if I give you reason not to trust me, or God forbid to be nervous about being around me, you gotta kick my ass, OK? Set me straight. Don't go running to someone else. I mean, Rooster?"

They were both laughing now. Janet's arms were crossed and she let out a big sigh. Man, she was falling deeper by the second. Then she started laughing even harder, thinking back to a moment in last night's fight…she was suddenly laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. It was that almost maniacal laughter that hits when you're really emotional and rides the tide between a laugh and a cry, and the more you laugh the closer you come to peeing in your pants.

"Janet, what the hell is so funny?"

Janet tried a few times to stop shaking before finally regaining her composure. "Oh God. Sorry, I just…I had a flashback to, " 'How's your kitchen sink working, Janet?' You might as well throw that in for the hell of it!' I'm sorry, but that was hysterical! And so totally on the mark! What I said must've sounded totally out of left field to you. Sometimes I forget people don't have a direct line to my thought processes. It was so perfect, what you said. It just makes me laugh,"

Eddie was belly laughing too. "Well I'm glad to give you a good chuckle at my expense. I did think you were a little off your rocker." He thought wistfully for another minute then his expression sobered up. He still hadn't changed position, still lying on his back, hands behind his neck. "All right, seriously, Janet. Just promise me we'll keep talking when stuff like this comes up, OK. Can you do that? Can we do that?"

Janet smiled and gave a curt nod. "We can do that." The relief came over her in a wave and she could feel the tears coming, in spite of her best efforts to keep them at bay. The amazing laugh had unleashed her emotions. She didn't really want to cry right now but she was so exhausted, her brain and her heart felt like wrung out dishtowels. Well, at least she'd had the foresight to go with the waterproof Great Lash. She looked at Eddie, armor off, and let him see the tears roll down her cheeks.

"Come here," he said softly, beckoning her but still not moving. She finally walked through the doorway, kicking the door shut behind her as she came into the room. She walked over to his bed and stood next to it. He finally took his hands out from behind his head, turned over on his side to face her, and scooted a bit to make room for her. After kicking her shoes off, she laid down next to him not like a spoon but facing him, laying on her side. He reached over to her and gently wiped the tears from her face. Then he picked up one of her curls and twisted it around his finger. He let it go and smiled when it sprang right back into place. God she was beautiful. He traced the features of her face with his finger, and noted that the Sting song had faded. He'd listened to this mix so many times he knew what was coming next. Depeche Mode. Janet had this special place in her heart for eighties euro-pop, an appreciation he hadn't shared until he'd known her. He and Janet had been like five years old when this song was written. He'd never even heard it before he'd gone out with her. It was safe to say it had rocked the stadium of his heart. Now forehead to forehead, they were quiet as the song played.

I want somebody who cares for me passionately. With every thought and with every breath. Someone who'll help me see things in a different light. All the things I detest I will almost like. I don't want to be tied to anyone's strings. I'm carefully trying to steer clear of those things. But when I'm asleep, I want somebody who will put their arms around and kiss me tenderly…

That's about all the further they could make it.

They both leaned in and kissed a sweet, apologetic kiss. It went on forever. Eddie finally pulled away first then kissed each of Janet's eyes and the tip of her nose. He hugged her tightly, an exuberant bear hug of sorts, then buried his head in the crook of her neck. She had on a v-neck shirt and he took advantage of this, kissing the skin below her neck so softly it almost tickled. After a while he came back up for air and kissed her mouth again with just the slightest bit more urgency. His hand had found her hips as well as the hem of her shirt. He tugged on it and she moved enough that he pulled it up and off of her. He then made quick work of the rest of her clothes. Deft and dexterous, the boy had clearly done this a few hundred times. He pulled her socks off, too, and lightly kissed an ankle bone. She was blushing by now, but she certainly wasn't putting up a fight. Every shred of clothing expertly removed from her, there lay Janet Meadows facing Eddie Latekka, still wearing every stitch of his clothes, including his steel-toed boots.

She looked at him as if to say, "No way, Buddy," and without saying a word got him out of his t-shirt. Then he pulled her to him, wrapping her in his arms. There was nothing in the world better than that feeling of skin on skin. A jeans button cold on your stomach. She was warm and flushed and she smelled amazing.

Their kissing became a lot more involved now. Every now and then they took a break to just look at each other for a sec. They still hadn't said a word, and they didn't need to. They'd said more than enough this past day. Right now they just needed to feel each other.

Eddie took his time touching and kissing Janet. She started to feel as though there was a cinder smoldering in her gut, like someone had haphazardly flicked a cigarette butt and it had had burned a hole through her stomach. She let Eddie do his thing as long as she possibly could, but finally she couldn't take it any more. She pushed him off of her onto his back and de-clothed him, for the most part. She was a woman on a mission. And he was impressed.

She leaned down on his chest to look at him face to face. Their noses touched. She smiled a smug smile, knowing she had exactly what Eddie wanted in that moment.

And that's how it went. Very softly and very slowly, with Janet in control, Eddie with his boots still on. It was good. It was really, really good. It was the best yet.

Afterwards, Janet finally took off Eddie's boots, socks, and the jeans from his ankles. She sat at the foot of the bed and rubbed his feet for a while while they laughed and talked and caught up with each other. Then she snuggled back in with him, resuming the position she'd been so coldly cast out of the night before.

"So, Janet, you know how I just said that we need to talk things through more?" Janet nodded. "Yeah, well I think I might have spoken too soon. Let's not talk. Let's fight more. I really like what happens when you're regretful."

Janet belly laughed and smacked his still-bare butt. "You want a fight? You got a fight. Any time."

Janet slept at Eddie's that night. After quietly skulking down to the kitchen to scavenge some dinner – fried egg sandwiches, Hostess cupcakes and a few beers, (has there ever been a more glorious post-coital meal?)- they'd come back to Eddie's room and done it all over again. As they lay there flirting with sleep, Janet felt like something was a little different. Maybe a lot of things were a little different. She took a deep breath and felt Eddie's sheets. Yes, things were definitely different.

"Eddie, your sheets feel awesome. Crisp and clean – have you turned over a new leaf?"

"You've shown me the light, woman. No more Downy for me."

And that was about the extent of their pillow talk. No Chatterbox Eddie tonight. Exhausted and really, really contented, they'd fallen asleep back to back, butt to butt, silently, Squeeze's "Satisfied" playing softly in the background.