The following morning Eddie awoke to a pounding headache. He hadn't had such a heavy night out in ages and was paying the price for it now. He looked to his left to where Melissa would normally be lying and was astonished she was up before him. Then he thought back and remembered leaving her passed out on the sofa the night before. He had slept fitfully, his dreams haunted by Rachel once again, which hadn't been happening as much lately. He figured it must have been triggered by the amount of time they had spent in each other's company the night before. Thinking back to the time they had spent in the nightclub together, he remembered how close he had felt to her, how good it had felt to actually spend some time alone with her again, and then when he had taken her in his arms and pulled her close for that last dance it had felt like heaven. He knew he shouldn't be feeling like this, he thought he had begun to get over his obsession with Rachel, helped along by his relationship with Melissa, but last night had made him realise that he was far from over her. Perhaps he was even still in love with her. Then again maybe it was just the alcohol. He was so confused, and this headache really wasn't helping. Eddie forced himself out of bed with a groan and stumbled to the bathroom in search of some much needed aspirin.
On the other side of Rochdale, Rachel was sat in her kitchen with a slice of toast, a glass of orange juice and the morning paper. She had always been a morning person and the morning after a night out was no exception, although she felt it was getting slightly harder as she was getting older. Re-reading the line of text she had just read for about the twentieth time, she gave up on the newspaper and submitted to her thoughts, which were once again consumed with Eddie. She had had a fantastic time with him last night, had enjoyed having him all to herself for a change like it used to be, without Melissa always lurking on the side lines. They had enjoyed some uninterrupted, quality time together and had a chance to actually talk to one another, find out how they were feeling, what they had been up to, their likes and dislikes, and the time had flown by.
Rachel thought now about the end of the night, alone in the corner in the nightclub. She had felt herself getting closer to Eddie all night, the slightest contact between them making her shiver in delight and tingle all over. She knew it was wrong to feel like this about him; after all he was her sisters fiancé. He had clearly gotten over her a long time ago, after she had so cruelly dismissed his feelings and advances at the beginning of the year. But Rachel thought she had seen something in his eyes last night, after he had pulled her so close and held her tightly, dancing while nobody was watching, away from the crowded dance floor, in a world that for those few minutes just contained the two of them. When he had pulled away and stared into her eyes for those long moments, trying to decipher the feelings that were swimming there, she had been terrified she would give herself away, that he would be able to read exactly how she was feeling. Whilst trying to hide from his penetrating gaze, she had been taken aback by the look in his eyes; his emotions were clearly in turmoil. She had seen him look at her like that before, what felt like a very long time ago, in the entrance to the pub on the first night of the year when he had tried to tell her how he felt. She had pushed him away that night, but last night she had felt differently. Whether it was the alcohol she had consumed that had given her more confidence or something else she couldn't quite put her finger on, she had felt drawn to Eddie. There was a pull between them and the gentle feather light kiss he had applied to her cheek when he had noticed her escaped tear was the final straw.
Gazing once more into his eyes at such close proximity, she hadn't been able to deny her feelings for him any longer, and she knew that if the lights hadn't come up right then signalling the end of the evening and of their time together, she would have been in his arms, kissing him like there was no tomorrow, and once she started she wouldn't have been able to stop. Thinking about it now, in her lonely kitchen hours later, Rachel felt guilty, almost repulsed with herself even. This was her sister's fiancé she was fantasizing about, this was wrong. How could he even begin to think Eddie could still have feelings for her when he had her beautiful sister to go home to? No, it must have just been the alcohol making him act that way, and the way they had been reminiscing together for a time. Rachel was just glad that she didn't have to see him at school today, or indeed any other day for the next six weeks. It would give her time to get her head together and get over what she thought had happened last night.
As Rachel held her head in her hands and closed her eyes though, all she could see were Eddies eyes boring into hers as they had last night. She couldn't have mistaken that look she had seen there could she? The longing, and maybe also the love that had been held behind that gaze? One thing was for sure, she didn't intend to find out any time soon. Rachel Mason was not a home wrecker, and she certainly wasn't even going to entertain the thought of any sort of relationship with her sister's fiancé.