The Eyes Have It

Chapter Seven - Aspirin

Marlena rolled over and her arm hit something. She tried to stretch out but there wasn't much room. Where the hell was she? She knew that she wasn't in her bed. She could feel the sun shining in her face, but she couldn't seem to open her eyes. Her head was pounding and she felt like she had been hit by a truck. Every muscle in her body hurt, especially her hips. What the heck happened to her? She finally managed to open her eyes half way and realized that at least she was in her own penthouse. She seemed to be lying on the couch. How the heck did she get here? She laid back and put her hands over her eyes and tried to remember what happened last night.

She remembered being in her room and getting dressed... dressed for what? Then she remembered being at Blondie's...and dancing. The fog was slowly starting to lift...she remembered dancing with John. She was on a date with John. She remembered eating dinner with him and laughing hysterically, at what, she had no idea. And then dancing...why couldn't she remember anything after that? How did she get home? She slowly sat up, trying to clear her head. The blanket that had been covering her fell away and she saw that she was wearing nothing but her bra and panties. She saw her dress draped across the chair next to her. Oh my God, what did I do? Marlena was panicked. She had no idea how she got home last night, no idea how she got out of her dress and no idea what she may or may not have done with John. She was absolutely mortified, but she knew that she had to find John and ask him what happened. She couldn't stand the not knowing.

It took Marlena quite awhile to get herself together. She slowly made her way upstairs to the bathroom...where she quickly took 2 aspirin and then started a bath. She climbed into the tub slowly still wondering why the hell her hips were so sore. "I probably don't want to know," she groaned to herself. She sat in the warm tub trying to work out the kinks in her muscles and waiting for the aspirin to take effect. She decided to go over to John's office at lunchtime today. She had to talk to him and she didn't want to do it over the phone.

By the time Marlena finally got herself cleaned up and dressed, it was almost noon. She was just about to head out the door when the doorbell rang. She opened the door to find a delivery man with a huge bouquet of flowers. Her first thoughts were not pleasant... "Oh God, I must have slept with him if he's sending me flowers." She took the flowers rather rudely from the delivery guy and closed the door. As she set them down on the desk, she noticed a note and a bottle of something down inside the flowers. She pulled out the note and read it.

Good Morning Marlena,

I hope your head doesn't hurt too terribly this morning. I just wanted you to know that nothing happened last night except some dinner and some dancing. Then I brought you home and tucked you in on the couch and made you comfortable. I promise that I didn't even peek, (well maybe just a little).

I had a wonderful time. Can I see you again tonight?

Love,

John

Marlena smiled and reached into the flowers. Inside there was a bottle of aspirin. Marlena laughed….it was very easy to see why so many women fell for Mr. John Black. Marlena knew that she was falling too.

Marlena decided that she might as well go to her office to make up for the work she had missed the other day and to catch up on messages. She tried several times during the day to call John to thank him for the flowers, but every time she called his office he was on the phone or in a meeting. His secretary sounded flustered so Marlena figured it must just be a very busy day at Tyton today. She decided to just wait until John called her about tonight. When she left her office at 5pm, John still hadn't called. She tried not to be annoyed, after all, he hadn't said a specific time and the night was still young. She realized that she was really looking forward to seeing him again.

Marlena went home and picked up the Penthouse a bit. She felt embarrassed when she discarded her wine bottle from the previous night. "That was a bright idea," she said to herself sarcastically. She went upstairs to change and ended up trying on about 5 different outfits. She couldn't decide what to wear….dressy or casual? After apparently being a total lush the night before, she wanted to look especially nice tonight. She settled on a casual cream blouse and skirt….since she didn't know what they were doing tonight.

Marlena tried to keep herself busy, fussing about the apartment and moving things from here to there….checking her hair and makeup in the mirror….checking her phone messages…nothing. As it continued to get later and later and John still hadn't called, Marlena was starting to get more and more annoyed. "Well, he obviously found something more interesting to do…or someone," she said to herself. She decided that either she had made an absolute fool out of herself the night before and John had been completely turned off by her drunken behavior or he had lied to her and they had slept together and now he was moving on to better things. She wasn't sure which one was worse. But she knew that she sure as hell wasn't going to wait for him anymore.

She stormed up the stairs and into her bedroom….cussing out John the entire way. "Who needs him?!" she yelled as she threw off her shoes and ripped off her clothes. "I sure as hell don't!" She quickly changed into her soft flannel robe and slouchy socks. "I knew I was right about him….the jerk!" Marlena made her way back downstairs and into the kitchen. She grabbed a pint of Butter Pecan ice cream from the freezer and went back to sit on the couch. She turned on the TV and started to flip through channels, looking for one of those sappy, stupid love stories that were totally unrealistic. She had finally settled on one and was starting to calm down when there was a knock on the door. "You've got to be kidding me," she said as she looked at the door.

"Marlena, are you still up?" she heard John calling through the door. He knocked again. "Marlena?"

If he thought he could show up at 10 o'clock at night when he never bothered to return her calls all day long, he had another think coming. Marlena slammed her ice cream down on the table and marched over to the door. She pulled the door open and stood there with her hand on her hip. "What do you want John?" she asked him rudely.

John could tell she was pissed. "I'm so sorry it's so late, Marlena. I just wanted to stop by on my way home to say good night. It's been a hell of a day today." John leaned against the door jam. He looked absolutely exhausted.

"Yah? Great. Thanks, John. Good night," she said as she started to slam the door.

"Woah," John called out as he put up his hand to stop the door. "I said I'm sorry for coming by so late, I just wanted to see you for a minute. What's going on?"

"Why don't you tell me, John?" she asked as she backed up into the living room. "You send me flowers and a thoughtful card in the morning and then you're too busy to take any of my calls and don't bother to show up until 10 o'clock at night. What's going on with you, John? Did you get a better offer?"

"Oh Jeez, Marlena. Didn't my secretary call you?"

"No, John. No one called me."

"Marlena, I am so sorry. I've been in closed door meetings all day. I asked my secretary to call you when I knew I wouldn't get out in time for dinner. We're having a major problem in one of our foreign offices…in fact, it started last night…I haven't even been home." John reached up and ran his fingers through his hair. He looked terrible.

"You haven't been home?" Marlena let it sink in. "You mean since last night?"

"Yep, just after I had tucked you in on the couch and was driving home…all hell broke loose. I've been at the office ever since."

Marlena began to soften. John really did look like he'd been up all night and she even thought those looked like the same clothes he had been wearing on their date, although her memory was a little foggy on that subject. "I'm sorry, John. Is everything okay now?"

"Not yet," he sighed as he sat down on the couch. He noticed her ice cream sitting on the table. "Dinner?" he asked.

Marlena smiled, "Uh-huh, see what you missed?" She sat down next to him on the couch.

"I'm more of a Rocky Road person myself." He smiled at Marlena and took her hand. "I truly am sorry if I ruined your evening."

"I'll get over it." Marlena shrugged. "But John you said the problem isn't solved yet. What's going on?"

"Just a little embezzlement problem in our Dubai office. Apparently it goes all the way up to one of my Senior V.P.s, but we're taking care of it. I just had to get out of there for a little while and get some sleep. I just wanted to stop by on my way home to make sure you were okay after last night."

Marlena was touched that he was so concerned about her when he was obviously having such a terrible day himself. She offered to get him some food or a drink, but he was too tired to even eat. He tried to get up to go, but she made him sit back down on the couch. He was in no condition to drive home right now. He leaned back into the couch, content to just be sitting next to her and before he knew it, he was sound asleep.

Marlena loved sitting here next to John. She watched him as he slept. He still had the most beautiful face even though he looked exhausted and like he hadn't shaved in awhile. She loved his long, straight nose and his strong chin…his lips were soft and pink and his dark eyebrows framed his eyes perfectly. Marlena cuddled up next to him and rested her head on his broad chest….and that's where she fell asleep, listening to the sounds of his breathing.