Silver Linings

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

The happy dreams were short lived. Eddie woke at four to use the bathroom then laid awake the rest of the night listening to Jamie's snoring and the thoughts in her own head.

His touch had felt foreign to her, it had terrified her to have her own boyfriend, the man she loves, touching her. She had spooked him so badly when she fought him off she had no choice but to let him have what he wanted. If she didn't, he might leave her and she'd be alone again.

She rolled over and curled up into herself. She was terribly scared about what was happening to her. It took everything in her not to wake up Jamie and ask him to help her. She had been far too needy with him lately. She was going to push him away if she wasn't able to wake herself up and shake this off.

The alarm went off at six thirty and Jamie reached out to give Eddie a good morning hug. He felt cold sheets and got up to search for her. He saw only a note, "Went to pack some more clothes. Back before tour. Love you. E."

Jamie decided to go for a run and pick up some pastries for breakfast. He ran for a half hour before rounding the corner near his building. Jamie got home sweaty and headed for the shower after putting two cinnamon rolls on the counter. Eddie should be home by the time he came out. He was right. When he came out she was there setting up their breakfast. She has three boxes of her things with her.

"So I guess you're really serious about wanting to move in together huh?" Jamie asked as he started eating.

"Yeah, totally sure that I want to do this." Eddie sat on the kitchen stool. "So I was up last night thinking and I worked it out that it's either 820 or 775."

Jamie's eyebrows quirked, "No, square feet. Your place is 45 square feet larger so I think it's better if we move in here. It's a great place, just needs that woman's touch. That's in the boxes. Couple of throw pillows, a few dust collectors, and a valance for the windows."

"Anything you want, honey," Jamie replied. "I'm just glad you didn't change your mind." He sipped is coffee. "So you want to talk about what happened last night?"

Eddie knew he was going to push this, "I don't know. I felt smothered when we were on the couch, with you on top of me like that. I think it reminded me of Jake."

Jamie knew that was bull, "Or something else. Something bigger. Eddie there is something going on inside of you, something you locked up so deep and so tight even you don't know what it is." Jamie slid off his stool and went to stand next to her. "And whatever it is, it's going to keep eating at you and eating at you until eventually it eats you alive. I don't want that for you. I don't want to watch you suffer like this."

"Then don't," Eddie replied. "I can just take my stuff back..."

"Stop it!" Jamie said exasperated. "Eddie, I'm not leaving you. I love you. What do I have to do to prove that?"

"Let it alone, Jamie. I will work through it eventually, I promise I will. Then I'll be my happy, fun-loving, over eating self. I'm sorry I'm worrying you, but I will be okay, I promise."

Jamie let it go for now. Later that day he was meeting Danny, he hoped his older brother had some information for him.

"I'm having a beer with Danny when I get finished with my tour," Jamie told Eddie as he cleaned up breakfast. "He's really feeling down that his range of motion is still so crappy."

Eddie gave him a sad smile, "Give him my best and tell him that we might need him to get this place in shape. It needs a coat of paint and there's some chips in the cabinets..."

"Whoa, whoa..." Jamie laughed. "What's wrong with the paint?"

That question was still spinning in Jamie's mind when he got off tour that day. It was an odd one to say the very least. He and Kara had taken in a homeless man for nearly wiping out a window with a trash can. They took him to the ER and waited over two hours before Kara pushed him to flirt with the female resident.