#hlh

“Babe, that was Mark, you remember him. He was my friend in school; you even met him a few times.” You were doing your best to stay calm, trying not to slip into the anger that you knew was brewing underneath.

“Friend? Does he know that cause I just saw him kiss your cheek and you let him.” His voice began growing louder as he spoke. He almost ripped his jacket as he pulled it off of him and threw it on the couch.

“Yes, a friend, Eddie,” you sighed as you watched him, his hands running through his hair as he paced. 

This had been going on here and there for months: the slight accusations, the questioning, the anger. 

He looked at you from the corner of his eyes as he stopped pacing. “I need to know.” His voice was low, the cage slowly opening to reveal the best within.

You knew where he was going, knew this was going to come down to everything. There were two ways to play this: either you openly deny by saying you aren’t cheating, or you make him come out and say it. Either way is a lose/lose situation. You decided to be direct-ish. “Eddie, do you think I’m cheating on you?”

There was silence in the room; it was deafening.  The longer the silence went on, the angrier you slowly became. 

“Well, are you,” he questioned, driving the nail in your coffin.

“The fact that you think so little of me to do that says a lot, Eddie. I have never cheated on you.” Your eyes were glassy with unshed tears, but you didn’t let them fall. 

Eddie just stood there like a deer in headlights. He didn’t know what to say. You had never even so much as looked at someone other than him, but it was like he couldn’t believe you wanted to be with him. There was still that feeling inside that you would find someone better for you other than him. 

Turning your back to him, you began to head up the stairs. You stopped, slightly turning your head so he could hear you, “I think you should sleep down here tonight.” And with that you were gone.

Eddie tossed and turned on the sofa, sleep being the farthest thing from him other than you. His mind just kept reeling with the image of your friend kissing your cheek. The look you gave him when he asked if you cheated. Staring up at the ceiling, he sighed as he moved the blankets from his legs only to replace it when he got cold. 

The next morning was quiet when Eddie woke up, the sun shining in his eyes before he sat up. Looking around, he waited to hear you in the kitchen or upstairs, but heard nothing. With a grunt, he walked in the kitchen, noticing the still hot coffee that had been brewed. A note sat beside the pot: I’ll be home later.

You did your best not to think about the issue at hand: trust. Eddie just didn’t trust you and you never understood why. Even before Mark showed up out of the blue there were questions. Why didn’t he just believe you?

You sat on your break, doing your best to clear your mind when a body sat beside you. Looking up, you saw Mark with a worried look on his face. “Everything ok?”

“Everything is fine, Mark, just some things going on,” you told him, not wanting to go into details. 

“You wanna talk about it? We’re still friends, right?” He went to grab your hand that was on the table, but you pulled away.

“Yeah, we’re still friends, but it’s been a while. I’ve seen you twice now in just as many days, you following me or something?” You meant it as a joke, but in the back of your mind you felt a slight niggle at the idea.

“Well, I did ask around to see if you were still here. I mean, you always said you’d get out.” Mark didn’t seem to meet your eyes, it was almost as if he was hiding something. 

Standing up, you wiped your hands at the invisible lint on your pants. “I better get back to work. Have a good one, Mark.” You went to walk away when he grabbed your wrist.

“Hey, I thought maybe we could go out for dinner or something,” he asked, a smile plastered on his face.

You went to pull away, but his hand just tightened. “Mark, let go,” you told him, your voice stern.

“You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it. We’ve always been friends, why not give it a shot at more?”

This time you yanked away, putting your arms behind you. “I’m with Eddie, you already know this. Now I have to get back to work.” You didn’t want to stay there any longer, too afraid of what he might do next, even out in the open.

You got home that night after Eddie did, not exactly sure what to say to him when you saw him. His brown eyes full of regret watched you as you padded over to the kitchen to grab some water out of the fridge.

“Babe, I’m sorry,” he said barely loud enough for you to hear.

“Well, you were right,” you hissed back. You weren’t mad at him, but yourself.

“Right about what?” He stepped towards you, his hands taking yours softly.

“Mark came by while I was on break today; wanted to go out for dinner.”  You couldn’t look at him, your eyes on the bottle wrapped in your hand. “I said no, by the way.”

“I know you did.” Eddie placed one of his hands on your waist as he used the other to lift your face. “I should have never doubted you.”

“You believe me?” Your eyes were hopeful as you looked at him.

He nodded before placing a chaste kiss on your lips. “You know how I get sometimes, I think about how perfect you are and wonder what the hell you’re doing with someone like me.”