More than Friends: Ch. 05

The more Martha heard the back-story to how Yvonne and Edward came to be a couple, the more she was struck by a singular thought.

"If he's been in love with her all this time, how has she remained unaffected?"

"I don't know, Ma. Jan assured me, she never thought of him as anything other than a friend."

"Was this when she met you two?"

"No, this was when she was in France. We'd just started dating and I asked her if she was okay with it. I told her if there was anything between them I would step away."

"What was her response?"

"She said she was just surprised by the development but had no problem with it."

"Hmmm."

"What?"

"She came back, met the two of you and then showed up home looking all upset and withdrawn."

"Are you still on that?"

"Yes, because it didn't make sense, none of the explanations you gave have made sense to me, till now."

"Till now?"

"Yes. It's quite possible that Janice was in love with him but didn't realize it till she saw the two of you together. That's why she came home!"

"I think you're being melodramatic."

"No darling. I think our Jan's been in love."

"Do you really think so?"

"Mmhmm."

Yvonne mulled over her mother's conclusions.

"I've made a mess of things, haven't I?"

"I don't think you're to blame here, not that I blame her either."

"What now? Should I say or do something?"

"No, best let those two work things out on their own."

*****

The following day Edward took an extra hour for lunch and drove out to the construction site he knew Janice was supposed to be working at. Along the way he picked up a couple of boxed lunches, using it as an excuse to drop by. His office was close enough not to raise any suspicions on her part about the intent of his unannounced visit.

Edward was asked to wait for Janice in the site office as Janice was busy with inspections, he was informed. The windows in the office offered him a good view of the site. Even from a distance, he was able to recognize Janice's feminine form in the midst of all the hard hats. She moved with a quiet confidence that distinguished her as the one in charge even though she was so much smaller than those around her.

As she turned to walk towards the site office, laughing and talking to one of her colleagues, it struck him that he had never really heard her laugh so freely before. He loved the sound of it and made a silent vow to make sure she had plenty of reasons and occasions to reproduce that wonderful sound.

Janice was almost there when she saw Edward inside the office, casually leaning against the desk, through the open doorway. She wasn't surprised to see Edward; she assumed Yvonne had sent him to apologize on her behalf. After all, Janice had yet to hear from her after the night she told Edward about Janice's childhood crush on him.

Edward noted her changed demeanor- the ease in her movements had been replaced with stiffness. She was not happy to see him. He held up the parcels of food in his hand.

"I come in peace."

Yup, she thought to herself, definitely Yvonne's goodwill ambassador. Janice smiled at him and motioned for him to sit on the couch located at one end of the private office. They immediately got to talking about Janice's current project as they settled down, to eat.

Edward was so captivated by the animated manner in which she was explaining all that her firm had managed to accomplish in the past few days, he forgot about his plan to make Janice crazy about him. When it came down to it, he realized that he really wasn't sure how to go about wooing a woman.

He'd never chased down women in the past. If he liked anyone, he asked them out and let things flow naturally. He didn't know how to get Janice to see him as something more than a friend short of seducing her. He smiled to himself at the thought, maybe, that was just what he needed to do.

They were almost through with lunch and Edward hadn't made any move yet. He wasn't sure exactly what it was he was supposed to do. He couldn't just pounce on her and kiss her out of nowhere and risk scaring her. He wished he'd paid closer attention to Dara in the past, as he realized he didn't have any experience in seduction either.

It's so much easier for a woman, they just have to bend over to pick up something and they've got our attention.

It dawned on him that maybe he didn't need to do something to grab her attention. Maybe all he needed was to let her know that he had hers, so that she could start thinking of him differently.

"Can I ask you something personal?" he asked lowering his tone.

"Sure."

"Why are you still a virgin?"

Janice was caught so off-guard by the question that she had a coughing fit. Edward watched her face go red and thought she was choking on the piece of chicken she was eating at the time. He pulled her up against his body and proceeded to administer the Heimlich maneuver. It was only when he felt her struggling to get out of his grip did he recognize his mistake. Unfortunately her wriggling her bottom against him had the undesirous effect of giving him an erection. As he let her go he hoped that as a virgin she wouldn't understand what it was.

"Yves really needs to learn to shut up."

"Actually, she wasn't the one who told me."

Janice looked at him confused for a whole minute before she deduced that his source must've been Dara.

"My sex life is nobody's business."

"You're right. I just had to ask because I couldn't understand why."

"Why?"

"Why I couldn't understand?"

"No, why do you wish to understand?"

"I watched you." he spoke slowly and waited for her to make eye contact.

"What do you mean?"

"That day, when you found those pots outside your apartment ... I was the one who left them there. I had to leave in a hurry, before you caught me."

"I don't understand."

"I entered your apartment and I watched you, out on your terrace."

He drew out his words wanting to watch her expressions as she slowly made the connection.

"I watched you lying on the bench with your hand under your skirt. I saw you play with yourself --"

Janice's eyes went wide and her heart started racing. Overwhelmed by embarrassment she, thoughtlessly, cupped her hand over his mouth in an attempt to make him stop.

"- till you came." he finished, despite the hand on his mouth.

Seeing that he wasn't going to stop she started to pull her hand away only to find his fingers wrapped around her wrist, drawing her close to him. His face was dangerously close to her own, as she looked at him wide-eyed puzzling over what he was doing and why.

"Do you know what I was doing at the time?"

She opened her mouth to speak and found it had gone dry- no sound seemed to come out. She shook her head in response, hoping to snap awake.

"I was wishing you had opened your blouse further so I could see your nipples."

He looked down the opening of her blouse as if he was trying to do the same right now.

Unconsciously, Janice licked her lips. She was sure that she was having some kind of wet dream about Edward that she was going to wake up from any minute now.

Edward took it as a good sign that she had not slapped him as yet. He wanted to push her but did not want to cross any lines.

"I thought I ought to tell you because," he spoke huskily, "I probably shouldn't think like that about a friend, right?"

"Probably not." Janice was shocked at how hoarse her voice sounded. She licked her lips again, wondering why her throat felt as parched as it did.

Edward sighed dramatically.

"In that case it's probably really bad for me to imagine what you must-"

Janice yelped, when they were suddenly interrupted by someone knocking on the office door. She pulled away from Edward and went to speak with the messenger who had arrived with a parcel from Turner, her boss.

Edward noticed the time and made to leave. He had already gone much further than he had expected to. He didn't want to end up coming across like some sleazy player. So, he let her know he needed to leave and smiled warmly at her as he thanked her for her company before he took off.

Janice tried to steady her heartbeat. What the heck was that, she asked herself. Edward's behavior was nothing short of bizarre and it made her want to call Yvonne, to check if everything was okay with them, but, upon recalling her resolution not to contact Yvonne till she apologized for her behavior, she didn't.

The only thing on Janice's mind for the rest of that week was that for whatever confounding reason, Edward had come on to her.

*****

Edward was surprised when he walked into the kitchen early Saturday morning and found Yvonne waiting for him there with a cup of coffee in hand. He wasn't angry with her anymore but the sight of her was still a painful reminder of how he'd spend more than a year of his life with the wrong woman simply because of a complicated case of mistaken identity. He didn't really blame her for the way things had turned out but didn't consider her completely blameless either. Still, there was no point in telling her that- especially since she'd got burnt as well.

If things had been easier between them during their time together, he may have still considered staying with her, but they weren't. Once the initial novelty of sex with an attractive woman wore off, there really wasn't anything there for them to hold on to. For too long he had been blinded by his love, for the woman he believed her to be, to see the faults in their relationship.

Ever since Yvonne let him in on the big secret, he deliberately avoided her; which wasn't difficult at all considering their schedule. He attempted a feeble smile as he took the cup of coffee, a symbolic offering of peace, from her.

"How have you been?" Yvonne asked him tentatively.

"Okay, I guess."

"I am, truly, sorry."

He watched her face and could see she was sincerely contrite. He nodded in acknowledgement. What could he have said, that it was okay?

"I'm looking at a couple of places today, so if I find something I like, I should be out soon."

He nodded again, while sipping on his coffee.

"How's Jan? I haven't spoken to her this week- I wasn't sure if I wouldn't end up saying something to her."

"Thank you for respecting my wishes ... She's well, I suppose. That's what I heard from Dara, anyway. He talks to her, regularly. They've even got a big date tonight." he said bitterly.

After his success in Janice's office, he began to have doubts about his manner of approach. What if she thought he was a pervert or a scumbag cheat for him talk the way he did when he was, as far as she knew, her best friend's boyfriend. What if she had already fallen for Dara and wanted him, did he really feel right injecting himself between them knowing that Dara had come to genuinely care for and possibly even love Janice? He'd spend the last two days feeling torn between what he wanted to do and doing what was right.

Yvonne watched Edward with his head hung and shoulders hunched over, even as imperceptive as she was, she could see that he appeared to be losing a battle with his inner demons. Since they were talking about Janice at the time, she thought she could safely guess at what must be going through his head at the time. She remembered her mother's wise words and tried not to meddle, well, not completely anyway.

"You want to be with Jan, right?"

Edward gave her a pained look and stared at the ground before him as he nodded.

"I don't know what's happened or understand what's happening. What I do know is that apart from me, you're the only friend she held on to. Incredibly you're the only boy she ever had a crush on. And then, she kept her continued friendship with you a secret from me, as if she wanted to keep you all to herself."

"Yeah, but then you also have to remember that she let me stay in a relationship with her friend, even though she knew I was with her only because of this whole identity confusion. And she's looking to take things to the quote next level unquote with Dara."

"Fuck!"

"That would be the summation of it."

"You can't give up on her Eddie."

"I can't?"

"No!"

"Didn't you hear what I just said? She knows I'm in love with her, as in the woman I have been friends with since I was a kid. She chooses to mislead me into thinking you are her. Clearly, she doesn't feel the same way about me as I do her. So, am I supposed to force myself on her? I mean, I can't even think of a good excuse to meet her."

There was a minute's silence before Yvonne spoke.

"But, I can."

She then mysteriously left the kitchen without another word, leaving Edward behind wondering about what she meant.

*****

Edward's phone beeped in the afternoon with a text from Yvonne.

He texted her back wondering what was going on, but there was no response from her and he didn't run into her for the rest of the day so when evening came, he got ready and headed to the restaurant. He wasn't a vain man, but he did spend a great deal of time on shaving himself and getting dressed than he usually would. He was nervous as he couldn't help shake off the feeling that this may be his one chance to set things right.

*****

Edward watched Janice walk in through the doors wearing an emerald green silk dress with detailed work around the middle that drew attention to her small waist. She had her hair up in a twisted bun with her bangs left unstyled to frame her face. Of course he didn't notice any of those details, to him she just looked dressed in a way that would make anyone want to throw themselves at her feet and worship her body.

Janice looked at Edward quizzically when he walked up to her and held out his arm.

"I'm supposed to be meeting Dara." she said even while she took his arm and allowed him to walk her to their table.

Edward noticed how willingly she came with him even though he had yet to offer her any explanation. It was just the boost his confidence needed.

"Dara can't make it tonight."

"He can't?"

Edward shrugged and took the menus from their waiter. He watched Janice closely, if she was disappointed about Dara not showing up, he couldn't see it. They went through dinner pleasantly talking about their interests and their day to day activities as if both had forgotten that he had come on to her the last time they met.

Janice was thoroughly confused by Edward's recent behavior but she was enjoying herself too much in his company to bring up any awkward topics of conversation. He kept telling her silly jokes and making her laugh. She'd never seen him so relaxed and every time he smiled at her he seemed genuinely happy. He was also exceptionally clumsy that evening. More than once he managed to get his chocolate desert on his face, the sight of which made her laugh before she'd wipe it off with her fingers. If she didn't know better, she would've thought he was doing it deliberately, just to get her to touch him.

Both friends were practically giddy and their faces hurting from the amount they'd smiled and laughed through dinner as they made their way up to Janice's apartment. It was only when they were finally inside that Edward suddenly became serious.

Janice was still laughing and in the midst of taking off her shoes- her foot raised as she was in the process of unbuckling the strap- when she noticed the marked change in his manner. He was looking at her with an intensity that made her feel very exposed. His gaze unwavering, he strode up to her and placed his hands on her waist. She'd managed to finally get the shoe off but because the other one was still on she felt unbalanced. She placed her hands on his arms to steady herself.

Edward was taking things one step at her time, watching her responses to make sure he wasn't upsetting her with any of his actions. He sighed in relief to feel her lean into him instead of moving away when he held her. He lowered his head and held himself close to her waiting for her to close the distance between them.

"Eddie, what are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Why?" she stammered.

"Because, I really want to." he spoke breathily, "Don't you want to?"

He held her chin between his fingers and gently nudged it so that her mouth was directly below his. All she would have to do was stretch her neck a little and they would make contact.

As Janice felt his warm breath crash against her own, she told herself she had stepped into some fantasy, for here was the man she'd loved for most of her life finally holding her and waiting to kiss her. But she hadn't forgotten one important detail.

"We can't."

"Not what I asked, Jan."

She knew she should step away from his arms but she was immobilized not so much by his arms as by his gaze that made it hard for her to even look away.

"I ..."

"Yes?" he asked and let his hands slip around her waist to the small of her back, drawing her closer against his body. She felt so soft and good in his hands that he was struggling to restrain himself.

She drew a sharp breath as she felt herself being drawn against his hard body. It didn't take a great deal of imagination to tell what was poking her in the stomach.

"Eddie, I ... I don't want to hurt Yves."

She said, finally managing to look away. She leaned her head against his chest as if she'd grown weak from the effort of refusing him.

"Okay. Can I ask you something, Jan, especially since you never answered me the other day?"

"Yes." she replied feebly without shifting from the comfort of his embrace.

"Why haven't you been with any man all these years?"

His voice was soft and the tone soothing.

"I was just waiting for the right person." she spoke into his chest quietly.

"Who is the right person?"

"Someone I feel comfortable with."

By now Janice felt like she was under some kind of spell, wrapped up as his was in Edward's arms and scent. She found herself responding to his questions without giving them any thought.

Edward kissed the top of her head before he whispered into her ear.

"Are you comfortable, sweetheart?"

"Yes." she said snuggling against him.

"Jan," Edward said pulling away from her, "I'm going to kiss you now and I need you to slap me hard if you don't want me to."

He gave her a moment to let what he'd said sink in. When she made no move to hit him he pulled her close against him once more and without waiting any further he pressed his lips to hers. At first it was gentle as he waited for her to respond, but when he felt her hands wrapped around his neck pulling him closer to her, he lost some of his restraint. He kissed her passionately, his hands running up and down her back eager to do much more, as his tongue danced with hers.

He stopped and pulled his head back for fear of taking things too far too soon. She was panting and grinding her body against his, her eyes looked dark with desire and her lips were swollen from their kissing. He could see her skin flushed and her nipples poking through her clothes. She wanted him, there was no mistaking it. He knew he could've taken her then and there if he wanted to.

"Jan, you want me?"

"Yes." she replied hoarsely.

"Well, I'm not easy. You're not getting the milk for free."

Janice's lust addled brain was having a hard time making sense of what he was saying.

"Huh?"

"I'm saying you'll have to buy the cow first." he said while reaching for something in the pocket of his jacket.

Janice still couldn't follow Edward and looked at him go down on his knees.

"What?"

"I'm saying that you can only have me if you marry me."

She would've thought she misheard him, but, there he was, down on his knees, ring in hand, asking her to marry him. Janice shook her head once, then twice. Then she started laughing hysterically and went quiet just as suddenly, wondering about her own sanity, while he patiently waited for her answer.