Empathy

[sunshinefizzy]

It was a mild September night in Santa Monica. A pitch black atmosphere with no promise of cooling down. Jack had his window opened and stared at the scenery. He couldn't sleep. He was up thinking about Janet.

Poor Janet. Her dream of being a dancer had been slashed earlier that day. That d-bag of a an instructer taking advantage of his friend that way. How does he sleep at night? He knew what he was doing the whole time. Janet didn't and she was devastated. He was devestated watching her breakdown in despair of being duped by yet another man.

This was different though. Whenever a guy came on too strong or dumped her, she brushed herself off and bounced back. Even the whole Peter van Horn incident she was strong. This dance teacher was a man who offered her a childhood dream and took it right back. Jack saw a piece of Janet die when he walked out of the studio.

She finished crying by dinner. He made eggpalnt parm and spaghetti and Janet ate until she was ready to burst.They didn't even tell Terri yet because she ended up working a double today. He couldn't bare the thought of rehasing the awful story. Tears had begun to stream down his face. What a terrible day.

"Jack," Janet said knocking on the door.

"What,"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, honey. I..."

She opened the door and found him weeping. She couldn't believe it. She had never seen him cry. What's the matter? She didn't ask. She went to sit on his bed and wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Everything's okay, honey."

"I just had a bad dream is all," he assured her, grabbing her face and giving her a peck on the lips.

"Just checking. I had a feeling you were upset about something."

"Just a dream."

"Well, good night."

"Goodnight, baby. Thank you."

"Your welcome," she said walking out of his room.

Will she ever know how much I care about her?