When she gets home, she's alone. She is completely alone in the house, left with only her own thoughts. She takes a seat on the couch. The pit at the bottom of her stomach reminds her that she is, Jackie Peyton, full of shit. She's just stood up in front of all of the people she loves, and lied to them. The guilt only makes her want to dive into a bottle of pills even more. She heads into the kitchen, and begins to rifle through the drawers. A few minutes later her kitchen is a disaster as she climbs onto the counter to reach into the back of the cabinet. Her phone begins to ring. She pulls turns around, and has a seat on the countertop. She pulls the phone to her ear without a second thought.
"Hello?" she answers.
"Jackie I need you to come down here."
"Eddie I am in the middle of something."
"I need you to come down here now."
"What is so important? You chewed me out earlier today, why the hell are you calling me now?"
"Just come down here. I found out something you need to hear."
"Eddie I don't have time for this bullshit."
"Your thing is over, what are you doing? You're probably at home, alone, rifling through your cabinets for a stray pill."
"I..."
"Get your ass down here," he insists.
She hangs up.
She soon finds herself inside the pharmacy of All Saints. Eddie points to the cot room.
"Let's talk."
She shakes her head, "I am not going in there with you to go down memory lane."
"I need to talk to you somewhere nobody can hear us."
"Eddie..." she tries to reason with him.
"Jackie just trust me."
Her nostrils flare as follows him into the other room. He closes the door behind her. She stops in front of the cot. She turns, and looks at him. He faces her.
"What the hell did you call me down here for?"
"Something I thought about when you left here."
"Something you couldn't tell me over the phone?"
"I saw that look in your eyes today."
"What look?"
"The one you get before you're about ready to dive head first into a bottle of percocet."
"Eddie don't be ridiculous."
"Jackie look me in the eye, and honestly tell me that you've been sober for a year."
"One year, today," she insists.
"I hope you're telling the truth."
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"It suddenly occurred to me, today, when I saw that look. You are so good at lying. You are so good at hiding things. How the hell do I know if you are ever telling the truth?"
"Eddie you have the blood test."
"I know."
"You know I am clean."
"I know that you were clean."
"Why all of the sudden do you think that I'm not?"
"Today was a rough day."
"Eddie don't give me this bullshit. Just tell me what you called me for."
"I had the lab do an expanded panel. I wanted to make sure that you didn't do something to screw with the results."
"Eddie I assure you that I didn't."
"Jackie for your sake I hope that you are telling me the truth."
"Why do you care? You blew up on me earlier today. You made it pretty clear that you don't want to be my boyfriend. You don't want to be my friend, so why am I here?"
"Have a seat," he points to the cot.
"This is bullshit," she takes a step forward, "I'm leaving."
She pulls the door open partway. He steps in, between her, and the door. He slams the door shut, with his body. Her hand falls from the door handle.
"Sit the fuck down!" he insists.
She shakes her head, and returns to the cot. She takes a seat.
"What?"
"I wanted to make sure that you didn't bribe the lab."
"I have never bribed the lab."
"I needed to know that you were being true to your word."
"You already told me that. Why am I here? You haven't said anything that you couldn't say over the phone."
"The lab ran a very extensive panel."
"So what you're telling me, is that you invaded my privacy to appease your own guilty conscience?"
"I don't have anything to be guilty about, do you?"
"Don't turn this around on me."
"No matter how many days sober you are you are always going to be a drug addict. You are always going to think like an addict. I can't change that."
"Then why do you keep trying?"
"Because I care about you. I don't want to find you overdosed in the middle of the E.R. so far gone that we can't get you back."
"Whatever," she rolls her eyes.
"Jackie I called you, because I wanted to tell you what I found out."
"You found out that I'm clean, and sober."
"I wanted to tell you that one of the tests came back positive."
"What are you talking about?"
"Look Jackie I don't know how to say this. I know I am not the one that you should be hearing this from, either."
"Hearing what? Do I have some terminal illness? Am I dying?"
He shakes his head, "No, but when I tell you are going to wish that everything you just said is true, if it's not."
"Just tell me. Whatever it is, I can handle it."
"Three letters," he tells her.
"Three letters? What the hell are you talking about? CBC? WBC? HIV? There are a thousand different tests with three letters. You are going to have to be more specific."
"Ok," he nods, trying to formulate how to tell her.
"Just spit it out."