Thorns Have Roses

Part one

Eric was standing in front of his dresser mirror when he heard his front door open and close. At first a look of confusion crossed his face then he smiled, he knew who it was, the only other person with a key.

"Christine, haven't you ever heard of knocking?" He yelled into the next room.

Christine walked into the room and smirked, then said, "Where would the fun be in that?" She walked up to Eric and gave him a peck on the cheek. She looked into the mirror, gasped then grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him to face her. Once he was facing her, she seized and ripped off his tie and held it up to him. "How many times do I have to tell you to throw this thing away, it's horrible."

"It's my favorite tie," he said, feeling a bit anxious about what would happen to it if he didn't get it back, so he tried to snatch it from her. She moved it away from his grasping hand.

She looked at him in disbelief and shook her head. "I don't care how many times you say that Eric, I won't believe it." She balled it up then stuck it into her purse then said, "I'll dispose of it for you this time." She went over to his closet and started going through his collection of ties. "Don't fret over that ugly thing, I'm doing you a favor." She pulled out a solid black satin tie, she walked over to Eric and held it up to him then nodded, "this is the one." She put it around his neck and proceeded to tie it into a full Windsor knot for him.

"I swear Eric you have better taste than that; what did you want to do, scare the poor girl?"

Eric rolled his eyes as she tied the tie. "Come on Chris, the tie isn't that bad."

"Not that bad?" She asked shaking her head. "I tell you the first time I saw it my eyes started to bleed."

"Now you're exaggerating," he said to her. He glanced at her purse hanging from her shoulder, wondering how to get his tie back.

She saw the glances and lightly smacked him on the cheek then pointed at him. "Don't even think of going into my purse to get it back." She saw the resignation and smiled. "And you're right, I'm exaggerating, but it does make my eyes hurt." She stepped back and gave him a good look then nodded in approval. She went over to his bed and sat down on the edge. "So where are you taking her? To the restaurant?" She asked as she started bouncing on the bed.

Eric looked back in the mirror and smiled and thought to himself, 'James Bond has nothing on me.'

He looked at Christine's reflection, nodded and said, "Yes."

"Are you going to tell her?"

Eric glared at her, "tell her what?"

Christine waved her hand in front of her, "You know, about you and the restaurant?"

Eric sighed, "I don't know, maybe." He turned to face her. "Now that I think about it, I may have to tell her tonight when we get there." he sighed. "Especially if everyone acts the way they do whenever I go in there."

He went over and sat down next to her on the bed, and placed his head on Christine's shoulder. "I want her to like me for me, you know?"

Christine nodded, "So where else are you going to take her besides there?"

"You're so full of questions today," Eric stated.

Christine bounced on the edge of the bed and smiled. "You're taking her to the club aren't you?"

Eric gave her a confused look, "What club?"

She just kept smiling, "You know the club Amanda and I took you to when it first opened."

Eric glared at her then said, "Took me? You mean dragged me."

Christine laughed. "You had fun and you know it. Plus you wouldn't be taking this girl to the club if you didn't have fun."

Eric shrugged then said, "You're right and her name is Brooke." He looked her in the eyes. "I don't want you and Amanda showing up and embarrassing me."

Christine placed both her hands over her heart and gave him a shocked look. "Would we do that to you?"

"Oh don't give me that look Christine, you try to embarrass me all the time." He informed her as he left the bedroom. Christine got up and followed him into the living room.

"Come on Eric, if I didn't mess with ya' you'd think I was mad at you and you know it," she said. She saw the bouquet and headed over to it. She picked up the dozen flowers, smelled them and moaned with pleasure, she loved the smell. "Nice touch Eric." She picked up the single rose then dropped it."Ouch!" She stuck her thumb in her mouth and sucked on it. "Damn, why didn't you have them remove the thorns from that one?"

Eric chuckled. "That rose is for Jackie."

Christine raised her eyebrows at this. "Why?"

"That rose reminds me of her in a way. The flower itself is beautiful just like her. And like Jackie if you don't treat the rose with care, it can hurt you." He explained. Eric picked up his keys, took the flowers and headed to the door, but before he could walk out Christine stopped him.

"Eric, Amanda and I may or may not show up, just warning ya." She held up her hand in the Boy Scout salute and said, "I make no promises about not embarrassing you. And good luck."

Eric smiled and nodded, "thanks Chris, lock up when you go." With that Eric left.

Christine got an evil li'l smile on her face; she went to the phone and dialed her home number. When the other end was picked up, she singsonged, "Amaaandaaaa, guess where we're going." She listened to the other end and answered, "I'm over at Eric's."

She listened and sighed. "No, he already left for his date." Christine bit her bottom lip. "Oh come on, we have to be there, he's our best friend and we have to make sure this Brooke person is right for our Eric."

She frowned into the phone. "I don't make any promises to behave." Her brow creased in anger then smoothed out, she smiled at a thought. "I promise to make it worth your while, we can do anything you want later." She licked her lips then said, "And I mean anything." After a few seconds of silence she heard what she wanted and started bouncing in excitement. "Thank you, thank you, I promise you won't regret it." She laughed. "No you won't sweetie. I'll see you in a few minutes." She hung up the phone and headed to the door bobbing her head to music only she could hear.

EBJ

Jackie leaned against the door frame and watched her friend freaking out, tossing dresses out of the closet. "Brooke what are you doing? It's just Eric you're going on a date with."

Brooke stopped in mid throw and looked at Jackie. "Look, one I haven't been on a date since I broke up with that ass. Two, well you haven't seen the Eric I did a few days ago, so forgive me for being nervous."

Jackie straightened up. "Where's he taking you?"

"I don't know, he just said wear what I felt comfortable in," she said.

Jackie looked at Brooke. "I don't know why you're so nervous, look at you." Jackie waved her hand up and down at Brooke. "You're gorgeous, you could have been a model."

Brooke smiled at that and came to a decision. She walked over to the closet, reached up to the shelf and took down a box. She took out a magazine and handed it to her friend

.

Jackie took the magazine and looked at the front; her jaw dropped when she saw a teen-aged Brooke on the cover of her favorite magazine. "You…" she looked at the picture then at her friend, shocked.

"You…." She started flipping through the magazine and saw more tasteful pictures of her best friend and employee.

Brooke watched her friend's face and saw shock, awe and some other emotions. Now that she was calmed down a bit she could do her make-up, so she went to her vanity to finish putting it on. As she was finishing up she heard the doorbell ring; she looked at Jackie in the mirror. "Jackie can you go get that, it might be Eric."

Jackie turned and headed to the door without looking up from the magazine.

Eric was parked in front of Jackie and Brooke's place in his IROC-Z Camaro; to say he was nervous is an understatement. He took a deep breath to calm himself, got out of his car and headed to the front door. In one hand he held a dozen flowers that were for Brooke and in the other he held the lone rose for Jackie. As he approached the door he started to get nervous again so he stopped and took another deep breath. "Ok, you can do this, it's just Brooke." He shook his head, "Who am I kidding? This is Brooke, one of the most gorgeous, most kind and generous women you have ever met." As he stepped up to the porch he took a couple more deep breaths to calm his nerves and to build up his courage. He reached up and pressed the button for the doorbell. He closed his eyes and started to give himself a pep talk. "You can do this, nothing is going to go wrong." He kept telling himself this even though the butterflies in his stomach felt like they were having a dog fight. He opened his eyes when he heard the locks were being turned and straightened up.

Jackie opened the door and really didn't spare a glance at the person on the other side, she was still too caught up in the magazine she was reading, still not believing what she was seeing. She turned away from the door and walked away.

Eric watched her walking away without so much as a hello; he smiled and shook his head. Well he knew how to get her attention.

"Hey midget." He said as he entered the house and closed the door.

Jackie stopped in her tracks, turned and just gave him her most charming smile. "You don't want to start down that road Geek boy." She turned back around and over her shoulder said, "Brooke will be right out, Nerd."

Eric softly chuckled, God I missed that, she still has it, he thought to himself. "The force is strong in that one," he said out loud.

Jackie heard what he said and laughed. "He's still a geek Brooke, what do you see in him?" she asked her friend as she entered her bedroom.

Brooke finished up her make-up, looked up at her friend and shook her head. "Jackie, to you he's a nerd and a geek. To me….he's handsome, intelligent, kind and loyal." She put on her heals and said, "Those are great qualities."

Jackie thought about that and replied, "Brooke, you can get those same traits from a German Shepherd."

Brooke just shook her head at her friend. "Funny, Jackie, I wish you could see what I see."

She walked up to Jackie, and plucked the magazine out of her hand and placed it back in its box. "We'll talk about this later, right now I have a date." She put the box back on the shelf in her closet. "How do I look?" Brooke spun around, in her black satin dress that stopped just above her knees, and black high heels.

"You're gorgeous as usual. He won't be able to look at any other woman," Jackie said.

She watched as Eric gave Brooke a dozen flowers. Seeing this caused her to flash back to when her dear, sweet Charles proposed to her. She had to fight to keep the tears from falling; after all these years she still missed him more than ever. When she opened her eyes she saw a single rose in front of her.

"Here you go, Jackie." Eric held the rose out to her.

Jackie tentatively took the rose from Eric and gave him a small smile. "Thank you, Eric," she said as she brought the bloom to her nose and smelled it.

"You're welcome Jackie." With that he turned and walked back to Brooke. Eric stopped before going out the door and called back. "Be careful of the thorns."

After Eric helped Brooke into his car he ran around and got in. As he was going around the car she couldn't help but admire it, she ran her hand along the seat and felt real leather. She looked at the dash, and all she could say was, "wow."

Brooke turned to Eric as he got into the car. "That was sweet of you to give Jackie that rose."

Eric just smiled and shrugged as he started up the engine and gave it a li'l gas, he loved that sound.

As they drove Brooke turned to Eric. "So where are we going?"

He glanced over at Brooke and smiled. "It's a surprise. I hope you like it."

She gave him a little pout, raised her hand, held her index finger and thumb apart, "Just a little hint?"

Eric smiled and conceded a bit. "I'll tell you this, its dinner and dancing. How does that sound?"

The head valet saw the IROC-Z pulling up, he turned to the other valets, help up a finger and pointed at each of them. "This is mine, so back off."

As the car pulled up the valet was already at the door. Eric got out and gave the keys to him. "How are things going Jeremy?"

"Everything's going great Mr. Forman, it's good to see you again."

Eric gave the head valet a pat on the shoulder and hurried over to the passenger side. He opened the door, took Brooke's hand and helped her out of the car.

Brooke looked at the restaurant. "Eric, Le Blanc est Monte?"

He shrugged, "I was hoping you liked French cuisine."

"I do, but this place is expensive."

Eric interlaced his fingers with Brooke's and shrugged. "Don't worry about it, just enjoy the food, the ambiance and the company." The usher opened the door as they approached. "Thank you Mark, how are the wife and kids?"

"They're doing great, thank you for asking Mr. Forman. Have a great evening."

The maître d clasped both his hands in front of himself and smiled. "Ah, Monsieur Forman, it is so good to see you tonight." He then snapped his fingers twice and a waitress appeared from what seemed from out of nowhere.

The maître d turned to her. "Please show Monsieur Forman and his guest to their table."

The waitress smiled at Eric, "This way, Mr. Forman."

Eric smiled when he saw Brooke looking around the restaurant. "You haven't been here before?"

Brooke shook her head. "No."

"What kind of wine do you like, white or red?" Eric asked.

Brooke stopped looking around and looked at him. "Depends on what we are having doesn't it?"

Eric leaned forward and whispered. "There are two rules with pairing wine to food, you want to know what they are?"

Brooke had to smile, she knew how to pair her wine with food but she was game. "Sure, tell me the rules."

Eric held up his right index finger. "One, red goes with meat, white goes with fish and poultry," then he held up his middle finger, "two, throw out rule one and drink whatever you like."

Brooke had to laugh at that; she knew of the first rule, but she never heard of the second one and she liked it. "I like that second rule, so…." Brooke thought about it. "I like red."

The head waiter came up. "Mr. Forman, good to see you tonight." He hesitated then said, "The chef heard you are here, he told me to tell you not to bother ordering, he will surprise you and your guest."

Eric looked down at the table and frowned, then he looked up at Brooke and smiled. He didn't want her to find out just yet, but with all this special treatment they were getting; maybe he should've taken her someplace else.

Eric looked back to the waiter and said, "I'm sure what he has in store for us will be great; also bring us a bottle of the best red we have."

The waiter nodded. "Right away Mister Forman."

Eric glanced over at Brooke and saw the questions in her beautiful eyes. "I guess you're wondering what's been going on since we got here?"

"Yes I do! Since we got here just about everyone is only one step away from genuflecting when they interact with you." Brooke stopped talking when the waiter came back with the bottle and poured them a glass. Eric took a sip and nodded to him. When the waiter left Brooke continued. "If we are going to be anything Eric, no lying and no secrets. I really hate it when people lie to me. As for secrets, I don't believe that couples should keep secrets from each other."

Eric smiled and said, "You're right, I was going to tell you, maybe on the second date or the third."

They both took another sip of their wine.

"Ok, long story short, I own half of this fine establishment." She didn't seem shocked by the declaration. "I was never going to lie to you or keep this a secret." Eric took a drink of his wine and sat back. "I thought about not bringing you here, but I wanted you to enjoy the best French food in town," Eric laughed and saw Brooke raise an eyebrow. "Both chef's would say they are the best in the U.S."

Brooke had to chuckle at that and said, "Seems that all chefs are arrogant."

Eric shook his head. "Arrogant is an understatement when it comes to the two that work here." He looked around, "Although Michel is a good friend and business partner." He picked up his wine and held it up to the light. "Let's talk about something else, I promise to revisit this another time." He leaned forward and asked, "What's it like working for the devil?"

Brooke laughed, "She isn't that bad to work with…" She looked around as if she was making sure no one was listening in. "Especially since I figured out how to handle her."

Eric smiled and leaned forward, "please do tell."

Brooke smiled and shook her head, "not telling." She laughed at his disappointed look.

They regaled each other with work related stories, both laughing and just enjoying each other's company. Brooke was having a great time, she really couldn't remember ever having this much fun on a date. And this was just the beginning of the night