Chapter 6

Nearly a week had passed, since the reading of the will, and he was beginning to get back into his old routine of school, work and study. Sean arrived at his house and went straight to bed, even though it was only 4:45 PM he had had a rough day. He was asleep for about an hour, when the telephone rang. At first he was going to let it just click over to the answer machine, but he just couldn’t do it.

He hated answering machines, and as long as he was in, he would answer the phone. He picked up the receiver, and mumbled a greeting.

“Hello, this is Sean speaking.”

“Sean, it’s me Brooke. I was curious; would you be interested in going out tonight?”

“I wasn’t planning on it, but if you really want to I guess we could, I can pick you up in a couple of hours or so.”

“Great, I’ll be ready, Say where are you taking me anyway?”

“It’s a secret. Bye, I’ll see you soon.”

Sean rushed through the shower, and quickly made a wardrobe change. Next he checked on theater tickets, and made reservations for two at Antonio’s, an Italian restaurant, that specializes in authentic Italian pasta and seafood. Then he got in his car and drove towards Brooke’s apartment.

As Sean drove, he started thinking about the future as it might be. He started daydreaming about living the lifestyle of an international playboy, who jetted across the globe spending money and playing with the women. This didn’t last long. Brooke’s face entered his daydreams, and he just couldn’t bring himself to continue the fantasy. He knew then, that she was really all he ever wanted. She was intelligent, independent, extremely beautiful, and the more he thought about her the less he cared about himself. He only knew that he had never felt this way about any other girl before.

The only future he wanted was one that included Brooke Kirkwood. Then he started to rationalize things, he’d only known Brooke for about a month, maybe a little more, and she may not even feel the same way. Besides, she wanted to just have fun, hang out. She never said anything about getting serious, with him or anyone else for that matter. “Still she did call me, I didn’t call her.” he said to himself.

About a block before he got to Brooke’s place, he was stopped by a red light. So he decided to use the stop to his advantage. He pushed a button and within a matter of seconds the convertible top was lowered and stowed, all automatically, he had read that at one time this took much longer, because it required physically getting out of the automobile and lowering the top by hand. He was very happy for technology. He was also thankful for a star lit night, that made this a perfect beginning to what he hoped would be the perfect night. If everything went well tonight, who knows, she might just want to become more than just friends, he thought to himself.

He pulled up to her apartment building and parked the car. He walked up to the door and pressed the intercom. A computer voice asked him to identify himself, which he did then the computer asked him to place his right hand on the touch screen for verification. He thought about this for a moment, he knew that he shouldn’t be verified because he did not live in the building, and yet he also knew that most security systems did not ask for a visitor to be verified. They simply notified the proper party that they had visitors. So curiosity got to him and he placed his hand on the screen. The screen turned from blue, too neutral then to green: access granted. He heard a slight click, as the door opened for him. He cautiously walked through the doorway in to the hall. And then went up to Brooke’s apartment. When he arrived at her door he knocked softly and heard Brook’s voice answer “The door’s open come in.” So he entered the apartment. He looked around; he’d only glanced at it the last time he was here and that was at night when he was saying goodnight, and receiving a kiss, as he recalled. So now that he was inside he decided to see just how things looked. He had yet to see Brooke anywhere. So called out I’m here, are you ready to go.”

“Just a minute, I’m just finishing my hair.”

“How is it, the security system knows me?” He decided to ask after a couple of minutes of silence.

“Because I wanted it to.” Brooke answered as she stepped into view.

Sean gave out a whistle “You look ... stunning.” Sean said, finally finding just the right word he was searching for.

“Well Thank-you, you look quite dashing yourself. I didn’t know how to dress because you wouldn’t tell me where we were going, so I dressed up in the best dress I have.”

Sean tried not to stare, she looked gorgeous, she was wearing an emerald green knee length velvet party dress that hugged to her curves like a fine Italian sports car clung to the curviest road. The dress set off her vibrant red hair and her creamy skin. She was a vision. She had to be, Sean was thinking. Her hair was pulled up so her bangs were framing her oval face. She wore very little make-up. Not that she needed any! She did have a very red set of lips but not in a vampish way.

Sean finally picked is chin off the ground, and said.

“You really do look stunning and you’re dressed perfectly for this evening, better then I am in fact, maybe I should go home and change clothes.”

“Oh, no you don’t. You’re not going to stand me up now that your here I won’t let you.”

“I was only kidding! I don’t think anyone will notice me with the way you look. They will all be focused on you so everything’s cool. Anyway, getting back to that security system how did you get it to verify me. I don’t live here. So why did it allow me access to the building?”

“It recognized you because I gave it your ID profile, I got it from work and then I fed it into this system.”

“That still doesn’t answer why?”

“Because I like you and I want to be with you. Is that a crime?”

“No. But stealing my security profile and it unauthorized use is.”

“So sue me.”

“I just might but, I’d rather kiss you.” Then he leaned over put his arms around her and gave her a passionate kiss.

Brooke was in a state of anticipation; she still didn’t know what Sean had planned ... if he had any plans for the evening. She was the type, who liked a plan, she really hadn’t expected Sean to take her up on her impromptu call, she was going to use it as a springboard to make an official date, with all the necessities like reservations, tickets etc. She didn’t normally make the first call, although the argument could be made that this wasn’t officially the first call since they had spent a couple of days out before, but those were both chance meetings, no organized date had yet occurred between them, but she wanted to. She wanted to see more of him since the first time she met him.

He opened the car door for her and waited until she was comfortable, then he closed it. He walked around the car then he got in and belted the seat belt and turned the key and the car came to life. They started towards the theater. As Sean pulled away from the curb, he decided to let her off the hook. “I’ve planned, what I hope to be a wonderful evening, or at least as wonderful an evening as possible with only an hours notice.” He said with a devilish grin. “I got tickets to the performance of ‘Cats’. The show starts at eight; so don’t worry we have plenty of time. Then I phoned Antonio’s and was able to get reservations for two, at 10:00 PM., and from there, well I decided to play by ear.”

“How did you get all that done in such a short amount of time, or did you have this all planned in advance?” Brooke asked astonished. “Cats has been sold out and Antonio’s never gives reservations for the same night.” She continued

“Well first no, this wasn’t planned in advance. I simply asked a couple of friends I know, Erin who, works at the Wortham Theater, said she could get me a couple of good seats anytime I wanted. So I called her up and called in a couple of favors and was able to get her to upgrade them to great seats, for tonight. They’ll be at the will call for us when we get there. Next I called over to Antonio’s and talked to Mark. He owed me for some help for his finals. So I asked him to check to see if there were any cancellations for a party of two, just so happened to be one and it was for 10 o’clock. I took it. I would’ve taken whatever time they had, but it would have been real dicey if they were for before 8 o’clock but I would have figured something out.”

“Sean you’re amazing!” Brooke exclaimed. “Do you know how difficult it is to do what you just accomplished? To hear you tell it was as simple as pie, but I know better. I have friends too. Granted they don’t conveniently work at the theater or some great restaurant, but they have connections. I couldn’t get tickets on the spur of the moment or reservations with a simple phone call.” This is going to be an unforgettable night.

“That’s what I was aiming for.” Sean replied.

They arrived at the theater with a few minutes to spare. They went to pick up the tickets from the will call window, then went to their seats; they were very good seats, a private box. Brooke kept her mouth shut, but her mind was whirling, surly he couldn’t have called in a few favors for this. A few favors got you seats in the back on the floor or maybe seats with a side view. Favors don’t get you a private box; at least none of her friends could pull. The attendant came with a bucket of ice and a bottle of champagne.

“There must be some mistake, I didn’t order champagne.” Sean told the attendant.

“It comes complimentary, with the box sir.” The attendant said handing a pair of glasses to Sean and Brooke.

“Oh, I didn’t realize that, thank-you,” Sean said handing the man a twenty dollar bill.

“Thank-you, sir. Is there anything else I can do for you?” He asked while pouring the champagne for them.