He Who Wants A Rose, Must Respect The Thorn

Gisele

Julian's hand slipped around my waist, hugging me against his torso as we waited for someone to answer the door. Barely a minute after pushing the bell, the heavy black door opened, revealing our host with the biggest smile on his face.

"Jules!" he beamed, opening his arms to greet his friend and team mate. "Tom, looking good my friend" Julian grinned back, matching his stance, going in for a bro hug. "Penny, nice to see you, you look amazing, please come in" he smiled at me, kissing my cheek gently, taking my arm and escorting me into the house. Julian closed the door behind us, he'd been here so many times, he was totally relaxed here, well, he was in most places, but here, in this- this mansion it felt like you needed to be on your best behaviour. "come, I'll take you through to the kitchen, G is just settling the kids down." Tom explained, leading us through his amazing house. "we've got our nanny staying a little later tonight just through dinner, but the kids still wanted a story before we left them to their movie night" he chuckled, the thought of having that someday was perfect. "are they having a late night tonight then?" I asked, Tom nodded, "getting them to ever go to bed early is a task in itself when we're both home, but especially when it's over the holidays, they're crazy" he laughed. Finally reaching the kitchen where he motioned for us to take a seat on the couch by the humongous window. "just like their Dada huh" a gentle voice fluttered through the air.

And there she was.

Tom's chuckling filled the silence in the room, or well, in my head as I felt immensely star struck. Julian and I stood again, as Gisele walked into the room. Obviously in a jealousy inducing gown that had me feeling incredibly insecure. But the smile on her face said quite the opposite as she made her way straight to me.

"Penny! So glad you could come! You look amazing, it's so nice to finally meet you" she gushed, and genuinely too I might add, giving me a squeeze. I managed to push out a flustered "hi... Um, likewise, thank you for the invitation" I blushed looking back at her. "oh not at all, we've finally got some time for ourselves now we've found the nanny, I've been craving some girly time" she sighed, "and tonight was perfect, I've been telling him to get Jules and his lady over, I've been dying to meet you" she said, and right then and there I could have fainted. Thankfully Julian took the spot light off me a little. "OK, OK, don't be letting her know I talk about her all the time" he smirked at me, making me roll my eyes. "hey Jules" she smiled at him, going in for a hug. "G, looking beautiful as always" he added pulling away. "now, shall we head into the family room? I think the caterers are here" Tom gently interrupted, us all in accord, so he led the way, with Julian through to wherever we were going. "shall we grab a glass of wine first?" Gisele whispered as soon as the guys were a little ahead of us. I looked back at her, her wasting no time waiting for my reply and I watched her pull open a cabinet with her glass ware inside. "red, or white?" she looked back at me with a grin.

..........

Twenty minutes later, we were still in the kitchen, watching the chefs cooking away, laughing and talking, bizarrely like we were old friends. "I said to Tom, if we don't have a date night with another couple soon my brain will be fried by Sponge Bob and his crew" she said making me laugh.

"I knew you'd be in here" Tom's voice interrupted us, making look to the doorway in which he and Julian had left earlier. He was smirking at his wife, standing there shaking his head. "we were only getting a bottle of wine" she smiled innocently at him. He scoffed like it was a familiar untruth he's heard before. "they'll be bringing our starters through soon" he beckoned. "so bossy..." she teased him, "and it's meant to be my night off" she added, as she motioned for me to go with her, following as she and Tom made their way through the door and to where I assume Julian was. Not forgetting my half empty wine glass too.