Sudden Response (EMS 1)

Shit!

"Oh, I got one!" Eric announced. "The night I got engaged," he said, looking at Nathan with his hand out.

Joe winced.

Nathan laughed.

Alice sighed.

Camie looked pissed at the mention of Eric being engaged to another woman, which was seriously getting creepy since she'd only met him less than an hour ago.

Caitlyn smiled sweetly.

"Pay up, sucker."

"Ah, Eric?" Joe said.

"What? We won," he said, looking victorious.

Nathan chuckled. "Oh, no you didn't."

"What the hell are you talking about? Of course I did," Eric said, looking and sounding confused.

"Ah, Eric, he's right. I was there. Remember?"

He didn't look like he did.

She sighed. "Remember the three of us were at the club over on Wilmington and you and I were dancing and Beth kind of had a meltdown about that and you jokingly offered to marry her to shut her up. Remember?"

Alice gasped. "You proposed as a joke?"

He shrugged. "I would have gone through with it I guess. She was a good cook."

"You guess?" Alice repeated in shock. "I thought you loved her?"

He winced.

"Eric Parish, do not tell me you were going to marry some poor girl because she was a good cook."

"Why else?" he said with a cocky grin. Joe rolled her eyes. The man really enjoyed teasing his mother too much. Not that it wasn't the truth. Eric didn't believe in romantic love, lust? Yes, but not the kind of love that lasted forever.

Joe thought of something. "Oh wait, when their engagement ended I wasn't there, so we win."

His wince deepened. "Ah, Joe? You kind of were."

She frowned as she thought it over. "No, I wasn't. Yeah, you guys were fighting while we were up at the ski resort, but you broke up after you dropped me off at my house. So there, that's one major event at least, even though I'm sure there are more that I just don't remember right now."

Nathan kept chuckling.

Bastard.

"What?" she asked, looking at Eric as he bowed his head over his plate, shoveling food in his mouth like there was no tomorrow.

"You were there alright," Nathan said.

Okay, now she was seriously confused. She narrowed her eyes on Eric who was shoveling his food in faster, obviously trying to avoid the question.

"What did you do?" she demanded as she narrowed her eyes on him. She was very sure that she wouldn't forget being in the room when her best friend broke off his engagement. Call her crazy, but that kind of thing should be memorable.

No answer.

"Maybe we should talk about something else," Alice said nervously.

Joe turned her glare onto Nathan whose smile grew wider. "Well, it seemed good old Beth, whom I like to point out I never liked, tried to put her foot down where the two of you were concerned. Seems she didn't like all the touchy feely crap between the two of you that we all long ago accepted as normal, at least where you two are concerned. She wanted him to start treating her the way he treats you."

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know she had a problem with that and I understood it and apologized if it made her uncomfortable. Hell, I even spent the entire second day by myself, giving them time alone."

"Well, you may have spent the entire day apart, however......" Nathan said leadingly.

"What?" she demanded.

"Oh, brother," Alice mumbled. She sighed softly as she grabbed another biscuit. Camie still glared, probably about the engagement news. That really was seriously freaky. Caitlyn smiled shyly as she ate small bites, obviously uncomfortable and Joe couldn't blame her since she was starting to feel little uncomfortable herself.

"What the hell don't I know about?" Joe demanded, glancing between Eric and Nathan.

Eric groaned loudly as he dropped his fork on his plate and sat up straight. "Fine! You want to know what happened? I'll tell you. She made demands on me all day, hung on me all day, talked all goddamn day, everywhere I went there she was. Every time I tried to shake her off she was there. Finally it was late at night and I wanted some sleep so I was going to go sleep on the couch since there were only two rooms. She tried to demand that I sleep with her and I put my foot down."

Joe nodded. She knew about that. Eric hated sharing a bed with anyone. The few times he tried to spend the entire night in bed with a woman he freaked out. He was very particular about his sleep. He hated snoring, bed hogs, people who shifted in their sleep or made any sounds. For some reason he didn't object to sharing her bed and doing all those things to her.

"You had a problem sharing a bed with your fiancé?" Camie asked, looking unsure whether that news should please her or anger her.

"I'm a light sleeper, damn it!" Eric said defensively. "Everyone knows that."

"Uh huh," Nathan said absently, still smiling. Bastard. "Tell her the rest."

"If you don't tell me what you did to cost me a hundred bucks I swear to god I am going to strap your ass to a backboard on Monday morning and let the guys shave your ass from head to toe." she threatened, knowing the guys would happily do it.

"Fine, my little drama queen, if you must know. The couch was too damn lumpy so I went to your room to get some sleep."

"Wait. If you wouldn't sleep in the same bed with your fiancé then why would you sleep with her?" Camie asked with a suspicious scowl.

Nathan sighed dramatically. "Because she's his bitch. You really need to pay attention."

"Nathan!" Alice gasped, smiling.

Caitlyn chuckled softly. Joe was really going to like Caitlyn, she could tell.

"Anyway," Eric said, stretching out the word. "I fell asleep and sometime after two, Beth woke up and decided to come looking for me. When she didn't find me on the couch she went straight to Joe's room and that's where she found me."

Joe held up her hand. "Wait a minute. I seriously don't remember any of this and I'm pretty sure since she was incapable of talking without screeching that she would have woken me up."

Eric cringed as he looked away.

Nathan laughed long and loud.

Alice sighed, taking a sip of the wine she somehow managed to get without Joe noticing during this weird little conversation.

Camie put her fork down and crossed her arms defiantly over her chest while glaring at her and Eric. Was anyone else freaked out by this?

Caitlyn smiled sweetly.

"Well?" Joe said, sounding as irritated as she felt.

Eric cleared his throat uncomfortably. "It's really no big deal."