White Collar Fic: Bottle of Red
Title: A Bottle of Red
Prompt: #33 Wine - For WC100 Anniversary Challenge
Author: dennih23
Rating: G
Character: Peter Burke
Word Count: 300
Spoilers: None
Summary: Peter plans a special evening with Elizabeth
Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin - mistakes belong to me
Title from lyric by Billy Joel - Scenes from An Italian Restaurant
Peter stood, hands on his hips, in the middle of the liquor store. He was surrounded by hundreds of bottles of wine. Placards indicated the different types: white, red, blush, imports, and domestics. This was going to be difficult.
He exhaled deeply and began searching for the perfect bottle of wine to go with his dinner for El. He was planning a special evening and wanted to impress her.
He knew a little about wine. During college he took dates to wine tastings. It was cheap and made him look worldly. Now he needed to draw on that knowledge and put it to good use.
The pot roast he was making needed to be paired with a hearty red wine - a cabernet sauvignon. Strolling over to the reds he began picking up each one, examining it, and setting back on the rack. He was discouraged when something caught his eye. The wine was on display, imported from Italy, and he knew how much El liked Italian things - it was perfect.
He purchased the wine and headed back to their apartment. He put his plan in motion - he prepared the pot roast and put it in the oven, than he set the timer so he knew when to open the wine to let it breathe. He placed candles around the apartment, and finally the roses he purchased earlier became a centerpiece.
El had been visiting her parents and would be home in a couple of hours. He was restless, nervous, and excited all at once. He paced the apartment, fumbling with the small box in his pocket. Taking it out he opened the box to gaze at the engagement ring. He rehearsed his proposal one more time and sat down, silently hoping that El would say yes.
Thank you for reading, comments and critiques are appreciated.