Sam saw the truth in that statement behind Brooke’s eyes and it made her smile. “Good. Because, I don’t really want to be your sister.” Sam paused for only a moment, showing her shyness by casting her gaze to the ground then back up to Brooke. “Mind you, that’s not a bad thing. I’d rather just have you think of me as a friend.”

Sam’s suggestion brought a smile to Brooke’s face. “Well, friend, you can buy next time. How’s that?”

“Deal,” the blonde’s nose wrinkled as the smile on her face grew in size. “My treat next time.”

Brooke held a hand out in the direction of the theater door as she invited her new friend. “Let’s see a movie then, shall we?”

“Sounds good to me,” Sam replied as they walked into the theater together, each one thinking the same thing.

There’s going to be a next time.

****

The two women easily agreed on sitting in the back of the theater on the end of an aisle to accommodate Brooke’s long legs. Within a minute or two of being seated, Sam soon realized the advantage of being shorter than her friend. Brooke sat as she always did with her feet out in the aisle, crossed at the ankles, which caused her torso to lean in toward Sam’s seat. No sooner had they gotten comfortable in their seats, the movie started.

Although Brooke had seen the movie enough to know every line backwards and forwards, she found herself concentrating on Sam more than reciting her favorite lines as she usually did. Her gaze might have been on the screen in front of her but Brooke’s full attention was on the young woman at her side.

With her senses tuned like a predator on the prowl, she listened intently to the rhythm of Sam’s breathing and inhaled the scent of her shampoo as the young woman shifted positions in her seat. With each intake of breath and its gentle release as Sam sighed or giggled at certain parts in the movie, the young woman was driving the brunette crazy and was none the wiser to it.

No movie goes good without a tub of popcorn and in sharing one between them, every once in a while they happened to reach in at the same time. The casual touch of their hands at first was somewhat shy, eliciting a quickly pulled back hand and a whispered, ‘Sorry’, from both. But as the movie continued and the touches increased in number, each one resigned herself to the fact that it would happen. Little did they realize that each time it occurred, their touch lasted a little bit longer than the last time. There was something about the touching that added to the excitement of being at the theater, watching the movie on the big screen.

Halfway through the movie, Brooke turned her head and leaned as close to Sam’s ear as she could without letting her lips touch it. She whispered, “How do you like it so far?”

Brooke’s warm breaths against her ear caused Sam to close her eyes and take a deep breath as she tried to calm her racing heart. If the theater had been better illuminated, the woman next to her would have surely noticed the blush that crept up the blonde’s neck. The only response Sam could manage was to turn a pursed set of lips in her friend’s direction saying, “Shhhh…” while willing her eyes not to look into the pools of blue.

The escape of air from Sam’s mouth tingled as it touched the older woman’s face. Brooke stared at the lips so close to her own and found that she was starting to lean in without thinking, ready to taste the sweetness she knew she would find there. She stopped when Sam’s eyes turned in her direction, meeting her own. Cool blue smiled at the twinkling green reflected in Sam’s eyes. Then both women returned their attention to the movie playing out before them.

They sat there, staring at the action on the screen, while their minds considered what had almost happened, each one having it’s own perspective on the issue.

God, I almost kissed her. Blue eyes darted to the blonde seated next to her, then back to the screen.

I wonder what stopped her? Sam stole a glance at the tall woman beside her before letting the movie pull her in once more.

It wasn’t until after the movie, when the last of the credits had finally rolled by that both women got up and walked slowly back to Brooke’s car. They were the last two out of the theater, and noticed that the parking lot had emptied out quite a bit.

“That movie was great. I really enjoyed it,” Sam said as they reached the car. “Thanks for asking me to go.”

“You’re welcome,” Brooke replied as she pulled her keys from her pocket. “Anytime.”

Sam stood next to the car, studying the tall woman as she reached down to insert the key into the lock. The cascade of dark hair fell to her right shoulder as she leaned over more, drawing the younger woman’s attention to the graceful outline of Brooke’s neck, which was exposed, as the jacket gaped. The blonde found herself staring longingly at it, wondering what it would take to get closer.

Brooke opened the door and turned her eyes toward Sam. Like some slow-motion camera effect, the actions moved one into the other as Sam slipped her arm under Brooke’s jacket. Tugging lightly on the tank top underneath it to keep the taller woman from pulling away, she reached up and kissed her. It was nothing more than a brush of her lips against Brooke’s, but it had been enough to send both of their heads reeling.

The taller woman couldn’t have stopped what happened if she wanted to and really, when she came to think about it, she didn’t want to. The brief encounter vanished just as quickly as it had come. Their lips separated and their bodies drew slightly back in shock.

“Why didn’t you continue with your action in the theater?” Sam spoke quietly as they stood in a loose embrace next to the car.

“I… I don’t know,” Brooke tried to form an answer but could not get anything more than a stuttering of words to leave her lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I mean…I didn’t know what…I just…well I mean, I wasn’t sure if you’d uh…” She noticed Sam smiling at her flustered state. Brooke took a deep breath, trying hard to calm herself down, but it wasn’t working.

Blue eyes roamed over the young woman’s face, coming to rest on a pair of eyes so soft that it caused her heart to ache. “Oh hell…” Brooke said just before wrapping her arms around the smaller woman and covering Sam’s lips with her own. They finally did kiss and there was nothing rushed about it.

Sam’s thoughts were racing full of emotions as she tried to bring to mind what she was feeling with the kiss that was captivating her lips. The only word Sam could think of to describe it was…tender. Nothing at all like she would have expected from the raven-haired woman. She allowed herself to sink into Brooke’s embrace before both women reluctantly broke away. Keeping her eyes closed, Sam committed to memory the lingering kiss as she enjoyed the sensation of being held by this woman.

The blonde’s mind began to draw from its past experiences, those many dreams that crept up on her while she slept. If she didn’t know any better, it was as if all those times she woke up alone, never knowing who had haunted her dreams. She never forgot the feel of that warm embrace, much like the one she was in now.

Six years of dreams had led her to this night and somehow, Sam knew that she was in for more than she could ever imagine. Had her daydreams become real and the reclusive drummer that had caused her heart to beat wildly finally come to life? Or was her mind playing tricks on her like some practical joker? Only time would tell if fantasy and reality could ever become one. Then she smiled shyly as she mused. At least they share the same name… Brooke.

“Have you been trying to drive me crazy all night?” The tall woman’s question broke the quiet surrounding them as she leaned her forehead down against Sam’s.

“Me, drive you crazy? I thought it was you trying to drive me crazy,” Sam replied as she opened her eyes to look into the ocean of blue before her.

“Whatever.” Brooke said with a soft laugh, “It worked.”

Sam smiled, “I’d say that it did.” She paused, thinking of her roommate. “Brooke, what do we tell C.C. if she asks what she missed?”

Brooke pulled her head back, inhaling deeply and thought about Sam’s question for a long moment as she let her breath out. “I guess…whatever you’d like to tell her. You’re the one who has to live with her. Tell her we went to the movie together.”

“I get it…playing clueless, huh?” Sam asked with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

The older woman laughed, “Yeah, something like that.” Brooke smiled and tilted her head back to gaze up at the stars in the sky. She thought about the topic of C.C.’s class and turned her gaze back to the woman in her arms.

Admiring the way the moonlight seemed to dance off of the green in Sam’s eyes like the glistening far off twinkle of a star, Brooke spoke what was on her mind. “Tell her…she can find her own stars. I’m happy with the ones I’ve found right here.”

Brooke closed her eyes as the distance between their lips lessened once again, losing herself in the vast display of the universe as two worlds came together out of nowhere.

Chapter 4 What Do You Look For In A Stalker?

“…I think you’d like my bedroom, too… walls covered in you; pictures of you…”



The raven-haired form got out of bed sometime around nine on Saturday morning. Brooke hadn’t been able to catch more than two or three hours of sleep off and on all night. After another hour or two in her studio, she had spent her time awake, laying in bed, thinking of the movie and the woman she had taken to it, Sam. When you got right down to it, the kisses shared with Sam after the movie was what Brooke pondered about more than anything else.

Not quite sure exactly what her feelings were for her sister’s roommate; Brooke tried to take a good, long look at them. She knew she was attracted to her. In fact, she was attracted to Sam to the point of distraction. She had admitted that to herself as she walked into the dorm room the night before, when she saw Sam dancing around half-naked. The woman closed her eyes and could still see Sam’s green eyes staring back at her.

Brooke had driven back to the dorm after the movie where both women confirmed what a great time they had with one another. She had declined on Sam’s offer to go upstairs when she noticed her sister’s truck parked a few rows down. Sam could not hide the disappointment in her eyes as she smiled and started to get out of the car.

Before the smaller woman had the chance to get the door open, Brooke placed her hand on the blonde’s arm. Sam turned to face Brooke as the older woman leaned forward to kiss her, softly. As they pulled away, no words were exchanged. Their eyes said it all.

After making sure that Sam got into the dorm safely, Brooke found herself driving home on autopilot. Her every thought was of jade eyes and golden hair.

She didn’t remember how she got home, but found herself in her basement studio. The array of technology before her spanned the recording industry timeline, from the latest recording equipment to some of the classics or antique junk as C.C. termed them, they all could be found in the woman’s possession.

For some unknown reason, Brooke found herself looking through her old reel to reels. Everything Anti-Zero had ever recorded was there. The next thing she realized, she was listening to their first single by the same name as the band that had recorded it. She found the track sheet inside the case, designating the track that each instrument was recorded on, as well as all of their mix-down notes.

Studying it carefully, Brooke placed the track sheet on the clipboard at the top of the soundboard and started the tape. She listened carefully as she played around with all of the settings and before long, had remixed the entire song. The overall drum volume had been brought up a notch while adding a bit of reverb to the snare. As an afterthought, she added a chorus effect to James’ lead vocal track and brought up the volume a bit on the background vocals recorded by her and Peter.

Once she was positive it was mixed to her liking, she recorded it on DAT, CD, and saved it as an MP3 file. It was this last action that found her logging onto the company server and e-mailing Sam at three in the morning.

Subj: Anti-Zero

Date: August 25, 3:07:56 AM Eastern Daylight Time

From: Brooke Loran

To: Sam Moleson

File: (901492 bytes)

DL Time (44000 bps): 6 minutes