“Don’t let it go to your head, Sis. I’ll still give you a hard time… but not where Sam is concerned. Mom and Dad may have given their blessing, but now, you also have mine.”

“I don’t care if you give me a hard time, Randi. But like you said, just not about Sam. She doesn’t deserve it.” Brooke held her sister in her gaze for a moment before finishing, “Thank you.”

“Well, if you ask me, she doesn’t deserve you either, but who am I to judge?” Randi winked at Brooke, “Now, what do you say we go have some fun.”

“Actually, I don’t deserve her. I truly believe that I don’t know what I ever did to be blessed with her.”

“Oh, you do, Sis, someone’s got to keep you in line and she’s the one to do it.”

“Hey, I know that wasn’t what you meant but…”Brooke started saying.

“But nothing… you both deserve each other.” Randi crossed her arms over her chest, daring to be proven wrong, “And that’s my final verdict… case closed.” The imposing woman started walking around the side of the desk.

“You know that your disapproval would not have stopped me…” Brooke smirked, “but I’m glad you’ve changed your mind.”

Randi stopped her forward motion within inches of Brooke then leaned in, wrapping an arm around Brooke’s shoulders. “I know. I just wanted to make you think…”

“Think?” Blue eyes bugged out rather unceremoniously.

“Yeah, think… that’s what being the big sister is for… making you think about your choices until you know the answer in your heart.”

“You know, Randi, the answer has been there all along. I think it has been there since that first dinner.” Brooke got a silly look on her face as she grinned, thinking about Sam. “She was just… different, you know?”

“I know,” Randi nodded her head. “…just like you.”

The musician raised a lone eyebrow high on her forehead. “I am not different.”

“Brooke, you are, and you know it. Case closed.” Randi let go of her sister, then started to walk away.

The dark-haired woman watched as her sister reached for the doorknob. “By the way Counselor, you really need to have a talk with your daughter about timing.”

“Huh?” The lawyer spun on her heels to fully understand her sister. “Timing…? Brooke, what are you talking about?”

The dark-haired woman pulled out the box from her pocket and waved it at Randi. “Julie, almost ruined something big in the making tonight.”

Brooke shoved the box back into her pocket, then strolled past her sister, leaving the woman to the thoughts that were gathering in her mind. The musician smiled broadly as she left the room, realizing that it would be some time before her oldest sister would be thinking straight again.

Each woman worked in silence, unpacking, cleaning, and getting a grasp on her new space. Over time a casually thrown muttering by one would elicit a response from the other as each tried to get a feel for her new roommate. In a short time, the Spartan style dormitory room became more like home and the students began conversing as if they were old friends who had not seen one another for a length of time, rather than new acquaintances.

With Sam standing tiptoed on a chair trying to reach the far corners of the top shelf in her closet, they were interrupted by a knock at the door. “God, who could that be? Company already?” Sam asked as she looked over her shoulder, noticing that C.C. had a somewhat sheepish expression on her face.

“Ooh, yeah… sorry. My sister said she’d bring by a pizza for dinner. You don’t mind do you? I mean… you’re more than welcome to join us if you’d like.”

Sam’s eyes lit up at the mention of food. “Mind? Why would I mind? Isn’t pizza the universal room warming meal?” Just hearing the word pizza caused her stomach to growl and both girls’ eyes were drawn to the source of the noise. They giggled as another knock was heard at the door.

“Well, I guess your stomach answered that question. We better feed that beast.” The brunette teased her new roommate as she made her way through the mess to the door, opening it to find her sister.

“Hey C.C., how’s the new squat?” The woman dressed in hospital scrubs held a pizza box and six-pack of soda up in the air when she saw her sister. “Sister bearing gifts. Aren’t you going to ask me in?”

“Come on in.” C.C. moved out of the way so her older sister could walk in. “It’s small, but it’s ours.”

Sam came down from the chair to make an empty spot on the desk, where she placed the six-pack of soda that the older woman handed her.

“Terri, this is my new roommate, Sam. Sam, this is one of my older sisters, Terri.”

“Hi, Terri.” Sam wiped a hand on her jeans, then offered it in friendship. “Don’t mind the mess. We’re just getting settled in.”

“Hi, nice to meet you.” Terri shook the hand offered to her. “No problem with the mess. I grew up with that one,” she added, jerking her thumb in C.C.’s direction. “Hungry? Care to join us?” Terri offered as she held out the pizza box and offered it to Sam.

“Are we ever. Thanks so much.” Sam replied as she fingered the lid of the box.

“Anytime. Someone has to make sure Ms. Thing over there eats more than Cheetos and Pop-Tarts,” Terri shrugged her shoulders, “Not that pizza is much better, but it’s a start.”

“I never knew that moving in could make you so famished.” Sam opened up the lid to the pizza box, allowing the steam to escape.

Terri looked around the room, settling first on Sam, then to C.C. “Wow, this place is tiny. You mean Brooke actually fit in here while she was moving all your shit?”

“Brooke?” Sam’s eyes grew wide. “Who’s Brooke?” The blonde looked to C.C. before taking a bite of pizza.

“Yeah, Brooke’s our older sister. She helped me move my stuff in here today.”

Terri and C.C. each grabbed a slice from the box and sat in a semi-cleared spot on C.C.’s bed, while Sam occupied a pile of clothes on the floor.

“What is she… some kind of giant?” Sam asked.

“She likes to think she is.” C.C. responded without missing a beat.

Terri poked C.C. on the arm to defend their sister. “She does not. Brooke just likes to have a lot of space.” The scrub clad woman looked over at Sam. “But, she is over six feet tall.”

“Yeah, well… it all depends on her mood.” After shoving the last of her pizza slice into her mouth, C.C. wiped her hands on her jeans.

Terri rolled her eyes at the display. “God, Chase. You can be such a pig. Use a napkin for crying out loud.” She chastised her sister and handed her a napkin from the pizzeria. “Besides, she’s not that bad. So she banged you on your head a couple of times growing up. You shouldn’t have pissed her off.” Terri pointed out.

“Excuse me? A couple?” Brown eyes bugged out as C.C. voiced her doubt, positive that she had misunderstood her sister.

“Okay, a couple hundred…” Terri amended. “Point is, you still didn’t get what you deserved. There’s quite a bit of crap you pulled that we never tormented you over. You werea real brat.”

“You were the one away at school. How would you know? Besides, you’ve never seen her when she picks up those sticks,” C.C. pointed out as she grabbed another slice of pizza.

“Does she still? She had given it a rest the last time we talked about it.” Terri was curious now.

“Sticks? What are you two talking about?” Sam inquired as she helped herself to another slice of pizza.

“Well, you know C.C., it’s not like she was always around either. She was gone for a couple of years, too. Remember?” Terri reminded C.C., not hearing the quiet question from Sam.

“Wow, first you call her a giant, now you have her picking up sticks. Next you’ll be telling me she slays dragons.” Sam joked as she listened to the two sisters talk about their older sibling.

“Nah… that’s only when she gets bored.” C.C. replied with a wink at her roommate.

“What is she, Super Sister?” Sam asked, curious about the topic of their conversation.

“That would be her.” C.C. answered, then turned her gaze towards Terri. “Just don’t tell Randi I said that. She’d get jealous.” C.C. smirked.

“Hmmm… I’ll think about it,” Terri said before turning towards Sam to answer her question. “Let’s just say that she’s lived many a lifetime in her world.”

“How many sisters do you have?” It seemed that every other moment Sam was hearing about a different sister.

“Well, you could find out at dinner. Chase, why don’t you bring her by on Sunday? You don’t have any plans do you, Sam?” Terri offered as C.C. nodded her head with wide-eyed enthusiasm.

Sam was speechless at the invitation. “Well, I uh… what I mean is,” she looked from one sister to the other. “I won’t be intruding, will I?”

“No, of course not. We wouldn’t have invited you if we thought you would. It’s just the girls’ family dinner. Well, except for Dad. He’ll be there. Nothing special, we’ve done it for years. Mom picks a Sunday of every month at the beginning of each year. No significant others allowed,” Terri elaborated on one of their few family traditions.

“Yeah, Sam, maybe they’ll be nice to me with a new face to add to the conversation.” The younger sister wished it to be true but somehow knew better than to get her hopes up.

Terri’s first response was to laugh at her sister. “Yeah right. Not likely, kiddo. You should know better. Just watch out for Mom. She’s been on the warpath lately. The other day, when you went to the movies, Brooke stopped by and parked on the new grass that Mom planted a couple of weeks ago.”

The woman scrunched her nose up at hearing this. She couldn’t believe Brooke was still alive if what Terri said was true. Her mother lived for her garden, flowerbeds, and the overall appearance of her yard. “Ooh… I bet that went over real big.”

“Are you kidding? Mom had a litter of puppies over it, then started in on the whole relationship bit. Brooke’s not too happy right now.”

“Oh, no. Not again,” C.C. groaned at Brooke’s luck as of late. Then watched as Terri nodded her head to verify the truth of her statement.

“Oh, yeah. Dad just walks out of the room. He doesn’t even want to get in the middle of it.”

“Smart man. Boy, I’m really going to miss all those discussions not living at home this year.”

“Oh, yeah… like Mom would really give it a rest when you visit and not fill you in on all the dirt. You know the woman, sometimes she just has no couth.” Terri tried to reassure her sister. She knew the upcoming months would be difficult on C.C. since the girl had never lived away from home before, and she was glad that home was only a thirty-minute drive away.

“Excuse me for asking…” Sam interrupted, shyly. “But, what’s wrong with Brooke’s relationship?”

“She’s not in one.” C.C. shrugged her shoulders at her roommate. “That’s just it.”

“So, what’s wrong with that? Lots of people aren’t.” Sam couldn’t understand why not being in a relationship was such a big deal.

Terri and C.C. looked at each other as if to get their timing right before pulling off the perfect imitation of their mother, “You really should be seeing someone. You’re not getting any younger and you shouldn’t have to worry about spending the rest of your life all alone.”

The sisters shared a laugh and Sam couldn’t help but to join in as she witnessed their camaraderie. Finally Terri was able to speak. “Ah, you know Mom is just trying to look out for her, the way she does for all of us.”

“At least she hasn’t started on me, yet.” The young woman stated as she got up and made her way over to the desk to open one of the sodas Terri had brought.

“The operative word there being ‘yet’, C.C.” Terri pointed out. “Just give it time.” She didn’t want C.C. to think that she would be immune to their mother’s prodding.

With a wave of her hand, C.C. blew off the warning. “Hey, she’s too concerned with Brooke right now to worry about me. I’m safe for a few years at least.”

“What’s up with this?” C.C. turned toward her sister and held up the six-pack. “No beer?” She offered a can to Terri and then one to Sam, who thanked her.

“Nope. I’m going to work and you two are underage.” Terri answered with a shake of her head.

“Hey, I’ll be 21 in less than a month. Or have you forgotten?”

“No, I haven’t forgotten.”

“I’ll be there in October,” Sam added to the conversation.

“See? We’re not that much under.” The woman tried to reason with Terri, her light brown eyes twinkling. She knew it would do no good but she just loved to irritate her sister.