“Yeah, well… it’s still under. I am not going to get in trouble for you, not with Mom. You seem to forget I’ve got a license to keep. Who would trust a pediatrician that was convicted of corrupting the morals of a minor?”

“Wuss.” The insult was thrown at Terri, not expecting it to really accomplish anything and C.C. watched as her sister rolled her eyes in response.

“So, Sam… what’s your major?” Terri sipped at her soda, ignoring her younger sister who was making faces at her, trying to get her attention.

“Major…” Sam sighed at the question, oblivious now to the antics of her roommate. “Do I have to pick one thing?” She laughed and Terri joined in as she pushed C.C. down on the bed one handedly, without ever taking her eyes off of Sam.

“Okay, then… majors?” Terri amended her question.

“Living, mostly.” She giggled, “But my aunt says that’s not enough so I’m taking music history and public relations.”

The two sisters straightened up, looking at each other with a raised eyebrow.

Finally Terri spoke. “Music? My, my… that sounds fascinating. Anything in particular?”

Sam got up and cleared off a spot on her bed, then sat down cross-legged on it. “Well, I like the modern groups but I’m not stuck up enough to forget the older ones either. Without them, music would have never progressed.”

“Very cool.” Terri listened attentively as the young girl spoke of her passion for music.

“Just give me something with a good rhythm and I’m ready for action, moving to the beat.” The young woman demonstrated her limited moves, as she remained seated.

Turning to her sister, C.C. grinned, then smacked Terri lightly on her shoulder. “No. Now that’s cool,” and she imitated a few of Sam’s moves.

Once again, Terri rolled her eyes. “So, who’s your favorite oldie but goodie group, Sam?”

The blonde looked to the ceiling in thought before answering. “Well, my favorite all guy group is Europe, my chick group is Vixen. I just LOVE that 1980′s hair band sound.”

“Well, that wasn’t quite what I meant by ‘oldie but goodie’ but, it’ll do.”

“Oh, no. I really love some of the older ones, too. The Doors, The Runaways, Janis Joplin… I’ll listen to just about anything. But my all around favorite, male or female, old or semi-old is Anti-Zero.” Terri and C.C. looked at each other wide-eyed and mouth gaping, neither believing what they had just heard.

“No way!” C.C. exclaimed, turning to look directly at her roommate. “Really? Anti-Zero? I’ve uhm… I’ve heard of them. Haven’t you, Terri?” The woman was starting to giggle.

“Yeah, somewhere… in the distant past.” The two sisters began laughing out loud now.

Sam assumed they were laughing at her and became defensive. “Hey, why are you two laughing at me? They were an amazing musical group who didn’t get half the recognition they deserved.”

Both sisters struggled desperately to regain their composure, not wanting to upset their new friend.

“Honey, don’t worry. We’re not laughing at you. Actually our mother loved that band. Right C.C.?” Terri tried to assure Sam.

“Really?” Sam thought for a moment. Their mom must be pretty cool if she liked Anti-Zero.

“Yeah, let’s just say that they were one of Brooke’s little projects. We all knew their songs inside and out…” C.C. confirmed.

“Backwards and forwards, even…” Terri added.

“In our sleep…” They said in unison, then looked at each other and shared another laugh.

Sam couldn’t believe that they were serious. She decided to find out for herself and began singing her favorite part of the band’s theme song.

“Oh, no… not me, I’ll be a rainbow in your eyes…Oh, yeah it’s me, I’m like a strobe light, overdrive…”

The two sisters joined in singing without skipping a beat.

“I’ll be your Anti-Zero, your super hero charm… I’ll be your Anti-Zero, your true Diniro star…”

Sam was elated that her new friends knew the songs as well as she did. “Whoa, you’re right, you do know them.”

Terri stood up and stretched. “Well, ladies… thanks for the company over dinner but, I should probably be getting to work.” She stretched her long frame out, then walked the few feet to the door.

“Yeah, and I have to find this bed to sleep in tonight.” C.C. looked around her as she stood up.

“Thanks for the pizza and sodas, Terri. That was very nice of you. It was great meeting you.” Sam thanked the slightly older woman for her kindness as she held out her hand.

“You are very welcome. At least somebody appreciates it.” Terri added as she grinned.

“Hey, I appreciate you.” C.C. retorted with her hands placed firmly on her hips.

Terri laughed. “Yeah, right. Whatever, C.C.” The woman in scrubs made her way to the door. “Oh and Sam, it was nice meeting you as well. See you at dinner on Sunday?” Terri asked again, one last time before leaving.

“Yeah, sure. That sounds great. If C.C. will let me, I’ll be there.”

“Oh, girl… you are so there!” C.C. told her new roommate.

“Well, have fun girls. C.C., stay out of trouble.” Terri bid them “Goodbye” and hugged her youngest sibling before leaving for work.

The brunette shut the door after her sister’s departure, turning back around to face the mess of a room she and Sam still had to contend with.

“I like her C.C. Are they all that friendly?” Sam asked as she went back to putting her clothes away.

The woman thought about it for a moment. The answer was positive but she couldn’t resist tweaking her new roommate some. “Sometimes… at the right moments, or when they need to be.”

Clearing the last of her clothes off the mattress, C.C. began to make the bed with the clean set of sheets she had brought along with her. Now all she had to do was figure out what to do with all the boxes.

“I hope Sunday is the right time,” Sam said quietly as she thought about the upcoming dinner with her new friend’s family.

“Oh, it will be. I’m just kidding you. They’re all great.” Eyeing the pillow in her hands, C.C. tossed it across the room at the unsuspecting woman.

Stunned by the action at first, Sam returned it with a devilish grin, following it with her own pillow thrown in sequence. Before long, damn near everything was tossed back and forth that could be in a friendly fashion. By the time they were finished, the room was an even bigger mess of clothing and trinkets than before. It was then that both women realized that the getting acquainted time was over and that they were settling in to being roomies.

It had taken both women several hours to clean up their dorm room, arranging everything in an order they could both live with. What they gave up in space they gained in comfort with their own bathroom, not big mind you, but private. While Sam was in the bathroom finishing with her shower, C.C. was lying in bed reading a book. Sam came out of the steam-filled room, her hair still damp from the shower and walked over to her bed where she sat down to brush her hair.

Lowering her book, C.C. glanced over it and noticed the t-shirt Sam had chosen to sleep in. The front of it proclaimed in bold letters, “The Family Tree Stops Here”. The young woman giggled then went back to reading while she offered a comment on the shirt. “Nice shirt. I should get it for my sister.”

A look of confusion came across Sam’s face at C.C.’s statement until she glanced down and saw which shirt she was wearing. Feeling the heat rise to her face, she wondered what the girl across the room must think of her now. She had just reached into her drawer and grabbed the first one. Okay… definitely need to start paying attention to my attire. “Um… why would you get her this shirt? You do know what it means, don’t you?”

“Of course I know what it means and she’s gay so, she’d love it. Where’d you get it? I could use it for her Christmas gift or something.”

Her answer was matter of fact and left Sam wondering exactly which sister she was referring to. Sam looked down at her shirt and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so… ah… so… gay. I just grabbed the first shirt I saw. I guess I should really start paying attention.”

“No sweat. Don’t worry about it. Nothing I’m not used to. Actually, you’re pretty subtle about it.” C.C. looked up momentarily to address her roommate then went back to reading her book.

“You aren’t bothered sharing a room with me then?” Sam asked in disbelief.

“No way. I shared a house with my sister for damn near twenty years.”

“Well, if you haven’t been infected by now, I guess you’re safe.” Sam tried to make light of their conversation.

“Yeah, she told me there’s no recruiting involved so why should I care?” C.C. shrugged her shoulders as if this topic was one she was very comfortable with. “She told me that the Golden Toaster Oven was nothing more than a myth.”

“Golden Toaster Oven?” Sam didn’t quite understand what C.C. was talking about.

Hearing that, the tall brunette placed her book in her lap and sat up in bed as if in shock. “Oh, come on! You’re a lesbian and you don’t know about the Golden Toaster Oven?”

Sam shook her head in denial. “Nope, not a clue.”

Thinking about it for a moment, C.C. tried to remember it exactly as she had heard the tale. “Well, according to my sister, you receive the Golden Toaster Oven after,” the woman held up both hands and made quotation marks in the air, “recruiting a select number of straight women to the joys of lesbianism.” She finished with her hands reaching up to the ceiling as if preaching to an entire congregation. “Or, something like that. Apparently, it’s even hand delivered to your home by Melissa Etheridge.” The woman giggled and then noticed her friend’s somber mood.

“Sorry, I must have been absent the day they gave out the manuals. Or maybe that was the day my mother grounded me for coming out.”

C.C. knew a nerve had been struck and placed a bookmark in her paperback before resting it on the nightstand. “Ooh, that bad?”

“Well, it wasn’t pretty.” Sam ran a hand through her damp locks. “That’s why I’ve been living with my aunt for the last year or so. I decided that it was time for me to be on my own and now, I’m here in the dorm this year.”

The brunette reached across the small space between their beds and placed a hand against her friend’s arm in sympathy. “Ouch, sorry, Sam. Well, you’ll have no such worries around the Gordon household. They’ll welcome you with open arms,” she laughed, “and ears.”

Sam looked up confused. “Ears? Why ears?”

Rolling her eyes, C.C. thought about the nosey nature of some of her family members. “Oh yeah, ears too. They’ll listen for any little tidbit to remind you about and then rag you with it at a later date. That goes for the eyes as well. We’re exactly like the people in the commercial for the Olive Garden Restaurant. When you’re there, you’re family, as soon as you walk in the door.”

The blonde smiled at C.C.’s ramblings and after a few seconds, both roomies were left feeling better.

Sam laughed. “Okay, I get the picture. Now, if I could just get the girl… any girl…”

“You, my dear, they will absolutely adore!” The roommate looked at the small woman in the next bed, her head tilting from one side to the other. “Hmm… and we’ll just have to see what we can do about getting you that girl as well.” C.C. delivered the last of her statement with a wink of an eye as she took a sip from the water glass on the nightstand next to her bed.

Sam thought about it briefly. “Well, as long as you’re filling out my request card, can you make it on the order of… oh, I don’t know…” The young woman thought for a moment. “I’ve always had a thing for drummers. How about Loran from Anti-Zero?”

Water suddenly came spewing back into the glass as C.C. choked briefly at the request. “Loran? You mean as in Brooke Loran?”

Not noticing her friend’s distress, the dreamy eyed blonde gazed thoughtfully into space as she conjured up the image of the female drummer: short dark hair, sunglasses hiding a well chiseled face, on an incredibly tall frame that oozed nothing but strength and power. “Yeah, she’s an oldie but I’d bet anything she’s a goodie.”

“Ahh, yes… that was the drummer’s name, wasn’t it?” C.C. covered her slip, thankful that her friend hadn’t noticed. Then again, by the look on her face, she probably wouldn’t notice a Mack truck if it were to hit her right now.

The small woman nodded her head in agreement as she got under the covers, thinking about the wonder that was Brooke Loran. Now that woman, by far, was the biggest crush she had ever had on anyone, not to mention the longest. With the thought of the wild drummer beating out a rhythm in her head, Sam was sure that she would have some sweet dreams tonight. “Yeah, and what a beat that girl could keep up. Why, she makes my heart race just thinking about her.”