“Well…” Brooke cleared her throat. “I know that we haven’t talked for a while, so I thought I’d give my longest living, best buddy a call and invite her out for lunch.” Brooke paused for a moment. “So, how about it?”

“Lunch, huh?” There was silence on the other end. “Why do I think there’s something else?”

Brooke could almost hear the wheels beginning to turn in Janet’s mind and spoke up rather hurriedly to prevent them from continuing to grind away. “You mean that you actually want a reason for me spending my time and money on you? Janet, I thought we were long past that point.”

“Oh, so you’re buying? You know us professors don’t make the money you executives do.” Janet readily chuckled, “For you Brooke, any time…as long as you’re the one paying. So when and where?”

“Well, let’s make it easy on you. I have no real set schedule. When are you free?” Brooke tried to act nonchalant about the whole idea.

“Yeah, rub it in,” Janet laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s not you that has to babysit some of these groups at three in the morning when their buses break down in between gigs.” Brooke turned serious. “So, how about tomorrow? I’ll even come pick you up on the campus. What do you say…it will add some sparkle to your drab Monday routine?”

“You’ll be in town on Monday…tomorrow? What’s the occasion?”

“What do you mean? The campus is only an hour away,” Brooke rebuked.

“Come on, Brooke. I know you and that’s a big chunk out of the middle of a workday.”

“So?” Brooke paused for a moment. “What’ll it be…yes or no?”

“Hey, I’m not refusing.” Janet was quick to point out. “Yes, come get me at the campus.”

“Okay, what time?”

“Hmm…would one o’clock be too late for you? I have class until then.”

“Nope, that’ll be just fine.” Brooke smiled as she made a mental note for herself.

“Okay, I’ll see you then, Brooke.”

“Thanks, Janet. See you.” Brooke pulled the phone from her ear and then thinking of something, yelled out. “Hey, don’t hang up.”

“Yeah?”

“Where do you want me to meet you?”

Janet chuckled, “Good thinking Brooke, you still remember what happened last time, eh?”

“How could I forget sitting through a boring lecture on Quantum Physics waiting for you to show up? Nope, not doing that again. Where do you want me to meet you?”

“How about my office? It’s still in the same place since the last time you were there and my nameplate is even on the door. I’ll be the living and still breathing figure behind a desk that’s chock full of papers to correct. I’ll see you then, kid.”

“Ah…so you remember that age comes before beauty?” Brooke teased the woman for the mere fifteen minutes that they were born apart. They shared a good chuckle together before Brooke ended the conversation. “Well, I’d better let you go get that beauty sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye.”

Putting the phone back onto her belt, Brooke sighed. “There, that’s taken care of.” She turned back to her computer and stared at the web site that filled the screen. It wasn’t long afterward that she heard her bedroom door sound with that familiar little squeak the hinge gave when it fully opened.

Seconds later, Sam was puttering down the hall and giving a polite little knock at the half-opened office door. “Hey, Brooke…” the woman brought her hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn.

“Yes, Darlin’?” Brooke minimized the web site on the screen and turned her chair to more openly face the door.

“I think I’m finally rested enough to go to bed now.” The blonde stretched her shoulder muscles. “God, who would have thought that one small child could wear you out for days? You going to come to bed any time soon?”

The dark-haired woman chuckled as she turned off the computer. “Okay, Darlin’, I get the message. I’m coming.” Brooke got out of the chair and headed out after Sam as she made her way back to the bed.

“Okay, I’ll be the lump on the right when you get here,” Sam mumbled as she entered the bedroom.

“And which right will that be…right on the bed or right looking at the bed?” By now the tall woman was only a step or so behind her lover.

“Right next to you, Love.” Sam rounded the corner of the bed, pulled down the covers, and then crawled in.

Brooke smiled as she turned into the bedroom noticing Mario still curled up on his large pillow. She shook her head at his comfortable repose and began to strip for bed. “What’s the matter, Mario…you still tired too?” The tall woman got under the covers of the bed as the dog barely moved his head to look at her, then slowly repositioned himself to the other side as his mistress did the same.

With the backside of the young woman nestled into her tall teddy bear lover, she whispered, “Night Brooke.” There were a few seconds of silence and then the name was spoken again. “Brooke?”

“Hmm…?” the older woman kissed Sam’s ear.

“Do you think that Chastity Loran will give us that much love?”

“As much as Julie did?”

“Yeah,” Sam sighed out the word.

Wrapping her arms around the woman in front of her, Brooke kissed Sam’s shoulder before answering. “No…”

“Huh?” Sam was caught off guard by the answer.

Brooke felt Sam’s muscles tighten up. “She’ll give us more,” she continued her statement.

“Oh…okay, I was hoping you meant that.” Sam relaxed again. “I think so, too.”

“Of course I mean that,” Brooke lightly kissed the blonde’s ear. “She’s gonna be crazy about you, Sam.” The tall woman closed any gaps her body may have had in touching the woman next to her and then draped her hand over the Sam’s side, letting it rest on the blonde’s stomach.

“Crazy, huh?” Sam turned her head back toward Brooke.

“Yep, crazy.” Brooke nodded for effect as she started to trace circles on Sam’s taut abs, dipping lower towards her pelvic region with each lazy circle.

“So…” the corners of Sam’s mouth turned slightly upward, “You trying to wake the baby up or what?”

The deep chuckle resonated in the darkened room. “Wish I could, but she’s not in there yet.”

“Hmm…I know, but that doesn’t mean we can’t practice the techniques that it will take to get her there,” Sam coyly offered, sounding more awake than before.

Brooke smiled, “And you know my philosophy…practice makes perfect.”

Sam turned to face the beaming woman next to her. “I was hoping you’d say that.” She locked her arms around Brooke’s neck and melded into a kiss.

The tall woman sauntered down the long corridor until she came to the door marked, Professor Janet T. Humphreys, Marketing Sciences. Brooke took her hand out of the pocket of her leather jacket and slowly ran a finger over the smooth-finished nameplate. The gentle upturn to the ends of her mouth showed the pleasure she took in her friend’s accomplishment. Casting her eye to the closed door, Brooke raised her hand and tapped out a playful rhythm on the wood, then leaned her shoulder up against the doorjamb and waited.

The rustling of papers was the background noise for the casually called out, “Come on in.”

Letting her hand drift down to the doorknob, Brooke turned it. Slowly pushing the door open as she remained leaning against the doorframe, Brooke peered into the office looking for her long-time friend. There, behind the huge metal desk with mountains of paperwork haphazardly placed atop it, stood a woman with long, brown hair. The precariously placed pair of glasses perched high on her head bobbed as she shuffled through a stack of papers rather intently.

The woman never looked up from her task. She just spoke as though it was the answer that she gave everyone. “And before you go any further, I’m not changing your grade or giving any make up exams.”

Brooke stood with her arms crossed over her chest, still leaning against the doorframe. “Well maybe I don’t want you to change my grade.” The tall woman looked around the room, then settled back on the woman at the desk. Damn, I can see that you haven’t gotten any neater with age, Janet. It’s time to have some fun. Brooke turned on her most sultry voice and started to tease her old friend. “Maybe I just wanna try to seduce you into a better grade. What do you say to that, teach?”

“Huh?” The harried woman lifted her head to see who was coming into her office. “Oh, it’s you, Brooke. I should have known.” She glanced down at her watch and nodded, “It is almost one.”

The leather-clad woman nodded her greeting, “Just checking to see if you were paying attention.” Brooke stepped inside the office and smiled.

“Well, if I was, you’d know it…” Janet paused for a moment, looking the tall woman over, letting a delicious smile come to her face, “…but then again, John wouldn’t let me celebrate with you anymore.” She gave a soft chuckle, as she winked. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to treat you like one of the students…” she started, then waved her friend in, “…it’s just an old habit. You say the same thing around here often enough and soon it just keeps repeating itself.” She shuffled another stack of papers and moved them to the only empty space that there was. “I’ll be with you in a second as soon as I find something.”

The musician scratched her cheek as she watched her friend immerse herself back into the piles of paperwork. “What are you looking for, Janet?”

“I’ve got to get out a release for companies to employ my students during their internships. I use it every year. I have contacts in some of the companies that we use every year but I’m always on the lookout for new ones.” She flipped through a stack of paperwork rather disgustedly, then moved onto the next one. “Hey!” Intense hazel eyes flashed up to stare at the woman in the doorway. “You’re a CEO now that you’ve got the record company. Why didn’t I think of you before? Would you care to take an intern on yourself?”

Brooke held her breath as she let the words invoke visions in her head. Feeling the heat of a blush starting at the base of her neck, she quickly took off her jacket and slung it over her shoulder. “Ah…” Brooke tried to give the appearance of mulling the questions over. Okay, so I don’t have to ask for an intern now, but…do I really want to look that eager? The tall woman shifted her weight, bringing a finger up to tap against her pursed lips meditatively.

“Come on, Brooke, we were all students once. You know how hard it is to find people that will really teach these kids the ropes. If I remember clearly…” Janet pulled her glasses down off her head and put them on, giving the tall woman the once over, “…you were one of them, too.”

“Okay,” Brooke nodded. “You’ve got me there. When you find those forms, I’ll fill one out.”

“You sure?” Janet watched her friend for any sign of misgivings as she motioned for Brooke to close the door.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Actually, that’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.”

“You know, some of them can be a real challenge,” she whispered, then nodded. “I could arrange for you to…”

“Nope,” Brooke crossed her fingers as she thought about what she was about to say. God, don’t let me screw this up. “I’ll just tell you what I’m looking for and you can give me your best match up. You make the call, Janet.” Of course, I’ll stack the deck in Sam’s favor.

The professor picked up another stack of paper and sorted through it. “You know that this is for Public Relations work, right?” She cast a quick glance to Brooke, then back down to the papers. “I’m not doing a class on how to be a groupie here,” she teased.

Grasping her chest with her free hand, Brooke faked a surprised pain. “Janet,” she drawled out in a hurt tone, “…that was cruel.” Brooke straightened up and let a lone eyebrow raise high on her forehead, “I know that it would be for Public Relations work. You know, that I never did that groupie thing.”

Janet looked up and winked. “I know. I just didn’t want those rumor mills to go dry.” She looked back down at the papers in her hands, “Ah-ha, here it is.”

The woman grabbed the top sheet and took several quick steps to the copier in the corner of her office. “One benefit to letting them keep it here,” she smirked referring to the copier. “If they only knew my ulterior motive. You know that they say we have a motive for everything we do.” The woman cast a quick glance over her shoulder, then concentrated on punching a few numbers on the machine’s operation panel.

The Sahara Desert suddenly sprung out of nowhere and settled in Brooke’s mouth as she tried to nervously swallow. She knows…she knows. I know she knows what I’m really here for. The palms of her hands became cold and clammy. She closed her eyes and tried not to think of being without Sam in the months to come. Good God Sam, don’t hate me if I screw this up for us. Brooke listened to the whirring sound of the copier for a moment as she tried to compose her thoughts. When she opened them, a rather eager looking professor was standing in front of her.