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
Hi Sam, I thought you might like this. It’s a sound byte I found of the song, Anti-Zero. I guess you could say that Brooke Loran and I have known each other for a while, hence the addy. And yeah, I do have quite a bit of collectibles with her playing on them.
Brooke
Hitting the send button, she scowled, furrowing her brow, thinking about how impersonal the e-mail had sounded. She noticed the time at the bottom right of the computer screen, promising herself to remedy the situation later. Although Brooke wasn’t the least bit tired, she knew she needed to try and get some sleep.
Now, here she lay hours later and still could not get the thought of Sam out of her head. It’s no use. I might as well get up and shower. The woman climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom.
The shower had done little for her mental state as it was still occupied with the events of the previous night. She sat at her computer, idly checking her e-mail, as she tried to bring her mind to the present. That was when Brooke noticed an e-mail from the band manager earlier in the week, confirming the signing of their contract at eleven this morning.
“Shit. Forgot about that,” Brooke cursed. She had just enough time to finish checking her e-mail before she had to leave. Her heart skipped a beat as she scrolled down to Sam’s e-mail addy. Subject: Apologies. Brooke hardened her heart for the letdown she knew she would find upon clicking the ‘Open’ button.
Subj: Apologies
Date: August 25, 3:16:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Sam Moleson
To: Brooke Loran
Brooke,
I’m sorry for the mix up last night. I should have never taken the initiative. But then again, if I hadn’t I’m afraid that you may never have acted on impulse.
I’m not really that forward, but the timing just felt so right. I know you think that I’m young, maybe even too young, but this I can tell you, I’d really like to get to know you better, without the rest of your sisters around.
Hey, before I forget, thanks for that sound bite of Anti-Zero. I…ah…I was just wondering, how good are you with other bites? You know, you don’t have to answer that, really.
If you’d like, maybe we could use a chat room or something Saturday night and just talk. Plan out the next time or so. Nothing heavy, just some good old talk. If you can let me know…
Well, time for me to go dream of stars and kisses and clueless nights.
“Nothing heavy…what the hell is going on here now.” Brooke sat staring at the screen. “Don’t tell me I’m getting caught up in some collegian’s bad girl fantasy.” She leaned back in the chair and let her head rest in her folded arms on top of the chair. Staring off dreamily into the ceiling, she thought about the small blonde. “She’s cute, but do I really want to….” The dark-haired woman shook her head, trying to get the image out of her mind. “Hell, what do I want?” She slumped forward and propped her elbow on the desk, allowing her head to lean on her hand. “I could be a bad girl…I’ve got the leather, got the shades. Hell, I’ve even got Loran’s rep.” Brooke thought about all the stories that were made up by the record company’s publicists about the ever-elusive Loran that helped to sell their songs. “Why did I ever agree to let them do that? You know why…cause you wanted to keep your true identity a secret, that’s why. But…do I really want to start that again?”
Sighing deeply, the woman shut down her programs and pushed herself away from the computer. “Not right now, Sam. I’ve got to think about this for a while.” She got up and headed for the door. “And I know just what will keep me distracted. Besides, I’ll let it mull around in there for a while. I’m in no hurry to rush into anything.”
One brown eye opened slowly with the sound of “You’ve got mail” for the twentieth time. “What the hell are you doing over there, it’s only noon, for Christ’s sake.” C.C.’s right hand groped until she found want she was looking for, then flung it at the offending noise, hitting Sam in the process.
“HEY! What are you hitting me for?” Sam picked the pillow up and tossed it back at the cocooned person in the bed. “I’m just checking my e-mails.”
“It must be pretty damned important for you to be checking it every two minutes.” She rolled over and drew her long form up into a ball, settling back into the fetal position she had just left. “It’s Saturday. Don’t you ever sleep in? Jeez, you got in later than me last night.”
“Yes, and I was out at the movies.”
C.C.’s head popped up at that answer. “Oh, yeah, what’d you see?”
“Ah, Clueless, why?”
With a Cheshire cat grin, C.C. sank back into the bed. “I didn’t think that it got over that late.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “What are you, my mother?”
“That depends,” C.C.’s head craned up off the pillow, “Is your dad cute?” She wiggled her eyebrows.
“C.C. be serious.” Sam turned back to the computer and logged on again.
“Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.” She stuck her tongue out at the blonde and cringed as the e-mail greeting cheerfully announced, “You’ve got mail.” With the annoyance of a scared feline, the brunette shot straight up in the bed and screamed, “Aargh! Will you read it already? Who is that important anyway?”
She looked at Sam, watching the blush run rampant across the woman’s skin. “You went out with someone. Didn’t you, Roomie?”
“Ah, me…ah…”
“Oh yeah, you.” She leaned closer to the red-tinged woman. “Spill it.”
“It wasn’t a date. I just kind of went to the movies with someone.”
“Good looking someone?” C.C. eyes widened as she waited to hear.
“C.C., why would you care? I’m not interested in your type of date.”
“Inquiring minds want to know. Did you get any?”
“I don’t…I mean…”
“Don’t you remember?” C.C. rolled her eyes. “Was it that bad that you don’t remember, or so good that you don’t want to tell?” The brown-eyed woman leered, thinking about the possibility of some good juicy gossip.
“Well, ah…we didn’t do anything at the movies, just watched the film.”
“Who said that I was referring to just that dark movie theater? How about afterwards? That ‘someone’ did escort you home, didn’t they?”
“Well, that ‘someone’ wasn’t an immature kid. Of course they dropped me off.”
“Yeah, and that is such a long drive from the Quad.” C.C. thought for a moment, “Must have taken them a while to warm up that engine or did you just go straight to overdrive?” The brunette winked at Sam, enjoying the deeper shades of red that the girl was showing, as each layer worked its way up her face.
The blonde’s eyes grew bigger. “I’m not promiscuous with just anybody.”
“Well, I figured that ‘someone’ was a woman…” C.C. shrugged her shoulders, “automatic transmission.”
“What’s that have to do with it?”
“You told me that you don’t do stick shift.”
Sam looked at her puzzled as she reran the statement through her head, while C.C. leered, waiting for the full effect to take hold.
Hiding her face in her hands, Sam realized what C.C. was implying. “Oh my God, no.”
“So, you going to tell me who she is or do I have to guess, cause I really don’t like guessing games. Brooke,” C.C. paused to clear her throat, noticing that Sam was gulping air like there was no tomorrow, then continued, “does that to me all the time.”
Hearing the mention of Brooke’s name, Sam could feel the start of a full-blown scorcher of a blush coming on. The heat starting in her chest and rising rapidly up her neck, heading for the top of her head where she thought steam would escape out her ears.
“What’s the matter? Why is your face turning so red? Sam, are you okay? Do you need some air?” The brunette opened the only window in the room and made motions to help the air come in. Then C.C. stood up posing with her hand on her hip and tilting her head. “You are just so not the conversationalist today. Did you at least kiss her goodnight?”
Sam fanned her face with both hands, trying to decrease the heat she could feel as the questions came too close to home. She wasn’t ready to say anything, especially to C.C., about her and Brooke. But then again, was there even a ‘her and Brooke’ since she still hadn’t seen a reply? “If I tell you, will you shut up?”
“Only if it’s juicy enough.” The taller woman grinned evilly.
“I kissed her. There you have it.” Sam sat mortified by what she was saying.
“Just one? Is that it?” C.C. held up a single finger and stared at it. “I hope it was at least a good one. Could she roll her tongue?”
“Well, it was more than one,” the blonde cringed. “She did kiss me back.”
“Gee, if I would have known you were like that, I could have asked to borrow Brooke’s leather for your new dominatrix get-up. You are such the little aggressor.” C.C. walked past her and leaned in, giving a little growl as she did so. “I’m taking my shower, play on that e-mail all you want.” She strode off into the bathroom, leaving Sam to think about what she had just said.
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