“Loran, Brooke. A crush on Loran,” C.C. corrected her sister.

“Same difference.” Brooke fired back.

“I don’t really think that constitutes a stalker, Brooke.” Mabel patted her hand trying to soothe her.

Brooke tried to think of anything that she could tell her mother to prove her theory. “Well, she did send me a couple of e-mails. Does that count?”

C.C. looked interested. “Did you answer her?”

“Well, yeah. The first one was a thank you for dinner last Sunday.”

“Mom, did Sam e-mail you with a thank-you? I mean you did make the dinner and it was at your house.” C.C. looked at her mother.

Thinking for a moment before answering, “Well, she did say thank you that night before the two of you left, C.C.”

“I guess that’s because you don’t have business cards for C.C. to hand out,” Brooke glared at her sister.

“Oh, puh-leeease,” the younger woman rolled her eyes. “I was only trying to get you a little…”

“A little what?” Mabel looked stunned at first, then caught on. “Your sister can do well enough for herself. Well… most of the time.”

“Business, Mom, a little business.” C.C. shifted in her seat. “Sam’s in the Public Relations Program at school.”

“Oh?” Mabel looked surprised.

Brooke’s eyes widened, “Oh great, now you want me to have her working for me so she can stalk me easier.”

“Now take it easy, Brooke. She might be good at what she does.”

The blue-eyed woman ran a replay through her mind of the kisses from the other night, then sighed heavily.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she muttered under her breath. “Excuse me, I’ve…ah…I’ll be right back.” Brooke got up and made her way to the restroom on the far side of the restaurant, while C.C. and her mother continued to discuss Brooke’s paranoia.

“I’m worried about her, Mom.” CC watched her sister walk away. “I think her wanting to keep Loran buried is getting the best of her.”

“I don’t know what she’s worried about. Sam’s a nice girl, not some crazy lunatic fan.” Mabel shook her head as she remembered the days of Loran and Anti-Zero. “Why…Brooke doesn’t even look anything like she did when she was in that group. The blonde streaks have all grown out and her hair isn’t short anymore.”

“I know, Mom, but try telling her that.” The younger woman dug into her food deciding that she’d need all the energy she could get in case Brooke decided she needed to run away from her imagined stalker. She’snot sticking me with this bill.

Splashing some cold water on her face, Brooke could feel her sense of equilibrium coming back to normal. Okay, go out there and finish dinner with C.C. and forget about all this talk of stalkers. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Yeah, right. She’s a kid. Younger than C.C. even. How much harm can she be? She stared at her lips, remembering the soft hungry kisses that the blonde so eagerly placed on them. A lot… a whole lot.

She straightened up, dried her hands off on the paper towels, and walked out into the bustling restaurant. Turning the corner of the hallway into the main dining area, she stopped short when a familiar blonde head came into view. Gosh, she is following me now. The tall woman slid into the corner behind a booth and watched through the silk foliage of the planter that surrounded the top of the partition.

The hostess was leading a party of three women through the crowded tables with the ease of a skater on ice. As the party came closer, Brooke was able to get an unobstructed view of all three. The first in line was an older woman of about sixty with neatly styled, gray hair. Her short body moved briskly on the heels of the hostess. After her, was a taller, younger woman with shoulder length blonde hair. Her features were similar to the first woman and Brooke soon figured them for a mother/daughter combination. The final member of the party looked much younger with her long blonde hair and milky complexion. The small form of the woman carried her clothing well, even with the lightweight jacket that covered her upper torso.

Brooke stood mesmerized by the sight. “Sam,” she whispered only loud enough for herself to hear as she watched. The hostess was now turning in the direction of the empty booth that the tall woman was hiding behind.

“Oh, shit.” She ducked down lower into the jungle of plants around her.

The hostess showed the location to the women and they filed in around the half-circle table, taking their seats. Sam slid out after a minute and proceeded to take off her jacket, revealing a well worn T-shirt that appeared a little smaller than it should have been. The shirt featured the now defunct band, Anti-Zero.

The plants seemed to sway in the breeze as Brooke moved them to get a better view. “Oh my God!” She quickly clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her words. Damn, could it get any tighter?

The perky blonde looked around her. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what, dear?” the older woman asked.

“Nothing, Aunt Sandy, I guess it was my imagination.” Sam sat down and picked up the menu.

“You always had a good one of those, Sam.”

“Yeah, I guess I did when I was a kid. Hey Crystal, remember how we used to pretend that we were Anti-Zero’s biggest fans and went on tour with them? You with Peter, and me with Loran.”

“Oh, so that was only pretend…hmmm?” The older woman couldn’t help teasing her niece.

“Oh, Mom. You know what we mean.” Crystal shrugged it off and defended her cousin a bit. “We’d never be anything in their eyes.”

“Well, enough about pretending. What about that young lady that you met, Sam?”

God I can’t stay here all night listening to Sam talk about her love life. Brooke let the foliage gently fall back into place as she withdrew from the hiding spot and started to step away, pausing long enough to let a small child in a cowboy hat, waving his fluorescent water gun, step in front of her.

“Who are you talking about Aunt Sandy? Brooke?” The young blonde asked flashing a smile.

Brooke turned in mid step at the sound of her name and moved back into the greenery. With all her senses on full alert she waited patiently to see where the conversation was headed.

Her aunt smiled as she thought how ironic it was for the woman to have the same name as her niece’s teenage crush. “So… you’ve met your Loran, eh?”

“Brooke, Aunt Sandy. I met a Brooke.” Sam corrected her. “She’s nothing like Loran. Nothing at all.”

Crystal’s face lit up in hope. “What does she look like? Anything at all like your idol?”

Sam thought for a moment. Then shook her head. “No, except that she’s tall like her, but the hair is wrong and she’s way too nice to be a rock star.” The blonde put her menu down. “Brooke does work in the music industry. Though, I’m not sure doing exactly what. Besides, Loran couldn’t hold a candle to Brooke. She’s just…” she closed her eyes and dreamed for a minute, “I don’t know… real. She’s someone that I can actually touch.” Sam smiled remembering the soft kisses they shared.

It finally dawned on Brooke that she could possibly be wrong, very wrong, about her stalker scenario. She really doesn’t have a clue yet. Somewhat relieved, the woman closed her eyes and nodded approvingly to the bushes around her. That’s when the sudden shock of an icy, wet substance first made itself known between her shoulder blades.

Stone cold, blue eyes now pinned the young child as he gleefully shouted, “You’re dead, I killed you.” The boy quickly became quiet as he began backpedaling away from the glaring adult who remained hidden by the plastic shrubbery.

“Well, I think it’s nice.” Crystal slid out of the booth and stood, turning to see the full room.

“Yikes.” Brooke saw the woman looking directly at her as she had turned her attention back to the table and away from the child. Now, I’ll really be dead. She crouched down to hide behind the plants and looked for someplace to scurry off to. Without looking, she darted across the small hall and pushed open the door to the ladies room.

“This should be safe.”

That thought didn’t last very long before she heard Sam’s voice on the other side of the door.

“Shit.” Brooke moved boldly to the front of the line, “Pardon me. Excuse me, pregnant lady coming through.”

She paused only long enough to let the other woman leave the stall before stepping inside it and locking the door. That worked well. Got to remember that one for some of those concerts. She breathed a sigh of relief that was somewhat foreign to the surroundings.

“Wow, I guess there’s a little bit of a line.” Crystal turned to Sam. “You sure this was a good idea?”

“Yeah, when you gotta go, you gotta go,” she teased.

“So, Sam, what’s this mystery person like?” Crystal asked as the line moved forward.

“I told you.”

“No… I want the dirt,” Crystal laughed. “Not the PG version that you’re feeding my Mom.”

“You would. Jeez, Crystal, can’t I have any secrets?”

“Not from me,” She winked at her cousin. “So, have you gotten a taste of the lips yet?”

“Well, yeah,” she cleared her throat. “I sort of initiated that one.”

“You go, girl!”

“I don’t know. I think it may have been the wrong thing to do. I haven’t heard a thing from this person since the day after.”

“Day after?” Crystal blinked. “How’d you do that?”

“E-mails, hon. Got to love the modern technology. Anytime, anywhere, it’s in your mailbox.”

“How long has that been, the e-mail message I mean?”

Sam sighed. “Four days.” She made a pouty kind of face. “I don’t think she likes me.”

“Hey, Sam, maybe it’s just not a good time for her now. You know some people do get pretty busy with work and all,” Crystal whispered so their conversation would not be overheard by the other patrons.