“I see. So, what’s the gig, some charity event for music? That would be your type.”

“What do you mean by ‘my type’?”

“Some freebie event for music’s sake. Who’s gonna handle the publicity?”

Her head was pounding and Brooke couldn’t stand it anymore. She knew that the voice on the other line was the cause of it. Muting the phone, she walked over to her door and opening it, she called out, “Ida.”

The older woman stuck her head out of her office. “Yes, Ma’am?”

Rubbing her forehead, Brooke asked, “We got any more aspirins around here?” She held out the bottle from her desk drawer and turned it upside down. “Could you find me some?”

Ida nodded and took off down the hall in search of over the counter painkillers for her boss.

Brooke turned back into her office as she unmuted the call. “There will be no publicity. This will be done privately. It’s for her birthday. I want this to be my present to her. It will be a private party, at my house with no one but her friends and family present. You want a great record? That’s my price.”

James sighed into the phone. “So what do you want, just a couple of songs? Is she a looker, or some over-the-hill oldster?”

“No, I want one full night of all the Anti-Zero songs. Even the ones we never released.” Brooke drew in a breath and blew it out slowly, then continued. “And you, James, will stay away from her. She’s not some groupie like you’re used to. She’s not even as old as we are.”

“What’s wrong, Brooke? Afraid that I’d persuade her to be something you don’t want her to be?”

“No, I’m not afraid of something that won’t happen. But for some reason, she fucking loves Anti-Zero. She doesn’t know how deluded you really are and I don’t want to take that away from her.”

There was a knock on Brooke’s office door and Ida poked her head in, waving a bottle of aspirin. Brooke held out her hand and mouthed “Thank you” before turning her attention back to the matter at hand.

James mumbled, “We’ll see.” He coughed and started to speak again. “Okay. You’ve got your night. But when? I’ve got things scheduled already.”

Brooke knew the answer immediately. “October 30.”

James laughed. “Devil’s night. How appropriate. You always said Hell would freeze over if we ever played together again.”

Even Brooke had to laugh at the truth in James’ statement. “Yeah, I guess so.” Brooke popped two aspirins with a big swig of her coffee. “So, will you do it?”

“I hate to say this, but you’ve got me over a barrel here. If I have to do it to get you, then I will. What time?”

Brooke breathed out a sigh of relief, not because she was looking forward to playing with James again, far from it. She was just happy that he agreed. After all, this was for Sam, not her and she would do anything to make Sam’s twenty-first birthday a memorable night for the young woman.

“We’ll talk about that the closer we get to it then. When do you wanna start recording? I can do it any time after next Sunday.”

“With you, the sooner the better…before you change you mind.”

“Look, James, you agreed to the one thing I really wanted. I won’t change my mind. You’ve got my word on that.”

“Okay, then you set up the recording time. I’ll keep my schedule open for a week after Sunday. So, what’s the cost? How much per hour?”

“Cost for the studio? Nothing.”

James couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You must want this pretty bad. Why, Brooke?”

“It’s simple. Because it would make her happy, that’s all. She wants this, James. So, I want it for her.”

“Damn, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that you finally found something other than music to invest yourself into, didn’t you?”

Brooke thought about how strange it was that the conversation with James had turned in this direction. She had no qualms about informing him just how important this was to her. “Honestly? Yes, but that’s just it. It’s like she’s a part of it. She loves music and she loves those old songs.” Brooke smiled when she remembered the enthusiasm Sam had shown the night before as she marveled at all the musical equipment. “She’s like a five year old on Christmas morning when she hears them.”

“I can’t believe it, the great Brooke Loran has finally fallen in love.”

The sound of James laughing on the other end brought Brooke back to the present. “I uhh…James, I haven’t…Aww, Hell!” Brooke couldn’t believe James had noticed. Oh my God, if James noticed, how am I going to hide this from everyone else?

“Oh my God, you did, didn’t you?”

“Are you going to rag me about it from now until we’re done recording?”

“Maybe. Just maybe.”

“Well then, I guess you’ll just have to wait for an answer.” Brooke heard James sigh on the other end of the line.

“Ahhh… it’s kind of nice knowing that it can happen to anyone. Hell… maybe you are human after all.” James laughed into the phone.

She couldn’t help but join in and laughed as well. “Asshole,” tumbled out of her mouth. It was her traditional name for him in times like these.

“Yeah, yeah, I know that answer already. I’ve heard it before.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that? That you’re an asshole?”

This time, James snorted into the phone. “Glad to see that you haven’t changed that much. Same old Brooke, only…getting older.”

“Hey, I’ve changed plenty and just what is it with everyone giving me shit about my age?”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see. I’ve got to get moving. Talk to you later, Grandma.”

“Yeah, bite me.”

James thought it ironic that even as a joke, Brooke had chosen those words to comment with. “I tried, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Brooke shook her head, “I’m trying to forget.”

He rubbed his jaw as the memory of the punch Brooke landed on him that last night three years earlier still stung him today. “So am I…” he whispered, “So am I.”

“Talk to you later, shithead.”

“Right.”

Brooke hung up her phone and laughed at the situation. She was going to play with Anti-Zero again. It would be for only one night and just for Sam. Brooke thought for a moment about the last few lines of conversations between James and herself. If just for a moment, she thought she had heard her old friend on the phone…just for a moment.

The tall brunette walked into the dorm room and was literally shocked at the sight that greeted her eyes. Sam was taking down posters and various pictures of Brooke and Anti-Zero.

“Oh my God. What’s up? You over that phase?”

Sam folded each poster carefully and placed them in a small box. “It was always just a dream. Besides, I’ve found something better, something that I love even more.”

C.C. placed her bag on the floor next to her bed and sat down, cross-legged on top of it. “Wow, something you love more than Brooke Loran?”

“Yeah, funny, huh? I thought that I’d never say that.” Sam replied as she stood on her bed to reach a picture high on the wall, near the ceiling line.

“Nah, I don’t think it’s funny, not really. So, can I ask, or do I need to? “

Sam turned her head in the direction of her roommate. “Why do you say that?”

The woman just grinned. “You know, Sam, I’m not as dumb as everybody thinks I am.”

Sam stopped what she was doing altogether and sat down on her bed. “When did you…” she eyed her roommate suspiciously. “You do know, don’t you?”

C.C. nodded her head in the affirmative. “Your shirt, or I should say, Brooke’s shirt. She had that shirt custom made. There’s not another one like it.”

Sam’s face flushed a bright red. “It figures.”

“What? Why are you so red, Sam? Everyone deserves to fall in love sometime, even my sister.”

“I hope that you’re not mad. I mean, me dating your sister.” Sam looked up to meet the warm, brown eyes of her roommate.

“Are you kidding? I think it’s great. Why would I be mad?” C.C. immediately stood up from her bed, crossed the room and sat down on Sam’s bed, next to the blonde. “Besides, your aunt called last night, so it was more than just the shirt that clinched it for me.” The brunette winked at her roommate.

Sam’s eyes got as big around as saucers. “She did? What did she want?”

“Don’t worry. She just wanted to see how you were doing. I told her you had a study group and would call her tonight.” The woman turned a stern face to her friend. “Hey, and don’t try to change the subject on me, young lady.”

“Big secret that was,” Sam placed her head in her hands and covered her eyes.

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” C.C. pulled Sam’s hands away from her face and took one of them in her own. “Nobody else has to know. Look, Sam, I know when to keep my mouth shut and that means anything concerning Brooke.”

The blonde looked over to her roommate, “I can’t believe that you’re taking this so well. I was afraid that you’d be pissed at me for seeing her.”

C.C. rolled her eyes at how absurd Sam’s statement sounded to her ears. “Of course I’m taking it well. Besides, I saw her before she pulled off this morning.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen her smile like that ever. Let me put it this way. I was close enough to read her lips.”

Sam thought about Brooke’s phone call and what was said. “C.C., I…I…”

“You know, she’s never told anybody that she loved them.”

“She hasn’t?” Sam couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Well, except for us girls, Mom and Dad, but that’s always been more of a grunt and a ‘yeah, love you too’. She’s never come right out and actually put all three words together to form the whole ‘I Love You’ bit.”

“I never thought I’d be this lucky, at least not this early in my life,” the young woman’s smile lit up the entire room.