“Sam, believe me, those are not words she takes lightly. If she said them, she really means it.”

“Oh my God, C.C., what do you think all of this means?”

“It means, you better get used to seeing me, girlfriend, because you are stuck with my sister, now.” C.C. smiled as she got up from the bed and made her way into the bathroom to prepare for bed.

“Good thing I only have to room with you for a year,” Sam called out, as she got up to take down some more pictures.

C.C. stuck her head out the bathroom door and spoke around the toothbrush in her mouth. “Yeah, but, I kind of come with the package. Believe me Sam, if she said those words to you, she means it with all her heart.”

“Package? What package?” The blonde’s brows furrowed with concern.

“I’m one of the sisters, so get used to me. You’re family now.” C.C. disappeared back into the bathroom to rinse the remaining toothpaste out of her mouth.

“I always was family, C.C.” Sam said with a laugh at her own joke as she watched the brunette walked back into the room wearing a large T-shirt that covered her to mid thigh.

“You know, Sam, I think you’d be quite surprised at what you’ll find out about my dear sister.” She pulled the covers down on her bed and got in.

“I’m beginning to think that myself, C.C.”

The brunette watched as her roommate took down all but one of the pictures of Loran and one band shot. Sam placed the rest in the box and stored it in the top of the closet. “Hey, C.C.?”

“Yeah?”

Sam turned around to face her friend. “You’re not going to say anything to the others, are you?”

“No, nobody else knows. You two can handle that when you’re ready to.”

Sam smiled in relief. “Thanks, Sis.” Sam couldn’t help but throw that last word in as she made her way to the bathroom.

“Let me put it to you this way. Right now, it would probably ruin Terri’s and Randi’s image of her.”

“Huh? What image?” Sam asked as she stood in the bathroom doorway brushing her teeth.

“The whole ‘Stud Puppet’ image they have of her. Let me put it to you this way, Sam.… Brooke has always believed that love and body go together.”

Sam shrugged her shoulders. She wasn’t sure where C.C. was taking this conversation. “So?”

“So,” the woman motioned with her hands trying to pull it all together for her friend. “She’s never given her heart to anyone so…” CC looked at Sam and smiled, wondering if the blonde had caught on to what she was trying to tell her.

“Okay…I think I’m getting the picture.”

“Yep, and I’m the only other one who knows. Its amazing what I can get her to tell me when she’s drunk, which is not that often, mind you.”

After changing into her nightshirt, Sam turned off the bathroom light. She walked over to her bed and sat down, facing C.C. “Physically, she loves a lot, but only for the feel,” Sam thought about the night before at Brooke’s house. “…She didn’t even try to push me for sex. I mean.” She shrugged her shoulders, “we just kissed and did a little petting.”

C.C. rolled her eyes in exasperation. She thought Sam had understood what she was saying. “Of course she didn’t push you for sex. Haven’t you heard me? She wouldn’t do that.”

Blonde eyebrows knitted in her confusion. “C.C., I’m not sure what you’re saying here.”

“She’s never given her heart to anyone…or her body.”

“Holy Shit! Do you mean to tell me that she’s a virgin?”

“Yeah, she is.” Somebody give the girl a cookie!

“But, she kisses so damn good. I thought she was experienced. I mean…”

“Sam, I said she was a virgin. I didn’t say she was dead. Besides, I’m sure she has a damn good idea of what goes on when things…ah…go on.” C.C. watched, amused, as Sam sat on the opposite bed with her mouth open in shock. “What, you’ve never met a thirty-year-old virgin before?”

“Well, let’s face it, C.C.,” Sam tried to sound coherent but was having a bit of trouble, as reason seemed to be a fleeting fancy. “You don’t meet many of them nowadays.”

C.C. fluffed her pillow up until she was happy with it and placed her head on it. “What can I say? Brooke is old-fashioned. Like I said, I’m the only one other than her who knows. Well, and James,” C.C. glared at the mention of his name. “And now you.”

“God, what she must have thought about that dessert.” Sam hid her face in her hands as she thought about their ‘chocolate play’ the night before.

At the same time, both women looked up at each other and spoke at the same time.

“Dessert?”

“James?”

“What dessert?”

“Who’s James?”

Both of them laughed at their timing and C.C. was the first to answer.

“He…ahh…he was her best friend. She and James grew up together. They were best friends and then a couple of years ago, they got drunk one night and he hit on her. As far as I know, they haven’t spoken since.”

Sam thought about the information she had just been given. “Hmm…I bet he was sorry.”

“Sorry? Why?”

“Oh, come on, C.C. She’s your sister. I can’t see Brooke just saying no. I bet she clocked him.”

C.C. thought about the day Brooke came home from the tour. It was the day after the “incident” that broke the band up. Even unto this day, C.C. was the only person other than the three band members to know a portion of what really happened that night. “Uhm…yeah, she did.”

“Serves him right,” Sam answered, angered at anyone who could hurt Brooke that bad.

“He couldn’t understand why she never saw anything in him. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he was cool with the fact that she’s gay. He just didn’t understand that she loved him like a brother and not something more. He secretly had a massive crush on her. It was a major blow to his ego.”

“Wow, this is a lot for me to take in. Any more skeletons that I need to know about?”

“None that Brooke won’t tell you about. Oh yeah, while I’m thinking about it, Brooke said that she planned on taking me out for a drink on my birthday. She wants you to come along.”

“She does, huh? But, I can’t drink. They won’t let me into a bar.”

C.C. waved off Sam’s last comment. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t think she cares. I doubt she wants you there as a drinking companion, anyway. Besides, she can get you in.”

Sam thought about it for a moment and was more than a little excited about seeing the older woman again soon. “I can’t wait. When and where?”

“Sunday, and she didn’t say where.”

“Okay, Sunday it is then.”

The young blonde reached over and turned out the lamp on the nightstand between their beds while C.C. rolled over to go to sleep. Sam laid on her back with her arms clasped behind her head, thinking about how her life had changed all in a matter of weeks since she moved in with C.C.

Finally, the silence in the room was broken when Sam spoke. “Hey, C.C.? Did you set that Friday movie date up for us to meet…kind of as a blind date?”

The brunette chuckled into her pillow. “What do you think?”

“I think it seems awfully convenient that one of her favorite movies is playing, you forget about your class and knew I wanted to see it.”

The young woman innocently looked up at the ceiling and started to whistle.

“Were you playing matchmaker? Be honest.”

C.C. rolled over to face her friend, barely able to make out her form in the darkness of the room. “Maybe. It worked didn’t it?”

“Yeah, it did.” There was a moment of silence as Sam thought about the events of that night and the kisses they had exchanged. “Ah, C.C., thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Oh, by the way, Brooke found your bag in the back seat of her car.” C.C. chuckled to herself as she remembered the way she had trapped Brooke into that one earlier in the day.

“Does she know that you…”

“Nope.” C.C. continued to laugh.

“You’re laughing at me. Why?”

“Nothing, I just think it’s kind of cute how you’re both trying to be so secretive about it. It’s so…”

Both girls spoke at the same time again.

“High school.”

“Juvenile.”

They shared a laugh at their timing again and Sam spoke. “We’re getting a bit too good at that. And hey, what do you expect from two virgins?”

C.C. propped herself up on her elbow. “Speaking of which, does she know?”

“Know what?”

“That you’re a virgin?”

Sam thought for a moment, shaking her head at her boldness where Brooke was concerned, “No, I don’t think so. Why?”

“I was just curious.”

“Does that make a difference?” Sam became a bit worried as she asked.

“Are you kidding me? Hell no, girl, you two are the perfect match. It won’t make one bit of difference to her. It’ll just mean that much more when you two,” C.C. cleared her throat, “two…ah…ah…you know.”

Even though she knew that C.C. couldn’t see her, Sam blushed. “God I can’t believe I’m having this discussion with her sister.”

C.C.’s laughter filled the small room. “Hey, what did I say at dinner a couple of weeks ago? Inquiring minds want to know. Don’t worry about it. It’s all good.”

“Yeah, say that when we try to do it while reading the manual.”

“Sam, I told you, she’s not dead. I’m sure she’ll have a damn good clue about what she’s doing. Just, please, don’t give me any details.”

This time, it was Sam’s turn to laugh. “Don’t worry,” she smirked, “I won’t.”

They lay there as the laughter drifted off. After a few moments of silence C.C. spoke, softly. “Well, except for maybe one small detail…”

The blonde groaned, afraid to ask. “And that would be?”

“Well you know, she never did answer us that day. You could let me know if she inherited that tongue rolling gene.”