It was the next day and Maureen was exhausted. She was glad that she didn't have a show today; maybe she could call Joanne and they could get something to eat. She got out of bed and looked around. No one was there and she decided she should call Joanne. She found the Post-It with Joanne's number and called.

"Hello this is the office of Joanne Jefferson. How may I help you?" asked a perky secretary.

"Hi, can I speak to Joanne? It's her friend, Maureen", Maureen replied timidly.

"Sure, let me get her", responded the secretary.

Maureen waited on the phone for what felt like a century, but it was only a few seconds.

"Good morning Maureen!" exclaimed Joanne.

"Hey, how are you?"

"I'm good. I'm so glad you called me; I loved seeing you in the show last night."

"Thank you, I'm so glad you came. I was wondering do you maybe want to go to lunch today?"

"Sure. How about we go to our little deli where we met?"

"That sounds great. I'll see you at 12?"

"Maureen...it's 12 right now…." Joanne responded with a little giggle in her voice. Little did she know that this ditziness was one of the many reasons why she loved Maureen.

"Oh", giggled Maureen, "how about 1?"

"That's great! See you then"

"Bye Joanne", replied Maureen.

With that, Maureen quickly got dressed. She wore a tank with leather pants, feeling extra sexy today. She ran out of the loft and nearly sprinted to the subway station. She had butterflies in the stomach the whole way there.

When she got off the subway she skipped up the stairs and ran to the deli. She saw Joanne in the window and felt like throwing up because she was so nervous.

She walked in with a new air of confidence. Joanne quickly got up and felt equally as nervous as Maureen.

"Hey Maureen", Joanne said as she embraced Maureen. Their embrace went on for longer than a normal hug, but neither seemed to want to let go.

Finally, Joanne let go and the two women sat down.

"You were wonderful last night, Maureen. I really enjoyed your performance. You are so talented".

"Thanks Joanne. Yeah, I've been performing for forever. I'm planning a protest piece actually", Maureen said. She never felt this much attention in months.

"A protest piece? Interesting, can you tell me more?"
"Sure! Our ex-roommate Benny got married to this rich bitch and sold us all out. He's planning to turn where we live into a fucking cyber cafe! Like can you believe that shit head?" Maureen said passionately. Joanne seemed a little surprised at Maureen's passion, and Maureen noticed this.

"Oh I'm sorry, I get really passionate about stuff", Maureen said apologetically. She hoped that she didn't mess this up.

"No it's cute. Tell me more."

Maureen told her everything about her life, and Joanne was enchanted. She never felt this connection with another person before.

"So tell me about your boyfriend", Joanne wasn't sure she should ask this, but she needed to know how far this would go.

"Well like 5 years ago I moved to the city just to get away from my parents. I wanted to be on Broadway so badly and I just wanted to be on my own. One night, I was at this bar and I had been drinking and I was dancing and this creep stuck this camera in my face and I was like what the fuck but he wouldn't stop and I didn't even care. He was really nice, and he gave me the attention I had been craving my whole life. My parents didn't care about me that much; all they would do would go to society parties and leave me alone. Mark took care of me for four years and he had fun. He gave me this attention and it was like I was his star. But then our roommate and his best friend Roger got AIDS and his girlfriend died from it too and his attention wasn't on me anymore. I have never felt more alone," replied Maureen with a small quiver in her voice. Joanne began to rub her back, and the sexual tension rose.

"I'm sorry Maureen. If you were my girlfriend, things would be different. You'd be first forever and always," Joanne said not realizing how forward she was, but Maureen didn't care. She now saw in Joanne what Joanne saw in Maureen and she wanted more.

"Thanks, I've never been this open with anyone like this before."

"Do you maybe want to go for a walk, Maureen? We could find some place more private just to talk?"

Joanne knew that they weren't only going to talk. She knew that they were going to do more, and Maureen did too.

"Sure, that's fun", replied Maureen and with that, Joanne paid the bill and grabbed Maureen's hand and off they went for some adventures of their own.