::ring:ring::
"Hello this is Satan's Lair. What do you want?"
"Mistress is this how you usually answer the phone? Because between you and me, you sound a bit....tense, stressed...hostile? I think we might lose potential clients because of your tone of voice."
"Dave, you just left here like....4 hours ago. And I just got of the phone with you about 3 hours ago. Why are you calling me? Shouldn't you be out at a lesser club trying to find a bear?" Nicole asked letting a little bit of the stress leave as she talked to one of her closest friends.
"Well, I figured you'd need help picking Mallory's replacement. And it suddenly occurred to me that when you came back to the Lair you had a curiously happy looking smile on your face. Intrigued? Yes I was."
"Figures...Dave you're such a gossip hound."
"But I'm YOUR gossip hound, Mistress."
Nicole smiled a little bit at the obvious smirk she could hear through the phone. "Well David, I'll think about telling you what the smile was about tomorrow. As for picking Mallory's replacement... I'm down to two possibles. A guy named Dominic and some girl named Tess. They both seem cool enough."
"Well....I think you should pick Dominic, that's a good strong name."
"Oh really? And the fact that he's a guy and thus a potential date for you has nothing to do with it?" Nic said smirking into the phone.
"No not at all! I'm just sayin....I wouldn't trust any girl with the name Tess....Didn't you see Roswell!?"
"No not at all...You see I had this pesky thing called a LIFE in high school...." Nic laughed.
"Yeah yeah, go with the Dom...I mean Dominic. Trust me."
"Well, since you're the one who's going to have to work with him the most I will. Damn...I've been looking at applications since about...7:30 and its 11 now."
"Why don't you go home then? You do realize you own that place right?"
Nic rolled her eyes and let out a very...Un-Nicole like grunt. "I can't leave because I have to fire Mallory and I can't fire Mallory until after the place closes."
"Ahh....indeed. Well ok then, tell me about the smile. It almost looked like the 'I just got laid' smile. But then I did a double check and your hair, while messy, it wasn't the I just got laid messy. So what happened?"
"That's funny; I thought I said I'd tell you about that tomorrow Dave."
"Oh Mistress don't be that way! You know I'm living vicariously now that I'm single! Besides, you have nothing better to do for the next two hours." Dave practically whined.
"True. Ok well, do you remember that night I was telling you about Sam?"
"OH! This is about HER! The one and only love of my Mistress' life that was prematurely taken away by the whore of the world Brookie McQueen!!" Dave all but yelled into the phone, excited to finally be getting more to the drama he thought worthy of his soaps.
Rolling her eyes even though she knew he wouldn't be able to see it Nic said, "Yeah just about. Well she came to the same restaurant that my friend and I went to today. Dave man, I know your gay and all...but if you saw her today, you'd be switching teams. And I'd have to kill you for trying to take my girl."
Dave laughed, "So in your rose colored glasses Sam got even more breath taking then she already was?"
"Role colored glasses? What the hell? You know I wouldn't be caught dead in rose colored glasses." Nic might have gotten older and she may have mellowed from her Supreme Bitch status to the slightly lower level of PMSing needs Midol Bitch, but she was still a Fashion Nazi.
Dave just laughed again and said, "Nic chill, they're Gucci rose colored LOVE glasses. You know that phrase old women tell young women? 'Girl your lookin at him through those Rose colored love glasses aren't you!' That kind of thing."
"Right...well...I'm just, not going to try...But anyway, back to Sam..." Nicole paused to remember just how she felt when she first saw Sam again. "Dave...she was gorgeous. There are seriously no words. When I saw her my heart sped up and stopped at the same time. I swear I thought I was going to have a heart attack..."
"Aww!!"
"Dave don't interrupt me again."
"Right right, sorry! So then what?"
"Well, after I saw her I might have stared for a moment...But then the sight of her just…it got to be to much. This, thankfully is exactly when our waitress came to take our orders. I seriously, just could not think and my appetite was pretty much gone so I ended up ordering soup. After that I was in a sort of a daze. I couldn't think about anything but the fact Sam was no more then a few feet away from me. The whole time my friend is going on and on and about something or the other. Then everything hit me all at once. So I went to the bathroom for a breather. I was just staring at myself and thinking. I didn't realize I was talking out loud until I heard her voice...."
******
"So basically what your telling me is, you and the love of your angsty little life could have been together for the past three years... thus making your life significantly less angsty and sexually frustrated if it wasn't for the Step-sister from 'technically not incest' Hell?" Faith asked after Sam finished telling her about her reunion with Nicole.
"Yeah pretty much." Sam said rolling her eyes for what felt like the thousandth time while talking to Faith. Again reminding herself that Faith and Nic could not be left alone together.
"Well...I haven't kicked some ones ass since that guy pinched Kenn's butt at the club....Do you want me to drive down?" Faith asked almost hopeful.
Laughing Sam said, "Aww Faith I knew you cared. But no. If I were to let you kick Brooke's ass it would be like betraying Nic. She hasn't said anything as we didn't really get a chance to talk about what to do about Brooke yet. But I know Nicole. Before she goes to bed the full impact of what Brooke did is going to hit her and the only color she'll be able to identify will be red."
"Hmmm...You know Sam, I think I like this Nicole of yours. When are you going to introduce us?"
"The day after never. You two...would end up destroying the world...or at least getting us kicked out of every single club in the world."
To that however, Faith just let out a sigh that Sam knew meant she was rolling her eyes. "Sam, think about that for a moment. Do you know how many clubs there are in the world? It would be impossible for us to get kicked out of ALL of them."
"Faith, your logic must make Kennedy proud." Sam said laughing.
"I'm sure it does. However, I've been talking to you for so long Kenn's probably forgot what my hands feel like." Faith smirked.
"Seriously, be honest with me Faith. Are you a teenage boy in disguise?" Sam asked in all seriousness.
Faith just laughed. "Call me tomorrow Barbara."
"Barbara? Where'd you get that one from?"
"You know, that irritating old lady...Barbara Walters? Any way, I gotta go reintroduce Kenn to LeHane...."
"You are so corny Faith...Eventually, you're going to have to let go of that joke."
"Nah I don't think so. BYE!"
"Faith....Faith..?" Realizing Faith had hung up on her; Sam hung up the phone and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. However, she was not expecting to come face to face with Brooke.....Or rather....fist to face...the fist being...Brooke's...."Jesus Brooke! You really need to get over my knocking on your face." 'Especially as I didn't hit you half as hard as I want to now...' Sam thought.
"Oh god Sammy I'm so sorry! Here let me help!" Brooke said, trying to grab at Sam's shoulder.
Jerking away so that Brooke couldn't touch her, Sam said, "Umm no that's ok. I'd rather you not." While drying her face and going back to her room...With Brooke right behind her.
"Oh…ok…Do you want to watch a movie or something? Maybe catch up with each other? I mean, this is probably the most we talked in the past three years all together." Brooke asked with something akin to hope.
However, her hope fell on unreceptive ears. "Actually no, I'd rather not. Had you been home when I first got home, then maybe we could have talked. But now? Now, I'd rather not."
"Oh come on Sam! Why have you been avoiding me these past three years? And what's with you not wanting me to go out with you and your friends today?!" Was Brooke frustrated? Yes. Three years ago she tried to get Sam and lost. She wanted Sam and so she would have her. The main purpose for her orchestrating this whole reunion was to try for Sam again. But, she couldn't very well win the girl if the girl in question wouldn't even talk to her.
"Do you really want to do this now? At…" Sam paused and looked at her clock "12 at night you want to have this conversation?"
"What conversation Sam? You talk as if we'd be finishing a conversation previously started. There's only one problem there. I don't know what the hell your problem is!"
Sam merely raised her eye-brow, "Really Brooke? You can't think of any reason why I would have been avoiding you these past three years? Well then let me leave you with a few things that even you could put together to develop a thought. One, you kissed me. Two, my date saw the kiss. Three, I think you knew that. Now if you really can't put all that together to at least get a better understanding of," Sam then uses air quotes, "`what the hell my problem is.' Maybe all that blonde die really HAS affected your brain cells. To which my only reply would be, it was only a matter of time. Now, could you leave my room? I'm not fully adjusted to the time difference yet" Sam then laid back in her bed and added as an after thought while picking up a book off of the floor, "Oh and if you could close the bathroom door behind you as well..."
------
After closing the door and heading back to her room, Brooke sat down on her bed a bit shocked. "How did she know?"
*****
"Oh My God! Mistress that is the cutest, most adorable, most oh my god romantic thing I have ever heard! And to think! It was almost ruined by your two faced homo-wannabe best friend!"
Nicole started to laugh but was cut off by a huge yawn. Looking at the clock she noticed it was 11:40. "Dave, I love how you make it sound like everyone wishes they were gay."
"Well one 1. to quote an incredibly brilliant gay girl...Everyone is straight, until there not. So basically everyone DOES secretly want to try the forbidden fruits."
"Mmmhmmm...Dave you're a gay guy, no more L Word or trashy grocery store romance novels." Nic said dryly.
"Sorry Mistress but we can't ALL have really hot girls, or in my case, boys that are in love with us now can we? I mean not everyone is as hot as you."
"Haha, well yes you have a point...SHIT! I'm supposed to be taking Sam to Disneyland tomorrow...You know how you offered to take the full half of Mallory's shift tomorrow..."
"Say no more, in the name of love...and a bigger check come next Friday, I will cover for you Mistress."
Rolling her eyes Nic just said, "How altruistic of you. Anyway it's about time for me to start closing shop. Which means, time to fire Mallory. I'll try to call you tomorrow."
"Don't try Nic, do. You're my new living romance novel and I can't wait to hear the next chapter. Ciao Mistress!"
The last thing Nic heard through the phone was Dave's laughter as he hung up. Sighing, she started to put away all the applications that were all over her desk. Then decided to leave a note reminding herself to call Dominic tomorrow about possibly starting Saturday, in Mallory's soon to be old shift.
Speaking of the devil thought Nicole as Mallory entered her office and sat down on her sofa. "Umm...I closed everything up, wiped all the counters and made sure all the computers were turned off...Is there anything else?" The girl was looking at Nicole apprehensively. Rightfully so, as Nic showed no sign of actually hearing what the girl said despite the fact that she was staring directly at her.
After another minute or so of silence Nicole finally decided to put the girl out of her misery. "Ok, here's the deal Mallory. No matter how much I like you, nothing will change the fact that you came to work high. Then continued to get, high..er in my employee's lounge. Added to the fact that you came at least 3 hours late.... I think you know I have no choice but to fire you." Nic then reached into her drawer and pulled out her checkbook. After writing a check she handed it to Mallory. "Here's your last check so you don't have to wait for the rest of the week."
Looking at the check Mallory noticed that she had been paid as if she had finished the week off. "Look, I know I screwed this up, so no hard feelings. Thank you though. For this," she waved the check. "Well is there anything else you want me to do before I leave?"
Quelling the immediate no on the tip of her tongue, Nic thought about it for a moment then said, "Once you get your stuff from your locker you can go. And a word of advice, don't pull this stunt at your next job unless you like jail time. " It wasn't a threat, it was a fact and as far as Nicole was concerned Mallory needed to make sure she realized that.
"Ok...bye then I guess." Mallory said as she walked out of Nic's office.
A few minutes later Nicole heard the front door close, then sighed. Looking at the clock she noticed it was now 12:30. 'Time to go home.'
tbc