"Yeah," Sam slowly answered.

She wanted to go sit beside Brooke. She needed to feel closeness.
Instead she answered the original question posed her.

"I was trying to get in the zone. Works better if all I see is
the
screen."

"Ahh," Brooke intoned teasingly, "Well, you are one of
the few girls
that can pull it off."

She hadn’t realized she was going to say that, but she meant it.
She
was relieved when she heard tiny laughter bubble from Sam’s mouth
and get increasingly louder. She hadn’t realized it was that
funny.

"What’s so funny?"

"Nothing," Sam managed between laughs, "Inappropriate
humor."

Brooke tried desperately not to join in the giggling. The humor won
out though and she let herself slip. She flung a small pillow from
the bed at Sam, who caught it and tossed it back. She didn’t let
go
of it however and both girls ended up with an end. They stopped
laughing and looked serious for a moment before the tug o’ war
started. It was clear no one was going to win so they soon feel in a
heap on the bed. They were still for a moment, drinking it in, until
they climbed back to the end of the bed and just sat there.

"Well, that was immature."

Brooke nodded in agreement.

"It was fun though."

"Sam, what’s going on?"

Sam’s eyes widened in utter denial.

"What are you talking about?"

It wasn’t the right time to bring it up. Brooke mentally flicked
herself and mulled over how to save this conversation.

"With your writing? You write a lot," Brooke lamely asked.

That was the only thing she could come up with on the spur of the
moment. She was never really good at honest feeling full
conversations.

"I write a lot because I feel like it. I don’t really have
one
particular thing I write. I just do it."

Sam shrugged and played with her cuticles. Brooke reached over and
took her hand to look at Sam’s finger nails.

"You need a manicure," she suddenly had an idea on how to
make them
both feel better and make Jane happy in the process, "Come on
we’re
going to the mall."

Sam quickly faced her companion and held up her hand for emphasis.

"NO!"

"Yes."

She pulled Sam to her feet, and pushed her to the door.

"We’re going so don`t argue."

Sam was powerless to stop the event even though her brain shouted
out at her to plant her feet in the floor, hold on to the door
frame, anything to keep herself safely locked away in her room. The
last place she wanted to be right now was in public. She let herself
be pulled and pushed along anyway. She wasn’t even really dressed
to
go out anywhere. She decided this was her only weapon. She would
have to appeal to Brooke’s fashion sense.