Fandom: Popular

Author: Carla

Series: Three Times Table

Title: Book by It's Cover - Brooke

Pairing: Brooke/April

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimers: My birth certificate and my drivers license both seem to indicate that my initials are CMF not RM or TTv.  So that we are clear not mine never were. However this original work of fiction is mine and mine alone.

Archive: Thanks muchly to Kim at the Realm for allowing me to park my sorry a** fics there.  http://www.realmoftheshadow.com/carla.htm

Feedback: Sure why not.  All of it the good the bad and the ugly can be sent to me direct at cmfloresfd@yahoo.com

Author's Note:  It's been awhile but this just popped into my head.  Once again I remind people that I never saw the show so deal if you don't care for the pairing. Also I return once again to my self imposed "60 minute" challenge.  45 minutes including revisions.

Enjoy

“Sam let’s go.  I don’t want to be late.”

I’m talking to Sam through the bathroom door because of course she’s running late.  I love my sister, step-sister whatever I love her but on any given day I could kill her too.  Especially today, April’s been grounded for what seems like forever and this is the first weekend, the first time period, that we’ve been able to see each other outside of school. Briefly it looked like I might have to actually join the chess club if I wanted to see her at all.

“Don’t get your panties in a wad.  She’s not going anywhere.”

“Bite me.  You want a ride or what?”

“Ride, what do you think?”

“Are you sure you’re not a dyke?  Cuz you know what they say ‘If it walks, talks and looks like a duck it must be a duck.”

“So for all intents and purposes you’re straight?  Remind me to tell April that.”

“Okay bad analogy but you get my point.”

“Do I really look like a dyke?  What does a dyke look like anyway?  Is it the outfit?”

“No do you think so?  God knows it would never occur to me if I saw some woman in that outfit.”  The outfit in question: painted on black pants, biker boots, a white wife beater - also painted on - , a leather jacket with a half a dozen chains and a wallet that’s attached by another chain to her back pocket.  “So what’s the name of the leather bar where I’m dropping you off?”

“Ha-ha very funny.  It just so happens I’m meeting a friend at the Barnes and Noble by April’s.”

Walking behind Sam it’s hard not to notice that she’s hot.  The outfit really does something for her.  It’s so masculine in origin and she’s so feminine the dichotomy is amazing.  In the past this would have been a disturbing realization, resulting in much guilt and mental self-flagellation, and not just because she’s my sister.  But I’ve become more comfortable with myself, with whom and what I am; who I want to be with.  Noting someone’s, even my sister’s, hotness is just that; taking note and appreciating good eye candy.  Doesn’t mean I’m a perv, a letch, weird or a freak of nature, it just means my retinas and my hormones are working just fine.

“And then what leather bar are you going to?”

“The really frightening thing here Brooke, is you knowing where the leather bars are,” Sam says smugly.

“Get in the car, smartass.”

“That’s Mistress Smartass to you.”

“You wish.” 

“Music?”  Sam’s hand is already hovering over the CD player faceplate.

“Sure there’s something in there already.” 

“Another Tuna compilation,” Sam’s teasing me.  I can hear it in her voice and though she doesn’t remember saying so, I know she’s a little bit jealous.  Sam wants someone to do ‘things’ for.  Things like burning CDs, reading bedtime stories and throwing the occasional game of chess.  Okay not the chess but still.  The point is Sam needs someone.  The real question is who.

“This is a good one I think you’ll like it.”

“And what’s the theme this time?”

April likes to give ‘theme’ gifts, especially CDs that she’s compiled herself. Sometimes the theme is obvious, like for the two month anniversary of our first kiss the theme was songs with the word ‘kiss’ in the title.  Less fairly obvious was the one where if you took the first letter of each song title in order it spelled out ‘I LOVE BROOKE MCQUEEN’.  Frankly if she hadn’t pointed it out to me I would never have caught onto that one.  Usually Sam likes to try and figure it out herself though so it’s kind of a surprise that she’s asking.

“‘A to Z’ as far as I can tell”

“Artist or song?”

“Both I think. Mostly song though.”

“Cool,” Sam hits play and the opening chords of ‘Angel in the House’ fill the car.   “Isn’t this on another one she made for you?  You know which one I mean,” Sam wags her fingers in the air as she tries to remember. “Desire,” I say helpfully and Sam snaps her fingers yes. “That’s the one.”

“Nice to see that your extracurricular activities haven’t affected your short term memory…yet.”

“I’ll ignore that since you’re giving me a ride and all,” Sam says as she gives me the finger and a world-class smirk.  “There’s a great line in this song….”  Sam pauses, listening to the lyrics, “This one.  Listen.”

// The history of desire is such that just one word – just one touch – can send it spinning //

“There’s something about that line that just makes my heart ache.”

Oh yeah Sam needs someone.

“I like this one too but my favorite line is the opener. ‘My mother moved the furniture when she no longer moved the men.  We thought nothing of it at the time.’  It’s so bleak and yet….”

“And yet it isn’t really.”

“I was going to say it’s only the tip of the iceberg.  The whole song reeks of melancholy and the like to me.  Maybe that’s why I love it, it always makes me cry or at the very least get misty.  It’s cathartic.”

“Really and to me it’s just this really incredible song about, I imagine this anyway, being a child and watching your mother chase man after man after man. Even the no good bastards you know?”

We spend the rest of the drive talking about desire, attraction and what Sam thinks she’s looking for in a relationship.  Someone with a vocabulary that they are not afraid to use.  A quick wit, someone who can think on their feet.   Conventionally attractive is nice but not necessary.  Likes movies, overly buttery popcorn and cherry coke.  Taller is a must, though that’s not exactly difficult in her case. A car, again nice but not necessary, better still someone who is into bike riding as Sam has recently begun to get into that.  Hair is a must have but other than that color doesn’t matter.! A good kisser.

Male or female?  It’s the one thing she hasn’t said and I’m dying to know. She used to date George and I know she used to like Harrison but sometimes I’m not sure.  I’ve seen her checking out Lily and I think she had a surprisingly nice time with Nic when the four of us went out after Christmas. And of course there’s today’s outfit.

I have to ask, “Male or female?”