Brother Love Ch. 02

"Sure, Deb. Want a coffee?"

We walked to the coffee shop in silence. I got our coffees and we found a table.

She sat for a few minutes sipping her coffee.

"You wanted to talk, Deb. What's on your mind?"

"You'll have to excuse me, I'm not used to apologizing. I shouldn't have taken that tone with you, but I was upset. The first guy I'm interested in like forever, and he doesn't even call me."

She paused.

"Why didn't you call?"

I smiled at her discomfort.

"I lost your number by mistake. I could have still gotten hold of you, but to be honest, you were a bit too intense for me. I don't like a lot of drama, not my thing. It was hard, you're probably the prettiest woman I've ever seen."

"I'm not that high main...wait a minute, the prettiest woman you've ever seen? Really?"

"Really" I grinned. "I may be prone to exaggeration form time to time, but I'm not in the habit of lying."

She had a huge smile on her face. We talked for almost an hour, and when we left, we had a date for Saturday night.

I cleaned up my car, a four year old Honda, and presented myself for her inspection. I passed, we were soon in the car.

"I'd like to go to that new sushi place on Madison. I've heard good things."

I never said a word. She looked surprised when I pulled into a little Indian place she never knew existed. She looked at me.

"I don't like sushi. Don't order the hot curry unless you have a strong stomach."

She actually had a good time, and she loved the food, right up until she tasted my curry.

She choked and tears came to her eyes.

"What is that?"

"It's called Dragon Breath. Bit spicy, don't you agree?"

"That stuff would melt concrete. I hope you don't intend to kiss me with that on your breath."

She realized what she said and colored slightly.

"Noted. Brush teeth at earliest opportunity. And I do. Intend to kiss you, that is."

She was actually a deep shade of red by then. She wasn't used to not being in complete control.

I let her pick the movie, since I picked the restaurant. I figured I was doomed to wasting two hours on a chick flick, but she picked a horror movie. I didn't like horror movies, real life scared me enough. She laughed every time I jumped.

She handed me something on the way out of the movie. I looked down. A breath mint. I looked up.

"In case there isn't a toothbrush handy."

..............................................

Despite going hot and heavy, it was the sixth date before we had sex.

I took her to my apartment. She was amazed at how neat it was. I didn't tell her I gave a girl seventy five dollars a week to come by twice a week for three hours to keep it neat. She was a classmate, and the money helped a good bit, especially since it was cash, without a paper trail.

We got to the bedroom. She took one look at my queen size bed, and starting shedding clothes.

"I've wanted to do this ever since I saw you at that first party."

She was wild, biting, scratching, pulling my long hair. I gave as good as I got, pushing her to limits she didn't know she had. When we finally collapsed and got our breath, she asked me who taught me how to make love like that.

"An African princess" I told her with a straight face.

She laughed. When Aunt Elsa told her the full story, she stopped laughing.

................................................

We held our first staff meeting the next Tuesday, at my house. They were impressed.

"So, are you like mega rich?" asked Amber, as they came in.

"No, I just had a very generous relative. I'll show you around later. Right now, we need to get down to business. Come on, I'll show you where to put your computers."

I took them to the office, a huge room with a large conference room. My computer was hooked up and on the desk, they could use the table.

They set up while Sarah and I went to the kitchen for drinks and snacks.

"Soft drinks while we're working, alcohol when we're done."

Ninety per cent of college students live on a pretty tight budget, and they almost never turn down free food. It was pretty apparent I didn't have enough. I told them we'd have pizza delivered when we were finished.

Josh started us off.

"Seven hundred and twenty emails. Most are still not sure if you're real. There's a mixed bag of opinions about what they want discussed. Sex was real popular, so was relationships. After that, politics, gun control, money, and religion. There were a few votes for other things, and a few ideas I thought you might like. Amber has them printed out, in order."

He pushed some sheets at me. I looked them over.

"How much time have you two spent on this? Be honest."

They looked guilty.

"We don't really know. When we start, we tend to get carried away."

I eyed all three until they got nervous.

"I think I need to lay some ground rules here. I'm paying you for eight hours. That should be enough for right now. You have school work and a life. Don't let a part time job interfere with it. Understood?"

I made each of them say they understood. Then I asked for their thoughts.

Sex was the subject they wanted to discuss.

"All right. Might as well start with a bang. But I don't want sensationalism. What is sex? What does it mean, or signify to you personally? Is it a deal breaker in a relationship if you don't have the same desires? That sort of thing."

We talked far past the time designated. The pizzas arrived, and we ate, washing them down with beer. I let them drink too much, then took the keys away.

"We can't impose on you like that. We'll be fine, I promise."

Amber was swaying while she said it, leaning on Josh.

"I've got plenty of room, plus the cottage out back. Come on, let's get you settled."

We got them situated, then I escorted Sarah to hers. She gave me a nice kiss at the door.

"Thanks. And thanks for letting me tag along for the ride."

I got them up the next morning in time for class.

...............................................

I was a little surprised when Sarah showed up two days later at my door, with another girl.

"We need to talk."

Why do those four little words strike fear into the hearts of men?

I let them in, and she headed straight for the office.

"Barry, this is Julie. You need to hire her."

"For what?"

"To handle the business end of your adventure."

I was curious.

"What business?"

"Your talk show. You need a production company, someone to handle payroll and taxes, document expenditures, that sort of thing."

Now I was confused.

"Why would I need all that when I'm paying for everything myself, and not making any profit."

"Then you should incorporate as a non profit. Either way, there is an electronic trail now. You talked about the people you've hired."

She went into great detail about the pitfalls I could run into if we didn't dot every i and cross every t. In the end, I hired her.

Early the next week, we had contacted a lawyer to lay out the corporation. He said we needed a name.

I discussed it with my team. Everybody had a suggestion, and were convinced theirs was the best. We argued for about two hours.

I called a halt.

"We need to agree on something for this little halfassed project or I'll pick something myself.

Amber had laid her head on the table and missed most of what I said. She raised her head up.

"Who the hell is Hal Fast, and what does he have to do with anything?"

And viola, Hal Fast Productions was named.

They hadn't had too much to drink, but wanted to stay the night again. I didn't mind, I liked having others in the house.

"All right, you two take the room you had last time. Sarah, you do the same, and we'll put Julie right next to you."

Sarah spoke up.

"No need, she'll be sleeping with me."

They were holding hands. I had no clue. It didn't matter. Sarah still kissed me goodnight while Julie giggled.

The next morning over breakfast, Sarah asked if I had picked our first guests. I slid a sheet over to her.

"A nun? And a virgin? This couple, they're in their seventies. The two guys, a confirmed sex addict and a college guy? You sure this is going to work?"

"Not a clue, but it should really be fun."

She sighed.

"I'll get them lined up for an interview, see if any of them have a problem."

"No, we all go in cold. It will increase our chances of getting honest opinions."

Her eyes were big.

"You're flirting with disaster, you realize that?"

"Yes I do, won't it be great?"

..................................................

We did a teaser, running it for four days.

"Well folks, the results are in. Our very first full length show will be on sex. Our guests have confirmed, and are ready to go. If you have any specific questions you'd like asked. Email us."

"See you next Thursday."

.................................................

Thanks as always for reading. I always read your comments, and one commentator planted a seed. LancerinLA, I think you're on to something. The next chapter will fill out the back story and have physical descriptions of the main characters. After that, I'm declaring this story fair game. Any writer that wants to write about a subject using this line as their vehicle, please do. I only ask that you research your subject enough to interject realistic scenes.

I plan on continuing my own version, on as many subjects as I think reasonable.

Remember, votes are nice, comments are better.