Nora looked around and mentally checked her list twice.

Everything was spotless. She'd Windex-ed the hell out of the glass coffee table and set out the Hello Kitty coasters Bob had given her as a gag gift a few years ago. The kitchen was clean in case he followed her in when she went to prepare snacks and she had shoved any signs of dirty laundry and anything else in her bedroom. Clean apartment was down.

The CD player had five of Bob's favorites on shuffle and she was unconsciously tapping her foot to "Smile Like You Mean It" by the Killers. She had remembered, too, the movie he'd let her borrow months ago with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as vampires. If he hadn't specifically asked for it back, she would have kept it for herself another six months. Had it really been that long? She mused about how it was difficult to set up meetings with her best friend, as both of their careers were demanding and they rarely could sync their schedules. It was trying but it didn't seem as if it had really been that long...

Getting antsy, she sighed. He's always late... Bob might have been a few years older but she always felt like the responsible one. Honestly, she wondered how he got along without her sometimes...

The doorbell cleared the cobwebs and she checked around to make sure everything was set up as it should be. She laughed a little to herself, thinking about how excited she'd gotten about this. But that's how it always was: if she had invited him to her place, they would have fajitas and listen to his favorite bands, whereas, when he entertained her, they went out to a play and listened to Phantom of the Opera upon their return. She made her way to the door and smiled, realizing how much she'd missed him. And, of course, she had to tell him about the extreme insanity of meeting up with Mr. Le--

"NOOOOOOOOOOORA!" Her thought cut off when he wrapped his arms lovingly around her shoulders and squeezed. After the surprise hug, he dipped her sideways and straightened as she laughed.

"Oh, don't tell me you're already out of breath, I just got here." He beamed showing movie star teeth and shook his head. "Poor thing. I guess my extreme hotness was just too much for her."

She hit him hard in the arm and he chuckled pleasantly. "Bob, I swear, you will NEVER change..."

"And why would I want to?" She giggled again, used to all of this, and he suddenly began to shake her urgently.

"Hey, Nora!"

"You don't have to throttle me to get my attention, Bob, I'm the only one here..."

"No, it's something I have to tell you! I brought a friend!"

Nora blinked. "A friend?"

Bob nodded. There was a silence and he looked worried.

"Are you okay?"

"You're not coming here to tell me you met the perfect, sweetest, most wonderful girl who's going to marry you and take you away from me and make it so I can never, ever see you again, are you, because you can leave right now if that's the case..."

"NO!" Bob grabbed her by the arms and shook her again.

"Bob, really, you're much too excited about something... Have you been drinking chocolate-flavored coffee again?"

"Nora, it's a male friend."

She paused, the wheels in her mind turning, until she raised a skeptic eyebrow at him. "Are you trying to set me up?"

Bob paused. "Ah... no. He's a friend of mine from my college days but now that you mention it, the two of you seem like you might make a good--"

It was her turn to throttle him. "Nooooo, Bob!!!"

"Why?! Ow, not the face!" He made his arms into a shield and stared dumbfounded at her.

"I don't want you setting me up with any of your friends. Remember Tony who worked in the office with you? And Gary from the bookstore?"

"Alright, first of all, Gary was more embarrassed than anyone about what happened in the restaurant--" Nora rolled her eyes at this "--or, well, maybe not... But I know Tony isn't that bad a guy... He was just going through a bad patch after divorcing Cynthia."

"Her name was Anna and I know that because I listened to him talk about her for three and a half hours, through dinner and the movie, until I finally told him goodnight and slammed the door in his face..." Nora sighed up at her friend and leaned against her doorframe. "It's just that you don't have the best taste in guys."

"Well, you can't expect me to be too good, Norie... And don't think I don't remember the time you set me up with the chick you used to work at the Hollywood Video with..."

Nora laughed a little. "Nancy was kind of a train-wreck... Okay, we're even if you send your guy home..."

"I can't..." Bob put his arm around Nora and pulled her forward so they could look over the balcony together. "I hadn't seen him in ages and I wanted you to meet him. He's down there, parking his car..." Bob waved his arm and a man in a blue turtleneck shielded his eyes from the sun to look up at them.

"Hey! Jadon, up here! This is Nora!"

Jadon, Nora remembered thinking. Huh. That's a nice name...

OH HOLY FLURKING SCHNIDT!!!

Jadon (Mr. Lenk, oh God!!!) dropped his hand slowly as he stared up at her and shook his head in disbelief. Then she watched him give her one of his light-up-the-world smiles and say,

"Be right up, Bob!... Nora..."

Bob looked at his friend and his eyes widened a little. "Hey... Norie? You're making... the weirdest face right now."

No wonder, Sherlock! Her mind screamed. My brain just exploded.

"Nora?"

She tried to explain but all that came out was "Lenk... brain... asplode..."

"Do you... already know him?"

"My teacher... The... the one from high school."

"Holy crap." Bob caught on immediately and looked down to where Mr. Lenk had been standing before, as if he still expected him to be there. "He was your hot teacher? The one you were in lo--"

Nora turned him around quickly before he could finish his sentence and smiled as Mr. Lenk came around the corner. She blushed and tried to call him by the name she knew him as when he was her professor. But then she remembered how he'd asked to be called Jadon so it came out as a mushy,

"Mister Leandony..."

Mr. Lenk (--er, Jadon...) smiled and blushed at her. "Hello, Nora." He turned to Bob and said softly, "You didn't tell me that you friend was one of my former students."

"Well, I guess I couldn't have when I didn't know myself..." Bob chuckled pleasantly and put his arm around Nora's shoulders and gripped her tightly to hopefully wake her up. "Should we go inside?"

Nora looked from her formerly-forbidden teacher to her grinning friend and nodded. Pushing open the door, one thought was clear.

This should be an interesting night...

---

Me: Sorry to everyone that this chapter's so short but I went ahead and posted it before I went all "Writer's-Block-Great-Wall-of-China" on you again...

Tom: HEY! I'm back in your author's notes! ::cheeky grin::

Me: Yeah but you weren't for the last two chapters so the readers don't know you... (Unless they've read my other stuff)

Tom: GET TO KNOW ME, LAY-DEEZ!!! I'm sexy, single and ready to mmmmmingle... ::suggestive eyebrows::

Me: ...::tries to hide the disgust:: Anyway, yes, here it is. And hopefully the next chapter will be longer and people will be able to finish their sentences