the 'brook action threads

It hadn't taken a full twenty-four hours after Stacey left Sam for word to spread.  Stacey moved into Mary Anne's apartment, filling her in, and she sent Claudia a short e-mail, hoping that her best friend would get on a computer in Japan sooner than later.  Claudia did and then made an international consolation phone call, but that only made Stacey feel slightly better.  Since she hadn't expressly told Mary Anne to keep things quiet, Mary Anne almost immediately told Kristy so that she could find out if Sam was okay.

Kristy wanted to give Sam time to tell the family on his own, but after a week she realized that he wasn't going to.  It was time to take matters into her own hands--like always.  So she picked up her cell phone and called her older brother.

"Hey, Sam, it's me," she said when he finally picked up.  "How are you?"

Sam loved seeing the sunshine become more prevalent as summer drew closer, but he didn't love it in the mornings, when it woke him up. There was a tiny slit between the curtains of their bedroom window where they wouldn't close tight, and the sun always seemed to line itself up directly with this slit and make its way to Sam's face.

Groaning, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, glancing at the clock radio next to their bed. It was only 9:34; not too bad at all, he decided, for not being able to get to sleep last night. He hadn't managed to drift off until about 2 AM, and he wasn't sure why.

Stacey began stirring, and Sam leaned over and kissed her on the forehead as she opened her eyes.

"'Morning, birthday girl," he said with a grin.

I can't wait to give her her gift, he thought with glee, practically rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He was planning on taking her out somewhere to eat once they got back in Stoneybrook, where Sam would present her with the gold earrings Kristy had helped pick out for her. He hoped she would like them. He wanted to make her birthday dinner special.