"No! I mean it! Get out!"

Faith Ward slipped the stylish stilettos from her tired feet and let them fall onto the plush bed. A mere second later, she followed them. "He doesn't take no for an answer, does he?"

"Who was telling him 'no'?" Ellen Burgess grumbled. "As badly as my feet are hurting me, I would have taken the chance on letting your brother massage my toes like he offered."

"Girl, please," Sabrina drawled. "If you had given Stavros an inch, he would have tried to return the favor and give you back several inches of his," she cracked. "If you know what I mean!"

"Oh, eww!" Dara wrinkled her nose in disgust. Of the four original conclave members, she was the least comfortable discussing Stavros Cassadine and his eccentric behaviors. "You know," Dara said, "that is my cue to make my departure. I've got an early meeting with a client tomorrow, so I'd better call it a night."

Sabrina sat up wearily. "You know that you're more than welcome to just spend the night here at Wyndemere," she offered. "All of you."

"Yes, I know." Dara's response was muffled as she searched around the floor for her shoes. "But I'd just have to get up even earlier to make it home and change for my meeting. Say," Dara inquired slowly, "do any of you know what happened to my shoes?"

Sabrina rolled her eyes. If Dara's sexy new plum-colored stilettos were missing, she would bet money she knew where they had disappeared to. "I'll be right back," she announced.

Sabrina returned dangling Dara's shoes from her lithe fingers. "Just as I suspected," she explained. "Stavros was 'admiring' them."

Faith quieted Sabrina with a wave of her hand. "Dara's on the phone," she whispered. "It's a man!"

Sabrina's eyebrows rose but she obeyed. She took a seat beside Ellen and tried to make out their friend's conversation.

"Alright," Dara replied. "I'll join you for a quick drink, as long as you understand that I really can't stay very long.... I'll see you then."

Dara's disgusted expression was comical to the other women. "That was an old law school classmate, Michael Trayne," Dara explained. "He convinced the night clerk at the courthouse to give him my number. He's only in Port Charles for a few hours and now I'm stuck joining him for a drink."

"I don't remember you mentioning his name," Ellen remarked to her cousin. "Did I ever meet him when I visited you on campus?"

Dara gritted her teeth. "Trust me, you would have remembered Michael if you'd ever met him. He was skinny as a stick, had a gheri-curl and wore his pants three inches shorter than any self-respecting adult should wear them."

"Sounds like just her type," Sabrina murmured to Faith.

Dara heard the snide comment. "Bite, bitch." She glared at Sabrina. "He was always after me to go out with him. Even if I'd had the time back then, I wouldn't have dated Michael. He was just too weird."

"So where are you meeting for drinks?" Faith asked.

"Are you sure this guy has never been to Port Charles before?" Ellen looked around skeptically. "Cause I've never even heard of this place and I live here!"

Dara was glad for the presence of the other three women. "He said a friend suggested it."

"Okay, then." Ellen began to lead the way into the rundown little dive. "But I've got to tell you... this law school geek of yours has already gotten my attention just by his choice of meeting places."

The four women stepped into the Rusty Anchor. The place was packed tight with leatherclad bodies of all ages. "Are you sure you heard him right," Sabrina asked over the din of the blaring jukebox.

"Yes," Dara nodded. "He said he'd be waiting at the bar. But I don't see..."

"What?"

Dara's eyes were wide in disbelief. "Do you see that guy right there in the middle? The one with the sleeveless black muscle shirt?"

Faith, Ellen and Sabrina all gaped at one another. "Dara," Ellen managed, "are you trying to tell us that he is the geek you wouldn't go out with?"