<span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Kate smiled at Andrea and whispered a “Thank you” while sitting down in the vacant seat. One leg crossed the other and she wiggled just enough to settle into the chair before crossing both arms in front of her tummy. She didn’t think to bring a notepad or pen and seeing Andrea with one kind of made her feel unprepared, until she reminded herself about the level of interest she, herself, carried in the Egyptian topic. Again, she was only there to give her parents some honor. After abandoning her pursuits in America and returning to London she often wondered what her studies would focus around now. Kate did love the rich culture of the Native Americans and the dig sites were so numerous and exciting, but the debate over rightful possession of land and artifacts was too stressful. Perhaps she really should look into ancient Egypt as her next area of study! Afterall, with such a vast distance of time separating the <em>present</em> from the <em>ancient past of Egypt</em> you didn’t find a whole lot of people adamantly claiming rightful possession of the pyramids or artifacts recovered.<br/><br/>Kate rubbed a finger along the skin of her other arm and mused over these things, unintentionally half-listening to Josh until he smiled at the audience. Oh yes, Josh Nakhti was a looker. Kate forgot about what had been trailing around in her mind, replaced by a gaze that scanned Josh’s body. They always said if you wanted to feel comfortable while on stage, imagine the audience sitting in nothing but underwear! Well Kate smirked, wondering if it helped what little stage-anxiety Josh may be experiencing to know that half of his audience were also trying to imagine <em>him</em> without any clothes on.<br/><br/>Yes, Kate stole a glance at Andrea sometime during the lecture and recognized that dreamy expression slightly painted on her face. Andrea also thought that Josh was good-looking. Being the type of person she was, Kate could not help but lean over to a perfect stranger and whisper something lewd, but amusing, to Andrea. “They say he has a tattoo on his dick that says <em>I love Mummies</em>” She giggled, smiling back at Josh who was unaware of the humorous exchange. “Boy wouldn’t I like to find out!”<br/><br/>When all was said and done, the lecture over with, Kate stood up and brushed out the wrinkles in her pants. Andrea asked her a question, and she happily answered, “It is a pleasure meeting you too Andrea. I am Kate Hassan. All this talk about finding hidden messages underneath other messages in ancient Egyptian scripts has made me thirsty! I have discovered a cute shop on Drury Lane that sells wonderful coffee and cappuccinos, but I am not sure if that is what I am in the mood for right now. I just moved here you see, and I do not know much about the hot spots around here. Do you know of any place where I could get a spirited drink of sorts? Oh you are invited to come too! It would be great having some company and…”<br/><br/>Oops! She tripped, again. Somehow, while walking with Andrea down the middle isle of chairs in the room she lost her balance and had to bend over and grab a chair to catch her fall. Kate only laughed at herself, recovering. “Girl…I would much rather be digging in dirt then wearing heels. I don’t even know why I put these damn things on in the first place.” Her accent was a mixture of British and good ol’ American country. Her words still carried the proper articulations of syllables as Europeans but sometimes a country drawl or a southern slang would rear it’s ugly head. “Tell me about yourself Andrea, have you ever been to an excavation site? Believe me, digging in the dirt and enduring 110 degree weather is <em>less</em> painful than wearing heels!”<br/></span>