Disclaimer: I do not own RENT or the characters or music…I own nuttin.The title of this fic is from Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along.
Won't be worked on frequently as I am one busy person…hope you enjoy my first RENTfic!
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"January 9th, 1997, 8:23 P.M., Eastern Standard Time. Welcome to a fun-filled night at the loft. With Mimi on a mini-tour with Roger's band, due to end Sunday night, and Collins teaching at NYU, coming to visit for a mini-vacation Friday night, Maureen, Joanne, and Mark are left to entertain themselves on a Thursday night. Who knows what madness may ensue?"
"C'mon Mark, turn it off and come look with us!"
The cameraman smiled and zoomed in on the lawyer's face. "And Joanne, would you like to tell our viewers how absolutely thrilled you must be about your girlfriend's lead role in the upcoming Off-Broadway musical 'Two in the Bush'?"
A look of anger came over Joanne's face. Mark realized a little too late that that might not be the best subject to talk about right now.
"Oh, yes. I am absolutely THRILLED on how she seems to enjoy her role, screwing EVERY man in the show, and comes home at two in the morning from rehearsals, then leaves at eight the next morning to go back, never thanking me for the subway money or the food or her half of the apartment rent!" Joanne spat at sarcastically.
Nice going, Mark. Way to ruin a relaxing evening.
A few days ago, Joanne had casually mentioned that she had lived in Scarsdale for two years as a teenager. In fact, she had coincidentally lived only two blocks away from Mark. As Mark had been an experimenting cameraman even at the young age of 13, Maureen's idea was to have a "looking-through-Mark's-photos-and-ruin-whatever-organization-might-have-ever-belonged-to-them-in-attempt-to-find-pictures-that-probably-don't-exist" party. Which was what had occupied the bohemians for the past- Mark glanced at his watch- two hours.
Strangely enough, Maureen seemed to not notice Joanne's outburst. Even more strangely enough, she simply picked up the photo she was looking at and said, "Hey Joanne, what about this one?" in a tired voice.
Mark examined the actress a little more closely. She hadn't been herself all night, and, come to think of it, she looked really pale. There were dark circles under her eyes and she hadn't been talking much at all.
Joanne, still enraged, grabbed the photograph from her lover's hand. "What about it?" she snapped sarcastically.
Maureen focused her eyes on her and said, "Well, there are a lot of kids in it. Thought you might recognize one." With a few coughs, Maureen went back into the cardboard box labeled "JULY 1983."
Mark was about to ask Maureen if she was feeling alright when Joanne's eyes widened and she cried out, "Mark! Come here!"
Mark made his way around Joanne and peered over her shoulder at the photo of a whiffleball game in the middle of his childhood street. He vaguely remembered taking that photo…and how Clarence Robins had chucked the bat at his stomach only a few seconds later for "blinding him with the flash."
Joanne pointed to a red-haired girl in a pink tank top on second base. "I know her! That's Rachel Duvall- she sat next to me all through Honors Algebra I in 8th grade!" A new thought seemed to pass over Joanne's face. "Mark…we didn't even think of looking at yearbooks! We probably went to 8th grade together- Scarsdale Junior High, right?" Mark nodded absentmindedly, his mind partially taken up with the wonder that they actually found a connection to his and Joanne's pasts, and partially worrying about Maureen, who was massaging her temples with one hand and looking very unfocused.
"Of course, we wouldn't have gone to high school together since my parents sent me off to Miss Porter's School the year afterwards, but…"
Mark hated to interrupt Joanne's blast back to the past, but he had to ask, "Maureen, are you alright?"
Maureen looked up suddenly, but before she could answer, Joanne chimed in with, "Of course she's alright. She's having the time of her LIFE at rehearsal every DAY!" Her anger was clearly not past yet.
But Maureen dropped the photos she'd been flipping through and said, "Actually, I'm pretty tired. I think I'll head on home." Mark watched her, thinking that, overall, she did not look well. Joanne sighed from the floor and said, "Well, I guess I'LL have to go too, then, since you don't even bother to carry your own apartment key around with you and HAVE to get in somehow."
Maureen didn't respond, but rather put on her jacket and said, "Thanks, Mark. See ya 'round," and walked out. Joanne followed with, "Yeah, I'll try and dig up my old middle school yearbooks and we'll see what we can find! Thanks a bunch, Mark! Bye!" She closed the door behind her as she left.
Mark glanced around the loft. Remains of a pizza dinner and boxes of photos mingled with piles of discarded photos on the floor. He sighed and began cleaning. He glanced at the clock as he stacked the last box in the closet.
Only 8:30? Mark glanced out the window. Holy shit, he hadn't noticed how hard it was pouring outside. He hoped the couple got home alright- it was only five blocks, but still no walk in the park. Well, it was no condition to go bike riding with his camera, that's for sure.
Mark glanced at the meager video collection he, Roger, Mimi, and Collins had been able to get together after pooling in for a VCR in October. Apollo 13? Yep, one of his first dates with Maureen…well, that didn't matter. It was still a classic. He popped the video into the VCR and clicked PLAY.
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Don't worry folks, it'll pick up eventually! Just…review! Review! You know you like clicking the review button and leaving comments…please?