"Da-nny boy!" Mark heard a woman's voice echo outside the loft. It was clear she had stopped herself from cursing, but why- he didn't know. In fact, now that he thought about it- why was there a new person in the building? Without heat most of the time, it was not the ideal place to live. Mark heard a thud and found it appropriate to ask for help while seeing who the hell was moving in here and why.
What he saw was a girl that couldn't be more than 20, with a toddler on one hip, a box on the other and a little girl behind her. Mark rushed over and took the box from under her arm and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you so much, uh…"
"Mark, I'm Mark." The blonde said waving his free hand.
"I'm Sophie." The brunette said.
"Hello Sophie, now where are you taking this?" Mark asked, his weak muscles causing his arms to struggle with the box.
"Oh, right. Sorry!" She treaded up the steps to the next floor. She struggled to get a key out of her pocket and then opened the door. Mark hastily let the box down and tried to make it look like his arms weren't screaming. Her blue-gray eyes shone with gratification and Mark felt a surge of boldness resonate through his body.
"So you're the unlucky one."
"Unlucky?" Sophie asked with a smirk, switching the toddler to the other hip.
"You're right above me and my roommates. One of who is both a guitar addict, and um…well he's addicted to something else too." Mark said, feeling like he wasn't in control of his actions.
"Aren't all men?" Sophie said with a playful roll of her eyes, placing the toddler on the floor and opening the box. She pulled out a toy truck and handed it to the boy.
"So who is this charming little guy?" Mark said squatting down to where the toddler was now contently sliding his truck up and down the floor. Feeling even more unlike himself since Mark was usually terrible with children.
"This is Nolan." She said pushing the boy's blonde hair out of his face. "And this is Shelby." Sophie said getting up and wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulders.
"Hello Shelby, I'm Mark." Mark extended his hand, and the girl shook it warily.
"Um, I would offer you coffee or tea but I don't really have any right now." Sophie said with a sympathetic smile.
Mark laughed and said, "that's fine, actually me and my roommates are going out for dinner and we'd be more than happy to have a few extra guests if you wanna tag along."
Sophie looked at Nolan and Shelby.
"They can come too! We aren't dangerous or anything. The worst any of us could do is teach them a few new words…then again…" Mark thought about the Bohemians vocabulary and hesitated introducing young ears to that.
"They've heard them all, it's just we're really new to the city and I don't want to get lost or anything. And I'm kind of short on cash-"
"Oh, well I know the city like the back of my hand. I won't let you get lost."
Sophie bit her lip and then closed her eyes. "I don't have much money."
"Don't worry about it, you'll be my guest."
Sophie's eyes shifted from Nolan, to Shelby and then settled on Mark. "Okay, yeah. We'll go. What time?"
"About an hour." Mark said, wondering what was possessing him.
"Alright, we'll be ready."
"See ya." Mark smiled and walked back upstairs. Shutting the door, the realization of what he had just done hit Mark. He sank to the floor, suddenly feeling nervous.
"Hey Mark…something wrong?" Roger asked walking out of his room.
Mark simply starred straight ahead of him.
"Mark?" Roger nudged him with the tip of his boot.
"I just invited a girl with two kids to dinner."
"Like a date?"
"I…don't know."
"Go Marky!" Roger whooped.
The commotion drawing Mimi into the room, brought the question, "What's up?"
"Mark's got a date!"
"Go Mark!" Mimi hollered.
"It's not like I've never gotten a date guys!" Mark said a little peeved.
"Yeah, just not in the last year." Mimi muttered, barely audible.
"I don't know what came over me…it was like Roger took over my body."
"Huh?" Roger asked confused.
"She was beautiful…and I just talked to her, I didn't stammer or blush…I just talked. And I invited her to dinner. I didn't say anything stupid, I just asked her. And she said yes."
"I knew I would rub off on you some day!" Roger said beaming. "I'm so proud!" Roger mocked wiping away tears. "I just need a moment." He said holding one hand and wiping his imaginary tears with the other.
Mimi hit his shoulder while holding back a smile and they turned their attention back to Mark who was still staring straight ahead into nothing, in a daze.
"Mark," Mimi said sitting down next to the paler than usual blonde "people go out on dates all the time."
"People who know what to say, people like Roger and Collins and Maureen and you." Mark said with an anxious edge.
"Well you knew what to say a few minutes ago." Mimi reminded him.
"Nope, it wasn't me." Mark said resolved.
"What?" Roger asked.
"Roger possessed over my body for a few minutes. He invaded and made it so that I asked her out."
"Um, I'm pretty sure I was right here." Roger said pointing to the floor beneath his feet.
"No, you inhabited my body." Mark said confidently.
Roger looked at his girlfriend and twirled his finger around his ear, mouthing the word 'crazy'.
Mimi held back a laugh a laid a friendly hand on Mark's shoulder.
"You'll do fine Mark." She assured.
"Did you say she had kids?" Roger asked, pulling a rare short-term memory from the recesses of his mind.
Mark looked up at his best friend with scared blue eyes and nodded. "Two."
"Are you sure that their hers? Maybe she's babysitting or something." Mimi defended her fellow woman.
Mark nodded sheepishly, knowing he had assumed too soon. Somewhat as the saying goes, making an ass out of himself.
"So when are you picking her up?"
"An hour."
"How long a walk is it to her place?"
Mark smiled and said, "about 3 seconds."
Mimi and Roger questioned him with their eyes.
"She lives upstairs. That's how I met her, she just moved in."
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go give her a proper greeting." Mimi said excitedly.
Mark held out his hands defensively as Mimi tried to pull him up.
"No, I don't want to risk sounding stupid sooner than I have to."
"Oh Mark! You won't, Roger and I will do all the talking."
"Aw Mimi, do I have to go?" Roger whined, sounding much more like a five-year old version of himself than the 24 year old that stood there.
Mimi shot him a glare, and he complied. Mark, resolved on staying in the loft didn't budge however.
"Okay Mark, I hat to do this. But if I'm going-you're going." Roger said hoisting his roommate over his shoulder easily.
"Roger! What the hell!? Put me down now!" The smaller man demanded.
Roger and Mimi walked out of the loft and as soon as the door closed Roger let Mark down, immediately guarding the door. The film maker sighed defeated, and led the way upstairs.