Disclaimer: All right guys, I know I should be working on The Bohemian Fanfiction Academy of RENT, Results of Bohemian Boredom, Haunted or Feel the Heat of the Future's Glow, but the muses in charge of those are on vacation apparently and this idea wouldn't leave me alone until I posted this random little piece, so I did. Hopefully, I'll get the other muses off their butts so I could post some new chapters! Anyway, RENT belongs to Jonathan Larson. I just borrow the characters for entertainment. Andrea's the only person who I created myself. Please read and review.
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Long fingers tripped over the strings, the wrong notes singing through the guitar. A frustrated sigh escaped Andrea's lips as she looked towards Roger, looking really sheepish.
Roger uncovered his ears and tried hard to smile. "All right...um...so you suck?" he said bluntly.
Andrea blushed, looking down on the stained floor of the Loft. "Um...sorry...I know it's really bad..."
"I thought you said you took lessons" he said, still wincing from the truly horrible sound that escaped his beloved fender guitar.
She bit her lip and said "Well...yeah, but I really didn't do so well with them...I also told you that." She was turning more red by the minute, almost to the point where she looked like a tomato with hair.
"Well...I can see why you need me then" he said, shaking his head. "You are so damn lucky you caught me in a good mood...actually, you can thank Mimi for that." He then took the guitar and started demonstrating notes. "All right...this is the A string, OK?"
Andrea nodded as she tried to pay attention...although she couldn't help but wondered where her fellow dancer was. "Um...Rog, where exactly is Mimi?"
Roger, eyes still on the strings, said "She's job hunting" and Andrea couldn't help but see a smile on his face at the thought. She smirked; she couldn't blame him for being happy that Mimi stopped working at the Cat Scratch. She knew she was happy, except in her case, it was for the reason that she didn't have to feel guilty for quitting if Mimi quit.
Roger handed the guitar to her again and guided her fingers towards the right guitar strings. Andrea smiled as she heard something not horrific. "See? Not so hard, is it?" he said as he let her do it on her own. Andrea just smiled a bit.
"Ah, a little bonding time, I see?" Roger and Andrea looked up to see Mark right there, smiling, camera in hand.
Roger smirked right back and said "Well, if you can have bonding time with your camera 24/7, me getting to know Mimi's friend seems all right...besides, I'm doing the world a favor. You should've heard her earlier." He shuddered a bit at the thought, causing Andrea to blush a little bit more. Was she really that bad?
"Boys, be nice...there's no reason to be jerks" Joanne's voice could be heard before Mark could open his mouth to reply. She walked in, grocery bags in hand, along with a rather angry looking Maureen, also carrying grocery bags.
"You know Mark, it wouldn't kill you to put down the damn camera and help us with these bags that contain food for you guys" she grumbled, sending daggers to Mark with her eyes.
Roger put on a mock pensive expression as he leaned back on the couch. "Oh, I don't know Maureen...with the way he clutches onto that camera, you'd think that it carried his heart or something." Of course, this earned him an "I hate you" glare from Mark.
Andrea, not liking where this was going, stood up and said "Look Maureen...I'll help" she said, taking the bags from Maureen's hands and heading towards the kitchen.
Maureen's expression completely changed the moment she heard Andrea say that. "I knew there was a good reason I liked this girl" she remarked, beaming. "Speaking of which, Pookie, come on. We should follow her if you want to talk to her. You want to talk to her, right?"
Joanne sighed and rolled her eyes. "Correction; you want to talk to her Maureen...I said this was the most ridiculous thing you could possibly do" she said, her expression full of contempt.
"Ah, you mean like shopping for two grown men?" Mark retorted, his arms crossed as well as they could be, as he was cradling his camera in his arms as well.
Joanne shook her head. "No, because you two depend on the Life Cafe way too much" she stated as Maureen tried to drag Joanne into the kitchen, saying "Come on Pookie!" Joanne rolled her eyes again towards her girlfriend and then said "Anyway, you two are going to have a decent meal at home and you're going to like it, all right?" And with that, the two girls were in the kitchen.
Mark sighed of relief."This is why I didn't want to help; anything to avoid girl talk over advocadoes" he said as he gingerly sat onto the couch beside Roger.
Roger nodded and put on what he thought was a look of sympathy. Then he raised his eyebrow and asked his roommate "They didn't really get advocadoes, right?"
Mark sighed and rolled his eyes.
"So..." Maureen said towards Andrea, smiling like she was the Chesire Cat. Andrea saw this as she turned to Maureen. Nervously, she placed down the knife by the carrots she was chopping and raised his eyebrow. "What?"
Joanne sighed as she watched the chicken defrost, seeming rather exhausted and aggravated. "Maureen, just cut to the chase, for the sake of our sanity."
Maureen sighed and started talking. "All right, so Mimi, Joanne and I had this little...wager, if you will." Andrea nodded slowly, wondering where she was going on about. "So...we basically have a personal question to ask you..."
Joanne groaned and broke in "Maureen thinks you're a lesbian, Mimi thinks you like Roger and I think they're both crazy and should mind their own businesses, since chances are, they're both dead wrong and should save themselves the embarrassment."
Andrea's eyes widened and once again, a blush crept onto her dark cheeks.
"Pookie" Maureen whined. "I was trying to add suspense! And if you thought it was so ridiculous, why did you even join the frigging bet!" she then demanded, giving her girlfriend a very annoyed look.
"Simple; because you two wouldn't shut up about it, so I figured that joining it would help out with that" Joanne stated, finally taking her eyes off the chicken. She then smirked. "Apparently, I was wrong."
"Hmph!" Maureen said before crossing her arms and turning towards Andrea, her expression changing once again to show she was about as excited as a kid finding out that Christmas had come early. "So? Am I right? Am I right?" Andrea's cheeks were deepening to a beet red. "You know very well we wouldn't mind...besides, it'd make perfect sense" Maureen continued.
Andrea finally looked up, smiling weakly. "Sorry to disappoint you Maureen, but Joanne's right" she replied.
Maureen seemed horrified and moaned a bit. "Are you sure?" she pleaded, looking at Andrea like she was her only hope for life.
"Maureen, leave the poor girl alone. The interview's over" Joanne snapped, who seemed pissed, yet triumphant.
Maureen groaned again and pulled a twenty dollar bill out of her pocket before they heard the door slide open and Mimi's voice. "Hey guys...um...Mark? Roger? Why are you guys standing by the kitchen?"
Maureen's jaw dropped as she rushed out of the kitchen to see a very sheepish Mark and Roger, with an equally puzzled Mimi. "Were you two spying on us?" Maureen shouted indignantly.
Joanne followed her girlfriend, her irritation becoming more obvious by the minute. "How did I end up hanging out with people who don't know how to mind their own business?" she thought aloud, shaking her head in disappointment.
Andrea followed, blushing again. "Well...this is awkward" she stated, looking down at the floor, wanting to sink through it.
"Well..." Roger said, obviously trying to find an excuse. "...in our defense, the walls are damned paper thin...we would have heard it all anyway." Then he looked towards Andrea. "No offense, but I'm severely glad that Joanne won that bet" he said, biting his lip. Andrea definitely wasn't offended; it'd be too awkward. After all, Mimi was one of her closest friends; if she liked her boyfriend, that would complicate things. Not like her true feelings for someone else didn't complicate things, she knew that, but it was less complicated.
Mimi raised her eyebrow. "What?"
Maureen rolled her eyes. "Excuses, excuses...and Meems, we lost the bet, so you might as well fork over the cash to Joanne here" she said, sending Joanne a rather bitter glance.
Mimi's jaw dropped. "You actually asked her? I thought we were just kidding around!" she said before slapping her forehead and then trying to find some money in her pockets, mildly missing the way she used to store it. "Drea, please just know, I never thought you had any feelings for Roger...and you don't come off as a lesbian at all!" she insisted as she handed the money to Joanne, who seemed very desperate for some aspirin. "I don't know where Maureen got it from."
Joanne massaged her temples as she sent Maureen a suspicious glare. "Oh, I think I know exactly where she got it."
Andrea shook her head, answering "No...it's fine really...but...um..." She didn't really know what say, to be honest. At least Mimi didn't think she came off as lesbian...or that having her around would threatened Mimi and Roger's relationship. "Um...I guess I'd better go..." She started heading out the door.
"Hey wait" she stopped and turned towards Mark and she couldn't help but smile. "You can stay...I'm sure Joanne and Maureen bought enough for an army" he said with a smile towards her.
Andrea shuffled her feet awkwardly and said "Well...all right, if it's not any trouble" she replied.
"No, no trouble at all" Mark said, brushing the comment off. Then he turned to Joanne. "I'll tell you what; I'll help cook to make up for not helping with the bags. Does that sound fair?"
Joanne nodded, seeming relieved as she led him into the kitchen. Andrea couldn't help but let her smile grow as she followed the crowd. She was also wondering how long it was going to take for Maureen to make the bet that was right; that she was crazy about their very own Mark Cohen.