So I'm writing again? Hm…okay…well, reviews are still love (reviewers get a piece of the crepe!!), and I (still) don't own RENT. Or Boho Days.
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The door was locked.
Not only was it locked, but it didn't even look like a real door. It looked as if it was a sliding— something.
"Shit," Mark muttered to himself. Confused, he walked slowly back down the stairs and onto the sidewalk. He backed away from the building and looked up and down the street. He checked the address that he'd been holding in his hand for the past hour. Well, it wasn't as if this neighborhood really had shining house numbers prominently displayed everywhere, but it still looked as if the right place…why had he even trusted Benny in the first place?
"Mark?" he suddenly heard someone yell.
Mark looked up and down the street. It hadn't sounded like Benny…
"Mark!" yelled the voice again.
Mark looked up to see a very tall black man with a huge smile on his face looking down at him from the fire escape. "Yeah?" Mark yelled up.
"Benny's friend, right?" Before Mark had a chance to answer, the man threw something down onto the sidewalk next to him. "Third floor, right at the top of the stairs!" he yelled down before walking back inside.
Mark looked to see what he had thrown down to him: keys. Wondering what he had gotten himself into, Mark went back into the building and up the three story walk up again. He found the lock, put the key in, and pushed the door open.
"Hi…" Mark answered nervously looking around the room. The man who'd thrown the keys was shutting the fridge while a girl with very pretty brown curly hair was peering over his shoulder to look at Mark. Next to the couch—was that duct tape on it?—Benny was standing, and it looked as if there was a man sitting behind him.
"Collins," said the tall man walking toward Mark, extending his hand. "Well, it's really Tom, but no one calls me that." The two of them shook hands, but halfway through Collins pulled Mark into a hug.
"Hey…" Mark answered, slightly shook up by his forwardness.
"Hey Mark," Benny answered casually coming up to take Mark's bag from him as Collins released him.
"Hi," Mark said again.
"You're Mark?" squealed the brown-haired girl excitedly running up to meet him. "Aww, you really are just as cute as Benny said!"
"Hi…" answered Mark nervously as she gave him a tight hug.
"God Maureen, you'll scare the hell out of him," said the guy on the couch that hadn't spoken yet.
"Shut up Roger, he doesn't mind!" Maureen replied bouncingly as she let Mark go (but not before kissing his cheedk), still smiling.
Roger stood up and walked over to Mark. "I'm Roger, and the one who never shuts up is Maureen," he said extending his hand.
"Shut UP Roger!" shouted Maureen again.
"Okay…" Mark answered, shaking Roger's hand. "So…um…how do you all fit in here?"
"Let's see…" answered Collins. "I'm on the couch, Maureen's in one of the bedrooms, Benny's in the other…and when Roger isn't at April's he's on the couch too."
"So then… where will I slee—"
"Collins," Maureen gasped suddenly, breaking Mark off. "We should make a crepe!"
"Now?" asked Roger and Benny at the same time, with identical looks of exasperation on their faces.
"Sure, it'll be like a welcome ceremony for Mark," Collins answered, already digging stuff out of the old fridge. "You're lucky you came today, a week ago we tried making a crepe when we hadn't had power for a few days…none of these ingredients were exactly fresh…"
Roger laughed as Benny rolled his eyes.
"Okay, okay, c'mon, let's go!" squeaked Maureen excitedly as she grabbed Mark's hands and pulled him out the door.
"But— why are we going upstairs?" asked a puzzled Mark as Maureen dragged him towards the roof.
"Did you really think we'd cook inside?" she asked incredulously.
Fifteen minutes later, the five of them were all up on the roof as Collins expertly cooked two very large crepes on an old stove.
"You know guys…this probably is a fire hazard…" Benny muttered as he looked around.
Roger rolled his eyes and turned to Mark; both of them were looking out at the streets. "He says that every time," Roger said to him. "But we haven't gotten arrested yet…well, at least not for cooking…"
Mark laughed nervously. "So…um…how is….I mean, what's it like…is living here…"
"If you're talking about high living standards," Roger began, "the toilet's in the closet. That should answer any of your questions."
Mark laughed nervously again, hoping that Roger was kidding while realizing that he wasn't. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Mark walked over to the grill where Maureen and Collins were obviously excited about their culinary masterpiece.
The two of them seem awfully close, Mark's thoughts couldn't help but telling him as he watched Collins and Maureen. Feeling a slightly depressing feeling in his stomach, he asked them both, "So…are you two…a…um…couple?" Mark hoped that his voice didn't sound too hopeful.
"Me and Collins?" asked Maureen with in a smile. Standing on his right side, she turned to Collins and wrapped her right leg around his waist. "He's my lo-verr," she said, emphasizing the last syllable, before kissing him on the cheek.
"Oh— um, okay," Mark answered uncomfortably as his stomach began to sink.
Collins burst out laughing, pushing Maureen off. "She's kidding Mark," he gasped between his laughs. "Kidding."
"Oh— that's cool too," Mark replied, hoping desperately that he hadn't sounded as excited as he really was.
Feeling uncomfortable yet again, Mark backed away from the two of them and crossed the roof over to Benny, who still looked nervous at the prospect of being caught cooking illegally.
"So…" Mark began to say to Benny, wondering how out of all people, it had been Benny that had introduced him to this new lifestyle.
"Crepe's almost ready!" Collins yelled.
"Is this—" Mark started again, wondering how to phrase what he was thinking. "Is this…a life?"
Benny thought for a moment before answering. "No," he answered finally.
"Ready!" called Collins.
"But it's Bohemia," Benny said, finishing his thought.
More confused then he had been before, Mark crossed the roof to go eat his crepe.
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