"Okay, seriously, Lisa. Where the hell are we going?" Mark asked as the two left Alphabet city. Lisa was bubbling with excitement, and Mark could tell this was the thing she had been waiting to do all day. Lisa was barely able to contain her excitement, because she was practically skipping beside him.
"You'll see boys." Lisa sang, twirling quickly before facing the right way again.
"How'd you know about that?" Mark asked curiously, suddenly remembering the Christmas of '89. When Collins met his Angel, when Mimi lured Roger out of the house, and when Maureen was bursting with life during her protest and dating Joanne. Life was good that night. That night was full of magic and love and…bohemia. Despite the fact that there was no heat, no electricity, and barely any food and AZT left, they all had fun and celebrated being alive that night.
To people living with, living with, living with—NOT DYING FROM DISEASE! Mark realized now how true and how amazing that line actually was.
"Benny and I do talk you know. Ever since he came over when we were all eating supper, we`ve actually had lunch like, 2 times. " Lisa said.
"Really? Why?" Mark asked, sort of shocked. Despite the fact that Benny was kind of a changed man ever since Mark went missing, he never expected that Benny would actually take time to get to know Lisa, Mark and Roger's new friend.
"Because, he wanted to know more about you guys while he was gone and I wanted to know more about your guys' pasts. That and we tend to cross paths sometimes during lunch since the woman I clean for is in his building. And I kind of wanted to see if he was the yuppie scum that Roger described him to be." Lisa shrugged.
"Roger called him yuppie scum. Roger..." Mark sighed, shaking his head.
"Not now, of course. I mean, Roger was describing how he used to think of him." Lisa said, and Mark had to believe it.
"...I wish I brought my camera." Mark sighed, looking around and saw some shots he'd die for right now. Sadly, Lisa and Roger planned something behind his back, and had hidden the camera. Before he fell asleep it was on his bedside table, but when he woke up it was gone and Roger refused to tell him where it was. Lisa wouldn't tell him either, no matter how much he bribed.
And believe me, he bribed a lot.
She told Mark that he could survive without it for a day, but what she didn't know was he was going to complain about it all day. "You're not getting it back 'til tomorrow morning. Sorry Pooh." Lisa answered, smirking and not looking sorry at all. Mark rolled his eyes, and did the only thing he could think of to get back at her.
"So, are you sure that you still insist on keeping this place a secret from me?" Mark asked, looking around him. Instead of broken down buildings and litter on the ground, there was fancy restaurants and stores, and people of every type from middle and upper class walked around here. Mark knew he didn't belong in this crowd, in this part of town.
"Can't tell you. It's a surprise." Lisa said with a groan but also with a grin, something Mark never knew someone could do at the same time.
"But—"Mark started.
"No! Now we're almost there, so untie your panties alright?" Lisa asked with a naughty grin. Mark sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Liz, we don't belong up here. This is where fancy shmancy people live and shop. Not us. We're people who're one or two steps away from being homeless—at least, Rog and I are—so, how is there anything up here that could be my surprise? And yeah, you make money, but unless you save for a very long time, you couldn't really by anything up here." Mark said, dodging someone who seemed like he was running.
"Who says? We're all human, so we shouldn't be defined by our race, or gender, or in this case, money. We should be defined by our personalities, our hearts, instead of by the stuff this world gave us, like money or materials or our religion." Lisa ranted, sounding more like Collins than ever. Mark knew she was just trying to distract him, but he took the bait anyway.
"But you see Lisa; only in a perfect world would that happen. As long as there are still human faults, we'll be defined by them. Even if they aren't faults, we'll still be judged, even though we shouldn't be. And don't think I don't know what you're doing." Mark fought.
"I'm doing nothing! And yes, we definitely shouldn't be. It's so petty. I mean, for someone to be so close-minded to hate others because of something they can or cannot change is cruel. That's why it's so hard to be true to you in this day and age. Judgement and war will kill us all." Lisa said with a sigh.
"And AIDS." Mark whispered, and instantly hoped that Lisa hadn't heard him. No such luck.
She grabbed his arm and stopped him where he was, and turned him around to face her. "Marcus Anthony Cohen, do not talk like that! Just because you have a disease doesn't mean you have to let it consume you." Lisa hissed angrily. He could tell by the fire in her eyes that she was pissed because of the comment he made that she wasn't supposed to hear. He had to agree with her, or his whole birthday could be ruined.
"Alright, alright I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by my comment." Mark whispered, grabbing her forearm and rubbing it soothingly.
Lisa sighed, and grasped onto Mark's rubbing hand. "Sorry." She murmured guiltily. He could tell this was deeper than her just freaking out over Mark's comment.
"This about Jacob?" Mark whispered, so only she could hear. She squeezed his hand gently and nodded.
In the two weeks they lived under the same roof, Mark not only learned more about her quirkiness, but also about her brother.
His name was Jacob Laveen, and he was diagnosed with HIV when he was just 3 (his mother gave it to him in the womb). Sadly, he died when he was 16. When he and his mother had a huge fight, he ran away to Lisa, who was 17 and had run away to New York City months before, wanting to help the homeless and sick. They lived together and stuck together for half a year...until the two had a fight. Jacob left shortly after, and packed up all his stuff the next day. That was the last time Lisa saw him alive. Another year later, Lisa found out that her brother died in a homeless shelter because of a cold.
"That's why I'm doing this...the whole volunteering at the free clinic. I want to make sure it never happens again. I want to save people before it's too late." Lisa explained when he asked. Mark understood completely.
"I just don't want you to be taken over by your disease. That's what Jacob did. That's what I tried to stop him from doing...but he disappeared and died anyway..." Lisa sighed, again bringing Mark back, "Anyways, how did we get so deep? From non-existent words to prejudice and disease. Jeez, we have to stop getting so deep." Lisa said, trying to laugh but failing.
Mark sighed and draped his arm on Lisa's shoulders. "Its okay hon. You'll be fine. So...Are we there yet?" Mark asked, slowly realizing that all the fancy buildings and people were replaced by more humble and modest people and apartments.
Lisa laughed slightly at Mark's words, and wiped her eyes. "No, we're not there yet Pooh. Give it a few minutes." Lisa shrugged, wrapping her arm around his waist. Mark smiled, glad to have his Lisa back. He kissed her head, and they both walked for the rest of the way in silence.
So that's it for now...The last message I give you is if you have any ideas or suggestions or anything that could make this story better, message me or review! Please, feel free to :) Ta ta for now!
-Ash
