Roger awoke suddenly, and shivered. It was so cold. What's missing here
Mimi!
Roger looked down next to him, and the space was empty. He sprang up to his feet and looked around her loft, looking for her. He walked into her kitchen, "MIMI?" he called.
He looked at the table and there was a note there:
Dear Roger,
I had to go to Work; sorry I didn't wake you up and tell you. If you want to go out for Lunch later (that is if you do go out), meet me by the Cat scratch club. You know the place. I hope I didn't scare you too much!
Love,
Mimi
Roger sighed, he wished she told her she was leaving, but at least she wasn't hurt or anything. Roger walked to the living room and cleaned up the mess.
When he left the room was almost clean, with the exception of some popcorn on the floor. He needed his guitar. He ran down the stairs, to his loft underneath Mimi's, and grabbed his guitar. He needed a song.
"I'm writing one great song… before I" Roger began singing.
Roger muttered under his breath, "Well that was depressing"
Roger played a few chords on the guitar. It needed serious tuning. He played with the strings a bit and started humming a few notes to himself.
Mark walked in the door then and saw Roger very concentrated on his guitar. He knew better, then to go on talking but he was to curious, "Dude, where were you last night?"
"At Mimi's loft downstairs, did I scare you?" Roger asked, a mischievous grin appeared on his face.
Mark was puzzled, "Whoa, are you and Mimi a "thing" now?"
"No. We are just friends, you know that."
"Mhhm," Mark wasn't sure; he noticed Roger started looking at Mimi differently recently. He wouldn't tell Roger that, because quite clearly, Roger could beat Mark up in a second.
"I'm serious Mark, nothing going on," Roger pushed on.
"Well then, where did you sleep?"
"On the couch…" Roger began.
"Where was Mimi?" Mark questioned.
"On a couch"
"Which couch?"
"The couch I was on," Roger looked down at his guitar and tried hard not to blush.
Mark looked at Roger with insanity, "And you, want ME TO BELIEVE, that absolutely NOTHING is going on, between you and Mimi?!"
"Yes, you should, because we both know, I don't like Mimi, she has been my best friend since I was a little kid. I know her more than anyone else she's is like a sister to me."
"Maybe this sister thing won't work out anymore…" Mark muttered so Roger couldn't hear him.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing," Mark muttered quickly pretending to be intrigued by a piece of thread on the bottom of his shirt.
Roger let it go. He didn't want to hear what Mark would say to him.
Mark looked at Roger and wondered, yes Roger and Mimi have been friends forever but… that can change fast... Maybe Mimi doesn't feel the same way as Roger. But I know for a fact that Roger has some interest in Mimi. I know Roger if he didn't he wouldn't care about bothering me at night. He wouldn't care if he scared me half to death.
Roger was still fixing his guitar, trying to let the whole conversation die.
"You going over to Mimi's later?" mark asked.
"No, I might meet her by the cat scratch club after her shift though," Roger replied and shrugged like it was nothing.
"Oh my god, man!"
"What?"
Mark breathed, unsure if Roger was serious, "You are actually... getting out of the house?!"
"Yeah it's about time I need to see the lights of day; I've been dying to get out actually"
Mark knew this wasn't true prior to their conversation 2 days ago:
"Hey want to go to the Life Café?" Mark asked
"No its okay I'm going to stay here with my guitar."
"Come on, you haven't been out in ages, you need some air."
"I'm fine, go. Have fun," Roger smiled.
Mark shook his head from that memory.
"Mimi is going to do wonders on you," Mark said putting on his shoes and his coat ready to take a run for it.
But strangely, Roger didn't question Mark, or run after him he just whispered, "Yeah she probably is."
* ********
Mark roamed the streets of the city, camera in hand, walking nowhere in particular. He found himself walking towards the Cat Scratch club. He walked into the building and saw Mimi on the stage, wearing nothing but leather and lace.
She was dancing on the stage bringing up men to dance with her. She rode down the poles, something she was used to doing. Everyone was shoving money at her. Everyone wanted her at the moment. Mark thought, Roger has got some competition…
Mimi looked at the back of the room and saw Mark there. She stopped midway of sliding down the pole again and smiled at Mark. Mark smiled and waved back at her. Mark walked out of the room and got a coffee 2 doors down.
"Can I have a Hazelnut coffee, with milk and sugar? Thanks." Mark asked the cashier.
"Sure that would be 1 dollar and 80 cents," the cashier told him.
Mark looked at his wallet, he had 5 dollars, "Okay how bout I give you a dollar and I get you a dance with the lady in the cat scratch club?"
The cashier looked at him, "You got a deal man"
He gave him Mark's coffee, and Mark brought him to the club. When they got in the place was crowded, so they both made there way past the crowd.
"MIMI!" Mark shouted above all the noise.
Mimi stopped and looked around, she saw Mark standing there waving his hands at her, with a handsome young man next to him.
"Hey Mark, what can I do for you guys today?"
"I promised my buddy here that he could come here and ermm… have a dance? With you? If you can put it that way," Mark smiled.
Mimi laughed, "Sure," She said knelt down and whispered in Marks ear, "You couldn't pay again?"
Mark smiled, "You know me so well!"
Mimi smiled down at him, "You young man, what's your name?"
"Brian," He smiled.
"Hi Brian let's have some fun!"
Brian hopped on the stage and Mark waved goodbye to Mimi and Brian.
* ********
Roger looked in the mirror again for the 23rd time.
"Come on Roger I can do this. I'm just going out to meet a friend, just a friend I've known for years. Just pick an outfit and LEAVE!"
Roger sighed, "I'm going insane… I'm talking to myself!"
Roger looked in the mirror one last time, "Whatever this has to do"
He took a few steps towards the door and took one look around the room.
Roger breathed and walked outside.