Disclaimer: I do not own Rent, nor do I own the Heart song at the end of the chapter.
A/N: Hello Everyone! I hope you are having just a fantastically awesome day, and if you aren't, well then that is really sad:( And it's just not cool…IT ISN'T ICE! Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed—you're all absolutely lovely! And thanks to my best bud I like to call Car Lais (CrAzYcAnAdIaNcHiCk710) for her awesome skills at beta-ing my chapters! WOOT WOOT! Ok Hope you like it like a nice juicy raspberry creamsicle. AH, I LOVE THOSE THINGS….but anyway, on with the show…
Marry Me Tonight
Chapter Three: Tumbles of Reminisces
The next day was spent by Roger lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Thoughts of April ran through his mind. His dream from the night before scared him. With her making an appearance, even if it wasn't real, just seemed to put everything into havoc. He didn't know what he was feeling, nor did he know what was happening. It seemed that the proposal from Mimi struck something inside of him, which caused April to linger in his thoughts.
At one point during the day, Roger finally got up off his bed. He went over to his dresser that contained his clothes, and opened up the third drawer from the top. Inside were a few pairs of jeans. He pulled them all out, until he found what he was looking for beneath the pairs of jeans. It was a shoebox.
He took the shoebox and sat down with it on his bed. Then, taking the top off of shoebox revealed that it was full of pictures, letters, a little black box, and few other miscellaneous items.
After taking out the pictures, he leafed through them. They were all photographs of April, April and himself, and occasional pictures of April and him with Mark and Maureen. More memories flooded through his mind.
He placed the pictures back in the box. Then, he looked through some of the random items. One was a napkin with some numbers written on them, one was a ripped piece of cloth, a crimson guitar pick, and a note that changed his life—the 'We have AIDS' note.
Reminding him of that horrifying day, he quickly put the note back into the box, underneath the other objects.
He then picked up the black box—the object most important (besides the note). Already knowing what was inside, he opened it up anyway. Inside it was a simple ring that had a silver band with a very tiny diamond in the middle of it. He found it to be so unbelievable that he was actually able to save up money to purchase it years ago.
But I guess loving someone gives you the strength to do the seemingly impossible.
And loving April had given Roger that strength.
A few years ago, he thought that April had been the one for him. The one he loved and cared for. The one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
So, he managed to get a few gigs and get some extra cash to buy April an engagement ring. He made the decision to propose.
But things didn't go as planned.
In fact, things went on a turn for the worse.
It took him awhile to gain the courage and confidence to propose. Finally, after two and a half months of having the ring, he finally decided to actually propose.
Two nights before the planned proposal, April committed suicide--only leaving a note to announce the arrival of a disease.
The world came tumbling down on top of Roger. Not only did he have a disease that he would have to deal with the rest of his life, along with the possibility of even taking his life away, his girlfriend that he desired to marry took away her own life before the disease could do it for her.
She was gone, and left Roger heartbroken. Nothing else had ever caused him to endure as much pain as this did.
He thought he had lost his love forever…
!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i
Leaving the box of memories on the bed, he left his room to go to the kitchen. He walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a box of stale frosted flakes.
He put some of the cereal in a bowl and poured in some almost spoiled milk-not the best breakfast to have in the morning, but it was how Mark and him got by.
Taking his cereal with him, he sat down at the table, staring out the window. As he sloshed his cereal around with his spoon with a thoughtful look upon his face, he soon thought of something he had to do.
He never even ate any of his cereal, but he abruptly got up from the table and rushed back to his room.
Quickly changing his clothes and putting on a pair of shoes, he then exited the loft after grabbing his leather jacket, leaving the uneaten cereal behind.
!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i
Currently, Roger was a few blocks away from the loft, walking along the sidewalk in the cool, crisp air. With a determined look on his face, he continuously would look around him, showing that he was looking for a certain place.
Most of Roger's mind was full of determination, there was however in the back of his mind a thought about the things Roger had taken out that morning that had to do with April. The shoebox of those various items was the reason for his little escapade this afternoon.
But those weren't the only things occupying his mind at the moment. There was a little piece of him wondering about Mimi.
A twinge of guilt rattled through him as he thought of her. Here he was, doing something because of April, when he had just broken Mimi's heart the day before. What kind of man does that? Already thinking about some other girl just a…
WHAM!
During Roger's wonderings, he had forgotten for just a moment when he was going and accidentally ran into a lamp post.
He stumbled backward a bit, fore he was dizzy, and he instantly put his hand on his forehead where the pain was surging.
Slowly recovering from the crash into a lamp post, he looked in front of him and saw the place he was looking for.
A sign above the place read "Rosa's Bar".
It was the place where he met April….
With bewildered eyes, he stared at it as if he were shocked the place was still there. He hadn't been there is so long. The last time he was there was the night of him and April's third date, which seemed like ages ago.
Taking in a deep breath, he slowly strode up to the doors, pulled one open and walked right.
He noticed that barely anything had changed. The place was dark and had the odor of cigarette smoke. The walls were still covered with pictures and posters of rock and roll bands throughout the decades, and the tables and chairs were the same, just maybe placed in a different location than he recalled.
There was barely anybody in there. Well, considering it was only about 3 o'clock, I guess you would kind of figure no one would be in there. The only person he saw was the bartender, who was wiping down the bar probably preparing for the evening crowd.
Roger went over to one of the tables and sat down, as the memories continued to fall. He looked up over at the small stage and thought back to a certain special night…
Roger, the aspiring singer, was performing on the small stage at Rosa's Bar to a fairly large crowd. While playing his guitar, he sang a simple song that he wrote. As he sang the song he couldn't help but notice a girl with brown eyes and short wavy, red hair that sat near the front. She was gazing at him the whole time he performed.
As soon as his set was finished, he went off the stage and packed up his guitar. He then went to where the crowd was and once again saw the red haired girl. She intrigued him so.
He debated if he should go and say something to her…or something. But if he went up to her, what would he say? What would he do?
But the girl noticed him and waved her hand towards him, signaling for him to come over to her. Thinking that he shouldn't be rude to her, he felt that he had no choice but to go over to her.
When he finally reached her, she immediately exclaimed a 'hey'. Roger exchanged the same greeting.
"So…" the girl began to say, "You were pretty freaking awesome up there."
"Well…thank you." Roger awkwardly said—he wasn't really sure of how to respond.
"They said your name was Roger Davis, right?" She asked—'they' referring to the employees who would announce who was playing during the show.
"Yeah…what's your name?"
"April Ericcson."
"Well…it's really nice to meet you…"Roger once again, awkwardly replied.
"Ok, let's just cut to the chase here. We obviously have felt some sort of attraction towards one another. So I'm going to give you my number and you're going to give me a call sometime, and then we're going to go out together. Sound good to you?" April rapidly said, as she went to pull a napkin from the napkin dispenser on the table. She then looked up at him waiting for his response.
"Um…ok…sure…" Roger said.
"Good." April took out a pen and quickly wrote down her phone number on the napkin. She handed him the napkin. "Oh! And just so you won't forget about me…" She turned to her left shoulder and ripped off a piece of her (cheaply made) t-shirt. Then she pulled Roger's guitar case towards her. (Roger still holding it) and tied the piece of cloth around the guitar case handle. "There! Now when you see that, you will remember our plan about you calling me."
"Ok then…" Roger was slightly weirded out by the situation yet he felt a little happy about it too. "I better get going now…"
"Well, I'll be talking to you later!"
"Bye."
"See ya."
And with that, Roger left the bar with a satisfied smile on his face.
And that was how their relationship began.
Cause there's the girl that you were after
Feel your heart beating faster now
There's the girl that you were after
And all the time you can't get past her
There's the girl that you were after
Broken glass, complete disaster
There's the girl that you were after
Can you say that you don't want her anymore
-"There's The Girl" by Heart
A/N: Ok my peeps! (Yes you are those wonderful little marshmallow-y things that are in the shape of chicks and bunnies!) Let me know what you thought in a review because that would just be uber cool! Have a splendid Easter—If you don't celebrate it, then have a splendid Spring!!!
-Lady Blue
