Mark and Maureen lied in their bed in Mark's room, their backs facing each other as Maureen slept on one side of the bed, farthest away from Mark that she could be, and Mark lied awake on the other side of the bed.
Mark thought about what Maureen had said to him, and then suddenly, he felt the bed shift and Maureen was closer to him, her arm draped over his small waist.
Mark noticed a little writing in blue pen on Maureen's arm, and looked at a number written down on his girlfriend's arm. He quickly picked up a pen and paper from on his nightstand and wrote the number down, then shoving the paper in his drawer and slamming it shut, causing Maureen to bolt awake.
Maureen sat up, rubbing her eyes. " What the hell, Mark?"
" Oh, sorry, you forgot to erase the number that you probably got from someone while you were flirting with them today," Mark said harshly, moving away from Maureen.
Maureen looked down at Joanne's number that was written on her arm. She had taken a shower, but apparently didn't scrub Joanne's number off hard enough.
" What are you now, my doctor to be checking my body?" Maureen asked.
" No, I'm your boyfriend, and you got closer to me, so I saw the number," Mark said.
" So, what'd you do next, call the number and tell the person you were gonna kill them because their number was on my arm?" Maureen taunted.
" Whatever, it was probably that girl that you apparently fell in love with's number," Mark said, and lied on his side, his back facing Maureen.
Maureen inhaled sharply, and grabbed her blanket and pillow, and stood up. " Fuck off, Mark. And you know what, maybe you shouldn't be my boyfriend."
With that, Maureen walked out of the room, and slept on the couch for the rest of the night.
Maureen and Mark didn't talk for the whole rest of the week, and Maureen was getting ready for her date with Joanne on Sunday. She had called her when everyone was out doing something, and they arranged the date.
Maureen was wearing a skintight, blue, sleeveless dress, with most of her straightened hair flipped to one side, bright red lipstick, and beige heels.
Maureen wanted to impress this girl. She looked at herself in the mirror, deciding she looked good, and grabbed her wallet. She had made sure she left some money to pay for this fancy restaurant Maureen's parents had suggested because she said she was going on a date night with Mark.
Maureen left the loft, and just as she began going down the stairs, she met with Roger and Collins coming up.
" Hot damn, Mo," Collins said, and wolf-whistled playfully, making Maureen blush.
Roger couldn't help but stare at Maureen. " You are a… goddess."
" Aw, thanks, Rog," Maureen said, and kissed Roger's cheek.
" Ooh, your friend has come out to play," Collins said, pointing down at Roger's pants.
" Ew, Roger, get outta' here!" Maureen said, slapping Roger's shoulder as he ran past her, covering his pants.
" I'm sorry, but you just… look so beautiful!" Roger exclaimed, and then ran inside. Maureen shook her head with a smirk, turning back to Collins.
Collins began holding his pants too.
" You too? I thought you were gay, Col!" Maureen exclaimed, hitting Collins's head.
" No, I just have to pee," Collins said, and Maureen nodded. " Did you and Mark make up?"
" N— yes, we did. And I'm gonna meet him at a restaurant," Maureen lied.
" Oh, he said he was gonna go film," Collins said.
" Uh, yeah, I'm gonna meet him there when he's done," Maureen lied again.
" Oh, okay. Have a nice date. See you later," Collins said, and Maureen kissed his cheek, and left off. She took a taxi to the restaurant, seeing how she was already a little late, and didn't realize she was using money she needed to pay the bill at the restaurant.
Maureen rushed over to the table where Joanne sat, pulling her dress down slightly as she approached her.
Joanne stood up, and Maureen quickly hugged her, and sat down.
" You look… stunning," Joanne said, obviously quite speechless.
" Thank you, you look beautiful as well," Maureen said. " Sorry I was late, I met my friends on the way out, and they kind of kept me behind."
" No, it's fine, you weren't late," Joanne said.
" Do you know what you want?" Maureen asked.
" Um, yeah, the Parmesan fettuccine with chicken," Joanne replied, and Maureen smiled.
" I was gonna say the same thing," Maureen said, and Joanne smiled in return.
" Your smile is beautiful," Joanne complimented.
" You're beautiful!" Maureen replied, and Joanne giggled.
" Aw, thanks," she said, her cheeks a dark red.
" No for real, I was talking to my friends about you, and I told them that you belonged on the cover of a Vogue magazine," Maureen said happily.
Joanne giggled some more, making Maureen smile. " You're so nice."
" Well, I can tell you one place where I'm naughty," Maureen said, and leaned in a little so she could whisper and Joanne would hear. " In bed."
Maureen pulled back, and Joanne giggled again.
" You giggle a lot," Maureen said with a smirk.
Joanne stopped giggling. " Sorry."
" No, no, no, it's fine. It's so adorable," Maureen assured Joanne.
Joanne smiled. " Why are you so nice to me?"
" Because you gave me five hundred dollars so me and my friends could eat, and that is by far, the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me," Maureen said. " So thank you for that."
" Of course, it was a pleasure helping," Joanne said, and Maureen smirked at her.
The two girls had an amazing rest of their nights, and began getting ready to leave at eleven. When the bill came and it read a hundred and nineteen dollars, Maureen muttered, "damn."
" I can pay if you want, it's okay," Joanne said.
" No, no, I asked you out, so I have to pay. You don't," Maureen said, looking through her purse. She had brought 130 dollars, but seeing how she wasted twenty dollars on a cab ride to the restaurant, she only had 110 dollars.
Maureen grunted, and kept looking through her purse. " Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Maureen whispered.
" Maureen, it's okay, I can—"
" No, I pay!"
" Are you sure?"
There was a silence.
" Okay, I only need ten dollars," Maureen said quietly, ashamed that she couldn't even pay for a dinner.
" Okay, that's okay," Joanne said, and took out ten dollars from her purse, adding it to the bill.
" Thank you… goddammit, I can't even pay for dinner! Why are you here? I'm poor, and look at you, you're a-a successful, rich lawyer who carries around five hundred dollars in her purse," Maureen said, putting her head in her hands.
" Hey…" Joanne said quietly, grabbing Maureen's chin gently and turning it upwards so they were looking at each other.
" You're not poor, and just because you couldn't pay for an extremely expensive dinner, doesn't mean you're not a good person, or for that matter, it doesn't mean I didn't have a great time with you. Because I did. I had an amazing time actually, and it was all because you were here with me," Joanne said.
Maureen smiled.
Joanne bought a bottle of wine, and they got on the train, drinking the whole ride from the same bottle. By the time they got to Maureen's stop, they were both tipsy and buzzed, and being silly.
Their laughs as they walked down the street of the East Village were loud, but happy, and genuine. They got to Maureen's building, and Maureen stopped them in front of it.
" I've had an amazing night," Maureen said with a smirk.
" Me too, hottie," Joanne said, and Maureen giggled. " How 'bout a second date?"
" Hell yeah!" Maureen yelled.
Joanne began laughing, and then so did Maureen, and they were both laughing like idiots aloud on the sidewalk. Joanne stopped laughing, trying to catch their breath, and Maureen soon controlled herself.
They stared at each other, their smiles fading away and instead turning to serious faces as they focused on each other's eyes.
Maureen rested a hand on Joanne's jawline, and brushed their lips. " Can I kiss you?"
" Why did you even ask?" Joanne inquired, glancing at Maureen's lip.
" Because I don't know if you're super turned on like me right now and wanna kiss me," Maureen said. " Yeah, I've had experience in kissing someone, because they were leading me on, and they didn't actually wanna kiss me, but we were basically eye fuc—"
Maureen was cut off by Joanne crashing their lips into each other's, pulling Maureen closer slightly roughly by the waist.
Maureen moaned into the kiss, and wrapped her arms around Joanne's neck, slightly getting on her tippy toes to be the exact height of Joanne. Maureen moaned again, but louder, when Joanne added her tongue to the kiss, and bit on Maureen's bottom lip playfully.
Joanne pulled away. " You're so hot," Joanne said, and connected their lips again, grabbing Maureen's waist more roughly and pulling her closer so their bodies were touching, and they were extremely close.
" You too," Maureen muttered, holding the back of Joanne' s head as she trailed soft, gentle kisses down her neck. Her eyes fluttered closed out of the warmth and pleasure she was feeling inside due to Joanne's lips being attached to her skin.
Joanne pulled away after a little panting heavily. " That was sexy."
" You're sexy," Maureen smiled, and bit her bottom lip. Joanne smirked, and planted a short but sweet kiss on Maureen's lips.
" Thank you, so are you," Joanne said. " Call me?"
Maureen nodded.
" Bye," Joanne said flirtatiously, and pecked Maureen on the lips, and Maureen pulled her back for another elongated, passionate kiss.
" B-bye," Maureen said, and smiled at Joanne, and went inside the building, not knowing that The Man was watching them the whole time.