"Well, I'm happy that you're sorry, and I'm happy you're back," he said shortly.

Her face twisted in disbelief. "Oh, yeah right. Be honest, Mark. Lying and sarcasm were left behind in middle school," she uttered angrily

"You want me to be honest?! Right now I hate you! I wish you never came into Roger's life! Why? It's because of you that my best friend is dying!" Mark shouted. He pulled off his glasses and began to rub his sleepless eyes.

Mimi stopped short. "D-dying? What? How?"

"Yes, he's dying. His body can't take it anymore or something, I really don't know. He wouldn't sleep, he wouldn't eat, I had to shove the AZT at him to remind him. All because you needed to get your head together. It was fine if you needed a break from us. But you could have called," Mark answered sharply.

"I know I could have. I know I should have. If I did, I would have had to listen to you guys telling me 'You're fine, come home' or 'There's nothing wrong with you'. Am I right?" Mimi questioned.

Mark didn't say anything, knowing she was right. He turned in the chair slightly.

"How is everyone else?" Mimi asked softly.

"Oh, you'll enjoy this. Collins, he's dying. When he found out that his time was almost up, he emptied an ATM and decided to travel the country. And Maureen and Joanne gave up on trying to help, saying that they couldn't take the depression anymore. They moved to the country 2 months ago, hoping to have a child. So, while Roger went to ends of the earth for you, who didn't need him to, I was alone," Mark mumbled before dropping his head.

Mimi turned her head, trying not to look at Mark. He looked like a small child sitting in that chair. Vulnerable, alone, needing someone to hold him. It was then Mimi realized that Mark often looked like this. If he didn't look like this, his personality or tone said it. He always felt like he was alone in the world.

"I should have made myself prepared for this ever since he found out…" Mark trailed off, not bothering to lift his head.

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked quietly.

"I was going to end up alone. I should have known this. But yet, I held on to this piece of hope, thinking that maybe, just maybe he would last longer than this. Longer than most people did. I was stupid for thinking that," Mark spat scornfully.

"Mark, you weren't stupid, you were wishful. It's not wrong to hope that your best friend will live a long life. If it was you that was sick, would you want Roger to give up all hope on you living? No. It'd make you feel terrible, along with making him feel that way," Mimi explained.

Mark lifted his head, and gazed at her, for the first time…

Without hatred.

Without resentment.

Without anger.

She gave him a slight smile. He returned it.

"You sounded just like her right there. It's almost scary…" Mark stated.

"Who?" Mimi asked, but she could already figure out the answer.

"April."

"Oh. Did you know her well? I mean, were Roger and you this close then?" Mimi questioned.

Mark began to look a little awkward. He began to look at his hands, almost as if they were the most interesting things in the world.

"Well, you see, Roger and I had known each other since college. We were roommates there, and, well, we decided it would just be easier if we just decided to tough it through real life together. We could stand each other, why not stay together than live with people we hated or not end up living anywhere at all? So we found that apartment. And we remained in our separate corners. We saw each other almost every day. We would say 'Hi' and wave, but that was it. We both kept to ourselves.

"I remember the night they came in the door. They were all over each other. They went straight to his bedroom. From what I could see, she was beautiful. Anyway, they seemed like they were exactly the same; they liked the same music, food, from what I heard they would complete each others sentences and they were both addicted to heroin. But she had it worse. I wasn't that involved then, but he could go a little under a day without it before he starting getting shaky. She could only go about 6 hours," Mark paused, and seemed as if he was reminiscing.

"There was this one night that she and I were there, and Roger was running late or something, I can't remember. I was sitting on the window ledge and she on the couch. She then walked over and sat down next to me. I had never spoken to her before, so I was kind of shocked. She started babbling, almost incoherently. I just sat there, dumbfounded. It then just kind of hit me, and I know this may sound crazy, but she was coming onto me. One thing led to another, and the next thing I can remember is being on the couch with her on top of me."

"You slept with April?" Mimi gasped, her eyes round.

Mark shook his head. "We never got that far. We heard Roger coming up the stairs. Once we heard it, she jumped off and went to complete different side of the room. Roger never found out," Mark answered.

"I can't believe you did that," Mimi stated simply.

"Why?" Mark asked.

"It just doesn't seem like a 'Mark' thing to do," she answered, shaking her head. As she said this, she felt a growing fondness for him.

"Well, what would a 'Mark' thing be?" he question, almost grinning.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Something that has to do with your witty charm…" she replied with a raise of her eyebrows.

He finally smiled fully.

"So, how did you and Roger ever become close?" Mimi said crossing her legs.

His smile quickly dropped off his face. "Actually, the next morning, I was woken up by him screaming. April had stayed the night. When Roger saw she wasn't in bed, he checked the bathroom. She was in there, wrists slit, with a note saying 'We Have AIDS'. When I ran in, he was on his hands and knees sobbing. All I could was comfort him. To him at that point, it meant the world.

"I took care of the police stuff and everything, because I figured he'd want to be alone. But he said he couldn't be alone. So we sat with each other in silence. I tried to distract him from the note she left. It didn't work. The next day, he walked out of his bedroom and collapsed. Something happened with his immune system, and they diagnosed him in the early stage of AIDS. I was so scared that I got myself tested," Mark admitted.

"That's the story behind you and Roger? You became close after April's death and Roger's diagnosis?" Mimi asked.

"Well, yeah. What did you want us to do? Skip around in the land of Oz?" Mark asked.

Mimi smiled and shook her head. "No, it just seems strange that just so powerful a friendship was built over such sad things," she answered.

"He needed me. I was the only one he had left. And I wasn't going to leave him alone, just like I'm not going to now," Mark defended.