As they entered the Life, they both let out a sigh of relief to be out of the cold. It was more crouded then it should be at midnight. There was a teenage couple, unable to control thier hormones; there was also a large group of people in thier late thirties at the bar, singing drunkedly to an ancient song blairing from the radio. There were also a few people spread here and there, reading or drinking.

Both Katie and Mark seemed to have a reason to keep out of site of the host.

"And where do you two think your going?" questioned the host upon seeing thier failed attempted of sneeking past him.

"We were hoping to get a seat." Mark answered guiltily.

"I'm sorry, but were full tonight." said the host as he motioned towards the half-empty cafe.

"Awww, come on, Teddy. Thats B.S."

"Your name is Teddy?" blurted out Mark. No matter how much trouble this man caused him, he realized, he had never bothered to find out his name.

"It's Theodore, and I'm sorry Katie, but there's just nothing I can do about it."

"Thats bull Teddy, just let us sit at that table." Katie motioned to a small table in the corner.

"Wait, you two are here together?" Teddy said, looking Mark up and down disapprovingly, as he had done numerous times before.

"Yes, now just let us sit over there."

"Fine." Keeping a weary eye on Mark, Teddy walked them over to the corner table.

"How do you know him?" Mark questioned as soon as he had walked away.

"I don't know. We're, like, extremely distant cousins or something." Katie said, sitting back.

"So," Mark started, remembering that he had invited a total stranger to sit with him, "do you come here often?"

"Not as much as I'd like, but enough. What about you?" Katie asked, watching him keenly.

"At least once a month. I only live a few blocks down." Mark answered, pointing in the general direction of the loft. The loft... had either of them noticed he's gone? What would they do once they noticed that he's not thier to pull them apart when he failed at keeping them from fist-fighting?

Katie seemed to be able to read his mind, as her next question was about how he had gotten kicked out of his own place.

"Well, my roomies started to fight. Normaly I try to keep them from killing each other, but I figured they could work it out themselves. Plus, I was starting to get a headache." He answered sheepishly. "What about you?"

"Ah," she said, leaning forward with an embarrassed smile, "Well, my friends went to a club and they called and said that I have two choices: stay and listen to them with thier 'hot guys', or I could leave. I chose the former."

"Good choice."

"Thank you." she smiled at the stranger's approval. "Uhh, what do you do?"

"Ohh, I'm a filmmaker." Mark noticed for the first time tonight that he didn't grab his camera when he ran out the door. He felt kind of naked. "And I kinda work for buzzline." His voice was full of shame as he finished up the last part.

"I'm going to assume you don't like to work for Buzzline." She held a wry smile.

"Good assumption. So where do you work?" As he had finished the question, two people, probably in thier early forties, stormed towards the teenagers. They seemed to belong to the girl, because the mother started to yell at her in spanish. The muscler father was standing silently, glaring at the cowering boy. Mark was amazed at what the mother was saying to her daughter. From the little spanish he knew, taught to him by Mimi, he could tell she was calling her daughter things that shouldn't be repeated.

"Wow." Katie commented after the teenagers were draggged out.

"Yeah." Mark agreed.

"Parents."

"Hate 'em."

"Hate 'em." They both said this at the same moment, resulting in a chukle.

"Why do you hate your parents?" Katie asked innocently.

"I don't know, it's just one of those kind of relationships. Plus, whenever I visit them, they always go on about how I'm not going anywhere with my life, how I never celebrate the Jewish holidays properly, how I'm not married yet. The usual." This caused a small chuckle from Katie. "You?"

"My dad died when I was 10 and my mom got all depressed and stuff and...it was just hard." Katie almost forgot that she'd just met this guy about a half hour ago; Most of her friends didn't even know the full extent of her 'childhood'.

"Wow, I'm sorry." Mark hated his parents, but he'd never wanted them to die.

"It's okay. Uhh," Katie searched for words to stop the oncoming silence. "Did you always live here?"

"No. This was my escape from my parents. I used to live in Scarsdale."

"Oh. Same here. The escape part, not the Scarsdale part. So, uhhhh, what're you're roomates like?'' Katie asked dumbly.

"Well, Collins is a philosopher. He's really smart and he used to be a teacher but he quit because... he wanted to move back." Mark felt bad for lying, but then again he had just met this girl a little less then an hour ago. "And Roger is an aspiring musician." He finished with a touch of pride.

"Hmmm. Would this be the Roger Davis from the old band 'The Well Hungarians'?"

"Yeah, have you seen him?''

"Only a few times, but he was awesome! Too bad he stopped singing. The guy that replaced him sucked! It was like listening to some twelve year old going through puberty!" Both of them laughed at this for a minute.

"I hate to interupt, but, may I take your order?" a waiter asked, both tiredly and sarcasticly.

"Tea, please." Mark replied, almost automatically.

"Just a glass of water, please." After a quick scribble, the waiter walked towards the back of the restaurant.

"So what about your roomies?"

"Ohh, umm, well I've been friends with Jess since third grade, and I met Kailey in sixth. Both of them waitress at a diner on the other side of town. Plus they go clubbing like every other night and end up bringing someone home half the time."

"So what do you do when you get kicked out?"

"Normaly I just wander aimlessly for a while, until I get too tired, then I go back and hope that they're done."

"Wait, you wander the streets of Alphabet City after midnight? Did you ever get mugged?"

''Yes, and no one could mug me if they tried." It came out more arrogant than katie meant it so she covered it up with an embarrassed smile. "Wow, that sounded cocky."

"Oh great queen of not-getting-mugged, please tell me your secrets." Mark bowed forward to emphasize his joke.

"Well, first, if you hear someone following you, act crazy. Like start yelling at yourself or yell random words to the sky, like 'swashbuckling' or 'skytzofranic'. If that doesn't work, kick him in the shins and run." Both of them laughed.

"Does that actually work?" Mark laughed.

"Most of the time."

"What about the rest of the time?"

"Well, I don't mean to tute my own horn, but I could totally take on anyone." She finished this by making mock muscles. Thier laughter was interupted by the arrival of the drinks. For the next two hours, both of them talked about the most random thoughts that crossed thier minds. From the meaning of life to why the person a few tables away was talking to himself, and everything in between. The conversation came to an abrupt halt when Theodore interupted them.

"As much as I'd hate to break up this little happy hour of yours, we're closing and I'd like to go home now." His mouth was shaped like a smile, but his voice was telling them otherwise.

"If you insist." Katie yawned sarcasticly. She glanced at a clock in the corner. "Wow, it's three A.M. already?"

"Wow" The money was laid on the table and they both headed out the door, after Katie bid good night to her distant cousin. He grumbled something in response.

"So, I guess I'll see you around?" Katie wasn't sure how to end this. He'd only met this guy a couple of hours ago. What if this guy was a dirtbag? In her head, she knew he wasn't. She was kind of hoping he'd ask for her number, so she wouldn't seem desperate or anything.

"Uhh, yeah." He answered akwardly. Ask her for her number!! Is what Roger and Collins would both say if they were here. This was going to need a wave of confidence. Actualy, more like a tsunami of confidence. "Uhh, you maybe wanna get together again?" He questioned, insecurely.

"Yeah, sure." They paused for a moment. "Ohh, you probably want my number right? I don't have any paper or anything, so..." She quickly gave him her number and he repeated it inside his head.

"Uhh, so, yeah. Just, uhh, call me tomorrow. Trust me, I have no other plans." She ended in a mock serious tone that received a chuckle from Mark.

"Okay, see ya."

"Toodles."


As Mark walked into the loft, he didn't notice the absolute silence or complete darkness that would normaly freak him out. He did, however, notice the movement coming from the couch, bringing him out of his 'I just asked out a girl for the first time in like two years' haze.

"Listen, Mark, we're really sorry for that." Came Rogers apologetic voice.

"Yeah, man." Collins low voice chimed in. He paused for a moment. "Where have you been all this time anyways?"

"I was at the Life. I'm going to bed." He knew he should've sounded mad, but he couldn't hide the happiness. He walked into his room and quietly shut the door before either of them could make a guess of why he was so happy. Roger looked from the closed door to the philosopher, hoping for some answers.

"Aw, man. He met a girl." Collins chuckled out.


When Katie walked into her apartment, no lights were on. Except the light of the TV flickering. Both Jessie and Kailey were on couchs staring tiredly and content at the TV.

"Hey." They greeted Katie at the same time.

"Hey," She greeted them, distractedly. "Uhh, remind me to be mad and moody at you tomorrow. Mmmkay?" She said as she walked backwards into her room, smiling.

Both Kailey and Jess exchanged glances and sprung up.

"Oh my gosh! Who is he?"

"What does he look like?"

"Is he hot?"

"Katie!" Katie walked through her door, now in her pajamas (a white tank top with a pair of thin blue plaid pants), smiling in an excited/flirty way. She hasn't had a girl-talk (about guys) in a long time. Sure those two had had guys, but they never lasted long, so Katie never bothered to get to know them. All of them sat down in the living room, on the floor, in a circle. This was going to be a long, fun night.

Okay!! Third chapter finally done!!!

REVIEW!!!!!!--cause I'm not sure about this...

Also, the host was never really given a name (I think :-\), so I just made one up thats kinda easy to make fun of...;-)