A/N: Oh.My.God. You have no idea how happy I am about the reviews. I seriously love you guys. Thank you so much. 23 reviews and counting for a THREE chapter fic! Like you have no idea how awesome this is! LMAO. I'm so happy for such positive feedback. Thank you so much!!
Disclaimer: Yada yada yada, I don't own Rent.
The get together lasted way longer into the night then Mark had hoped for it to.
The worst part about it was that he knew he had to be into work the next day.
"Guys….I think I should go home now." Mark said more then once during the night.
"Oh come on Marky, stay a few more minutes!" somebody would reply.
He would sigh and agree.
As the clock neared 1:00 AM, Mark knew there would be hell to pay.
"Look, you guys, I can't be late for work."
Everybody stopped what they were doing/drinking/eating and looked at Mark.
"Well nobody is forcing you to stay here, Mark." Maureen sneered a little.
"Yeah but--"
"Go home, man, if you don't wanna stay with us." Collins suggested, his voice dipping a little from the rum and coke he was now drinking.
"Well I do--"
"Let the boy get some rest." Joanne finally said.
Once again, Mark was feeling a little disowned. He shyly got up and put on his jacket as everybody watched in silence.
"I'll see you guys later." He mumbled and walked out of the Café.
At six o'clock sharp, Mark's old radio clock started to beep.
His head was aching and he knew he needed way more sleep.
Suddenly his new job didn't seem too great anymore.
He stepped into the shower and made sure to make it a quick one.
He had a half an hour to get ready and he had to be in to work by 7.
He got out of the shower, and steam whirled all around him. He didn't want to leave this.
What he really wanted to do was stay in bed and sleep until forever. Then he wanted to go out and film pigeons or people or something. Then he wanted to listen to Roger complain about hating the world and Mark could sit and sympathize with him.
Cause Mark was really starting to hate the world too.
And the smell of coffee.
He slowly got dressed and clipped his nametag onto his shirt.
He walked out of the loft, the weather being a little cool for late summer, and hopped on his bike, zooming along the narrow and crumbling sidewalks.
His subway ride had been a short one, and he arrived five minutes before he was due to work.
He sat outside Starbucks for a few minutes, not wanting to go in and talk to anybody. Or get his arm pulled once again.
He was starting to wonder why everybody was getting ticked off at him for wanting to leave last night.
Don't they understand I have responsibility now? He thought. He could feel his cheeks heating up and he felt a little lonely.
Nobody ever tries to understand. He knew he had to stop thinking about it. He would deal with it later.
Just play the game.
Most of his morning consisted of pouring coffee and working the cash, which, was really easy. So far he had served mostly business people and old men. This wasn't too bad, considering they weren't too demanding.
But around 8:11, Mark noticed a gorgeous young woman walk towards his counter.
"Oh God." He muttered, feeling his face go red. He was never very good talking to women. Let alone actually take their orders.
She smiled as she set her wallet on his counter, scanning the different signs set around the counter.
"H--how are you?" Mark asked, trying to smile and act professional.
"Oh I'm great!" the girl smiled back. She had a huge smile and big blue eyes. Her hair was pinned up into a loose bun and Mark couldn't exactly see what she was wearing without completely staring at her. That would be rude and, with Mark's luck, she would probably slap him and call him a perverted stalker.
"Have you decided what you want?" He nervously asked.
Couldn't somebody else serve her?
"A latté, please." She asked, opening her wallet to take out some change.
As soon as she said 'latte' Mark was sure Mimi or Maureen was behind this.
"Did Mimi and Maureen put you up to this?" he asked, trying to control the tone of his voice.
The girl raised her eyebrows. "Who?"
"M-Mimi Marquez and Maureen J-Johnson."
"What?"
"They told you to do this, didn't they?" Mark's voice was raising and he was getting angrier by the second.
"What the hell are you talking about?" By this time, her voice was as loud as it could possible go and everybody in the shop stopped what they were doing at turned to stare at them.
How could they do this to him?
"That's it, I'm out of here." She said, her cheeks were red from embarrassment and her eyes were starting to well up with tears.
Slowly Mark took off his apron and put it on a hook.
He didn't care if his crazy boss fired him for leaving early.
Mark left the store, took his bike and proceeded to the subway stop.
Mimi and Maureen aren't going to know what hit them.
Mark was right. They had no idea.
…okay a bit of a twist but I need to make things exciting, right? Review please!
