Fast forward a few days, maybe a week. I've lost track of time by now. Maureen and Joanne have been over a lot lately, trying to convince Mark to take the Buzzline job he had been offered after he had sold Maureen's protest tape. Today, Roger and I were lying on the ground in the empty apartment.
"Mark, just take the damn job." Roger said lazily, strumming a few notes on his Fender.
"Yeah Mark. Honestly. It's not like you're selling your soul to Satan. Do Jews even believe in Satan?" I looked at Roger, and he shrugged. Mark sighed.
"It's not like that. I feel like... if I start working for Buzzline... my creative-ness would be depleted." I think this was the point where we realized we really did need furniture. I mean, who can have those moments where you place your elbow on the table and say, 'Woe is me' without something to put your elbow on? I stretched and yawned, then glared at Mark.
"C'mon, Marky, even though we're still getting paid royalties for Maureen's protest, it's not enough to get us by." I pleaded, putting on my best Maureen face. Mark couldn't help but smile at that, and he nodded.
"Fine. Joanne, come on. We're going to the Buzzline offices." he said reluctantly, Roger and I high-fived, and Maureen squealed.
"Yay! Marky's gonna be famous!" she said, hugging Mark tightly. He seemed to be enjoying all the attention as Joanne shook his hand and I ran over to him and hugged him, probably tighter than Maureen. I gave him a quick kiss on the lips so he could go off to 'coporate America' with the two girls, and just as we heard the downstairs door slam, Mimi, Angel, and Tom walked in.
"Hey, bitches!" Tom gave us the usual greeting; Roger waved his guitar and I nodded with a slight salute. Angel and Mimi were smiling at me, so I raised an eyebrow.
"What're you two planning...?" Tom rolled his eyes and puffed on his joint.
"They wanna take you for a girl's day out. I told 'em to take Mark instead and let us show you how to have a good time, but no... they say now that you've got a boyfriend, you gotta look prettier than you normally do." he explained, acting sheepish as he stated the last part, and I pinched his cheek.
"Why thank you, Thomas!" I laughed, and turned to Mimi and Angel, hands outstretched referring to handcuffing. "I have the right to remain silent, anything I say or do will probably result in an extra coat of nail polish or another outfit bought." I said, trying to keep from laughing this time. But when they nodded, I got a bit nervous.
"Come on, chica!" Angel said, and she and Mimi worked together to pull me out of the apartment.
"Thomas! Roger...mas!" I called out, "I thought you were my best friend! My cousin!" They laughed at me, and Roger started playing his guitar again. I grimaced/smiled at Mimi and Angel and let them drag me out. "Love you guys, too!"
We were out on the streets, laughing and tripping over our own feet within five minutes. We were sharing stories about our boyfriends, who were as tight as we were, and we learned a lot about each other. "So there was this one time, in high school. Mark was filming a football game, right on the sidelines. And then, all of a sudden, this HUGE linebacker comes out of NOWHERE and WAMM. Down he goes." I laughed thinking about it, and lingered to mention the fact that I had run down off the bleachers not to his aid, but to punch the opposing linebacker who had tackled him. And everyone was too shocked that Roger Davis' quiet little journalistic cousin had punched someone five times her size to contradict anything.
"I remember when Tom made me Christmas dinner, and he set the ham on fire." Angel cackled, and it was Mimi's turn.
"Well, I remember Benny's face when he figured out I was dating Roger. We had a fling once, it was nothing, but it still kind of hurts." Mimi looked guilty, so I threw my arm over her shoulders.
"Eh, I had a fling with him once, too. 'Twas nothing, I dumped him on his ass once he moved out and started being a bastard." I snarled, thinking about the night we were in the Life Cafe. "He decided he was going to get in with the Greys somehow and buy our apartment building, but after he and Mark had their little spat..." I got some curious glances after I said Mark's name.
"What the hell would Mark and Benny argue about?" Angel's Spanish Harlem voice was kicking in, and there was no avoiding answering the question. I smiled uncomfortably as we walked into the nail salon and Angel spoke in rapid Spanish with the girl at the counter, who directed us hastily to the pedicure and manicure section. I felt a reluctant smirk coming over my face as Mimi picked a fiery red color for me and I took a deep breath.
"It was when Benny and I started dating, and before Mark started dating Maureen. He still liked me a bit, and he was convinced Benny wasn't treating me right." I hesitated a second, and Mimi popped in,
"Why? How was he treating you?" she asked, sounding curious. The reluctant smirk crept back up and I started giggling.
"Oh, how he treats every girlfriend, like his queen one day, and like shit for the rest of the week. He would leave me to sit alone in the loft to help Mark with his footage and Roger with his music. But back then, he had April." It was strange, telling all of this stuff to people who knew Benny as the 'yuppie scum' and April as 'Roger's dead ex.' But I suppose it was enlightening.
"And what did our little amante de cámara de albino say to the verdín de yuppie?" Angel said, and it took me a while to think about what she was saying.
"Well, our little albino camera lover said that our yuppie scum was being a jerk for leaving me alone so often, and I needed to get out more, and that if Benny wasn't going to take me out, he was, and believe me, Mark was a hell of a lot more fun, and at the time, I would've broken up with Benny in a second and gone out with Mark again, but I guess the fact I was the one keeping the apartment free. And I suppose Benny still has hard feelings because I brought up the fact I would've taken up Mark's offer in a ten-fold. That was the year I jumped off the fire escape." I smiled at the recollection, and considering the fact Angel and Mimi were smiling the same way, they had been told the story.
"When I was dating him, he did mentioned how he dated a lunatic. But I brushed it off, considering the fact he was a bit of a jerk, even when we first met. But then he dumped me on my ass when he met Allison Grey." Mimi said, but she didn't sound sad this time. She was giggling now. The door swung open and the bells rang, in walked a small, mousy-brown haired girl walked in and Mimi and Angel scowled.
"Hablando del Rey de Roma y el diablo vendrá..." Angel said, and this I recognized right away as "Speak of the devil and the devil shall come."
"That's Allison." Mimi whispered, and kept glaring. As soon as she sat down, Angel got up and we followed suit.
As soon as we got out the door, we started giggling, collapsing over each other. "Now let's get some material, chica!" Angel cackled, kicking one leg high in the air.
"We're making our own clothes?" I said nervously. I was rather clumsy with a needle, but I suppose could mend Mark's coat with some new fabric... or I could rip up Roger's flannel pants.
"Ahaha, no. I meant material as in clothes, ganso tonto!" Angel laughed, and I sighed in relief.
"Thank God. The last thing I sewed was my own stitches. That did not end well." I lifted up my sweater sleeve to show the long scar, accompanied by dots all over my arm where the needle had ended up. Mimi gasped, and Angel started laughing.
It took us ten minutes to get to the nearest clothing store, and even longer to get out of there. Mimi and Angel insisted that each of us get a little black dress and a little red dress, and who was I to argue? They wanted me to look pretty, they already were pretty. Ahahaha.
***
By the time we ran out of money, we each had about five shopping bags for each of us, one bag was for our boys. I hadn't got much for Mark, just a new jacket, a few nicer shirts, and a couple of ties for his new mainstream job. It was then Angel's idea to take us to Coporate America, where we could perform on the street and get money from bleeding-heart passerbys. Angel was out of drag, and Mimi looked more like a druggie than usual. Now, me? I looked like someone's little sister, and if anyone asked, Angel and Mimi were brother and sister and I was adopted. We laughed at our story, Mimi took a guitar from the local music store after flirting with the teenager at the counter and I got a playbill for Grease from one of the slimy newsstand owners. Angel, as always, was carrying around her white bucket, and we sat down on a street corner and started performing Greased Lightning, my cap flipped over next to a lamppost. People were dropping quarters and nickels in there by the five minutes that had passed, and we were onto another song, one of Roger's old ones he taught Mimi.
But, of course, I couldn't help but hop around and dance until I looked across the street and saw Maureen down on her knees in front of Joanne, and Mark behind them looking quite awkward. When I saw them, I changed the song in a split second to "White Wedding," which was the song we normally sang when we were bored. Mark lifted his head and started laughing, and Joanne turned her head with Maureen looking around her.
"Marky!" I yelled, running across the street and slamming into him. Angel and Mimi followed, amused and carrying their instruments. "Oh, Marky, did you take the job?"
"Yes, I did, and I feel like I just sold my soul, as Joanne puts it, 'for three grand a segment.'" He shot a joking glare in Joanne's direction, who was holding onto Maureen lovingly.
"We just got engaged." Maureen said, sounding excited, but if I knew her better, she was still same old commitment-phobic Maureen. Joanne looked ecstatic, though, so we all put on fake smiles.
"Awwh! Yay!" Mimi squealed, grabbing the two girls in a vice grip.
"We HAVE to plan your wedding." Angel laughed, and we all knew what would happen if we planned the wedding:
"I GET TO SING WHITE WEDDING!" I yelled, hopping up and down and swinging Mark's arms around.
A/N ~ Sorry I haven't added a chapter, or an author's note, but I just wanted to saay...
THANK YOU JONATHAN LARSON! 3
And sorry I haven't added a chapter in FOREVER, I have a goal set with every chapter, over 1,500 words..I'm an overachiever, like Kiley. :) The past two chapters have been rather random, but I suppose y'all ---(random country moment.) know what's coming next, TAKE ME OR LEAVE MEEEE. Ahahahah. Well... R&R&R&R&R&R&R&R&R&R&R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :DDDDDDDDDDDD Because you know you love me and Kiley. ;D
