At first, it had been weird having someone new around, but Abeth seemed to fit in pretty well.
She loved Mimi, but seemed almost intimidated by her. Mark could see why. Mimi was so sure of herself, so confident, even in the way she moved, despite everything. Mimi lived life, a concept that seemed totally new to Abeth.
She was completely taken with Roger. She's watch him write music, try to decipher what the notes meant and follow his fingers on the guitar. However, there was always some distance between the two, probably because Roger kept bringing up school.
"Let it be," Mimi would always say, "what's a few days of school? These are life lessons!"
Mark really didn't have an opinion on Abeth's schooling. It was just nice to have some company when he went out filming. He didn't always take her along, usually because it meant he didn't take his bike, but it was nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of every once in a while.
He's taped a lot of Abeth. It wasn't because she was pretty or anything. Roger thought she was, but they always did have different taste.
They got along well enough, he thought. She had been quiet the first few days, but that had changed. She always had something to say, at least to him. He half like it and was half annoyed by it. He just didn't know which half came when.
She was just... interesting. Something new. He considered documenting her life. Something new for Buzzline. A teenage runaway probably had a million stories. Then he remembered she never told him any of them. A month and he still had no idea why she'd been sitting on that curb.
Mark flicked his camera on. Then off. Then on again. He couldn't decide whether or not he wanted to film anything.
Roger was out with Collins, and Mimi was sleeping. She'd worked late last night.
Just then. Abeth walked through the door.
"Guess what."
"What?" Mark said, sitting up. He had been stretched out on the sofa.
"Got a job," she smiled.
"Really, where?"
"The Food Emporium. Cashier." She sat down in the chair.
"That's great."
"I start Monday. Orientation Thursday."
"First job?"
"First one I get paid for," she said, excitedly. She flung her hair over her shoulder and smiled brightly.
Mark smiled, too. "That's great!"
"And hey..." she said, her smile fading slightly, "I'll... totally pay for all the stuff..."
"Forget it," he interrupted.
"No, seriously."
Mark laid back down. "You hardly cost a thing."
"No... look," she said. She got up and kneeled down near the sofa at his head. He looked at her through the corner of his eyes, still facing up. "Once I save up enough, I'm outta here. I swear."
"You don't need to go anywhere," he sighed, already bored with the predictable back and forth. People thought too much about money. Why couldn't she just accept the help? Lord knows he would.
"I just... I feel really bad."
The harsh, white light from the early January sun poured in through the window and washed out the colour in the room. He closed his eyes. "Don't."
"Mark," she said, shaking his shoulder, "hear me out."
She sounded so sincere that he he opened his eyes and faced her. "I'm listening." he said, looking at her as she kneeled beside him.
"I'm going to pay you back. I just need some time," she said quickly, "it's a crappy job, but at least its something. Anyways, I'll figure out..."
He cut her off again. "Abeth, don't worry about it."
She looked down, leaning back on her heals. Long lashes cast black shadows on her cheeks.
He saw an opportunity and curiosity got the best of him. "Look, we can trade," he said, propping himself up. "We let you say here, and... you tell me what happened to you."
"It's nothing."
"You're choice. But good luck finding a place. Or roommates as good looking as us."
Abeth smiled, sadly. "Really... it isn't anything. I was just... it was almost something. I think." To be honest, she really didn't want to go through the story again. It wasn't even much of a story, and she felt as if she were making something out of nothing when she told it.
Mark looked back at her, listening. He was surprised she was talking.
He looked to eager and ready to listen, that Abeth couldn't help but tell him. She sighed. "I used to live in a trailer park," she began, "with my mother. It was..." she shook her head. "That's another story all together. There a lot of kids there... a lot of kids with shitty parents. I just had to..." she shrugged, helplessly. "It was the worst when they started calling me 'mom', you know?"
He was almost tempted to pull out his camera, but decided it might ruin the... whatever this was. The story. The moment.
She inhaled, shakily. "Anyways, my step-father... he hadn't lived with us for a while, but he was still married to my mom... he told me he'd take me to New York." She smiled, fondly. "I've always wanted to come to New York. But here I thought it was all Broadway shows and Statue of Liberties..." She shrugged. "Naive, I guess."
Mark nodded, not wanting to interput.
"But..." she looked down at the floor again. "He - Henery - he just..." She looked back up at him, pain flickering behind her brown eyes. "He was always so nice to me. But then he took me to this club and..." She shook her head, avoiding his eyes for the first time.
Mark nodded. "That's when we found you, wasn't it?"
A hot, angry tear rolled down her cheek. "It wasn't supposed to be like that! He was the nice one, he was going to take..." her sentence drifted off and she shook her head, wiping her eye, embarrassed. She didn't want to relive that night, not again. "I just thought he'd take care of me."
Mark sat up, took off his glasses and ran his hand over his eyes. "And this guy, Henry, he's... looking for you? That's why you don't want police, right?"
Abeth shrugged. "I have no idea what he's doing, or even if he's still here."
"Why don't you go back to your mother?" he asked softly.
"She wasn't a mother. I'm better off homeless."
Mark patted the spot beside him and she sat down. "Well, you're not homeless. Fair is fair, you stay."
She smiled shyly up at him. "I didn't really tell you much."
"Don't worry. I think I figured it out."
She nodded, absently, her thoughts somewhere else. "Mimi knows. I guess you can tell everyone."
"I don't have to."
"I know. But fair is fair."
What I want you to take: Abeth found a job and told Mark what happened to her.
