Speeeeeeeeaaak. "Guys, listen, Joanne is in for her first meeting today." I shot up and picked up the phone. "Benny? Yeah..." "Hi Mark, I checked her in for an early appointment today. I know it's early, but I was worried she'd get worse. I scheduled an emergency meeting with a therapist uptown, and-" I cut him off. "Uptown? I hope she's not going alone." "That's what I called for. Mark, I was wondering if you and your kin would take her with me." I thought for a minute. "Yeah, I'm sure the others won't mind." This caused Roger to look back. I mouthed "Joanne" to him, and he nodded, looking away while taking a sip of his coffee. I wrote down the directions and times Benny gave me, and we hung up.

"We're taking Joanne to her therapist. You have an hour to get ready." I informed them, hearing Maureen's voice singing an indistinguishable tune in the shower.

Roger nodded it off, as Mimi did a little spin around him as she went to pretty herself up.

The creek of the bathroom door opening got both of our attention. Maureen danced over to me on the couch, sitting like a puppy in my lap. I glanced over to see if Roger, -who was caught up in the paper's word search- was looking, and I leaned into her. I was such a hopeless romantic for this girl, but what could I do? She'd be the death of me.

After a few minutes, I knew I had to get ready, and I lifted her off of me gently. She tugged on my shirt like a baby and I gave her one last short kiss that, to my dismay, got Roger's attention.

I was in the shower a lot longer than I usually was, absorbing the unusually warm water. I left my hair down today, remembering that Maureen liked it that way. Mimi giggled when she saw it, but I wasn't doing it for her anyway.

By the time I had all my things together, it was time to leave. I pulled my usual jacket on, slipped on my usual sneakers, and picked up my usual brown bag. We were meeting Joanne and Benny at the station, and, sure enough, she was the first one there. Silently, after a quick hello, we all headed down to the subway. Joanne sat next to me, and I got a little nervous at first, but I had a feeling it was to prove that she could contain herself.

Maureen sat next to Roger, and Mimi sat next to Joanne. Everyone was all out of order on Joanne's behalf. I rested my legs against the pole, trying to find a more comfortable position.

After a long, boring ride to uptown, we finally got off, barely saying goodbye to Joanne (and Benny, who decided to stay with her) as she entered the therapist's office. Suddenly, things went back to normal, and Maureen held my hand tightly. I fought a smile, but gave in I let it appear anyway. "Well, what now?" Roger asked, holding Mimi.

I shrugged, nervous as Maureen kissed my hand. "Well..." I tried to keep my voice steady,

which was hard to do with Maureen in such an affectionate mood. Wait- when was she not in an affectionate mood?

"Theres a little diner place I went to a few years ago a couple of blocks away from here..." Maureen shrugged, and I wrapped my arms around her waist. The others nodded, and we followed her up the block.

The Moondance Diner was steamy and greasy inside, but at the same time it had an unidentifiable charm to it. Although it was a Sunday, there weren't really many people inside. There was a beefy looking African-American cop having coffee with his shrimpy pale partner. There was a student working on a laptop while picking at a burger, and a lanky, pale, black-haired man messily scribbling something into a journal of some sort. We all sat in our expected seats; boys get the window seat, girls sit as close to them without killing them as possible.

After a silent period of glancing through the menus, a young, silky-white waiter with long auburn hair came over to us with a pen resting on his ear. He swiftly grasped it between his fingers and held it firmly to the pad. "Are we all ready to order?" he asked kindly, bearing a set of shiny teeth that almost reflected the sun through the window.

"Um, I think we're all just going to have fries today." Maureen smiled weakly, talking in an unusually formal voice. She took the menus from us fluidly and handed them to the waiter, returning the same toothy smile. I looked down, resting my hands patiently on my lap. I hated it when she was so nice. I was always half expecting her to pull people over to her out of nowhere and strip them nude. I was relieved from my horrible nightmare, though, when she gently patted my knee under the table with her sweetest "I'm so cute" smile masking her lips.

Everything was pretty silent except for Maureen's occasional stammering. Once our fries came (and Maureen and the waiter exchanged flirtatious glances), we all started up deep conversations. "What are you guys planning to do with yourselves in 20 years?" Mimi asked, and I was speechless. What was I doing with myself? I was making films, but... where did I expect it all to take me? I could have punched Mimi after she asked that, because ever since I hadn't let it escape me. Before every major decision, I now had to stop and think, "Where will this put me 20 years from now?" It drove me insane.

Our bill was acceptable, and Maureen decided to leave an extra tip for the pretty boy waiter of ours. I had a feeling she could tell I was bothered by the situation, so she planned to tease me with a mockery of his infamous smile all day long.

When we got back to the therapist's office, Joanne was already out, waiting patiently in the lounge-style waiting room reading a torn up magazine. As soon as she noticed us standing in the doorway, she smiled, eagerly leaving the magazine on the chair and attacking me with a hug. "Mark, look, I'm really sorry about the other day. I was stupid and out of control. I know you were uncomfortable, and I hope we can forgive and forget." Joanne announced, turning to Maureen, "And I'm so sorry for trying to make you jealous. It was wrong and immature of me." I knew that the therapist probably told her to apologize one more time, but there was still sincerity in her voice, and I gladly accepted it, "Already forgiven and forgotten." I promised for both of us, patting her on the shoulder as we all lead her out.

Right when we got off of the train that took us back to the East Village, Joanne got a call on her phone. "Joanne Jefferson." she greeted. I smiled, remembering the difference from the way she spoke at Maureen's audition. She was so much happier now. Amazing that one meeting can change a person entirely. "...What? N...no! Steve, look, I'm sorry!" she begged, stopping in the middle of her walking, causing us to all look back at her questionably. "I was just going through some hard times, and... Steve? Steve!" she asked repeatedly. Knowing there was no longer anyone on the other end, she snapped the phone closed and cupped her hands to her face. "What?" Maureen asked in a concerned tone as we all gathered around her.

"Steve... I've lost my most loyal client." she cried, still covering her face in distress. Thanks a lot, Steve. Maureen wrapped her arms around her, and we all comforted her the same way. After the line of hugs, she calmed herself down. "I'm sorry. I'm making a big deal out of it." she confessed, and Mimi shook her head in response. I felt horrible for her, she was just beginning to recover from one problem, and in came another. This was not a good time in Joanne's life for sure.

We all decided to walk her home, even though it was far out of our way. The whole way there, everyone took their part in convincing her that Steve was a nothing, and it seemed to work well, considering how upsetting this was to her.

She invited us up to her apartment that I'd only seen once or twice before, and it was amazing. She had all of the things you'd expect a person like Joanne to ever need or want. As we all walked up to her apartment (which was more like a suite), Collins, who had never seen it before, examined it's every nook and cranny, occasionally exclaiming things like, "Damn, girl!". The rest of us plopped on the couch as Joanne scrolled through channels on her huge television. All of us had forgotten about Steve by then, and we were all just caught up in being together, laughing occasionally when Mimi commented on what show Joanne skimmed over. When Collins took his place on the armrest next to Joanne, he wrapped an arm around her in comfort and friendship, and they both exchanged a short, sweet smile. I was glad that they had each other; they could really relate to the loss.

We watched some chick flick on the Lifetime channel about a woman whose husband was a murderer. Collins criticized through the whole thing, and the girls wound up in tears. Except for Maureen, that is. She was going on and on with Collins, who finally decided, once the credits began to roll over a soft piano tune, that he was going to treat us all to pizza. He picked up Joannes phone, dialing all but one number, asking us, "Y'all like pepperoni?" everyone nodded, and he called for two large pepperoni pies.

"So I'm going to drive over to Harlem to meet my parents in a few weeks. Somehow word got out that I've lost my mind and they want to see me." Joanne stated so matter-of-factly. There was a short pause. "When are you driving out? How long are you...?" Maureen asked in the same tone. Joanne seemed prepared to answer as she pointed Collins over to her VCR stack to pick out a movie to watch. "I'm leaving next Thursday morning, coming back Sunday evening. They say they want to... I don't know, spend time with me." She bothered to explain. Collins continued to mumble the movie names silently, and Mimi hung off of Roger silently as she usually did. As for me, I was sitting between Maureen and Joanne, ironically; though it seemed like Joanne was completely healed, I could still feel the shaking in her breath, her eyes told the story. I was surprised at my unusual ability to tell how she was feeling, Joanne was a closed book. I suppose I only knew because I once acted the same way, and for the same reason.

So, there I was. Caught between the two again. I wondered how long the guilt would linger, even though it should have left me long ago, I know it should have. At least I had momentary freedom of the guilt whenever Maureen reached out to pet my arm subtly or give me her sweet smile that always made me flustered. The little thins really mattered, and they still gave me chills.

Oh gee, no. I felt myself lost in a dream, Maureen and her... her everything. When I snapped out, I could feel myself being stared at by the entire left side of the couch, folding my hands nervously between my legs, looking over at Benny being pointed at by Mimi, who was laughing hysterically.

Collins finally whipped out a blank VHS and popped it into the machine, snickering as he pressed rewind. I figured that Joanne would be the kind of person who always rewound tapes after watching them, but I guess you learn something new everyday. As this went on, Roger got up without notice and slowly walked over to the bathroom. I couldn't be sure, but I could have sworn that I saw Benny wrap one arm around Mimi. I looked over fleetly, and, sure enough, there he was, stroking Mimi's cheek, and whispering something in her ear. Mimi didn't oblige to whatever Benny was secretly sharing, and tried pushing him off of her. I looked worriedly at the two, until the noise of Mimi's "get off!"'s caught everyone in the room's attention. Finally Benny sighed, noticing we were all staring at them, and obeyed Mimi's orders.

When Roger came back, he thankfully had no idea that something had just happened, and wrapped an arm around Mimi the same way Benny had (except from the other side). Maureen and I looked at each other, and she whispered to me, "What was that about?" I shrugged my shoulders thoughtlessly and looked back at the trio. Benny looked annoyed, Mimi, ashamed, and Roger had his head down by hers asking if something was wrong. She violently shook her head "no" every time, wrapping a leg sensually around Rogers, as if just to tease Benny. This kind of stuff went on once every now and again between them, probably because of the sexual tension that still lingered on Benny. I felt bad for him in a way, that maybe Mimi for him was like Maureen for Joanne and I.

When Collins pressed play and got up from his crouched position, we saw a dark hallway with many voices chattering. Whoever was holding the camera was shaking it so much that you could barely see what was going on. Only two voices were audible, Joanne's mother and father. I grinned; being a film maker, I was annoyed my the fact that the camera focus was horrible, to point out one of many peeves. I wasn't being critical, of course, but it was hard for me to watch others' home videos for that reason.

We soon discovered that it was a hospital, and Joanne was about to be born. "Smile for future generations, honey!" he said, but Mrs. Jefferson paid him no mind, just kept panting in pain as she was rushed to room where she would deliver her newborn lesbian lawyer.

"No! Why do we need to watch this?" Joanne whined as Collins snickered at the video, which was of her screeching and crying while being placed in her mother's arms for the first time. It time lapsed over to Joanne at the playground, trying to copy all the older children on the jungle gym. It hardly looked like what I would have guessed Joanne would look like as a baby, wearing two pink ribbons and overalls with bunnies on them.

Everyone (except for Joanne, of course,) was laughing during the entire movie, which ended at her tenth birthday party, where she and her friends had a messy cake fight. By time it ended, the pizza had arrived, and Collins gladly paid for it. I ate one slice and left the crusts for Maureen. "Mph!" Mimi began, chewing and swallowing her food before speaking any more. "Wanna have a little fun?" I quirked a brow.

"What do you mean?" Maureen asked semi-eagerly.

"Let's call it... a game." Mimi smirked slightly. "It's... a guessing... game. Someone will come up with a thing to guess, anything at all, and the person who guesses first has to make any two people... " She pursed her lips to end her sentence. A kissing game? God, no. I furrowed my brows and looked at my folded hands as the blood warmed in my face. Was she serious? I would never kiss anyone but Maureen! I prayed that no one else would agree to this.

"Sure, I'm game!" Maureen smiled, putting her plate gently on the coffee table. I looked over at her in shock, "Are you insane?" I asked in a hushed tone.

"Oh come on, Pookie, it's just a game, it won't mean anything." She insisted, resting a knee in my lap. I was in shock, almost angry, and upset that she would agree."

"Uh, don't you think that's a little dangerous, Mimi?" Collins noted, stretching his leg out. I nodded sharply in agreement. "Besides, two of us are gay, four of us are in relationships, don't you think that's cheating?" he seemed offended now, but not in an angry way.

"It's just for fun." Mimi said sternly, "It's not cheating because they're right here. And they're the only ones, right?" Mimi smiled pulling herself against Roger who rolled his eyes jokingly and stroked her hair. Maureen copied the nod I had given Collins, and Roger joined in, "Come on now. It's awkward, we're all friends."

Joanne and Benny stayed quiet. The two sides, guys versus girls, battled on, and we three were left watching. "Alright, alright!" Roger gave in, crossing his arms over his chest, "Alright, have your fun." Collins gave Roger a disappointed frown, but sunk from the arm rest down into a pillow on the floor, and everyone moved to sit in their own style on Joanne's blue carpeting. I was nervous, just hoping I would guess correctly every time. I knew what I was afraid of- kissing Joanne. Or worse, her kissing Maureen. This game was just a setup to kill me inside.

"Okay, I'll go first." Mimi smiled contently, "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 30. What is it?" How was this fair? Anyone could win!

"Seven." Roger said randomly, and Mimi shook her head.

"Twenty-three!" Maureen guessed. Another wrong answer. Everyone's glance was on me. Apparently we were taking turns. "Uh..." I dragged on, "Eighteen?" Wrong. Shit!

We went around the circle at least three times until finally Maureen guessed, "Nineteen!" Mimi smiled, and Maureen cheered while clapping her hands. Good thing she got it, I knew she wouldn't make me the first victim.

"Mimi! Benny! Have fun!" She gave a sly grin, exposing her glistening teeth.

Mimi looked horrified, as did Roger, but Benny was looking at Mimi eagerly.

"Not fair! It's not fair!" Mimi complained angrily. Maureen just laughed, "Your game, not mine." To this, Mimi had no argument, and crawled over to Benny, giving him a short peck on the cheek. "There!"

Maureen sighed, folding her arms.

There was a long silence, as Mimi stared at Maureen's manipulative pose. Finally, she gave in with a high-pitched "Fine!" And at that moment, Benny's lips dove into Mimi's, for a thirty-second spit swapping. I held my head and decided not to watch them, sickened with the thought that I might be in Benny's -or Mimi's- place any minute now.

You could notice the excitement in Benny's face as they pulled away, and an unreadable blank expression on Mimi's, who silently motioned for Roger to go. "Uh..." he mumbled, all eyes on him. "Um..." he continued to think for minutes, while everyone waited patiently in their same positions, by no means excited to continue.

"What's my favorite color?" he asked in confusion of what was expected of him.

"Green." I answered immediately. It was so easy to tell, pretty much all he wore was green. All I got in response was a shrug and a nod, and just then it had occurred to me that I was about to choose which two of my friends to torture. I knew I couldn't pick Joanne, or Maureen, and I didn't want to bother Collins. "Uh, Roger and Mimi." I said in an obvious way.

"No couples!" Maureen corrected. I looked down discontentedly at the carpet. Although I felt sort of guilty making this kind of decision, an exciting surge of power came along with it, and it was then that I blurted out, "Joanne and Collins!"

They gave each other a worried look, and then an angry one at me. My thrill of control fell down to guilt and despair in an instant, but they both knew that rules were rules, and slowly, cautiously, and almost fearfully leaned into each other. Joanne's eyes were closed tightly, as if she were in pain, and Collins looked like he was sleeping. Despite their sexual orientations, they both put a lot of feeling into it. I had to look away as a thin bridge of saliva dropped from their lips, wishing that Mimi never opened her mouth about this game in the first place. They looked each other in the eyes apologetically, and I looked away every time I even thought I saw one of them point their glance at me.

"My turn? What was the exact date of my and Alison's divorce?" the room fell silent after Benny's question. "Wasn't it, like, May 5th?" Mimi guessed. Benny's eyes popped open slightly as he nodded in confirmation. Then Mimi's expression shifted to reveal an evil and menacing side to her as she shouted, "Maureen and Roger!"

"Mimi!" Roger whined in shock, and Maureen laughed. She was laughing, what did this mean? Was she attracted to Roger? Did she not love me anymore? This was unfair to everyone. "Yeah, Mimi!" I joined in with Roger bravely. Mimi rolled her eyes, "My game, my rules." I looked over at Maureen, asking these questions through my eyes. She smiled at me with radiant teeth showing, mouthing "love you", to me. I smiled, but tried my best to block out any and all sights, noises, or any other details as they kissed. It hurt more than it probably should have, to know that my love, my girlfriend was making out with my best friend right in front of me. It reminded me of the old days, before Joanne, when she was much more of a flirt, a cheating flirt at that. She seemed to have grown out of the cheating stage, though, and that made me all the happier, knowing I had her all to myself. Well, except during this game, that was.

"Sorry." Roger apologized softly, and I knew that was my cue to look up, that it was over. Maureen smiled at him, but not in the way I'd expected her to; her smile was friendly and almost comforting. Once Roger looked away at Mimi (angrily, mind you,) Maureen gave me the same exact smile, and I returned it. My blood pressure calmed, and I finally realized that Maureen did love me, and that this game was just for fun, not a relationship-threatening deathtrap. I took a sigh of relief, seeing that it was Collins' turn.

"Who is on the two dollar bill?" Everyone exchanged glances, most of us never seeing a two-dollar bill before in our lives, but Joanne sternly answered, "Thomas Jefferson. No, we're not related." she joked, receiving a chuckle from Collins in response.

I exhaled sharply, studying all of the faces in the room. Benny, Roger, Maureen, Joanne, Collins... everyone had already kissed someone except me. My palms were becoming moist; I knew it was my turn. Joanne gave me an apologetic smirk, but began sure enough with, "Mark, and..." she scanned all of the bodies, I was turning paler and paler with every passing second she considered her choices. I tapped my foot in the air nervously, waiting for Joanne to decide.

"...Roger!" she smiled as I dropped my jaw in terror, catching his horrified eyes. My stomach churned at the mere thought, sharing something with Roger that was supposed to be only for Maureen. I began to spit out random syllables of disapproval. Despite my slurs, Joanne shook her head gracefully, so unsympathetic, but I knew I had it coming. I sighed, lifting my head to the ceiling. Why me?

Roger had already slid over to me, and I avoided his eyes as much as possible, but I always seemed to meet them unwillingly. He looked so strange as he quickly leaned into me, and as his lips slid against mine, it occurred to me that this was the second time in a measurable amount of days that I had been wrongfully kissed. My heart's beat count sped up rapidly, so nervous that I could have thrown up in his mouth. My eyes closed lightly, trying to pretend Roger was Maureen. For a few seconds, I was so convinced that I placed a hand behind Roger's head, at which point I heard a slight gasp. I only realized it was my own when Roger closed our gap after I inhaled enough air. This was so strange, but really, it wasn't as horrifying as I'd expected. The worst thing about it, in my opinion, was that things would be awkward between us for awhile, even if it was only coming from me. I slowly opened my eyes as Roger finally pulled away, crawling back to his spot as if nothing had happened. I looked at my clammy hands and secretly wiped them on my jeans. It was over.

I glanced over at Maureen, hoping she wasn't angry with me, surprised to see her lips separated in a surprised, yet happy shock. I tilted my head slightly, signifying my not understanding to her, as usual, confusing expression, and she just giggled at me. I sighed with relief, then turned my glance toward Roger, who was just playing with his shoelaces. I may have been crazy, but now that I'd already been chosen, I was excited to continue the game.

"Who goes next?" Collins asked, smiling. Everyone seemed much more at ease now, everyone was so much more comfortable.

"Can't we just go around and command people, instead of the trivia?" Maureen asked eagerly. I tilted my head toward her again, and she laughed quietly.

"Maureen, we're not having an orgy." Roger clarified. Everyone except Maureen roared with laughter, but it halted quickly.
"It's not an orgy! It's torturing and being tortured!" She snapped back. There was a short pause, as Collins finished, "...S and M?" Again with laughter. "Game over!" Maureen growled over-dramatically, jumping up from the floor. Just when it was getting fun.

"Maureen, we're just joking." I comforted, leaning forward slightly to stroke her ankle in comfort. I was in such a rage, I couldn't end it now! She sighed, plopping back down to the floor. "Well, Mark, you wanna go?" she asked after a few moments. Unprepared with any trivia, I lifted a shoulder slightly and nodded.

"Um, What... what is..." I struggled to come up with anything, "what... what are the colors of the rainbow?"

"That's easy!" Maureen immediately answered in a singsong voice. "Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet!" I smiled, and she already had her picks planned. Turning to Mimi, she blurted, "Can we do Mark and Roger again?" I narrowed my eyes, petrified. Why was she doing this to me?

Mimi shook her head, to my relief, but Maureen continued to pout about it. "Collins and Benny." She was smart, choosing Benny. All he'd gotten out of this so far was joy, but now he got to experience what each of us all had.

I didn't look away this time, instead I watched, enjoying every grossed out expression Benny concocted. This was definitely a moment I wanted on film, but I wasn't going to distract them by getting up. At least these sick memories would last a long time, I knew.

The game continued only for a few more rounds; Maureen and Collins, Joanne and Mimi, and Benny and Roger. Thankfully, I was graced with mercy with the rest of the game. I just couldn't wait to let all my energy loose on Maureen.

"Well, this was a lovely day." Collins said slipping on a fancy British accent while getting up to stretch, a few bones snapped into place as he did, "But we don't want to overstay our welcome." He was so polite like this, all the time.

"You're always welcome." Joanne smiled, directing her response to Collins. I could feel the connection between the two today, I could tell they'd definitely developed a personal friendship that none of us could really understand, but we had ideas. We all rose from the floor, and bared Joanne a farewell. She hugged us all, and Collins took the pizza box with him to throw in the dumpster in the alley across the street. Immediately after we arrived on the stoop, Maureen stuck her lips to mine, as if she'd known all along that she was going to, and I smiled when I thought that. She mouthed "Love you" after we parted, and as we walked home, I felt like a new person, with no troubles at all, not a care in the world, with everything I could ever ask for... except for a heated shower, that is. But as Collins (he was slowly but surely getting more used to living with us, because of his neighbor's dog), Maureen, Roger, Mimi and I all climbed up to our messy loft, I kept wondering how long it would stay like this, all of us together and happy. Nonetheless, I squeezed Maureen's hand tightly when she grabbed mine, knowing this was now, and now was wonderful.