Disclaimer: I always forget to write this! But these characters aren't mine and I would no way ever take credit for them. Completely Jonathan Larson's
Tuesday
I force myself to sleep in. I wake up numerous times but fight to fall back to sleep. When my mind wanders to Maureen, I start thinking of other things, anything else. I don't want to wake up and face what happened last night. The regrets of the evening creep up on me and when I can no longer avoid them I allow myself to sit up. Is it really over between us? Is there anyway I can get her back? I mean, she said she loves me, but is it the truth?
I leave the empty room behind and head straightway for the bathroom.
"Mark?"
Shit, no escape. "Good morning Collins." I take a few more steps closer to the bathroom.
"When you are done, I want to talk to you and Maureen, ok?"
"Yeah, sure." He doesn't even realize Maureen isn't here. I take a quick shower and throw back on the same clothes as yesterday. Who really cares anyway? Finally, I emerge from the bathroom, Collins is exactly where I left him.
"What's up, Collins?" I sit down on the counter in the kitchen. His back is to me but he quickly turns around and comes over.
"Where is Maureen?"
"Oh right, she didn't come home last night. Stayed at a friends." Saying these words, I actually convince myself the innocence of it. She just stayed at a friend's place. No big deal. I didn't see her with another guy, or realize she really doesn't love me. I didn't tell her she wasn't welcome back here. She was just staying over at a friend's place.
"Oh, ok. Well, you will have to fill her in then."
The seriousness of his tone alerts me. "What's going on Collins?"
"Well I have some good news and bad news." I nod telling him to continue. "The good news is I got a job. Teaching. The bad news is that it is at MIT."
"MIT? The one in Boston?"
"Well, Cambridge actually, but yeah. They are going to house me and pay me pretty good." He looks around the loft. "I hate leaving this place. I hate leaving New York."
"Teaching, huh? I didn't know you were interested in that."
"Well being a philosophizing anarchist doesn't really pay the bills you know? I though I would give it a shot."
"That's great, Collins! I mean, I'm going to, uh, we're going to miss you around here, but I'm happy for you." I'm just not happy for myself. "When are you going?"
"Well, they need me to start right away, so I'm leaving today." He sees my face fall. "Mark, I'll be back, don't worry!"
"No, it's great, I'm happy for you, really." I try to sound convincing but I know he doesn't believe me.
I spent the rest of the day with him. He took me to lunch, and I helped him pack up his things and went with him to Penn Station. We had a really good time and talked a lot about my plans and his. I never mentioned Maureen to him.
After he got on his train, I decided to walk home. I walked slowly thinking about my friends and that empty loft I was heading back to. It is only Roger and me left, but in essence only me. I avoid going home as long as I can, until exhaustion hits and I know I will fall asleep quickly. I walk into the loft and fall into bed. Maybe tomorrow I can convince Roger to come home for good.