A/N: So I came out of retirement very
quickly. I was listening to RENT with
Chad as Roger and the way he spoke that line, made me think that this was a
common occurrence with Mark. It led to
this story.
Mark can never just leave. He always forgets something, whether it is
his camera, wallet, to tell me a message.
I can almost time it. He walks
downstairs, walks to the corner, and then, suddenly recalls what he
forgot. It had become a joke in the
loft. We called it, 'pulling a
Mark'.
One night,
Mark was 'pulling a Mark' for the third time.
He had just found out that Maureen cheated on him. Again.
He went to film. He left his
camera. He left again; and then decided
he wanted his jacket and scarf. Another
round. Now he was back, whining to me
that he didn't want to go out alone.
"Come on
Roger, I really don't want to see her.
Just come out with me."
"Then don't
go where she will be." I set my guitar
on the table and walked away from him.
"But I promised her I'd film
her performance." His whine was
beginning to grate on me.
"Mark,
don't be an idiot. She fucked some
other guy, you don't owe her shit."
"Yeah,
but…" The lock on the door starting to jiggle interrupted him. April walked in,
looking completely serious, and with one thing on her mind. "Since when does she have a key?" April shot Mark a dirty look.
"Since I
gave her mine. Not that it is any of
your business." I looked at her, and
she nodded. She got the stuff. Now I
just needed to get Mark out of the loft.
"Look, go film. Get out of here
for a while. Just stay away from
Maureen."
"What, did
she cheat on you again?" April asked as
she headed into my room. She shook her
head toward the bedroom, to tell me to follow, and I nodded in agreement.
"No… not
exactly. I guess technically we were
broken up."
"Right,
sure you were. Just because she knew
she was going to hook up with that guy."
April shut the door, and I knew she wasn't waiting for me. She was craving it more than me. Knowing that it was here, I could feel my
veins ache. I needed to get Mark out of
the house. "Just go, ok?"
I said that
with too much desperation. Mark picked
up on it. "Why? What's going on?"
"Nothing. I just think you need to get out of the
house." I quickly cover as I try and
push him towards the door.
"You and
April have something planned?" He
raised his eyebrows as he inquired.
"Uh…" Did
he know? I thought we had been so
careful.
"A night
alone. In this place? Are the two of you high?" Interesting choice of words.
"Yeah, we
want to be alone." I smiled at him,
"Sorry."
"No
problem. I'll make myself scarce." He opened the door, "Have fun!" He grinned, "Behave yourselves!" With that, he was out the door.
I quickly
waltzed across the loft to my room, pulling my long sleeved shirt over my head
in the process. Sure enough, April was
lying flat on her back, obviously high.
I sat on the bed, took the needle and started slapping my arm trying to
find a vein. It was getting harder to
find places. "So baby, is this good
stuff?"
"Uh-huh." She mumbled.
"I never
thought he was going to leave. I don't
fucking know how he deals with her."
"She fucks
him." April rolled over to her stomach,
her eyes still mostly closed. "He'd stay
with anyone who would give it up."
"No, Mark's
not like that. He's a good guy, and he
cares about her." I find a good vein
and grab the needle. I fill it with the
heroin, "Christ, I need this."
"Then just
do it and stop talking about Mark." I
leaned over and kissed her, and then inserted the needle into my vein. I felt the warm rush as I slowly hit the
plunger.
Just then,
the front door opened. I looked up and
realized I never shut the bedroom door.
I froze for a second as I met Mark's gaze. I looked down at the needle still in my arm. I pulled it out and walked into the living
room. "Mark, I can explain." But I couldn't. The numbing had already started and my brain was quickly becoming
cloudy. Besides, he saw me.
He just
stared at me. His face fell. He looked so sad. This small framed young man, clutching his camera to his
side. I always told him he would get
carded until he was fifty. But at that
moment, he didn't look like a kid anymore.
"I… uh… forgot my scarf… again.
I… didn't… mean…" He grabbed his scarf and shook his head. "Yeah…" He walked out the door. I stood there, trying to focus on what
happened, but not wanting to let the heroin go to waste.
"Roger! Come here, baby." I turned around and went back into the bedroom. I shut the door behind me.
