Disclaimer: Only Karalynn belongs to me- everyone else belongs to Jonathan Larson. This is a little longer than I would have liked it to be so I apologize in advance for it's length! Keep the reviews coming... and thank you so much for reading this!
Ch. 2- Meet the Family
Mark looked around the cafe, nervously tugging at his scarf.
She said 3:00, he thought anxiously, or was it 3:30? Shit Cohen.. Shit!
He tapped his fingers on his camera and looked up at the clock again. It was 2:50pm.
He had been at the Life Cafe since 2:45, the butterflies in his stomach making him run out of his door at breakneck speed. He didn't want to be late. Karalynn seemed like the type of person to show up early.
He glanced up at the clock again and sighed. 2:51.
He allowed his mind to wander as he waited. The sound of her voice a few hours ago echoed in his mind and he closed his eyes, letting himself relive their conversation.
--"Uh, did I wake you?" he asked. Her voice sounded hoarse and tired when she answered the phone.
"It's 11:00, Mark, who would be asleep at this time?" she said, sounding annoyed.
Mark flinched at her tone and then looked back at Roger, who lay sprawled across the couch, sleeping.
"Well, actually..." He changed the subject. "Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to get some coffee later on. I know this cool place on 10th. It's called the..."
"Life Cafe." she finished for him. He heard a noise in the background and frowned. Was that a man's voice?
"Yeah. You know it?"
"I've passed by it but I've never been in." she replied. He heard her mumble something away from the receiver. "What did you say?"
"Oh." She sounded flustered. "Nothing... that was the television. Why don't I meet you there at three this afternoon?"
"Sure, that sounds great!" Mark said and then winced at the sound of his too eager voice fill the loft.
"Okay, see you then." And before he could say good bye, she had already hung up the phone on him.--
Mark opened his eyes and frowned again. Had it been a man's voice? Or was he just paranoid?
And why should he care?
"It's not like she's interested in me." he mumbled out loud. "I'm just trying to make up for her shirt."
Yeah right, a voice inside his head said.
"Oh Christ." he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Even my inner voice doesn't believe me."
"Excuse me?" a familiar voice said behind him.
Mark jumped up and Karalynn walked past, sitting across from him. She wore dark gray slacks and a light blue shirt, as crisp and professional looking as the one he ruined yesterday. The color brought out a strange blue tint in her eyes.
She was more beautiful than he remembered.
"How long have you been sitting here?" she asked, putting her coat and bag down next to her. He smiled, putting his camera down on the table.
"Not long." he lied. He gestured to the menu in front of them. "Hungry? This is on me."
Mark had scrounged up as much money as he could find in their loft. Luckily he had found a wad of ones in his lucky cords- just enough for a meal for two.
Thank God this place is cheap, he thought as Karalynn's gray eyes swept over the menu.
She looked up at him and shrugged. "You know, I'll just have that coffee you promise." she said.
Mark waved the waiter over and Karalynn looked up, a smile suddenly appearing on her face.
"Collins?" she said.
Mark turned around and grinned as the tall man walked up to their booth.
"Hey Mark." Collins said in his deep, velvety voice. He nodded at Mark and then turned his attention to Karalynn. "I see you know the stunning Miss Demerin."
Mark looked at Karalynn as he moved over to give Collins space to sit.
"You guys know each other?" he asked. Karalynn smiled, looking pleased.
"I sat in on some of Collin's lectures at MIT." she said, her eyes twinkling. "Well, when he was still teaching there a few years back."
"And I've sat in on some of Karalynn's lectures at NYU." Collins said. He winked at her. "She's
quite brilliant but her students will tell you that her bite is worse than her bark."
Mark gawked at Karalynn. "You teach?" he asked. "I thought you were a grad student..."
"Yeah, I lecture at least once a month for my advisor." she said. She gestured at Collins. "I keep telling Collins to come over to NYU but he refuses. It's not radical enough for him there, I guess."
Collins laughed and Mark was surprised when Karalynn laughed too. "One day, Miss Demerin, you'll see the value of not being in the mainstream." he said.
Karalynn shook her head and played with the menu. "Collins, swimming in the mainstream is the only way I'll get anywhere." Her face suddenly became solemn again.
"Not with your talent." Collins said. Though he smiled, his dark eyes grew serious. "Do you still paint?"
Karalynn glanced at Mark and looked almost embarrassed. "I have no time." she said softly. "Besides, I only have five months to go until I reach that big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."
Collins looked at Mark. "You should see some of her paintings, Mark. They're like your films. She can make ordinary things look as if they had been fashioned by the hands of God Himself."
Karalynn didn't blush or look away but Mark could feel her shrinking into herself. Her face seemed suddenly as if it had been carved out of marble.
"Thank you." she said simply.
"So how exactly do you know each other." Collins asked Mark and Karalynn.
Mark opened his mouth to speak when he heard a loud woman's voice cut through the air.
"Collins! Mark!"
Shit, Maureen, Mark thought.
He looked up towards the entrance and saw the vivacious, curvy sprite jumping towards them. Her blonde curls seemed to form a halo around her head and she was pulling along a haggard looking Joanne.
Maureen threw herself on Collins giving him a big hug.
"Hey Mark! Hey you!" she exclaimed to Collins. Her cheeks were pink and her blue eyes glittered underneath the dim lights of the cafe. "How have you been, Collins? You've been missing in action again!"
Collins laughed and made room for Maureen and Joanne to sit down
"I have a meeting in ten minutes so I'll have to apologize in advance if I just eat and run." Joanne said to the group. Her eyes settled on Karalynn and looked confused. "You're new. Hi, I'm Joanne and this is my girlfriend, Maureen. You're......"
Karalynn's gray eyes grew cold as she stared at Maureen. Maureen looked up and caught her staring at her. She smiled brightly and stuck out her hand.
"Hi! You look really familiar..." she began but Karalynn stood up.
"I know who you are." she spat out. "You're that crazy woman who staged the protest last year at the NYU lab!"
Maureen's blue eyes darkened as she glared at Karalynn. Mark watched in amazement as the two women faced off.
"And you were the stuck up chick in the lab coat who called the police on me!"
"You let a hundred rats loose in our lab!" Karalynn exclaimed. "You ruined three years of my colleagues research, not to mention the cost of the damages you caused...."
"Hey your lab was killing innocent animals..."
"They were rats!" Karalynn snapped. "Rats! My friends were doing cancer research! Do you want them to experiment on humans?!"
"Animals can't fight back in their favor!" Maureen yelled back. "If you had any compassion in you, you'd understand how crazy...."
"You're crazy! Absolutely fucking insane!" Karalynn cried out. "You wore a big white rat suit for God's sake!"
Maureen's head snapped back and she looked pensive for a moment. "Oh yeah...well..."
Karalynn stood up, gathered her belongings and glared at Maureen. She smoothed down her shirt and brushed her hair back with her hand.
"I'm sorry for raising my voice." Karalynn said quietly to Joanne, Mark and Collins. She ignored Maureen. "It was nice seeing you again, Collins. I hope you'll stop by my office to see me. It was nice meeting you, Joanne. I apologize for my behavior. Mark..goodbye."
She stormed out of the cafe and Maureen sat in her place. "Well, that was unpleasant." she said brightly. "I'm hun..."
"Dammit, Maureen!" Mark cried out. He jumped to his feet, grabbed his camera and ran out after Karalynn.
"What?" she said, her eyes growing wide. "What I'd do?"
Collins sighed and Joanne shook her head. "Maureen, sometimes you just.."
"Yes, Pookie?"
"Nevermind."
"Karalynn!" Mark called out. "Wait!"
She turned around, struggling to put on her coat.
"Mark, look." she said, slipping one arm into a sleeve. Snowflakes began to settle on her shiny black hair and on her face. "I thought we could be friends but you obviously have some strange companions."
"Maureen's the only oddball." he said. "Everyone else is really great..."
"Your roommate called me a bitch."
"Well.. you both have really hot tempers and..."
Karalynn rolled her eyes and Mark held up her other sleeve. She looked at him gratefully and finally managed to get her entire coat on.
"Karalynn, I'm sorry." Mark said when she stood up straight. "Maureen's just.. and Roger is... well, Joanne and Collins and Roger's girlfriend- Mimi, are great."
"I believe you." she said. She looked past him, her gray eyes growing distant.
"Can we do this again sometime?" he asked, hopefully. "I mean, without the yelling..."
Karalynn's eyes came back to rest on Mark and she shook her head.
Mark tried to keep his face from falling as she walked past him. And then she stopped and turned around. She stared at him for a long time and Mark waited patiently, hoping she would change her mind. Her face softened and it was like seeing ice melt on a sunny day.
"Mark, you're a really nice guy." she said after awhile.
He shrugged, feeling awkward. "I try."
"I'm not...It's just.." She closed her mouth as if she decided not to continue down that path. "Mark, you're a nice guy."
"You said that already."
"Then it must be doubly true." She muttered and looked away. "Tell Collins I hope he keeps taking his medication. He looks really good."
Mark felt confused. "So you know..?"
Karalynn nodded, looking back at him. "About the AIDS?" she said. "Yeah. We got really close when he was up at MIT. He knew my father and... well." She trailed off, thoughtfully. "Mark, you're really nice."
Mark had to smile. "Third time's the charm."
Karalynn's cheeks turned pink and Mark could almost believe she was blushing.
Then again it could just be the wind, he thought.
"I have to go." she muttered.
Mark shrugged and nodded, looking back down at the camera in his hands.
"Can I call you sometime?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"I don't think it would be a good idea." she said. For some reason she sounded more upset about it than he did. She turned around and walked away.
Mark looked up and watched her until she turned the corner and disappeared from his life for good.
He looked back at his camera and sighed.
"Looks like it's you and me again."
I hate Mondays, Karalynn thought as she looked out of her office window. She leaned her head against the cold glass and watched people walk past the neuroscience lab across the way.
She turned slightly so she could see the stack of papers on her desk out of the corner of her eye.
I should really get started on grading those damn things, she thought and then looked up at the small silver clock next to them.
8:45am.
Karalynn sat up and pulled herself back to her desk. She opened a drawer and pulled out a red pen, uncapping it with one perfectly manicured finger.
As she read the paper in front of her, she let her thoughts drift to the past weekend.
To Saturday.
Christ, that was bad, she thought. I was so...
She shook her head and looked back down at the paper.
No sense in looking back, she thought firmly. Have to go forward, always forward.
But the way he looked at me when I said....
Karalynn put the pen down and looked up, resting her chin on her propped up hand.
"Get it out of your system." she said out loud. "What's the problem, Kara?"
Mark! an inner voice yelled.
"What about him?" she muttered, staring at the blank white wall in front of her.
He's nice!
"Well, I'm not nice. I don't do nice." she said firmly. "I can't win unless I'm aggressive. Aggressive cancels out nice. Besides, he's clumsy. I had to throw away my shirt. He's goofy. He dresses like... well, bad. He's too skinny. And those glasses..."
But remember the way his blue eyes twinkled behind those glasses?
And the way his hair stuck up like that?
And his smile...?
His smile.
Karalynn closed her eyes, leaned back and put her fingers up to her temples.
"I'm mean! she said out loud. "I'm cold. I'm cruel. I have no emotions. I also have no time to deal with emotions, dammit! My life is perfect!" She opened her eyes and sighed with relief.
"Okay, that's it. He's forgotten. That's it."
And then the voice came back with a vengeance.
You're a fake.
Your perfect life is a perfect sham.
Her eyes drifted over to her father's picture. The only picture on her desk and Karalynn felt her shoulders droop.
"My father would be proud of me." she muttered. "I made it. I'm getting my Ph.d. I am going to be a success. I am going to keep my promise."
Yes, your father would be proud of you, the voice said quietly.
But he would also know how unhappy you are.
"I. Am. Happy." Karalynn said sternly. She picked up the paper and turned the page. "My life is..."
"Karalynn! You gotta see what's going on outside!" someone yelled.
A man burst into her room and Karalynn sat up, her eyes wide with alarm.
"What?!" she almost screamed.
For a minute she thought her inner voice had come to life.
The man, Dr. Anderson from across the hall, walked across her office and pointed out her window.
"There's a woman dressed up like a big block of cheese, standing outside the lab with a megaphone!" he exclaimed. "I think she's the same one who came here last year."
Karalynn got to her feet and looked outside.
She moaned.
"She's pretty cute too!" Dr. Anderson said.
Fuck, she thought. Dammit, that woman!
It was Maureen.
"Free the rats!" Maureen yelled out. "Let their noses smell the sweet scent of freedom that awaits them..."
She looked out at the crowd and smiled inside. The group looked bigger this year despite her lack of a microphone or any other equipment. Joanne had refused to help her and Mark wouldn't return her calls. The cheese suit felt uncomfortable and Maureen knew it would hide her curves but it would be worth it this time. She took a deep breath and was about to continue when she saw two policemen walking towards her.
"Miss, you're going to have to stop this, right now." one of them said.
"You want me to stop?" she yelled into the megaphone. "Did Moses stop leading his people to freedom when the Pharaoh told him to stop? Did Martin Luther King Jr..."
"We're going to have to arrest you if you don't stop this protest, right now." the other one said firmly, with his hands on his hips.
Maureen was about to say something about her freedom of speech and her rights when she saw a figure in white running towards her.
"Don't arrest her!" Karalynn yelled out. She struggled to put on the other sleeve of her lab coat while she ran towards the officers. "Stop! Wait!"
Both officers turned around and Karalynn stopped running, finally able to put the coat on properly.
"Ma'am, she's causing a public disturbance on private grounds." the first officer said to Karalynn.
Karalynn threw Maureen a seething glare and then smiled up at the man. "She's one of my patients." she said. "We were having a therapy session and she somehow managed to run out of my office. You can't arrest a mental patient of mine. I've been looking for her. Right, Maureen?"
Maureen smiled sweetly, hopping down from her wooden box and walked up to Karalynn.
"Right, doctor." she said. Karalynn glared at her and then turned back to both officers.
"Could you please tell this crowd to go now." Karalynn said. "They're the ones causing a disturbance. They're blocking the entrance to the lab and students have to get in there now."
Both men looked at each other, confused and the first one shrugged.
"Okay folks!" he yelled out, waving his hands and walking away. "Show's over!"
Karalynn grabbed Maureen's arm tightly and she pulled her off to the side.
"You are getting out of that ridiculous costume and you are leaving this campus for good!" Karalynn yelled at her.
Maureen stood up straight and held her head up. She shook off Karalynn's grasp. "Hey, I'm just exercising my freedom of speech! This is a righteous cause!"
"Do you want me to get those policemen back here?" Karalynn threatened. "Because I could just easily walk over there and..."
"Why'd you help me?" Maureen asked suddenly.
"What?!" Karalynn cried out. "Now you're questioning why I.."
"It's Mark, isn't it?" Maureen said triumphantly. "If you hadn't known that he was my friend you would have let them arrest me, right?"
Karalynn stared at her blankly. She shook her head and sighed.
"Go home, you unstable, insane woman." she said and then turned around to leave.
"Wait!" Maureen called out. Karalynn stopped but didn't turn around.
"What?"
"Joanne dropped me off and I don't have a ride home." she said sheepishly. Karalynn whirled around.
"You don't expect me to..."
"Well, I could hang out with you today. Just until she gets off at five." Maureen smiled. "I always wanted to check out the young, good looking professors here. You know some, right? I mean..."
"Take the damn subway." Karalynn hissed. "Or walk. You have legs."
"I can't do that dressed like this!" Maureen exclaimed. She waved her yellow covered arms out of the huge yellow cheese shaped styrofoam box she wore around her body. "I might get mugged! Or worse yet..."
Karalynn felt like pulling out her hair. Actually, she felt like pulling out Maureen's hair.
"Fine." she said finally, through gritted teeth. "I'll drive you home. But only if you promise never to step foot on any part of the NYU campus again. I mean it. You can't even look at a map of the place."
Maureen smiled so hard, her dimples showed.
"Traffic." Karalynn muttered, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel of her BMW. "Of course. Traffic. This is great. Just greeeeeaaat."
They had been stuck in gridlock for ten minutes and Karalynn's patience was wearing thin.
Maureen leaned forward, her fingers headed towards the radio dial. Karalynn looked at her and glared.
"Don't even..."
"But I hate..."
"It's my car."
Maureen leaned back sulking. "You sound just like Joanne!" she cried out.
Karalynn shook her head in disbelief and looked out of the window. "I can't believe I'm doing this." she muttered. "I have tons of work to finish up."
"So what's going on with you and Mark?" Maureen asked.
Karalynn's grip tightened. Her knuckles were almost white.
"Nothing." she said through her teeth. "He was just some guy who ran into me one day and that is it. I don't even know his last name."
"Cohen."
"What?"
"It's Cohen." Maureen said, staring at her. "His last name is Cohen."
Karalynn said nothing and stared straight ahead. No one was moving now. She was stuck.
"I used to date him." Maureen said after awhile.
Karalynn looked at her. "You? I thought you were.."
"A lesbian? Yes. I am now." Maureen said. "But I dated him a while back."
"So?"
"So... look, Karalynn." Maureen said in a serious tone. "It may be hard to believe but I'm not as self centered or insane as you think I am. Everyone else falls for this... this exterior and I let them. Mark didn't. He saw things in me... qualities that I didn't even know I had. He saw... well, he saw me. For who I was really. And he never gave up on me, even when I treated him like shit. When I first met you, I admit, I thought you were..."
"Let me guess." Karalynn said. "A bitch?"
"Yeah." Maureen said with a smile. "A bitch. But then after an hour of listening to him go on and on about you.. I realized that maybe he saw something in you I wasn't seeing. He's a filmmaker. He's an observer. He can see things that no one else can. And for some weird reason, even though you guys just met, he seems to really like you. When he was telling us about you, after you left... I just haven't seen him smile that much in months. He's a good guy."
Karalynn tapped her fingers on the steering wheel.
"Give him a chance, Karalynn." Maureen said.
"My life... I just..." Karalynn looked away and frowned. "I don't doubt that he's a good guy. But Mark is on one end of the spectrum and I am on the other. I just don't have time for someone like him..."
"Someone caring and kind and thoughtful and..."
"Exactly!" Karalynn blurted out. Suddenly she felt like crying and she didn't know why. "Look,
Maureen. I have promises and obligations to keep. My world is just too... Mark couldn't fit in anywhere in my world, even if he tried! It's just too hectic and cold and competitive and he wouldn't survive if I let him in and..." Suddenly she realized she had said too much. She looked at Maureen and forced herself to build up an invisible wall around her.
It was a trick she learned a long time ago.
"It's just not gonna happen." she said coldly.
"You barely know him." Maureen said. She looked at the woman across from her. "You can't tell the future. He's a strong person. Stronger than you think he is and.."
"I know enough!" Karalynn almost yelled.
"No you don't!" Maureen cried out.
"Yes I do! He wouldn't survive!"
"WHY!?"
"Because!..."
Maureen waited for her reply but instead Karalynn just looked away. Maureen studied her face. Mark had been right, Karalynn was a beautiful woman but she wasn't as cold as she appeared to be. Mark had seen that. For a moment, it had looked like she was going to cry. Her strange gray eyes misted over slightly but then when she blinked, they were cold again. Maureen suddenly knew why Karalynn had such a strong aversion to Mark. And it wasn't because Karalynn didn't like him.
"Because you're barely surviving yourself, right?" Maureen said in a soft voice unlike her usual one.
Karalynn swore. "Oh Christ..." she muttered, shaking her head.
"Hey chick, I'm an actress." Maureen said. "I know an act when I see one. It took me awhile with you, maybe because you've had more rehearsal time but your whole ice princess thing is an act, just the same."
"You don't know me." Karalynn said quietly.
"I know enough." Maureen said, mimicking Karalynn's earlier words.
Finally the traffic let up and cars had began to move again. Karalynn said nothing as she put her car in gear and began to drive down the street. Maureen made gestures, pointing left and right and then straight and Karalynn drove in silence.
"Right there." Maureen said finally, breaking the quiet. She pointed to a large gray apartment complex. "That's where I live."
Karalynn put her car in park and stared straight ahead as Maureen opened her door. She reached in her sleeve and threw something on Karalynn's passenger seat.
"Here." she said. Karalynn turned towards her and then down looked at the small white piece of paper on the leather seat.
"What's that?" she asked.
"His number." Maureen said brightly. "Give him a call. Give him a chance."
"Oh Christ..."
"No, the name's Maureen Johnson, actually." she said with a wink. And then her face grew serious again. "I think you may need him more than you think you do." She was about to close the door when she paused. "By the way, the little talk we had today..."
"Yeah?" Karalynn said, sounding annoyed.
"It never happened." Maureen said with a glimmer in her eye. "What would people think if they knew I actually thought about someone other than myself."
Karalynn rolled her eyes and actually smiled. "Right. Ok."
"And Karalynn?"
"What?"
"Thanks for not having me arrested." And then Maureen added. "Again."
"Christ, just close the door!" Karalynn yelled.
Maureen giggled as Karalynn drove away and then walked up the stairs to the front door.
"There goes my good deed for the day." she said brightly to herself. She reached into her sleeve and then frowned.
"Oh shit, where's my key?!"
Ch. 2- Meet the Family
Mark looked around the cafe, nervously tugging at his scarf.
She said 3:00, he thought anxiously, or was it 3:30? Shit Cohen.. Shit!
He tapped his fingers on his camera and looked up at the clock again. It was 2:50pm.
He had been at the Life Cafe since 2:45, the butterflies in his stomach making him run out of his door at breakneck speed. He didn't want to be late. Karalynn seemed like the type of person to show up early.
He glanced up at the clock again and sighed. 2:51.
He allowed his mind to wander as he waited. The sound of her voice a few hours ago echoed in his mind and he closed his eyes, letting himself relive their conversation.
--"Uh, did I wake you?" he asked. Her voice sounded hoarse and tired when she answered the phone.
"It's 11:00, Mark, who would be asleep at this time?" she said, sounding annoyed.
Mark flinched at her tone and then looked back at Roger, who lay sprawled across the couch, sleeping.
"Well, actually..." He changed the subject. "Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to get some coffee later on. I know this cool place on 10th. It's called the..."
"Life Cafe." she finished for him. He heard a noise in the background and frowned. Was that a man's voice?
"Yeah. You know it?"
"I've passed by it but I've never been in." she replied. He heard her mumble something away from the receiver. "What did you say?"
"Oh." She sounded flustered. "Nothing... that was the television. Why don't I meet you there at three this afternoon?"
"Sure, that sounds great!" Mark said and then winced at the sound of his too eager voice fill the loft.
"Okay, see you then." And before he could say good bye, she had already hung up the phone on him.--
Mark opened his eyes and frowned again. Had it been a man's voice? Or was he just paranoid?
And why should he care?
"It's not like she's interested in me." he mumbled out loud. "I'm just trying to make up for her shirt."
Yeah right, a voice inside his head said.
"Oh Christ." he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Even my inner voice doesn't believe me."
"Excuse me?" a familiar voice said behind him.
Mark jumped up and Karalynn walked past, sitting across from him. She wore dark gray slacks and a light blue shirt, as crisp and professional looking as the one he ruined yesterday. The color brought out a strange blue tint in her eyes.
She was more beautiful than he remembered.
"How long have you been sitting here?" she asked, putting her coat and bag down next to her. He smiled, putting his camera down on the table.
"Not long." he lied. He gestured to the menu in front of them. "Hungry? This is on me."
Mark had scrounged up as much money as he could find in their loft. Luckily he had found a wad of ones in his lucky cords- just enough for a meal for two.
Thank God this place is cheap, he thought as Karalynn's gray eyes swept over the menu.
She looked up at him and shrugged. "You know, I'll just have that coffee you promise." she said.
Mark waved the waiter over and Karalynn looked up, a smile suddenly appearing on her face.
"Collins?" she said.
Mark turned around and grinned as the tall man walked up to their booth.
"Hey Mark." Collins said in his deep, velvety voice. He nodded at Mark and then turned his attention to Karalynn. "I see you know the stunning Miss Demerin."
Mark looked at Karalynn as he moved over to give Collins space to sit.
"You guys know each other?" he asked. Karalynn smiled, looking pleased.
"I sat in on some of Collin's lectures at MIT." she said, her eyes twinkling. "Well, when he was still teaching there a few years back."
"And I've sat in on some of Karalynn's lectures at NYU." Collins said. He winked at her. "She's
quite brilliant but her students will tell you that her bite is worse than her bark."
Mark gawked at Karalynn. "You teach?" he asked. "I thought you were a grad student..."
"Yeah, I lecture at least once a month for my advisor." she said. She gestured at Collins. "I keep telling Collins to come over to NYU but he refuses. It's not radical enough for him there, I guess."
Collins laughed and Mark was surprised when Karalynn laughed too. "One day, Miss Demerin, you'll see the value of not being in the mainstream." he said.
Karalynn shook her head and played with the menu. "Collins, swimming in the mainstream is the only way I'll get anywhere." Her face suddenly became solemn again.
"Not with your talent." Collins said. Though he smiled, his dark eyes grew serious. "Do you still paint?"
Karalynn glanced at Mark and looked almost embarrassed. "I have no time." she said softly. "Besides, I only have five months to go until I reach that big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."
Collins looked at Mark. "You should see some of her paintings, Mark. They're like your films. She can make ordinary things look as if they had been fashioned by the hands of God Himself."
Karalynn didn't blush or look away but Mark could feel her shrinking into herself. Her face seemed suddenly as if it had been carved out of marble.
"Thank you." she said simply.
"So how exactly do you know each other." Collins asked Mark and Karalynn.
Mark opened his mouth to speak when he heard a loud woman's voice cut through the air.
"Collins! Mark!"
Shit, Maureen, Mark thought.
He looked up towards the entrance and saw the vivacious, curvy sprite jumping towards them. Her blonde curls seemed to form a halo around her head and she was pulling along a haggard looking Joanne.
Maureen threw herself on Collins giving him a big hug.
"Hey Mark! Hey you!" she exclaimed to Collins. Her cheeks were pink and her blue eyes glittered underneath the dim lights of the cafe. "How have you been, Collins? You've been missing in action again!"
Collins laughed and made room for Maureen and Joanne to sit down
"I have a meeting in ten minutes so I'll have to apologize in advance if I just eat and run." Joanne said to the group. Her eyes settled on Karalynn and looked confused. "You're new. Hi, I'm Joanne and this is my girlfriend, Maureen. You're......"
Karalynn's gray eyes grew cold as she stared at Maureen. Maureen looked up and caught her staring at her. She smiled brightly and stuck out her hand.
"Hi! You look really familiar..." she began but Karalynn stood up.
"I know who you are." she spat out. "You're that crazy woman who staged the protest last year at the NYU lab!"
Maureen's blue eyes darkened as she glared at Karalynn. Mark watched in amazement as the two women faced off.
"And you were the stuck up chick in the lab coat who called the police on me!"
"You let a hundred rats loose in our lab!" Karalynn exclaimed. "You ruined three years of my colleagues research, not to mention the cost of the damages you caused...."
"Hey your lab was killing innocent animals..."
"They were rats!" Karalynn snapped. "Rats! My friends were doing cancer research! Do you want them to experiment on humans?!"
"Animals can't fight back in their favor!" Maureen yelled back. "If you had any compassion in you, you'd understand how crazy...."
"You're crazy! Absolutely fucking insane!" Karalynn cried out. "You wore a big white rat suit for God's sake!"
Maureen's head snapped back and she looked pensive for a moment. "Oh yeah...well..."
Karalynn stood up, gathered her belongings and glared at Maureen. She smoothed down her shirt and brushed her hair back with her hand.
"I'm sorry for raising my voice." Karalynn said quietly to Joanne, Mark and Collins. She ignored Maureen. "It was nice seeing you again, Collins. I hope you'll stop by my office to see me. It was nice meeting you, Joanne. I apologize for my behavior. Mark..goodbye."
She stormed out of the cafe and Maureen sat in her place. "Well, that was unpleasant." she said brightly. "I'm hun..."
"Dammit, Maureen!" Mark cried out. He jumped to his feet, grabbed his camera and ran out after Karalynn.
"What?" she said, her eyes growing wide. "What I'd do?"
Collins sighed and Joanne shook her head. "Maureen, sometimes you just.."
"Yes, Pookie?"
"Nevermind."
"Karalynn!" Mark called out. "Wait!"
She turned around, struggling to put on her coat.
"Mark, look." she said, slipping one arm into a sleeve. Snowflakes began to settle on her shiny black hair and on her face. "I thought we could be friends but you obviously have some strange companions."
"Maureen's the only oddball." he said. "Everyone else is really great..."
"Your roommate called me a bitch."
"Well.. you both have really hot tempers and..."
Karalynn rolled her eyes and Mark held up her other sleeve. She looked at him gratefully and finally managed to get her entire coat on.
"Karalynn, I'm sorry." Mark said when she stood up straight. "Maureen's just.. and Roger is... well, Joanne and Collins and Roger's girlfriend- Mimi, are great."
"I believe you." she said. She looked past him, her gray eyes growing distant.
"Can we do this again sometime?" he asked, hopefully. "I mean, without the yelling..."
Karalynn's eyes came back to rest on Mark and she shook her head.
Mark tried to keep his face from falling as she walked past him. And then she stopped and turned around. She stared at him for a long time and Mark waited patiently, hoping she would change her mind. Her face softened and it was like seeing ice melt on a sunny day.
"Mark, you're a really nice guy." she said after awhile.
He shrugged, feeling awkward. "I try."
"I'm not...It's just.." She closed her mouth as if she decided not to continue down that path. "Mark, you're a nice guy."
"You said that already."
"Then it must be doubly true." She muttered and looked away. "Tell Collins I hope he keeps taking his medication. He looks really good."
Mark felt confused. "So you know..?"
Karalynn nodded, looking back at him. "About the AIDS?" she said. "Yeah. We got really close when he was up at MIT. He knew my father and... well." She trailed off, thoughtfully. "Mark, you're really nice."
Mark had to smile. "Third time's the charm."
Karalynn's cheeks turned pink and Mark could almost believe she was blushing.
Then again it could just be the wind, he thought.
"I have to go." she muttered.
Mark shrugged and nodded, looking back down at the camera in his hands.
"Can I call you sometime?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"I don't think it would be a good idea." she said. For some reason she sounded more upset about it than he did. She turned around and walked away.
Mark looked up and watched her until she turned the corner and disappeared from his life for good.
He looked back at his camera and sighed.
"Looks like it's you and me again."
I hate Mondays, Karalynn thought as she looked out of her office window. She leaned her head against the cold glass and watched people walk past the neuroscience lab across the way.
She turned slightly so she could see the stack of papers on her desk out of the corner of her eye.
I should really get started on grading those damn things, she thought and then looked up at the small silver clock next to them.
8:45am.
Karalynn sat up and pulled herself back to her desk. She opened a drawer and pulled out a red pen, uncapping it with one perfectly manicured finger.
As she read the paper in front of her, she let her thoughts drift to the past weekend.
To Saturday.
Christ, that was bad, she thought. I was so...
She shook her head and looked back down at the paper.
No sense in looking back, she thought firmly. Have to go forward, always forward.
But the way he looked at me when I said....
Karalynn put the pen down and looked up, resting her chin on her propped up hand.
"Get it out of your system." she said out loud. "What's the problem, Kara?"
Mark! an inner voice yelled.
"What about him?" she muttered, staring at the blank white wall in front of her.
He's nice!
"Well, I'm not nice. I don't do nice." she said firmly. "I can't win unless I'm aggressive. Aggressive cancels out nice. Besides, he's clumsy. I had to throw away my shirt. He's goofy. He dresses like... well, bad. He's too skinny. And those glasses..."
But remember the way his blue eyes twinkled behind those glasses?
And the way his hair stuck up like that?
And his smile...?
His smile.
Karalynn closed her eyes, leaned back and put her fingers up to her temples.
"I'm mean! she said out loud. "I'm cold. I'm cruel. I have no emotions. I also have no time to deal with emotions, dammit! My life is perfect!" She opened her eyes and sighed with relief.
"Okay, that's it. He's forgotten. That's it."
And then the voice came back with a vengeance.
You're a fake.
Your perfect life is a perfect sham.
Her eyes drifted over to her father's picture. The only picture on her desk and Karalynn felt her shoulders droop.
"My father would be proud of me." she muttered. "I made it. I'm getting my Ph.d. I am going to be a success. I am going to keep my promise."
Yes, your father would be proud of you, the voice said quietly.
But he would also know how unhappy you are.
"I. Am. Happy." Karalynn said sternly. She picked up the paper and turned the page. "My life is..."
"Karalynn! You gotta see what's going on outside!" someone yelled.
A man burst into her room and Karalynn sat up, her eyes wide with alarm.
"What?!" she almost screamed.
For a minute she thought her inner voice had come to life.
The man, Dr. Anderson from across the hall, walked across her office and pointed out her window.
"There's a woman dressed up like a big block of cheese, standing outside the lab with a megaphone!" he exclaimed. "I think she's the same one who came here last year."
Karalynn got to her feet and looked outside.
She moaned.
"She's pretty cute too!" Dr. Anderson said.
Fuck, she thought. Dammit, that woman!
It was Maureen.
"Free the rats!" Maureen yelled out. "Let their noses smell the sweet scent of freedom that awaits them..."
She looked out at the crowd and smiled inside. The group looked bigger this year despite her lack of a microphone or any other equipment. Joanne had refused to help her and Mark wouldn't return her calls. The cheese suit felt uncomfortable and Maureen knew it would hide her curves but it would be worth it this time. She took a deep breath and was about to continue when she saw two policemen walking towards her.
"Miss, you're going to have to stop this, right now." one of them said.
"You want me to stop?" she yelled into the megaphone. "Did Moses stop leading his people to freedom when the Pharaoh told him to stop? Did Martin Luther King Jr..."
"We're going to have to arrest you if you don't stop this protest, right now." the other one said firmly, with his hands on his hips.
Maureen was about to say something about her freedom of speech and her rights when she saw a figure in white running towards her.
"Don't arrest her!" Karalynn yelled out. She struggled to put on the other sleeve of her lab coat while she ran towards the officers. "Stop! Wait!"
Both officers turned around and Karalynn stopped running, finally able to put the coat on properly.
"Ma'am, she's causing a public disturbance on private grounds." the first officer said to Karalynn.
Karalynn threw Maureen a seething glare and then smiled up at the man. "She's one of my patients." she said. "We were having a therapy session and she somehow managed to run out of my office. You can't arrest a mental patient of mine. I've been looking for her. Right, Maureen?"
Maureen smiled sweetly, hopping down from her wooden box and walked up to Karalynn.
"Right, doctor." she said. Karalynn glared at her and then turned back to both officers.
"Could you please tell this crowd to go now." Karalynn said. "They're the ones causing a disturbance. They're blocking the entrance to the lab and students have to get in there now."
Both men looked at each other, confused and the first one shrugged.
"Okay folks!" he yelled out, waving his hands and walking away. "Show's over!"
Karalynn grabbed Maureen's arm tightly and she pulled her off to the side.
"You are getting out of that ridiculous costume and you are leaving this campus for good!" Karalynn yelled at her.
Maureen stood up straight and held her head up. She shook off Karalynn's grasp. "Hey, I'm just exercising my freedom of speech! This is a righteous cause!"
"Do you want me to get those policemen back here?" Karalynn threatened. "Because I could just easily walk over there and..."
"Why'd you help me?" Maureen asked suddenly.
"What?!" Karalynn cried out. "Now you're questioning why I.."
"It's Mark, isn't it?" Maureen said triumphantly. "If you hadn't known that he was my friend you would have let them arrest me, right?"
Karalynn stared at her blankly. She shook her head and sighed.
"Go home, you unstable, insane woman." she said and then turned around to leave.
"Wait!" Maureen called out. Karalynn stopped but didn't turn around.
"What?"
"Joanne dropped me off and I don't have a ride home." she said sheepishly. Karalynn whirled around.
"You don't expect me to..."
"Well, I could hang out with you today. Just until she gets off at five." Maureen smiled. "I always wanted to check out the young, good looking professors here. You know some, right? I mean..."
"Take the damn subway." Karalynn hissed. "Or walk. You have legs."
"I can't do that dressed like this!" Maureen exclaimed. She waved her yellow covered arms out of the huge yellow cheese shaped styrofoam box she wore around her body. "I might get mugged! Or worse yet..."
Karalynn felt like pulling out her hair. Actually, she felt like pulling out Maureen's hair.
"Fine." she said finally, through gritted teeth. "I'll drive you home. But only if you promise never to step foot on any part of the NYU campus again. I mean it. You can't even look at a map of the place."
Maureen smiled so hard, her dimples showed.
"Traffic." Karalynn muttered, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel of her BMW. "Of course. Traffic. This is great. Just greeeeeaaat."
They had been stuck in gridlock for ten minutes and Karalynn's patience was wearing thin.
Maureen leaned forward, her fingers headed towards the radio dial. Karalynn looked at her and glared.
"Don't even..."
"But I hate..."
"It's my car."
Maureen leaned back sulking. "You sound just like Joanne!" she cried out.
Karalynn shook her head in disbelief and looked out of the window. "I can't believe I'm doing this." she muttered. "I have tons of work to finish up."
"So what's going on with you and Mark?" Maureen asked.
Karalynn's grip tightened. Her knuckles were almost white.
"Nothing." she said through her teeth. "He was just some guy who ran into me one day and that is it. I don't even know his last name."
"Cohen."
"What?"
"It's Cohen." Maureen said, staring at her. "His last name is Cohen."
Karalynn said nothing and stared straight ahead. No one was moving now. She was stuck.
"I used to date him." Maureen said after awhile.
Karalynn looked at her. "You? I thought you were.."
"A lesbian? Yes. I am now." Maureen said. "But I dated him a while back."
"So?"
"So... look, Karalynn." Maureen said in a serious tone. "It may be hard to believe but I'm not as self centered or insane as you think I am. Everyone else falls for this... this exterior and I let them. Mark didn't. He saw things in me... qualities that I didn't even know I had. He saw... well, he saw me. For who I was really. And he never gave up on me, even when I treated him like shit. When I first met you, I admit, I thought you were..."
"Let me guess." Karalynn said. "A bitch?"
"Yeah." Maureen said with a smile. "A bitch. But then after an hour of listening to him go on and on about you.. I realized that maybe he saw something in you I wasn't seeing. He's a filmmaker. He's an observer. He can see things that no one else can. And for some weird reason, even though you guys just met, he seems to really like you. When he was telling us about you, after you left... I just haven't seen him smile that much in months. He's a good guy."
Karalynn tapped her fingers on the steering wheel.
"Give him a chance, Karalynn." Maureen said.
"My life... I just..." Karalynn looked away and frowned. "I don't doubt that he's a good guy. But Mark is on one end of the spectrum and I am on the other. I just don't have time for someone like him..."
"Someone caring and kind and thoughtful and..."
"Exactly!" Karalynn blurted out. Suddenly she felt like crying and she didn't know why. "Look,
Maureen. I have promises and obligations to keep. My world is just too... Mark couldn't fit in anywhere in my world, even if he tried! It's just too hectic and cold and competitive and he wouldn't survive if I let him in and..." Suddenly she realized she had said too much. She looked at Maureen and forced herself to build up an invisible wall around her.
It was a trick she learned a long time ago.
"It's just not gonna happen." she said coldly.
"You barely know him." Maureen said. She looked at the woman across from her. "You can't tell the future. He's a strong person. Stronger than you think he is and.."
"I know enough!" Karalynn almost yelled.
"No you don't!" Maureen cried out.
"Yes I do! He wouldn't survive!"
"WHY!?"
"Because!..."
Maureen waited for her reply but instead Karalynn just looked away. Maureen studied her face. Mark had been right, Karalynn was a beautiful woman but she wasn't as cold as she appeared to be. Mark had seen that. For a moment, it had looked like she was going to cry. Her strange gray eyes misted over slightly but then when she blinked, they were cold again. Maureen suddenly knew why Karalynn had such a strong aversion to Mark. And it wasn't because Karalynn didn't like him.
"Because you're barely surviving yourself, right?" Maureen said in a soft voice unlike her usual one.
Karalynn swore. "Oh Christ..." she muttered, shaking her head.
"Hey chick, I'm an actress." Maureen said. "I know an act when I see one. It took me awhile with you, maybe because you've had more rehearsal time but your whole ice princess thing is an act, just the same."
"You don't know me." Karalynn said quietly.
"I know enough." Maureen said, mimicking Karalynn's earlier words.
Finally the traffic let up and cars had began to move again. Karalynn said nothing as she put her car in gear and began to drive down the street. Maureen made gestures, pointing left and right and then straight and Karalynn drove in silence.
"Right there." Maureen said finally, breaking the quiet. She pointed to a large gray apartment complex. "That's where I live."
Karalynn put her car in park and stared straight ahead as Maureen opened her door. She reached in her sleeve and threw something on Karalynn's passenger seat.
"Here." she said. Karalynn turned towards her and then down looked at the small white piece of paper on the leather seat.
"What's that?" she asked.
"His number." Maureen said brightly. "Give him a call. Give him a chance."
"Oh Christ..."
"No, the name's Maureen Johnson, actually." she said with a wink. And then her face grew serious again. "I think you may need him more than you think you do." She was about to close the door when she paused. "By the way, the little talk we had today..."
"Yeah?" Karalynn said, sounding annoyed.
"It never happened." Maureen said with a glimmer in her eye. "What would people think if they knew I actually thought about someone other than myself."
Karalynn rolled her eyes and actually smiled. "Right. Ok."
"And Karalynn?"
"What?"
"Thanks for not having me arrested." And then Maureen added. "Again."
"Christ, just close the door!" Karalynn yelled.
Maureen giggled as Karalynn drove away and then walked up the stairs to the front door.
"There goes my good deed for the day." she said brightly to herself. She reached into her sleeve and then frowned.
"Oh shit, where's my key?!"
