VIII

Lisa

"She's Got The Power"

Come on, Lis, call the girl. Call her. She told you to... she wants you to... she said "please" and she doesn't exactly strike me as a "please" kind of person. Call her. I stare down at the paper I had copied her number onto. I can't believe I'm stressing this badly over this... it is completely unlike me. I'm the cool, confident, normal one who doesn't let stupid little things like this get to her. That's Aaron's job... to not follow his head. Not me. Call her.

"Haven't you called that chick yet?" I hear someone ask, as elbows plop down onto my shoulders. Oh my. That's slightly frightening. I turn around to see Aaron grinning down at me.

"What are you doing in my apartment, Aaron?"

"I came to see you and boost up your confidence to make you make that call."

"Uh huh... how did you get in here?"

"I have my ways."

"You stole the spare key, didn't you?"

"Ummmm... no comment." Aaron grins again and bounces over to my couch, sitting on it. He has been in such a good mood lately... it's sickening. And it's going to be even worse once he actually hooks up with that Mark-guy... yeah, he hasn't really been acting like himself lately either. Lust does crazy things to people.

"You're such a bad liar, you know that?"

"Hmmm... yep! I get through because of my cute face." He laughs and bats his eyelashes at me, causing me to roll my eyes. I wonder if the other guy's acting like this too? I feel so sorry for Roger if he is, I can barely stand Aaron right now and he's not that much worse than usual. "Anyway, honey, you have to call that girl."

"Why should I listen to you?" I pout, crossing my arms. I know he's right... I've been telling myself the same thing, but I hate hearing it from someone else. Especially him, he gets really pompous when he's right too often.

"Because she wants you too. And you'll make yourself miserable if you don't. Cuz I know you, and you'll just sit there, wishing you knew what could have happened. And if you call, something will happen. Besides, you're kinda cute for a girl, I think she'd be into you. Soooo... you call her... now!!" Suddenly Aaron jumps over the back of the couch and launches himself onto me, grabbing the piece of paper from my hand and the phone. He stands up and quickly dials, then holds the phone out to me, laughing hysterically. "Too late now... it's ringing and you can't just hang up because then you'll look stupid. Don't worry... it's gonna turn out great!" He laughs some more and leans over, kissing my forehead, then runs out the apartment door. Maybe his relatively happiness-induced insanity is slightly helpful.

Maybe. I sit there, clutching the phone tightly, until someone picks up and the familiar voice from the club comes through the lines. "He... hey. This is Lisa... I met you at the club the other night? I had the ROCKET TEAM shirt and brown pants?" Brilliant Lisa... you don't need to give her a full physical description, I'm sure she doesn't pick up that many random girls at clubs while she has a girlfriend... you're just going to look like a moron now.

"Oh yeah! Hey Lisa." The fact that she sounds totally cool with everything calms me slightly; I'm probably just overreacting anyway. "I never really introduced myself at the club-Maureen Johnston. What took you so long?"

"To call? Hey, I have a life. Don't have tons of time to call girls I meet in clubs who have girlfriends."

"Hey! About that... She's not really my girlfriend, exactly..."

"Oh yeah? Who is she then? The random woman you live with, screw and gets jealous when you dance with other woman? No, that's not a girlfriend at all..."

"That's right, it's not. She's my stage manager... I can see other people if I want to."

"Uh huh... Maureen, I'm not gonna be a "back-up" to the stage manager when you guys fight."

"What makes you think we're fighting?"

"Because when you have a girlfriend and you're not fighting, you don't go looking for random people in bars. And said random people don't call you..." I bite down on my lip, what am I doing? If I like her- and I do- I shouldn't make her pissed off at me... that's probably the stupidest thing I could do. "Hey, look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No, I'm sorry," she interrupts, surprising me. She doesn't really strike me as an "apologies" type of person either. "You have crazy morals, that's cool. I can work with that... we don't have to actually do anything. We can be "friends"... for as long as I'm with Pookie, anyway. You wanna go out for coffee?"

"I... uh... okay..." She gives me a place and time, then hangs up, leaving me blinking down at the phone in my hand. What a strange person... I've never ever had a conversation like that. And amazingly, I'm okay with this arrangement... hell, I'd probably be okay if we weren't only "just friends" even while she was with 'Pookie'... which is just odd. Totally unlike me. But, hey, I think I know that I would be able to convince her to choose me. I actually think I can still do that, it'll just take longer.

It suddenly hits me. I have a date- even though it's not really a "date"... it is. I dial Aaron's cell and once he picks up, I squeal, "Damn, I love you boy! Get back here and help me choose something to wear!"

*****

I stop in front of the window and smooth down my hair before stepping into the coffee shop. Of course it chooses today to go all frizzy. I roll my eyes, then smile as I notice Maureen sitting at a table near the corner. This is insane. I hurry over and sit down across from her. "Hey... sorry I'm late. I couldn't kick my friend out of my apartment and I didn't exactly trust him there alone."

"It's okay." Maureen shrugs then points at the two cups on the table. "I ordered for us already. Cappuccino. You like?"

"Ummm... yeah... yeah." I smile and take a small sip of the coffee. It's not my most favourite, but I can deal... besides, it was sweet of her to order. Girls aren't usually sweet, girls are usually bitchy. That's why people like gay couples but not lesbian ones... too much bitchiness. "So... uh... you mentioned "stage manager". Do you act?"

"Yeah, act, dance, sing, play the cowbell. I do it all." She laughs and pulls a newspaper article out of her purse. "I'm a performance artist... this is from my last protest. They tried to have me arrested, but I got out of it... I have my ways..." She laughs again and winks at me as I scan the article.

"Is there a reason you're dressed like a duck?" I ask, raising an eyebrow as I hand it back. I'm surprised when I realize that she's actually blushing.

"It was supposed to be symbolism... not my best work..." She admits, tucking the article away. "I've done better stuff before... remind me to show you my scrapbook sometime. Anyway, before I start to sound totally insane, rather then creatively genius, what do you do?"

"I own a tattoo and piercing place a couple streets over." I grin and flick my tongue ring at her. "Couldn't you tell?"

She smiles, and leans forward intently. "You got any more piercings?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I lean forward, closing the distance between us, and lightly kiss her, then pull away laughing. "You have to wait until next date to see."

"Date?" She raises an eyebrow at me, obviously trying to cover up for the fact that she is flustered. I really do read people well. "I thought we were "just friends" cuz of your morals."

"Apparently my morals get blinded by a pretty face." I shrug and take another sip of my coffee... cappuccino tastes better than I thought it did. "You're going to have to make a choice eventually, though, babe."

"I know." Maureen sighs, surprising me once again, as she doesn't really seem like the type of person to show "weakness". "Can we not deal with that now? Just enjoy the coffee and each other?"

"Of course." She smiles at me and I smile back, watching her sip at her coffee. I start laughing hysterically as I realize she has foam on her nose, and she looks up in shock. "Baby..." I lean across the table and lick the foam off her nose.

"I thought you said I had to wait until the next date."

"I said you had to wait until the next date to see the rest of my piercings. Didn't say anything about this." I laugh at the expression on her face and settle back in my chair. She keeps surprising me and I love it.

I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen next, but I actually don't care. I just know that there's no way its going to be boring... and it's probably going to be hard, but life is never easy anyway. I can deal with things being hard... I look at the woman across the table from me, talking excitedly and smile. I think she's worth it.

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Well... I don't know, something about this chapter bothers me (the middle), but... hey... it's you're guys' opinion that matters so if you wanna tell me... *hint hint*, go right ahead, reviews are enjoyable.

Disclaimer: Everyone other than Lisa (I suppose) and Aaron belongs to Jonathan Larson, not me.

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