A/N: 9/24/02. Wow, its been a while. My apologies to everyone, but life has been all kinds of hectic over here with school, moving, and other various things. My thanks to Lola, Becca, Dulcey, and as always, Lauren. You girls make life so much brighter. Thank you. :)

Okay. Onto Chapter 7. Reviews make me write (and post) faster. Therefore, leave some. :)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Enough said.


**
After the Fall
Chapter 7
**

I knocked on Mimi's door, then walked right in. We'd always had a knock-and-walk policy while we were together, and it didn't seem that much had changed since then.

I closed the door behind me and froze.

Clothes were scattered around the room, hanging off of nearly every surface. One of Mimi's tank tops dangled off a lamp; a pair of her panties lay in a heap on the floor. The smell of sweat and sex still hung prominently in the air, taunting me. Yeah, it was pretty clear what had happened here. The room looked like it had been hit by a sexual tornado.

Oh my God. I was going to kill someone. I just hoped I got a hold of whatever asshole was stupid enough to fuck Mimi while I was still around instead of Mimi herself.

Her bedroom door was partially open. I roughly pushed my way in, immediately assaulted by the roar of the fan in the window and completely ignoring the fact that I was really no longer her boyfriend and therefore had very little claim to her. I shook my head, disgusted, and stopped dead in my tracks. Mimi was curled in a ball in the bed, the covers pushed down onto the floor. She was alone, wearing only a man's white t-shirt. Her hair spilled across the pillow. I could see a faint bruise on her neck. I was so pissed off; the prick had fucked her and then left.

I tried not to shout at her. I resisted the urge to call her a whore.

"What the *fuck* is going on here?"

That wasn't much better, but at least I still had some semblance of control.

Mimi jumped awake. She looked at me wild eyed, tousled, and clearly afraid.

"Oh my God," she breathed. "Roger,"

**

I scrambled off of the bed, running over to his side. "Roger, I swear its not-"

I stopped. I couldn't say it. It was *exactly* what he thought. Of course, he didn't expect it to be Mark, but he didn't know that yet.

"Its not what, Mimi?" he growled, grabbing my wrist. He jerked my arm, dragging me into the living room. "Look around you. This kind of speaks for itself."

I looked around me, immediately ashamed that Roger had seen the ugly, obvious evidence of our afternoon activities. I dropped my head to my chest, trying not to cry. His grip on my wrist hadn't let up and it was seriously starting to hurt.

"I'm sorry," I whimpered, silently begging him to forgive me.

He looked away, focusing in on the door. His grip tightened. "Is he coming back here?"

I gasped. "Roger, you're hurting me."

"As I remember, Mimi, you like it that way," he spat out. Thankfully, he dropped my wrist. "Is he coming back here?"

I looked up at him, cradling my wrist. "I don't know."

"So he was just some random fuck? I think he forgot something." Roger replied, kicking some clothes across the room.

I cringed. As much as I wanted to answer Roger's questions, I felt the need to protect Mark. It was pretty much inevitable that Roger would find out, but I couldn't tolerate him believing that I would have an affair with just anybody. As disgusting as it sounds, if I'm going to cheat it's going to be for a good reason.

I pulled myself up to my full 5'3" and took a deep breath. "I love him, Roger."

He stopped his ranting and storming about. Roger's entire body deflated, crumpling in upon itself. His wide eyes implored me to be lying. I think he would have rather heard lies than truth, given the situation. But he had a right to know. He had to know.

**

Mimi stood in front of me wearing another man's shirt, covered in his sweat and God knows what else, and told me that she was in love with someone else.

I now understood the meaning of the phrase 'wanting to die'.

"How long?" I managed to get out, walking over to the couch and collapsing. I slumped forward and looked up at her. Please, say it was recently. Say that you loved me. Please say it wasn't all an act.

She hesitated, her fingers playing with the hem of his shirt. "A month, maybe. Maybe less."

I sighed, thankful. At least they hadn't been together the entire time we were together. I really think that would have killed me. But, a month? We broke up about a month ago. Well, I moved out about a month ago, anyway. And that morning she had been acting strangely. I had even been suspicious enough to go ask Mark about it.

The pieces were starting to fall into place.

"It was that night, wasn't it? The night we fought at the club. Before I moved out. You met him that night."

Her eyes widened, but she stayed silent. Instead, she just nodded slowly.

Oh my God.

It was Mark. It had to be Mark.

She was with Mark that night. When I saw them the next morning, they were both jumpy and uncomfortable. Mark hadn't talked to me much since I'd moved back in. And, Mark hadn't been home all afternoon.

Well, fuck. I really didn't want to have to kill my supposed best friend and roommate.

"Its Mark, isn't it?" My question was more of a formality than an actual inquiry. We both knew the answer.

"Yes," she whispered, walking over to my side. "Roger, I'm so sorry. We never meant for anything to happen. We never wanted to hurt you."

It's funny how two individual people can become a 'we' in a matter of seconds. It's even stranger still how much that change of pronouns can sting so badly and make the entire situation seem that much more surreal.

I suppose I couldn't blame Mark for falling in love with Mimi. Not really, anyway. I'm mature enough to realize that you can't control your heart. But sleeping with her? Yeah, I could definitely blame him for that.

And I was going to fucking kill him.

At that moment, the man of the hour decided to walk in the front door. The door closed behind him and he smiled warmly at Mimi, completely not noticing me sitting on the couch. Disgusting. Mimi's mouth gaped open, staring at him, clearly afraid of what I might do.

"Hi, Mark," I said. "Have a good afternoon?"

**

I stared at Roger. I glanced at Mimi, who shook her head slightly.

He knew. Roger knew. Fuck.

As naïve as it seems, I never thought this day would come. I just assumed Mimi and I would have our wonderful afternoons and Sundays in the park for the rest of time without having to worry about the messiness of dealing with her jealous ex-boyfriend/my best friend.

Even the best of affairs are destined to end, I suppose.

Roger leapt to his feet, quickly crossing the room. "You're lucky I don't kill you here," he gritted out. Before I realized what was going on, his fist was in my face. My glasses went flying across the room and I fell to the side, my hand instinctively coming up to my face. My eye throbbed maddeningly, my ears rang, and pain began to blossom in my jaw. I was going to have such a black eye.

I deserved that.

Roger glared at me. Mimi immediately jumped between the two of us.

"Stop it!" she shouted, pushing Roger back away from me. Any other day, I'd be slightly offended to need the protection of the diminutive Mimi. Right now my jaw hurt like a motherfucker and I didn't really care.

Roger backed away from the two of us, his anger dissolving. His eyes instinctively sought Mimi out. "My God, Mimi. What did I do? *What* did I do?"

Mimi's hands dropped to her sides. "Nothing, baby," she replied, her voice barely more than a whisper. Her head fell to her chest and I watched a single tear weave its way down her cheek.

I had to get out of there.

"Um, I'm going to-" I gestured towards the door. I really didn't want to leave them alone, but I knew that Roger wouldn't hurt Mimi. He didn't have it in him. God, I hope he didn't.

Mimi nodded, not looking at me. Roger shot me a last parting glare through red-rimmed eyes.

"For what its worth, Roger, I'm sorry. But don't blame Mimi for it," I don't know why I felt compelled to open my mouth. This sounded weak even to my own ears.

"Oh, right. Like you seduced her," he spat, his voice thick from holding back tears. Roger was about to break down and it was not going to be pretty. I really didn't want to stick around for that one.

I cringed, biting back any sort of comment. He was entitled to them, the way I figured. I couldn't think of a single way I could have hurt him more. Stepping out into the hallway, I closed the door and leaned back into it. The image of Mimi pressed against the other side of the door only hours earlier ran through my mind, torturing me; her legs wrapped around my waist as we kissed frantically. It wasn't like I set out to destroy the happiness of everyone around me, damnit. The heat of the afternoon had vanished and rain was pouring from the sky, cooling everything and leaving only cool, damp humidity and the smell of ozone in its place.

I sunk to the floor, burying my face in my hands.

**

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