A/N Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. It keeps me typing!
CHAPTER 14
"What did you tell him I was here for? Now he'll know I was checking up on them!"
"Get over it Mark, Roger already knew. Actually he figured you would con Jen into doing it and was expecting the call later, but my lunch hour is earlier than hers!"
"Oh. He really knew?"
"Knew and was expecting it."
"So what did he say?"
"To tell you he was teaching her his anti social behavior and how to live in the loft forever."
"What!"
"That's what he told me to tell you." She laughed at him. She still knew which buttons to push. "Actually, after that he said to tell you she was fine. They ate breakfast, took their pills and she was reading the paper and he was working on a song."
"Really? A song? He was working on one?"
"Don't sound so shocked Mark. He is a musician. They do tend to do that." She picked at the rest of her brownie.
"Not lately. Not Roger. All I've heard out of that stupid guitar for months is him playing with it like he's trying to tune it. He hasn't really played it in a long time. Forget actually trying to write something."
"What are you talking about? His band plays every week?"
"Yeah. He goes. He plays. He's done. Period. He was always playing that thing. Remember? Always either practicing or trying to come up with something. You know. Even messed up he'd try and play. But now, lately, nothing. No passion. No feeling. No Roger in it."
"Well he said he was working on a song. Maybe she inspired him or something."
"Maybe. If anyone could do that, Cass could."
"So I've heard. Over and over and over again."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing." She played with the plastic wrap from her brownie.
"Mo are you okay? I mean you just seem different. Everything okay with Joanne?" Mark asked hesitantly.
"Oh yeah, we're doing fine. As fine as we do I guess. I haven't really seen her in a while really. She has been working long hours with this Washington thing going on. And then she's just beat when she gets home at night."
"What's going on with you though? I haven't heard you mention any auditions in awhile."
"That's because I haven't really gone on any in a while. I've been really busy here at the shop."
"I thought you took this job because the hours were so good for auditions?"
"They were, when I was just doing copy work and a little bit of design stuff. But then they promoted me to assistant manager over the design area. Those hours are a lot more locked in. No real time to audition." She shrugged.
"I'm sorry Mo." Mark truly meant it.
"It bothered me at first, but then I realized, I'm actually pretty good at this. I mean I really like the design end of it. Banners, signs, business cards are okay, but I've made some killer invitations and stuff." She was smiling as she spoke of them. "And I'm a pretty good manager too. Once I learned even as a manager I can't always have my own way."
"That's great!"
"And the money is pretty good too. Nothing great like Joanne or if I had ever become worldly famous. But decent I guess. Better than just picking up Joanne's dry cleaning as Jen says. "And let's face it, I wasn't getting anywhere fast as an actress or performance artist. I wasn't even getting anywhere slow!"
She laughed at her own joke but Mark wondered how true it all was. She seemed happy. Definitely happier than she had in awhile. And so much less over bearing and easier to deal with lately too. "I'm glad you're doing so well Maureen. I really am."
Maureen smiled at Mark and was about to say something when one of the girls from the front stepped into the break room. " 'Reen I need you to look at something for me."
"I'm on my lunch break."
"No you were on that ten minutes ago. Now you're just loafing in the back on the clock." The girl teased her.
Mark mouthed the word 'Reen to her and gave her a questioning look. Maureen shot one back that said don't ask.
"Okay, okay I'm coming. Marky, I gotta go. My public awaits me."
From down the hall Mark heard a man call to the girl in the doorway. "Hey ask 'Reen how many colors are in the $49.95 special?"
"Just tell him I'm coming. Mark lovely lunch. Phone call went just like I told you it would, but apparently, leaving the kids home without a sitter seems to be going fine. But next time if all else fails, there is always that lock them in the closet with enough food and water to keep them quiet and well-behaved option. And up until recently, I think Roger would have enjoyed that. Hey who knows, he may still enjoy that, provided we lock him in with the right person!" She winked at him.
Mark was about to ask her what she could possibly be talking about when the man's voice from down the hall hollered to her again. "Hey 'Reen, I really need your help."
"Okay I'm coming. And Marky, you're going. I'll call you tonight. Bye sweetie."
"Okay. And I am glad you're doing so good. And thanks for calling for me. I'll talk to you tonight, 'Reen!"
"That's it! Out!"
****
"Okay. Wednesday at 10am. Thanks." Roger hung up the phone, just as Cass opened the bathroom door. He looked up and saw her step out of the bathroom. She had a towel wrapped around her and her hair pulled up and tied in a ponytail. She was trying to pull the tape and plastic bag off her cast.
Roger couldn't help but watch her. She had incredible legs. Real long and tan. And the way she walked and moved. He realized he was staring at her when he heard her talking to him. "What? Sorry. What did you say?"
"I said can you help me get this tape off?"
"Oh, yeah sure. Sorry." Roger walked over to her and started to undo the tape and remove the bag from her cast. "Did it stay dry this time?"
"I think so."
"Um, good." Roger kept looking at her in that towel and trying to find anywhere else to look, but his eyes kept coming back to her in that towel. "Um, I called Joanne. She gave me her doctor's office and I got you an appointment for tomorrow. Best I could do in less than four weeks. Sorry."
"That's okay. Where is it?"
"Um, not too far. We can take the subway. Me and Mark will take you, don't worry."
"Okay." She just stood there.
Okay Davis stop staring at her in the towel. "Um Cass, you need some more clothes? You want me to find you something?"
"Oh no, I grabbed something off your bed before I took a shower. You don't mind do you?"
"No, you can wear whatever you want. Boxers, shirts. Just take whatever. Whatever you want." Roger realized he sounded like an idiot.
"Thanks Roger." Cass turned around and walked back into Mark's room.
Christ, Roger thought, is she stays here and keeps walking around in towels, it'll never matter if she uses up all the hot water. I'll never take a hot shower again. He shook his head. Oh this is bad. She's Mark's girlfriend. Try and remember that idiot. Well sort of Mark's girlfriend. Well, Mark's old girlfriend. Like a bunch of years ago.
Wait. It doesn't matter. Girlfriend, old girlfriend, or even sort of girlfriend. It doesn't matter remember Davis. You swore off women. Forever. Or at least the rest of your forever, however long that may be. Especially this one. The last thing she would ever need is you. She's got enough crap to deal with, without getting anywhere near your baggage Davis.
Besides, it doesn't matter what you think. She's Mark's girlfriend. Mark's your best friend. Your supposed to be working on doing better at that, remember? The last thing you need to do is piss off your best friend, remember? That's his girlfriend, remember? And you swore off women, remember? After Mimi, no more women. No more getting hurt. No more hurting them. No more women. Ever.
Besides, she didn't need the hassles of dealing with you, remember? Excessive Roger baggage, your remember your baggage, right dummy? Besides, she's Mark's girlfriend, remember? Your best friend's girlfriend, remember? Well, maybe his sorta girlfriend. Or ex-sort of girlfriend. Or actually just old girlfriend, sort of.
You know Mark's your best friend. You should be able to ask him anything, right? So maybe you just ask him where he stands on this whole girlfriend, sort of girlfriend, ex-girlfriend thing.
Not that it matters to you, because you swore off women, remember? But it might be good information to have, just in case. You never know who's gonna ask you about that, because your Mark's best friend, so technically you should know this stuff about Mark, right? Right. Ask Mark where he stands on the girlfriend thing. Just so you know. Just in case anyone asks you. But not for you, because you swore off women, remember?
Roger was still sitting at the counter on the barstool. He was shaking his head as if to clear it. "Oh this is pathetic Davis. Mark is right, you got to get out of the house more!"
"What?" Cass said as she walked out of the bedroom. She had gotten dressed and was wearing a white sports bra and a pair of Roger's boxers that said CBGB's across the butt, slung low across her hips. She was carrying the ace bandages and a tee shirt as she walked into the living room.
"Um, oh nothing. I was just talking to myself. Just ignore me." Please ignore me, I'm an idiot.
She set the tee shirt and bandages down on the counter. "Can you re-wrap my ribs for me?"
"Um, yeah, sure." Roger pulled the other barstool out for her to sit down on. He knew he was tall enough that he could stand behind her and see what he was doing as he passed the bandages from one hand to the other in front of her by looking over her shoulder. Of course as he started to do this, it also meant he was looking straight down into her sports bra. "They look, I mean your ribs look better. Not as bruised as they did."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah, actually all of them look better. They seem to be healing up pretty quick."
"That's from these vitamins I had. I mean I haven't taken any since I've been here, but I've been taking them for years. It was hard to tell if they worked." She sort of laughed, but it was a kind of twisted, forced laugh Roger thought. "I haven't been this banged up since my car accident."
"What do you mean?" Roger stopped rolling the bandages around her.
"I've got vitamins to make bruises heal up faster. I've been taking them forever. Since I was like 13 or 14 I guess."
"Wait, you mean some doctor gave you special vitamins, specifically for that? Why?"
"Well," she shrugged and got quieter. "I used to have a lot of accidents and stuff."
There was that and stuff part again. What the hell has happened to her all these years?
Cass continued. "And Andre didn't think that looked good. So he got a specialist to give me vitamins. To prevent bruising and heal them quicker."
Roger wasn't sure if he should say what he was thinking or not, but he did anyway. "So you mean to tell me you were always messed up and all your uncle cared about was how it looked to everyone?"
Cass shrugged and her eyes went to the ground. "Like I said, family business. Image is everything. Business is business."
"But no one thought it was strange? Nobody tried to find out why? Nobody did anything?" Nobody realized it was that bastard Anton? Nobody did anything to stop him? Roger thought.
Without lifting her eyes up to him she answered. "No, I guess not. Are you done? I need to check my email. And we still need to write out a grocery list for Mark too."
"Yeah, I'm done." Roger said finishing up. He just sat there looking at her for a few seconds. "Cass?" She still didn't look up at him. "I'm sorry."
Cass' deep brown eyes raised up to look into his green one. "Thanks, Roger. Really, I mean it. For all of it." She got up off the stool and walked into the bedroom to find her computer.
*****
Cass came out of the bedroom talking on her phone and carrying a legal pad. "Gia don't worry about it. No one is getting fired. Not me, and especially not you. If you want to leave, I understand. I'll make sure you get incredible references and great severance pay. But if you stay, you can take over my position for location travel."
"I know, I know. Look can we just drop this and take care of some business for awhile?"
"Okay, you'll have to finish out the project." She looked at her notes as she sat on the couch, putting her feet up on the milk crates.
Roger was sitting in the armchair playing his guitar. When she came out, he just watched her. He knew she was talking to her assistant Giavanna. Probably in Italy. She was like a whole different person on the phone. It reminded him of Joanne when she has to take business calls while out with them. He just sat there listening to her. He didn't have a clue what she was talking about, but he didn't really care.
"Okay, so once you get that taken care of, you'll be all done. You decide what you want to do. If you stay, he'll make it worth it for you, I know."
"No, don't worry about me. It doesn't matter what I do, it will work out. There may be a few corporate hissie fits, but they will all get over it. And Andre can't do anything to me through the company. He wouldn't dare."
"Because I know too much. He'll be too scared he and Carlton taught me too much. Besides he thinks I know where all his dirty little secrets are buried."
After a few more minutes she hung up her cell phone. Roger had been watching her the whole time. He couldn't help thinking how tired she looked. He tried to lighten the mood. "Wow. I'll make sure everyone knows not to mess with you on any corporate ventures." He teased.
"Yeah well, you know what they call us high powered corporate women types." She paused and smiled at him. "Super corporate bitches!"
"Well, maybe not that bad. But can I ask you a question?" She nodded and he continued. "What you said about Andre's dirty little secrets, is that true?"
"I don't know. I guess. There's stuff I'm sure. And I could find it easily enough if I looked. Right now it's really just a blank threat if I need to use it." Her eyes dropped down. "Sort of."
"What do you mean sort of?"
"Well, off the top of my head I can't think of anything. But Andre doesn't know that. I just get the feeling he'd believe it no problem. But more importantly, I think it would work for another reason."
"What's that?" Roger asked her.
"I don't know." She was playing with the seam on the arm of the couch. "I just sort of think that maybe, you know maybe, I'm one of his dirty little secrets. At least now."
Roger didn't know what to say to her. He had a feeling she was right. He also knew that was a lousy thing to be right about. He was about to tell her that when the phone rang. She got up and walked to the counter to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Wow, what a concept, someone other than me actually answering the phone, instead of screening!"
"Hey Marky. You checking up on us again?" She asked into the phone.
Roger couldn't help but laugh at her for that one.
"Obviously, I'm too late, Roger's already corrupted you. Other than that how are you?"
"I'm fine, really. No problem."
Liar, Roger thought.
"Well, Tony cancelled the rest of this afternoon, so I'm gonna finish up here and be home by four. Did you guys write up the grocery list?"
"Grocery list?" She shot a look at Roger. "Oh yes, it's right here. Roger already finished his part and I'm working on part right now."
"Great. Is it okay with you if we use some of that money for food and stuff?"
"Use it for whatever you want."
"Thanks Cass. I'll see you around four, pick up the list and then go over to the store." Mark paused. "Do you want to come with me? I'll talk you for coffee."
"To the store?" Her voice went up a pitch and Roger's head popped up to look at her. He had an idea as to what Mark was trying to do. Roger had been on the receiving end of Mark's attempts to get him out of the house too many times to count.
"Um, I don't think so Mark. I'm really kind of tired. I might take a nap. And I've got a headache. And I'm not dressed yet. And-"
"Cass. Cass it's okay." Mark cut her off. "It's okay. If you don't want to go out you don't have to. Alright?"
"Yes. Sorry Mark."
"It's okay. Stop saying Sorry. I'll see you around four. 'Kay?"
"Okay. Bye sweetie." Cass hung up the phone
Roger knew without even hearing Mark what he was trying to do. Get Cass to leave the loft. "You do realize," he started hoping to give her a push, "that if you don't go with him, he won't get any of it right. Mark isn't exactly the best shopper in the world."
"He'll be fine. I have complete trust in him."
Well so much for that working. "Great. You trust Mark and now I have to write a grocery list out, because you told him I already did. He won't get anything I write down you know."
"Well, you go with him if you're so worried about it." She grinned at him.
Damn, she knew what was going on. Beat at his own game. "I don't suppose writing 'get food' constitutes as a list, does it?"
"Probably not." Cass laughed. "I think Mark will want more than that."
"How about 'get food and beer'?" He joked with her.
"Write the list Davis!"
He was about to give her a hard time when the phone rang again. "What could he need to check on now?"
Cass smiled as she answered the phone. "Hello?" She paused to listen. "Oh hello Mrs. Cohen."
Oh no Cass, Roger thought. Whatever you do, never ask Mark's mom how she is. She'll tell you.
"How are you?"
Ew, too late.
"No, I'm sorry but Mark's not here right now. Can I take a message?" She listened to her for a second. "Well, he'll be home around four this afternoon if you want to call him back then. Okay. Have a good day then. Goodbye."
"Oh now you're in trouble." Roger laughed. "Rule number one, you never answer the phone. Rule number two, if you break rule one, you never talk to Mark's mom. And the biggest one, the biggest, and Mark's gonna kill you for this one, is if you ever break rules one and two, you never," Roger had to stop he was laughing so hard. "You never tell her when he'll be home to call back. Because he's never home at the time he says he will be, and she'll just keep calling every 15 minutes till she wears him down and talks to her!"
"Ops! Oh well, he'll just have to talk to her and get it over with." She shrugged.
"Oh well? Just talk to her? You are kidding right? You do realize we will be hearing about this all night now don't you?"
"Oh she's not that bad!" She laughed.
"Not that bad? She's crazy. More importantly, she's annoying beyond belief. You should hear some of the crap she leaves on our machine. Always going on about Cindy and her devil spawn. You just don't know." He told her shaking his head.
"Okay, so she a little crazy. And tends to thing Cindy and Molly, especially Cindy can do no wrong. But she's not that bad."
"You only say that because you've never had to deal with her."
"Well she was okay, for the most part when I met her. Actually, Mark was the funny one that weekend." Cass started laughing a little thinking back on that.
"What weekend? When did you meet his mom?" The song forgotten and the guitar abandoned on the floor. This was clearly more interesting.
"I met his whole family when I went to Scaresdale. They are quite a trip, all of them."
Roger was confused at this point. "When did you go to Scaresdale? Wait, better question, Miss World Traveler, why would you go to Scaresdale?"
"For Cindy's wedding. I was Mark's date dork! Don't you listen to anything he says?"
"I'm beginning to think I don't. I really got to work on that. You really went to her wedding?"
"Yes. Actually I flew in like three days early. It was actually a lot of fun."
"Scaresdale or the wedding?" He couldn't believe this.
"Let's just say both were interesting. But Mark and I had fun. See I flew in early and met him at some hotel, but nowhere near the hotel the wedding was at. We just sort of hung out. No one knew we were even in town yet."
"Mark went home and hid from his family for three days?"
"Um, actually as much as possible come to think of it. We moved to the hotel the wedding was in on like Thursday. Well, every time he opened the door, before we left the room, he would check the hall first just to make sure none of them were around. He even had the desk clerk put us on an entirely different floor." She was laughing now. "But the best was when his mom would come knocking on the door. See she would always knock and start yelling 'Mark, its me, your mother. Mark are you in there'?"
"Trust me, I've hear that routine before." He laughed, jerking a thumb towards the answering machine.
"So we had to sit there, not making any noise till she went away. Which was hard because it was so funny. Once," She was really laughing now, "okay, I admit we had really been drinking at the rehearsal dinner, so I was kinda drunk, but she was so funny knocking on the door."
"What happened?" Now Roger really wanted to know more.
"Well she's knocking on the door and I'm starting to laugh and Mark's whispering don't let her hear you."
"What? He didn't want his mommy to know he had you in his room? I mean he had to be like 20 when the evil princess got married. Only Mark." Roger was shaking his head in disbelief.
"No, it wasn't that. I mean she knew I was staying there. I mean she came right out and asked Mark if he was sleeping with me. Or more accurately with 'that Katie girl' or maybe it was Casey that time. That woman couldn't remember my name to save her life."
"What'd Mark do?" Roger laughed.
"You mean other than turn bright red? Well he looked at her and his dad and say 'of course, what do you think I am a total idiot?' and then walked away."
"You're kidding?" Roger was more than amazed at this point. He was about blown away by this news. Was this really Mark? His Mark?
"Well anyway, it wasn't that he didn't want her to know I was there, but that either of us were there. So the funny thin is, okay now, we're drunk, and she's knocking and saying 'Mark, it's me, your mother. Are you in there?' I think she was a little toasted too by the way. So I'm laughing and Mark's got his hand over my mouth to keep me quiet, which is making me laugh harder and finally she hears us."
"So what happened?"
"Well, you have to understand we were going to go down to the pool, and Mark's only got his boxers on at this point cause we were changing."
"Uh huh?"
"So finally Mark gets up, flings the door open and yells at her 'Mom what do you want?' Which wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the boxers. And the fact that she had been knocking for like five minutes. And the fact that I was sitting in the bed, hugging a pillow to my chest to try and stop laughing. Plus I'm wearing this strapless dress, which is completely covered by the pillow so it looks like I've got nothing on."
"Yeah, and?" Roger was wide eyed by now.
"So the door flies open and here's Mark in his boxers and me in the bed, which you can see from the doorway, and his mother just sort of takes this whole thing in and says 'Uh, Mark your grandmothers wanted to say goodnight to you'."
"You're kidding"
"Nope. Door flies open and here is not only his mom, but his aunt too and they are walking the grandmother and great grandmother to their rooms."
"Oh that's too good. I would have loved to see that. Then what happened?"
"Well, I think his mom must have told his dad."
"Who I'm sure was thrilled to hear he was getting laid, by a girl no less."
"Behave! Anyway, I guess he told his uncles and some of his cousins because the next day at the wedding, they all kept coming up to him giving him that 'way to go buddy' thing guys do. It was either one of the best or worst experiences of his life. I'm still not sure to this day." She laughed.
Roger couldn't help but think the same thing. As he watched her laugh all he could think of was way to go buddy.
*******
CHAPTER 14
"What did you tell him I was here for? Now he'll know I was checking up on them!"
"Get over it Mark, Roger already knew. Actually he figured you would con Jen into doing it and was expecting the call later, but my lunch hour is earlier than hers!"
"Oh. He really knew?"
"Knew and was expecting it."
"So what did he say?"
"To tell you he was teaching her his anti social behavior and how to live in the loft forever."
"What!"
"That's what he told me to tell you." She laughed at him. She still knew which buttons to push. "Actually, after that he said to tell you she was fine. They ate breakfast, took their pills and she was reading the paper and he was working on a song."
"Really? A song? He was working on one?"
"Don't sound so shocked Mark. He is a musician. They do tend to do that." She picked at the rest of her brownie.
"Not lately. Not Roger. All I've heard out of that stupid guitar for months is him playing with it like he's trying to tune it. He hasn't really played it in a long time. Forget actually trying to write something."
"What are you talking about? His band plays every week?"
"Yeah. He goes. He plays. He's done. Period. He was always playing that thing. Remember? Always either practicing or trying to come up with something. You know. Even messed up he'd try and play. But now, lately, nothing. No passion. No feeling. No Roger in it."
"Well he said he was working on a song. Maybe she inspired him or something."
"Maybe. If anyone could do that, Cass could."
"So I've heard. Over and over and over again."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing." She played with the plastic wrap from her brownie.
"Mo are you okay? I mean you just seem different. Everything okay with Joanne?" Mark asked hesitantly.
"Oh yeah, we're doing fine. As fine as we do I guess. I haven't really seen her in a while really. She has been working long hours with this Washington thing going on. And then she's just beat when she gets home at night."
"What's going on with you though? I haven't heard you mention any auditions in awhile."
"That's because I haven't really gone on any in a while. I've been really busy here at the shop."
"I thought you took this job because the hours were so good for auditions?"
"They were, when I was just doing copy work and a little bit of design stuff. But then they promoted me to assistant manager over the design area. Those hours are a lot more locked in. No real time to audition." She shrugged.
"I'm sorry Mo." Mark truly meant it.
"It bothered me at first, but then I realized, I'm actually pretty good at this. I mean I really like the design end of it. Banners, signs, business cards are okay, but I've made some killer invitations and stuff." She was smiling as she spoke of them. "And I'm a pretty good manager too. Once I learned even as a manager I can't always have my own way."
"That's great!"
"And the money is pretty good too. Nothing great like Joanne or if I had ever become worldly famous. But decent I guess. Better than just picking up Joanne's dry cleaning as Jen says. "And let's face it, I wasn't getting anywhere fast as an actress or performance artist. I wasn't even getting anywhere slow!"
She laughed at her own joke but Mark wondered how true it all was. She seemed happy. Definitely happier than she had in awhile. And so much less over bearing and easier to deal with lately too. "I'm glad you're doing so well Maureen. I really am."
Maureen smiled at Mark and was about to say something when one of the girls from the front stepped into the break room. " 'Reen I need you to look at something for me."
"I'm on my lunch break."
"No you were on that ten minutes ago. Now you're just loafing in the back on the clock." The girl teased her.
Mark mouthed the word 'Reen to her and gave her a questioning look. Maureen shot one back that said don't ask.
"Okay, okay I'm coming. Marky, I gotta go. My public awaits me."
From down the hall Mark heard a man call to the girl in the doorway. "Hey ask 'Reen how many colors are in the $49.95 special?"
"Just tell him I'm coming. Mark lovely lunch. Phone call went just like I told you it would, but apparently, leaving the kids home without a sitter seems to be going fine. But next time if all else fails, there is always that lock them in the closet with enough food and water to keep them quiet and well-behaved option. And up until recently, I think Roger would have enjoyed that. Hey who knows, he may still enjoy that, provided we lock him in with the right person!" She winked at him.
Mark was about to ask her what she could possibly be talking about when the man's voice from down the hall hollered to her again. "Hey 'Reen, I really need your help."
"Okay I'm coming. And Marky, you're going. I'll call you tonight. Bye sweetie."
"Okay. And I am glad you're doing so good. And thanks for calling for me. I'll talk to you tonight, 'Reen!"
"That's it! Out!"
****
"Okay. Wednesday at 10am. Thanks." Roger hung up the phone, just as Cass opened the bathroom door. He looked up and saw her step out of the bathroom. She had a towel wrapped around her and her hair pulled up and tied in a ponytail. She was trying to pull the tape and plastic bag off her cast.
Roger couldn't help but watch her. She had incredible legs. Real long and tan. And the way she walked and moved. He realized he was staring at her when he heard her talking to him. "What? Sorry. What did you say?"
"I said can you help me get this tape off?"
"Oh, yeah sure. Sorry." Roger walked over to her and started to undo the tape and remove the bag from her cast. "Did it stay dry this time?"
"I think so."
"Um, good." Roger kept looking at her in that towel and trying to find anywhere else to look, but his eyes kept coming back to her in that towel. "Um, I called Joanne. She gave me her doctor's office and I got you an appointment for tomorrow. Best I could do in less than four weeks. Sorry."
"That's okay. Where is it?"
"Um, not too far. We can take the subway. Me and Mark will take you, don't worry."
"Okay." She just stood there.
Okay Davis stop staring at her in the towel. "Um Cass, you need some more clothes? You want me to find you something?"
"Oh no, I grabbed something off your bed before I took a shower. You don't mind do you?"
"No, you can wear whatever you want. Boxers, shirts. Just take whatever. Whatever you want." Roger realized he sounded like an idiot.
"Thanks Roger." Cass turned around and walked back into Mark's room.
Christ, Roger thought, is she stays here and keeps walking around in towels, it'll never matter if she uses up all the hot water. I'll never take a hot shower again. He shook his head. Oh this is bad. She's Mark's girlfriend. Try and remember that idiot. Well sort of Mark's girlfriend. Well, Mark's old girlfriend. Like a bunch of years ago.
Wait. It doesn't matter. Girlfriend, old girlfriend, or even sort of girlfriend. It doesn't matter remember Davis. You swore off women. Forever. Or at least the rest of your forever, however long that may be. Especially this one. The last thing she would ever need is you. She's got enough crap to deal with, without getting anywhere near your baggage Davis.
Besides, it doesn't matter what you think. She's Mark's girlfriend. Mark's your best friend. Your supposed to be working on doing better at that, remember? The last thing you need to do is piss off your best friend, remember? That's his girlfriend, remember? And you swore off women, remember? After Mimi, no more women. No more getting hurt. No more hurting them. No more women. Ever.
Besides, she didn't need the hassles of dealing with you, remember? Excessive Roger baggage, your remember your baggage, right dummy? Besides, she's Mark's girlfriend, remember? Your best friend's girlfriend, remember? Well, maybe his sorta girlfriend. Or ex-sort of girlfriend. Or actually just old girlfriend, sort of.
You know Mark's your best friend. You should be able to ask him anything, right? So maybe you just ask him where he stands on this whole girlfriend, sort of girlfriend, ex-girlfriend thing.
Not that it matters to you, because you swore off women, remember? But it might be good information to have, just in case. You never know who's gonna ask you about that, because your Mark's best friend, so technically you should know this stuff about Mark, right? Right. Ask Mark where he stands on the girlfriend thing. Just so you know. Just in case anyone asks you. But not for you, because you swore off women, remember?
Roger was still sitting at the counter on the barstool. He was shaking his head as if to clear it. "Oh this is pathetic Davis. Mark is right, you got to get out of the house more!"
"What?" Cass said as she walked out of the bedroom. She had gotten dressed and was wearing a white sports bra and a pair of Roger's boxers that said CBGB's across the butt, slung low across her hips. She was carrying the ace bandages and a tee shirt as she walked into the living room.
"Um, oh nothing. I was just talking to myself. Just ignore me." Please ignore me, I'm an idiot.
She set the tee shirt and bandages down on the counter. "Can you re-wrap my ribs for me?"
"Um, yeah, sure." Roger pulled the other barstool out for her to sit down on. He knew he was tall enough that he could stand behind her and see what he was doing as he passed the bandages from one hand to the other in front of her by looking over her shoulder. Of course as he started to do this, it also meant he was looking straight down into her sports bra. "They look, I mean your ribs look better. Not as bruised as they did."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah, actually all of them look better. They seem to be healing up pretty quick."
"That's from these vitamins I had. I mean I haven't taken any since I've been here, but I've been taking them for years. It was hard to tell if they worked." She sort of laughed, but it was a kind of twisted, forced laugh Roger thought. "I haven't been this banged up since my car accident."
"What do you mean?" Roger stopped rolling the bandages around her.
"I've got vitamins to make bruises heal up faster. I've been taking them forever. Since I was like 13 or 14 I guess."
"Wait, you mean some doctor gave you special vitamins, specifically for that? Why?"
"Well," she shrugged and got quieter. "I used to have a lot of accidents and stuff."
There was that and stuff part again. What the hell has happened to her all these years?
Cass continued. "And Andre didn't think that looked good. So he got a specialist to give me vitamins. To prevent bruising and heal them quicker."
Roger wasn't sure if he should say what he was thinking or not, but he did anyway. "So you mean to tell me you were always messed up and all your uncle cared about was how it looked to everyone?"
Cass shrugged and her eyes went to the ground. "Like I said, family business. Image is everything. Business is business."
"But no one thought it was strange? Nobody tried to find out why? Nobody did anything?" Nobody realized it was that bastard Anton? Nobody did anything to stop him? Roger thought.
Without lifting her eyes up to him she answered. "No, I guess not. Are you done? I need to check my email. And we still need to write out a grocery list for Mark too."
"Yeah, I'm done." Roger said finishing up. He just sat there looking at her for a few seconds. "Cass?" She still didn't look up at him. "I'm sorry."
Cass' deep brown eyes raised up to look into his green one. "Thanks, Roger. Really, I mean it. For all of it." She got up off the stool and walked into the bedroom to find her computer.
*****
Cass came out of the bedroom talking on her phone and carrying a legal pad. "Gia don't worry about it. No one is getting fired. Not me, and especially not you. If you want to leave, I understand. I'll make sure you get incredible references and great severance pay. But if you stay, you can take over my position for location travel."
"I know, I know. Look can we just drop this and take care of some business for awhile?"
"Okay, you'll have to finish out the project." She looked at her notes as she sat on the couch, putting her feet up on the milk crates.
Roger was sitting in the armchair playing his guitar. When she came out, he just watched her. He knew she was talking to her assistant Giavanna. Probably in Italy. She was like a whole different person on the phone. It reminded him of Joanne when she has to take business calls while out with them. He just sat there listening to her. He didn't have a clue what she was talking about, but he didn't really care.
"Okay, so once you get that taken care of, you'll be all done. You decide what you want to do. If you stay, he'll make it worth it for you, I know."
"No, don't worry about me. It doesn't matter what I do, it will work out. There may be a few corporate hissie fits, but they will all get over it. And Andre can't do anything to me through the company. He wouldn't dare."
"Because I know too much. He'll be too scared he and Carlton taught me too much. Besides he thinks I know where all his dirty little secrets are buried."
After a few more minutes she hung up her cell phone. Roger had been watching her the whole time. He couldn't help thinking how tired she looked. He tried to lighten the mood. "Wow. I'll make sure everyone knows not to mess with you on any corporate ventures." He teased.
"Yeah well, you know what they call us high powered corporate women types." She paused and smiled at him. "Super corporate bitches!"
"Well, maybe not that bad. But can I ask you a question?" She nodded and he continued. "What you said about Andre's dirty little secrets, is that true?"
"I don't know. I guess. There's stuff I'm sure. And I could find it easily enough if I looked. Right now it's really just a blank threat if I need to use it." Her eyes dropped down. "Sort of."
"What do you mean sort of?"
"Well, off the top of my head I can't think of anything. But Andre doesn't know that. I just get the feeling he'd believe it no problem. But more importantly, I think it would work for another reason."
"What's that?" Roger asked her.
"I don't know." She was playing with the seam on the arm of the couch. "I just sort of think that maybe, you know maybe, I'm one of his dirty little secrets. At least now."
Roger didn't know what to say to her. He had a feeling she was right. He also knew that was a lousy thing to be right about. He was about to tell her that when the phone rang. She got up and walked to the counter to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Wow, what a concept, someone other than me actually answering the phone, instead of screening!"
"Hey Marky. You checking up on us again?" She asked into the phone.
Roger couldn't help but laugh at her for that one.
"Obviously, I'm too late, Roger's already corrupted you. Other than that how are you?"
"I'm fine, really. No problem."
Liar, Roger thought.
"Well, Tony cancelled the rest of this afternoon, so I'm gonna finish up here and be home by four. Did you guys write up the grocery list?"
"Grocery list?" She shot a look at Roger. "Oh yes, it's right here. Roger already finished his part and I'm working on part right now."
"Great. Is it okay with you if we use some of that money for food and stuff?"
"Use it for whatever you want."
"Thanks Cass. I'll see you around four, pick up the list and then go over to the store." Mark paused. "Do you want to come with me? I'll talk you for coffee."
"To the store?" Her voice went up a pitch and Roger's head popped up to look at her. He had an idea as to what Mark was trying to do. Roger had been on the receiving end of Mark's attempts to get him out of the house too many times to count.
"Um, I don't think so Mark. I'm really kind of tired. I might take a nap. And I've got a headache. And I'm not dressed yet. And-"
"Cass. Cass it's okay." Mark cut her off. "It's okay. If you don't want to go out you don't have to. Alright?"
"Yes. Sorry Mark."
"It's okay. Stop saying Sorry. I'll see you around four. 'Kay?"
"Okay. Bye sweetie." Cass hung up the phone
Roger knew without even hearing Mark what he was trying to do. Get Cass to leave the loft. "You do realize," he started hoping to give her a push, "that if you don't go with him, he won't get any of it right. Mark isn't exactly the best shopper in the world."
"He'll be fine. I have complete trust in him."
Well so much for that working. "Great. You trust Mark and now I have to write a grocery list out, because you told him I already did. He won't get anything I write down you know."
"Well, you go with him if you're so worried about it." She grinned at him.
Damn, she knew what was going on. Beat at his own game. "I don't suppose writing 'get food' constitutes as a list, does it?"
"Probably not." Cass laughed. "I think Mark will want more than that."
"How about 'get food and beer'?" He joked with her.
"Write the list Davis!"
He was about to give her a hard time when the phone rang again. "What could he need to check on now?"
Cass smiled as she answered the phone. "Hello?" She paused to listen. "Oh hello Mrs. Cohen."
Oh no Cass, Roger thought. Whatever you do, never ask Mark's mom how she is. She'll tell you.
"How are you?"
Ew, too late.
"No, I'm sorry but Mark's not here right now. Can I take a message?" She listened to her for a second. "Well, he'll be home around four this afternoon if you want to call him back then. Okay. Have a good day then. Goodbye."
"Oh now you're in trouble." Roger laughed. "Rule number one, you never answer the phone. Rule number two, if you break rule one, you never talk to Mark's mom. And the biggest one, the biggest, and Mark's gonna kill you for this one, is if you ever break rules one and two, you never," Roger had to stop he was laughing so hard. "You never tell her when he'll be home to call back. Because he's never home at the time he says he will be, and she'll just keep calling every 15 minutes till she wears him down and talks to her!"
"Ops! Oh well, he'll just have to talk to her and get it over with." She shrugged.
"Oh well? Just talk to her? You are kidding right? You do realize we will be hearing about this all night now don't you?"
"Oh she's not that bad!" She laughed.
"Not that bad? She's crazy. More importantly, she's annoying beyond belief. You should hear some of the crap she leaves on our machine. Always going on about Cindy and her devil spawn. You just don't know." He told her shaking his head.
"Okay, so she a little crazy. And tends to thing Cindy and Molly, especially Cindy can do no wrong. But she's not that bad."
"You only say that because you've never had to deal with her."
"Well she was okay, for the most part when I met her. Actually, Mark was the funny one that weekend." Cass started laughing a little thinking back on that.
"What weekend? When did you meet his mom?" The song forgotten and the guitar abandoned on the floor. This was clearly more interesting.
"I met his whole family when I went to Scaresdale. They are quite a trip, all of them."
Roger was confused at this point. "When did you go to Scaresdale? Wait, better question, Miss World Traveler, why would you go to Scaresdale?"
"For Cindy's wedding. I was Mark's date dork! Don't you listen to anything he says?"
"I'm beginning to think I don't. I really got to work on that. You really went to her wedding?"
"Yes. Actually I flew in like three days early. It was actually a lot of fun."
"Scaresdale or the wedding?" He couldn't believe this.
"Let's just say both were interesting. But Mark and I had fun. See I flew in early and met him at some hotel, but nowhere near the hotel the wedding was at. We just sort of hung out. No one knew we were even in town yet."
"Mark went home and hid from his family for three days?"
"Um, actually as much as possible come to think of it. We moved to the hotel the wedding was in on like Thursday. Well, every time he opened the door, before we left the room, he would check the hall first just to make sure none of them were around. He even had the desk clerk put us on an entirely different floor." She was laughing now. "But the best was when his mom would come knocking on the door. See she would always knock and start yelling 'Mark, its me, your mother. Mark are you in there'?"
"Trust me, I've hear that routine before." He laughed, jerking a thumb towards the answering machine.
"So we had to sit there, not making any noise till she went away. Which was hard because it was so funny. Once," She was really laughing now, "okay, I admit we had really been drinking at the rehearsal dinner, so I was kinda drunk, but she was so funny knocking on the door."
"What happened?" Now Roger really wanted to know more.
"Well she's knocking on the door and I'm starting to laugh and Mark's whispering don't let her hear you."
"What? He didn't want his mommy to know he had you in his room? I mean he had to be like 20 when the evil princess got married. Only Mark." Roger was shaking his head in disbelief.
"No, it wasn't that. I mean she knew I was staying there. I mean she came right out and asked Mark if he was sleeping with me. Or more accurately with 'that Katie girl' or maybe it was Casey that time. That woman couldn't remember my name to save her life."
"What'd Mark do?" Roger laughed.
"You mean other than turn bright red? Well he looked at her and his dad and say 'of course, what do you think I am a total idiot?' and then walked away."
"You're kidding?" Roger was more than amazed at this point. He was about blown away by this news. Was this really Mark? His Mark?
"Well anyway, it wasn't that he didn't want her to know I was there, but that either of us were there. So the funny thin is, okay now, we're drunk, and she's knocking and saying 'Mark, it's me, your mother. Are you in there?' I think she was a little toasted too by the way. So I'm laughing and Mark's got his hand over my mouth to keep me quiet, which is making me laugh harder and finally she hears us."
"So what happened?"
"Well, you have to understand we were going to go down to the pool, and Mark's only got his boxers on at this point cause we were changing."
"Uh huh?"
"So finally Mark gets up, flings the door open and yells at her 'Mom what do you want?' Which wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the boxers. And the fact that she had been knocking for like five minutes. And the fact that I was sitting in the bed, hugging a pillow to my chest to try and stop laughing. Plus I'm wearing this strapless dress, which is completely covered by the pillow so it looks like I've got nothing on."
"Yeah, and?" Roger was wide eyed by now.
"So the door flies open and here's Mark in his boxers and me in the bed, which you can see from the doorway, and his mother just sort of takes this whole thing in and says 'Uh, Mark your grandmothers wanted to say goodnight to you'."
"You're kidding"
"Nope. Door flies open and here is not only his mom, but his aunt too and they are walking the grandmother and great grandmother to their rooms."
"Oh that's too good. I would have loved to see that. Then what happened?"
"Well, I think his mom must have told his dad."
"Who I'm sure was thrilled to hear he was getting laid, by a girl no less."
"Behave! Anyway, I guess he told his uncles and some of his cousins because the next day at the wedding, they all kept coming up to him giving him that 'way to go buddy' thing guys do. It was either one of the best or worst experiences of his life. I'm still not sure to this day." She laughed.
Roger couldn't help but think the same thing. As he watched her laugh all he could think of was way to go buddy.
*******