Chapter 39
"Ewwww. Morning sunshine. You must have had a good night."
"Shut up. Please. Or at least abuse me quietly."
"Wow. Little Marky Cohen with two hangovers in one week. After like 15 years, I've finally corrupted you." Roger laughed.
"Remind me again why I'm friends with you?" Mark asked Roger as he flopped himself down on the couch.
Roger brought him a cup of coffee and sat down in the chair, trying hard not to laugh too much.
"Oh shut up. But thanks for the coffee. It may be more effective though if you just throw it in my face."
"So what, or should I say who were you doing last night?" He laughed at his own joke.
"Ha ha, very funny." Mark rolled his eyes at him. "I met Joellen after she got off work if you must know."
"Impressive. Two dates in one day. So?"
"So what? She asked me if I wanted to hang out with her and a few friends after they got done working. I forgot about the motto of all bar and restaurant employees." Mark told him. When Roger gave him a look he explained further. "You know, the night is still young at 2 am."
Roger just laughed at him.
"So where's Cass?"
"Still asleep. I went to bed at like one. Not like there was anything around here to do. You were gone, and there was nothing on TV. And she was working all night. Something about time zones. I think she came to bed around six."
"How did it go with Elizabeth last night?"
"Actually pretty good. She doesn't go back for two weeks. Elizabeth is going on vacation, but she seemed pretty psyched about her hanging out in the park by herself."
"Yeah, that's real cool. You say anything to Elizabeth about her not opening the door? Or going to sleep by herself?"
"No." Roger looked down at the couch. "I didn't get that far. Plus I kinda thought I pushed enough issues in a 24 hour period."
"Yeah, I can understand that. What time is it anyway?"
"Just past noon. What are you doing today?"
"Recovering from last night. Then Maureen's coming over for awhile. Which means later I'll be recovering from that. I think her and Joanne are fighting again. I think the Washington thing is stressing her out."
"Yeah I was getting that. You wanna do something tonight?" Roger went to the kitchen and started digging through the fridge.
"Maybe."
"You want some food? Now that we have and can use a microwave without blowing the power? We got left over pizza and left over Chinese."
"Oh god no! That sounds disgusting right now!"
Roger just laughed at him.
******
Cass rolled over and realized she was alone. She could hear Mark and Roger talking in the other room, but her head hurt too much to even try and listen. All she could hear was the voice in her head. "You've got to get up. You've got to get up. You've got to go to work." After a few more minutes of her own conscience badgering her, she finally sat up.
Her head was swimming again. She was tired of feeling like crap. Maybe you should quit smoking again Cass. You didn't feel this crappy until you started smoking again. She spotted Roger's green fleece in the corner and pulled it over her head.
She opened the door and walked into the living room. "Hey baby. You want some food?" Roger asked from the kitchen, taking some left over Chinese out of the microwave.
"Not right now." She told him taking a cigarette off the counter and lighting it. "God that stuff stinks Roger."
"Sorry. You want something else? Coffee?"
Cass made it through the second drag of her cigarette before the nausea over took her. She dropped her cigarette in the ashtray and took off for the bathroom.
"Are you okay?" Roger asked her through the bathroom door.
"Just let me puke in peace. Please."
"Okay. Holler if you need something."
Mark didn't say anything. He just sat on the couch with the dog and watched. He knew she hadn't felt well the past few days. But what if she was sick. Mark was always worried about Roger getting sick. Cass being sick added a whole new element to that. Mark had seen them locked at the lips so much the past few days he couldn't help but worry. Whatever Cass had, most likely Roger was gonna get it too.
A few minutes later Cass came out of the bathroom and sat on the couch. She pushed the dog away as he walked over to her.
Roger handed her a glass of water as he stood over her behind the couch. "Are you okay Babe?"
"Yes, it must have been the Chinese food we had last night."
"Considering you only ate about four bites of it, and we both had the same thing, I doubt it." He told her skeptically.
"Yeah Cass." Mark finally spoke up. "You haven't felt well for a couple of days now. When do you go back to the doctor?"
"Tuesday." Roger answered him.
"Well maybe--"
"I'm fine." Cass cut him off. "Geeze will you guys just , I'm tired is all. Just let me get caught up on work and sleep and I'll be fine."
"Okay, whatever you want babe." Roger told her. He saw Mark about to say something and shook his head.
*******
"Roger, somebody's at the door." Cass called to him from in front of her computer.
"Well answer it." He called back from the bedroom. Hoping if she knew he was right here she'd get it.
"I'm working."
"So am I and you're closer."
"I'm busy Roger." She whined.
He sat there for another minute waiting to see what she would do. When she still didn't move, he put the guitar down and got up.
"Oh for God sake, I'll let myself in. It's a good thing I still have my key." Maureen hollered at them as she walked in the door and slammed her keys down on the counter. "Where's Mark?"
"He went to the Food Emporium." Roger told her.
"Well where's Jen?" She demanded as she flung open the refrigerator and pulled out a beer.
"With Mark at the store." Must have been some fight she and Joanne had he thought.
"Oh." She flung herself onto the couch, grabbed the remote and clicked on the TV.
"You okay Mo?" Cass asked her cautiously. Over the years she had heard a lot about Maureen's temper from Mark and Cass wasn't sure she wanted to deal with that right now.
"I'm fine." She said in a tone that said she obviously wasn't. She popped open the beer and took a sip. She realized they were both looking at her. "Really. Joanne and I just had a small disagreement."
"Really. I never would have guessed." Roger said sarcastically. Cass shot him a look for that comment. "Sorry." He said trying to sound sincere. "They should be back soon. Have a beer or three and relax."
"Yeah, thanks. Sorry I'm a tad bitchie today. I didn't mean to bother you guys. I guess you got your computer all set up and running, huh? You all caught up on work?"
"Hardly. That's gonna take like another week. But your okay, I was going to stop for awhile anyway." She said standing up. "Maybe I'll even get dressed at some point tonight." Cass said looking down and realizing she was still wearing Roger's boxers and green fleece over his tee shirt.
"But it's only seven o'clock, we don't want to rush you or anything Babe." Roger said, coming up behind her and putting one arm around her neck and shoulders. "Okay, okay I get the hint. I'm done working, I'll go get dressed. I need to get up at six tomorrow anyway. "
"For what?"
"Work stuff. Time zones are a bitch." She shrugged. "I just need to get everything settled. Then it'll be okay." She told him, feeling like she had to explain.
"Oh." He told her as he kissed her on her ear and tried to move her towards their room.
"Mo are you going to be okay?" Cass asked as Roger started kissing her neck.
"Oh yeah. I'm just gonna hang out and watch TV till Mark gets home."
"Uh huh." Roger told her without ever looking at her and still kissing Cass' neck as she started to laugh. "Whatever. you. want.to do.Mo."
"Oh for god sake get a room! Geeze!" Maureen kidded as she picked up the remote again.
"Okay!" Roger agreed excitedly as he scooped Cass up and walked the few step towards their room.
"Ugh! Heteroes!" Maureen mocked disgust as she turned back to the TV.
Roger laughed at her comment as he kicked the door closed and tossed Cass on the bed and flopped down next to her. Cass hit the bed laughing then heard the dog yelp, which made her laugh even harder. Watching her laugh and hearing the dog cracked Roger up.
"Oh Georgio! You poor baby!" She laughed. "Did mean old Roger drop me on you?" She rubbed his belly.
"Oh, so it's my fault! Great! Again, just what I need, something happening to that dumb dog with me around." He grinned at her while playing with the dog.
"Then I guess you better be careful around him." She petted the dog. "Isn't that right Georgio? You are so cute!"
"So I've been told." He faked modesty and she just rolled her eyes at him. "Do you feel better Baby?" He asked her, stroking her hair.
"Uh huh. I'm getting hungry too."
"Are you okay Cass? I mean you haven't felt well for a few days now. And it seems like you hardly eat anything."
"Yes, I'm fine. I think I've just been smoking too much lately."
"Oh." Roger said as he put down the cigarette he had picked up from the floor and was about to light. "Sorry."
She laughed at him as she rolled over and laid her head on his chest. "So you still want to go to the movies tonight?"
"I don't know. It's up to you. You're the one who has to work at six tomorrow."
"That's true. And my commute is hell at that time of day!"
"You know it's a good thing you're cute, cause you're one hell of a smart ass Babe!"
"Takes one to know one Davis!" She said scooting up and kissing him on the cheek, just as Georgio walked up his chest and licked his chin.
"Yuck!" Roger said as he sat up.
"Thanks!"
"Not you silly." He said kissing her nose. "Him." He picked up the dog. "Don't do that, you've had Benny's shoes in your mouth. Yuck!"
She smiled at him. "Let's just get something to eat and stay here tonight."
"Okay." He grinned and pulled her on top of him, sliding his hands under her shirt and up her back. Georgio walked up to his face again and started to whimper and cry as Roger started kissing her neck.
"Oh, I think he needs to go out." Cass said rolling off Roger and sitting up.
"He can wait." Roger told her leaning into kiss her.
"No he can't he's just a puppy."
Roger rolled back onto his back and covered his face with his hand. "Aaaaagh! And I suppose I need to take him?"
"Well, if Mark's not back yet, and I could get dressed while you're gone."
Roger sat up and started to put on his shoes. "You know, I really, really don't like Benny."
"But Roger, he's only a puppy. When he's gotta go, he's gotta go. Somebody's got to take him out."
"Yeah and that's another reason to dislike Benny." He gave her a wicked grin. "Tonight, the dog sleeps with Mark."
Cass just laughed as Roger picked up the dog and walked out talking to him about his lousy timing.
******
When the alarm clock went off, Cass woke up and tried to reach for it to turn it off, but before she could, Roger must have heard it. He pulled her closer, trying to bury his head between her shoulder and the mattress. The more she moved away from him and towards the alarm on the floor, the more he struggled in his sleep to keep her there.
"Roger, I can't reach the alarm clock. Baby you have to let go." She finally pried his arm up and reached off the bed, hitting the off button. God that boy is strong in his sleep she thought. She watched him for a second while he slept. He looks like a little kid. His arm went out, blindly searching for her and his hand landed on her hip. He mumbled something that sounded like it may have ended in bed and tried to pull her back over by him. Cass took his hand off her hip and turned and kissed him on the forehead. "I need to go to work." She whispered to him.
"Mmmmff."
Cass picked Roger's fleece up off the floor and pulled it over her tee shirt. As she stood up the head rush she got lurched her stomach as well. She swallowed hard and held onto the edge of the dresser. Oh this is just really beginning to suck. Was getting back to work stressing her out this much? If Marguerite wasn't coming into the office on a Sunday to help her, Cass would have just climbed back into bed.
The computers were on, they just needed to come off the screen savers. Cass hit a button and went to the counter for her cigarettes as she waited for email to come up. She started typing and was soon talking to Marguerite in France. Even though she felt like crap, she managed to get a lot of work done. By 9:30 she said good bye to Marguerite and got of the computer.
Maybe you could try making breakfast again she thought. Mark would have to get up to take the dog out soon. And Roger had to wake up at ten anyway. After scanning the cupboard, and wanting to actually make something more than cereal, she settled on pancakes. They had butter and syrup, and the mix only needed water.
Okay Cass, she told herself, you've got a pretty high IQ, you should be able to do this without burning yourself or the loft down. She got out the big flat fry pan and put it on the stove to heat. Meanwhile she mixed up some batter in a bowl and used a coffee cup to scoop it out and pour it onto the fry pan. As she made coffee she realized the more she was up and moving, the better she felt.
She figured it must be time to flip the pancakes, so she picked up the spatula, and remembered to use a potholder this time to grab the pan. Two more days she thought, then I'll at least have my fingers back. When she went to shove the spatula under the first pancake she realized it was stuck fast to the pan. After mutilating the four pancakes in the pan, she scraped them out onto a plate.
Before pouring the next batch in, she poured some oil into the bottom of the pan. Cass made herself some coffee while she waited. When she flipped this batch, they didn't stick, they were just real drippy with oil. After a lot of trail and error, and mixing up more batter, she finally had a few decent or at least somewhat edible pancakes. She poured another batch in and took her coffee and Roger's pills into their room. His watch was due to go off any minute.
"Hey baby wake up." She shook him as she held out her coffee. "Here."
"What time is it?" He asked as she sat down on the bed next to him. As if on cue his watch went off. He silenced it as he sat part way up against the wall. Roger took a sip of her coffee as she handed him his pills.
"You're almost out of your pills."
He could tell she was worried, and he kind of liked that. Not that she was worried, but that she was worried about him. "It's okay. I go back on Tuesday, remember? I'll get a new prescription then."
"Sorry. I forgot. Honestly, I was really only thinking about how I'm going to get at least part of this stupid thing cut off." She grinned as she held up her cast.
"I can understand that." He smiled back at her thinking back to his black eye, Mark's crack in the jaw, plus all the other whacks he's taken by accident while she was sleeping or whatever. "I think we'll all be happy when you get that whole thing off. You're kind of dangerous with it."
"Ah yeah, sorry." She blushed, knowing what he was thinking. "What time is your appointment?"
"I think your's is at nine and mine's at twelve. That should be enough time to get you back here before I go to the clinic. You're going to have to stay by yourself till I get back though, Mark's got to work. Is that okay?" He watched her eyes, knowing they'd tell the truth before her words did.
"Well why don't I just go with you. I mean I don't mind staying here by myself. I'm okay with that during the day. Really. But I can go with you. You said it was a lot of waiting around. I can wait with you."
"No." He said a little gruffer than he meant to. "I don't want you going there. You don't need that. It's not like some nice doctor's office. It's just. I just don't want you going there okay?"
Cass was somewhat surprised by his reaction. She hadn't expected that from him. Not now at least. "Um, okay. If that's what you really want."
"Yeah." He felt like he sort of jumped at her, but he really didn't want to be dragging her down there. He just didn't want her seeing that place. Not that it was that bad, Roger just didn't like the idea of the whole thing. "I'm sorry Babe. I didn't mean it like that. I just don't want you to have to go there. Okay?"
"It's okay, I understand." She did somewhat, but not completely, however she wasn't going to press him. "Are you going to have time to come back here before band practice Tuesday?"
He shook his head as he drank some more coffee. "No, I never know how long I'll be sitting there, so we have band practice on Mondays on the weeks I gotta go to the clinic. So tomorrow I've got practice and then I bartend."
"Oh good, so Monday night you'll be home late, which means Tuesday morning you'll be your usual happy, chipper self when we have to get up early." She teased him.
"You know us morning people." He gave her a mischievous grin as he ran his hand up her leg and drank more of her coffee. "So do you feel better today?"
"Oh much better now. Of course I've been up for four hours too. But once I had some coffee my headache went away which really helped my stomach."
"Did you throw up again?" He asked her, sitting the rest of the way up.
"No." She tried to blow it off. "I told you once I had some coffee I felt much better." She said as she started scratching her chest.
Roger was getting a bad gut feeling about the whole thing. Her not feeling good like that, for a few days now just wasn't sitting right with him. And what is she always scratching at lately? He knew her well enough to know she probably wouldn't even mention it to the doctor on Tuesday. Maybe it's a good thing he'll be there. He was about to say something to her about telling the doctor when suddenly a shrill, screeching sound pierced the quietness of the loft.
"Oh shit! Breakfast!" Cass hopped up off the bed, followed by Roger who had started cracking up when he heard her say that and realized what the sound must be.
Cass went to grab the smoking fry pan and pull it off the burner when Roger, who was right behind her, gabbed her by the back of his fleece she was wearing and pulled her back. He just gave her a look as he picked up the pan with the potholder she hadn't bothered to grab. "Didn't learn the first time huh?" He grinned at her as he nodded towards her left hand where the burn had almost healed.
"Oh, ops." She shrugged. "Guess not."
"Open the door."
Mark had been getting dressed to take the dog out when the smoke alarm went off. He came out of his room followed by the dog. "Cooking again Cass?" He laughed at her as she bent down to pick up the dog. Mark walked over to the door still laughing as he watched her sit at the counter with Georgio.
"You don't mind my cooking do you Georgio?" She asked the dog, trying to be serious.
"Yeah, ask the animal that eats Benny's shoes. There's a good plan." Mark laughed at her. He started swinging the door open and closed trying to get the smoke out of the loft. Roger started laughing so hard at Mark's comment he almost couldn't jump up onto the counter to fan at the smoke alarm. The phone rang just then making them all laugh even harder.
"Hello?" Cass said loudly while still laughing. "Um, he's a little busy can you hold on a minute.Oh no, it's okay he's just trying to get the smoke detector to turn off. Hold on one second."
She moved the phone just as Roger got the smoke alarm to stop. "Hey Fireman Fred, your mom's on the phone."
Roger almost fell off the counter when she said that. It took a second for it to register as he hoped off the counter. As he did he saw the two stacks of pancakes Cass had already made which started him laughing again. He had the feeling one was supposed to be the good stack, and one the mistake stack. Unfortunately he wasn't sure he would have been able to tell her honestly which one was which. "Hello?" He laughed in to the phone.
"Roger? Is everything okay? Is this a bad time?" She asked.
He could hear the concern and nervousness in her voice. "No it's okay Mom." He told her as he sat down at he counter and pulled Cass over between his knees. "We just had a small incident with breakfast."
"Are you guys okay?"
"Oh yeah, we're fine, we never actually got as far as eating the food." He teased at Cass. "Luckily it burnt up before we got that far."
Mark stopped swinging the door and left it open to get the rest of the smoke smell out. He could tell even thought Roger was picking on Cass, he was having a good time joking around with his mom.
"Hey, talk to your mom, don't pick on me. At least I was trying to make breakfast." She swatted at Roger as she announced she was going to get dressed.
"Sorry Mom," He laughed, "Cass isn't exactly Betty Crocker."
"Oh. Well I guess I should be relieved to know you have a working smoke detector."
"Yeah, I didn't even realized we had a smoke detector. Must have been Mark."
Hearing that Mark looked up. "Oh, yeah, after Cass' bacon and egg incident I thought it might be a good idea."
Roger laughed. "Did you hear that?" He asked her.
"Yes." She laughed. "I heard him. I'm also not surprised. At either of you I guess."
Roger could hear her relaxing as she spoke and it was the first time he remembered hearing her laugh with him in he didn't know how long. This is actually going pretty good he thought.
"And I guess I should be glad to know you have a stove too, not just living off cold cereal."
"Yeah we still eat a lot of cereal." He laughed looking up at Mark. "Usually when Cass cooks. We try to keep her away from the stove, but sometimes she gets adventurous before we get up."
Mark laughed as he looked at the plate of pancakes next to the stove. He picked up one that was dripping in oil, burnt black on one side and almost white on the other. Mark held it out for Roger to see. "Do you think it's safe to feed these to the dog?"
Roger looked up at him while talking to her. "Un huh. Wait, hang on Mom. What?" He looked at Mark. "Oh, um, no, greasy burnt pancakes are probably not he best thing to feed him." Roger looked at Georgio who was sitting by his feet holding his leash. "But I think this is a hint that he wants to go out Mark."
"Did you guys get a dog?"
"No, Mark just got conned into dog sitting." He gave Mark a famous annoyed Roger look before going back to the conversation. "It's not too bad though. He's kinda cute."
"Mark or the dog?" She joked.
Wow, my mom cracking jokes. "The dog, definitely the dog. Mark's still ugly as ever."
Mark couldn't get mad at the comment. He figured Roger's mom had made probably the first joke with Roger in about ten years. He went to his room and got dressed. When he came out they were still talking. "Georgio?" He called the dog who came running with his leash. Mark picked him up and walked out the loft with him.
Roger lit a cigarette as Mark went out the door with the dog. He heard the water go on in the bathroom.
"So, ah, how is your friend? The one with the cast?"
"Oh she's okay. She got a new one put on. She's got like two more weeks till she gets it off."
"That's good." She hesitated. "So, um, who's Cass? I mean, oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so nosey."
Roger grinned at the mere mention of her name form his mom. This isn't so bad, if we would both just relax and stop stressing out over talking to each other. He wasn't sure if he was really ready to get into the whole issue of who Cass was with her though. "Cass? She, ah, knows Mark from way back. From when he first went away to school." That's the truth he thought, just not all of it. "She, uh, lives here too. She's really great. Can't cook to save her life though."
"So I gathered." She laughed, partly at the statement, partly at the very evasive answer, but she wasn't going to push the subject. If there's more to tell, hopefully someday he'll tell her. "But everything else is good? You're playing?"
"Yup. House band a couple nights a week, bartending a few too."
"That's good. Real good. I'm glad." She said as her voice went up a pitch.
Roger remembered this, she was building up to something.
"So I talked to Mickey. He was really excited to find out I talked to you. He would really like to see you, or at least hear from you. He said something about maybe coming to the city to see your band someday."
"Yeah, maybe. Someday." Whoa Mom, let's not get crazy here and go rushing into things. Talking is one thing, hanging out with is another. "What about Patrick?" He asked hesitantly.
"Patrick?" She said with apprehension. "Ah, he and Shelly were both really glad to hear you're doing so well right now."
"Uh huh." Translation, glad you're clean, but keep your distance you bastard. Don't take it personal Roger, you got that coming. "Look Mom, about the wedding, I'm real sorry. Really. I didn't, we didn't, we never should have come. I'm real sorry. We were really doing bad then. I mean that's no excuse and all, but it wasn't anything personal against Pat and Shelly."
Roger let out a long sigh, no matter what happens, he'll never live down what he and April did to them. "We were just really, really messed up then. Mark tried to stop us from going. Really." Roger's streak of self- hatred ran through him as he thought back to that day. He and April, hurting bad, trying to get clean long enough to go to Patrick's wedding. And Mark, good-hearted Mark, trying so hard to help them as well as save Patrick and Shelly from them. To the point where Mark tried to physically stop them.
Roger dragged on the cigarette as he thought back to that. Damn it Mark, never try and stop a hurting junkie who's almost six inches taller than you. What the hell had Mark been thinking? Roger knew what Mark was thinking, that's what made it all hurt so much. That, and he could still see the look on Mark's face. The look Mark got when he fell back into the wall. There's lot's of stuff Roger didn't remember, but that he'll never forget. The look on Mark's face and the feel of his fist making contact with Mark.
"I know sweetie. Everybody's moved on, including Patrick and Shelly. It was a long time ago. Everybody is just glad you're doing so well now. Really."
Cass came out of the bathroom and walked over to him. He pulled her close to him between his knees and held her there, resting his head against her chest. Cass didn't know what they were talking about, but she had a definite feeling that this wasn't an I missed you while you were out of the room hug. She could see it on his face, the pain in his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the forehead. "I love you Baby." She whispered into his other ear.
Roger squeezed her tighter as he looked up at her. "Thanks Mom." He said into the phone, still looking at Cass. "And I am, really. And so's Mark. We're all doing real good now. Really."
"I'm glad sweetie." She smiled on her end of the phone. 'We're all' implies more than just he and Mark she thought.
The door opened and Mark came in with Georgio just as Roger's stomach growled. "Listen Mark's back, and seeing as how our breakfast kinda got destroyed," he winked at Cass, "we got to go out now. So I gotta go, okay?"
"Okay. I'm real glad we're talking again honey. I've missed you. We all have."
"Yeah, me too Mom."
"I love you Roger."
"Me too Mom. I'll talk to you later, I promise." He realized as he hung up the phone that he really did mean it.
"Ewwww. Morning sunshine. You must have had a good night."
"Shut up. Please. Or at least abuse me quietly."
"Wow. Little Marky Cohen with two hangovers in one week. After like 15 years, I've finally corrupted you." Roger laughed.
"Remind me again why I'm friends with you?" Mark asked Roger as he flopped himself down on the couch.
Roger brought him a cup of coffee and sat down in the chair, trying hard not to laugh too much.
"Oh shut up. But thanks for the coffee. It may be more effective though if you just throw it in my face."
"So what, or should I say who were you doing last night?" He laughed at his own joke.
"Ha ha, very funny." Mark rolled his eyes at him. "I met Joellen after she got off work if you must know."
"Impressive. Two dates in one day. So?"
"So what? She asked me if I wanted to hang out with her and a few friends after they got done working. I forgot about the motto of all bar and restaurant employees." Mark told him. When Roger gave him a look he explained further. "You know, the night is still young at 2 am."
Roger just laughed at him.
"So where's Cass?"
"Still asleep. I went to bed at like one. Not like there was anything around here to do. You were gone, and there was nothing on TV. And she was working all night. Something about time zones. I think she came to bed around six."
"How did it go with Elizabeth last night?"
"Actually pretty good. She doesn't go back for two weeks. Elizabeth is going on vacation, but she seemed pretty psyched about her hanging out in the park by herself."
"Yeah, that's real cool. You say anything to Elizabeth about her not opening the door? Or going to sleep by herself?"
"No." Roger looked down at the couch. "I didn't get that far. Plus I kinda thought I pushed enough issues in a 24 hour period."
"Yeah, I can understand that. What time is it anyway?"
"Just past noon. What are you doing today?"
"Recovering from last night. Then Maureen's coming over for awhile. Which means later I'll be recovering from that. I think her and Joanne are fighting again. I think the Washington thing is stressing her out."
"Yeah I was getting that. You wanna do something tonight?" Roger went to the kitchen and started digging through the fridge.
"Maybe."
"You want some food? Now that we have and can use a microwave without blowing the power? We got left over pizza and left over Chinese."
"Oh god no! That sounds disgusting right now!"
Roger just laughed at him.
******
Cass rolled over and realized she was alone. She could hear Mark and Roger talking in the other room, but her head hurt too much to even try and listen. All she could hear was the voice in her head. "You've got to get up. You've got to get up. You've got to go to work." After a few more minutes of her own conscience badgering her, she finally sat up.
Her head was swimming again. She was tired of feeling like crap. Maybe you should quit smoking again Cass. You didn't feel this crappy until you started smoking again. She spotted Roger's green fleece in the corner and pulled it over her head.
She opened the door and walked into the living room. "Hey baby. You want some food?" Roger asked from the kitchen, taking some left over Chinese out of the microwave.
"Not right now." She told him taking a cigarette off the counter and lighting it. "God that stuff stinks Roger."
"Sorry. You want something else? Coffee?"
Cass made it through the second drag of her cigarette before the nausea over took her. She dropped her cigarette in the ashtray and took off for the bathroom.
"Are you okay?" Roger asked her through the bathroom door.
"Just let me puke in peace. Please."
"Okay. Holler if you need something."
Mark didn't say anything. He just sat on the couch with the dog and watched. He knew she hadn't felt well the past few days. But what if she was sick. Mark was always worried about Roger getting sick. Cass being sick added a whole new element to that. Mark had seen them locked at the lips so much the past few days he couldn't help but worry. Whatever Cass had, most likely Roger was gonna get it too.
A few minutes later Cass came out of the bathroom and sat on the couch. She pushed the dog away as he walked over to her.
Roger handed her a glass of water as he stood over her behind the couch. "Are you okay Babe?"
"Yes, it must have been the Chinese food we had last night."
"Considering you only ate about four bites of it, and we both had the same thing, I doubt it." He told her skeptically.
"Yeah Cass." Mark finally spoke up. "You haven't felt well for a couple of days now. When do you go back to the doctor?"
"Tuesday." Roger answered him.
"Well maybe--"
"I'm fine." Cass cut him off. "Geeze will you guys just , I'm tired is all. Just let me get caught up on work and sleep and I'll be fine."
"Okay, whatever you want babe." Roger told her. He saw Mark about to say something and shook his head.
*******
"Roger, somebody's at the door." Cass called to him from in front of her computer.
"Well answer it." He called back from the bedroom. Hoping if she knew he was right here she'd get it.
"I'm working."
"So am I and you're closer."
"I'm busy Roger." She whined.
He sat there for another minute waiting to see what she would do. When she still didn't move, he put the guitar down and got up.
"Oh for God sake, I'll let myself in. It's a good thing I still have my key." Maureen hollered at them as she walked in the door and slammed her keys down on the counter. "Where's Mark?"
"He went to the Food Emporium." Roger told her.
"Well where's Jen?" She demanded as she flung open the refrigerator and pulled out a beer.
"With Mark at the store." Must have been some fight she and Joanne had he thought.
"Oh." She flung herself onto the couch, grabbed the remote and clicked on the TV.
"You okay Mo?" Cass asked her cautiously. Over the years she had heard a lot about Maureen's temper from Mark and Cass wasn't sure she wanted to deal with that right now.
"I'm fine." She said in a tone that said she obviously wasn't. She popped open the beer and took a sip. She realized they were both looking at her. "Really. Joanne and I just had a small disagreement."
"Really. I never would have guessed." Roger said sarcastically. Cass shot him a look for that comment. "Sorry." He said trying to sound sincere. "They should be back soon. Have a beer or three and relax."
"Yeah, thanks. Sorry I'm a tad bitchie today. I didn't mean to bother you guys. I guess you got your computer all set up and running, huh? You all caught up on work?"
"Hardly. That's gonna take like another week. But your okay, I was going to stop for awhile anyway." She said standing up. "Maybe I'll even get dressed at some point tonight." Cass said looking down and realizing she was still wearing Roger's boxers and green fleece over his tee shirt.
"But it's only seven o'clock, we don't want to rush you or anything Babe." Roger said, coming up behind her and putting one arm around her neck and shoulders. "Okay, okay I get the hint. I'm done working, I'll go get dressed. I need to get up at six tomorrow anyway. "
"For what?"
"Work stuff. Time zones are a bitch." She shrugged. "I just need to get everything settled. Then it'll be okay." She told him, feeling like she had to explain.
"Oh." He told her as he kissed her on her ear and tried to move her towards their room.
"Mo are you going to be okay?" Cass asked as Roger started kissing her neck.
"Oh yeah. I'm just gonna hang out and watch TV till Mark gets home."
"Uh huh." Roger told her without ever looking at her and still kissing Cass' neck as she started to laugh. "Whatever. you. want.to do.Mo."
"Oh for god sake get a room! Geeze!" Maureen kidded as she picked up the remote again.
"Okay!" Roger agreed excitedly as he scooped Cass up and walked the few step towards their room.
"Ugh! Heteroes!" Maureen mocked disgust as she turned back to the TV.
Roger laughed at her comment as he kicked the door closed and tossed Cass on the bed and flopped down next to her. Cass hit the bed laughing then heard the dog yelp, which made her laugh even harder. Watching her laugh and hearing the dog cracked Roger up.
"Oh Georgio! You poor baby!" She laughed. "Did mean old Roger drop me on you?" She rubbed his belly.
"Oh, so it's my fault! Great! Again, just what I need, something happening to that dumb dog with me around." He grinned at her while playing with the dog.
"Then I guess you better be careful around him." She petted the dog. "Isn't that right Georgio? You are so cute!"
"So I've been told." He faked modesty and she just rolled her eyes at him. "Do you feel better Baby?" He asked her, stroking her hair.
"Uh huh. I'm getting hungry too."
"Are you okay Cass? I mean you haven't felt well for a few days now. And it seems like you hardly eat anything."
"Yes, I'm fine. I think I've just been smoking too much lately."
"Oh." Roger said as he put down the cigarette he had picked up from the floor and was about to light. "Sorry."
She laughed at him as she rolled over and laid her head on his chest. "So you still want to go to the movies tonight?"
"I don't know. It's up to you. You're the one who has to work at six tomorrow."
"That's true. And my commute is hell at that time of day!"
"You know it's a good thing you're cute, cause you're one hell of a smart ass Babe!"
"Takes one to know one Davis!" She said scooting up and kissing him on the cheek, just as Georgio walked up his chest and licked his chin.
"Yuck!" Roger said as he sat up.
"Thanks!"
"Not you silly." He said kissing her nose. "Him." He picked up the dog. "Don't do that, you've had Benny's shoes in your mouth. Yuck!"
She smiled at him. "Let's just get something to eat and stay here tonight."
"Okay." He grinned and pulled her on top of him, sliding his hands under her shirt and up her back. Georgio walked up to his face again and started to whimper and cry as Roger started kissing her neck.
"Oh, I think he needs to go out." Cass said rolling off Roger and sitting up.
"He can wait." Roger told her leaning into kiss her.
"No he can't he's just a puppy."
Roger rolled back onto his back and covered his face with his hand. "Aaaaagh! And I suppose I need to take him?"
"Well, if Mark's not back yet, and I could get dressed while you're gone."
Roger sat up and started to put on his shoes. "You know, I really, really don't like Benny."
"But Roger, he's only a puppy. When he's gotta go, he's gotta go. Somebody's got to take him out."
"Yeah and that's another reason to dislike Benny." He gave her a wicked grin. "Tonight, the dog sleeps with Mark."
Cass just laughed as Roger picked up the dog and walked out talking to him about his lousy timing.
******
When the alarm clock went off, Cass woke up and tried to reach for it to turn it off, but before she could, Roger must have heard it. He pulled her closer, trying to bury his head between her shoulder and the mattress. The more she moved away from him and towards the alarm on the floor, the more he struggled in his sleep to keep her there.
"Roger, I can't reach the alarm clock. Baby you have to let go." She finally pried his arm up and reached off the bed, hitting the off button. God that boy is strong in his sleep she thought. She watched him for a second while he slept. He looks like a little kid. His arm went out, blindly searching for her and his hand landed on her hip. He mumbled something that sounded like it may have ended in bed and tried to pull her back over by him. Cass took his hand off her hip and turned and kissed him on the forehead. "I need to go to work." She whispered to him.
"Mmmmff."
Cass picked Roger's fleece up off the floor and pulled it over her tee shirt. As she stood up the head rush she got lurched her stomach as well. She swallowed hard and held onto the edge of the dresser. Oh this is just really beginning to suck. Was getting back to work stressing her out this much? If Marguerite wasn't coming into the office on a Sunday to help her, Cass would have just climbed back into bed.
The computers were on, they just needed to come off the screen savers. Cass hit a button and went to the counter for her cigarettes as she waited for email to come up. She started typing and was soon talking to Marguerite in France. Even though she felt like crap, she managed to get a lot of work done. By 9:30 she said good bye to Marguerite and got of the computer.
Maybe you could try making breakfast again she thought. Mark would have to get up to take the dog out soon. And Roger had to wake up at ten anyway. After scanning the cupboard, and wanting to actually make something more than cereal, she settled on pancakes. They had butter and syrup, and the mix only needed water.
Okay Cass, she told herself, you've got a pretty high IQ, you should be able to do this without burning yourself or the loft down. She got out the big flat fry pan and put it on the stove to heat. Meanwhile she mixed up some batter in a bowl and used a coffee cup to scoop it out and pour it onto the fry pan. As she made coffee she realized the more she was up and moving, the better she felt.
She figured it must be time to flip the pancakes, so she picked up the spatula, and remembered to use a potholder this time to grab the pan. Two more days she thought, then I'll at least have my fingers back. When she went to shove the spatula under the first pancake she realized it was stuck fast to the pan. After mutilating the four pancakes in the pan, she scraped them out onto a plate.
Before pouring the next batch in, she poured some oil into the bottom of the pan. Cass made herself some coffee while she waited. When she flipped this batch, they didn't stick, they were just real drippy with oil. After a lot of trail and error, and mixing up more batter, she finally had a few decent or at least somewhat edible pancakes. She poured another batch in and took her coffee and Roger's pills into their room. His watch was due to go off any minute.
"Hey baby wake up." She shook him as she held out her coffee. "Here."
"What time is it?" He asked as she sat down on the bed next to him. As if on cue his watch went off. He silenced it as he sat part way up against the wall. Roger took a sip of her coffee as she handed him his pills.
"You're almost out of your pills."
He could tell she was worried, and he kind of liked that. Not that she was worried, but that she was worried about him. "It's okay. I go back on Tuesday, remember? I'll get a new prescription then."
"Sorry. I forgot. Honestly, I was really only thinking about how I'm going to get at least part of this stupid thing cut off." She grinned as she held up her cast.
"I can understand that." He smiled back at her thinking back to his black eye, Mark's crack in the jaw, plus all the other whacks he's taken by accident while she was sleeping or whatever. "I think we'll all be happy when you get that whole thing off. You're kind of dangerous with it."
"Ah yeah, sorry." She blushed, knowing what he was thinking. "What time is your appointment?"
"I think your's is at nine and mine's at twelve. That should be enough time to get you back here before I go to the clinic. You're going to have to stay by yourself till I get back though, Mark's got to work. Is that okay?" He watched her eyes, knowing they'd tell the truth before her words did.
"Well why don't I just go with you. I mean I don't mind staying here by myself. I'm okay with that during the day. Really. But I can go with you. You said it was a lot of waiting around. I can wait with you."
"No." He said a little gruffer than he meant to. "I don't want you going there. You don't need that. It's not like some nice doctor's office. It's just. I just don't want you going there okay?"
Cass was somewhat surprised by his reaction. She hadn't expected that from him. Not now at least. "Um, okay. If that's what you really want."
"Yeah." He felt like he sort of jumped at her, but he really didn't want to be dragging her down there. He just didn't want her seeing that place. Not that it was that bad, Roger just didn't like the idea of the whole thing. "I'm sorry Babe. I didn't mean it like that. I just don't want you to have to go there. Okay?"
"It's okay, I understand." She did somewhat, but not completely, however she wasn't going to press him. "Are you going to have time to come back here before band practice Tuesday?"
He shook his head as he drank some more coffee. "No, I never know how long I'll be sitting there, so we have band practice on Mondays on the weeks I gotta go to the clinic. So tomorrow I've got practice and then I bartend."
"Oh good, so Monday night you'll be home late, which means Tuesday morning you'll be your usual happy, chipper self when we have to get up early." She teased him.
"You know us morning people." He gave her a mischievous grin as he ran his hand up her leg and drank more of her coffee. "So do you feel better today?"
"Oh much better now. Of course I've been up for four hours too. But once I had some coffee my headache went away which really helped my stomach."
"Did you throw up again?" He asked her, sitting the rest of the way up.
"No." She tried to blow it off. "I told you once I had some coffee I felt much better." She said as she started scratching her chest.
Roger was getting a bad gut feeling about the whole thing. Her not feeling good like that, for a few days now just wasn't sitting right with him. And what is she always scratching at lately? He knew her well enough to know she probably wouldn't even mention it to the doctor on Tuesday. Maybe it's a good thing he'll be there. He was about to say something to her about telling the doctor when suddenly a shrill, screeching sound pierced the quietness of the loft.
"Oh shit! Breakfast!" Cass hopped up off the bed, followed by Roger who had started cracking up when he heard her say that and realized what the sound must be.
Cass went to grab the smoking fry pan and pull it off the burner when Roger, who was right behind her, gabbed her by the back of his fleece she was wearing and pulled her back. He just gave her a look as he picked up the pan with the potholder she hadn't bothered to grab. "Didn't learn the first time huh?" He grinned at her as he nodded towards her left hand where the burn had almost healed.
"Oh, ops." She shrugged. "Guess not."
"Open the door."
Mark had been getting dressed to take the dog out when the smoke alarm went off. He came out of his room followed by the dog. "Cooking again Cass?" He laughed at her as she bent down to pick up the dog. Mark walked over to the door still laughing as he watched her sit at the counter with Georgio.
"You don't mind my cooking do you Georgio?" She asked the dog, trying to be serious.
"Yeah, ask the animal that eats Benny's shoes. There's a good plan." Mark laughed at her. He started swinging the door open and closed trying to get the smoke out of the loft. Roger started laughing so hard at Mark's comment he almost couldn't jump up onto the counter to fan at the smoke alarm. The phone rang just then making them all laugh even harder.
"Hello?" Cass said loudly while still laughing. "Um, he's a little busy can you hold on a minute.Oh no, it's okay he's just trying to get the smoke detector to turn off. Hold on one second."
She moved the phone just as Roger got the smoke alarm to stop. "Hey Fireman Fred, your mom's on the phone."
Roger almost fell off the counter when she said that. It took a second for it to register as he hoped off the counter. As he did he saw the two stacks of pancakes Cass had already made which started him laughing again. He had the feeling one was supposed to be the good stack, and one the mistake stack. Unfortunately he wasn't sure he would have been able to tell her honestly which one was which. "Hello?" He laughed in to the phone.
"Roger? Is everything okay? Is this a bad time?" She asked.
He could hear the concern and nervousness in her voice. "No it's okay Mom." He told her as he sat down at he counter and pulled Cass over between his knees. "We just had a small incident with breakfast."
"Are you guys okay?"
"Oh yeah, we're fine, we never actually got as far as eating the food." He teased at Cass. "Luckily it burnt up before we got that far."
Mark stopped swinging the door and left it open to get the rest of the smoke smell out. He could tell even thought Roger was picking on Cass, he was having a good time joking around with his mom.
"Hey, talk to your mom, don't pick on me. At least I was trying to make breakfast." She swatted at Roger as she announced she was going to get dressed.
"Sorry Mom," He laughed, "Cass isn't exactly Betty Crocker."
"Oh. Well I guess I should be relieved to know you have a working smoke detector."
"Yeah, I didn't even realized we had a smoke detector. Must have been Mark."
Hearing that Mark looked up. "Oh, yeah, after Cass' bacon and egg incident I thought it might be a good idea."
Roger laughed. "Did you hear that?" He asked her.
"Yes." She laughed. "I heard him. I'm also not surprised. At either of you I guess."
Roger could hear her relaxing as she spoke and it was the first time he remembered hearing her laugh with him in he didn't know how long. This is actually going pretty good he thought.
"And I guess I should be glad to know you have a stove too, not just living off cold cereal."
"Yeah we still eat a lot of cereal." He laughed looking up at Mark. "Usually when Cass cooks. We try to keep her away from the stove, but sometimes she gets adventurous before we get up."
Mark laughed as he looked at the plate of pancakes next to the stove. He picked up one that was dripping in oil, burnt black on one side and almost white on the other. Mark held it out for Roger to see. "Do you think it's safe to feed these to the dog?"
Roger looked up at him while talking to her. "Un huh. Wait, hang on Mom. What?" He looked at Mark. "Oh, um, no, greasy burnt pancakes are probably not he best thing to feed him." Roger looked at Georgio who was sitting by his feet holding his leash. "But I think this is a hint that he wants to go out Mark."
"Did you guys get a dog?"
"No, Mark just got conned into dog sitting." He gave Mark a famous annoyed Roger look before going back to the conversation. "It's not too bad though. He's kinda cute."
"Mark or the dog?" She joked.
Wow, my mom cracking jokes. "The dog, definitely the dog. Mark's still ugly as ever."
Mark couldn't get mad at the comment. He figured Roger's mom had made probably the first joke with Roger in about ten years. He went to his room and got dressed. When he came out they were still talking. "Georgio?" He called the dog who came running with his leash. Mark picked him up and walked out the loft with him.
Roger lit a cigarette as Mark went out the door with the dog. He heard the water go on in the bathroom.
"So, ah, how is your friend? The one with the cast?"
"Oh she's okay. She got a new one put on. She's got like two more weeks till she gets it off."
"That's good." She hesitated. "So, um, who's Cass? I mean, oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so nosey."
Roger grinned at the mere mention of her name form his mom. This isn't so bad, if we would both just relax and stop stressing out over talking to each other. He wasn't sure if he was really ready to get into the whole issue of who Cass was with her though. "Cass? She, ah, knows Mark from way back. From when he first went away to school." That's the truth he thought, just not all of it. "She, uh, lives here too. She's really great. Can't cook to save her life though."
"So I gathered." She laughed, partly at the statement, partly at the very evasive answer, but she wasn't going to push the subject. If there's more to tell, hopefully someday he'll tell her. "But everything else is good? You're playing?"
"Yup. House band a couple nights a week, bartending a few too."
"That's good. Real good. I'm glad." She said as her voice went up a pitch.
Roger remembered this, she was building up to something.
"So I talked to Mickey. He was really excited to find out I talked to you. He would really like to see you, or at least hear from you. He said something about maybe coming to the city to see your band someday."
"Yeah, maybe. Someday." Whoa Mom, let's not get crazy here and go rushing into things. Talking is one thing, hanging out with is another. "What about Patrick?" He asked hesitantly.
"Patrick?" She said with apprehension. "Ah, he and Shelly were both really glad to hear you're doing so well right now."
"Uh huh." Translation, glad you're clean, but keep your distance you bastard. Don't take it personal Roger, you got that coming. "Look Mom, about the wedding, I'm real sorry. Really. I didn't, we didn't, we never should have come. I'm real sorry. We were really doing bad then. I mean that's no excuse and all, but it wasn't anything personal against Pat and Shelly."
Roger let out a long sigh, no matter what happens, he'll never live down what he and April did to them. "We were just really, really messed up then. Mark tried to stop us from going. Really." Roger's streak of self- hatred ran through him as he thought back to that day. He and April, hurting bad, trying to get clean long enough to go to Patrick's wedding. And Mark, good-hearted Mark, trying so hard to help them as well as save Patrick and Shelly from them. To the point where Mark tried to physically stop them.
Roger dragged on the cigarette as he thought back to that. Damn it Mark, never try and stop a hurting junkie who's almost six inches taller than you. What the hell had Mark been thinking? Roger knew what Mark was thinking, that's what made it all hurt so much. That, and he could still see the look on Mark's face. The look Mark got when he fell back into the wall. There's lot's of stuff Roger didn't remember, but that he'll never forget. The look on Mark's face and the feel of his fist making contact with Mark.
"I know sweetie. Everybody's moved on, including Patrick and Shelly. It was a long time ago. Everybody is just glad you're doing so well now. Really."
Cass came out of the bathroom and walked over to him. He pulled her close to him between his knees and held her there, resting his head against her chest. Cass didn't know what they were talking about, but she had a definite feeling that this wasn't an I missed you while you were out of the room hug. She could see it on his face, the pain in his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the forehead. "I love you Baby." She whispered into his other ear.
Roger squeezed her tighter as he looked up at her. "Thanks Mom." He said into the phone, still looking at Cass. "And I am, really. And so's Mark. We're all doing real good now. Really."
"I'm glad sweetie." She smiled on her end of the phone. 'We're all' implies more than just he and Mark she thought.
The door opened and Mark came in with Georgio just as Roger's stomach growled. "Listen Mark's back, and seeing as how our breakfast kinda got destroyed," he winked at Cass, "we got to go out now. So I gotta go, okay?"
"Okay. I'm real glad we're talking again honey. I've missed you. We all have."
"Yeah, me too Mom."
"I love you Roger."
"Me too Mom. I'll talk to you later, I promise." He realized as he hung up the phone that he really did mean it.