I know what you're thinking, an update in two days? Yes that's right, Little Risa stayed up until 10:30 and wrote this whole chapter in one sitting. As you'll soon be able to tell, I was in a foreshadowing kind of mood.

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Chapter 8: Thank God For the Moon

"Hey Collins, what are you doing?" Mark asked, walking into the apartment a few days later.

Collins was sitting at the kitchen counter, which was actually a table that was full of half eaten Chinese food cartons and other garbage, pouring over a bunch of papers.

"I'm working on something," he said after a moment, his eyes not leaving the table.

"Well I figured that," Mark replied, throwing his coat onto the couch and peering over his friend's shoulder, "What is it you're working on?"

"It's an application for MIT" Collins responded, shuffling a few papers to his left until he came across the one he was looking for.

"MIT?" Mark said, surprised, "But isn't that in Massachusetts?"

"Well being as it does stand for 'Massachusetts Institute of Technology' I would assume it's in Massachusetts." Collins responded, grinning.

"Smart ass," Mark said, hitting Collins over the head.

Collins just rolled his eyes and went back to examining his papers.

"So why do you want to go there?" Mark asked.

"Because one, I could get a good pay raise at NYU if I've had training there, and two, it's a great place to spread my theory."

"Oh yeah, 'Actual Reality' that's right," Mark said, blowing out an exasperated breath. When Collins had first came up with his theory it was all he talked about for two weeks straight; not happy memories.

"So where've you been?" Collins asked, finally putting down his pen.

"Don't you have work to do?"

"I've been working for three hours straight. I think I deserve a break. So what did you do?"

"Nothing, just walked around, filmed stuff, looked for inspiration. My life is boring."

"Sounds like it," Collins said, flashing a grin.

"Now Benny on the other hand, his life is boring too but at least he makes it sound exciting."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know he started dated that Amy girl-"

"Alison" Collins corrected.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, apparently she must like him cause she wanted him to help her pick out a dog."

"What?"

"Exactly! What's so special about a dog? But according to Benny, this is the sign that she's into him and she wants to marry him and have his babies and blah blah blah. It's a freakin' dog!"

"So did they get one?"

"I don't know; I zoned out halfway through the conversation," Mark said, using his hand to imitate Benny blabbing on and on.

Collins laughed, "Well if it makes him happy…"

"Hey everyone! Collins you're not gonna guess what I did today!" came a voice behind them.

"Speak of the devil," Mark muttered before turning around, a huge fake smile on his face.

"Benny!" he said enthusiastically, "Hey how're you? Listen I gotta run, why don't you tell Collins all about your day. Sorry bud, but better you than me," he added quietly to Collins before retreating to his bedroom.

Benny watched Mark's quick escape curiously before turning to Collins, smiling energetically, "So guess what I did?"

"I'm gonna take a shot in the dark… did you get a dog with Alison today?"

"Woah, how'd you know?"

"Mark told me a few seconds ago," Collins said simply.

"Oh," Benny said, clearly disappointed, like a kid who didn't get to tell his friends about a new toy he had just received.

Collins noticed his change in tone and even though he really didn't want to hear about it, he smiled, "He didn't tell me any details, just that you two went looking for a dog. Did you get one?"

Benny's face lit up again, "Yeah, it's a cute one too, an Akita. Alison hasn't named it yet; she was still deciding when I left. She's gonna call when she decides because it's 'our dog' and she wants to make sure I like the name."

"You really like her don't you," Collins asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Yeah. I really think she's something special. I mean, I've been with other girls before but, have you ever gotten the feeling that you're just with 'the one'?"

"Not yet," Collins said, shaking his head slowly, "But I know what you're talking about."

 "You just want to spend every moment with them, but you never get sick of them either."

"You feel like your whole when you're with them."

Benny looked at his friend, he could see the longing in his eyes, the longing for that kind of love.

"We need to get you a boyfriend," he said, smiling.

Collins chuckled, "I have one remember? Karl?"

"Oh yeah," Benny said, nodding, "I don't like him."

"Why?"

"Because, he's just not… you."

"And what exactly is me?"

"I don't know, but it's just not him."

"Yeah, I've kinda been feeling that way too. But it's too early to tell, I'll give it a little while before chucking him out."

Benny grinned, "You do that. Hey Collins?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking, if I do end up marrying Alison, and I know that's gonna be a while away but still, she's not gonna want me living here. Not just this apartment but this area, her family's pretty rich and I think between my money and her money we could get a good place. I just don't want her to have to live in this kinda place. Not that I'm saying it's bad I just-"

"Hey I understand," Collins said, nodding, "Don't worry, we'll still be friends. I don't care where you live, you'll always be the same old Benny right?"

"Right," Benny said, smiling.

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"So where are we going?" April asked, hand in hand with her boyfriend as they walked down the street.

"You'll see, I want to surprise you," Roger replied, kissing her.

It was late at night, the city was alive with lights and color, and the two lovers were strolling to an unknown destination until Roger decided to reveal where it was.

"Tell me where we're going," April said, tugging on Roger's arm.

"No."

"Tell me tell me tell me!" she nagged, a bright smile on her face.

"I'll tell you when we get there."

"But by then I'll already know!"

"Well that's the only time I'm telling so you're gonna have to wait."

"You're no fun!" she said, lightly hitting him on the arm.

Roger smiled, pulling her close to him. It was times like these when he found it the easiest to be without his drugs, times when he was happy on life's natural highs.  April was, even though she didn't know it, his biggest supporter. These times, when he could smell her hair, touch her skin, look into her eyes; those were the times when he completely forgot about everything in the world. He knew he loved her; she was the only thing that mattered to him. And he believed that as long as she was there, nothing could go wrong.

Roger stopped suddenly, April following suit. He turned and smiled at her, "Ok close your eyes."

"Why?" she asked cautiously.

"Because it's a surprise!" he repeated.

Letting out an exasperated breath, April closed her eyes and held Roger's hand tightly.

"Ok, just go where my hand leads you okay?"

"Follow the sound of your voice," April teased, her eyes still closed.

As he led her forward, she could feel the ground change beneath her, it was no longer hard and tough like pavement, instead it had give and spring.

Curiously she called out, "Where are we going?"

"Keep your eyes closed and you'll find out in a second"

April sighed, but did as she was told.

"Ok, now you can open your eyes," Roger said finally.

April's eyes flew open and she quickly lost her breath. The moon was shining brightly over the treetops; casting a beautiful white glow on the small park Roger had led her to.  The patterns from the leaves reflected in shadows on the ground, and April could see the bright glow from the moon on Roger's face, illuminating his smile.

"It's beautiful," she whispered, "How did you know…"

"I can see this sometimes from the fire escape outside the apartment. When I watched the people in the park, they looked like angels, the way they glowed," he stepped back to look at April clearly, "So I brought you here because I wanted to show you, you're the angel now."

April looked down at herself, seeing the patterns of the tree leaves on her clothes, she felt beautiful.

"Oh Roger," she said slowly, "This is so amazing."

She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly, the moon shining down on them. The moon was always something Roger took for granted, something that was always there, something he had to share with the other 6 billion people in the world. But tonight, the moon was his, his and April's.

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As you probably noticed, now that April has made an appearance I'm having way too much fun writing love scenes between her and Roger. Don't worry, they do have a purpose.