Chapter 18

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A/N: Thanks for the reviews! They get me so excited, seriously. Did I also mention that I lead a rather sheltered life? ; )

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The next evening, Mark, Maureen, Benny, and Collins sat sprawled out in the living room. Benny had kept his promise and not told Mark about Maureen's absence the night before, and she had even managed to get to Collins before he could say anything to Mark.

"I spy with my superhuman eye, something that is… purple!" Maureen squealed.

"Your shirt."

"Wow, you're good," she giggled. "Your turn, Collins!"

"Maureen, I don't want to play I Spy anymore. Can't we do something better?"

Maureen looked shocked and hurt at Collins' reply. "You don't want to play I Spy?" She stared at her friend and watched him shake his head. She slowly looked over to Benny and grinned. "Go, Benny!"

"Maureen…"

"Go!" she yelled, jumping up and down in her seat.

"Not enough Cheerios in your sugar this morning?" Collins asked, laughing.

"No. Now go."

Benny sighed. "I spy with my freakin' eye, something that is blue."

"Your pants!" Maureen guessed. Benny shook his head. "My pants! Mark's pants! Collins' pants!"

"Oh my God!" Benny yelled, leaning back onto the floor. "I don't want to play, Maureen!"

"Well what do you suggest then?"

"Eating. I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry, and I'm not, so I want to do something else!"

"I don't care, Maureen," Benny replied, now in the kitchen sifting through the many plastic containers of food.

"Well I care, and you suck!"

"Calm down," Collins laughed, sitting up straighter in the chair. "Benny, grab me a beer."

Benny did as he was told. "Anybody else want one?"

"Yep," Maureen replied, studying her nails.

"Mark, want one?"

No answer.

"Mark?"

Collins and Maureen burst into laughter, noticing that Mark was asleep on his end of the couch, half of his body on the floor.

"Marky, wake up." Maureen pushed him over and he sprung up from the ground.

"What?" he asked groggily amidst the others' laughter.

"Do you want a drink?" she asked, laying on her stomach on the couch. She ran a hand through Mark's hair but recoiled quickly, sitting up again.

"Sure," he replied, rubbing his face with a free hand while the other steadied him on the ground. "How long was I asleep?" he asked.

"I dunno," Maureen shrugged.

"But you slept through Maureen yelling at us for not wanting to play I Spy," Benny laughed, handing out the beers. He grabbed the plastic container from the counter and opened it, eating the cold food inside.

"What are you doing tonight?" Maureen asked Collins, trying to turn her attention away from Benny, who she felt the sudden urge to ignore.

"Nothing. Just hanging around here, I guess," he replied. Mark pushed himself off the floor and back up onto the couch.

"No Noah?" he asked.

"Nope. He's got the flu," he grimaced.

"Gross!" Maureen wrinkled her nose and took a big gulp of her beer.

"Slow down there, little lady," Mark laughed, wrapping and arm around her shoulders.

"You guys make me want to ralph," Benny shook his head as he shoved another forkful of food into his mouth.

"Oh, please!" Mark laughed. "And I quote: 'I'm going to see Mimi! I went over to Mimi's! I love talking to Mimi! Mimi is so wonderful!'"

"He's right, man," Collins pointed out, raising his bottle to Benny.

"Shut up," he replied, downing half of his beer quickly.

"No need to be bitter about it," Mark replied.

"Did you not understand me or something?"

"God, sorry." Mark replied, retreating back to Maureen.

"Are you still pissed because she yelled at you in Spanish?" Collins laughed.

"No."

"Just have a stick up your ass?" Maureen asked sympathetically.

"Maybe," Benny replied.

Maureen started to say something, but before she could Mark covered her mouth with his hand.

"What'd she do?" Mark asked, cutting Maureen off.

Benny swallowed the last of his meal and dropped the Tupperware onto the ground. "She just… Everything got weird. She started saying she loved me and freaked me out."

"She did?" Collins asked, setting his bottle down next to him. "Why?"

"How the hell should I know?" Benny yelled. "God, I don't know. She's so young. She doesn't know what she means."

Everybody remained silent.

"Why did I say all that? Shit. I'll just… get drunk." He stood up and grabbed another beer from the fridge. He leaned against the counter and crossed his free arm over his chest.

"Want to go outside?" Mark whispered to Maureen. She shrugged and nodded. Mark figured it was probably best for Benny to talk to Collins since he was usually the peacemaker of the group. He gave the best advice.

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Mark and Maureen sat outside on the fire escape hunkered down under an old blanket. Mark had eaten some of the food sent home with him, but Maureen just drank her beer claiming she wasn't hungry. Inside, rather than Collins offering advice to Benny, they told each other stupid jokes and played a game they came up with, entitled 'What's That Smell?'. The couple figured it would be easier to hang around outside rather than listen to their friends' escapades.

"So what did you do without me all weekend?" Mark asked, positioning himself so he was more comfortably sitting against the brick wall of the building.

"Oh, please. You make it sound like you went off to war for a year," Maureen laughed, pulling more of the blanket over to her.

"It was like war," he joked, pulling her closer t him. Maureen looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"My mom thinks I need to marry a Jewish girl and keeps nagging me to call this girl down the street for a date," he shook his head. "But I just kept telling her, 'No, mom, I wanna be with Maureen!'"

Mark laughed and Maureen frowned slightly, feelings of guilt racing through her mind. She remained quiet and Mark nudged her gently.

"Earth to Maureen," he laughed. She looked up at him and forced a smile, shying away from him a bit. "You all right?"

"Yeah," she giggled. "Just sleepy."

"Sleepy? It's only like, seven. You're a loser," he grinned, rocking her back and forth.

Maureen gave a weak smile and steadied herself with her hands.

"Yeah, well…" she trailed off, resting her head on Mark's shoulder. "So are you."

Mark smiled and kissed his girlfriend. They could hear the muffled laughing from inside the loft and distant sounds of the city. They stayed like that for several minutes remaining attentive to the sounds around them, but were removed from their trance-like state when Collins poked his head out the window, grinning.

"Okay-okay-okay!" he started, preparing his friends for the hilarity that he was sure would ensure. "What do you say when somebody tried to steal your cheese?" The grin was still plastered on his face, and he looked to the both of them for a response. Mark shrugged and Maureen rolled her eyes, laughing.

"Nacho cheese!" he answered loudly as Benny's laugh was heard from inside. He shook his head, still laughing, and left the two alone again, repeating himself. "Nacho cheese…"

"So, turns out… they're a little drunk," Maureen laughed, beginning to shiver. Mark noticed this and gave her more of the blanket, rubbing her arms to keep her warm.

"It's cold!" she yelled. A dog replied with it's far-away yelp, but soon resettled itself.

"You want to go back in?" Mark asked, turning to Maureen.

She thought for a moment then finally shook her head slowly. She didn't want to have to deal with the two in there. Benny was a very honest drunk, so there was no telling what he'd spill to Mark.

"No, let's stay out here." Maureen smiled and shifted closer to Mark so that she was warmer. "Tell me about your weekend." She rested her head on Mark's shoulder again and shut her eyes.

"Uh, well, my niece is afraid of me, my sister's pregnant and my mom won't be happy unless you're Jewish."

"I'll be Jewish if you want me to be," Maureen replied seductively.

"You'll do anything," Mark grinned. "That's why I love you."

"Your sister's pregnant again? How old are the twins?" she asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

"They're two. She was pretty worried, didn't know how they were gonna manage with another kid. But they'll do fine. She's a stay-at-home mom, anyway, and Michael makes plenty of money."

"Hmm, it would be nice if you made plenty of money." Maureen poked Mark in the side and laughed.

"I've got plenty of money. Go make your own!"

"I'm a stay-at-home mom."

"We don't have kids yet," Mark replied. He felt Maureen tense up and looked down at her. "You good?"

"Yeah," she replied slowly. Yet. That word made Maureen shiver.

"Hey, speaking of money, guess what I got?" Mark asked, suddenly enthusiastic.

"What?" Maureen asked, distracted.

"Five hundred bucks."

"What?" Maureen laughed. "How? Have you been whoring yourself again?"

"I just can't stay away," he replied sarcastically. "No, some great uncle died and left me money. Cool, eh?"

"Yeah," Maureen laughed. "That's a lot of money. You're gonna share, right?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at Mark.

"If you're nice," he replied.

"I'm always nice," she argued. She snuggled in closer to Mark and slid down a bit so that the blanket was almost over face. "Brr," she laughed. Mark kissed the top of her head and resting his head against hers. This was perfect for him.

"We could actually have food in the fridge for the whole week. That would be something new."

"And impossible with the bottomless pit in there," she laughed, jerking her head in the direction of the window.

"Fair enough. You still wanna go to Scarsdale on Friday?"

"I guess."

"What a way to spend our anniversary," Mark laughed.

"Yeah," Maureen laughed nervously. Anniversary? "We'll just have to celebrate another time, I guess."

"Mmm," Mark replied. "How about now?"

"Huh?"

"Want to hop on the good foot and do the bad thing?"

Maureen couldn't do it. She had to stop raising Mark's hopes. She wanted to be with Joanne… Right? She had never been with anybody as long as she had been with Mark, so it was only natural that she needed to get out of the relationship. She needed change. Change helped her move forward. Of course she was going to cheat on him.

Maureen shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts of any attempts at justifying what she was doing and forced a small laugh. "Maybe later."

"Maureen Johnson turning down sex? You must be sleepy," he laughed. "You sure you want to stay out here then? You could go to bed." She shrugged and let Mark hug her closer. The last thing she wanted to do was share a bed with Mark, making him think that she loved him as much as he loved her.

They sat, bundled up in the blankets wrapped up in each others arms for a long time. Mark listened to Maureen's steady breathing and realized that she must have been asleep. He continued to doze on and off, trying to keep warm while he was conscious.

"Mark!" He heard Benny's voice calling from inside.

"Mark!" This time it was more urgent.

"Mark! Get the fuck in here!" he yelled. Mark stood up slowly, shaking Maureen awake. They crawled in through the window to see Roger standing in the middle of the room. Or rather, a variation of Roger that certainly needed a shave and a change of clothes.

"Rog?" Mark asked. Maureen had wandered off to bed, so he moved closer to his friend. Collins was staring at Roger from the kitchen and Benny was standing by the couch, neither making a move to get closerer to him.

Roger didn't answer, so Mark tried again. "Roger?"

Roger blinked several times, and rubbed his head with his hand. He took off his shoes and sat down carefully on the couch, slouching over.

"Roger, where the hell have you been?" he asked again, raising his voice.

Roger grunted in response and covered his ears.

"Be quiet. Please."

Mark looked over at Collins who shrugged and raised his eyebrows.

"Where were you?" Benny asked, moving away from Roger on the couch.

"Around," was Roger's muffled reply.

"Care to elaborate?" he prodded. Collins shook his head at Benny from his stationary spot in the kitchen.

"No," Roger gruffly responded. "Can you guys just leave me—where's April?"

"She's gone, Rog," Mark replied, stepping closer to the couch.

"Wha—where did she…?"

"Rehab."

"Bitch," he spat.

"Here, drink this," Collins said, handing Roger a glass of water. He batted it away and shook his head.

"What the fuck is up with you guys?"

"You've had us worried," Collins replied.

"Huh?"

"You've been gone for almost a week, Roger."

"Gone where?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Benny commented wryly.

"Shut up."

"Well are you going to tell us or not?" Benny prodded him, clearly frustrated with Roger.

"God! Just fuck off, all of you!" he yelled. Everyone was taken aback by this and stared back at him in shock. "My head hurts and the last fucking thing I need is you guys whining about whatever the fuck you're whining about! Just leave me the hell alone or I'll kick your ass!" He stormed into Mark's bedroom and slammed the door behind him. They heard him yell at Maureen to 'get the fuck out of his bedroom' and she soon appeared in the living room.

"Roger's home," she announced stupidly.

"We noticed," Benny snorted. She shoved him and plopped down on the couch.

"What's happening?"

"He came home and yelled at us," Collins said, sitting down next to her. "That boy, I tell you."

Benny sat down in the chair before Mark could get the chance to, so Mark leaned against it instead.

"What do we do about him?" Benny asked, suddenly a lot more sober. The others shrugged.

"Wait till he's less crashed and willing to listen?" Collins suggested.

"Asshole," Maureen muttered. Collins elbowed her in the ribs and she shrugged. He shook his head.

"Asshole."