Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, guys!! You're all awesome!!! Sorry about the delay, ff.net wouldn't let me upload. This chapter spans a larger period of time, so the vignettes included in it all take place in chronological order near the very end of the six months of Roger's absence.
Also, the-fraulein, thanks so much for the review! I love "Why Does Distance Make Us Wise"! I know it wasn't really developed on, but a few chapters back it talks about Benny getting a job offer from Mr. Grey. So all this is happening provided he didn't take the job and therefore meet Alison. So instead, he stayed with Mimi, who in turn convinced Roger to go to rehab. This story's showing how the smallest thing, like not accepting a job, can change everything.
DON'T BREATHE TOO DEEP
Chapter 27
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Over the next five months, things changed greatly for the once tightly knit group. New relationships were created and flourished, and old ones were pushed out of mind, but not completely forgotten. Things moved quickly for some, while for others the time dragged on slowly and painfully. Changes were recognized and ignored. Those five months held promise for some and pain and sadness for others.
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For the next week, Mark continued to sulk about Maureen until he woke up one morning completely over her. Within another week, he found himself on a date with Lisa Katz, whom he had been dating since. Their relationship wasn't perfect, but it was much less stressful than when it was with Maureen. Less than a week after that, Mark got a call from his brother-on-law Michael who was offering him a small job at his advertising agency. He snapped up the offer (though he was sure Cindy had put him up to it), and for once things were looking up. At least, that's what everybody kept telling him.
Within these months, Mimi had also moved into their building. She received news that her building had been bought and was to be torn down, so Benny convinced her to move into their building. She did, and Benny found himself spending more time down there with her than at his own place, so he eventually decided to move in with her instead, leaving Collins and Mark alone in the apartment until Roger returned home.
It was currently mid way through July, and between Mark and Collins, they managed to purchase and install an air conditioner. They made some general repairs to the loft, pooling their money. They replaced Roger's broken window, repainted some walls and bought a space heater. They still complained about the shittiness of the loft, but now it was more liveable, and they were doing just fine.
"Hello? I'm talking to you," a feminine voice laughed. Mark snapped out of his trance-like state and looked across the restaurant table at Lisa. Her bobbed hair was tucked neatly behind her ear and she was smiling slightly.
Mark laughed and shook his head. "Sorry."
"It's okay, sweetie," she smiled. "Any, like I was saying, if you come to Scarsdale next weekend we could do something. You know, go swimming or hang out. You up for it?"
He nodded slowly and placed his fork back onto his plate. "Sure, I guess."
"It will be fun," she reassured him, noticing the disinterest in his eyes. "My parents love you."
"Likewise," Mark shrugged, glancing around the restaurant. He caught the gaze of the waiter, who made his was quickly over to their table.
"Can I get you any coffee or desert?"
Mark shook his head and looked to Lisa who did the same.
"Just the cheque please," Mark requested. The waiter nodded and returned to the table quickly with their bill. Mark left some money for their meal and the couple stood up and made their way out of the restaurant.
Mark heard Lisa mumble something inaudible, so he placed a hand on the small of her back and leaned in closer to her as they left the restaurant and walked out into the parking lot.
"What?" he asked.
Lisa laughed and patted Mark's cheek with the back of her hand. "I think you're going deaf, hon. I asked if you wanted to go back to the loft or if we need to do anything else while we're out?"
"Oh, no. I think we're good," he told her, waiting for her to unlock the passenger side of the car. He hopped is and buckled up his seat belt. Lisa was visiting Mark for the weekend, as she had been doing for the past several weeks. Collins was visiting his family on Long Island, so they had the place to themselves. Roger was coming home within the week, so Mark was very excited.
"Before I forget," he started once Lisa had got into the driver's seat. "Roger, my other roommate that I told you about, he's coming home from rehab soon, so you'll finally get to meet him."
Lisa wrinkled her nose and placed her keys in the ignition. "I guess. Maybe we should pick up some ice cream before we go home?"
"Yeah, maybe… We can all go out and have a party or something to welcome him home, you know? Collins and Benny can come, and Mimi–"
"Sounds good," she cut him off distractedly, glancing out her window as she pulled out of her parking spot. "Can you spot me on that side?"
Mark sighed and nodded, looking out his own window. "Sure."
Well, he couldn't wait for Roger to come back.
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Maureen took another sip of her beer and wrapped an arm around Max's neck to keep her balance, resettling himself on his lap. They had become self-proclaimed "friends with benefits" over the last little while.
Joanne broke up with Maureen soon after Mark left her. Maureen didn't dedicate herself to the relationship and found herself doing the same thing that she did to Mark to Joanne - with a different person every night. She told Maureen that she was sick of being second-string in their relationship and she wasn't about to date a woman who didn't seem to care to be with her either way. Maureen became scared that she was completely alone in the world, and decided to get over this feeling by going out and partying instead. Over the next five months she had been living at April's apartment, but had been out at other people's places more. Her days consisted of rehearsals and performances for The Importance of Being Earnest then nights of bar hopping, clubbing, and beautiful strangers. No strings, no promises, and no relationships.
"When do you want to leave?" Max asked, trailing kisses along her shoulder. He wrapped one arm around her waist, which was thinner than before, and rested the other on the bar next to him. Maureen swallowed more of her beer and shrugged.
"Doesn't matter," she replied. She ran her fingers through Max's dark spiked hair and rubbed the back of his head. "I have to get up early tomorrow. I think I should just go to sleep." She caught the eye of the bartender that she had been flirting with all night long and smiled coyly at him. He smiled back and slid another bottle of beer over to her. She picked it up and handed it to Max, hiccuping. "Open this up."
Max did as he was told and handed the bottle back to her, talking to a man who was sitting beside him at the bar. She took a swig of her drink and leaned against Max.
"Fuck," she complained, slamming her hand on the bar.
"What?" Max laughed, running his hand up and down her thigh.
"What's her face is coming back soon."
"Huh?" he asked. "Joanne?"
"The fuck? No… the other one. April. The junkie."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Max asked, taking a sip of the beer he had been nursing all night long.
Maureen gave a whole body shrug. "I dunno. Never mind. I want to go," she whined like a child, wriggling out of Max's grasp. He nodded and said goodbye to his friend before paying for their drinks.
"You didn't have very much to drink tonight," Max noted, pulling his car keys out of his pocket. He pushed the door open for Maureen who shrugged. "It's only eleven-thirty. Are you okay?"
Maureen nodded. "Yeah," she lied. She waited patiently for him to unlock the door, and when he did, she slid into the front seat and sunk into the leather interior. Staring at the lights and signs outside as they glowed and flickered, she heard Max talking to her. She attempted to listen to him but failed miserably, fiddling with the locket around her neck and trying to forget about what she had to do the next day.
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Collins pulled his bag out of the trunk of the cab and slung it over his shoulder. He walked up the short stone walkway lined with flowers to a red wooden door. He rang the doorbell twice and took a step back, waiting patiently. A tall blonde woman opened the door quickly and grinned when she saw Collins.
"Tom!" she squealed. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in for a tight hug. "Sweetie, how are you?"
"Hi Mom," he laughed as he hugged her back. "All right. How about you? Where's dad?"
"He's in the backyard, gardening. His doctor says it relieves stress," she told him as she shut the door behind them. Collins took off his shoes and dropped his bag on the ground, when he heard footsteps barrelling down the stairs.
"Tommy!" a young voice yelled. A redheaded teenager darted down the stairs and quickly jumped up onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist.
"Hey angel. Last time I saw you, you were blonde," he laughed, spinning the girl in circles.
She hugged him tighter around his neck. "I missed you so much!" she told him.
"Kasia, get off your brother, please," his mother told her, leaving to go fetch her husband.
She hopped back down onto the ground and smiled up at Collins, pulling him into the living room.
"So how was your first year of high school? Meet any boys?" he teased her.
She stuck out her tongue and sat down on the couch next to him. "Maybe. I like high school. It's fun. The teachers are way cooler but the classes are harder. I dunno, there are more people though, and that's cool."
Collins grinned and hugged his younger sister. "Is Sam home this weekend?"
Kasia nodded. "He said as long as you're home he'll come home too. Then mom started to cry," she laughed.
Collins smiled at his sister. She wasn't his biological sister, but he loved her like one. When Collins was eleven, his parents passed away in a car accident. He and his brother Sam, who was eight at the time, had been shipped off from adoptive parents to adoptive parents, never really being accepted into the family. When Alexander and Danielle Edward had taken him and his brother in, they immediately felt like the belonged. The kids were soon adopted by the young couple, and two years later Danielle Edward gave birth to their own daughter, Kasia. The family was always very close and they had been through a lot together. Alex and Danielle were very supportive and treated Tom and Sam like their own children.
Mr. and Mrs. Edward came in from the backyard, Mr. Edward noticeably tanned from the sun.
"Thomas," he greeted him, opening his arms out for a hug. Mrs. Edward disappeared into the kitchen.
"How are you, dad?" he asked, patting his father on the back.
"Oh, I'm fine. It's hot out!" he laughed. Both men sat down in the living room.
"So, how have thing been going? Work? That Noah boy?" he asked, placing his gardening gloves on the coffee table.
Collins shrugged. "Actually we're not seeing each other any more."
"Why not?" Kasia asked, tucking her feet under her.
Alex shook his head. "Kash," he chided her..
"No, no, don't worry. We just wanted different things, I guess. It's okay."
Mrs. Edward appeared back in the living room holding a tray of a pitcher of lemonade, plastic cups, and cookies.
"Should we all go out to the patio?" she suggested. Everybody agreed and wandered outside. Within the hour, Sam came to the door, and the entire family sat out on the backyard patio.
"Is everybody good with a barbecue for dinner?" Alex asked. They all nodded.
"Kasia, will you help me set the table out here?" Mrs. Edward asked.
"Yup," she replied, and with that they were back inside the house.
Several hours later, Collins was in his old bedroom, which he shared with Sam. They had finished dinner and sat around the table talking until late. They all made their way up to their bedroom, and Collins took a shower and was now very tired, Sam claiming the bathroom after him. He hopped into bed and pulled the covers over him, settling himself against the pillows when the door opened.
"Sorry," Sam grimaced, flipping the light on. He made his way over to his duffel bag and began putting things in it and taking other things out.
"It's okay," Collins replied, sitting up.
"Are you all right?" his brother asked him, looking up as he pulled a pair of socks out of his bag.
Collins nodded. "Yeah, why?"
"You seem kind of… sad," he replied, sitting on the edge of his bed and pulling on his socks.
"I do?"
Sam shrugged. "Yeah. It's about Noah, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?" How did he know?
He pushed himself back onto his bed and leaned against the headboard. "You're not happy unless you're in a relationship."
"What?" Collins laughed, staring back at his younger brother.
"Well," he started. "Whenever you're single you get kind of depressed and you act like you're not good enough for anything."
"No I don't…"
"Yeah you do," he laughed. "And it's stupid, because you're perfect."
Collins scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Hardly."
"Please. You were so the older brother that I wanted to be. You were the smartest one in your class, everybody loved you, and you were so cool."
Collins shrugged and began playing with the edge of the blanket.
"Just because you're not dating anybody doesn't mean that you're not good enough."
"Then what does it mean?" Collins asked, sighing.
Sam smiled warmly at his brother. "It doesn't mean anything. You're not completely alone, you know. You've got all of us here, and your weird roommates…"
Collins laughed. "Yeah, but I just feel like… time's running out, and I don't want to die alone."
Sam smirked. "You're kidding me, right? You're twenty six, and–"
"Twenty seven. Twenty eight next month."
"Okay, you're twenty seven, twenty eight next month. You've got tons of time – you're healthy and and you'll definitely find someone, I know that."
Collins smiled. "Maybe."
"No, not maybe. You will. Believe me, from one brother to another, any guy would be lucky to have you."
Still looking skeptical, Collins shrugged.
"Trust me, man. If not, you can jump me in a dark alleyway and steal my wallet."
"Uh, sure…" Collins laughed, giving his brother a funny look. "Thanks, Sam."
Sam grinned and threw one of his pillows across the room at his brother. "No problem. Do you still snore?"
"Yeah," he laughed, placing the pillow behind his head.
"You better not tonight," he warned him, settling himself underneath the covers.
"Do you still talk in your sleep?"
"Yeah. Remember that time you shoved a balled up sock in my mouth to keep me from talking?"
Both men erupted into laughter. "Yeah! It worked! I didn't hear anything all night."
"…Because I cried my way to mom and dad's room! Jerk," he teased him.
"Loser."
"Night."
"Night, Sam. Thanks."
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April walked into her apartment building dragging her bag behind her. She was so glad to finally be home. She pressed the call button for the elevator, surprised that it had been repaired. After several months of her complaining about it to the superintendent nothing had ever been done about it.
She stepped onto it and glanced around, smiling. Soon, everything would be perfect. She ran her fingers through her hair, which was longer than before. The blonde hair dye was growing out, and the light brown roots were showing. She'd have to get it re-dyed. The doors slid open and April wandered down the hallway to her apartment. She took her keys out of her bag and unlocked the door. Entering the apartment, she noticed that it was a bit messier than she left it and the lights were on inside. She opened the door wider and peered in nervously.
"Hello?" she called, her hand still clutching the doorknob tightly. No answer. "Hello?" she called louder.
The bedroom door opened slowly and Maureen appeared on the other side, her eyes red and puffy.
"Maureen?" When she noticed she was crying, her tone changed immediately from surprise to disbelief. "What's wrong?"
"Sorry about this. Uh, long story, I'll tell you about it later. I can go…" she told her, going back into the bedroom and collecting her things.
April swung the door shut, dropped her bag on the ground and followed Maureen into the bedroom.
"No, it's okay. Just… what happened? Why aren't you at the loft?"
Maureen shrugged. "I don't live there anymore. Me and Mark broke up a while ago. I just fucked myself over," she explained, sniffing back tears and dropping her belongings in her backpack. As she put them in, April took them out.
"What are you talking about? Sweetie, where are you going to go?"
Maureen shrugged and flopped down so she was sitting on the bed. "I don't know. Fuck, I don't know."
April pushed Maureen's bag away and sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"Why are you crying?" she asked carefully. At this, Maureen began to cry harder. She dropped her head into her hands and doubled over.
"Is it about Mark?"
"No."
"Then what is it?"
"Nothing," Maureen told her, shaking her head and swiping away her tears. "Just forget about it. Welcome home," she smiled weakly.
April forced a laugh. "Thanks." Maureen stood back up and began to pack up her things again, but April stopped her, grabbing her hands.
"No, don't even bother. You're going to stay here. We'll hang out tonight. We can get takeout and watch movies or something."
Maureen whimpered and forced a watery smile. She couldn't even bother to say no, she knew she didn't have any other place to go. "Okay."
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Mark shuffled into the kitchen in his parents' home and plopped down at the kitchen table next to the very pregnant Cindy, who was very engrossed in a newspaper article.
"Morning," she greeted him, finishing off her toast.
"Hey," he sighed. "Where's mom?"
She shrugged. "Grocery shopping. How'd you sleep?"
"Oh, fine," he replied, standing back up and sifting through the refrigerator for something to eat. "Do you know if Lisa knows I'm here?"
"No clue, but probably if mom has anything to do with it."
"Great," he said sarcastically. "I'm going to have to take her for lunch, aren't I?"
Cindy laughed and folded up the newspaper. "Do you actually like your girlfriend?"
"Yeah, she's great, I guess." Mark pulled some cereal out of the cupboard and poured it into a bowl.
"You guess?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. She's nice and all, but I don't think we're… a couple, you know? She's taking it all really seriously and I don't know if I'm that serious about it."
"Well Mark, if that's the case you need to tell her."
"Yeah…" he trailed off. "That, and I kind of miss Maureen."
"What?!" she asked, jumping up from her seat. She moved over to Mark and stared at him as if he just said the dumbest thing she had ever heard. "Maureen, as in the b-word who cheated on you and drove you crazy?"
"Yeah– well, I don't really have any proof that she was cheating on me. That's just what Benny and Collins said it was like."
"Mark," Cindy shook her head. "Be careful. You don't want to get back into that."
"I know. Okay, sorry, never mind," he said quickly, swallowing a spoonful of cereal.
"Don't worry," she said, looking at him. She waddled back over to the table and sat down, placing a hand on her stomach. "I'm only seven months pregnant, why am I so big?"
"You're not."
"Most women aren't even this big at nine months," she told him. "This is ridiculous."
"Are you having a boy or a girl?"
"A boy," she smiled. "But don't tell Michael. He doesn't want to know until it's born."
"Okay," Mark laughed. "I won't." He stared at the phone on the wall and debated picking it up and calling Lisa. "Should I call her?"
"Or you could just walk like, the two houses down and visit her."
Mark thought about this for a moment before continuing. "Yeah… I'm gonna call her."
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April pushed the pizza box over to Maureen and took a bite out of her own piece.
"So how have things been going for the last few months?" She finally got Maureen to calm down, after which the two women proceeded to order every kind of takeout they could think of.
"Um, okay. Roger came home and I think he's going through withdrawal."
"He didn't go to rehab?" April asked, shocked.
Maureen shrugged. "No clue. Not since I last saw him."
"Oh…" April trailed off, obviously hurt that Roger didn't take her advice.
"It's okay," Maureen reassured her, though she really didn't know if it was.
"I know," April nodded. She reached across the coffee table and picked up the tin bowl of spaghetti. "Maybe I'll call him later. I missed him."
"I bet."
April wrinkled her nose. "Crap, I need to call my parents, too."
"Good luck with that," Maureen laughed. "That should be fun."
"Oh yeah. They were pretty pissed off but hopefully they've had time to cool off."
"Four months is probably enough," Maureen shrugged, picking the mushrooms off her piece of pizza. She wrinkled her nose and dropped them onto April's plate.
"I guess. You don't like them?" April asked, plopping the mushrooms onto her own pizza.
Maureen shook her head. "Thanks for letting me stay here with you," she said quietly, taking a small bite out of her slice.
"Oh, no problem. It's the least I can do."
They awkwardly turned their attention back to the television where they were watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
"Why did you and Mark break up?" April asked quietly after several moments, turning to face Maureen.
She sighed and gave a one-shoulder shrug. "I was cheating on him."
"What? You were? With who?"
"A lot of people. I really messed up."
"Oh my God…"
"Yeah, I know."
"But then why were you crying?"
Maureen sighed. "Well," she started, putting her plate on the coffee table. "When Mark broke up with me, and I was seeing this other woman, Joanne, and I really liked her. But then she dumped me, too, so I dunno, I guess I just got really depressed and everything. So, I went out and got really drunk and did whatever, and I've been doing that ever since. There's this guy, Max, and we had this kind of agreement, like, if he doesn't have anything to do, and I don't have anything to do, then we, well, do things together. So, anyway," she sighed shakily and looked over at the television. "Last week I found out I was pregnant, and God knows I could never do it, so I got an abortion," she managed to spit out quickly. She gave a big shuttering breath and blinked back tears that fell down her cheeks anyway. It felt good to finally get everything off her chest.
"Oh my God," was all April could say. She placed her food on the coffee table in front of her and wrapped her arms around Maureen's neck, pulling her in for a hug. "Are you okay?"
Maureen hesitantly accepted the hug and nodded, sniffing and whimpering. "I think so. I've just been crying a lot. Like, a lot. I don't cry," she laughed quietly through her tears.
"Have you just been resting for the last couple days?" April asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
She nodded. "I've pretty much stopped going out all together. I called out of my play for the last couple days, but I think I'm going to get back to it soon. I've been kind of… I don't know, scared to go out."
April smiled sympathetically. What a situation to come home to. "Well, see… I told myself that when I came home I was going to go out and go on a big shopping trip. You know, buy new clothes, get my hair done and stuff. If I go tomorrow, would you want to come with me? My treat, before my parents take away all my money," she laughed. April really wanted to be friends with Maureen. She seemed like a lot of fun and a really great person. Sure, she had her issues, too, but April was definitely thankful that she was there to help her before. Now she was hoping she could reciprocate and help Maureen, too.
Maureen thought about this for a moment and cocked her head at April. "You sure? You're doing so much for me already…" she told her in disbelief.
"Yeah," April nodded. "It will be fun."
Maureen smiled slightly and nodded. "Okay."
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The phone rang in the loft, and for once instead of screening, Collins decided to answer it. He stood up from the couch, carefully moving so that he wouldn't disturb any of the papers scattered around him on the new coffee table. He picked up the phone from the island and clicked it on.
"Hello?" he asked distractedly.
"Hi, Collins? It's me."
"Maureen?" he asked, surprised. "Where are you?"
"I'm at April's house."
"April? She's back? How is she?"
"Oh, she's fine. She's right here. She says hi," Maureen laughed. "Can I ask you something?" she asked, suddenly more serious.
"Yeah," Collins told her. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, it's just… closing night for my show is coming up, and everybody has their family and friends coming, and I don't really have any family or anything. So I was wondering if you would come and see me."
"I'd love to, sweetie. That would be wonderful," Collins smiled.
"Really?" she asked, surprised.
Collins laughed. "Yes, really. I haven't seen you in a while!"
"Oh, good," she replied, very relieved. "It's next Friday at eight o'clock." Collins managed to find a piece of paper and scrawled her directions onto it.
"I can't wait to see you. How have things been going?"
"Um, okay. They've been… going. I've been staying here at April's, so it's not too bad," she laughed nervously. "How about you?"
"I'm good, I'm good. The loft is too quiet without you. We miss you around here, beautiful."
"Me too. I'm glad you didn't go to MIT."
"Me too."
Silence.
"Collins?"
"Yeah?" he asked, doodling 'Maureen's Play' on the top of the paper in block letters.
Scared that someone might somehow overhear her, Maureen whispered. "I miss Mark."
Collins frowned. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he had moved on.
"Sweetie…" he started, not knowing how to finish that. "You two just weren't meant to be together."
"I know, but I still miss him. I know I screwed up pretty bad."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Mo. This kind of thing happens all the time."
"I know." She sighed. "I know. Sorry… I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I hope you can come to my show."
"Me too. If you ever need to talk, I'm always here for you. I'll take you out to lunch one day."
"We'll see," she laughed. "I'll see you soon, right?"
"Hopefully. Talk to you later."
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Mark wandered into the cool loft, tossing his bag aside. He had just returned from work and was currently very hungry.
"Hey dude," Collins greeted him from the couch, up to his elbows in paperwork.
Mark smiled and walked into the kitchen, opening the icebox freezer
"Hey," he replied, pulling out a microwave dinner. He popped it in the microwave and set the timer. "What's up?" He moved back over to the living room and sat down in the easy chair.
"Not much. Trying to write a test, but unfortunately failing miserably."
Mark laughed and shook his head. "Nice. Why you decided to teach summer courses is beyond me."
"I don't know. Extra money's always good." He rummaged through a couple papers and bit the top of his pen.
"Yup," Mark replied, waiting patiently for his food. He watched Collins work intently on writing his test, and his mind drifted over to Roger. He hoped his friend was okay. He missed him and wanted him to come home. He'd be really impressed with all the changes around the loft, Mark was sure. He finally had some money of his own thanks to his job, so he and Collins decided it would be best if they fixed up the loft. They repaired a couple things to make the loft less of a hell hole, but they both told themselves that is was temporary until they could do a giant overhaul or just move. Mark had been feeling a lot less stressed and had been a lot happier over the last little while. He still felt like something was missing, though, and despite the fact that he knew exactly what it was, he didn't like to admit it.
The microwave beeped and removed Mark from his trance-like state. He made his way back to the kitchen and took out the small box of pasta, setting it on the island. He grabbed a fork from the drawer in the counter and plopped down on a stool. He noticed a piece of paper on the counter as he dug into his food. Curiosity and boredom overtook him, so he turned it around so it was facing him.
Maureen's play: Friday, July 26
Tickets, $20
Mark pushed around the spaghetti with a fork and glanced up at Collins.
"You're going to Maureen's play?" he asked.
Collins looked up, shocked. "Um, I don't know. I was going to, but I might have to lead a study group. So maybe not," he replied quickly, looking back down at his work. He hoped Mark didn't feel offended.
"Oh…" Mark trailed off, absentmindedly piling his spaghetti into a ball in the centre of the packaging. "How is she?"
"She sounds fine. She says she's staying with April, so I bet they're wreaking all kinds of havoc," he laughed awkwardly.
"Yeah, I bet." He paused and glanced around the room before continuing. "What'd she say?"
"She said she's doing well. She said she misses you."
"Seriously?"
Collins nodded.
"…'Cause I kind of miss her, too."
Collins was surprised. "Really?"
"Yeah," Mark nodded. "I know I shouldn't. I'm with Lisa now, and that's great too, but there's a part of me that wants to be with her. Maybe I made a mistake breaking up with her."
"Mark, no…" Collins shook his head. "Remember how much stress she put you under before? You were sitting up at three in the morning waiting for her to come home all the time."
"I know," Mark rationalized. "I know, but…" he trailed off. He shrugged and turned his attention back to his food, though he was suddenly less hungry than before. "Never mind. It was stupid."
"Besides, you've got Lisa, right?"
"Yeah, and she's great. She really is. You're right, that was dumb. Sorry."
"Don't worry," Collins shrugged, turning his attention back to his work. "Be careful, though. Remember what happened last time."
Mark sighed. "I know." He peeked down at the paper on the island, mentally memorizing it.
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