Author's Note: Alright, aright. Sorry about the (once again) huge delay in posting this. I've been having serious computer problems, been really busy with school rehearsals (we open in two days!) and other stuff, and having to rewrite this chapter when my disk flipped out on me. So long story short, enjoy.

CHAPTER 28

"I'm gone!" Maureen told April, whizzing through the living room before pulling on her sandals by the door.

April looked up from her freshly painted toe nails and laughed. "Are there ever any times when you aren't wearing heels?" she asked.

Maureen shook her head and flattened her hair in the mirror. "Nope. You're coming tonight, right?"

"Yes, Maureen," she reassured her friend.

"So if Collins is there too, we'll all go out for drinks afterwards, okay?"

"I know, Maureen," she sighed, placing the bottle of red nail polish down on the coffee table. "You've only said that about thirty times today. Someone's a little excited."

She shrugged and grimaced, unhappy that her hair wasn't doing what she wanted it to. "Maybe." She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "For real this time," she laughed.  "Bye!"

She disappeared out of the apartment and April was left alone. She waved her feet carefully up and down, waiting for them to dry. Glancing down to her watch, she frowned when she realized that giving herself a pedicure had not taken nearly as long as she'd hoped. Her head dropped back onto the back of the couch and she studied the ceiling impatiently. Roger was to be coming home within the next couple days, and she could barely contain herself. She had given Mark specific instructions to tell Roger to call her as soon as he could so she could go and see him.

Since she had returned home, April had fallen into the relatively same pattern that she left. She returned to work, and met with her parents. After a very long, exhausting conversation with them, scolding her for getting involved with drugs, and "a boy like that," and "such people," April took their lecture like a grain of salt, having heard similar ones many times before as a child. She was never good enough for her parents, and it drove her crazy.

April sighed and stood up, wobbling over to the kitchen, trying not to smudge her nail polish. She poured herself a glass of water and looked up when she heard a knock at the door. She placed it back on the counter and made her way back to the door, knowing very well that it was Maureen. She always forgot her keys, even when April reminded her to take them. She'd always come back about five minutes after she left, looking for them, just she'd leave just as quick as she came.

Swinging the door open, April squealed when she saw who was on the other side.

"Holy shit!" she screamed, jumping up onto Roger, wrapping her legs around his waist. Laughing, he spun her around in a circle before setting her back down on the ground.

"Hey you," he smiled, kissing her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him again.

"I missed you!"

"Me too!" He peeked further into the apartment and grimaced. "You've become such a slob!" he laughed, picking her up in his arms. He dropped her gently on the couch and sat down next to her. She laughed and shook her head.

"No, Maureen's been staying with me."

He frowned. "Ew…"

"Be nice," she chided him, kissing him. She crawled into his lap and cuddled up against you. "I can't believe you're really here."

"Me neither. It was way too long away from you."

April nodded, studying Roger's face as her hand traveled up into his hair. "Your hair is so long," she told him.

"I know, I need to get it cut. And dye it again. Now you know I'm not a real blonde."

"I figured," she laughed. "Like mine?"

He grinned and nodded. "It's shorter! And blonder. You look so… different."

"Different good, or different bad?" she asked skeptically.

"Different good, duh," he reassured her, laughing. "You look so gorgeous. I feel so blah next to you."

April giggled. "I'll take you to get your hair re-done," she told him. "Before anyone else sees you're not a real blonde."

"Yeah…" he trailed off, furrowing his eyebrows. "Why are we talking about hair?"

"I don't know," she replied. She hugged him tightly again, and his arms snaked around her wait. "I'm so glad you're home."

"Me too," he whispered. "Me too."

Maureen stared at herself in the mirror, making sure the back of her skirt was straight before sitting down carefully on the couch in the dressing room. She was currently backstage, waiting for the final show to start. Though she was sad to see it end, she was also happy that this chapter of her life was ending. She couldn't wait to start over, and this time she wouldn't mess up. She had made enough money working in the show, and she had even got a waitressing job, so she could move out on her own. She couldn't help but feel like a burden on April no matter how many times April told her she wasn't. There was only one bedroom in the apartment, so Maureen had been sleeping on the pull out couch in the living room. Roger obviously wouldn't want Maureen living with them when he came home, so she had been apartment hunting for something she could afford.

Maureen's thoughts were broken when there was a sharp knock at the door. The other female lead, Katie, got up to answer the door, and quickly returned with a bouquet of roses in her arms.

"Somebody loves you, Maureen," she laughed, handing her the flowers. Maureen stood up and smiled. "Who are they from?"

"Probably my friend Collins," she told her, smiling as she searched through the flowers for the card. "I can't believe he did this. He's so great. There are eleven," she laughed. She pulled the card out of the envelope and scanned it quickly, recognizing the messy, left-handed scrawl all too well.

I'm here. –M

Maureen frowned and hesitantly dropped the roses in the trash. She didn't know why she did it, but felt like it was the right thing to do.

"Why's you do that?!" Katie squealed. "They were gorgeous!" She gasped, tearing the card out of Maureen's hands. "Who's M?!"

"Forget about it," Maureen replied, trying to sound nonchalant. She took the card back from her friend. "There were only eleven." She shoved the card down her shirt before Katie could get a hold of it again. "Yeah, you go get that now."

"Who's M?" Katie repeated, dancing around the room.

"It's nobody," she told her, shoving her playfully on the couch. She checked her hair in the mirror then sat down on the couch too, that word resounding in her mind. Nobody.

Mark waiting anxiously in the nearly empty theatre lobby, shifting his weight from foot to foot and fiddling uncomfortably with the rose in his hand. He had been waiting in that same place since the show ended, waiting for Maureen to come out. He had witnessed other cast members coming out of the same door, greeting the friends and family who had come to see their last show, then leaving, but so far, no sign of Maureen.

Mark decided to give into his feelings and go and see Maureen. He knew that his relationship with Lisa wasn't going to work, so decided that if he got out of it now, it would be easier than later. When his mom caught wind of this, she refused to talk to her son. Instead of being offended, Mark understood this to be a pleasant break from his mother.

Suddenly, Mark snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the stage door open, and Maureen and another man came through. He watched awkwardly as Maureen hugged the man and he told her that'd he'd call before turning out into the box office where another man was waiting for him. She walked quickly across the lobby, almost missing Mark altogether.

"Maureen?" he called, stepping forward. She whirled around and took a small step back when she saw him.

"Hi."

"Hi," he replied, smiling weakly. "You were great up there." True, she wasn't the best actress in the world, but she sure had passion for it.

"Thanks," she smiled. "And thanks for the flowers."

He shrugged. "Welcome. Oh, this is for you," he told her, offering the rose to her. "It's the twelfth one…"

She reached out and took the flower from him. "That would make twelve. Thanks," she replied, looking up at him. "And thanks for the other flowers. You really didn't have to."

"No, I wanted to."

Maureen gave a half-hearted laugh and shuffled her feet. "Did Collins and April come too?"

Mark shook his head, almost apologetically. "Roger came home today, so April's with him, and Collins is running some study group for the summer school classes he's teaching."

"Oh…" she trailed off, a bit offended that the two people who told her they'd come to see her didn't.

"Do you want me to walk you home? It's really dark out."

Maureen laughed quietly and nodded, amused at his worry. "Sure."

They left the theatre and began to walk down the sidewalk in a comfortable silence. It didn't take long to get to her apartment since the theatre was only a couple blocks away, so when they got there they slowed to a halt and turned to each other.

"It was good to see you," Mark told her.

She nodded. "It was. I'm glad you came."

"Would it be okay if I called you sometime? We could go out for coffee or something…"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I'd like that."

"Okay," Mark smiled. He glanced around the street quickly and looked back at Maureen. "I should get home, it's late. I'll talk to you soon, I guess."

"Yup," she smiled. "See you soon."

Mark watched her wander up the front steps and into the apartment and grinned, doing a small dance at the bottom of the stairs before heading towards the subway and back home.

Review, please!