Chapter 36

January 14

Mark knocked on his old bedroom door in the loft for what seemed like the fiftieth time that day.

"Mo, you need to come out eventually."

"No I don't!" came her muffled reply from inside. "And you can't make me!"

He groaned and bumped his forehead against the door. "Please? I'm still a little bit hungover from the bachelor party and you're hurting my head."

"Oh, so now I'm just a big headache?"

"Maureen!" he whined. "The limo's going to be here in half an hour and April still has to do your hair…"

He heard her put something on the ground then walk over to the door. She opened it up slightly and poked her head out.

"You know that stereotype about how the bride picks ugly bridesmaids dresses because she doesn't want any of them to look better than her?"

"Sure," Mark laughed, finally understanding where she was going with her temper tantrum.

The bedroom door swung open and Maureen appeared in the doorway wearing a coral-coloured dress with sea foam green crinoline under the skirt.

"Mimi fully believes in it."

"Oh my God," he laughed, covering his mouth.

"Shut up!" she cried, clenching her fists. "It's not funny!"

"Is too, Sasquatch!" Roger called from the couch, popping a few potato chips into his mouth.

April walked into the room, her hair and makeup done and a cigarette between two fingers, but still in jeans and a t-shirt.

"Rog, don't eat in your tux, you'll get crumbs all over it." She balked when she saw Maureen and burst into laughter.

"Don't you laugh, too, missy!" Maureen fumed, making her way over to April. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"I know," she laughed, "I know. Go in there and I'll be back to do your hair in a sec."

Maureen frowned and slammed the door to Roger's old bedroom as April picked up the garment bag from the chair and went into Mark's old room, still laughing.

"Don't call her a Sasquatch, Rog," Mark chided him, leaning onto the back of the chair.

"Don't call me a Sasquatch," he challenged, grinning.

He laughed. "You're such an idiot."

Mark knocked gently on the door and opened it, finding Maureen inside lying on the bed with her arm covering her face.

"Maureen," he sang as he sat on the edge of the bed. He placed a hand on her lower leg and shook her gently. "Sorry I laughed."

"No you're not."

He sighed. "Yes I am."

"Roger said I was a Sasquatch."

Mark laughed quietly. "He's also a dumbass."

She sat up and looked Mark in the face. "Sasquatches are fat."

"No they're not."

"Yes they are! They're fat and furry and huge. I'm such a cow in this dress," she whimpered, leaning forward onto his shoulder.

"You are not," he tried, rubbing her back gently. "You're beautiful. You make that dress look hot."

"No I don't. I'm not going to wear it."

"You'll break her heart if you don't."

"I don't care."

"Yes you do. She's your friend. Your friend who's got horrible taste," Mark laughed.

Maureen let out a quiet laugh into his shoulder and wrapped her arms lightly around his neck. "Yes she does."

"Everyone's obligated to look ridiculous at one point in their lives," he joked, cutting her off before she could get offended, "Not that you look ridiculous. But if I have to be the best man and give a stupid speech about how much of a loser Benny was in university, you have to wear the dress."

She shrugged, grouchy. "I guess."

Mark lifted her face to his and kissed her gently, but was interrupted when April entered the room, the sound of Roger's laughter filtering in from the other room.

"I look like an asshole," she frowned, grabbing the curling iron off the ground. "Bring your damn head over here, Maureen."

The limousine that Benny had sent to pick up the friends came within a half hour, and they all piled into it. They were dropped off at the Plaza, where the wedding was taking place (with much financial help from Benny's parents, who decided to spare no expense at their only son's wedding). The ceremony went swimmingly, Benny only forgetting to repeat after the officiant a few times. The reception was taking place in a room just down the hall from where the wedding took place. There were many more people than anybody thought there would be, and the hall was very full. The dinner went well and everybody had managed to suffer through all the speeches with relative ease. Mimi and Benny seemed ecstatic during the dinner, but somewhere near the end he wandered off and disappeared into the crowds.

Mark pulled Maureen closer to him as they danced and she automatically rested her head on his shoulder.

"Tired?" he asked, kissing the side of her head.

She shrugged. "Not really. The ceremony was nice, eh?"

"It was," Mark agreed, beginning to laugh. "But I still can't get over the fact that the maid of honour is a drag queen. That's so great."

"Definitely," Maureen giggled. "Where are they going on their honeymoon again?"

"Aruba," Mark replied.

"Very nice," she nodded. One hand traveled up into his hair and she ran her fingers through it. "I like your hair this way, all spikey. It looks good."

Mark blushed slightly and kissed her cheek. "So do you."

"Oh yeah, with this monster dress. What the hell was Mimi thinking?" she laughed. "But I have to admit, the drag queen looks pretty hot in it."

"I'll give you that much," Mark surrendered. "I know that I'm getting all hot and bothered."

Maureen slapped him lightly in the shoulder and laughed. "Hey, that's my job."

"Yes it is," he grinned, pulling her closer to him and tightening his arms around her waist. He kissed her gently and smiled. "So… what do you say about having our own Aruba tonight?"

"I say you drive a hard bargain, Cohen," she shook her head pretending to deliberate then laughed, resting her head on his shoulder again. "But of course."

He smiled and looked down, noticing the gold locket that he gave her a year ago around her neck. He touched it and opened it studying the pictures of himself and her father inside.

"Do you ever take this off?"

She shook her head and shut her eyes. "Nope, I want to keep my two favourite guys with me all the time."

He tore his eyes away from the locket and looked down at her instead.

"What's the story with your dad anyway?" he asked carefully, knowing that it was probably a sensitive subject for her.

She shrugged. "We used to be close when I was really little. Then my mom got messed up and he left her and I got stuck with her, which killed me. I miss him so much sometimes," she sighed.

"You remember him? How old were you?"

"Five when they divorced. I don't really remember that much," she frowned. "But I do remember him being really great. He used to do everything with me… like, take me to the park or colour. Kid stuff like that."

Mark smiled and stroked her cheek gently, leaning his head against hers.

"Why don't you call him?"

"I don't even know where he is. He could be living in France for all I know."

He frowned. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault," she reminded him.

He nodded and kissed her gently as they continued dancing.

"They really love each other, don't they?" April asked Roger, watching Mark and Maureen over his shoulder.

He shrugged. "I guess. They're never together, though," he laughed, referring to Mimi and Benny.

"No, Mark and Maureen. Mimi and Benny are never together, I don't even know how that works," she giggled.

Roger grunted.

"They're really lucky," she continued about Mark and Maureen, a look of longing in her eyes as she watched them dance, talking and laughing. "I think they're really good for each other."

He shrugged.

"Why don't you like her?" she asked earnestly, looking back up into Roger's eyes.

"I just don't," he shrugged. "Let's just leave it at that." He spun her around in a circle and dipped her.

"Stop it," she laughed. "You're so weird."

He cocked her head at her and stared blankly at her. "Am I?"

April laughed and pushed his face away. "Yes."

Roger took notice when she sighed dreamily and glanced around the hall, taking in the scenery around them.

"You okay?" he asked.

She shrugged and nodded. "Yeah…"

"What is it?"

April took a deep breath. "This is just really nice. Mimi and Benny are lucky."

"So are we," Roger rationalized, squeezing her hand.

"Yeah, but…" she trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence for fear of what she'd say. Maybe, "Yeah, but sometimes I don't feel like it," or, "Yeah, but sometimes I don't think this was meant to be."

"Want to go sit down?" Roger asked, noticing her sudden change in emotion.

She nodded slowly and removed her arm from around his neck.

"Do you ever feel like we missed out?" she asked as they made their way around the dance floor.

"What do you mean?"

"We never had a real wedding like this. You know, we never did the bachelor party, wedding dress thing. Do you ever feel like you would've liked it?"

Roger shrugged. "I don't know, that's not really my thing. Why?"

She shrugged, imitating him, "I don't know."

"Do you want this kind of thing?" he asked, glancing down at her.

"I think it would be nice. I mean, we're never going to have this. We're never going to get to send out invitations and pick out place settings and stuff."

He remained silent as they made their way to the head table. He knew that they would probably never be able to afford a real wedding so he wouldn't be able to give one to her. He did feel terrible to know that she was so unhappy with the fact that they couldn't. It seemed that the honeymoon was over and the relationship was becoming more difficult. The more time he spent with April, the more he realized how different they were, but he also knew that relationships always needed some tweaking and sacrifices.

They sat down at the head table, Roger sitting down next to April in Maureen's seat. He reluctantly took her hands in his and smiled.

"If you want this, I'll give it to you," he told her. "I want you to have a real wedding."

She shook her head. "I don't need one. I was just asking."

He studied her face, unconvinced. "You sure?"

"Honest," she lied, smiling. She knew that relationships always took some sacrifices, too.

"Hey beautiful, why so blue?"

Mimi looked up from her wine glass and shrugged, smiling. "I'm not. Just thinking."

Collins smiled and sat down in the vacant best man's seat.

"What about?"

She sighed and smiled at him. "Oh, everything… Benny, this wedding, you, me, everybody."

Understanding, Collins nodded. "You excited about your honeymoon?"

"I guess, if he actually decides to come with me instead of talk to 'business associates,'" she added, gesturing with finger quotations. Laughing, her eyes drifted concernedly to Benny who was schmoozing with guests at the back at the hall as she continued, "That man, I swear. Sometimes I worry about him."

"He's always been that way," Collins reassured her. "Work comes before anything else. Everybody has that goal to be successful, but it's just more prominent for him."

"I guess so. I just–"

"Mimi!" somebody called from the dance floor. She looked over, seeing a coral blob whiz up to her at the table.

"Hey you," Mimi laughed, taking her friend's hand across the table.

"Hi sugar. How does it feel to be married?!"

She shrugged and smiled. "You've asked me that like, six times already. The same as before, now just with extra stuff on my hand," she laughed, wiggling her fingers in front of her.

"Well, the man does have taste," Collins admitted, finally joining into the conversation.

"Oh! Collins, this is my best friend. Angel, this is Collins."

Angel's blue eyes darted over to Collins, studying his face carefully.

"You're cute."

He laughed shyly and looked down at the table, pushing around some confetti with his finger.

"Angel…" Mimi chided her, giggling.

"Well he is!" she defended herself. "Collins, would you like to dance with me?"

He blushed. "Uh…"

"Go on!" Mimi whispered, poking him in the side. "Go!"

"Sure," Collins replied, standing up from his seat, grinning nervously. He took Angel's hand as she led him out to the dance floor.

"So, Collins," Angel began, wrapping an arm around his neck. "How are you enjoying yourself tonight?"

Collins couldn't help but smile as Angel talked to him. "Great. I'm having a great time."

"Good, because so am I," she smiled. "How come I've never seen you before if you're such good friends with Mimi?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. I wish we'd have met earlier."

"Ditto, handsome."

He laughed when he saw Angel's infectious smile. He couldn't help but feel so comfortable around her even though they had just met.

"How are you boys doing?" Mimi laughed, as she and Roger danced by.

"Oh, wonderful," Angel reassured her, never tearing her eyes away from Collins.

"Definitely," Collins agreed, smiling.

Mimi laughed as Roger spun her and they danced away.

"Are you doing anything after this?" Angel asked.

Collins shook his head.

"Would you like to do something together? We could grab something to eat…"

"I'd like that," Collins smiled. "Yeah."