Mimi's eyes opened the next morning, to see an empty space in the place Roger had been previously sleeping. In it's place was a note resting on his pillow.

Mimi-

Got up early this morning to practice with the guys. Didn't want to bother you. See you later today.

Love, Romeo

Mimi smiled and rolled onto her side, slowly falling back asleep.

About half an hour later, Mimi felt someone shaking her awake.

"Roger?" she mumbled, sneaking a quick glance at the clock next to the bed. It was almost noon.

"Nope. Sorry," said Isabella, plopping down onto the edge of the bed.

"What are you doing here, Iz?" Mimi grumbled, annoyed.

"I promised Daisha last night that I'd give her some driving lessons this morning, but I just found out I've got to get to the library to work early. So guess who that leaves to take Daisha?"

Mimi sat up, fully awake now. "You're kidding."

"Honey, would I joke about having to work?"

"Iz, you KNOW I can't drive," Mimi snapped, as she swooped her hair into a messy bun.

"Don't tell me you can't, Meems. You passed Driver's Ed."

"Yeah, by like a POINT. I can't even remember the last time I've been behind the wheel of a car, anyway."

"You remember enough, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I don't know if I can DO it, still," Mimi exclaimed.

Isabella shrugged. "You won't know 'til you try, Meems. Besides, Daisha's already out there waiting for you. I'll be back in a couple of hours. You know the number just in case of an emergencies? It's nine-one-one."

"Shut up," grumbled Mimi, not in the mood for jokes.

"Sorry. Anyway, I have my cell on me. I gave you the number, right?"

Mimi nodded.

"So everything's fine. I'll see you soon?"

"Fine."

"It'll be fine, Meems. Just show her what you were taught." She gave Mimi a quick squeeze before getting up to leave.

Mimi sighed, and forced herself out of bed, and got dressed.

"Are we going now?" Daisha asked Mimi as she emerged from the bedroom.

"Yep. You trust me, right?"

Daisha gave her a quizzical look. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"Never mind. Just wait outside; I'll be out there in a sec."

Daisha obeyed, and went out.

Mimi grabbed the phone from out of its cradle, dialing Maureen and Joanne's number.

After about two rings, Joanne answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Joanne, it's Mimi. Is Maureen there?"

"Nope. She and Jimmy went out to see the place where the gallery's gonna be held."

Mimi made a face. "Oh."

"What's wrong?"

"Well, Isabella left me in charge of giving Daisha driving lessons . . . I mean when she goes back to school, she's going to need to know stuff for Driver's Ed. And uh, I can't really drive."

"You want me to come over and help you out?"

"Would you?"

"Sure. I've got nothing better to do, anyway."

"Thanks, Joanne," Mimi sighed. "You're a lifesaver."

"Anytime. I'll be right up, okay?"

"Alright. Bye."

Mimi hung up the phone, and stuck her head out the door, where Daisha was waiting, impatiently.

"Daish, we're going to have a little company, alright?"

"Who? Roger?"

"No, Joanne."

"Oh." Daisha paused for a moment. "Why?"

"Because, um, just in case of an emergency," Mimi said quickly, not wanting to admit to Daisha that she barely remembered how to drive.

"Oh, alright. Is she meeting us here?"

"She's coming up shortly."

There was a knock at the door.

"Perfect timing."

"Hey guys," Joanne greeted, as Daisha opened the door.

"Hi," Mimi and Daisha both said at the same time.

Joanne laughed and adjusted her scarf. "You guys ready to go?"

Daisha nodded her head eagerly, and Mimi shrugged, helplessly.

"Alright, let's go get the car, 'kay?"

***

"Alright, first thing's first," Joanne said, as she slipped into the passenger seat next to Daisha. Mimi sat in back of Joanne.

"Seatbelts on?" Joanne asked Daisha.

"Yup."

"Alright. Keys in ignition?"

Daisha nodded.

"Alright, let's start her up then, shall we?"

They slowly drove around the parking lot, and Mimi made note of everything Joanne said. Everything was all starting to slowly come back to her.

After about an hour, Daisha parked the car, as she was directed by Joanne.

"Good job!" Joanne told her, encouragingly. "This is only your first time driving?"

"Well, my mother showed me a little bit," Daisha said, shrugging.

"You still did good today."

Daisha beamed, proudly. "Thanks."

"No problem." Joanne turned to Mimi. "You wanna try?"

"What?" Mimi said quickly, her face turning red.

"Well, you were listening back there, weren't you? You want to give it a go?"

Feeling Daisha's eyes on her, Mimi slowly nodded her head. "Okay."

"Great." Joanne turned to Daisha. "You want to stay here, or are you going to go back upstairs?"

"Nah, I'll go back up," Daisha said, holding up the spare key Mimi had given her. "I'll see you two later. Thanks again, Joanne."

"No problem, sweetie," Joanne smiled.

"You ready?" she asked Mimi, when Daisha had left.

Mimi shrugged. "I guess so." She slid behind the wheel, putting her hands on the wheel, cautiously. She gently pressed her foot down on the pedal, frowning when nothing happened.

"Meems?"

Mimi turned to Joanne, who was holding the keys in her hand.

"Oops," Mimi said, giving her a sheepish grin. She turned the key in the ignition, and started the car up at a slow pace, as Joanne patiently directed her.

Mimi gripped the steering wheel tightly, her eyes wide and alert.

"You don't need to hunch over like that, Mimi. You don't want to get pitched through the windshield, do you?"

Mimi immediately sat back.

"What's the matter? You have a phobia of driving or something?"

"No. I just suck at it," Mimi said, grinning.

Joanne shook her head, laughing. "So where's Roger?"

"He's practicing with the guys. He's either at CBGB's or at Chad's place. You and Maureen are gonna come tommorow, right?"

Joanne nodded. "Of course." She paused. "And erm, Jimmy."

"What?!"

"He insisted on coming, Meems. I mean, I hate him too, but as much as a prick that he is, he DID get the booking for Maureen."

Mimi shook her head, disgusted. "Roger's not going to be happy about this."

"We'll arrive a few minutes after the gig starts, then. We'll take a seat in the back. He won't even see Jimmy."

"He's not stupid, Joanne. He'll figure it out." Mimi suddenly realized that she had tensed up at the wheel.

"I'm sorry about the other night, Mimi."

"What do you mean?"

"When he . . . you know."

"Jeez, Joanne, it's not your fault! He's just an asshole, that's all."

Joanne shrugged.

They were both silent for a moment.

"You know," Joanne suddenly spoke up, "For someone who hasn't driven in such a long time, you're doing really well."

"Really?" Mimi turned to Joanne.

Joanne nodded. "Really. I'd never have thought that you didn't know how." Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Mimi, watch that . . ."

All of a sudden the front tire went over a bump, and a small popping noise was heard as the car slowly skidded to a stop.

"Fuck," said Mimi, her hands still on the wheel. "What was that?"

"A broken glass bottle," Joanne sighed, getting out of the car to kneel down by the tire.

Mimi scrambled out and knelt down beside her, not really sure what she should be looking for.

"Shit," Joanne complained, "It's a flat."

"I'll pay for it," Mimi said quickly, her face turning red.

"It's fine, Mimi," Joanne assured her.

"You sure? Because I've got some money saved up . . ."

"Don't worry about it. I'll just call someone to fix it. Or maybe I can fix it myself. Whatever, I'll figure it out." She smiled at Mimi.

"Alright, if you're sure," Mimi said, slowly.

"I am."

"Okay. You want to come up to use the phone?"

"Thanks, but," she rustled into her bag and held up her cell phone.

"Oh." Mimi paused. "God I'm such an idiot, Joanne, I should have been paying attention."

"Mimi, don't worry about it!" Joanne exclaimed, nudging her lightly. "You go back upstairs with Daisha. I'll call someone to fix the tire. I'll see you at the gig, okay?"

"Okay." Mimi shoved her hands into her coat pockets. "Just come up if you need anything, okay?"

"Alright, thanks. See you later, Mimi."

"See you."

"How was it?" Daisha asked Mimi when she entered the apartment, an English muffin stuffed in her mouth.

Mimi wrinkled her nose. "Jesus, Daisha, chew your food."

"Sorry." She swallowed. "So how'd it go?"

Mimi shrugged. "Fine. I got a flat tire."

Daisha laughed. "And that's fine?"

"It was an accident," Mimi grumbled, grabbing the muffin from Daisha's hand and tearing off half of it before returning it to her.

"Hey!"

"I'm hungry. Sue me."

"Chew your food," Daisha mimicked her.

Mimi made a face at her.

Daisha gave her the finger.

"Get out of here!" Mimi laughed, shoving Daisha aside.

"Morning," came another voice as Mark entered the room.

"Well. The sleeping prince has arisen," Mimi said, pretending to bow down.

"It's about time you started showing me some respect," Mark yawned. "Where's Roger?"

"Practicing with the guys."

"Go figure." He yawned again.

"Didn't you get any sleep last night?"

"Nah. Had too much on my mind."

"Jan?"

Mark nodded, sheepishly.

"English muffin?" Daisha offered him.

"Thanks," he said, taking it. "So where's everyone else?"

"Isabella's working, Maureen and Jimmy are out together, Joanne's fixing a flat tire, and I don't know what Collins and Frankie are doing," Mimi said in one breath.

Mark raised his eyebrow. "How'd Joanne get a flat tire? I thought she was a careful driver."

"SHE is," Daisha laughed. "Mimi isn't."

Mimi glared at her. "Mocoso."

"Muérdame."

"Con el placer."

"Whoa! English! Por favor!" Mark exclaimed.

"Lo siento."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I'm probably going over to Jan's later."

"Again?" Mimi said, raising her eyebrows.

"Hey, you LIVE with Roger. I can go over and visit my girlfriend, can I?"

"Yeah, but Roger and I have known each other for more than two days."

"Four," Mark corrected her. "Including the time I knocked her over outside the Life Café."

"Whatever. Four." Mimi shrugged. "Go over there if you want."

"Okay. I'll see you two later?"

"Yup."

"Okay." Mark picked up his camera.

"What's that for? You gonna make a porn video?"

"No," he snapped. "I just film everything. You know that."

"Yeah, but you haven't used the camera in a long time."

Mark shrugged. "I was in withdrawal. Now I'm not."

Mimi shrugged as well. "Okay. See you tonight?"

"If I'm not too busy," Mark said, smiling sheepishly.

"Whatever. Bye."

"Bye, guys," he said, and Mimi and Daisha watched as he left.

***

"Once more from the top, guys!"

"Fuck, Chad, we've done the same song seven times already," Roger grumbled, shifting his fender guitar to the other shoulder.

"Practice makes perfect, Davis," Chad replied. "You want people to root for us out there or use Andy's drumsticks to plug their ears in?"

"Hey!" snapped Andy, from behind his drum-set. "I'm the one here actually keeping up with you, Chad. It's Matt that's nodding off over there."

"I'm not!" Matt exclaimed, settling his acoustic on the ground.

"Are too, pretty boy. Do you need a mirror? It looks like you're trying to see yourself in that guitar."

Matt ran a hand through his spiky bleached hair. "Fuck off," he mumbled.

"Can you guys ALL shut up, so we can actually get this right?" demanded Stu, his hands impatiently waiting on top of the keyboard.

"Yeah, guys, quit fighting. We'll just do the song once more, okay?"

Four heads nodded, bitterly.

"Okay. Andy, give me a steady beat, okay?"

***

"You okay, Davis?" Chad asked, as he sat down next to Roger on the side of the stage. Practice for the day was over, and everyone else had left.

"Yeah. Why?" Roger asked him, frowning.

"No reason. I'm just really nervous about the gig."

"Why? We've had hundreds of gigs, Chad."

"Yeah, but none like this one." Chad looked to see if anyone else was around before saying in a low voice, "I'm proposing to Karmine tomorrow night."

Roger picked his head up. "Really?"

"Yeah. Before we start the last song. That's why I need everything to be perfect, you understand?"

Roger nodded.

Chad sighed, contently. "So when are you and Mimi gonna tie the knot? You two've been together longer than Karmine and I have."

Roger shrugged. "I haven't really thought about marriage."

"Well, I'm not forcing you along or anything. It's something to do when you feel you're ready to do it." He stood up, zipping his guitar up into its case.

"You need a ride, Roger?"

"No, I'll walk. Thanks, though,"

"No problem. I'll see you at the gig tomorrow."

"See you," Roger said softly, as he left.

He sat in silence for a moment, lost in thought, before finally standing up and grabbing his fender to leave.