Disclaimer: Don't own RENT. Nothing to do with it.
Summary: You look familiar, your smile reminded me of… I always remind people of…
Not quite the Cat Scratch Club. How Mimi and Roger really first met.
Melpomene
Chapter One
A man was lying on a park bench a few feet away. Resting, asleep or dead, she wasn't sure. His face was young, with calm features, a strong jaw line and high cheekbones with a generous mouth. He looked tired, wasted and devoid of any real life. Just another addict. Another beautiful byproduct of carefree living. Too free to know any better. Too young to really care.
He opened his eyes after a few moments of her staring to return the pensive gaze Mimi held over him.
"Lost?" He asked, his voice soft and hoarse.
"Hardly." She replied from inside the big coat.
It was a fair exchange, Mimi thought. She did look young. Like a child wandered too far from her mother. True, honestly.
He moved slowly, pulling himself up and leaning heavily against the back of the bench.
"What's your name?" He asked, finally pushing himself off of the bench and standing beside her. His eyes were unfocused, completely bloodshot. He was almost too high to function. Mimi pulled the coat tighter and frowned.
She shrugged and decided to leave the question unanswered. She started to walk again and he joined her, his long, relaxed strides keeping good time with hers.
"What are you doing out here all alone?"
"Why are you sleeping on a park bench?"
He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and offered her one. She shook her head but he took one for himself and lit it.
"My girlfriend didn't really want me there." He said vaguely. Mimi caught the scent of alcohol. He smelled vile, carrying the stench of vodka. His hand was shaking holding the cigarette, he shoved the other hand in his pocket.
"Why wouldn't she?"
"There's those problems, you know?" He asked thoughtfully. "That kind of stuff."
Mimi nodded. "Of course." He was completely out of it. She was still feeling her last little hit. They were quite the pair.
"I'm just thinking." She said. "About this letter I got. From a girl saying she wants to die."
"Why would you care?"
She smiled. "I don't know. Sometimes it's just the times. Sometimes what feels right is wrong within the hour. Sometimes you regret what you craved."
He laughed under his breath. "I love this stupid suicide craze." He said. "These little girls who think their lives are over don't know the worst of it."
"Which is?"
"Their lives haven't even begun." He told her, inhaling deeply on his cigarette and coughing a moment later.