Hi everybody! Thanks so much to everybody who's been reading and reviewing, you guys rock my sox (especially lulu; honey do you have any idea how much your reviews make me smile?)
Disclaimer: I should tell you... I don't own Rent :(
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Mimi and Angel stepped into the Life Café more than a half an hour early. It had taken some time, but Angel had finally managed to get Mimi to chill out about the Roger episode.
"It's not so much that he would accuse me of cheating," Mimi had said. "It's that he'd actually think that you would do something like that."
"What? Betray him or sleep with a girl?"
Mimi laughed. "Both."
They snagged a table for four by a wall, two seats in a booth and two chairs. Angel seated herself in a chair. She tried to smooth her skirt beneath her out of habit.
The waiter appeared after a moment. The Café was rather crowded and he looked tired, but still managed his usual misty eyes for Mimi.
"What can I get for you, Miss?" he said breathlessly, staring hard at Mimi (and not at her face).
"We're waiting for people. Just a water for now. With lemon."
"Coming right up…." He started to leave, but Mimi grabbed the back of his apron.
"Hey. You didn't take my boyfriend's order."
"Sorry, Sir, didn't see you there…."
"Oh. Were my breasts in the way?" Mimi said with attitude. "Quite sorry. Here. Let me move those for you." She clamped her hands on her chest and smushed it to be as small as possible, glaring furiously at the waiter.
He blushed as red as Angel's favorite mini-skirt.
"I'll have the same as her," Angel said in her best 'manly' voice, trying to glare and be protective of Mimi like a good boyfriend should. The waiter left in a bit of a hurry.
Angel thought it was ironic really. For a stripper, Mimi sure as hell didn't put up with any crap from guys. Mimi seemed to read this on her face and just shrugged. "If he wants to look, he can come to the fucking Cat Scratch."
It was once the drinks arrived that Angel spotted an emergency.
"AHH!" she screamed just as she put her hand to the cold, frosty glass.
"What's wrong?"
"MY NAILS!"
Sure enough, Angel had forgotten to remove her sparkling pink acrylics. She put one well-manicured hand to her mouth and stared in shock at the other.
Mimi's eyes widened and her lips curved upward.
"It's not funny," Angel said.
"You have to admit it's a little bit funny."
It would have been. If it had been someone else!
"Mimi, do you have any polish remover?" Mimi started digging through her purse.
"No…. Nail file?" She held the emery board up, then grabbed one of Angel's hands. "Here, we can at least make it less noticeable. Or… hey, why don't we try to pry the fake ones off?"
"Do you have any idea how bad that is for your real nails!"
"Do you have any idea how odd Jason will find the fake ones?"
"… You win."
Between Mimi's own hard nails and the emery board, she managed to pry off all but the pinky nails. Those she filed down until they were short and then filed away at the color to make it duller.
"It's the best we can do. You shouldn't be sticking your pinky out anyway, Miss Masculinity."
Angel checked her watch (and then put it in Mimi's purse because it was too feminine). It was almost time. Jason would be there soon.
"Okay, Mimi?" she said. "Start calling me Andy now, okay? Just… so I can get used to it a little before he gets here."
"Calm down… Andy. You'll be fine. I promise." Mimi kissed her on the cheek and gave her an encouraging smile.
The door to the Café opened. Angel squeezed her eyes shut. "I can't look. Oh God, is it him?"
Now, Mimi had no idea what Jason and his fiancé would look like, but she did know that the people coming into the Life were not them. "No," she said quickly, trying to think of a way to distract Angel's attention from the group filing in. The last thing she needed was to see she had an audience.
Mark, Maureen, Collins.
They sat down at a booth in the back. They kept shooting glances over at Mimi and Angel's table. Mimi looked daggers at them, shook her head slightly from side to side. What did they think they were doing here? Mimi flicked them off discreetly so they knew that she was pissed that they would pull something like this. Maureen just stuck her tongue out at her, set a blue duffle bag on the floor, and latched herself onto Mark's arm. Mark gave an apologetic little shrug as if trying to say, "It wasn't my idea!" And Collins…. Mimi couldn't read his expression or body language.
What was clear though, was that the scheme was Maureen's idea, Mark was unable to ever say no to Maureen, and Collins was either here to support Angel, or to get back at her.
The door opened again and Angel took a deep breath. "You can do this," she whispered to herself.
No more Angel.
She was no longer Angel.
She was Andy now. Andy again.
He was Andy.
Andy stood up and smiled in spite of himself. As much as he had been dreading this meeting, it was good to see his old friend.
Jason was beaming with his perfect teeth. He was a fairly tall white guy, with dark hair and eyes. Freckles dusted his face. He had always been very good-looking, but Andy had never thought of him as more than a friend.
"Andy!" he said happily, pulling him into one of those slap-on-the-back straight guy hugs that Andy had never been much good at. "How've you been?"
"Great! And yourself?"
"Excellent." He put his hand on the waist of the woman next to him. She was just the sort that Andy had always known that Jason would end up with; she was pretty, blonde, and had extremely intelligent eyes. "This is my fiancé—"
"Misty," she interjected, extending her hand. She had a very firm handshake. Andy couldn't help getting the impression that she was a lawyer. She almost reminded him of a blonde Joanne.
"Nice to meet you. Um, this is my… girlfriend… Mimi Marquez."
"I thought you said you weren't seeing anyone?" Jason commented after introductions.
"Oh, you know how it is," Mimi laughed, patting Andy's arm. "One day you're screaming your heads off at each other, the next you're madly in love."
Jason nodded, smiling. It was clear that he didn't "know how it was."
They all sat down, and Jason and Misty took a moment to look at the menu. As is normal in these situations, conversation started slow. The usual "How's life?" questions. The waiter came back to take their orders (carefully avoiding Mimi's eyes and chest), and after they did, the true conversations began.
"So, Andy," Jason began, "ever manage to break into the music business?"
"Music?" Misty said interestedly.
"Andy was always tinkering on one instrument or another. Drums especially, right?"
"Yeah," Andy replied. "I'm still a drummer."
"That's really great." Jason was beaming. "I always knew you'd do well once you got out of the suburbs."
Andy neglected to mention that he was a drummer on the street.
And when asked her occupation, Mimi said, quite unabashedly, "I dance." But Jason and Corey did not press further. Never asked what sort of dancer. They thought it was just wonderful.
"They're so artistic, Jason, it makes me feel so dull!" Misty laughed. Both of them worked for the same advertising firm. Unexciting work, aside from the travel.
The food arrived after some more talk.
Some more lies.
Lies lies lies.
Andy stared at his food. He wasn't hungry, but he picked up a French fry, very careful not to display his sparkly pinky. Chatter continued all around him. Misty and Mimi were gossiping animatedly, getting along surprisingly well, considering Mimi didn't usually take to those office types. Jason was talking about something. Andy wasn't sure what anymore. He just nodded and gave a little "yeah" or "mm-hmm" now and then.
The thing that really got to Andy was that Jason was actually excited to see him. It was apparent in his body language, voice inflection, and most of all in his eyes. They had been best friends for years, and from Jason's perspective, so little had changed. Andy knew better. Andy was not the same person he was then. It made him feel guilty that Jason should be so happy to see someone who didn't exist. It was like Andy was simply a ghost of a man long gone, trying to pass off as the real thing. It was a horrible sham. Unfair to everyone.
But what could he do? He had always lied to Jason. Even in high school, he had lied to Jason. He never talked about his dreams and nightmares, crushes, confusion. He couldn't start now.
Andy talked some more, answering questions. More lies. More deceit. He tried to get Jason to talk about himself more, just like old times. Andy always hated to talk about himself.
"So, what do you guys think of the Life Café?" Andy asked with a forced smile.
"The atmosphere is scintillating," Misty said, looking around. "Everyone seems so interesting and… I can't put my finger on the world I'm looking for—"
"Bohemian?" Mimi offered, a little dryly.
"That's it!"
"You two come here a lot?" Jason wondered.
"All the time," Andy said, glad to not have to lie about this too. "With our friends."
With Collins too.
Andy's lover's face swam before his eyes. The look on his face when he had made that anarchist comment…. And now here he was, pretending to be in love with someone else. Sure there was no way that he and Mimi were a realistic couple, but suddenly he realized something. It was one thing that Andy used to be ashamed of himself. It was one thing that he still felt that way around Jason.
But it was completely another to be ashamed of Collins.
Ever since he'd met Collins, he had never wanted to leave anyone with a question as to whether or not they were together. He wanted the whole world to know how much he and that crazy anarchist loved each other.
And now he was betraying Collins to play best friend with Jason.
How could he be so selfish? In the beginning, Andy had tricked himself into believing that he was doing this for Jason, but the fact remained that he just wasn't. It was for no one but himself. It was to avoid confrontation and rejection and it was hurting everybody.
Tears welled up in his eyes.
"Andy?" Jason said, concerned. "What's wrong?"
Andy pushed his chair back and stood up so fast that it fell backwards with a clatter. "I'm not feeling well," he said shakily. "I'll be right back."
He ran to the back of the restaurant and started for the ladies' room, but then got confused. He put his hands to his mouth and tried to quell his tears….
He felt a hand on his shoulder. Mimi.
"Angel, are you okay?" she asked. Andy shook his head. Mimi took his hand and opened the ladies' room door.
Just as she pushed Andy inside, someone appeared next to her. It was Maureen, holding out the blue duffle bag to her. "I swiped this when we went to get Collins," she said. "I thought Angel might want it." Maureen went quietly back to the boys.
Mimi was too worried about Andy to be confused. When she went into the bathroom, he was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, crying. A girl came out of a stall and kept shooting him weird glances as she washed her hands. "He's gay. Piss off," Mimi snapped. The girl scampered.
"Angel, sweetheart," Mimi cooed, kneeling beside him and putting her arms around him tightly. She felt his thin body shake with sobs.
"How could I have been so stupid?" he said.
"It's okay," Mimi comforted, brushing away his tears. "Everyone does dumb things." She paused. "And there's still time to fix it, you know."
"How?" He sniffled. "What can I tell him? I can tell him I'm gay, but there's more to it than that. I can't make him understand…. What's in the bag?"
Mimi picked it back up and put it in her lap. "I don't know. Let's find out, shall we?" She unzipped the duffle, looked inside, and gasped.
Maureen really was a selfish little bitch.
But sometimes she did something so insightful, so wonderful, Mimi just wanted to kiss her.
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Ha, I have finally managed to leave off at some sort of cliff hanger! I'm really bad at that, so yay :) Oh, and just for you Arakasema, I double checked all my grammar and spelling... wait... (goes and double checks how to spell grammar...) Yes, I was right!
Okay, when I first posted this, I had forgotten that I had given Jason's girlfriend a name and called her Corey, when in the first chapter she was Misty. If you read this chapter before I fixed that, I'm sorry!
Pretty please review!