Chapter Seven

The first thing Mark did was hit a payphone. It was late by this point, but he didn't care. The phone rang, and his mother answered. Mark made her get up and look around the house (namely in Mark's old room) and see if Roger came by, or if Roger had talked to her in anyway. Nope, he wasn't there. Mark thanked her and hung up.
He walked up to the CBGB's and looked there. Nothing. He went to the Pyramid club. Nothing there either. No sign of him at the Cat Scratch, or back at the Life. Mark went to Roger's old haunts when he and April were still dating, doubting he'd be there, and coming up empty handed. He saw the man—Jerry, Mimi had said once? who said he'd seen him. That was the best news he heard all night. The man continued to tell him that he left with some black person. Mark thanked him and started thinking of who Roger could have left with. And what was he doing with the man? Hopefully nothing.
"Damn, how long have I been doing this?" he wondered when he saw the sky lighten as the sun started coming up. He was tired, but needed to find Roger. Finally, he called Collins. Nothing there. Roger obviously wasn't with Joanne, so that left Benny.
Mark called Benny's house. He was angry that Roger couldn't be found very easily, but still found himself getting nervous about what he would do if Roger wasn't at Benny's.

Benny's eyes fluttered opened as he heard the phone ring. He groggily rolled over and looked at the clock. 5:43.
He groped for the phone on the nightstand before picking it up.
"Hello?" he said, sleep still etched in his voice.

"Benny, it's Mark." he said bluntly. "Please, for the love of God, tell me you know where Roger is. I've looked EVERYWHERE and all I know is he went somewhere with a black guy." Mark reeled this off quickly out of concern and exhaustion.

"Huh?" Benny said, Mark's words not sinking in at first. "Oh, Roger. Yeah, he's over here," Benny replied before running his hand over his face.

"He is?" Mark was relieved. "Can--" He was going to say "Can I talk to him?" but then realized what a not-so-good idea that would be.
"Well, could you take him home in a little while?" Mark asked. "Because we kind of miss him at home." After he hung up the phone, Mark headed home, damn near collapsing on the way there. He somehow made it up the stairs to the top floor.

Benny just stared at the phone for a minute before hanging up. It was almost 6 in the morning. If they could wait this long, they could wait a little bit longer.
Benny's head hit the pillow and he was out like a light once again.
"Roger's fine," Mark said to who ever was in the apartment. He was so glazed over and tired, he didn't know if anyone was there, much less if they cared. He stumbled over to the couch and was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the lumpy cushion.

Mimi had fallen asleep at the window but the door woke her up.
She smiled a little at Mark's words, expecting to see Roger walk through the door in a few seconds. But he didn't. She sighed before getting up and grabbing the blanket Mark had brought out earlier. She draped it across him before heading back into her room and collapsing on the bed, sleep overcoming her within seconds.

Benny rolled over with a yawn and looked at the clock. 8:15. Wonderful. He looked at Allison, who was still asleep, and quietly got out of bed. He figured he should probably get Roger the hell out of here before she woke up. She would have a fit if she knew he was still hanging around "those people."
Benny rolled out of bed and stretched a little before jumping in the shower. He washed up quickly before pulling on a pair of khakis and a polo shirt. Then he walked out into the living room and tapped Roger on the leg.

"C'mon buddy. Time to get you home."

The sun was attacking. Maureen had been in the middle of a great dream when the bright, happy sunlight began streaming in the window, assaulting her closed eyelids. She tried rolling over, hiding under the blankets and pulling a pillow over her head, but it was no use. She was awake now and there was nothing to be done about it. Mark, meanwhile, was completely unconscious on the couch. "Damn it, Mark. We need to buy you curtains," she told his almost-dead form. Not like Maureen intended on spending many more mornings waking up in Mark's bedroom...Lazily, she stretched and sat up, pulling herself out of Mark's bed. She subconsciously tugged at the end of Mark's t-shirt she had used as a nightgown and wandered out into the main room of the loft. She needed coffee.

Mimi rolled over as the sun poured in on her. She didn't want to wake up but did anyway. She needed to prepare herself for the battle that was sure to ensue once Roger got home.
I wonder where he is... Mimi thought to herself.
She grabbed her Japanese style robe and pulled it around her tiny body, stretched a little and walked out into the main room. She saw Mark still knocked out on the couch and smiled a little before seeing Maureen.
"Morning girl," she said, perching herself on top of the steel table. "Mark found Roger... he's... just not here."

Mark looked so cute while he was sleeping… Maureen looked away from the camera man and smiled at Mimi when she came in, "Good. Where was he?" Maureen poked through the cabinets until she came upon a small can with whatever was left of the coffee in it and proceeded to make it. She sat down with two mugs and handed one to Mimi.

Mimi frowned a little.
"Mark never told me," she said matter-of-factly.
She got down off the table and went over to Mark. She knelt down next to him.
"Mark... wake up babe, come on," she slapped him lightly on the cheek a couple times. "Where's Roger?"

Roger muttered something as he stirred awake.
It took him a moment to figure out where he was and another to remember just why he was there. Roger gave a soft groan and sat up.
He looked to Benny, rubbing his eyes only slightly before they came into focus. "I s'pose now is the best time over any..." he muttered. Roger didn't really wish to stick around when Alison woke up anyway. Seeing Benny's wife always put him in a bad mood. He didn't want to be that way when he spoke to Mark and Mimi.

Benny nodded a little. He went into the kitchen as Roger got himself situated and left Alison a note.

Alison--
Had to take care of some business with the investors. Don't worry about dinner-- I'll bring something home.
Benny

He came back out and silently led the way downstairs and out the door to his Range Rover.
The ride to Roger's building was silent. Roger was still half asleep and Benny was stuck in his head, evaluating and re-evaluating his life. He feared he'd made a big mistake doing this, just as he had when he was trying to convince Roger that he and Mimi still had something... even though they did. But this time, it seemed a little too drastic. This time, Benny actually regretted it.
He slowly pulled up outside the building and put his Range Rover in park.
"Well, here we are," he said with a sigh. "You gonna be okay?"

It was now or never for Roger.
"Yeah..I'll be fine..." Roger replied. Physically, he'd be able to make it upstairs to the loft. Emotionally? Well, he wasn't so sure.
He took a deep breath and got out of the car.

"Alright man," Benny said before shifting his vehicle back into drive. "Good luck."
With that, he drove away from the east village.

Mark jumped as soon as Mimi touched him. He wasn't usually a very light sleeper, but at the moment he was worried about Roger.
"What?" He said, looking around before seeing Mimi. Why didn't I take off my glasses? he wondered. He shook it off. That wasn't really an important thought. "Oh, Roger was at Benny's. I made Benny swear to bring Roger back ASAP, so he should be here soon, I reckon." Mark yawned and stretched. His hair was everywhere from having slept so hard on it and his clothes were all wrinkled; he didn't care. He looked over into the kitchen and saw Maureen standing there in his clothes. That was actually kinda sexy...
No, bad Mark. No thoughts about the ex.

Maureen caught Mark staring at her and gave him a flirtatious smile. Then she headed back into his room to get changed. Maureen had to go apartment hunting and it wouldn't help if she got distracted by Mark.

"Benny's? What the fuck is he doing at Benny's?" Mimi asked. It's not like they'd exactly made up over what happened so this just didn't make sense to her.
She went back over to the window with a sigh and saw Benny's range rover pull up outside the building.
"Well, he's here..." she announced, more to herself than to anyone else. She swallowed hard and took a few deep breaths. She needed to keep herself in control if she wanted to get this all back to normal and everything to work out.
She hoped with everything in her heart that he would come in, pick her up in his arms and apologize for how stupid he had acted. But she knew it wasn't going to happen.
A lump formed in her throat but she swallowed again, making it stay down. She wasn't going to cry. She was just going to make sure that Roger knew nothing was happening. And she would stop at nothing to make sure that happened.

As Benny drove off, Roger stood at the entrance to his building for a moment. He then took another deep breath and entered, making his way slowly up the stairs.
Once he reached the door to the loft, Roger hesitated once more.
Taking another deep breath and telling himself he would not blow up at Mark or Mimi as soon as he saw them, he slowly opened the door.

"Roger!" Mark said. To be honest, he wasn't really that surprised, but more or less shocked. Then again, he was having an internal conflict at the moment: He still wasn't sure if he wanted to see Roger now. Sure, on the one hand he was worried sick about his friend, but now that he was alright, he wasn't sure he wanted to talk to him. The insult of yesterday had hit such a low blow that he didn't know if he wanted to be the one that started the conversation or the one who ended it.
So he played it safe. He didn't say anything. He was so tempted to look at Mimi to see how she was going to react, but didn't want to spare the glance in the slight chance that it would look strange. So he settled on staring at something...he wasn't quiet sure what to look at, but once he found something, he would stare at it. And he did: Maureen. At least it was a pretty view.

Maureen could feel Mark's eyes still burning into her. It was a rather uncomfortable sensation, but not one that Maureen was so unfamiliar with. She had been dealing with stares since she was twelve years old and her figure began to develop. But what made this stare so uncomfortable was the weight behind it. She needed to get out of there. This was between Mark, Roger and Mimi. They didn't need Maureen there, interjecting comments. So, with Mark's stare still on her, she quickly stood and slipped out the front door so as not to interrupt the conversation already begun between Mimi and Roger. Once in the rundown hallway, Maureen realized that she didn't know where to go next. So she just started walking.

Mimi found it hard to turn from the window to face Roger. She had tears welling in her eyes for reasons she couldn't quite come up with. She bit her lip and turned around slowly, her eyes gazing at the floor before eventually making their way up to look at Roger. But as quickly as she looked at him, she looked away. She hated feeling like this, so trapped. She didn't know what to say because she knew nothing would make the situation better if Roger wasn't willing to try to change it and listen to what they had to say. And the blank expression on his face left his thoughts to anyone's guess.
She had the urge to run into his arms, to apologize for something that wasn't her fault, but she restrained herself, and instead walked up a few steps closer. The tension was palpable and uncomfortable. Mimi took a strand of her hair in her finger and twisted it before finally deciding to take the first step.
"We... we missed you," she struggled to say. "How're you feeling?"

Damn, Mimi had courage. Now Mark felt like a coward. He found, however, that he couldn't say anything when he tried to. Not that he knew what he would have said.
"Yeah," he said lamely to what Mimi said. That sounded wonderful, didn't it?

"Maureen," he said. She was gone. As much as he wanted to figure all of this out, he didn't want to be there when these two went at it for one, and for two he didn't want Maureen to leave with the wrong impression. And he needed her support right now.
"Maureen, wait!" he said, bolting out the door after her. He caught her at the bottom of the stairs. "Maureen, please. Come back up here? I want to talk to you," He said. He was already formulating what he was going to say in his mind. She really had no business here, especially right now, but after what had happened last night, he just wanted her there. Damn it, he was falling in love with her again, and that would cause problems, but right now he had immediate problems to take care of. "Please?" Maureen froze when she heard Mark call to her. Mark wanted her there? But why? She glanced towards the front door and then back up the stairs towards the loft. The freedom of the outside was tempting, but Mark wouldn't have asked her to stay if he didn't really want, or need, her to be there. Hesitantly she began the trek back up the stairs and slipped back through the door of the loft. If Mark wanted her to stay, she would stay. But she was determined to keep her mouth shut.
Mark looked back at the door. He needed to get back in there and confront Roger. "Just come inside!" he called down the stairs before coming in again. He left the door open, and was now facing Roger.
"We're glad your back, Roge," he said. He was trying to direct the conversation to the obvious without the fight happening. Naturally, that's not the way it would work, but something had to be done. "Um...Maureen stayed the night last night. I was out here on the couch." Mark gestured toward the door which Maureen just left from. As if that clarified something that (a) didn't need to be clarified and (b) wasn't asked about. But at least it was conversation.

Mimi's heart had dropped when Mark left. She needed a rock there, and since Roger was on the opposite side, Mark was the next best thing. She didn't feel like fighting, but knew that if he left that's what would ensue.
Luckily for her, he came back in and began an awkward conversation with Roger.
"I slept in my bed. Well, actually I fell asleep at the window when Mark went looking for you. I was going to but I wasn't feeling too hot so Mark went." She was trying to be encouraging and caring, and trying to show that she was willing to be civil. "Then when Mark got back I went to bed. Because he woke me up when he came in." Just as quickly as she felt this was going well, she felt like it was going to shit again.
Mimi paused before a flood of emotions overcame her that no longer could be contained.
"Roger, I have no idea where this all came from but there is nothing going on between Mark and I. I love you, baby, and only you. No one else. I can't even imagine myself without you. I know we've gone through shit before, and I know I've done things before that probably shouldn't make you trust me, but I swear to you there is nothing going on between us. I just... I don't know what I can say to make you believe me."
Mimi felt defeated. Roger's face still remained blank and his silence was deafening.

"Mimi's right," Mark said at last. How do you prove you're not doing something. There's no evidence, precisely because you're not doing it. "There is nothing going on between us. We're friends, Roger, and you know that. You should know that I wouldn't do that to you." He was going to add Mimi's name, but remembered she did do that to him, so he changed directions. "Look, you're just going to have to trust us about this. There's nothing going on and there won't be."
Just then Maureen came back into the loft. Mark felt suddenly relieved. He took her hand lightly. "I wanna talk to you, okay? Can you just wait until we figure this out?" Mark said quietly so only Maureen could hear him. He let her go and faced Roger and Mimi again. Damn it. Mimi was crying. If there was one thing Mark couldn't stand, it was a woman crying. He almost naturally went over to Mimi to comfort her, but by the time he got there, he realized what it would look to Roger. So, again, he improvised.
"See? We don't even make a good couple." he said, standing next to Mimi. He hoped that just by standing by her she would be somehow comforted, since he couldn't give her a hug. God only knows what that would do.

Roger had stayed silent as Mimi spoke. He looked away when she started to cry. Like Mark, he couldn't stand a woman in tears. Especially if that woman was Mimi. He was about to speak when Mark spoke up. He listened to his roommate silently.
Mimi looked away. She hated to look weak in this situation, but it was clearly tearing her apart inside. She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, leaving trails of black from her make-up she wore last night on her cheeks.
"Please say something," Mimi said quietly to Roger.
Roger took a deep breath. "I'm going to my room," he told her as calmly as he could.
Mimi's eyes shifted around the room. That wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear. She bit her top lip as she nodded a little.
"Okay," she choked out, trying to hold back her tears.
She walked over to the window and opened it. She grabbed her sweater from the floor where she'd left it the night before and then climbed out the window and up the fire escape to the roof.
Roger watched Mimi go before heading to his room.

Mark crossed back to Maureen. "This isn't over yet." Mark stated the obvious. "But I do really want to talk to you, and I will before all of this is over." He took both of her hands in his. "I'm sorry you have to see all of this, but I really need someone who will be there for me right now." And Roger won't. Hell, Roger is WHY he needs someone to stand with him right now.

"It's okay Mark. I really don't mind." In fact, all this fighting was driving Maureen crazy. She just couldn't wrap her mind around what was happening. But she figured that it was fate's retribution for all the time's Mark was stuck in the middle of a fight with her and Joanne. That was when Roger burst into the room yelling about excuses and the box of his gifts to Mimi. Maureen watched as Mimi and Mark tried to plead with him and explain.

Once alone, Roger let out a breath of frustration and ran a hand through his hair. First to get out of the day-old clothes he wore. He went over to his dresser and opened a drawer, starting to dig through it. He couldn't find the shirt he was looking for. Unnerved, he silently went over to Mimi's things. She had been known to borrow his shirts and wear them around the loft. As soon as he began digging, Roger noticed that there were a few things of hers that were missing. After he found the shirt he was looking for, Roger continued looking through Mimi's things. As he did so, he began to realize what all was missing. They were his gifts to her...
Meanwhile, Mimi needed to be alone. She just couldn't handle her emotions right now. She needed a chance to get everything sorted out in her head. She took a seat, leaning against one of the heating units that weren't being used. She pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top of them. A few tears rolled down her cheek but she quickly wiped them away again. Mimi pinched her sleeves around her hands and let the chilling breeze blow through her hair, moving it around like leaves on the street. A knot had formed in her stomach that she had just become aware of; one that she only got when she feared the worst would happen. She didn't get it often, as she usually would go with the flow with out a second thought, but she had recalled having it the night when she knew she would never see her father again, the night where she first had to spend the night on the street alone because she couldn't stand staying with her mother, and the day that she felt would be her last but would leave the world with out having righted the most important relationship with the most important person in her life. Those situations all managed to work themselves out so she hoped that this situation would prove to be like the rest. She gripped her hair within her fingers and brought her forehead down to her knees, taking deep breaths. She couldn't let herself get so upset over something that was out of her control. She did what she could; the ball was in Roger's court now.
"Mimi."
Mimi's head snapped up when she heard her name and she practically jumped to her feet, feverishly wiping the tears from her eyes before turning around to face Roger. She pulled her sweater tight around her. She didn't speak, but just looked at Roger instead.
"Where are the gifts I gave you?" She couldn't have thrown them out. She wouldn't...
The knot in Mimi's stomach just became gut-wrenchingly tighter. Where were they? She put them outside the door and then when she came out later, they weren't there. Well they couldn't have gotten up and walked away. Mimi closed her eyes a second before slowly allowing them to meet Roger's.
"I don't know. I put them in a box last night and now they're not there."
"You don't know?" He took a deep breath. "You didn't throw them out, did you?"
"No, I didn't throw them out!" Mimi snapped, which she realized wasn't the best idea. She took a deep breath before cautiously taking a couple steps toward her boyfriend. She ran her hands down his arms before taking his hands in hers. "I would never do that no matter how mad I was at you. Look, they're around here somewhere. Maureen probably did something with them."
Although she knew the case was that Mark probably did something with them, but that wasn't what Roger needed to hear right now.
"Right..." he said softly. "Maureen probably picked them up so they wouldn't get thrown out..." Roger freed one of his hands and once more ran it through his hair.
"Roger, I wasn't going to throw them out," Mimi said sternly. "Look. Both of us were mad last night and both of us did some things that we shouldn't have done. But just because we had one bad night, I'm not going to throw this all away and let everything that we've had go to shit. I don't know what you want, but I don't want to give this up." Mimi looked away from Roger quickly while pursing her lips before taking her hand from Roger and sitting down on the vent. "Then again, if you don't trust me and you don't believe me, I guess there's no point, huh?"
Mimi shifted her gaze to the streets below, watching people scurrying down below her.
"Mims..." Roger faded off as he turned away as well and moved towards the door of his room. He really wanted to stay together with Mimi. There was nothing he wanted more...
He sighed, raising his eyes.
The doorways to Roger and Mark's rooms faced each other and roger could see right into his roommate's room from his own at the present moment.
That's all he had to say? Mimi couldn't stand it when Roger was guarded like this. She'd poured her heart out to him in the living room and didn't get anything, and now this? Mimi got up off the vent, went down the stairs and climbed through the window.
"Roger, look I--"
Mimi noticed him staring at something in Mark's room. She frowned a little and then took a look for herself. She found her box, complete with Mark's scarf on the top.
"This isn't what it looks like Roger," Mimi said quietly, defeated. Everything just seemed to be getting worse and worse.
Roger ran out of his room and over to Mark's, his entire mood changed. That had better not have been what it appeared to be. Upon entering Mark's room, Roger threw the scarf aside. A chain of curses followed.
"Roger," Mimi stormed in after him, her voice pleading. "It's not like I gave the stuff to him. He just... it..."
Mimi inhaled and exhaled quickly, not finding the right words to complete her sentences.
"It's not that I wanted to get rid of them. I just... I couldn't look at them last night because I was so angry and... It's not what you think, honestly, it isn't."
"I'm sick of your excuses!" Roger shot, turning quickly on her.
Mimi was taken aback by Roger's sudden outburst, but stood her ground regardless.
"What excuses, Roger! I'm not making any excuses, I'm just telling you the truth!"
"The truth!" Roger made a sound as if he didn't believe that.
"Yes, Roger. The Truth. But like I said, if you don't want to fucking believe me, if you can't trust me after all the shit we've been through... then I honestly don't think it's even fuckin' worth it anymore," Mimi said, shaking her head, a disgusted look coming across her face. "You spend so much more time accusing me of shit that I'm NOT doing than actually just spending time with me and enjoying what we have."

"Hey, what are you do--" He stopped in his sentence. Oh shit. All of Roger's/Mimi's stuff was still in his room. C'mon, you can't be that small minded that you would honestly think that meant something. IF they were cheating, why would Mimi give HIM that stuff?
"Roger, chill for a minute, will you?" Mark asked, grabbing one of Roger's wrists as he continued to throw things in his room, to get Roger to face him. "Before you jump off the handle, I want you to listen!" He raised his voice so that Roger would actually hear him. "Listen that stuff isn't what you think it is, alright? And don't yell at her, it's my fault that this stuff is in here in the first place."
Rule 1) If you're being accused of cheating, don't stick up for the other person in front of the angry ex. It doesn't look so good. But Mark was only trying to ease some of the tension off of Mimi, and the only way to do that is to shoulder the blame himself.

And it was at this point that Maureen decided to open her mouth. "Roger, Mark and I put that stuff there. All Mimi did was put it outside of her door." Though she had this strong urge not to get involved in the fight, Maureen felt she had to set the record straight—at least with the box.

Mark was surprised that Maureen had come to his (and Mimi's) aid. He really did half expect her to sit there and not say anything. That was great that she was ready, willing, and able to help. And at this point, they needed all the help they could get.

"See?" Mimi said furiously. "It doesn't mean anything!"
Mimi was glad that she finally had Mark and Maureen backing her up. She needed some other people there for her because her head just was in a mindless jumble right now. Two seconds ago she wanted to try as hard as she could to keep everything together, but now she was ready to throw it all out the window.
"Nothing is going on Roger. All last night I was in here by myself. Mark and Maureen were out all night and when they came home, Mark was out looking for you. I saw him for all of maybe 10 minutes last night after we left and the entire 10 minutes was focused around how bizarre this all is! Nothing is going on, no--"
Mimi started coughing again. She grabbed onto the wall until her knuckles were white, holding herself up with all her strength. This past night and this new argument weren't doing wonders for her illness. After a few minutes, it subsided and she began to take deep breaths.
"Look," she said quietly, weakly. "I don't know what else to tell you, and I'm not going to try to be going into these coughing fits. This is the fourth one I've had in twelve hours and I can't fucking take it anymore. So when you're ready to act civilized, then you can come and talk to me."
Mimi turned around, and while gripping at the walls, made her way out the door and down to her loft.