Ends
She told everyone it was Angel that made her turn around.
And that was true, at least partially. It was Angel's smile, and Angel's charm, and Angel's warm laugh in a place that turned Mimi's skin cold as stone and sent her heart still-pounding into her throat. It was the connection she felt even after everything else had already faded.
It was Angel's wink, and her playful "You don't belong here yet! Turn around, girlfriend."
But it was also Roger's voice, husky with tears she'd never seen before, singing from miles and miles away. It was his large hands on her stinging cheek, and the feel of his lips against her neck. It was the feeling of him sobbing, too silently for anyone to hear, against her shoulder that finally made her want to go back.
Why she never told anyone that, she wasn't exactly sure. Because she couldn't admit to Roger that she hadn't quite wanted to forgive him until that moment. Because she knew the guilt would destroy him if he thought she'd really heard the sound of his voice that night. Because it was the end of denying reality, and the beginning of the pain that came with facing truth.
Because it was the end of the beginning of their time together, and of the middle too.