Chapter Three

Meanwhile, Mark's friends were all sitting nervously in the loft. Roger and Tom Collins had gone out first thing that morning searching for Mark, and now Mimi, Maureen Johnson, Joanne Jefferson and Angel Dumott-Schunard were waiting anxiously around the loft. Mimi was pacing, as the others sat around.

"Mimi, honey, why don't you sit down for a second? You've been pacing around like that all morning,"Angel said calmly.

"I can't,"Mimi insisted. She played with her hair nervously. "Roger and I told Mark to leave last night...none of this would have happened if we had just let him stay!"Angel walked over to Mimi, taking her by the shoulders and forcing her to stop pacing.

"Sweetie, relax. It's all right, we're going to find Mark,"she insisted.

"What if something terrible's happened to him?"Maureen gasped dramatically. Angel shushed her.

"We're not going to think like that,"she insisted. "I'm sure Mark is fine. He probably just got...er, held up someplace!"Suddenly Collins and Roger came walking into the loft.

"What did you find?"Maureen demanded, leaping up. Mimi, Maureen, Angel and Joanne all looked at Collins and Roger anxiously. They both looked very grim...

"We found Mark's bike..."Collins began. The girls all exchanged nervous glances. Collins took a deep breath. "It was tossed onto the sidewalk...and it was...well, destroyed."Roger nodded in agreement, keeping his head down. Maureen let out a gasp, throwing her hands to her mouth. Mimi's eyes widened.

"Oh my God..."she moaned softly. Roger couldn't even bring himself to make eye contact with any of them. Collins walked over to Angel, hugging her tightly.

"No sign of him anywhere?"Joanne asked.

"None,"Collins replied sadly.

"I don't even want to begin to imagine what could have happened..."Joanne sighed.

"This is all my fault!"Roger cried suddenly, kicking the wall in anger.

"Roger, honey, don't say that..."Angel said, reaching out to touch Roger's arm. Roger pulled away. He didn't deserve to be touched by someone as kind as Angel...

"How could I have been so stupid like that? God...if anything happens to him, I...I don't know what I'll do!"he sighed miserably. Mimi tried to approach him, but Roger wouldn't even go near her. He turned his back, walking across the loft, leaning against the wall, arms crossed in front of him. The others all exchanged sad glances...when suddenly the door to the loft opened.

"Oh my God! Marky!"Maureen went running over to Mark the second he walked into the loft. Mark nearly fell over from the force of her hug.

"Ow! Arm!"he cried as Maureen squeezed his fractured arm. Maureen gasped, pulling back and spotting his sling.

"Oh-my-God! What happened to you, Mark?"she cried.

"We were so worried about you, honey!"Angel added, also running over. The whole room went dashing over to Mark, crowding him in the doorway. Roger stayed where he was, planted to the floor in shock.

"Mark...thank God you're okay!"Mimi gasped. "We were so scared...we felt terrible about last night!"

"Really?"Mark asked, surprised. Collins had pushed his way over, wrapping Mark into a big hug.

"Oh man...you sure gave us a big scare!"he said, patting Mark's back. "Roger and I were out looking for you all morning, where were you hiding?"

"I was at the hospital,"Mark replied.

"Oh God, Mark we promise to take care of you from now on!"Maureen cried frantically. Mark laughed a little.

"That's okay, Maureen...really,"he assured her. Roger had finally come up to his friend. He hesitated, and when Mark made no move towards him, he moved over, hugging his friend tightly.

"God...we were so worried, man..."he said.

"Really? You seemed pretty anxious to get rid of me last night,"Mark snapped, rather coldly. Then he caught his friend's miserable expression.

"I know...Mark, I'm so sorry. You have no idea how responsible I felt, if anything had happened to you...I couldn't have lived with myself!"he said. He looked on the verge of tears, and now it was Mark's turn to feel guilty for teasing Roger like that. He patted his shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay. I didn't mean that...I'm not mad at you,"he assured him. Roger looked up at Mark.

"Well you should be. I'm really sorry, Mark..."Roger repeated sadly.

"Don't be. I'm fine. We're fine. Everything's okay now,"Mark said, smiling. Roger nodded, obviously trying not to let any tears out in front of everyone. He finally walked over to Mimi, letting her hug him.

"Come, sit down hun..."Angel lead Mark over to the couch, forcing him to sit, the others all following, still swarming around Mark. "What on earth happened?"

"Well, I went out riding my bike last night. I was crossing the street and my tires skidded, and I got hit by a car-"Mark began. Maureen let out a scream.

"Oh God!"Angel gasped.

"Were you in the cross walk? We might be able to sue for this..."Joanne said, her lawyer mind instantly at work.

"Let him finish!"Mimi urged.

"Okay, so I was hit...and I passed out on the street, but there was this nurse girl who was walking home. She saw the accident and she got help. I woke up this morning in the hospital with a fractured right wrist, two stitches in my head and a bruised something-or-other,"Mark explained.

"Your wrist is fractured!"Maureen screeched, though the others were all certain she had no idea what 'fractured' even really meant.

"Yeah, it's really not that bad though. The nurse just said I should take it easy..."Mark shrugged. The group was all smiling at Mark now.

"We're glad you're okay, man,"Collins said, speaking for the group.

"Yeah, we were all really scared for you,"Maureen added.

"Thanks,"Mark said, grinning back. And for that day, Mark felt very appreciated by his friends...something he hadn't felt too often.

Hey guys! Haha, I had to make Roger suffer for the first chapter...everyone seemed to be looking forward to guilty Roger anyways! Sorry if Emily was seeming kind of Mary Sue-ish so far. I haven't really had a chance to build on her character so far. I'll work on her in the next chapter though! I hope you like things so far, send me your questions/comments/complaints.