Chapter Seven

Roger, Collins and Angel were all at the loft that same afternoon. Angel was 'tidying up'...or shoving all the junk from the middle of the room into the corner. Collins was going through all the cabinets and the fridge, grimacing at all the strange things he came across. Roger sat at the window, strumming the tune to a new song.

"Why do you two have baking soda? You never bake,"Collins said, pulling out an old, crusty box of baking soda. Roger looked over.

"Beats me,"he shrugged. "You do realize that we haven't opened that cabinet in about three years."

"...well what did you need baking soda for three years ago?"Collins asked, throwing the baking soda into a trash bag that Angel had brought over.

"I don't see how you two can even sleep on these beds, you have so much junk underneath them!"Angel commented as she looked under Roger's bed.

"Hey, we've gotta have someplace to hide things from each other,"Roger pointed out. Angel suddenly looked very interested.

"Ooh! What do you have to hide?"she asked, immediately looking back under the bed. Then the phone rang.

"You gonna get that?"Collins asked. Roger laughed a little.

"Are you kidding me?"he replied.

"SPEAK."Roger and Mark's voices called out on the answering machine.

"Hey guys, it's Mark! Come over to the Life Café, all of you, half an hour. There's someone I'd like you to meet."Roger, Collins and Angel all exchanged glances. Angel's jaw was dropped, and she leapt up from the ground.

"We're gonna meet Mark's nurse!"she squealed happily, bouncing up and down and clapping her hands excitedly. "Come on, let's go scare the poor thing!"Suddenly the phone rang again, the answering machine picking up.

"Oh, and Angel...no costume, okay? Not right away..."Angel stopped, grinning.

"Ooh! I love surprises!"

Mark and Emily were waiting outside the Life Café half an hour later.

"So, I'm finally going to meet your friends, huh?"Emily said, also sounding excited.

"Yeah...you are,"Mark said. Suddenly he heard shouts.

"Maureen! We don't want to come off too strong!"

"Oh, come on pookie, she won't care!"

"How do you know? Maureen!"

"Who exactly are we meeting again, Roger?"

"That nurse chick that Mark's been seeing."

"Oooh, right!...what's her name again?"

"Cooooooollins, I feel so naked without my pumps!"

"It's okay, you'll get to show off your good side before then end of the night. I'll make sure of it! Haha!"That's when the group all came into view: Maureen was in the lead, followed by Joanne. Collins and Angel were right behind them, Angel actually looking like a normal man for once, and Roger and Mimi were bringing up the rear.

"Well...here they come,"Mark said, letting out a deep breath. Emily turned to see the group. Maureen came to a halt, causing a domino affect among the group as they all crashed into each other. She and Angel turned to each other...and both squealed excitedly. They started running towards Mark and Emily insanely. Collins laughed as Joanne screamed after Maureen to stop. Mimi grabbed Roger's arm, trying to make him walk faster.

"Oh-my-God!"Maureen cried, as she and Angel came to a screeching halt before Emily. They both giggled, smiling at her.

"Hey honey!"Angel greeted. "I'm Angel. And you must be Emily!"Emily seemed a little surprised by Angel's attitude at first, but seemed to catch on pretty quickly. She smiled politely.

"Very nice to meet you, er...Angel,"she said, holding out her hand. Angel took Emily's hand in both of hers(or at the moment, his)grinning.

"We've heard so much about you, sweetie!"he said.

"I'm Maureen Johnson,"Maureen introduced suddenly, pushing Angel aside. "I'm sure Mark's told you all about how horrible I am for getting him on TV!"

"Oh! You're Maureen!"Emily said, remembering the name from Mark's description of his ex-girlfriend. "I certainly have heard a lot about you. Good things, of course!"Maureen giggled.

"Aw, she's adorable Mark! I just loooove that accent!"she commented. Joanne and Collins had caught up with them by then.

"Maureen, leave that girl alone!"Joanne scolded. She turned to Emily. "I'm sorry for any damage she may have caused you, physical or mental."Emily laughed.

"Oh no, it's fine,"she assured her. Joanne held out her hand in a very business-like way.

"Joanne Jefferson, criminal justice lawyer. You ever have any problems, just give me a call, hun,"Joanne said, handing Emily a business card. Emily smiled.

"Oh...thank you..."she replied. Then she noticed Maureen wrapping her arm around Joanne, as Joanne shoved her off, hissing something to her, and understood a bit more of the situation...

"Hey!"Collins interrupted quickly, wrapping Emily into a huge hug right away. "The name's Tom Collins. But you can call me Collins."

"Oh yes, Collins! I've heard so much about you from Mark,"Emily said. Collins laughed.

"Haha! I bet you did!"he said, as Angel laughed a little too. Emily forced a smile, not quite understanding. Mark's eyes widened and he quickly shook his head. Collins and Angel saw him and both stopped laughing.

"Er...I mean, Mark and I are close friends,"Collins added quickly. Emily nodded.

"Right, right. You're a professor aren't you?"she asked.

"Yeah! Yeah, that's me,"he said. There was a pause...and he and Angel quickly walked away, both snapping at each other under their breath.

"Hi, I'm Mimi!"Mimi leapt over to Emily excitedly. She had come right from 'work' at the Catscratch Club, and hadn't bothered to change. Emily examined her clothing, but managed to smile kindly anyways.

"Hello Mimi. I'm Emily,"she replied, shaking Mimi's hand.

"Oh yeah, I know!"Mimi replied. "We actually all know a lot about you, Mark talks about you all the time. Is it true that you got knocked up by some English guy who dumped you when he-"

"Hey Mimi, why don't you go reserve us a seat or something?"Mark interrupted quickly, pulling Mimi away from Emily. Roger was the last to step up. He grinned awkwardly.

"Er, hi. I'm Roger. Uh, Roger Davis. Mark's roommate,"he said.

"Oh, right! Of course. I've heard the most about you,"Emily said, smiling. "You and Mark are very close, aren't you?"Roger nodded...then he stopped.

"Well, we're not that close. I mean we're not...we don't...I have a girlfriend!"Roger added quickly. Emily nodded, confused.

"Oh...um, good for you,"she replied, nodding. Roger sighed.

"Er...nice to meet you, Emily,"he said.

"You too, Roger,"Emily replied. There was a pause...and Roger quickly walked off. Mark had been forcing Maureen off of Joanne when he noticed Emily watching them. He quickly spun around.

"Oh! So...you met everyone?"he asked.

"Yeah, I did,"Emily replied.

"And you're still here! Congratulations,"Mark joked. Emily laughed.

"I like them,"she assured him. "They're very...energetic!"

"...for lack of better words, sure,"Mark replied. "Come on. We have to say hello to our favorite waiter!"

"No! No, no, no!"the waiter immediately began shouting the minute the gang walked through the door.

"What?"Mark asked innocently.

"No more customers! We're closing!"he cried frantically, trying to shove them back out the door.

"You're open every night til midnight,"Collins pointed out.

"And we're here cleaning up even later every time YOU people come!"the waiter grumbled. "Now please leave!"

"You can't deny us service! That's...that's injustice!"Maureen cried.

"Take it to your lawyer,"the waiter snapped back.

"Fine. Joanne, take care of him!"Maureen said. The waiter stopped as Joanne stepped forward.

"Sir...it would be best if you let my clients into this Café. Or I'll be meeting you in court first thing tomorrow,"she said. The waiter sighed, grabbing menus and giving them all a death glare.

"You always have to come on MY shift..."he growled, as he lead them over to the table. He threw the menus down, and stormed off. The gang all pushed the tables together to create one long one, so they could all sit comfortably.

"So Emily, have you ever been here before?"Maureen asked.

"Never,"Emily replied. The group all grinned at each other.

"Well, you're in for a wild ride, honey!"

As the night progressed, the gang continued to torture the waiter, much to Emily's enjoyment. She even started to join in after a while, which caused him to get more annoyed. And as more alcohol was put into the group, the less and less they tried to hide things from Emily. Maureen was practically sitting in Joanne's lap two hours later, and Angel had off-handedly mentioned little things about the fact that he was a drag queen several times, though Emily hadn't really caught on.

To Mark's relief, no one had mentioned the AIDS yet. He wanted to be the one to tell Emily. He knew he probably should have told her before she met the gang...but he wanted to her to have a good impression of them before she found out, in case that had any impact on her reaction.

Emily seemed to be having the time of her life, even though she was unable to drink because of the baby. She was very fond of Collins, and found just about everything Maureen did hysterically funny. And any encouragement went right to Maureen's head, so before you knew it she was dancing around the Café on chairs, blowing spitballs at the staff and constantly threatening to pull off her top.

Joanne was trying to come off as civilized as possible, though that was hard when everyone around you was dancing and jumping and yelling like maniacs.

Roger had been uncomfortable at first, though after a little bit Mimi had got him to relax. Mimi was fascinated by the fact that Emily was pregnant, and continued to ask her questions about what it was like, amazed by the answers.

Mark, of course, had his camera with him. So he was running all around the table, filming his friends and all their crazy antics. He was filming Angel and Collins at the moment.

"...and so I told that waiter he should just take his stupid 'extra fee for pushing the tables together' and stick it up his-"

"Okay, thank you Collins!"Mark interrupted quickly. Collins laughed.

"Ooh, all my blemishes must be showing!"Angel squealed, examining his face in a wine glass on the table.

"What blemishes?"Collins snorted.

"Oh please!"Angel snapped, hitting him playfully. "I've got to go powder my nose a bit, boys!"And he stood up, walking over to the ladies bathroom with his backpack that he carried all his makeup and creams in secretly. So Mark moved over to the other side of the table...

"Close on Emily Weston, newcomer to la vie boheme!"he narrated. Emily smiled at the camera, laughing a little. "So tell us Emily, from an outsider's point of view...how do you like it so far? Be honest."

"Really? You want me to be honest?"Emily asked.

"Yeah!"Mark insisted. Emily sighed...then grinned, looking up.

"I LOVE it!"she cried, laughing again. Mark also laughed, and stopped filming.

"You really like it?"he asked.

"Yes! Mark, this place is great, your friends are great, your...life is great! This is amazing, I've never felt so...comfortable before!"Emily explained. That's when she noticed that Mark wasn't laughing or smiling any more. She frowned. "Why? What's going on?"

"I...I think it's time I told you about my friends,"Mark said.

"Oh come on Mark, there's not much to tell. I understand about Maureen and Joanne and Angel and Roger..."Emily insisted.

"I know, but–wait, did you say Roger?"Mark asked suddenly.

"Yeah,"Emily replied. "Come on Mark, you can't fool me there. There's not even a doubt about him!"Mark had to stop himself from laughing out loud. He grinned a little...then stopped. He had to get this over with. Emily needed to know.

"Um, Roger's not gay. He and Mimi are together. And there's something you should know about them..."Mark began. Emily was listening...

"Hellooooooooo!"Angel had returned from the bathroom...in her full costume. Emily's jaw dropped as everyone else cheered and clapped.

"There's my girl!"Collins laughed as Angel skipped over to the table. Angel stopped beside Emily.

"I take it Mark hasn't told you about this yet, huh?"she asked. Emily shook her head. "Look, if it makes you uncomfortable, I could go back and change..."

"No!"Emily blurted out. "No, you don't have to do that! I'm sorry, I didn't...I just wasn't expecting this!"Emily smiled. "I like it. It's a nice outfit."Angel squealed, hugging Emily.

"She's a keeper, Mark!"she insisted. And she skipped over to Collins. Emily laughed.

"Mark, your friends are amazing. You're amazing! You make me feel so much better about things, like...like a new person!"she began.

"Yeah, um...about my friends..."Mark sighed. He had to do this. He had to. He–

Suddenly there came the sound of 4 beepers. Roger, Mimi, Collins and Angel, unaware of Mark's horrified expression, all casually took them out.

"AZT time!"Mimi announced. Emily froze, and Mark's heart began pounding quickly.

"AZT...as in, the medicine for-"Mark nodded. Emily looked back at the four people, her face becoming pale.

"Oh my God...they have-"Mark nodded again, hardly able to make eye contact with Emily.

"I...I know I should have told you-"

"Mark, how could you not tell me this? AIDS is an epidemic, it kills people! Mark...this is serious, why didn't you tell me?"Emily demanded.

"I...I don't know! I didn't know how you'd react! I wanted you to meet them first, I didn't want to scare you off..."Mark explained quickly.

"Mark...I don't even know what to say. I'm a nurse, I work in a hospital, how could you assume I'd be scared off by something like this? And most importantly, how could you be ashamed of something like this?"Emily asked.

"I'm not ashamed!"Mark cried.

"Apparently you are. If you weren't ashamed you would have been able to tell me about this without being scared that I would stop liking them,"Emily pointed out.

"Look, Emily, I'm sorry! I know I shouldn't have kept this from you, it wasn't fair to you, it wasn't fair to them..."Mark insisted. "Please Emily, don't be mad!"Emily shook her head.

"I'm not mad, Mark,"she assured him. "I'm disappointed."She stood up, grabbing her coat and her bag.

"Emily, stop! I'm sorry, I really am!"Mark cried, following her to the door.

"Don't apologize to me, Mark. Apologize to them,"Emily said. "And until you do, don't expect to hear from me."And Emily turned, walking from the Life Café.

"Emily!"Mark called after her. But she was already marching off across the street. Mark sighed.

"Ooh, tough pal."Mark turned to see the waiter standing there, shaking his head. "Now maybe you won't be in such a hurry to come back!"Mark sighed, storming pass him back to the table.

"Hey Mark, where did Emily go?"Mimi asked, as she, Roger, Collins and Angel finished their medicines and returned to the table. They noticed Mark's miserable expression as he grabbed his coat and his back pack.

"Marky, what happened? Where are you going?"Maureen asked.

"I'm leaving. Here."He tossed the ten dollars he had onto the table. "I'll see you at home,"he mumbled to Roger as he walked out the door. The gang all exchanged glances.

"...was it something we said?"

I know, no happy ending to this chapter, I'm sorry! I think the next chapter might be the last, or close to it if it's not. Things are going to wrap up pretty soon. But first, Marky has to apologize to his friends!