Mark
"Are you sure you're alright with this?" I asked, twisting around my tie in a vain attempt to knot it.
"It's an excuse to get dressed up." Anne answered, carefully applying her makeup. She was sprawled out on my bed, wearing a slip and a bra. "And your sister was nice last time we visited, the least I can do is go to her tenth anniversary party. Can you hand me my dress?"
I took the hanger off the closet door and resisted the habitual urge to throw it. "Do you need me to zip it?"
She nodded and pulled it over her head. "Okay, go." She breathed in and the zipper went up easily. "Do you still need help with that tie?"
I nodded sheepishly, feeling my face get hot.
"Don't worry, my dad can't knot his own tie either. If I hadn't learned we would've never gotten anywhere on time." She looped the silk around and pulled it into a small knot before smoothing it down.
"Why don't you ever talk about your family?" I asked, brushing a curly tendril out of her face.
"The same reasons you don't talk about yours. Bad memories, negative karma, just all around awful." She replied, busying herself with pulling on a pair of thigh-highs.
"Will I ever meet them?" I asked, sitting down next to her.
"There's not really much to 'them'. Just my dad. And if the time is right, then sure. But I don't want to rush you into meeting him." Anne answered.
"And that's because…?"
"He's an asshole, Mark. But he's my asshole of a father and I love him." She gave me a pained smile, her eyes looking a bit red and damp.
"I didn't mean to pry." I said, stroking her cheek.
"I know." She swallowed hard and kissed me softly. "If I don't get my ass in gear, we'll never make it there on time."
I helped Anne into her coat and pocketed my house keys. I reluctantly left my worn and torn blue and white scarf and we were off. Anne nodded off almost immediately after we left. This was our third night spent together the past two weeks; she'd been so swamped with work. She cleverly disguised the black circles beneath her eyes with makeup, but I knew they were there. As the Amtrak screeched to a halt, she stirred and the blood began flowing through my arm once more. She laced her fingers through mine as we made our way out in search of a ride to the hotel.
"I'm sorry but I'm just so tired and my head's been bothering me lately." Anne stifled a yawn.
"You've worked a lot this week." I said, looking around for a taxi. "It's understandable."
"Can I rest my eyes? Just until we get there?" Anne asked. Her eyes were heavy and dark.
I immediately felt guilty for asking her to come with me. I had known that it would be a chore to get ready for and that the commute would be anything less than enjoyable. I was jolted forward in my seat as the taxi pulled up to the small inn on Main Street. It hadn't changed a bit since the last time I was there, which had been some girl's bat mitzvah. Eons ago.
God, I feel old.
"Ready for a hellish couple of hours?" I asked as we entered.
"If it's that bad, we can just make up an excuse about a long commute and head home." Anne whispered with a grin.
"Mark! Anne! So glad you made it!" Cindy called from the table. "Boys, go say hi to Uncle Mark." She helped the two toddlers out of their booster seats, who soon wrapped themselves around my legs.
"Hey buddy," I picked one of them up "How old are you now? Seven? Nine?"
"Five, silly goose!" Matthew laughed, holding up five fingers.
"And what about you, Alex? How's Biddy Ball?" I asked, ruffling his dark hair.
"I scored a basket yesterday!" He exclaimed.
"Good for you!" I handed Matthew back to Cindy and kissed her cheek. "Happy Anniversary." Andrew reached across the table and shook my hand.
"Thanks. Nice to see you, Mark." He said, gesturing to the other end of the table. "Just sit… wherever you can find room."
"Where's Mom?" I gazed around the room.
"She thinks she caught a bug from one of the ladies she plays bridge with." Cindy explained, bouncing the toddler on her leg.
I inwardly rejoiced my mother's absence. One less person to tell me to stand up straighter, eat more, and try using a brush when combing my hair.
As Anne and I settled into chairs away from the chaos, Andrew stood up to make a toast.
"If the horrible speech he made at their wedding is any indication of this one, just smile and nod and act like he's hilarious." I said into her ear.
She giggled and took hold of her glass.
After Andrew finished, music started up and he and Cindy went to the dance floor.
"God, this is cheesy." I muttered, taking a deep gulp of champagne.
Anne followed suit with a laugh. "Promise me that you'll never let me throw a party that's stupid like this. Or wear purple tracksuits. Hell, tracksuits in general."
I gave her a strange look before answering. "Whatever you say, Anne. Do you want to dance?"
Ella Fitzgerald crooned softly through the speakers. I pulled Anne closer to me, burying my face in her hair as we swayed to the beat. "We should dance like this more often."
"Like how?" Anne asked, resting her forehead against my own.
"All close and such."
"I hate to ruin the moment, but I think they're serving the food," She laughed as she pulled away from my embrace. "And you know I can't turn down a good Caesar salad."
I linked my arm with hers and followed her over to the banquet table filled with platters. As I busied myself with some chicken, I noticed another guest striking up a conversation with Anne. She opened her mouth, shocked, before giving him an awkward hug. They made their way down to me, Anne holding her hand out for my own. "This is my boyfriend. Mark, Patrick and I dated during college. He and Andrew work at the same firm."
I shook his hand. "Nice to meet you."
He turned his attention back to Anne, touching her shoulder. "How have you been, Annie? You never called! Are you still working as an accountant?"
She nodded. "I've been really busy with work the past few years. And what about you, Mr. Hot Shot lawyer? Got a wife at home?"
He held up his left hand and wiggled his ring finger. "I'm a perpetual bachelor." His beeper went off loudly, interrupting us. "Look, I've got to go make an important call but we should catch up some time, maybe go for drinks? Cindy and Andrew have my number. It was nice seeing you, babe." He kissed Anne's cheek and she stiffened.
"Babe?" I mimicked once he was out of earshot, narrowing my eyes at his disappearing frame. "Who the hell was that?"
"I told you, Patrick and I dated in college. Nothing more." Anne said, her voice sounding surprisingly gravelly, almost like a growl.
"If it's nothing more, why are you getting defensive?" I asked, roughly serving a roll onto my plate. "You know about my fucked past relationships. Just look at what I have with Maureen, and we're not even dating anymore."
"Mark," Anne whispered, her eyes pleading with my own "I'll tell you everything later, I promise. Don't ruin your sister's party."
"Fine."
We ate in an awkward silence, both of us obviously knowing that we were both at fault but being too stubborn to admit it.
"Fuck it," Anne muttered "I'm sorry." She set her utensils down. "Can we not fight about something as stupid as an ex-boyfriend that means nothing? You're not the jealous type."
I nodded and stroked her cheek. "I promise to stop being an asshole. You know how these family gatherings get me paranoid…"
"What do you say we head home and spend the rest of the night in bed?" Anne whispered, an impish glint forming in her eyes.
I could barely get a word out before she had pulled me over to where Cindy and Andrew were sitting, making an excuse about Amtrak times.
"Thanks for having us, Cindy." I managed to spit out. "Tell Mom to feel better for me."
"Who was that Patrick guy?" I asked, pulling Anne's head into my lap and massaging her scalp.
"An ex from college, I told you." She murmured, her eyes drooping.
"He was so touchy-feely. And I really didn't appreciate him calling you Annie." I muttered.
"I hated that too." Anne sighed, straining her neck towards my touch. "You need to do this every time I'm tense. I'm going to make you do this from now on."
I smiled and ran my fingers through her hair. "As much as you're enjoying this, the position's a little awkward for my… your head... it's heavy."
"Ooh, sorry!" Anne squealed as she sat up, curling herself around me. "I guess it's like sucker punching someone and getting them in the boob."
I gave her a questioning look. "Who in their right fuckin' mind slugs you in the chest?"
She shrugged. "Dunk people. Assholes. The like."
"That's like jimmy-tapping someone for the fun of it. I can't tell you how many times a swift kick in the balls would've stopped Roger from doing some stupid something or anoth-"
"Mark, Patrick and I were engaged." Anne blurted out, clapping her hands over her mouth.
"What?" I exclaimed, pulling my arms from around her and shoving her away.
"He proposed, put a ring on my finger, we told a few people and then called it off after a couple months. It was nothing."
"Nothing?" I spat, angrily tossing the covers off myself. "You call an engagement fucking nothing? I can see a date or a letterman jacket or maybe even some stupid piece of jewelry. But an engagement?"
"You're overreacting." Anne rolled her eyes and pulled the blankets around herself before laying down. "He's a former flame. Nothing more."
"Would you quit saying that? It's something if you kept it from me. It obviously meant something to you, probably still does. God, that's so slutty of you, Anne. Slutty and inconsiderate." I huffed.
"How is it slutty, Mark? You're not making sense." She said, obviously exasperated.
She had a point.
"Sleep on the couch tonight."
"Excuse me!" Anne sat up abruptly. "Mark, you're toeing a line that will get you in a lot of trouble if crossed."
"Sleep. On. The. Couch." I said each syllable with deliberate malice.
"I don't need this, especially after I put myself out on a limb for you when I should've been catching up on sleep. I'm going home." Anne sighed, reaching to pull on her shoes and grabbing her coat from the floor. "I'll get my clothes… whenever. Bye."
I caught one look at her scantily-clad frame hurrying across the loft and chased after her. "If you go out like that, you're practically asking for someone to rape-" I swallowed. "Someone to hurt you. Just sleep on the couch, please."
"I'm a slut, remember? I'll get what's coming to me." She mocked, turning on her heel. "And you're incapable of not caring, aren't you? For Christ's sake, we're fighting and you're still thinking of my well being. I'm not a child, Mark. I'm twenty one years old and I'll fucking take care of myself." She sat down angrily on the couch and removed her coat.
I walked back to my room and took one of my blankets out to her. A quasi-peace offering, I suppose. I knelt down and tucked it around her legs, taking a seat next to them.
"We have to start telling the truth." She said.
I nodded in silent agreement.
"It's not that I purposely omitted Patrick from the story, because I honest to God try to forget about all the time I spent with him. I just… it's not something I like talking about."
I ran my hands up and down her arms, hoping to chase away the goose bumps. I inwardly cursed Benny
"I'm sorry for yelling and being an insensitive bastard. Sending you to the couch was just… wow. It was dick." I ran my hands through my hair, angry at myself. "I'm incapable of acting like an adult when things surprise me."
"You're always sorry, Mark. Stop apologizing. Just say you forgive me and let's cool it for tonight."
"I forgive you." I said, kissing her cheek.
Forgive, but not forget.
She falls asleep a couple minutes later and I pry my hand from her own. Just as I'm creeping back to my room, Roger comes back from his gig that night.
"Hey man." He calls, dropping his guitar case loudly on the floor.
"Shh!" I hiss, gesturing to Anne.
"Why is she on the couch and why aren't you sleeping with her?" He whispers.
I shrug. "She was engaged. We fought over it." It's far too late to go into further detail.
Roger looks at me with wide eyes "No fucking shit. Here I was thinking she was some socially inept math geek. Anne got around."
"It's not a joke, Rog. The guy- he was at the anniversary party and had the balls to touch her and stuff. I wanted to kill her. How could she keep something like that from me?" I asked.
"Don't act like you haven't kept things from her." Roger says, taking off his coat.
"Bull. Like what?" I lean up against the doorframe.
"Like how you jack off in the shower daily." He says with a smug grin.
"Fuck you." I blush, unable to hide my own small smile.
"You love her. All's forgiven when you love someone. Just look at me and Meems. We both fucked things up in the beginning, but we're doing alright." Roger's smile widens.
"When's she coming back from her mom's again?"
"Two days. Just forty-eight more hours to wait."
I shake my head. "You've turned into such a softie. Goodnight, Roger."
"'Night, Mark." He calls before disappearing into his own room.
I collapse onto the bed, my mind reeling.
How can she just not tell me about something big like that? I told her everything, even the bad things. Like Maureen.
It's just like Roger said. It's only forgivable when you really, truly care about someone.
Forgiven, but not forgotten.
I'm really bad when it comes to updating, aren't I? I try, I really do. But I had a lot to fit into this chapter and it took a while to incorporate them all in a cohesive manner. And I'd rather sporatically update than feed people bullshit disguised as quality writing.
Up next: The real drama begins when the shit hits the fan. Finally. We find out what's going on with Anne, as told from Roger's point of view. I've been waiting to post this chapter for the LONGEST TIME so the faster you review, the faster it comes up. I'm hoping that's some sort of incentive to motive people.Reviews are nice, as are the people who write them.
L.M. Ward: Definitlely tell me what you think is going on with Anne! I want to know what's going through readers' minds!
To No Absolutes: I'm trying to get things up as quickly as I can. I swear. Thanks for reviewing )
eLpHaBaFaBaLaElPhIeFaE: What does Roger know? Tell me what you think!
IDontOwnEmotion: Anthony Rapp will NEVER disappoint me. EVER. I'm meeting him on the 22nd squeals like her inner fangirl
Harper's Pixie: You really are too good to me. You review faithfully and you always have nice things to say. I'd give you a hint as to what's going on with Anne, but then I'd have to kill you. And I'm getting used to the movie soundtrack. Certain aspects of it are just immensely disappointing that I can't get over them, nor will I ever. Feel free to maul me for saying this, but I don't have Anthony's solo album. Is it good?
Broadwaylove4ever: Patience is a virtue. But I am not virtuous in the least, so I try not to keep people waiting for too long. Thanks for reviewing!
fizzingwhisbee: You are? Is awed I think you're amazing. Which sounds totally stalker-esque and creepy, but I swear it's not like that. I just think you're brilliant.
Bohemian Life: Yes, it's totally cheesy and stereotypical. But it's fluffy and fun so you can't possibly dislike it. Thanks for reading and reviewing )
Butterflygurl: I'm guilty of reading everything involving Mark as well. If you want a really good one, I recommend highly "The Companion" by evilemmylou. It's one of my all-time favorites.