Roger

"Can I talk to you?" Anne interrupted me as she knocked on the window frame. Her eyes were swollen and red; she'd obviously been crying.

I nodded and cleared a spot on the fire escape for her to sit down on. "This is about Mark, right?"

"Um…" She pauses. I can read her like a book, she's easier than Mark.

An awkward and highly uncomfortable silence follows.

"I'm worried, Roger. I'm worried that when I tell him, he's not going to love me or want to be with me." She pulls her legs up and rests her head on them, sobbing. "I don't know what I'd do without him."

I feel bad now, like it's me and my standoffish attitude that's brought her to this sudden burst of truth. "Maybe you should, uh, call Mimi to talk about this?"

She shook her head. "Mimi knows Mark, but you know him better. You get him." She looks up at me, her eyes filled with tears. "What if he leaves me Roger? Just goes and finds another girl while I'm getting..." She trailed off, unable to elaborate. "…while I'm gone and decides that I'm not good enough."

I rubbed her back. "I won't let him break your heart, okay? He's really not that type anyway so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Just go in there. Talk to him. You two are adults and I know you can sort through this thing."

"I can't face him. I don't want to see the disappointment."

Boy, do I know how that goes.

"Just go to sleep then. You don't need to tell him anything until you're ready, just get in bed and sleep." I smoothed her hair out of her face and offered my hand to her.

She hugged me tightly before ducking back into my bedroom. "Roger?" She called, looking back at me. "I love you, you know that right?"

I nodded and turned away. Whenever the shit finally hits the fan, I was going to have to pick up the pieces.

-----

The next morning I went out to buy a few replacement strings and stopped for coffee. As I climbed the second flight of stairs, I could hear raised voices. There wasn't any slamming or sounds of things breaking, like when Mimi and I fought, just lots of yelling.

"How could you?" Mark's voice resounded down the stairwell. "How could you fucking do that?"

I ran up the remaining flights two steps at a time. The door was open, explaining why the yelling was unusually loud. I set my bag down and scanned across the loft. I briefly saw Mark pace past his door before the yelling started again.

"Jesus Christ, Anne. What's wrong with you? How could you!" He repeated, his voice gaining volume with each syllable.

I heard her sob and try to choke out an answer.

"Mark, what the fuck is going on?" I stormed into his room, pulling his arm hard. Anne was sitting on the bed, her face red and tear-stained. Her body was shaking.

Mark had found out.

"Roger, this is none of your business."

"The hell it isn't! So I'm going to ask you one more time; what's going on?"

"I saw Anne with The Man today. She's lied to me this whole time. Lied about being married, lied about drugs. What else haven't you told me?" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"I told you, Patrick and I weren't married." Anne whispered.

"Too little too fucking late." Mark spat at her. "She lied about everything, Roger. Remember that episode the first couple weeks we were dating? Yeah, that wasn't an allergic reaction. That was a spell of withdrawal. And her headache problem? That was from not getting her fix."

I shoved Mark to the side and sat down on the bed next to Anne, unsure whether or not I should touch her. "I promise I'll help you get clean, Anne. We'll find a good rehab place and sort everything out once we're all a little less worked up."

She nodded but the steady flow of tears didn't stop.

"Mark, get in the fucking kitchen. Now!" I growled, grabbing him roughly by the collar. At this point, he didn't have a choice.

"Stop policing me. She'll go to rehab and forget all about me and I'll go back to the way my life was before, minus a little good sex."

"Quit being such a fucking martyr, Mark. Nobody's leaving anybody." I slammed two mugs down on the counter and poured some water in.

"I don't want to be with a junkie, Roger. I don't want to deal with it again. I don't want to end up positive in a few months." He grabbed the cup from me and took a long gulp. His throat was probably on fire after all that yelling.

"Put your foot in your mouth, asshole. Not everyone who does drugs ends up with HIV." I said, trying to keep my voice calm and stern.

"What I could use right now is you not butting into my business. I'm not going through seeing another person I love go through withdrawal. No fucking way." Mark replied.

What you could use right now is a good ass kicking.

"What about when you made me quit, cold turkey? You put up with my mood swings and my violence and my relentless verbal abuse. She's not even going to be here, Mark. She'll be some place safe and secure where nothing bad can happen to either of you."

"Don't fucking sugar coat rehab, Roger. I know what it's like. And I only stuck with you because you're my oldest friend. It would've been wrong to leave you like that when you needed someone."

"Don't give me that bullshit. You know damn well that leaving Anne right now would kill both of you. You didn't see her out on the fire escape last night. She's so fucking afraid right now, Mark! She thinks you're going to leave her and I didn't have the heart to tell her that you might!"

"You don't understand this." He dismissed me, heading back into his room.

"You love Anne. What's there for me to understand? It's more than just the brotherly love that you have for me. You truly love this girl, Mark."

"I already dealt with one druggie already, Roger. Your withdrawal was enough for me."

"Why don't you get this Mark? That love is a doing verb, not just filming something with your camera? I could have all the time in the world with Mimi and it still wouldn't be enough to show her how much I love her."

He can be so frustrating sometimes! I'm trying to prevent him from making the biggest mistake of his life here and all he's doing is protesting.

"Roger..." he began, but I put my hand up.

"No. I give up. You're too busy living vicariously through what you film to realize that you have what people are looking for. It's right in front of you, Mark!" I run my head though my hair. "Just don't burn any bridges you may need to cross later on."

I slammed his bedroom door behind me and passed Mimi in the kitchen on my way out.

"Roger, what's wrong?" She tossed her bags into the corner and followed me to the door.

I didn't answer her. I knew that I'd blow up and scream and say things to her that I didn't mean. I bit my tongue until I tasted blood. The last thing I needed right now was having both of them mad at me.

Mimi caught up with me and grabbed my arm, her eyes pleading. "Please Roger, tell me. I just came home and you're already shutting me out from what's going on."

"Mark wants to give up on Anne. He says that my withdrawal was enough and that it's not worth the risk of her leaving once she's clean." I rested my head against the cool metal of the door.

Mimi looked at me, incredulous. "Anne uses? We're talking about the same Anne, right?

I nodded. "I can't believe he's doing this."

She ran a hand up and down my back. "Well what has Anne said? Did they even talk about what's going to happen to their relationship while she's there? Or is he just assuming?"

"There's a lot more to this than we expected. You don't know about what happened while you were home." I sat down put my head in my hands. "It was awful, Meems. Anne was sobbing and hyperventilating and Mark was just going off on her calling her a liar and a whore…"

She sat down on the floor in front of me and rested her hands on my knees. "That's not Mark, you and I know that. Anne surely knows it too. But what happened?"

"Anne was engaged a couple years ago. There were no set wedding plans or anything, but there was definitely a ring. And while they were out a couple days ago she ran into her ex-fiancée. Mark asked how she knew him and stuff and it came out that they were engaged. Anne wouldn't tell him why they called everything off and… Mark just lost it."

"I'm sure there was a reason, Roger. People change, you fall out of love. It sounds like he's being really stubborn." Mimi said.

"I think I just need some sleep to clear my head. It's not like I can unattach myself from everything but I just want a break from it all."

Mimi looked apologetic. "I'd stay with you, but I have to work tonight. I used up almost all of my leftover vacation days to go help my mom out."

"I understand." I kissed her forehead and headed into our room for what I was sure would be a restless slumber. After tossing and turning for a couple hours, I gave up and hauled my guitar and a blanket out to the fire escape. At least I could try to relax and maybe be productive.

The next morning, Mimi and I watched them from the windows upstairs. Anne was bundled up in a heavy coat and scarf, yet we could still see her shivering. Mark put his arm around her waist as he led her to the taxi. His knuckles were white from clenching his fist so hard. He's holding on for dear life. Anne is crying into his shoulder now, hugging him so tightly I'm sure that he'll have bruises tomorrow. I can see his lips moving, whispering something that's probably sweet and reassuring. That's Mark for you; a gentleman even at the worst times when he's falling apart at the seams. But I can see the crack in his armor and I know Mimi can too. She sniffs and hugs me tighter.

"Mark didn't sleep last night, did he?" Mimi looked up at me.

"I don't think so, no. I heard him for a while, shuffling around and talking to himself. Even so, just look at the black circles he has today. They're worse than usual."

"Poor Mark." Mimi sighed. "Let's go, Rog. I think he needs some time away from the prying eyes of his roommates so say some things to her." She gave me a knowing look.

"What did you do? Mimi, did you talk to him or something?" I followed her back into the kitchen.

She sat down with a cup of coffee that was probably cold. "When I came home last night, he was sitting here with his camera and the projector. I thought he was editing something for work, but he was actually watching what he filmed. And what was on the wall wasn't the typical, obscure Mark Cohen film. It was of them. Anne in the kitchen, cooking and dancing around in her underwear. Them kissing in Central Park, the Life. And I knew that he was crying and I didn't know what to say. So I just sat down and watched with him."

I sat down on the table. "Mimi, you didn't! Do you know how private that is? He was probably watching it because he thought we weren't going to disturb him."

"He didn't mind, at least I don't think he did. Every once in a while he'd make a comment about her or just sniff." Mimi shrugged.

"Mark's never got that upset about anything before. And I mean anything. Not even when I almost smashed his camera."

"When did that happen?" She asked, staring at me quizzically.

"It's not important. I'm worried about him. He's never been this distraught over someone, even when I was getting clean he was never this bad. I would hear him on the phone with my mom or Collins and he'd sound worn out but he looks like shit now. Way worse." I confessed.

Mimi slid into my lap, rubbing my shoulders and back softly. "I know, honey. I know. We'll help get him through this."

Mark closed the door of the loft and hurried into his bedroom without a word or sideways glance at either of us.

"In a couple months, they'll start over again. Rebuild their relationship from the ground up. Everything will work out." Mimi reassured me.

I nodded. "Because if it doesn't, I honestly doubt he'll be in another relationship. The trust issues he must have now… my god."

"Roger, if we didn't have something to fear about love, there'd be nothing there." Mimi said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, stroking her back.

"As much as I know you love me, I'm still afraid of losing you because love is scary. I want to reciprocate the feelings and make you feel just as special as you make me feel, but I'm so worried that I'm going to disappoint you and not love you enough in return."

I looked at her, incredulous. "Meems, don't ever think that you don't love me as much as I love you. That's just… crazy."

She sighed. "Don't say that you never feel inadequate when you get that kind of look that makes you feel really small and insignificant. Yes, it's loving but it can be overwhelming sometimes. It's like someone else has complete power over your emotions and that's scary."

I pulled her into a tight hug. "I love you, you know that? Thanks for putting up with my continuous bullshit."

The cat's out of the bag. Did anyone see this coming? I really hope not, because that would really ruin it for me. Actually, no it wouldn't because it would mean that you picked up on the subtle hints I've been dropping along the way. So if you figured it out beforehand, good for you.

Up next: Mark's take on the situation and witnessing Anne's encounter with The Man. Poor Mark. I feel bad for him, I really do. But I love torturing the guy. And now for everybody's favorite part, review responses!

EDIT: I uploaded & published this chapter on the 4th, but something happened and it didn't take (I got no comfirmation email either) so it looked like I never updated. Go figure. So I deleted it and I'm trying again this time. Hopefully it works.

Jack Flash: The big deal is that Anne intentionally withheld important information from Mark. It makes her a little bit untrustworthy in his eyes and he gets pissed off. Rightfully so, right?

DancingStarofOz: I'm glad you like the story. Anne's a bit of a Mary Sue, I'll admit it. But I like how she's a dork just like Mark, hence her odd occupation. I've always hated how Mark is portrayed as the angel in relationships when I bet he has the most jaded view on them out of the whole group. So I'm trying to shed light on a more negative side of him that nobody really shows. Mark's not perfect? Gasp

L.M. Ward: OCD, eh? Good guess though. Come to think of it, I can totally see where you'd come up with that. You're clever and way too nice to mee. Were you surprised?

Harper's Pixie: I bet Roger reads people well. At least my Roger does. Hence why he figured Anne out way centuries before poor Mark, who probably wouldn't have known for a lot longer had he not witnessed her with The Man.

eLpHaBaFaBaLaElPhIeFaE: Another good guess! I was trying to add things that would confuse the reader and give them all sorts of ideas and I guess it worked! Thanks for the sweet review

JacksTortugaLass: I remember you! Long time no see! I'm so glad you caught yourself up in the world of Anne & Mark. It's only going to get better (no wait, worse actually) from here.

Jay: I decided to wait a few days to let this stew in my mind before posting this chapter. I didn't want to rush things. Thanks for reviewing

-Ella