No Day But Today
DISCLAIMER: I do not own RENT or anything affiliated with it.
"Mom, Dad, this is Mark," Liz said, smiling. Mark shook her father's hand with a smile.
"It's nice to meet you, Mark," her father said.
"It's nice to meet you as well," Mark replied. He pulled out one of the empty chairs for Liz and then proceeded to sit down next to her.
"So, Mark, what is it you do for a living?" Mr. Gordon asked, taking a sip from his water glass. They were about to have dinner in a very expensive Italian restaurant, and Mark was nervous.
"I'm a cameraman for channel five," Mark replied.
"We met at work… we've been working together for the past few months," Liz explained.
"That's nice," her mother replied, smiling.
"What exactly are your intentions with my daughter?" Mr. Gordon asked. Mark's eyes widened.
"Dad," Liz began.
"I'm just trying to make sure he isn't trying to take advantage of you."
"I wouldn't even think of taking advantage of your daughter, sir. My only intention at this point is to be her best friend," he replied. Liz smiled silently at him.
"So the two of you aren't serious yet?" her mother asked, hopeful. Liz rolled her eyes.
"Mother, stop it. We've only known each other a few weeks," she said.
"You told us that you were seeing each other exclusively," her father replied. She sighed.
"I never said that," Liz replied. "Honestly, I only told you that I was seeing Mark so you wouldn't ask Reginald to join us tonight. If you want to get into technicalities, Mark and I haven't even gone on our first date yet."
"So the two of you aren't dating? You lied to us?" her father asked, turning red. Mark took Liz's hand.
"Not technically, sir. We've been hanging out with each other for several weeks now, we just haven't had an official date," Mark replied.
"I wasn't talking to you," Mr. Gordon said. He was really upset. "Let's just eat. We can talk about this later."
"Or we can talk about it now. I don't like Reggie, Dad. He's a stuck-up prick, and nothing will change my opinion about him. I wish the two of you would just stop trying to force to two of us to be together and realize that I have a life of my own and I'm going to be with whoever I damn well please," Liz said, standing up. "I knew it was a bad idea to even invite the two of you to visit." She pulled out her keys and handed one to her father. "Just leave it in the mailbox in the morning. And don't try to call me, because I won't answer." She stood up and motioned for Mark to follow. "Let's go." Mark followed her silently out of the restaurant.
"Are you okay?" he asked, as they walked out into the street.
"I'm sorry you had to see that. They're so obsessed with appearances… they just don't give a shit about me," Liz replied. She ran a hand through her hair and then smiled at him. "Though I must say, it felt kind of nice to piss them off."
Mark smiled as he woke up with Liz's head resting gently on his chest. He gently shook her, because it was getting late. "Lizzie, wake up," he whispered. She yawned and opened her eyes.
"Morning," she said, sitting up.
"Morning," he replied, sitting up to kiss her.
"Thank you for not trying anything last night, Mark. It really means a lot to me that you respected me enough to leave me alone," she said. She kissed him. "Maybe soon we can get a little closer," she teased. Mark smiled.
"I think I like that idea," he replied. "We need to get up… work calls."
"Too bad we can't play hooky…" she began. Mark shook his head.
"I can't afford to play hooky. I'm saving up my vacation time to work on my next documentary. Whenever I get a decent idea," Mark said. He pulled himself away from Liz and stood up, walking over to his closet to get dressed. Mark heard Liz gasp as he pulled off his shirt.
"Oh my God," she whispered. "You're so skinny." Mark quickly covered himself with the shirt he was planning on wearing that day, without answering. Neither of them said another word until he was fully dressed.
"I lost a lot of weight while I was sick," he told her, not mentioning how much he'd lost since then.
A/n: Hey y'all! I'm back! I still won't be updating as often as I was, but I am going to try and update once a week or so.