Disclaimer: Okay, so I was a complete idiot for not having a disclaimer on the first chapter, I have no excuse. Perhaps you all can forgive my errors as this is after all my first fan fic. I love the movie, and I am currently saving up my money in hopes of being able to buy a ticket for the on stage performance coming in the fall to my home town.
Most of these characters are the creation of the brilliant Jonathon Larson, and I give him the full credit. Here goes.
As Collins walked Angie home, he questioned her about her past, thirsty for more information.
"So where's your hometown?"
"Small suburb in the Midwest."
"Really! I'm from Iowa," Collins remarked. "Did you have a job there?"
"Not really, my parents didn't want me to grow up, so all I was allowed to do was baby-sit." As she said this, she blushed, more from embarrassment than the cold wind.
"I don't mean to pry, but if you lead such a sheltered life, how did you retract AIDs? You don't have to answer that if you don't want to."
"I'll tell you if you promise that you won't judge me by it. I rebelled against my parents, and started using smack. I haven't used in over a year though."
"How could I judge you for quitting? I couldn't, at least not fairly. Roger quit using two years ago and Mimi quit somewhere around last January. Her near death experience near last Christmas got her to quit, as well as Rogers love."
"So that's why they're so close," Angie said, figuring it out.
"Yeah, Roger even wrote a song for her, "Your Eyes", we believe that's what kept her from dying," Collins informed.
"Wow," Angie breathed. "Are they going to get married?"
"I couldn't tell you, you'd have to ask one of them."
"Something tells me that I'd be one of the last people Roger told. I don't think he liked me all that much."
"Nah, you just asked a little too much about Mimi." An awkward silence ensued for about a minute before, "Hey, um, there's going to be a party at the loft on Christmas Eve, do you wanna come?"
"Sure, I'd like that. Do I need to bring anything?"
"Pajamas. We do a Secret Santa type thing, so come to the loft around 5pm or so tomorrow, that's when we're drawing names."
"Okay, well this is my place, so I'll see you tomorrow I guess." She walked up the three stairs to the door, waved goodbye to Collins, and stepped inside. As she closed the door, she couldn't help but smile to herself. Still smiling she climbed the four flights of stairs to her apartment.
Around 4:30pm the next day, Collins called to let Mark, Roger, and Mimi know that Angie would be joining in on the Christmas Eve festivities.
"Okay, Great, yeah I'll add her name," Mimi said into the phone's mouthpiece. "Bye," she said and she hung up. "Angie will be joining us for the party," she announced to Mark and Roger as she scribbled Angie on a small piece of white paper.
"Great," Mark replied.
Mimi headed over to Roger, sat down on his lap and began smooching with him. Roger quickly pulled Mimi into a tight hug.
"Aren't you two cute?" Collins teased as he entered the apartment.
"What the hell are you doing here so early?"
"Roger!" Mimi scolded mischievously.
"Dropping my stuff off before I go get Angie." With that, Collins dropped his backpack, and left almost as quickly as he had appeared.
Later on, once everyone had arrived, Mimi walked through the living room, a hat laden with small white pieces of paper with her friends' names on them.
Once everyone had a card with someone else's name on it, she repeated the rules once more of Secret Santa. "Okay, nobody is allowed to tell anyone what name they have," she looked at Maureen as she said this. "To avoid any confusion with gift buying, everyone has a list on the kitchen counter. Just find the list you need, and don't think about the others. One at a time, we will go and get the list of the person we have. Maureen you go first."
Maureen got up, pranced into the kitchen, and came back with Angie's list in her back pocket. "You go next Joanne," Maureen directed, giving her girlfriend a peck on the check as she sat back down.
Joanne went into the kitchen and took Mark's list, then went back and resumed her seat next to Maureen. "Angie, why don't you go next."
"Mark your turn," Angie said returning with Collins's list. Mark got up retrieved Roger's list.
"You next Collins." So Collins went and got Joanne's list.
"Let's have Roger go next," Collins said with a chuckle.
Once Roger returned with Mimi's list, Mimi went and retrieved the last remaining list, Maureen's. "Alright, now that we all have a list of ideas, let the..."
"Shopping begin!" interjected Maureen enthusiastically.
"Exactly, and meet back here around 8:30pm on the 24th with your gifts." After saying goodbye to everyone, Mark, Roger, and Mimi were the only ones left in the loft.
Mark, not wanting to intrude on anything private, retreated into his bedroom, where he spent the remainder of the night.
The next four days flew by fairly quickly. Soon enough, it was 8:28pm on Christmas Eve. Maureen and Joanne, living only downstairs, were the first to arrive. Shortly afterwards, Collins and Angie appeared.
Since they hardly ever did anything by tradition, gift opening took place at 9:30. However, at 9:26 they all gathered into a circle on the floor. Mimi then started handing each person their present.
"So who wants to open theirs first?" she questioned those seated as she walked back to her spot next to Roger and sat down.
"I will!" Maureen exclaimed enthusiastically. She tore at the wrapping paper, revealing a $45 gift card to her favorite store attached to a toy plastic microphone. "Ah, thanks Meems!"
"I'll go next," Joanne offered. She opened her gift to find a Philosophy and Law book. "Thank you Collins."
Mimi was the last to go, and everyone waited anxiously to see what Roger had given her.
She opened the small box, and there sat a gift card to a bridal shop. Then to everyone's surprise, especially Mimi's, Roger got on one knee and said, "Mimi will you marry me?"
Maureen squealed with glee, Mimi shouted Yes over Maureen's squeal, and then Roger kissed his fiancé.
About a half hour later, after the excitement of the engagement had subsided to a bare minimum, Collins, who was sitting next to Angie, asked, "Will you be my lover?"
Angie answered with a passionate kiss on the lips, and as they pulled away from each other she whispered, "Yes."
Mark who had been silently sitting on the couch, suddenly felt lonely. After all, Maureen had Joanne, Mimi had Roger and now, Collins had Angie. He was once more the odd one out. With a sigh, he stood up, and walked to the door, "See you later," he said dismally as he left.
He was unsure of where exactly he was going. His feet led him to the Life. He went in, ordered a tea, and sat in silence.
"Do you mind if I join you?"
The question startled him, but he nodded all the same. A girl of average height slid into the seat opposite him. "Thanks," she said sitting down.
"No problem," Mark replied.
At a loss for words, neither one spoke. Mark sat in silence, across from him sat a complete stranger.
"I'm Marie," she said, breaking the silence.
"Mark," he said. Another awkward silence ensued.
"More tea?" The waiter had appeared at the table.
"Sure," Mark answered glumly.
"And for you?" the waiter asked turning to Marie.
"I'll have a tea as well." With that the waiter returned to the kitchen. He reappeared a couple minutes later with two cups of tea. Once he deposited the cups on the table, he hurried away, fearing something weird might happen.
Sipping her tea, Marie asked, "Do you mind if I work on a paper for college?"
"No, go ahead," Mark replied. "What's it on?"
Smiling at the start of a conversation, Marie answered, "Child Development."
For the first time Mark looked up. Marie was smiling; she had long, straight brown hair, and green eyes.
"What about you, what do you do for a living?" Marie questioned.
Mark chuckled softly before replying, "Technically, I'm a film-maker, but since my roommate and best friend Roger refuses to get a real job, I work for Buzzline."
"Interesting, what kind of films do you make?"
"Mainly documentaries about people living on the street and people living as HIV/AIDs positive."
"Why that topic?"
"Roger and his girlfr, fiancé are both sufferers of HIV/AIDs. So is our other friend, Collins. His girlfriend actually died of AIDs in October 1990."
"That's so sad; you don't have HIV/AIDs, do you?"
"No, I'm one of three in our group that doesn't."
Preciously at that moment, Collins and Angie walked into the café, in search of Mark. Having finally found him, they were happy to see that he wasn't alone. They walked over to join him and the mysterious woman seated across from him.
"Hey Mark," Collins called as he and Angie approached the table.
"What are you guys doing here?"
"Looking for you," Angie answered. "Everyone at the loft was getting worried about you."
"No they weren't, at least Roger wasn't. I left because I figured I'd give all you love birds some privacy."
"Really," Collins teased, "then who's the girl?"
"I'm Marie, um did you want to join us?" she offered.
"Sure," Collins answered. He took the seat on the left of Mark, while Angie sat down in the seat to the right of Marie.
"This is Collins," Mark said introducing his friend, "and this is his current girlfriend Angie."
"Nice to meet you both," Marie said, slightly confused.
"Same to you," Angie replied sweetly.
The waiter then returned, wary that more of them had appeared. "Do you want anything, even though the Life Café closes in sixteen minutes exactly?"
"Um, sure, I'll have a coffee, black," Angie said.
"I'm good," Collins replied to the questioning look on the waiters face.
As soon as they were all finished with their drinks, Marie slipped Mark a napkin with her phone number on it. "I'll wait for your call," she said.
Mark hesitated a moment as he watched her get ready to leave the emptying café. "Um, maybe I should walk you home," he suggested, "it's not safe for anyone, especially women to be out alone this late at night."
"Alright," Marie replied, knowing perfectly well that she could handle herself should a problem arise. "I'd like that."
Okay so that's chapter 2, hope you all enjoyed it. I got sick of Mark being the extra wheel, plus I promised my best friend that I'd write her in. I'll try to get the next chapter up quickly, but I make no promises. I'm writing it as I go, and I'm limited to an hour on the computer a day in the summer, parents. Lots of love to my readers!
Diva Actree