Author's note: Thanks for reading and reviewing this story! I hope you continue to like it and read it! Please review. Enjoy the chapter!
--Joanne--
"Hello?"
"Mark? It's Joanne." My voice was cracking.
"What happened? Are you okay?" I took a deep breath.
"I'm fine. It's just…Maureen."
"What happened?" How am I going to explain this?
"Well…I found her in the bathroom…you know, on the scale? She seemed so frail and fragile. Anyway, she flared out at me, talking about how she is so disgustingly overweight and stuff like that. I don't know what to do about it! I tried to confront her, and she stormed out."
"…" There was silence on the other end of the line, I could here some shuffling feet and mumbling.
"Mark?"
"Sorry, Joanne. That was just Roger coming home. Do you know where she might have gone?"
"No, that's why I was calling you…I thought you might have some kind of experience with this?" He sighed.
"I'm really sorry Joanne…I always just let her do her own thing when she got like that…I was too afraid of her to do anything else. Maybe check the bars? Her usual hangouts?"
"Mark, I'm going to need your help. This city is huge, and I have no idea what places she even frequents. Please?"
"Okay. I'll get Roger to help, too. She's very unpredictable if she's still the same as she used to be."
"Mark?" My voice sounded very small and hesitant.
"Yeah?" I paused, unable to find the words that I was looking for.
"Um…let's just hurry, okay?"
"You're scared, aren't you?" I stifled a sob.
"Yeah. Listen, why don't I come over there? You know better than I do where she might be, and it'll probably be in or around the Village, don't you think?" I was back into logical lawyer mode.
"Okay. We'll see you in a few." I hung up the phone and slumped against the wall, then, in an act of frustrated rage, I smacked the phone, cradle and all, off of the table. "AAAAAAHH!"
--Maureen--
After I stormed out of the apartment, I started running. Normally, I would head towards the East Village, where I fit in, where people know me. But given that fact, and that I wanted to be left alone, I ran in the opposite direction. After a while, I realized that I had no idea where I was. I sit on the steps to a rather large, gothic-looking church, realizing that I have climbed about half of them absently. I've been crying the whole time, which I don't realize until this very moment, in which curl up and sob into myself, now fully aware that all I am wearing is a trenchcoat.
--Joanne--
The guys and I have been to every place in the Village, and scoured them for hours. Maureen is still nowhere to be found. We checked back at the loft, and currently are at my apartment. Still no Maureen. Roger has been pacing anxiously for the past ten minutes, which is not something that he usually does.
"Where else could she have possibly gone?" Roger inquires, to no one in particular. I shrug. Mark is deep in thought.
"Maybe…she just…went. I remember once when I was dating her…the day that April died…she just ran. I followed her on my bike…at a safe distance. When she stopped, she seemed confused…she was just…sitting there…so broken." A collective shudder went through the group. Suicide…
"You don't think that she…" I began, then Mark and Roger locked eyes, and there was silence. The three of us were out of the building in about twenty seconds, wandering the opposite direction of the Village, trying to find her.
--Maureen--
After a few hours had passed, I realized that it was getting late, and additionally it had begun to rain. I saw Joanne walking near the church, though she hadn't reached it yet, or seen me, so I ran. I didn't know that Roger had seen me, or that he was even there, until he grabbed my shoulders and spun me around. I fell against his chest, relieved that he wasn't some random stranger. I was shivering, and he wrapped his arms around me. He was protective of me, and for that, I was glad.
"Maureen, what's going on with you?" He asked firmly, though still somehow soft and caring. He looked deep into my eyes, green meeting green, and I knew he could see right through me. He looked pained, suddenly. "How many times to I have to tell you that you are perfect the way that you are? Look at you! You're wasting away—you have got to stop this!" He was yelling. I swallowed hard, tears spilling over, and buried my face in his chest.
"I'm sorry…I—wait a minute--You don't like me this way—I can see it on your face every time you look at me! That disgust, I know it's there."
"Maureen, you are too thin. If you see disapproval there, that's why. You're killing yourself, why can't you see that?"
"I don't know…" My voice sounded small and frightened. I hate being vulnerable like this!
"Let's get you home. You're gonna get pneumonia or something out here." I smiled.
"What're you, my mother?" He rolled his eyes at me and squeezed my shoulders reassuringly, as I was still visibly shaken, and Joanne and Mark finally caught up to us.
--Joanne--
I ran up to Maureen, glad that Roger was there for her and more observant than Mark and I had been. I wrapped my arms around her, and she clung desperately to me. She was freezing, and soaked.
"Come on, honey, let's get you back home. Mark, Roger, thanks for all of your help." I said, looking Roger, who was standing behind Maureen, in the eye. He cleared his throat.
"Um…why don't we walk back with you guys, to make sure you get there all right?" He was hinting at helping me out with my situation with Maureen, I could tell by the look that he gave me as he said it. I released Maureen, and looked back at Mark, who nodded enthusiastically.
"Okay. That sounds good. Maybe we can grab some dinner or something," I said, looking at Maureen, and squeezed her hand. She nodded.