Disclaimer: I have said it before, rent is not mine and unfortunately, it never will be.

Chapter Four

After her meeting with her agent, Marli was even more stressed. If she didn't get a deal from her supposedly brilliant director soon, the producers were going to cut the project. It made Marli want to bite her nails. But you done pay sixty dollars a week to get your nails done just to go bite them. She had to have something to do with her hands to keep her from ruining her manicure. She stopped a coffee shop and picked up a large iced coffee. That would keep her occupied for a while.

Thinking back on her lunch with Mark, she got the exact same feeling in her stomach, nervous and excited all at once. She remembered this feeling fondly. As she recalled, the last time she had felt it had been in college. And the last person she had felt it about had been none other than Mark Cohen.

Back in college, she and Mark had been great friends, best friends even. She thought he was adorable and to be quite frank, a GOD with a camera. Every time she went to a class he was in as well or they did something together she would get this feeling. This strange feeling in her stomach. The exact same one she had right now.

In truth, she has always liked Mark. However, Marli never asked a guy out, that was his deal. Mark never seemed interested enough to risk it anyway. He was in love with his work, just as she had become about hers. In fact, sometimes she even wondered if he was gay and that was why he never had a girlfriend in college.

Cut the scene to everyone living in the East Village. She still had these feelings but she was in denial of them. The more she denied them, the less disappointed she'd be when nothing happened and/or he started dating someone new. She hardly remembered most of his friends, she had only met most of them of couple of times. But she can remember why she was so relieved when her first script finally got picked up. Yes, she was relieved she would have money to buy food and clothes and that she could leave Alphabet City. But above all else she was relieved that she wouldn't have to watch any longer, as Mark, the only guy she's ever really cared about, dated another woman. You may be familiar with her. Her name, is Maureen Johnson.

Mark's day after lunch with Marli had been a long one. He couldn't stop thinking about her. Her thick blonde hair that cascaded to a little under her shoulders. He deep set amber eyes that seemed to laugh along with her. Her perfect nose that she wrinkled in the cutest way possible. Everything about her had been haunting him.

He was in the loft alone. Roger was with Mimi, as usual. He hated how empty everything felt. The loft felt empty with only Mark there, he'd been used to Roger staying home for so long, it felt empty whenever he went downstairs to be with Mimi. He hated how empty the loft was, as opposed to how it was years ago. Above all else, he hated how empty his heart was. That's Poetic, he thought, that's pathetic.

Marli had brought back feelings he didn't know he could feel anymore. After Maureen, he had found it best to be completely, utterly numb to feelings of love. Yet Marli, with her mega-watt smile and her sunny disposition, had managed to change all that. This attraction was more than just skin deep. He had felt it long enough to know.

In college, Marli was one of his first friends. She lived in the same building where he and Benny had shared a dorm room. That was before Benny was an ass, he thought to himself, smirking. On the first day of term she came to his room and introduced herself as Marli Camille Ryan, film major. He remembers Benny laughing at her formality and introducing himself as Benjamin Coffin the Third, business major. Mark grinned and just said that he was a film major as well, by the name of Mark Cohen. That was when they had first hit it off.

For the next four years their friendship became even closer. They were good friends; perhaps you could call them BEST friends. They did a lot together. The planned to make major films together, she writing the scripts, him directing. Funny that it was really happening. Mark had always felt something but was too shy to admit. After all, guys like Mark Cohen never dated girls like Marli Ryan. It was practically against the laws of nature. But he loved her, oh man did her love her.

Of course he didn't know he loved her until one night, their senior year. There was a huge dorm party and Marli got completely pissed drunk. She probably didn't even know about this, she was that intoxicated, but she came to Mark and slurred, "I fucking love you," and then kissed him, flat on the lips. They kissed for a while until he decided it was terrible to take advantage of her like that. He excused himself and walked away. And that was the night he knew that he was completely in love with Marli Ryan.

For a few years, she lived in Alphabet City. She never really had met most of his friends, but they stayed close. He tried with all his to might to numb himself of these feelings. So when Maureen asked him out, he said yes, he needed to forget about Marli, once and for all. And he must admit, he did love Maureen for a while. But when she left him for Joanne, he wasn't upset because he loved Maureen. He was upset because the person who was keeping him numb wouldn't be keeping him numb anymore. But back to when Marli left, he was relieved. Relieved because maybe, just maybe, he could finally forget about Marli Camille Ryan, once and for all.

A/N: This chapter is kind of short, but I feel like I got a lot accomplished in it. What do you think? Also, I want to have more appearances by canon characters. Question is, who? Review as always.