Back by popular demand, thank you so much for reviewing! I saw it in Study Hall, and almost had a seizure. My friends thought I was insane, jumping up and down, and then I wrote this in study hall. Enjoy it!
Chapter 2- The Prophet with a Rose
I stood in front of the mirror, and smoothed out the wrinkles in my shirt. It was a nice collared shirt that cost me thirty dollars. It was a nice looking shirt, except for the large patch on the right side that read "Jewish Artist Convention 1985" on it. I smoothed the khaki pants out, and glanced down at the shoes. I grabbed the single red rose on the counter, and turned around to face Roger.
"What do you think?" I asked him. He looked at me.
"Like a prophet with a rose," he said, with laughter at the end. I stared back at him.
"What makes me look…holy?" I asked him. He looked at me.
"I don't know. Maybe the Jewish Artist Convention on your shirt," Roger said.
"Well, what do I do? I don't have anything else to wear," I said.
"Just go like that. Hurry, you'll be late," Roger said, shoving me towards the door.
"But it's only 6:30," I said.
"Yeah, well, it takes a while to get there," he said.
"What are you –" I was suddenly interrupted by a fragile knocking on the door. I looked at Roger. "Up to?"
Roger went to the door, and opened it.
"Hey April," he said. Roger shut the door, and let a girl in. She had dark red hair, and beautiful brown eyes. She was wearing a sheer black shirt, and cameo pants. I looked at her, and realized that this was just the type of girl for Roger.
"Oh, hi, I didn't know Roger had roommates," she said.
"Oh, well, I guess he failed to mention that. I'm Mark, Mark Cohen," I said, putting my hand out for her to shake. She looked at it, and shook it.
"April," she said, she looked down at my shirt. "Nice shirt," she said.
"Thanks," I muttered.
She turned back towards Roger. "So, you ready to book it?" she asked.
"Yep, see ya Mark," Roger said, whisking me away. I smiled at the happy couple leaving.
"See ya later Mr. April," I said quietly. Roger had his hand around April's waist, he turned back and looked at me. He then held his fist up and shook it at me. I smirked, and he shut the door.
I grabbed my rose and headed to the bar.
I got there, and there was Maureen. She was sitting at the bar, talking to the bartender. She had a martini already ordered, and she was fumbling around with her necklace.
"Hello," I said to her. Maureen looked at me, and smiled.
"Hey Mark," she said. I handed her the rose.
"For you."
"For me? Oh pookie, you shouldn't have!" she exclaimed. She reached out and planted a kiss on my cheek. I was too excited to care that I now had red lipstick on my cheek.
Pookie? What kinda name is that?
The bartender left her, and went over to some other customers. "So, what do you want?" she asked me.
"Oh, just water," I said.
"No alcohol? Surely you are old enough to drink it," she said to me.
"Ok, I am, I just, prefer not to drink it. I'm not a big fan of it," I said. She looked at me, oddly. "I guess just one drink will be fine," I said, giving in. She smiled, and banging her hand on the counter. Her bracelets banging on it.
"Yo Mr. Bartender! We'll have a martini, dry, please," she said. The bartender went to work, and she turned towards me, and looked down at my shirt. "Nice shirt," she said.
"Don't say anything about it. It was the only dress shirt I actually wanted to keep," I said. She laughed at me, and stroked it.
"No, I like it. It's like…a prophet with a rose," she said quietly. The bartender sat the martini down, and looked at us. Her hand was still on my chest and she was smiling at me.
The Prophet with a rose was my new nickname.
We were walking towards my apartment, the date had gone very well. She had her arm around my shoulder, and her hand on my stomach. I had my arm around her waist, and she was laughing hysterically. She hit my chest.
"Oh, Mark! You are so funny!" she exclaimed, and I found the sarcasm in her voice. She had too much to drink, and I could tell. I didn't even finish my martini, but if Maureen had one more drink, she would have been drunk.
"Trust me, I'm not that funny," I said. She stopped, and swung around to were she was in front of me.
"Not funny? Please come on, don't be serious," she said, caressing my cheek. "I like funny guys."
"Then I'll be funny," I said. I pulled away from her, and started quacking like a duck. I walked around like that. Okay, so maybe I didn't have much to drink, but when I was around Maureen, it was like I was drunk with love.
She was laughing at me, and then she snorted. She then grabbed my shirt. "Okay, okay, be serious now," she said.
"Sorry, I can't be serious anymore, you got me hyped up!" I exclaimed.
"Oh yeah?" she asked me.
"Yeah."
"Well, I think I can fix that," she said. She put both her arms around my neck, and pulled my head towards hers. I closed my eyes instantly, the magic was returning. The sweet taste of Maureen's lips were back.
She placed her lips on top of mine, and slowly kissed me, and I kissed her back. I could tell she had lots of practice, since I just wanted to stop kissing there, and let her just throw herself all over me. But I didn't, I was too in love. Her tongue broke through my lips, and touched mine, and after that, I lost all words for compassion. I just wanted to pick her up, and throw her against the wall. I never wanted our lips to depart again…
"Hey, on another date with Maureen tonight?" Collins asked me when I walked out of the bathroom.
"Yeah," I said.
"Where do you guys go anyways? She's the one with the money, sorta," Collins said.
"Oh, just to different places," I said.
Collins looked at my clothes. "Goin' down to the café?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said. "Hey, where's Roger?" I asked.
"I don't know, he's been spending a lot of time with that new girlfriend of his."
"Oh yeah, April. She's cool," I said.
"Sure…"
"What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know, there's something about her. I feel like she's going to drag Roger into something he doesn't want to be involved in," Collins said. I looked at Collins, trying to figure out what was going on.
"What you mean?"
"I mean, Roger might do –" A knock came to the door, and Collins stopped. I went to the door, and opened it. Seeing Maureen, Collins relaxed a bit.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," I replied. She greeted me with a short and sweet kiss. I knew that from the beginning of the night to the end, I was would he covered in red lipstick.
"Well, look who it is!" Maureen exclaimed. "Collins!" she yelled. Collins smiled at her, and high fived her. They did a little dance around the room, and then stopped.
"Well, how is Maureen?" Collins asked.
"Doing just fabulous," she said. When I saw her lips move when she said fabulous, I wanted to have them back on mine again.
Collins and Maureen were like brother and sister now. They had gotten so close when ever she was over, that they came up with a little dance that they have to do whenever they met. I didn't understand it, maybe it was just a thing, I don't get it. But I didn't worry about Maureen dumping me for Collins, since Collins wasn't interested in her. He was more interested in the guy downstairs he was trying to get hooked up with.
Maureen came back to me, and put her fingers in between mine. She kissed my neck. "Ready to go?"
"Yep," I said. "See ya Collins."
"Peace out," Collins said, mimicking some of the hippies down the street. I laughed it off, and he threw himself on the couch.
When we got downstairs, Maureen was already all over me. She couldn't stop touching me, and I didn't know what was the matter with her. She was already kissing my neck, and my shoulders. She even tried to get to my chest.
"Maureen, ya gotta stop that," I said. She laughed at me.
"Sure I do, I'm gonna do whatever I want to do with you," she said to me. She stopped kissing me, which was both a relief, and sad, and grabbed my hand. "Come on, I want to show you something."
She brought me to an apartment complex across the street, we walked up to the second to top flight, and she opened the door, revealing an empty apartment. I looked around.
"Maureen, where are we?" I asked her. I heard the door shut. I turned around and looked at her. "Maureen?"
"My old home, I just got evicted," she said.
"What? Why? You've got money!"
"Not anymore. My old boyfriend owns the rubber company, and got me fired for sleeping on the job," she said.
"What about being the rat?" I asked her.
"Got fired too. I was skipping work as the rat so I could be Rubber Lady. So right now, I'm broke," she said. I looked at her. I didn't know what to do. I knew that if Maureen was out on the streets of New York, alone and at night, she'd be gone. I didn't want to see the greatest thing that ever happened to me disappear because she couldn't pay the rent. Or because she dated the guy who employed. I didn't know what to do. But then, something hit me…
"You could come live with us!" I said. She looked at me.
"What? Pookie, what are you talking about?" she asked me.
"You could move with us. You know, Collins, Roger and I will be there, and Benny too!" I exclaimed. I grabbed her waist. "It's perfect!"
"What?" she asked. "Who's Benny?" she asked.
"You haven't met Benny? Not surprising, he barely ever comes home since he's too busy with his new girlfriend," I said. Maureen looked at me, with wide puppy dog eyes.
"You'd do that…for me?" she asked.
"Hell yes!" I shouted. She looked at me, and smiled. She wrapped her arm around my waist, and pulled me towards me. We were inches apart, and she was smiling at me.
"Well, here's my appreciation," she said to me. She started to kiss me again, and she gave something that no one ever can give as wonderfully as she did. And no one else could leave such a deep mark on me. That night, in Maureen's old apartment, I lost my virginity to my one true love.
