When Andie and Naomi got to Andie's room, they found a denim mini-skirt laid out on the bed. Andie jumped up and down excitedly.
"Angel makes me clothes sometimes when she gets really bored," she explained to Naomi. "She's the coolest."
"I can't wait to meet him, her, wait, how do I refer to Angel?"
"Her, when she's in drag. He, when he's not. You'll get used to it. She'll most likely be in drag tonight, so it's 'her,' and 'she'."
"Do I have to wear anything special out tonight?" Naomi began to look around Andie's room. It was a typical teenager's room. Clothes were spread out all over the floor. Andie liked to read, so Collins and Benny provided her with a surplus amount of books. Her bookshelf was covered in books, and then there were about five or six stacks of books up against the wall next to the bed. Pictures coated the walls, and were in picture frames all over the dresser. Some were cut-outs of the latest actor or actress, but most were of the Bohemians. Naomi found a lot of pictures of Leonardo DiCaprio, the actor who was taking the female population by storm since the release of his latest movie, Titanic. On the nightstand was a boom box, and a stack of CDs.
"You don't have to wear anything in particular, but if you really want to, you can borrow something of mine," replied Andie from the deep, dark depths of her closet.
"I think I'm good."
"Hey, Naomi, what do you think of this top?" Andie held up a light pink halter top.
"It's a little cold for that don't you think?"
"I have a denim jacket to wear over it, don't worry. What do you think?"
"That's really
cute. You'll have to let me borrow it one day."
"Just add
it to your list of clothes that you want to borrow."
"Please, take her clothes! All of them! She has too much!" Mark yelled from the kitchen. Andie went over to the door, and stuck her tongue out at him. "Ready?"
"Gimme a minute to change, God!" Andie closed the door, and went into the bathroom to change. Naomi picked up a cheap, black picture frame off the dresser. It showed a Hispanic man with a buzz cut giving Andie a hug outside on the street below. "That's Angel," Andie said from the bathroom. "Not in drag, I mean. It's rare to find a picture of him like that."
"Does he always dress in drag?"
"Most of the time. When we all go out together he does. Not when he goes down to meet Collins at the university where he works, or when he works during the night."
"What does Angel do?"
"He's a musician, but not your traditional musician. He plays the drums; I guess you could call them, on the street corners. He makes a good deal of money. Between everyone here, we have enough money to survive. We all chip in if someone needs money for something. Like in two weeks, Joanne and Maureen are adopting a 7 year old girl from an orphanage in the city, so we're chipping in to buy her a bike or something like that." Andie pulled out a denim blazer from her closet, and pulled it on. "Ready?" Naomi nodded. She was ready for one of the most interesting nights of her life.
The waiter sighed and rolled his eyes as he saw Mark and Andie enter the Life Café. A group of Bohemians was already moving around the tables that they weren't supposed to touch to make one long table next to the bar. Andie sat down lightly in a chair, and Naomi sat to her right.
"Hey Andie, move your chair back. The table you're at isn't in line with all the other tables," Roger said.
"My table's fine-" started Andie.
"But all your tables are outta line," Roger finished with a bored tone before picking up Andie, chair and all, and moving her back about a foot. "There, now was that so hard?" he asked.
"Yes it was," Andie replied defiantly with a nod. Mimi laughed as she sat down on the other side of Andie.
"I like that outfit," she said.
"Thanks. Angel made me the skirt."
"It's really cute. So Naomi, are you spending the night at Andie's tonight."
"Yes ma'am."
"Don't say 'ma'am', it's too formal. It's Mimi. We're not formal people here. We're all on the same equality level."
"Except for Benny, who sits on a pedestal all of his own," Maureen commented darkly as she took a seat. She had on her black leather boots; with her matching pleather pants tucked into the boots, a red camouflage skintight t-shirt, and her white jacket. Her hair was wavy, and flowed down past her shoulders.
"Gee, thanks Maureen," replied Benny. Maureen shrugged.
"Anytime."
The normal waiter that the Bohemians came around to get their orders. By now, he knew everyone by name, and what they usually ordered. He only double-checked in case someone changed their mind.
"Hey Andie, what can I get your friend here?" he asked.
"Order whatever you like Naomi," Andie told her friend. Naomi scanned the menu. She felt bad that Mark was going to end up paying for her meal.
"What are you ordering?"
"Cheeseburger, fries, and a soda."
"That sounds good. I'll have the same thing. Diet Coke please, with no ice."
"Cheeseburger, fries, Diet Coke, hold the ice," the waiter repeated as he jotted it down on his pad of paper. "Okay, that should be out shortly. Listen, we have a new manager tonight, so make sure you give him the proper welcome," he said with a wink before leaving.
"What was that about?" Collins asked as he sat down on the other side of Naomi. Angel sat down next to Mimi, and began to chat excitedly with her in Spanish.
"New manager, Chris wants us to give him a proper Bohemian welcome before we leave tonight," explained Mark. Chris was the waiter that they had come to know so well.
"Oh, Collins, this is my friend Naomi. We were wondering if you could help us with our English project tomorrow or something. We need to pick an author whose writing changed their time period or something like that. We have a list of about twenty or thirty authors, but we don't know which one to use," said Andie.
"Hey Naomi. Well, show me the list tomorrow or something and I can help you. Sorry we're late; Angel was looking for something for two hours." Angel shot Collins a dirty look that still said, "I love you." It's amazing how much the couple is in love.
"Are we going to welcome this new manager, or just sit here all night?" Maureen demanded as she stood up.
"We also need to welcome our newest Bohemian, Naomi," Mark added as he got up on the table. Naomi turned about five shades of red.
"Aren't you embarrassed?" she asked Andie, who shook her head and shrugged.
"I'm used to it."
"Dearly beloved," Mark started. Andie knew where this was going. Roger had written a song, La Vie Bohemé for Maureen's last show, which everyone, but Andie been able to sing. That didn't matter; she knew all the words to the song…much to her Uncle's dismay. "We gather here to celebrate the newest member of our Bohemian community, Naomi Johansson."
"May we corrupt her mind just like we've done to Andie!" Maureen shouted. Everyone cheered. Mark rolled his eyes.
"In that little town of Bethlehem, we raise our glass." Maureen climbed up onto the table, and stood next to Mark.
'Oh God,' thought Andie. 'She wouldn't? Would she….of course she would.' Everyone else seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"You bet your ass to…la vie bohemé!" Maureen mooned everyone. Naomi looked really embarrassed now.
"La vie bohemé!" the Bohemians sang in unison. "La vie bohemé."
"To days of inspiration, playin' hooky, makin' somethin' outta nothin', the need to express to communicate. To goin' against the grain, goin' insane, goin' mad. To lovin' tension, no pension, to more than one dimension, to starving for attention, hating convention, not to mention of course, hating dear old mom and dad," Mark sang as he walked across the table.
The new manager came out looking appalled at the sight before him. The rest of the Bohemians kept up a chorus of "la vie bohemé" as Mark continued singing.
"What's going on here?" the manager, Jonathan demanded as he grabbed Chris' arm.
"Oh, what? That? That's just them being themselves. They come here all the time." Jonathan opened his mouth. "Can't kick them out though. If you did, you'd loose the majority of your profits, and go broke."
"But what about the rest of my customers? What about them? Aren't they thinking about someone other than themselves?"
"You see, that's just the thing. There's no one else here. Look around, it's all the Bohemians." Jonathan looked around. It was true. It was only the Bohemians in the café.
Mimi and Angel stood up on the table to do their little bit. Without warning, Angel grabbed Andie, and pulled her up onto the table by her.
"To hand-crafted beers made in local breweries, to yoga, to yogurt, to rice and beans and cheese. To leather, to dildos, to curry vindaloo. To huevos, rancheros, and Maya Angelou," they sang. Angle spun Andie around several times, before helping her back into her seat. Luckily, Andie had pulled on a pair of shorts under her skirt that night, but how she had managed to find a pair of shorts shorter than her skirt was beyond Mark.
"Emotion, devotion, to causing a commotion. Creation, vacation-" sang Maureen and Collins.
Mark shrugged as he stood up and said, "Mucho masturbation." Everyone cheered and laughed.
Jonathan looked like he couldn't take it anymore. When the song and dance number was finally over, he came over to the table to introduce himself. Everyone was talking about Maureen mooning everyone.
"What?" she demanded. "Come on pookie! I can't believe you! I wanted to get it out of my system!"
"What happens when we have Julia in a few weeks? Will you still be doing stuff like that? What kind of example will you setting? You lay off it for a while when Andie was younger, and thank God she didn't turn out a thing like you, and now I need you to lay off that kind of stuff again." Maureen rolled her eyes.
"That's why I had to get it out of my system! I knew that there was no way in hell you'd let me do something like that again for a while!" Jonathan cleared his throat, and all the Bohemians looked up. "You must be the new manager," Maureen said darkly. She already didn't like him.
"Umm…yes, I'm Jonathan McPhearson."
"Well Jonathan, let me tell you a little bit about ourselves," Maureen said. Joanne looked like she was about to die. "We are your best customers. If you kick us out, you'll loose all your business so fast, you won't have time to quit your job. I saw you giving us dirty looks from over by the kitchen. Oh, and in case you didn't know this, the owner of this fine café is sitting right here." Benny blushed. He had bought the Life Café about three years ago, and had made it an even more of a hotspot for Bohemians.
"Oh, umm…Mr. Coffin. How are you tonight? Sorry to bother you? Is your food alright?" Completely embarrassed beyond belief, Jonathan rushed away from the table. The second he was gone, everyone burst out laughing.
"Go Maureen!" Andie yelled as she clapped her hands. Maureen stood up, and took several dramatic bows.
After a few more minutes, Collins got up to go to the bathroom. He took off his heavy leather coat, and draped it on the back of his chair.
"Naomi!" Maureen called. "Naomi!" Naomi looked up. "Reach into Collins' coat pocket. There should be a pack of cigarettes. Toss them over here." Naomi looked reluctant to follow Maureen's orders.
"Don't drag Naomi into your sick plots, Maureen," Andie said as she stood up, and pulled the cigarettes out of Collin's pocket. Wordlessly, she tossed them over to Maureen, who slipped them into her own pocket.
"What's she doing?" Naomi asked.
"Taking Collins' cigarettes so he'll stop smoking as far as you know you didn't even know he had them." Naomi laughed.
"Hey Andie. Wanna taste?" Angel asked, holding up her glass of beer. Naomi was shocked as Mark simply watched his niece stand up, and take a sip of beer. "What do you think?"
"I like that other kind better. What you had last week," she replied.
"Could you get your skirt any shorter?" Collins asked as he sat back down. Andie looked at her skirt.
"Well, my shorts are about an inch shorter than this, so if I really tried to roll up the skirt." She paused to roll up her skirt. "Ha! I can see!" She spun around several times with her arms above her head. This was definitely a side of Andie Naomi had never seen before. at school, she was really quiet, and kept to herself and her books.
"God, Andie! Sit down!" Mark announced. Andie sat down in her seat. "Those guys are checking you out." All the girls laughed.
"Oh! Are they cute?" Andie looked over her shoulder. She had seen the guys Mark was talking about several times before at the Life. "I've seen them before. They're pretty nice."
"They went to our school last year genius!" Naomi commented. Andie stuck her tongue out at her.
Collins reached into his coat pocket, but when he didn't feel anything, he began to curse under his breath.
"What's wrong baby?" Angel asked.
"My cigarettes are gone."
"Did you leave them at home?"
"No, I had one on the way here, and now they're-" Collins stopped; he had an idea where they were. "Andie, would you happen to know where my cigarettes are?" Andie faked to be shocked.
"Collins! What in the world would I want with your dirty, disgusting cigarettes? I can't even smoke them, so taking them would be pointless. I'm shocked that you would think that I would have something to do with this. What gave you that idea?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the past five times they've disappeared, they've ended up with you. Your purse twice, your jacket pocket twice, and in your backpack once."
"I am so glad that I had to get something out of my backpack that night, and found them, or else I would have gotten suspended for bringing them to school." Andie shot Maureen a glance that said, "You're lucky that I didn't get caught." Collins saw that glance, and started grilling Maureen. She sighed, and produced the carton.
"You said that you'd cut back on them, Collins! Since you weren't doing a very good job at doing that, I thought that I'd help you out a little," she explained as she tossed the cigarettes clear across the table to him.
After another three and a half hours of talking, Roger looked at his watch, and realized that it was close to 11 PM.
"say we give our new friend Jonathan a break, and let the Life close close to on time today?" he suggested.
"Aww…that's no fun," Mimi whined.
"We can go back to our place or something if you want," Mark said as he stood up, and got his coat on.
"No way. No offence, but Naomi and I have a project to work on," Andie said. Mark rolled his eyes.
"Okay, you and Naomi can go back to our place, and we can all go trash Benny's house." The Bohemians let out a cheer.
"Nope. Sorry guys. My apartment's still a mess. Alison keeps bringing me my junk while I'm at work, and dumps it in big piles."
"At least you're getting your stuff back," Collins said. Benny shrugged. That was true. He and Alison were filing for divorce, but it was pretty messy at the moment.
"We can all go to our house, right honey?" Mimi said. Roger didn't mind…for once. Normally he made up some excuse for everyone to go to someone else's house. Andie and Naomi pulled on their jackets, and followed the group out into the street.
Out in the street, Angel and Mimi linked arms with Andie and Naomi, and began to skip down the street singing La Vie Bohemé at the top of their lungs. Even though Naomi didn't know all the words, she sang what she knew. They had no cares in the world, and didn't care if they woke anyone up (which they didn't, because no one expected to get much sleep once they moved anywhere close to Alphabet City).
"Andie! I love your family!" Naomi announced when they were done singing. "You don't have a care in the world! With my family, it's always country clubs, big fancy parties, and having a public image."
"Eww…sounds like your family sucks," Maureen said boldly, earning her a whack from both Joanne and Collins at the same time. "What? What'd I say?" Naomi laughed.
"No, it's cool. I think I was born into the wrong family anyway. I'm leaving the second I'm 18."
"You're always welcome on Avenue A sweetie," said Joanne. "Between the eight of us, you'll be able to find a place to stay."
"Thanks."
"Night chica!" Angel and Mimi called as Naomi and Andie went up to their apartment.
"Night!" she replied. She flipped on the lights in the apartment, and she and Naomi sat down to actually get some work done.
A/N: Next chapter of Off-Camera is up just for those who are my new best friends and reading it (it's my baby!). Anyway, please read and review! I'll update soon. Next chapter will have a lot of drama. Only 8 more chapters of Off-Camera, and about 5 more chapters (maybe less) for this story. Just to put that out there. Much love!
Tina101