Chapter 9

Roger swallowed hard. He had finally admitted to himself that he loved Mark. Thankful that no one could see the thoughts inside his head, he looked over at his one time best friend. Mark's blue eyes were shrouded by his long blond lashes. Then he looked up and smiled a little "I forgive you Roger" he said.

Those four little words made all the difference to Roger, and he suddenly started to cry. No one quite knew what to do because it was a known fact that Roger never cried unless it was something very serious. So they did nothing, and that seemed to help. After a few minutes Roger looked up.

"Are you going to be okay?" Collins asked with concern.

"Yeah," he said. "It's just I really hate myself now. I put all you guys through so much and I don't even like L.A."

"What?" Maureen asked. "But you've been there for ten years. You're a star Roger. How can you not like L.A.?"

Roger shrugged in response. "It's just full of a bunch of phony people, who suck up to me because I have money. In ten years I haven't made any friends worth knowing and I spent most of the time missing you guys." He inadvertently looked directly at Mark when he said this, but didn't notice the blush that rose in the skinny filmmakers face.

"So why did you stay there then?" Mark asked softly.

"Because it was the only way I could get my music out there. My agent Lanna, you'll meet her tomorrow, is always telling me how good I am, and how much exposure I could get. And of course L.A. is the place to get that exposure. If this didn't mean so much to me I'd scrap the whole thing." Roger explained.

They all nodded in understanding. Everyone knew how much Roger wanted to get back those years he wasted while he was on drugs.

Suddenly the door to the Café opened and two girls strode over to the Bohemians' table. One of them was Sara. The other was a young woman who was looking very professional.

"Lanna?" Roger asked in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah," Mimi chimed in. "Sara I thought I told you not to come."

"I know, I know, but I was walking around the hotel district and I saw Miss Lanna here and she seemed lost. So I asked her if she needed help and she said she was looking for Roger Davis. I knew where he was so I brought her here."

Everyone looked at Roger expectantly. He sighed. "You guys this is my agent Lanna. Lanna these are my friends Mimi, Maureen, Joanne, Collins, Maureen and Joanne's daughter Jaylah, and Mark. So what's up Lanna? I could have sworn we agreed to handle all this technical shit tomorrow."

"I know, but something big just happened Roger." Lanna said excitedly.

"Okay, you just called me Roger, so I know something big is going on." Roger replied.

"I just got a call from a record executive in London." Lanna explained.

Roger stared at her blankly. "London?" he asked.

"Yeah, London Roger." Joanne said smiling. "It's the capital of England which is in Europe. It's currently ruled by Queen-"

"I know that Joanne." Roger said, cutting Joanne off. Then he turned back to Lanna. "So what did this executive say?"

"Well, her name is Laurel Ducky and she's the head of Rapp-Heredia Records in London. She heard your demo somehow and she thinks the European crowd would love you and your music. So she called me and wants to schedule a promotion tour for you in Europe starting next month."