Chapter 13

While the others were in Mimi's hospital room, Roger and Ana stayed in the waiting room.

"Are you sure you're okay Roger?" Ana asked.

Roger smiled at the girl. "Yes, I'm fine. I just kind of wish that I'd never left Mimi now." he said. Then seeing Ana's look he added, "Not that I regret being with Mark, or that I want to leave him. It's just that if I had stayed with Mimi she wouldn't be in this predicament." Then he shook his head. "No, I can't start blaming myself for this. It would've happened regardless."

Then Mark and the others came back out. "Mimi's getting ready to go through her tests now and she wants us to go on home." Mark told Roger.

Roger nodded and said "Yeah okay. Did anyone get in touch with Darren?" The friends looked at each other and shook their heads.

"I'm going to go to her house and see what's up with him because this is ridiculous." Sara said angrily. "He needs to be here."

"Can I ride with you?" Roger asked her. "I want to give him a piece of my mind."

"I'm not so sure that's wise Rog." Joanne commented.

Roger looked at her. "I promise I won't kill him or anything. But Mimi's one of my closest friends. I can't just sit here and let that asshole treat her this way. It isn't right."

"He does have a point." Mark said. Then he turned to Roger. "Okay you go with Sara and I'll take Ana home. Just be sure you tell Darren what's what from me too. Okay honey?"

Roger grinned and kissed Mark. "You got it babe." he said.

Roger followed Sara out to her car and got in. He looked over at the younger woman and saw that she still looked upset.

"You alright Sara?" he asked with concern.

"I just really hope Mimi's okay. And I'm just really upset with Darren right now." she told him.

"Did anyone actually call him?" Roger asked.

"I left messages on his cell phone and their house phone. He was working with dancers at the Neederlander Theater today and I asked them to give them the message as well. So he has to know something by now." Sara said. When they pulled up outside of Mimi and Darren's house, they saw that there was a car in the driveway.

"That's Darren's car." Sara told Roger as she was getting out of the car. "So he's home then. I'll kill him."

"Whoa there Sara." Roger said coming up behind her. "No killing okay? Besides if there was going to be any killing I would do it."

"And why is that?"

"Because I'm older and can handle the jail time. Trust me I've got experience." Roger said smiling.

"Whatever" Sara said back. They went up to the front door and Roger rang the doorbell. After several seconds, Darren opened the door.

"Hey Sara, you" he greeted them. "Come on in." They obeyed and walked into the house.

"Darren didn't you get any of my messages?" Sara asked him.

"Yeah I got them. How is my girl?" Darren asked her.

"She's better now. You would have known that if you had come to the hospital to see for yourself. Where were you?" Sara said.

"I've been here. I would've rushed over there if you hadn't said you and all the others were with her. I thought you had things under control and I really didn't want to have to see Faggo over here and his lover. And I'm sure they didn't want to see me."

Sara just gaped at him speechless. So Roger jumped in. "So, because you knew that Mark and I were going to be there, you decided not to make sure that your future wife was okay. That's the most selfish thing I've ever heard of. It's true I wasn't that happy about having to see you there; but when I got the call that Mimi was in the hospital I got there as fast as I could. Because I care about Mimi more than I hate you. And that's saying something because I really, really, really, hate you."

Darren narrowed his eyes. "I don't have to put up with this in my own home." he said to Roger.

"Yes," Roger replied, "you do. Apparently, you don't know just how special that woman you're marrying is. Mimi helped to raise five brothers and sisters. Then when she was fifteen, she ran away to New York and lived and supported herself. Granted it wasn't the best way to make money, but she still had some."

"Um yeah," Darren interrupted. "During the course of all this, didn't she also get hooked on heroin and contract HIV, which then developed into full blown AIDS? Yeah that sounds really responsible to me." he scoffed.

"Yes she did. But she also had enough sense and responsibility to get off drugs and get clean. And she took care of her AIDS, at least until she met you." Roger responded.

Darren just stared at Roger confused. "What do you mean until she met me? I tried to help her and take care of her."

Sara jumped in then. "Darren, she quit taking her AZT because you said you didn't want to have children with HIV. She started taking fertility medicine so she would get pregnant and you'd have no choice but to keep the child."

"Wait a second," Roger said, realizing something. "That means you two would have to be having unprotected sex for her to get pregnant. Even if Mimi were on the pill or something there would still be the problem that you would contract HIV as well. What's going on, do you want to get AIDS?" he asked.

Darren lowered his eyes. "It doesn't matter because I already have it." he said softly. The silence in the room was deafening.

"Darren," Sara said gently going over to him. "What's going on here?"

He sighed and turned to look at Roger. "You're the last person I would want to tell this to but I already said too much so I might as well keep going. When I was twenty-three, I met this woman. We fell in love and were going to get married. One day she went to a clinic because she thought she was getting sick. It turned out she had HIV. When she told me, I was shocked. So I went and got tested and I found out I had it too. I still planned to marry her, but then the rest of the truth came out."

"How?" Sara asked him.

"Eventually she left me. I came home one day and there was a note from her. It said 'Darren I'm sorry, but I found out I got HIV from my lover, who got it from another man. I'm going back home to my mother. I love you and goodbye.' That's why I have a problem with gay people. And I was also upset with you because I thought you abandoned Mimi in her time of need. Kind of like the woman I loved did to me."

"Hey, I understand more than anyone about girlfriends leaving notes before they leave you. I wasn't always gay though Darren. And I hate that word. It just happened that I fell in love with Mark, who was already closer to me than family. I'm sorry about what happened to you, but don't take it out on me. I had nothing to do with it."

Darren hung his head. "I know, it's just I lived my life pretty simply after that. I didn't interact with gay people except through dancing and even then it was just business. Then I met Mimi when she first started working with me. She was so wonderful, but I was reluctant to get close to her because of my HIV. But then she told me she had it too and things were different and eventually I began to love her."

After he had said all this Sara burst out laughing. "Roger," she said. "That sounds just like what happened when you met Mimi. Apparently you and Darren have more in common than everyone thought."

Darren looked at Roger. "What happened when you met Mimi?" he wanted to know. So Roger took a deep breath and told his story to Darren who listened attentively. When he was done, Darren smiled at him for the first time ever. "I guess we really do have some things in common then." he commented.

Roger smiled back and then groaned. "See, I was all set to come over here and yell at you. I was even supposed to yell at you from Mark too. But now I think I like you."

"I think I like you now as well." Sara told him. "But the others still kind of hate you though. And if they don't like you then Mimi might not marry you. So you might want to talk to them. I know they'll understand."

Darren sighed. "I don't want to, but I'll do anything to keep my Mimi. So let's go."

Author's Note: See, Darren's not such a bad guy after all. But will the others feel the same way? I'm going to try to start updating a few chapters at once from now on. I'm a little busy trying to write a book and teach myself how to play the guitar. So until next time. Oh and please review!