Chapter Four
So we were living happily, the five of us: Roger, Maureen, Collins, Benny and I. Things were great. We were all friends, we could all tolerate each other, we were all there for each other. No one was out of line, and everything was perfectly balanced.
That is, up until about two years ago. That was when Roger met April, Benny started dating Alison, Collins got a job at MIT, and Maureen finally started paying attention to me. None of those sound like bad things, right? Well, they weren't at first.
"Hey Mark."
"Hey Marky!"Roger and April burst through the door, hands all over each other. They had just come back from one of Roger's gigs(he had finally managed to reunite with two of his old band mates). He had met April at a gig, and they had clicked immediately. I always kind of thought April was a little...off. I mean, I liked her and all. But there was definitely something missing there.
"Hey guys,"I replied. I was concentrating on a film reel, and barely looked up as the two made their way towards the bedroom.
"You don't mind if April and I use our room, do you?"Roger and April often liked to, well...get to know each other better in the room that Roger and I shared. And usually all over MY side, too...
"Just keep off the film reels!"I called as they ran into our room. I sighed, returning to my work, knowing that in a few minutes I would no longer be able to concentrate.
That's when Maureen came strutting in. It was probably just the fact that I hadn't gotten laid in the six months since I moved into the loft, but Maureen was looking more and more attractive each day. It was very distracting to my work.
"Hey Marky,"she greeted, walking over and sitting down next to me. She had been paying more attention to me lately. I had no idea why, but I wasn't going to protest.
"Hey Maureen. Were you out at a club?"I asked, forcing myself not to look at her.
"No...I have no one to go with,"she explained. I could tell she was beginning to pout. I forced myself to concentrate harder on the film reels.
"Oh, that's too bad,"I replied bluntly, avoiding eye contact at all costs. I knew I was blushing now. It was extremely emasculating.
"You know, Marky..."Dammit. I hated when she called me that. "You could come out with me."Now this one surprised me.
"Me? You want me to come out with you?"I asked.
"Yeah, it'll be fun! You never come out with me,"Maureen pointed out. I thought I was going to faint I was so shocked.
"You...you really want me to come?"I asked, finally breaking down and looking at her. Oh God. She was pouting.
"Please Marky?"she begged.
"...sure!"I blurted out. Maureen's face lit up.
"Super! Now get that cute ass into some good pants. I want to make people jealous!"
That night was perhaps one of the strangest nights of my life. Maureen took me from club to club to club. I didn't even know the names of half of them, and they got weirder as the night went on. At each place Maureen would drag me out onto the dance floor, parade me around until she was sure someone else was looking, and then proceed to cling all over me until she got bored and decided to move on to the next club. I must say, I wasn't complaining.
At the last club, she managed to push me into a corner and start hooking up with me.
"Whoa! Maureen, wait..."I said, pushing her off. She pouted.
"What's wrong, pookie? Don't you want this?"she asked me.
"Well...yeah. But we should think about it first. I mean, this will change our friendship..." I began. Before I could finish, Maureen's tongue was back in my mouth. That's when I noticed just how much taller, and stronger, she was than me...
"Our friendship will be fine. Better! Right now I want you, Marky..."she whispered, also making it phsically impossible for me to escape from the corner. I was a sucker already anyways, so as you can imagine, I didn't fight much. And that was the beginning of Maureen and me. And, as I would learn the next morning, also my job as her production manager...
There's always a catch.
July rolled around, and with it came my twenty-first birthday. I think Maureen and Roger were more excited than I was. They had a list of at least 45 bars they planned to drag me to legally for the first time.
Collins had appointed himself the keeper of the supplies. Supplies being: Stoli, balloons, cake and, knowing him, a fair quantity of pot. Just what I needed to confirm my legality.
Benny gave me a card exactly a week after my birthday. I assured him it was okay that it was late. However, I never told him the card was signed 'To Toby, with Love'. Poor Toby. Looks like Benny really forgot his birthday...
My favorite gift that year didn't come from any of my roommates, though.
"Hey Mark."I looked up from my current project(a new screenplay)to see April standing in the door, smiling, and holding something behind her back. I grinned.
"Hey April. Roger's not here right now, he's out at a gig somewhere..."I informed her.
"I know. I actually came by to see you,"April stated.
"Really?"I asked, surprised by that. April nodded, pulling out a small, rectangular box from behind her. She walked over and sat down beside me on the couch.
"Happy Birthday, Mark,"she said, handing me the box.
"Aw, thanks April. You didn't have to get me anything,"I assured her. I didn't even know when her birthday was so I could pay her back...
"Don't mention it. I saw it the other day and thought of you. And Roger's been talking about your big twenty-first non-stop these last few weeks..."I liked April's voice. It was lower, with a thick New York accent. But where most New York accents drove me absolutely insane, April's fit her well. She could pull it off...if it was possible to pull off an accent well.
"Are you gonna open it?"she asked hopefully.
"Sure."I took the box, pulling the lid off carefully. There was a card on top. Well, a little folded piece of paper with a message scrawled in April's crazy handwriting.
Happy Twenty-first, Mark! Sorry you're not breaking any rules when we take you out to bars now...I bet Maureen's got plenty of illegal shit still planned for you though.
I laughed. Everyone knew Maureen...Then I moved on to the actual gift.
Inside the box was a blue and white striped scarf. It was a nice looking scarf, and definitely something I would need, considering I left my old one at Brown.
"Wow! Thanks April,"I said happily, pulling the scarf from the box, and examining it.
"Well, I just figured, you know, you're always outside filming and shit, and we don't want you to freeze your ass off and get all sick and junk, so it might come in handy,"April explained.
I wrapped the scarf around my neck, and turned to April so she could see. She tugged at it a little to make it look better, then nodded approvingly.
"Perfect! You look cute as a button,"she teased. I laughed.
"Thanks April. I really appreciate this,"I assured her. "Hey, are you gonna be joining us for my birthday party on Saturday?"April shook her head.
"Nah. That's like, a roommate thing. I don't wanna interfere,"she insisted. Now I know she probably really had plans with her dealer...but it was a nice excuse at the time.
"Well, if you change your mind, we'll be...uh...well, at some bar in the area getting drunk off our asses,"I offered. April laughed.
"Have fun. And happy birthday, Mark."April waved as she headed out the door. She may not have been all there, but the parts of her that were there were really creative. I would often wear that scarf while searching for inspiration, in hopes that April's creative spirit would rub off on me.
Now, I wear that scarf every day.
Around that time, Collins had applied for a real teaching job at MIT in Boston, and he was a nervous wreck for about a week waiting for them to call back. Maureen and I did our best to comfort him, because Roger and April were never home any more, and Benny was always out trying to impress his new girlfriend, Alison. We had never actually met Alison, of course. He never brought her back to the loft. But we had heard enough. She was a rich daughter of some land-owner named Grey. Benny talked the guy up as if he were God.
One night, Maureen and I were in the middle of a particularly intense make-out session that was quickly leading to something more, when Collins came bursting through the door.
"Maureen! Mark!"He had obviously been running because he was panting and his cheeks were all red. His eyes were wide with excitement, and he couldn't seem to wipe the huge grin off his face. I pulled away from Maureen, who didn't seem to have any intentions of pulling away from me.
"Hey Collins. What's up?"I greeted, turning to him as Maureen clung to my neck, still kissing my cheek.
"You'll never guess what just happened!"Collins cried excitedly.
"You finally fucked that waiter from the Life with the tight leather pants?"Maureen guessed, as she slipped her hands up my sweater. I tried to push her away, put every time I pushed her hands off of one part of me, she would move on to another. Collins frowned.
"No...not yet,"he replied. "But I got the job at MIT!"
"Collins, that's great!"I exclaimed, as Collins began laughing and doing a little dance. Maureen's hands were roaming lower and lower down my back, as I tried to edge away from her so I could concentrate on Collins' good news. She was making it extremely hard. Oh God. Bad choice of words right there...
"They called this afternoon, and I just got the message now,"Collins explained. "Oh man, I can't believe this! This is the opportunity I need to start spreading my philosophy to kids all over the country!"
"And an MIT professor is a really prestigious job,"I added. Maureen's hand had made it's way to my fly now, and she began to unzip it. I quickly grabbed her hand, but she merely finished the job with the other. Collins was apparently too happy to notice that I was being molested right in front of him.
"Have you told Roger and Benny yet?"I asked, fighting with Maureen's hands.
"Nah, I haven't seem them. They're never around any more,"Collins remarked. "But if you see them, don't tell them! I want to be the one to break it to them."
"Of cour-ahh!"Maureen had somehow successfully made it into my pants in the time I had been focused on Collins, who finally frowned.
"Jeeze Mo, don't rape the boy while I'm talking to him!"he snapped. Maureen glared at Collins, finally getting off of me.
"Fine. I'll wait 'til you're gone,"she replied, grinning evilly.
"Wait...you're not going to move to Boston now, are you?"I asked suddenly. Collins looked nervously at Maureen and I.
"Well, I'm gonna have to stay there while school is in session,"he confessed. "But I'm not moving out. This will still be my home. I'll just live on campus during the school year."I frowned, and Maureen pouted.
"The school year is an awfully long time,"she pointed out. Collins sighed.
"I know. But I've gotta take this job, guys! Please understand..."Maureen and I nodded.
"Yeah...we understand,"I assured him.
"We're not happy! But we understand,"Maureen confirmed. Collins grinned.
"Thanks guys,"he said. "Well, I'll leave you two alone now. Happy fucking!"And Collins was out the door, laughing all the way.
"Wow. I'm gonna miss Co-oh God!"Maureen didn't give it two seconds before she was down my pants again. That was Maureen...
A/N: So, I'm sad to say, that is all of April we're going to see until she's dead in the bathroom. I hadn't orginally written her into this story, I added her for my BFFL. But I had to get the history of Mark's scarf, and an April scene in there...so I blended them into one! I always thought there should be a real reason why Mark wears that scarf all the time. So, I hope you guys liked this. It was a little more PG-13 than my other chapters...particularly the Maureen parts. Haha. You can expect more Mark/Maureen...for one more chapter, anyways! Thanks for your feedback, next chapter will be up tomorrow!