Chapter 4
The next day when Mark got up to get ready to take the early shift at work; Roger was sitting in the window seat staring out at the street.
"What are you doing Roger?" Mark asked.
"Just thinking about stuff." Roger replied. "So your big date with Reggie is today huh?"
"It's not a date Rog. I'm just showing her around." Mark said back blushing. "What are you going to do today?"
Roger turned to look at him. "If Reg comes over I'm going to teach her to play guitar. If she doesn't, I'll probably just watch T.V." he said.
Mark shook his head and grinned. "Ah such is the life of the unemployed. Must be nice to be so lazy." he said. "Unfortunately I have to get ready to go to my job. You know the one that ensures you eat every night?"
"Yeah yeah." Roger said turning to look back out the window. "You know that tomorrow is Mimi's birthday?" he asked suddenly.
"I remember." Mark said softly. "You gonna be okay?"
Roger sighed. "Don't know right now." he said. "But you'd better get going. If you're late for work they might not let you bring home any food."
"And we can't have that." Mark said laughing as he headed out the door. "See you later." Once he was gone, Roger sighed. It was hard for him to sit around the house alone sometimes. Even when Mark was at work, he had Mimi to keep him company. Now, he was always alone, and that gave him more time to think about how much he missed Mimi.
Then there was a knock on the door. "Come on in Reg." he called. She slid the door open and Roger's eyes widened as she came in. Today she had on a short denim skirt and a low cut pink tank top. She looked great.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked.
Roger forced himself to look away from her well-shaped body. "You're the only one who actually bothers to knock around here." he informed her. Then he couldn't resist adding, "You look really nice. What's the occasion?"
Reggie blushed. "Well I just wanted to look nice for when Mark shows me around later today."
Roger grinned at her. "You like Mark." he accused. Then he hopped down from the window seat and headed into the kitchen singing, "You like Mark, you like Mark."
"Oh shut up Roger." Reg said blushing harder, but not denying what he said. She did find Mark attractive, but she barely even knew him. Roger stopped laughing when he saw her expression.
"Do you really like Mark?" he asked.
"Well kind of." Reg said softly. "But it's not like I can do anything about it though. I don't even know him."
Roger came and sat beside her on the couch. "Mark's a simple guy. All you have to do is get to know him and you'll see how easy going he is. Maybe if you talk to him you might find he likes you too." he said.
Reg turned her gold-flecked green eyes to Roger. "You think he might?"
He shrugged. "Hey you never know with Mark. You've just got to talk to him. You will be spending the day with him after all. Now if you don't have anything else to do right now, I thought I would teach you how to play the guitar."
Reg brightened at that. "Really? Thank you Roger. My guitar is at my place though so I'll have to go get it."
"I'll come with you. I want to see what your place looks like." Roger offered.
She laughed. "Well I can tell you it's a lot cleaner than yours."
Roger shrugged. "Hey even though I'm here all day, I don't have time to clean." he said. They got up and went across the hall.
"Oh of course you don't." Reg said poking Roger. "You're much to busy for that." She unlocked her door and led Roger inside. "So this is where I live now. Just ignore the boxes. I haven't had time to unpack everything yet since my power just came back on last night."
"Hey you should get Maureen to come over here to help you get this place together. She might be crazy, but she's got style." Roger told her. "So where's your guitar?"
"In my room. I'll go and get it." A few seconds later, she returned with a dark green wooden acoustic guitar. "This is my baby." she said.
Roger eyed it appreciatively. "It's really nice." he said. "So let's go. I'm going to teach you everything I know."
Together they went back into Roger's loft and they sat on the couch. "Okay." Roger said once he'd gotten his guitar out of his room. "This is Mimi." he said.
Reg raised an eyebrow. "Your guitar's name is Mimi?" she asked.
"Yes. She is-" Roger stopped. "Mimi was very special to me. So I named my guitar for her." He fought back the tears that were welling up in his eyes.
Reggie smiled sadly. "I can understand that. My guitar used to be named for someone, but it didn't really work out that well. That's why I never learned to play."
"What was it's name?" Roger inquired.
"Adam." Reggie said. Then she shook her head as if to clear it. "But I don't want to talk about Adam right now."
Roger saw the look of sadness on her face and decided it was best to drop the subject. "Why don't you show me what you know already." he suggested.
So she did. Reg knew a few notes and the finger positions, so Roger spent three hours teaching her the rest of the notes, a few chords, and a simple song. Reggie learned fast and Roger promised that he would show her more later. He looked at the clock and saw that it was one-thirty.
Suddenly the door opened and Maureen came in. "Hello you two." she said brightly. "You look mighty cozy here all alone."
"Shut it Mo." Roger warned.
Maureen looked wounded. "Jeez, can't even take a joke anymore." she muttered. "So I came here to ask Reggie if she wanted me to help her unpack, not to see you Roger."
Reg smiled at Maureen. "I would really love the help. Roger was just telling me I should ask you because you've got style."
Maureen turned to look at Roger. "Aww. You said that Roggy-poo? I always knew you liked me." she said grinning.
"If I didn't like you I would have stopped talking to you a long time ago. Like when you cheated on Mark. And if you call me Roggy-poo one more time you can consider yourself ex-communicated." Roger responded.
"Oh look Rog learned a new word." Maureen said smirking. She grabbed Reg's hand. "Come on girl, let's go tackle your apartment."
They went across the hall and Reggie let them in. Maureen surveyed the place and started to form her plan of action. "Okay." she said. "So we've got about two and a half hours until Mark gets home from work. I suggest we start in the front rooms and then work our way back if you're going for appearance. If you're going for practicality we should start in the bed and bathrooms and then work our way to the front."
"Whatever you think is best." Reggie replied, distracted.
Maureen looked at her. "Alright spill." she said. "I know something's wrong so tell me what it is."
"What did Roger mean when he said you cheated on Mark?" Reg wanted to know.
"Just what he said. Mark and I used to date a while ago. Then I decided I was a lesbian and cheated on him with my current girlfriend Joanne. Why do you ask?" Then before Reg could even answer Maureen exclaimed, "Oh my God! Do you like Mark?"
Reggie just blushed and nodded.
Maureen grinned happily. "This is great! Mark hasn't had a decent date since, well, me. You two are so perfect for each other. Take my advice, if you want to get him to like you, even though he probably already does, just be yourself. You two should hit it off great. Oh and if he starts turning red and fidgeting, it means he likes you and he's nervous. That's when you tell him you like him" she advised.
"Thanks so much Maureen." Reggie said and the girls got to work.
