Chapter 7

"Oh Rog." Reggie said with tears in her eyes. "That was so beautifully written. Maureen was wrong; you do have a way with words."

Roger blushed at her praise. "Thanks. It's just whenever I write about something I care about the words seem to flow. Otherwise I'm really not that literate." He lowered his gaze. "Plus it helps that today would have been Mimi's birthday. She's really on my mind today."

Reg put her hand on Roger's shoulder. "Why don't you tell me about her? It will make you feel better to talk about it."

"That's what Mark always says." Roger replied.

Reggie smiled a bit. "Well Mark's a pretty great guy. You should listen to him."

Roger took a deep steadying breath. It might be hard, but he knew that the only way to truly get over Mimi's passing was to talk about her. "I'm not sure where to start." he admitted to Reg.

"How about you start with how you met her." she suggested.

Roger smiled at the memory. "It was crazy how we met." he began the story of that Christmas. Mark had already told her some parts, but he had glanced over the deep emotional stuff that had happened. Roger went into everything that had happened. From his recluse phase to Angel's death, emphasizing Mimi's part in it all.

Once he got to the part when Mimi got sick for the final time the tears started to fall again. "It was about a year after that Christmas. Mimi started to get sick again, but she was doing everything right. I know because I was making sure of it. Everyone knew she was dying. We had seen it before when Angel went. But all the same, I refused to believe it. I kept telling her that everything would be okay and that she was going to get better. I said for my benefit as much as it was for hers. She knew better though, she knew that it was her time." he sighed. "And so she went to the hospital one last time. Even though she, and we, already knew she would never leave it. I was there for her last breaths. She made me promise that I was going to be strong when she left, and I'm trying my hardest to fulfill that promise."

Reggie was crying openly now. She had never know Mimi, but the story of her death brought back memories of Adam's. Roger too was crying. But they weren't tears of sadness. It was more like relief at finally getting all of his feelings off his chest. It was different to talk to Reggie. Talking to Mark had always been helpful, but it was nice to talk to someone who was completely unbiased toward the events.

Roger looked up and wiped his eyes. He saw that Reg was still crying. "Hey I didn't mean to bum you out with that. You gonna be okay?"

Reggie nodded. "It wasn't that. I was just thinking about when Adam died. I didn't have any last moments with him. At first, I thought that was a good thing. But now, I kinda wish I had been there to say goodbye."

Roger pulled Reggie over to him until her head was in his lap. "Okay, I had my healing moment, now it's your turn. Tell me what happened."

"Well you have to understand that Adam was never a rebellious guy. He was just curious about a lot of stuff and it tended to get him into trouble a lot. He came from a nice family. My parents approved of him and we were best friends all through middle and high school. When we started dating in the tenth grade, we were still friends. But he started to change. He found that he was tired of living his respectable life."

"That sounds kind of rebellious to me." Roger commented.

She shook her head. "He just wanted to see what it was like to be on the other side. And when he did, he found that he loved it. Adam would've loved living here. As he changed, I changed too. I saw how much fun Adam was having being what he called a free entity. It made him so much happier. He bought me my guitar and I named it for him. That's when I really started getting artistically inclined. It was great for a year or so. Then he fell in with those stupid guys."

"You mean those guys who think that being a junkie makes you more liberated and artistic?" Roger asked. Reg nodded and he sighed. "Yeah, I used to be one of those guys. It was fun at first, but after a while..." he trailed off.

"I wish Adam could've realized that. But he was so happy that he had finally found people who 'understood' him. He did whatever they did, including drugs. And when I found out, I told him I couldn't be with him anymore."

"So you just avoided him?"

Reg shook her head. "I didn't have to. He stopped coming to school after a while and I didn't see him for a few months. Then one day his mother called our house looking for him. She said he'd missing since the day before." She stopped here and tried to stop her tears. Roger stroked her hair gently until she was calm again. "I didn't even feel bad that he was gone. Until we got the call from one of his 'so called friends' that he had overdosed and was dead. Then I wished that I would've done something to stop him earlier. But it was too late for regrets."

Roger continued to hold her and stroke her hair. He softly sang, "Forget regret or life is yours to miss." and she smiled.

They were just sitting there offering each other comfort when Mark slid the door open and saw them together.

Author's Note: This story comes out in weird spurts sometimes. It's like one minute I have something to write about and the next I'm stuck. Reggie and Roger are not going to get together though. Mark doesn't know that, as you will soon see. Now, there's a pretty little button marked "GO" right below this. does Vanna White hand gesture towards button Click on it please and tell me what you thought of this chapter.