Did You Miss Me?

Chapter 1:

Maureen Johnson walked down the hall with the rest of her Bohemian friends to drag Joanne out to the Life for the night. The lawyer had been really busy with a case or something.

"Pookie get your ass up, we're going out!" Maureen announced as she swung open the front door. The diva stopped; there was no sign of Joanne anywhere. "Pookie? Joanne?" Collins slipped past Maureen, and began to look around the apartment.

"Hey Mo, here's a letter from Joanne," he said as he held up a white envelope. The diva pushed past Mark, and grabbed the envelope.

Maureen tore open the letter, and read it over. Her hand flew to her mouth, and tears began to stream down her face. When she finished reading, she threw the letter to the side, and ran to the bedroom.

"Maureen!" Collins exclaimed as he ran after her. The diva threw open the closet door. When she saw that Joanne's belongings were gone, she sank onto the bed. Collins sat down next to her. Maureen let out a strangled sob, and buried her face in his chest.

"She's gone! She left, and it's all my fault!" she sobbed. Collins gently rubbed Maureen's back, and listened to her cry; wishing that Angel had been there to help.

Mark watched Collins chase after Maureen. Nobody knew what to do at first. Finally, the filmmaker picked the letter up off the kitchen floor.

"What's it say Mark?" Mimi asked. Roger wrapped a comforting arm around the dancer's waist. Mark quickly scanned the letter over before reading it out loud.

"Dear Maureen (and everyone else), I'm sorry, but I can't take it anymore. This lifestyle is too much for me. After watching Angel go, and nearly losing Mimi, I realized that this isn't for me. I'm terrible with goodbyes, so I'm just going to leave. I'm sorry Maureen. Feel free to stay at the apartment; the bills will be taken care of. I love you more than anything. Nothing will ever change that, and this isn't your fault. Love, Joanne." Mimi had tears in her eyes by the time Mark was done. This just didn't sound like something Joanne would do. Roger pulled Mimi close, this couldn't be happening.

Several minutes later, Collins led Maureen out of the master bedroom. The diva looked horrible. Her face was red and blotchy, her eyes were swollen ever so slightly, and her makeup was smeared. Mimi broke free of Roger's grip, and wrapped her arms around Maureen.

"It's okay, Mo," she cooed. "It's okay." Maureen buried her face in Mimi's shoulder.

"This is all my fault; I drove Joanne away," she said between sobs.

"This was Joanne's decisions; she'll be back. She just needs a break from the city life. Bohemia isn't for everyone." Mark put a comforting hand on Maureen's shoulder.

"Why don't you come down to the loft for a while so you're not alone?" he suggested. Maureen pulled away from Mimi and shook her head.

"No, no, I need to be here when Pookie gets home so she doesn't think that I left her." The other Bohemians looked at each other, this wasn't good.

It took the Bohemians nearly two hours to calm Maureen down. She finally drifted off to sleep with her arm draped over a pillow next to her where Joanne would normally be. Nobody was in the mood to talk on the way back to the loft, they were all in shock about Joanne leaving them.