Chapter Eight

Mimi sat on the couch in Angel and Collins' apartment while Angel stood in the kitchen making hot chocolate. Mimi was there for two reasons. One, to hang out with her best friend, and two they heat had in their apartment and the loft didn't.

"Hey Ang," Mimi said.

"What's up chica?"

"Do you um, do you remember when we were in high school?" Angel nodded as she walked over to the couch with two cups of hot chocolate. She thought back to the time when Mimi was fifteen and she was eighteen. They had been close friends in high school, but the only reason they knew each other was simply because their mothers were friends. For the two of them high school was remembered as good times. Well, at least some of it was.

"So then, you remember why I left?" The fact that Mimi was the one to bring this up surprised Angel. Mimi rarely talked about this part of her life, and even when she did it only consisted of mentioning an English teacher that she had or something like that.

"If you don't mind my asking," Angel said. "Why so many questions about this?"

"I was just thinking about her," Mimi said now staring into her hot chocolate. "My mom." Angel opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Collins opening the door.

"Hey," he said, walking towards the two of them.

"You're home early," Angel said after giving her lover a quick kiss.

"Yeah well classes got cut short." Collins said smiling at Angel suggestively. Angel giggled and wrapped her arms around Collins' neck.

"God!" Mimi said standing up. "At least wait until I'm out of the room."

"I'll call you later," Angel said.

"Whatever," Mimi replied. She walked back to the loft, and saw Roger in the kitchen by the stove. He was cooking. Roger Davis was cooking.

"Hey babe," Roger said when he heard the door open.

"What are you doing?" Mimi said poking her head around Roger. "Are you making spaghetti? Oh my god you're making spaghetti! You've been holding out on me." Mimi said.

"Yeah, well it was supposed to be a surprise. I thought you'd be home later."

"I would have, but you know, fucking Collins."

"Wait, are you mad at Collins?"

"No, I mean Angel's fucking Collins."

"Oh."

"And I'm still surprised I didn't think you could cook anything."

"Well my mom taught how to make a few things when I was younger."

"Aw that's so cute! So where's Mark?"

"He's out. He said he'd be back in a couple of hours."

Roger and Mimi sat across from each other at the metal table. They sat there talking and eating. Well, Roger was eating Mimi was just sort of playing with her food. She sat there moving her fork around her plate of spaghetti. She couldn't stop thinking about what she had wanted to talk to Angel about today. She thought that she would be able to ignore it and just spend a night alone with Roger but she was wrong.

"Okay, so I'm not trying to put a damper on our little romantic evening together, but I can't get this off my mind." Mimi said.

"Can't get what off your mind?"

"My mother," Mimi said. Roger just looked at her. He was obviously confused. He didn't know anything about her life before living in the East Village, and he shouldn't have. "You see Angel and I go way back. We were in high school together. Of course she was three years older then me, but we didn't really care. The only reason we knew each other was because our moms were friends."

"When I was 15 she graduated. We didn't talk to each other that much after that it just got hard to keep in touch, and I sort of lost hope. I never really wanted to go to college I was just doing it to please my mom. It was easier having Angel there to help me get through my freshman year, but then she graduated and I was alone. When I was 16 I started getting into drugs. My mom knew, she tried to stop me, but I didn't listen, she couldn't control anything that I did." Mimi stopped for a second and tears welled up in her eyes.

"You can stop if you want to babe," Roger said putting his hand on her arm. Mimi just shook her head and continued.

"For a while I stopped buying my lunch. I would save the money and once I had enough use it to buy drugs. But then it got so bad that I started stealing money from my mom. I would just take it from her purse and use it to get what I thought I couldn't live without. One day I found out that I had HIV, I was 17. When I came home that day I was afraid to tell my mom, but I kind of wanted to. It was almost like I thought if I told her everything then would be fine, and everything would be back to normal. And then I got home and heard her talking on the phone. She was trying to get a loan from the bank, but I could tell they weren't going to give it to her."

"I just stood there outside her bedroom door listening to her cry. She was begging for this loan and I knew it was my fault. I knew we were running out of money, I knew that it was because of me, I knew that we wouldn't have the money to pay the medical bills, and I decided that I didn't want to cause my mother anymore pain. So I got my stuff, I wrote her a note, and I left. In the note I told her not to look for me, that things were better this way, and that she would be happier without me. After I left I went down to the East Village, got myself a job at the Cat Scratch, and then realized that I had no place to go. It was late and I was tired so I just sat outside the club and tried to sleep."

"I was asleep when I felt someone shaking me. I opened my eyes and saw Angel. It turned out she hadn't gone to college after all. I told her that I left, that I had no place to go and she took me home with her. I lived with her until I was 18 and got enough money to live in my own shitty apartment."

"Wow," Roger said realizing that he knew pretty much knew the rest of the story.

"Yeah, I know."

"So, where does your mother fit into you telling me this?"

"I'm pregnant Roger," Mimi began.

"Yes, I know," Roger said. Mimi just rolled her eyes and continued.

"Well don't you think that she deserves to know that after all the hell I put her through she's gonna have a grandchild? I mean, I'm finally starting to get my life back together, and I want to tell her but I'm afraid that she I don't know hates me."

"I think that she does deserve to know. I think that if you want to tell her you should."

"Yeah well that requires finding her first."

"Let's worry about that later."

"Okay."

The couple continued to eat and when they were done Roger picked up the plates.

"Here, I'll do the dishes," he said.

"I can help you know," Mimi said watching as Roger slowly scrubbed at the dishes. She walked over to sink and sat on the counter. "Want some help?" She asked.

"It's all right I got it."

"You sure?" she asked. Roger nodded, and Mimi slowly reached her hand in the sink and threw bubbles in his hair, Roger threw some back at her, and she splashed the soapy water on him. He looked at her angrily and then picked her up off the counter.

"Roger!" Mimi screamed when he started to tickle her. "Roger stop!" she yelled laughing. He put her down and kissed her passionately.

The two of them laid in their bed. Mimi's head was on Roger's bare chest and he smiled as she ran her fingers up and down his stomach.

"Hey Roger,"

"What?" he replied sleepily.

"Remind me to thank Mark for leaving us alone for the night."