To Be
DISCLAIMER: I do not own RENT or anything affiliated with it.
Mark pulled his jacket tighter around him as he raced down the street towards the Life. He was running late, thanks to a meeting with Alexi Darling. He'd wanted to cancel it, but she'd insisted that it would only take a minute. That was three hours ago, and he was just making it back. She'd spent hours trying to convince him to come back to Buzzline, especially after hearing about his newest documentary.
It wasn't until he was right outside that he realized how far he'd run… almost ten blocks. He hurried inside and straight back to the table where Roger, Mimi, Joanne and Collins waited. Maureen was nowhere in sight.
"Hey guys," he said, out of breath.
"Nice to see you finally decided to wake up," Roger said, smiling. Mark promptly flipped him off, causing the whole table to laugh. "Alright Jo, where is she? I'm starving here."
"When are you not starving, Davis? Just give her another couple of minutes," Collins said.
"She's just being her usual self – always wanting to make an entrance," Joanne told him. "You know what, just go ahead and tell us everything. It's her own fault for being late."
"It was great… I wish you guys could have been there," Mark began.
"Just get to the good part," Roger said.
"What makes you so sure there's a good part?" Collins asked.
"There's gotta be a good part, or why the hell else would we want to know?"
"Good point."
"Let the boy tell us what happened," Joanne said, shutting them both up.
"Thank you. Anyway, I didn't win anything," Mark said.
"I'm sorry, Mark," Mimi said, reaching to touch his hand.
"But I did get invited to a couple of other festivals… including Sundance." Everyone smiled and began to congratulate him. "They want to see some of my other stuff, too. I'm going to take 'Today 4 U'…"
"You should. It's some of your best work," Collins said. "Plus, it's got Angel."
Mark wound the film around a second reel. He'd finally finished copying his film, and now he just had to get it sent off to the event organizers. "How much longer is that going to take you?" Collins asked, walking out of his room.
"Just finished. Now all I have to do is get this in the mail," Mark said, prying the reel out of the machine. He put it into a plastic case and started writing on it in permanent marker.
"Well you might want to put that on hold. Benny just called… he wants us to move back into the loft today," Collins said.
"Is he fucking kidding? We aren't ready to move," Mark replied. "He's got to at least give us some warning about this shit."
"Yeah, well, what can you do? It is Benny we're talking about here," Collins reminded him. Mark sighed and looked down at the reel in his hands.
"I can't wait on this… I can't afford to lose it moving. Think you guys can start without me?" he asked.
"I guess. Just hurry," Collins said.
"Will do," Mark replied, running out of the apartment.
"Why does this shit have to be so fucking heavy?" Roger asked. He was helping Mark move all of the film editing equipment back up the stairs.
"Don't ask me," Mark grunted. He was having a hard time holding onto the heavy equipment. They trudged up a few more steps.
"Mark, I'm starting to lose my grip on this thing," Roger warned.
"Me too," Mark replied. Before either had a chance to react, it slipped out of Roger's hands and pushed Mark backwards, down the stairs and into the wall. Roger ran down the stairs and pushed the equipment away from his friend.
"Shit! Are you okay?" Roger quickly looked his friend over, noting that his left wrist was bent at an odd angle.
"I'm fine," Mark said. He started to get up, but the pain in his wrist stopped him from putting any pressure on it. He finally managed to stand, holding his injured arm close to his body.
"Is it broken?" Roger asked. Mark shook his head.
"No. Just needs some ice," he said.
"Don't fuck with me, Mark. Let me see," Roger replied, reaching out for Mark's arm. The filmmaker pulled away.
"Don't touch it! It's fine," Mark said.
"Let me see, or I'll fucking carry you to the emergency room… and I do mean literally carry," Roger said. Mark sighed and let Roger examine his wrist, wincing every time it was forced to move.
"Stop, please," Mark said, trying to pull away. It hurt so badly, he could feel the tears coming.
"You need to go to the hospital," Roger told him. He didn't let go of Mark's arm.
"Okay," Mark said, giving in. It hurt too much to argue. Roger let go of his arm and started up the stairs.
"I'll be right back, I've got to go tell Collins where we're going," Roger said.
Mark couldn't help but fidget on the subway ride back to the loft. He was tired, and uncomfortable, and the damn cast was hot. It also didn't help that the car was packed and it was all he could do to keep from actually bumping into someone besides Roger. After what felt like forever, the subway car finally slowed to a stop. The two men pushed their way out, Mark being careful to keep his cast away from anyone else. They finally managed to make it to the street and began trudging back towards the loft.
"I'm sorry," Roger said, not looking at his friend.
"It's no big deal." Roger smiled.
"Typical. I break you fucking wrist, and you say it's no big deal," Roger said.
"It's not like you dropped all that shit on purpose," Mark replied.