Disclaimer: I do not own RENT, it all belongs to Jonathan.
Chapter 2
When the meeting was over, Crystal was one of the first to get up and walk out. Roger followed her outside and the metal door almost hit him in the face. He tried to keep up with her on the busy sidewalk but it was difficult. He couldn't understand how she could walk so fast in those heels, but he then remembered living around Angel and Mimi and that answered his own question. He broke into a quick jog and finally caught up with her.
He tapped her shoulder and said "Hey" out of breath.
She stared at him for a second, not knowing what to make of the situation. After a second she said "Hi…"
"I just wanted to make sure you were alright, you looked pretty upset in there" Roger said to her.
"Is this some kind of way to get into my pants because I'm not interested" said Crystal.
Roger was thrown off by this, but couldn't blame her. Back then he would have pulled whatever would work to get a girl in bed, but most of the time they came to him, especially crazy drunk groupies. Most of them said they were eighteen when he asked, but it's not like he did background checks or anything. But this was not his motive now. He wanted to be a mentor, have a positive influence on somebody, kind of like a big brother type.
"Maybe five years ago" he said with a grin after a moment.
"So why are you interested…?"
"Roger. Roger Davis" he said.
"Crystal Muller. So, like I was saying, are you some serial killer that follows girls and tries to befriend them or something?" she said smiling.
"Very funny, but no. I don't know you just looked like you needed someone to talk to" Roger said back. Smartass he thought to himself.
Crystal started giggling and said "You just met me, how do you know I'm not some crazy killer?"
"I guess I'll just have to find out for myself won't I?" he said.
Crystal was confused why this stranger, a very attractive one she may add at that, was so concerned about her. He seemed trustworthy enough, and his eyes seemed to put her at ease. Finally someone gave a shit about her, not even her own family or that prick she was "dating" did.
They continued walking down the street until Roger said "You want to take a walk in Central Park and just talk?"
"Sure" she said. What am I doing? I don't even know him, but there's something about him that would make me follow him anywhere Crystal thought.
When they got there, Crystal said to Roger, "Ok, if I tell you about myself, you have to tell me about yourself".
Roger panicked a little at the thought of this. He didn't know how it would feel to reopen old wounds, but it seemed fair enough.
"Deal" he said. "How did you get the shiner?"
"My ex" she said.
"Why did he hit you? Did he do it a lot?" Roger asked.
"No, this was after we got busted for the drugs. He blamed me for getting caught of course. It doesn't matter now though. He kicked me out a couple of days ago because he's with some new skank, but it's not like he wasn't with them when we were together anyway" she said looking at the ground.
"Are you living anywhere now?" he asked.
"Yah, I found some squatty thing a couple of blocks from here. I just need somewhere to stay until I can make enough money at my job to get the hell out of here" she said.
"You don't have family you can stay with?" asked Roger.
"No, I was kicked out. My step dad's an asshole and convinced my mom to kick me out because I wouldn't sleep with him. She made her choice and believed all the things he said about me. Then I met Jake at a club. He's twenty three but I didn't care, I just would take anything at the time really" she said.
Roger felt troubled by this and couldn't believe a girl so young had to go through so much in her life. He then asked her "I don't mean to come on too strong, but were you a junkie?"
"No, I wasn't. I don't do drugs, contrary to popular belief. I know where you're going with this, but no a needle is not how I got HIV" she said.
Roger was speechless and didn't want to say the wrong thing. After a moment Crystal said "I'll answer you're question for you, I was raped. That's how I got it. Jake got it from fooling around but didn't know he had it. I didn't want to sleep with him yet, but he got what he wanted anyway."
"How are you making money here, you're so young" said Roger.
"I work at the Pink Cheetah" said Crystal.
Roger knew what the Pink Cheetah was. It was a strip club, but that's an understatement. It might as well have been a full blown whorehouse.
"You can't work there" said Roger.
"Excuse me, who said you, could tell me what to do?" said Crystal crossly.
"You don't deserve to work in such a shithole. I'll see if I can get you a job at the Life Café. I know you're not eighteen yet so you can't waitress, but I got connections there and I'll find you something" he said.
Why is he going through so much trouble for me? A part of me says this is going to cost something, but the other part says he's a caring guy just trying to look out for me. I'll have to see thought Crystal.
"It's getting cold, do you want to get some tea at my loft. Id love for you to meet my friends" said Roger.
"Yeah, sure, but you still gotta tell me about yourself and your past" said Crystal.
"I know. I keep my promises" said Roger. They both then headed towards Alphabet City.