AN: Ok, something I'm kinda worried about this chapter, because I've seen authors been flamed by in this before. There's a song in this chapter. But no, I am not trying to be Jonathon Larson. I can't write songs like him, and I am perfectly aware of that. But I did write a song, and it is in here. Think of Michelle Branch and Anna Nalick when you read this, because that's more my song sound. So ... yeah. Go easy on me.
I now have over 15000 hits. Major thanks to all of you reading, especially after all these chapters and all the times my computer's crapped out on me and everything else. You guys rock so hard!
New favorite song – "4ever" by The Veronicas. It kicks ass so very, very much!
Look, reviews!
EAmphetamine – Aw! Thanks! I heart you, too. Especially your reviews. Reviews are majorly awesome.
Bohogirl – Yup – for now, anyway. Thank you very much! I'm glad I made you laugh. Well, that's Mark – unpredictable. Don't think about that sentence too much. Oh, it did. It really did.
Libby – You'll see, you'll see. Look! Update!
Caitlin – No, I didn't die – though a surprising amount of people thought I did. I suppose if I were you guys, though, I would've been worried, too. However, it has more to do with the death of my computer. My evil, evil computer. Anyway ... Oh my God, thank you! I do kinda know what you mean ... not in reference to mine being like a novel (thank you again), but how a good portion of fanfic is just fans writing what they think without actually having much thought about how it translates into a story. I get so excited when I read well-written ones, it's insane. Collins to me is hard to write because he's both a professor as well as a bohemian. The two are very complicated to mix. Everyone seems to think Mark's been whiny lately. I could defend him again, but I think this chapter will help with that. I hope that a chapter within three days equals forgiveness. Oh! I'm so sorry! Maybe this chapter will be a big happy boost – I think it will be. Of course, it might not be. It all depends ... Congrats! As for small parts, at least your character has a real name. Mine's "Diva." Celebration for those with little parts! I am totally motivated. And I'm really sorry about that last response. Have I mentioned? My computer is EVIL.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rent, but I do own my song. How cool is that?
Last Chance
Mark was pissed. Not at Roger. Not at Mimi. Not even at Abby. No, he had finally got around to being pissed at himself.
He'd had no right to get that mad at Mimi and Roger. Sure, Roger should have told him. He was Mark's best friend, after all. Mark should've been the first to know. He should've been helping pick out the ring. But Roger was trying to surprise Mimi, and Mark could respect that. So yeah, he was a little ticked, and he had a right to be. But really, he was just being an ass. No. He was being worse than an ass. He was being pre-Mimi Roger. And that was just not a pleasant thing to be.
He was being stupid, and he knew it. He'd known that everyone had AIDS. And finding one more person had it shouldn't do so much to him. Mark knew it was probably because, for the first time, he was actually in love. He thought Maureen had been his first love. It was a bit of relief that she hadn't been. She was amazing, she was vibrant, she was moving at a million miles per hour, and he was swept up. But he hadn't been in love.
He was now. And he'd fucked it up.
So now here he was, sitting on Maureen and Joanne's couch, royally pissed off at himself. He apparently wasn't the only one. Joanne had been giving him her lawyer look. It was a fairly scary look. Maureen didn't seem upset yet, but it probably wouldn't be long until she was fed up with him, too. Still, he couldn't seem to figure out what to do. He couldn't go forward and he couldn't go back. So he was just sitting on the couch, waiting for something to come to him.
He vaguely recognized the sound of the phone ringing. He didn't pay attention to Maureen's conversation to whoever it was talking to her until Maureen hung up and plopped onto the couch next to him.
"Mark, do you want to go see Roger tonight?" Maureen was bouncing a little bit, which was odd to Mark. "Well, not really tonight. More like in an hour. Or less. So we'd have to leave, like, now."
Mark thought about it for a moment. He wasn't ready to talk to Abby yet, but Roger he could handle. "Sure. Why not?"
Maureen squeaked and grabbed his hand, pulling him off of the couch. "Joanne! Joanne, come on!"
Joanne burst from their room, flustered. "What? What's wrong?"
"We're going to see Roger play!" Maureen was unnaturally excited. Joanne raised an eyebrow at Mark, who shrugged. Maureen rolled her eyes at the two of them. "MOVE!" she bellowed, shoving Mark at the door and grabbed Joanne's hand and pulled.
Mark had to admit, he'd never gotten to the club faster. Maureen had managed to make Joanne and Mark run there in ten minutes – apparently they didn't have time to catch a cab or take the metro. Mark sat down at the first seat he saw to catch his breath.
Roger looked at Abby. "You ready for this?"
Abby nodded feebly. "I screwed up. I need to fix it. This is the only way I know how ... even if it is in front of like two hundred people, and all of our friends, and he may hate it, and ..."
Roger laughed a little, took her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. She gazed back at him nervously. "It's ok. You're good, and he loves you. It'll work out." He grinned mischievously. "And I can guarantee you that this works. Not only can the right song get someone back, it can save lives."
Abby laughed. "Right, Rog."
Roger just smiled. "Remind me to tell you the story behind that sometime, ok, Abs? I'm going out now." With that, he left her, feeling as if she was going to either cry or puke. She settled for running the words for her song over and over in her head.
"Hey, everyone! Our first song tonight is the song that I wrote for my baby. Hope you guys like it." Roger flashed a quick smile at Mark which Mark returned. As the opening chords to "Your Eyes" were struck, Mark scanned the room. Seeing his friends at the bar where Mimi was working, he went to sit next to them.
Dave turned around. "No Abby, sweetie. Don't worry." Collins looked down and Benny shook his head, while Joanne and Maureen exchanged glances. Mark didn't know how to tell any of them that he almost wished that she was there.
The song ended without Mark saying a word. It took him a second to realize that the band wasn't playing another song.
"I know I'm supposed to play for another few hours. But I'm going to go take a break with my fiancée," Dave and Maureen practically had heart attacks as they each grabbed Mimi's hand and started jumping up and down, knocking over their stools, "hell, yeah, I said fiancée! My friend Abby Rosenbaum is taking over. You'll know her from Tuesday nights. Big hand for her!"
And from behind the curtain, Abby emerged. Mark's mouth suddenly went completely dry.
Abby licked her lips. How could she sing if there was absolutely no moisture in her mouth? It wasn't even the crowds of people. Those she could handle in her sleep. It was the guy looking completely bowled over at the bar in the glasses that was terrifying her.
She cleared her throat. "Hi, everyone! This goes out to this great guy I'm in love with, who I hope is going to forgive me. It's called 'Beautiful Breakdown.'"
She settled her guitar across her chest, then nodded at the band.
I love you
Is that still enough?
Now you're older and colder
And I'm none of that stuff
You want me
But you won't let me in
You say over and over
You can't get hurt again
Mark couldn't seem to do anything but stare. Only one thing entered his brain: this was what Maureen had been so damn excited about.
I'm trying to break through
I'm trying to get to you
But you won't listen to me
In this beautiful breakdown
You give me the run around
And I wish you could see
No matter what you may say
You are wonderful to me
Abby stole a quick glance at Mark. He wasn't even moving. She couldn't tell if it was working. What if this made things even worse? She really didn't know of anything else to try.
You are in
Every thought that I make
And I want you and haunt you
With every breath you take
Please wake up
Come on, just open your eyes
The world is tragic but magic
I just want to stop these lies
Roger leaned over to Mark. "Don't let her get away, man." Mark looked at him and swallowed. As if he didn't know that. The question was, what the hell was he supposed to do now?
I'm trying to break through
I'm trying to get to you
But you won't listen to me
In this beautiful breakdown
You give me the run-around
And I wish you could see
No matter what you may say
You're wonderful to me
Abby didn't even look at him. She just couldn't anymore. She couldn't even think anymore. She was hurting and hopeful at the same time, and it was all she could do to keep singing.
You're everything I've ever wanted
If you could just let me keep it
Stop trying to run from what's coming
Hold my hand and meet it
Because I'm trying to break through
I'm trying to get to you
But you won't, you won't listen to me
Mark looked at her. He loved this girl. So what the hell was he doing?
In this beautiful breakdown
You give me the run around
And I wish you could see
No matter what you may say
Mark jumped out of his seat. Behind him, he could hear all his friends screaming with excitement. Maureen called out, "GO GET HER!"
It doesn't matter what you say
Yeah, no matter what you may say
You are wonderful to me
Mark was on the stage before the final chords were played. Abby turned to him. They stood there awkwardly for a moment.
"Hi," Abby said nervously.
"Hi," Mark replied, laughing a little. Abby smiled hopefully.
They stared at each other for another minute. Mark finally started talking. "I'm so sorry. I was being such an ass ..."
She cut him off. "No, I'm sorry. I screwed up so bad ..."
Suddenly, he blurted out, "I love you."
The look on her face was brilliant. "Really?"
He couldn't help grinning at that. "Really." He pulled her to him and kissed her as if he wasn't ever going to let her go. Which he didn't think he ever would.
When they broke apart for a moment, she smiled up at him. "I love you, too, you know."
Mark chuckled. "I hope so. Because if not, all those people are going to be disappointed." He gestured at the crowd of people who were cheering and whistling at them, including their friends (Maureen, Mimi and Dave had commenced jumping up and down in a circle, going "Oh my God! Oh my God!").
Abby's eyes widened. "Oh. Right." She grabbed the mike. "Roger, get your ass back up here. I'll catch you guys later." She looked Mark up and down. "Much later." She jammed the mike back in its stand, grabbed Mark's hand and pulled him behind the curtain.
As soon as they were out the back of the club, Mark pulled her to him and kissed him, slowly and carefully, taking to memorize exactly how she felt. When he finally pulled away, Abby looked worried. "What's wrong?" Mark asked. He didn't feel like anything could be wrong right now.
Abby's lip quivered. "Mark, I'm so sorry. I mean, I should've ..."
Mark put his hand over her mouth. "Abs. It's ok."
She looked slightly more hopeful. "But what about ...?"
He shook his head. "We'll figure it out." Heraised his eyebrowsand pulled her closer. "Did I tell you I loved you?"
She grinned and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I think you mentioned it."
He smiled down at her. "Good," he whispered, before bending down to kiss her again.
AN: So? What'd ya think?
I know some of you may be thinking that this is the end of my lovely fic. But it's not! Though, since my show starts in a week and a half, it may be a while before I update again. Especially since I need to update my Harry Potter fic first – read that! Sorry, I had to do that.
Remember, I'm not exactly a song writer. I just thought that out of all my ideas to get the two of them back together, that was the best one. Trust me, I don't think you'd like the others I'd thought up. Be nice, please. I mean, you can say that you don't like the song, of course. But please no "You suck! Never write songs again! Crawl into hell and die." Because that's just not friendly.
Officially, this is the longest chapter I've ever written. It seems fitting, what with the build-up and all.
Ok, I'm out. Love? Hate? Please review!