Ok, good update. This chapter was a lot of fun...except right at the end. That bit made me sad :(
The Bohemians prepare for a night at the Life Cafe. Collins is given the difficult task of waking Angel up, turns out she isn't a waking-up person at all. Morning or evening. Roger sets off down the stairs and bumps into Mimi on her way to work. There is a minute of anxious glances before Roger lets out a big sigh and a muttered 'sorry'. Roger agrees to wait up for her when he gets home. There is still tension and stuff, but Roger knows what he has to do. Cut to the exterior of the Life Cafe. I wait for everyone, freezing my ass off for the 15th time that day. It's a clear night, some stars are visible over the glow of the street lights. A crescent moon hangs over the top of the Life Cafe, this is pointed out by an approaching Angel and Collins.
"Oooh, isn't it pretty?" Angel gushed, tilted her head on one side so that the fur of her jacket brushed her cheek. She was wearing her Santa coat even though it was January, mainly to keep warm, but also because it looked nice. It also attracted a fair bit of attention, which she didn't seem too bothered about. Collins smiled and looked up at the moon too, agreeing with Angel. When the two had reached the Cafe, they met an obviously cold Mark. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets and his shoulders hunched, making the most of his warm scarf.
"Mark...you look a little cold," Collins pointed out.
"No shit," Mark said plainly. "It's like zero degrees...where's Roger?"
"He'll be here in a minute. He stayed back a second to talk to Mimi." Collins turned to look at Angel, with a pleading, jokey look. "Fancy lending your coat Ang? Mark looks like he's about to drop dead." The three shared a bizarre mental image of Mark wearing Angel's outfit, and starting laugh loudly together.
"As hot as I'm sure Mark would look...I think being cold would do him less damage." Angel joked, twirling a strand of her black wig round her finger. Mark grinned and turned to check if Roger was coming down the street. They had a choice of freezing and waiting for Roger, or going inside the Cafe and suffering through those few extra minutes of Joanne and Maureen making a scene. Or Maureen making a scene, and Joanne doing everything she could to prevent it. Which in turn, would make it worse. They didn't have to worry though, as Roger finally came jogging down the street, turning up the collar of his leather jacket and greeting everyone with a wave. They could tell by his attitude that things were right again between him and Mimi. Mark and Collins gave him brief pats on the back, Angel placed a hand on his upper arm, and the four friends went inside the Life Cafe.
The six friends sit together at the back of the cafe, it's dimly lit, smelling of cigarettes and alcohol. They share a table, much too small for the amount of people sitting there. The table is loaded with drinks, paid for by Angel and Joanne. We're by far the loudest people in the whole of the cafe, but people are used to this, and nobody complains.
Collins waved a hand for the shot glasses on the tables to be refilled. Angel and Maureen sat opposite each other, waiting for a question from Collins. They were playing a fun drinking game. Collins would ask them a question, the person who got it wrong would drink a shot of vodka. This would continue until one of the contestants was too drunk to sit up properly, they would be eliminated, and replaced by a new challenger. The person left sitting at the table at the end of the night would be the winner. It was between Angel and Maureen now, after Joanne and Roger had been eliminated and given glass after glass of water to drink, in order to sober up.
"Ok...the question for this round is..." Collins began, he had been given the job of game host. He thought for a moment what he could ask his friends that would challenge them. "What is Angel's full name?" The two sat there for a moment, thinking carefully about the question. Normally it would be considered easy, but they had drunk so much that they were struggling to remember their owns names. Earlier, Roger had forgotten Angel's first name, and had insisted on calling her 'Ladyboy' for until his foot was stepped on by an annoyed 'Ladyboy'.
"I know this one!" Maureen exclaimed, jumping up from the table for a minute. "It's...It's..."
"ANGELDUMOTTSCHUNARD!" Shouted Angel, also standing up, and slurring together her line of speech.
"Correct!" Announced Collins. "Although I also would have excepted 'Ladyboy'." Angel gave him deadly stare and Collins raised his hands up in mock surrender and went to hug her.
"Oh no honey..." said Angel, sitting down and crossing her legs, "You thought I was too dumb to remember my own name...and you called me Ladyboy. You can't take it back. I am soooo not talking to you." She gave a smug grin and folded her arms, clearly trying to wind Collins up.
"Aww...I didn't mean it...you obviously can remember your own name..." He struggled to justify his name calling. "And you ain't no Ladyboy..." Angel didn't take this too well and raised an eyebrow.
"The way you're going, you ain't ever gonna get to check again!" Collins winced and laughed, turning his attention away from Angel to provide Maureen with her shot of vodka, which she downed, coughing afterwards.
They played a few more rounds of the drinking game. Maureen was announced as the winner when Angel fell off her chair just bending down to pick up a quarter. The party quickly exited the Life Cafe when they had finished, before the waiter could come over and find out that they hadn't left nearly enough money to cover the bill. Maureen and Joanne left in the direction of Joanne's apartment, and everyone else started to head for the Loft. Collins was trying , in vain, to snap Angel out of her mock huff. She wasn't seriously angry with him, just having fun, making him chase after her. The two walked along in the middle of the road, Roger and Mark a few strides behind them. A car swerved right past them, the driver leaning out of the window and yelling at them, in less than kind words, to get out of the road.
"Bese mi asno!" Angel yelled, making a rude gesture after the car. Collins laughed and wrapped his arms around her.
"What did you say?" He asked, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"I don't think you want to know..." Angel drawled, lighting a cigarette and passing it to Collins. He took a short drag and passed it back again.
"Are you really mad at me?" He asked into the fur of Angel's jacket. She paused for a minute trying to think up an answer.
"I'll decide later..." She turned her head and kissed his cheek, then rested her weight against him so that they both nearly fell over in the middle of the street. They were laughing so loud that they were yelled at to shut up from nearby apartments.
The friends retire. Although I am the only one to actually go to sleep. Roger sits at the window of Mimi's apartment, waiting for her to get home from work, doing his best not to fall asleep. He does fall asleep though, but when Mimi gets home she wakes him up so that he doesn't sleep the whole night in a sitting position. Collins can't sleep. He sleeps next to Angel on the couch for the second night running. He can't sleep because he can feel her shivering next to him, all night. Angel can't sleep. She's trying to stop herself from shaking.