It's 2 Years later and Roger has been living in the East Village section of New York City. Mark has tried to stay in touch with him and keep his promise to his sister. He had enrolled in NY Film School for film making and Roger was living in an industrial loft with Benny, who has since broken up with Jocelyn, and another guy named Tom Collins, like the drink. Roger was in a band and was drinking heavily. He hadn't dated anyone since Amanda and had refused to even entertain the notion.
"Marky, my friend. What are you doing here?" Roger asked clearly drunk.
"I called you yesterday, remember? I start school next week. NYU, ringing any bells?" Mark asked confused with his bags next to him holding his green messenger bag.
"Oh right. Sorry, long night." Roger said holding the loft door open for him.
"It's 1:30 in the afternoon." Mark said bringing his stuff inside.
"OK, really long night. How are you Mark? I missed you." Roger laughed hugging him.
"Roger, are you drunk?" Mark asked looking up at him. He smelled of alcohol.
"Yeah, a little. Just still up from last night. Couldn't sleep." Roger told him plopping down on the couch.
"You shouldn't be drinking so much, it's dangerous." Mark said looking over at him.
"Mark, none of it matters. I'm lost without her." he told him quietly as he took another sip of his beer.
"What are you talking about? Who are you talking about?" Mark asked confused.
"Mandy. I miss her so much, Mark." Roger said starting to cry into his hands.
"Roger, I'm sorry. I didn't realize." Mark said rubbing Roger's back as Benny and another guy entered the loft.
"Rog, are you OK? Is it Mandy again." the other guy asked rushing over to him.
"How do you know about Mandy?" Mark asked quietly looking up at Benny.
"He's been like this for 2 years. It's all he does. First it was the depression and now this. When he drinks, he gets worse." Benny told him as the other guy hugged Roger.
"He told me he drinks because he's lost without her." Mark said getting up to go by Benny.
"He's trying to hold on to her. He's afraid he's gonna lose her again. Collins is the only one who can talk him down when he gets like that." he told him watching Roger crumble in front of them.
"I had no idea. Whenever I spoke to him he said he was fine." Mark told him watching Roger sympathetically.
"Yeah, he plays it off in front of everyone else. But here he's like this. We try not to leave him alone, but sometimes we have to." Benny told him folding his arms.
"It's OK, Rog. She loves you and wants you to be OK. You need to stop drinking and move on. This is not what she wanted for you." Collins said rubbing Rogers back as he cried into his chest.
"I don't want to move on." he yelled getting up from his seat. "What if I forget her? She's the love of my life Collins. We were gonna get married and raise our baby together."
"Roger, she's gone and you're still here. You need to let go and move on. You don't have to forget her, you just need to learn how to live your life without her. It'll be OK. She won't be mad." Collins told him.
"I'll try. I just… I need to go to bed. I'm really tired." Roger said stumbling to his room.
"Do you think he means it this time?" Collins asked looking over at Benny.
"No. You never saw them together, Collins. They were made for each other. From the day Roger asked Mandy out they were connected. Man, they were great together. Mandy gave up cheerleading because her friends didn't like Roger. The night she… he died too." Benny told him.
"Yeah, they were each others worlds. They breathed for one another. He made her happier than she had ever been in her whole life." Mark chimed in looking at him.
"Now who are you?" Collins asked looking at Mark.
"Oh sorry, Collins. This is Mark Cohen." Benny told him introducing the men.
"Cohen? As in Mandy Cohen?"
"She was my sister." Mark told him quietly.
"I'm so sorry." Collins said looking at Mark sympathetically.
"Thank you. I'm just glad she's not here to see him like this. She would have kicked his ass if she saw him doing this to himself." Mark said pointing in the direction of Roger's bedroom.
"He just loves her so much. Living without her is still impossible to think about even after all this time." Collins told him quietly.
"Yeah, but like this? No, he should be honoring my sister's memory instead of drowning himself in the bottom of a bottle. She wanted him to be a rock star because she believed in his talent. He left Scarsdale because everything reminded him of her. So he came here, for what? To keep her alive as an excuse to be a drunk? No, my sister never would have let him get away with this." Mark ranted pacing the room as tears fell from his eyes.
"What are you gonna do, Mark." Benny asked watching him.
"I'm gonna do the only thing I can. Take care of him like I promised my sister I would." Mark said looking out the window.
"Mark, a lot's changed. He's not the Roger that we knew. He's not Mandy's Roger anymore. He's different." Benny said looking over at him.
"He'll always be Mandy's Roger. You were there, remember? We lived with them. He's in there. We just have to get him out." Mark said looking up at him.
"I guess if anyone can, you can Mark." Collins said looking over at him.
"I have to. I owe it to my sister. She was everything to me and they were everything to each other. She would have never wanted to see him like that." he said wiping his eyes. Benny showed him to his bedroom so he could unpack while Roger slept.
"Roger, are you OK?" Mark asked as Roger stumbled out of his room shortly before 9 that night.
"Yeah Mark, I'm… I'm fine. I'm sorry about before. Things just get... you know." he said going to the kitchen to make coffee.
"I know, but she wouldn't want to see you like this." Mark said getting off of the couch and going towards the kitchen.
"Mark, you have no idea what it's like. One minute we were gonna get married and have a baby and the next minute, she's gone. Her and our baby just taken from me without warning. I just don't know how to live without her." Roger argued looking over at him.
"Yes Roger, I do know. She was more than my sister. She was my sister and my best friend. No one understood me the way she did. She fought for me my whole life. You don't hold the market on being heartbroken over her death." Mark yelled looking up at him as he pushed his glasses up onto his face.
"Mark, she was my whole life. Before her, I was a freak. She made me who I was." Roger yelled moving closer to him.
"And now look at you. You're a drunk who's using my sister to continue being a drunk." Mark yelled pushing him back.
"You know Mark, you can get your own place if you don't want to see any of this. I don't need you to baby sit me." Roger yelled getting in Mark's face.
"Yes you do. I promised my sister that I would take care of you and unlike you, I don't plan on going back on a promise I made." Mark yelled not backing down.
"Who the hell told you to promise to take care of me?" Roger asked walking away from him.
"You were the love of my sisters life. I'm not gonna let you kill yourself just because she's gone." Mark yelled as Roger ran his fingers through his hair.
"I can't live without her. You don't get it. No one saw me until she came along. She saw who I was and loved me. I could be myself with her and she didn't walk away from me. I love her Mark. I need her in my life and she's not here. And she's never gonna be here again." he said leaning against the wall before sliding to the floor in tears.
"She was always there to stick up for me to with everyone. Remember Margaret and them?" he asked as Roger nodded. "Well, she never let them give me a hard time and she never ditched me when they told her that I wasn't cool enough to be seen with her." Mark said looking down at him.
"Yeah, she quit the squad because they didn't like me. I never wanted her to do that, but she said that they were snobs and she wasn't gonna let them dictate who she dates." he said looking up at him as he hugged his legs close to his chest.
"She once told me that being with you made her feel like the most special girl in the world." Mark said squatting down next to him.
"She is. Even now. I look at other girls and realize that I'm never gonna find anyone like her again. I don't want anyone else but her. I want my Mandy back." Roger said beginning to cry again.
"Roger, she's not coming back. I know you know that. But she would want you to move on with your life. You were the love of her life. She would never want you to be miserable like this." Mark whispered putting his arms around him.
"I can't think about moving on right now, Mark. I still love her. I can't think about being with anyone else. I'd feel like I was cheating on her." Roger argued breaking away from him before getting off of the floor and going to his room.
"Roger." Mark called out getting up.
"I don't want to talk about this anymore." he yelled slamming his door.