AN: Once again, there's major drama in this chapter. (There's a lot of that going on in my RENT stories right now, isn't there?) Just remember that all thunderstorms will end, and the rainbow will appear when it does.
"Aren't we going to bring the bridesmaid dresses?" Maureen belted, holding up the pastel green dress she'd carted over to the Loft.
"Maureen, it's just the rehearsal," Collins chucked, taking the joint out of his mouth. "No one's wearing their dresses or tuxes."
"That's what I told you before we left, honey," Joanne pointed out as Mark took Maureen's dress and draped it over the couch, next to two other dresses, Joanne's pastel yellow and Emily's pastel blue. "Besides, Mimi's dress doesn't come back from the dry cleaners until later on today. So it might be awkward for her to be the only one dressed casually."
"I guess," Maureen frowned, slightly sulking.
The Bohemians were all getting ready to head down for the church for the rehearsal ceremony, and the real wedding was taking place in two days. With the added fact that Roger and Mimi's fathers had both returned to the Loft the day after their arrival to apologize for how they'd behaved, and volunteered to not only split the dry cleaner bill between the two of them, but pay all the expanses for a reception as well, things were really starting to look up.
"Hey, are you two ready in there?" Mark called, looking over at the open door to Roger and Mimi's bedroom. "We really need to get to the church for the rehearsal."
"Yeah, we know." Roger replied, exiting the room with an arm draped over Mimi's shoulder. As they came out, Emily reached for the keys to her van, but Robbie leapt for the keys, handing them to Emily with a wide smile.
"Thanks, Robbie," Emily took the keys from him with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Hey, if you need anything else, Emily, then I'm your guy." Robbie grinned. Grunting slightly, Roger shook his head as he watched, making a mental note to tell Robbie that if he really wanted to earn Emily's affections, being her personal slave probably wouldn't work as the photographer rarely liked being pampered. Now that everyone was ready, the group headed for the door. But as the door was pulled open, the phone started to ring, and Mimi answered it.
"Hello? … Yes, this is Mimi. … Wait, what?" Mimi placed a hand over the speaker. "It's the church." Instinctively, Roger headed over to join her at the phone as Mimi returned to her conversation with the church. "What do you mean the priest's in California? … What family emergency?" Mimi grimaced as the person on the other end spoke. "Okay, thank you then." Mimi slammed down the phone. "Aw, Sh-t."
"We lost the priest?" Roger concluded incredulously.
"Well, good thing Nana didn't here that," Mark groaned.
"Yeah, she'd probably say it's some sort of bad omen," Penny giggled in agreement.
"That sounds like the Nana we remember," Rupert concurred, looking up from his and Jerry's act of dropping water balloons from the fire escape, drenching the passersby below.
"Rupert, Jerry, stop bombing New Yorkers with water balloons!" Emily scolded. "This isn't the time for your antics."
"Well, it's not that bad," Mimi forced a grin. "We have another priest who's standing in."
"Who?" Roger asked.
"A Father… Damien." The Bohemians all instantly shared apprehensive glances.
"Robbie, you didn't have to come with us," Mark explained as he and Emily made their way to the dry cleaners to pick up Mimi's dress.
"I wanted to!" Robbie insisted. "I don't want to step in when Rog and Mimi are with their folks in settling some things with the reception hall stuff, and while Mo and Jo are both okay people, sitting there and watching them make out is not high on my list of things I'd like to spend time doing."
"Well, you could have kept Collins company," Emily pointed out, reaching for the door to the dry cleaners, only to have Robbie dash over and hold it open for her.
"Well, I would have, but he disappeared somewhere after the rehearsal, saying he'd catch up at the dinner tonight."
"He's probably off visiting Angel," Mark guessed.
"Wouldn't surprise me," Emily agreed. "You got the dry cleaner slip, Mark?"
"Yeah, right here," Mark confirmed, holding up the slip before handing it to the man behind the counter. "Hey, you guys. I was thinking about something. Seeing how these are our best friends getting married, we really should get them something big as a gift."
"Yeah, but you know we can't really afford much, Mark." Emily pointed out.
"I know that. But I was talking about it to Collins last night." Mark continued. "What I was thinking about was one large gift, with all of us pitching in."
"Hey, I'm game for that," Robbie grinned. "But I could cover your share if you'd like, Emily."
"Thank you Robbie," Emily sent him an exasperated look. "But while I'm not well-off, I'm still not without spare cash."
"Just an offer," Robbie shrugged, not noticing the look Mark was giving him.
The filmmaker had not been blind to Robbie's sudden attentiveness to Emily, and while he wasn't going to say anything, he seriously couldn't take in the idea of Emily and Robbie dating. He had nothing against Robbie, but he also had never perceived Emily as the type who'd go for someone like Roger's band mate. He supposed that was the reason the concept of the two of them together irked him so much. After all, there wasn't any other reason for him finding the thought so irritating.
"Sir?" the voice of the dry cleaner worker broke through Mark's thoughts. "I'm sorry, but I think we have a little problem."
"What do you mean, 'problem'?" Mark frowned.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THEY LOST THE DRESS!?" Mimi shouted. Mark, Emily and Robbie had just returned to the Loft, and had to break the news to their friends that the dry cleaners had 'misplaced' Mimi's wedding dress. Needless to say, the news wasn't being taken too well.
"We're supposed to be getting married the day after tomorrow!" Mimi ranted, fuming at this unexpected turn of events. "How could they have lost my dress?!"
"I'm sure we'll think of…" Robbie threw caution to the winds and risked speaking.
"Fu-k off, Robbie!" Mimi turned on him. "You're not helping!"
"Don't the dry cleaners have, I don't know, some sort of back up dresses?" Roger asked, glancing at Mark, while Maureen, Collins, Joanne, Penny, Rupert and Jerry stood by.
"None that they mentioned," Mark shook his head, also looking upset about this. "All he said was 'sorry for the inconvenience. Next visit is on us.' and nothing else."
"What if Rog's Mom, or Mimi's mom, were willing to loan the dresses they got married in?" Robbie offered another suggestion, but quickly regretted it when Mimi bit his head off again.
"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP, ROBBIE!" she shrieked . "I don't want one of their dresses! So unless you can offer something actually useful, then keep your da-n mouth shut!" The echoes of Mimi's shouts hadn't died down before she stormed off to the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. Immediately, Roger went after her. For a brief moment, there was silence in the Loft. But then it was broken by Maureen.
"Emily!" she began, taking the photographer by the arm. "Come on."
"Wha… what? Why?" Emily resisted, hesitant to go along with the drama queen when she was clearly scheming something up.
"Just come on!" Maureen persisted, now yanking on Emily's arm. "Joanne, let's go."
"Where're you guys…" Emily tried again, sending a pleading glance back at the others as Maureen dragged her out of the Loft, with an equally bemused Joanne following.
"Trust me, Emily," Maureen waved away Emily's hesitation with a giant grin before winking at the boys and Penny. "We'll be back," she promised, sliding the metal door shut.
In Roger and Mimi's bedroom, Mimi was huddled in the corner of the bed, sobbing with her knees pulled up to her chest. Roger gently sat down next to her, rubbing her back in an attempt to comfort her. The moment she felt his hand on her back, Mimi's head shot up.
"Hey, it'll be okay," Roger consoled.
"How?" Mimi challenged. Roger hesitated. He hadn't expected that response. "How's it going to be okay? Are things magically going to get fixed overnight? We both know life doesn't work like that."
"Yeah, I know, but…"
"No, Roger. Don't you get it? Everything's going wrong! First the wedding invitation fiasco, then it's the whole mess with our parents fighting, us loosing the first priest, then the dress is stained, and now it's gone! It's one disaster after the other! Ever since we started planning this wedding, more things have gone wrong then the things going right! What if… what if Nana was right, and the wedding is cursed or something?"
"I don't…" Roger began.
"Roger," Mimi's whisper cut him off as she looked up at him with tears running down her face. "Maybe that is the problem. What if all of these things are the bad omens Nana was talking about, and we haven't been paying attention to them when we should have been?"
"What are you trying to say?" Roger whispered, dreading the answer. "If… if you're actually buying into all that sh-t about bad luck, and omens, and superstitions… I'm not going to let you, Mimi, I won't!" Holding back a quiet sob, Mimi took Roger's face in her hands, gazing into his eyes sadly.
"And what if that sh-t is why everything's going wrong?" Mimi dropped her hands and looked away. "I'm sorry, Roger."
"Fine then!" Roger leapt up in anger, feeling his eyes start to sting. "Buy into all that fu-ked up sh-t! See if I care!" Without another word, Roger stormed from the room, slamming the door shut. But the instant he collapsed onto the couch, he broke down, sobbing into his hands.
"Roger?" Mark took a hesitant step towards his best friend.
"Leave me alone, Mark," Roger growled through his tears. Collins and Robbie shared a glance, both realizing what must have happened and coming to a mutual agreement to slip away quietly, taking Penny, Rupert and Jerry with them to give their friend some respectful space. However, Mark silently took a seat in the chair next to the couch, ready to be there for Roger, remembering that the last time he'd seen the musician loose it like this had been right after they'd gotten the news that Angel had died.