Author's Note: I'm back! so sorry about the 2 plus month delay. Apparently the Gods conspired against me and this fic. Unfortunately right after I posted the first chapter my computer's power supply died-so I couldn't turn it on. After a futile trip to the Mac store, I discovered I possibly have a counterfeit Mac..or a preproduction model. Yay. So it wasn't easy to get a new supply. Then, being a second year biology major, Organic Chemistry stole my soul and my time. So two tests, and a new power supply later, I have finally completed the second chapter-sad I know. But this is a long-ish one to hopefully make up for the time lapse. Now to respond to my hopefully loyal fans!
PushingMarksButtons43: Thanks for the constructive criticism, it really helped me focus on better distribution between dialog and description. Hopefully you'll find it's better too. To answer your question about alternate reality. I guess, it's an alternate reality. I replaced Mimi with Ros and Shiri..but it's not going to get freaky and really change the story line any from the movie/play.
Nuria Shadow: Much thanks for the critiques-they are ever helpful. And the dialog can only come from us-it's simply the best! I hope this is an improvement to the first. And I am ever grateful for you help through out this new section too!
All I leave you guys with is: Enjoy! And please review, it does help the writing process
Chapter Two: Rock, Paper, Couch
The girls pulled up to their new apartment building in an old Chevy piece of crap. The truck had been a blue green color ten years before the rust took over. It ran on diesel which billowed out its broken tail pipe in ominous gray-blue clouds. The thing had lost its muffler some years back but the bed was huge. That was its only redeeming feature the huge open space in the back-complete with rusted through spots threatening to lose small parts. The truck bed was just a shell with several rusted through holes but it held their couch and bed frames. The mattresses had come in a previous load along with a sizable coffee table. The poor truck sputtered and shrieked to a hard jerky halt in front of their new home before the tail pipe shot off like a gun. Shiri cringed nervously waving to others as she gingerly got out; desperately trying to ease the tension of people staring at them. She groaned to Ros as she walked towards the bed of the truck, "Turn the machine off."
Ros turned the old beast off; it groaned, moaned, and coughed to silence in response. She silently winced as the truck exploded with noise. She hoped she could fix the noises herself. Ros knew enough about cars to get her into trouble. The Chevy was simple, and hopefully a cheap fix. Ros got out joining her friend at the back. The truck's tired tail gate limped dismally; hanging almost entirely off the truck itself. From the back she pulled out a large supply of ropes she had from somewhere over the years and looked at the couch doing mental calculations. Ros commented in a worried tone "This should be interesting."
"This should hurt," Shiri responded desolately with a slight twitch in her lower lip. She then gazed up towards their apartment silently judging the distance and their best methods; without looking at her friend, she asked "Want me to go up and attach the ropes before dropping them down to you?"
Ros nodded. "Use the boys' railing...that should give us some leeway-and you can inform them we're here."
"Roger!" Shiri grabbed the ropes slinging them over her shoulder as she headed over to the fire escape. With an easy jump Shiri grabbed the last rung of the hanging ladder, using her dead weight to pull the ladder down with a screeching squeal and a groan the rust gave way begrudgingly allowing the ladder to scream downward. With great caution and uncertainty Shiri climbed up the rusty ladder grateful as she stood on the first platform which shook. Briefly thanking God for surviving the climb up and not falling onto the frozen concrete below, Shiri continued up to the top, zigzagging as she traversed the balconies of their fellow tenants. She swiftly traversed the fire escapes carrying the sturdy ropes with an air of having done this before. Breathing heavily Shiri reached the top balcony. After pausing for a second she gave a friendly rap on the boy's fogged windows. In a playful moment, Shiri used her breathing to good use as she misted up a window and drew funny faces on it while waiting for the slow-poke boys.
"Ah, you found the back door" Mark opened the door with a warming smile. His blue eyes glanced at the ropes with a puzzling question in them.
Shiri laughed and shrugged the ropes off her shoulder before joking, "We're going bungee jumping. You and your roomie ready?"
Mark looked over the edge of the railing as if judging the distance. He looked at the length of rope again. "Hmm..think we'll make it?" He responded teasingly before answering her question. "Let me get Roger." Mark disappeared back inside. A groaning replied from inside, as if the infamous Roger dreaded moving. Seconds later a long, wavy haired blond stepped out onto the deck. His eyes looked tired, but his attractiveness over rode it. His scruffy face met cold captivating blue eyes bright with a hidden pain. And his hair fell softly framing his long face. Shiri was certainly taken back by his scruffy yet attractive appearance. Apparently, he was also surprised to find their new neighbors were not the average poor Bohemian type and he said with the smooth voice of a musician,
"Oh, uh, hi. I'm Roger."
"Nice to meet you Roger. I'm Shiri, and my roomie down there is Ros." Shiri smiled and waved; she pointed towards the ground, and Roger leaned curiously over the edge to look at the blond below. By now, Ros was standing in the truck bed and was trying to fix something with duct tape. Ros had gotten herself into trouble: She was pulling at something in the bottom of the bed with her backside to them. She pulled up managing to give them a nice view of her comfortable yet conservative behind. Roger's face distorted in confusion, Shiri leaned over the edge to shout down to her roomie, "Hey Miss Moony! Lay off the duct tape!"
"But I like silver! It's a better color than rust!"Ros stood up laughing and yelled back. Roger laughed at Ros's response and missing Shiri's mouthing 'he's hot!!!' behind Roger's back to Ros. When he turned back around she merely smiled sweetly and went to taking lose ends off the ropes.
"You boys any good at hauling stuff up?" Shiri asked turning back to the boys as she started tying an intricate knot around the railing .
Mark shrugged "We can pull our own weight. But how are you going to get the couch up here?" He asked eying the massive yet extremely cushy sofa.
"What do you think the ropes are for?" She laughed watching their faces as she tied a fourth thick knot. Roger looked up from over the edge to Shiri and laughed.
"You're kidding right?" He queasily laughed. With that Shiri offered a secretive smile and threw the loose ends over the edge, before climbing over the railing herself.
"Nope." She wrapped her legs around one rope proceeded to slide down to the road. By then Ros had set the truck up to berth the couch to come out out easily. Mark looked scared and slightly intrigued at the same time.
"This'll be interesting." He jogged down the fire escape waving for Roger to come on.
"Yea it should be" Roger muttered not entirely enthused about the idea as he followed his roommate down. Shiri excitedly skipped up to her roommate whispering before the boys got near.
"Hottie alert." Ros looked up scanning the boys. Her bright blue eyes locked on momentarily before she whispered back seductively .
"Well hello." She responded still eying the boys then turned to her friend. "Rock, paper, scissors?" She asked referring to the ultimate game of choice between them. It was an ancient ritual between them and the crucial deciding factor. The choices of fate by Rock, Paper, Scissors were nearly unapproachable with a high satisfactory rate on both sides. It decided the deadlocks between them and occasionally what was for dinner. Shiri nodded and then said, "Winner takes Roger."
"Fair. Ready?" Ros asked closing her hand into a fist. "Rock... paper...scissors...shoot." She changed to paper desperately hoping that her friend would stay with rock. To her luck her friend did stay with rock and so Ros won.
"Damnit!" Shiri groaned; shrugging it off when the boys hit the street. She commented with a half smile, "Eh, geeky one ain't so bad." Ros offered a triumphant but compassionate smile-she had been in a simaliar position before at the fate of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
"I'll get the couch then, to be fair" Ros added for Shiri's hearing only as the boys came up.
"Want me to go up to the apartment to open the windows?" Shiri asked. Ros nodded and pulled the pillows off the sofa.
"Hey bring these up with you!" Ros yelled throwing a pillow over Roger to her friend.
Roger ducked slightly, and then looking to Ros smiled and said,
Roger ducked slightly, and then looking to Ros smiled and said, "Hey, I'm Roger by the way." Ros threw another while he was ducked again.
"I'm Ros." The couch looked surprisingly small and more manageable without the cushions. The frame was in reality pretty light, and looked mostly home built. Her smile was a little more suggestive than friendly at him
"Nice couch," Roger commented as he walked over to the couch looking it over. "So, what you want done first?" He smiled nervously.
"First we get the couch out of the truck." Ros replied sarcastically behind the couch getting ready to push.
Roger replied with friendly sarcasm, "No joke? I expected it to crawl out all by itself."
"Sorry, I left the magic couch back in Oz" She began to push it out, slowly and gently as to not destroy the couch's bottom or what was left of the bed of her truck. Roger took up the loose end letting it down easy chuckling to himself. Ros hopped down from the truck easily carrying her end over to the dangling ropes. She set it down waiting for Shiri to reappear. Ros looked at Mark, "When Shiri returns, Can you slide the loops over the couch so we can haul this sucker up?"
Mark nodded. "Yeah sure, as long as you guys can hold it." Ros nodded, as Shiri returned seconds later in time to say with a smile.
"Ros can hold it. She's freakishly strong for a gal." Ros stuck her tongue out, but easily lifted the couch while Mark got one loop over that end of the couch. She nodded to Roger to lift his up. Roger lifted his end up while Mark looped the it. Shiri asked seconds later to her comrades, "So who's hauling it up and who's guiding it into the apartment?"
"I'm climbing up the fire escape to keep it going, and guide it." Ros informed them.
"I'll haul it with you Shiri." Mark anxiously volunteered; he wasn't willing to climb the fire escape maneuvering a couch.
"Thanks Mark," She smiled kindly, before grinning to her girl friend and heading up the fire escape.
With a wicked smile Ros asked her partner. "You ever been climbing?"
"Afraid I haven't. I'm a little lacking on the physical straining sports." Roger responded withdrawing into himself with a hint of nerves
"C'mon it'll be fun." Ros smiled she watched the others run up to the top. Shiri beat Mark to the top with little effort, unable to resist showing off her incredible stamina.
"So Mark," She said with flirtatious chatter in her voice, "You ever done this sort of thing before?"
He looked down. "Not in a long, long while."
"Don't worry." Shiri smiled and took hold of one of the ropes "I'll try not to show off too much."She leaned over the edge and shouted to Ros, "You ready girlie?"
"Been ready, love" The girl turned monkey responded, starting to lift the couch slightly to give the ropes some slack. Mark grabbed the other nervously holding his breath
"Alright," Shiri said to him, "Heave on three. One, two, three." With that she pulled with an almost abnormal amount of strength up. Ros pushed the couch up as her friend took the slack in.
"Hold it for a sec!" She called as she started climbing the fire escape's railing, twisting her body in interesting positions to hold the couch in place. Mark heaved realizing that the couch wasn't extremely weighty just obnoxiously big. "OK!" Ros called back.
"Heave," Shiri called again, and the both of them pulled up on the couch. Again, Ros pushed the couch up and she kept climbing with it. They were almost there. They continued to heave until they finally had the couch resting just above the fourth floor railing. "Hold," Shiri said to Mark, and then added with a smile, "See. Not so bad." Mark nodded weakly trying very hard not to let go-his hands were burning with strain and he was sweating in the chilly December air: turning red as he tried to hold the couch and his breath. Like a monkey, Ros slipped over the railing, and guided the couch over it. She grabbed Roger, and while she held the end of the couch she nicely asked.
"Remove the loop please" He smiled and did what she asked, being careful to keep an eye on Ros as she hung practically over the railing. Ros managed to move around and still support the couch as he slipped off the loop. Once the loop was gone she set the free end of the couch on the platform of the fire escape with the other part leaning on the railing. She leaned out undoing the second loop. As she released it, the first loop came back swinging and hit her in the face. She laughed freely and easily. But She started to lose her balance, waving one hand dangerously to regain her balance as her delicate body wavered, legs curling around a thin iron bar. One hand try to find the rail. Roger immediately reached out and grabbed her arm, keeping her from falling with worried smile he cautioned,
"Careful there."
"Damsel In Distress much!" Shiri called down moments later laughing.
"Thanks." Ros smiled somewhat relieved; she jokingly looked up to her friend. "I'm better at it than you!" She teased. In truth Ros was better at getting into trouble than most; she had the scars to show it. But she had problems getting out of it. With a childish grin she winked to Roger. "Lets get this sucker inside, and we'll get to the beers first."
"I heard that!" Shiri cried from above.
"Hurry." Ros cried. Roger responded to Ros's joking. She grabbed her end, and started running with the couch inside. Roger rushed with her just as Shiri came dashing down the stairs as she screamed.
"Keep your dirty paws off my Sam!"Ros set the couch down and grabbed the six pack, opening the door and taunting her friend.
"You gotta come and get it first!"
"Don't make me get the wooden spoons."Shiri rushed into the room and responded with a playful threat.
"No! Not them!"Ros wailed. Completely abandoning Roger, she rushed out the door and down the stairs, cuddling the six pack like a football. Mark grabbed his camera and started blindly shooting as he negotiated the stairs and the hectic interludes of his friends: catching Ros running out and sprinting down the fire escape.
"Come back and face me like man!"Shiri was in trail just behind her friend, flying with ease down the stair case as she yelled.
"I'm not a man!" Ros squealed. She made it out to the truck by virtue of longer legs; she jumped up on it, staying out of reach. In ironic response, all the hub caps of the car fell off, and two of the tires deflated. She looked at the vehicle feeling slightly betrayed. "Well thanks." Returning to her triumph, Ros pulled out the first bottle and opened it with her teeth. She took a long needling drag of the bottle thoroughly enjoying it.
Mark jogged down the stairs after them laughing as he went. He considered them a high energy pair and possibly more than slightly crazy but in a good way. Shiri emerged seconds later and glared at her friend, shaking her head and groaning as she pointed a blaming finger at Ros, "Traitor."
"Hey, I thought we were promised beers for our hard work." Roger interrupted as he came up to the truck, laughing at the girl's silliness.
Ros looked innocently at her friend "Damn straight I am" She handed the six pack to her friend, and saluted Roger with her beer bottle. "You gotta come and get it.'Round here you gotta be quick" She smirked.
"Or you have to know how to persuade," Shiri smiled flirtatiously as she took a bottle from the pack and then offered the pack to Mark. Roger laughed as he quickly grabbed the six pack next taking a beer. Ros winked at her friend, settling down to sit on the wall of her truck bed.
"Thanks" Mark took one as the camera wound down and stopped recording.
"Nice recorder," Shiri said as she gestured at his camera with a free hand, "What type is it? A Betacam?"
"No, it's a 16mm Bolex. It was a gift when I turned thirteen." Mark shrugged.
"What do you do with it? Movies?"Shiri politely and very interested asked.
Mark shook his head. "I'm just shooting random documentaries. I'm working on scripts too" Ros kept an eye on the pack not letting out of her sight. She could do math. Four of them. Six beers. Two extras for her.
"Very neat. What's the main focus of your documentaries?" Shiri edged a little closer then, being someone who was above obsessed with films in every category.
"If your friend knows anything about film they'll be at this for hours." Roger walked over to Ros, just as Shiri asked the question, leaning in to sigh.
Mark shrugged. "It changes. I like to do the homeless, friends, AIDs/HIV. Anything that interests me."
"Why don't we take those two, and disappear...they'll never know we're gone."Ros hinted to Roger, still eying the left over beers.
"Sounds good," Roger smiled, "Afraid I have little interest in listening to Mark rant...again."
"Fascinating. Sounds like an important piece."Shiri smiled and nodded, completely immersed in Mark's 'rant'.
"It's all in my head though. Well not even all of it's there. I just can't get it out. you know?" Mark nodded.
Ros put her finger to her lips and slide off the truck, taking Roger's hand and silently headed back to the building.