Chapter 1: A friend of a friend

Mimi Marquez was walking through the park on her way home, bags of groceries in her hands. It had been almost a year since that fateful Christmas Eve she saw Angel before coming back to Roger. Ever since then, the couple had rarely fought. Mimi stayed off smack and finished her withdrawal with Roger staying by her side. Now she had been clean for about a year and had no intention of going back. She was too happy now. She still lived in her apartment below the loft but spent most of her time with Roger in the loft. She returned to work at the Cat Scratch Club for a while until she found a better job. Of course she had told Roger about it and he agreed to it only because it was temporary. Eventually she found a job as a waitress at a local restaurant. It didn't pay as well as dancing but it since none of her money went to smack anymore it worked well enough to pay for food heat and AZT.

Mimi was lost in her thoughts and wasn't paying attention when she suddenly collided with someone. Both victims were knocked to the ground. Silently cursing herself for not looking where she was going, Mimi opened her chocolate eyes to find her groceries sprawled over the concrete. Mimi groaned.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" a voice said next to her. Mimi looked to her side to find the girl she collided with. She was petite, like Mimi, with short black hair and grey eyes. "I'm so sorry; I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's okay," Mimi reassured, "I wasn't paying much attention either." Both girls let out a small chuckle before attempting to stand up.

The girl spotted the groceries lying on the ground. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry. Let me help you with that." She said, kneeling on the ground and starting to place items back in the plastic bags.

"No, it's alright," Mimi said, joining the girl on the ground. "At least everything looks okay," she said optimistically. "Besides, my boyfriend won't tell the difference. Food is food." They both laughed.

"I guess you're right." They finished picking up and placing the food in the plastic bags. "I still feel bad though, is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

"Um . . ." Mimi thought for a moment, "Could you help me get these home?"

The girl smiled and her eyes lit up. "Of course!"

So the two girls made their way to Avenue B, plastic bags in each hand.

"I'm Jo, by the way." The girl said, "Jo Emay."

"Mimi Marquez." Mimi responded. "So . . . Jo, huh?"

"Yeah, short for Josephine." Jo said casually, "What about you? Is Mimi short for anything?"

"Mariana." Mimi replied.

"That's pretty."

"So is Josephine."

Jo blushed. "Thanks, but it's much easier to say Jo."

"Okay Jo, what brings you to Alphabet City, a.k.a. Bohemia?"

Jo hesitated, "I'm looking for someone."

Mimi glanced over to Jo curiously. "Who are you looking for?"

"An old friend."

Mimi thought for a moment. "What's their name?"

"Mark Cohen,"

Mimi froze, meaning she stopped walking and her eyes went wide.

"Mark Cohen?" She asked to clarify.

Jo's eyes go wide with hope. "You know him?"

"Know him? He lives in the loft above me!" Mimi exclaimed, "He's my boyfriend's best friend! How do you know him?" Mimi asked as she and Jo resumed walking.

"I um . . . I met him in kindergarten and we were best friends until senior year in High School."

Mimi's jaw dropped. "Chica! Holy shit! Why hasn't he ever mentioned you? Did you get in a fight . . . ?"

"Oh, he knows I don't like to be talked about. And we rarely fought; I just sort of left without notice."

"Fought?" Mimi asked, "Don't you talk to him?"

Jo hesitated again, "Um . . . I haven't seen or spoken to Mark in eight, almost nine, years."

Mimi was flabbergasted. "Eight years?!" she exclaimed.

"Well, when I left Scarsdale I left everything behind, including Mark, because I didn't want anyone to find me. But I waited a while and I decided I needed to find him and here I am." Jo hastily explained.

"Oh," Mimi paused for a moment, thinking. "Well, I guess that makes sense . . . So, where did you go?"

"Everywhere; I traveled the country for 4 years and decided to settle in San Francisco with a few roommates for the last 4 years." Jo said as they turned onto Avenue B. "But it wasn't until about 11 months ago that I realized how much I missed him and decided that I needed to find him and see how he was doing."

"Aw," Mimi cooed teasingly, "That's sweet"

Both girls laughed.

"So, what about you?" Jo asked, "How do you know Mark?"

Well, like I said, Mark lives, well squats, in the loft above me with my boyfriend Roger. I met him on Christmas Eve 1989 which was the same night I met Roger." Mimi smirked mischievously, remembering how she had asked Roger to "Light her candle". "Anyway, we went to this protest that our friend, and Mark's ex, Maureen was performing . . ."

"Mark had a girlfriend?" Jo asked, giggling.

"Who dumped him for a lawyer named Joanne."

Jo's jaw dropped. "H-holy sh-shit!" she managed between hysterical laughter. After a moment, Jo composed herself. "Okay," She gasped, "continue."

"Okay, so at the protest, there was this huge riot that Mark filmed and sold to a local news station. Well, afterwards we all went down to the Life Café where we saw Benny, our scum-bag landlord who evicted us."

"Okay,"

"So we decided to get even with him because he's with his father-in-law, so Mark starts singing and leads us in a song about Bohemia. It was so much fun! Everyone was dancing on the tables and we managed to piss off the manager, Benny, and his father-in-law. But later, I found out that Roger has HIV, just like me . . ."

"You have HIV?" Jo interjected, looking surprised.

"Oh, um . . . yeah . . ." Mimi said, suddenly feeling unsure of herself.

"Wow," Jo said easily and relaxed, "I never would have guessed it! The way you act . . . it's just . . . wow!"

Mimi eased up and smiled.

"Okay, so you were saying . . ." Jo prompted.

Mimi told Jo the story of 1989-1990. During this time, the pair made it to Mimi's flat, put away her groceries, and sat down on the couch so that Mimi could finish her story. Once done, it was about 5:30 at night.

"So, do you want to go see Mark?" Mimi asked.

"I want to . . . but I'm nervous." Jo confessed, looking up at the ceiling.

"Well, you won't get anything done by just staring at the ceiling." Mimi stated. She put her hand on Jo's arm, "Do you want me to go with you?"

The pale girl shook her head. "No, I need to do this on my own."

Mimi smiled warmly at her new friend. "Well, if you need me, I'll be right here. Okay?"

Jo looked to Mimi and returned the smile. "Okay. Thank you Mimi."

"Anytime Jo." Mimi replied.

So Jo got up off the couch and made her way upstairs to hopefully be reunited with an old friend.

As Mimi watched Jo ascend the stairs, she couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment.

A/N: Plz review. this is my first story so plz be nice! I want to know if people are actually reading this!