I'm Positive

Chapter 1

PG-13

Not mine

"Where is he?" Roger nudged Mark, who shrugged. The group sat in the familiar half-circle, not knowing what to do. Paul had died a few months ago, and Life Support hadn't known what to do with themselves. Collins had stepped forward to conduct the meetings. Now that he was late, the group sat in uncomfortable, stony silence.

"Do you think he's okay?" Mimi's eyes were worried and she clutched Roger's hand, knuckles white. Everyone had become considerably more concerned about each other after Angel's death. Suddenly the door burst open, Collins walking in swiftly, looking breathless.

"Sorry, guys. I had an… unexpected detour. She should be coming soon. Ok, who wants to – " He was interrupted by the door banging open once more. A younger woman who looked twenty-something walked in, eyes red-rimmed and tearful. Every head turned in her direction. Her walk faltered, uneasy at all the attention.

"Sorry! Excuse me." She took a few more steps forward, then spilled some papers on the floor. "Oops." Her face turned pink and she looked mortified as she gathered the pages quickly. Mark smiled weakly at the familiar scene.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" Collins gently encouraged. The girl rose and blushed a deeper shade of pink.

"Oh, I'm not – I'm just here to – " she raised the notebook, then suddenly looked worried. "I don't have -! I'm here with – Sara! I'm Sara." She groaned and ran her fingers through her hair, embarrassed. Forget pink, her face resembled the color of a ripe tomato. Mark smiled once more, and she looked down at her hands, not returning it.

For the first time in a long time, Mark didn't pay attention to anything that went on at the meeting. Anything – except Sara. Though she didn't say anything, after the initial shock wore off and the meeting progressed, Sara rummaged in her purse, found a pen, and began furiously writing. Mark couldn't help but notice that when she wrote, her blue eyes sparkled. He was torn from his trance by a sharp elbow in the side from Roger.

"We're going, dork." Sara giggled inconspicuously, and Mark's cheeks pinked. He, Roger, and Mimi made their way toward the door. Collins jogged up behind them, dragging Sara along by the hand.

"Hey, guys. This is Sara Dawson. She's a friend of mine." Roger nodded, Mimi smiled, and Mark stared. Now that he could look her full in the face, she was breathtaking, to him, anyway. She was as tall as he, small and skinny, but not muscular, by any means. Her eyes dulled now that she wasn't writing, but the look was intense and icy, daring you to say something, but her face was generally sweet. Her hair caught his eye the most. It was golden brown – no, blonde, no – red. He really couldn't say. It changed with the light. It didn't look falsely done, though, and Mark liked that.

Sara cleared her throat and he seemed to come to. "Oh! I'm Mark!" he said quickly, holding out a hand and shaking hers. She gave him half a smile and stepped closer to Collins. Mark inwardly kicked himself.

"You guys getting lunch?" Collins asked. Mimi laughed.

"No! We're going up to the loft. You want to come?"

"Yeah. Sara, you want something to eat? She shuffled her feet, battling something in her mind. Hunger seemed to have won, and she smiled weakly.

"Sure."

Being a naturally shy person, Sara didn't like meeting these strange, eccentric new people. They were loud and obscene, but funny and nice to her, so Sara decided she liked them. Contented to sit and watch, she did so. The one called Roger was the loudest and most obscene of the group, and prone to making jokes at the expense of the one who kept staring at her. Mark, she supposed. The girl, Mimi, was sweet, flirtatious, and had a maternal air about her. Sara decided right away that she liked her.

Mark, though. She didn't quite know what to think of him. He had a sweet, ageless-looking face, and a concerned air toward his friends, but he wasn't afraid of being a cynic, which was good enough for Sara. She couldn't stand wholesome, goody, self-righteous people, herself not being among them.

She followed them down Avenue B past 11th street to a large, red brick building. It was dingy and broken-looking. The dirty, graffiti-covered walls inside were a further manifestation of the people she supposed must live there. She and the group made their way up the flights until they reached the top. Roger flung open the sliding door singing something about "no place like home". Sara took a few steps inside and was astonished. These people lived in such squalor, but they were so seemingly happy. The walls were dirty, the paint had faded, and a sheet was tacked on one of the walls, a projector across the floor from it. The walls were plastered with posters of a band called "Mute", clippings from "The Village Voice", and newspaper sections of a girl with curly hair in front of some television screens, lights spelling "LEAP OF FAITH", and her arms spread to the crowd. Sara wondered who the woman was, but was too timid to ask. Suddenly, a seductive voice said in her ear:

"Well, hello there," a woman said, syrup dripping from every syllable. A soft hand stroked Sara's arm. She was terrified, and couldn't move.

"Can I help you?" she asked shakily.

"Mo, lay off," Mark said. The hand snaked away with a shriek of laughter. Sara turned and looked into the face of the woman from the newspapers. Mark stepped forward.

"Mo, this is Sara. Sara, this is Maureen. Joanne, her girlfriend, should be around here somewhere." Sara's eyes widened. She had just been hit on, and almost felt up by a lesbian. The liberal in her wouldn't let her discriminate against the crazy woman because of her… inclinations, but she still felt extremely violated. It must have shown in her face, because Mark laughed at her, but not in an unkind way. She smiled back through her mortification.

"At least she didn't dump you for another woman." Sara looked at him shocked for a moment. Surely he was joking! She decided he wasn't and laughed.

"I'm sorry, but that's funny."

"Yeah, I know. They still laugh at me for that. Hey, you want to get out of here? I think I might actually have 10 bucks for food." Sara smiled gratefully.

"Sure."

a/n: So… spring break does insane things to a mind. So does waiting for A WHOLE WEEK to know if you got Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. So, that explains the nonsense. Oh, yeah. I was watching South Park when I wrote this chapter too. So… Yeah. YOU KILLED KENNY! Sorry. Good for you, the whole story is planned out. I have AN OUTLINE! So, when I take forever to update, its not because I can't think of anything to say. Its because I am too lazy to say it. Review if you like it.