Soo...PLEASE don't kill me for taking so long to update! School has eaten my soul. I've dropped out of Chem, I'm practically failing French, and I'm just coming out of a bout of food poisoning. Seriously. Damn bedrest...how about chair rest? That's what we're going for now.
How about I LOVE how many people have reviewed this thing:sends mad huggles to all reviewers: You guys are utterly fantastic!
I'd also like to point out that "The One That Got Away" by Adam Pascal just came on my iTunes shuffle, and I had a "WTF, country?" moment.
Speaking of Adam...OMGRENTMOVIE! But I shall say no more. Because then I'll blather. But OMGHOTNESS. That is all.
Dedicated to Adam's hair.
April hugged her arms more tightly around herself, wondering when Roger was going to come get her after he'd had his little 'talk' with Mark about keeping his eyes on his camera and his tongue back in his mouth. She had always known that people would drool over her boyfriend if she dated someone as hot as Roger, but she hadn't expected that she'd have to live with the drooler. She shivered a little, wishing that she had brought her jacket.
Roger had just wanted to let Mark easily, he told her. Confront the problem before it got worse. Well, if Roger was anything, it was confrontational, she thought a little bitterly. They'd had a screaming match when she'd come home earlier, shaken from her talk with Mark on the sidewalk, and she had been half-afraid he would hit her. He never had before, but she couldn't deny that his eyes flickered rather frighteningly sometimes when they were fighting. He'd thrown things at the floor, at the walls, even hit the walls hard enough to dent them, but never her. Well, not yet, anyway. She wondered absently if he'd ever hurt Mark. Well, aside from the emotional, of course.
So maybe she shouldn't have begun their conversation by screaming, "I fucking told you he was in love with you, you fucking asshole!" but that really didn't give him any right to call her a whore. And yes, some of the things she had said about Mark were probably over the line, but what he had said to her earlier had stung her, implying that she had less of a right to Roger, if there was such a thing, than she did. She was his girlfriend, for fuck's sake.
She looked around, sitting down on a curbside bench. Maureen had run off to get a pack of smokes, she had said, and should be meeting her soon. Frowning, she checked her watch. She'd been getting cigarettes for twenty minutes, and April could see their favorite convenience store from where she sat. Quickly she crossed the street and asked the clerk if he'd seen her—Mo was pretty memorable even at the worst of times, she thought sardonically—and was only a little surprised by his answer in the negative.
A little worried now, she thanked the man and headed home, hoping Roger had finished what he had to say. She hadn't gotten more than ten steps, however, before she was accosted by a highly incensed flurry of curls and leather.
"What the FUCK, April!" the whirlwind yelled, hair flying in her face, grabbing the other girl by the shoulder. "You fucking lied to me!"
"What are you talking about? Get off me!" April wrenched her arm free, backing up a few paces. From her vantage point, she could see that Maureen didn't only look angry, her eyes were hurt and a little confused.
"You told me," Maureen began, voice tight and angry, "that he was in love with you! You, April, not ROGER!"
Understanding flickered. "Oh...Mark?" It had seemed like the simplest idea at the time; she and Maureen had played wing for the other a dozen times before, after all. And she knew Mark was interested in girls, or he wouldn't have slept with her, would he? It would have unnecesarily complicated matters to tell her that her new love interest was perhaps a little on the fruity side, and perhaps a little smitten with April's rock n' sex god of a boyfriend.
Maureen put on a fakely vacant expression and adapted an overtly sarcastic tone. "Oh...Mark? Hmm, let me think. Who the fuck else? God, why would you fucking lie to me? You're my best friend!"
April smoothed her hair unconsciously, fiddling with one of the ties on her shirt. "I know, I know...I'm sorry. I just thought you'd think it was weird if I told you."
"Of course I'd think it was weird! It IS fucking weird! God, no wonder he won't fuck me! April, you made me look like an idiot. I've been trying to seduce a gay guy for what, a month now?"
April rolled her eyes. Enough with the theatrics already. "Two weeks, and he's not gay. He fucked me, remember?"
"Yeah, but I heard him talking to...whoever the new guy is. He says he doesn't want girls OR boys, he just wants Roger." She sighed out of the side of her mouth, blowing her hair up in a temporary gust.
"Fuck," April swore, before registering the rest of what her friend had said. "Wait...new guy? What new guy?"
Maureen shrugged. "I don't know, he was talking to Mark when I got there. I went back to get my purse, and Mark was talking to some random black guy about kissing Roger earlier." She smirked at April's shocked expression. "Yeah, apparently no one told him, either. Good to know I'm not the only one who's out of the loop."
"Fuck, fuck, that fucking backstabbing WHORE!" April kicked the trash can as hard as she could, wincing as the force of the blow sunk in.
Maureen's eyes widened slightly. "Honey, I think living with Roger's rubbing off on you."
"Shit," April muttered quietly. "He promised me. That stupid, insecure, cheating, backstabbing little faggot!"
"April...seriously, honey. If anything, this is a good thing."
April whirled to face her. "What do you mean, a good thing?"
Maureen smiled grimly. "Roger turned him down. Now you know for sure he doesn't want Mark, he wants you."
April was quiet for a moment. There was a loose thread danging from the tie of her shirt; she relentlessly pinched it off. "Are you sure?"
"Oh, yeah. He was telling the guy how he kissed Roger, and Roger doesn't want him." She glared at April for a moment as if she blamed her friend completely for the next part. "He also said that Roger told him to go out with me. I'm not a fucking consolation prize, you know!"
"I know, Mo, I know." The fear that had seized her chest upon hearing that Mark had made a real move on her man was starting to dissipate upon hearing that maybe, just maybe, all her fears about Roger's supposed bisexuality were unjustified.
Seemingly mollified, Maureen relaxed from her 'battle stance' into her usual 'ever moment is a photo op' pose, hand on hip. "So. This new guy...he's kinda hot."
April raised her eyebrows. "If it's who I think it is, he's also kinda gay."
"Shit, that's right. I forgot...he said he's fucked Roger."
April blinked very fast, certain she couldn't have heard correctly. "Wait...what now?"
"Oh, yeah." There was a definite smirk on Maureen's face, watching April's skin change colors. "He said that they got drunk and high one night, and he fucked Roger. AND he said it wasn't Roger's first time with a guy."
April shook her head. "No. That can't be right. It's just not Roger's thing."
"Apparently, he's a fucking rock star."
"What?"
Maureen shrugged. "That's what the other guy said Roger said. What's his name, anyway?"
"Collins, his name is Tom Collins."
Maureen giggled. "Like the drink?"
"Yeah, like the drink," April replied, a little distracted. "What's this about being a fucking rock star?"
"I guess it means he can fuck whoever he wants."
"The fuck he can," April grumbled. "He's only allowed to fuck me. Not Collins, not Mark, not...fuck, why couldn't he be a normal guy and cheat on me with girls?" She furiously rubbed at a piece of hair that found its way into her eye, leaning back against the wall. Maureen was at her side in a second.
"Honey...he hasn't cheated on you. Mark kissed him, not the other way around. And the thing between him and Tom Collins—I'm sorry, it's still really funny to think that that's someone's actual name—was like, a long time ago." She wrapped an arm around her friend. "Come on, honey, it's cold. I want to go home."
April sighed, but followed reluctantly. They were almost at their doorstop when Maureen 'pulled a Maureen', stopping dead in her tracks and exclaiming, "Oh my god! You know what I just thought of?"
"What is it this time?" Knowing Maureen, her sudden idea could have been a Halloween costume that had just occurred to her for next year, a new apartment, or the answer to a test she'd missed in the fifth grade.
"How cool would it be if I could get him to fall in love with me?" Her face had lit up as it always did when she came across a challenge.
"Wait...Mark? Get Mark to fall in love with you? But he's--"
"In love with Roger, I know, but come on...wouldn't that be great? Then I can play around with him, you can have Roger, and everyone's happy! Besides, it's not like I've never turned a guy before."
April made a motion to protest, but stopped. It was true, she had. Or at least thought she had. Trevor Green had confessed to her in senior year that he'd heard Maureen boasting that she was so hot, even gay guys would turn for her, and had pretended to swing the other way. It had worked, Maureen had gone right after him, and Trevor had been the happiest guy in school. "Yeah...I remember," she said uncertainly, smiling.
"Good. So everyone gets what they want! Yay! And now that I know what I'm up against," she gave April a somewhat-less-than-mock glare, "I'll definitely be able to do my best."
April rolled her eyes as she opened the door. "Knock yourself out, Mo." As her friend flounced in ahead of her, she sighed and said softly, "Good luck."
(previously, as a continuation of the scene in chapter 14)
Mark sighed. "No. I only like Roger. Collins...I think I love him."
Collins was both surprised and not simultaneously. "You love him? For real?"
"Yeah, I do. I mean, I think I do. I've lived with him for long enough to know, haven't I?"
"I don't know, Mark," Collins shrugged, "sometimes it takes a while." He didn't ask Mark how he knew, which relieved him immensely. "So...you kissed him for real? Like a real kiss?"
Mark was slightly stung. "Look, I might not have been with as many guys as you--"
"Wait, you've been with guys?"
"Well...no. But I still know what a real kiss is! I wasn't making it up."
"No, no, I was just wondering what kind of kiss it was. You know, like a peck, or something else?"
Mark flushed. "Definitely something else.
Collins raised his eyebrows, a little impressed. "Hey, Mark...didn't know you had it in you."
Mark shrugged, a little embarrassed. "Yeah, well...you know." He stood up abruptly and started pacing. "So what the fuck do I do?"
Collins sighed again. "Mark, I told you, I don't think you should--"
"Not like that!" Mark snapped. "Look...I know it's not right for us, you know? Not like that. I mean, he made it very clear he didn't want me. But how do I keep what I did from fucking up our friendship totally?"
His friend waved a hand at him, fumbling for something in his duffel bag. "It's Roger. He'll pretend to forget about it if you will."
"What, really?"
"Aha!" Triumphant, Collins produced a joint from his bag. "Oh, yeah. Easier than actually dealing with shit, you know?" He rolled his eyes, lighting up and blowing a lungful of smoke at Mark, who promptly coughed.
"Ugh...Collins, could you please blow that away from me?"
"Sorry, man," the anarchist said with a grin. "You're just such an easy target."
Mark nodded grudgingly. Even he had to admit that was the truth. "Yeah, I know."
Collins grinned more widely. "I can't believe you've lived with me and Rog all these months and never even smoked pot."
"Yeah, well, we can't all be anarchists and rock stars, can we?"
Collins laughed, for the first time that afternoon sounding as relaxed as the Collins Mark remembered. "Heh...ain't that the truth. Don'tcha just wish you could be, though?" He waved the joint at his young friend. "It's a hell of a lot less stressful."
Mark sighed and sat down next to him on the floor, accepting the joint as he'd seen his roommates do a hundred times. "Know what? Why not?"
That's all for right now, chicklets. But I'm going to see RENT this Saturday in NYC (Joshua Kobak is playing Roger for a limited time, of COURSE I'm going!), so I'll probably get lots more inspired! Of course, I'm not even lying, this would have been one of those stupid abandoned stories if I didn't keep getting such fabulous reviews. I love you all!