Disclaimer: I rent.
Chapter Six
It had been far too long since they had all gotten together for a night out without the kids in tow. Far too long since they had been here, the place where the magic truly started. Far too long since the days of being alive and young and forgetting about the world for a while. Far too long since they had been invincible. And in the end, isn't that all what we want? To be young and carefree? Why yes, it had been far, far too long since they had stepped through that threshold.
"The Life Café. Sure brings back memories, doesn't it?" Mark walked through the doorway, crisp air flapping on his face. The place hadn't changed one bit. It looked exactly the same as it always had so long ago.
"Really." Roger looked on the verge of tears and it was obvious he was thinking about Mimi. That's why they hadn't been here in so long. Collins, they dealt with and still returned. But after Mimi died, the place had become taboo; just another way to bring back amazing memories with someone he would never be able to make more with.
"Roger...I'm sorry…maybe we should just leave. This was a bad idea. You're not ready to be back here yet…"
"Yes, I am. I have to be." He had a determined look on his face, which was slowly turning red from the strain of trying. "Remember when Andrea was born? And we came here to celebrate?" He reminisced as the two best friends sat down at a table.
"Yeah. She was really little, I remember. Born eight weeks early, but you were so thrilled she was alive and relatively healthy, so you came and got the girls and I. Marli wouldn't leave because she was pregnant with Noah."
"Yeah. And I had only seen her in her incubator going to the NICU, but I was so excited that we had a girl and she was perfect and healthy." He laughed. "And Mimi was in bad shape…but I knew shed pull through so we all went for dinner. And Adam was really scared because she was in the hospital and Blair told him to grow up."
"Blair…she was always a little bitch wasn't she? It's no wonder she's a slut now." He laughed. "Remember when she was six and started with the met children's opera and we came here?"
"And she took away all of our liquor because it was 'bad for your voice?'"
"RIGHT! And the time we came here the day before Blair and Riley's Bat Mitzvah?" Mark then realized what he had said. Two weeks after that, Mimi got sick and died not long after that.
Roger looked down at his hands, looking as though a tear threatened to run down his cheek. He couldn't cry. "Yeah," he said solemnly, "I remember that." Alas, the floodgates burst and the usually tough rocker was bawling. "She was so healthy and so alive. What went wrong? Why her? The kids needed her. Why not me? I'm surely not a good father. My son thinks of me as his friend and he goes around sleeping with your daughter because that's what the mood strikes him. My daughter just shuts herself out from the rest of the world and puts everything into her dance and school and friends. And there's nothing I can do about it because she's not here, Mark! She's not here!" He took a deep breath. "My life is simply out of control and I can't help it. My kids are out of control…especially Adam. I'm so worried about Adam. I tried not to screw him up, Mark. I really did. But somehow he didn't turn out like I wanted him to. It's all wrong. I promised Mimi before she died I wouldn't do anything. But I've done it. I've messed them both up. And soon I'll be dead and they'll be orphans."
"What do you mean soon you'll be dead? Are you—has it—do you—?"
"No. Nothing like that. I'm just being real. Do you have any idea how long I've lived with this? Just because I've made it this long doesn't mean I'll continue to make it. Face it, eventually the virus will take hold and I will die."
"Roger…don't say that. You aren't going to die just yet. Andrea and Adam need you and they can't turn out to be normal with a father who talks like that."
"Mark, remember right after Adam was born? Mimi and I took you and Marli out to a really fancy restaurant?"
"Yeah, of course. Right after we were on Letterman."
"Right. And we asked you that, if Adam—and Andrea now—were ever orphaned, you'd take care of them? You still mean that right?"
"Of course I do. It's mapped out in papers if you recall. Adam is a great kid, just keep him from getting my daughter pregnant and we're cool. Andrea is so sweet. She just is shy and nervous about getting hurt."
"So they're not as bad as I think they are? Because to me, Adam is going to end up like me. He is me. Remember? I was like that. And I got into drugs. And sex. And disease. And I eventually fell in love. But she died and now I'm left with two kids I can't screw up because I can't let her down Mark." He took a deep breath. "I've never told anyone this, but she's always with me. When I lay in bed at night, she's next to me. When I walked in on Adam and Blair, she was breathing down my neck, telling me what to say. She's there. She's with me every minute of every day. She tells me what to do. I can't think for myself. I'm trying to do what she would want and she's there to guide me. You don't think I'm crazy, do you?"
"No. You're coping with grief that you never had the chance to. Well, actually you did. You had a lot of chances while you were ignoring your kids and while you were ignoring life. But you snapped out of it before it got out. She's letting you know it's okay Rog. It's okay to let go. She wants you to move on. She doesn't want you to hurt like this. Life is short and life is strange, there's no reason not to move on. Enjoy your life. It's what she'd want."
Roger didn't actually think that's what Mimi would want. She'd want him to mope and neglect until the day he died. But he took the words with consideration and yelled "Waiter!" His stomach was suddenly contracting, looking for food and he was pretty sure Mimi would want him to have a veggie burger.
There were three quick raps on Maureen's door. No one else was home. Coop was out at Annalie Von Ditzinator's (or whatever he name was) house. Joanne had a huge meeting in Chicago. This left her here, on a cold December morning. Alone. "Coming," she shouted to the general area o the door. Whoever it was obviously needed her or else they wouldn't have trumped all the way in the snow to talk to her.
She had expected to see maybe a friend. Instead she saw the blonde silhouette of Blair Hillary Cohen. She was small and frail looking, like a ghost. And she was shivering. She was shivering badly. "Blair, what are you doing here? Your parents must be worried sick!"
"Oh no," Blair chattered out, "they know I'm here."
"Sweetie, Coop is out with Annalie the Ditz."
"Puh-lease, why would I be here for Coop? I've been wanted to pull his hair out ever since he started dating her. She basically ruined my whole perception of him as a generally smart guy. No. I'm here to speak to you." She took off her coat and stepped in without permission. Not that Maureen minded. Blair was like a daughter to her.
"Oh. What do you need then?" She took Blair's sopping wet coat from her and hung it up gingerly in the closet. What on Earth could Blair possibly want to tell her about?
"You know how you're always telling Riley and I if we ever need to talk then we can come to you?" Maureen nodded, still not fully understanding. What in God's name would Blair want to talk to her about? "Well now is that time. Um, can I trust you not to tell my parents?"
"Of course. You can trust me with anything." She was still perplexed, but continued, "I promise."
"Okay. So remember opening night at GUYS HEART BETSEY? And Adam and I disappeared for a while?"
"Yeah…did you guys sneak off and have sex? Please dear, if that's what you were so worried about, you're crazy. Of course I wouldn't tell your parents that!"
"Well yeah…but I'm not done."
"Okay, go on."
"Right so we snuck off and had sex in the orchestra pit…"
"SEXY! That's like always been a dream of mine!"
"Maureen, can you just let me finish?" Maureen nodded and she continued. "I really trusted him to, you know, take care of everything. Usually he does. Except I'm not so sure he did."
"Are you trying to say what I think you're trying to say?"
"Well, it depends on what you think I'm trying to say. You see, that's all relative. If I said yes and you thought that I like got raped or something, it'd mean something totally different."
"Well what I think you're trying to say is that you think you might be pregnant and you don't know where to go or what to say or what to do so you came to talk to me because you think I won't tell your parents, in particular your dad, because they'd disown you. Correct?"
"Uh…yeah. I guess you could kind of sort of say that." She bit her nails. She didn't know where else to turn.
"First I'm going to tell you, never trust a drunk guy on an ego trip with birth control. That's just never going to work. Next, I'm going ask you…just how late are you?"
"6 weeks. At first I thought it was just stress from the show and all the dancing and stuff, but then I started throwing up a few days ago. I'm so nauseous all the time and I have no idea what's going on. And I really need to find out, but I can't risk anyone seeing me buying the test."
"Lucky you have me kiddo. Don't freak out just yet. Stress makes you miss periods and throw up. I'll go buy you the test. Just sit here and don't move a muscle."
It felt like hours Maureen was gone. Blair sat in the chair, totally unable to move. What if she was pregnant? What would she do? Would she accept the consequences and have it? Would she just do what she wanted and have an abortion? How would Adam handle it? What would he want to do? Would she even tell him in the first place? The questions kept spinning and spinning in her head, over and over like clothes in a dryer. She kept trying to tell herself, she might not be pregnant. She could find out she was perfectly not pregnant. But somehow the questions kept appearing.
The baby would probably be sandy-haired and tan with lightly sprinkled freckles. Either his khaki green eyes or her cerulean ones. Large dimple's in the middle of its cheeks, quite like his. Dazzling smile, definitely. Gorgeous without a doubt. But if she had it, it wouldn't matter if it was gorgeous. She could never love it because she didn't want it.
"Blair, I'm back!" Maureen walked in and shoved a paper bag in Blair's hand. "You look like death. Are you okay?"
"What do you think?"
"Sweetie, just go take the test. Everything is going to be fine. Don't worry. It's probably nothing..." Maureen knew it probably was something but there was no need to freak her out. Stay calm. Resist the urge to drink anything containing alcohol.
"Okay." Blair sounded so unsure. She went into the bathroom and did her thing anyway, leaving Maureen waiting outside. Soon she walked out. "Okay. No turning back now. Five minutes." She breathed heavily.
"Oh your first pregnancy scare! This is so exciting!" Maureen squealed.
"Oh really? I seemed to miss the memo that possibly being pregnant with an unwanted child is exciting. My bad."
"You just get an abortion. It's no big. When I dated your dad I must have had about six. No biggie."
"Seriously Maureen, TMI. I didn't need to know how many times my dad got you pregnant. Seriously, don't want to think about that tiny bit of information." All of the sudden a buzzer went off. It was the timer.
"Go look, Blair. I promise it won't bite."
Blair went to the countertop and picked up the test, not looking at it. She wasn't really ready to see the results. Her life could change. She took a deep breath and looked down.
Coop sat with Annalie at Serendipity, sharing a ice cream sundae, even though it was the dead of winter. He really wanted to pull her white blonde strands out one by one. She was so stupid and shallow, but at least she served her purpose. That purpose was the try and pry Riley away from Will. Also, there was the added bonus of the sex. It's not like he had been a virgin before Annalie, but he wasn't exactly what you'd call a God. Annalie made him a sex tiger. Rawr.
"So like…OMG Ry-yan! Are you even listening to me? I have something very important to say, you know." Yeah right. There was never anything important coming out of her mouth. Although one time she said he'd make an awesome king. That was pretty important. Except he'd, of course, have to marry her. And no amount of power could ever make him want to do that to himself.
"Um, of course I'm listening. Tell me what's up." He made a mental note not to listen. Just block out the noise. That loud and screeching noise emitted from her birdlike mouth. She talked but she just sounded like the teacher from Charlie Brown Cartoons. And he kept nodding and nodding, feigning disinterest like a quarterback feigns a pass.
"So will you?" She seemed so excited about what she had just said and he had no idea what it could possibly be.
"What? Oh, yeah, of course I will!" He feigned enthusiasm. He probably just agreed to another night of kinky Swedish sex. Totally alright with him.
"Really?" She squealed, kissing him on the cheek. "We are going to have so much fun in Sweden!"
"Pardon, what? I could've sworn you just said Sweden." By Sweden, did she mean the replica she has as an apartment?
"Yes Sweden! Didn't you hear? You're coming with me next week! Oh Ry-yan, we are going to have so much fun!"
Oh. Fuck.
A/N: I love this chapter, but what do you think? Reviews please!