Chapter One

Turning the alley, a young Maureen Johnson came to the door of the club at which Roger’s band was performing. Before opening it, she looked at her watch and realized that she was late and it had completely ended. She figured that if she got in fast enough and found him, she could just say that she’s been there all along and completely lost site of him when he got off the stage. But really, the sixteen year old just spent the last few hours signing out of her school, deciding that being a drop out would make her life so much easier for the time being. Little did she realize, reality would bite her in the ass later.

It wasn’t always easy to support her boyfriend since he was nineteen and he was old enough to go to clubs and she had to do her best to pass off as the appropriate age. Maybe if saying she was there didn’t work, she could just say she showed up a bit late because she was getting ready. Well whatever the case, she knew he and his band did an amazing job. And Roger always knew that she’d be his number one fan even if she missed a gig or two.

Reaching out for the door, Maureen turned the knob and pulled it open. Stepping inside of the dim lit club, she walked down the stairs as the sounds of another rock band grew louder. When she was on flat surface, she began to walk around in search of her rocker boyfriend. As she passed a few tables, some of the men whistled at her, in response she’d simply roll her eyes and keep going on her search to find Roger.

After about two minutes, she quickly grew impatient and walked over to the side of the stage to ask one of the workers where he had gone. When she asked him, the man pointed out towards the front door. Of course, if Maureen had come that way, it would have saved a lot of trouble, but cutting through an alley at night seemed to suit her better.

With a sigh, she walked towards the door and pushed it open. When she stepped outside, she looked to her right to find her rocker boyfriend, a smile quickly fading away as she found his arms wrapped around a thin redhead. Maureen shuddered as she thought of all the times she’d been touched by those hands that were unfaithfully roaming someone else’s body. Then, the lips she kissed every day leaned in against the stranger’s. She watched this scene as tears formed in her eyes. What killed her the most was that he didn’t even notice her standing right beside him. Backing up, Maureen’s back then faced the two, soon breaking into a run.

Her feet were taking her farther from the man she loved unconditionally just as fast as she came closer to someone who she knew would happily take her in their arms. Running up the stairs of the building she lived in, she slid open the heavy metal door and didn’t even both to close it. Sitting on the couch, looking over at her was Mark Cohen; a year older than Roger, but always showing the signs of crushing on Maureen Johnson who was four years younger.

When he saw the brunette come through the door, shaking from the cold and tears running down her cheeks from pain inflicted upon her by someone Mark only hoped she’d never have to face again, he stood up. “Maureen… what happened?” He asked quietly.

She refused to answer; she just walked across the room and fell into his arms. He quickly wrapped them around Maureen’s tiny frame, resting his chin on top of her head. She wrapped her arms around him and just stood there crying until no more tears could form in her eyes, which didn’t take too long since she cried the entire way home.

Rather quickly, she felt her heart break into a million pieces because of the works of Roger, who didn’t even know she saw his unfaithful act. But as Mark led Maureen over to the couch and sat her down, he sat next to her and rested the young drama queen’s head upon his shoulder; she felt as though this man could be the one to put the pieces back together. At this point she didn’t know whether she wanted this out of spite which seemed likely, but she looked up at the filmmaker and placed a kiss against his lips.

Mark, not even knowing of the sight Maureen had seen of her boyfriend, quickly forgot that Maureen was still taken and returned the kiss. It wasn’t that he wanted to hurt his best friend, which was possible if he walked through the door they would never speak again, but he’s been dreaming of this moment for months now.