"And Mark's gay!" I scowl at Joanne. "It doesn't make sense! How can Mark be gay? He's in love with me! He's always trying to get in my pants! Or... he was." I'm still mad at Mark. Not for being gay, but for denying that he's in love with Roger. I know he is! Why the lying?

"Maureen... Honeybear, you're gay," Joanne points out gently, which just causes me to scowl more. Why do I have to date someone who's so logical? "Why isn't Mark allowed to be?"

"Because I'm gay for a social statement!"

Oopsies! Wrong thing to say... I can see the fire rising in Joanne's eyes. "What?"

I cringe and smear the sweetest smile I can muster onto my face. "What I meant was... I mean, I was just-" A knocking sound happily interrupts me. "Oooh, door! I'll get it!"

I frolic over to the door, relieved to be out of that discussion. I fling the door open and am amazed to see Mark, Roger and Mimi standing at the door. "Wow, guys! It's a party! What are you all doing here?"

Roger shrugs, stepping into the apartment and dragging Mark in after him. That's strange. I'm used to him dragging Mimi around, what with her short legs and his... not-short legs. "Just thought we'd stop by... Haven't seen you guys for awhile."

Joanne looks over the back of the couch and smiles. Oooh, that means she's not going to be mad anymore! I am the queen! The qu-

What? I wrinkle my face up in confusion as Mimi darts over to Joanne and takes hold of her hand. She drags her over to the table and starts babbling. "I want you to help me figure something out because, you know, you're smart. Alright, I went shopping the other day and I found this rain jacket I want to buy. It's this long, mint blue one and normally it costs $120 but I would have been able to get it for $55, but I still don't know if that's a good deal, because the fabric is..."

I blink, feeling my head start to spin. That is waaaaay too complicated for me. Why not just buy something if you like it? I turn and find that Mark and Roger are now sitting on the couch... kinda close together. I make my "confused" face again and sit down on the table across from them. "So... ummm..." My eyes fall on something and I let out a loud screech.

Mark and Roger are holding hands! Mark and Roger are holding hands!!! I knew I was right! I dart up from the coffee table I was sitting on and stare down at them. "Mo? Is something wrong?" Mark asks calmly and I just want to whomp him. He lied to me about him and Roger being in love.

Pfft.

He just didn't want to say that I was right.

Hmm.

Perhaps I should tell Mimi... This is something she deserves to know.

Good idea!

I prance over to the kitchen table and grab Mimi, pulling her away from Joanne, who is in the middle of some rant about fibers or something crazy. "Mimi, I have to talk to you right now." I firmly drag her into the bedroom and shut the door. "Sit, I don't want you fainting and getting blood on my floor when you hit your head."

Wow, she looks confused. I can understand that. I sit down next to her and gently pat her hand. Whooo, look at me be the supportive best friend! "Mimi, I have to tell you something about Mark and Roger. They are... in love. I'm sorry."

Mimi's lips twitch for a moment, causing me to be confused, but the tears in her eyes quickly distract me. "What?" she whispers. Awww, poor girl. I feel for her, I really do.

"Come see..." I pull Mimi into the main room, expecting to show her the holding hand-ness. Except, that's not what they're doing anymore and I just scream.

"Mark and Roger are kissing! Aha!" I run around to the other side of the room. As happy as I am about being right, that's really kinda disturbing. And why is Joanne smiling like that?

Mimi crosses her arms over her chest.

Mark breaks away from Roger and looks around guiltily.

Roger just twines an arm around Mark's waist.

Maureen makes a face, this is very strange.

Whoo, referred to myself in third person in my mind there. Look at what they're doing to me! My whole world has twisted now! I don't think I like this.

Roger finally seems to notice that Mimi's standing there. He does what I like to call the "Roger laugh" and hold his other hand out to her. Mimi obediently settles into his lap. My forehead wrinkles up even more. This day is not going to be good for me, I'm gonna get wrinkles!

My mouth drops open even more when I realize that Mimi's still on his lap, but Roger's leaning over and kissing Mark's neck. "Roger!" I screech, placing my hands on my hips. "What are you doing? Be nice to Mimi, you can't..." I trail off as I suddenly realize that everyone's started laughing hysterically.

I turn bright red and scowl, crossing my arms. "What? Whaaaaaat?"

Roger had let go of Mark back when everyone started laughing at me, and now Mark gets up. He reaches out and places his hands on my arms. "Mo..." Ugh, he can't even talk, he's laughing so hard! "Look, do you really think we were...? If we were trying to hide it from Mimi, we wouldn't be so stupid to do all that with her right there."

"You were kissing." I pout, trying to make my face be not red.

"And you were turning bright red. It was funny!"

I turn to Joanne, the corners of my mouth turning down in a huge pout. "Pookie... I don't understand!" She immediately wipes the smile off her face and hugs me tightly. Still, that doesn't explain this!

I can hear Roger laughing still, until he finally wipes off his eyes and stops. "Look, Maureen, we were pretending. We wanted to see how you'd react if you actually thought we were in love, because... um... the idea is stupid!"

"But Mimi was crying. You let me hurt her like that?" Okay, I'm grasping at straws here.

"Maureen, I already knew. I was pretending too. I mean, I did move to New York to be an actress."

I scowl even more. "I hate you. Go away."

Mimi turns to the guys and shrugs. "Maybe we should go... Let her calm down and..." She shrugs again, but they agree and start out of the apartment. Doesn't stop me from hearing them talk though.

"God, Rog, you couldn't have brushed your teeth before we did that or anything?"

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with my breath! Mimi never complains about it."

"Mimi's in love with you. She's blind! Or... erhm... not able to smell."

"Hey! I hate you! Shut up!"

"Rog? Baby, Mark was joking."

"Oh."

"Do you think Maureen was really mad at us?"

"Who cares? It was funny!"

I pout and slam the door closed behind them. "Joanne! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know. Not until you and Mimi went into the bedroom. Then you have Mark and Roger whispering back and forth to each other, until Mark goes 'Damnit, they're coming out!' and they jump all over each other."

"I hate you too." I plop down on the couch, my arms still crossed over my chest.

"Awww, come on, Honeybear." Joanne sits down next to me and kisses my cheek. Damnit, I can feel myself starting to melt. "Look, let's go out for Chinese food now, like you wanted. You can tell me all about your protest?" I look up at her and shrug, then nod.

"I don't hate you anymore."

I stand up, still thinking about Mark and Roger.

Pffft.

People need to learn to listen to what I'm actually saying, not what's coming out of my mouth!

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Author's Note: *shrugs* I didn't think Maureen would actually accept all of what she thought.

Disclaimer: Characters all belong to Jonathan Larson, la la la laaaaa!

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