A young lady in her early twenties was waiting by the curb of
Xavier's Institute of Higher Learning at dawn. Her figure was tall and
lithe, as if someone had tried to stuff slim and muscular, skinny and
strong, into one body. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, with
only a stray forelock sweeping beneath her eye, which was bearing a scar
similar to the two on her cheek. The eyes themselves were green and gold,
and currently were scanning the barren driveway and road.
It had been a long time since she had seen anyone familiar. Strobe was off to Europe as a leader of another traveling team of X-Men, while Paige had gone into politics. Kurt and Ororo had left for Africa, to aid a raging epidemic of HIV. Julie had run off with a Chinese man and currently was residing in Peking, Shadowcat to Europe. Remy and Rogue had left on a motorbike three years ago, leaving neither explanation nor farewell.
The road remained desolate, as it had for the past three years. SheCat didn't know why she always expected different. She just always went out at dawn, waited for a while, then returned inside.
A tear fell from her eye, the kind that don't redden the cheeks or spread along the eyeline. It dropped and hit the pavement at her sandaled feet, splattering like a raindrop. She wiped its brother away, then turned to enter the mansion, feet and heart heavy.
A small sound caught her attention, a muted rattle that transformed into a dull roar. It was the sound of a motorbike.
By midday SheCat and Remy were chatting over lunch out back by the pool. Hers was a more than reasonable amount of cheese slathered over a hamburger, his was gumbo. His ability to eat that spicy Cajun meal at any time of day would never cease amazing her, especially considering that he, by all rights, should have burnt his tongue off a while ago from the amount of Cayenne pepper dumped into it. Despite the fact that she would have drained the pool had she tasted it, he ate it resolutely, without any drink of any kind to help wash down the burning taste. He loved it.
"Ya miss me much, chere?" He spoke between spoonfuls. His voice snapped her out of the daydream she was having about his lips.
"Yeah. It's been downright dull here, and you took the last available motorbike.' Her dialect was still that of a young person.
"Sorry 'bout dat." He took another spoonful, making certain to waft the smell beneath her nose first. She reflexively took another drink of 7- Up.
"You know, you never said goodbye. You just left." Remy was startled by her change in tone, from slightly whimsical to accusing.
He defended himself. "As I told you I would."
"Doesn't change the fact that you still never said goodbye."
They ate lunch in silence for a few minutes. After finishing demolishing her burger, she stood and started to head in.
"Should we take a ride?" She turned. "On de motorbike?".
She turned to face him. He was playing her, that she knew. He was purposefully letting himself stay seated, giving her the subconscious sense or superiority. It was an old trick. "Why?"
"We can talk. I get de feelin' you got t'ings on your mind." The old trick worked.
It was autumn fireworks among the arboreal life down the old motorbike path. Vivid reds and golds would have floated to the ground, had it not showered a mite earlier. Now soggy leaves cluttered the trail at odd intervals as the motorbike skidded to a stop.
"Why are we stopping here?" SheCat stood in wonder at the wet beauty that was aspen while talking.
"T'ought I'd jus' tell you how beautiful you look nowadays." Remy leaned on the motorbike, watching SheCat stare at the panoramic view. His hair was plastered to his forehead, having been caught in a delightedly perfect drizzle. Mist was just starting to rise, up to her waist now, a little over the seat of the bike.
His response was too unnatural, too suddenly complimentary to be genuine. "What are you saying?"
Remy patted the seat of the bike. She obliged to sit next to where he was leaning, looking him straight in the eye, the advantage of the bike giving her an inch or so above him.
"You leading me on, LeBeau?"
"Dieu, non. I'm jus' givin' you a compliment." A stray raindrop landed above his eyebrow, trickling over it and into his red on black eyes.
"You want something, don't you?"
"I can't kiss Rogue."
"So? Am I a consolation prize or something?" Her eyes flared. Another stray raindrop struck her cheek.
"You fall in love or somet'in'? Wit' someone new?"
"No." She was honest. She was wondering if he was.
"You don't love me anymore?" His eyebrows arched. A raindrop slid down the angles of his jaw.
SheCat stood, walked off onto the edge of the path, back turned. 'It's not that."
Remy got up and stood behind. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Den what is it?"
She whirled on him, twisted out of his grasp. "I don't want to be second choice! Just cause you and Rogue have troubles doesn't mean I'm always available because I'm desperate, or I'm scared, or I'm..." These words she spat out, as if they were poison to her tongue. "Or I'm just a kid who doesn't understand what love really is! I'm twenty-two years old! I don't need your, your hand-me-down love and your excuses for why you up and left! I'm not just a girl anymore!" She cut herself off at the look on his face, a mixture of stunned and ashamed.
"Okay." Remy turned away and walked to the motorbike, trademark trenchcoat dragging a little in the muddy path.
"Wait!" She ran to him as he mounted the bike. He gave her a hurt look, but she didn't register that as she grabbed his face and kissed him, and as he returned the favor.
Their lips were locked, heads twisted to the right to allow room for their noses, eyes closed.
She would always be a child in his eyes. She knew that, just like she knew she would always rank second place in his heart. She was an outlet for his physical romancing, Rogue for his mental. A confusing paradox that left all three feeling like they had the short end of the stick.
Remy had almost forgotten what a kiss was like, what a true kiss felt like when passion was involved. He had kissed out of business, to achieve ends or to avoid danger. Very rarely had he kissed truly out of romancing, with Bella Donna back when they were in love, once with Rogue that had landed him in a three week coma while she was busy trying to sort out his memories from one another and wondering why she had the sudden urge to do something, non-stop, 24-7. Now he felt SheCat too, inexperienced but pure, and that was the best kind of kiss. The first one.
She hoped that the rain that was now falling steadily around them and soaking their clothes would obscure her tears. She hated herself for her weakness, for the irreversibility of the situation, for trying for so hard to believe he loved her more than Rogue. She hated it when thinking ruined an experience, especially one so sweet as this first kiss of hers.
After a while, they broke apart and just held each other.
"I'm so sorry." Her voice was surprisingly clear for someone who was crying.
"Me too, chere. Me too." He held her a second longer, then released her. Rain spattered against their faces, mist swirled around their legs as they mounted the bike. It had been a while since he had kissed anyone, what with Rogue around.
In an hour the path was wiped clear by the forces of nature, and no one would know two motorbikers had ever been there at all.
It had been a long time since she had seen anyone familiar. Strobe was off to Europe as a leader of another traveling team of X-Men, while Paige had gone into politics. Kurt and Ororo had left for Africa, to aid a raging epidemic of HIV. Julie had run off with a Chinese man and currently was residing in Peking, Shadowcat to Europe. Remy and Rogue had left on a motorbike three years ago, leaving neither explanation nor farewell.
The road remained desolate, as it had for the past three years. SheCat didn't know why she always expected different. She just always went out at dawn, waited for a while, then returned inside.
A tear fell from her eye, the kind that don't redden the cheeks or spread along the eyeline. It dropped and hit the pavement at her sandaled feet, splattering like a raindrop. She wiped its brother away, then turned to enter the mansion, feet and heart heavy.
A small sound caught her attention, a muted rattle that transformed into a dull roar. It was the sound of a motorbike.
By midday SheCat and Remy were chatting over lunch out back by the pool. Hers was a more than reasonable amount of cheese slathered over a hamburger, his was gumbo. His ability to eat that spicy Cajun meal at any time of day would never cease amazing her, especially considering that he, by all rights, should have burnt his tongue off a while ago from the amount of Cayenne pepper dumped into it. Despite the fact that she would have drained the pool had she tasted it, he ate it resolutely, without any drink of any kind to help wash down the burning taste. He loved it.
"Ya miss me much, chere?" He spoke between spoonfuls. His voice snapped her out of the daydream she was having about his lips.
"Yeah. It's been downright dull here, and you took the last available motorbike.' Her dialect was still that of a young person.
"Sorry 'bout dat." He took another spoonful, making certain to waft the smell beneath her nose first. She reflexively took another drink of 7- Up.
"You know, you never said goodbye. You just left." Remy was startled by her change in tone, from slightly whimsical to accusing.
He defended himself. "As I told you I would."
"Doesn't change the fact that you still never said goodbye."
They ate lunch in silence for a few minutes. After finishing demolishing her burger, she stood and started to head in.
"Should we take a ride?" She turned. "On de motorbike?".
She turned to face him. He was playing her, that she knew. He was purposefully letting himself stay seated, giving her the subconscious sense or superiority. It was an old trick. "Why?"
"We can talk. I get de feelin' you got t'ings on your mind." The old trick worked.
It was autumn fireworks among the arboreal life down the old motorbike path. Vivid reds and golds would have floated to the ground, had it not showered a mite earlier. Now soggy leaves cluttered the trail at odd intervals as the motorbike skidded to a stop.
"Why are we stopping here?" SheCat stood in wonder at the wet beauty that was aspen while talking.
"T'ought I'd jus' tell you how beautiful you look nowadays." Remy leaned on the motorbike, watching SheCat stare at the panoramic view. His hair was plastered to his forehead, having been caught in a delightedly perfect drizzle. Mist was just starting to rise, up to her waist now, a little over the seat of the bike.
His response was too unnatural, too suddenly complimentary to be genuine. "What are you saying?"
Remy patted the seat of the bike. She obliged to sit next to where he was leaning, looking him straight in the eye, the advantage of the bike giving her an inch or so above him.
"You leading me on, LeBeau?"
"Dieu, non. I'm jus' givin' you a compliment." A stray raindrop landed above his eyebrow, trickling over it and into his red on black eyes.
"You want something, don't you?"
"I can't kiss Rogue."
"So? Am I a consolation prize or something?" Her eyes flared. Another stray raindrop struck her cheek.
"You fall in love or somet'in'? Wit' someone new?"
"No." She was honest. She was wondering if he was.
"You don't love me anymore?" His eyebrows arched. A raindrop slid down the angles of his jaw.
SheCat stood, walked off onto the edge of the path, back turned. 'It's not that."
Remy got up and stood behind. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Den what is it?"
She whirled on him, twisted out of his grasp. "I don't want to be second choice! Just cause you and Rogue have troubles doesn't mean I'm always available because I'm desperate, or I'm scared, or I'm..." These words she spat out, as if they were poison to her tongue. "Or I'm just a kid who doesn't understand what love really is! I'm twenty-two years old! I don't need your, your hand-me-down love and your excuses for why you up and left! I'm not just a girl anymore!" She cut herself off at the look on his face, a mixture of stunned and ashamed.
"Okay." Remy turned away and walked to the motorbike, trademark trenchcoat dragging a little in the muddy path.
"Wait!" She ran to him as he mounted the bike. He gave her a hurt look, but she didn't register that as she grabbed his face and kissed him, and as he returned the favor.
Their lips were locked, heads twisted to the right to allow room for their noses, eyes closed.
She would always be a child in his eyes. She knew that, just like she knew she would always rank second place in his heart. She was an outlet for his physical romancing, Rogue for his mental. A confusing paradox that left all three feeling like they had the short end of the stick.
Remy had almost forgotten what a kiss was like, what a true kiss felt like when passion was involved. He had kissed out of business, to achieve ends or to avoid danger. Very rarely had he kissed truly out of romancing, with Bella Donna back when they were in love, once with Rogue that had landed him in a three week coma while she was busy trying to sort out his memories from one another and wondering why she had the sudden urge to do something, non-stop, 24-7. Now he felt SheCat too, inexperienced but pure, and that was the best kind of kiss. The first one.
She hoped that the rain that was now falling steadily around them and soaking their clothes would obscure her tears. She hated herself for her weakness, for the irreversibility of the situation, for trying for so hard to believe he loved her more than Rogue. She hated it when thinking ruined an experience, especially one so sweet as this first kiss of hers.
After a while, they broke apart and just held each other.
"I'm so sorry." Her voice was surprisingly clear for someone who was crying.
"Me too, chere. Me too." He held her a second longer, then released her. Rain spattered against their faces, mist swirled around their legs as they mounted the bike. It had been a while since he had kissed anyone, what with Rogue around.
In an hour the path was wiped clear by the forces of nature, and no one would know two motorbikers had ever been there at all.