Sugarlips
By Morning Glory
"Sugarlips?" Dutchy leaned back in his seat a bit as he removed his brown cabby hat, blonde strands of hair falling into his blue eyes as he did so. He had met Skittery at Tibby's for dinner, keeping the plans they had made at the distribution center that morning.
"Yeah, exactly!" Skittery tossed his hands in the air, allowing them to hit the table on their way down with a thud. He leaned forward, resting his arms against the table, with a heavy sigh. Skittery had just finished telling Dutchy a long winded story, "To make it worse Jack and Race were there too!"
Dutchy raised an eyebrow in amusement, trying his hardest not to laugh at his friend, but the situation wasn't as bad as Skittery was making it out to be. Trying to be sympathetic to Skittery's plight, "I'm sure it wasn't that bad…?"
"It was that bad, you should hear the comments Jack and Race were saying." It showed on Skittery's face just how upset he was over the whole thing.
The bell above the door tinkled as it swung open, in stepped the cowboy and the gambler as if on cue. Dutchy looked over his left shoulder, watching the pair entered Tibby's, "Ow!" He leaned forward grabbing his shin under the table, "What was that for?" Dutchy hissed.
"Because if they see you looking at them- they'll see you, and then they'll come over here!" Skittery explained in a low voice, feeling that if he spoke any louder it'd attract unwanted attention. But it was too late. Jack and Race were making a bee line towards the table both had roguish looks on their faces.
"How's it going Sugar-lips?" Jack stressed each word, as he pulled the chair out plopping down next to Skittery despite the evil glares.
"Looks like Sugarlips is a bit grumpy." Racetrack made kissy faces in Skittery direction, as he used a mocking tone. He sat down next to Dutchy grabbing a slice of watermelon off the blonde boy's plate. Race shoved half of it into his mouth, dribbles of pink juice dripped down his chin.
"So, Sugarlips, tell us how your day went, get in any more smoochy time?" Jack and Race both cracked up every time one of the two mentioned the word sugarlips.
"Shut up!" Skittery could feel the blood rushing to his face as he clenched his fist.
"Aw, did Sugarlips wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Race taunted a bit more; the two boys were pushing to see how far they could go before they nudged Skittery over the edge.
"That's it!" Skittery lunged across the table at Race.
The silverware rattled as the table tilted in Dutchy's direction spilling the glasses of water. Dutchy grabbed the edge of the table setting it straight before standing up as the cold water soaked his pants, "Great!" He muttered frowning, but he was brought away from his own troubles when Race began to shout.
"Hey, get off me!" The short Italian squirmed under Skittery. Jack had jumped up grabbing Skittery's left arm before he could throw a punch at Race.
"We were just playing." Jack spoke, hauling Skittery off of his other friend.
Skittery allowed Jack to pull him back, but yanked his arm away. He straightened his vest. He glared between the two of them; if looks could kill this one would do it. Dutchy watched helplessly as Skittery stalked out of Tibby's, "Maybe you went too far." Dutchy stated the obvious.
Skittery stomped down the street back towards the lodging house. It was only half way back he realized he had stuck Dutchy with the bill. Skittery figured he'd pay him back when he saw him next. When Skittery finally reached the lodging house he saw one of the Bottle Alley girls sitting on the front steps. He squinted his eyes and saw it was Rogue, "Hey." He could feel a goofy grin spread to his lips.
"Hey yourself." Rogue retorted playfully, as she stood up. She met Skittery part way, stopping in front of him. She put her arms up around his neck, leaning her body against him slightly she placed a light kiss on his lips.
Skittery put his hands on her waist tugging her a little closer. He felt his body relax from the fight with Race. His eyes closed as he returned her light kiss deepening it a bit before pushing back, "You know…" Skittery spoke placing a kiss between phrases, "Your sugar lips comment…..got me a lot of grief."
Rogue paused for a moment and looked up at him, "From who?"
"Jack and Race were giving me grief." Skittery sighed pressing his forehead against Rogue's gently, once more closing his eyes. Skittery just listened to the sound of her voice.
"You know you shouldn't let it get to you. Periwinkle calls Race Boobear, and Stress, I've heard call Jack Smookums." Rogue smiled mischievously, "Sugarlips."
Skittery smirked; he would now have something to hold over Race and Jack's heads next time they remarked about Rogue's pet name for him.