Merry Christmas, Kid
Hello loves. Yet another 'short' story from me again. All the characters, settings, etc belong to Marvel Comics, blah blah blah, you get the picture. I'm currently trying to successfully write out a chapter-ed story, but at the moment, I've (sadly) got a writers block. I'll get back to it soon, though. Okay, well then, enjoy the story! (And I know that it is no where near the time of Christmas, but I just got this idea and had to write it down, okay:P)
P.S. I would love it if you guys left a comment after reading it. I love reading them! Thanks!
"Hello?"
"Hey kid."
"Oh, hey Logan! How are ya?"
"Not bad. You?"
"Alright, I guess. I'd feel a lot better with you around."
"Me too."
"So, where are you?"
"I can't really disclose that. Sorry, kid."
"No, I understand. Well… how much longer will you be, y'think?"
"Can't be too much longer. Maybe another couple of months or so."
"Oh."
"What?"
"I just… I thought it'd be a little less than that. Since Christmas is only a few weeks away."
"Shit, I forgot."
"You forgot about Christmas?"
"Yeah, well, I don't usually celebrate it."
"But… do you think you can make it?"
"I don't know, kid. I've got a tight schedule at the moment. I don't know. I'll try, but don't get your hopes up."
"Oh. Okay. Well, just come back whenever you can."
"Will do, darlin'."
"Bye."
It went dead on the other end and Rogue sighed, hanging up the phone. She stared at it for a while before being interrupted by three sharp knocks on her door.
"Chica? You in there?" Jubilee's voice sounded behind the wooden barrier.
"Yup." Rogue answered. "The door's open."
The door opened and Jubilee and Kitty came waltzing in, jackets on and purses in hand.
"C'mon, we're going shopping." Jubilee said, hitching her large yellow purse higher onto her shoulder. She was wearing some light coloured jeans and a yellow t-shirt with her winter jacket overtop. Kitty wore some black cargo pants with a blue long-sleeved shirt and her white winter jacket, her small white purse clutched in her small hands.
"Ugh, now?" Rogue groaned, making a disgusted face. It wasn't that she hated shopping; she just didn't feel like going out at the moment. The news of Logan had darkened her mood, and she didn't want to ruin her friends' spirits.
"Yes, now." Kitty said, reaching out and grabbing Rogue by her gloved arm and pulling her towards them. "We're going Christmas-outfit shopping."
She groaned again. "Don't you guys have enough clothes already? I mean, I bet you could put together at least five outfits that would look good at Christmas."
"No, no, no, this is for the Christmas party. Xavier said it's gonna be a little nicer this year, like semi-formal." Jubilee walked over towards Rogue's closet and continued. "Kitty and I both wanted to get something new that would just dazzle everyone there, of course, but then," She opened the closet doors and let out a fake gasp. "We remembered that our dear Roguey doesn't have any pretty dresses to wear herself!"
"I don't know…" Rogue sighed, tasting defeat already. It was true; she had no formal, much less semi-formal clothing to wear since she never went or attended fancy places.
"Why, what's the matter?" Kitty asked, sitting down on her bed.
"Nothing, it's just… Logan phoned, and—"
"Oh my God, what'd he say?" Jubilee interrupted.
Rogue rolled her eyes, suppressing her urge to smile. "I'm getting there, just calm down." She continued. "He said he won't be there in time for Christmas."
"Yet another reason to go shopping! It'll help you forget about him and focus more on the important stuff." Jubilee exclaimed. "Like your bestest buddies and clothes!"
Rogue gave in and smiled. "Fine. But I'm only going because I need to find a few more gifts for people. We can look for clothes on the way." Kitty grinned and Jubilee let out a squeal of joy.
"C'mon, let's go!"
The shopping turned out just as Jubilee had wanted it to, letting Rogue's mind wander from Logan to clothing and being with her friends. They were successful in finding some dresses for the Christmas party, and Rogue caught up on her Christmas shopping. All she needed now was something for Logan… Sure, he might not be there for Christmas, but that didn't mean she couldn't give it to him as a belated gift. It was finding something perfect for him that was the trouble…
"Hey Rogue, you wanna try on your dress with Jubes and me?" Kitty asked her, flinging her plastic bags filled with clothes and presents onto her bed. Rogue shook her head.
"No, I'm gonna wait until the party. I don't want to ruin it."
"Ruin what?" Jubilee cried out, pulling out some of her new clothes and shoving them in her closet. "You're not gonna rip it to shreds just by putting it on."
Rogue still shook her head but smiled. "No, silly, ruin the surprise. The feeling. This is a beautiful dress, y'know. It's not made for every day walking around. I wanna save that." She shrugged lightly and flopped down on Kitty's bed.
"What Rogue means by that, is she wants Logan to see her all sexy and make him wanna jump her." Jubilee said with a grin. Kitty laughed.
"No! That's not it! I—" Rogue exclaimed, sitting up quickly. "That's not what it is, I just don't want—"
"Yeah, yeah, to ruin the 'feeling'." Jubilee winked. "Of course, chica."
Rogue huffed but couldn't control the smile that lingered on her lips, and glared playfully at Jubilee. "You're just jealous you couldn't get a prettier dress than me, sugar."
Kitty laughed and Jubilee pursed her lips jokingly. "You wish you could have bought a dress like mine."
"Hun, yellow is not my colour." She responded haughtily and with a smirk. "It's not even a Christmas colour!" Rogue added, laughing.
"Whatever!" Jubilee said, flailing her arms up in the air to exaggerate her annoyance.
Rogue sighed and shook her head, getting up from Kitty's bed and making her way towards the exit. "I gotta go finish up some homework. See you guys at dinner?" She asked before leaving. Her friends nodded and then Rogue turned and left, walking quietly to her room.
Days turned into weeks and strangely, in a matter of no time, Christmas Eve was upon them, and Rogue, along with Kitty and Jubilee, were scrambling around Jubilee and Kitty's room, trying to finish up getting dressed and putting on makeup.
"Where's my lipstick?!" Jubilee hollered across the room as she clawed fiercely through her bag of makeup. "I can't find my lipstick!"
"It's over here, Jubes, calm down." Kitty said, handing it to the over-excited and slightly stressed Asian girl. Rogue just laughed and finished curling the last tendril of hair, looking herself over in the mirror.
Her dark brown hair was piled on top of her head in a messy-like bun, but curled with some strands of hair that framed her face. Her white streaks, slightly different that usual, were pulled back and held in the bun while brown hair tumbled down her shoulders. Her makeup was done naturally, with a bit of brown, gold, and green shadowing her eyes, and a pale rose gloss on her pouty lips. She took one last look in the mirror and nodded to herself, smiling, and turned to the others.
Jubilee was wearing a strapless goldy yellow dress that came to about just above her knee, and Kitty wore a spaghetti-strap baby pink dress that fell with a swishy skirt to the middle of her calves. Both looked very chic and elegant at the same time.
"Oh la la, Rogue is le sexy!" Jubilee cried out after adorning her lips with a bright red shade of lipstick. Kitty nodded, smiling.
"Ready?" Rogue asked, glancing down at her watch. It read 7:39 p.m, and the party had started at 7:30. "Or do we still need a little more time to be 'fashionably late'?"
"Nope, I'm ready. You ready to go, Kit?" Jubes asked Kitty, fluffing her hair once again.
"I'm ready whenever you are," She said, flattening out the front of her dress.
"The let's go!" The Asian girl cried out, opening the door and walking out into the hallway, her two friends trailing right behind.
"Wait!" Rogue said as her two friends glanced back at her. "I forgot something. You guys go ahead, I'll be down there in a sec." She raced back into her room and grabbed a small box that was wrapped in red and green paper. Finally, after weeks of shopping and thinking, Rogue had found a gift for Logan. She actually didn't buy anything, really, and that's why she liked it so much. It was from her heart, and not from some store, and she desperately hoped Logan would like it as much as she did. She hurried out of the room, tucking the present under her arm, and made her way towards the staircase that lead to the party.
The main lobby entrance, games room, and TV room were all decorated in red and green, and in each room, there was a large Christmas tree decorated with bright lights and some of the students own ornaments from their homes. The lights were turned down dim and green and red Christmas lights were hung around to give off a cheery and festive glow.
Rogue hurried as quickly as she could down the stairs without tripping in her high-heels and swept her eyes across the crowd, finding Bobby and smiling as she locked her eyes onto his ice blue ones.
She was beautiful, gorgeous, stunning, and sexy at the same time. Rogue's hair was piled atop her head in a messy array of lovely brown locks and her eyes just shone with the serenity and allure that they always had. Her dress was plain but perfect for the occasion; it was that dark forest green colour that Bobby knew Rogue just adored, and it was a comfy looking material that clung to every part of her shapely, beautiful body. It had long sleeves with wide ends so that it covered most of her delicate hands, but she still wore some black lace gloves for protection. The dress came to about her mid thigh, revealing her long, athletic legs that Bobby had rarely seen (of course clothed in skin coloured nylons). But the part that had really attracted him to that dress was the – er, – very open v-neck that revealed her white chest that was almost never exposed. His heart dropped slightly when he spotted the pendant that was hanging between her two breasts. It was Logan's dog tags.
Bobby's smile faltered slightly, but as she walked up to him, her sexy green stilettos tapping on the marble floor, he forgot all about those dog tags (Logan wasn't even here, so why was he worrying?) and embraced her for a second before pulling away to take another look at her.
"You're absolutely stunning!" He said as he rubbed her arm.
"Thanks, Bobby!" She smiled, eyes sparkling happily. "You look nice too." She took his hand in her gloved one and gave it a squeeze.
"What's that?" He asked, gesturing towards the box under her arm.
"Oh, just a gift for someone. Actually, I'm gonna go put it under the tree now, if ya don't mind." She said, her voice spirited and jolly. Bobby let her run off toward the tree in the corner and watched as she bent down to put the present among the other piles of boxes and wrapped things. He raised a happy eyebrow and took her hand once again as she ran back to him. Jingle Bell Rock began to play softly in the background and Rogue glanced over to see happy couples such dancing as Jubilee and John, Kitty and Pete, and of course Jean and Scott.
"Wanna dance?" Bobby asked.
"Yeah, of course, sugar!" She exclaimed, almost dragging Bobby into the middle of the front hall where it served as a dance floor.
Rogue was trying not to keep her ears and eyes peeled for any signs of Logan, especially since she was having such a good time with Bobby and her friends, but somehow, everything reminded her of him. She always expected to turn away from her group of friends and see him leaning against the doorframe, watching over her protectively, then give her a very small smile that only she had ever seen. But every time she looked for him, he was never there.
Rogue didn't even know why she was expecting Logan to be there. He said he wasn't going to make it, and that she shouldn't get her hopes up, which she obviously was. Hours past, and after the speeches by the teachers, cheers from fellow students, and dancing with friends, slowly the people in the rooms began to disperse, and at about one o'clock in the morning, it was only Bobby and Rogue left, sitting on the TV leather couch, together.
"It's getting pretty late, Rogue." Bobby said tiredly as he yawned and stretched out his arms. She jolted from her light napping against his shoulder and shook herself awake. "I think we should go to bed. Everyone else has." He said, standing up from the couch.
"No, you go ahead…" She yawned herself, her once curled and styled hair falling apart and loosing it's volume. "I'm gonna wait a little bit longer."
"What for? Everyone else has gone to bed." Bobby said, slightly annoyed. Who was she waiting for, anyways? "You're not waiting for Logan, are you?" His icy gaze penetrating her tired shield.
She didn't say anything, and that told him enough. "Why are you even waiting from him? He wasn't even going to come tonight, right? Why don't you just come with me so you can sleep in your own comfy bed instead of the couch, huh?" Bobby reached for her arm but she moved away just in time, a slightly saddened expression covering her face.
He sighed angrily and threw his hands up in the air. "Whatever, fine, sleep down here tonight. Logan's not coming. He hasn't been here for over three months, so why do you think he'll show up now?"
"Because it's Christmas…" Rogue mumbled like a five-year old who had just been scolded.
Bobby sighed again, muttering, "I give up…" after he stalked away and up the stairs towards his dorm.
Well, at least she had accomplished two things this night: Look amazing for the party, and get her boyfriend pissed at her because she was waiting for another man. Rogue sighed sadly to herself and grabbed the remote that was lying on the table a few feet in front of her, and switched the television on.
It being Christmas Eve, of course almost all of the shows were the classics. She decided upon "A White Christmas", one of her personal favourites, and lay down on the couch to watch. It was only a few minutes into the movie when Rogue had drifted away into a light sleep.
But another couple minutes into the movie, while Rogue was lying on her side, sound asleep on the couch, the front mansion door opened silently and a tall hulking figure stepped in. He looked around at the decorative surroundings, smiling lightly to himself, and shut the door silently behind him. He took a few sniffs of the air as he looked up at the large pine tree covered in ornaments.
She was here. Down here, at one-fifteen in the morning. He just smiled at that, slipping his hands into the pockets of his worn-out jeans. He followed her scent and found her sleeping peacefully on the TV room's couch. Sitting himself down on the edge of the table, he noticed she looked quite dressed up; she was wearing a dress, her hair was styled, and her makeup, though slightly smudged, was quite elegant. She was still even wearing high-heeled shoes.
But what intrigued him the most was the necklace that was adorning her smooth and very appealing neck (he was not staring at her cleavage, no way, nope, he was not a pervert). It was his dog tags. He had to smile once again at that, and he reached out to brush a stray curled piece of hair that had fallen across her face.
Rogue heard some background voices and felt something brush against her skin and she twitched, letting out a tired moaning sound from between her lips. Is it morning already…? She thought tiredly to herself. I don't want to have to deal with Bobby and all of his smartass remarks at the moment, so God, if you could just, I don't know, slow time down for another few hours so I can just get some more sleep? But God would not let her fall back into the comforting place of darkness, so she cracked open one eye.
Logan saw as she began to twitch, and his gaze shot upwards so that he was looking at her face instead of… where the necklace was.
"Hey kid." He said softly, smiling.
As Rogue's eyes focused in the dim light, she heard that familiar and tender voice. Fully opening her eyes and sitting up at the same time, which made her feel a little dizzy, she cried out in happiness.
"Logan! Oh my God, you made it!" Rogue squealed, literally leaping into his arms (of course, careful not to make any skin contact).
He continued to smile as he welcomed her in his warm embrace, not really caring about her exposed skin. Seeing her face again made up for it all.
"I thought I told you to not get yer hopes up?" He said jokingly.
She pulled back, sitting back down on the couch. "Who said I was? I was just watchin' 'A White Christmas', and sorta… fell asleep." She smiled sheepishly.
"Right." Logan said, smirking lightly. "So, how've ya b—"
"Wait!" Rogue said, interrupting him. "We can talk about that tomorrow. I wanna get you something first." She stood up quickly and raced over to the Christmas tree that held the box she had been carrying earlier. Logan stood up as well, taking a few steps towards her so that they were both in the main lobby now.
Rogue hurried over to Logan and then stuck out the wrapped box towards him. "Here." She said proudly. "It's for you."
Logan looked at it as if he didn't know what to do with it. "What is it?" He asked suspiciously.
She let out a giggle and rolled her eyes. "You're supposed to unwrap it to find out, silly. It's called a gift? You give them to people at Christmas?"
He took it apprehensively and quietly tore at the paper, letting it drop to the ground as he stared at the little wooden box inlaid with gold finishing. He tried opening it, but it wouldn't budge. "It's a… box." He stated, looking up at Rogue. She smiled and reached down into her chest area, pulling out a small gold key on a chain, handing it to Logan. It was still warm as he gripped it in his large calloused hand.
"Go ahead," She said, nodding at the wooden box. "Open it."
Logan followed her orders and as the lock clicked, the box sprang open, revealing a vast arrangement of objects.
"What…?" He began, but once again, Rogue interrupted him.
"It's a memory box." She said as Logan picked up a picture that was lying on the bottom of the box and held it up so he could see. It was a picture of Rogue and Logan sitting on a stone bench (obviously from the Professor's garden) both looking back at the photographer with neutral expressions on their faces. Logan's forehead creased.
"I don't remember someone taking this picture…" He said.
"It was a while ago and we were talking in the garden when Kitty just got that new camera for her birthday and she snuck up on us and called our names, forcing us to turn around. That's when she snapped the picture. That's why we look so… annoyed, I guess." She said with a sheepish smile. "There are some other pictures of us, and also some stuff that connects us. Like that," She pointed to a small scrap of green fabric. "Remember when I was teasing you and you started to chase me? You grabbed that scarf and part of it ripped off." She smiled, blushing. "Just stuff like that."
He was speechless. Totally and utterly speechless. She had gone to so much work… for him? Just for a Christmas present?
"I'm not done yet with the explanation, yet." She said, slipping off his dog tags from around her neck. "I mean, you totally don't have to, but when you go away, you can bring this with you. I mean, I always had your dog tags, and you…" She paused, twisting them between her gloved fingers. "You were left with nothing. When you go, we can make a switch. You always have the box; that's yours to keep. But when you're away, we can trade our keys."
"But…" He said, taken aback by how thought-out this was. "My tags aren't keys."
These," She held up his tags, watching them sway back and forth. "Although technically they aren't, but metaphorically, they're the keys to your past." She placed them in Logan's hand, swapping the dog tags for the golden necklace that had the gold key on it. "And this," She held up the necklace and then placed it around her own neck. "This is the key to our memories. These keys connect us." She finished off with a curt, almost embarrassed smile.
Now he was really shocked. Not by how much planning went into this, not by her gift, but how beautiful this idea was. How deep it was. He opened his mouth and nothing came out, so he closed it and swallowed, blinking once or twice to clear his thoughts.
"I… It's just—" He stuttered, unsure of what to say.
"Do you like it…?" Rogue asked carefully, her voice sounding hurt.
"God, Marie, I think it's amazing." He finally blurted out, his hands still gripping his dog tags and the box tightly. "I just don't know… how you came up with this. I mean, it's… it's beautiful."
She grinned, shining with pride. "You're welcome." Rogue leaned in and gave him a short hug, then pulled back, glancing at the TV, which was still playing 'A White Christmas'.
"I'm just sorry I didn't get you anything. Especially after all the work you put into this…" Logan said regretfully, slipping his dog tags around his neck.
"No, no, it's okay. Really." She said, staring up at him with a warm gaze. "I already got the best present from you."
Logan lifted his eyebrow. "And what would that be?"
She smiled. "You came home for Christmas."
"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know"
Bing Crosby's soothing voice emanated from the television, the song reminding Rogue of earlier memories. She closed her eyes as water began to form at thoughts of her parents and family.
"Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow "
"My family would always listen to this on Christmas Eve, and every Christmas I hoped for snow." She let out a sad laugh. "Of course, we'd always get a green Christmas, living down there." She sighed, wiping her eyes. Logan's warm, protective gaze looked down upon her, affectionately yet also sad.
"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write"
"Wanna dance, kid?" He asked her softly, holding out his hand. Rogue looked upwards at him, thinking that surely he would be joking. But the love and truth was easy to see from his eyes, and she nodded yes.
He placed his gift on a nearby table then took one of her hands in his and carefully wrapped his other hand around her waist. She gratefully took his hand and then let her hand rest on his shoulder, placing her head cautiously in the middle of his chest where she let the sound of his beating heart soothe her. They slowly began to sway to the music and Logan warily rested his head atop Rogue's.
"May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white"
"Thanks, Logan. For comin' back." She mumbled against his shirt.
He opened his eyes and smiled.
"Merry Christmas, Kid."