ANNOUNCEMENT: Two new stories-Like a Boss: Tainted Love and We're in This Together Now,along with the update wave! Enjoy! :o)
A/N: Thanks for reviews! Keep on reading for your answers! :oD
-2-
Laura sits in the new cafeteria, studying the layout. She mentally contrasts it with the one she and the kids had eaten in so many years ago, when the school had been run under the name of Xavier's. The floors are hardwood instead of tile, and the tables and chairs are cheaper, as Logan doesn't have access to the same sort of funds that Xavier did.
She's not here for the layout, though. Laura is eavesdropping on the couple sitting at the table in the far corner, and is using all of her senses to gauge how infatuated they are with each other.
"You wouldn't believe what Idie did in my class the other day," the woman says. Her words are softly accentuated, with what Laura decides is Italian. Crap, she thinks. She knows he has a thing for accents.
"Do I want to know?" Julian asks, sounding amused.
A pause, and the woman smiles. "Probably not, but I'm going to tell you anyway." She's about Laura's age, and has medium length, wavy chestnut hair. Her skin is olive in color, and she has a roman nose along with very full but flattering features.
"That Sanders boy was making trouble again," she says. "Idie—shy, quiet Idie—suddenly snapped…and I swear to god, she froze his dick."
"Jesus," he replies, then grins. "Can't say he didn't have it coming."
"Logan was so upset! I had to…"
Laura focuses on their heartbeats. Julian's is relaxed, regular, as is the other woman's. Every now and again, though—when she smiles—his heart squeezes out a few extra pulses. As if there are genuine feelings.
She closes her eyes, her grip tightening on the fork she's using as a prop. Keep calm, she thinks. Keep calm. Focus. Get a grip, a good grip. You're not the reason.
"LAURA?"
Her head snaps up in alarm at having her cover blown so easily. A tray is clattering to the floor of the cafeteria, and a blob of metal is snaking toward her—and turning into Cessily.
"OH MY GOD—IT IS YOU!" the redheaded girl shrieks, her limbs solidifying in time to clamp around Laura (who has risen to her feet) in a bone crunching hug.
"Oh my god! Where the hell were you?" Cessily demands, pulling away from her again. "You look so different! I can't believe you're here!"
"Neither can I," Laura replies, feeling humiliated. No way she can just eavesdrop now.
"Where've you been?"
"Elsewhere." She pauses. "I had something to take care of."
Cessily's eyes widen. "The Facility kind of something?"
Laura hesitates. "Not exactly. I really don't want to talk about it here."
"Okay." The other girl pauses. "Are you going to teach at the school now? Oh my god, Laura, that'd be so cool! I bet you'll be handling self-defense. The teacher we have just sucks balls, and I'm not afraid to say it. Did you know I'm a teacher now?"
"Er, no, I didn't." Laura pauses. "Do you want to go out for coffee later?"
"Hell YES!" Cessily looks excited. "Oh man, I just have so much to tell you. So much has happened, I—"
"Aren't you mad at me for going?" Laura asks.
Cessily shakes her head. "You had your reasons. I know you. I'm just so happy you're back—it's such a nice change to be able to greet old friends again, rather than having to say goodbye."
Laura smiles, her first true smile here at this new school. "I did miss you. And you're right, we have a lot to talk about."
The redheaded girl pauses. "Are you—you know about Julian, right?"
"That he's with someone else? Everyone seems to consider that the most important bit of news for me." Laura grins.
"And you?" Cessily freezes. "Oh my god—I recognize that glow."
For one wild moment, Laura thinks she's caught on, and almost reaches to silence her.
"You're totally in love with someone, too!" her friend exclaims. "Oh wow! Details, Laura. I demand details. Tell me everything."
"When we go out for coffee, okay?"
"Let's go now!" Cessily gets up, then frowns. "Oh, wait. I have a class to teach in fifteen minutes. Goddamn kids! Okay, look, let's trade cell numbers—I've had like three new ones since the last time we were texting—and we can go tomorrow? Cool?"
"Sure," Laura says, pulling out her iPhone. "Here, type it in for me." She passes the other girl the phone.
"Can't…the screen won't recognize metal fingers." She glances down, and raises her auburn eyebrows. "You have a text from Nori."
"Ooo-ooh," Laura says, quickly taking her phone back and clearing the message away. Thankfully it hadn't been too revealing. She opens her contact list and pulls up Cessily Kincaid, then prepares to update the number.
"Go for it," she says.
"Nine fourteen…three twenty nine…fourteen hundred." Cessily pulls out her cell phone as well, a Blackberry with a keyboard. She presses a few buttons and nods for Laura to speak.
"Four fifteen…thirteen two…fifty five seventy nine."
"That's a San Fran code," Cessily says as she thumbs in the number. "Laura…are you living out there again?"
"In a manner of speaking," Laura says.
Her friend lowers her phone. "Are you with Cyclops?" she asks, her voice terse.
"Hardly." Pause. "I'm not with the X-men at all anymore. I…can I tell you tomorrow?"
"Of course." Cessily warms up again. "Okay, I got to run. I'll text you tonight."
"Have fun teaching." Laura doesn't mean this in a sarcastic way, as she once might have done.
"It actually is fun! You have no idea how great an experience sharing with children can be. Really makes me want some of my own." Cessily grins. "See you later!"
"Later," Laura says. She stabs a piece of lettuce viciously with her fork, then gets up to leave.
As she is heading toward the door, she hears the woman speak again, in a low voice: "Julian…is that…?"
"It was ages ago, Carm," he replies.
Pause. Laura's fingers are on the door now, about to push.
"You mean…that's her? That's Laura?"
"Let's not," he says.
Pushing. The hallway is ahead of her now.
"Let's."
"She doesn't mean anything."
The door swings shut behind her as she moves into the corridor, but she can still hear them talking—clear as a bell.
"The hell she doesn't. You said her name last—"
"It was just a slip of the tongue. Really."
Laura stops, and raises her eyebrows. Really.
"A pretty big slip," 'Carm' says. "Don't they call those things Freudian slips?"
"Look, I was just a little rattled to see her again, alright? I already told you about how much she hurt me." Pause. "You're all that matters to me now. She's history."
But now—armed with new knowledge—Laura doesn't find these words as disheartening as she might have. Instead, she realizes she is smiling, ever so slightly.
…
"Is she hot, at least?"
Laura shrugs, then realizes Nori can't see her. "She has her charms, I'm sure. I'm hotter."
"Of course." Nori pauses, probably grinning. "Someone's sure been missing you a lot."
"I bet," Laura says. "Tell him I won't be much longer. Just tying up some lose ends…probably book a ticket for this weekend."
"Will do. Really think you can get things taken care of that quick?"
"Don't see why not," Laura says. "Just have to decide whether or not he's really happy the way he is. If he's better off one way or the other, you know."
"You really think he'd be okay with it?"
Laura shrugs, and again realizes Nori can't see the reaction. "Why not?"
"Wouldn't it be a little awkward? I mean, he's been the only man in your life for a while, and now you just start seeing other people? And how about for Keller? It's going to be—"
"He'll get over it." She pauses. "Both of them will. They're big boys, right?"
"Right." Nori is probably rolling her eyes. "You have much to learn about males and jealousy. Especially when that prick is involved."
"Whatever." Laura pauses. "Is he there? Could I speak to him?"
"Sure, just a minute."
…
"Love you too," Laura says. Her breath puffs out in front of her, and she looks out across the snow-covered school grounds, then jumps slightly in surprise at the feeling of an unexpected hand touching her shoulder. She'd been so into her conversation, she hadn't heard the person approach. As she turns around, her eyes widen—it's Julian.
"Err—I've got to go, sweetheart. I'll call again tomorrow." She the phone away from her ear and presses End Call, feeling guilty. She shouldn't do that to the most important person in her life.
"Didn't mean for you to end your call." He looks mildly concerned.
"Oh." She pauses, wrinkles her nose. "Well, it's late anyway. I should get going."
A pause, in which Julian is obviously struggling to word something in his mind.
"Look—I'm sorry about yesterday. I was surprised, I was mad at you…I've been stoking the fires of hatred for over two years now…and I assumed you were just going to blunder in like an oblivious asshole and use me again."
Laura stares at him. "How did you come to that conclusion?"
"It's just your style," he says. "You never think about anyone else. You can be selfish, sometimes." He hesitates, and she sees his eyes—his big blue eyes, so familiar—filling with emotion. "Do you know just how much it hurt to wake up and realize you were gone?"
"I couldn't stay," she says. "I had other—"
"You made me feel like I wasn't good enough anymore." He glares at her. "Suddenly I wasn't a whole person, so you just discarded me like a used tissue. Like you—" his forehead wrinkles and he looks away, and Laura bites her lip hard, surprised how quickly she feels like crying. She didn't used to cry, at all. But she's seen this look—this reaction—so many times, and her automatic response is to burst into tears and give him whatever he wants.
Except she's not sure what he wants.
"Well, good thing that's not an issue anymore," he says in a carefully controlled but strained voice. "I know…or I think I know now…it's not my problem. Someone else had to show me that, Laura, because you sure as hell couldn't."
"You don't understand." Laura wipes her stinging nose on her sleeve. "I never thought you stopped being—that you weren't perfect…after it happened. I just—I had to go. You need to trust me that I had reasons, real, solid reasons."
Julian gives her a look full of mistrust.
"Why are you always so fucking vague with me?" he demands. "God, Laura. I loved you and shared everything I knew how to share, and yet I was always the last one to know anything about you. Why do you always trust me so little?"
Laura pauses. She couldn't explain it to him when they'd argued about this before, so many times before, but now she miraculously finds the right words. "You don't think with your head. You think with your heart, and act on it. And that's not a bad thing, Julian…but anyone who really loves you will be afraid to tell you anything you might act on. They couldn't—I couldn't—stand to see you get hurt."
"So you let me hurt in another way." He gives her an unhappy look. "That's not a healthy, balanced relationship at all."
"No." Laura feels nervous. Why does she feel like something's at stake? They both have other priorities now, and yet she feels like some tremulous future between them is being decided, right here, right now. She swallows hard.
"I'm happy now," he says, firmly. "I met someone really—really beautiful. She cares about the kids here, and about me, and she knows what it's like to have a rough time. She doesn't care about these, either." He gestures slightly with one metallic hand, and Laura's attention refocuses.
"Are you—how do you control them?" she asks.
"With my mind. How it happened is something that I can't explain to someone who wasn't there." Julian pauses. "She was, though. That's where I met her…and we just clicked."
"That's—" Laura makes herself smile. "That's great."
He hesitates. "Where did you—"
"I can't." She rubs her nose again, her forehead wrinkling. "God, I came all this way…and I can't. I never counted on you being happy, and having this great life built for yourself."
"You expected me to just wither and die without you?" Julian demands.
"I don't know what I expected." Laura pauses. "I never saw what you'd be doing when I came. I mean, when I pictured this in my head. I just imagined us being happy in the end, and it all working out some how." She arches her eyebrows. "This is enough to make me crave a smoke. You got any?"
"No." Julian studies her. "I quit, 'cause she didn't like it. What, did you quit too?"
She nods.
His eyes narrow. "It's him, isn't it?"
Laura looks at the snow. "Let's not talk about this." She hesitates, then forces it out. "I think what needs to happen is we shake hands and part friends…and don't look back. Ever."
Julian slowly nods. "Okay. Yeah, you're right."
He reaches out with one metal hand, and Laura wraps her own real fingers around it, and is surprised. The surface feels warm and alive, and she can feel a strange sort of vibration inside—the energy he's using to move it.
"I wish we could've worked out," he says softly.
"Yeah." She swallows.
He gives her a nod, then turns and heads inside the school.
Laura waits for the door to shut before letting the tears streak down her face. They fall in the snow, little steaming holes that remind her of bullet wounds.
