The next week went by normally. Well, semi normally that is.

I didn't go for any more early morning walks. I turned the ringer off on my phone and completely ignored the blinking light that told me I had messages. I went to school, did my homework, went to training sessions, spent time with my friends, and didn't think of Gambit once.

Ok, the last part might be a lie. I couldn't figure why Gambit had suddenly decided to show up out of no where. I had thought it through and the only explanation that I could conjure up was that he must be doing something for Magneto. And then I remembered that they're little group had broken up according to Colossus who is now on good terms with the X-men.

So I was left with a blank. My curiosity was so strong I thought that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to pick up the phone one of these days. But I quickly changed my mind about that when I remembered that this was Gambit I was thinking about. I don't think I've ever gotten a strait answer out of him.

Ok, time to get my mind off of Gambit. I bring myself back to earth and try to listen to the conversation Kitty and Kurt are having next to me.

It's a school day and we're all eating lunch at one of the tables outside. I'm pretty sure they're talking about their plans for the weekend.

"What about you, Rogue?" Kitty asks me.

I blink. "Oh, sorry, what?"

"The mall?…Haven't you been listening?"

Whoops. "Um-"

"You ok, Rogue? You seem distracted." Kurt sounds a bit worried.

"Yeah, you've been like, total space cadet lately." Kitty adds with a curious look in my direction.

I nod. "Yeah, I'm fine, I've just got some things on my mind…No big deal," I add after seeing their expressions grow more worried.

After a second, Kitty nods. "Ok…well, me and Kurt we're thinking of-"

Wait a minute...I narrow my eyes past Kitty—what the hell?

Standing just beyond the school grounds is Gambit leaning casually up against a tree, grinning like an idiot at me.

WHY?

"Rogue, what is it?" Kurt follows my gaze and narrows his eyes. "Is that..?"

"Yep." I answer.

Kitty turns to see what we're looking at. "What's he doing here?"

I really wish I knew. But then again, maybe I don't. Anything that Gambit is up to can't be any good, and I would rather it have nothing to do with me.

Gambit looks so casual there; as if he were there every day. And I don't want to think about what the big grin means. It was most likely because he knew he was driving me crazy which I had found out from my sneak peek into his mind that he enjoys immensely.

I have never met a character like Gambit before, and honestly, I don't know what to make of him. Not that I want to make anything of him.

As I glare in his direction, his grin broadens, and he tips his head to me before slowly turning and walking off. Ok…now I'm a little creeped out. And judging by the looks I'm receiving from Kitty and Kurt they're expecting an explanation from me. As if I could give one.

I swallow hard and look back and forth between them.

Kitty is giving me a funny look. "Are you and Gambit…?"

It takes me a second to understand her pointed look at me. Then it clicked. I clench my eyes shut and shake my head, all the while resisting the urge to moan in frustration. "NO!" I open my eyes and look at her. "NO," I say again just for good measure.

She holds her hands up in defense. "Ok, ok, I get it, you're not boinking Gambit."

I blush at her ludicrous term and instead turn to Kurt, who was shaking his head. "So you don't know why he was here? He seemed to be looking at you."

Wow, thanks Gambit, now I get to explain to my friends why I didn't say anything about you sooner. This was going to be a fun day. I shrug at Kurt's question and bite my lip. "Well…I don't know why he was here exactly, but I um…did see him the other day." I say that last part quietly. But they hear me.

"What? Where?" Kitty soundd slightly alarmed. Her eyes widen a bit. "Did he try to-" for one wild moment I thought she was going to say 'kiss you' before she ended with—"hurt you?"

The thought of Gambit trying to hurt me didn't seem right. I don't think he would try to hurt me. Then I remember the very first time we met where he had tried to blow me up into a million pieces. Ok, yeah, so that was a while ago but while remembering this I become even more cautious of Gambit than I already was. Damn Cajun. Get outta my head!

"No, no…he just said hello, asked how I was doing…"

Kitty and Kurt stare at me. I'm sure I'm startin' to look insane. Five minutes ago I was normal. Now, thanks to Gambit, I'm the girl who has nice conversations with her enemies at five o'clock in the morning on street corners and fails to tell anyone about it. Nice.

Kurt blinks slowly. "So we should probably tell the Professor and Logan he's back in town, right?"

I nod. Though I don't want to talk to people about why I didn't say anything before (I.e. I don't want to tell anyone that Gambit tried to make out with me) it seems that this is more than likely to happen.

Kitty stands and is shortly followed by Kurt. "Let's go then," she says while grabbing her bag.

I bite my lip again. "Um—skip school? Shouldn't we-" anything to put off the inevitable.

Kitty cuts me off. "No, I think this is important, and I still don't get why you didn't say anything. And what's the big deal with leaving? It's Friday, everyone's skipping."

I shrug and search for something to say. Kitty's confused by my not saying anything; Logan on the other hand would be pissed and the Professor would want a strait answer as to why I didn't say anything. "We could be unique…"

I'm answered with Kitty's hand on my arm, as she pulls me up out of my seat. I only manage to grab my bag just in time before she and Kurt steer me to a more discreet area where no one could see us teleport.

I try one more time to change their minds. "Ya know, I don't think the Professor would approve of us skippin school, maybe we should just a take a few minutes to-"

And then we teleported. Within two seconds we're standing on the front steps of the institute and I'm left there by Kitty and Kurt who sprint through the door.

"—talk about it." I grumble before shuffling after them. Oh what a lovely day this was turning out to be. And once again, whose fault was it?

As I enter the foyer I find that the Professor is already there, looking slightly alarmed as Kitty and Kurt sprint towards him. They both start talking at once—telling how they had seen Gambit—Kitty started saying how suspicious he looked—Kurt insisted that he had a murderous look about him. I walk over calmly to stand in-between them and wait for them to finish. I notice that the Professor has one hand to his temple and looks slightly stressed as he tries to take both of them in at once.

"And Rogue saw him the other day!" Kitty finishes while pointing a finger at me. Thanks Kitty.

The Professor lifts an eyebrow at this but otherwise doesn't say anything. Instead he holds both his hands up in a silent gesture for them to stop.

"Well," he starts calmly, "I was going to wait for you to get home from school to tell you about this, but seeing as you're already here…" Oh no, this couldn't be anything good. "Gambit does not pose a threat to us; it's nothing for you or anyone else to worry about. In fact, he's come by today, just after you all left for school and we talked." NO NO NO—"We was so kind to allow me a deep look into his mind and he's sincere—he wants to join the X-men."

I stare at him. Actually we all stare at him. We all stare him for a long time. I'm not sure how long we all stare—or more gape at him, but it feels like several minutes. But he sits and waits patiently for us to process this. Myself, well, right about now I felt like busting my head through a wall but I'm trying to keep that emotion bottled up…At least while I'm in front of my friends.

And it's not like I can argue with the Professor on his decision to let Gambit join us—it 's his house for one and for two, he had read his thoughts...How can I argue with that?

But the fact that Gambit sincerely wanted to join the X-men? Now that was news. Not good news since I was sure he was going to drive me up the wall out of my mind want to shoot myself in the head crazy. But at least he was on the right side of the fence now.

I should be happy—at least for the fact this was would be a good addition to the X-men and would undoubtedly make the team stronger. But all I feel is annoyance. That seems to be my main emotion lately.

It was Kurt who spoke first. "Are…are you sure, Professor?"

Professor X nods. "Yes Kurt, one hundred percent."

"So, Gambit is going to be livin and training with us?" I ask in a dread filled voice.

The Professor nods again but now he looks slightly amused. "Yes Rogue. And I would hope that you are all adult enough to handle this change with some maturity, hm?"

Kitty and Kurt murmur in agreement while I nod solemnly.

"Excellent!" Professor X claps his hands together once. "Then…I think it's safe to assume that you aren't going back to school. Perhaps you would like to do some extra training sessions with Wolverine?"

We all cringe simultaneously. Seeing the looks on our faces, the Professor chuckles and tells us that we can go. We all sprint out of the door before he can change his mind.

Now I find myself wondering what the hell is going on in the mind of Gambit. Why would he want to join the X-men? I could just go and ask the Professor but I don't want him to think that I actually care. Cause I don't. I could care less about Gambit and what he wants.

Now all I have to concentrate on is staying out of the house as much as possible. I nod vaguely when Kitty suggests we go hang out in the mall. Yes, I know from torturous experience that Kitty could stay in the mall for weeks on end if anyone let her. Right now my choice was that or Gambit trying to attack me…with his mouth.

…

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH ! Where is the wall to bang your head on when you need it? Or the anvil to drop on you from above? Or the cliff to jump off of? WHY did I let myself be dragged into this?

After I had agreed to one thing, Kitty had gone ballistic, dragging me from store to store, trying on clothes for me to judge, spraying perfume in my face for me to smell, and laden me down with bags (she was already carrying fifteen) for me to carry. Kurt had ditched us hours ago. So six hours and four aspirin later, I feel defeated. And exhausted. Maybe Gambit's own form of torture would be better than Kitty's form of torture after all.

Speaking of Kitty, she's still going fine, talking a hundred miles a minute and somehow still squealing in excitement when she see's something else she wants in one of the shop windows.

She squeals again, shaking me from my thoughts and lifts a bag laden arm to point at a window. "OH! Look at-"

I snap. "NO."

"But I just want-"

"NO."

"Last one-"

"NO."

She stuck out her bottom lip. "Oh fine. I knew it wouldn't last. Are you ready to go?"

I sigh in relief. "Yes!"

I was shocked when we walked outside and it was dark. I had spent my WHOLE DAY in that STUPID MALL. I was never going back. I vowed to myself as I swung Kitty's bags into the trunk. Never. Never. Never. Maybe I would blow it up. YES. Now THAT sounded fun.

I might have driven too fast in my haste to get home. I barely thought about what would be waiting for me. I caught Kitty cringing out of the corner of my eye when I swung around a particularly sharp corner but ignored it (with an almost maniacal grin) and drove even faster.

There was rarely anyone home on Friday nights so when we got to the house, it was unsurprisingly empty save for the Professor and Mr. McCoy. After letting them know I was home, I kept an eye out for 'He who must not be named' but caught no sign of him. Ok so far…now I just have to get to my bedroom without running into him on the way.

I'm so glad that Kitty and I had recently moved to separate rooms so now I wouldn't have to listen to her talking on the phone about all of her purchases. (And this was something she would somehow stretch into a three hour conversation.)

After falling face down on the bed, I let out a loud strangled moan in an attempt to let out some of my tension. It works a little and as I snuggle my face into the pillow I think I might just fall asleep like this.

"It's rude not to greet your guest."

My eyes shoot open at once and screeching, I fly up backward off of the bed, stumble over my own two feet, and land straight on my behind. Wow. Smooth.

I immediately start scrambling to get up, painfully aware of how stupid I must look (and also extremely aware of the pain in my backside) while that—that BUTTHEAD looks on, seemingly amused by this.

By the time I get on my feet, I'm seething. Clenching my fists at my side, I'm ready to start swinging. But he's still a good distance away; I'm pretty sure he hasn't moved an inch since I flew off of the bed. He's just standing there with that stupid smirk on his face.

"YOU—YOU!" for some reason I can't think of anything to call him that would sum up what I'm feeling right now. Really though, I'm not sure if any insult would sum that up. "YOU…BABOON!"

Ok, now he's definitely tryin' to keep a straight face. That son of a—

"That's an interestin choice of words…" He smirks at me again. "How come you never called me back?"

I blink at his change of subject. But no, I am not going to be sucked into this!

I grip my fists tighter at my sides. "WHAT are you doing here?" I seethe.

"I live here."

"You don't live in my room!"

He swings himself onto my bed, stretching out like he thinks he belongs there. He props one arm behind his head and with the other starts picking at one of my pillows. "That's somethin' we can change though, yeah?"

I smack myself in the forehead. "Get out." I say while rubbing my eyes. This is starting to give me a headache.

"Of my clothes?" He asks innocently.

I try to think of something to say to this, but nothing comes to mind. Instead I look like an idiot while I open my mouth and then I realize that I don't have anything to say, and I close it again.

He watches me from the bed. "Thinking about what it would be like?"

I glare at him. Something inside of me seems to snap or break or…something. Pop? No, that's not it either. "No," I say slowly, "I was just wondering why you're so stupid!"

He has no reaction to this so I continue.

"WHY the hell won't you leave me alone? What exactly do you want? And seriously, do you not realize that if we touch, I could kill you?"

He doesn't have a reaction to any of that. He's still awake isn't he? Suddenly, he hops off of the bed and walks towards me. "First off, I do realize that you could kill me, and I think if we really put our minds to it, we could think of a way around it." He wiggles his eyebrows. "Second, I won't leave you alone because you never gave me the chance to get what I want and third," He stops in front of me, "You know what I want," he breathes.

I gulp. This is so not good. Oh hell, I know what he wants. At least I'm pretty sure I know—the memory of him saying he wanted to kiss me a few nights ago comes to mind. But that's not what I want. I don't even like Gambit that way. And up until now I never figured he thought of me that way. Now meaning the past few days of course.

I firmly take three steps away as he watches, amused.

"No! I'm not putting my mind to—that—with you," I say nervously, "and I'm not giving you any chances to get anything, so just stop all of this! Stop calling me and talking to me, and flirting with me, because it's not going to get you anywhere, ok?"

Maybe, maybe that would get him to leave me alone. Ha. Sure.

He grins while looking me up down and nodding appreciatively. "Ooh, bossy…" he wiggles his eyebrows once, "I like it."

I smack myself in the forehead. Again. Before I have the chance to respond, however, he's heading for the door. "I hope you don't mind, but this mansion is large and I think I might get lost a lot," he tells me as he's walking backwards, "So I think I might ask the Professor if you would show me around." He smirks at me as he steps out into the hall. "That is, if you don't mind."

"Um—I do MIND!"

But the door swung shut before I could finish my sentence. I could go after him and yell at him some more, but instead, I go for the more desirable option and once again fall face forward onto my bed.