Chapter 4
The Valentine's Day had been calmer than Rogue imagined. No one appeared whining or complaining in the morning. Even Jaime didn't…
The school was certainly more cheerful, but she could avoid all this. In some way, the flower she found in the corner of her window helped her to calm down and even sleep well ... If it wasn't for the dream she had of two vivid red eyes staring at her and then her hands touching a tanned skin. She woke up in a jump, but fell asleep and dreamed no more.
Her body shuddered when she was almost sure about whom she had dreamed of, which was completely ridiculous…
"Hey," she heard a voice behind her, while tiding up some things from her locket. She turned after she closed it. Rogue was not surprised on seeing Kitty, but on seeing a huge basket full of letters, mostly heart-shaped.
Rogue raised an eyebrow, uncertain, and then returned her gaze to Kitty's face, her blue eyes shining with joy.
"Uh," she seemed doubtful. "What is this?" she asked.
Kitty widened her smile. She raised her other hand holding a wad of pink, empty papers and envelopes, ready to receive a romantic text.
"I, Amara and Tabitha volunteered ourselves to deliver some love letters through the school, like cupids... It's, like, incredible how everyone seems to be in a good mood on Valentine's Day. No one complained because some of the cupids are, like, mutants..."
"Oh," Rogue said looking around, not very interested in the situation.
"So?" She asked curiously. "Don't you, like, feel like writing one?"
Rogue raised an eyebrow.
"Uhh, no thanks," she said leaving Kitty behind and walking down the school's corridor.
"Oh, Rogue! Come on! I-"before Kitty could keep talking, Rogue closed the bathroom door strong enough to show her that it wasn't for Kitty to go in there.
Afterward, Rogue had her classes without anyone disturbing or bothering her. She also made enough effort to avoid Kitty.
Before the last class, she moved out of the school building to read a little bit. Before driving to a bank that stood behind the school's building, near the football stadium, she noticed something different in the school girls. They were whispering to each other and laughing. A main group caught her attention now that it was the one closer to her. At first, Rogue thought they were talking about her, like always, calling her a freak mostly because of her appearance than because of her power.
This time she suspected that it was not about her the girls were talking about, because they were talking in a… flirty way and their giggles were like the ones they gave when boys stared at them.
For a few seconds the Gothic girl was wondering what they were talking about until they noticed her, and they all grimaced at her. One of them, a girl with several holders on her blonde hair, asked: "What's up, freak? Have you lost something?" her other friends laughed. They would keep swearing at her, even though Rogue did not care.
She was about to leave when one of the girls excitedly nudged the blonde girl and said, "He's looking at us!" All of them suddenly forgot Rogue's existence and continued to giggle.
Rogue rolled her eyes and kept walking when the corner of her eye noticed a shadow near one of the trees of the school's entrance. Her eyes widened when she realized that the shadow was familiar and turned her face to the reason of all the giggling girls in front of the school.
Gambit.
Rogue's face was angry and she walked up to him, stomping the floor with her feet. Gambit's dark brown eyes accompanied her as she approached, his half smile growing even wider.
"Mon chère," he said, his back leaning against the tree trunk. His hands were in the pockets of his uniform pants and a foot planted in the tree trunk.
"What are y' doing here?" She said crossing her arms and titling her hips to one side, containing her face not to show even more anger.
He shrugged, looking toward the school building. One of the school girls who were passing by saw noticed the presence of the Cajun and smiled at him. He winked at her and she giggled walking away. "Just enjoying the view from yo' school, chère," he replied, turning his attention to her.
Rogue twisted her mouth. He was there to flirt with the girls from her school...
"Do you know dat women are way more... sensitive on Valentine's Day?" he smirked.
"You're exaggerating," she replied coolly, containing up to not swear at him and kick him away.
Gambit took something that was stuck in his belt in its back and Rogue contented herself not to widen her eyes. He had a big wad of girl's letters in hand, one fell to the ground, but he didn't seem to really care. He looked at her with an expression that said Oh, are you sure? "An' Gambit doesn't even study here," he commented. He moved the letters from one hand to the other, pretending to read them, the grin still on his face. "And you did something for me, chère?" He asked, holding up his eyes on her face.
Rogue grimaced, "Only in your dreams, swamp rat!" she replied indignantly.
He shrugged, ignoring his new nickname. "Well I have something for you," he showed a small pink box wrapped in a red tie that only now Rogue realized Gambit was holding.
She was silent, staring from the little box to Gambit's eyes that were strangely normal, without those black backgrounds and red irises. Still, she could see that red glow through them.
She did not move, but then asked, "Is this a joke?"
He raised an eyebrow, not understanding the question. He saw that she was angry, but he did not understand why.
Rogue was angry at how he was such an idiot. It looked like he was doing it to annoy her.
"Why is it a joke?" He asked still trying to understand, but his face was recovered. He smiled again at her, his eyes narrowed in a seductive way. And he shook the hand that held the little box as a signal for Rogue to take it.
She kept staring at him with her arms crossed, "Ah do not want that!" She replied, stubbornly.
Instead of hearing this as an insult to leave, Gambit moved toward her, their noses a few inches of distance.
Rogue tried to pull away, but Gambit used his other hand that had left the cards to hold her tightly around the waist. He pressed her belly against his. Rogue thought to punch him, but he approached until his mouth was millimeters from her ear. If she moves, even if only one finger, the skin of their faces for sure will touch.
"D' you want another kind of gift, mon chère?" he asked whispering, his breath tickling her ear. She felt a smell of cigarettes mixed with a scent that seemed to be his alone, a perfume maybe.
She stood still, feeling her cheeks burn. He dropped his face again and looked at the girl's lips. He tried to approach a little longer, but Rogue finally reacted and bent her back backwards, turning her face away from Gambit's.
"Mah gift to you is a coma!" she said letting go of his embrace, she could not accept how he did not seem to notice that the risk he had on touching her. But she was sure it was something involuntary for him. Surely Gambit did it with all the girls. But he would not win anything in trying to get her attention. Rogue then came to the conclusion that it was just to annoy her. He should be there to flirt with some girls from her school and harnesses to take her patience away.
He smiled. Rogue walked away from him, giving up on getting him away from the school. If he was not there to deal with Magneto's issues, she would not meddle in.
Gambit grabbed her by the hem of her jeans, and before she could say anything, he put the small box in her back pocket. Rogue jumped up and walked away.
"Take it, dat's yours anyway," he whispered in her ear.
She thought about taking the box and returning him throwing it at his back, but Gambit has moved away.
Her face turned red and her fists clenched, she turned away, even more nervous when the signal rang and she lost her reading.
Some girls faced Rogue with anger after seeing how Gambit reacted when Rogue came near him. During class, she could not fail on holding the box, but she did not want to open it for some reason.
"Rogue" the Gothic girl heard Kitty's voice behind her as she walked down the aisle to leave, and sighed. She turned to the girl. "Are you, like, really sure you don't want to..." Kitty began, but her eyes saw the little box in Rogue's hand. "What is this?"
"Uhh," Rogue tried to find a reasonable answer, but Kitty was faster.
"You won this one?" She clapped her hands, excited. "From who?"
"Uhh," she tried to answer again, but Kitty had picked up the package and noted.
"Won't you open it?" She asked curiously.
Rogue shrugged. She was not very curious to know what it was. Gambit did not seem the spending much money type, even when it was about girls. Maybe he caught something somewhere, tucked it into a little and decided to give it for her, as if it looked funny seeing Rogue angry. "You can open it if y' want," Rogue said continuing to walk.
For a few moments, she heard only the noise from Kitty opening the box.
"Wow!" Kitty said when he saw what was inside.
Rogue turned to her friend and saw her blue eyes sparkling with surprise.
"What is it?" this time she was curious.
Kitty took a small pendant with her thumb and forefinger, and looked it for a moment. Rogue was the one who was more surprised. Maybe because this wasn't what she expected...
It was small, but beautiful. A silver daisy, simple. Its core was a small transparent and shiny stone.
Kitty jumped of joy when Rogue took the pendant from her hand to see if it was real...
"How sweet, a silver pendant!" Kitty said, still staring at the piece on Rogue's palm.
A daisy. It could only be a joke ... She averted her gaze from the pendant and closed her hand. Her eyes met Kitty's.
"Who gave you that?" she asked.
"Uhh," she looked around as if trying to find an answer in the lockers around them. "Ah... hm ... Ah don't know."
"You don't know?" Kitty's eyes widened, as if she herself had found a possible answer. "I can't believe it... You have a secret admirer?" she asked.
"What? Oh… Yeah! I guess," she shrugged. Kitty jumped a few times, as if the gift was for her.
"That's so romantic!" she dipped herself in her own fantasies. "It could be, like, someone you never thought it could be!"
Tell me about it, Rogue thought, looking at the pendant again, glaring at the stone in the middle. It's fake, for sure... she thought. It couldn't be the authentic. And what if the silver pendant may not even be silver as Kitty thought to be?
Gambit was not like that. She herself knew. She had taken up his mind two or three times, and still some things from him invaded her head. When she would think about buying a shirt and grimaced at the sight of the price tag. Or when a woman passed by, this was one of the worst parts. Rogue almost said something in French to a woman a little older than her passing and felt her whole face reddening. After that, she mentally cursed Gambit in French.
"Will you wear it?"
"Wear it?" Rogue raised an eyebrow, leaving her thoughts.
"Of course," Kitty rolled her eyes. "For your admirer to see that you liked it!"
Rogue sighed, as if her friend was a child. "Kitty, do ya really think this here is a real gift? Maybe it was just a prank."
"Of course it is not!" She seemed angry. "You for sure liked it... Pranks are made to leave the victim sad! And that to me is not joke!"
Rogue raised an eyebrow again, deciding to agree with Kitty to stay in peace. She did not know it was Gambit who gave Rogue the pendant...
Rogue looked at the little daisy metal on her hand. She even doubted if it really was a real gift. She could not trust Gambit. And a part of her knew his type very well. That he would do and "give" everything to make all the girls at his feet. No exceptions. And that could very well include a fake jewelry...
Maybe he stole it.
She left the pendant over her desk and then looked at the daisy in her window.
It was already fading. But still, she wanted to stay with the flower, perhaps as a brand page or something... along with the queen of hearts.
Rogue shook her head.
Fuck you, Gambit! she thought and left the room slamming the door shut.
For a few minutes she walked through the "garden" of the mansion and decided to sit on the cliff edge of the mansion, just before the sea. She looked at the sky as the sun began to set and gave a rosy color to the clouds. The moon appeared as a white half circle slightly smaller than the sun itself. She felt the cool breeze from the sea and she was gradually deciding to go back to the mansion.
Rogue knew that in a few months she would be forced to feel more heat than the others, by simply starting the summer.
She took off her gloves and ran the tip of her stripped fingers through her face. They seemed innocent and fragile. Nothing disgusting.
She took one of the little stones beside her and threw one by one toward the sea.
"Rogue?" A deep voice called behind her.
Rogue almost jumped, but she recovered herself and looked back.
Scott.
Her cheeks blushed instantly.
"Are you okay?" He sat next to the Gothic girl, looking at the sky.
"Oh yes," she replied almost whispering. At the same time, she cleared her throat and also turned her face forward, pretending to admire the sky.
They were quiet for a few seconds. Rogue felt an uncomfortable silence, but Scott seemed completely fine with that.
"You seem distracted..." he finally said."I mean, more than usual."
She blushed again. "I'm not the biggest fan of Valentine's Day," she said before filtering her words and soon regretted having spoken it.
Scott surprisingly smiled. "I understand. It's all very messy and hectic..."
Rogue also smiled when he saw that he was trying to be friendly. But her smile collapsed when she thought he would not see her more than a friend, sister in the maximum.
"Yeah," she said, better than saying nothing.
She threw another pebble into the sea, and Scott copied her.
"Where's Jean?" she asked, again without filtering her words.
"Changing clothes, we're going out."
"Oh," was what she could answer. Her head sank behind her knees.
Of course, she thought. It's Valentine's Day.
Rogue tried to smile.
They really liked each other, Scott and Jean. And Rogue knew they both deserved one another. One felt affection for the other, and they protected each other. But she blamed herself for liking him, without even being able to fight for him. Her powers. That was why she accepted the two together, for the simple fact that she had no chance with Scott.
Great, Rogue thought to herself.
Scott was quiet and Rogue didn't know what to say but didn't try to strive more. She knew he liked the silence, and at that moment he was really not trying to talk. So in the end, it was quiet and a little calmer between each other.
She thought back to the things that happened today. Kitty taking letters with Amara and Tabitha. Gambit and his eyes strangely normal. The way he put his hand on her waist without any fear of touching her skin at all. The pendant ...
The fake pendant... she thought, her hands clasped on her knees.
"You okay?" Scott said, noting the change on Rogue's mood.
Her eyes watched him, and she thought about telling him the truth.
"It's nothing ..." he replied.
He raised an eyebrow, "It doesn't look like nothing."
She sighed. Maybe if she told him. "It's just that... some things happened in school, nothing more."
He smiled, "You mean about the gift?" he asked. Rogue looked at him frightened. "Kitty told Jean." He justified...
Rogue laughed. Of course she did. She was silent a few seconds more, but decided to continue because she knew Scott would make her say it. "It was just a little prank, but Kitty is stubborn to say it wasn't."
"Maybe because she is right... Why do you think someone would make a joke by giving you a gift?"
She shrugged, "Perhaps because of this whole story to be mutated. And Ah'm not the type that guys like to give presents," she invented. The story of the secret admirer was going too far.
He smiled, but he was serious. "Not everyone hate mutants, you know." she stopped to think a little, but without really thinking about what he had said. The two were silent for a few moments.
"Scott?" Jean called him from behind; stopping the silence. She was facing the pool, a few meters away.
Scott looked back and waved to Jean, saying he was going.
He stood and looked at Rogue. Part of her did not want him to leave. Before she could even tell, he placed a hand on his shoulder and Rogue automatically raised her face to glare him.
"And just for the record," he said looking at her with a smile. "You deserve getting gifts, Rogue. You're worth a lot," and he left.
Rogue's eyes widened and blushed as he walked away, still shocked by what Scott said.
She liked it, of course. But she knew he had said this as a friend. As a brother, he sounded like one. Nothing more…
But at the same time she also knew that when he says something like that, he means every word. And Rogue felt good about it.
She rested her chin on her knees and closed her eyes, trying to imagine Scott at her side again. For a few seconds, it was he who was there.
But then, his figure was replaced by Gambit's. And before she could think about what she was wondering, she began to wonder how it would feel to touch his skin.
She remembered his smell of perfume and cigarettes that should come primarily from hours sitting at the tables of bars, probably playing cards. A memory of him crossed her mind: one of the several times he played.
All at his side had cigars or cigarettes in their mouths, including Gambit himself, very concentrated on the cards in their hands. In the background, the lighting of a bar at night and several waitresses in lack of larger pieces of clothing walked back and forth, serving drinks and snacks at other tables. A blues mixed with rock music style was playing around the bar. Some men were playing pool at green tables...
Gambit waited for the others to put the cards down and as always, he won. He smiled and looked at the man before him, which didn't seem liking to lose.
He was tall, well dressed and strong. Wealthy. His blue eyes stared Gambit for a moment and then he threw a bunch of keys in the direction of the young red-eyed boy, along with money from the other participants.
Gambit took the keys with a grin and a raised an eyebrow to the rich man.
"Make good use of it," the man complained, getting up and leaving with two men at his side. Gradually the table was emptying itself, leaving only Gambit.
He stood up putting the money in the pocket of jeans. He finished smoking his cigarette with pleasure and went to the bar.
He leaned one arm over the high wooden desk and asked for another glass of vodka.
He drunk his glass slowly, enjoying every sip he took. When he finished his glass, he looked to his left, noticing someone glaring at him.
A woman, twenty years at most, blond hair and fulfilled, brown eyes that sparkled while she looked at him.
"You look very happy..." she said with her cushioning voice. Her high heeled foot bouncing up and down.
Gambit smiled. His mouth went up only in one corner. "Oui, chère," he replied. He lifted the bunch of keys that previously belonged to the rich blonde. "Remy has just won an airplane. Porquoi not be happy? "It wasn't exactly a plane... it was more for glider. But it was one thing, and it should be worth a note. Not that he was thinking about selling it.
"Carol," she said.
"Remy LeBeau," he replied with a smile.
"I know who y' are... Everyone in New Orleans heard of the LeBeaus and the famous red-eyed Gambit. "
He smiled at her.
She laughed like a seducer. "You must be very good at cards to win a plane," she commented.
He leaned toward her and said, "Remy is good at many things."
She smiled, enjoying the way he approached. They stood in silence for a few more minutes and she finally said, "Maybe one day y' take me to a trip in yo' plane."
"What about Gambit takes you now, chère?" he asked.
She laughed. Taking the hand he stretched out for her.
Rogue began shaking her head angrily. Damn! Damn!
She tried desperately to forget the memories that were not hers. But Gambit's thoughts still seemed to try to fight to gain control. She hated it. She hated the fact that precisely the memories of Gambit stay in her head, more than anyone else she has ever absorbed.
She felt something different in her stomach, and cursed herself for it.
She just had a memory about him flirting with another girl and yet the unconscious part of her body did not seem to understand it. Something about Gambit, in which Rogue didn't know what was, would make her feel nervous and frustrated. And the fact that he would flirt with her to satisfy his whims would not make her any happier.
This bastard Cajun, she thought to herself, and again she started swearing at him.
As always, remembering him would make her feel uncomfortable and would end with a moment of tranquility. She stood up throwing one last stone in the sea, before turning her body back to the mansion and kicking of anger anything that would be in her way.
She was just another girl Gambit wanted to add to his list. Nothing more… He even dared to touch her to conquer her. Of course he did...
She went upstairs and stamping her feet firmly and violently closing her room door. Gradually, Rogue convinced herself more and more that she did meant nothing to Gambit, and that she should not care about it. He felt nothing for her, unless attraction to any kind of women.
Rogue then remembered the pendant thrown over the desk. The small stone of the core Daisy shone as if there was a little star in it.
For a moment she thought of all the times in which Gambit gave something to the women he was interested. But that left her more confused now than at any reminder she had about Gambit charming a woman... in any of them he gave them more than a single flower.
So why would he give Rogue a pendant?
Because I'm a challenge for him... she thought. And besides, the pendant is false.
She thought of throwing it away, but she couldn't make it. So she just left it there.
She growled in anger and also went to take a bath hitting the bathroom door.
Again, screw you, Gambit.