Hey, like I promised, the next chapter. Sorta long. Thanks for all the reviews, though!! You guys are awesome!!
Thank you, Inspired.Butterfly. I really appreciate it, you're awesome :)
I will, Ratdogtwo, I promise. And thank you!
Thanks, Saiyu! And I just felt like trying a cliffhanger out :P
Really, Takerslady? I'm sorry, I'll work on that. And thanks!! Here's the next chapter.
Quick question! Does anyone know the time space between the first Xmen and X2?
Chapter 7 - Speechless
"Why so thirsty?"
Layla jumped in surprise and snorted into the water, it catching in her throat and then coming back up into her hand as she ran to the sink, coughing and slamming the half empty bottle of water down. "D-damn it...Jo-...john!" She coughed.
He flicked on the light, and she caught his familiar smirk. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, and taking another sip of the water to smooth her throat, she screwed the cap back on and glared at him. "You can't do that! You just about gave me a heart attack, you little cruel jerk!"
"Someone is in a bad mood." He observed.
"No, really?" Layla snapped. "And what are you doing up?"
"I could ask you the same thing." He said, defensively.
"I had a bad dream." She said.
"Really?" He asked. "What about?"
"I-I don't remember." She said, leaning against the counter.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He said, crossing his arms. Layla finally saw what he was wearing. A dark blue t-shirt and black sweats. And his normally combed back hair was falling in front of his face. And then she thought of what she was wearing, a black shirt and blue cheerleading shorts, her own hair pulled back in a pony tail that she was positive was coming out in all sort of places. Clearing her throat, she crossed her own arms in front of her.
"And you?" She asked.
"I had a sudden craving for some pizza." He said, walking over and sitting down at the counter island, facing her.
"Do you often have cravings for pizza at five minutes to midnight?" Layla asked, opening the cupboards and pulling out two plates, and grabbing two slices of the left over pizza from the fridge, one on each plate, and jamming both plates into the microwave.
"Do you often chug down a whole bottle of water at five minutes to midnight?" He countered.
"It was half a bottle of water and I do." She said, glancing at him over her shoulder.
"I honestly don't know how to respond to that." He said with a slight chuckle.
"Wow, John speechless. Someone whip out a camera." Layla said, sarcastically, quickly opening the microwave as it hit one second left. She always raced to avoid the annoying beeping. Pulling out the plates, she used her elbow to close the microwave and walked over to sit on the stool across from John's handing him his plate. How was she not surprised when he didn't say thank you or even give her a thankful smile?
"Yeah, shut up." He said, taking a bite of the pizza. "So did you hear about Rogue?"
"Whatta bout har?" Layla asked, her mouth full of pizza.
"Magneto kidnapped her." He said, casually.
"What?!" Layla asked, swallowing.
"Yup. Right out of that weird guys arms." He said. "I guess she ran away or some shit. That one guy, Logan or Wolverine or whatever, went to go get her along with Cyclops and Storm. But he still got her." John explained. "I'm surprised you haven't heard this."
"Is it cause of the whole Logan stabbed her, and then she stole his power to heal herself, nearly killing him thing?" Layla asked.
"Probably." He answered, shrugging, and taking a bite out of his pizza. "Yeah, everyone took off to get her. Logan, Cyclops, Dr. Grey, Storm." He said.
"When?" Layla asked.
"I don't know, like an hour ago or something." He said.
"But why would Magneto want her?" Layla asked.
"How am I supposed to know?" He snapped.
Layla frowned but took another bite of her pizza, nearly halfway done with it. They were silent till they were done eating. "You know what?" He looked up at her. "I hate pizza."
"You just ate a whole slice. And you had some this afternoon." He said.
"I know. I'm a liar and a fraud." Layla said, smirking.
"Nice." He said, sarcastically.
"I know." She said.
"You two are up too?" Layla turned to see Bobby walk into the kitchen.
"Yeah. What's your excuse?" Layla asked.
"Worried about Rogue?" John asked, sharpness in his voice and a smirk on his face.
"Yup." Bobby said, as he sat down by Layla.
"It'll be okay, Bobby." Layla said, picking up her plate and leaning over, grabbing John's, walking over and placing them in the sink, before returning. "I'm sure she'll be fine."
"Yeah." Bobby said.
"Let's talk about something and get your mind off of her." Layla volunteered.
"Like what?" Bobby asked.
"Anything. I found out why I never was allowed to watch rater R movies today." Layla said, nodding. "Yeah, big no-no." Bobby chuckled and nodded.
"You weren't allowed to watch rated R movies?" John asked.
"No not really. I mean I was able to when I turned 16, but they weren't there for that. So that was probably my first one. And not gonna happen again anytime soon either." Layla said.
"Would you just cut that out?" Bobby asked John.
"What?" Layla asked, looking at John.
"He keeps opening and closing his lighter." Bobby said, rubbing his temples. "It's so annoying." But John continued to do it. "Come on, man, cut it out!"
"Bobby leave him alone. Just tone it out. I barely noticed he was doing it." Layla said.
"I don't need you to stick up for me." John snapped at her.
"Hey, man, she was just trying to be nice." Bobby said to John.
"Well she should mind her own business." John snapped.
"You are such a-"
"Hey!" Layla said, grabbing Bobby's arm. "It's okay. Okay? I don't care."
"Why do you do that?" Bobby asked.
"Do what?" Layla asked.
"Let him talk to you that way?" Bobby asked her.
"Cause he's a little punk and it doesn't bother me." Layla said.
"Thanks." John said sarcastically.
"And I get a few words in too." Layla said. Bobby grunted and shook his head. "What?" Layla said, smiling. "I do!"
"I find that hard to believe." Bobby said.
"What I can be a bitch when I want to be." Layla argued. And then John and Bobby started to laugh. "You guys are such jerks." Layla said. And then she smiled. "Well atleast you guys stopped fighting."
"Yeah, to laugh at you." Bobby pointed out.
"It's a start." Layla said, shrugging. "I still don't understand how you guys can be friends when you're constantly fighting."
"You and him do it." Bobby said.
"Who said we were friends?" John asked.
"Yeah I mean, who is to say I don't totally hate him?" Layla asked, smirking. "I mean, I can eat a pizza but really hate it."
"Who would hate pizza?" Bobby asked.
"A freak." John said, smirking and watching Layla.
Layla watched him as well, not letting her eyes leave his. "Yeah...a freak." She agreed.
A few minutes later she yawned, suddenly feeling tired. Standing up she started her arms out in front of her. "Hey, guys, I'm going to go ahead and go back to bed."
"Okay." Bobby said, turning to look at her. "Good night."
Layla nodded and started to walk out. "See ya." John called before she left the room. Glancing back at him, he was watching her. Nodding, she kept walking before he was out of sight.
That morning the buzz was all around school about Rogue. Layla had already heard the story from three different people. How Magneto kidnapped Rogue and used her to transfer his power to hers, so she could power this giant machine on top of the statue of liberty that would turn everyone in New York into Mutants. And how the machine was defective but he didn't know that. And how Logan was able to save everyone before it was too late, nearly dieing in the process. Even how it changed Rogues bangs into white.
It was interesting the first time, but just started to get boring every time someone tried to tell her. The first time she heard it was from Iris, of course. She had woken Layla up at nine in the morning and started to tell her, saying she tried to wait for Layla to wake up but it was too hard. And then she heard it from Leo, who afterward asked her to swim in the pool with him, but she declined. And the third was from Kitty.
She wanted to talk to someone who wouldn't try to shove rumors or gossip down her throat. Sighing, she scanned outside, spotting the perfect person sitting at the picnic table. Smiling, she walked over and sat down across from John. "Hey." She greeted him.
"Hey." He greeted, opening and closing his lighter.
Layla sighed and leaned her head on her hand, her fingers outlining the swirls in the wood that could be seen through the red paint. "I'm bored." She stated.
"That sounds like a personal problem." He stated.
Layla had learned to live with his comments. His witty and rude replies. She also learned not to take offense. "I wanna go do something."
"Then go." He told her.
"There's nothing to do." She said, sighing.
"You could hotwire one of the cars and drive down to New York." He suggested.
"Psh." Layla said, smiling and raising her head to look at him. "Like I could do that."
"I did once." He said.
"Really?" Layla asked. "Did you get caught?"
"Of course." He answered. "Nothing gets past these freaks." He said, gesturing towards the school. "But didn't matter. It was still worth it."
"What did you do when you left?" She asked.
"Just drove around." He said, shrugging.
"By yourself?" Layla asked.
"Of course. None of these losers was about to do something like that. Besides, I wanted to go by myself." He said.
"When was this?" She asked.
"I don't know, like a few months before you got here." He said.
Layla looked up to see Iris walking over to them. "Well, well, well. How am I not surprised?" She asked, coming over and sitting next to Layla.
"What?" Layla asked.
"That I would find you two together." She said, raising her eyebrows.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Layla asked, uninterested as she went back to outline the swirls in the picnic table.
"Well, it's just that you two spend most of your time together." She said, shrugging.
"Whatever." Layla said, shrugging.
"Yeah, whatever." Iris said, shrugging. "So, Pyro, did you hear-"
"Yes, he heard. No he doesn't want to hear it again." Layla groaned.
"Oh, so you speak for him now?" Iris asked. But she didn't sound annoyed. More like curious about something.
Layla looked up at John and expected him to be giving her a look, but instead he was just watching her. "No." Layla said looking at Iris. "I don't. John can do whatever he wants."
"Hmm." Iris said, shrugging. "Well, anyways. I guess Dr. Grey deemed Rogue okay, so she was talking to Bobby. I can see a romance there."
Layla chuckled. "You can see a romance anywhere. Hell, you could probably see a romance between John and I if you wanted to."
"Don't go putting ideas in my head." She said, but her expression revealed she probably had been thinking about that.
Just then John stood up. "I'll see you later, Layla." He said as he walked away.
"Oh, look, you scared him away." Layla said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh he'll come back for you." Iris said, sighing.
"Yeah, whatever that means." Layla said, chuckling. It was quiet for a moment. "Let's go sit by the pool."
"Okay!" Iris said, standing up and waiting for Layla. Standing up, Layla let Iris loop arms with her as they made their way around the school. They lounged in the chairs and watched as Pete and Leo try to show off for them.
"What can Leo do, anyway?" Layla asked after a minute.
"Water Manipulation." Iris answered. "Which pretty much explains why he loves to hang around the pool everyday."
"I guess." Layla answered. Just then Leo glanced over at her and smiled, waving. Layla forced a smile back.
It was only a couple hours later, around five. Despite being here for almost two weeks, she had gotten lost in the hallways. But this time there was no one to stop and ask directions from.
Sighing, she looked around. The school couldn't be that big, if she kept walking she had to run into someone soon. Frustrated, she let out a annoyed groan.
"Lost?" Someone chuckled.
Layla whipped around to see John walking towards her. "Psh, no!" Layla said.
"Oh. So, you know exactly where you are?" John asked and Layla smiled. "Thought so. Come on."
Layla smiled and followed him. "I've figured it out, though." She told him, her tone growing more serious.
"Figured out what?" He asked.
"Why you act the way you do." She answered and he threw her a glance. "You know, all defensive and guarded."
"Oh yeah?" He asked, his voice soaking in venom.
"Yeah. You must have had something tragic happen to you." She said.
"I thought you were the one with the tragic past." He said.
"I know. I do. I mean, you're loving family suddenly turns cold on you and kicks you to the streets, cutting you out of their lives, that's bound to screw you up some how." She said. "But, when that happened, I told myself I wouldn't let it change me. I mean sure, I was pretty heart broken and depressed. But I wasn't going to let it ruin my life. I wasn't going to make myself suffer, just cause of someone else's actions. That's not me." She looked over at John, who was staring at the ground, his hands in fists, and her face softened. She placed her hand on his arm, but he flinched back, pushing her hand away. She frowned and walked in silence for a moment. "I mean, I know we might not be friends in the traditional sense. I don't think the teenage edited definition of friends would describe us, but we're something right? I don't know what. I mean, sometimes I just hate you SO much. And then other times, you're the only one I wanna talk to. Sure, half the time we talk we're arguing. Or you're being your rude self, but that's what I like about you. I mean, it would be easier to be friends with someone like Bobby, but that's not what I want. And I know it might not be ideal, the thing we have, but I would take it over nothing. I mean, you're not like any one I've ever met. Seriously. You're different." John was silent for the longest time, but his hands loosened. Layla sighed. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" He asked.
"I know you aren't the kind of person that wants people to "share feelings" or whatever it was I just did." She said, shrugging.
"Whatever." He said. "I don't care."
"Okay." Layla answered. And then she stopped to think. Didn't care she told him, or didn't care about what she told him? Shaking her head, she decided she didn't want to know.
