Dreaming of a Day – by Darlin
Chapter Nine – The Look of Love
The sky was almost dark and the night was growing chilly but neither Ororo nor Victor noticed. Ororo was listening to Victor's confession feeling a mixture of confusion and some apprehension.
"I did time in Leavenworth back when I was in the Marines for aggravated assault they call it. Spent eight years in the Big Top. They gave me a dishonorable discharge after that but I did my time an' the dude I beat up's alright," Victor said, still not able to look at her.
He heard her sigh but couldn't determine if it was a sigh of relief or of exasperation. The moonlight shone down on her face and had he not been afraid to face her he would have seen her hesitation. His hand shoveled at the sand nervously as he waited. He had never told anyone this, had never expected to. Only Logan knew and Logan didn't care any more than Victor did but for some reason Victor needed Ororo to know and to understand and accept it.
Ororo felt a combination of emotions and she glanced at Victor not sure what to say. He looked so worried, almost lost, that she felt sorry for him. She'd never seen him look unconfident or troubled by anything but now he looked like a little lost boy, scared and alone. Her immediate reaction was to reassure him that she understood but she didn't understand and how could she when she'd never known anyone who had been in prison? When she sighed it was at the memory of how Victor had laughed about trying to kill Logan who was now his best friend. Sometimes, she thought, Victor was too complicated. She didn't like or want complicated and yet he was so simple too like now. All he wanted was to know if she could accept him after having confessed his past.
Could she? Yes. And why not? He hadn't killed anyone or at least he hadn't outside of the military and it wasn't murder that he had spent time for. Surely if he had he couldn't believe she was so stupid that she wouldn't find out, not with the information that was at the tip of anyone's fingertips on the Internet. No, she believed him. She was sure Logan would back Victor up as well; she only had to ask him. Her nose wrinkled slightly as she thought about going to Logan to verify Victor's story and she decided against that.
"Victor . . ."
When he didn't answer or even look at her she rested a hand over his stilling the nervous movements he was making in the sand.
"You remember when I broke into your apartment the first time?" she said and then he looked at her his face open and questioning.
She laughed at the memory. "You, we I guess I should say, got a little busy as you like to call it . . ." She laughed again and squeezed his hand as she thought of all the times she'd let herself in.
No one ever called the police; no one said anything to her except a few children whom she sometimes chatted to while she fiddled with the lock. Now she was friends with most of the children there in the apartment complex. She had come to learn that most of the residents didn't think too kindly about Victor and some of them hoped she'd make off with all he had like the crazy girlfriend he'd had a few years ago. A few of them watched her covertly through their blinds and tried to figure her out but most of them simply didn't care what she did.
"Well, at least you didn't kill anyone," she said. When he gave no reply she continued: "Victor, you did your time – it's over. I can't hold that against you."
"Huh? You don't? How come?" Victor asked, mouth agape, and eyes wide with astonishment.
"Why should I if you don't hold my past against me?"
"You done time?" he asked now, confused.
She laughed again and it was a while before she could stop. "Victor, you're so funny sometimes," she said but at the sight of his crestfallen face she immediately wished she hadn't said anything.
"So what're you sayin'?" he asked angrily, yanking his hand from hers.
"I'm guess that it doesn't change the way I feel about you anymore than, I hope, it didn't change the way you felt about me when you found out I used to be a thief when I was younger."
"You mean that, Ro?"
"Of course. You know you didn't have to tell me . . ."
"Yeah, I did." He looked at her now, his face harder than she'd ever seen it. "I don't wanna keep nothin' like that from you, you deserve to know," he said though he would never tell her Logan had been the one that had made him see that.
"I appreciate that, Victor. I guess we're a pair of reformed criminals, huh?" she laughed and snuggled closer to him.
With her warm body next to his Victor began to feel better. He held her close and began to relax. They watched a few children splashing at the edge of the water running from their parents who were trying to pack up and go and when Ororo laughed at their antics he sighed peacefully. For the first time in a very long time he felt as if everything was right in his world. The night air was cool and refreshing and the thought of going back to his apartment which was a home now because of this beautiful woman who liked him for who he was, was like the cherry on top of the icing on the cake.
It wasn't as much of a big deal as it would have been to Ororo that Victor had gone to prison. It was a bit of a surprise but she knew he wasn't a genteel man. She'd had glimpses of his temper and as an observant person, as most flight attendants must be, she had guessed that his jokes about trying to kill Logan were not jokes but attempts at making the truth seem frivolous. The thing was if Logan was still friends with Victor she just didn't think it was a problem. He'd gone to jail – Leavenworth but that was the past.
She didn't care about that and she didn't want the details. It was obvious to her that he wasn't truly violent, more talk than anything and all that mattered to her at this point was how Victor was starting to make her feel cared for, something she needed more than she had ever admitted to herself. She only wished her friend Anna could see that and accept her relationship with Victor.
They had gone shopping. Ororo wanted some new sheets for Victor's place. She had already purchased several sets, all white, so he wouldn't be disturbed by any radical changes but they all had something different about them. One set had a small embroidered edging, another had satin trim and another had stripes though they were in cream, something Victor would never notice and so small that if he did he wouldn't mind. It was funny but she was beginning to feel right at home at Victor's small place. A key would have been nice but thinking about that darkened her mood something Anna noticed shortly.
"So he's a convicted murderer," Anna said with a disapproving look. "You better not tell Remy that."
"He's not a convicted murderer; it was assault – aggravated assault . . ."
"Meanin' he probably tried killin' someone like he tried killin' his buddy don't ya think, sugah?"
Ororo only laughed.
"Time was you'd be haulin' ass tryin' to get away from ol' boy," Anna grumbled.
"He did his time. He's changed. He's never been violent. He's good to me, you wouldn't believe it even if I told you and besides that he's so good in bed I never want to get out of it when I'm with him."
"He's really that good in bed, huh?"
"Muy, muy!"
"And all of a sudden he's treatin' you good now, huh? Takin' care of you like a sick baby makes him wonderful but you're forgettin' Forge did that an he wasn't anymore special than a speck of dirt on the ground."
Ororo laughed. She didn't know how to convince her friend that though the sex had a tight hold on her Victor had become more than sex to her now.
"Well now ah know something's wrong with you, you didn't even give me the look when ah mentioned Forge," Anna said with a frown. "The things you tell me he says sometimes ah don't know, Ororo. Sounds like a nut like a real Neanderthal. Didn't you say he's always calling his best friend retarded and stuff an' what about how he was talkin' about tryin' to kill his own best friend? Sound's messed up to me."
"He's got a macho complex but underneath his arrogance he's got a heart of gold. He's been treating me like I'm special, he even told me that."
"Well, ah know that's important but he doesn't even read. You used to think a guy oughta like readin', have some intelligence, an' what about his tacky taste, takin' you to Jack in the Box for your birthday? That ain't right."
"It's not like he doesn't know how to read and eats with his toes, Anna!"
"Ah can see him now," Anna laughed, scratching alternately under each arm in a silly imitating of a monkey.
"That's not funny. You don't see me making fun of Remy."
"That's because y'all're like family."
"I could make fun of him if I wanted to. His English is horrible and his French not much better."
"He's a Cajun, Ororo an' you know that," Anna said, defending her long time boyfriend.
"Doesn't mean he has to be illiterate," Ororo teased.
"He ain't illiterate," Anna fumed. "At least he an' ah have somethin' in common. Tell me what you an' Victor have in common? You always said not to trust a guy who doesn't read."
"That's because I didn't want you to date Remy, Anna. I thought he'd break your heart."
"He hasn't and he does so read."
"Not yet and he reads the funny papers, Anna."
As a few shoppers looked in their directions Ororo stepped into a store and began to browse through the selection of short skirts on the racks. Anna looked around the quirky store with distaste wondering where she could get some gloves, the kind with the fingers cut out.
"Let's go look for dresses," she suggested.
"You in a dress?" Ororo balked.
"Ororo, ah think he's gonna ask me to marry him soon. Ah got this feelin'," Anna said as a blush crept over her cheeks.
"Well, if he does try to act surprised," Ororo said nonchalantly and she continued looking through the skirts.
"Duh! Of course ah'll act surprised. Um, he hasn't said anything to you has he?"
"No, not yet," Ororo replied absently.
"You don't think he's gonna ask me is that it?"
"I think he'll ask when he's ready," Ororo said without looking up. The truth was Remy hadn't said anything to her and she knew he would if he was thinking about it. She didn't think Remy was the marrying type and she'd tried to tell Anna that in the beginning but the girl refused to listen so Ororo had given up trying to convince her.
"Maybe he wants to surprise me and that's why he hasn't said anything to you about it."
"Perhaps."
"You wouldn't marry Neanderthal Man would you? You can't be that serious about him – are you?"
"Victor's not the marrying kind and neither am I."
"You keep saying that but one day you're gonna want children and a man who's gonna commit."
"Someday, who knows? But not this day and not tomorrow. Possibly a few years from now but right now I just want to have fun and be with someone who loves – well who appreciates me."
"Whatever. Ah think his friend sounds a whole lot better than Victor the nut and that Logan character sounds pretty strange to me from what you've told me, sugah!"
"A little strange perhaps but from what I've seen of him he's a gentleman. I think he has a good heart. They're both big little boys, only . . . well, I don't think he likes me much – Logan I mean."
"What? How could he not like you? You're pretty, smart and pretty much every man's wet dream."
"Anna!"
"What? It's the truth. Both of us have that effect on men," Anna laughed. "Ah just don't sleep around like you do."
"Right," Ororo said with a roll of her eyes. There was a reason Anna didn't sleep around and it was something they very seldom discussed so Ororo let the subject go.
"Logan's not a redneck or something is he?"
"A redneck? Why would you ask something like that?"
"Like Neanderthal man."
"Victor is not a redneck!"
"Beer guzzling, truck driving – probably has a confederate flag hidden in his closet somewhere. Ah grew up with those kind of men. ah know their type, ain't much different than how you described him."
"I told you he drives an old Jeep and he has that sporty Spyder."
"Jeep's the same thing. It's just like a SUV an' didn't you tell me SUV's were bad for the environment, sugah?"
"You just don't want to like him."
"You're right. You're acting like you're a completely different person now that you're with him all the time. Ah'm surprised you even had time to go shopping with me today."
"I see you almost everyday I'm home and for your information Victor isn't prejudice, he's just one of those really, really, really macho men – the kind I love. I need a take charge kind of guy, anything less can't handle me."
"Barefoot and pregnant kind of guy, huh?"
"He's not like that at all. He's a little crude and crass and perhaps he doesn't have a college degree but sometimes he can be so sweet like dancing with me when no one's looking because he doesn't know how or like yesterday when we went to the beach. Most guys don't notice the sun setting but he did and he made me see it in an entirely different light.
"I didn't tell you what he said and I can't remember it word for word but it was beautiful, something about it when the sun's setting it's like a sign that the day's over and it's like a new beginning. How did he put it? Dreaming of a day, a better tomorrow and I know I didn't say it half as well as he did. Anna, he's just full of surprises!"
"There you go with that look again."
"What?"
"Like you're falling in love."
"I'm not falling in love with Victor; I'm more in lust with him than anything. That man is just so powerful. All his strength goes into every move – it's like being with a man created for nothing but sex, like he's this sex god – powerful and unbelievable! Sometimes after we're finished I don't think I can take any more but when he's ready again I want it as bad as he does. I'll be so sore the next day and not even care, he is that good. Sex with him is so good. I can't say it enough. It's addictive I think."
"Um, ah think you've said enough, more than ah need to know, girl!"
"Oops. Sorry but he's amazing!"
"Um, yeah, right, ah get it already! Talk about something else, okay?"
Ororo laughed but she quickly switched the subject for her friend.
"So how're you and Remy?" Ororo asked despite having no desire to discuss Remy.
"You're really happy aren't you?" Anna asked.
"Yes, yes I am. He makes me happy."
"Alright ah'll lay off of the retard then."
"Anna!"
They both laughed.
"Come on, I've got to hurry, I'm meeting Victor in an hour."
"When do ah get to meet him?"
"When your behavior improves."
"Then you might not wanna tell me all the bad things about him. It takes more than hearin' the big galoot's a sex god to make me think any better of him especially if you want me to believe he's right for you."
"It shouldn't if I'm happy and I am," she replied and the familiar dreamy look Anna hated to see washed over Ororo's face again. She looked as if she were lost in another world.
"Wake up an' come on let's look at some dresses."
Ororo went a little unwillingly checking her watch repeatedly as Anna sighed over wedding dresses. On the way out of the mall she stopped off at her favorite organic super market where she often shopped. She bought six bottles of Grolsch, a hard ale that she had no taste for; in fact she hated Grolsch, thought it had an awful after taste but knew Victor drank it occasionally. Perhaps they didn't have any thing in common but she truly enjoyed taking care of him and catering to his needs. She really was happy.
On the way back to their townhouse Ororo suddenly had an urge to see Victor. And why not when Anna wanted to meet him? They weren't far from where he lived but she knew he had gotten off work a little while ago and he was probably at a bar somewhere, most likely Harry's which was only a street or two over.
"You wanted to meet Victor," she said to Anna without looking away from the road as she wound down Pacific Highway.
"I guess."
The car, a small Honda Civic Hybrid, suddenly swerved right and she headed down a side street at a good clip. Anna yelped grabbing hold of a door handle.
"What the . . . ?"
"He's probably at Harry's right now – he just got off work – it's only a few blocks from here."
"You must be really horny or really in love."
"Maybe a little of both," Ororo laughed in reply. She drove through the congested streets deftly and swiftly accelerating at every yellow light and in less than fifteen minutes they were at their destination.
"Horny," Anna muttered to herself with a shake of her head looking at the nondescript and unappealing bar as they cruised past it while Ororo looked for Victor's car. Half a block away they found Victor's beat up old '71 Jeep Renegade 4x4 and Ororo was able to find a parking space a few cars down.
"Nice car," Anna said sarcastically.
"It's his baby," Ororo said with a girlish laugh and Anna again shook her head.
It wasn't that Anna didn't want to see Ororo happy it was simply that Ororo took things too far sometimes and she always ended up getting hurt. The first real relationship she'd had was in college with an African prince, T'Challa who was tall, dark and handsome not to mention suave, cocky as all get out and, well, quite the ladies man. Ororo had worshipped him and he had truly seemed to be in love with her despite the many women who traipsed after him but they had never been able to commit to their relationship. Their goals conflicted and Ororo wasted a good year on him in Anna's opinion because T'Challa graduated and returned to his homeland the next year. T'Challa wasn't a bad person, had never intentionally hurt Ororo and had been honest with her from the get go and to be honest Ororo had wanted to get to know herself and pursue a career rather than go back to Africa where her mother was from. Even so Anna had seen how much it had hurt Ororo. She couldn't stop thinking about him or start to let go until she'd met Forge.
Anna didn't know what his last name was and didn't care because Forge, a Native American from the Cheyenne tribe, had been there for Ororo through one of the worse times of her young life, tending to her when she'd been ill and unable to work and taking her on long trips abroad to help her heal. They'd fallen in love somehow, Anna still couldn't understand that, and eventually Forge had purposed but by then Ororo was back on her feet, finishing school and planning her career. On what seemed like a whim to Anna, Forge had taken his proposal back leaving Ororo more than distraught. The excuse he'd used was possibly true that he felt she would never put him first like he had done for her but Anna, admittedly biased, thought it was a lousy excuse used to escape a commitment he'd realized he didn't want to make.
Still, Anna realized maybe Ororo hadn't truly been in love with Forge. There was none of the far off looks or the excitement and Speed Racer stunts to get to her man like now. And maybe that's why it bothered Anna so much. How could Ororo go from a prince of a nation to an Engineer such as Forge who owned his own company to a construction worker who acted more like a bum than anything? She wanted better for her friend. There was the hope that time would dull the thrill of the sex and Ororo would come around again but this wasn't like some of the other light relationships that mostly consisted of hot sex and little else, something Anna didn't approve of.
As they entered the little bar almost every head turned towards them. Ororo paused in the darkness waiting for her eyes to adjust but Anna, coming in behind her, gave her a little push and shut the door behind them. The bar was dark, smoky and not as crowded as Ororo would have thought. She took a few minutes to look around but didn't see Victor. She felt a surge of disappointment but then she remembered he preferred the back and she strode through the small bar ignoring the few people that were there.
But Anna had to grin as she watched the men ogling Ororo. She didn't blame them after all Ororo could be a model and she wore her clothes as if they were a second skin. The little black mini skirt she wore with a tiny white camisole top showing off her long smooth legs and taut belly were stylish and sexy, something Anna would never try to wear. She herself was clad in tight jeans and a green t-shirt which showed off her figure in a more modest manner.
A crowd of women were in the back laughing and Anna gave a sigh of relief thinking Ororo would turn back but she was disappointed. When Ororo saw the group of women she had a weird feeling that they were with Victor. Fighting back her fear, for why should she be jealous, she told herself, she headed directly to them. Sure enough there in between five women were Victor and his friend Logan. Now many women would have blown a fuse and laid into their man right then but Ororo stopped, mounted her hands to her hips and shook her head almost angrily then grinned that smile of hers that made Victor go all mushy inside.
"Who's she think she is?" one of the women asked when she noticed Victor and Logan looking at Ororo.
The few men in the back were wondering the same thing as they watched Ororo. No one said anything though, merely leered wishing she was talking to them but she only noticed Victor. It was a full half a minute before Victor looked up though Logan had seen Ororo the moment she'd stepped into sight and hadn't taken his eyes off her. Finally Logan nudged Victor from across the table, his throat too dry to speak. Victor looked away from the bosomy blond he was talking to and frowned at Logan who nodded in Ororo's direction.
"Someone's being naughty," Ororo said, her voice soft and sultry, her accent making naughty sound sensuous.
"Whoa, baby!" Victor laughed.
He fairly shoved the woman sitting beside out of the booth grinnin' ravenously at Ororo. The woman cried out but one look from him and she slid out of the booth and glaring angrily at Ororo went back to the restroom.
"Scram, girls," Victor said and all but the woman sitting beside Logan left each looking Ororo up and down in disdain as they passed her.
But Ororo only laughed and plopped down next to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and he laughed too.
"Does this mean I get spanked, Mommy?" he teased.
"Hmm. Perhaps later. Hi, Logan," Ororo said, giving him a smile.
Logan swallowed hard.
"Oh, Victor, Logan this is my roommate Anna – Anna these are my boys," Ororo said with another laugh. "Sit down, Anna!"
By now the women had congregated near the restrooms and Anna nodded politely at them as she stepped up to the booth though she did not sit as instructed. She wanted to go. She didn't like the looks of the bar or the women who were eying them as if they wanted to take them around back and beat the stuffing out of them.
"Silent type, eh?" Victor said.
"How y'all doin'?" she said, slightly annoyed.
"Southern gal, eh?"
"Victor, be nice," Ororo said gently.
"What?" he asked with a mischievous look. "Alright, alright baby," he said when Ororo frowned slightly. "Okay, take a seat, kid. Scram, Stacey. Tell her she can give you that lap dance she promised you later, Lo," Victor laughed.
At the sound of his name Logan managed to pull his eyes away from Ororo to see what Victor was going on about. The darkly tanned woman with short black hair sitting beside Logan gave him a pleading look as if she wanted to stay but Logan nodded curtly and she flounced off with an obscene gestured aimed in Victor's direction.
"You wish," Victor laughed obviously in good spirits.
"Well, Ororo ah really oughta go," Anna said, hoping Ororo would take the hint.
"Stay for just one drink won't you?" Ororo begged.
With a resigned sigh Anna sat down beside Logan who was again staring at Ororo.
"So Logan, what's a handsome guy like you doin' in a dump like this?" Anna inquired.
"Huh?" Logan glanced at Rogue and wondered briefly who she was then turned his attention back to Ororo who was whispering in Victor's ear.
"Can they make a Long Island ice tea here?" Anna asked.
"Get the broad a drink, bro," Victor bellowed when Logan failed to respond.
"What do you want?" Logan asked a little gruffly.
"I'll just get it myself," Anna said and she got up and walked back into the front of the bar.
When Logan turned back to Victor and Ororo he saw they weren't going to be much company the way they were going at it. Damn, she was hot, Logan thought. Too hot. No woman should be that hot. It made him uncomfortable being so close to her so he got up to get another beer. He saw the woman that had come in with Ororo at the bar and he came up beside her. He couldn't remember her name so he didn't say anything.
"Wasn't that one of the waitresses that was back with you guys?" Anna asked when she saw a familiar looking woman sashay past them, a drink in each hand and a decided look of anger on her pretty face.
"Yeah."
Brilliant, Anna thought – this one is the silent type. While she waited for her drink the bar tender handed a bottle of beer to Logan and she couldn't help noticing he paid no attention to it. Instead he was looking towards the back of the club. Anna leaned out a bit to see what it was he saw but was too dark to see that far back.
"How long have you known Ororo?" she asked while waiting for her drink.
"Huh?"
She sighed. He was either stupid or really bored with her which made him a complete idiot. He didn't even bother to wait for her just walked away, beer in hand. That Long Island ice tea had better be strong, she thought ruefully as she drummed her nails impatiently on the bar.
Interesting enough when Anna ventured back into the dark nether lands of the bar she found Logan sitting quietly at the table while Ororo and Victor were laughing. Anna stood off a little watching them. Ororo looked really happy and Anna couldn't begrudge her that. Victor looked like he was enjoying Ororo's company if nothing else, maybe even more than Anna wanted to admit with his big arm around her and his odd eyes staring at her and no one else. And Logan – Anna paused as she studied the look on Logan's face. He was a handsome man though a little too hairy for her taste with mutton chops and wild hair sticking up in points here and there. But it was the way he was looking at Ororo that got to her. She'd seen that look before, the same look Ororo wore every time she mentioned Victor.
Shocked at what she saw she sat down beside him almost forgetting her drink. As if on instinct sensing her presence rather than seeing her, Logan turned to her and then started to turn away then suddenly looked back at her. They held each others gaze briefly and then he looked down at his beer. Anna looked at her own drink then took a long sip. She was sure he'd seen the look on her face that he knew that she knew. It took her a few moments to wipe the shocked expression off her face but after a few minutes she took another long sip of her drink and shortly she chuckled. Ororo and her men, that girl was something else, Anna thought.
Muy – Spanish for very
A/N – Thanks again for the reviews and please ignore my last author's note – wrong chapter, lost my mind there for a bit. Hope to have next chapter out by Wednesday or Thursday. And sorry about putting this up before Skyz took a look at it – I've since corrected my glaring mistakes.
