It took me a while to get to sleep that night, but eventually I drifted off into a light slumber. I dreamed of random, stupid stuff like not being able to tie my shoes tight enough, and continuously pouring milk into my bowl of cereal only to have it never get full. I also dream of Remy, who kept taking his shirt off and—then I don't want to say the rest of that dream.

I wake up after this one, blushing into my pillow. Sighing restlessly, I roll over.

"Hi."

My scream is muffled by a hand (with a sleeve pulled down over it) clamping down on my mouth. I smell leather. Remy.

Ok, remember when I thought he had read my journal and I thought that was the maddest I could get? I was wrong. This is the maddest. Nothing he's done compares to sneaking into my room in the middle of the night. I sure hope he doesn't do this every night or I'm going to be down right creeped out.

I glance at the clock to see that it's one a.m. I can barely make out Remy as I start smacking at his hand.

He shushes me. "Rogue, listen." He points to the door as he pulls his hand away from my mouth.

"Listen for what?" I snap, but he shushes me again.

"Just listen."

I glare up at him through the darkness. All I can make out is his outline. Oh, I can't help it.

I reach up and smack him upside the head.

"Don't you ever sneak into my room at night again Remy LeBeau!" I hiss at him though I don't know why I'm trying to be quiet. Oh yeah, I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.

Then I hear a loud BOOM come from the down the hall along with two large crashes. There's silence and then—Kitty is shrieking out in the hall. She lets out a hearty string of curses, which shocks me. I've never heard Kitty curse before. This is accompanied by the sound of doors along the hall opening.

I glance back at Remy who is rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, well…sorry about that then." I tell him, though I'm not entirely sorry. "But seriously, don't sneak in here while I'm sleeping. It's creepy."

"I didn't do anything creepy," he says, "…All I did was take naked pictures of you to pass around to everyone tomorrow."

He dodges my next aim for his head.

Chuckling, he stands up and walks away as I climb out of bed.

"See ya," he says.

And then he jumped out of my open window. Seriously.

I almost scream.

Racing over to the window, I look down to see Remy climbing like a spider monkey down the ivy growing on the mansion. This sight is so odd to me that I have to stare for a few moments. How…weird. I wish I could tell someone about this, but then I would have to explain why he had been in my room in the first place.

Remembering Kitty, I close my window (making sure it's locked) and go for the door.

Someone had flipped the hall light on and I have to blink a few times to be able to see. Amara, who lives in the room next to me, comes out, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"What's going on?" She asks me and I shrug. I'm not supposed to know what's happened.

Together we turn the corner and walk a little ways down the hall until we see people. Logan arrives at the same time we do, looking alarmed, but ready with his claws out. Ororo is right behind him in a bathrobe and I have to ignore Remy's voice in my mind, telling me what they had been doing.

Tabitha is here, trying to calm Kitty down, who is still sending curses flying in every direction.

"What happened?" Ororo stops to ask Kitty while Logan runs into her room as if he expects to meet someone to fight in there.

"Someone loosened my bed screws again!" She yells furiously. I'm starting to enjoy this. "And then my bookshelf almost fell on me, and then I leaned on my desk and that fell too!"

I cover my mouth with my hand and pretend to yawn. I'm really just trying to hide my ridiculous grin. Good thing no one else is looking at me.

Jean chooses that moment to come walking into the hall. For a second I thought she had come out of her room, but looking again I see that she's coming from the direction of the boy's rooms and she's still fully dressed.

"What's going on?" She asks when she sees us all standing around.

Kitty kind of freaks me out when she jerks her head to glare at Jean. Her eyes narrowed, she points at her accusingly. "YOU did this!"

Uh-oh. That's not what I wanted…or expected.

Jean stares at her. "What? Did what?"

Logan steps out of the room, looking very annoyed. "Alright half pint, it's the middle of the night, go sleep in a guest room and we'll take care of this in the morning."

But Kitty wasn't having it. She continued to glare at Jean. "My room! You destroyed it!"

Well this is backfiring. Or maybe not backfiring but it isn't going the way I that want it to. I don't want to get Jean in trouble…Just as I start to wonder if the commotion had woken anyone else up, Kurt appears next to me out of thin air.

"I was sent to see what's going on," he tells me.

What? Were the rest of the guys too lazy to come check on us? How noble they are. As Kurt starts to look in Kitty's room, I glance down the hall to see Remy leaning against the wall. Our eyes meet and I have to look away to be able to keep a straight face.

Jean and Kitty are arguing again. Logan is looking grumpy and Ororo is looking stressed. Tabitha, bored with us already, has gone back to bed. Amara, who is still standing next to me, is falling asleep on the wall. Kurt however, is looking at me, then to Remy, then to Kitty's room. Oh crap.

I try to look innocent; I really do.

Rolling his eyes at me, Kurt simply teleports away. I have a feeling that we'll be talking about this later.

"Kitty, please, I'm not in the mood for this. My worst nightmare just came true," she mutters that last part but I still heard her. "Anyway, when could I have possibly done all that? I've been with you most of the night!" Jean is yelling, which is weird because Jean never yells. Kitty really must be grating at her nerves.

Kitty seems to realize that she has a point. She falls silent but still looks mad as she crosses her arms over her chest. "Well…someone did it," she says miserably.

"Ok, ENOUGH!"

I jump as Ororo snaps at them. Next to me, Amara jerks her eyes open and flings away from the wall.

Then Ororo said blah, blah, blah, then Kitty said bleh, bleh, bleh, and we all went back to bed.

Sometimes the shorter version of things is better. Or…really I just got lazy. And sleepy.

…

The next day I find myself eating lunch in my room with Amara, the only sane person left in the house. She doesn't seem to care about the bet either way (which I find odd since she had put money into it), so right now she's the most tolerable person I can hang with.

That is, until she asks me: "So, how did your date go last night?"

I swallow my piece of sandwich down and start to sip on my coke so that maybe I can avoid the question. But yet again, I forget that the universe hates me. So that forces me to think.

Great, now I'm thinking about Remy. Again…Washboard abs.

Did I like my date last night? I certainly enjoyed riding on the motorcycle…I always enjoy that…I had fun pranking Jean and Scott and Kitty (who, by the way, has recruited Colossus to fix all her stuff back and put a dead bolt on her door. No kidding.).

Jean came into the kitchen earlier today and asked with a strange look on her face, "Who put the weird and extremely disturbing poster on Scott's door? I'm not buying that Scott did it," she said, though she sounded unsure of herself. "Seriously, who did it?"

Then when Kurt gave me a look, I decided to skip breakfast.

And….back to what I was saying…Aside from the part where it was Remy that I was on a date with, then I guess…I did enjoy it…Even though he had made me laugh several times…and it was him who orchestrated the whole thing…and he brought me sunflowers.

I'm in trouble.

My heart is not getting all mushy gushy right now, so don't think it is! I had fun last night, but that doesn't make me suddenly blind to the fact that Remy annoys the crap outta me. Or that I could never have a relationship with him, or anyone else, because let's face it, I'm deadly to the touch.

That means that this can't happen. That means that I have to avoid Remy like my life depends on it, because apparently just telling him that I'm not interested is not going to make him back off.

Which brings my mind to another thing. What's all this about him joining the X-men partly because of me? Why? I don't know what is going through his head when he makes these decisions, and really, I don't think I want to know.

"Rogue?" Amara says, snapping me from my thoughts.

Oh yeah, I still have to answer her question. I shrug one shoulder while staring down at my food. "It was ok…"

"Ok fun, or ok bad?" She tries again.

"I…guess…ok…fun," I manage to grind out. I hate saying good things about Remy out loud.

…What?

"Hey Rogue, don't sweat it. Whatever you tell me stays in this room."

Oh. That's nice. I've never really talked to Amara all that much, but I know she's a nice person. But I still hesitate. What if something I said got back to Remy? Or worse: Kitty.

But when I meet her eyes, she seems sincere enough…

"Ok," I scoot a little closer to her, "if I tell you something, will you promise not to breathe a word to anyone?"

Amara nods enthusiastically. "Yes, of course."

I'm starting to feel a little girly. Yuck. I seriously need to find someone else to hang around other than Kitty. I bite my lip before answering. I really don't want anyone to find out…but I kind of do. On the other hand—oh to hell with it! If Amara tells I'll just blame it all on Remy.

"You know that stuff about Kitty's stuff falling? And the poster in Scott's room?"

"You and Remy did it!" She squeals excitedly

Ooook. It isn't that exciting. I quickly shush her and then I nod. She busts into a fit of giggles and falls over, clutching at her sides. When I remember Kitty's face last night and the million or so curses that flew from her mouth, I know exactly why she finds it so funny.

I've never seen Kitty that mad before. Never.

There's something strangely satisfying, (not to mention hilarious) about royally pissing someone off.

I have to wait a few minutes for Amara to stop her giggling. I actually finish my sandwich while I wait. When she's finally calmed down, she sits back up to face me again.

"So…you had fun with Remy?" She says before hiccoughing.

I have to force myself to say it again. Though I don't know why, it's not like Remy is in the hall with his ear pressed to the door. He's not Kitty. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"See, he's not so bad," she smiles.

Ha! Not so bad? He's Satan's cousin! But I don't say this out loud, of course. The world is not ready for my mind just yet. Instead I shrug one shoulder. Just because I had one good date with him…and he's kissed me three times now, doesn't mean I'm just going to fall head over heels for him out of the blue.

"Do you…like him?" Amara asks.

"What?" I yelp. "No!"

Amara narrows her eyes at me suspiciously. I'm not fond of that look. "Rogue, you're lying."

"No! No I'm not!"

"You're a terrible liar," she says before sipping her coke.

"I am not lying!" I tell her. Because I'm not. I don't like Remy. Not at all.

She nods and rolls her eyes. "Okaaay, you're not lying. I believe you," she says sarcastically.

Whatever. I'm not going to argue this. If she doesn't want to believe me then she just won't believe me. But I'm telling the truth. Remy has moments where he has the potential to be likeable, but then…I remember who I'm with. Remy.

"But you think he's hot, right?" Amara asks.

As the image of the best set of abs I've ever seen goes racing across my mind, I feel my face getting hot. Lying about how attractive I find Remy would be futile. Ha, futile. Isn't that a funny word? Futile. Futile. Futile. Futile. Futile. Futile.

And now the word has lost all meaning to me.

Abs—I mean Amara—is watching my reaction but not saying anything.

"You won't say anything to anyone?" I ask her miserably.

She nods.

I sigh—maybe I'm being a tad dramatic. But I feel like I'm in confessional right now.

"Yes." I tell her quietly.

"Oh," she nods happily, "Well, the first step is denial and you seemed to be halfway past that…"

"The first step to what?" I ask, confused by this.

"Nothing. Just…are you sure you don't like Remy?"

I'm sure. Really sure…

…Right?

This is confusing.

But I don't like Remy.

I think.

…

An hour after this lunch with Amara, we have training. With Wolverine. Let me tell you, it was lovely. Remember how I use that word lightly? Well right now, I'm using it very FREAKING LIGHTLY.

Ahem.

First off, he drug us out to the woods. I don't know why this couldn't have been done in the danger room, but for some unbeknownst reason, we had to go to the woods. Though I was glad to finally see the sun out, the ground was still covered in snow, which just made things so much better.

Then we were BLIND FOLDED (I'm not making this up) and made to fight each other.

I'm not sure who I fought, but I ended up with a finger poking me in the eye even through the blind fold. I couldn't see a damn thing but I could hear Wolverine growling his disapproval throughout the whole session.

Really, I don't know why he wasn't laughing at us the whole time; we probably looked ridiculous. I sure felt ridiculous. Wait…that's probably why he put us through that humiliation! He probably just wanted to have a good laugh. I couldn't see if he was enjoying it, but he probably was!

I know I slipped on that stupid ice more than once and let me tell you, the bruises are lovely.

Then, as if this wasn't enough, he made us go through several hard (but actually normal) obstacles. At least he let us take off the blind folds for that.

For three hours we had to do this. Three hours. My body is so tired. And judging by the way everyone is dragging themselves while moaning back up to the mansion, I would say we've all had a pretty good workout. Everyone is dragging themselves—except for Remy. He's looking bouncy and happy.

I won't mind it unless he comes and talks to me. Because I don't like Remy. Remember that.

Oh crud…I like Remy.

NOOOOOOO!

But not like that. It's strictly platonic. Really, really, really platonic.

Never mind, I just don't like Remy.

At least this is what I tell myself all the way back to my room. I collapse on my bed and stay like that for a while. As far as training sessions go, that was a doozy. I'm just starting to get comfortable when someone starts knocking frantically at my door.

I sit up and am about to trudge over to open it when Tabitha runs in and closes it quickly behind her. I just sit and watch as she races over to me. She looks…weird.

"Rogue! Rogue! You will not believe what I just saw!" She tells me, sounding very alarmed.

"Oh…I think I already know," I say as the image of Logan and Ororo goes through my mind. Damn Remy for putting that there.

Her eyes widen. "You know and you didn't tell me?"

I shrug. "I just found out last night…I just thought it was Logan and Ororo's business, not ours."

"WHAT?" Tabitha shrieks loudly at me.

Ow.

Oops…I guess she didn't know about that one…but who is she talking about?

I quickly shake my head. "Nothing, nothing…I don't think I want to know what you saw."

Her attention is averted away from Logan and Ororo by this. "But no! I HAVE TO TELL SOMEONE!"

"Tabitha, if this is obviously a secret then if I were you, I'd keep it to myself."

"No! I have to tell you!" She says excitedly, "I just saw Kitty sucking face with-"

"No!" I plug my ears with my fingers and start going: "LALALALALALALALA!" until Tabitha glares at me and eventually leaves.

I do NOT want to know who Kitty is 'sucking face' with. Not only is it not my business, but I don't want that image in my head. Whoever she's doing that with is probably one of my friends. Ororo and Logan, Jean and Scott, Kitty and some mystery man…Apparently I'm living with a bunch of horn dogs.

Not to mention Remy who has just walked through my open door. He's the biggest horn dog of all.

Not that I think about Remy's sex life.

Wait a second—I could find out who Kitty is sneaking around with and hold it over her head! But…even though Kitty has been a pain in my butt, I can't be that mean. I'll just destroy most of her personal belongings.

Remy strolls over and stops in front of me. I wait for whatever he has come in here to say but all he ends up saying is a bunch of gibberish. At least it's gibberish to me. It's just a bunch of something in French.

I feel my eyebrows come together in confusion. "What?" I ask him, though I'm thinking I probably don't want to know. He probably just said something really perverted.

But instead of answering me, he just grins. "Nothing."

That's going to get annoying. And that kind of proves to me that he really did just say something perverted.

Aaand…now he's sinking into my desk chair. When did I make him think that it was ok to just walk into my room and stare at me? Oh, that's right, I DIDN'T! I knew I shouldn't have had fun with him last night.

…What a wacky thought that was.

"I have something for you." He grins at me and then pulls out a little tape recorder from his pocket.

I stare at it worriedly for a second. "What's that?"

"Jean and Scott when they found that poster last night."

I feel one of my eyebrows lift. "You recorded them?"

He nods. "Don't you want to hear?"

Sure I do. But the image of Remy crouched outside of Scott's door with a tape recorder in his hand is quite an image in my head. I kind of want to ask him if really had to hide outside of their door and listen to them, but…I want to hear the tape.

Without waiting for an answer, Remy presses play.

All I hear at first is a few footsteps. That was preceded by a squeak that I'm not sure what came from, and some weird smacking noises.

"Oh god, are they Frenching each other?" I ask with a disgusted look at the tape recorder.

Remy laughs. "On the bed!"

Oh that's just fan-freaking-tastic. I feel very uncomfortable listening to this.

"Turn it off or fast forward!" I say as I fight the urge to cover my ears.

"No, wait, shh," he holds the player closer to me so I can hear it better.

"Scott," I never wanted to hear Jean's voice sound like that. My ears are bleeding—BLEEDING! "Scott," she says again, but this time it's not so…breathy. "Scott, what the hell is THAT?"

"Um…" Scott sounds confused. "I thought you knew what that was—oh, wait, what are you talking about?"

Gross.

"I'm talking about—GET OFF OF ME!" I hear a loud thump and I assume that Scott has been shoved off of the bed. Haha. "I'm talking about THAT! You are SICK, Scott! SICK!"

There's a few moments where it's complete silence and then the recording shuts off.

Remy looks over at me apologetically. "I think she knew someone was outside of the door so I ran for it."

Oh. Well that was ok, at least I got to hear some of it. Just knowing that Jean had thought that Scott had really put it there is hilarious enough.

"And I got you a present." He says while pulling something out of his pocket.

Great, now since I took those flowers (which, I am sad to say, are sitting on my window seal) he thinks it's ok to give me presents. Somehow I've made him think its ok to kiss me, come in my room, lay on my bed, and give me gifts. And I've been trying to avoid every bit of it.

He pulls out a deck of cards, still in the little box, and tosses them over to me. Oh. Cards aren't so bad. Though I don't know what I'm going to do with them. I don't really play cards all that much.

"Uh, thanks…I guess," I tell him while looking the box over.

"You should take a look at those later on," he says. "But right now I have to ask you something."

"No." I say automatically even though I don't know what he's going to say. But I have an idea.

"Why not?"

"Because."

He tilts his head to the side as he studies me. "Because why?"

"Because of…the reason."

"The reason for what?"

"For…it."

Don't worry; I'm just as confused as you are. I have no idea what we're talking about. I'm just trying to mess him up so he'll forget what he wants to ask me.

Remy nods slowly. "Ok…I understand."

At least someone does.

"But I have to ask you something." He continues.

So much for my 'genius' plan. I sit and wait for whatever crap he's going to come up with now. It wouldn't be a normal day if he didn't come up with something.

He leans forward until his forearms are resting on his knees and he's staring at me intently.

"What would you say if I told you…I borrowed something from Bolivar Trask?"

See, I told you he would come up with some—WAIT, what did he just say?