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"Dat river rat..." he started, thinking, wanting his words to be bitter. He failed.
Remy was not truly mad at Rogue's last remark, he just needed time, on the contrary, he would run the risk of losing in his own game.
After their so-called argument, Gambit stormed off through the backdoor, still dripping, not sure where to go. He walked barefoot along the dirt path. He halted by the riverside, few minutes later.
Gambit, occasionally and disguisedly, would look over his shoulders to make sure Rogue was not following him, until he decided it was safe to stop. He burst into laughter. He hoped his abrupt exit would throw Rogue off balance. If he had gone on with his teasing, as he normally would, the outcome, without a doubt, would have been different. But no one could accuse Remy LeBeau of being predictable. He would have loved to see how far she was willing to go. After all, he would be dead if he said the fille did not have potential.
Gambit smiled broadly, genuinely. Looking at it from a different angle, it had been the first time he had gotten a reaction out of that girl that had not ended with her running and hiding. She played his game terrifically. Gambit chuckled at the irony of having their roles switched.
After some time had gone by, Gambit resolved to go back to the house, wondering if things would turn out the way he wanted, that is, with the first card laid on the table; nothing more than the tip of the iceberg.
Gambit was near the house when he heard Rogue's voice calling his name. At first, he thought he was imagining it, uttering his desires. However, after hearing her voice again, he was convinced that it was really Rogue calling him in an oddly sweet voice. It made him adopt a more cautious and rigorous posture; nonetheless, he could not stop his steps from speeding up.
It was more than he had hoped for.
"Remy, sugah" she said sweetly when she saw his drawing near. "What took you so long?" she said, although what she really thought was: perfect timing, smiling on the inside.
Gambit stopped short and held his breath. The image he saw did not even come close to what he was expecting to find – and Gambit had high expectations –, at least not in real life, even with his little game shaping up, perhaps in a daydream.
Rogue stood framed in the doorway of the porch. Her arms raised above her head, leaning on both sides of the doorjamb. A huge smile on her face. Sweet and sexy. She was wearing nothing more than her usual tank top along with something that looked like a bikini bottom (which Gambit had perspicaciously noticed Rogue had been wearing underneath her shorts). Both pieces were wet. The tank top was white and thin, which helped to endure the heat, therefore, it was almost completely transparent; the bottom also left little to imagination.
The sunlight on Rogue's back shaded and shaped her beautiful silhouette. That girl did not resemble at all the dark clad and full dark makeup Rogue that everyone knew. She had all boldness and sassiness expected from a Southern Bellthat Gambit judged her to be. He relished as he realized that he may have been the first to unravel that different side of her.
Gambit expected something; however, nothing like that image. He would have to admit that few times before had he been caught off guard like that. Rogue noticed it and smiled internally. It was going according to her plan, she thought, all she needed to do then was get on with it.
"Ah went for a swim" she said "but forgot mah towel. Silly me! Can you pick it up for me? Ah don't wanna go in and wet the floor" weak argument, she knew; Gambit had wetted the floor earlier. He, however, did not seem to realize it. Rogue thought she was in luck, which made her more confident to follow with her plan.
Gambit was not sure he had heard everything she said as he was too dumbfounded staring at her perfect hourglass body. He thought he had heard enough. "O'course, chère."
He got her towel in the room and went back instants later. When he was two steps away from her, he stopped. "You should get rid of dose wet clothes first... chérie" he emphasized his last word unnecessarily. And, as he spoke, his lopsided smile grew until it became a full smirk of satisfaction.
Rogue hesitated for a moment, hoping that her nervousness did not shine through on her face. If it was war he wanted, war he was going to have. She would not back away. If that arrogant Cajunthought she did not have the guts, he was dead wrong. When the Rogue played, she played for keeps.
She gave an enigmatic smile and turned her back to him. In deliberate slow and smooth moves, Rogue grabbed the bottom of her wet tank top and began to lift it up. Once or twice she turned her face to check on Gambit's reaction. He was a good player; his face did not show anything. Nonetheless, he swallowed in a dry throat and wetted his lips without her noticing.
When she finished stripping off, Rogue tossed her tank top at him, over her shoulders, with her arms now covering her breasts. Gambit did not even bother to grab it, simply let it fall to the ground close to his feet.
He stepped over the clothes lying on the floor and laid the towel on Rogue's shoulders. He let his hands rest there way longer than needed. He brought his face near hers and brushed his lips against her ear. Rogue trembled from head to toe. "You're one point ahead" he whispered dramatically before gently squeezing her shoulders and stepping away.
And so begun a war that would last the next days and keep them busy and their thoughts away from real problems. A war in which anything could go, they used all their weapons to taunt each other.
The first time, Rogue's heart almost ran up her throat. But she carried it off, regardless. Now she had to move on with her playing, hang tough on it. Until she won, because she was going to win, she was sure of that.
That is, until Gambit came on strong. Rogue found it a low blow when Gambit stepped out of the bathroom holding the towel loosely against a precisely strategic spot. But the deadly blow was yet to come. Unexpectedly – and not deliberately as he would later claim, – the towel fell down.
At that moment, Rogue was walking opposite him. Even though she expected something to happen, she was not prepared for that. Rogue turned around hastily, tripped onto the sofa and, barely did not fall flat on the floor. She rushed through the backdoor soundlessly as she felt her cheeks burn. She could hear his mocking chuckles fading away as she walked away from him... away from humiliation.
Days went by and Gambit would stretch close to her or deliberately reach for something that was always next to her. Rogue let it slide. Although he started to notice how she would shake her feet frenetically every time he successfully got under her skin. Rogue would not let it lie as she swaggered around the house in her panties or wrapped in a towel.
They played with similar techniques but with different rules. Gambit was always invading Rogue's personal space, trying to get to her; whereas Rogue would resort to visual tricks, without ever touching him or letting herself be touched by him.
One more reason for her being so stunned and speechless after she fell out of a tree, sprained her ankle, and saw herself being carried to the house.
Ignoring her protesting, Gambit scooped her up, nuptial style, with his right arm under the joints of her knees and his left arm supporting her back, forcing her to wrap her arms around his neck.
Gambit could have offered his shoulder for her to lean on, she thought, but... "You wouldn't waste the chance, would you, Cajun?"
"Non" he replied, smiling a little, and changed the subject: "Luckily the ground is the farthest you can go" he bantered. She rolled her eyes, embarrassed more than anything. "I hate to say this to you of all people, chère, but I told you dat climbing that tree was a bad idea. De branches wouldn't hold" at that point he had laid her down on the bed. "Luckily you hadn't gone up too far."
Rogue crossed her arms and gave him the eye as if he had been to blame for her falling down. On second thought, he totally had. "Wait a second, you challenged me to climb up that tree."
"Non," he protested, offended. "I said you couldn't climb up dat tree. Look at that, I was right" he could not help it, teasing her was way too fun.
Rogue felt her blood go up to her face. She looked away, kind of pouting. Gambit chuckled at her childlike reaction. The way she thrusted her lips out was so feminine that Gambit was taken by a sudden and nearly uncontrollable desire to taste her lips again, just to be sure that they were as sweet as he remembered. He blocked out the thought in time, though.
"Anyt'ing else hurting besides your ankle?" she shook her head, without turning to him. Gambit sat down near her feet. "Which one's hurting? Dis one?" he asked as he touched her left foot and lifted it up to examine it.
Rogue shivered when she felt his hands so unexpectedly. Not only because of the pain. Gambit began to move her foot in slow circles. "Yeah, that one but... you don't..." she started to say but her words died out.
Rogue did not want to yell at Gambit since she knew that he was only trying to do something nice for her. She knew – just knew – that time was not teasing.
"Remy, you don't really need to bother" she said, self-consciously.
"Easy" said Gambit, without looking at her. "I know what I'm doing."
Rogue shut up and let him carry on. Gambit massaged the injured spot so delicately that she found herself staring at him with surprised and amazed eyes. "Where'd you learn to do this?"
Remy cast a glance at her without ever losing focus on what he was doing. Gambit smiled. "C'est un secret. If I spill the beans" he looked up at her "it loses its charm, don't you think?" Rogue smiled back. "Feeling better?"
"It almost doesn't hurt anymore" she replied, sweetly.
"Still needs some ice, dough, otherwise it'll swell" he went to the kitchen and came back with a bag of ice. When he laid it on her foot, their fingers brushed. Rogue pulled her hand away and bended her leg so she could hold the bag of ice in place. "You better not walk for the next hours" he said as he said down next to her.
"Thanks" she said under her breath.
"De rien" he replied sincerely.
Rogue stared down at her ankle but did not stop stealing glances at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Truce?" she suggested as she turned her face to him.
"You're giving up, throwing in the towel?"
"No" she cut him off short, pretending that was not the case exactly. "Ah just think we better end this ridiculous quarrel cause nothing will come out of it" she explained, faking indifference. She struggled to get a grip on herself and picked her words very carefully when he was close to her like that.
Nonetheless, Gambit knew it was just a lie. She needed to stop before it became too dangerous. Although neither of them realized (or was willing to admit) that it had been too late even before it started.
Gambit comfortably leaned on the headboard and began playing with a pack of cards, which Rogue had no idea where it had come from "Yeah, you're right. It was a tie, dough" he said in a drawl.
Rogue fixed him with a bewildered look. He was keeping track? "You were keeping track?"
Gambit shrugged; his fingers busy as they turned the cards around themselves. "Sure, why not?" he asked rhetorically, his voice got a comedic like tone. "Gotta give it to you, chère, you were a worthy contender. Une belle femme like you, wit' attributes like yours, would win dat scout-boy over easy."
Rogue turned her face to Remy, blinking in surprise. Fortunately to her she did not find his eyes; too occupied with the movements of his hands as they were. She was starting to pick on a pattern: the playing cards would only appear in his hands when it got hard to fake, when the stakes got higher.
The surprise of hearing Scott's name hit Rogue hard. She had not thought of him in a long time. The X-Men yes, but as a team, not Scott in particular.
She could not even remember the reason for her attraction for Cyclopes, as if those feelings belonged in a remote past. And, still, few weeks earlier, Rogue was moping around, feeling sorry for herself for having such a treacherous fate that would not even let her have the chance to compete for the guy she liked.
Thinking back, it seemed such a childish feeling. Perhaps the source of her feelings for Scott was nothing more than competition with Jean, always so perfect; or perhaps because he was one of the few guys, and X-Man, who was kind to her back then, during the few weeks Rogue spent with the Brotherhood.
But nothing, nothing at all compared to how Gambit – Remy – made her feel.
"I'll tell you dis much" he suddenly spoke again. Rogue almost jumped out of her skin as she was so abruptly pulled away from her daydreaming "use de towel trick on One-eyed and if he doesn't fall hard for you..."
"Ah wouldn't do that" she said, dazed, and more and more confused about his statements, which, once again, were uncalled for. He was testing her, wanting to know her answer, whereas, as usual, his face would not show anything. It was all so infuriating.
"Cause he's crazy about dat redhead" he continued as he turned to look at her with the most apathetic face she had ever seen him wear "and she is crazy about him."
"They're lucky" said Rogue, with a blank look on her face, suddenly too weary to keep on fighting.
"You really think so?" he asked; his face finally expressed some sort of reaction. At that rate, eager to know her answer. He put his cards away and stared at the girl beside him.
She gave a half-laugh. "Liking someone is one thing... that person liking you back, that's a different story."
"You're wrong" he said, dryly; his face got harder. "Dat's easy. Loving... is hard."
She turned to face him, her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "You..." she started to say, however, hesitated for too long.
Her speechlessness made him understand. "If I've ever loved? If I've ever been in love with someone?" he asked, filling her unspoken question in "Non" he replied, suddenly angry. "Of course not" he got to his feet as he put an end to the conversion.
That night, Gambit would not sleep in the bed.
To be continued…
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Glossary:
Fille – Girl
C'est un secret – It's a secret
De rien – You're welcome
Une belle femme – A pretty girl
A/N: It took me a while to finish this because I admit I've been a little discouraged by the lack of feedback. All in all, I hope you liked the chapter and I really appreciate the reviews I receive and people taking their time to write them. If you feel like telling me what you thought of this chapter and the story overall, it would make my day. Till next time!