Authors Note: Hey guys! So I lied, here's another chapter. Now I'm about 2 chapters posted ahead of what I have written! Anyway I gotta book it to the library if I wanna get these chapters posted! Btw Sick Puppies is a great band! I recommend listening to the song White Balloons with while your reading this chapter or afterword. But make sure it's off there album Polar Opposite. Anyway, Lemmie know what ya think!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my idea behind this story, The X-Men belong to Marvel, and the movie verse from which this came belongs to 20th Century Fox.

Chapter 14

White Balloons

Most of the day was spent getting ready for the party. The whole back yard had made a transformation into a New Years Eve dance floor. Complete with a white pop-up shade, snow shoveled out of the way, streamers, paper lanterns, lights, several well placed stainless steel patio heaters, pyramid flame patio heater and an urban fire outdoor fireplace for sitting around and chatting. All of which John helped Carmen set up as well as doing an unexpected sound check with their outdoor Sony Stereo system which scarred the daylights out of everyone inside and out of the house. For it being so cold out, John worked up quite an impressive sweat, and even went as far as removing his jacket while they were getting things set up.

Kitty and Theresa spent a good portion of the morning decorating the inside of the house as well as moving around some of the furniture and the afternoon getting the relish and snack tray's ready and setting up the food and beverage table. Once again, John got his hands smacked by both Pryde girls for sticking his fingers into the food.

It was 5:30. An hour and a half before the party was scheduled to begin. Satisfied with his work, John trudged up the stairs to take a long hot shower and get ready. He had just reached the top and was about to head into his room when he heard a beautiful melody that made him pause.

"I'm holding onto white balloons, up against a sky of doom. Tell me you see them?'Cause what's inside of me is invisible to most, even in clear view." John recognized the song as White Balloons by Sick Puppies, but the vocals weren't coming from any stereo. He felt completely unnoticed as he approached the bedroom door where he heard the voice coming from. "I'm sending out a signal to the possibility of you. 'Cause right at this moment, I know you're connected to a part of me that I don't even know myself."

Kitty had her back to the door singing into her brush, eyes closed. John smiled, her voice was beautiful.

"The changes in me are likely to be like the weather.Stormy and clear strength into fear bound together."

He had never been in her bedroom during the whole trip, and was kind of surprised to find a guitar sitting beside the door and a devious plan began forming in his head.

"But I'll break my silenceif I believed that you and me could ever bemore than just what's been behind us."

With a sneaky glance back at her, he reached out and quietly picked up the instrument and removed the pick from the neck. He waited for her to finish the lyric before strumming the chord he had played so many times himself, the lyrics coming from his mouth like honey on a warm sopaipilla, as he moved to sit on her bed. His voice broke into a laugh as the startled Kitty jumped and spun around to face her intruder, brush held high.

"I tried and left, they came and went, I got rejected out again. But no one believes me. I've worn a hundred faces, of the character replacements and now, nobody sees me. The changes in me are likely to be like the weather. Cloudy at best..."

John's arm flowed through the strumming pattern, his fingers gracefully playing with the strings, making minor tweaks to the tuning. Kitty stared in utter shock, and he nodded toward her for the brunette to continue into the chorus, his voice singing in tune with hers.

"Angels lift me. Are you with me?I'm holding onto you likeI'm holding onto white balloons."

John swung into the following lines with flawless precision, Kitty backed off her vocals as his voice grew more guttural as he belted each line. "Carry me away! I hope that you don't break!"

His fingers flowed over the frets, before nodding at Kitty to signal her turn to take over. "Angels lift me. Are you with me?I'm holding onto you likeI'm holding onto white balloons."

"Carry me away! I hope that you don't break!" John then slowed the pace, and sung. "I hope that you don't break. Don't break."

He strummed softly as he looked into Kitty's eyes. He always felt as though this line was very true for him. "'Cause what's inside of me is invisible to most, even in clear view."

As the final note faded into silence, Kitty beamed at him. "I never would have guessed you could play the guitar, let alone pegged you a fan of Sick Puppies."

"Are you kidding me? I'm from Australia, remember?" John scoffed, and then shrugged. "Granted, I didn't see them live until I moved here. The show was in Boston. Let me tell you, best first concert ever."

"Wouldn't know, never had one."

"You mean to tell me you've never been to a concert?"

"Nope. Never."

He arched an eyebrow. "Wow. You're more sheltered than I thought."

"Hey!"

"What? I'm just sayin!" The teen laughed as he stood and set the guitar back where he found it. He paused in the doorway looked back at Kitty. "You have an amazing voice by the way. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." And with that, he disappeared around the corner to take his shower.

John descended the stairs just as the guests began to arrive. He was clad in a pair of Replay Jeans knockoffs. He decided to show off the geek in him with a black shirt that read "Trust me, I'm a Jedi" on it with a grey long sleeve thermal shirt on beneath it. His hair had grown since he first met Kitty, and now hung down just above his ear lobes while the back covered a little more than half his neck.

He glanced at Kitty who was greeting one of her friends with a huge hug. The fellow mutant had on converse just like he did, a pair of light blue jeans and a dark blue NYC Aeropostale shirt with a white long sleeve undershirt for warmth.

And while he found her beautiful without it, he found her absolutely stunning with the little bit of eyeliner she had on. Her brown hair had been straightened and hung loosely down to her shoulders. She withdrew from her friend and placed her hands in her back pockets. When she caught Johns stare, she blushed and tucked her hair behind her ear. John swallowed and coolly made his way toward the two. He barely registered the other person's name, as he fought the urge to just reach out and pull Kitty into a crushing kiss.

And that's how he felt most of the party and why he spent most of it avoiding Kitty. Every time she would come up next to him and try to strike up a conversation he would take the first possible chance to escape, even going as far as to use several lame excuses. He couldn't understand why he was feeling this way... Why he had been feeling this way for a lot longer than he'd like to admit. She was simply one of his closest friends, or so he had thought. Now he wasn't so sure if his feeling were just that of friendship anymore.

John had just escaped out the back door after dodging Kitty with a lame "I need to use the restroom." comment 15 minuets earlier.

With a tense sigh, he ran a hand through his hair when Kitty's voice made the butterflies in his stomach go crazy. "Hey John," Kitty said, her hand extended to him as the song "Wonderwall" by Oasis began to play. "Can I have this dance?"

"I can't dance." He said flatly.

"It's not hard." Kitty just wasn't accepting this for an answer as she took his hand and pulled him onto the floor. He swallowed hard as she placed his hands on her hips, and wrapped her arms around his neck and the two began swaying to the beat. As other couples began to filter on the dance floor, she placed her head against his shoulder inhaling his "Lucky You" cologne deeply while he tried not to think about how he could only be just now noticing how amazing her Playboy "Play it Sexy" perfume smelled.

He looked around at the other couples finding that the guys who had the girls head on their shoulders also had there arms wrapped around them, holding them close. His heart felt as though it was going to burst from his chest at the same time he wrapped his arms around her, only then noticing how sweaty his hands had become. 'What the hell is wrong with you John? Pull it together. Just long enough for this one song.'

The thing John found most terrifying was that he liked her head on his shoulder.

Kitty couldn't quite figure out what was wrong with him. Over the time that they had been at her parents, she had slowly begun to come to terms with the fact that she did indeed have a crush on her best guy friend. She confessed this to her bff Katie when she entered the house, just before introducing John to her. Katie offered to help with the situation, but Kitty begged her not to. Not long after John had approached the two of them, did he start to act goofy, and strange. 'Maybe he finds Katie attractive.' She wondered. It was the only logical explanation as to why he was avoiding her. The two friends had been next to one another nearly the entire night.

Tears began to sting the rims of her eyes, and threatened to fall. 'Why would he want his dorky, stupid, klutz of a friend for?' She choked back the tears, but if he truly did want her friend, she should just let the two of them be happy. Ridden with guilt and heartbreak she pulled out of his grasp and without a single word ran back into the house wiping the tears before they had the chance to make her eyeliner and mascara drip. This left John utterly shocked and confused.

He stood there for a moment before making to follow her, but stopped and turned back around. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed. 'What are you dong you ass? She just ran away from you crying and you're not even going to see what's wrong?' With a fustigated groan he turned on his heal running toward the sliding glass door and into the house. But it was already too late. Kitty was lost in the massive crowed of people. 'Damn.'

After circling the party for a bit he gave up and grabbed a random soda before taking a seat in one of the chairs. When he popped the tab and took a gulp he registered the sweet syrup as a Pepsi. Sipping the cool drink he tried to wrap his head around what could have possibly made the other teen so upset. 'Maybe she ran into an ex of hers' he thought bitterly. 'Maybe he had the nerve to bring a girl with him and it hurt her?' He downed the drink and squished the can flat using his knee at the very thought.

"Whoa there cowboy, what'd that can ever do to you?" He cast a sideways glance at the girl beside him before returning his eyes to the crowed. He couldn't remember the girls name anyway. He knew it started with a K, but nothing more because at the moment when Kitty had introduced the two of them he was more focused on the brunette mutant and trying not to kiss her.

"Can I help you?" John asked more harshly than he intended.

"Wow. Kitty was right; you are a hard-ass."

'You have no idea.' He chuckled and shook his head as he dug out his lighter and began the familiar noise he found so comforting. "Is that your idea of small talk? Because if so, then you're social skills could use a lot of work."

"I could say the same for you." Pyro turned his head to the right to look at her, eyes narrowing. He knew that if he wanted this girl to leave him alone he was going to have to do more than just shut her out. She was a blonde haired blue eyed girl. Her eyeliner was thick and dark. She wore grey skinny jeans, converse and a Killswitch Engage band shirt. "Look, I'm not here to make small talk-"

"Then leave." He deadpanned as his eyes moved back to the crowed before him.

"I just happen to have some information regarding Kitty that you may want to know." She continued without interruption. "I see the way the two of you look at each other."

This caused him to swallow hard. "Look at each other how?"

"The two of you are mad for each other! It's just that neither of you will get off your ass to tell the other!"

John shook his head. "There's no way she has feelings for me."

"I happen to know she does." The blonde insisted. "She told me when I got here."

That caught his full attention as his head snapped in her direction.

"If you want her as much as I think you do lover-boy, then I suggest you act quickly, or any chance you could ever have may very well be thrown out the window by the end of tonight."

He was just about to respond when someone in distance called out: "Hey! The ball is about to drop!"

_ A

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Kitty entered the living room just as the countdown from 20 began. She had re-done her make-up and attempted to hide the fact that she had just ran up-stairs like a pansy and cried her eyes out over a boy. Amongst all the chaos she had found herself caught in the middle of the surprisingly massive crowed. The 10 second countdown began and a feeling of complete and utter loneliness gripped her as she stood frozen in place.

5.

Her eyes scanned the crowed, watching as everyone pared off.

4.

He looked to his left and right before squeezing past a few people.

3.

The noise of the chant got louder, but seemed more distant than ever. All she wanted to do was phase through the floor.

2.

John saw her through a split second break in the crowed, and began pushing his way through no longer worrying about apologizing to those he shoved out of his way as he weaved in and out of people. He knew that look on her face all too well and if he didn't make it to her soon, it would be too late.

1.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

John didn't think, he simply acted on pure instinct as he slid up to Kitty. Simultaneously he placed his hands on either side of her face. His lips captured hers just seconds before she had the chance to phase through the floor, catching her entirely by surprise. Their eyes closed automatically and she snaked her arms around his torso, her fingers feeling the muscles in his back as she pulled him closer to her.

Kitty was completely wrapped up in the kiss. His lips were warm and tasted slightly like Pepsi. John could feel their heartbeats and reveled in the taste of cherry on her lips. The world around them seemed to disappear into a blur of confetti, streamers and noise makers. It felt like an eternity in mere moments and when the kiss finally broke, both found themselves wanting more. John gave her another peck on the lips before wrapping his arm around her shoulders the two of them joining in the chants of Happy New Year.

From a distance Theresa nudged Carmen with a smile on her face and pointed at the new young couple. "Remember when that was us?"

The man smiled and kissed the top of his wife's head. "Yes. But the father in me wants to separate the two of them."

"You were just like him at one point." She chided looking up at him.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"Oh stop." She playfully patted his chest. "You turned out just fine. A great husband and a wonderful father."

He smiled lovingly down at his wife before giving her a kiss on the lips. "Happy New Year love bug."

"Happy New Year love bird."

Authors Note: Dawww! What do you guys think? Thus chapter was a HUGE milestone in my story! Anyway Lemmie know what ya think! I hope you guys love this chapter!