Chapter 20

"Franklin Nelson," the man greeted him at the doorway of the apartment. "You Saint-John?"

"I am," John nodded, shaking the man's hand, "but you can call me John."

"Well, John," Franklin stepped back and let him enter, "here is the apartment."

"Had many takers, Franklin?" John asked curiously as he took in everything. It wasn't a large space but not small either. There was a central living and kitchen area with doors on either side. One was open to an empty room which John sauntered over to.

"A few," the man admitted, "and please, call me Foggy." Not the oddest nickname he'd ever heard.

John stuck his head inside the open door, not a bad space, a bit bigger than what he had at Xavier's. "Was your last roommate blind per chance?"

That question threw the man who blinked, "Yeah, how'd you know?"

John turned back towards living room and gestured at the furniture, "You've been here four years and never once moved the sofa," then waved his hand towards the kitchen, "but the specific Braille covered containers for your coffee and sugar kinda gave it away."

"What are you, Sherlock?" Foggy laughed appreciatively.

"Nah," John chuckled, "but I'm a big fan."

"Well, it shows," the man walked over to the kitchen, "my roommate, Matt, got into Harvard for his post-graduate work. Unfortunately, I didn't."

"My girlfriend is going to try to get into Harvard next year," John said conversationally.

"Wish her luck, she'll need it," he wasn't being snide so John let it pass, "anyway, Matt is blind but has really acute hearing so we tended not to have loud music and stuff like that. Guess I got used to it, don't want a roommate who is going to blare music or throw parties every weekend."

"I'm a writer," John shrugged, then laughed, "worse I might do is sit in my room and brood by candlelight."

"That I can handle," Foggy chuckled.

…

"Thanks for your help," John told the man who was helping him move boxes into his new shared apartment.

"Not a problem, mon ami," Remy sat down his box on top of others, "though why didn't you ask your dad?"

"I want to stay in Foggy's good graces until at least the school year starts," John blanched, "and dad can be a little… intense."

"Smart move," Remy chuckled and the two headed down to the moving truck. "Oh, hey, watched that movie, Sneakers."

"What you think?" they grabbed the last of the boxes and headed back up.

"A group of people get paid to break into a business to show the gaps in that business' security," with every word John could hear the glee in the man's voice notch that much higher. "It's legitimate thieving without the worry of going to jail or pawning your stolen goods."

"Thought you might like it," John chuckled and seeing as he'd unpack everything later he flopped down on a chair. "You wanna order a pizza, or maybe some Chinese?"

"Pizza sounds good," Remy was leaning on a stack of boxes, "anyway, I think there is definitely a market there but the start up is going to be tricky."

"Uh huh?" he said absently as he looked on his phone for the nearest pizza place that delivered.

"Building a client list is key," his friend continued on, "but I think if I look at some of the g—my father's client list, that would be a good place to start."

"Just make sure you set up a legitimate corporation," John hit the call button, "you want to make sure you pay your taxes."

"Definitely," Remy nodded.

Pizza was ordered and they went about putting his furniture where he wanted it. That took the twenty-six minutes for the pizza to arrive and they used a stack of boxes as a table. As they ate, Remy glanced over at the framed photo of Wanda which John had made sure to unpack first.

"Wanda in Romania?" he asked.

"Yeah," John washed down his pizza with a coke, "she'll be there till just before school starts. But with how the schedule is for Yale, I don't think I'll get to see her till after the first week."

"That's pretty rough," Remy frowned at him, "but you keep in touch over the computer, and you got to see her before she went, right?"

John blushed at the memory of his last moment with Wanda, the two holding each other after an impromptu make-out session. This did not go unnoticed by his friend.

"Pyro," he said cheekily, "do I detect a hint of a base run?"

Unfortunately he knew his friend well enough to know he wouldn't let it go, "We may have gotten to second base…"

"Hah!" Remy laughed cheerfully, "Good on ya!"

"Wow," John let out a short laugh, "way to make a man feel inadequate while complimenting him."

"Come on, you know what I meant," he brushed it off, "you two are so hot for each other it was well over-due."

John frowned at him, "Is this where you say you'll 'be here all night'?"

Remy sighed and smacked his forehead. "I'm just saying, if I was you I'd be all over that, you have shown remarkable and admiral self restraint."

John continued to frown and tilted his head.

"This is where I quit while I'm ahead?" Remy asked.

"More like while you can still see daylight," John rolled he eyes, he knew his friend meant well and Remy was happy for him, John just didn't like the fact that the only thing keeping him from 'being all over that' was his brain didn't want to function properly.

The two continued to eat in silence until John took pity on his friend and reopened the conversation, "Do you think you'll be able to keep up with my self-defense lessons?"

"Can do," Remy smiled, "all we need to do is find a gym. It will have to be maybe once a month though, I am going to be working on my business, probably set up in the City."

"Where Rogue just happens to be going to school," John shook his head as he rolled his eyes, the man really was clueless.

"New York City is one of the top three cities to put a business like Sneakers," Remy tried to rationalize. "Not only does it have big business but major airports to get anywhere in the country at a moment's notice."

John gave him a look, "You do realize you're skirting the edge of stalking now?"

Remy had to think about that for a second, "Maybe."

Laughing, he said, "Remy, the best thing you can do right now is forget about Rogue, not forever, but for the next year or so."

"But," Remy was frowning, "I don't wanna forget about Rogue."

"Sorry, mate," John shook his head, "but you have to. You need to become your own man, not what your family wanted you to become."

"You're my friend," Remy countered, "shouldn't you be on my side?"

"Since when have I ever cared about sides?" he snorted, "I always call 'em as I see 'em."

"True," the Cajun admitted.

"Focus on setting up your business," John offered, "and don't spend your time checking up on Rogue. Instead, give yourself a goal, like, after you get your first client and successfully rob them, then you can call her up and see if she's interested in just hanging out one day, as friends."

He thought about this for a second, "Goals, huh?"

"Yes," he nodded, "and no cheating."

"You know that's a tall order," Remy gave him a knowing grin.

"I know you like a challenge," John shrugged, leaning back against the wall.

"That I do…"

…

"Hello?" a groggy voice came over the phone.

"Wanda," John frowned, then it clicked, "oh, sorry, forgot you're eight hours ahead!"

"It's okay," she was still a little slurred, yawning. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," he couldn't help but grin, "I got my driver's license!"

"Oh," she tried to sound excited but seeing as it was midnight where she was he forgave her lack of enthusiasm, "that's great. First try too."

"Those lessons paid off," Coach was right, if John could drive his tank of a truck, he could drive anything, "and dad got me a ute, ah, sorry, a utility vehicle, but a good one, a real one, not one of those ones rich people buy and never intend to take off the road."

She let out a little giggle but it was a tired one, "Can't wait to see it."

"I, ah, should let you go," he didn't mind the expense of the call but he could tell she was tired.

"Sorry," she yawned again, "I really am happy for you."

"I know," he said softly, "thank you, now get back to sleep."

Wanda giggled the way only a person half-asleep could, "Goodnight, John."

"Goodnight, Wanda," he held onto the line until she hung up.

He missed her so much…

…

The summer ended and Wanda was back in Westchester, her final year about to begin.

"Hey, Wanda," Marie knocked on her door, "just wanted to come by and see how your summer went."

"It went," Wanda laughed, "how about you?"

"Not bad," the girl flopped down on the edge of Wanda's bed, "got a car, got my schedule, and even found someone to carpool with, so, yeah, very productive."

Wanda eyed her friend, "I sense a but in there?"

"It's just…" Marie sighed, "I thought Remy would be all over me you know, hanging around, calling, etc. Instead, about the end of June, he tells me he's working on a new business venture and then nothing. I called him to say Happy Birthday and we talked for a few minutes but after that, nothing again."

"That's a good thing though," Wanda leaned back against her desk, "right?"

"Yeah, I mean," she sighed, "I wanted him to do this… but now that he has…"

"You miss him," Wanda chuckled knowingly.

"Yeah," Marie flopped back on the bed, "I miss him, guess I didn't realize how much I would."

"It'll be okay," Wanda assured her, "just a little cold feet about what you did, but it was the right thing to do."

"I know," her friend sighed, then obviously not wanting to talk about it anymore changed the subject, "You going to see John soon?"

"No," Wanda sighed, "he has a bunch of introductory things this week and classes start next week. He could probably make time but I told him he needs to start school on the right footing."

"That's smart," Marie nodded, then tilted her head, "something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she wasn't sure how to classify what she was feeling, "more like too right."

The Southerner gave her a funny look, "You're going to have to explain that one to me."

"Well," Wanda blushed as she stood and shut her door, "before I left for Romania, I got to go out with John on a date and, well, we finally made out."

"Go you," Marie gave her a wicked grin.

"It was… pretty hot," just thinking about it made her blush even more crimson.

Marie turned the same wary eye towards Wanda as she had used earlier, "I sense a but in there?"

"I just…" she really did feel like she was acting like Jean, or worse, Kitty, and it annoyed her to no end but at least Marie would not be judgmental, "I don't know if we're going too slow or too fast, you know?"

"Hhmm," Marie thought about this for a moment. "I guess only you can answer that. I mean, you're both eighteen, it's legal, the question is if you have any moral aversion to sex before marriage."

Wanda stuttered, "I wasn't talking about sex." Was she?

"Oh," her friend chewed her lip in confusion.

"I just," now she really needed to stop channeling the vapid, "I really liked the way he touched me, held me, like there was a heavy layer of reverence to it. I want more but I don't want to push him."

"Sugar," Marie gave her friend a gentle smile, "it sounds like John is the one doing the pushing, pushing himself, you're just along for the ride. He'll stop when he needs to stop and go when he can go."

"I know," she thought about that for a moment. "Do you think you would have slept with Remy, you know, had he not been engaged?"

"You aren't shy or bashful, are ya," Marie laughed a tad nervously, "you'll make a great lawyer."

"Thanks," she chuckled.

"To do be honest, I don't know," her friend eventually said, "we never made it much past second base ourselves because I wouldn't let him. I knew that if we did something, even if his fiancée was okay with it, I'd regret it," she looked up at her, "and that's the key, whatever you decide to do, whenever, make sure it's not something you'll regret."

Wanda nodded in agreement. Whatever did happen between her and John, she wouldn't have any regrets… she hoped.