}Well,
I got a good bit of a breeze when you jumped back against me after I grabbed
yer wrists...{
"Oh, I'm sorry,
are you...wait a minute. You jump on
me, scare me half to death, and I'm APOLOGIZING to you because-laughable
possibility alert- I might have potentially hurt you? How do you do it?"
}Perhaps it's
m'devilish good looks?{ he inquired sarcastically.
"Could be that,"
she conceded. "But I think it has more to
do with the fact that I'm just waay to nice.
Just a thought, y'know?"
}Nah, I don't
think that's it. You're nice,
yeah. But if someone's insulting to
you, you'll go after them when the opportunity presents itself. Like the week you got here, when you told M
off.{
She giggled,
remembering the incident he'd referred to.
M, unaware that the new resident of the school had moved there straight
from college in Texas, had been insisting that she knew the origin of cowboys'
unwillingness to mount a horse from the right side. Susana would have accepted M's statement as a fact, if she hadn't
had an elective English class that discussed American folklore and local cowboy
stories in great depth. She'd actually
done a project on the subject just last semester, and armed with her knowledge,
she'd torn gaping holes in M's argument.
"You know, I don't
think she's ever going to forgive me for that.
But what she was saying was wrong...do you think it was bitchy of me to
point that out?"
}Naw, gel...it
wasn't at all. She should've handled
herself better...she was being pretty childish that day.{
"You know, I was
so worried you'd all hate me because of that.
I was really not looking forward to it. When Angelo congratulated me for telling her off, you coulda knocked
me over with a feather."
}Damn. I missed my chance.{
"Oh, shut up,
you." She shook her wrists loose from
his grasp, then gave him a light, but completely unexpected, punch in the side
and raced for the stairs. She used her
new memory of the room's layout to avoid running into or falling over furniture
and other obstacles.
As soon as she
made it out of the stairway, she slammed the door closed and threw her weight
against the wooden slab. She heard
pounding on the stairs as Jono raced up them, then felt the door being forced
open as her bare feet scrambled for secure purchase on the flawless tile
floor. Stilling her feet, she allowed
him to slide her along until the door was angled towards the hallway leading to
the kitchen. As soon as it got to that
point, she jumped away from the door and raced for the kitchen, Jono close on
her heels.
She stopped
running as she got to the side of the bar opposite the door. Knowing the only place she could go was the
kitchen, and the only other exit from the room was through the windows, Jono
took his time following her down the hall.
}Susana, gel, that
wasn't very nice of you.{
}Jono darling,
I didn't mean for it to be nice.
I meant for it to be effective.
It definitely was that.{ Keeping
an eye on him, she surreptitiously scanned the surface of the bar to see what
their drawn-out brawl was endangering.
To her relief, it seemed that no crockery would be harmed in the making
of this...whatever this was. She
drew upon her memories of the kitchen to plan her next move. *If I stay here behind the bar, we'll be
stalemated indefinitely, and I really don't want that. He'd probably give up when Artie and Leech
get here, then get me when I'm not expecting it. But if I try what I did on Jubilee during practice this morning,
I might be able to get him first.* She
grinned and eyed his t-shirt and boxers
clad frame, separated from her by the intervening expanse of ivory marble.
Across the bar,
Jono watched her and resisted the urge to pray for salvation. He really didn't trust that smirk on her
face. *Oh, well. If I die, at least they can say I got to cop
a feel of 'er before I croaked.*
His gaze
sharpened, and he seemed to notice something of particular interest about her shirt...namely
the rapid rise and fall of her chest under it.
Intellectually speaking, he knew that other people still had to breathe,
even if he didn't. He also knew that when
people ran, or exerted themselves, they had to catch their breath. However, seeing the reality manifested in
female flesh and blood in front of him was definitely reminding him that,
mutant powers or no, he was still a 19 year old guy with the full complement of
attendant hormones. *Damn, Starsmore...whydja have to go and notice her
breathing now of all times? This
is a very cruel trick t'play on a bloke...even yourself.*
Susana noticed his
sudden refocusing and was puzzled for a moment. When she figured out what had caused it, she almost laughed out
loud. This was going to be so
easy...she almost felt bad for him.
Steeling herself with the memory of how scared she'd been when he caught
her wrists in the basement, she gave her chest a mental note of thanks,
stretched sinuously and began edging around the bar and towards Jono.
"Look, Jono...I'm
sorry I went down there to wake you up, and I'm sorry I tried to block the
basement door. That was really dumb of
me, wasn't it?" He nodded, his gaze
remaining locked on the glitter letters splashed across her chest and his right
hand gripping the edge of the counter.
His knuckles, she noticed, where bone white. "Like my shirt?"
}Yeah. It's...nice.{
She leaned towards
him with a tiny smile, then reached across his arm to pull a paper towel from
the roll on the bar. The position this
put her in actually gave him a definite advantage, and she was depending on his
instincts working the same way as those of most guys in her acquaintance...when
confronted with coquettish flirting, they shut down.
Jono didn't
disappoint. She could actually sense
the turmoil behind his telepathic shields.
*Jono, you're trying really hard to concentrate on the fight, and
to think of me as an adversary, but you're losing that inner battle. I'll apologize for what I'm about to do in
just a moment.*
At that thought,
she moved her left arm from behind her back to embrace Jono in an almost
brotherly way. With that arm wrapped
securely around his shoulders and her right hand holding the counter, she slid
her bare right foot behind his ankles.
Pulling it against his Achilles' tendons, she braced against the
countertop as 140 pounds of completely surprised teenage male plummeted towards
the floor. Tightening her grip on his
shoulder, she stopped his fall mere inches above the tiles, then lowered her
shocked opponent the rest of the way to the ground before squeezing his arm,
dropping a kiss on his forehead, and strolling away, remarking "Sorry bout
that...but now that it's settled and I've avenged my honor after your stealth
tickling attack, you wanna go get on real clothes before Artie and Leech get in
here?"
}Woman! Can't you tell when a bloke's in pain?{
"ohmygod...did I
hurt you? I...OOF" He pulled her
outstretched arm, causing her to tumble to the floor beside him. Cushioning the landing of her head with his
forearm, he stretched his left arm across her stomach to brace himself against,
then rolled over her, a smirk dancing in his eyes. She stayed still for a moment, concentrating on catching her
breath and glaring up at him.
}Welcome to the floor.{
"Thanks. Yeah...like I said, I'm definitely
too nice. Too concerned..."
}Too gullible?{
"Shut up...I
haven't done that move too many times.
It was possible-not likely, but possible- that you really were
hurt. Think you could get off of me
now?" She pushed his shoulder up and
squirmed in an effort to extricate herself.
*Oh, God,* thought
Jono *I really wish she'd cut that out for the moment.* He rocked back onto the balls of his feet,
then stood and offered her a hand up.
}Truce, I swear. I haveta go get dressed anyway.{
"OK, but I don't
trust you much right now...just so you know."
She accepted the proffered hand, stood, and brushed floor dust from her
jeans, then shot him another glare. "Well? Are you planning on leaving anytime soon, or
did you want to take the opportunity to gloat further? It's still unattractive." *At least, by all that is good and holy, it
SHOULD be...*
}Alright,
alright...I'm leaving now{ he shot back as he ambled back towards his
room. }Just give me a few minutes and
I'll be ready.{
She
grinned evilly at the seed of an idea that had sprung up in her mind. *No, Jono dear, I don't think you'll ever
be ready for this. That's exactly
what makes it so fun.*
