Chapter 11: Fun in the Sun

            Several months had passed since the end of the football season, Bayville champs once again. Things had continued on smoothly enough, Remy periodically checked up on the Morlocks, but mostly let the Prof handle them. No public displays so far, and no other attacks on their lairs. He continued flirting with Rogue as well, but had still kept his emotions largely bottled as he was wont to do.

            Now school had been let out and Xavier showed all the kids the surprise that had been hidden under a tent in the backyard the past few weeks: A huge pool. Three heights of diving boards, a few lap lanes, shallow and deep ends, even two different waterslide. It was great, everything the kids wanted. And to day was the barbecue pool party to kick off the pool opening. Boy, were the students excited.

            It was late morning, most of the kids already at the pool. Rogue sat on her bed while Kitty got ready.

            "Come on Rogue! You can just, like, lie in the sun! Get a tan! Why not give the pasty look a rest?" Rogue looked up at Kitty, who was sporting a bright pink bikini with a lime green wrap, sunglasses on her head. "You can borrow my long skirt if you want."

            Rogue just shook her head. "Ah don't feel like it.. Go have fun, Ah'll see ya later."

            Kitty looked at her pitifully, but quickly checked herself and gave a bright smile for Rogue's benefit. "Alright. You know where to find me!"

            And with that, she left. Rogue sat for a while before turning up the volume on her CD player, picking up her sketchbook to walk out on the balcony, and taking a seat on the ledge against the wall. She could see the pool clearly from here, and she watched the students swimming and sun bathing and throwing each other in the water. She tried to think about her music, though, and began to draw figures sporting swimsuits and saris.

            Remy was with his usual followers slash cash-machines as they talked in hushed, conspiratorial tones. Remy gave them all four to one odds that he could beat them in a diving contest, quite glad that Kurt was otherwise occupied, out with Logan and Ororo to pick out the treats they'd grill up later. All he needed was a judge that would be sure to pick him.

            "Yo' all go on an' practice, cause yo' gonna need all de skill yo' can mustah." They snorted and guffawed and generally acted unafraid of the challenge. Of course, they did go about practicing, doing the best stunts they could off of the high dive. Remy went on the prowl and saw Kitty just as she stepped out. He walked over to her and deftly slid his arm around her shoulder, then whispered to her quietly, rewarded with a little shiver and a big smile from the girl. This would be easy money, as always.

            Rogue looked up to see Kitty and Remy walking from the dorms, Remy whispering to Kitty suspiciously.. That boy was never up to any good. She then saw a group of boys meet him at the pool, his usual groupies whom he made most of his money off of. Rogue couldn't help but smile. Behind all the testosterone battles, she could tell that they genuinely liked Remy, and looked up to him. Hopefully he wouldn't be inspiring them to knock over liquor stores anytime soon.

            He let Kitty go and clapped his hands. "Are yo' all ready, garçons? Dis gonna be one try, an' one only. Miss Pryde heah gonna be de judge, an dere's no complainin' if'n yo' lose. Yo' all gotta learn ta losel ike gentlemen." They all nodded and shook on it, then gave their money to Kitty to hold.

            Remy was up first, as he would be the benchmark that they all had to go by. He got up on the high dive and stretched a bit, cracked his neck, until Bobby got annoyed and yelled for him to hurry up. He grinned, backed up, then ran, jumped and went into an astounding triple gainer with a nice twist. Kitty grinned and clapped loudly.

            "That was, like, amazing!" The others got a bit nervous at that.

            Rogue watched from a distance, still sketching. From what she'd seen of his acrobatics, this was a hands down contest. She wondered how Remy would do in a *fair* contest...

            Rogue looked between Remy and her sketchbook, starting a new male figure. She tried to copy his shape as he stood in the pool, waiting for the other boys to dive. The shape of his arms, the curve of his back, the muscles on his chest. She drew his hair as she remembered it, though, when it was dry. A reddish brown that fell around his face, but not quite covering his eyes. Hm, the eyes. She filled in pitch black where white should be, and a ruby red around the iris..

            Rogue stopped and looked at what she had drawn. A little too good to be true. With one last glance at the pool, Rogue tore the sketch out of her book and went back inside, tucking it into one of her art books. Slipping into her sandals, she exited her room and went down to the kitchen.

            We all know how the contest ended. Jamie actually had decent skills, but thanks to his talk with Kitty, Remy had it all in the bag. He got out of the pool and dried himself off before he collected his money from Kitty and put his arm around her shoulders again to lead her back to the mansion.

            "Come on, cheri, yo' an' Remy gonna have dat cup o' coffee he promised." Kitty squealed and grinned.

            Rogue passed Logan in the hall.

            "Hey Stripes. Seen Gumbo around?"

            "No, Ah haven't."

            Logan nodded and went his separate ways to see the Professor. He didn't attempt to persuade Rogue to get some sun. He was sure she'd heard enough of that.

Rogue walked into the kitchen and took a spoon from the drawer. Reaching into the cupboard she found some peanut butter, taking off the cap with a slightly shaky hand. Taking a big spoon full she dug in, calming visibly.

            Remy strolled in to the kitchen and grinned at Rogue as he let go of Kitty who excitedly got a pot of coffee going.

            "Where yo' been, cher? Yo' missin' all de fun." He settle into one of the chairs at the counter and brushed his wet hair back. "Remy been showin' off fo' da li'l kiddies."

            Rogue unconsciously tapped the heel of her foot against the linoleum nervously as Remy walked in. She looked at him, a little disconnected.

            "When aren't ya showin' off? Ya had an unfair advantage, wouldn't ya say?"

            Kitty looked at Rogue as she prepared the coffee.

            "Do you want a cup, Rogue?" Kitty paused and noticed that the goth girl seemed to be giving off a lot of nervous energy. "On second thought, you like, don't seem to need it. Is that peanut butter?"

            Rogue glanced down at the jar she was eating from. Peanut butter. Squirming in place for a moment, Rogue shrugged.

            "But I like, thought you hated peanut butter."

            Remy arched a brow and got up from his seat to walk around the counter. He leaned against it and watched Rogue a bit more closely.

            "Yo' feelin' all right, cher? Yo' look a li'l high strung fo' someone who jus' been sittin' inside." He smiled at her, to try and encourage her to do the same while he puzzled over her behavior.

            Rogue shook her head, quickly putting the cap on the peanut butter and putting it away. Now that she thought about it, the peanut butter made her feel sick to her stomach.

            "Ah'm fine, Ah just don't feel like myself today.." How literal. Kitty walked over and handed a cup of coffee to Remy. She then smiled brightly, remembered something, and hoped the news would brighten Rogue up.

            "Hey Rogue, I like, almost forgot! Pietro called yesterday looking for you. He seemed totally in a rush to talk to you."

            Rogue quirked a brow. Why on earth would he be looking for her?

            "That boy's always in a rush."

            Remy sipped his coffee and chuckled, "Den i's no wondah dat he got no girl ta rush 'round wit." Kitty gasped and giggled, her own coffee warmed her hands .

            "Maybe he's, like, after you, Rogue!" She giggled again and sipped at her coffee, then grimaced and started to search for the sugar.

            Rogue snorted at both their comments, walking to the fridge to find something to wash the taste of peanut butter from her mouth.

            "Ah ya kiddin'? That kid's the biggest playboy. He's sportin' three or four girls at a time."

She shut the fridge door, opening a can of citrus soda, taking a deep sip. "And Ah highly doubt he'd be aftah someone like me."

            Kitty sighed and rolled her eyes as she stirred in the several spoonfuls of sugar she'd dumped into her coffee.

            "Don't be so hard on yourself, Rogue, you're like, totally mysterious, guys like that, and you have great cheekbones. Like, don't you think so too, Remy?"

            The Cajun arched a brow and sipped at his coffee again. He liked it black.

            "Don' go draggin' Remy inta dis, naw, Cheri. Sweet talkin' p'tite always get Remy yelled at, he ain' no foo'." He grinned and winked at Rogue.

            Kitty grinned. "Maybe that's part of your problem, Rogue. Maybe if you didn't, like, bite off a guy's head every time he flirted with you, you'd get a ton of dates!"

            Rogue gave Kitty a bitter look. There was a big problem that had to do with it. Before Rogue had a chance to defend herself, the phone rang. Kitty jumped up and leapt at the phone.

            "Hello! Oh, hi Pietro..." Kitty beamed at Rogue, who made a few 'kill' gestures, not wanting to talk. "Oh yea, she's right here with me, hold on!" Kitty handed Rogue the phone.

            "THANK YA, KITTY."

            Rogue put the phone up to her ear, walking a few paces away from Remy and Kitty to have some semblance of privacy.

            "What do ya want, Pietro?"

            "Magneto's back." Rogue paused.

            "What?"

            "Look-I-can't-tell-you-over-the-phone, I'll-meet-you-here-at-noon." Click. Rogue glanced at the phone before hanging it up. Kitty looked at her expectantly.

            "Gawd Kitty, he didn't ask me out if that's what ya wanna know."

            Remy chuckled and finished off his coffee.

            "So yo' gonna go runnin' off ta play wit' yo' othah friends, p'tite? Aftah all dat criticizin yo' did bout da company Remy was keepin?" He set the cup in the sink and hopped up on the counter.

            Rogue shifted uncomfortably in place. Magneto was back? Okay, but why was he telling her? Wasn't this something Professor X or Logan should know about?

            "Listen.. Ah need to go see Pietro and Ah need to find a ride."

            Kitty's arm shot up excitedly. "Ohh, I'll totally drive you! Mr. Logan says I've, like, totally improved!" The look on Rogue's face betrayed a fair amount of trepidation.

            Remy chuckled and leaned back a bit on the counter, propped up on his hands. "Hmm, now, Remy wondah who been able ta drive since he leahned ta lift cahs when he was ten..." He looked at the ceiling and pondered this, still all sexy and half-naked, grrr, look at those abs, oh yea.

            Rogue shot him a look as Kitty's face dropped in sudden realization, which she then shrugged off.

            "Well I just remembered, I'm not allowed to drive people that, like, don't have licenses! Sorry Rogue." Kitty grinned inwardly. Nothing like Remy being way obvious!

            Rogue looked at Kitty in an odd way before resigning.

            "Ah can take a hint. Get dressed, swamp rat, we can take Kitty's car." Kitty blinked, and Rogue winked at her as she grabbed her keys off the counter.

            Remy beckoned Kitty over with a bend of his finger and leaned in next to her ear, whispering quietly for a bit. She looked reluctant, then took her chin in his hand and turned her head, then gave her a soft kiss on the lips, not very long, but the girl melted. She was stunned for a moment then ran off towards the guys' dorms. Remy just grinned.

            Rogue froze at the display, watching the two of them blankly. Her mind blanked as well, but there was a tiny part of it that flared up in anger. She blinked once, then twice as Kitty ran out of the kitchen. Rogue tried to move from her spot before she found she couldn't. She turned her head, then her whole body, towards the door.

            "Ah'll just.. wait in the car."

            Rogue walked out with haste, thing that she could really go for some peanut butter right now...