Everything Important

Chapter Eight: A Week at a Glance

Rogue smiled dreamily, her chin resting in her palm, as she stared out the window.

"Rogue?" Kitty approached on eggshells.

Rogue smiled sadly. "Sorry. Ah'm not done yet." She shrugged. "There's just too much to remember and the right words are awful hard to find sometimes.."

Rogue pushed out the chair next to her with her foot.

Kitty smiled and sat down quickly. "How much have you written?"

"Our first two dates." She shrugged.

"One of which took two days." Kitty smiled. "You know, Kurt was very happy for you." She beamed, hesitantly. "And he really wanted you to stay happy – even if it meant leaving with Abair." She recoiled at her own words. "You know, before we all knew." She added quickly.

"Sure." That's dang sweet of you Fuzzy … Rogue smiled. "Kurt's really incredible that way. He just never runs out of heart."

Kitty paused for a moment. She had never realized that before. That is s so true!

Rogue watched her eyes.

"You know, room-mate to room-mate, " She eyed Kitty slyly. "You could do a lot worse."

"I have done worse." She admitted. "I think …" She shook her head. "Never mind."

Rogue smiled. "Okay."

Kitty stared silently at the edge of the table, idly tracing it with her finger. "I think – I liked Lance because – he seemed to need someone." She looked up at Rogue. "Kurt never seems to need anyone." She shook her head.

"He's had a rough life." Rogue told her. "And it's made him strong – in a lot of ways." She leaned in close and spoke softly. "And he's faking his way through the rest." She said in a whisper. "Everybody needs someone."

Kitty had moved her eyes back to the table.

"Ah think that's what makes him so understanding and caring." Rogue said, feeling as though she had said too much.

"Because he's been there, and then some, right?"

Rogue smiled. Just enough. She told herself.

"Ah'll try to be done shortly." Rogue sighed and gathered up her papers.

"I'll be around." Kitty said. "And the we're mall bound. You promised."

"Ah know." She smiled.

Rogue turned her attention back to the page before her and Kitty retreated to the next room.

She began to write.

"The next week was a whirlwind of living." She began.

"Abair never seemed to run out of idea's as to what we could do next.

One night, well after midnight, he got Bobby to sneak out back freeze the lake solid. Just so that he could teach me to ice-skate.

And really, that's how Ah remember our time together. It was smooth, easy, and graceful in a way. And I was never afraid that Ah might fall.

Sometimes, when Ah close mah eyes, Ah can still feel his hand in mine, as he held me up, gently steering me around the ice and in to his arms.

Ah can smell him too – If Ah keep mah eyes closed and imagine the cold, I can still taste the scent of him in the wind - and after a moment, Ah can even feel the heat from his skin – as though he were still holding mah hand through mah glove."

Rogue put down her pen and let her head fall forward in to her hands. She was suddenly exhausted and the idea of going to the mall seemed like a fantasy.

She should have been writing about the day that they took the camera and traveled the town, playing kissing games in the park, graveyard, garden and boathouse as they walked hand in hand. Or the excitement that followed once he got her alone.

There was a day of roller-coasters and thrill rides just over the state line. When she asked him, on the midway and almost for no reason, if he believed in God - His face grew calm and he seemed to move in a peaceful and fluid manner as he pulled her in close and gazed deep in to her eyes. "I have. Since I found you."

And yet another day of flirting and playing at the beach that eventually descended in to a star-filled ocean-side night. It was filled with dancing and strangers gathered for warmth around the beachside bon fire. A night he had carried her, sleeping from the car, and put her quietly to bed.

And there was yet another date spent walking the length of the Bayville Mall, hand in hand, and laughing like escaped mental patients at life's every facet and fold. Abair's outlook, translated through his wit, brought her to a new understanding of him; All he ever really wanted of people was for them to be real and genuine with each other. But, Heaven help those people who practice their 'posing' instead.

But only one day stood out in her mind at the moment.

The worst day of mah life …

The day Abair took his physical for Xavier and told her he had to leave.

Rogue flipped ahead a few blank pages, enough – she hoped – enough to fill in the missing details and she clicked her pen twice. Write what you feel girl. As you feel it. She told herself, and the pen began to move.

"Mah time with Abair was like an emotional masterpiece. He managed to stack one good time on top of another, gathering a momentum that eventually swept us both away completely.

Ah knew it had to end, but Ah did everything Ah could to put off that truth. Even so much that I stopped paying attention to what day it was and how long we had together.

All Ah wanted of the world was to see what happened next.

Ah thought."