Chapter 6: Has to be Love

             That night grew warmer, incredibly.  And tragedy struck when the heating kicked itself on and refused to turn off once again, with the inside of the Mansion uncomfortably hot, everyone retired outside to the back gardens for dinner – it being a barbecue.

             Rogue shaded herself under a tree from the last remnants of the blazing sunlight, taking tiny bites of a hotdog, watching everyone else – who were mostly sitting in a group – laughing and joking around.  She'd felt like isolating herself from them, at least for now.  She had things on her mind, and needed time alone to think of them.

             "Hey.  What is this?  Practice?" Jared appeared from behind the tree, he leaned against the trunk, gesturing to the hotdog she was eating.

             "What are you talking about?"

             "You, with a sausage in your mouth, I'm sure your boyfriend would enjoy watching this, maybe I should take a digital photo and email it to him," Jared grinned.

             Rogue stuck her tongue out at Jared – complete with a pile of food still lingering on it.

             "Ugh, you're disgusting," Jared sat nearby, still keeping his distance. 

             "How are you settling in?" Rogue asked, "How long you been here now, five days?" she asked.

             "Yeah," Jared shrugged, "I don't know, I'm settling in alright, I guess," he toyed with a thick silver chain on his wrist absently, "I guess I'm settling in a lot better than I figured I would, I didn't think I'd really fit in amongst a lot of other mutants, especially ones more experienced in their powers…but then I realised you – you've been here for a while, yeah? – and you still screw up occasionally, which makes me think even those who've been here longer than me aren't perfect…"

             Rogue smirked, "you still have a lot to catch up on," she pointed out, she took a small bite of her hotdog, eating it now sideways just to make sure Jared couldn't come up with anymore remarks about the way she ate sausage.

             "How long have you been here, anyway, Rogue?" Jared queried, he had a can of soda, and he took a sip of it, and then placed it down on a flat space of grass.

             "I haven't kept track, really, to be honest," Rogue shrugged, "Two years, maybe…I was fifteen when I first came here, I'm almost seventeen now," she admitted. 

             "When is your birthday?" Jared asked.

             "Next month," Rogue shrugged, "hardly anyone knows that, except maybe Kitty, and the instructors," she admitted.

             "Why so secretive?" Jared's green eyes twinkled in the sunlight which was slowly ebbing away with the ascending evening.

             Rogue shrugged, "No one ever seemed interested, really," she tucked her hair behind her ear, keeping her eyes on him.

             "And your name?"

             "I…uhm…"

             "I mean I was interested in your name when I first got here, and you wouldn't tell me," Jared reminded.

             Rogue smiled weakly, "I know…only my closest friends know it…Kitty, and Remy…maybe some of the instructors.  But, my name…never mattered, its just a name…and besides, the only one who ever uses my name is Remy," Rogue shooed a fly away, "and even then, its rare."

             "He calls you Rogue, too?"

             "No, he calls me Chere."

             "Cher?  As in the Cher who sung that song 'Believe' or whatever?" Jared toyed with his lip ring absently.

             "No.  Chere, C-H-E-R-E," she spelt it out for him, "In French, it means dear."

             "And you let him call you that?" Jared laughed a little.

             "It's kind of sweet.  Sometimes he calls me his 'Cherie Amour'."

             "Stevie Wonder fan?" Jared asked.

             "Thank god not," Rogue made a face, "Monsieur LeBeau has very general tastes in music, I mean he likes some decent bands, but he does listen to some of the ones I haven't even heard of…the Stereophonics for instance…who the fuck are they?  And then this other band…Travis…never heard of them either, but he likes them.  He likes Jazz too, unfortunately," Rogue made a face.

             "Stereophonics are a Welsh band, and Travis are Scottish," Jared responded, "They're big in the United Kingdom."

             "I guess you'd know," Rogue responded, "do you miss it there?"

             "Yes," Jared made a face, "Don't get me wrong, I like America, but…jesus, the food here sucks, I can't buy cigarettes legally here – and I've been smokin' since I was sixteen…I NEED my nicotine."

             Rogue rolled her eyes, "Jesus, another smoker.  You and Remy are gonna die of lung cancer."

             "Probably," Jared didn't seem to care.
             "Remy always says he's going to die as an X-Man anyway, so why not enjoy his vices while he can," Rogue smirked.  "Just another excuse for him to smoke.  I've been begging him to quit for a year."

             Jared smirked in a cheeky way, pushing his tongue against his cheek for a moment, "wow.  If you were my woman, I'd have quit a long time ago," he responded.  "If you were mines…I would have done anything you'd asked."

             Rogue looked at him, and realised his eyes were right at hers, she chewed her lip, the comment, while sweet as it was, hinted at more than him having more than just a general interest in her.  She felt her cheeks grow hot with pleasure, and at the same time embarrassment.  She asked herself if it was actually possible that Jared was indeed making a pass at her.

             "Y'know…it strikes me odd that you're with Remy," Jared said, "you don't seem to have much in common, I mean, you're…a goth…like me, with a little bit of attitude and a very strong sense of self, and he's a bad ass pretty boy, with secrets it seems like…"

             Rogue looked at Jared, "me and Remy got much more in common than anyone realises," she finished her hotdog, "we might have different agendas…even different styles, and even a tiny bit of an age difference…but we've been through a lot of shit…he's the only one who truly understands what life is like for me," Rogue looked down at the grass.

             "What do you mean?"

             "I was adopted from a young age, and so was he…" Rogue admitted, "we both had a pretty shitty run of it for a while – still do occasionally.  We've both been used for our powers and abilities, betrayed by people we thought we could trust," Rogue rested her chin on her knees, "and…since we've been thrown into living together in this mansion, we've been through so much together that it's impossible not to love each other after everything that's happened," Rogue admitted.

             Jared looked at her, "have…you always felt that way about him?"

             "No," Rogue looked at him, "I mean…I was attracted to him, what girl wouldn't be, like you said, he's a pretty boy…" Rogue reached down to the ground and plucked some grass out of the earth absently, "I actually hated him at first."

             Jared laughed, "You hated him?"

             Rogue smirked, "Yeah, I know, hard to believe isn't it?" she kept picking at the grass, she knew if she kept talking about Remy she would be reminded of how much she loved him, and how much she couldn't let herself be flattered that Jared seemed interested in her, "I hated him with a passion…he would do the most annoying things, follow me around, and keep making suggestions, a couple of times I even slapped him, or punched him, didn't really shut him up though," Rogue thought back fondly, "but…he grew on me…"

             "When did you realise you liked him?" Jared asked casually.

             Rogue chewed the inside of her cheek, "My…My sixteenth birthday, I guess…I got forced into going out for dinner with him – and it was what you would call a date, although I didn't want it to be, technically I'd never been on a date before…hadn't even had a boyfriend before, because of my powers…but anyway.   Remy took me out for dinner…later asked me to dance…and we were dancing," she looked into space, "and then I just…I don't know, it came over me, the music, the way he was holding onto me…and then we looked at each other, and I don't know…it was electric, like there was this charge going on between us…and I knew then.  But it wasn't until he kissed me one morning, that I knew he felt the same…"

             Jared smirked, "and you've been together ever since?"

             "No," Rogue stood up, "we've had ups and downs, been off and on, hot and cold," she sighed, "But its on for good now…its taken me so long to get this far with Remy," she looked at Jared, "I don't think I could let anyone change that," she looked at him.  "I don't want to ever let go of him again…"

             Jared looked away, his expression sullen, "I guess you need to hold onto a good thing, huh?" he asked.

             Rogue smiled a little, "Yeah.  Exactly."

             Jared looked back at her, his eyes finding hers, "how do you know its love, though, Rogue?" he asked of her, his voice had a strange emotional quiver.

             "When there are days you feel like you'd die for that person…and there comes a day you've tried to, you know it has to be love," Rogue looked to the ground, "I know it is.  Its love," she looked away from Jared, and without another word, she left him sitting under the tree on his own, and leaving herself feeling strangely melancholy.

(The End, or is it…?? Keep an eye out)