Chapter 2: Party
Jean tsked and looked disapprovingly at Jubilee the next morning, but they were all too busy getting ready for the Halloween party that night for her to say anything. Directly after breakfast, Jubilee and Logan went back upstairs to check out each other's costumes. That was where Remy found them when he came in later that morning.
Remy knocked on Logan and Jubilee's door. "Hey, you guys in dere?" he said when there was no answer. He pressed his ear against the door, could swear that he heard a giggle, and knocked again. "Jubes? Logan?"
The door flew open at his third knock, and he was greeted by the sight of Jubilee in a Japanese kimono. Logan was dressed in the male version, and both were flushed and laughing. Remy grinned. "Halloween costumes?" he raised an eyebrow.
Jubilee grinned. "Yeah, I'm trying to find something that fits," she said. "The stuff I used to wear doesn't fit anymore." She bounced over to him. "What's this?" she tugged at the packet he held in his hand.
"Got those pictures developed, p'tite," he said. "Thought Logan might wan' see what dat dress look like before Sabretooth happen to it."
Logan took the picture as Jubilee looked through the rest of the packet. "Hey, Remy! Isn't this Elise, your dancer girlfriend?"
"Mmm-hmm." Jubilee studied the picture.
"She's awfully pretty, Remy. And good lord, I didn't know that could be done with the human body!" She showed Logan the picture, which was of a slim Asian girl doing splits, dressed in the ubiquitous black leotard and pink tights of a dancer. What Jubilee was looking at was the way the girl had bent her upper body backwards and grabbed her rear ankle with her hands. Logan blinked, looked pained.
"Hurts jus' lookin' at it." He looked back down at the picture he held in his hand. It had been taken in the garage, from the looks of the background, and a slender beautiful woman dressed in a rich wine velvet dress smiled back from the photo. "Jubes…you look beautiful. I'm so sorry the dress got ruined. An' I'm sorry I missed it." He kissed her as she nuzzled his neck, and asked Remy, "You min' if I keep this?"
"Not at all, go ahead," Remy said, not mentioning that he'd gotten double prints and had a duplicate tucked away with the rest of his souvenirs.
Jubilee stuffed the rest of the pictures back in the envelope and handed it back to him. "So what are you wearing? And are you going to bring Elise to the party?"
Xavier had informed the mansion's residents that they were free to throw a Halloween party, and usually they were allowed to bring dates with them. Remy had asked Elise if she would come, but she'd declined regretfully, saying there was a performance that evening and she wouldn't be able to attend. He'd pouted a little, but she'd been firm, and he'd sighed as he left her. Being a dancer was hard, time-consuming work. When she wasn't with him, she was rehearsing, in class, or practicing. She was dedicated to her dancing. He admired her devotion but sometimes wished she had a little more time to spend with him.
"Non, de p'tite can' t make it," he said regretfully. "She have a performance tonight. Remy got a costume for her, but she not goin' to be dere. What Remy wearin' gon' be a s'prise, p'tite, so don' ask."
After he'd gone Jubilee sat down on the bed and opened the kimono to reveal the costume she'd actually been wearing before Remy had knocked. Logan looked at her, and had to suppress his urges again, because she was wearing a man's white button-up shirt and a pleated gray and red plaid skirt. The skirt was very short indeed, and there was a pair of frilly white lace knickers to go underneath. As long as she stayed upright, nothing would show, but the minute she bent over…he swallowed. "Jubes, please don' wear that ta the party," he said desperately.
Her eyes twinkled as she looked at him. "Why not?" she asked innocently.
The little tease. She knew why. Logan contemplated her position sitting on the end of the bed; she was close…he could grab her and turn her over his knee and show her what little schoolgirls got for being bad…
She looked at the wicked glint in his eye and shifted on the bed, taking herself and her backside out of his reach. He rolled his eyes and gave up that idea. "No, Jubes, please, really," he said. "I don' want Bobby or Remy ta be seein' everythin' I got."
Jubilee kissed him. "I wouldn't do that to you," she said. He kissed her back, feeling relieved. Not that he thought she would actually wear something that revealing, but with Jubilee's unpredictability, you sort of never knew.
She folded the kimono and put it back in its tissue-lined box, took off the little-girl outfit, and dressed in her regular clothes. "I'm gonna go see what Jean's wearing," she said, and skipped off.
Jean was alone in the bedroom when Jubilee came in. She gave the younger girl a reproachful look and pouted. "Scott's all out of sorts this morning from last night," she said. "Did you and Logan have to pick that particular way to annoy him?"
Jubilee collapsed on the bed, laughing. Jean stood over her, hands on her hips, trying to look stern and failing because her lips kept twitching upward in a smile. Jubilee tried to get herself back under control, but only succeeded in making herself laugh harder as she saw Jean trying to look stern. Finally Jean broke and sat down on the bed beside her as they both laughed.
Jubilee clutched her sides. Last night, when Scott and Jean had started making noises again, she and Logan had started making their own noises, in a parody of the couple in the other room. They'd been deliberately loud enough so Scott and Jean could hear it. Jubilee remembered rolling over in bed and muffling her laughter in the pillow as the bed shook from Logan's laughter beside her. The noises from Scott and Jean's room had ceased, and a moment later there had come a thump at the wall right beside Jubilee's head. Scott, in his annoyance, had thrown something at the wall.
Jubilee wiped her streaming eyes as she sat up. "So what was it that Scott threw?" she giggled.
Jean sat up too. "I had a book on my bedside table," she chuckled. "Scott threw it at the wall right where your head would have been if you and Logan were actually physically involved at just that moment."
"You knew?" Jubilee said.
"Jubilee, I'm a telepath. It's almost impossible to get things like that by me," Jean said dryly. "But I didn't tell Scott. He woke up this morning grumpy, and stomped off to the kitchen. He's all right, he'll come out of it." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "So did you get a costume for our little surprise tonight?"
Jubilee nodded. "I found this cute little schoolgirl outfit in a shop in the village," she said. "It's got a very short skirt. Logan got a glimpse of it; tried to make me promise not to wear it to the party." She grinned. "We all know how well I follow orders, huh?" She reached for the box Jean was pulling out from under the bed. "What did you get?"
Jean opened the box and pulled out a shiny black suit. "Found this slinky Catwoman costume," she said. "It's even got a whip with it. Scott hasn't seen this: I'm going to surprise him."
Jean's bedroom door opened, and Rogue and Betsy entered, both carrying boxes similar to Jean's. "We got ours," Rogue whispered excitedly, flipping open the lid on hers. Inside was what seemed to Jubilee like layers and layers of filmy, sheer colored scarves in jade green, teal blue, bright scarlet, and butter yellow. "A harem costume," Rogue said. "It covers everything, so there won't be any accidents if we brush up against each other on the table, but the scarves are filmy enough that there's not a whole lot left to the imagination." She turned to Betsy. "What did you get?"
The purple-haired exotic looking Asian woman opened her box. Jubilee nearly cracked up when she saw a leather warrior-woman's outfit. "I saw that at the same shop I got my costume from!" she blinked. "The shopkeeper said it had already been rented!"
"It had," Betsy said. "I called and had it reserved for me. I'd been looking at it for the last month, but I didn't know if I should get it until I found out if Charles had okayed the party or not." She pursed her lips. "I received an Email this morning from Domino and Lorna. Nate and Alex will be attending, and Moira also. She'll be coming from Muir Island. I told all the girls about our little surprise for the guys and they said they'd love to participate, too." Her eyes twinkled. "Moira's wearing her lab coat and not much else under it; and Domino's going to look like a panther, complete with a cat tail on her suit. Lorna hasn't said what she'll wear yet; she just said she was going to participate."
"Do you not think you are a bit old to be indulging in such tricks?" said a voice, and they all turned to see Ororo standing in the doorway to Jean's room looking disapproving.
Jubilee grinned. "Nope." She giggled a bit, then added, "Come on, Storm, life's too short. We're all friends, we all know who's off-limits, and as long as we're all having fun, who really cares? Not to mention what the guys are all going to be thinking when we all appear up there." She winked slyly. "So have you reconsidered? Forge would love to see you up there with us, you know."
"Indeed," the former African goddess said, looking remote and dignified, "I am sure they would, but he will have to be left to wonder. I will not disgrace myself dancing on a table with the rest of you." She turned an walked out, closing the door behind her, her back stiff.
There was silence for a while, after she left, as the four women considered that. Rogue broke the silence. "Party pooper," she said cheerfully. And with that the dam broke, and the giggles and chatter went on.
* * *
The big dining hall at Xavier's was brightly lit, and creepy Halloween type music mixed with a little rock and roll blared from the speakers Scott and Hank had placed at strategic intervals all around the hall. The long table had been pushed up against the far wall and was groaning form the loads of food that weighed it down. A devilishly-carved jack o' lantern sat in the center of the table glaring lopsidedly at anyone who dared to sneak a taste of the refreshments before Havok, Polaris, Moira McTaggert, Cable, and Domino arrived.
Xavier looked around, dressed in a stiffly starched black suit and a wig over his bald head that simulated Lurch, the butler form the Addams family. In the center of the room, the women were overseeing the placement of a table with a good deal of whispering and giggling. Scott was clearly annoyed. "Jean, why is this here? We don't really need a second table, all the refreshments fit on the dining table. I wanted to put a speaker there!"
Jean grinned, and Xavier picked up a wave of anticipation and delight from her. "It's got to be here, Scott, this is the only place where you can see the whole room!" Scott was about to protest again, but Xavier spoke to him telepathically. Let them be, Scott. They are planning something, and Jean believes you will like it. I must admit to a certain curiosity as well, so let us bear with them.
Scott grumbled as he connected another long piece of speaker wire to the subwoofer he was setting up. Whatever it is, they've been planning this for a week, he thought as he ran it out to another speaker. I hope it's good, whatever it is.
Finally everything was set up, the decorations were hung, and the X-Men were beginning to drift off to their rooms to dress when the front doorbell rang. Storm, dressed in flowing white layers of a sheer fabric that made her look like a walking fogbank, answered it, to see their five guests standing on the step. She welcomed them in, pursing her lips disapprovingly as Moira, Domino, and Lorna rushed past her to get to Jean's room. Scott followed them, only to be refused entry when he tried to enter. There was a great deal of giggling and low voices in his and Jean's bedroom, and he wanted to know what was going on, but when he tried to probe Jean's mind, he ran into a wall. More puzzled than ever, he retreated to the bathroom to dress.
Promptly at six o'clock, all the X-Men and their guests had congregated again in the dining hall. Scott looked suspiciously at Jean when she came in. She was dressed in a Renaissance-type gown, with a hem all the way down to the floor and sleeves past her elbows. It wasn't particularly pretty. His gaze sharpened when he noticed all the rest of the girls were wearing costumes similarly concealing. Jubilee was dressed in a Japanese kimono that covered practically everything and made her look shapeless. Rogue was even dressed as a ghost, wearing only a white sheet over her head with holes cut into it for her head and hands.
He caught his brother over by the refreshment table. "Alex, have you noticed anything strange about the girls' costumes?" he said. Alex nearly choked on the glass of punch he was holding and pointed to the black-robed figure of Polaris standing by Jean.
"Strange? You want to talk about strange? Look at Lorna! She's wearing one of those nun's habits, and believe me, Lorna is no nun!"
Jean peeked around the side of the towering hat she was wearing as part of her Renaissance costume and giggled. "Don't look now, Lor, but Alex and Scott are looking at us like we've taken leave of our senses!" Lorna sneaked a peek, and giggled too as she tugged at the wimple of her headdress. "So when do we get up there?" she giggled.
Jean looked across the floor to Hank, who nodded amiably at her. "Hank's going to turn out the lights when the theme song from Jaws starts," she said. "They're going to be out for about two minutes. You have to get out of your outfit and get on top of the table in the dark. I suggested to everyone else that we all get as close as possible to the table before the lights go out, so there won't be any trouble. Think you can do that?"
Lorna nodded as the song currently playing ended and she and Jean drifted over to the other women standing by the empty table in the pause between songs. As the speakers began to blast out the haunting, thumping beat of the Jaws theme song, the lights flicked out.
Scott was totally unprepared for it when it happened, and spun wildly for a moment until he realized that this must have been planned. The music continued to thump, which it wouldn't have if the electric really had gone out. Apparently the others had figured out the same as well, because there were no cries of startlemnt, or panic. He stood in the dark, waiting patiently, then sighed in relief as the lights began to come up, ever so slowly. It went up only about halfway, then a single bright spotlight came up, illuminating the table Jean had tugged into place earlier, and the seven women standing on top of it. His jaw hit the floor. Even though he couldn't see it, the rest of the men in the room were reacting in similar ways. The song stopped, to be replaced moments later by the opening bars of Ac/Dc's "All Night Long."
He stared as Jean began to gyrate to the song, dressed in that slinky black Catwoman's outfit. So this was what she'd been hiding under that long shapeless gown! The Catwoman outfit was a vast improvement over the Renaissance gown, which he saw in a heap on the floor. It made his blood heat up, and a flush rise to his face. He cursed himself silently for having chosen a Spider-Man costume (no offense to Peter Parker intended) because a certain part of his anatomy was rising toward that gyrating figure on the table.
A touch at his elbow made him turn reluctantly, and he saw Hank standing there holding a huge bowl of candy. "Sweets for the sweet," Hank said, and Scott suddenly realized what the girls were up to. Table dancing like a stripper in a strip club, but instead of money, they were dancing for candy! It was a clever way to trick-or-treat among themselves, as the nearest house was too far away to actually go there. He tossed a handful of Hershey's kisses at Jean, who laughed and spun, kicking up her heels.
The other men quickly figured it out. When Jean jumped off the table and telekinetically cleared it of all her sweet 'currency', leaving it clear for Rogue to take her place in a whirl and flash of many-colored scarves and fabric, Remy was right there in front of her, tossing miniature Hershey bars at her. Then Betsy stepped up, wearing a costume that reminded Scott of Xena from the TV show. Warren was right in front of her, throwing her kisses and candy, and then, as she knelt there on stage to thank her, he slipped a twenty in her hand. She looked at it as if she didn't know what to do with it, and then pocketed it as Jean swept the table clear for Jubilee.
Logan's heart stopped as Jubilee's favorite song 'Start Me Up" from the Rolling Stones began to play, and he squeezed his eyes shut. It was bad enough that she'd put the costume on here when she'd promised him she wasn't going to, but to have her up there, dancing…he averted his eyes as Warren, flushed and grinning with Betsy on his arm, poked him. "Logan, aren't you going to 'reward' her?" he kidded, before walking off toward the stairs…no doubt to do something about the rising libido beginning to swirl around the room. Logan risked another glance up…to see Bobby, who had apparently decided that if Logan wasn't going to reward her, he was, began to toss candy at her. She wasn't even looking at him; all her attention was focused on Logan. She was swaying sensuously, but to his surprise didn't spin, or kick up her heels, or any of the other things the others had done. She scooped up a lollipop from the table, unwrapped it, and began to lick it slowly.
Logan, you're embarrassing her! Jean hissed angrily into his mind. He folded his arms and leaned resolutely against the refreshment table.
So what, he thought angrily. She's embarrassing herself, getting up there and making a scene, showing off her body.
Jean's mindvoice was furious. Damn your hide, Logan! You made her promise not to 'show off everything that's yours' when you saw the costume! Look at her! She isn't! She hasn't bent over, no one's seen under that skirt, she's kept her end of the bargain, so the least you can do is join in the spirit of the fun! Logan hesitated just a fraction of a second more, then turned to the table to grab a handful of Hershey's kisses and toss them on the table. But he was too late.
Jubilee had seen the enthusiastic whoops the others got, and figured she'd get as much from Logan. She took her place at the end of the table and began to dance as the song she'd selected started. Wrapped up in what she was doing, she didn't notice Logan wasn't there until she looked down and saw an empty table. She looked up in disbelief and saw him leaning back against the refreshment table, his jaw set in an unpleasant frown.
She didn't understand; she was keeping her promise; no one was going to see the lacy briefs under the skirt, so why was he upset? She popped a lollipop into her mouth and began to suck it, hoping she could get a rise out of him. She saw the quick, furious look he gave her, and stopped short, feeling a rush of embarrassment run through her. Then she saw him turn away from the stage, and her resolve broke. She slid off the table and ran for the stairs, tears filling her eyes so that she almost tripped on the bottom step.
Logan's heart nearly stopped again as he saw her run from the room. A quick glance around showed him that almost everyone was looking at him like he was some kind of criminal; dirty looks pinned him down all the way around the room. Even Xavier looked disappointed in him. But worst of all was the hurt, wounded look Jubilee'd given him as she raced out of the hall.
Jean sighed in anger and exasperation. GO AFTER HER, YOU IDIOT! She shouted at Logan telepathically, 'loud' enough to be mentally overheard by almost everyone else in the room. He started for the stairs, moving before he'd even realized he was moving; due, he thought as he looked back, to Jean's telekinetic push. He climbed the steps two at a time, and reached their room. He knocked softly, then pushed the door open.
Jubilee was lying under the bedcovers, her shoulders shaking with sobs. The costume lay in a heap in the wastebasket in the corner. He stared at her, feeling the hurt and anguish pouring off her, and felt his own eyes fill with tears. "Jubes, I'm sorry," he said gently.
She sat up and threw herself at him. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "I'm sorry I did that, I didn't know you'd be mad at me, I thought that if I just stayed upright and didn't bend or anything that I wouldn't be breaking my promise to you and you'd enjoy it. I'm sorry!" and she burst into a fresh spate of tears.
"No, Jubes, I'm sorry," he said, taking her shoulders and tilting her so that she looked directly into his eyes. "I'm sorry I hesitated. I'm sorry I embarrassed ya. Jean had to shout at me before I realized you hadn't broken yer promise. By the time I grabbed a handful o' those chocolates ya like, you'd already gone. I'm sorry," he said.
Jubilee laid her head against him, feeling the quiet beat of his heart. "I'd never break my promise to you, Logan," she said, sniffling away the last of the tears. "I should have warned you. I'll do that next time. It's just…me and the others…we got so carried away trying to keep it a secret. We wanted it to be a surprise, a fun surprise. Was it?" she said, turning a hopeful face up to him.
He took her hand and tucked it into his lap, and she grinned as she felt his obvious approval. "Let's see what I can do about that," she grinned, beginning to remove his costume.
Much later, they lay in bed, listening to the sounds coming from downstairs. "Think we should go rejoin the party?" Jubilee asked him lazily.
"Nah," he answered her. "Too comfortable here." They drifted off to sleep.