Chapter 2:
Scott sighed as he placed his hand on the handle of Jubilee's doorknob and turned it, then poked his head in the door. And blinked. There were two figures sleeping in Jubilee's narrow bed. He spotted a filmy white negligee on the floor, next to what was undoubtedly Logan's robe; and heat rushed to his face as he considered the possible implication. He didn't like the conclusion he reached. Didn't like it at all.
He retraced his steps to the kitchen, swiftly grabbed two large glasses, and filled them with the extra-cold water from the dispenser in the front of the refrigerator. Carrying them carefully as he made his way back upstairs (Jean would throw a glass of icy water on him if he spilled icy water on the plush carpeting. And she'd strip him down for it too!) he made it back to Jubilee's door without spilling a drop and pushed the door open with a toe.
As he neared the bed he noticed something odd. There was another pile of clothing and what looked like a pair of men's boots on the other side of Jubilee's bed. And those boots looked too big to be Logan's. Scott frowned, and shrugged. It didn't matter. He got up near the head of the bed, took one brief look at the two heads nestled together on the pillow, then tipped both glasses.
Remy went from deep sleep to instant wakefulness as the icy water struck him full in the face. He flung the covers back, roaring in outrage, as Jubilee, beside him, shrieked and scrambled out of her side of the bed. By the time Remy had gotten his wet bangs cleared out of his eyes Jubilee was screaming at Scott at full volume.
"What the hell are you doing in my room!?" she screamed at Scott. "Get the hell out! How dare you!?"
Scott just stared, round-eyed, and didn't say a word. Remy took in the goings-on at a glance, grinned insouciantly, and leaned back against the dresser, refusing to pick his clothes up from the floor to cover himself. Scott was carefully trying to avoid looking at Remy's nude body; he was, similarly, looking around the room to find something, anything, to look at besides the naked, angrily-spitting Jubilee. Who, Remy noticed, hadn't made a move toward her clothes either.
"I never thought you'd stoop so low!" Jubilee ranted. "Not a single one of us ever went sneaking into your room to drag you out of bed for a freakin' training session! Not that we'd want to see your little a naked either!"
"Jubilee!" Scott finally found his voice. "Watch your language! And by the way, what is Remy doing in your room? Naked?" He glared at Remy, still carefully not looking down.
Remy remembered Jubilee saying something last night about no one realizing she wasn't a little girl anymore. Scott, apparently, had the same problem that Logan had. The younger Jubilee would have been blushing and furiously embarrassed by now; the woman Jubilee had become suffered from no such feelings. This Jubilee faced Scott down, kept him off balance by remaining nude, and refused to back down to him. Remy admired her spunk…just as he also admired her posterior.
And here she went again. She spat out, "And what gives you the right to ask who is in my bed, or why? That's my own friggin' business, not yours! So get out!"
Logan grumbled as the sound of shouting echoed down the corridor. He rubbed his eyes, then identified the source of the shouting. Jubilee.
He reached across the nightstand and grabbed his boxers, and then after a moment he grabbed a t-shirt from his drawer and pulled that on before he left his room. He took his time working his way through the crowd that was gathering in front of Jubilee's open door on both sides; from the sound of it, the kid was well worked up and showing no signs of letting up. He frowned. Why was she so worked up? What did Scott do, walk in on her naked? Dump two glasses on her head? If Scott had dared to do that, he was going to have to have a little 'discussion' with Scott about how to treat Logan's little girl…
He froze. His nose had brought to his attention the smell of two men in Jubilee's room. Scott and Gumbo. Had Scott gotten Remy to drag Jubes out of bed? He was going to have a talk with Gumbo too…
The he reached the door to Jubilee's room, and saw who, and what, was going on inside, and the focus of his anger shifted. He barely noticed Scott. All he could see was Remy leaning up against Jubilee's dresser, nude, and Jubilee, standing in front of her bed, in a similar state of undress. He took a deep breath and bellowed, loud enough to drown her out, "What the friggin' hell is Gumbo doing in your friggin room, NAKED?!"
Jubilee stopped short, switched her attention from Scott to Logan. "Why the hell shouldn't he be in my room? I'm old enough to decide who I sleep with, thank you very much for not noticing I'm twenty-three now! You don't want me, so why the hell shouldn't I go find someone who does?" And she flung out a string of epithets in back-alley language that made Logan's eyes pop. He whirled, pointed to Scott, and jerked his thumb back toward the door. "You! Out!" His arm swiveled and pointed to Remy. "You. Out!"
Remy looked at Logan's face, decided that a retreat would definitely be the most prudent course of action right now, and grabbed his clothes from the floor on the other side of the bed. He pulled on his boxers and made a hasty exit, closing Jubilee's room door softly behind him. He looked at Scott, Scott looked at him, and right on cue the sound of arguing voices began again from the other side of the door. Scott said in a slightly subdued voice, "Danger Room training session in ten minutes. With or without them." And he stalked off down the hall. Bobby let out a suspicious snicker as Scott passed, and Remy saw Kitty slip a dollar bill into Bobby's hand. Scott saw it too. His spine stiffened, but he swept on past them, pretending he hadn't seen it. Remy grinned as he stopped in front of Bobby. "For or 'gainst?"
Bobby grinned and handed him three one-dollar bills. "Three said Logan wasn't gonna touch either of you. Two was for Logan to tear into Scott first; two said Scott was going to chase both of you out before he yelled at her, and one said Jubes was going to get it from Logan."
Remy narrowed his eyes. "Dere be eleven people in de mansion, Bobby."
The room door opened, and Jubilee shoved Logan out. He was almost purple with anger. He gave all of them a last glare before stomping off to his room, saving a particularly angry look for Remy, but he said nothing to the Cajun.
Bobby waited till Logan was apparently out of earshot and his bedroom door slammed before he said with a wicked smile, "And three said Jubes was going to get into it with Logan about the way he treats her, and then she was gonna throw him out of her room. Looks like she gets three." He turned to regard the closed door. "Although, I don't suppose now would be a very good time to give her the money."
"Ah, non. Definitely not, unless you want to walk away wit' somet'ing you consider precious missin'." Remy grinned wolfishly. "Here. I give it to de p'tite later." Bobby handed over the money as Jean's mindvoice filled their heads, calling for them all to report to the Danger Room.
Logan ignored the call, just as he'd ignored the whispered conversation between Bobby and Remy in the hall. He sat on his bed, running his fingers through his hair. Jubilee had told him he was an ass, and that the only reason he was upset about finding Remy in her bed was because he was jealous.
"Am not," he snarled under his breath, yanking on his pants and socks. "Gumbo ain't right for her, is all." But his ears still burned from what shed told him in response to that line of reasoning.
"And who are you to tell me who is right for me and who isn't?" she'd hissed, her blue eyes snapping sparks at him. "I am not a little girl, Logan, and the sooner you get that into your damned thick skull the better! Go think about that for a while!" And he'd blinked, and found himself standing on the other side of a closed and locked door.
What really got to him was the fact that Jubilee had treated him the same as she'd treated Scott, now that he thought about it. And that miffed him. He was the one she'd always run to when she had a disagreement with someone; he'd sorted out her problems and soothed her ruffled temper. This was the first time she'd yelled at him with the same impunity she yelled at everyone else. To her mind, at least, they were equals. And that was what he had a problem with.
"Don't care what the kid says, the next time she hollers at me I'm gonna whack her ass till it gets hot," he snarled, standing up and shoving his feet into his shoes. "I spanked her once when she was a snot-nosed brat, I'll damn well do it again."
Now why was it that the thought of Jubilee actually draped over his knee made his face flush…?
Jubilee pulled on her clothes, still simmering inside. How dare Scott just…dump water…on her and Remy's head like that? He wouldn't dream of doing that to Rogue, or Ororo, or Betsy, or Bobby…okay, maybe he would do that to Bobby, but that was Bobby, for gosh sakes. And if it had been Remy, late for training, still asleep in his own bed, Scott wouldn't have dumped water on his head.
And Logan. Yes, she was mad at Logan. How dare he just…assume? He hadn't even given her a chance to tell him nothing had happened. She'd quietly keep to herself the fact that if she'd drunk just a little less vodka something would have happened the night before, with Remy, and she wouldn't have regretted it at all. Not one single bit. When she was away at college she'd had no qualms about filling her spare time with a variety of male company, and yes, she'd slept with a couple of them. She'd carefully edited that out of the letters she sent Logan, but she still got the impression that he knew what she was up to. Especially when she'd found a box of condoms in the bottom of her suitcase after coming back from a visit at the mansion.
Hmm. He'd known about the boys at college, and never said a word. Maybe he'd object less if she went out with someone closer to her own age? That was something to think about, because, as much as she liked the Cajun, she couldn't see herself settling down with him. Heck, she couldn't see him settling down with anyone. Remy loved women. He'd had more women in his bed than she had shoes. But to tie himself down to one? She couldn't see it. He might be good for a one-night-stand, or a bed buddy, but not for a serious, long-term relationship. Her and Remy, getting married? No. Definitely not. "Euugh," she said aloud, wrinkling her nose.
A quick look at the clock beside her bed showed her it was almost ten-thirty in the morning. Her head ached, from the vodka the night before, and the rude awakening and the argument. She got dressed, in regular clothes (no need to go to training now; she was already late). Besides, even if Scott wanted to drag her down there, he would probably think long and hard about it. Given the reception he'd gotten, he probably wouldn't do it again anytime soon.
She stopped quickly in the bathroom to brush her teeth, brush her hair, and fix her makeup, then took a bottle of aspirin from the cabinet and helped herself to two of them for her headache. A stop in the kitchen produced a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice, which she wolfed down. She wasn't sure how long the others would be; maybe Scott would cut it off short because he was out of sorts this morning.
The cereal vanished, and she went up to her room to get her purse and keys, then she bounced out the door. She was really out of sorts this morning due to the lousy start; she hated feeling down, so she'd go pick herself up out of her mood with a little shopping. That always helped.