Chapter 3: New Acquaintance

This was not a normal day, Jubilee grumbled to herself as she stomped out of yet another clothing shop. Nothing was going right. She'd only found one thing she really liked so far, and the store hadn't had it in her size. She growled as she walked back out into the mall's thoroughfare.

She spent a little while just walking, looking around, and watching the people who were walking by. She was trying to decide what she wanted to do; leave here and go window-shopping somewhere else, or try to find something to do here…when she saw an ad in a nearby shop window for a new CD from her new favorite band, Evanescence. Smiling to herself, she walked into the music store.

She read the song titles from the back of the CD, searching for the one she'd been hearing on the radio but hadn't purchased yet, but not knowing the name of the song made it difficult to identify the one she wanted from the list of others. Finally she wandered to the 'preview' station, squeezed her way around a tall blond boy, picked up a set of headphones and punched the button with the band's name on it. The preview station immediately started playing short one-minute clips from the new CD, and, to her delight, she heard the song she was trying to find over the headphones.

She took the headphones off, turned to leave the preview station and head back for the display, and ran directly into the tall blond guy she'd had to duck around to get to the preview station. She flushed pink. "Oh, geez, I'm sorry," she said, re-settling her purse strap on her shoulder and starting to bend to retrieve the small bag with her new earrings in it.

"Oh, it's all right," said a smooth tenor voice with tones that played an arpeggio on her spine. "Here, let me get that." He crouched, picked up her little bag, and then looked up at her as he handed her the bag.

Jubilee found herself drowning in his eyes. They were a green-flecked brown, and the seemed to change with every slight movement of his head. "I-i-it's my fault," she finally stammered out, blushing furiously. "I'm a little clumsy, I guess."

"Oh, not at all," said that wonderful voice. "I was in the way. I am most sincerely sorry. I hope whatever this is isn't broken." He peeked into the bag, then reached in and took out the earrings, examining them carefully.

Jubilee supposed that she should be objecting to this guy opening her bag and looking in with impunity, but when he lifted his head, pinned her with his hazel eyes, and smiled at her, she couldn't find it in her to get upset. "They are beautiful," he said warmly. "A beautiful pair of earrings for a beautiful girl."

"Oh, gosh," Jubilee felt her cheeks getting warm again. "Uh…thanks. Really." She ducked around him and headed for the new CD's, feeling like she was thirteen with her first crush. Shaking her head at herself, she reached for the CD she wanted, tried to compose herself by looking at a couple of others, then chose another one and headed for the cashier.

She was waiting in line when a voice spoke right by her ear. 'This is the one thing I don't like about this store," the voice complained. "The line's always too long." Jubilee turned and met the laughing eyes of the guy she'd collided with.

"Isn't it, though? I've often thought the same myself." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, leaned back on one hip, and smiled at him. "You like Amy Lee too?" she asked, indicating the CD he held. He looked at the disc in his hand, then at the one in hers, and laughed. The sound made Jubilee want to melt at the knees.

"Yes, I listen to her too," he said. "She's got an amazing voice." He smiled as he saw the other disc she held. "Is he any good?"

Jubilee looked down. "Toby Keith? I don't know, really, I was buying it for a friend."

"Your boyfriend?"

Jubilee laughed at that one. "He's male, yes, and a friend, but no, he's not my boyfriend." Well, it was the truth; Remy wasn't her boyfriend. Bed buddy, maybe, given the events of the morning, but not a boyfriend. "I'm sort of in between relationships right now."

"Well, that's good," the guy said cheerfully. "So there's nobody in my way if I want to ask you out?"

Jubilee looked up at him and grinned. "Before we go out, might be nice if I knew your name first," she said.

"You don't know who I am?" the boy looked startled. Jubilee frowned.

"Should I have recognized you already? I don't think I've met you before. I'd remember your eyes if I had." She batted her eyelashes in mock flirtation.

The guy threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, that's a new one. I haven't heard that one before. Congratulations, you've just won a prize for saying a pickup line Christian Daniels hasn't heard yet."

Jubilee smiled. "So you're Christian Daniels, the new governor's son," she said. "I recognize the name, although I have to say I hadn't seen your picture. I don't watch the news often." She broke off her conversation as the woman in line in front of her left with her purchase and Jubilee stepped up to the counter. The cahier asked in a bored tone, "Cash or credit?"

"It'll be credit," Christian said from behind Jubilee, putting his CD on the counter beside Jubilee's two and fishing his wallet out of his back pocket. "And it'll be together." Jubilee stared at him.

"What's wrong?" Christian grinned at her. "Have I suddenly grown horns?"

"You…just bought my CD's for me…" Jubilee fumbled in her purse for her wallet, but Christian's hand on her arm stopped her.

"Don't worry about it," he said genially. "Consider it a gift. I don't mind. Really."

Jubilee blushed as the cashier handed her the bag with all three CD's in it. Christian took it from her. "Let me carry that for you," he said. "And let me offer you your prize."

"What prize?" she smiled at him. Really, it was hard not to, with the way he was smiling back at her.

"You won a prize for 'most original pick up line'," he said. "And your prize is a lunch at any place you want. On me." He gestured to the mall. "Doesn't even have to be here. Anywhere you like in the city."

"Christian!" Jubilee said, shocked.

"Hmm?" he turned to her, and his eyes were sparkling. "Is it my fault I don't like mall food?"

Jubilee stopped walking and crossed her arms. 'Do you do this with every girl you meet?"

"Nope. Just the special ones," he said, watching her.

"What makes me so special?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. You just are. I actually think I'm pretty lucky to meet a girl as pretty as you who doesn't have a boyfriend already. 'Course, I'd also like to know your name."

Jubilee looked at him for a while, then held out a hand. "Jubilation Lee."

He took her hand, but instead of shaking it, as she expected, he took it and pressed it to his lips. "My pleasure, mademoiselle." He spoke with a heavy French accent, and Jubilee giggled. He grinned as they started walking again. "Was that funny? I did study French abroad for a year."

"No, no, it's not that," Jubilee grinned. "The friend I bought the CD for came from Louisiana, and I guess I'm used to hearing his Cajun accent rather than pure French." His accent was actually passable.

Christian grinned. "Lot of difference from Louisiana bayou French and Parisian French," he said. "So where would you like to eat?"

Jubilee shrugged. "I don't know. McDonald's, I guess. I hadn't thought about it."

"Oh. McDonald's." Christian waved a dismissive hand. "How about I pick?"

"All right," Jubilee said. "So where are we going, Monsieur Daniels?" At his look, she smiled, "Well, I didn't grow up around a Cajun without picking up some of the words," she told him.

"He's your father?" Christian asked.

Jubilee giggled at the thought of Remy being anyone's father. "No, he's just…a friend. I live with an extended group of friends just outside town. They're kind of a surrogate family, although we all come from so many different places it's hard to believe we all get along sometimes."

"Sounds interesting," Christian said as he paused by the front doors leading out of the mall. "Come on. I got a taste for the Kiss Café just down the road. It's a short hop in my car." He saw her look. "Don't worry, I'll bring you back here to pick up your car later. What do you say?"

Jubilee smiled. "All right." She took his hand and smiled as they walked out of the mall.

The Kiss Café was a popular hangout in Westchester for romantic couples. Jubilee knew Scott and Jean went there frequently, and Remy took girls there so often the wait staff had a table reserved for him; but Jubilee had never gone there herself. Since she'd come back, she'd basically hung out with Logan and he was more into 'Rex's' and tough bars like that one than he was into little romantic places like Kiss.

Because Scott and Jean went there so often, and liked it, Jubilee was expecting to find a cutesy little restaurant with cutesy decorations and couples looking at each other moon-eyed over sundaes with two straws. She was pleasantly surprised, then, to find an open, airy little restaurant, with tasteful white, dusty rose, and cornflower blue decorations. There were tables set against the walls that had partitions against the seats, to give whoever was sitting in the seats a sense of privacy without separating them entirely from the rest of the restaurant, a touch which Jubilee could see a couple appreciating. The open area to one side held regular cafeteria- tables where singles could sit down and strike up a friendly conversation with a complete stranger and still feel comfortable; and there was even a small area of floor surrounded by a low railing where couples could dance to the vintage- jukebox in the corner.

Christian led her over to one of the screened corner tables, and Jubilee sat down. She was still looking around and staring when the waitress brought over glasses of water and a couple of menus; Christian took them, smiled at the young lady, and then looked at Jubilee, amused. "You've never been here before?"

Jubilee returned her eyes to the young man sitting in front of her. "Actually, no," she admitted. "Some of the others have, and quite frequently too, but I've never come here." She added, with a trace of bitterness in her voice, "Logan never brought me here."

Christian reached forward to capture her hand in his. "Well, I guess that's why Fate made us collide back in the music store," he said, smiling that smile at her, the one that made her knees go weak. "So I could show you some of the things you're missing." He handed her the menu. 'See if you see anything you like on there."

Jubilee eventually settled on the quarter-pound bacon cheeseburger and fries and coleslaw, with Coke on the side. Christian ordered a filet mignon topped with mushroom gravy and a crab cake on the side. Jubilee stared at it when it came. He obviously had a healthy appetite.

The portions were a good size. Jubilee found herself full after she finished the burger, and sat there nibbling her fries and coleslaw as she watched Christian tuck away the food on his plate. He finally sat up, wiped his mouth, and looked amused at what was left on hers. "Couldn't finish it all?" he asked, his eyes twinkling.

"The portions are…very generous," Jubilee grinned. He laughed.

"Generous is an understatement. It's almost indecent here. I always feel like I've gained a few pounds when I walk out." He smiled. "I'm actually surprised you got through the whole burger."

Jubilee grinned and tossed a fry at him, playfully. "Are you saying you don't think I can eat?" she teased.

Christian grabbed the fry and tossed it back at her. "Hell, no. I'm just glad you have a healthy appetite. The last girl I brought here ate one of the salads, and not even the whole thing. And she was skinny as a rail, and always carping on how much weight she'd gained or lost. Finally she dumped me. Only then did I find out that she was anorexic." He looked at Jubilee. "You don't have any neuroses like that, do you?" he asked worriedly.

Jubilee had to laugh at that. "No, I have no problems. The only problem I have is with the other people I live with not being able to see I'm grown up!"

"I meant to ask you about that," Christian sipped his soda. "What kind of place do you live in, with that many people?"

Jubilee fumbled for an explanation. "It's a boarding school," she said. At his look she giggled at him. "Oh, stop that. I don't study there any more, I just live there. After my parents died I went to like a lot of foster homes until I finally wound up on the streets. I saved Logan's…my surrogate father's…life one day, and he sort of took me in after that, and brought me to the school. The teachers all live on the school grounds." She sipped her soda and picked up another fry. "I went back after I finished college last spring, and I guess…I've just been hanging around. The place feels like home. The only problem is, everybody remembers me at thirteen, and they can't see that I'm twenty-three now, and all grown up." She made a face. "It's still 'Jubilee, do this' and 'Jubilee, do that', and lately I've been wondering if I should just move out and find a place here in the city." She sighed.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," Christian said seriously. "I've been thinking about doing that myself. I mean, it's great living in the governor's mansion and all, but it's kind of restrictive, having Dad's bodyguards and all that stuff around me. I want to strike out on my own."

"That's exactly the way I feel," Jubilee said. And then, as if bent on ruining her good mood, her cell phone rang. She took it out of her purse and looked at the screen. "It's home," she grumbled as she shoved it back into her purse. "I guess I really should be going."

Christian stood as she stood, left the money on the table to pay for their lunch, and opened the door for her as they left the restaurant. He also opened her door for her as she got in and they drove back to the mall where she had left her car. "Thank you, Christian,' Jubilee said as she got out. "I've had a wonderful afternoon."

"Me too," Christian said. 'Want to repeat it soon?"

Jubilee smiled. "Why, Mr. Daniels. Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Let's put it this way. Are there any other romantic spots in the city you would like me to introduce you to?"

Jubilee laughed. "When?"

Christian thought. "Well, how about tomorrow night? We could go for a movie, and dinner. I want to see the new vampire flick, or we could go see a chick flick if you like."

Jubilee laughed. "No, the vamp flick will be fine. I saw the previews, and it looked more exciting than scary. I can sit through that."

"All right. Movie, and then dinner…where would you like to go?"

Jubilee smiled, a slow one that curved the corners of her mouth upwards. "Surprise me."

"Okay. I can do that. Pick you up at seven, then?"

Jubilee rummaged in her purse for a pen and a piece of paper, and scribbled her name and the mansion's address and number on it "Give me a call. And there's the address." He took it with a smile, and handed her the bag with her CD's in it. She took it with a smile and got into her car.

Logan stumped in through the back door, and his eyes narrowed suspiciously as he saw Jubilee, in her pajamas, sitting at the table with a bowl of rocky road ice cream in front of her. What surprised him was the fact that she wasn't eating it; she was staring into space and smiling to herself, a dreamy, pleased sort of smile. "Jubes? You okay?"

"Uh-huh."

"Ice cream okay?"

"Uh-huh."

He narrowed his eyes. "Scott said you better not be late for training tomorrow morning."

"Uh-huh."

"He also said he better not find Remy in your bed when he wakes you up."

"Uh-huh."

"I'll wallop your ass if I find him in your bed tomorrow."

"Uh-huh."

Logan threw his hands into the air and stomped off to bed.