I sat behind the counter a few days later. Reading one of the new comics in
stock, the store was pretty much empty, just a couple regulars sifting
through the racks. The boys were cleaning up in the back and Marty had gone
to get us Slurpee's.
I glanced around the store again, grinning at the fact that I could set this whole place on fire whenever I wanted. I chuckled to myself.
"Everything okay out here?" Mike said as he poked his head out of the backroom. I smiled at him.
Mike was a great kid, he was around my age, a bit older I think. He was always super nice to me...even when I hadn't had my coffee for the day. Like Bobby I had learned to survive on coffee, without it I was a bitter and horrible person.
"Perfect." I said. He came out to make sure anyway. "I say perfect an' you don' believe me? Dis ain't a proper friendship mon amis." I said pretending to be heartbroken. Mike laughed at me and pushed me lightly.
"You're a goof." He said grinning at me. His teeth were incredibly white. That was the one thing I could always count on, he had really good teeth. His fashion sense was a completely different matter.
"Oui, oui." I couldn't argue with that one. When you've been living with Bobby for as long as I had been, you start to act more and more immature...not that it's a bad thing.
"So...what're you doing tonight?" Mike asked sitting on the counter in front of me. I was about to respond when the phone rang. This was odd. The phone never rang.
"Marvelous Fiction, Kale speaking." I said into the receiver, it sounded pretty professional considering I'd never picked up the phone before.
"Kale! Guess what?" Bobby said on the other side of the phone. I smiled, leave it to Bobby to phone me at work for no good reason.
"What?" I asked ignoring the strange looks I got from Mike. I covered the bottom of the phone. "It's Bobby." He nodded and went back into the backroom. I'm not sure why, but Mike never really got along with Bobby, it made no sense.
"I found all of my photo albums!" Bobby said excitedly. He sounded like a six-year-old on Christmas morning. But when didn't Bobby sound like that? I swear that man was a child in disguise...it was one of my many theories.
"Dey were propping up the couch." I said with a grin on my face. I laughed at the silence that followed. I would've bet my life that he'd spent the day looking for them.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked in the most exasperated voice I'd ever heard, which made me laugh even harder.
"I didn't know you were lookin' for dem!" I said in my own defense. Sometimes he thought I was telepathic or something, even though I constantly reminded him I wasn't. "I'm not telepathic y'know!"
"That's cool then, anyway, you have to come home now so you can see all my friends!" He said and waited for me to agree...or something. I checked my watch, I still had another hour left in my shift. I hated working until 5; it was the worst shift ever.
"I'm working!" I said making sure to emphasize the word work. "Speaking of which, why aren't you at work?" Bobby worked nine to five helping underprivileged children learn to read. He really was a great guy.
"I called in sick!" Bobby said happily and then hung up the phone. And then again sometimes he wasn't such a great guy. He'd obviously gotten into the sugar again. And I thought I'd hidden it so well this time.
I went back to my comic book, waiting for Mike to come back out. I was pretty sure that he'd asked me something a moment ago before Bobby called but I couldn't remember what. But he was in the backroom, doing god knows what.
As I was contemplating this Marty walked in and passed me my Slurpee. Marty was a great boss, huge bald guy who was obsessed with comics. He kind of reminded me of the comic book guy from the Simpson's. Only not as fat...or paranoid.
"Hey Marty, any chance dat I could go home now?" I asked in my nicest little girl voice. Marty smiled down at me.
"Sure sweetheart, and you can come in early tomorrow! Have fun!" he said. He was a smart bald man...a very smart bald man...damn him. I grabbed my bag and walked out the front doors, walking slowly down the street to the bus stop. I leant against the pole and checked my watch, the bus would be arriving soon.
Ever since Bobby found out that I wasn't old enough to ride the motorcycle (Which took him quite a while) I was banned from doing so. Which left me with my trusty bus pass.
I boarded the 6A and sat down near the back. I never fully understood why everyone liked the back of the bus best. It really didn't make any difference. I pulled my headphones from the bag and pulled them on, turning the tape player to radio.
I caught the final lines of Picture by Kid Rock and my heart broke in two. For some reason beyond my control I missed Papa more than anything in the world these days. And no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that I didn't care about him anymore it didn't change the fact that I did care about him. And the more that I told myself that he was a liar the more I wanted to forgive him and go home.
Home...I laughed bitterly at that word. What was my home? The place where I was happy with someone that I trusted...or the place that was filled with so many lies I doubt that they could recognize the truth? I sighed and ran my hand through my hair...I was getting a headache and I knew I couldn't stop it in time.
I pulled the cord and the bus stopped in front of the apartment that I called home...there was that word again. I walked up to the door and used my key, because for some reason Bobby had locked the door. He never ceased to amaze me, everyday he did something totally unexpected. It was fun living in his world.
"Bobby?" I yelled through the apartment then listened for an answer. When I heard the shower running I sighed and went to dump my stuff in my room. Throwing my bag on the bed I ran my hands through my hair, which was getting far too long for my liking.
I walked back out into the living room and sat on the couch, pulling one of the albums onto my lap. I opened the cover and saw a bunch of baby pictures. I assumed that the blonde blue eyed baby was a little Bobby and laughed at the perplexed expression on his face. I was all too familiar with that face.
Like when I had convinced him to help me cook supper for Nancy one night. I'd told him to whisk the ingredients and had received that exact face.
"Hey kid when did you get home?" Bobby asked as he came out in his boxer shorts. I laughed.
"A few minutes ago." I said. Bobby came and sat down beside me taking the photo album off of my lap.
"This is NOT the right photo album." He said and a blush rose into his cheeks. "But here look through this one, it's much more entertaining I promise! I'm going to order some pizza."
We lived on pizza. Pizza, coffee and sleep; those were the only three things that Bobby and I needed in life. Other than each other...or at least that's what I was convincing myself to believe.
I sighed and flipped open the other photo album. I looked down at the picture and my heart stopped. I mean it literally skipped about 8 beats. This wasn't right, Bobby didn't know the Professor. He couldn't. Bobby came back into the room, I put on a fake smile and hoped that he wouldn't notice my hands were trembling.
"Who's this?" I asked pointing to the bald man in the wheelchair that had helped raise me. Bobby flopped down next to me and smiled.
"That's Professor Charles Xavier. He runs this school for mutants; I used to work there. He's also the head of this team called the X-men who fight bad mutants and stuff; I was on that team too. He's a really cool guy, you'll get to meet him when we go down there." Bobby rambled. I only caught every other word but it was still enough for the panic to rise inside me.
No, no, no, NO! This wasn't happening! It wasn't! I wouldn't allow it! Why did God all of a sudden hate me?
"Go down where mon amis?" I asked trying to stay calm, it wasn't working very well, but then again Bobby wasn't all that good at noticing things, so I was safe for the time being.
"Remember!" Bobby whined. "You said you'd come with me down to the reunion thing!"
I thought back and couldn't remember if I agreed to accompany him or not so I decided to take his word for it. The realization of everything hit me all at once; everyone would be there. EVERYONE. This could be horrible...but in the back of my mind I knew that I desperately wanted to go home. I pushed my mushy feelings to the back of my mind and tried to forget them.
They lied! I chanted to myself. I didn't need them I was fine without them. Wasn't I?
"I don' feel so good..." I said feigning fatigue. I wandered to my room and sat on my bed. Not surprisingly Bobby followed me into my room. HE pressed his hand to my forehead and pretended that he could feel a difference in temperature when we both knew that he couldn't.
"Are you okay? I could call a doctor or something!" he said. I shook my head, I didn't want to know who he would call, I already had an idea and it wasn't one that sat well in my stomach. "Okay, I'll call you when the pizza gets here, Nancy's coming over later too. We were going to watch Moulin Rouge..."
I forgot all about Moulin Rouge night. Every Friday night was Moulin Rouge night, we all sang at the top of our lungs completely off key. It was the best night of the week. Our neighbors hated it.
"I jus need t' sleep for a bit." I said and let my head hit the pillow. I had a huge headache, probably caused by my over thinking every single thing. Bobby left quietly and shut my door behind him.
I shut my eyes and tried to forget everything, but my mind didn't want to do that, instead it brought back all my old memories. Tears flooded my eyes as I remembered all the good times that I had shared with Papa.
What was I doing here?
Then it all came back to me. Everything I had seen when I had touched Rouge's hand. Snapshots of the past in rapid succession.
Years of longing...the need for contact driving them insane. Finally a kiss. A single kiss to make their world go straight to Hell. Papa's childhood memories that haunted my dreams...more memories of his adult years before the X-men.
Someone interrupting their lives...someone to make them see things that they needed to see...only they didn't, they turned a blind eye.
A second kiss, one more controlled, but never the less destructive.
The cold...snow everywhere, and Papa sitting alone...abandoned.
A jewel...more beautiful than anything in the entire world, given up for something that Papa longed to have more than anything. Followed by a short reunion of sorts. But feelings of shame were woven through everything.
Then something...strangling, taking away any chance they had left.
A bright light...a warm, soft, inviting light and the pain of it being torn away. Then the darkness came.
Leaving the mansion...then me. Running through the streets of New Orleans with Papa on my heels, then being stopped. A large man...an old friend saying something about a prophecy and then throwing a book at my feet. I opened it and something happened...something big happened.
Then she left. She ran all the way to a familiar place...too familiar. Tears in the eyes of a mother and a welcome from another. A true test of loyalty failed.
"Randomly my ass..." I muttered to myself. As I tried to close my eyes again I say something else...a snapshot that had been forgotten or overlooked.
A drive...two friends...my mother...Bobby.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******************************** A/N: Review. That is all I have to say. Review...because if I don't get any reviews than I figure no ones reading it and then I stop writing it...so Review.
I glanced around the store again, grinning at the fact that I could set this whole place on fire whenever I wanted. I chuckled to myself.
"Everything okay out here?" Mike said as he poked his head out of the backroom. I smiled at him.
Mike was a great kid, he was around my age, a bit older I think. He was always super nice to me...even when I hadn't had my coffee for the day. Like Bobby I had learned to survive on coffee, without it I was a bitter and horrible person.
"Perfect." I said. He came out to make sure anyway. "I say perfect an' you don' believe me? Dis ain't a proper friendship mon amis." I said pretending to be heartbroken. Mike laughed at me and pushed me lightly.
"You're a goof." He said grinning at me. His teeth were incredibly white. That was the one thing I could always count on, he had really good teeth. His fashion sense was a completely different matter.
"Oui, oui." I couldn't argue with that one. When you've been living with Bobby for as long as I had been, you start to act more and more immature...not that it's a bad thing.
"So...what're you doing tonight?" Mike asked sitting on the counter in front of me. I was about to respond when the phone rang. This was odd. The phone never rang.
"Marvelous Fiction, Kale speaking." I said into the receiver, it sounded pretty professional considering I'd never picked up the phone before.
"Kale! Guess what?" Bobby said on the other side of the phone. I smiled, leave it to Bobby to phone me at work for no good reason.
"What?" I asked ignoring the strange looks I got from Mike. I covered the bottom of the phone. "It's Bobby." He nodded and went back into the backroom. I'm not sure why, but Mike never really got along with Bobby, it made no sense.
"I found all of my photo albums!" Bobby said excitedly. He sounded like a six-year-old on Christmas morning. But when didn't Bobby sound like that? I swear that man was a child in disguise...it was one of my many theories.
"Dey were propping up the couch." I said with a grin on my face. I laughed at the silence that followed. I would've bet my life that he'd spent the day looking for them.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked in the most exasperated voice I'd ever heard, which made me laugh even harder.
"I didn't know you were lookin' for dem!" I said in my own defense. Sometimes he thought I was telepathic or something, even though I constantly reminded him I wasn't. "I'm not telepathic y'know!"
"That's cool then, anyway, you have to come home now so you can see all my friends!" He said and waited for me to agree...or something. I checked my watch, I still had another hour left in my shift. I hated working until 5; it was the worst shift ever.
"I'm working!" I said making sure to emphasize the word work. "Speaking of which, why aren't you at work?" Bobby worked nine to five helping underprivileged children learn to read. He really was a great guy.
"I called in sick!" Bobby said happily and then hung up the phone. And then again sometimes he wasn't such a great guy. He'd obviously gotten into the sugar again. And I thought I'd hidden it so well this time.
I went back to my comic book, waiting for Mike to come back out. I was pretty sure that he'd asked me something a moment ago before Bobby called but I couldn't remember what. But he was in the backroom, doing god knows what.
As I was contemplating this Marty walked in and passed me my Slurpee. Marty was a great boss, huge bald guy who was obsessed with comics. He kind of reminded me of the comic book guy from the Simpson's. Only not as fat...or paranoid.
"Hey Marty, any chance dat I could go home now?" I asked in my nicest little girl voice. Marty smiled down at me.
"Sure sweetheart, and you can come in early tomorrow! Have fun!" he said. He was a smart bald man...a very smart bald man...damn him. I grabbed my bag and walked out the front doors, walking slowly down the street to the bus stop. I leant against the pole and checked my watch, the bus would be arriving soon.
Ever since Bobby found out that I wasn't old enough to ride the motorcycle (Which took him quite a while) I was banned from doing so. Which left me with my trusty bus pass.
I boarded the 6A and sat down near the back. I never fully understood why everyone liked the back of the bus best. It really didn't make any difference. I pulled my headphones from the bag and pulled them on, turning the tape player to radio.
I caught the final lines of Picture by Kid Rock and my heart broke in two. For some reason beyond my control I missed Papa more than anything in the world these days. And no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that I didn't care about him anymore it didn't change the fact that I did care about him. And the more that I told myself that he was a liar the more I wanted to forgive him and go home.
Home...I laughed bitterly at that word. What was my home? The place where I was happy with someone that I trusted...or the place that was filled with so many lies I doubt that they could recognize the truth? I sighed and ran my hand through my hair...I was getting a headache and I knew I couldn't stop it in time.
I pulled the cord and the bus stopped in front of the apartment that I called home...there was that word again. I walked up to the door and used my key, because for some reason Bobby had locked the door. He never ceased to amaze me, everyday he did something totally unexpected. It was fun living in his world.
"Bobby?" I yelled through the apartment then listened for an answer. When I heard the shower running I sighed and went to dump my stuff in my room. Throwing my bag on the bed I ran my hands through my hair, which was getting far too long for my liking.
I walked back out into the living room and sat on the couch, pulling one of the albums onto my lap. I opened the cover and saw a bunch of baby pictures. I assumed that the blonde blue eyed baby was a little Bobby and laughed at the perplexed expression on his face. I was all too familiar with that face.
Like when I had convinced him to help me cook supper for Nancy one night. I'd told him to whisk the ingredients and had received that exact face.
"Hey kid when did you get home?" Bobby asked as he came out in his boxer shorts. I laughed.
"A few minutes ago." I said. Bobby came and sat down beside me taking the photo album off of my lap.
"This is NOT the right photo album." He said and a blush rose into his cheeks. "But here look through this one, it's much more entertaining I promise! I'm going to order some pizza."
We lived on pizza. Pizza, coffee and sleep; those were the only three things that Bobby and I needed in life. Other than each other...or at least that's what I was convincing myself to believe.
I sighed and flipped open the other photo album. I looked down at the picture and my heart stopped. I mean it literally skipped about 8 beats. This wasn't right, Bobby didn't know the Professor. He couldn't. Bobby came back into the room, I put on a fake smile and hoped that he wouldn't notice my hands were trembling.
"Who's this?" I asked pointing to the bald man in the wheelchair that had helped raise me. Bobby flopped down next to me and smiled.
"That's Professor Charles Xavier. He runs this school for mutants; I used to work there. He's also the head of this team called the X-men who fight bad mutants and stuff; I was on that team too. He's a really cool guy, you'll get to meet him when we go down there." Bobby rambled. I only caught every other word but it was still enough for the panic to rise inside me.
No, no, no, NO! This wasn't happening! It wasn't! I wouldn't allow it! Why did God all of a sudden hate me?
"Go down where mon amis?" I asked trying to stay calm, it wasn't working very well, but then again Bobby wasn't all that good at noticing things, so I was safe for the time being.
"Remember!" Bobby whined. "You said you'd come with me down to the reunion thing!"
I thought back and couldn't remember if I agreed to accompany him or not so I decided to take his word for it. The realization of everything hit me all at once; everyone would be there. EVERYONE. This could be horrible...but in the back of my mind I knew that I desperately wanted to go home. I pushed my mushy feelings to the back of my mind and tried to forget them.
They lied! I chanted to myself. I didn't need them I was fine without them. Wasn't I?
"I don' feel so good..." I said feigning fatigue. I wandered to my room and sat on my bed. Not surprisingly Bobby followed me into my room. HE pressed his hand to my forehead and pretended that he could feel a difference in temperature when we both knew that he couldn't.
"Are you okay? I could call a doctor or something!" he said. I shook my head, I didn't want to know who he would call, I already had an idea and it wasn't one that sat well in my stomach. "Okay, I'll call you when the pizza gets here, Nancy's coming over later too. We were going to watch Moulin Rouge..."
I forgot all about Moulin Rouge night. Every Friday night was Moulin Rouge night, we all sang at the top of our lungs completely off key. It was the best night of the week. Our neighbors hated it.
"I jus need t' sleep for a bit." I said and let my head hit the pillow. I had a huge headache, probably caused by my over thinking every single thing. Bobby left quietly and shut my door behind him.
I shut my eyes and tried to forget everything, but my mind didn't want to do that, instead it brought back all my old memories. Tears flooded my eyes as I remembered all the good times that I had shared with Papa.
What was I doing here?
Then it all came back to me. Everything I had seen when I had touched Rouge's hand. Snapshots of the past in rapid succession.
Years of longing...the need for contact driving them insane. Finally a kiss. A single kiss to make their world go straight to Hell. Papa's childhood memories that haunted my dreams...more memories of his adult years before the X-men.
Someone interrupting their lives...someone to make them see things that they needed to see...only they didn't, they turned a blind eye.
A second kiss, one more controlled, but never the less destructive.
The cold...snow everywhere, and Papa sitting alone...abandoned.
A jewel...more beautiful than anything in the entire world, given up for something that Papa longed to have more than anything. Followed by a short reunion of sorts. But feelings of shame were woven through everything.
Then something...strangling, taking away any chance they had left.
A bright light...a warm, soft, inviting light and the pain of it being torn away. Then the darkness came.
Leaving the mansion...then me. Running through the streets of New Orleans with Papa on my heels, then being stopped. A large man...an old friend saying something about a prophecy and then throwing a book at my feet. I opened it and something happened...something big happened.
Then she left. She ran all the way to a familiar place...too familiar. Tears in the eyes of a mother and a welcome from another. A true test of loyalty failed.
"Randomly my ass..." I muttered to myself. As I tried to close my eyes again I say something else...a snapshot that had been forgotten or overlooked.
A drive...two friends...my mother...Bobby.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******************************** A/N: Review. That is all I have to say. Review...because if I don't get any reviews than I figure no ones reading it and then I stop writing it...so Review.