It isn't so easy. Oh, what isn't so easy you might ask? It isn't so easy to get a friggen ounce of peace and quiet in a mansion full as the moon on All Hollow's Eve! (Wait, the moon isn't always full on Halloween, right? Ah, who cares)? Anyway, yeah, you'd think that a mansion that's like eighteen bus lengths long would have one room empty for God's sake. Apparently, people didn't feel like leaving any room empty for God's sake and mine.

Remy and Rogue were in the Rec room. And when they're in the Rec room… you don't want to be in any part of it. I think many people know why, but for the little kiddies out there… well, I'll just leave that to your imagination. Beast was actually out of his lab for once sleeping on the living room couch. Hard to watch TV with his huge snores beating out any amount of sound waves coming from the television set. Besides, I didn't want to wake him up. He works so hard as it is and he deserves a little couch nap every once and again. Other rooms were occupied as well, filled with as many as two or three people or just a lone solitary person who wanted the same thing I did except they had happened to get there first. Hard competition in these parts.

So I went and tried outside of the mansion. I went to the pool, the (eighteen) gardens, the garage, the lake, etc., etc. But it was all to no avail. It seemed like every single X-man and X-woman had decided to group into two or split into one and forge their own way for the day. Which would be no problem on any other day. But today… they had to pick today of all days. I mean, couldn't they have just grouped together like they usually did and pick one location? I wanted aloneness, damnit!

Well, just my luck, eh?

Finally, I gave up. I found my way back inside the immense mansion, trudged up the wooden stairs and headed towards my room. The stairwell was empty, and just about the only place that was. Too bad I wasn't the only person who had decided to head towards my room. Two other people got there first. Two people whom I really did not feel like seeing at that moment in time. But I guess I didn't have a choice.

"Jubilee!"

"Chica!"

The steps. They seemed endless as I struggled with my heavy bag. But I went swiftly instead of slowly and raced down them quick enough. My feet seemed to zoom before my eyes. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Yeah. They had fought again. Over me.

It was just so stupid and frustrating and annoying! We were supposed to be older than that stupid stereotypical stage in our lives where their voice is changing and hair is growing in places that hair should never be. And I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand being fought over like I was a possession.

I yelled again and they stared at me like I wasn't even in the room. Like the possession couldn't even have a say in who possessed me. Ugh, I couldn't take the drama. And before they could stop me I was packing again. I don't even know what I took with me. The packing was a blur and before they could stop me, I stomped out of the room. Someone was following me, but I didn't care. I was too busy being stubborn to give a damn.

"Jube." It was Ange. Figures. He swiveled me around gently and went to take my bag.

I sniffed, fighting back the tears that threatened to make me a sobbing mess and held my bag tighter to my chest. "Do you understand what you just did?" I bit my lip, and as much as I didn't want the next words to come out as a sob, they did anyway. "Why, Ange? Why'd you have to go and ruin the one thing that wasn't slipping away?" I paused, looked at him for a moment and then spit out harsh words. "Do you really hate me that much? Do you really want me to be unhappy for the rest of my life?"

"Jubilee, I never said that! All I said was I wanted you. Because I love you and he couldn't possible love you as much as I do."

"Did you ever stop and think that just for a moment that I… I don't want you? And did you maybe stop and realize that if you love someone you set him or her free? If you really loved me and if you really cared about our relationship you'd want me to be happy. But you don't, Angelo! All you care about is yourself and because of that I'm leaving. And Bobby won't love me. Because he won't get the chance to love me." I dropped my luggage and leaned closer. "And guess what… you won't get a chance to love me either. So just as long as your happy, Ange. 'Cause that's all that matters anymore!" I picked up my bag and swiveled around violently. I continued down more steps, possibly more quickly than my first flight. As I reached the door, walked through and closed it, the world seemed to stop. I set down my bag and sat as well. I was waiting for my cab, but at the same time, I wasn't.

My heart was hammering and I had just been through what seemed like a week in about an hour and a half. I had been in the 'get ready, go' position and then suddenly it felt like the world was at a stand still. I sat there, gazing at the green leaves that would so suddenly turn orange or red or yellow in about a week's time. Sometimes things seem so constant and then they're suddenly ripped away. And they never come back the same. Nothing ever stays the same.

And even though time seemed like it was stopped, I still felt like I had just been there, ya know? It felt like I had just stood there with my suitcase and contemplated whether to knock on that big wooden door or not. It felt like Jean's bosom had just suffocated me. It felt like Bobby had just –

Bobby.

I slumped, my back going from straight to curved in a matter of moments. I cradled my head in my hands and just tried to stop thinking. I looked up and around and down trying to just think about the weather. Because thinking of anything else just made me want to cry.

It was then when I heard the door open. I assumed it was Ange right away and didn't say anything, but only slumped further down. "Someone once told me that sitting like that stunts growth." I looked up, shocked as anything to see Bobby. Yes, Bobby Drake standing before me. He smiled at me gently and stood there. I didn't stand, nor did I reply. There was no helping it now, because I was leaving and he couldn't change that. And I couldn't help but be just a little bit bitter about it.

"You don't have to go Jubilee."

"Oh, but I do, Bobby. I love both of you, sure in different ways, but it's love all the same. And I won't stand it for two people I love to fight over me like I'm a possession. As much as I dislike Ange right now, he's the only best friend I have left in this world. And as much as I don't dislike you right now, I can't stay and chose you over Angelo."

I could see my cab start to appear from somewhere down the long driveway and I got up. I stood face to face with Bobby. Well, not face-to-face since he was a bit taller than me, but you get the idea. I took my hand and held it in front of his face. (No, I wasn't gonna strangle him.) I took my hand and starting at his forehead and well… I traced his face.

You might think it a little strange, but it felt right and I wanted to remember his face. I hadn't remembered packing pictures. At least I think I hadn't remembered.

So with my eyes were closed, I began to feel his eyebrows, his eyes and eyelashes, his nose, his cheeks, his sideburns, his chin, and lastly his mouth. When I opened my eyes, he was standing there with his eyes closed as well. I closed my eyes in return and he reached forward the same as I had and started opposite where I had started. Even though he had started at my chin and up, he also left my mouth last.

When I opened my eyes, my taxi was in front of the steps and waiting. "Ma'am," the driver called. "You ready to leave?"

"Just a sec," I hollered back. Before I picked up my elephant of a luggage, I leaned forward and kissed Bobby for what seemed like was going to be the last time. It was a home-run kind of kiss. Hands on the face, hands in the hair, no breath for as long as possible. Our noses seemed to just miss each other and our mouths just seemed to mold together.

I let go first, grabbed my suitcase, handed it to the driver, and we drove off.

I didn't look back. Not once.