Title: Chocolate
Disclaimer: Not mine… sad but true…
I decided to write another Jott story because I'm in a mood of celebrating! I just got back from Singapore last night to collect my Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'O' Level results, and guess what! I got eight A1 and two A2! Muahahaha! (I just want to boast). Oww, sorry, I better start with the story before one of you give me a slap… So, here it is!
Scott was having his lunch when Jean strolled into the kitchen. Unaware of her presence, he continued making a cup of coffee for himself until he felt a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. Turning around, he found himself looking down on the most beautiful set of green eyes.
"Hi, Jean." He said and laid a kiss on her cheek.
"Hi yourself, handsome," and she kissed him back. "Why are you having your lunch now? It's already… 3pm."
"I was busy with grading papers. Didn't realise it was past lunch time." He smiled.
"Don't make it a habit, I don't want my boyfriend to be sick," she said as she watched him eat. Her thought seemed to be thinking of something else. "Scott what do you think of spending the whole day of tomorrow, just the two of us?"
"How? With the students running around the mansion?"
"No, the Professor will be away for a week for a meeting in Washington. Logan and Ororo are taking the students somewhere—it was Logan's idea. He said something about an excursion to the zoo. I don't know how he managed to get Ororo included but, anyway, what do you think?" she asked hopefully.
"I don't know, Jean. I'm very busy nowadays. There are lots of things need to be done. Since the students won't be around, I think I'd like to finish up on the things I keep putting off."
"What?" Jean asked in disbelieve. Her boyfriend actually preferred spending the day with tasks rather than be with her. "But Scott, does it have to be tomorrow? We haven't had any time for ourselves lately. I think it will be great for us to be spend time together. Just the two of us," she pleaded. Hoping that he would change his mind.
"I don't know, Jean. Why don't we talk about this later? I've got a class to teach in about 10 minutes. I promise I'll make it up to you. Maybe next…" he tried thinking of a suitable day. "Well, when I'm not too busy."
"But Scott, you're always too busy! Why—" Jean took deep breath before she continued, "okay, fine. I understand. We can always do this on other day." Jean started to walk off but Scott managed to grab her wrist gently.
"Jean, please don't be mad. I'm really sorry, but I've got responsibilities here. I promise I will make it up to you, please?" he pleaded.
"Yeah, sure. I understand."
"So we are okay, right?"
"Of course," she gave him a forced smile. "Why shouldn't we?"
"Okay, thanks. I gotta go to my class now. See you later." He gave her a quick kiss and headed to the classroom.
Jean dragged her feet to the infirmary. She was really upset and angry too, that Scott couldn't even spare some time to be with her. She couldn't even remember when the last time they had a moment to themselves was. Now that the time had come, Scott ruined her plan by choosing to work all day.
She hated it when he started talking about his responsibilities to the Professor or to the school. She knew the Professor meant a lot to him and Scott regarded him as his own father, but couldn't he just spare a thought for his girlfriend? Someone whom he loved more than life itself—at least that was what he told her.
As she entered the infirmary and put on the lab coat, her eyes landed on the photo frame standing on her desk. It was a picture of Scott and her sitting on his motorcycle. The picture was taken a year ago when Professor Xavier had ordered him to take a week off the school duty and spent sometime alone with Jean.
Sometimes she wondered if he really loved her or not. Scott wasn't good at all at showing his emotions—even to Jean. The first time Jean met him, he had been a cynical and unapproachable boy. And Jean got the impression that Scott hated her, so she always tried to stay away from him. But there was something that attracted her to him. It was as if she already knew him even before they met. It wasn't until Jean knew about his past that she felt a rush of emotions running through her. She felt pity for the boy he was then and felt proud for the man he had became.
They had been together for about 3 years and Scott had learned to open up to her. But for the past year, she and Scott had spent very little time together. School work and the X-Men were taking too much of their time. His job and duty as the leader of the X-Men always came first.
Pushing aside those thoughts Jean tried to concentrate on her work. Perhaps it could take her mind off him for a while.
Jean avoided him for the rest of the day. When they had their dinner, she didn't say a word to him except if he asked her some questions.
After dinner, Scott continued to work on his papers and Jean went to the room they shared. She didn't feel like working so she decided that a relaxing hot bath might improve her mood.
11pm and Scott still hadn't come to their room. For a moment, she thought of going to his office and seduced him to come to bed with her, but then the idea was quickly replaced by their afternoon 'talk'. She decided to wait for another 10 minutes and if he still hadn't come, then to hell with him.
It was already midnight when Scott entered their room. Jean immediately closed her eyes when she heard his footsteps.
"Jean? Are you still awake?" Scott whispered to her.
She heard him clearly but was too mad to answer, so she pretended to be asleep.
"Jean?"
No answer. Thinking that she was fast asleep, Scott carefully walked to the bathroom, took a quick shower then joined her in bed. Jean's back was facing him so he wrapped his arms around her and fell asleep, inhaling the sweet smell of her body.
As the morning came around, Jean slowly came to notice that the warmth around her was gone. She turned around and found that the other side of the bed was empty and cold. Scott must have woken up long ago. Since she couldn't fall asleep anymore, she walked to the bathroom and then maybe looked for Scott. Hopefully he would want to change his mind.
An hour later, she found him in the garage working on his bike. She could never understand why Scott paid so much attention to that piece of metals. If they said women are hard to fathom, well… men are worse. He handled his bike as if it was made of glass and that it would fall apart at the slightest touch.
She walked away disappointedly. If he's working on his precious bike, not even an earthquake could drag him away from that junk.
She thought of asking Ororo out but then remembered that she was away with Logan. She cursed herself for forgetting to tag along them. It would be better that staying alone in the mansion with nothing to do.
Jean made her way to the garden when from the corner of her eyes, she saw Scott, on his bike, was speeding away.
Where is he going to? Jean thought. "Hey, Scott!" she shouted but he didn't hear her. He was too far away. Jean tried to use her telepathy but she couldn't get through to him. He blocked her… Damn it! What is wrong with him! First he rejected my idea of spending some time with me, and now he went out by himself without telling me! She tried to contact him again through their bond but couldn't reach him. Scott was the only person she knew, who could block her from entering his mind.
Why is he blocking me? Is he hiding something behind my back? Or is he meeting with some woman? Ugh… no that was silly. Scott wasn't that type of guy. But then what's up with the attitude? The questions kept on coming to her and it annoyed her.
Some kilometers away from the Xavier's Institute for the Gifted, Scott was standing in front of a bakery shop.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for Jane. Is she here?" Scott asked the lady who was sitting by the counter.
"Jane isn't here at the moment," she replied.
"Do you happen to know when I can see her?" he asked frantically.
"I'm not so sure of that," she paused slightly. "Are you Scott?"
"Yes, I am."
"Jane mentioned about you before. Here, she left this for you." She turned around and handed him a small package. "I'm sure she will be thrilled."
A smile came across his face as he received the package. "Thank you, Miss." Scott placed the package carefully in his jacket's pocket and quickly made his way home. He knew Jean saw him going out and from the look on her face; he's in for a BIG trouble.
He entered the mansion through the back door since he didn't want to face Jean, at least not now. He knew how her temper very well and it would be best to stay away from her until she's calmed down.
Scott gave himself 30 minutes to prepare his 'meeting' with Jean. He went to the infirmary to look for her but she wasn't there, neither were their bedroom, hall and the kitchen. He tried to use their bond but this time, it was Jean who blocked him. He walked back to the garage and through the window, he saw her sitting on a bench at the garden. Damn, why didn't I look for her there…
He moved stealthily and then hugged her from behind. Jean was surprised from the touch. Realising who it was she quickly pushed him away. "Go away, Scott!" Jean said angrily. Apparently all those questions had been drilled into her brain.
"What's wrong Jean?" he asked innocently when he clearly knew the reason of her anger.
"You know damn well why! Yesterday I asked you about spending time with me and you refused! Now you went out by yourself, leaving me behind and told me that you're busy!" she stared at him angrily. Her eyes were puffy and red. And there seemed to be traces of tears on her cheeks. Scott knew she was really mad at him but never did he expect that she would cry.
"I-I'm sorry, Jean. I didn't meant to—"
"Save your apologies, Summers! It's over! I can't stand be with a man who are being so distant from me! If you're sick of this relationship, then say it to face! But don't treat me like this!" she yelled at him as fresh tears started to welled up. "I'm not asking you to marry me! I know you're not ready yet. All I wanted was spending some time alone with you… and you couldn't even do it for me. Then what's the use of this relationship!"
"I can understand that your duties to the school and the X-Men will always come first, but I couldn't take any more of this." She rubbed away the tears from her face and looked straight at him. "Goodbye, Scott."
"Jean, wait! Let me explain!" he turned her around so that he could face her but she tried to struggle free. "Please listen to me! I didn't mean to hurt you like this. This is not what I had in mind."
"Not what you had in mind? So were you expecting to see me waiting for you all day? Forget it, Summers!"
"Jean, I'm sorry if I hurt you all this while, but I promise I won't do it again. Don't leave me, please…"
Jean sighed heavily, "I don't know if I can do this anymore, Scott. You're always busy and it seems to me that you're drifting away from me…"
Afraid that she would go away, he wrapped his strong arms around her and embraced her tightly. Surprisingly, she laid her head on his chest. "I promise you it won't happen again," he paused and released her from his embrace and then he took out the package from his pocket.
"Here," he smiled weakly. "I got something for you." He handed her a small rectangular box he got from the cake shop.
"Are you trying to bribe me?" she cautiously as she opened the box. "A chocolate?" Jean looked up at him in, puzzled. "You're trying to bribe me with a chocolate?"
"Try it, you may like it." If only she wasn't too upset, she would have noticed the mischievous tone in Scott's voice.
The chocolate was fashioned in a form of a gift box. She picked it up and to her amazement the lid could be opened, revealing a white gold ring with a big diamond in the center and the small ones clustering around it.
"Oh, Scott…" she gasped. "I…"
"Oh, God, Jean. Please say something. You can say 'yes' or 'no' or 'get lost, you jerk!'. But don't just keep quiet, you're driving me insane!" Scott pleaded.
"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Yes! Yes! And Yes!" Her anger was long gone when she saw the ring. It was totally unexpected.
"Yes?" Scott asked, smiling mischievously.
"Yes, Scott!" she said once more and kissed him.
After a long passionate kiss, Scott put his forehead against hers and whispered, "I love you." He looked into her eyes and his expression quickly changed when he saw her crying. "J-Jean… I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?"
"Shhh… don't say another word. You didn't say anything wrong… I just—I'm sorry, Scott. I have wronged you," she sobbed. "Forgive me, I was—"
He placed a finger on her lips and said, "No, Jean. I'm sorry. I should have known that I was being a jerk all this while and ignoring you. Will you forgive me?"
"Only if you do," she replied.
"Thank you, Jean." He pulled her to him and led her to the garage. "Come on. I've been working on my bike and now I'm bringing you somewhere."
Jean shot him a confused look, "You planned this, didn't you?"
"Actually… yes. I was planning to give the ring to you later, but 'unexpected' thing happened, so I gotta save the day. And as for the excursion," he grinned. "It was my suggestion. But it was Logan's idea to bring them to the zoo, so I asked Ororo to go along in case something happened."
"What?" Jean asked, not believing what she just heard. "You planned all of this?"
"Yeah, I know that I've been very busy and how you're dying to spend time outside the school. So when I heard that the Professor will be away, I asked for their help." He explained. "And one more thing, you are never second, Jean. Ever. You'll always be the first thing in my life. I'll never stop loving you."
"I know."
"You know?" he frowned. "Considering the fact that you almost dumped me just now?"
"Because," she said, "I wanted it so badly to be true, and you've always given me everything I wanted. I couldn't believe you wouldn't do it just one more time. Just once more."
He couldn't find a single word to reply to her, instead he kissed her softly and sent his love through their bond. A rush of emotions ran through her as she tried to hold back the tears.
"You know, if you keep on kissing me like this, we will never make it to the garage. Instead you will end up laying on the grass, with clothes all over the place." Scott said, breaking their kiss.
"And guess what?" she grinned. "I don't mind at all." And she deepened their kiss.
THE END
I hope you like this story. I thought of it when I was on the plane, so… please leave a review after you read it. Oh, and the idea of placing the ring inside the chocolate, actually came from a movie—which I can't remember what the title was.