Mary slipped her head out the door to check if the coast was clear. Pleased to see all was quiet in the hallway, she stepped out of her room and started down the hall. She had planned on telling another student that she was leaving for 'Amanda's', just not her sister. She walked past a mirror in the hallway and paused to smooth out her clothing. She was wearing a black camisole underneath a sheer camouflage top, with her dark blue jeans with rips in the knees, and her favorite converses. She had her army jacket in her arms, knowing full well that autumn weather was turning nippier day by day. She figured tonight it would be pretty cold in the park that her long sleeves wouldn't keep her warm.
Mary made her way down the stairs and passed the recroom, where Bobby and Ray were playing a game of pool. She leaned against the doorframe and shouted to them above the music and clacking of balls. "Hey, Bobby? I'm going out with a friend tonight, can you pass along the message if anyone asks?" She asked of him.
"Sure thing!" He agreed happily as Ray scratched due to the sudden interruption.
"DUDE!" He yelled angrily as the balls positioned themselves to give Bobby a clear shot. "Thanks, Mary." He sighed as Bobby took his pool stick and aimed.
"Yeah, thanks Mary!" Bobby repeated cheerfully as he sunk the shot. Mary gave Ray an apologetic glance and made her way quickly out the door.
She stepped out the door and shivered in the twilight breeze that was flowing softly through Bayville. Slipping on her jacket, she made her way for Bayville High to meet Pietro. Mary felt a pang of remorse along the way. She had never been a fan of lying to her friends… but she knew it was the only way she'd be able to go out with him alone. Until she was able to convince them all that Pietro was sweeter than they thought, this would be the only way to meet him.
She walked up to the front doors of Bayville High and looked around. Pietro wasn't here yet, and she was starting to get cold. Shivering, she sat down underneath a tree to wait. Mary didn't have to wait long; seconds later, a jeep was heard peeling through the parking lot and skidded to a stop in front of her. The passenger window rolled down and Pietro stuck his head out. "Lance lent me his jeep so we wouldn't have to walk in the cold." He explained as Mary neared the vehicle cautiously. "And I found the roof cover for it in the closet, so yeah… it's pretty warm in here. You look like you're freezing! Come on, get in." He offered as he reached over and opened the door for her. Smiling, she accepted the offer and hopped in the toasty car.
"My Gawd, it's cold." She said, her teeth clattering together.
"How long were you waiting?" He asked, trying to sound sympathetic.
"Not too long… but I walked remember?" She pointed out, rubbing her hands together. Pietro made a bold move and grabbed her covered hands in his.
"You're freezing." He said obviously, her hands like ice in his. He squeezed them tightly and moved them over the vent that was blowing out warm air. Pietro felt her tense up upon contact, but she soon relaxed and seemed content in his grasp. He smiled to himself and released them, returning his hands to the wheel and putting the car in gear. "You might wanna hold on… I like to go fast." He warned her as he gunned it, the engine roared and soon they sped out of the parking lot and down the street.
&&&&
Pietro and Mary lay on blankets provided by the park as they watched the movies in the film festival. Pietro found it quite boring, but forced his expressions to feign interest. Mary, on the other hand, had gotten quite drawn into all the symbolism in a few of the films. "Enjoying yourself?" He chuckled to her. She nodded, and blushed a bit from her eagerness. "Good." He smiled, scooting closer to her so their legs were barely touching.
The sudden contact startled Mary, and she looked at their proximity. A part of her wanted to yelp and scoot away, but the other part of her wanted to move closer. She missed contact like this; sure her sister would hold her hand or touch her face every so often, but this kind of touching was different. It was… It gave her a warm and pleasant feeling, while the other touch from her sister just seemed to keep her content. She shoved away the feeling that told her that she was putting him in danger; they were both covered well… nothing would happen.
Before long, Pietro had gotten even closer, and Mary didn't seem to mind. After about an hour, she even put up enough courage to lay her head on his shoulder. It wasn't an attempt to make herself seem too infatuated, she was just tired… Exhausted pretty much. He smiled to himself as Mary began to nod off on his shoulder. If tonight worked out properly, he would have her in Magneto's hands before morning. He could easily subdue her in this state, either by taking her off guard with an attack, or slipping something in her drink. He mulled over the best way to restrain her for a few moments, but was jerked out of his thoughts by a cell phone. His hand automatically went to his pocket, thinking that it was Magneto. He had been surprised to see that his phone had still worked even though he had hurled it at the wall a few days ago.
Mary was startled by the noise as well, and realized it was her cell ringing. She checked the caller ID and saw it was Tabitha. "Tabitha? What?" She asked upon answering. There was a muffled reply, and though Pietro couldn't hear it totally, it sounded urgent.
"You're two freaking hours late for curfew." Tabitha chastised on the line.
"I'm WHAT?" Mary demanded.
"Check the clock, everyone's still up to, so there's gonna be a good chance that they realize you're gone." The blonde explained. Mary put her head down and scowled.
"Is everything Ok?" Pietro asked, trying to listen in as indiscreetly as possible.
There was a pause on the phone, and Mary didn't know if she had lost her signal of if Tabitha had hung up. She was about to shut her phone when the blonde spoke up again. "Mary, who's that?" She asked suspiciously.
"Umm," Mary couldn't lie. Tabitha probably already assumed it was Pietro anyway, and if she lied that would open up another big can of worms she didn't have time to deal with at the moment. "Its… Pietro." She mumbled.
"Shame on you. SHAME." Tabitha giggled. "Look, we'll talk about it when you get home, Ok? Just get your ass back here pronto." She demanded. Mary hung up the phone and looked to Pietro.
"I… gotta go. I'm over curfew and if I'm found out it's not gonna be pretty." She explained, rising.
"What do they do to you if you break curfew? Flog you?" Pietro snickered, standing as well and dusting off his pants.
"No… not normally," Mary grinned. "But… but they don't know I went out with you. If they find out that I broke curfew with a Brotherhood boy, Logan would kill me." She explained. Pietro perked a brow.
"So… maybe there's a better way to get the runt to father." He plotted quickly. He didn't have time to work out the details just yet; he needed to get her home. "Well… we don't want that. Ok, come on I'll take you home." He offered as they started for the car. Once they were a few miles down the road, the car had warmed considerably, and Mary had taken off her jacket. She tossed it in the back to get it out of her way, and Pietro smiled. "That's all I needed." He smirked to himself.
He let her out at the front gates, and she opened the car door. "Can you get in or do you need me to rush you in?" He asked as he hopped out as well. Mary stopped short of punching in the code to get in.
"If people are still up, someone will notice the gates opening on security…" She said to herself. "I don't have any idea how I'm going to get in… Tabitha never explained that part of sneaking in." She explained dejectedly as she looked at the mansion.
"I can get you in." Pietro offered proudly. Mary perked her brow, and Pietro held out his hand. "Come on… you've ridden with me before." He reminded.
"Yeah, and it scared the hell outta me." She pointed out.
"This is a much shorter trip though." He defended. She sighed, and hesitantly took his hand in hers. He gathered her up into his arms and charged the fence line. Mary was sure impact was imminent, and she yelped. She was shocked to find though, that they were running up the wall. "Shh… you don't want to alert anything." He ordered her as they sped through the backyard. He was about to ask which window was hers, for he didn't want to arouse suspicion in the younger girl, when he saw Tabitha standing out on the balcony staring towards the road for signs of Mary no doubt.
Picking up more speed, he dashed towards the wall and sped up it as well. He finally stopped once they had reached the balcony, and set Mary down. The two-tone nearly collapsed from the sudden stop, but Tabitha had caught her.
"Whoa babe!" She exclaimed as Mary fell into her. "Where'd you come-" She didn't finish the sentence as she noticed Pietro. "Pietro… didn't know you delivered." She laughed.
"Yeah…well… she needed a way in. You may want to explain how to sneak in next time." He laughed painfully, wanting to die of embarrassment of doing something nice in front of Tabitha Smith.
"Will do, but you may want to leave before you're caught." She warned.
The teen nodded, and he took Mary's gloved and hand squeezed it. "Night, Mary. I'll see you later." He winked as he kissed the black leather and sped away. "Bleh… tastes like X-Men. I need mouthwash." He thought to himself as he hopped into Lance's jeep and sped back home.
"Ooh lala." Tabitha snickered, as Mary stood there shell-shocked. After a moment, Tabitha jerked her inside. "Ok, so… you're home. Good thing Rogue or Logan didn't find out you were missing." She thanked God for that one. "Now, I'm supposed to be a good role model and tell you what you did was wrong. I'm supposed to tell you that lying is bad, and so is sneaking out with your archenemy. I'm supposed to tell Logan I knew where you were…" She began, and Mary's eyes grew wide with fear. "But, since I don't really care about what I'm supposed to do, I'm not gonna do any of that." She finished.
"But seriously, babe." She added, her tone stern. "You can't lie to your sister. You need to talk to her about Pietro… if you wanna keep seeing him. Don't sneak around the problem, face it head-on and get something accomplished." She told Mary as she pointed a finger in your face. "Cause… one day you're gonna get caught. We all are at one point in time." She wasn't going to elaborate on the consequences. She knew that Mary knew they weren't going to be pretty. Mary nodded in understanding and made her way to her closet to change.
"Good girl… now, I'm gonna go down and watch a movie in the recroom with whoever's down there. You wanna come?" Tabitha invited.
"Nah… I think I'll get to bed…" Mary replied from inside her closet. Tabitha shrugged and headed out the door, leaving Mary alone. She flopped down in the bed and stared at the ceiling. She was contemplating Tabitha's words. She knew she should talk to Rogue, but she was afraid of what she would say. Mary was afraid of a rift forming between them, and she didn't know what she would do if that happened. She resolved that she would talk to her sister later when she had a better understanding of her dislike of him. Maybe by then, Mary would know more about Pietro and be able to defend him against her sister.
She smiled though, as her thoughts had drifted to Pietro. She had a wonderful time tonight, and was thankful he had asked her to go. He was a real gentleman, and Mary felt comfortable with him. She didn't know of his past, but she figured that if he was trying to put that behind him and start anew that she wouldn't remind him of it with her questions. Slowly, she nodded off to sleep, fully content with her life at the moment.