1Chapter Seven
Our power eventually did come on, January passed with more cold, and more snow. March was crazy, coming in with warmer temperatures, and then dumping more snow on us towards the end of the month. All through this, training sessions continued, missions were done, and Logan and I grew closer. June fast approached, and school was almost over. My junior year of high school was nearly complete, and I had a year left, and senioritis was proven to be not just for seniors anymore.
The last week of school arrived, and I was invited to a variety of parties given by all different crowds. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to any of them, but I wanted to leap at the chance to show Logan off, which I knew wouldn't happen. The night of the second to last day of school, I sat in Logan's bedroom on his bed, watching him pack a duffle bag.
"When are you going to be back?" I asked.
"Early tomorrow afternoon -before you get back from school." He zipped up the bag, and flung it over his shoulders. "What's with the twenty questions, kid?"
"There's this party tomorrow...and I wondered if you wanted to go with me." I stood, following him to the door.
"Me, at a high school party?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well...yea." I nodded.
"I think you'd be better off taking the Faerie, Jo." He leaned in to kiss me before putting an arm around my shoulders as we walked down the stairs together.
"That's fine. I'll have fun without you." I assured him.
"But not to much, of course."
"Of corse."
"See you tomorrow kid." He kissed me again, and walked out of the door. I let him leave without much more thought, and went to the Rec Room where everyone was sitting.
"Hey guys." I said, sitting on the couch between Rogue and Kurt.
"Your boyfriend just leave?" That's how Warren referred to Logan 'your boyfriend' or 'Jo's boyfriend', or even 'the boyfriend', and Logan called him Faerie... I guess it was a guy-thing.
"Yes, Logan left." I nodded. "Are you going to Lance Hang's party tomorrow night?"
"I wasn't planning on it? Why do you ask?"
"I was just wondering if you were interested in going with me." I shrugged.
"What about your boyfriend?" He asked.
"He suggested it." I informed him, and moved to kneel on the floor in front of his chair. "C' mon Warren, it will be fun!"
"Sorry, but I'm not interested."
"Party pooper!" Kurt turned on his image inducer, getting off of the couch to shake his tail. "I'll be your date, Jo."
"Thanks Kurt." I smiled.
"Anytime." The inducer shut off, and he resumed his place on the couch.
Storm entered the room behind us, "Joanna, you've got a letter from your father." She dropped an envelope into my lap, distributing mail to some of the others in the room. I noticed that Warren simply ripped the few letters he received in half, and placed them in the garbage can beside his chair.
I rolled my eyes at his lack of enthusiasm, and tore open my own mail. My father had little to say, just that he hoped I would come home for a week or so over the summer, to call my mother, and he added that he hoped I was well, and went best wishes, as well as several forms of money, including a check, a money order, some cash, and a VISA card (of which he mentioned to only use if I really had to, he wanted to make sure I had enough money, where ever it was that life took me over the summer).
"What are you going to do this summer?" Rogue asked, reading over my shoulder.
"I don't know. Professor Xavier invited me to stay here, to come and go as I please", but also to offer me protection from Magneto, who was still lurking around with Mystique, just waiting for an opportunity for me to be alone, and vulnerable. "I'll probably stick around Bayville, if not here at the institute with you. I won't know until I do it."
Rogue lay her head against my shoulder, and took the VISA from my hand, "Ooh, plastic!"
"Don't get to excited, I'm not going to use it...yet." I smiled.
The last day of school swept by slowly, ending with an exciting splurge. Before going to 'the big party', Rogue and I stopped at the mall -figuring we could start out the summer with a big bang. Lance had a pool, and everyone was going to be taking advantage of it. We decided to buy new outfits, my father's treat.
For Rogue we went to a Water-Sport store, where she found a wetsuit, that wasn't to out of place looking. It was basic black, with a red strip across the chest, with short sleeves, and the legs went down to the calves. She looked good.
For me, we went to a store that wasn't exactly preppy, but not to unconventional either. I decided on a pair of red hibiscus print boy shorts and a matching bikini top. We both also got sandals (matching flip flops for the both of us), and thought about getting manicures and pedicures before we realized the time, and booked it back to the manor.
We were ready to go, regardless of us being a little later when we had planned, before Kitty, Kurt, and Jubilee who were also accompanying us to the party.
"You look...good." Logan leaned in the doorway while Rogue and I waited for the others to get ready.
"Thanks." I smiled. "You sure you don't want to come?"
"I'm positive, kid. You and Kurt have fun though." He nodded.
"At least you're willing to share." I got out of my seat to kiss him.
He grunted, "Don't be to sure, Jo...I could still change my mind about that."
I grinned, and looked over his shoulder as the others bounded down the stairs, "Y'all ready to go?" I asked.
"Yep." Kurt nodded. "How about you?" He extended his arm to me.
"See you later, Logan." I kissed his cheek and then took Kurt's arm as we walked out to the jeep, which Logan was letting me borrow for the night.
Music was already flooding the yard of Lance's house, party noise coming from the backyard. I walked close to Kurt, my arm around his. People looked, and giggled, but I tried to ignore them as I found a group of my school friends.
"Hey Jo." Saundra, a girl I had now previously had a cooking class with, sitting the middle of a circle. "Where's the boyfriend?" She asked with a smirk, "The older guy, with the nice abs?"
"He couldn't make it." I retorted, my arm still around Kurt's, who was looking around anxiously, "He had some things to do."
"Was that his excuse?" She giggled. "And not that fact that he's dating a dorky little high school girl?"
"Back off, Saundra." I barked. "Before you bite off more then you can chew." I felt the wisps of green fury wrapping around my fists, but I suppressed it, and pulled Kurt towards the deck where Lance was standing with some of his buddies.
"Hey Lance." I let go of Kurt long enough to bump hips with my Chem-Lab partner. "Nice party."
"Thanks, Jo." Lance put his arm around my hips. "Who'd you bring?"
"Oh, just Kurt, Rogue, Kitty, and Jubilee." I shrugged.
"You gonna stay and help me clean up?" He tempted.
"Mmm...I have a boyfriend to go home too, nice try though." I smiled.
"You can't blame a guy for trying." He shrugged, releasing me. "Have fun."
"Thanks, Lance." Kurt and I went to sit by Rogue and Kitty who had made themselves comfortable in a set of deck chairs near the pool.
The party went off without any problems, and the five of us returned back to the Institute before midnight. I knocked on Logan's bedroom door before I went to bed.
"Come in." He called.
"Hey." I leaned in the doorway. "What are you doing?"
"Just thinkin'...how about you?" He leaned up on his elbow in bed. I noticed right away he only had on a pair of shorts.
"I'm tired..." I entered the room, and closed the door behind me.
Logan grunted, putting an arm around me when I lay down beside him, "You make this to darn easy, kid." His lips touched my throat first, then my lips. His fingers were warm, and snaked up my back. I felt him tug at the strings of the bikini, but I stopped him with a smirk.
"Presumptuous, aren't we?" I asked.
"I wouldn't have pulled 'em...but it doesn't stop me from thinkin' about it." He placed his forehead against mine.
"I better go to bed. I just came into say good night." I kissed him again. "So...g' night, Logan."
"Good night, Jo." He released me, and watched me leave from the bed. "See you in the morning, kid."
The next day, we were all sad to see many leave for a summer vacation with their family, the main "crew" remained at the Institute, our education for the year not quite finished. Rogue and I spent our times between missions, and training, out in the sun, shopping, or just lounging around the manor, the first week or so. After that, we became bored.
"Isn't your birthday in a couple of weeks?" Rogue asked one afternoon, when we were sitting, flipping through the channels on TV. "We should do something."
"Like what?" I asked.
"Throw a party or something."
"No thanks...I'm not really into birthday parties." I shrugged. "I don't get why being a year older is such a big accomplishment."
"It signifies that you've survived another year of a difficult period...it's something to be happy about." Rogue shrugged. "After all, I know I count my blessings every year I get older, especially with the kind of missions I've gone on. Whew." She shook her head. "Some scary stuff is out there, Jo."
I shrugged, "I'm still not impressed."
"Suit yourself, but you'll see someday." Rogue got up from her chair. "I'm gonna go see if the mail is here yet."
I waved her off, and picked up a book off of the coffee table, flipping through portraits of the British Landscape.
"Are you really that bored?" Logan leaned over the back of the couch. "Because I'm sure I can find something for you to do, if you are."
I smiled, "Hey Logan."
"McCoy and the Professor would like to see you." He said, "As soon as you can get away."
"Sure." I said. "I'll be there in a minute." I closed the book heavily, and got up from the couch.
"Hey, are you going to be busy later?" Logan asked, putting an arm around my hips as we walked together towards the Professor's office.
"Depends on what exact it is that Professor Xavier and Mr. McCoy have to tell me." I shrugged.
"Well if you're not, do you want to come into the city with me?" He asked. "I got some business to attend to -I figured I'd offer, if you wanted to see your parents."
"Sure. I'd love to." I shrugged. "When are you leaving?"
"Later, around one, or so."
"I'll meet you out front, then." I gave him a kiss on the cheek before knocking on the door to the Professor's office.
I met Logan about one o'clock on the front steps. Rogue had toyed with the idea of coming along with us as 'supervision', but I told her it was highly unnecessary as he was going to drop me off at my Dad's while he dealt with his business thing, and then after he picked me back up, we were going to the used bookstore where my Mom worked part-time.
"Uh-huh...just don't get side-tracked to any flea-bitten motels, or nothing." She warned before she would let me get out of her sight.
"You ready to go, kid?" Logan asked, a bag slung over his shoulder.
"Yea, lets go." I stood up, slinging my purse over my shoulder.
Riding in the jeep was a nice relief to the heat, even though I could barely hear the radio over the rushing wind. Logan wasn't much of a conversationalist either, not that I would have been able to hear anything he said. It was an hour and a half before Logan parked the jeep at the curb in front of my Dad's brown townhouse. I had called ahead (to make sure he wasn't entertaining anyone, or out on any errands), so he was waiting out in the yard for me.
"Thanks, Logan. When will you be back."
"An hour, tops, kid." He assured me.
"I'd kiss you, but my Dad doesn't know about you yet." I whispered.
"My best wishes with breaking that news -I know I wouldn't want my daughter coming home, and telling me she was dating some mutant freak."
"You're not a mutant freak, you're my boyfriend, and I like you just the way you are." I patted his knee, and hopped out of the jeep. "See you in an hour."
"Be careful, kid." He tipped his hat at me, and speed away from the curb.
My Dad and I sat in the kitchen, I idly stirring my coffee without even touching the spoon. My dad was watching it, his eyes following the untouched spoon. I didn't notice until I looked up from the manuscript he was having me read.
"Oh, sorry." I took the spoon out, setting it on the saucer. Then I turned back to the manuscript, "It's really good, Dad. I like it." My father is a writer -sort of. He's been published in quite a few magazines as a freelance journalist, but he's taken a liking to science fiction as of late. "Have you got anyone interested in yet?"
"Science Fiction Journal has taken a liking the idea, and wants to run it as a monthly installment. They're offering me a contract to start publishing it this fall."
"Dad, you should go for it!"
"I don't know, Joey." He got up to add more coffee to his cup. "I've always wanted to see one of my books in one installment, you know? Be able to hand out signed copies to my friends... I feel like I'd be cheating myself out, if I signed the contract." He jumped up onto the counter, and sipped from his mug. "Does that make sense?"
"Sure it does...but Dad, whose to say that this won't make it to a publishing house? I mean, send it to some places. You never know until you try."
"Regardless, I'm glad you like it." He smiled, and then changed the subject. "So, who was the guy who dropped you off?"
"Oh...that was Logan."
"Logan? And how do you know him?"
"He works for Professor Xavier." I told him with a shrug, biting my lip, "He's sort of a...training supervisior."
"So he's a mutant too?"
"Yea." I nodded.
"How's that Warren guy you were with at Christmas? You haven't said anything about him lately in any of your letters." It would just figure that my Dad would want to talk about MY love life -as he didn't have one at the moment.
"That didn't exactly work out." I shook my head. "But he's OK, I guess."
"And this Logan guy...does he have anything to do with that?"
"...Kind of." I looked away out the window, "Oh wow! When did you get rose bushes?"
"Don't change the subject, Joey." He raised an eyebrow at me.
"Okay...confession time.' I turned in my chair to face him, "I'm kind of...dating Logan. But that's all it is, just going out once in awhile, and hanging around the Institute."
"How old is this guy?"
"No one is really sure about that." I bit my tongue.
"Haven't you ever asked?"
"Logan has kind of a...sordid past. Lets not get into this, please?"
"What do you mean 'sordid past'?" He got down off of the counter, and set down his coffee to cross his arms over his chest. "Is this guy dangerous or something?"
"No, of course not. He works for Professor Xavier as a teacher. It's just...Logan had a really bad experience, and his memory got wiped clean. He doesn't remember anything from before about...ten, eleven years ago, or so. So, no one really knows anything about him."
"Nothing?"
"No." I shook my head.
"What exactly this guys power?" He asked.
"He's got regenerative capabilities...and these retractable adamantium claws."
"The guy's got claws?"
"It's not as bad as it really sounds, Dad. Wait until you meet him, he's really a very nice guy, I promise."
Until Logan arrived, we shifted conversation from him, to my Mom and Daniel, to just my Mom, to summer vacation, to money, to visiting, to school, to senior year. By the time Logan finally arrived, I was about talked out, and I was almost regretting the visit.
"Logan, thank god..." I took his hand, "I was just about dying in there."
"Is there a problem?" He raised his hands to unleash his claws, before I stopped him.
"No, nothing like that...you might not want to do that in front of my Dad."
"Do I have to talk to this guy?"
"You have to at least say hello."
"Shit." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Do I look OK?"
"You look fabulous." I led him into the kitchen, where my Dad had picked up his manuscript and was making corrections. "Dad? This is Logan. Logan, my Dad."
"Please, call me Stephan." He held out his hand, which Logan shook, with a firm grip (but not to firm, which I was pleased to see).
"Nice to meet you, Stephan." Logan nodded.
"So, Joey here has told me quite a bit about you... Anything else you'd like to share?" My Dad was acting a total goober, and it was embarrassing -not to mention the fact that he called me Joey.
"Well, there isn't a lot to tell... I'm sure Joey filled you in on all of the essentials." Logan raised an eyebrow at me.
"Yea...well, I hate to cut this little visit short, Dad, but Logan and I were going to go to the bookstore to see Mom, so...we better be going." I put my arm around Logan's. "I'm sure I'll be around to see you again soon -maybe next time you'll have good news about your manuscript."
"Right." My Dad nodded. "Well, I'm sure you'll have loads of fun meeting Christy." My Dad shook Logan's hand again. "It was very nice meeting you, Logan."
"I'm sure, Dad. I'll see you later." I started pushing Logan towards the door. "Bye!"
"You really in that much of a rush?" Logan asked, as he shoved the keys into the ignition. "Your Dad seemed like a nice guy."
"My Dad is a nice guy, but I just spent over an hour with him, talking about you, my Mom, what I plan on doing with my summer, him pressing fifty bucks into my hand and him saying 'Buy yourself something pretty', to school, and my senior year... God, I couldn't wait for you to show up."
"Sounds like a hell of a time... Your Mom gonna be that bad?"
"I've talked to her on the phone a couple of times, and we've been writing. I better warn you know, my Mom is kind of a twit..."
"I'll brace myself. Now where is this store?"