Good Times and Hope

Chapter Nine

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: Thought there was angst in the last chapter? Well, you haven't read this one yet! Beware the angst!

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Lance didn't realize he was out of his seat and halfway across the dance floor until Pietro slammed a hand into his chest and stopped him.

"Woah, man, not a good idea."

"What?" Lance said, snapping out of the blind moment that he had been held in.

"Don't you know who that is she's dancing with?" Pietro asked, which brought everything back and Lance took another blind step forward. Kitty, his Kitty-cat, was dancing with some guy. Some guy who wasn't him. He wasn't going to let some blonde-haired punk take his Kitty away from him. She was the only good thing he had in his life.

"Hang on," Pietro once again stopped him, "That's Joshua Thompson."

"So?" Lance growled, shoving Pietro away from him.

"So? He's friends with Duncan Mathews, you know, big jock, star at school, principle's favorite student?"

"I know who Mathews is, I don't care," Lance glared at the kid dancing with Kitty, who's name wasn't Josh but dead meat. "No one dances with Kitty but me."

"Yeah, which is why you've been sitting on your…" The floor trembled, causing a few of the dancers around them to stumble, "Okay man, you want to get into trouble, it's your ass on the line."

"Exactly." And Lance was off again. When he reached Josh and Kitty, Josh took a step back while Kitty just turned and glared at him.

"What do you want?" She asked, narrowing her eyes and putting her hands on her hips.

"Let's go," He answered, grabbing her arm and starting to drag her through the crowd. She made a noise of disbelief and he felt a tingle in his hand and signaled she had phased through it. He growled in frustration and whirled around to grab her again. "Kitty, come on." He crowded close to her, trying to use his height to intimidate her into coming with him.

"Oh, yeah, that'll work," She shot at him, "You're nothing compared to Mr. Logan."

"I just want to talk to you," Lance said through clenched teeth. Wrong, his conscious said, you just want to get her away from Dead Meat over there.

"Well, I don't want to talk to you," Kitty snapped and Lance didn't think anything else she could have said would have hurt more. He shoved it aside though and glared over her shoulder at Dead Meat who was hanging around, waiting to see who this all played out.

"Okay man, she's all yours," He said, holding up his hands and backing away into the crowd.

"You…you…jerk!" Kitty yelled, stomping her foot in anger, "Finally a nice, NICE, guy shows an interest in me and you have to go and scare him off. Why can't you leave me alone Lance?"

"Why? Why? I'll show you why!" He wrapped her roughly in his arms and kissed her with all the frustration and pain the night had built up in him. And, surprisingly, she kissed him back. It wasn't nice, it was too violent to be nice. And it wasn't gentle, it was too angry to be gentle, but still it was perfect. Lance would have gone on kissing Kitty all night if he hadn't have felt a tear land on his cheek. Abruptly he let got of her and got a slap across the cheek. He barely registered any of it.

"Damn you, Lance," Kitty sobbed, looking up at him with tears gathering in her eyes, then stormed past him. He might have gone after her, but all he could comprehend at that moment was one startling fact, he loved her.

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This first kiss didn't go so well. It started out perfectly. The music, the lighting, the moment all of it was just right. Any romance novelist would have been proud, but Fate's a funny lady with a cruel sense of irony and she exercised it tonight. Scott was struck by her beauty, even though he only saw her as varying shades of red, and the lights weren't helping him any, he still couldn't breathe. He had to kiss her, it was the only way to save his sanity. He grabbed her chin lightly between his thumb and forefinger and tipped her head up so her eyes met his.

"Scott," She whispered, laying her hand against his wrist. He would have said her name, but there were so many things he wanted to say, all of them caught in his throat. He leaned down, keeping his eyes on hers. There was barely an inch between them when someone slammed into Jean and knocked her sideways. Scott stumbled forward, and ended up bumping his head on her shoulder.

"Sorry," who ever ran into them said and then went pushing through the crowd again.

"Was that Kitty?" Jean asked, looking after the fleeing figure. Scott sighed, the moment was over and long gone. "I think she was crying," Jean looked over at him.

"Go ahead," He sighed again, yeah the moment was long gone.

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Author's Note: I just can't help but torture Scott. I swear to you Jott fans, one of these days, one of my fics, Scott and Jean will finally have a moment. I swear! Of course one of these days maybe I'll stop having Lance and Kitty all angsty about each other too. Who knows!