Bright Lights
An X-men Evolution fanfic by Lavender Gaia
Editing by No One.
Assistance by Laine
Chapter Five: Cold as Ice
First draft: August 13, 2005
Disclaimer: I do not own X-men Evolution or any of its characters. They are all property of Marvel. I still don't own Riley Egan and I don't own Chandler either. They belong to themselves and to any devils who they may have sold their souls to at one point or another.
"Alright, class dismissed."
Kitty picked up her messenger back, putting it on her shoulder happily. She'd really enjoyed her first programming class, which was a good thing, as it was very much needed in her major. Now she could grab something to eat and check out the campus before her last class at five.
"Hey, Pryde! Pryde!"
She turned in surprise; who would be looking for her now? Scanning the hallway, she saw an arm waving high in the air, followed by a blond head. "Oh, my god!" Kitty exclaimed happily. "Doug!" He reached her and she threw her arms around his neck. "Doug Ramsey? What are you doing here? I thought you were going to MIT!"
"Chance of plans," he grinned familiarly. "Apparently I'm not the only one. I thought you were going back to Chicago."
"Well, everyone else was coming here, and the Professor secured an apartment for me." She stared at the ground for a moment. "My parents are getting divorced, I didn't want to be in their way."
He nodded understandingly. "I'm sorry about that."
"It's been going on for a while. I'm almost used to it. But what about you, shouldn't you be in Massachusetts?" Kitty pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Actually, my mom got sick over the summer. I decided to go here since it's closer to home and I can visit her more often," Doug explained.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Is she going to be ok?"
"Hopefully." He forced a smile and ran a hand through his sandy blond hair. "Listen, I have to get to another class, but I'd love if we could get together sometime."
"Me too." She grinned at him and pulled a piece of paper out of her bag to write on. "This is my cell number and home number. I keep my phone on vibrate during classes and I live with some girls from the Institute. If Tabby answers, don't expect her to take a message. The rest of the girls are pretty responsible though."
"Great. I'll give you a call later." He kissed her cheek lightly. "Bye, Kitty!"
"See ya, Doug." Humming lightly to herself, she continued to the cafeteria until her phone vibrated against her hip. She looked at the number on the face and answered it, though it was unfamiliar. "Hello?"
"Is this Kitty Pryde?"
"Yes, who is this?"
"It's Riley Egan," a satisfied voice at the other end said.
"Oh, hey," she grinned at the mouthpiece. "So you, like, finally decided to call."
"Well, I didn't want to seem too desperate," he answered. "I haven't washed my hand since you put your number on it though, if it makes you feel any better."
It was the right thing to say. "I'm gonna pretend you're usually more hygienically focused. So did you call just to say hello?"
"Actually, no. I wanted to know if you were busy this Friday. Because if you're not I'd love for us to go out. Say seven?"
Kitty smiled again. "That sounds great. Where are we going?"
He chuckled. "If I told you, that would just ruin the surprise. But, wear something like you wore to Warren's, if you could."
Semi-fancy, then, Kitty thought to herself as she gave him directions to her apartment. "I'll see you Friday at seven."
"Bye, pretty Kitty," Riley hung up and she felt a distinct tug at her heartstrings. No one had called her pretty Kitty since Lance. It didn't feel right hearing someone else say it.
Her stomach rumbled in protest of just standing there and she got a salad from the dining hall and slid into a seat across from Amara. The princess looked up and smiled at her. "Hey, Kitty!"
"I'm totally glad you're here," Kitty confided in her. "I didn't want to eat alone."
"Bobby and I are supposed to do something in a few minutes, so I told him I'd grab something to eat and wait here for him. So, how was your last class?" she broke off a piece of her muffin and ate it happily.
"Guess who just called me," Shadowcat requested, grinning like the cat who at the canary.
Amara was intrigued. "Who?"
"Riley Egan!"
"No way. That's really great!" she reached across the table and squeezed Kitty's hand affectionately.
"What's really great?" Bobby asked, sliding next to Amara and kissing her cheek. "Hey, Princess, hey, Kitty."
"I have a date with Riley Egan this weekend." She picked a fry off of the small box in front of Amara and bit into it giddily.
"Um…yay?" He glanced at Amara, who nodded a confirmation. "Good for you. Ready to go, 'Mara?"
She nodded and stood up, pushing her dark hair behind her shoulders. "As ready as I'll ever be. We have a lunch date, so here," she pushed the fries towards her friend. "I'll see you at home later?"
"Will do!" Kitty dug happily into the fries as the happy couple walked out.
Bobby and Amara hopped on the subway going home. Luckily, neither of them had afternoon classes that day so because of their extremely hectic lives, they'd decided to spend the afternoon together. They were going home to freshen up after a hectic day of morning classes.
"Your place or mine?" She asked as they stepped on the elevator and pushed the button for the eighth floor.
"Might as well do mine first, I know you'll take forever." He teased lightly, giving her a small peck on the lips when she pouted in mock hurt.
"Fine, fine," she hugged him, then walked down the hall to his apartment, giggling as he placed light kisses on her neck. Bobby slid his key in the doorknob and the two lovebirds stumbled into the living room.
Sam glanced over at them from the couch. "Hey, ya'll."
The pair stopped dead. "Oh, hey, Sam." Amara unconsciously ran a hand through her hair, blushing. "We didn't think anyone was home…"
"Apparently," he smirked.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Bobby sat in one of their chairs and pulled his girlfriend comfortably on his lap.
"Um…Well, Ah kinda have something to talk to ya about, Bobby." Sam looked nervously at his best friend.
Amara stood up. "This seems like a roommate thing. Maybe I should leave."
"Please don't!" Sam pleaded. Bobby shot his best friend a look; he had suspicions that Sam (as well as the rest of the New Mutant boys) had a crush on Amara, but he thought he'd gotten over it when they'd started going out. Sam looked down at the floor and continued, "If you're here, he might not yell as much."
"I don't yell," Bobby blinked. "Since when do I yell? What do I have to yell about?"
"What's going on, Sam?" Amara reached over and squeezed his hand.
"Bobby, Ah'm…Ah'm not goin' to college," Sam spat out. "Ah mean, Ah am, just…just not right now."
There was silence until Ice Man slowly said, "What do you mean you're not going to college?"
"Ah will be, eventually. It's just…When Ah went with Mr. Logan to race motocross it felt so right. And Ah won, Bobby, against all these professionals. Four companies wanted to sign me, so Ah agreed to go with one of them," he finally said quickly, then finally paused to take a breath.
His friends stared at him for a second. "You're going to college," Bobby said finally, as if the matter weren't up for discussion.
Sam sighed. "Bob, Ah…"
"You can't not go to college!"
"Ah will! Just not right away. Ah can earn money doing this. Money for college so the Professor doesn't have to pay. And Ah can send some home to my ma and brothers and sisters," he looked at the ground before refocusing on his friend. "You know how much they need it."
"More than you need an education?" Bobby argued. "You can send them plenty of money after you get a degree and a job that doesn't involve almost killing yourself several times a day!"
"Oh, like you're dream to be an X-man for the rest of your life is so safe!" Sam countered quickly.
Amara glanced at her boyfriend sharply, watching as his face slowly turned red from anger. He'd never told her that, but now wasn't the time to bring it up. She stood between the two. "Listen, I think you both need to cool down."
"I agree!" Bobby said, shooting a sheet of ice at Sam, who just dodged it.
"Robert Drake!" Amara screamed at him, astonished. "We're leaving. Now."
He glared at her as well. "Don't go all royal on me, Amara. You can't kick me out of my own apartment."
"Well, if you don't leave with me right now, I can assure you that I won't be back in this apartment." She crossed her arms over her chest.
The hardened face softened in defeat. "Fine." He turned to Sam. "We'll talk later."
"After he's learned that discussing a topic and yelling are two different things," Amara pushed her boyfriend towards the door. "I'll see you later, Sam." She continued out into the hallway and closed the door behind them before stalking off towards her apartment. "I really can't believe you!"
"You can't believe me?" Bobby sat on her couch as Amara went into her room. "He's the one not going to college?"
She poked her head out of her room and he tried to ignore the bra strap on her visible shoulder. "What if I didn't go to college?"
He blinked and walked over as she slipped back into her room. "What do you mean?"
"Well, would you be so upset if I decided not to go to college?" She bent over to look through a dresser drawer, grumbling, "I hope Tabitha isn't wearing my new black skirt…"
"I wouldn't mind too much if you weren't wearing your black skirt," he grinned.
She threw a pair of socks at his head. "Knock it off, we're trying to talk about something serious here."
"Alright, alright," He put the socks back in her drawer and sat on her bed, which was the one she'd brought from the Institute and was an exact replica of the one from Nova Roma. "I know I'd be upset if you wanted to go away. You aren't going to, are you?"
"Of course not," she gave up searching for the skirt and sat between his open legs, resting her back against his chest. "But that's not the point."
"I know." He wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed lightly. "I don't think I would be mad if you didn't go to college."
"So what's the big difference between me and Sam?"
He rested his chin on her shoulder and lightly kissed her cheek before answering. "Because…," he sighed, "One day you're going to go back home and rule your country. It's really not something that you need a college education for."
She heard the change in his voice and felt his arms hold her tighter. "I know, sweetie." It was hard for both of them to think that one day she was going to have to go back to Nova Roma and help her father, perhaps even take over the government herself. "But how is that different from what Sam's doing?"
Bobby stroked her arm lightly. "Because motocross is a hobby; ruling countries isn't! He could still do that on weekends and vacations. This is a chance that he never thought he would have. And now he's just going to pass it by to make a few bucks?"
"I think he's doing the right thing," Amara whispered.
He stopped stroking her arm. "What?"
"Well, it's just that I don't remember you freaking out when Jean and Scott and Rogue and Kurt and Kitty waited to go to school," she got off her bed and started running a brush through her hair, watching his reaction in the mirror.
"But they weren't gallivanting around bike riding."
"Of course not, they were just fighting Apocalypse, and hanging out in the Danger Room. And when they weren't sitting on the couch, they were making our lives miserable." She sighed and boosted herself up to sit on the edge of the dresser. "Sometimes people just aren't ready to go to college right away. Let him have his fun now and buckle down later."
"Why can't he have fun at college, 'Mar?"
She shrugged, swinging her legs so that her heels bounced against the cherry wood. "To me, Sam always seemed like the kind of person who would stay in one place for the rest of his life if it would suit him. And in the past few years, he's been uprooted from his home and his whole family to live in a place where he doesn't know anyone and now college, which is daunting by itself. Maybe he's not ready to settle down again."
"Do you think he's worried about something? He doesn't want to be used to this and then have to leave again?" Bobby suggested.
"I never thought about that. But you know him better than I do."
He leaned back against her pillows, covered his face with his hands and sighed. "So what do I do now?"
"Well, first of all, we should go get something to eat," she got off the dresser and kneeled on the edge of her bed, kissing him lightly. "Then you should tell him that you respect his decision even though you'll miss him like hell and won't be able to wait till he comes back."
He pulled her closer for another kiss. "How'd I get so lucky to get you?"
"Fate, of course," she smiled as he nuzzled her neck. "How else would a girl from Nova Roma and a boy from New York get together?"
"Very good point." They kissed again and Bobby rubbed her back. He kissed down her neck, making her purr lightly. She recaptured his lips and his hands stroked the skin of her hips as her shirt lifted up a bit.
She broke away as they both realize that his left hand was on her bra strap. "I'm sorry," he apologized quickly. "I just got caught up in the moment."
"It's ok, so did I," Amara sat up and adjusted her shirt. "So, let's go grab something to eat."
After a late lunch in a nearby restaurant, they walked back hand in hand until something caught the princess's eye. "Bobby, can we get some ice cream?"
"Course, babe. Ice cream's my thing," he opened the door and Amara went to look at the menu on the wall. A dozen people were in there already, so they waited until the crowd parted.
The exhausted server looked at them. "Welcome to Ice Palace, how can I help you?" he asked in a monotone voice, turning his head to yawn.
"I'll have a banana split," Amara said, licking her lips, "With chocolate chip cookie dough and Reese's pieces and sprinkles and hot fudge and a cherry."
The man's face fell at the daunting task of doing more than scooping ice cream on to a waffle cone. "…right. And you?"
Bobby smiled sympathetically. "I'll just have some mint chocolate chip."
He nodded, and went to get the ice cream. "Will there be anything else?" He made Bobby's first, since it was easiest.
"And a pint of butter pecan." Amara took a container out of the freezer and put it next to the register. "As a peace offering for Sam."
"Hey, uh, Chandler," Bobby nodded and read the man's nametag, "Do you need any help working here? You seem kind of swamped."
He nodded, pushing his brown hair back from his face and ringing up the total. "They just opened a new elementary school down the street and a bus stop on the corner. More customers every day but no one's applying."
Bobby shrugged. "I'll do it." Before his girlfriend could say anything, he continued, "Look, I know you said I couldn't make snow cones for a living, but you never said anything about ice cream."
"Have you ever been convicted of a felony?" Chandler asked him.
"Um…no."
"You're hired. There are forms over there," He pointed to the other side of the store and handed him his change.
Amara looked at him doubtfully. "I'm not sure if this is such a good idea, Bobby. I mean, we just started school, and…"
"Look on the bright side, Amara!" Bobby wrapped an arm around her waist. "You and the rest of the girls will get the employee discount." He glanced at Chandler as if waiting for concurrence.
The princess looked at the ice cream vendor. "There's an employee discount?"
"Yep. The employee discount of free."
Amara fished something out of her purse and held it out to Bobby. "Here's a pen."
He chuckled and kissed his girlfriend's forehead, before signing the papers. Amara sat at one of the spinning bar chairs, digging into her sundae happily. After getting an application, Bobby sat next to her, filling in the answers and watching her out of the corner of his eye. "You're so cute."
"Well, thank you," she gave him a sugary kiss.
After the couple had finished, they waved goodbye to Chandler and continued towards their apartments. Bobby opened his front door hesitantly. Sam was sitting on the couch watching TV, but looked up warily as the pair came in. "…hey."
"I came to apologize," Bobby told him, holding out the ice cream. "Truce?"
Sam's eyes lit up at the pint of Old Fashioned Butter Pecan. "All is forgiven."
"Tell us more about this," Amara requested, sitting next to him on the couch.
"Actually, they made a tape of one of the races. Ah can show it to you." When they nodded their consent, Sam went to his room and retrieved it, slipping it into the VCR.
The opening shot was the racers lining up at the starting gate. When the gates went down, Sam quickly sped ahead from the rest of the group, taking an early lead. Number 23 could be seen ahead at all times and his friends marveled at the way he took the turns and did stunts during the jumps.
"You look like you're having a kick ass time," Bobby commented, impressed.
"It's so awesome to be out there. Like cannonball-ing, but with more control and no one hating you for doing it," he explained.
Amara cheered as Sam passed the finish line in first place. "You're amazing!" she congratulated him with a kiss on the cheek. "I'm still sad you're going to be leaving though. When are you going?"
"Actually, they want me to be at their training center on Monday," he explained, downcast. "Ah'll miss you guys too, but Ah can't just give up this chance."
Amara and Sam both looked at Bobby, waiting for a reaction. The Ice Man shrugged. "Doesn't give us too much time to play for you're goodbye party, but you'll just have to live with that."
The blond looked at him gratefully as Amara pulled them into a group hug. "And I'll be back for most holidays and week breaks here and there."
Bobby hugged them both in return, and joked about nothing of consequence as he tried to ignore the rush that his life was slowly but surely falling apart.
A/N: I'm so sorry this has taken so long. I had major writers block but I really felt that because of the extra time I took this came out so much better than I ever thought it would. So Sam will be going away for a while, but he'll be back with a few surprises in store. All my motocross knowledge comes from the Disney Channel movie and the motocross game at Game Works. After playing that, I have SO much more respect for Sam.
You can help get the next chapter out sooner! I have three other fics going on at the moment as well as school, but a great way of helping is for you to say in your review which character you'd most like to read about next. Since I am working with so many, as long as the readers choice goes along with the current plots, I'll be more than happy to do that.
Questions, comments, reactions and reviews are greatly appreciated.
Review Responses:
Mattb3671: Well, Jean is a chick, though I wouldn't recommend calling her that to her face…Thank you for reading!
Wen1: I'm not sure if it was broadcasted all over the world, but this certain company doesn't have the same prejudice against different people as the rest of the world does. And just because they may have seen it on the news once a few years ago (It's been years since the end of the series, not just DOR) doesn't mean they'll necessarily remember.
Slickboy444: Well, here's a chapter for Bobby and Amara. And I openly promise now that you will be seeing some Kurtty later on in this fic. I'm glad that you caught my Teen Titan's hints. I'm hoping to be using them as supporting characters in some aspects later, I'm glad someone knows what I'm talking about.
Simba317: I know it's taking me forever to get this out. I urge you to blame my beta for not being around poke me into writing enough. I love writing for Tabby, she's so much fun. Without her, I think this would lack a lot of the energy it needs and I might have to resort to making Kitty sound like a ditz or Bobby being nothing but a practical joker. Tabby adds that extra aspect.
Telepathic Angel: I'm very glad you like it so much. Scott will be finding out eventually, but I'm not going to give out all the details quite yet.
Diaz F: Well, I'm not sure "Trouble" is the right word, but it's definitely going to stir things up a bit. I hope you like this chapter.
Jacx: I'm glad you like it. Thank you for reviewing.
Jenskott: I'm happy you enjoyed the jott. Yes, Jean's life is going to be a tad bit hectic soon. We'll have to see how she handles it.
Starrydreamz: Yes, I'll spill a little, Lance is going to be in here later. The rest of the Brotherhood will too, so if you want to see them feel free to keep reading until they come in.
Amazing redd phoenix: Hi, Ingrid! I'm so happy you loved the jott. I enjoy writing it a lot. It is never a bad thing to obsess over Jott. It's perfectly natural in my opinion. I'll be writing more about them soon, so enjoy this for now.
Elizabeth: Scott's reaction will be coming eventually. I hope you liked this chapter, thank you for reviewing.
Jott luver: Yes, Tabby can be very cute. Or annoying, as the case may be. Jean will be a model as of Friday (fic time, of course). I hope you'll read it.
Realtfarraige: I love Tabby, she's one of my favorite characters. And I can totally imagine Scott setting up objects on his porch to blast with his eyes since he has no danger room. Of course, he might need to shoot something after he finds out about Jean.
GothikStrawberry: Writing fluff is very easy when it comes to JOTT fluff. It just flows so nicely. I'm happy you like my version of Tabby. I agree she's really hard to keep in character and I do try my best. I never really agreed with anyone who thought she was a slut, or hated Jean or anything of that sort.
Rogue14: Well, "Married" is going to make more of a conflict than "Mutant", I assure you. I hope you keep reading.
DOJ: Yes, it's the same Donna that's in Wishful Thinking. The comic Titans (who are in this fic) were originally based in New York City and Donna was a photographer. Of course, I was too lazy to get up and actually check the agency it was (turns out to be Silver Fox or whatever), so I made up my own. And whether or not Jean's modeling is a bad thing is really in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?
Darkstorm5000: I like writing nice scenes with Tabs and Jean, since most writers either neglect their friendship or make them enemies. Thank you for reviewing.
Lil Jean: There will be tons more Jott later and I promise now that the modeling is the least of their worries in this story. I hope you keep reading.