Wedding Dresses, Frills and Spills
By: Princess Erika
Chapter 6:
The events from the previous night were a blur in Jean's head. She didn't want to believe them; nonetheless she was pretty sure she saw a drunken Scott. She hasn't been able to sleep the previous night, so she's been up the whole night, trying to come up with ways to fall asleep, yet there was no avail.
Jean felt the soft breeze blow on her face as she sat in the cable car on her way to Rogue's place for the dress fitting. She looked around and took in all the beauty around her. Compared to NYC, San Francisco was rather quaint. When she passed a number of little shops, she made a mental note to shop for Jessica in Union Square as her best friend wouldn't have forgiven her if she didn't buy anything in one of the best shopping places.
She reached her stop and got off the cable car, realizing it was a good 2 blocks till she reached Rogue's place. She walked briskly, pulling her red coat on tighter. She stopped at the address she remembered, but took a crumpled piece of paper out of her bag with the address just to make sure. It was right.
Jean couldn't believe her eyes. She stood in front of an astonishingly painted San Francisco style house, but it was a lot bigger than the rest. It was a peachy-beige type of color, extremely well-kept and it had big windows, giving passer-bys a peek of the exquisite interior. Jean tucked a stray strand of her highlighted red locks and rang the doorbell.
"Jean, you're just in time!" her friend from Mississippi exclaimed as she opened the door. "The tailors should be here in a few minutes. Can I get you anything?" Rogue asked, very hospitably as she let Jean in.
"No thank you," Jean politely declined. "Beautiful house," Jean said, admiring the beauty of Rogue's little palace. Rogue smiled warmly in return.
"Yeah, thanks. Most of this was Scott's idea though."
"You live with Scott?" Jean asked, obviously intrigued.
"Yeah, we've been living together for the past four years." Rogue replied, and it sounded to Jean as if she were boasting. "We decided to get married. I absolutely love this. I've got everything I could ever want."
Jean forced a smile and looked away. 'Give up your hopes Jean, he really has changed…' the redhead sighed as she sat on the couch where all the rest of the girls were. Everyone was there, Kitty, Amara, Amanda, Ororo, Tabitha, Jubilee, Rahne, even Wanda as Rogue's bridesmaid. They all looked happy, successful and loved, and Jean wished she was loved, just like them.
The women chatted for a bit, catching up on what they've missed the 8 years they were apart. They giggled and laughed, exchanged gossip, and Ororo was there to lend a mature thought if someone needed it, like she always used to when they were in high school. Jean found out all sorts of things, like how Rahne moved to Hawaii and how Wanda was in San Francisco this whole time.
Wanda has changed a whole lot too. She looked just as wild and feisty, but her hair was now shoulder-length and it was just black with a few red streaks. She still wore a lot of eyeliner, but she took her clothes a notch lower. Unlike the torn and tattered pieces of cloth she called clothes in high school; the clothes she wore were classy. She wore a red long-sleeved top, boots and black jeans, which weren't ripped and weren't from hot topic.
Not long after, the tailors came and gave everyone their respective dresses to try on. Even though a lot of them lived miles away from San Francisco, they e-mailed their measurements to Rogue, who gave them to the tailors so they could make the gowns in exact proportion. That day was just a fitting day, to see if everything was right.
Jean locked the door behind her and pulled off her black tank top. She was grumpy and depressed, mostly because Scott was living with a woman he had no interest in back in high school (although she kept telling herself not to care), but she wasn't gonna let Rogue find out.
Jean picked up the dress Rogue handed her and stared at it in disbelief. 'A peach dress? Peach? Rogue didn't even wanna go anywhere near the color peach 12 years ago!' Jean mentally whined. When she got a grip of herself, she slipped on the PEACH dress and inspected how it looked in the mirror. It was a shimmering orange-peach type of silk material, and it was one-shouldered and beaded. It hugged her hips, and then it was loose and flowing from hip down. It looked as if orange-peach snow was melting around her. 'Now this is a nice dress…'
"Ah, dahling, you look fabu!" Audrey, the gay dress designer squealed as Jean stepped out of the powder room. Audrey was a budding fashion designer, and he was one of the best designers in San Francisco. Rogue wanted a completely new and fresh designer to work on her gowns, so she called up Audrey immediately. "You're like a cobra ready to strike!"
Jean gave a small smile in return and whispered "Thanks" Audrey inspected her dress, taking a look at every single detail. After everyone was inspected, a few pictures were taken, and Jean was off.
Jean was walking around Union Square, stopping here and there. In a matter of two hours, she was holding 4 giant branded paper bags with her right hand, and 3 on her left. There were also numerous shopping bags stuffed inside the massive ones, but Jean didn't seem to care about how much she spent, or how heavy what she was carrying was. 'It amazes me how shopping soothes the brain.' She smiled to herself. Tired after a little shopping, she stopped by a café to grab a quick caffeine fix, then headed to the center of Union Square to watch a few performers.
She watched them in delight, glad to be free from any stress even for just a little while. Or so she thought… Not more than 20 meters away, she saw the man she once loved. She looked away quickly, trying her best not to be noticed, yet he looked her way and quickly recognized her.
Scott quickly jogged up to her, bringing along a little girl, about the age of five. She was adorable, running with her father. She had the reddest hair and the most beautiful pair of big, green eyes. She was wearing a little baseball jersey-dress, and in Jean's eyes, she was the cutest kid she's ever seen. But realizing the kid was running with her ex-boyfriend, she just looked away.
"Jean, wait! Hang on!" Scott ran up to her, holding the little girl's hand. "Jean, sorry about last night, I wasn't myself." Scott said, although after than he gave her a cocky grin. "I bet you forgive me."
Jean forced out a tiny smile. "Cute kid," Jean said, referring to the little redhead holding Scott's hand.
"Oh yeah, Jean, this is my daughter. Her name's-" but he was cut off.
"Your kid with Rogue?" Jean asked briskly, somewhat offended.
Scott ran a hand through his hair, as if he was trying to think of something to say. After what seemed to be ages, he chose one. He gave an arrogant smirk and said "Well, waddya know? It was just a one-night stand. My soldiers must be really strong!" Jean's eyes widened in disbelief.
The next thing she knew was that her hand came in contact with Scott's face with a loud 'smack'. Her eyes started watering. There she was, standing in front of a man she used to love and most probably still loved, watching him be cocky about getting a woman pregnant on their first go. "Who are you?" She asked, tears welling up her eyes. She felt like she was gonna break down any second.
Scott felt ashamed, and he touched the cheek where Jean had slapped him. He looked down, not saying anything.
"That's what I thought," Jean said, clearly hurt, although those four words seemed to hurt Scott twice as much. She walked off, trying her hardest to hide her tears.
"So that's what you're gonna do, huh?" she heard him say from behind her. She turned around and looked at him, wiping her tear-stained face. "You're just gonna give up on me. You're just gonna walk away like you did before."