JUBILEE AND JUBILATION

PART TWENTY TWO

BEFORE THE PARTY

Well it was three O' clock and school was out. As I went to go to the living room with the others, Gambit came up to us, or more specifically me. "What's up Gumbo?" I asked.

"Well Petite, Your mom," sniggers at this from others "wants you out of the house till the party starts. Something about a surprise for you. So Gambit, He volunteered to be your escort to the outside, and bring you back when the party starts. And don't try to worm the surprise out of ol' Gambit, she won't say the surprise till we leave. She knows you could worm it out of anyone, now come on." He said holding his hand to me. I took it and he practically dragged me out of there.

After getting on his bike, we went to the most unlikely of places, the closest Mc Donald's. After we ordered, A big Mac meal for him, a double cheeseburger meal for me, we sat down.

"Look's like you got something on your mind Gumbo." I said between bites.

He looked around casually, and said, "I just want to get to know Jubilation better." He said with ease and double meaning.

I could take the underplayed hint, and Jubilation agreed, so out she came. "Why do you need to get to know me better? And don't worry about talking freely, no one will pay the slightest bit of attention to us now. I've made sure of that."

"Gambit sees. Well Jubilee is Gambit best friend, and now you enter the picture, De Petite would not like it if I was only friends with her, so Gambit wants to know if he can be friends with you. That's means he have to get to know you. He been spending the past few days hitting Jeanie Logan and Emma up for all the info on you I could. They were real helpful after I explained why. Emma even gave me some psychobabble on you, toning it down and going more slowly when the eyes started to glaze over from not understanding a word. So I know a lot about you, but I don't know you. So let us talk, eh?"

"So you've been researching me? Trying to understand me, in the hopes I can be a friend. Pretty round about way to do it. Why not just come to me first?"

"Gambit, he want to understand you, and you might not tell him everything you told other's no? you probably our sick of talking about yourself by now. Gambit just speed up the process."

"I can see how it would make sense to your mind to do it that way. So am I friend material?"

"Yes, but he need to spend time with you. No use having a friend you never see."

"Yes, that's true."

And so they talked, getting to know one another, when Jubilation said "Well do you want to do anything, or are we just going to sit here and talk all day?"

"Well what do you want to do?"

"I want to ride your bike."

"I take it Gambit be the passenger on this ride?"

"Yah. Jubilee has a lot of fun driving those things, when others let her, so I thought I'd try it."

"You break it you buy it." He said standing up.

"Thanks" she said when he handed her the keys. 'He's going all out on her.' I thought.

After riding for a half hour, we got the message from Frosty to come back for the party, so Jubilation turned around and we went home.