Chapter 4
Two days later Rogue comes running into the staff meeting late. She and Remy had been up late practicing the next day. Nobody said anything and didn't even bother to stop the meeting as she took her seat.
"Things are right on schedule for the regional competition," Ororo announced at the end of the meeting. "Everybody make sure that you have your costumes cleaned and any resizing done before the start of next week or it won't be ready in time."
Everybody got up to get to work. There were classes to teach and dances to learn for the competition. As they were walking out Betsy stopped the girls. "All females that are attending the company ball at Lensherr Enterprises please stay for another minute." All the girls turned around and gave her a funny look before resuming their seats. Betsy smiled, "Since we are going to the party I thought that we should have some new dresses to wear. Since there are no group classes scheduled for tonight I thought that we could take a couple hours to go shopping. I know this great little shop that has all the newest styles of dresses." Betsy stood looking at her friends waiting for an answer.
"Yeah, that would be fun." Kitty replied while doing a little bounce in her seat. "With all of us working so hard on the competition we haven't had a chance to talk to each other much. I'll call and tell Lexa, Jubilee, and Amara to meet us there."
"Sounds like a plan." Betsy gave everyone the address to the boutique and left them with "Don't be late!"
Rogue wasn't sure whether she should take the afternoon off just to go shopping. She should be practicing with Remy. Kitty seemed to know what she was thinking. She quickly walked out the door and down the hall until she found Remy in the studio. Pulling him aside she said, "Look Betsy wants all the girls to go like out shopping for a dress for the party but I don't like think that Rogue will like come because like she thinks that she needs to stay and practice. I want you to like talk her into it. OK?"
Remy smiled at the perky young brunette. "Remy will tell the beautiful femme to go get a belle dress for the party. Remy wants his date to look gorgeous for the party so that he can show her off."
Kitty squealed with delight, "You mean you asked her and she said yes? That is so like cool. You two make the cutest couple." Kitty would have continued rambling on if Remy hadn't stepped in and stopped her.
"I haven't asked her yet petite. Mais I am going to in a couple of nights." Remy grinned at the look on Kitty's face. He could tell that she was dreaming up as many romantic ideas as her mind would let her.
Kitty grinned, "Make sure she is at this boutique at 4 then." With another giggle and a gleam in her eye she ran off to her first lesson of the day.
Remy shook his head and got back to work. A little later he got his chance to talk to Rogue. "Chere, Remy heard that the girls were going shopping so Remy guesses we won't be practicing tonight, huh?"
"Ah was actually thinking about skipping so that we could practice."
"Non, you worked hard to get Pietro and Lexa ready for the dance. You should have a beautiful dress to knock everyone's socks off when you walk into the room."
Rogue smiled and said, "You don't think that it will hurt us to take the afternoon off?"
Remy shook his head and then came over to kiss Rogue's hand. "If it will make you feel better chere we will work longer tomorrow. However, I had something else in mind for the following night." Before Rogue could protest Remy assured her, "We will still have time to practice but I think that we need something a little fun to break up the monotony. Will that work for you?"
"Ah suppose." Secretly Rogue was thrilled that she would get to spend some time with Remy outside of the studio. The past couple of days had been amazing. She and Remy got along so well on the dance floor that she was hoping that they would get along just as well off the dance floor. Remy grinned at her and then they got to work with the couple that came in for lessons. They didn't get much chance to talk again before it was time for the girls to head off for the boutique.
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Meanwhile, Joseph was at his new job. He had only been there for about two weeks but he enjoyed it a lot more then he did dancing. He had been planning on going to law school when he met Rogue. She had loved dancing and he had loved her so to be close to her he had dropped out of school to dance. Don't get him wrong he was good at dancing but he wasn't as passionate about it as he was Rogue.
His new job had a perk that he hadn't counted on. While saving up enough money to go to law school he was working as an aide in a law firm so he had access to systems that would allow him to investigate Remy LeBeau. He was going to prove to Rogue once and for all that he was the man for her. If Remy had anything that he was hiding Joe was confident that he could find it and expose it. "You'll be sorry you messed with me LeBeau," Joe said to himself as he sat down and access the police records in New Orleans.
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The girls all met at the boutique at 4 like promised. "Alright girls here is what we are going to do," Betsy started. "We are going to just go through the shop and grab any dress that strikes our fancy and meet at the dressing rooms in 20 minutes."
The girls at grinned at each other and took off to different parts of the store. Twenty minutes later there were seven girls with about 10 dresses a piece. Jubilee grinned at the other girls. "Alright who is going to try their dresses on first?"
"I will," Amara quickly stepped forward. All the other girls quickly agreed and settled in the seats around the dressing room to give their opinions of the dresses she tried on. As they waited for her to come out they talked about what was going on with their lives.
"Pete and I are like getting pretty serious," Kitty squealed. "He is just like the totally sweetest guy in the world. If things keep going like this I like think that he is like going to propose soon."
"Really that's great," Jubilee squealed. "Have you been thinking of a date for the wedding?"
Rogue groaned, "He hasn't even proposed yet and you think she has all the plans laid out already?"
Kitty looked a little sheepish, "Actually, I've had a lot of my ideas planned since I was 16. I don't have a date picked out though since I wasn't like sure when I was actually going to get married. But I think that I would like a summer wedding, outside in a huge garden and a long white off the shoulder dress." She looked at the others and then smiled sheepishly, "Okay so maybe I've thought about it more then I was willing to admit."
The others giggled and then turned when Amara walked out of the dressing room. They all thought that she looked lovely in the red spaghetti strap gown. "That's pretty luv," Betsy said, "but I think that you could do better. Go try on some of the others, k?"
Amara looked at her reflection in the floor length mirror, "You're right. It's not special enough for the party. Be back out in a minute." The girls nodded and went back to discussing. Amara called out from the dressing room, "Kitty I think that the bridesmaids should wear purple. What do you think?"
"I was thinking like pink since it's my favorite color," Kitty called back.
Everyone groaned. They knew how much Kitty loved pink. Amara walked out in another gown. This one was red too but was strapless with a bow on the hip. "No," everyone said at once. Amara nodded and went once again into the dressing room. They continued waiting without talking much for a while. Amara went through most of her dresses until she came to the next to last one. "That one is perfect," Everyone cooed as she walked out. It was red with black trim, strapless with black trim going down one side. There was a floral design across the chest waist and between the black trim going down the side. It looked like it was made for her. Amara grinned and headed back to change into her normal clothes and took her gown up to the counter while Wanda headed into the dressing room. Wanda only had about 5 gowns with her but she didn't need them all because the second one she came out in was her favorite and as soon as she saw their faces she knew that her friends agreed.
"Hon, you look gorgeous," Rogue gasped. "You aren't going to get out of the house without John trying to jump you."
Wanda grinned, "Perfect. Just the reaction I was looking for." She looked in the mirror and turned around admiring herself. The black dress was another strapless dress but had a little dip in the middle between her breasts. It had silver sparkles accentuating the top. The skirt flared slightly at the waist and had a slit up the side that stopped a little above mid-thigh.
Lexa was the next one to go in. She wasn't sure what she was looking for so she had a wide assortment of dresses to try on. The winner for her was a halter dress in blue. It dipped low in the front without revealing too much and was cut low in the back. Its skirt flared out and with her dark brown hair she looked like Cinderella going to the ball. "You have to get that dress. Pietro will absolutely drool when he sees you in that." Jubilee exclaimed. Lexa grinned and took the dress to the counter with the others.
"OK," Jubilee exclaimed, "I'm going next."
As they waited for Kitty decided to bite the bullet, "So Rogue how are you and Remy doing?"
"We're doing fine. He's an excellent dancer, much better then Joe. Ah think we have a chance at winning the competition." Rogue grinned.
Kitty, however, groaned. "I didn't like mean on the dance floor. I meant like off the dance floor."
Rogue's grinned slowly faded. "Ah'm not sure. We haven't spent much time together off the dance floor. He did say that he had something he'd planned for us in a couple of days. He said it was to reward us for all our hard work."
Kitty let out another squeal since she knew what Remy was planning but said, "You two would make a perfect couple." Rogue just shook her head. The rest of the afternoon went on with mindless chit chat while the other girls picked out their dresses and took them up to the counter. Jubilee ended up with a form fitting halter dress in yellow with black trim accentuating the V on the front. It also had a slit that stopped at about her knee. Kitty of course ended up with a baby pink dress. It had spaghetti straps that were crossed in the back. The bottom flared right below the hip with a little ruffle at the top of the slit that stopped at her knee.
Rogue and Betsy were still looking when everyone else thought they should call it a day. "Bye guys," Rogue and Betsy called from the dressing room. After they walked out of the dressing room they thought that they had found their dresses. Rogue wasn't sure why she cared so much about the dress she wore. "It's not like ah have anyone to get fixed up for," she muttered to herself as she looked in the mirror.
Betsy overheard, "Maybe you are hoping to catch the eye of a certain Cajun?"
Rogue looked at Betsy for a moment. Besides Wanda and Kitty Betsy was her closest confidant. "Ah can't help but find myself being attracted to that swamp rat. He's been nothing but sweet since this whole mess with Joe. Ah just don't know if ah want to try to mix business and pleasure. Ah mean, look what happened with Joe. Ah don't think ah could take it if we tried and things didn't work out."
Betsy came up behind Rogue and gave her a hug. "Luv, you can't be scared of getting your heart broke. I've seen how Remy looks at you and I get the feeling that he might feel the same way. When you guys go out in a couple of nights you might be surprised with what happens." Rogue smiled at Betsy and then looked at her dress.
"That one is a keeper. You'll make Warren drool as well as the other men at the party." The dress Betsy was wearing was a royal purple that had a very daring V plunge in the front and almost gave a view of the top of her buttock in the back. The spaghetti straps were set with diamonds and there was a row that ran under her breasts. The skirt was long in the back but came up and stopped just about her knees in the front. She looked absolutely gorgeous. Rogue's dress was equally stunning. It was green strapless gown that looked like is made out of chiffon, soft and flowing all the way to floor with a little train following her. There was a design done in crystal and sheer fabric going around her waist. The dress fit her curves nicely without showing off too much.
"Your dress is a keeper as well," Betsy informed her. "Remy won't know what hit him when he sees you this is dress."
Rogue grinned, "Then this is the one." They paid for the dresses and headed home. Rogue was starting to look forward to seeing Remy again and she couldn't stop thinking about what Betsy had told her at the store. Maybe she should give Remy a chance. 'I'll just have to wait and see what happens in a couple of night.'
Thanks to all of you who reviewed and for all the suggestions. Hope this chapter is better then the last.