Rogue brushed away the annoying strand of white hair that kept falling into her face and sighed dramatically against the old wooden counter she was leaning against. She had been working for almost six hours non-stop all day and she was just about to finish.
"Can ah go yet?" She moaned from her position by the counter.
"Yeah, sure. Here's your wages." Harry handed over a few bills and carried on counting up the day's takings.
Rogue pushed away from the unit, taking off her black apron and slinging it onto the side in a heap. Grabbing her bag she put the money in the back pocket and flung it over her shoulder.
"Thanks. See ya tamorrow Harry" she called as she left through the cafe door, just about hearing Harry shout a nonchalant farewell in return.
Walking down the street, Rogue sighed in contemplation. Shoving her hands in her trouser pockets, she slowed her pace down and looked at the ground. She had been here for just over three weeks now and was quickly becoming well adjusted to living in New Orleans; in fact she had to admit to herself that she was starting to think of the place as home.
She still had nowhere permanent to live and with the hostel she was staying at, due to close it's doors soon because of lack of funding, she would have to start looking for somewhere new to inhabit.
Her thoughts drifted back to the morning before - she had finally mustered the courage to write a letter to her younger brother Kurt, explaining why she had left. Rogue had felt so guilty since leaving, she had hoped that maybe those feelings were just an effect of her sudden decision to leave and she was forever trying to convince herself that Kurt would understand.
But there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind and eventually she gave in and wrote him a letter. 'Its so stupid. One minute, yoah wishing ya were an only child an' the next yoah wishing that Kurt was heah with ya'. She smirked at the thought. All that time, shouting at him to quit going into her room uninvited and to stop being so annoying - she never realised how much she really cared for him.
"Hey Rogue! Wait up!" Rogue turned her head to look behind her and saw a girl with cropped blonde hair running to catch up.
"Phew . . . hey, you were s'posed. . to wait for me remember?" the girl gasped, obviously out of breath after running the short distance. Rogue gave her a half smile and carried on walking, the girl falling in-step beside her.
"Sorry Tabby. Ah forgot". She apolized.
"Whatever, anyway I thought we were going out tonight?" Rogue sighed.
"Ah dunno Tabs, ah don't feel lahke goin' out and besides, we never get served in those clubs anyway . . ."
"Ohhhh, come on. It'll be fun". Tabitha moaned at her and pulled a mock pout, which caused Rogue to smirk a little.
"Look, I'm going to go and get changed and I'm going to meet you in an hour so you'd better be ready or I'm going to drag you out in whatever your wearing" Tabitha growled in frustration. Rogue glowered at her friends insistence and threw her arms up in the air in a fit of exasperation.
"Fahne". Tabitha smiled proudly and ran off. Rogue watched her friend and workmate go, despite the hostile front that kept most people away from Rogue, Tabby had ignored it and insisted on becoming her friend. Inside, Rogue was grateful for having at least one person who genuinely seemed to give a damn about her - even if Tabitha was sometimes a little too hyperactive and girly for her liking.
Rogue got to the hostel and stepped into her room. It was a single room with a small private bathroom off to the side. It was what anyone working in the property selling business would call 'cosy', it was functional but Rogue knew she would have to find somewhere more permanent to live if she wanted to stay in New Orleans soon.
She collapsed onto her bed face down and lay there for a few minutes with her eyes closed trying to let the stress of the day leave her body. 'Lahke that'll happen' she thought grimly to herself and moved her head to look at the clock on the table beside the bed. 'Great, Tabby's gonna be heah in twenty minutes an' all ah wanna do is go ta sleep'.
Rogue pulled herself up and walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Ten minutes later she was stood in front of a half full closet in just a towel, rifling through the few items she had brought with her and a few pieces she had acquired since.
Picking out some black pants, a tight black vest top and khaki netted, see-through top that hung just of one shoulder, she got dressed. 'This will have ta do' she thought solemnly. After putting on her usual dark make-up, she was startled when a knock came at the door. She went over and opened it, seeing Tabitha outside, she left the door open and put on her boots. Tabby smiled and shook her head.
"One day I swear I'm going to get you out of wearing black all the time".
"Ah'm wearin' green as well," Rogue said in protest.
"Yeah, but the rest is black. You ready to go?" Without answering, Rogue got up and followed Tabitha out.
After wondering down Bourbon Street for a while, Tabitha eventually led them into a small, almost invisible alleyway squashed between two large buildings. Tabitha walked ahead and stopped at a doorway and looked behind her to see Rogue staring at her curiously.
"Come on, we're here now" She called to her friend.
"And where is exactly is that?" Rogue asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest.
"This is the club I was telling you about the other day, you know the one with all the celebrities?" She explained. Rogue remained silent and looked at her suspiciously. Tabitha sighed and turned to the doorway and knocked three times. The door opened about three inches.
"Jack Daniels on the rocks" Tabby whispered into the gap. The door opened fully and Tabitha grabbed her friend's arm and dragged her through the door. Rogue was startled to say the least.
"Ah can't believe ya brought me ta a place that needs a password ta git in" She whispered accusingly. Tabby turned and smiled at her.
"Oh c'mon, this is great. Where's your sense of adventure?" Rogue snorted.
"At home with the rest of mah senses obviously". Tabby frowned at her and led them into the dark club. The thumping of the music vibrated of the walls and random lights flashed from the ceiling and over the dance area, making the place almost seem like an attempted interpretation of hell.
People were swarming all over the place, some dressed in overly gothic attire that even made Rogue look twice, the majority of people moving like a wave to the heavy beating of the music.
Tabby grinned devilishly and dragged Rogue over to the dance floor. After a while Rogue had to admit she was starting to like the place, even if at first she was put off by the amount of people in the club. Tabitha was enjoying herself and was currently dancing fairly intimately with some random guy whom she had no idea was. Rogue sighed internally, sometimes she wished she could be carefree like her friend, but the shyer side of her personality always stood in the way.
She pushed her way through the crowds and made her way over to the bar. Dancing for a good hour had made her thirsty, grabbing a barstool she propped herself up on it and ordered a JD and coke. The bartender brought over her drink and she downed the glass in three mouthfuls and then ordered the same again. Rogue turned her head to look for Tabitha; she could just about see her head still dancing. Her drink came and she repeated the process of downing it.
"Y'know if your goin' t'do dat y'should be drinking something stronger" a deep accented voice came from beside her. Rogue turned her head and glared at the person who dared to tell her how to drink.
Her breath caught when she saw the man standing next to her. He was tall and lean but muscled in all the right places. His auburn bed head hair fell over his eyes, that were so dark and mesmerising that the comeback Rogue had been about to give was trapped in the back of her throat. The man smirked at the obvious effect he was having on the girl. The bartender appeared as if from nowhere in front of them.
"Two bourbons, sil vous plait". The man ordered while not breaking eye contact with Rogue. The bartender placed the glasses in front of the mysterious man who slid one in front of Rogue. Rogue snapped out of her dreamland and glared once again at the man.
"Ah never said ah wanted a drink". She said irritably.
"Too bad, I t'ought you could take your drink, but obviously I was wrong" The man smirked at her and downed his drink. Taking this as a challenge, Rogue took the glass and knocked it back making sure the liquid never touched her tongue and then smirked in return.
"Remy LeBeau" He introduced himself and signalled the bartender for two more drinks. Rogue groaned inwardly at the guy's cocky attitude. He was obviously a player and she for the moment was his new challenge.
"Rogue" She muttered, waiting for the usual 'isn't that a strange name', but was relatively surprised to hear nothing of the sort.
Remy admired the girl beside him. She wasn't exactly the air headed skirt that he usually went for, in fact she was near enough the complete opposite, neither was she stunningly beautiful. But she sure was something good to look at.
"So, why is a belle femme such as y'rself sat here alone"? He started, knowing it was a bad line, but hell it always got some sort of reaction. Rogue sighed 'oh man, here it goes'.
"Ah came heah, with mah friend. She's around somewhere". She said looking around for good effect.
"Friends huh, never can rely on em'".
"Tell meh about it" She sighed and looked back at the bar. Deciding that wherever Tabby was, she wasn't going to be re-appearing for a while.
"So what are ya, French or somethin'?" Rogue asked Remy. He smiled at the attempt of starting a conversation.
"Nah, m' what y' would call a Cajun". He replied. Rogue nodded mutely and looked back over at the dancing wave of people. Remy smirked and ordered two more bourbons, which the bartender brought over again. Rogue smiled when he pushed one of the drinks in front of her and both drank in unison. 'This is gonna be a long nahte' she thought tiredly.
Rogue sat there for a few more hours, mostly with Remy by her side except when some skin flashing airhead would come over and disturb them from their drinking and drag Remy off to dance. But Rogue was surprised when he kept coming back. She was currently sat there alone and swirling a half empty glass of Jack Daniels in her hand when Tabby stumbled over to her with a guy standing behind her.
"Hey Rogue, s'so I'm going home now, I' I'll see you later". Aimee slurred at her, before giving her a clumsy hug and then walked off with her 'date' of the night. Rogue smiled at her friends drunken state and realised she shouldn't be so quick to judge; she wasn't in exactly the best of conditions either. 'One more and then ah'm leavin' befoah that Cajun comes back over heah'. She thought to herself and promptly ordered another drink.
Downing both the Jack Daniels she had before and the last one quickly, she attempted to stand and found that as soon as she stood, the room became a big mash of black and red and the occasional flash of white dotted her already dizzy view of the club. Rogue gulped and then made her way slowly out towards the exit.
Remy from his current stance in the dancing wave of people, caught the sight of the girl he was talking to earlier over the head of the current girl he was dancing with. He noticed her stumble off the barstool she was sat at and make her way unsteadily towards the exit. 'Had too much to drink dere chére' he smirked to himself.
But for once he felt a little guilty. He had a played a part in getting her like that and now he was just watching her walk out or more like stumble out of the club. He inwardly grimaced but continued to dance, it wasn't his concern.
Rogue instantly felt her insides turn as she got out into the alleyway. She held onto the walls for support and stumbled down around the corner and onto the main street. 'Ah'm so gonna regret this in th' mornin' she thought grimly and grabbed for any solid object she could make out of her blurred vision.
Dragging her feet, Rogue went to grab for a lamppost but missed and fell to the floor, hitting her head hard on the cold pavement. She moaned and tried to get back up, but couldn't. Her eyes began to feel tired and heavy, 'don't fall asleep Rogue, do not fall asleep', but her own instructions weren't enough to keep the darkness from overcoming her.