Disclaimer: I do not own any of the X-Men/Marvel/WB characters, some of these lines are not even mine but taken or paraphrased from various cartoons and comics I've read. What can I say, but I suck with dialogue. Just have some story in my head that won't go away so I'm writing it down. I don't get any money for this, only a mild break in boredom.
St. John is not, by any means, a typical Australian or even a representative of Australians, so please do not journey to Australia expecting to find a whole bunch of trouble-making people to play with matches with. Especially in the forests there 'cause if you burnt those down I would have to hunt you down and beat you with a stick (just kidding but I would be enraged beyond words).
thoughts
NINE TO FIVE: Chapter Ten - Cognizant Messages
"Bobby! You little perv!" Amara yelled after Bobby accidentally elbowed Amara in the chest. "You did that on purpose!" Amara punched Bobby in the gut.
"I did not!" a slightly winded Bobby exclaimed in his defense. "We're shoved in here like sardines, and I was trying to fix my seat belt!"
Squeezed like sardines was right. In the back seat of the Jeep was Bobby, Amara, Sam, and Roberto, and in the spacious passenger seat was Jamie. The driver insisted that, although he was the smallest, Jamie got shotgun so that one nudge didn't result in the X-Jeep turning into a clown car. That and he was the only Newbie the driver could tolerate.
"Hey, knock it off ya guys!" Sam hollered at Bobby and Amara, who had progressed from name calling to did-too, did-not and hair pulling among other things. They were squashing Roberto and Sam against the back door to the Jeep.
The driver tightened her grip on the steering wheel and cursed her naiveness. The Professor's voice mocked her thoughts, Sure, Rogue, you can drive the Jeep to work tomorrow, but first I will drive you insane by forcing you to drop the Newbies off for a field trip! AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! Rogue mentally screamed and cursed as she tightened her grip on the wheel. She took the next left turn a little faster than she should have, hoping that her reckless driving would quiet the Newbies in the back seat. No such luck, they yelled at each other even louder now.
"Rogue, are you okay?" two Jamies asked from the passenger seat. Apparently when Rogue took that last turn, Amara had been prepping one huge slap for Bobby. The adjustment of G-force threw her arm into Sam. With his long legs, Sam couldn't help but kick the passenger seat. And now there are two Jamies in the front seat.
"Bobby, stop icing my hair!" Amara turned into her magma form.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Sam yelled while trying desperately to put some buffer space between him and Amara's hot skin.
"HEY! That was my eye!" Roberto screamed. Now both Sam and Roberto were kicking Jamie's seat.
Rogue hunched further over the steering wheel, trying to concentrate on getting to the middle school as fast as possible. Her foot was becoming heavier and heavier on the accelerator.
When a half dozen Jamies were wriggling under the passenger seat belt, Rogue had had enough. She growled loudly and violently cut across several lanes of traffic and jumped a curb.
The Jamies covered their eyes with their hands as they saw the Jeep heading uncontrollably toward a street sign. A few seconds after he thought they would have hit the sign he opened his eyes to find Rogue spinning the Jeep to an abrupt stop in a virtually empty parking lot. Musta missed the sign, Jamie thought. Jamie put himself back together and turned around to look out the back window. There were two skid marks stretched across the road and into the parking lot. These marks happened to straddle one "No Parking, Fire Zone" sign. Weird. Jamie turned around and faced forward again.
The dangerous, Gone in Sixty Seconds driving caused silence in the back seat. Rogue turned around to face them.
"Do ya'll wanna make it ta this field trip alive?" Rogue asked through clenched teeth.
There were frightened gulps and nods coming from the Newbies in the back.
"Good," was all Rogue said. She turned back around in her seat and shifted the Jeep into gear. The rest of the trip was met with silence aside from the radio playing various hard rock tunes.
At the school the four in the back emerged from the Jeep still wearing their terrified faces. Rogue glanced at the singular Jamie grabbing his book bag. He also wore a frightened face. Rogue reached across the car and ruffled Jamie's hair.
"Have a good time, kid," she said loud enough for Jamie alone to hear. Jamie beamed at her, then rushed to join his classmates.
Rogue took off and headed for Vinyl Vintage. She parked out back and let herself in the back door. She opened the register and started preparing for the day. She noticed that it was a little darker in the store than usual, but didn't think anything of it.
Okay, it's 10 o'clock. Ah think ah remembered ta do everythin'. Sly will be here in an hour, so he'll let meh know. Then Ashley's comin' in a little later. Never worked with her before. From what ah hear it's gonna be an adventure, an' not in a good way. Rogue walked to the front door to unlock it. She noticed that there was something painted on the windows. That wasn't there last night, she recalled. Someone had spray painted something on the windows. Rogue couldn't read it from the inside, so she stumbled with the keys to unlock the door and rushed outside. Rogue backed up to the edge of the curb so she could read the message in its entirety:
Traitor! Die mutie loving freaks!
Rogue's mouth gaped open, the keys slipped from her hand. Her surprise converted to shame, which quickly turned to an almost uncontrollable anger. In one fluid motion she swept the keys off the ground and stomped inside.
She picked up the phone and called Jamal. She struggled to keep a calm voice when she relayed what had happened to him. He told her to call the police and file a report and he would be there soon to talk to the police too. Rogue hung up the phone and dialed the Bayville Police Department.
"Hello, yes, Ah work at Vinyl Vintage on Main Street an' the store was vandalized last night....Someone spray painted 'Traitor, die mutie lovin' freaks' on the front windows....What do ya mean there's nothin' ya can do....Ain't ya suppose ta come down here, take some pictures, an' file a report...Am Ah a mutant? What the hell does that have ta do with anythin'?....Look, Ah just work here, the owner is expectin' ta be meetin' some cops when he gets here so he can file a report an' stuff...Well, Ah suggest ya drop your donuts an' come down here an' do your job!....Yeah, well, if ya wanna arrest me for contempt ya'll have ta come down here an' get meh. An' while your at it ya might as well take down a vandalism report....Great, Ah'll welcome them when they get here." Rogue slammed down the receiver. Damn stereotyping cops! Ah really hope they don't arrest meh when they get here. Ah've gotten lectured enough at the mansion lately. Don't think it'll look good ta go back with a police record.
Luckily for Rogue, she did not get hauled off to the big house. Jamal was just finishing up talking with the police when Sly showed up for work.
"Whoa, what the hell happened here? What's up with the new decor?" Sly asked as he set his book bag down behind the counter.
Rogue had just entered from the back room with a bucket, a sponge, two rubber gloves and a bottle of graffiti remover in time to hear Sly's questions. "Idiots spray painted the front o' the store or are ya blind?" Rogue's voice was cold and filled with anger.
"Geez, I'm sorry I asked such obvious questions," Sly sheepishly replied.
Jamal approached them before he left. "Okay, now that that's all taken care of, you two got this under control?"
"Yeah," they replied.
"Are you sure you still want to work today, Rogue? You can go home, and I'll call Ashley to come in early," Jamal offered. Sly groaned at the reminder of having to work with Ashley.
"Ah'm fine." Rogue practically growled. Jamal raised his brown eyebrows in disbelief. Rogue continued, eyes narrowed, "Ah wouldn't give 'em the satisfaction o' scarin' meh outta work."
Jamal nodded, not agreeing with her decision but accepting it. "Okay, I'm heading out, call my cell if anything else happens." The owner of Vinyl Vintage turned to leave.
"Even if I happen to strangle Ashley?" Sly inquired.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Sly," Jamal started only half-jokingly, "no killing my employees while on the clock. I'm sorry you two don't get along, but in the real world you have to deal with people you are not particularly fond of. She's a good honest worker, which is why she is here. Deal with it." Jamal waved and left.
Sly sighed. Rogue picked up her bucket of water off the floor and continued for the door.
Her co-worker noticed what she was doing and tried to stop her. "No, you don't have to do that, let me." Sly started to take the bucket away.
Rogue jerked it out of his reach, causing a little bit of water to spill on the floor. "No! Ah want ta do this...Ah wanna see each an' every last letter disappear." Rogue narrowed her eyes.
Sly understood and let her pass. He popped in OPM to try and brighten his mood. His eyes looked around the empty store. This is going to be one long ass day.
At the conclusion of OPM's Menace to Sobriety, Rogue dropped her sponge and sprinted toward the stereo system.
"Thank gawd!" Rogue exclaimed as she shoved Sly out of the way after he removed his CD. "Ah thought ah was gonna haveta go out an' buy a bottle of Captain Morgan in order ta get through that CD," Rogue claimed, alluding to OPM's track entitled "El Capitan," "an' ah don' even like rum."
"See, excellent subliminal messaging going on there," Sly defended his music selection.
Rogue looked blankly at him. There were a few moments of silence until Rogue broke it. "Do ya know what subliminal means?"
Sly shrugged. "But subliminal message sounds so much cooler than something like cognizant message...actually, cognizant message does sound pretty cool, and besides, if you listen closely to the song, they are discouraging or at least warning the listeners to the dangers of El Capitan..." Rogue had lost interest in the punk's ramblings and expressed that to him by holding her hand out in a mouth like fashion and making her hand open and close. She flipped through her book of CD's until she found something to match her angst of the day.
"What did you put in?" Sly asked.
"Family Values Tour '98," Rogue answered with a satisfied look on her face as her favorites Korn, Orgy, and Limp Bizkit among others would soon fill the speakers.
Sly groaned. "Where did you put that bottle of Captain Morgan's?" He pretended to look around.
"Ah had ta live through skateboards an' bongs in heaven (1), so ya can live through this," was Rogue's closing statement as she left to return to her graffiti scrubbing. On her way out, a bleach blonde girl dressed in pressed mall bought mass-produced punk clothes walked in. She wore wrinkle free baggy plaid capri pants with an assortment of ornamental chains and zippers, a green tube top, and long green and black armwarmers and matching head wrap.
"Can Ah help ya?" the glove clad Rogue asked, slightly peeved at the mannerisms or lack thereof of the blonde.
"No, I should be asking you that, chicky," the blonde replied in an equally peeved tone.
This is definitely, going to be a long ass day, Sly repeated his thought. "Hello, Ashley," he greeted coldly. "You remember Rogue from the employee meeting last week? She's working today."
"Sorry," Ashley half-sincerely apologized to Rogue. "I didn't recognize you with the, uh, gloves."
"Ah always wear gloves," Rogue stated.
"Really?" Ashley made a face. "That's so outta style; armwarmers are in."
Rogue rolled her eyes. "Ya point?"
"You really shouldn't wear gloves anymore if you want to keep up with the times." Ashley tried to explain Rogue's faux poi in the fashion world.
"An' if ah don't?"
"Then continue," Ashley waved her away as to dismiss a peasant from a Queen's presence. "Sly, my precious little punk boy toy, how are you doing today?"
"Ex-boy toy, and I was doing quite well until you decided to grace the world with your presence." Sly gave her a very fake smile while wishing a large crevice would open up in the middle of the store and suck Ashley in like Rumplestiltskin.
"Ex for now." Ashley went into the backroom and punched in. "You'll never find another girl like me in a million years."
"Praise the Lord!" Sly exclaimed and raised his hands to the ceiling. Rogue glanced at Sly and felt a little pity for the fellow who would be stuck inside with her practically all day. Then she took off outside and thanked her lucky stars that she volunteered to wash graffiti.
Rogue mesmerized herself while scrubbing and listening to Family Values. She was broken from her trance when her CD stopped mid-song and Gwen Stefani started singing. If she wasn't angry before, Rogue was now furious.
She stomped into the store with a murderous glint in her eye. Sly stepped back and held up his hands. "I tried to stop her."
Rogue's glaze went over to Ashley who was marking CD's. Ashley looked up at Rogue slightly annoyed. "What?!"
"Why did ya stop mah music?" Rogue managed to spit out through clenched teeth.
"Your music was not conducive to a commercial environment," Ashley said, matter-of-factly.
"It is essential for mah environment," Rogue retorted.
"You should always put the customer first." Ashley brushed past Rogue and continued to busy herself around the store.
"What customers?!" Rogue gestured to the empty store.
"Exactly, my point," Ashley responded.
"Listen here -"
Ashley pulled rank. "No, I have worked here for almost three years, and I know what I'm doing."
Rogue grew frustrated. "Question?" she asked Ashley, who nodded in response. "If ah drop a house on ya, would your special fad armwarmers crinkle up like the Wicked Witch of the East?"
"Why you insolent, little high schooler!" Ashley couldn't handle a mock to her corporate fashion sense, even if her armbands did look like the Wicked Witch's socks from the Wizard of Oz. "I think you should be watching me and learning how to do this job properly -"
"Wrong, ya should think 'bout how long ya wanna stay conscious," Rogue growled.
Ashley looked the gothic girl up and down. "Like you could take me on."
Rogue adjusted her tactic, although she might get lectured for it later. "Do ya have any idea why Ah always wear gloves, Ashley, o' were ya not paying any attention ta that part o' the employee meetin' either?" Rogue stepped closer the girl. Should ah really do it? She might never come near meh after this...HELL YEAH!
The bleach blonde looked at her annoyed, but did not answer.
Rogue got within a few inches of her face. "Ah'm a mutant an' with a single touch, ah can suck the life outta people an' knock 'em out. Wanna try it?" Rogue started to take off her glove.
An immense fear spread across Ashley's face. "You're one of those freaks!!" She jumped up and backed away from Rogue quickly. "So you're the reason Jamal has become an anti-mutant target!"
"Yah, an' ah'm cleanin' up after 'em too."
Ashley snorted. "You think that little spray paint prank is the only thing he's faced the last couple of weeks. Try threatening phone calls and breaking and entering into his house!"
"What?!" Rogue had no idea what she was talking about. She glanced over to Sly who wasn't looking her in the eye, an unspoken confirmation of Ashley's gossip.
"Yeah, glove girl, Jamal's been receiving hell for hiring you; you're gonna run him out of business or kill him, which ever comes first."
"ASHLEY!!" Sly yelled. "That's not true and you know it. If Jamal was really worried, he would have let her know, and let her go. He puts our safety above everything. These people are just trying to scare him, they have no real guts to follow through, and he knows it. Don't worry about it, Rogue."
"Don't worry 'bout it?!" Rogue exclaimed in frustration. "That'll work," she added sarcastically.
"He's not in any real trouble," Sly repeated. Ashley snorted and rolled her eyes and Sly glared at her in response. "Just go back outside and finish up. I'll put your CD back on, because it is YOUR turn. And, Ashley, you will resume your work on the floor without any further venomous comments," Sly took charge.
"Who died and made you manager?" Ashley stubbornly retorted.
Now it was Sly's turn for the eye roll, "I've been a manager for over a month. Were you actually mentally present at any of the last couple employee meetings?"
"I still have seniority over you," Ashley continued the power struggle.
"'cept I'm on the schedule as manager today and you are not."
Ashley didn't respond and just started back to work, making as much noise as she could to remind everyone that she was pissed. At the sound of her CD starting over, Rogue went back outside to continue cleaning. Ah'm gonna have ta talk ta Jamal later. Ah can't let him be in danger 'cause o' meh. Ah gotta quit. Guess it's back ta livin' off the Professor's 1-900 number (2).
Mid-afternoon, Rogue plopped her bucket of dirty water and sponge on the counter in front of Sly. "All done," Rogue said very satisfactorily.
"Good, now you can start checking some inventory." Sly handed her a clipboard without even looking up from what he was doing. Rogue groaned and took the clipboard from his hand.
She turned and looked around the empty store. "Has anyone come in today?"
"Nope. Not yet. And the worst part of it is that I've been stuck in here with the wannabe punk queen," Sly complained.
"Ya two are definitely not a match made in heaven," Rogue commented.
"Yeah, I musta been high when I dated her," Sly contemplated. "I have no idea how I could tolerate her for four months unless I was. I mean, she pretends to be into the punk scene, but then she listens to sell outs who aren't even punk anymore," he referred to the No Doubt Rock Steady CD Ashley had playing. "I mean how can you go from a punk/ska band with a hint of reggae in Tragic Kingdom, to a completely urban hip hop slash reggae sound where it is difficult to distinguish any guitars at all, much less a trumpet or sax. And Gwen?! She's gone a little overboard to create her own style, and I'm about ready to loop her into the Christina Agularia category."
"Uh, huh," Rogue replied, having little knowledge of No Doubt.
An idea sparked in Sly's mind. "Rogue, did you happen to see any good, solid brick walls while you were outside?"
The goth gave Sly a strange look. "Uh…Ah wasn't really lookin'."
"Damn, 'cause I really going to need to bang my head up against a brick wall if I have to listen to much more of this."
Rogue nodded in agreement. "What would I have to do to get the next music choice?"
Shooting her a suspicious look Sly said, "I don't know, depends what you want to play."
Rogue grabbed her CD binder and flipped to a page and pointed.
"No," Sly answered. "There is no way in hell I'm trading my turn for them. I am going to have a nice relaxing hour listening to Save Ferris and dreaming of Monique Powell. No way I'm hunting my daydreams with the Queen of the Damned soundtrack."
Rogue shrugged. "You're gonna haveta listen ta it eventually."
"But I can delay the inevitable as long as possible." As Rogue turned her back to Sly to start on inventory, Sly remembered something. "Oh, and I found something while cleaning up the office that you might enjoy."
Rogue remained skeptic. "An' what's that?"
Sly shook his head. "You gotta promise no Queen of the Damned today."
"Whateveh," Rogue responded, having already picked out a more angsty CD to play next.
Sly pulled out two cards in lariats from behind his back. "Two backstage tickets to the sold out Kittie and Dazzlers show next Tuesday."
Rogue took the cards from him and looked at them. "Ah already have two tickets."
"And now you have backstage passes."
"But ah don't want backstage passes. Ah'm not even sure ah'm gonna go anymore." She hands the passes back to Sly.
"What do you mean? It's not every day big name like Kittie comes strolling through a place like Bayville."
"Ah know, it's just that my friend who ah was gonna go with hasn't been in school lately."
"She's been sick?" Sly asked, slightly concerned.
"No, she never came back from her parent's in England." Never called either. Rogue thought of Risty, her only true friend outside the X-Men. Heck, she was the closest thing Rogue had to a best friend. She probably saw my fat face plastered all over TV and decided to stay in England and never be associated with such a freak ever again.
"Well, screw her and go anyway." Sly tried to hand her passes again, but Rogue refused to take them. He gave up with the conventional methods of distribution and leaned over the counter and shoved the passes down the pocket of her jeans. Before Rogue could object, Sly ordered. "Now be a good little worker and go do inventory."
"If Ah'm a worker then what does that make you? The queen bee?" Rogue tried to insult him.
"Queen bee…yes, I do like the sound of that," Sly mused, then whispered, "but don't let Ashley know. That delusion is the only thing that keeps her in line."
Rogue rolled her eyes not knowing how to respond to that and stared working.
At twenty-five after six a vehicle pulled to the side of the street near a park bench.
"I don't see any party here," our favorite Aussie said as he opened his passenger side door. Before he could close his door and suggest another destination for their Saturday night escapade, St. John was shoved out of the vehicle and the door shut and locked behind him. John pulled himself off the ground in time to see Piotr and Remy burning rubber.
Remy unrolled one of the windows and shouted back to John, "Meet you back here later!"
Remy bounced back into his seat and rolled up his window. "Well, dat takes care o' dat."
Piotr felt guilty. "It was not nice to trick him."
"We had no other options, Petey," Remy explained. "He can't stay at de base alone wit' Sabertooth an' de gas stove an' he sure as hell isn' comin' on my date wit' Rogue. Unless you wanted him to tag along wit' you to the X-Geek Mansion to show de Kitty your pretty paintin', we were outta options."
"I guess you are right," Petey sighed. "We should make it up to him sometime…and not with duct tape (3)." Piotr pulled up to Vinyl Vintage.
By six thirty, Vinyl Vintage had only had five customers all day. It was an exceptionally slow Saturday. Rogue couldn't help but feel that it was her fault. She was the reason people vandalized the store and stopped shopping there. Ah am gonna put Jamal outta business. Why can't ah just have a normal after school job like everyone else?! Why does my curse have to follow me everywhere? She was feeling incredibly dejected, and her choice in music showed it. The Rogue was working at the register now as well as standing guard at the stereo system. Ashley had tried to steal her CD out of the player a few times, only to be met with evil death glares and slaps on the hand by a hardcover copy of A Farewell to Arms, which Rogue was attempting to read for class. Finally found something this book is good for, she thought. Sly was also displeased, but respected that it was Rogue's turn and that it would be over in a half hour.
The bells above the front entrance jingled for the eleventh time that day as a tall man in a trench coat and sunglasses walked in.
"Bonjour, chere," Remy greeted Rogue. "Hope you don' mind me comin' a little early. Had to make sure you weren' gonna ditch me."
Rogue sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Remy, can we postpone tonight?" Ah don't know if ah can deal with his flirtin', hormonal self tonight. Ah feel so drained and depressed about today an' havin' ta quit.
"Non, you agreed an' I won't let you weasel out of it," Remy persisted. Rogue looked distressed. "You had a bad day?"
Rogue snorted. "What was your first clue?"
"De music. Who in de world is screamin' at me in, what is it? German?"
"Yah, it's Rammstein's Sehnsucht."
"Do you even know what dey're screamin' 'bout?"
"In music, ya don't need ta understand the words to get the message." Rogue avoided the question.
So Remy answered it for her. "So dat's a no den?"
Rogue nodded, giving in. Ah don't have the energy ta fight with him today. "Tried ta get Kurt ta translate it for meh once. He was listenin' ta Spiel Mit Mir an' after the second verse he said he felt dirty and bamfed outta there."
"Bamfed?" Sly interrupted. "New slang?"
"No, that's the sound he makes when he teleports. Bamf," Rogue answered.
"Teleports?" Sly questioned.
"Yah, teleports," Rogue confirmed, but decided to expand upon for Sly's sanity or remnants thereof. "He's a mutant, too. That's his power."
"Cool," Sly said.
"No, not cool. Especially when he does it in your room an' ya have ta leave the windows open for the rest o' the day ta air out the smell."
"Awww, poor baby," Ashley mocked. "I'm taking my break now, Sly."
"Thank God! Now I can have fifteen minutes of peace," Sly responded and then continued his work on the other side of the store.
Rogue glared at her as she left the room, making sure she didn't go near the stereo.
"So what made dis day so awful?" Remy asked the Goth after she turned her attention back to him.
"Well, first, ah had ta drive the Newbies at the mansion ta a field trip," Rogue started.
"Dat don' sound so bad," Remy naively said.
Rogue glared at him. "Have ya met Bobby and Amara?"
"Non."
"Then ya have no idea how bad it was. Ah had ta stop the car, almost hit a sign too. Second, ah come in here ta open an' someone had spray painted 'Tratior! Mutie Loving Freaks!' on the front of the store, which ah spent half the day washing off. Then the cops were bein' jackasses an' almost didn' come out 'cause ah'm a mutant. Then ah had the pleasure o' meeting Ashley…" Rogue continued to describe the rest of her day.
"Wow, now I see why you're so angry," Remy replied. "But wit' all dat happenin' already, how could it get any worse? Come out wit' me."
"Now ya've jinked it." Rogue smiled and started packing up her books to leave.
"Rogue, why don't you cut out early? I doubt we're going to have a surge of customers come in in the next half hour," Sly called out from across the store.
"See, your day is startin' to look up." Remy still tried to convince her to come along.
"Ah just wanna drive home an' go ta bed." Rogue pleaded to be released from her agreement.
Remy's face grew sad and he started to pout. De femmes cannot resist de sad eye, puppy-dog face.
Rogue crossed her arms. Ah will not fall for his childish antics. But he looks like ah just ran over his dog. "Fine. Ya can walk meh ta the Jeep, but that's it."
A huge grin spread across Remy's face. "So I got the walk to de car to convince you to go out wit' me tonight?"
"Ah'm not goin' out with ya tonight, swamp rat!" Rogue started to get irritated, but in a refreshing way, not in a "I'm going to rip your head off" sort of way. She put her Rammstein CD away and slung her bag over her shoulder. As she went to the back room to punch out she noticed that Sly had already put in a new CD.
"Now, Ah know the real reason ya wanted meh to leave early, Queen Bee," Rogue teased Sly. "Good-bye, your majesty." Sly waved.
Remy gave her a strange look, but followed her out of the store without commenting. Some things are not meant to be explained.
"So, mon chere," Remy put on the charm, "What would ya like to do wit' Remy tonight? Keep in mind dat dis is our first date, so nothin' too kinky. Save dat for de second date."
"Second date?" Rogue raised an eyebrow at him. "We aren't goin' on a first date."
"Come on, what would ya like to do wit' me?"
"Remy, tonight I feel like throwin' ya from a movin' vehicle," Rogue mused. "How does that sound?"
"Painful, an' not in a good way." Remy had another suggestion. "How about de sport o' pool? I know a place not far from here. An' pool isn't too gruelin'."
"Pool?" Rogue questioned as they rounded the block. "Pool sounds kinda borin."
"We can make it interestin'. Make some wagers," Remy recommended.
"What do ya take meh for, swamp rat?" Rogue questioned. "For one, ah'm not gonna gamble with a guy who's bad guy code name is Gambit, and two, ya're -" Rogue stopped mid-sentence.
She had just reached the parking lot behind Vinyl Vintage. The X-Jeep was covered in eggs and shaving cream spelling out horrible words I'm not going to write on all sides of the vehicle. As she walked closer she saw that the tires were slashed too. Rogue sighed and ran her hand through her hair.
"Can't get any worse, eh, Cajun?" Rogue asked.
Remy didn't know what to say. He just walked up behind her and put his arms around her shoulders. "Guess I did jinks it. Sorry 'bout dat."
Rogue smiled a little, but it disappeared when she looked back at the car. Ah don't wanna call the mansion and explain this on top of everythin' else that has happened today. Remy's right, can this day get any worse?
"Where was this pool place ya were tellin' meh 'bout?"
(1) OPM's "Heaven is a Halfpipe"
(2) See Chapter 3 - Cheeseburgers and Sugar Daddies
(3) See Chapter 6 - I'd always figured you'd like it kinky
A/N: *evil laughter* And you guys thought you were going to read about Remy and Rogue's date this chapter *more evil laughter* I promise plenty of Romy, John/Wanda, and even a little Kiotr next time. I know the suspense is killing everyone, but I got something really good planned. At least in my head it's really cool. On paper...er .html it might be something else. Thanks for tuning in :)