I'll Be There For You
Note: Yay chapter 4 is up! It's a miracle. I know you're all dying to know what happens. Will there be KurtxImber? *winks* Better read and find out. Love you guys.
oOo
Chapter 4:
"Kurt?"
"Hmm?"
Kurt and Imber were sitting under a tree outside of the Institute, enjoying the warm weather. Imber was resting her head on Kurt's chest, which Kurt didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, Kurt didn't mind, and would have enjoyed the experience more if something hadn't been bugging him.
His and Kitty's fight a few days ago had ended badly. Kitty wouldn't talk to him, and he'd learned not to mess with angry girls. Things between them were bad, tensions were high. He'd sat beside her in class the other day, hoping she'd be willing to talk, only to find she was furious at him and would do nothing of the sort.
Kurt had given up for the moment. He didn't understand where, exactly, her anger was coming from. He knew that Imber was part of it, somehow. Kitty seemed jealous of her, but it didn't make sense. Kitty and Kurt were always just friends. It was ok if he liked Imber. He shook his head. He didn't get it.
"Somefing bozzering you?" Imber inquired softly. Her brown eyes were deep, beautiful, intelligent.
Kurt put on a smile. "Nothing much."
"Wass is eet?" she demanded, punching him lightly in the stomach.
"Ow, nothing. I was just…" he trailed off and sighed. His smile faded. "I was thinking about Keety," he said seriously. Imber folded her arms and put her chin on her hands. She studied Kurt's expression for a moment.
"She doesn't care foh me, yes?" Imber asked.
Kurt shrugged. "I don't know. Kitty can be…complicated. I don't understand her sometimes." He put one arm around Imber. "I don't know exactly vhy she doesn't like you." He nuzzled her with his nose. "I can't imagine vhy anyone vouldn't like you."
Imber smiled at this.
"You should talk tah her. See what matter vith her."
Kurt bit on his lip. "Later," he said, pulling Imber closer to him. "I'd rather be here vith you right now."
~Elsewhere~
Kitty was in her room, eyeing a plate of food. Jean had brought it up to her in the hopes that she might eat, but Kitty didn't feel like eating. She was depressed.
"Shouldn't waste the food, though," Kitty muttered. She picked up the hot plate and took it downstairs to the kitchen. She hadn't eaten all day, and she'd hardly eaten the day before. The food smelled so good, so tempting. But no. She turned up her nose at it and finished marching downstairs.
In the kitchen, Storm was doing dishes. Kitty quickly put her untouched plate on the counter and turned to leave.
"Kitty," Storm's calm voice called. Kitty sighed and spun back around.
"Yeah, Mrs. Munro?"
"You didn't eat any of this," Storm said, examining the untouched plate. "Why not?"
"Wasn't hungry," Kitty mumbled. Her stomach growled just then, as if in rebellion.
Strom raised a white eyebrow. "You haven't eaten hardly anything in three days, Kitty. What's the matter?"
"Nothing, I…" Kitty sighed and closed her eyes. Storm was known for being a great listener and dispenser of good advice. Plus, she was an adult, and had seen and heard it all before. Maybe she could help. "It's complicated," Kitty said finally.
Storm leaned against the sink and nodded, guessing it was something emotional. "Tell me about it," she said, her voice calm but commanding.
"I'm having trouble with my relationship with Kurt," Kitty admitted quickly. She glanced around the kitchen once, as if expecting to see Kurt hiding somewhere she hadn't seen.
"How so?" Storm prompted.
Kitty averted her eyes, picking a spot on the floor and staring at it intently. "Well, he's been ignoring me lately. Like, a week ago I asked if he wanted to hang out, but he was so busy elsewhere"—she seemed to spit out the words—"that he had to, like, say no."
Storm easily picked up on Kitty's angry words. "Whatever he was doing 'elsewhere' seems to disagree with you, Kitty," she noted.
"Yeah," Kitty grumbled, crossing her arms. "Spending time with Queen Poland over there."
"Ah," Storm said, feeling like she was finally getting to the root of the problem. "So you're jealous of Imber?"
"Like, heck no," Kitty protested quickly. "Why would I be? Of her? Jeeze."
"It seems pretty obvious to me that you are, Kitty. Is it because she and Kurt have been spending time together lately?"
"Spending time together?" Kitty snapped. "They're like practically glued to each other. I've tried like five times to spend time with Kurt, but he's been too busy with Miss-Redheaded-Wonder to notice me! I've been his friend for two years and I'm getting dumped for some foreign chick he's known for a month? And the other day was the worst. We had this huge fight and he's mad at me and I'm kinda pissed at him. It's all messed up," Kitty said, calming down at the end. She sighed heavily. In a way, it felt good to get her anger and frustrations out.
Storm was silent for a minute while she thought. It made sense now. Kitty had been avoiding Kurt lately, and Storm was sure she'd heard Kurt recently complaining about Kitty being weird around Imber. Storm looked at Kitty for a moment and said, "I know you've had a crush on Kurt for a long time, Kitty. Do you feel like Kurt is getting to a, um, dating stage with Imber and that's really what's bothering you?"
"Yes," Kitty whispered. "And I just feel like I'm losing Kurt as a friend right now. Like we're drifting apart or something. I mean, I'm not thrilled that he's dating Imber, but I feel like she's taking him away from me as a friend, which is really driving me crazy. And she seems like she's having fun doing it," Kitty added bitterly.
"Oh, I don't think that's true," Storm threw in. "I think that's the jealousy talking. Imber is a very nice girl and I think if you talked to her about how you're feeling, she would understand and try to make things between you and her, and you and Kurt, better."
"I don't know, Mrs. Munroe. I...I can't say I haven't been part of the problem. I've been giving Kurt the cold shoulder for a few days. And I haven't been...always nice to Imber."
Storm looked Kitty in the eye. "Kurt is very forgiving. I think if you talk to him, you can work things out. But you need to talk to Imber, too, if you've been having a rocky relationship with her. You can fix these things, Kitty."
Kitty growled to herself. She didn't like the idea very much, but she didn't want things between her and Kurt to get any worse. "Ok," she resigned with a sigh. "What should I do?"
oOo
Kitty felt pretty confident. After a talk with Storm, she felt better about what she needed to do. She had to find Imber, pull her aside for a few minutes, and have a girl-to-girl conversation. Tell her how she felt. It seemed easy enough, but Kitty was still angry with Imber. Even talking with Storm hadn't completely dispelled her negative feelings, but Kitty was willing to try to get over her hard feelings and make things right, if possible.
She found herself outside, knowing that's where Imber most likely was.
Sure enough, she saw Imber sitting under a far-away tree. Kitty moved closer, seeing a second figure beside her. Kurt. She groaned. Would she be able to get Imber by herself, or would Kurt try to ruin her plan? Knowing Kurt, she doubted it. But still.
She was about forty feet away from the tree now, and could see both Imber and Kurt. The two of them were caught up in each other and didn't seem to notice her. She drew a few steps closer. Just then, she stopped dead.
Kurt had Imber resting on his stomach, and at that moment, he pulled her to him and they kissed passionately.
Kitty's heart jumped up into her throat. She exhaled slowly, her breath wavering. At her sides, her fists clenched and unclenched. God, Kurt was running his hands down her spine, smiling the whole time. Imber smiled back at him lovingly. At that point, Kitty snapped. She turned and ran away, fighting back angry, hot tears. Screw trying to fix things-Imber had just ruined them permantently. Damn her, damn her. Why?
Kitty buried her face in her hands and phased right through the front doors. She pushed past several flustered X-students as she dashed up to her room.
She threw herself onto her bed and curled up in a tight ball. She hugged her knees to her chest and cried her heart out.
oOo
I know this was a short chapter, but I had to end it here for the sake of the story. And maybe for suspense. What will happen next? Well, you'll just have to wait and see.
-The Ember Raven