Sorry this is so late. Vacation makes me lazy. Hopefully, now that I'm
back in school with high speed internet, I'll be able to post more
regularly. Until exams and projects start, that is. Sigh
Thanks again for the reviews. _______________________________________________________________
After they finished eating, Bobby and Jubilee carried her packages back to his car. They placed most of her bags in his backseat, since they decided that the trunk was better served for carrying the groceries they had to purchase. Although their initial plan was to buy food immediately, Bobby found it easy to coerce Jubilee into spending some more time at the arcade. While there, he was pleased to notice that "Shoot the Mutant" had a handwritten out of order sign taped to the screen. Both mutants were immersed in playing games and watching others play for several hours. When they finally did leave the mall, it was late afternoon. This time, they resolved to actually make it to the grocery store.
The supermarket was only a fifteen-minute drive from the shopping center and their route took them right through the downtown area.
"Wow," said Jubilee, looking around. "I'd forgotten how quaint everything was here. It's kind of nice, but I miss the hussle and bussle of the big city, y'know what I mean?" Her gaze settled on him with her last comment and she became conscious of the fact that she was holding her breath. Since their disagreement in the food court, Bobby had been pretty quiet. The behavior was out of character for him, and she was worried that she might have crossed an invisible line when she'd confronted him about Lorna and Alex.
Well, maybe the line wasn't quite that invisible. More like blurry, or maybe perforated. Ahh, who was she kidding? It was as big as the Great Wall of China.
Still, this wasn't like her. She'd never balked at broaching touchy subjects with both friends and complete strangers. Or at least, she suddenly realized, her old self never had. Now? What was that saying? Older and wiser? Which one was she? She decided that she didn't want to go there.
At any rate, age seemed to have made her more sensitive. Or less ballsier. Tact. That was the word. She was developing a sense of tact. When had that happened? She wasn't sure if she liked the change. Watching what she said, covering up the truth with little white lies. Being discreet? That described Paige, not her. Gah!! She thought. I'm becoming PAIGE!!
"No!!" she shouted. "I'm not Paige!! I'm NOT Paige!!"
Bobby, who had just opened his mouth to respond to her previous comment, froze at her outburst. His expression reflected a mixture of bewilderment and amusement while his mouth moved wordlessly. He maintained that expression for a good ten seconds, and a part of her wondered how long he could keep it up. She never got to find out, as a car horn blared from behind them. They had been stopped at a red light, which had changed colors while they weren't paying attention. Bobby tore his stare away from Jubilee to glance up at the streetlight. Feeling hurried, he hit the gas pedal a little too hard, and both mutants were pulled backwards into their seats as the car accelerated.
"What did you just say? I think I must have misheard you," he asked as he slowed the car's pace.
"Umm.never mind. Sorry. Just thinking out loud," Jubilee mumbled. She felt her cheeks flush and tried to avert her gaze.
"S'okay. I'm glad you've finally realized that you're not Paige. Warren would be really confused if you came on to him. Plus, you'd look horrible as a blonde."
"I would not!"
"Yes you would. And you know it."
"Fine. You're right. I would," she conceded. For a while, the inside of the car was quiet. Jubilee couldn't imagine what Bobby must be thinking of her. Finally, unable to stomach her own paranoia, she tried to restart conversation.
"So, how about you?"
"Huh?"
"Does small town living ever get to you?"
Bobby, who had grown up in Long Island and who had spent a good deal of time in New York City, nodded, "Yeah. Sometimes I like this better, but there's been a couple times when I can't sleep at night because it's quiet. Too quiet," he said in his best Elmer Fudd voice.
"We should trade rooms. They've got Juggernaut in the room next to mine, and let me tell you, that man can snore. I hear him through the walls," said Jubilee.
"Err.that's okay. I'll take your word for it. I'd take silence over big beefy snoring men any day."
Jubilee was, of course, joking about trading rooms. One of the few nice things about her return to the X-men was that she got to stay in her old bedroom. When she joined Generation X, she'd said her goodbyes to her room, fully expecting never to see it again. Since then though, whenever she'd visited the mansion someone always made sure she got to sleep in her old bed. Twice, she found several boxes that weren't hers stashed in corners, indicating that someone was using her room for storage. It never bothered her. There were only a few boxes; they really didn't take up much space at all, and on each subsequent return, the boxes were gone.
When students at the Academy had set fire to her room, she was comforted, at least, by the fact that her old room at the mansion was still hers. It contained very few of her things. A couple of posters, some stuffed animals she hadn't bothered to bring with her, the bed that wasn't really hers (it had come with the room), and some clothes that either she or her tastes had outgrown were the only possessions left behind. But now they were the only mementos she had left.
On the drive to LA, Skin had ignored her pleas to stop by the mansion and retrieve her possessions. Upon her arrival, she'd tried to reach Wolvie to ask him to ship some of her items out west. He must have been on a mission or something at the time; she was unable to reach him. Eventually, she realized that there was barely enough room in their small apartment to house their current possessions, let alone items that served no purpose beyond nostalgia. When she finally got a chance to speak to Logan, she decided not to ask the favor of him.
While living in LA, she'd heard (on the news) that the mansion was serving as a school once more. After that, she'd thought that her room would definitely be used for student housing. She wondered what would happen to the things she had left behind. But, once again, upon returning home (she realized that now the X-mansion was the only place she had that truly was home), she found her room waiting, possessions and all.
While Jubilee was lost in her thoughts, Bobby pulled into the supermarket's parking lot. Unlike at the mall, he had trouble finding a decent space. He drove around in circles for several minutes before wedging himself into a space between a silver Lexus and a red Chevy pick- up.
"So, how're we gonna do this?" he asked her as he carefully exited the car - he was on the Lexus' side.
"We should split up," Jubilee replied. Being much thinner than her companion, she had no problems squeezing out of the car. "I'm guessing we're probably not gonna be headed for the same aisles anyway." His look of pure glee confirmed her question.
"Why don't we just wait for each other here when we're done," she said, indicating a seating area in the front of the store. Bobby looked to where she was indicating and nodded. It was obvious that he was eager to begin shopping. "Sounds good," he said, grabbing a shopping cart from a nearby row. "I'll see you later, then." He ran off.
"Yup," said Jubilee, knowing that she was speaking to herself since he was now out of hearing range. She too grabbed a shopping cart and began to pick out items. In addition to buying her favorite cereal (Sugar Bombs), yogurt and milk, she made sure to grab some grape tomatoes (Jean's favorite snacks), the brand of beef jerky Wolvie favored, Paige's favorite granola bars and Scott's favorite ice cream. She decided to pick up some Twinkies - she was sure that Bobby would probably buy a boatload, but she wondered if she would share them with her or with Hank. When she arrived at the snack aisle, she found it ransacked. Food and candy were all over the floor. There were only four packages of Twinkies left in the entire display, which, even more than the cluttered aisle, indicated to her that Bobby had already been there.
After picking up a few more things, she went to stand in line at the check out. She wanted to finish her shopping before Bobby so that he couldn't see what she had picked out and catch on to her plan. She knew that he planned to stock up on his favorite foods, namely junk foods, and little else. Jubilee's plot was to stock up on everyone else's favorites and store them in the small college-sized refrigerator in her room. She planned to offer them to her teammates - for a price, of course. Ironically, the small refrigerator had once belonged to Bobby. He'd used it in his dorm at college, to keep up pretenses more than anything else. Recently, he'd gifted it to her, because, really, what does someone named Iceman need an icebox for?
At the check-out, she paid with the Platinum Visa that Professor Xavier had recently given to her. The cashier checked the signature on the back against the slip of paper she had just signed and returned the card to her. She remembered being constantly asked for identification in her younger days because people refused to accept the fact that a thirteen year old had her own credit card. A few times, her purchase had been refused, even after she produced ID. She was glad to find that she was hassled less often now that she was an almost-adult.
She made sure to grab a few bags from the bagger on her way out, which she used to better conceal the contents of her packages. Thankfully, she decided this while she was still inside the store, because she found Bobby waiting for her outside. He was sitting on one of the benches and was in the process of cramming a Twinkie into his mouth.
"Dude, we just ate," she said after she'd approached him.
"Nnuu eaeaing," he responded, with his mouth full of Twinkie. He swallowed and stood up. "Like, four hours ago. I needed a snack. Anyway, let's go."
"Home?"
"Not yet, I want to make a short pit stop first. It'll be quick, I promise. You'll like it."
She considered his statement momentarily, although he hadn't really given her much of a choice. Finally, she shrugged and smiled at him. "Okay, I'm game."
Thanks again for the reviews. _______________________________________________________________
After they finished eating, Bobby and Jubilee carried her packages back to his car. They placed most of her bags in his backseat, since they decided that the trunk was better served for carrying the groceries they had to purchase. Although their initial plan was to buy food immediately, Bobby found it easy to coerce Jubilee into spending some more time at the arcade. While there, he was pleased to notice that "Shoot the Mutant" had a handwritten out of order sign taped to the screen. Both mutants were immersed in playing games and watching others play for several hours. When they finally did leave the mall, it was late afternoon. This time, they resolved to actually make it to the grocery store.
The supermarket was only a fifteen-minute drive from the shopping center and their route took them right through the downtown area.
"Wow," said Jubilee, looking around. "I'd forgotten how quaint everything was here. It's kind of nice, but I miss the hussle and bussle of the big city, y'know what I mean?" Her gaze settled on him with her last comment and she became conscious of the fact that she was holding her breath. Since their disagreement in the food court, Bobby had been pretty quiet. The behavior was out of character for him, and she was worried that she might have crossed an invisible line when she'd confronted him about Lorna and Alex.
Well, maybe the line wasn't quite that invisible. More like blurry, or maybe perforated. Ahh, who was she kidding? It was as big as the Great Wall of China.
Still, this wasn't like her. She'd never balked at broaching touchy subjects with both friends and complete strangers. Or at least, she suddenly realized, her old self never had. Now? What was that saying? Older and wiser? Which one was she? She decided that she didn't want to go there.
At any rate, age seemed to have made her more sensitive. Or less ballsier. Tact. That was the word. She was developing a sense of tact. When had that happened? She wasn't sure if she liked the change. Watching what she said, covering up the truth with little white lies. Being discreet? That described Paige, not her. Gah!! She thought. I'm becoming PAIGE!!
"No!!" she shouted. "I'm not Paige!! I'm NOT Paige!!"
Bobby, who had just opened his mouth to respond to her previous comment, froze at her outburst. His expression reflected a mixture of bewilderment and amusement while his mouth moved wordlessly. He maintained that expression for a good ten seconds, and a part of her wondered how long he could keep it up. She never got to find out, as a car horn blared from behind them. They had been stopped at a red light, which had changed colors while they weren't paying attention. Bobby tore his stare away from Jubilee to glance up at the streetlight. Feeling hurried, he hit the gas pedal a little too hard, and both mutants were pulled backwards into their seats as the car accelerated.
"What did you just say? I think I must have misheard you," he asked as he slowed the car's pace.
"Umm.never mind. Sorry. Just thinking out loud," Jubilee mumbled. She felt her cheeks flush and tried to avert her gaze.
"S'okay. I'm glad you've finally realized that you're not Paige. Warren would be really confused if you came on to him. Plus, you'd look horrible as a blonde."
"I would not!"
"Yes you would. And you know it."
"Fine. You're right. I would," she conceded. For a while, the inside of the car was quiet. Jubilee couldn't imagine what Bobby must be thinking of her. Finally, unable to stomach her own paranoia, she tried to restart conversation.
"So, how about you?"
"Huh?"
"Does small town living ever get to you?"
Bobby, who had grown up in Long Island and who had spent a good deal of time in New York City, nodded, "Yeah. Sometimes I like this better, but there's been a couple times when I can't sleep at night because it's quiet. Too quiet," he said in his best Elmer Fudd voice.
"We should trade rooms. They've got Juggernaut in the room next to mine, and let me tell you, that man can snore. I hear him through the walls," said Jubilee.
"Err.that's okay. I'll take your word for it. I'd take silence over big beefy snoring men any day."
Jubilee was, of course, joking about trading rooms. One of the few nice things about her return to the X-men was that she got to stay in her old bedroom. When she joined Generation X, she'd said her goodbyes to her room, fully expecting never to see it again. Since then though, whenever she'd visited the mansion someone always made sure she got to sleep in her old bed. Twice, she found several boxes that weren't hers stashed in corners, indicating that someone was using her room for storage. It never bothered her. There were only a few boxes; they really didn't take up much space at all, and on each subsequent return, the boxes were gone.
When students at the Academy had set fire to her room, she was comforted, at least, by the fact that her old room at the mansion was still hers. It contained very few of her things. A couple of posters, some stuffed animals she hadn't bothered to bring with her, the bed that wasn't really hers (it had come with the room), and some clothes that either she or her tastes had outgrown were the only possessions left behind. But now they were the only mementos she had left.
On the drive to LA, Skin had ignored her pleas to stop by the mansion and retrieve her possessions. Upon her arrival, she'd tried to reach Wolvie to ask him to ship some of her items out west. He must have been on a mission or something at the time; she was unable to reach him. Eventually, she realized that there was barely enough room in their small apartment to house their current possessions, let alone items that served no purpose beyond nostalgia. When she finally got a chance to speak to Logan, she decided not to ask the favor of him.
While living in LA, she'd heard (on the news) that the mansion was serving as a school once more. After that, she'd thought that her room would definitely be used for student housing. She wondered what would happen to the things she had left behind. But, once again, upon returning home (she realized that now the X-mansion was the only place she had that truly was home), she found her room waiting, possessions and all.
While Jubilee was lost in her thoughts, Bobby pulled into the supermarket's parking lot. Unlike at the mall, he had trouble finding a decent space. He drove around in circles for several minutes before wedging himself into a space between a silver Lexus and a red Chevy pick- up.
"So, how're we gonna do this?" he asked her as he carefully exited the car - he was on the Lexus' side.
"We should split up," Jubilee replied. Being much thinner than her companion, she had no problems squeezing out of the car. "I'm guessing we're probably not gonna be headed for the same aisles anyway." His look of pure glee confirmed her question.
"Why don't we just wait for each other here when we're done," she said, indicating a seating area in the front of the store. Bobby looked to where she was indicating and nodded. It was obvious that he was eager to begin shopping. "Sounds good," he said, grabbing a shopping cart from a nearby row. "I'll see you later, then." He ran off.
"Yup," said Jubilee, knowing that she was speaking to herself since he was now out of hearing range. She too grabbed a shopping cart and began to pick out items. In addition to buying her favorite cereal (Sugar Bombs), yogurt and milk, she made sure to grab some grape tomatoes (Jean's favorite snacks), the brand of beef jerky Wolvie favored, Paige's favorite granola bars and Scott's favorite ice cream. She decided to pick up some Twinkies - she was sure that Bobby would probably buy a boatload, but she wondered if she would share them with her or with Hank. When she arrived at the snack aisle, she found it ransacked. Food and candy were all over the floor. There were only four packages of Twinkies left in the entire display, which, even more than the cluttered aisle, indicated to her that Bobby had already been there.
After picking up a few more things, she went to stand in line at the check out. She wanted to finish her shopping before Bobby so that he couldn't see what she had picked out and catch on to her plan. She knew that he planned to stock up on his favorite foods, namely junk foods, and little else. Jubilee's plot was to stock up on everyone else's favorites and store them in the small college-sized refrigerator in her room. She planned to offer them to her teammates - for a price, of course. Ironically, the small refrigerator had once belonged to Bobby. He'd used it in his dorm at college, to keep up pretenses more than anything else. Recently, he'd gifted it to her, because, really, what does someone named Iceman need an icebox for?
At the check-out, she paid with the Platinum Visa that Professor Xavier had recently given to her. The cashier checked the signature on the back against the slip of paper she had just signed and returned the card to her. She remembered being constantly asked for identification in her younger days because people refused to accept the fact that a thirteen year old had her own credit card. A few times, her purchase had been refused, even after she produced ID. She was glad to find that she was hassled less often now that she was an almost-adult.
She made sure to grab a few bags from the bagger on her way out, which she used to better conceal the contents of her packages. Thankfully, she decided this while she was still inside the store, because she found Bobby waiting for her outside. He was sitting on one of the benches and was in the process of cramming a Twinkie into his mouth.
"Dude, we just ate," she said after she'd approached him.
"Nnuu eaeaing," he responded, with his mouth full of Twinkie. He swallowed and stood up. "Like, four hours ago. I needed a snack. Anyway, let's go."
"Home?"
"Not yet, I want to make a short pit stop first. It'll be quick, I promise. You'll like it."
She considered his statement momentarily, although he hadn't really given her much of a choice. Finally, she shrugged and smiled at him. "Okay, I'm game."