Kitty shut off the faucet and let the last few beads of water roll down her naked body before sliding open the glass door and stepping out of the shower. The room was misty and warm, and she wiped some of the fog from the mirror so she could try to comb the knots out of her hair. When she'd finished, she took one last look at her reflection. Suddenly, it seemed inadequate. She was too short. Her hair was too flat. Her eyebrows weren't thin enough. Come to think of it, she wasn't thin enough. "Whatever," she sighed, and grabbed her bathrobe, pulling it on loosely.
She opened the door and jumped back, startled. Logan was standing at the threshold, his hand hovering mid-knock.
"Oh! Logan!" She wrapped her bathrobe tighter around her body. Apologetically, he shielded his eyes and looked down at an outlet on the wall. He cleared his throat and then spoke, his voice a little more gruff than usual. She could tell he was embarrassed.
"Uh...well you, you missed the carpool with Jean and the Professor doesn't want you walking to school so I uh, I'm going to be giving you a ride when you're ready to go. I'll be waiting in the garage." He quickly turned away and made a beeline for the stairs, staring straight ahead and running a hand across the back of his neck. She would have laughed at how unnaturally flustered he was, but she didn't have the energy or sense of humor this morning.
Ten minutes later, Kitty trudged down the stairs into the entrance lobby and was about to step outside to the garage when Logan suddenly poked his head through the kitchen doorway. "Hey kid!"
She spun around and her eyes immediately locked onto what he had in his hand. A home-made egg and cheese biscuit. He saw her look and smiled, holding it out in her direction. "I thought you might want to eat before you go."
Supressing a groan, Kitty forced herself to smile instead. "Yeahh...thanks!" She slowly walked into the kitchen, taking the sandwich and sitting down at the end of the dining table. The polished wood was cool underneath her fingers. Logan walked over to the counter and sat down beside Storm and Professor X, who were watching the morning news report on the tiny, countertop television. The atmosphere was slightly tense and Kitty felt a small wave of panic as her eyes flitted from the sandwich to the group across the room. She could see Logan watching her out of the corner of his eye.
She took a small bite. It tasted delicious; the egg was cooked perfectly and the cheese melted into the soft bread. He'd even put salt on it for her. But her mind was rejecting the idea of eating right now and she could only register a dull, bland flavor. She tried to think of a way to get out of this.
She took another small bite. Suddenly she smacked her forehead and stood up quickly, pushing the chair out from behind her. It wobbled precariously and then rattled back onto its four legs. Logan, Storm, and the Professor all looked over at her questioningly. "I TOTALLY forgot I have a Chemistry test today at 9:30, I really have to be there on time! I'm going to grab my lab notebook and then we have to get moving, okay?" She picked up the sandwich and made a dash out of the room, remembering to take an obvious chomp out of it as she ran past Logan.
As soon as she got upstairs, she ran into the bathroom and quickly spit out the mushy contents into a wad of tissue. Tearing the sandwich into pieces, she dropped everything into the toilet and pulled the handle. She shook away the pang of guilt she felt and then slipped out, closing the door behind her. Grabbing a notebook from the floor of her room, she trotted back downstairs and found Logan standing by the front door. She tried to sound as perky as possible. "Ready to go?"
A stream of sunlight poured across the paved floor and concrete walls as the garage door opened up. The soft rays struck Kitty's hair and face, bringing out the rich colors in her hair and emphasizing the delicate bone structure of her jaw and cheeks. When they walked over to his Harley Davidson, Logan answered her quizical expression by handing her a helmet. "My taxi is in the shop right now. You didn't think we'd be taking a car, did you?"
She hadn't really thought about it until he'd brought it up. She'd never ridden a motorcycle in her life...did she really want to ride with Logan? She swallowed hard and tried to figure out which end of the helmet was the front.
He watched her bemusedly for a minute as she struggled to fasten the buckle underneath her chin before finally stepping in to help. "You've got it backwards. Just stand still, okay?" He reached out to take the strap from her fumbling grip. For a split second, his rugged fingers brushed against her skin and he immediately felt her entire body stiffen tensely. "Sorry..." He muttered the apology in a rather soft, gravelly voice. There were still faint bruises on her face and neck and for a moment longer his eyes lingered on the marks. Then he clipped the buckle securely and pulled back, throwing his leg over the motorcycle and patting the spot behind him on the seat. "Hop on and hang on, kid."
He started the engine and it rumbled loudly, shaking the floor and making Kitty jump. Logan sucked in a bit of air when her thin arms wrapped around his waist. This wasn't something that happened too often. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time someone else had ridden with him on his bike. And he certainly couldn't remember the last time someone had held onto him so deliberately. Her hands locked together just underneath his navel, the bony fingers intertwined and pale in the bright sun. He tried to ignore the strange feeling her closeness was causing and gave the gas pedal liberal pressure, peeling out of the garage with the echoes of the roaring engine still reverberating behind them.
The bike growled its way down Bayville Avenue. The two of them were a sight to be seen; Logan enjoying the fresh morning air as it whipped around and surged through his senses, with Kitty clinging on for dear life behind him, her eyes squeezed shut and her expression being that of fearful anxiety. In what seemed too short a time for him and too long a time for her, they skidded up to front steps of Bayville High School, literally. A few skateboarders gave Logan dirty looks as they quickly moved out of the way.
Kitty hadn't let go yet. Logan looked in the mirror and chuckled to himself. She still had her eyes closed and her face was pressed into his jacket. "We're here, you can let go now. You alright?" She cautiously unlocked her arms and smiled weakly as she dismounted. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just not used to riding one of these, that's all. Thanks for the ride."
He shrugged. "No problem. I think I even sort of enjoyed it." He gave her an encouraging smile. "Good luck today."
She looked confused. "What?"
The smile faded slightly from his face. "Your exam. I thought you said you had a Chemistry test, when-"
"Oh yeah! Sorry, I was just spacing out. Yeah, I have to get there now or I'll be late." She waved the notebook at him and then jogged up the steps, slipping through the doors and out of sight.
The smile had now completely disappeared from Logan's face, though Kitty was already gone and on her way. He'd read the cover of her notebook when she'd held it up, the one that had been her excuse earlier. Unless his eyes had been mistaken, the letters on the front had said, "Kurt Wagner, Adv. English 11".
He found the ride back to the mansion to be much less enjoyable.