Arch twitched his wings, feathers ruffling sleepily. He was sitting nearby his usual group of friends, the seat next to him obviously and rather flagrantly marked as "saved" with his bag. He was also halfway to grabbing a muffin when Bobby (late) attempted to sit there. "No! You can't sit there..."
Bobby just sighed as he found a nearby chair to plop in. Arch was a good friend, but completely and utterly hopeless when it came to the opposite sex. Not that Bobby was any great shakes there himself... he'd though he was, great understander of women, until Nicole came along.
Now, he wasn't so sure. "Do you really think she's going to sit with you? She didn't yesterday."
Arch sent him a shut-up!-it-wasn't-her-fault-someone-sat-there-first sort of look, though the seat had been vacant when Katie'd shown up. "'Course she will."
Bobby shook his head, turning to look out at the sunny Saturday morning sun that shone through the leaves of the trees outside on the grounds. The colors of the leaves were just beginning to turn. They were early, as it they were nearing mid-September. Today was the ninth. Bobby sighed again; his and Arch's problems were basically the same. Although... Nicole actually sat with him when he saved her a seat.
But then, he typically didn't follow Nicole around much either. He'd rather have her come to him, but... she seemed to be content to have a rather on/off sort of relationship. If you could call it that. So his mood brightened considerably when the object of his convoluted affections appeared, looked around, and chose to sit with him. Jumping up, he smiled at her, trying not to look too eager as he took the books he'd been using to save the seat, off.
Nicole yawned hugely turning away from Bobby momentarily, as she picked out a chocolate chip muffin. Bobby smiled. Nicole was cute in the morning, all ruffled, sleepy, and prone to saying stupid things.
"G'morning Bobby." She said softly, giving him a smile before nibbling on the top of her muffin.
"Morning." he replied, unable to wipe the mushy smile from his face, brushing a lock of hair from out of her face, enjoying the feel of the curl between his fingers. "Sleep well?" he asked tentatively, peering at her face in an attempt to guess at her mood. As usual, it was hard to tell exactly what she was thinking or feeling.
She sighed, putting down her beloved daily muffin, "No. I kept waking up between dreams." she moaned. However, she wasn't going to let Bobby know the nature of said dreams... She'd kept forcing herself to wake up in an attempt to make the dream go away. But just like the person the dream involved, it was persistent and refused to leave her be.
Logan, sitting down rather moodily in his usual chair, caught sight of that damned Ice-Cube brushing the curl of hair out of her face. He looked away almost immediately, feeling something unpleasant clench in his stomach.
Bobby gave a small, sympathetic sort of sigh, patting Nicole on the shoulder. "That's too bad," he murmured, knowing how Nicole hated to be short of sleep. There was a brief, but nice sort of silence as she picked her muffin back up and continued nibbling away at it groggily. "Think we're going to get our math tests back Monday?" Bobby inquired, not wanting to bring up one of Nicole's weaker subjects, but not wanting the conversation to die either.
"I hope not." Nicole muttered darkly into her muffin, tearing a considerably large chunk out of it.
Bobby smiled sympathetically, "Nicole, you're going to choke if you take huge bites like that." he said, unable to suppress the surge of boyfriend-ly concern. He had wrapped his arm around her shoulder after patting her, and he took this time to stroke the side of her face.
She looked away, a faint blush on her cheeks. "I'll be fine Bobby." she looked up and she smiled. To Bobby's surprise, she leaned into him, resting her head against his chest. "Thank you for caring though." she mumbled.
Bobby's heartbeat quickened and he quickly snuck a side-glance in Logan's direction. Logan's jaw was practically on the floor. Ha. Try and seduce her from me now, you fur ball.
Logan tried to look away, not really wanting to see Nicole cozy up to the 16-year-old loser who couldn't kiss, but it was like watching a car crash: he just couldn't look away.
Nicole, feeling somewhat warm and fuzzy on the inside, did not notice Logan's mental torture; in fact she was doing her best not to notice his existence at all. Maybe, if she just tried her very hardest to ignore him, he might possibly go away? Or at least leave her alone?
The same concept went with Bobby. Perhaps if she spent more time with Bobby and less with Logan, she would start to like Bobby better. Hopefully. Bobby was a really good guy. Caring, considerate, gentle, kind, funny (and inexperienced, though it was a tad bit more comforting when your partner didn't know what to do right along with you. Instead of standing there and allowing your partner to do whatever he wanted and just taking it and not knowing what to do...) ... everything that Logan wasn't. Besides, Bobby was warm. And cuddly. Like a puppy. Puppies were much nicer than vicious, mangy, strays.
Though the vicious, mangy strays kiss really well... a rather mean voice at the back of her mind tried to interject before Nicole squashed it. She should not be thinking about that right now. She should be thinking about something... more pleasant. Like having Bobby kiss her again or something. Just not the way she'd liked it when that mangy stray had kissed her. The way she'd found herself moaning into him, and the way her hands had buried themselves in his hair... No! Why was she thinking about that? It had been enough with the inescapable dream...
For now, she concentrated on Bobby. Despite his 'mutant name' he wasn't cold at all. In fact, the hand that ran up and down her arm slowly was warm and pleasant. The only thing cold about him was his breath, but only when he was using his powers. She could hear him breathing in, and out... in, and out, and could feel the steady throb of his heartbeat beneath her cheek. She sighed. Yes, if she thought about it, it was very nice in Bobby's arms... but it didn't have that same spark. She mentally kicked herself and tried to push the comparisons from her mind completely.
Just as Nicole felt the pit of her stomach drop at the realization that Logan was watching her and Bobby's cuddle, Katie decided to show up and distract her.
Katie walked in, a bounce in her step and her outfit looked carefully planned compared to Nicole's destroyed pair of comfy jeans that had their fair share of rips and holes, quotes written with sharpies and little hearts and random doodles all over them and her plain red t-shirt that was so old that it had faded to more of a rose color and the hem rode up whenever she moved, flashing her navel and a small strip of skin.
No, Katie looked as if it were a school day, her black skirt wrinkle free, save for the strategic purposeful ruffles that were supposed to be there, her fish net stockings were fray free, her red top was perfect and lacy (as usual), and her eyeliner well applied and smudge free. Compared to Katie, Nicole looked like crap. Well, that's how she felt anyway, even though Nicole's outfit suited her nature and looked good despite... But that's a girl for you, always envying other girls and never stopping to notice that she looks good as well.
Arch, looking up at his infatuee's rather dramatic entrance, felt his heart skip a beat. She flounced over to where he was sitting, gracing him with a small, but heartfelt (or so he thought) smile, blue eyes lighting up. "Hullo Arch," she murmured, taking the seat he rather eagerly offered delicately, smoothing out the edge of her skirt.
Nicole, next to Katie with their "significant others" on either side, (though they really weren't the most significant men in the girls' lives, which rather defeated the purpose), gave a small wave. "Good morning," Nicole muttered, feeling a bit overshadowed.
Nicole detached herself from Bobby, and Katie smiled, "It is a good morning, isn't it? A Saturday... and it's so nice and sunny... and..." she saw the look on Nicole's face and quickly shut up.
Nicole clearly wasn't in a sunny mood. Not that this was much of a surprise. Bobby laughed softly, shaking his head and returning to his, now cold, eggs. He traded them for some hot ones. Nicole was about to make a comment that went somewhere along the lines of not seeing why it was such a good morning, but decided not to when Arch immediately began to talk to Katie as if they hadn't spoken in 25 years.
Katie tried to keep up with him, feeling extremely bad for him inside. He really was a good person, and one she'd felt something for, some time ago, but he was just too overly earnest. It was cute, yes, but it grew old very quickly. And, to top off the guilty feelings (she'd liked him what, a week ago? It had been literally overnight... when she'd had that dream. After he'd kissed her. How could she be so fickle?), she found herself gazing into his bright blue eyes (more to be polite & make eye contact), and found them wanting. They just weren't as... as blue? As bright? As lovely as Scott's...
Scott sighed, attempting to pay attention to his coffee, but glanced over the rim of his mug at Katie and Arch, who were deep in conversation. At one point, Arch leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Katie laughed and blushed. Scott bristled jealously. Suddenly, his eyes felt itchy, just a slight lift of the shades and... Zap. Problem solved, right? Wrong.
Looking back down at his coffee, Scott tried to concentrate on his drink. He really did not want to see if Arch leaned in and kissed her properly, did not need to see if Katie kissed him back... if she moaned, if she whimpered, if she clung to him and opened her mouth...
No! Taking another gulp of the hot liquid, he tried to keep his mind off of his rising jealousy. What would it be like, to have her look at him like that? Eyes shining and feeling in her face? To be able to touch her in public... kiss her... hold her, in front of others? To even be able to touch her at all? To have her want him to touch her?
As Scott sat in a hopeful daze while he gazed in Katie's direction longingly, he couldn't help but notice a flash of silver slightly to the right of his beloved. Nicole was absentmindedly fiddling with a silver dog tag that hung from a chain. Wait... wasn't that, Logan's?
Scott had a rather good idea that Logan hadn't just gone and given his dog tag to Nicole... first of all, even Logan wasn't stupid enough to be so obvious, and second Nicole would hardly take it. Besides, Scott had only seen Logan without it once, when it had been 'borrowed' by Sabertooth. Apparently Logan was feeling extremely oblivious today... it would have been rather hard for Nicole to be any more obvious. It also made Scott feel somewhat better to know that he was still a step above Logan.
The more likely case was that Logan must have dropped it without realizing it, and Nicole just happened to find it. The either a.) Didn't know that Logan went by the name Wolverine as an X-Man, or b.) Didn't think Logan deserves to get it back. Scott smirked into his muffin. If he were Nicole, he would definitely pick the latter. If Logan was dense enough to not realize that his dog tag was missing AND that Nicole had it and was toying with it at that very moment, then he didn't exactly deserve to get it back. He'd just lose it again.
Meanwhile, the rather interesting, misfit-sort of foursome were discussing their afternoon. "So, what do you guys want to do?" Bobby asked, arm hanging loosely about Nicole's shoulders.
Arch shrugged and Katie nodded (though it had not been a yes or no question), and Nicole yawned in reply. "I dunno... maybe we could go outside?"
Katie nodded enthusiastically, eyeing the grounds bathed in Saturday morning sun.
"Yeah, we'd better get out there now though. Forecast is rain for later on. We should make the best of the good weather now." Arch commented quietly, wings flexing nervously. He looked like he was itching to get out and stretch them.
So, with that, the foursome finished their respective breakfasts (though Arch ended up finishing the muffin of a not-very-hungry Katie) and gathered up their things, heading for the back of room.