Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High.
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Will parked a few blocks away from downtown so the group had a chance to look at everything. They made their way through the bright streets, and let themselves take in all the colors and sites. Everyone seemed to be out and about at late-night cafés and bars and restaurants, or simply walking around with their lovers and friends. They passed by boutiques and shops of all kinds, most closed, until they stumbled onto a restaurant-bar that was having a karaoke and dance night. Zach was the first one inside with everyone trailing behind. Except Ivy. She stood outside staring unhappily at the place, knowing she'd be forced to sing. Why is it that everywhere I go, there's always got to be singing and dancing. Coincidence my ass. She grumbled to herself and dragged her feet over to the large table the group had snagged. Zach and Magenta were already dancing, while the rest ordered coffee's and food, and Gambit made his way to the bar. Ivy sat down unhappily and Layla couldn't take anymore.
"You could at least pretend that you're happy to be here, ya know." Layla took a small sip of water.
Ivy looked up at her, and saw the genuine frustration. She sighed, and let her shoulders relax a little. "You're right. I'm sorry. This weekend is supposed to be fun, and it will be, I promise." Layla smiled at Ivy's tiny effort and thanked her.
It had been over forty minutes since Gambit had left, and Dara had long since been looking for him. She finally spotted him at the bar, flirting with some blonde waitress. She laughed loudly, and Taylor and Ivy both turned their attention in the direction Dara's attention was focused.
"Jesus, he makes me sick." Ivy shook her head and took a huge bite of her pasta.
Taylor scowled at her in return. "Ivy. Play nice." Ivy glared at the icey-eyes of her friend and finally settled on sticking her tongue out in response. Taylor smiled at the childish gesture. "I wanna dance. Someone dance with me." She fake coughed, "Tony." Speed rolled his eyes and went to his girlfriend on the other end of the table. She laughed as he held his hand out for her, and she took it instantly and dragged him out to the dance floor where Zach and Magenta had stayed since they had first arrived.
Conversation ensued until a blonde boy with shaggy hair approached the table, staring intently at Dara, who hadn't noticed.
"Um, excuse me?" Dara turned to see the boy shove his hands into his pockets nervously. "Would you, uh--" He paused and gulped. "Would you dance with me?"
Dara stared at the boy in complete shock before glancing at her friends who were all smiling in approval and support. "Yeah, sure." She smiled wide. "I'd love to." She put her napkin on the table and let the boy lead her onto the floor.
"Aw!" Layla squealed. "That is so cute!"
Ivy raised an eyebrow. "Except that he's probably our age, and that's kinda gross."
Layla threw a napkin at her. "No, it's cute." Gambit chose that exact moment to return to the table and sit down where Dara had been. "You're just jealous he didn't ask you."
Ivy choked and spit her water back into her cup, before coughing and trying to clear her throat. Warren smiled slyly.
"Why da Cher jealous dis time?" Ivy's eyes immediately flew to Gambit and warned him silently of his choice of words, even though no one noticed.
"Some cute boy asked Dara to dance. Usually Ivy's the one that's getting all the attention. I think she's just jealous." Layla smiled coyly, but Ivy's angry stare didn't leave the Cajun.
"Well, if dat be da case. Would you like to dance?" Gambit smiled as her face flushed bright shades of red. "Gambit take dat as a yes." He stood and tried to take her hand.
"Sit down, jackass." Ivy tried to sip her water again without spraying it.
"Gambit trying to be nice." He looked sincere in his hurt at the rejection, which caused Warren to smoke a little, and raise an eyebrow.
"I highly doubt Rogue would see it that way." Ivy stood. "Excuse me." She moved passed him to go to the Ladies Room.
Layla looked over towards Warren and saw the smoke. She thought quick and threw an ice-cube towards him. He noticed when it melted after immediately contacting his bare arm, and the smoke disappeared. He shot a small, thankful smile at her and she nodded.
"Will." Will turned his attention to his girlfriend. "We're dancing." She stood and walked out to the dance floor.
Will sat shocked for a moment and looked at Warren. "She's spending too much time with Ivy." Warren outright laughed, and Will followed his girl. Gambit had sat back down at the table, and the two sat in an awkward silence.
"So. Rogue, huh? Ivy's told me a lot about her. She seems cool." Warren looked at the Cajun, who barely nodded without looking back.
"Tings between Rogue and Gambit are complicated." Warren thought he saw sadness, but it quickly disappeared when the blonde waitress came over to the table. She had taken off her apron and changed her clothes; Warren assumed she'd just gotten off.
She sat down briefly, introducing herself as Mildred, or Millie. Warren paid more attention to how uncomfortable Gambit looked, than to what Millie was saying. After a few moments of polite conversation, Gambit excused the two of them, and said he'd be back in a bit. They left the restaurant right as Ivy returned to the table.
"Where'd the devils' spawn go?" She took her seat and looked at Warren, who shrugged.
"Off with that blonde waitress he was hitting on." He shrugged again as Ivy fought not to choke.
"I'll, uh, I'll be right back." She stood with the look that Warren knew all too well as "I'm-Going-To-Kill".
Ivy made her way through the dance floor to the front entrance. She stepped out into the warm night and searched through the people to find her favorite Cajun across the street near an alley way, kissing the blonde most intensely. The blonde moved down to kiss his neck, and Gambit took that moment when her attention was diverted to look back towards the restaurant and see Ivy staring at him, shaking her head in disgust and contempt. Before Gambit could register that Ivy had seen him, the blonde had kissed him again, and he lost sight of Ivy.
She returned to the table cursing under her breath. Everyone but Dara had sat back down with Warren, and they all looked at her when she plopped herself back into her seat.
"Everything OK?" Magenta tilted her head the side a bit.
"Yeah." Ivy lied with a fake smile that everyone could see through. "Everything's fine."
No one called her on the lie, but when Ivy looked at Layla, she immediately turned her attention elsewhere, obviously upset with Ivy's attitude. Ivy slouched even more in her chair when Zach broke the awkward silence.
"Yo, it's a karaoke night. Let's all sing or somethin'!" Taylor, Lash and Speed all groaned and scooted their seats away from Zach. "Man, you guys don't know how to have fun, man!"
Lash snorted. "Leave the singing to the people who can. You do not wanna hear Tony sing. That shit ain't pretty."
Speed laughed loudly and nodded. "I'm pretty sure I'm tone-deaf." Taylor just smiled and gave him a huge kiss on his cheek, while the rest laughed.
"Ivy, why don't you serenade us?" Will smiled widely from the other end of the table.
"How bout I don't. I'm really not in the mood." Ivy shook her head pleading.
"Yeah, cause that would require actually having fun." Layla mock-smiled at Ivy before leaving to table to go to the restrooms.
Warren smirked. "She has a point." Ivy's face dropped in shock and she looked at Warren. "What? It's all been about the drama for the past how many months. You've forgotten how to have fun."
"You're one to talk, Warren. You never knew how to have fun to begin with." Ivy stood and marched straight up to the karaoke bar, but a fairly attractive young man made it there before she could. He was well over six and a half feet tall, with broad shoulders, and a thin waist. His hair was not unlike Warren's in style, but it was a deep black instead of just a dark brown. He had hazel-brown eyes, and a strong jawline. He was wearing a navy blue button down that only had one button buttoned, with black slacks. He saw Ivy approaching the small podium, but when she saw he was already there, she turned to walk away.
"Hey!" Ivy looked back at the tall man. "Sing with me! It'll be fun, I promise!" She raised an eyebrow but shrugged and joined him at the podium. "What song were you thinking of?"
"I really don't care. I actually hate karaoke. I'm just doing it to make my friends happy." She didn't look at his expression, but continued to focus on the list of songs on the screen beneath her.
"Well that's no way to go through life."
Ivy laughed in mockery. "It's not life. It's just a weekend."
The man shrugged. "I'm Spencer Wells." He held out his hand.
She smiled as she took it and finally looked him in the eyes. "Ivy Stone."
His eyes grew wide as he looked at Ivy's swimming irises. "Ivy Stone?" She nodded unsure. "The Oracle's daughter." Ivy dropped her hand immediately and took a step back from him. He saw the caution and laughed. "No, no, no, no! I'm a good guy. Here, I'm a telepath, do you mind?" He raised his hand towards her temples and her entire body tensed.
"How do I know you aren't playing me?" She felt her voice shake and quiver and couldn't keep the nerves out of it.
"Your panther knows I'm not." Ivy felt her face drain of color at his remark. "Mine is a hawk." He smiled genuinely, and Ivy's mouth dropped open. He laughed again. "You're quite the conversationalist."
"I-- I--" She shook her head then returned to her dumbfounded state with her mouth gaping open. She looked at where his hand still stayed midair, and she took it in her own and placed his fingertips against her temple.
A flash of images came stampeding through her mind. Spencer had been friends with the Oracle: she had taught him how to use his telepathy, and Ivy vaguely recognized him as one of the boys that had passed through her home in Louisiana that her mother had been coaching.
When Spencer removed his hand, Ivy could only think of one word to say. "Santana." He laughed at found Santana's list of songs the karaoke bar featured. As he scrolled through them, Ivy looked to her friends who had resumed conversation at the table. Ivy caught Taylor's eye and she mouthed "Absolute!" to the ice-girl. Taylor was good at reading lips and got it on the first try. She waved the attention of the others and told them, and they all turned their attention to Ivy, who had been given a mic, and forced onto the center of the stage with her new friend.
She looked at Spencer and smiled as she recognized the song. He started the first verse for them. "She had fire in her soul, it was easy to see, how the devil himself could be pulled out of me. There were drums in the air as she started to dance..." Ivy laughed as he started to dance with her. She joined him on the chorus, and let him go solo again for the second verse. "No room left to move in between you and I. We forget where we were and we lost track of time, and we sang to the wind as we danced through the night..." They danced together as his raspy, sultry voice filled the bar.
He let Ivy take the second chorus solo, and she looked at Layla who smiled in forgiveness. Somewhere in the mess of the music Gambit had returned from his... Extravaganza... And rejoined the group and a delighted Dara.
Ivy joined him for the repeat of the first verse, and Taylor cheered her on from the crowd. "Like a gift from the heavens, it was easy to tell, it was love from above that could save me from hell. She had fire in her soul it was easy to see, how the devil himself could be pulled out of me. There were drums in the air as she started to dance, every soul in the room keeping time with their hands."
"And we danced on into the night." Ivy ended the song and everyone clapped and howled. The two put their mics back, and Ivy pulled him over to her friends.
"Guys. Meet Spencer." Gambit looked him up and down, and went to the bar. Ivy ignored him. "He's a telepath and an Absolute." Dara froze in shock, having missed Ivy's silent warning earlier. She saw the look on poor Dara's face and laughed. "No, he's a good one. He knew my mom."
Gambit returned with another beer, and took his seat again. "Good to meet you, Monsieur...?"
"Wells." Spencer held his hand out towards Gambit, who plainly saw it and choose to take a swig of beer instead. Spencer dropped his hand unphased by the Cajun's rudeness. "I gotta go, actually. My friends are probably trying to find me."
"Alright. It was good to meet you, though." Ivy was sad that he had to leave, but he was quick in writing down his phone number.
"Should you need anything." He gave her a look which made her understand that it wasn't an accident he was there. He'd been waiting. Spencer gave her a hug and whispered in her ear so only she could hear. "Something's coming, Discord. Watch yourself. I can only do so much." She tightened the hug so he knew she'd heard him. "Oh, and be careful around that Gambit guy. There's a reason he volunteered to babysit you. And it's not exactly PG." He pulled back and smiled at her bright red, shocked, angry and confused face. "Later guys. Good luck with everything back home." He waved and left before anyone really had a chance to register what he'd said.
"Oh! Telepath!" It clicked with Layla first, and the rest then followed with, "Oh!" and "Right."
Ivy still stood in shock and dismay before hesitantly looking at Gambit, who was watching Spencer and drinking his beer. He noticed Ivy looking at him, and looked down at his drink before offering it to her. "A drink for da Cher?"
Ivy paused for a moment, her hand twitched as she debated whether or not to have a small sip. She remembered all her nights spent in solitude and a depressed intoxication. She remembered her rehabilitation program. And she shook her head at Gambit who smiled, knowing what she'd thought of.
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Ok, one more to go for now!