O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O Disclaimer O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
X-Men Evolution and it's Characters do not belong to me. I'm writing this for pure fun and selfish reasons; those being that I want to see all my crack ships do very very naughty things ;)
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O AN O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Hi All! Here I am again. That last month flew on by then again it was three days shorter lucky for those waiting for this fic to update ;)
Many thanks to Clamchick (I'm kind of loving Remy's nonchalant attitude XD I'm enjoying having a lot of these guys in different situations compare to RH so I'm glad you're liking it as well ), MisdirectionSmoothie and Warrior-Princess1980 for reviewing! I really appreciate the feedback!
I hope this chapter was worth the wait and I'm dedicating it to myself for my B-day Month ;) So without further ado. Please read and enjoy!
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O Chapter 5 O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
"Since you guys are early you won't mind helping out will you?"
Jubilee and Amara followed Roberto in with Ray behind them. The walls were pretty plain, the only thing really standing out being a frame in the living room, it was a big X circled, almost a complete copy of Laura's tattoo.
"Amara, why don't you help me set things up here, Jubilee can help Ray in the kitchen. If we leave it to him he'll just burn everything to a crisp..." Roberto laughed hysterically after the words.
Jubilee turned to Ray to see him roll his eyes but he turned without answering and headed towards a hallway some feet away. She followed giving Amara a small wave and sly smile making her friend blush.
When they reached the hallway Jubilee noticed it went two separate ways.
"The kitchen and patio door are this way, bedrooms are that way," Ray stated, watching her glance from side to side.
She nodded and started to follow him as he led the way to the kitchen, "So i'm guessing you're not a good cook?"
"Why? Cause of what Roberto said?"
"Yeah, isn't that what he was getting at?"
"No, he was making a horrible pun with my last name," he looked over his shoulder at her, "it's Crisp."
"Ohhhh..." she answered and gave a smile while biting her lip.
He eyed the movement carefully before turning away, "Go ahead...laugh..."
She stopped biting her lip and let a giggle escape, "it wasn't a horrible joke."
"If you say so," he answered as they reached the kitchen. There were many large bowls out on the counters.
"Soooo...what's on the menu?" she asked while she watched him reach a counter and grab two cloth items from the counter top.
"Pizza," he answered and his arm stretched out to her giving her one of the items he grabbed. She stared at it curiously for a moment before looking up to see him put on the second item. Her eyebrow perked as she read the writing on the black apron, 'Mr. Good Looking Is Cooking'.
He caught her gaze and groned, "It's Roberto's," he mumbled before continuing with, "We kind of want to set up so that everyone can make their own mini pizza. So we're gonna set up a bar with the ingredients they want as toppings. Before we do that though we have to get the dough ready and that's where we're both going to have to work together," he walked over to the biggest bowl. As he walked away she put on the apron he had handed and her eyes went down to read the wording upside down, 'When I say the kitchen is closed, I mean it's fucking closed.' There was a Knife in the middle and she realized how easy it was to see her shortest co-worker wearing it.
"The way I'm setting it up is I multiplied a recipe a few times so there's enough dough. It's a lot of stuff so I'll have you help me with the mixing and then when we're done you can start setting up the ingredients in separate bowls while I roll out the dough."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Let's get to it, before other people decide to be on time too..."
She watched him smirk and she found herself biting her lip for completely different reasons. She then watched him go to the sink to wash his hand, he motioned for her to do the same which she did before they went back to the bowl. Flour, dry yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil and water were poured into it and his hands went inside.
He moved them around before looking up at her, "What are you waiting for? An invitation?"
"Oh, when you said help you mix you meant...help you mix," she murmured embarrassed.
He gave a low chuckle, "Yeah. You do that half and I'll do this."
She nodded and they went to work mixing the ingredients together. It wasn't until a few minutes later when he asked "You know this song?" That she even realized music was playing and she was humming.
"Yeah, this is one of my favorites actually."
"Really?"
"Yup, why? I don't seem the type?" She asked, throwing the words he had said to her days ago back into his face.
His eyes glazed over her. When Laura had bought her apron she had gotten it in a petite size due to her height issue, because of this it fit Jubilee well around the waist but barely touched mid thigh making her black and yellow plaid skirt sway as she mixed her half. One of her white and black converse was tapping along the beat of the song. His eyes traveled upwards from the dancing shoe to look at the small patch of skin that was exposed between her black knee high stocking and her skirt. The black shirt she wore was loose on her and tucked in, the bateau collar hid her collar bone but let her gold chain glimmer beautifully against the dark color. She had rolled up the long sleeves when they had started mixing and every once in a while when she turned the dough over he could see the yellow nail polish. "Not really," he finally answered, " But I didn't say it was a bad thing."
Her mouth opened to answer but before anything could come out the moment was interrupted.
"Well well, what do we have here?"
Jubilee didn't miss the way Ray's posture tensed as his eye left hers to look over her shoulder. "Hey Tabby, what do you need?"
"Nothing, I thought you might need help but it looks like you have it covered. It's interesting how you don't like people getting close and here you are so close with a stranger."
Jubilee could feel the animosity a mile away. She started to pull her hands out of the bowl but before she could go very far, Ray hands found hers keeping her in place. She watched and wondered how he could keep such a nonchalant expression on his face.
"Oh yeah, I guess she is a stranger to you huh? Tabitha this is Jubilee, she's our new shop girl. Been there a few weeks. Jubilee, this is Tabitha, our roommate."
Jubilee inwardly cringed at the emphasis on 'roommate' before looking over her shoulder and offering a smile to a pretty, short haired blonde. "Hi..."
"Hey." Was the short answer as blue eyes went from one to the other.
Ray finally looked away, his hands massaged at her own to make it look as if he was kneading the dough, but he was obviously still trying to keep her in place. "What time is Bobby heading over."
Jubilee looked away to look at their hands inside the bowl, his movements were pretty much making it look like she herself was kneading the dough too.
"In like half an hour, I don't think we're staying long."
"Sucks, make sure you guys eat before you go."
There was no answer after that but she heard footsteps start to fade.
After a minute he let her go, "Sorry about her, she likes to be dramatic."
"Hmm..." she answered and started helping really knead the dough. After a few seconds she couldn't help her curiosity, "So roommate and ex girlfriend?"
"That obvious?"
"Kind of. Are you still..."
"Oh hell no." He gave a small chuckle, "Tabby needs a lot of attention."
"And that's something you couldn't provide?
"...No." The room got quiet, the song in the background slow and melodic. After a bit he added, "But it's alright, she has someone now who can do that for her."
"Hmm, it doesn't make you sad?"
He looked at her, her eyes were on the white mix, downcast and almost sad themselves, "You get that I broke up with her right?"
She looked up to meet his gaze and she felt her face heat up. He laughed and kept kneading the dough, neither of them flinching any time their hands made contact.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
"Looks good!" Roberto remarked looking around the room. They had rearranged some of the furniture to make more space and blew up some balloons, sticking some to the walls and letting others roam around on the floor. "Thanks for your help."
"You're welcome."
"Oh, wait here, I'll be right back."
He left in the direction Jubilee had gone with Ray. As she waited her eyes roamed the room yet again. Opposite of them on the tv stand were pictures. Some of the figures she was able to recognize from the night at the club but there were some she didn't know.
As she was inspecting a group photo he came back, a water and cupcake in hand. He handed them to her.
"Hard work deserves rewards," he remarked with a smile and watched as she looked at the sweet, her lips in a straight line. "What's wrong? Don't like chocolate?"
"Hmm? Oh no, chocolates great, it's just...I'm kind of on a strict diet."
"Really?" He asked and his eyes took her in from head to toe. "Well I don't think you need it but if it makes you happy," he took the cupcake from her hand and bit at the side.
She watched him with soft eyes, thinking he looked adorable. There was definitely a boyish charm to him and she found watching him distracted her so it was easy to ignore the way her stomach rumbled.
He must have heard it because he turned to face her, his lips parted but before he could say anything the doorbell rang making him get up and head towards the door. As soon as it opened there were multiple voices. Amara found herself getting up to greet the new comers and lucky for her it was familiar faces.
"Amara, hey! You guys made it after all. I wondered if Jubilee might back out," Laura greeted walking in with a grocery bag in her arms almost covering her whole face.
"She seemed like she wanted when she got home but here we are."
She nodded and would have replied but the line behind her was getting louder as the other young adults argued back and forth. Amara laughed and watched as Pietro, Wanda, Anna and Kurt passed by them giving her small greetings as they went by.
"They got here when I did so I put them to work. I better go put this away and make sure they don't ruin anything in the kitchen."
She walked away with her grocery bag afterwards and within seconds Roberto took her spot. "I guess let the fun begin," he remarked and motioned for her to go ahead.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Jubilee and Amara laughed good naturedly as Kurt finished his story. Apparently a lot of the people at this party did have quite a history, which led to many many embarrassing stories featuring some of her coworkers.
"Oh, here's a good video…"
Someone handed Jubilee a phone, a video was loaded up already, she just needed to press the play button. Amara pressed up against her to watch as well as she pressed play. As soon as she did music started to play, it was an upbeat pop rock type of beat and the petite Asain found herself nodding with the beat. She then let out an excited yelp that made Amara move her head away from here.
"It's you guys!" she exclaimed excitedly glancing over to Ray and Roberto who were watching from a seat a few feet away.
Kurt moved closer to take a look at the video himself, "Oh yeah, this is a good song...ohh look there's me! And there I am again...and there...there…"
He kept going but was eventually zoned out as both girls kept watching. Kurt was definitely in the video, beating at the drums like the pro he was. Roberto was on a guitar a few feet besides him and on the other side was Ray on keyboards. The singer was a blond, a blond that was actually sitting across the room from then with another blonde on his lap.
Jubilee looked up and smiled briefly at Tabitha but the girl didn't return the gesture making both of Jubile's eyebrows rise and looking back down to the video. She could take a hint.
"But you guys don't do this anymore than?" Amara asked her eyes, staring at the tan guitarist.
"No, this is when our name was the X-men, both the guys and girls sang."
"What happened?" Jubilee asked tilting her head, eyes still on the screen.
"Management was wanting to go in a way poppier direction and not everyone was onboard. It was easier to change the name to X-dolls and make it an all girls group with us staying around to play instruments."
"That's a shame," Amara whispered and watched as Roberto jumped up and down with guitar in hand in the video. Her lips curled upwards and she gave a small chuckle at the antics.
"Ok ok. I think that's enough of that," he remarked and took the phone away to give to its rightful owner. "Can we move onto other things? And can it be something that does not embarrass me please?"
"What was embarrassing about that video? I thought we all looked pretty good," Kurt mused.
"I wasn't talking about the video, I was talking about your last story." Roberto replied before taking a bite out of his pizza.
"Like that totally doesn't sound like any fun."
Amara giggled at the perky brown haired girl that had been introduced to them earlier that night, Kitty Pryde. At the moment she was sitting casually on the lap of a good looking brown haired guy. Jubilee was able to place him as one of the members of Pietro's band, the Brotherhood of Mutants.
"No, he's right. You guys have been laying it thick on them tonight," a beautiful redhead with green eyes remarked as she tilted her head to the side and rested it on a shoulder of a brown haired man with ruby sunglasses on.
"Of course we need to pick on him and Ray! It's their party so don't they get the honors?" It was the blond boy who had been singing in the video that spoke.
"Like that means we need to tell embarrassing stories about Laura and Tabby to Bobby. You probably have some good ones, care to share?"
Bobby took a quick glance at the girl on his lap and then shook his head, "Nevermind I'm good."
A few of them laughed before Jean fixed them with a kind smile, "What about you guys? Have anything fun or interesting to share?"
"Not really," Jubilee answered, shrugging.
Amara shook her head besides her, "Me neither, but it's ok cause I think I'd rather just listen to your guys stories. So how did you guys decide to make such a large band? And how do you even keep count if who's turn it is to perform?"
"Professor Xavier, he's the founder of the X-Dolls but he's also a teacher at the institute, scouted most of us from school. A lot of us were in music, dance or theater classes and he saw potential in our gifts so he sought us out and let us know of his vision and most of us went for it. Every once in a while he scouts in other schools, that's how he found Laura who's our last recruit."
"How many of you are there?" Amara asked looking around at the large group they were with.
"Laura makes the 23rd, it's rare we're all together now. We have members in London who are doing big things over there. As far as performances we have a schedule but of course things come up. What's nice about our big numbers is there's always back up," Jean answered proudly.
"Do you guys have any skills in those areas? Singing or dancing?" It was the man besides her who spoke, Scott Summers.
"Haha, the only singing I do is in the shower," Jubilee answered.
"You any good? You should think about maybe auditioning."
"You'll make it, they take anyone!" Came a yell from across the room.
Jean and Scott glared at the silver haired man who had yelled before turning back to smile at the younger girls.
"The process isn't hard and even if you don't think you're great we can take you as a background vocalist or dancer."
There was a snigger under the pink dressed girl in their group. Kitty elbowed her boyfriend making him stop laughing but Jubilee watched him throw a smirk at Pietro. This is what made her realize how apart they all were. Even though it seemed like everyone was on pretty amicable terms, the bands were in their own groups.
The X-men were at the far corner closest to the exit. The brotherhood was by the corner that led to the hallway towards the kitchen and the Acolytes were sitting at a different corner but were closer to the outer group. It was an interesting dynamic, there were of course a few members throughout them that walked around speaking to everyone but still, she found this very curious.
"So what do you guys think? Ever want to give it a shot? The Hg Lounge does a karaoke night..."
Jubilee got brought back to her current situation with those words. "Oh I don't know about that..."
"You should! That sounds super fun! We need to choose a night and all do it," Roberto exclaimed, making many others in their group agree and start calling out times they were available. Jubilee smiled weakly while thinking 'no way'. Her eyes wandered around them stopping when they met an amused steel gaze. He broke the contact after a few seconds deciding to walk over to Remy and John without giving any input to them joking about possibly joining their huge group. She didn't know if she should be happy or not about that. She sighed and looked around at the large enthusiastic, it was almost time for some fresh air.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Wanda didn't turn when she heard the screen door to the apartment entrance open. She didn't bother turning even when the person spoke.
"I thought I'd find you out here but I did not expect to find you smoking."
Her answer to that was taking a puff of her cigarette and blowing smoke out.
"You only smoke when you're stressed, want to talk about it?"
Her head shook, "There's nothing to talk about."
"Well if you change your mind, you know where to find me."
Wanda smirked, "I'm not sneaking into your room to cry over a guy."
"Fuck you," Anna remarked going over to the other girl and turning so that her back leaned on the rail her step sister was leaning on. "It's been years since I've done that!"
"And thank god for that, I like my sleep thanks."
"Well it's a good thing they don't hand out good sister awards cause you wouldn't be getting one."
Wanda smirked and took a puff of the cigarette. After a few minutes of silence Anna twisted so that her arms were leaning on the rail too.
"So I've been told that the Acolytes will be staying for Nocturnal Madness."
"Hmm, who told you that?"
"Just a random little birdie. Nocturnal isn't until mid August. You think you'll be able to be around him that long?" Wanda released a cloud of smoke. Noticing that her question was being ignored Anna went to ask another, "Are you even going to talk…"
The question weny unfinished as the door behind them opened and giggles and laughter exploded from the inside of the building disturbing the comfortable silence they had made. Neither goth girl turned to see who it was that was now joining them.
"Hey! There you are! I was wondering where you went! The guys in your crowd are wild!"
"What do you mean?" Wanda asked, giving Jubilee a quick glance over her shoulder.
"Well one of the guys is really messed up...I don't know if it's just alcohol that they've had but he's pretty much stripping," Jubilee answered as Amara tooka step to stand beside her.
Wanda's eyes narrowed and she turned her gaze back to the empty street in front of the building, "Are you fucken shitting me? Is it really hard for him to at least pretend he's sober!"
It got quiet after the angry outburst until a voice neither of the goths were expecting sayed, "I haven't even drank."
Both pairs of eyes widened, Wanda stayed looking forward, her cigarette threatening to slip from in between her fingers. Anna didn't hesitate turning though and gazed in surprise at the duo that appeared behind Jubilee and Amara.
Remy Lebeau gazed at them pensively while John's lips were curled in a frown, his piercing blue eyes set on the dark raven hair.
Jubilee and Amara looked like deers caught in headlights. They weren't sure what it was they had accidentally caused but the posture on all the older young adults let them know it wasn't anything good.
"Going somewhere?" Anna asked, eyeing them all carefully, as if trying to figure out if the group was together.
"Heading to a bar, the female company we find there might be more welcoming," Remy remarked his eyes shifting to the scarlet cladded female as well.
"How sad, you'll be missed," Anna remarked not sounding sad at all. "You're going too?" She asked, turning her attention to the girls. Remy smirked at the assumption as both girls shook their heads.
"No we were just trying to get away from the crazy guy! He was trying to start a dance party and was heading over to us."
Anna perked a brow, "Who is it?"
"Jamie," Remy answered and started walking past them all. "A bientot."
"Oh. Yeah, if he was drinking he's a light weight so I guess he could be starting a ruckus, then again he has enough energy to do that without drinking…" Anna commented to no one in particular.
As she spoke, John followed Remy. While passing the sapphire eyed girl he mumbled, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Her eyes narrowed, "In order to confide in someone you have to trust them."
The dark blue connected with the sapphire for what seemed like an awkward eternity to everyone else but was a mere few seconds. He broke the intense glare by turning and without saying anything else he and Remy made their way towards the parked cars outside.
When they were gone from sight Wanda sighed, took a puff of her cigarette before crushing it on the rail and made her way inside.
Anna followed her with her emerald orbs before looking at the younger girl, "There's..."
"History, yeah I keep getting told," Jubilee finished for her.
Anna's lips twitched up a little, "Oh yeah? Who's talking?"
"I wouldn't say anyone's talking. It's just noticeable that you all go back, well that and...I saw her tattoo."
"She took off her band?"
"Kind of got it wet."
"Hmm," Anna turned around and rested her forearms in the rail. "She did the tattoo on his arm."
"Yeah, it's on her wall at the shop."
"She did his and then had hers done shortly after. They were dating at the time."
"Wow, to get a matching tattoo it must have been a special connection...or" Amara eyes widened, "Please don't tell me it was a, dated for a week, got drunk and got matching tattoo stories."
Anna laughed at this, "No it wasn't anything that bad. They actually dated since high school..."
"Oh," the dark skinned girl answered and glanced at Jubilee picking up the same vibe from her as she felt. Don't ask any more questions.
"So I hate to ask but are you guys really sisters? I don't see a resemblance," Jubilee asked, changing the topic.
"We're step siblings. My mother married her father. They were on and off high school sweethearts, lost touch after graduating cause they moved to different places and at some point found themselves back here. Rekindled what they had and got married while I was in junior high. We all went to the same elementary when we moved back here though so we already knew each other."
"Wow, that's a cute love story. I mean marrying your highschool sweetheart...that sucks that they had that time apart." Amara remarked with a dreamy look.
Anna shrugged, "Maybe, but I believe distance gives you perspective. I mean if you really want something you eventually come back to it you know? Plus if they hadn't drifted apart we wouldn't be here now."
"Oh that's true," Amara nodded.
"So where did you guys grow up? Cause I can't help but notice that you have a southern accent and Kurt...doesn't."
"I grew up in Caldecott Mississippi," Anna answered and stretched her arm out so that they could see the back of her forearm. There were numbers, coordinates to be exact. My mother adopted me when I was five. Kurt was being raised by his father in Germany at the time. He left him back in my mothers care when we were seven. So I guess to answer the question, no we're not really blood related but we've been together long enough that it's just natural to call them my siblings. I mean we're still all at home as it is too..."
"You all still live at home?" Jubilee asked, surprised.
"Yup, haha is it that surprising? Do we look that old?"
"No not at all, you guys all look young but with Wanda and Pietro having their own business I just assumed you were all on your own."
"Hmm, Eric, my step father funds all the businesses. I mean they make their own money out of it so yes we could all move out but at this time we're almost never home. The other three go to business classes in the morning and work most of the rest of the day at their business. It feels like a waste to get your own place just to sleep."
"Wow, business school? They're really busy then."
"It's the conditions they got that came with the business. If they want the papers for them they have to prove that they can manage it. It's pretty much all a big test right now but it should work out. Both the parlor and lounge are making money."
"You said all three, your brother Kurt runs something too?"
"He's a chef. He handles Brunch at the Mercury Lounge on the weekends. Pietro needs a partner because he works with Eric as well and will eventually run the family business along with the club."
"So when you say you guys are busy you really mean you guys are busy."
Anna nodded while Amara shifted her body weight, "So they're running all that, what do you do?"
Jubilee glowered at her dark skinned friend but Anna just laughed at the question. "I'm the black sheep in the family, so naturally I just do whatever the fuck I want to. They wanted me to attend a few college classes but nothing catches my attention as far as future goals. I work at the auto shop across the street from the tattoo shop, Loro Auto Parts."
"Oh it's that place next to the gym."
"Yeah."
"You like cars," Jubilee stated.
"I like bikes actually."
"Maybe you'll make a career out of that."
"Maybe, but I like it as more of a hobby. I think I just want to save money and travel, but I guess we'll see."
Jubilee's mouth parted to comment but before she could say anything there was a loud slam and the door to the apartment open.
The blond lanky boy from the brotherhood came crashing through it. He picked himself up, dusted himself and went back towards the apartment yelling "Aw baby cakes don't be like that."
Anna looked over her shoulder and frowned, "Let's go back inside, you're missing a show and I need to make sure Wanda doesn't kill anyone."
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Jubilee yawned and looked around the now empty room. It was well past eleven and to be honest she had no idea while she was still here, oh wait a minute yes she did. She was still here because her best friend slash roommate was outside chit chatting with the gorgeous Brazilian boy she had been eyeing at the gym for a few months now. I guess it was a good thing she had forced her to apply at Scarlet Ink because then maybe they would have never connected.
At the moment she wished they had not connected though because she was so ready to go home and sleep but she was being forced to wait. All the other guests had slowly left and somehow they were the last two. As far as the other host, none were insight so she was completely alone in the living room.
Roberto was of course outside speaking to Amara, Laura had gone to walk out the Maximoff-Darkholme siblings and she actually had no idea where Ray had gone off to.
She looked around again as if waiting for someone to magically appear out of thin air, of course no one did. What she did see a lot of though, was trash. Bottles of beer and soda on the floor along with wrappers from candy and chips, plates discarded after pizzas were eaten. There was a mess everywhere. She found herself getting up and finding an empty trash bag, all her cleaning up from work must have rubbed off on her personal life because she couldn't stand looking at the mess.
She started grabbing everything in sight, throwing it into the bag. At some point while she was crawling on the floor she saw that a bottle had rolled into the hallway. Only the bottom portion was visible so her hand reached out for it and once it was holding on to it she nearly jumped out of her skin as a hand enveloped her own.
Her eyes glanced up and met familiar steel orbs. His eyes were wide and after a few seconds, the warmth of his hands left hers.
"Hey, I thought everyone was gone."
Jubilee smiled and picked up the bottle, "I wish I was gone, not that I didn't have a good time, I'm just tired."
"Hmm, then why are you still here?"
"Your roommate has charmed mine, they're still taking."
"Oh oh."
"Yeah," Ray glanced behind her to look into the living room.
"Have you been cleaning?" She nodded, "You didn't have to do that."
"I needed to find something to do."
"You're so weird," he muttered and went to sit against the wall of the hallway.
She followed suit and crawled towards him to sit besides him. "Who said there was anything wrong with weird?"
He lips curled at the words, "Nobody I guess. So you had a good time?"
"Yeah! The pizza was really good."
"We really know how to stir that dough huh?"
She nodded and watched him dig into his pocket to take out his usual little black vape box. It was the first time she was really looking at it and noticed the blue electricity streaks on it. She looked from it to the arm she was closest too to see the resemblance.
Her thoughts were on the significance of it but instead of asking what was really on mind her mouth parted and she stated, "You have really fun friends."
"You think so?"
"Yeah, I mean you're all so different but the mixture of your personalities makes it a fun environment."
"Hmm, we all met up through being in the X-men. There's times we can't stand each other but at the end of the day the fact that we have a common interest keeps us together."
"Well I think that's awesome."
"If you feel that way about it you should think of doing the karaoke thing..." he brought the box up to his lips and blew the smoke opposite of her. "They might think you're good enough to join..."
The smell of mint invaded her personal space, "I don't know, I don't see the point to be honest..."
"How come?"
"Well I'm only here for the summer so what would be the point?"
He shrugged, "To have fun? To say you were part of a band? I mean what do you have to lose?"
The words stuck a cord in her. What would she have to lose? She asked herself as she watched him take another hit of his vape. Her eyes focused on his lip, his piercing shining in the low light they were in. He felt her watching, his dark grayish blue eyes went to her own lips.
"Do you want to try it?" He asked shifting closer to her.
"Uh...I don't think so. I've tried other stuff like drinking and weed but I don't think nicotine appeals to me."
He grinned, "It's zero percent. I mean it's still not healthy but," he shrugged again, "I like the smell and the taste. There's a lot of different flavors you can get." He took another puff of it but instead of blowing it the opposite direction, he blew it, not directly at her but at an angle towards her.
Sure enough that mint smell got stronger. She looked at the circle that he had created with interest while he said, "You don't have to though. It's not everyone's thing..."
As he finished she stretched her arm towards him, palm open.
"You sure?" He asked looking at the small fingers in front of him carefully.
Her shoulders shrugged upwards, "I believe in trying everything at least once."
His lips curled upwards and she felt that knot in her stomach return. There was something about that smile of his that always had this effect in her. Maybe it was the fact that it was a rare appearance for him. His hand moved forward and like when they had both reached for the soda bottle and they had stirred the pizza dough together, their hands connected, making her ignore the small spark she felt.
Before she could take the vape box they heard laughter from the kitchen. She pulled her hand back and looked to see Amara and Roberto coming in from the back patio door.
When Amara caught sight of her she smiled brightly, "Ready to go?"
Jubilee rolled her eyes at her, "Are you?" She asked, looking at her pointedly. Amara blushes beautifully and stuttered a yes. Roberto who stood besides her didn't make any comment, instead he looked at the pair on the floor with a perked eyebrow and a suggestive smirk making Ray roll his own eyes at his roommate before pressing against the wall to get up.
Jubilee got up as well and turned away to look at the tall boy beside her, "Maybe next time," she remarked turning to the box in his hand.
"Maybe," he repeated.
"Let us walk you guys out. You sure you don't need a ride home?"
"No, my drivers here for us."
"Driver?" Ray asked, perking a brow and turning to Roberto who shrugged making him add, "Fancy."
"So I'll see you Tuesday?" Roberto asked, ignoring his roommate as they made their way to the door.
"Yeah," Amara answered with a sweet smile looking over her shoulder at him. Before Jubilee could inquire as to what they meant the door opened and Laura walked in almost bumping into them on their way out.
"You guys are leaving?" Amara and Jubilee nodded.
"You were outside?" Roberto asked, surprised.
"Yeah, I was just walking Wanda and Anna out. I'm dead tired now so I'm taking a shower and calling it a night. Bye you guys thanks for coming, Jubilee, I'll see you Tuesday."
"Night," they all called out to her and watched her walk away. Afterwards they all stared at each other awkwardly.
"Well, I guess that night is for you guys too..."
"Guess so." Jubilee nodded while Amara answered.
"Get home safe," Roberto added with a smile.
"That's the plan," she answered smiling.
"Oh god how long is this goodbye going to take?" Jubilee asked already a few steps into the hallway.
That made Ray who had been watching behind Roberto with an annoyed look, chuckle. "I got you," he commented and started closing the door.
A final goodbye was uttered and Jubilee waved while she waited for Amara to catch up to her. When she did she gave her a sly smile.
"So what's this about Tuesday?"
"Oh ah...I said I'd go try out the kickboxing class."
"I thought those were in the morning."
"They are."
"So...you're going without me?"
"I guess I am."
"Ohhh..."
Amara turned red, "Shut up! I'm just going to workout..."
"Ohhhh..."
"Shut up," Amara repeated and jabbed an elbow into her side.
"Ohhhh."
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O Tuesday O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Amara had been nervous about Tuesday and almost as if in a blink of an eye the day came.
She took a look at herself in the bathroom mirror, turning and twisting to make sure everything was in place.
Her active wear tank top was in a deep purple color. Due to it being so early, there was a chill in the air so she had opted for black yoga pants and finished her ensemble with some purple and pink Nike's.
After she confirmed that she did in fact looked presentable she made her way to the danger room. She opened the door and stopped in the doorway, she had expected to see a lot of males considering it was a kickboxing class but more than half the class was female.
She looked around the room to find the Brazilian class instructor and found him in the center, a few girls crowding him with one touching his arm.
'Ok...this was a bad idea,' she told herself and took a step backwards only to bump into one someone else.
"Oops, I'm so sorry!" She started and turned around.
"It's ok," the girl answered. She had deep green eyes, short red hair and a friendly smile. "Were you taking this class?"
"Uh..."
"Amara! There you are I almost thought you were going to bail. Oh...hey Rahne, we missed you and Sam this weekend."
"Camping sounded much more appealing. They say that moonlight is healthy for your skin."
"Yeah whatever werewolf," he answered and turned back to the darker skinned girl.
"Ready to give this a try?"
"Uh..."
"She looked like she was ready to run."
Amara threw the girl she didn't know a small disgruntled look. She gave her a wolffish smile in return before linking arms with her.
"Come on. I'll take care of you, sadly any friends of this guy are friends of mine." She remarked and started dragging her away towards the back of the class.
"Hey, I want to..." Roberto didn't get a chance to finish as the girls left his presence.
"I'm Rahne Sinclair by the way."
"Amara Aquilla."
"Nice to meet you, so where did you meet the charming Mr. Da Costa?"
"Uh through a mutual friend I suppose,'' Amara answered, Jubilee coming to mind. "You?"
"We've dated, that feels like ages ago though."
"Oh..." Amara answered not being able to help the way her voice got small at the information. If this girl was his ex and she came to his classes, did that mean...
Rahne gave a small chuckle at the expression she was making, "It's not what you think. We're actually still friends cause we're in a band."
"You're part of the X-dolls?"
"Guilty, wow, he's actually told you a bit about himself? Guess you're not just a pretty thing to flirt with..."
Amaras mouth parted to respond but before she could Roberto's voice echoed in the small room bringing everyone's attention to him. Class was now in session.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
"I'll be back, I'm going to the bank to make the deposit."
Jubilee answered ok while Laura nodded. It was their girls only day and Wanda had passed out a fixed schedule, something both girls were reviewing. Jubilee didn't really have a problem with hers, the only thing she did notice was that she had an almost identical schedule to Ray's.
After looking at it for a while longer she started doing her cleaning duties. It was a slow morning, Laura didn't have a client and the phone wasn't ringing off the hook either. For a moment she thought of Amara and wondered how the kick boxing class had gone, she had been long gone by the time she woke up and got ready for work.
Her thoughts on the matter were interrupted when she heard the bell of the door indicating someone had just entered.
Her eyes went to the hallway entrance that would merge with the lobby waiting for their potential client and what she saw made her eyes widened. Pietro Maximoff's silver hair came into view soon enough but that wasn't what surprised Jubilee. What did, was what he was holding in his arms. A beautiful blue eyed girl with blonde curls stared back at her curiously. She couldn't have been older than four by looking at her.
"Hey, where's Wanda?"
"She went to the bank," she answered.
"Fu...dge."
The little giggled in his arms, "Daddy! No!"
"I didn't say it," he defended and shared a look with the little girl before turning to look over the counter.
Jubilee turned too and saw Laura looking at the duo nonchalantly. "Why? What's up?"
"I needed her to watch Luna real quick. I'm meeting with the managers of the bands participating in Nocturnal Madness about time slots, terms and conditions."
"Oh…" it was quiet for a few seconds before she pressed her lips together, "We can watch her."
Jubilee eyes widened even more at being volunteered.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I mean it's only for a few minutes. Wanda shouldn't be too long."
"Oh...ok, we'll thanks," he responded before turning to the little girl, "Hey, you remember Wand Wand's friend Laura," his head tilted towards the dark skinned girl. In answer the little girl huddled closer to her father curving her face into his neck while shyly looking at Laura, after a few seconds she nodded. "Ok well you're going to stay with her for a little bit while Wand Wand gets you a present! Doesn't that sound exciting?"
The sweet little "ok" came out of her as he walked towards the counter window. He set her on the counter top while Laura met him from the other side. She stretched her arms out and the little girl let her take her before sitting her in Jubilee's barstool chair.
"What are you going to do when Wanda shows up without th t?" She asked giving him a look.
"She'll have one," he answered her before turning back to the little girl, "Alright princess I'll be back in a flash." The little girl nodded and watched him go.
When he was completely gone Laura opened a cabinet Jubilee had never opened and seconds later she brought a box of crayons and a coloring book out.
"Alright little miss cutie pie, what are we doing today? Want to draw out of the book or are we free styling it?"
Luna pointed to the coloring book prompting Laura to open it and lean forward so that her arms rested on the counter top as she watched the little girl start coloring.
Jubilee couldn't pull away from the image, finding it curious. Just by knowing Laura the few weeks she did, she would have never pegged her for a child friendly person, not only that but she looked so soft as she watched the blue eyed girl. I guess there were still many surprises to these new friends she had made, she thought to herself before moving away from them to continue her duties.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O TBC O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
And there we have it. The end to another chapter! Seems like the X-men are trying to recruit so we'll see how that goes for them ;) Oh, something I want to make clear in this story I am NOT having any triangles. Did plenty of that in RH and our lovely ships deserve a break from that type of drama, but I will mention past relationships, again don't think too much on it because well it'll lead to nothing. Mentions of Lancitty and Bobby/Tabitha cause I like to sprinkle my ships everywhere :P
Jubilay- Lots of hand holding and touching in this one and I love it! We'll see if she ever gives that vape a try ;) such a bad influence Ray!
Amarto- I think it's safe to say that they're connecting. I mean Amara made Jubes stay longer at the party after all and found the courage to go to the kickboxing class all by herself! Kinda really like Ray closing the door on them because their goodbye was taking forever ;)
Jonda- A past relationship has been outed! Then again they have matching tattoos where else would that have gone? High school Sweethearts, broken trust oh my oh my...The life of a Superstar isn't all glamorous for our fire loving boy is it?
Xietro- She did say his life was complicated...This chapter brings the introduction of four year old Luna. That's right I made Pietro a Daddy at 18. Guess we'll see how that goes. Jubilee seems to think Laura is super cute with her so...
Romy- All nonchalant smirks and eye rolls. Feel the slow burn y'all...feel the slow burn. If it makes you feel better a blazing fire starts out small no? ;) Rogue gave us a good look into her home life so we got a little more background on a few of our faves.
That's that. Next chapter we'll see a little more of Luna and find out what Nocturnal Madness is all about. Also a dash of Xietro, a dash of Romy and some Amarato. We can't go wrong with those guys right? See you next month! Thank you for reading!
-UHW