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
Yay! Another month is here and that means I get to update and the story can start getting closer to the reason why it's an M rating ;) Aka, the cursing will start getting a little heavier (among other things I assure you).
I changed the summary btw. Let me know if you guys liked the last one better or if this works ;) Anyhoo...
Thanks so much for staying with me and continuing to share your excitement and thoughts with me: Clamchick (Haha I get why Laura is saying no but I'm also going to have fun messing around with her cause of it XD Sorry my evil is showing. I enjoyed writing Ray's conflicting emotions about Remy just because if he sorts them out I see him being very surprised about them himself. I hope some of your guesses are right! Lol and you do not have to wait any longer! Hope you enjoy it!), MisdirectionSmoothie and RogueQueen69. I really appreciate your continued support and I hope you keep enjoying this story as much as I have enjoyed thinking it up.
Well here we go, enjoy the sprinkles of Romy and Amarto in this one ;)
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O Chapter 8 O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Wanda walked into the kitchen to find Anna looking pensively into her cup of coffee. It gave her a sense of deja vu from the night she had told her who she had been paired up for Nocturnal Madness.
"Hey."
"Hey," the Southern girl answered and looked up to watch her put a pair of grocery bags on the counter. "You went shopping?" she asked, perking a brow.
"Pietro asked me to stock up on snacks since Luna is coming home."
"Hmm..."
Wanda waited for something else but when nothing came she turned back to the green-eyed girl. They had lived under the same roof long enough for her to know when something was on her mind. "What's up?"
"Just thinking."
"About?"
"How I'm going to get out of this Nocturnal shit."
"Damn, is working with Gambit really that bad? You know he's being considered the hottest guy in metal right now." Anna gave her a look giving all the answer she needed, "have you talked to Pietro to see if there's anything you can do?"
"Yeah."
"And?"
"And he said that I have to give as good as I take."
"Who did he say you should work with?"
"How did you know he already had a substitute in mind?"
Wanda shrugged, "Plotting must run on our side of the family if we think that much alike. So who is it?" Anna didn't answer verbally but gave her a pointed look. Wanda didn't get it, "Who?"
Giving up with the look Anna opened her mouth, her voice coming out harmonic and soft, "Rose Red, Rose Red...Roooooose Red."
Wanda's eyes widened, before the younger girl could continue singing she cut her off, "No" and with that turned away from her and started putting the snacks away.
"Come on! Please! For me?"
"Uh, no."
"Come on and it's not like it'll kill you to do it just once," Anna knew she messed up as soon as she said the words but they had already been spoken before she could stop herself. After a few minutes of tense silence Anna sighed, "I didn't mean it...talking about that, I was just being dramatic."
"Mhmm...well the answer is still no. Have fun with the Cajun demon," and with those last words she made her way out of the room.
Anna groaned and rested her chin in her hand. Attempt number one had not gone well at all.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O Next Day O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Jubilee tapped on her notepad, her eyes drifting to the clock on the wall periodically. Every time she did it felt like an hour had passed in between but in reality it would only be five minutes, the day was taking an eternity and she refused to believe it had anything to do with the car ride home two nights before.
Her eyes glanced at the dual haired tattooist. He was leaning forward in his chair, the blue steel eyes glued to the arm he was working on. From where she sat she could see the mixture of black and red, ink mixing with fresh blood. When he went to wipe the excess his eyes briefly went up and met hers, he could sense he was being watched.
She quickly looked away ignoring the heat in her cheeks. She tried thinking of anything else for the time being to get her to cool down, it didn't work. If anything it got worse as Roberto went to the counter and noticed.
"You alright? You look red? Are you sick?" He asked and stepped away from her as if she was diseased.
"No, I'm fine," her voice came out in a high pitched squeak.
The Brazilian young man perked a brow, "If you say so..."
Before either could say anything else the doorbell signifying the front door opened and both looked up to wait for their potential customer to come through the hallway.
Jubilee internally rolled her eyes at the beautiful long legged blonde that walked in and she prepared herself to hear Roberto greet her in his charmingly sweet 'die for me' voice. It never came, making her turn to glance at him. His eyes were in fact on the bombshell, but they didn't shine quite as bright as she knew them to glow around a beautiful woman.
He glanced back at her with a curious expression and after noticing that she wasn't going to greet the newcomer he turned back to the blonde, "Hi! Welcome to Scarlet Ink, did you have an appointment?"
"Oh no but I was hoping to make one..."
"Sure! Jubilee here will help you with that," Roberto answered, skimming his column in the appointment book. She was ready for him to ask her to book her on his next free day but after flipping a few pages he closed the book, "I'm pretty booked, Ray or Laura can have her..." he whispered and walked away.
She nodded and smiled at the girl, made an appointment for a few days with Laura and then she was gone. When she was gone, Jubilee turned to Roberto who was getting his area cleaned up. He must have felt eyes on him but to her surprise didn't turn to her, he turned to his roommate who was also staring at him surprised as he wiped the newly finished arm with some of their aftercare ointment.
"What?" Roberto asked.
Ray didn't answer, instead he looked to Jubilee and perked both his brows at her and smiled before getting up from his seat, "Alright, you're all set," he got up his seat and gave a light tap on the area above the wrapped tattoo. "Keep this on for 24 hours, wash it with antibacterial soap and make sure you put some of our Hex Jell on it twice a day after but you don't have to wrap it again. Jubilee's going to give you a paper with all the information..."
As he kept going through some more post care tips, Jubilee looked away from them and looked forwards. Warmness enveloped her insides and though she did believe it had to do something with that brief smile from the six footer, she couldn't help but think that it also had to do with Roberto's actions. Maybe Amara's crush wasn't as one sided as she believed.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Anna walked into the quiet house. She looked at the clock, her mother and Eric were probably still at work. Wanda and Pietro were most likely at the dual owned building and who knew where Kurt was but she almost didn't care. Being alone in the house felt like a rare occurrence and she cherished every moment of it. Especially because Raven liked getting on her case about when she was going to sign up to school like the others. She didn't know why she bothered, she had already made her stance on the subject pretty clear.
She made her way upstairs to her bedroom but the sweet aroma of spices hit her and she felt her stomach turn in delight at the smell. It appeared Kurt was at home afterall. She made a u-turn and went into the hall that led to the kitchen, the door was closed which was a bit unusual because they all left it open having been told off more than once for slamming it shut, so without any thought at all she opened it and let herself in.
She mentally cursed at herself for not recognizing the smell of jambalaya from outside. If she had she wouldn't have bothered walking in because Kurt did not know how to cook jambalaya.
"What are you doing here?" She asked without thought.
He smiled but didn't bother looking up from the pot he was stirring.
"You need new lines petite...cause the deja vu of that question gets old."
"Then maybe you should stop being places you shouldn't be."
His deep chuckle echoed through the otherwise quiet room. She took the moment to look at him, his usually loose shoulder length hair was in a low pony making sure to stay away from contaminating the food. He wore a black bandanna keeping the stray bangs out of his way and surprisingly enough he was not wearing Kurt's 'Kiss the Cook' apron but instead stayed in a white tee, finishing his ensamble with tight blue jeans.
After realizing she was checking him out she sighed and turned to leave, he was obviously not going to answer her question but in a way it was pretty easy to see the reason he was there. Before she made it completely out of the room his voice stopped her.
"You don't want to taste?"
She turned in place to see him bringing a spoon to his lips, puckering his lips together afterwards savoring the taste. There was an eye roll and he expected her to slam the door on her way out but was surprised when she actually moved toward him. He dipped the spoon back into the pot and brought it up to her mouth level as she reached him. She gave a distasteful look at the spoon.
"Eww, who knows where your lips have been..."
Her eyes went to his lips, thin and twitching upward. They parted and whispered, "Only heaven and back...". Her eyes went back to the spoon and as she felt her body move forward they both heard the squeak of the kitchen door open freezing her in place.
The quick reaction afterwards was to grab a spoon that was on the counter, dipping it into the pot and taking a sip. It was hot, but her reaction would never give that away as she swallowed the burning food. She turned around expecting to see Kurt but when her eyes made contact with the unannounced newcomer she almost felt the room freeze over. It was not Kurt.
"This is a surprise. What is an Acolyte doing in my kitchen? I wasn't aware Erik summoned you." The way the light was hitting her mother caused her light brown eyes to have a yellow glint as she moved her eyes from one to the other. Before Remy could answer, the door opened behind Raven.
"Hey! You guys are home. It didn't feel like I was in the bathroom that long. How's the soup going?"
"Jambalaya mon ami, it's called Jambalaya."
"Right right," Kurt answered and walked towards the Southern man as Anna moved away. "I wanted to add some Louisiana spice to our menu and thought who better to learn from than a real Cajun," Kurt explained reading his mother's perked eyebrow.
Anna walked past her mother ignoring the look she was getting but managed to hear, "Don't you have google to look up recipes now?"
The door shut behind her and though she would have liked to hear Kurt's reply her immediate thoughts were to go to her room and down a bottle of water because her mouth was indeed burning.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O Saturday O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Amara's chest heaved in and out dramatically. She tried taking deep breaths in and out to regulate her breath. Why in the world she thought it'd be a good idea to do her three mile jog out in the heat in the middle of the day instead of at the gym like she usually did, she didn't know but obviously it was a bad idea.
She felt her phone vibrate in her arm band but ignored it. It was most likely her mom wanting to check on her mile time. There was a slight chance it could be Jubilee but Scarlet Ink kept her pretty busy and on her lunch she was either making small talk with one of her co-workers or going next door to catch a performance.
She had to admit she was a little jealous of that. She got to see some pretty interesting things and just overall she had so much more freedom than she felt she had.
Amara found herself sighing as another vibration rocked her arm. Her arm wrapped around her other arm trying to get the small electronic device out. When she finally did, butterflies erupted in her stomach and the warmth of the sun spread to her cheeks.
The first message read, 'So what's your special talent?' She had forgotten she had given Roberto her number at the last workout class she had seen him at. Well she technically didn't give it to him, he had just taken the liberty of adding himself on her phone and sending himself a message from it.
The second message almost made her laugh out loud. 'Oh Oh...silence. Must be a secret then.'
Her fingers started tapping at her phone, 'Sorry, just finished a run and just saw this.'
'It's cool', he responded with the freezing emoji. 'Does that mean it's not a secret?'
'Hmm...idk...what if you sell me out to the competition?'
'What? I would never!'
She laughed out loud causing people walking by to give her a curious look. After a few moments of hesitation she gave him the answer.
'Dance.'
'Dance? Oh... '
'Oh? Were you expecting something else?'
'Many things comes to mind when I hear special talent ;)'
Amara felt herself warm up, this time having nothing to do with the fact the sun was directly over her.
Before she could reply he beat her to it and sent a "..." and not even thirty seconds later sent another message. 'You know...yodeling, juggling, jumping off high platforms, maybe riding a unicycle.'
She laughed again, her fingers rapidly shooting the reply, 'It's a special talent not a clown act!'
'Right Right, sorry. So, what kind of dancing?'
'Ballet.'
As she sent the text she thought of her mother. She was the reason for the special talent, always wanting her to maintain a poised appearance, so much so that she started her on the pointe technique from an early age. She winced momentarily thinking back to a few sprained ankles, but her mother thought the polish refined movements were very well worth the risks. They made her look like the perfect royal doll after all.
Her thoughts were interrupted with the vibration of her phone yet again.
'That's...nice.'
She smiled, being able to imagine the words coming out of his mouth, dramatic pause and all. She messaged back and they went back and forth for quite a while. It wasn't until her mother called her an hour later that she realized how much time had passed and she begrudgingly got up and started heading home.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O Tuesday O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Jubilee wasn't sure if it had been the small acknowledgement of Roberto's change in the way he spoke to their female customers that eased the tension between herself and Ray but things were back to her considered 'normal' after a few days. Yet it seemed that there would always be some kind of drama anywhere you went, so though she didn't feel the tension from the brooding six foot boy thanks to her intrusive question they all definitely felt it from the shortest member of their team.
She had seen Laura Kinney in many moods in the short month and a half she had been at Scarlet Ink. She'd seen her annoyed when her clients moved even though she was barely getting started, upset when one of her lines wasn't as perfect as she expected it to be, happy when people complimented her work and glowing when she was on the stage performing. She had thought she had seen her mad but she was wrong because lately she was seeing her really mad, almost going as far as stating that she seemed pretty pissed.
After the bell signifying that the front door had closed rang Laura pushed her ink tray harshly away from herself. True to his word and much to the annoyance of Wanda and Laura, Pietro proved that there was in fact a lot of fish in the sea in the few weeks that followed their dinner incident. The proof of this was in the fact that every night while the Hg Lounge was open a different girl would show up at the tattoo shop, smiling gleefully and gushing about meeting the cutest most amazing guy that night. A guy who had referred them over to them for a tattoo, and suggested to said female that a rose vine would look very tasteful on their lower back.
This was annoying to Wanda because they would always mention a secret code that gave them a five percent discount. It annoyed Laura for a whole other reason that she would not mention but the older girl had a clue. She didn't push the topic though, Laura was her friend and she was not about to say I told you so to her.
Knowing that she wasn't in the best of moods, especially after drawing a rose vine on a pretty ginger customer's lower back, Wanda found herself calling out to the short, bad-tempered girl.
The hazel green eyes looked towards her and she offered a small smile, "Your birthday is coming up. What do you think about me closing shop Saturday and Sunday and we'll get out of town? I feel like we both need to get away from our surroundings."
She seemed to think about it before answering, "Where would we go?"
Before she could answer, cheerful humming made its way to their vicinity. After a few seconds of listening they found the person making the small noise come to view packaged in a yellow t-shirt.
"Hey Jubilee, You have plans next weekend?"
Jubilee stopped humming and turned to them surprised by the question, "Hmm, not really."
"My dad has a beach house a few hours from here and I want to take Laura out there for her birthday next weekend, are you and Amara down?"
"Oh! Your birthday is next week?! Yeah! I'd love to join you guys, Amara will have to ask for permission and her parents are strict about that stuff so..."
"Let's do it," Laura interrupted looking past them both towards the window facing out into the street, "You're right, I need to get away from here. I'm going to break, you can take the next one," with those words she started heading towards the hallway leading to the breakroom. "Don't worry about Amara, Jubes, I'll take care of it," were her last words as she vanished.
When she was gone both girls turned to see what she had been staring at. Wanda's lips curled downward, noticing the familiar color tones of silver, orange and auburn accompanied by multiple heads of blonde outside.
"Yeah, I definitely need to get out of here too," she remarked more to herself but the words caused the petite Asian to look at her before looking back outside at the laughing group.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Jubilee walked into the house and looked around the empty hallway. "Everyone's usually in the living room when I get home," she remarked before looking over her shoulder at the short girl who had given her a ride home. Laura nodded and walked into the house looking around and being surprised by how fancy everything looked. Amara seemed very humble and down to earth so she was a little surprised by how loaded her folks were.
"Come on," Jubilee remarked and walked away down a hall. When they went through another door it led to a huge room. In a corner was Amara, her leg was stretched in front of her with her tiptoes pointed. She made a circular motion on the floor and twirled. A woman was watching her from the side and as she finished, she didn't seem impressed.
"That was good but we can polish it up..."
Jubilee gave a fake cough catching all their attention. "Hi everyone," she mumbled.
Amaras eyes went wide at seeing their guest and she got out of her pose and ran to the other dark skinned girl, "Laura hi!" She turned back to her parents, "Mom, Dad this is Laura. She works with Jubilee."
Laura waved, "Good evening, sorry to intrude on your night."
"No intrusion at all," the man on the couch stood and looked her over. "Will you be joining us for dinner?"
"No, sadly I've made other plans. I was actually stopping by to invite Amara and Jubilee to the beach with myself and a few friends next weekend for my birthday."
"Oh," the woman's eyes widened in surprise and looked at Amara. "Do you have anything specific planned? Amara can't be on a boat for too long."
"No, I don't think we'll be doing anything that intense. Just planning to hang out at the shore and maybe visit the pier. I just thought I'd come by and ask personally if that would be ok?"
"Well that's so polite of you," the older man shared a look with his wife who nodded. "Sure, if they wish to go, that's fine with us."
"There will be no boys on this trip, correct?" Amara's mom asked.
"Oh definitely not. It's a girls trip."
"We'll if you want to g..."
"Yes!" Amara answered quickly.
"Great, I'll come by and pick them up next weekend. Thank you so much and I'll see you then," her head gave a slight nod at the adults who returned the gesture.
"We'll walk you out," Jubilee remarked and started walking out of the room.
"Bye, have a good night," Laura finished and followed. When they were at the door Amara giggled and eyed the shorter girls outfit.
"Wow, you really dressed up for the occasion. I'm pretty sure that's the only reason they agreed to let me go." Laura was not in any fancy attire. She just wore jeans that weren't tight or loose on her and a blue hoodie, but it did what it was supposed to. It hid all her tattoos and if anything gave her a look that made it seem like they were definitely in the same age range.
"You can really mind your manners," Jubilee added.
"Just because I grew up in foster care doesn't mean I don't know how to be polite. I know how to act around real adults. So great, I'll see you both later this week but we're all set for a beach trip next weekend."
"Sounds exciting! Is it really for your birthday?"
"Yeah."
"Cool!"
"Yup, I should really go now. I'll see you tomorrow Jubilee. Bye Amara."
"Bye" both girls answered and closed the door as she walked out of the house. When she was gonna Amara jumped and gave a squeal.
"My first out of town trip with friends!" She whispered while grabbing her arms.
Jubilee smiled at her and took a good look at her, noticing that her friend was looking a little thinner than usual, which brought back to mind Roberto's previous words. Instead of bringing up the topic though she grabbed onto her arm and started dragging her upstairs to where their rooms were stating that they needed to decide what they'd be wearing.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O Wednesday O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Jubilee yawned loudly before spinning in her bar stool.
"Bored much?"
She finished her second spin before stopping to stare at the boy that had spoken. His eyes were downcast looking at his sterilized instruments making sure he had everything for his next client ready.
"Only a little," she answered, eyeing the metal lip piercing that shone her way.
"Want to go to lunch?"
"But then I'd be leaving you all alone."
She watched the broad shoulders go upwards, "It won't be anything I can't handle. You should go next door, it should be a good show tonight."
"Why do you say that?"
"Laura's performing."
"Oh, you're right, that should be fun to watch. She has a very sweet energetic voice."
"Energetic, yes, sweet...I don't know about that."
Jubilee put a hand to her chin looking thoughtful. She hadn't watched Laura perform live but she had enjoyed the rehearsal video Ray had shown her. Ray caught the stare, "You've never watched her perform on a Wednesday."
"What's different about Wednesday's?"
"You know the Hg Lounge has different themed days right?"
Jubilee looked pensive again, "Well Tuesday is karaoke...uh...what else is there?"
"Karaoke Tuesday, Wicked Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday, Funday Friday and Satisfaction Saturday."
"Those are some interesting names, so what's special about Wednesday?"
"Wicked Wednesdays is the goth themed day. Everything including the music is much darker." At the words his steel blue orbs looked over her, "And you are definitely not ready for it," he added.
Jubilee looked at herself, white tank top comboed with her signature yellow jackets and some black jeans. She thought she looked great. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" She asked, sounding offended.
"I just told you it's their goth day, you're way too bright."
"I guess it's a sign I shouldn't go then."
"Hmm," he mumbled and looked at the clock on the wall. "Come here," he instructed her before walking to the storage room.
She watched him curiously before following. He had pretty much gone to the end of the room where the wall was, once he saw she had entered his hands went to the bottom of his black t-shirt and he pulled it up over his head making her eyes almost bulge out of their sockets.
"What are you doing?" She asked nervously.
"Relax, I have a tank top under, but you can borrow this one so you don't stick out so much," with those words he threw the shirt at her smacking her straight in the face.
Her senses were overtaken with a weird aroma that she couldn't quite place but felt like she knew. She for sure knew that it must be one of his vaping flavors. After a few seconds of being frozen in place with the black shirt on her face she came to her senses and started taking off her jacket. A minute later she stared at him skeptically, his black shirt was hanging loosely on her smaller frame.
"Hm...that's not going to work. It's too big for you..."
"I can tie it from behind," she suggested, grabbing a large amount of cloth trying to bundle it up in the back.
"No, it'll look weird."
"Isn't everyone there already a little weird?" She asked, perking a brow. An action that went unnoticed as his hands went down to the bottom of the black tank top.
Her eyes widened yet again as he pulled upwards. She had seen a good amount of his arms before but a lot of the time the shirts he wore were loose on his frame hiding the hard abs and muscles he was displaying now.
Her eyes roamed his chest carefully taking in all the dips on his toned body and she found herself getting hot when he cleared his throat bringing her back to her senses to realize that she was in fact gawking.
"This will probably be a better fit," he remarked and motioned for her to throw his t-shirt back to him. She did so and watched him put it on. When he was done his steel orbs connected with her brown ones before looking down at his tank top in her hands.
Her weight went from one foot to the other as she debated whether she was going to wear this over her own tank top. As she made up her mind and her hands went to the bottom of her white shirt the bell indicating someone had come in rang in the otherwise quiet space.
His eyes lingered on the fingers holding her top before he started moving, making his way past her to go outside of the room. Jubilee exhaled deeply, a breath she didn't know she had been holding. As she heard his voice from the other room her shirt went over her head.
A few minutes later there was a knock on the wall.
"It's fine," she called out and he dipped his head in. "Your appointment?" She asked, smoothing down his shirt on her body.
"Yeah, just having them sign their waivers," he answered as his eyes glazed over her, stopping to stare at the yellow bra strap that peeked out on one of her shoulders. His tank definitely fit and looked better than the shirt had. "Yeah you'll fit in now. Have fun," and with those words his orange bangs went out of view.
She gave a small smile before making her way towards the open door, her teeth grazing the bottom of her lip as the delicious smell of whatever he had been vaping enveloped her.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
/Young girl, come close.
Undress and pray.
Read words in the grimoire
And you won't be the same./
Jubilee looked around the room and watched bodies sway. Unlike the past times she had come, the movement of the dancers was erratic, in your face and sometimes even very vulgar. At the moment though, everyone's moves were slow, going to the gentle beat of the somber song with hands up in the air making small curves that rolled down their bodies.
She kept looking around, her eyes going to the tables to see if perchance there was anyone she would recognize among the patrons. She smiled when she caught a familiar dual colored female at the last table hidden at a dark corner.
"Hi!" Jubilee called out excitedly as she reached her coworkers and new friends at a combined table.
"Hey, lunch already?" Wanda asked, making room for her by scooting over closer to Roberto so that she could add a chair to their table.
"Yeah, Ray suggested I take it now and come over. Apparently Laura is supposed to give a good show."
"She always does," Wanda answered.
Jubilee nodded and looked around their table surprised to see an Acolyte member among them. She was even more surprised that he didn't acknowledge her at all. One thing she had learned from the short weeks of knowing him was that Remy Lebeau was a charmer and flirted with almost any girl when the chance arose.
His eyes, which she noted were red on black like the videos from his shows, were looking forwards at the stage. Noticing his attentiveness her ears perked and listened to the sweet sounding voice echoing through the building and her eyes finally moved to the stage.
She hadn't paid much attention to the fact that a performance was in session, mostly because the voice wasn't recognizable right away but as she watched the pale girl she picked up on her tone. The last time she had seen Anna on the stage had been her very first time here, the song she had been performing had been energetic and fast making her own voice follow suit, but now her voice was low and harmonized following the dark melody echoing in the large room.
/My friend, come close/
Her hands outstretched in front of her with the palms facing up and both her index fingers curled towards her in a 'come here' gesture.
/Don't be afraid/
She wore all back like everyone else but there was something so seductively haunting about her at the moment. Her shirt was mesh at the long sleeves and shoulders with a polka dot design on the see through material. Her mini skirt was tight and went a little below mid thigh making it impossible to tell whether she was wearing thigh high stockings or waisted ones. The buckles on her heeled booties matched a small chain that hung off the center of her skirt. Though everyone was wearing black it was apparent to see that Anna knew exactly how to rock it well.
/Pitch black candles and a cross/
One of her hands went up and fisted, making a flame appear. Her other hand went to her neck and grabbed on to her cross necklace bringing it up towards the audience and flipping in the process. She dropped it seconds later and her hands went to hold the microphone stand in front of her as her purple lips hovered above the black grille.
/In a crypt clothed in velvet
A naked altar/
She released the stand so that her hands went to her waist and slid up her body in a sensual way stopping at her head so that her index fingers pointed upwards behind her head making little devil horns.
/And a priest with horns/
Jubilee couldn't help that the words she uttered made goosebumps run across her skin. She rubbed her arms as the beat got a little stronger and she went into the chorus breaking her from the spell she was under, and it seemed she wasn't the only one that broke out of the trance.
"Ah bonjour petite...didn't see you get here."
"Hi," she greeted looking away to see that the red on black eyes were now on her. "I just got here," she added, making the Cajun nod before reaching with his left hand for a plate in front of him of what looked like lemon pepper chicken wings.
"Did you go home and change? I don't remember you wearing black today."
Jubilee blushed at Roberto's observation, "Well I was told I needed to wear something black to not stick out so..." she responded not answering the question in full.
No one dwelled on the response and soon they all went into idle chatter, with a certain person dividing their attention between them and the stage. Those set of dark eyes didn't give them their complete attention not even after the song had ended as his fingers immediately started tapping onto the screen of his phone. The others didn't pay him much mind, they were used to Remy being on the phone messaging the many girls that came to speak to him while they were here.
He eventually did stop but it wasn't until he was spoken to directly.
"Where's your puppy?"
The black on red eyes stopped staring down at his phone and looked up to meet an emerald gaze. His lips curled into a smirk, "He's taking care of business elsewhere, why? Did you need something...can I help you?"
"No, I hate the idea of sitting here so I was hoping he had just gone off to use the fire hydrant but it seems like it's just not my day," Anna answered and took the empty seat beside him.
Jubilee looked at the back of the chair curiously. It had been empty but yet her mind hadn't registered that when she had arrived so she had pulled her own chair and sat beside Wanda instead. After a few seconds she realized why that had happened. There was a trench coat at the back of that chair, her mind had immediately assumed that the seat was already taken.
"What are you drinking? Wanda asked, her eyes going to her stepsisters pitch black drink that suddenly got everyone's attention.
"Pietro wants me to test it. He's calling it Black Voodoo, it's supposed to be he's strongest mix yet," she responded before taking a sip and ignoring the snort that was heard beside her at the name. After she swallowed her drink and set it on the table she added, "They put a lot of shit in it so be ready to have to drive me home."
Wanda shook her head but grinned at her either way, a moment that was ruined when Gambit decided to comment that if you couldn't hold your liquor for one drink you should be considered a lightweight.
"You were great up there! Is Laura up next?" Jubilee asked, trying to ignore the tension between the two southerners.
The question did pull Anna away from her sideways glare, "Yeah, she's supposed to be up next." She then blinked in surprise, noticing her presence for the first time, "Hey, I never expected to see you on this night. Seems a little dark for you."
"You think so?" Jubilee asked.
"Yeah, all the yellow you wear gives me sunshine vibes," she answered with a slight tease in her voice.
"There's a little darkness in everyone," was the comment that came from besides the goth girl.
"No one asked you," Anna replied back before taking a big chug of her dark drink.
The man beside her gave a low chuckle but before he had a chance to answer the lights flickered and the aggressive techno music playing started to fade.
"Here she comes," Wanda remarked.
The song started very hard and aggressive. At first Jubilee thought it might have just sounded that way because Anna's song had been very soft and she smiled as Laura made her way to the center stage. She wore black short shorts and a black vest top.
She walked to the microphone, her hand moving up and down to the beat making Jubilee smile, she could tell this was going to be a very energetic performance.
The smile quickly vanished when the brunettes' mouth opened. Not because it didn't sound good, but it was safe to say that she had not been expecting the growl that came out of her.
/Be sparkly and shiny, they say...Be perfect and smiley, they say
They say that's the way to success, they say...That is the way to be noticed, they say/
Jubilee watched in awe as Laura brought her free hand up and made a motion like a smile. After watching her for a few more seconds she turned to Wanda who felt the gaze and spared her a quick glance before her attention went back to the stage clearly enjoying Laura's performance.
"It's Wicked Wednesday," she remarked, "What better way to be bad than to yell your lungs out." The response brought back Jubilee's smile and she turned back to the stage as Laura jumped on a speaker rising herself in height.
/What is the true beauty? What is true gold?
How do we find the clarity in this fake, cold world? (cold world)/
Her scream echoed all around them and Jubilee couldn't pull her eyes away anymore. Her eyes and attention much like the others was trained on the stage and even though the song was easily more than four minutes long it felt short and soon it was over.
"Wow! She really was amazing!" Jubilee exclaimed. "Who knew such power could come from such a small package," she added, still amazed with her eyes open wide and a huge smile.
She turned to Wanda who was smirking and nodded. She then turned to Anna to gauge a similar reaction but was surprised to see her with her head down resting on her arms.
"You ok?" At the concerned words Wanda turned to stare at her stepsister.
Anna raised her head a little bit off the table, eyes glazed and cheeks flushed. "Yeah, I think...he wasn't lying when he said this was supposed to hit hard," she responded and at those words everyone looked to see that during the song she must have finished her drink because it was now empty. "I think I just need some air," she added and started getting up.
"You want me to go with you?" Wanda asked, starting to get up too.
"No, I'll be fine," was the Southern girl's answer and with that she made a quick retreat. Jubilee followed her retreating figure before turning to the empty seat she had left. Next to it Remy seemed indifferent to what had just happened, his eyes were staring at the stage and he must have started eating his chicken wings again because two of his fingertips were in his mouth.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
"Hey, you're already done?"
"Yeah," Ray answered, setting up a newly sterilized instrument kit at his station. His grayish blue eyes looked up to meet her chocolate gaze and smiled noticing the coloring in her cheeks.
"Must have been a fast tattoo."
His shoulders shrugged, "Some guys' names in cursive. Almost didn't take any time. How'd it go with you?"
"It was actually a lot of fun."
"Not as creepy as you thought it would be?"
"No I guess not. Laura's voice is..." she froze trying to find the word.
"Epic?" He offered.
"I was going to say crazy but epic works," she answered with a smile.
"Anna performed too?"
"Yeah she did. Their performances were just so different from..."
"A night as an X-doll? Yeah, Professor X likes them all to have a goody two shoes feel. This is a nice night for them cause they can really let that dark side out. You should hear them with Wanda, when those three are together it's really a triple threat."
"Wanda sings too?"
"They've never told you? She was co-vocalist with Pietro in the Brotherhood."
"Wow, I guess you learn something new every day. Why did she quit?"
His mouth opened and closed before settling with , "Maybe that's a story for another time. So, anything else exciting happen?"
The curious look she had changed to one of excitement, "Laura took me out to the dance floor and made me do some really crazy moves! I was swinging my arms everywhere, punching and kneeing the air…"
"It's called industrial dance." He stated as she didn't miss a beat and kept going on as to what she had seen and experienced. At some point she made a comment that made him interrupt her.
"What do you mean Anna got drunk off one drink?"
"Exactly what that sounds like. That drink must have really hit her but it's ok because after she went to get some fresh air she came back perfectly normal, why are you making that face?" She asked, noticing his face twist in confusion.
"I've partied with Anna before and I don't know, she holds her liquor pretty well."
"Oh, well she had just gotten off the stage, maybe the adrenaline from that caused a reaction? Plus it sounds like it was a new drink she was testing and it was supposed to be strong."
"Maybe…" he answered, not sounding convinced at all. He shrugged it off though and added, "It sounds like you had a good time."
"I did, are you going to go to lunch now?" She asked, noticing that there was no one on the schedule and it would be a good time for him to go.
"Yeah I guess so. You'll be ok alone?"
Her shoulder shrugged up, "Yeah, I should be fine. If anyone walks in I can just have them wait for you to get back or I'll make them an appointment."
"Alright."
"Bye, have a good lunch."
He walked off without answering. She found it kind of annoying but what was she supposed to do? Call him back and say 'don't be a jerk and say goodbye to me!' It seemed like he was getting more comfortable around her but she wasn't sure if she was comfortable enough to start yelling at him.
After making sure that the lobby was tidy she decided to leave the area to make sure all of Ray's instruments were sterilized. She wasn't worried about anyone sneaking up on her because the bell at the entrance would notify her if someone came in. So she spent a good ten minutes helping out with that, she was so focused on it that she was surprised when she walked back to the other room and someone was on her stool.
"What happened?"
There was a shrug, and the sound of crunching suddenly seemed to echo loudly around her.
"Got bored in the break room."
"Why didn't you go next door? You'd probably see some neat things."
"I've seen it all before," he answered as she approached her work station. When she reached him he outstretched the bag of chips to her. She took one with one hand and brought another stool chair from under the counter so she could sit next to him.
"You're probably going to regret that," she remarked. 'Why?' He asked, the word coming out gargled as he chewed. "Cause I'm bored too," she answered and leaned her head on one arm while bringing her notepad out with her free hand.
He then watched as her fingers went to work and started scribbling on the paper. The sharp points of his bangs became recognizable as she worked.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O The Following Saturday O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Time was an amazing thing. Amazing and fast because a week had come and gone. Now the weekend was upon them again and Jubilee found herself watching Laura, who was again dressed in a way that hid all of her tattoos bidding the Aquilla's farewell.
She drove cautiously and slowly down their street into a main road and as soon as they had made it out of sight the younger girls found themselves grabbing for the 'oh shit' handles as the short brown haired girl stepped on the gas pedal.
Multiple sharp turns later they drove through a gate that led through a lush green garden and went into a driveway with a fountain at its center. The mansion the car stopped in front of had a very modern feel to it. It was two stories with many rectangular edges and with large windows decorating its walls. To the side there was another building in the same style but smaller in size.
"Welcome to Maximoff/Lehnsherr/Darkholme and a bunch of other other names cause it feels like a million people live here home," Laura announced and started heading towards the lavish stairs that led to the front door.
"Damn, I never thought I'd ever be to a bigger house than yours Mara but I have been proven wrong..."
"Tell me about it," her dark skinned friend breathed as they followed the shorter girl.
Before they could make any more comments the front door opened and Wanda and Anna came out, both in beach attire. Wanda wore a long black skirt with a slit going up the side showing off her tan skin as she walked. Her top was a long sleeved, mesh crop top with a black bra hiding her attributes. Anna wore black shorts that went to mid-thigh, her green shirt also seemed to be a long sleeved but was rolled up to her elbows and tucked into her shorts. The buttons in the front were opened showing the edges of her pale curves and her hidden black bikini top. Both young women had sandals, Jubilee noticed that maybe Anna had cut herself shaving because she had two semi large bandages crossed and shaped in an X by her ankle bone on the right foot. They both also had a bag which held their overnight items.
"Morning," Wanda greeted, walking towards them. They all exchanged pleasantries while huddling up in a circle.
"You guys look good," Laura remarked, eyeing them.
"You don't," Anna answered with a smirk eyeing the oversized sweater she wore.
Laura rolled her eyes but didn't answer verbally, instead she answered by putting her hand on the inside of her sweater and pulling it over her head exposing the dark blue bandeau top. It went well with the black pants she wore but it also showed more skin then either younger girls had seen on the brown haired girl. They had seen the edges of a tattoo on her abdomen many times but now the two claws that she had been hiding were very visible. They were drawn in black ink, bold lines making them look sharp. Hazel green eyes stared at them from within. The appearance of it overall looked as if there was some type of beast in the small young woman.
"You girls look nice," Wanda broke them out of their staring by complimenting their outfits.
Amara looked down at herself, her white maxi dress had seemed like a beautiful choice when she had gotten dressed earlier but now it seemed too conservative. The dark skinned girl then turned to her best friend who was answering her thanks. She had decided to dress more conservative than the others but was still showing a good amount of skin in her yellow shorts and black tank top.
"Who's driving?" Anna asked, not letting Amara give her own thanks while she looked between Wanda and Laura.
"Not Laura please," Amara whispered so only Jubilee could hear, making the Asian girl smile.
"I'll drive," Wanda answered and walked away from them towards the building next door to the huge mansion.
"Maybe we should take the jeep in case we want to go off-roading," Anna suggested following her.
"Yeah I was thinking that," the red tipped girl responded, not turning back to look at them, her eyes focused on a small metal pad Jubilee had not seen before. After a few seconds whatever she did caused the front wall of the building to start moving up. It was a garage and Jubilee's eyes widened at what she saw inside. There were two rows, multiple cars stacked behind one another.
Before anyone could say anything, Wanda stepped into the building and walked a few feet inside. After a bit they all heard her sigh, "Fucken Pie…"
"It's not here," Anna guessed and scowled.
"Nope," was the quick reply back.
"Pietro's not home?" Laura asked, surprised. She knew he wasn't expected at The Hg Lounge until later that day.
"Doesn't look like it," Anna answered and added, "he doesn't have Luna today, maybe he's out on a date."
"Hmm," was the quiet reply but Jubilee couldn't help noticing the disgruntled expression.
"Are we just going to wait out here?" Amara asked when she realized that no one was moving.
"Yeah, she'll bring a car out right now," Anna answered and moved away from the doors to the outer part of the garage. True to her word a few minutes later Wanda came out in a black sleek car.
"The convertible?" Anna questioned as the window to the car went down.
"I think this will be the best option," Wanda answered.
"It's a gas hog."
"It is but when we get there the beach air will be nice." Anna shrugged and minutes later the car was packed and ready to go. Anna had gotten shotgun, leaving Laura with a window seat in the back, Amara taking the middle and Jubilee hogging the second window.
"How long is the drive?"
"Three hours and a half. Not too horrible," Wanda answered while adjusting her mirrors, ignoring the look Laura gave her.
"If I was driving I'd make it there in three."
Wanda rolled her eyes, "Well everyone buckle up and get comfortable."
Anna turned around to face the younger girls, "Did you girls bring earphones?" Jubilee and Amara shook their heads. "Then I am so sorry for you."
"Why?"
"Cause you're about to listen to three hours of depressing music."
"Fuck you," Wanda remarked starting the drive.
Anna laughed, "I didn't say it was bad, I like it too but let's be honest some of it can be low."
As she said it Wanda raised the volume and a slow sounding instrumental started. Seconds later the three girls started singing along with the song.
Amara and Jubilee shared a look before smiling. What did it matter what they listened to? They were going out of town.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Jubilee's leg bounced with the electric beat playing on the radio. Anna hadn't been lying, there had been a good amount of slow gothic songs playing within the last few hours but she enjoyed it. Depending on the song type the girls would take turns leading but it was amazing and a little heart warming how in sync they were.
She smiled and looked out the window as a new melody started to play. A few seconds in, the girls started humming along before their voices joined in with the stereo and Jubilee couldn't help the goosebumps that ran on her arms as the chorus got stronger and their voices merged. To make the atmosphere even more intense her eyes widened when the blue waves finally came into view.
She felt Amara lean into her to take a good look outside noticing that they were closer to their destination. They passed a few local stores, the pier and eventually stopped in front of a blue house. It was in no way close to the size of their home back in Bayville but it was still a very impressive size.
It was two stories, had a garage door, and long white wooden gates were on both sides of it. A similar wooden ramp led to the porch that eventually led to the front door.
"Home away from home," Wanda remarked, parking in the driveway.
"You don't want to park in the garage?" Anna asked.
"No, we can leave it out here for now. I want to go to the grocery store later so we can fill up on snacks and food." Her stepsister nodded and they got out of the car. Anna made a move to grab her bags but before she could get a hold of it Wanda stopped her, "Leave it, we can unpack later too. Right now I think we should take a stroll on the beach and stretch our legs. We've been on our asses way too long for the moment."
"How far is the beach from here?" Amara asked, setting her stuff back down in the car.
"It's literally connected to the back porch. Let's go around the back," and with those words they made their way around the house. True to her words the sand bed was at the end of the back porch.
"This is super neat!" Jubilee gushed as she walked through the sand kicking it with every step.
"We came here every summer during our high school years," Anna commented, avoiding the sand from the sand kicks the younger girl was doing.
"Do you guys go to the beach often?" Laura asked, turning to Amara who was walking besides her.
"Not much. Where I'm from in Brazil we're closer to jungles than beaches," the younger girl answered.
"LA is close to a lot of beaches so I've gone frequently enough."
"Ever tried surfing?" Jubilee shook her head, "Do you want to?"
"Yes!" Jubilee answered eagerly while Amara shook her head and replied with "No."
"No?" Anna asked curiously.
"The water is nice to look at but I like to keep my feet on the ground."
"But we're at the beach," Wanda stated.
"And I shall make a sand castle."
The other girls shrugged. If it made her happy, who were they to try and make her do other things she didn't want to do.
"It's so beautiful!" Jubilee changed the topic, her attention shifting to the scene in front of them.
"And lonely," Anna added, "It's pretty much our own private beach," she added while looking down at her phone.
"Yup, we can enjoy the beach and not have to share it," Wanda agreed and looked over her stepsisters shoulder to see that she was looking at the tide conditions they should be expecting.
"Except probably with your neighbors," Jubilee stated.
"No, the neighbors are a little ways over, plus there's these little mountain coves that's in between both neighbors, they can't come over unless they swim around it."
"Oh well...if your neighbors can't be over, who's that?"
At the comment they all looked towards where Jubilee was looking. Sure enough there were some figures on the beach and some in the water.
"Who the fu..." Wanda stopped talking as one of the individuals made their way out of the water. She couldn't see the water droplets dripping off his body but the wet orange hair made it obvious who it was and against her own will her mind brought up a memory in which she had seen water dripping off the tight muscular shoulders.
"Ohhhhh...I see. Wow you guys do everything together don't you?" Amara asked, recognizing one of the boys as well.
"No, we don't. This is why you don't share what you're doing with your roommates!" Anna remarked and glared at the shortest girl with them.
Laura looked insulted. "Hey, I never even mentioned this at home! You live with one of them too!"
"Uh, you guys, I'm pretty sure I remember us mentioning it at work at some point..." Jubilee mumbled as their group got closer to the males.
"Still what the fuck? That doesn't give them a right to rain on our parade."
The few members on the shore finally noticed them as they neared and started making their way to them, smiles on most of their faces.
"Well well well, fancy meeting you guys here..." Pietro smirked at his sister while she glared at him.
"Yeah, what a fucken funny coincidence," Wanda answered.
"They say it's a small world after all," Roberto remarked, smiling at Amara who smiled back but whispered to Jubilee, "There aren't supposed to be any boys."
"Guess it's a good thing your parents aren't here," Jubilee whispered back her eyes meeting steel blue. This weekend away just got even more interesting.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O TBC O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Dun dun dun...the men are party crashers and might I say that Pietro is a smug party crasher. Haha at least we know where the Jeep went. I love writing Kurt's tidbits so it's starting to make me sad that I don't have a storyline for him haha. What else did we see in the chapter...Anna trying to convince Wanda to do Nocturnal Madness. Anyhoo…
Jubilay- So I really enjoyed writing the shirt exchange and I should commission someone to draw Ray without a shirt cause I feel like that's something I need in my life now...anyhoo, they are definitely more comfortable with each other. So much so that he's letting her borrow clothes, sitting with her at Lunch and even though this was chapters ago I mean he offered her his vape...come one Ray, that goes in your mouth...It'd be like...an air kiss...
Amarto- Ok so I found the their text conversation the most adorable part of this chapter. They're super cute and Roberto is such a flirt! Glad it seems like he doesn't have wandering eye :P
Romy- And there it is, he has now invaded her personal bubble at home. It seemed like she wanted some of that Jambalaya though so maybe she didn't mind all too much. Not a bad chapter for these two though, she enjoyed some alcohol and he enjoyed some lemon pepper wings ;)
Xietro- Laura let's her inner beast out in this one on the stage, though it seems like she's ready to let her inner beast out at work too. I don't know what she's going to do if she has to do any more rose vine tramp stamps courtesy of one silver haired jerkface. But looks like he's decided to invite himself to her birthday weekend so we'll see if he remedies that.
Jonda- Very MIA except for that memory of some nice wet shoulders ;) This should finally be remedied in the next chapter ;)
And that ends our June chapter. The next chapter will be the beach chapter! It is a coincidence that next month is July and that chapter takes place in July but I like it XD The next chapter will definitely be a long one which also means all the ships will have a moment to shine!
Spoiler alert, there will be lip lock in the next chapter, tell me who you think it will be!
Anyhoo that's it for now. Songs used in this chapter were"Church of Carmel" by Luciferian Light Orchestra and "Black Gold" by Infected Rain and we also saw the smallest glimpse of Blackbriar's "Snowhite and Rose Red' . Thanks again and even though a month sounds like a long time, time is literally flying by! I'll see you soon!
-UHW
Ps: I'm going to be changing the second pairing on the story to reflect each chapter. For ex, I felt like Romy had more time together so yeah...