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
And another month comes and goes! Hello everyone! Hope you're all enjoying this long holiday weekend :)
As always, I want to take this time to give my thanks and love to: Clamchick (Haha Remy knew how to play it cool with that question ;) I think the thing about Romy being the voice of wisdom comes from being their first hand ;) In Pietro's mind though, if he's going on what she says there is no fire right? ;) Don't worry, we'll start piecing things together soon. Thanks so much for taking this journey with me!) and MisdirectionSmoothie. I really appreciate you guys staying with me for this fic :)
Well, let's see where this chapter takes us. We're starting and ending this chapter with some music and that's Johnny Hollow's 'A little bit closer' Hope you guys enjoy :D
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O Chapter 11 O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Come, come a little bit closer
So I can see what you have done
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Jubilee woke up and stared at the ceiling. Her stomach was fluttering with butterflies . In a few hours she would have to be face to face with Ray and she wasn't really sure what she was planning to say or how she was going to act.
To make things worse for her nerves Wanda had called her the night before asking for a favor. It seemed her father had called an emergency meeting and she wasn't going to be able to open the shop like she usually did so she had stopped by and dropped off the key to Scarlet Ink explaining how to turn off the alarm. Talk about stressful.
She tried shaking the feeling off and stretched getting up to start getting ready. For her outfit she chose tight black pants and a simple yellow tank top deciding that it was getting too warm for her jacket and of course she finished it off with her fuschia sunglasses. When she was happy with the application of her eyeliner she made her way downstairs and was surprised to see Amara in the living room stretching.
"Hey! What are you doing here?"
Amara put on a confused expression and looked around, "I live here?"
Jubilee laughed, "Well yeah but I mean, it's Tuesday morning. Shouldn't you be in Roberto's kickboxing class?"
"Oh..." Amara looked away and continued stretching, "No, I think I decided that that's not for me..." Jubilee's eyes widened in surprise, "I think I'm just going for a run and if you want to go later then I guess I can go with you and do machines."
Jubilee's mouth parted to ask what was going on but before she could, her cell phone rang. It was Wanda, she needed to take this.
"...Ok...I need to go but we need to hang out later..." she turned away from her, heading to the kitchen while answering the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, just wanted to make sure you were ok."
"I'm leaving in a few but I'll let you know if I have any problems."
"Sounds good, thanks for doing this for me and I'll see you guys around 11 or 12."
"Ok see you then," Jubilee grabbed a muffin from the pantry and made a dash to the door, her mind suddenly too occupied with her best friend to remember why she was nervous to go to work.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Warm brown eyes surveyed the room carefully. Most of the groups were paired up in three's so he inspected each of them carefully though deep down he knew he would have been able to notice her right away if she had been there.
"Looking for someone?"
He turned to look into teasing green eyes. On a normal day they would be a pleasant sight because he always enjoyed it when his friends came to his class but today he was not having it. He didn't bother answering and continued to look throughout the room.
"Ouch, it's not often when we see that temper of yours."
"I'm not mad," he responded.
"Yeah, but you're also not a happy lad either. What's up? " Rahne looked around and noticed that there was a particular person who had been coming regularly absent. "Your friend is missing today huh? Did you get what you needed from her and now she's..." she didn't finish her sentence as the death glare got thrown her way.
"Shut up and get in place Rahne, I'm about to start."
"Ok, you're mad now," She remarked noting the tone. She turned to do as he asked but before moving away she gave him an inquiring look, "You're actually serious about this one aren't you?"
He ignored her and instead looked at the clock on the wall. He couldn't wait any longer, he had to start his class. It was time to stop hoping that Amara was just running late, then again maybe he should have been expecting this because she had yet to respond to any of his messages.
He sighed and moved forward, "Alright everyone, let me get you all at the center so I can go over the warm-up..." The class did as he asked and he began his day.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
I said come, come a little bit closer
Let me get a look at you
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Ray pressed the button of his vape box, the cool taste of Smirnoff enveloped him as he breathed out and the memory of dark hair surrounding him came to mind. He breathed the rest of the vapor out before heading into the building shaking off his thoughts. Usually he would come in later on Tuesday's but Wanda had messaged him to come in earlier so there he was. As soon as he entered he knew it was going to be a good day, the speaker was playing music of his preference so he could only assume that it had been his little slip of paper that got pulled from the fishbowl.
As he walked deeper into the hallway he realized that although the beat was definitely electronic it actually also had a pop element to it. It wasn't until after he got closer to the lobby that he heard a female voice singing along. He automatically knew it wasn't Wanda. Even though she hadn't sung a lot in the past year, the preview she had given them this last weekend proved that her style of singing had stayed gothic and melodic with high tones. The tone he was hearing now, though low, had a sweet edge to it.
"Lights go out over my town...Back to the midnight oasis with you…"
His feet slowed down as he neared the voice and he made a complete stop to watch the siren's back as she dusted the frames on the opposite wall of where she was.
"Saving the world that's tough but let's give it a shot...'Til you tell me game over…"
As if feeling the sudden presence Jubilee turned, her voice still singing along with the song, "Feel this chaotic connection with you…"
The steel blue orbs met with her dark chocolate ones and they left the song play as they stared.
"Good morning," she finally greeted tentatively.
"Hey..." his eyes shifted to the work area behind the counter expecting to see his boss but Wanda was nowhere to be found. "It's just us?"
"Yeah, Wanda asked if I could open for her. She had something come up."
"Oh..."
"Yeah."
"Alright."
"...Yeah..." he nodded and moved starting to make his way to the back but her voice made him stop, "Hey...about this weekend..."
"Forgot about it, it was just a heat of the moment thing...shit I forgot my phone in the break room I'll be back..." after the words he headed back the way he had come. He didn't realize that she was following until her voice echoed in the small hallway.
"What do you mean it was just in the heat of the moment."
He looked over his shoulder to verify that she was indeed right behind him and stopped walking, noticing her annoyed expression. "I mean exactly what it sounds like. Maybe it was the scenery or the atmosphere but I don't think either of us really understood what we were saying."
"You don't understand English?" She asked, perking a brow.
He couldn't help his lips curving upwards at the smartass reply, "I understand English. What I am saying is, I don't think you fully understand what we were suggesting entails."
"And what does it entail?" Jubilee challenged taking a step forward towards closing the gap between them.
Ray looked down at her, her pupils were dilated, the expression in them something fierce which he couldn't place as annoyance or...something else. "A lot more than that kiss I gave you."
"..."
"..."
After a minute that seemed like forever to both of them Jubilee surprised him and herself as she curved her fingers into the loops of his pants and pulled him into her. "I'm sorry that you find me that young and ignorant, but I know exactly what we suggested entails and I speak perfect English. I said what I said."
The pull she had made had left no space between them and the way her face was arched up to look at him gave him easy access for him to lean down and capture her pouting lips. Just as he had decided to go for it, the bell of the door opening paused his movement and he looked over her shoulder in the direction of the lobby.
"How about we finish discussing this later?" She released the grip on his pants and turned, as she did her hair smacked against his chest and the smell of her shampoo evaded his senses, making him suddenly reach out to her to finish what he had wanted to start but she was already out of reach. She disappeared, making the turn to go into the lobby and soon he heard her voice greeting someone excitedly. He sighed to himself and started walking back towards the lobby, his phone could wait.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Don't you know you want it too?
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Jubilee was tapping her pen on the appointment book as she waited for the person on the other end to answer. She was making her confirmation calls for the next day. After a fifth ring there was finally an answer. She quickly introduced herself and the reason for her call. The recipient soon told her that they could not make that appointment after all, if there was a way they could come an hour earlier.
After a brief pause she asked them to hold on. "Wanda..." The short haired red tipped female looked up from the instruments she was setting up for her next client, "your appointment for tomorrow before lunch is asking if there's any way he can be an hour late?" Wanda's mouth started to open but before she could say no Jubilee added, "He said he's willing to pay double for your trouble."
This halted the words from the scarlet cladded girl and with lips somewhat pursed in annoyance she said, "Yeah that's fine. I'll just send you guys to lunch first and I'll go after I'm done just in case it ends up being a long session," and with those words she disappeared into the storage room.
Jubilee went back to the call, "Ok, Mr. Sinjun we'll see you here tomorrow at 12:30 instead. Thank you, have a nice day as well."
Jubilee hung up and pressed her lips together as she stared at the phone. There has been something very familiar about the gentleman's voice but she couldn't quite place it. After a few seconds she shrugged the feeling off and went back to work.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Ray was thankful that his job made him focus on the task at hand because if it hadn't the day would be a very long one. He had been busy enough for most of the day that the only time Jubilee's offer came to mind were the small moments in passing when he'd drop off his client with her.
If he was being honest with himself he wasn't sure how their talk was going to go. The previous night after the initial shock that Tabitha had indeed left the apartment his thoughts had gone to his young co-worker, and he had decided against the original suggestion of well, if he was reading her correctly, having some type of beneficial friendship with each other. His words at the beach house come back to him to remind him that it wasn't an attractive factor. Jubilee was very beautiful, and he definitely enjoyed watching her when the chance was presented. Her long black hair always looked so soft and silky, her lips were almost always angled upwards in a smile and it was something he couldn't help but find relaxing. Her eyes were a window to her soul, he had seen many times when the bright smile was directed at a difficult customer but her eyes shouted murder. She was fun, humorous and just overall a good energy to be around with.
No, it was not an attraction thing. If he really put his finger on it he would have to say it was an age thing. Though Jubilee was at an age where it wasn' t wrong for them to...explore things with each other he couldn't help but believe that at the sweet age of 18, Jubilee could be so inexperienced that he couldn't help but feel like he was taking advantage. Something she seemed to wholeheartedly disagree with if their argument earlier had anything to reflect. Something that depending on how their talk went later, might win him over to her after all, and it wasn't something that he could say he was too sad about.
He would have been lying if said he hadn't been dreaming about her a few times a week now.
As he lost himself in thoughts of what those dreams were about, the door to their work area opened and shut aggressively interrupting his thoughts. He turned his attention to the front counter where Jubilee was also looking startled at their newest addition in the room.
"Is Amara ok?"
"Hello to you too," Jubilee greeted while giving Roberto a puzzled look.
"Is she?" He asked, ignoring her sarcasm.
"Last time I spoke to her was this morning, she seemed to be. Why?"
"..." Roberto frowned and his elbows rested on the counter, with one of his hands going up so that he could rest his chin on a palm. "Oh...just curious cause she didn't come to my class this morning."
"Oh yeah, I thought that was weird too, but no she was fine. I think she just wanted to focus on cardio."
"I see," there was a sigh and the Brazilian boy finally moved away from her station to go towards his own.
Jubilee followed him with her eyes, "I'm supposed to hang out with her today after work, did you want me to relate a message?"
"No...it's alright," he answered, sounding somewhat deflated.
"You have plans after work?"
The almond shaped eyes shifted to the other side to meet steel blue ones. They widened at the realization. "Yeah...I had forgotten about that earlier but Roberto asking about Amara reminded me," she answered with a sorry expression.
He nodded slowly, "That's cool, I have plans myself."
"You do?" Roberto asked.
Ray sent him a glare at having his lie exposed, "Yeah."
"What? I thought you were just going home..."
"I am but after I get ready I'm going to..Logan's Training Room."
"Hmm..." Roberto answered, still looking conflicted about not knowing his roommates plans.
Ray nodded before going back to his work and ignoring the brown eyes still staring at him. Jubilee chose not to say anything else and after a few seconds looked away from him as well.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
"Which one of you got here first?"
Jubilee looked up to see Wanda looking in between herself and Ray. "I did."
"Ok, wrap it up and you're free to go. Thanks for opening for me. Ray you're pretty much done too huh?" He nodded. "Go ahead and cover the front until you have to go since you don't have any more clients."
The tall male nodded and made his way to the front counter taking a seat in Jubilee's bar stool. She worked around him organizing everything the way she liked and noticed that he looked everywhere but at her. "Alright, I'm all done. I'll see you tomorrow Wanda and I guess I'll see you guys Thursday."
Ray shook his head while still avoiding her gaze, "We're going to be here all week to make up for the day we missed on Saturday since we were all at the beach."
"Oh, nice. Then I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow."
He nodded as Wanda said bye and Roberto gave a half hearted wave in her direction. Ray briefly glanced at her before looking down at the scheduling book seeming fascinated with the writing inside even though there was nothing for him there. His fingers rubbed at the edge ready to turn the page but before he could a small wad of paper landed on it. When he looked up Jubilee was already walking towards the back hallway. He looked over his shoulder, Roberto had his gaze down on his current client, making sure the sketch looked good before he started. Wanda was getting ready to take her tray to the back to sterilize. Neither had seen the exchange.
He looked back to the small paper opening it up delicately as if it might just explode on him. The words were small and in her neat writing.
Call me tonight at 11
His lower lip went into his mouth and he found himself subconsciously raking his teeth on the soft tissue catching his snakebites in the process. After a moment he crushed the paper and put the small wad in his pocket. His chin rested on his palm as his thoughts traveled at the speed of light.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Anna watched Pietro walk into the living, a very lively, hyper Luna attached to his arm.
"Alright, a deals a deal. You said you were going to play with your toys when we got home and that you would give me some recovery time."
The little girl pouted and turned away from her father only to lock gazes with her green eyed aunt. Her little lips curled upwards and Anna's eyes narrowed.
"No," She stated with a tone making the little girl frown again. "But Kurt is in the kitchen, maybe he'll bake you something if you ask nicely."
"Yay! Cookies!" She shouted and without any hesitation dropped her fathers hand and ran off.
"Thanks," he remarked and went to lay on the couch opposite of where she was.
"Busy day?"
"Yeah, you know how she is, non stop."
"Well, enjoy the peace and quiet cause she's going to be super hyper after she eats whatever Kurt makes her."
"...fuck.."
Anna smirked and looked away to look at her phone, a message coming through.
"Hey are you doing anything after work tomorrow?"
"Depends, why? You need someone to watch Luna?"
"No, Dad and Raven are watching her cause I have plans."
"A date?"
It was his turn to grin, "If only but no I'm meeting with Laura to talk about our collab. Do you want to come?"
"Why would I want to come?"
"Cause I'm having the hood meet up with me too. I mean it's not like it's just me and her..."
"I think I'll pass."
"Why? Don't you ever miss being part of us?" He teased.
"No." She deadpanned.
"Alright, just thought I'd offer so you know, you wouldn't leave a fellow X-doll alone with us."
The way he said the words made her curse, he was right. She knew for sure she wouldn't want to be alone with those jerks so she supposed she could tag along. "Fine, what time?"
"5, she's pretty much going to go to the club after her shift."
"That's fine, I'll ease her suffering," she answered and got up heading towards the door.
"Oh...I forgot..." Anna looked over her shoulder. "The Acolytes will be there too..I guess it'll give you a chance to work on your own collaboration..."
Her eyes narrowed at the late information, her only answer afterwards was to walk out of the room yelling, "Moon Moon! Where are you? I have candy for you!"
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Anna was surprised when she passed the gym at 9:30 and saw that the lights were still lit brightly. The doors closed at ten which meant that around this time the lights would be dimmed as Logan started ushering people out and got ready to close the day. Of course it could have meant that one of her fellow X-men members had requested a training session with the main man himself so he was running behind on closing.
Deciding that she was still a little annoyed that Pietro was pretty much forcing her to hang out with the Brotherhood and the Acolytes the next day, she could really blow off some steam. Good thing she always carried a spare change of workout clothes. Within minutes she was walking inside and wasn't too surprised to see who was manning the front desk.
"Hello Rogue, you've come in for a late night sweat?"
"It's never too late for a good sweat Storm. If you're out here though I assume that Wolverine is already with someone right now?"
"He is actually out, had a meeting with Charles."
"Oh, are you getting ready to close after all?"
"I am, but I always make exceptions for certain people," she answered with a soft smile. "I'm going to start announcing that we're closing soon and once all the doors are locked at 10 I'll head out. I'll leave the key in the lockbox, can I trust you to lock up?"
"I got it."
"Thank you, there's a few others staying with you but I'll have you close. I don't recommend staying too late, we have work in the morning."
"I'll be at the shop at 8am sharp."
The white haired woman nodded and started dimming the lights outside. When she didn't say anything else Anna took it as her cue to leave and made her way to the locker room to change her clothes.
A few minutes later she found herself outside of the danger room, a strong synthetic beat coming inside gave her a good guess at who else was here so late. She wasn't disappointed when she walked into the room to see that her guess had been correct.
He turned when he heard the door open and nodded in greeting. "I'm not surprised to see you here," he commented as she neared.
"You're not?"
He shook his head, "The way we ate this last weekend I'm pretty sure all of you girls are going to be here all week. I know Laura was here earlier for a few hours."
"We did indulge," Anna answered and took a look around the room but it was pretty much a ghost town other than Ray. "You're doing that without a spotter?" She asked, perking an eyebrow at the beach press setup at the rail.
"Hell no, my spotter went to the bathroom. I'm just taking a break while I wait. What are you planning to do?"
"I wanted to get some cardio in, want to spar?"
"Actually I was planning to make this next set my last," he answered and looked at his phone to check the time.
"Big plans tonight?"
"Shower and bed, no better plans than that," he answered and spared her a glance.
She watched him carefully, a certain raven haired Asian coming to mind. After a moment she shrugged, "No problem. Maybe Roberto won't mind if I kick his ass again."
Ray smirked at the words but soon realized what was his answer to that comment would be and his lips returned to a straight line knowing she wasn't going to be ecstatic about it, "You know Berto, he's usually the perfect gentleman so I'm sure he wouldn't but...he's not here."
Anna looked surprised by the news, "Then who's your..."
Before she could finish the question the door opened and she could hear Ororo's voice echo through the hallway, "It's too late for you to be calling me that insufferable nickname."
"If you say so. Bon Nuit Stormy."
The door was shut before Ororo could reply but Anna found her eyes shutting tightly hoping that she wasn't going to see who she thought she was about to see, though the accent was a dead give away.
"Well isn't this a surprise, Rogue."
Anna forced her eyes open, "Gambit. Why is it that I can't seem to go a day without crossing paths with you?"
He shrugged and smirked, "Maybe it's fate," he didn't give her a chance to give a snarky reply, turning to Berzerker instead and nodding. "My turn?"
Ray nodded in response and both X-men watched as the cajun made his way to the rail. He was laying on the bench a minute later and with little trouble, bench pressed the bar ten times. He then slid off the bench and let Ray take his turn, making sure to go over head to help spot him.
Without looking at her he asked, "So what brings you here so late?"
"I obviously came to get a workout in."
He smirked, his view staying focused in the bar Ray had in hand, "Obviously mais...it's a little later than your usual workouts Non? Working on some late night frustrations?"
"Something like that…" she answered and hated how her eyes went to his arms, the swell a little more obvious thanks to however many reps they had already done before she arrived.
"Can I be of service?"
Ray finished the first rep scheme and stretched, "Actually she was looking for a sparring partner and I'm pretty much going to leave after we finish these."
"A rematch?"
"I suppose. Unless you want to go ahead and leave when Ray does. I can always do something el.."
"Ce serait mon plaisir." (It would be my pleasure)
She turned to him, her eyes skimming the grin on his face before glancing at Ray who wasn't paying attention to their conversation as he went and checked his phone again. "You sure? I don't plan for it to end in a draw this time."
"You're in luck," he answered as he sat back on the bench, "I'm getting pretty tired with these so you might actually stand a chance…"
Ray groaned at that line, "You guys aren't going to have a babysitter this time so can you guys just make sure no one gets hurt?"
"Don't worry mon ami no one is getting hurt."
"Alright, hey when did you need me to perform with you guys again?"
"Wednesday."
Anna didn't watch them finish their last set. In reality she zoned them out and instead looked at the matted area in the center, starting to plan on how she was planning to bring the six foot cajun charmer down.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Ray rubbed the towel over his head one last time, making sure that all the water drops would absorb into the soft cloth. He had just gotten out of the shower. His arms and chest were aching and swollen thanks to all the rep schemes Gambit had challenged him to do. Suffice to say that he couldn't argue about the fact that the guy put in the work for the attention he got from his female fans. He momentarily thought about Anna and the fact that he had to leave them alone. Hopefully they wouldn't cause too much trouble.
After he got dressed he let himself flop onto his bed and took a look at the clock on his bed stand. The numbers 10:55 shone brightly at him in an electric blue color. He grabbed his phone from the same stand and went into his contacts, his finger finding the J's and hovering over a specific name. The name that kept coming to mind while he was at the gym.
He's brain was telling him not to make the call. The fact that they had not been able to meet earlier had been a sign to stop this before it truly escalated. It was a free pass to normality.
He mentally started listing all the cons to actually put himself in a friends with benefits situation. The first one being that they worked together. What if they did...whatever it was they were planning to do and he wasn't good at...whatever it was that they did? He would have to face her for the rest of the summer and worse yet she was becoming good friends with many of his friends. What if he was bad and it went around?
The image of a laughing blond suddenly came to mind. Well Tabitha never complained, and no one avoided him after their break up so maybe that was nothing to worry about.
His mind went back and forth fighting multiple other things that the next time his head turned to look at the clock it was suddenly 11:05pm. He had spent 10 minutes fighting with himself. Maybe it was definitely too late now. If she was waiting for a call she was probably expecting it promptly at eleven. His mind took this as another sign, he should not call, he had already missed the deadline…
His body though seemed to have a different opinion because his thumb tapped at the name it had been hovering over. His eyes widened as the ringing started to echo out of his phone. His room was so quiet that even though his volume was low and the phone was not at his ear he could hear the sound of the tone loud and clear.
"Hello?" Her voice was a low whisper, he didn't know whether to assume that he had woken her up or if she was trying to keep her call that low key.
"Hey," he finally answered after a few quiet seconds and was surprised at how low his own voice sounded. He cleared his throat, "You asked that I call."
"Yeah, sorry about today." In his mind that could have very much meant about how they started their day, but as if reading her mind she added, "I know we were supposed to talk after work but Amara's been kind of off and I had told her that we'd hang out and...yeah."
"No, it's cool. Um...we could talk some other tim…"
"What are you doing right now?" she interrupted him.
"...Laying in bed. Going to play some games on my phone before I knock out."
"...Oh."
"Yeah."
There was a pregnant pause before she finally spoke again, this time her whisper lower than it had been before, "Do you think you can come get me?"
"Right now?" his surprise made his whisper disappear.
"Yeah, I'd still like to talk about it."
His mind once again yelled out multiple "no's" to him but when his lips parted the words that came out were, "Text me the address."
Damn his fucken body.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
I said do, do I make you uneasy?
I bet you'd like to take a step back
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Ray started driving slower as Jubilee's silhouette came into view. True to her word she was waiting for him at the corner of the park close to the house he had dropped her off at a few weeks prior. He admired her outfit for a second before making a complete stop besides her. She did a small jump off the curb and made her way around the front of his car opening the passenger door and taking her seat.
"You should probably park somewhere inside," she suggested not bothering with a greeting and pointed to the parking space within the park. He nodded and made his way inside stopping at a corner where there was very dim lighting.
Jubilee looked around and giggled, "You didn't have to go this far deep."
He shrugged, "I thought with a nice park like this security is probably stricter."
"I guess but honestly I've bever seen them survey this park, I think maybe it just has that good of a rep."
"Probably," he answered while undoing his seatbelt and getting comfortable in his seat. She followed his lead, folding one foot under herself while the other bent over it and her face turned to him.
He kept his gaze away from her keeping his eyes forward peering at the darkness around them now that his car lights were off.
"Is Amara ok?"
Her eyes widened a bit in surprise at the question before a soft smile graced her face . "She didn't really talk about whatever is bothering her but I think it definitely has to do with Roberto. She doesn't want to do his classes anymore and pretty much told me I don't need a sitter so not to expect her to keep picking me up after work. So I don't really know what happened but it doesn't feel like anything good for her to avoid him. I mean she was so..." she stopped herself from saying anything, realizing that maybe telling the male beside her that her friend was infatuated with his was probably not a good idea.
"You know now that you mention it, Roberto had been a little down in the dump since we got back from the beach. Maybe he tried something and she wasn't into it?" He questioned with a frown not liking the idea, Roberto as big a flirt as he was was always more of a gentleman than himself. Which he supposed would not be saying much considering he was meeting with his co worker now to set terms and conditions for becoming beneficial friends.
"No, I don't think it would be that," Jubilee answered thinking to herself that if that's what had happened Amara would be talking of nothing else.
He sighed and leaned his head back into his seat, "I suppose we'll never know."
"Well she seemed to be better now that we spent time together so I guess I can keep working on her until I finally get it out of her..."
'POP; her gum popped loudly as the car suddenly grew quiet.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds before reopening it and letting his head tilt to the side so that she was in his line of sight. Her eyes had been on his from the very beginning, chocolate orbs scanning his side profile, lingering on his storm tattoo.
"So...we didn't meet up just to talk about them did we?"
"No we didn't," she agreed.
Deciding that it was best to just jump in he asked a question that kept popping into his head from when she had cornered in the morning, "Earlier you said that I found you young and ignorant, what did you mean by that?"
"Pretty straight forward, it is what you think isn't it? But honestly I'm not as innocent as you think I am."
"So you've done this..."
Before he could finish Jubilee flushed a light pink and her hands went into the air in front of her chest waving, "No No No! I mean I've had boyfriends and stuff but not exactly this situation."
"Sorry, but just to be clear this situation just so that we're both on the same page is..."
"..." Jubilee waited for him to continue.
"You're really going to make me say it?"
Jubilee couldn't help breaking into a smile, "Well one of us has to!" she answered and leaned forward in a teasing way.
"Then you say it! You're the one who's not that innocent."
"Don't quote Brittany Spears at me."
"I wasn't trying too and technically you're the one who said it first!" He shouted, making her laugh, the shakes of her body making her unconsciously move towards him. When she stopped she noticed how close she had gotten to him and her breath hitched in her throat as the blue gray eyes watched her carefully.
Without saying anything else he moved his head forward successfully closing the gap between them. His hand found its way to the back of her neck, fingers interlacing with the raven locks. They were as soft as he had imagined. Unlike the kiss he had bestowed upon her late that night at the beach house, this kiss was at a slower pace. Almost hesitant.
She responded in the same manner and after a few seconds they broke apart. Her eyes opened slowly, feeling heavy while the pace of her heartbeat quickened.
"You sure you want to be fooling around with me?" It was odd for the question to come out sounding so serious considering that they had just been joking about not even being able to say it outloud.
Her response was non verbal, she leaned back towards him and let her lips fall upon his and soon his mouth parted letting her tongue explore the crevices of his mouth. When they pulled apart yet again both their breaths were ragged due to the lack of air.
"Alright," his voice was almost a whisper. "Any rules?"
"I would think there's only one real rule to this isn't there?" She asked, making him perk a brow in question, "Don't get attached.".
"Right, which is something we already discussed. I..."
"Don't want anything serious," she finished for him and added, "and I can't have anything serious."
He nodded, "Anything you want to keep off limits?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is there anything you don't like? Anything you don't want me to do? I mean I know we're just going to be fucking around but I don't want to put you in any situation that's going to make you uncomfortable."
Jubilee couldn't help flushing at the question as vivid ideas came to mind of what he could possibly do to her. "Uh...nothing specific comes to mind that I'd consider bad anyway.."
"Alright, why don't we take it slow for now and just see where exactly our hormones take us."
"Deal," she answered enthusiastically.
"If you don't like something..."
"Yeah yeah I'll tell you."
"Ok..."
"...Ok."
"So what now?" Ray asked, even though he was trying to keep a serious expression the corners of his mouth started twitch upwards.
Jubilee found herself biting her lips, her eyes going between the gray blue orbs and the metal piercings on his lips, "Want to make out?"
Ray didn't need to be asked twice. He moved forward, his piercings pressing into her own to the point when they finally did separate for the night, she had indications on her own lips.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
I said do, do I make you uneasy?
I'll follow even if you look back
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Jubilee stealthy made her way to the back stairs of the house. She had snuck out the window of her guest bedroom which was luckily connected to the balcony attached to the back patio. As she neared her room she could hear the low beats of one of her favorite songs.
So that Amara's parents wouldn't be suspicious of the supreme quiet from her room, she had left the lights on and slow music playing. It wasn't an odd thing for her to sleep with music on and they never checked in on them but you could never be too careful. She gave a small sigh of relief once she was back inside the room but it was short lived.
"And where exactly were you?"
She gave a surprised squeak and turned around towards the chair she usually threw all her clothes on at the end of the day. Amara was sitting with one leg over the other, her hands crossed across her chest.
"Shit! Mara you scared the hell out of me."
"Good," she answered and looked forward to her waiting for the answer to her previous question.
Jubilee found herself fidgeting before her fingertips went to her swollen lips. "I met up with Ray."
At this admission Amara sprung up excitedly, "What! What happened?"
"Shhh!" Jubilee hushed her, making the dark skin girl go towards her so they wouldn't be yelling. "I asked him to meet me…" Jubilee started, but stopped as she got attacked.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier you guys were meeting!" Amara asked, playfully smacking her friend with her hand. "We hung out all afternoon and you didn't even mention it!"
"Ow ow ow...I was too worried about you to think about that at the moment."
"Oh, well what happened?"
"What do you think happened?"
Amara looked at her friend's lips and then moved her gaze downward. In response Jubilee crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Ok don't get too excited yet! We just made out...it felt like more could have happened but I needed to get back before someone noticed I was gone, which didn't matter anyway cause here you are."
Amara ignored the jib and gave a low excited exclamation. "I can't believe you're doing this! Are you really really doing this? Have you done something like this before?"
"Not quite like this, but I've had boyfriends and well one thing led to another and yeah..."
"You're not a virgin?"
"No."
"Why haven't you told me this?" Amara went back to smacking her.
"You never asked and it never came up!" Jubilee answered, trying to get away with her.
"So you're definitely going to go all the way with Ray?"
Jubilee turned red at the question, "I don't know, if it happens it happens, right now we're just making out."
"Wow..." Amara remarked and took a seat on the bed, "You're crazy."
Jubilee shrugged, "He's hot and fun to be around when he's not all stoic, so why not?"
"But you're leaving in a few weeks."
"Even better. I mean I can't get attached and he doesn't want anything serious."
Amara shook her head again, "Wow. "
"Are you planning on staying a virgin forever?" Jubilee teased.
"Not forever but you know, I would want my first time to be with someone I really like..."
Jubilee took on a pensive expression at the worlds and sat beside her. "Yeah," she seemed to want to add on to it but deciding against it she turned to her and asked, "So what's up? You usually never come looking for me after we say goodnight."
"Oh yeah..." some of Amara's excitement diminished.
"What's up? Did you finally want to talk about whatever the hell it is that's bothering you?"
Amara's lips parted hesitantly before closing her mouth completely, after a few seconds she said, "Nothings wrong with me. I just wanted to see if you wanted to go for a run with me after you get off work tomorrow."
Jubilee hated running but feeling Amara's need for companionship trumped everything else so she nodded, "Yeah we can do that. I thought you were planning to go to the gym?"
"I am in the morning."
"Double workout. Your pageant schedule sucks."
"Tell me about it," Amara answered darkly before getting up off the bed. "Alright well I'll talk to you tomorrow. Sweet dreams... oh wait I'm sure they'll be sweet in a way I don't want to know about."
"Shut up!" Jubilee threw a pillow at her but it was too late and it hit the door leaving alone with her thoughts. Soon her eyes closed and her fingertips found their way to her lips.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Don't you know you want it too?
Come a little bit closer…
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O TBC O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
And a certain type of game will begin! I guess I'll give you guys a reminder that this story is M rated and we're definitely making our way to that rating ;)
Jubilay- Rules have been set and makeouts have begun! Let the beneficial fun begin! We saw quite a bit of snarky Jubilee in this one, which I love just because it's fun writing her like that especially since Ray hadn't seen that personality trait from her so if anything I think he finds her even more interesting ;) I really enjoyed Ray's back and forth hesitation with the whole thing. This whole situation is just going to be fun for me XD So I guess we'll see if you guys enjoy it as well :)
Amarto- Roberto is still being ignored and getting all pissy about it. Poor guy, we'll see if he make him feel better next time around. Amara is avoiding the gym but keeping to her cardio schedule, she's determined ain't she?
Romy- Oh the snark, the sexual tension that was not felt by Ray. A sparring rematch without a babysitter ensued and all I gotta ask is who won?
Xietro- Surprisingly MIA
Jonda- Pretty MIA but I think it's safe to say we'll see them in the next chapter, afterall he does have an appointment ;)
I have commissioned the wonderful lolleia on Tumblr for some cute kissing moments between our favorite pairs! If you want to check them out then please go to my tumblr: xietroqueen
There's also a new poll up on my profile :) Songs in this chapter were Johnny's Hollow 'A Little bit Closer' (I love it, there's a really seductively haunting feel to it!) and Jubilee's is singing along to Gunship's 'Artemis & Parzival' at the beginning of the chapter.
And with that we're all set for this month. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think and can't wait to see you guys next time! We're starting to get really close to some really fun stuff ;) Take care my pretties and I'll see you in spooky month.
-UHW