Her private, impromptu party was at full swing. She felt giddy. Music was blaring from the stereo system, and the bottle of whiskey she had confiscated from the professor Xavier’s liquor cabinet was already half empty. Or half full, if one wanted to look at things optimistically.
“What’s the occasion?” Logan asked, leaning against the doorjamb, hands stuffed in to the pockets of his faded jeans. She raised her hand and offered it for him for inspection. He let out a low whistle and stepped closer, grasping her hand and smiled warmly.
“Congrats, kid. But where’s Max? I would have thought that you’d be partying with him.” She shook her head, then reached for the volume control of the stereo and tuned it down. Twirled the sparkling ring around her finger and took it off.
“He didn’t ask me. I was just… It’s silly.”
Logan sat on the edge of her bed and took a swig from the bottle she offered.
“What’s silly?” He asked.
“That ring. I have had it with me for ages. It belonged to my grandma. I just… I just put it on and tried to imagine what it would be like. How it would feel to be… ’Taken’.”
”And from the looks of it you’re all for it. Good for you, kid,” Logan said, still smiling, but then frowned.
“And Max? What’s his opinion?” He asked. That question brought her down from her temporary high and she sat down modestly, not wanting to bounce up and down on the bed anymore.
“I don’t know anymore.”
She felt giddy no more. And the whole thing started to feel stupider every passing moment that she spent sitting beside Logan who was toying with now almost empty whiskey bottle.
“You don’t know? Have you talked about it with him?” Logan asked when the silence between them stretched to the point that it started to feel uncomfortable.
“I have. I have talked about it. But I’m not sure if Max has been listening. And he sure as hell hasn’t talked about it after he caught us,” she muttered. Logan shoved the bottle to her and raked his fingers through his wild hair.
“Jesus, didn’t that sound just a little bit weird and dirty all of a sudden…” He muttered, standing up and walking to the window.
It had been right after Marie and Scott had rescued Logan from being crushed under a collapsing building. Logan had been feeling still queasy after they had gotten back home. She had helped him to get undressed, and since his bathroom had been temporarily out of order due to plumbing there being renovated they had used her bathroom to clean off muck, dirt and grime. Since they both had been cold and tired, it had made perfect sense to shower together and help each other out. And Max had chosen that exact moment to walk in on them.
“I thought we cleared that with Max,” Logan huffed.
“I thought so too, but I guess we were wrong. But you have to look at it from his point of view. He teaches literature in the university, for Christ’s sakes. Communal showering after exhausting night isn’t normal occurrence in his life, at least not when it involves two people who presumably are just buddies and represent opposite sexes.”
“He’s jealous? For what? There was abso-fucking-lutely nothing going on! If I had known that he was coming looking for you… Fuck. I told him that there’s nothing… Shit.”
“I’m kind of tired of trying to put things right. If Max can’t see the truth, if he won’t believe me, then fuck him. I can do better than that,” she huffed. Logan turned and looked at her, his left eyebrow arched questioningly.
“I’m tired of trying to justify our friendship in front of the whole fucking world. If they want to look at things from the distance and judge us because they can’t see things clear enough, it’s not my problem. And I need more booze since you drank all of mine.”
“Okay. Grab your coat and meet me in the garage. I know just the right place,” Logan grunted and stepped out from her room.
“Logan?” She shouted after him. She knew he had heard her. She couldn’t hear his footsteps. He was standing there, waiting for her to finish.
“Could we swing by Max’s place first?” She asked.
“Yeah. We could. But we won’t.”
To her surprise Logan didn’t take her to a bar. He drove to a small pond near the Xavier’s mansion, and pulled out several bottles of whiskey and a blanket.
“We’re going to get us both drunk,” he grunted, spreading the blanket over the cool sand and handing her a bottle.
“Why wouldn’t you let me see Max?” She asked after she had taken a sip and they had settled comfortably on the blanket.
“You’re drunk already. You would have said or done something you would have regretted tomorrow.”
“Bullshit.”
“Bullshit? I believe it is bullshit if you have the guts to go and break it off with Maximilliam tomorrow when you’re sober.”
“He’s not Maximilliam. And I wasn’t going to break it off. I was just going to ask him if he wanted a break for a while. If he wanted to sort things out on his own before he decided…”
“B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T. You want a break because you don’t know what to do or what to think.”
“F you, Wolvie.”
“Anytime, anywhere, darling… But I didn’t bring you here so that we could talk about Max.”
“Really? Then what are we doing here?”
“We’re going to talk about rats. And mice.”
“Uh… You’re drunk already?”
“Nope. But on my way there. Watched a movie with kids earlier. I think it was called Flushed Away. There was this rat and it got flushed down the toilet and…”
“Mouse.”
“What?”
“It was a mouse called Roddy. I have seen it. Went to see it wit Jubes few months ago.”
“What ever. And then there were snails. Musical snails.”
“Logan? Are you high or something?”
“Nope.”
“Then what the fuck are you babbling about?”
“Trying desperately change the subject since you don’t want to talk about Max.”
“Could we just sit here and drink? Without talking?”
“Yeah. We could.”
“Then shut up already.”
“…And sleep with me.”
“What?”
“Wasn’t that a song? Shut up and sleep with me? I think I heard it once from the radio…”
“Well, it’s you who’s going to have to shut up, and I’m not as sure as hell going to sleep with you.”
“It was a song, kid.”
“You have weird taste in music.”
“Never said that I liked it.”
“Then why did you brought it up?”
“I was just trying to distract myself from talking about that blasted movie.”
“So it’s either Roddy or sleeping with you?”
“Yeah. Pick your poison.”
“I think I’ll choose the door number three.”
“What’s behind door number three?”
“Ice cream. You want some?”
“You have some? Where?”
“There’s this shop that sells all kinds of flavors in the city. Just adorable small boutique…”
“So I have to drive you there so that I could get some ice cream?”
“Yeah.”
“No dice, kid. It’s booze and sleeping with me.”
“What about Roddy?”
“I’m not in to rats.”
“Roddy’s not a rat. He’s a mouse.”
“What ever. I’m not sharing.”
“Uh… Is it just me or is this conversation turning in to strange direction?” Marie asked. Logan shrugged his shoulders.
“What would you do if I actually said ‘yes’ one of these times when you ask me to sleep with you? Would you fuck me?” She asked. And suddenly Logan found the toes of his boots immensely interesting. She could have sworn that he blushed. But that couldn’t be…
“No.”
“No? I should have known. You’re all bark and no bite…” She huffed, taking a long swig from her almost empty bottle.
“You’re an old-fashioned girl…” Logan started.
“Oh, please…” She grunted.
“You said that yourself. And I happen to know that it is true. And if there’s one thing I have learned… It’s not a good idea to fuck old-fashioned girls.”
“Then what do you do with them?” She asked, her curiosity awakened. Logan granted her a lopsided grin and took a healthy swig from his bottle.
“You love them. You wait for them. Sometimes you have to let go of them, sometimes it pays off to stay and wait…”
“Logan! You’re a shameless flirt!”
“And proud of it, darling. But seriously… You’re drunk as a skunk already. You’re going to have a hell of a hangover tomorrow. Ready to go home?” He asked.
“I guess so… Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For stopping me from making the biggest mistake of my life.”
“What are friends for…”
“You’re my friend because you like to ogle my breasts and I’m your friend because I just adore your tight ass.”
“Yeah. Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
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