Prom was only a week away, and she needed to prepare for it. Emma and Psylocke had both given her permission after making her promise to tell them if she felt funny in any kind of weird way.
“Who are you going to go with?” Emma asked quietly, staying out of the younger woman’s mind. “You were asked, weren’t you?”
“Actually, Logan asked me,” Rogue smiled tightly, feeling the instincts of disapproval from both psychics. “It’s not like that between us. We’ve been through a lot together, you know. I know him better than anyone, and he’s always been my own personal support system when I needed one. He’s just taking me so that I can feel normal for once. I think it’s really just his way of saying he’s not upset with me for what happened.”
Emma and Psylocke looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. For a telepath, Rogue sure wasn’t very in tuned.
“How about we set up a shopping trip. We’ll go on a day when the mall won’t be too busy. How’s Thursday afternoon?” Emma asked, thoughtfully, not too sure what she had planned.
Rogue scrunched her nose tightly. Today was Sunday, and the dance was on Saturday. That wouldn’t give her a whole lot of time for any alterations and planning on her makeup and hair style if she waited until Thursday. Especially since she wasn’t too sure of what kind of dress she wanted. “What about tomorrow? It’s Monday. The beginning of the work week, and all of the best dresses will be available tomorrow.”
“I have a meeting tomorrow, and Psylocke has to go to England for a few days.” Emma thought thoughtfully, understanding Rogue’s dilemma. She was 20 years old, and this was probably going to be the first formal dance she was going to be apart of. The fact that she could now touch was also something special. “How about if we have someone go with you? Someone who can watch out for you?”
“Like who?”
~*~*~*~*~*~
“How has training with Logan been?” Scott asked lightly as they maneuvered their way through the parking lot the next day.
She had been surprised when he had agreed to go with her. She hadn’t thought that he would say yes, seeing as how they hadn’t spent a lot of time together over the past month. And had been pleasantly surprised when he jumped on the chance.
“I think he is trying to either push me or kill me. Still not sure which.” She sulked into her seat, still not sure where she stood with him. It was true that she had defended him and their relationship, but, considering his mood swings toward her lately, she still wasn’t too sure of his feelings toward her. She thought about scanning his mind once, but brushed that idea aside, not sure if she was ready to take the pain if he really hated her. “He’s avoiding me unless we have a training class scheduled. And then, he’s usually pushing me way beyond what I should be doing. It’s like he’s trying to make me mad.”
“He’s just trying to help, you know. He probably doesn’t understand what you are going through right now.”
Rogue snorted, not wanting to comment that Logan was probably the only person who could understand. “I know.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
They walked from store to store, looking for any kind of formal attire they could find. Since it was the end of April and the official prom season was over, it was hard to find anything they were looking for.
Finally, Scott found a store towards the back. It was a wedding store that sold formal attire all year long. Their selection of formal prom gowns wasn’t very big but the dresses were beautiful.
“Now, why don’t we let your boyfriend relax here and you and I will start looking at dresses,” the sales clerk suggested, showing Scott a comfortable chair in front of three full length mirrors.
“We’re not together,” Rogue stammered out. “I mean, not like that. We’re just friends.”
“Oh, well… why isn’t the boyfriend here?” Rogue couldn’t believe the audacity of the sales woman, but let it go, realizing that in this type of store, most people didn’t bring a man they considered just a friend.
“No, actually, there isn’t one.” Rogue felt like swallowing her tongue and hiding from the embarrassment this woman was putting her through as they walked to the gown selections. The only thing that was saving her was that they were too far for Scott to hear.
“Best to keep it that way. You are way too young to be tied down,” the woman smiled softly, making Rogue feel a little better. “Besides, he looks a little too stuffy to be good for you. You look more like you need someone a little more, I don’t know, wild.”
Rogue couldn’t help but smile. She was beginning to like this woman a little more every second.
~*~*~*~*~*~
She tried on several dresses, all beautiful, but none feeling right. Scott saw each one and agreed, none seemed to scream out to him, either.
Finally, she was down to the last three. One was a deep forest green that, while she loved the color, the cut was just too plain. She tried it on in the dressing room and took it right off before anyone else could see. She felt like an old woman in it.
The next was white and sleeveless, falling completely to the floor with enough material to drag a little behind her. There were little rose patterns sewn right into the material.
While it was absolutely stunning, she couldn’t help but agree with Scott as he laughed and made a comment about adding a veil and it could be a wedding dress. Maybe a little too forward considering whom she was going with.
The final dress was one she wasn’t sure about. The cut was nice enough, but she hadn’t really thought about grey. She was actually thinking of something lighter and less drab. It was floor length, the bottom cut much like the white one before, except that there wouldn’t be any kind of trail if she wore two inch heals. It had spaghetti straps and a built in bra, so she wouldn’t have to worry about one. The cleavage plunged very low, but not too low so that she wouldn’t have to worry about spilling out if she danced to hard. And there was a strip of cloth that was only a little lighter that would accentuate her waist and chest.
She shrugged, wondering if maybe they would have it in different colors as she slipped it over her head. She didn’t even bother looking into the mirror before walking out of the dressing room this time.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Scott’s felt his chest constrict when she walked out. The color seemed to accentuate her features and gave her naturally pale skin a little color. While the dress was beautiful, it didn’t pull away from her own beauty, only seeming to compliment it. This was why women took so long when they shopped.
“Wow…” He whispered as she stepped up in front of the mirrors to take a look herself. If this was what happened when she wore grey, she would have to wear it more often. She noticed then the way the dress seemed to shimmer as she turned.
“I see you’ve decided. Would you like to look at shoes to go with it? Maybe even some earrings? You really don’t want to over due this one with a necklace. It would add too much weight.
Rogue quickly changed back into her jeans and t-shirt, carefully hanging the dress back on the hanger so as not to ruin it in anyway. When she emerged, she found Scott staring at her with an unbelievable look on his face. It was obvious that he was seeing her in a new light. They still shared the psychic link she had inherited from Jean, and, suddenly, she felt anxiety coming off of him in waves. She raised an eyebrow, making him clear his throat and focusing his attention elsewhere.
~*~*~*~*~*~
They spent a half hour looking through shoes and jewelry, Rogue deciding on a pair of two inch grey heals that matched perfectly with the strip of cloth on the dress. She chose a pair of silver and diamond earrings that would hang low to her jaw line and had an antique look to them.
Then they quickly made their purchases, the sales clerk who had helped them smiling happily as the credit card Scott handed her went through without a problem.
“Why don’t we go get some lunch? I need to talk to you about something,” Scott mentioned as he motioned her towards the food court.
~*~*~*~*~*~
They chose a table far from the small crowd that had formed over the last few hours. Rogue glanced at her wrist watch, realizing that it was only two in the afternoon. High school kids might start pouring in soon, but that would probably be it.
Once they grabbed some lunch and were settled, she was ready to start talking.
“What’s wrong, Scott?”
“Is it that obvious?” He asked with a wicked smile. She wanted to smile back, but the anxiety coming off of him seemed to escalate.
“Link, remember?” She reminded him as she tapped her left temple. “I know what your feeling.”
“Yeah, well, I know what you’ve been feeling, too, remember? I guess that with everything that’s been going on, I was kind of hoping that you wouldn’t notice.” He looked down at his food, pushing his chow mien around with his fork. “I mean, you’ve got enough going on without having to worry about me, too.”
“Truth be told, I have been too busy to notice much of anything. Not until today, anyway. You want to tell me what’s up?” She eyed him then, hoping that he wouldn’t try to change the subject.”
“I’m thinking about leaving,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve been thinking about it for awhile now, Rogue. There’s not much left here for me and I think it’s time to move on for awhile. My whole life’s been about the X-men and what they stand for, but, now….”
“Now, you just don’t know.”
“I always wanted a family. A wife and kids. Jean wanted to wait until it was safer. She didn’t want to have to worry about her children growing up without one of us if something happened when we went out on missions.” She noticed that it was almost as if he was looking threw her then, remembering conversations and fights from the past. Fears that they both shared.
“Do you know where you are going to go?” She asked, hoping to derail him, but she should have known that he would already have a plan all set up. “How long?”
“Alaska. I’m from there, originally. Haven’t been back in a while, but I got a cabin on the outskirts of Anchorage that needs some work done. I don’t really know how long. Maybe a year? Maybe longer? Can’t say. Probably as long as it takes for me to want to come back. It just doesn’t feel like home, anymore.” He sighed, dropping his fork and pushing the plate away. Suddenly, she didn’t feel so hungry anymore, either. “I want to see what’s up there for me. If there’s anything. Does that make since?”
“Perfectly. Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like if I returned to Mississippi. What would happen? You know, I haven’t heard anything from my folks since I left. I never kept contact, not wanting anything to happen to them because of me.” She felt her eyes misting, and knew that if they didn’t change the topic soon, she was going to cry.
“I am going to give you the address. If you need a place to go, my place is always open.”
“When are you leaving?”
“Saturday morning, before the dance. I don’t really want to be here for goodbyes, so I’m going to sneak out early while everyone is getting ready for the dance.” He said as he reached into his pocket for something. “I wanted you to have this, though.”
He handed her a set of keys and she noticed that they weren’t his car keys. They were to the motorcycle he had bought last week. A beautiful machine he had tweeked a little.
“I’m taking the one Jean got for me after Logan took off with the first, and I won’t have room for three.”
“And the other one? The one Logan gave back?”
“Figured he might like it. Gave him the keys this morning.”
She looked at the set in her hands, wondering how long it would be before she could try it out. “I don’t know what to say.” She whispered as she looked up at him. “Thanks, Scott.”
“Just take care of her,” he replied with a smile. “And make sure that you ride her down to Mississippi if you get the chance.”
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Chapter End Notes:
Figured that it had been a while since I mentioned Scott and it would be good to write him out for now. Besides, Rogue needs her own set of wheels.