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10. Lotsa Talking

Summary: A question, an answer and then…a second answer.


This time around, both the girls, Jubilee and Amiko, and the others at Marie’s diner didn’t even so much as bat an eye on seeing Ororo amongst them. True the girls had a couple of awkward moments, especially when, going with the flow, Jubilee called out her teacher by her first name than the usual (and formal) Ms. Monroe.

Thankfully, for her, Ororo let that outburst slide, all without even missing a beat.

For Logan, though not dressed in his Sunday best, he did look quite dashing with a nice, relatively new and freshly washed jean. With a white skin tight T-shirt and white cotton shirt on the top, the only that remained was the shoes and a pair of dark brown boots took care of that…and completed the ensemble.

Though none of the others noticed, as the evening started to draw to an end, instead of relaxing, Logan seemed to grow tense…almost like an archer’s bow growing taut, getting ready to shoot the arrow, one that he hoped would find its mark.

--

“Ororo.” Dropping of the girls at home, he had driven Ororo back to her house and just about to depart for the evening when, finally gathering the minimum required courage, he made his move.

“Yes Logan.” Ororo returned, a little surprised at seeing him not only still there but also at the nervousness flash on his face.

“I-I wanted to tell ya somethin’…I mean ask, yeah, I wanted to ask you a question.” He deliberately paid attention to not only what he was saying but also how he was saying it.
“Yes Logan.” Ororo repeated her earlier answer.

“Would you like to, I mean you an’ me,” ‘Fuck this is difficult.’ Never ever having asked a girl or a woman for that matter out, Logan ‘The Archer’ found himself literally shooting in the dark. “You wanta go out sometime?” He finally blurted out, hoping that she would get the signal.

“Go out?” ‘YES! She did.’ You mean next Saturday?” ‘No, she did not.’

“Yes-No. Not like that.” Taking a deep breath, both for his benefit and for that of the ‘pansy boy’ that had suddenly piped up within him, Logan tried again. “Ya will be coming next Saturday. That is fine. What I meant was some other day and place…just you…an’…me.” He nearly trailed off at the sudden tensing up of the woman in front of him, her reaction pretty much giving away her answer before she did.

“You…and…me.” Ororo seemed to parrot his words. “Just the two of us?”
“Yeah.” He gave a hesitant nod.

“Logan…” This she had not expected or hoped for…well, at least not consciously…okay, not so soon. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Uh-yeah.” Logan did not trust himself to anything else.

“No.”

--

Either he did not hear it or maybe it took him a couple of seconds to comprehend it, but when it finally got through to him, “No,” Logan’s hesitant smile fell right off his face. He had expected this answer, after all, just take a look at him and then feast your eyes at the beauty that was this…this…lady.

‘There was simply no way that she would even agree to go out with someone like you,’ the Wolverine, the cage fighter, chuckled at the fallen face of the boy who for the first time in his life had actually dared to ask someone out for a date.

Logan might not have expected a ‘yes’ answer, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t hoped for it.

“Uhn….” He searched around for the correct response to her reply. ‘Ok,’ would have been the civil answer, but being snubbed, Logan’s gave a kick in the ass to the pansy and turned to his inner Wolverine.

“Why?”

“Logan…” Ororo had a sudden urge to flee to the safe confines of her home, after all it wasn’t all that far away and not matter if Logan did not like her answer, she was pretty sure that he wouldn’t pursue and manhandle her. “I am sorry, but I…we…”

“Nah, its ok,” seeing her fumble like this, Logan dialed down on his outburst. “Ya don’t haveta be sorry about anythin’. I shoulda…”

Sensing the direction he was heading in, Ororo decided to cut him off. “No, its not what you think,” she grabbed at the first thing that came to her mind. “I don’t date at work.”
“But, we don’t work with each other,” Logan argued, the burn from her turning him down still fresh under his skin.
“I know,” Ororo smiled at him, her smile stinging both of them. “However, I am Amiko’s tutor and ….”
“Yeah,” Logan cut her off with a confused nod, still not getting the point she was trying to state.

“I don’t want to disturb that set up.” It was a lie, one than wouldn’t work on anyone older than eight, let alone on grown man like Logan.
“Oh,” realization dawned on Logan’s face. “Ya mean, ya teach Amiko English and cause of that ya can’t go out with me.”
“Yes,” Ororo nodded, her eyes not meeting his.

“Ok,” Logan gave an understanding nod. Just about to say something he was trumped when Ororo shot off her own salvo.

“I hope this doesn’t change anything with Amiko,” Ororo’s brow furrowed. “Are you going to…?”
“I ain’t takin’ the kid away from anythin’ that is helping her so much,” Logan stated clearly. “Her and Jubilee’s life and future is more important than mine. I shoulda realized that before opening my yap.”

“Uhn,” Ororo didn’t know what to say. She had been the one who had told Logan that with Amiko’s progress, she would soon be able to learn and perform on her own. That would mean that they wouldn’t be working together anymore. Then again, was it really the same as going out with Logan as it would be with someone who she actually worked with?


Lost in her thoughts, Ororo almost missed Logan’s soft words. “I am sorry. I didn’t mean ta say that. I….”
“Its alright Logan,” Ororo’s smile calmed him. “I didn’t mind it.”

“Its not that,” Logan wanted it to be clear that what he was apologizing about. “It wasn’t about asking you out. I ain’t sorry about that. Heck, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I shoulda thought over it better. Didn’t want to put you in a position…”

Sensing yet another change in Ororo’s body language, he decided to shut his yapper. It seemed that his efforts to clear up things weren’t have the desired effect. Instead of setting Ororo at ease, they were only working to tense her even more. “Uhn, I guess, I needta go now.”


Stepping away and ready to turn away to head to his Jeep, Logan’s steps halted at Ororo’s barely audible hail.

“Logan…”
“Yeah.”

“I…I’d like some time to think about it.”
“Huh?!” What’d she mean by that.

“Your offer,” Ororo lifted her head, her eyes directly meeting his. “I’d like some time to think about it.”
“Think about it?” Still no luck , especially not with the Wolverine on the prowl.

“I’d like to think about…possibly changing my answer.”
“Oh!!”

CLANG CLANG CLANG

And that went the bells and both the Wolverine and the boy fell flat on the ground, one on his back while the other on the face.

“Logan?” One glance at the stupefied look on Logan’s face and Ororo mistook it for…well, she did not know how quite to take it.

“Uh-‘k. How long?”

“I don’t…” ‘Okay, how long?’ Ororo’s inner teen, one that she had hoped she had laid to rest years ago, chose that very moment to leap up…complete with a set of pom-poms. “Two-Thr-Two days.”

“Two?”

“Uh-huh.” ‘One two, check your shoe.’ Okay that was just too lame of a cheer.

“’kay. Wanna me to call…” Not at all conversant with modern dating etiquette, Logan, within the last ten minutes had gone from hopefully-nervous to angry-confused to what he was now…totally whacked out.

“NoNo….I’ll call you.”

“Uh-‘kay.”

Continuing to stand in their respective positions, it took both of the adults a few seconds to realize that they were dumbly staring at each other.

“Uh…”

“I-I should…” Logan gestured over his shoulder, hoping to say that he should leave. “I mean…”

“Yes.” Taking a step back herself, Ororo stepped up on her porch, her body betraying her order to turn away and reach for the doorknob. “Goodnight Logan.”

“Goodnight Ororo.”

---

In the end it did not take Ororo the ‘allotted’ two days to make a choice…it took just one night of tossing and turning, a conversation with a friend…and a few more hours of staring into empty space,

---

“Ororo. Ororo?!” The slightly accented female voice shook Ororo from her contemplative thoughts.

“Huhn?” More than a little flustered, Ororo turned towards the direction of the voice, automatically checking for drool-age. “Did you say something Cecelia?”
“Nah.” Seated across from her, Dr. Cecelia Reyes-McCoy shook her head, causing a couple of her ebony hued braids to slip over her shoulder “You just seen preoccupied today. Everything okay?”
“Yes, of course,” even to her own ears, Ororo’s answer sounded unconvincing.
“Hmm. If you say so,” Cecelia answered as if letting the matter go. “You can talk to me if there’s something bothering you. After all, I am here for the faculty too, and not just for the students.”
“I know,” smiling at her counselor colleague Ororo gently squeezed her hand. “Thank you for your offer.”
“Well, I am here for some time and seein’ that you are also free for the next hour,” Cecelia offered, “why not take me up on my offer.”

“Cecelia, I…” Ororo began, only to stop. She remained silent for a couple of minutes, with Cecelia patiently waited for her to gather her thoughts and form her words.

“How did you…” this time around, although hesitant and soft, Ororo’s voice held a purpose. “How long have you and Henry been married?”
“Hmm,” a couple of mental calculations and, “Three years, three days after a month from now.”

“How long did you know each other, I mean how long before the both of you tied the knot?”
“About seven months after we went out for the first time.”

“And your first….” Seeing Cecelia’s arched eyebrow Ororo stopped herself. This was supposed to be about her and her dating life, not Cecelia and Henry’s. “What I mean…How did you know that Henry was the one?”
“The one? What one?” Musing aloud, a smile dawned on Cecelia’s face. “Oh, the one. That ‘The One’.” She accentuated with quotes.

“Yes.” Ororo gave a slight nod, feeling rather stupid and teeny at using terms as ‘The One’. Couldn’t she have come up with an even more clichéd term. How about going even one better? How about ‘The One and Only’. Sheesh.

“Can’t say,” shrugged her counselor-cum-shrink colleague. “I’m not too sure. Just knew. We worked together, moved around the same circle, had common interests, similar lives. And moreover when we tried it, found out had even more things in common…things that really count. Guess that all worked together to get us to fall in love with each other.”
“Oh,” Ororo’s sigh conveyed her dismay at the answer. “What if….what if you didn’t have those things?”
“Things?”

“Yes,” the confused younger woman elaborated. “What if, he wasn’t anything like that? I mean he was still the way he is, but without all the common factors you stated. What if he was complete opposite of that? What if he did not work here, have the same friends, same background or upbringing as you. Would you still have dated him…let alone chosen to spend your whole life with him?”

“If he had been all that different, “Cecelia smiled as she twirled her wedding ring. “I would have met him in the first place, would I?”
“What if you did? Somehow. Somewhere. What if you met him?” Ororo stressed her question. “Can you say that you would agreed to…uh, forget about love and marriage and all else, would you have agreed to go out on a date with him?”

“Ororo, I…,” Cecelia sensed the answer her friend was hoping for and wished that she could give her that answer, but knowing that it might very well not be so.

“I don’t know,” she said finally.

---

That evening,

Ororo had what was easily the United Nations Conference of all introspections going on inside her mind.

‘Go on, call him.’ A voice, one of three different people involved in the conversation, piped up.
‘Its not two days yet,’ a second, older, logical one played devil’s advocate.
‘Make a choice first.’ Reminded the neutral third.

‘He’s sooo dreamy,’ the first one crooned. ‘And so nice too.’
‘You don’t have anything in common.’ The second pointed out. ‘Anything outside of the school and diner, basically work.’
‘I agree,’ for a second the neutral did not look all that neutral. ‘But who knows, maybe if you give it a chance, you could.’

‘Uh,’ at a loss for further supporting arguments, the first voice grabbed at anything that rose up within her radar. ‘You could use the time out. How long has it been since you went out with someone, and by that I mean went out on a date and not shopping with your friends…for their marriage, or at home with Dad.’
‘That doesn’t mean that you have to go out with the first man that asks you out,’ the anti-Yes side argued.
‘It is not.’ The neutral brought up visuals of the last three men who had asked Ororo out and also why she had turned them down.

‘Voting time!’ One cheered. ‘I vote YES.’
‘No.’ Second.

It all came down to the third, who as with her earlier stance, calmly stated. ‘I choose to abstain.’


“Goddess.” Ororo exclaimed out aloud. “Why does it have to be so difficult? Its not like I am even….” Even before she even got half of that sentence out, Ororo stopped, her latest memory flash finally making up her mind for her. “Why not?” She asked to herself. “Its not like I am seeing anyone else, and Logan is a nice person.”

---

Not even a minute later,

“Hello? Logan. This is Ororo….Yes. I’ll go out with you.”

Note: Been really long since I updated this and seeing that as I was revising it and changing the plot from the first posting, I decided to change this too. Hope it works out.

With this post, X-Verse and Survival are the only fics that I haven’t updated recently. Will try to remedy that too.

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