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Ok look, Jubilee didn’t mean to call Roberto a few hours after he left. Really! She didn’t! And yet there she was, casually fliting with the rich Brazilian over a mobile. If she had to explain it, she would say that it was because there was finally someone her age she could talk to. Sure, the team was like family but compared to the rest of them she was a kid. A kid who had stared danger in the face, but a kid none the less. And sometimes that kid needed another kid, someone to rave with about Elton John or the Spice Girls.
So, there she was, talking to Roberto and having fun, something that was often taken for granted. And maybe it was because she was having so much fun that she recklessly agreed to meet in at an ice-cream place in town, without clearing it with the team first. But hey after all the tension on the team she needed a break, as if Jean and Scott leaving wasn’t enough. Now they were being led by Magneto?
Yeah, she needed a break.
Directly after the meeting ended, (thankfully without damage done to anyone or thing) she had taken the chance to slip away. She borrowed one of the teams’ cycles and, after revving the engine a couple times for good measure, taken off towards town. She had opted out of her usual yellow overcoat as it would be to recognizable.
With a squeal and a smell of burnt rubber she pulled deftly into a parking spot about 2 blocks away from the meeting spot. The cycle had a rather noticeable X on the side and that more then anything, (ok anything but mutant powers) would draw attention. Hopping gracefully off of the bike she made her way down the sidewalk, dodging several people who barely gave her a glance. Scanning the crowds she noticed Roberto leaning casually against a wall, arms crossed and a signature smirk adorning his face.
Her stomach flipped when his eyes landed on her and his smirk grew bigger. But that meant nothing, (don’t look at her like that! It most have been something she ate.) she elected to ignore the fact that she hadn’t eaten yet.
The Brazilian pushed himself off the wall and approached her with a grin, and she had to remind herself to smile a normal amount back as he spoke.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself,” he looked the same as when she last spoke to him and honestly, she preferred it that way.
“I wasn’t sure if you would be able to get away from those strict and stuffy affiliates.”
“I actually didn’t ask permission, with all of the chaos that’s been happening I wasn’t sure what I would say.”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise, “You snuck out? You have my respect.”
She shot him back a smirk to rival his own, “I didn’t have it already?”
He let out a laugh and shook his head, “You know you did Jubes. Now come on the ice cream awaits us.” He punctuated his sentence with a grand sweep of his arm.
“You’re paying I assume?”
“Of course I am, you think my mother would let me get away with anything else?”
“Oh so it just your mother convincing you too?” She let her teasing tone and smirk let him know that she wasn’t serious, but when he shook his head, she raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Nah, I just want too.”
“Well alright then, I never turn down free food.” And with that they entered the shop to place their orders.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Line break for Juberto 😊 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jubilee wasn’t afraid to admit that this was the most fun she’d had in a while. After their ice cream they had gone to the arcade, (she had totally kicked his ass in the games) and honestly it was nice not being noticed for being in a superpowered group of mutants that were tolerated at best. She got to be a normal kid, abet a normal kid with super powers, but a normal kid none the less.
She had suggested they go back to the school and watch a movie and he looked unimpressed, “Go back to the place where I was held hostage? I don’t think so.” But she may or may not have pulled puppy dog eyes and so now here they were on their way back to the mansion with him burring his face in the back of her neck and squeezing the air out of her, because, “Motorcycles are for idiots with a death wish.” (She would be lying if she said that her skin didn’t tingle in an addicting way at his touch.)
However, when they had entered the mansion, she could tell something was wrong, the air felt off, she had never noticed before but it felt like it was no longer comforting. She felt ice creep over her bones and into her blood. The very environment had always felt comforting whenever Storm was around, like the air and water were bombarding you with her love every second. But now it was gone. She whipped around to Roberto and she knew he saw the panic in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“I- I don’t know! But I need to figure it out!” She dragged him to a guest room with a couch and T.V where she was planning to watch the move, and then darted out into the hallway, calling that she would be back. She ducked into her room and snagged her yellow overcoat, pulling it on swiftly as she continued running.
When she burst into the main area, she could instantly tell that it was grave. Tear-streaked faces and heavy silence greeted her, scanning the room she saw that Storm was missing and her heart dropped even farther. Wolverine was the first to sense her for obvious reasons and she could instantly tell that he knew who she had been with that day. However instead of teasing her or saying anything he simply looked down. And with that her heart shattered.
She stumbled over to the couch and sank down on it next to Logan, and then Jean started to read. It was a letter from Storm, and yes it made Jubilee feel slightly better, she wasn’t dead, but it still did nothing to ease the ache in her chest. She should have been there! She should have put the team first! She should have- a soothing presence entered her mind and she knew it was Jean.
“There was nothing you could have done, no different move you could have made, do not blame yourself.” Jean then replayed the scene she had plucked from the others minds.
She would have responded, but the ringing of the door bell cut both her thoughts, and Morphs voice off. And from the moment he opened it, everything was a whirlwind, but Jeans voice had made her feel better, because as she played with different scenarios in her mind, she really didn’t see how she could have done anything to help.
And then even after all of the drama between Jean and Jean 2, as she snuggled on the couch with Roberto beside her, sharing a bowl of popcorn, she really didn’t think she’d rather be anywhere else.