Power Switch

Chapter Seven: Kitty’s Tale

Kitty sat on the bench next to Rogue still crying so she reached into her purse and pulled out a napkin. She then blew her nose and prepared to tell her story.

“Kitty, just try t’calm down and tell us what happened,” Rogue said putting an arm around her friend.

“I’ll try,” she said as she blew her nose with her gloved hand.

Flashback: Kitty’s POV in first person.

“Kitty! Your date’s here!” I heard Jean call from the bottom of the stairs.

“Coming!” I called back as I ran down the hallway.

I stopped by the mirror that was hanging on the wall near the stairs just for one last check. A girl can’t look too perfect, and even though Lance and I had been out so many times I was nervous. Then again, I never had to deal with Rogue’s powers before, and for the life of me I can’t understand how she does it. It’s only been one day, and I feel like I’m going crazy.

Walking down the stairs and asking myself if I really wanted to do this. I loved Lance, but he has a problem with patience. He’s nothing like how Gambit is with Rogue. On our first date he didn’t even want to wait until after we ate to steal a kiss. At the time I thought it was cute, but what will he say after he learns about this.

Well, I finally reached the bottom of the stairs, too late to back out now. “Hi, Lance,” I said and saw his smiling face. I was dressed sharp tonight since we planned to go to a real restaurant for a real meal, and not fast food or take out in the park like we usually did.

“Hello, Kitty,” he said slowly with a big smile on his face. I let out a few small laughs as he reached for my hand. “Hey, what’s with the gloves?”

“Oh, those, Rogue loaned them to me. Don’t you think it goes with my outfit?”

“Ugh, yeah, they look great,” he said, but I wasn’t sure if he liked the gloves, but at least he didn’t say he didn’t. “Are you ready to go?”

“Of course, why do you think I’m so dressed up?” I asked sarcastically. Lance always had a way of pointing out the obvious. He made an ugly face at me, which made me laugh as he walked me to the front door. He still insisted on holding my hand all the way to his jeep, so I thought it might not be so bad when he found out about the situation. I saw that Logan was looking at us the entire time and wondered if that was why Lance did it.

“Be back by curfew!” Logan called to us.

“I know!” I called back as if I were annoyed. I know Logan only acted that way because he worries about us. “So where are we going?” I asked Lance once we reached his jeep. “Must be fancy to get all dressed up.”

“Nemo’s,” Lance said which got me excited.

“You mean that new Italian restaurant?” I asked as he opened up my door. He was being such a gentleman tonight. “Only the best for my girl,” he said which made me laugh.

“Nemo’s, the best?” I asked, looking at him skeptically.

“Hey, the best I can afford. That weekend job I got pays good, but not that good.”

“Okay, so let’s go, unless you want to spend all night eating.” Damn. Why did I say that? With me having Rogue’s powers it’s not like we could really do anything.

Back to reality…

“What do you mean we can’t do anything?!” Rogue shouted at her bringing Kitty out of her story. “I’ll tell you me and Remy can do more…”

“Ewe, Rogue, I don’t want to know about that!” Kitty shouted at her. “Do you mind if I finish this story?”

“Fine, but one more word about mah powers…”

“So getting back to my story,” Kitty said putting emphasis on each syllable.

Back to the flashback….

Okay, where was I, oh yes, well, Lance helped me into his jeep. For some reason he was being more of a gentleman tonight. I wondered if Gambit gave him some lessons in manners. Well, well, anyway. There we were driving down the street and I noticed Lance kept looking at the gloves I was wearing. After changing the station on the radio which Lance gave me a dirty look for, I tried to hide my hands as best I could.

“Why do you always change the station?” Lance asked me, but I’ve answered this question every time he took me out.

“Because I hate death metal,” I said and rolled my eyes. “Besides that’s Allison Blaire’s new single which you promised to buy for me. My birthday is coming up.”

“Kitty, stop hinting, I already know. I put an alert on my phone every day until then so I don’t forget.”

“Good,” I said as he drove into the parking lot in the back of the restaurant. I had never actually been here before, only seen the brochures, and I have to admit it was a lot nicer than I thought it would be.

I was ready to just exit the car on my own, but for some reason Lance insisted on helping me out. This was so unlike him, but I wasn’t about to complain. There had to be some reason that Lance was acting this way, and I was going to find out what it was even if it killed him.

Well, we walked into the restaurant holding hands, and I was shocked to see the place had a host dressed in a tuxedo. I guess this place was classy.

“Alvers, table for two,” Lance said to the host. The man looked at us funny at first, and I thought it was because we were so young, but maybe they knew we were mutants. Since the man wasn’t making an issue either way I just went with the flow. The last thing either of us wanted was a scene.

The man looked down at his book and ran his finger down the page. “Yes, here we are, Alvers for 2. This way, please,” he said, his voice somewhat robotic and cold. That didn’t matter. I was just happy to be out with Lance. He held my hand as we were led to our table.

Again Lance surprised me by pulling out my chair. “Thank you , kind sir,” I said a little animatedly. He just rolled his eyes at me while smiling before sitting down in his seat.

We waited a few minutes until a waiter approached our table. He was dressed in the same tuxedo the host was. Somehow I felt underdressed dining here, like I was stuck in some old 1930s movie. He spent a few minutes running down his recommendations but I had to admit that I wasn’t really listening.

“What entre do you desire?” I heard the waiter say, even though I was only half listening. I hesitated in answering and he repeated the question although a little louder. I jerked my head around and then looked over at Lance who looked a little confused.

“We need some time to decide,” he said and the waiter gave a little bow before he left. “A little to fancy?” Lance asked looking over at me.

“No, I just wasn’t expecting it.” I said and we both laughed. “This is a nice place, like the kind of place that Gambit would take Rogue.”

“Hey, I’ll never be as sappy as that guy,” Lance said sitting back in his chair and rolling his eyes. “He’s always drooling over Rogue and ignoring all these other girls flirting with him and showing the rest of us up, like he wrote the book on dating.”

Back to reality…

“What do you mean showin’ the rest of you up?” Remy asked offended. “Not’in’ wrong will bein’ a gentleman.”

“That’s right, darlin’,” Rogue said taking his hand.

“Can I finish the story please?” Kitty said demandingly.

“Sure, hon, go ahead,” Rogue and said and egged Kitty on. She sat back and tried to look as attentive as possible while Remy looked bored.

“Fine,” now where was I…” Kitty said and thought a minute before continuing.

Back to the flashback…

“There’s something else,” he said and I noticed he was looking at my hands. “Are you going to tell me why you’re wearing those gloves? You never wear gloves. It’s like you’re turning into Rogue.”

“Don’t be making a crack about my roommate,” I snapped at him. I just couldn’t believe he would say something like that. “She’s actually very nice, and you would see that if you took the time to get to know her.”

“Yeah, nice, and how many times did she rip my powers away?” he asked sarcastically. It seemed like he was trying to start an argument, but I was not going to stoop to his level.

“Lance, if I remember it was during a fight,” I said and he just rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, whatever, now about the gloves, Kitty?” he asked moving to a subject I really didn’t want to talk about, but I thought I should fess up before I lost all courage.

“Well, you see, I kind of got Rogue’s powers,” I said hesitantly.

“What? How did that happened?” he asked in a loud voice that was just below shouting.

“I don’t know,” I said defensively “All I know is that last night we were having an argument and I kind of wished for her powers and she wished for mine, and when we woke up this morning it, well… happened.”

“And you’re just telling me now?” Lance said, his tone more angry than I had ever seen him.

“Well, it’s not something that happens every day, and how am I supposed to explain it when I don’t even understand it myself,” I shouted back. I noticed people in the restaurant were staring at us, but I didn’t care. “I also wore these gloves so I didn’t accidentally hurt you!”

“Why don’t you go ahead?” Lance shouted trying to bait me. “I’m not afraid of Rogue’s power even if you have it. I know you wouldn’t have the guts to do it.”

“Oh, reall,”y I said and pulled off one of the gloves Rogue loaned me. I tried hard not to rip knowing how much she loved this pair.

After rising from my seat a gave Lance a tap with my bare skin just to prove to him that I was serious, and that’s when I saw the sleazy thought that was running through his head, like I would ever do that.

“Pervert!” I shouted before turning away from him and using his own power against him. I created a small hole where are dinner table was now in shambles with Lance half unconscious on top of it.

Back to Reality…

“That’s about it,” Kitty said the tears welling up in her eyes again. I ran out of the restaurant and came and found you guys.

“It’s gonna be alright, Kitty,” Rogue said and held her friend to give her some comfort. “Remy an’ ah will be here for ah as long as you need.” Rogue looked back at Remy who had an annoyed look on his face. “Right, Remy?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said and thought to himself for a moment. “When I see Lance, gonna give him a punch in the face.”

“Cause a what he did t’Kitty?” Rogue asked and stared at him while Kitty was still crying on her shoulder. He didn’t answer at first. “Right, Remy?” she asked again but more forcefully.

“Yeah, right,” he finally said.

“Thanks, Rogue,” Kitty said and attempted to dry her tears. “I just want to go home and forget any of this ever happened.”

“Don’t worry, ah’ll come with ya,” Rogue said and Remy threw her a look. I can’t leave her alone, she mouthed the words.  “Let me just talk to Remy for a minute.”

Kitty nodded while still sitting on the bench, while Rogue led Remy out of earshot of her friend. “Remy, I’m sorry, but Kitty needs me right now.”

“I know,” he said and let out a breath. “Just wanted to be alone wid you t’night.”

“Ah do to, but she’s hurtin’ right now, and how can I go off with ya when she’s so upset. Please try t’understand.”

“I do, chere,” he said and gave her a kiss on the head. “T’at don’t mean I have t’like it,” he said and she gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Thanks for understandin’,” she said and turned back to Kitty. Remy flagged down a cab for the girls. “Takes dese girls to Xavier institute, and make sure not’hing, and I mean Not’ing happens to dem.”

“Sure, buddy,” the cab driver said.

“Call me as soon as you get home,” Remy said and kissed Rogue’s hand.

“Ah promise,” she said and entered the cab right after Kitty.

Remy watched the cab drive away with a new agenda on his mind.