Rogue pulled herself out of the pool and grabbed the towel she had left waiting to dry herself off with. At eleven o'clock in the morning, she was the only one taking advantage of the cool water for a swim. The younger kids, the ones without families who wanted them to come home for summer break, had been taken to the zoo by Ororo, Scott, Jean, and Kitty. They had asked her to come along, too, but while Rogue actually liked the zoo, she hadn't felt in the mood that morning. She'd had a few too many drinks while out with Bryan the night before, and she needed a chance to recover. Even the older, former students were nowhere to be seen. It looked like it was a take-time-for-yourself kind of day. Rogue was coming to appreciate those now that she had a much more active social life.
Toweling off her hair some, she settled into one of the lounging chairs facing the strong morning sun. The weather hadn't been cooperating with her desire to get some color on her skin the past few weeks, so she was determined to take the opportunity to presented today, with not a cloud in the sky. Grabbing her iPod, she slipped her headphones into her ears from behind, so that the cord wouldn't leave a weird tan line, and settled down to enjoy the heat lapping at her skin.
Rogue closed her eyes and prepared to doze for a while. Music and sun combined to soothe her, and she drifted into sleep. She had no idea how long she lay there like that, soaking up the sun's heat, when she felt a shadow overhead. Frowning, she opened her eyes. Had a cloud passed by?
Logan was standing over her, an eyebrow raised. “No harem today?” he asked sardonically.
Rogue choked on a laugh. How did he know what she'd taken to calling the group of male students and former students who now flocked around her when she was at home—at least in her own head? “Nope, I told them to go make themselves useful fluffing my silk cushions and mixing me some perfume,” she replied wickedly. “What're you doing out here?”
Logan gestured toward the pool. “It's hot. What do people usually do at a pool, Marie?” he asked before striding off toward the diving board.
Rogue watched him go. This was the first time he'd spoken more than two words to her in a month, and yet they'd fallen into the kind of easy banter they had shared when he first returned. What was going on? He'd been avoiding her, and she him, and now...
Don't think about it, Rogue, she told herself. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the day. So she laid her head back and closed her eyes again. Well, mostly closed her eyes. Given her recent preoccupation, it was definitely interesting to watch all those lovely muscles flexing as he prepared to dive. Chest muscles flowed smoothly together, rippling...Down, girl! she thought. That's Logan, the Man Obsessed With Jean, remember. Down!
Still, she couldn't help but watch as he performed several conventional dives, all without looking in her direction. Nothing unusual there. Apparently even her mostly-naked body, clad in a tiny little green bikini, wasn't enough to interest him. Rogue hmphed and closed her eyes completely.
At just that moment she heard a huge splash, and then she was covered in spray!
“LOGAN!” she shouted, jumping up, hands on hips and glaring at the man swimming towards her. “Dammit, that was cold, and now I'm soaked again!”
“Yeah, you are,” Logan replied. He seemed to look her up and down, but that was impossible. Logan checking her out? No way.
Rogue's eyes narrowed further. She decided that her best course was just to ignore the large, annoying man in the water and try to return to her peaceful sunbathing. Still glaring, she laid back down, this time without closing her eyes. Goodness knew what crazy idea might pop into the man's head next.
Fortunately Logan appeared ready to do laps at that point. Rogue watched him stroke lazily through the water, then with more energy. There was just something about the way he moved...Down, girl! She ripped her eyes away to stare out over the garden across the pool. There were some lovely flowers out there. Ororo was so talented.
Realizing that she was babbling to herself, Rogue tried to focus on her music again. That worked for about five seconds. Giving in to the inevitable, she let her eyes lock onto Logan as he swam back and forth. It was a pleasure just to watch him. They spent twenty minutes or so like them, swimming and watching. Finally, feeling pretty toasty on the front, Rogue prepared to turn over onto her stomach. As she adjusted the lounger, an evil little imp of an idea popped into her head. She spent a few seconds battling it internally before giving in. This could be interesting, anyway.
“Logan?” she called. When he stopped swimming and looked over at her, she asked, “Would you mind putting some more lotion on my back? I'm not sure I did a very good job, and I want an even tan.” She held up the small brown bottle.
Was it her imagination, or did Logan's eyes light up? Must have been a trick of the light, she assured herself as he swam over to the edge nearest her and pulled himself out of the water. She tried not to notice how his skin glistened, how little droplets trailed down the muscles of his chest, his arms, his legs...Abruptly she laid down on her stomach, turning her face away from him to try and hide her blushes.
“It can be pretty hard to reach the middle of your back, huh?” Logan said, grabbing the bottle as he knelt next to her.
Rogue felt it was safe to nod but left it at that. She tried to force herself to relax as she heard him open the bottle, pour lotion into his hands. The wet sound of him spreading the lotion from palm to fingers was, umm, interesting. Then his hands were on her, and she had to bite her bottom lip really hard to keep from moaning.
Logan's hands were surprisingly smooth, and it wasn't even the lotion's fault. She wondered idly if his mutation kept callouses from growing as he rubbed the coconut scented lotion into the skin of her back. He was being very thorough, starting at her shoulders and slowly heading toward the small of her back. When he was halfway down she felt a sharp pain and let out a gasp, tensing.
“Dammit,” she muttered. “Sorry, Logan, just a sore muscle from practice yesterday.” Rogue, Kitty, Jubilee, and Bobby had all decided to join the team, at least for the summer, as trial of sorts. Scott had made a comment about augmentation being useful even if they weren't full time members, something no one could deny.
“Here?” Logan's fingers found the spot and began a serious massage. “Stop tensing up,” he instructed her, rapping on knuckle on the back of her head.
Rogue chuckled. “Sorry. It really hurts. I've been trying to ignore it,” she said sheepishly. “It's not in a place where moving makes it worse, so I figured I'd just deal. We all have to learn how, right?”
“Mmm...yeah, if you're gonna be doing the X-Man thing on any sort of basis, you have to learn how to keep going despite the pain,” Logan answered. “You guys didn't do too bad yesterday, Marie, for beginners in the advanced program,” he added grudgingly.
“Gee, thanks, Logan. I'm so glad you approve,” was her only reply.
Somehow massaging that one small sore spot transitioned into him giving her a full back rub, not just rubbing on suntan lotion. Rogue wasn't complaining. It felt wonderful. Logan had some very skilled fingers. They were concentrating on the small of her back when she began to wonder how they would feel on other parts of her body. That thought made her bit her lip again, and she almost shuddered. Maybe he felt it. Logan took his hands away at just that point.
“There, that should do it,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Thanks, Logan,” she whispered, hoping he would think she was falling asleep. Praying he would think that.
“Sure, Marie. Any time. I'll see you at practice later.” With that he walked away. She turned her head to watch him leave, mind racing from what had just happened.
Rogue found herself desperately hoping that something had changed, that maybe Logan was starting to realize that she was all grown up now. He hadn't called her “kid” once. Only Marie. He was the only one she'd voluntarily told her true name, although she suspected the Professor and maybe Jean had picked it up at some point.
Closing her eyes as he disappeared around the corner of the house, Rogue sighed. This was going to take some thinking, and some observation. She'd wondered the other day, at the barbecue, about the way Logan had been standing so far from Jean. Was he starting to get over his attraction to the red-headed doctor? She hadn't had time to think about it then, but now the question kept pushing through, buzzing in her mind like a persistant little fly.
Could he be attracted to someone else now?
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Author's Chapter Notes:
In which Rogue might realize a few things herself.