Sarah and Amanda: Girl Talk on the Roof

[x-marrow.livejournal.com]

Sarah and Amanda run into each other on the roof. Amanda still feels guilty about 'stealing' Angelo, and Sarah's new 'special friend' comes to light. There's girl talk as only Sarah and Amanda can do it.



Given the stress of the last few weeks, everyone was using their own particular methods to wind down after the rescue of the Xavier's kids. For Amanda's part, it involved sitting up on an air conditioning unit on the roof, legs crossed under her and her eyes lightly closed, concentrating on her mutant power and feeling the energy of the city. It vaguely resembled meditation, except for the fact a cigarette burned between her fingers, from which she took the occasional puff.

Surprisingly, the roof was Sarah's favorite place to smoke. Up on the roof there were no phones, no computers, and visitors were required to try a little harder to track her down if she wasn't in her own apartment. Cigarettes and lighter in hand, she pushed the door to the roof open, only to see Amanda was already enjoying the quiet. "Well look who I found."

Amanda's eyes opened, and she gave the other girl an awkward smile. "Hey, Sarah," she said, beginning to uncurl. "Was just recharging a bit - been a week, that's for sure." Since Sarah's post about losing her "special friend", Amanda had felt awkward around the other girl, obscurely guilty, but not sure how to bring it up. Hallmark didn't do 'sorry I stole your fuck buddy' cards. "Um, if you want some space, I can just..." She indicated the door.

"Nah. You were here first." She walked over to sit across from the younger girl, lighting up her own cigarette. After a long pause, she broke the awkward silence. "Some week, huh?"

"That's an understatement. I swear, I'm just about ready to help Forge put trackers in the kids so the next time one of 'em's grabbed, they can just go and get them instead of us going through another dead-end paper chase." If Amanda sounded a little sour, it was because her part had involved talking to way too many postal workers and petty bureaucrats. "Still, at least they're safe. This stuff Remy dug up on Essex tho'... that's right odd. Seems like he might not be half the villain we thought." She titled her head at Sarah. "You were around for that stuff with Betsy... What do you think about him?"

"I've got no reason to not trust him." She shrugged, leaning back against the wall behind her. To this day, she still believed she had done the right thing. "Betsy was sick, and wasn't getting any better. He was the only one who fixed it when he said he could. Everyone else just waited around for her to get better on her own."

"And he did get us in to help that Xorn bloke..." Amanda blew out a thoughtful cloud of smoke. "We always assumed he was behind the stuff with that attack on Muir at New Year's - after you left, I think that was. now Remy's got info that says it was this Rory bloke. Met him a couple of times on Muir. Weird little fucker, but I would never have thought he'd be into torturing kids. Maybe we were wrong about a lot of things." She shrugged a little. "Still, Campbell's banged up, Essex is keeping his nose clean... Not much else for us to do, I s'pose."

"I'm kind of glad get back to the mundane paperwork for a while." Sarah took a drag from her cigarette, running a bony finger down her pants leg. "Neverending form letters for me!"

Amanda snorted. "And I get to train the former Queen of Hell in the ways of Wanda's filing system. Still, she's doing all right so far." She paused, then decided nothing was to be gained by holding her silence. "Look, I know things have been a bit off since Ange and me... I just wanted to say, I'm sorry if you got hurt. When we... you know." It wasn't the most eloquent attempt at clearing the air.

Sarah hadn't been expecting that. She gave Amanda a little sideways glance, eyebrows raised. "You're still worried about that?" She very nearly giggled, but managed to just hold it to a smile. "Really, don't worry about it. You have no reason to be sorry."

"Well, there was just that post you did on the journals... it sounded like you were upset." Amanda shrugged a little. "I know you and Ange are just mates, just... well, I didn't want to get in the way of you being mates. Any way." She gave Sarah a wry grin. "Guess I was worrying over nothing. You ever find anyone to fill in that application form for being your special friend?"

"I was having a bad day. It caught me off guard, that's all." She glanced, almost embarrassed, at the roof below her. She took a final drag off of her cigarette, putting it out along the brick behind her. "And yes, if you must know, I have found another special friend. I've got needs."

"Don't we all?" Amanda laughed, giving Sarah a cheeky grin. "Would it be too nosy of me to ask who? Or do I get to use the spy-in-training stuff and work it out?"

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet." Sarah laughed, stretching her legs out in front of her. "His bike's been around a lot recently."

"Bike?" Amanda's brow furrowed. "But the only person who rides a bike is Wanda, and she's still getting over Strange..." Then realisation dawned. "Wait a minute... Logan? You and Logan are..." She blinked a few times. "Well, bugger me."

Sarah just grinned back. "Well, I could, but he might get jealous."

Amanda snorted and stubbed out her cigarette, flicking the butt at Sarah and missing by a mile on purpose. "So, you and Logan. Huh." She thought about it, and it made sense. Slightly creepy sense, given Logan was old, but then again, not half as creepy as it had been with Marie. And who else would match Sarah's personality so well? "I was wondering why he was around so much - I just figured he was giving you more training sessions."

"Mmhmm." Sarah replied brightly, barely able to contain her smile. Somehow it just seemed very wrong to discuss her relationship with Logan like a giddy schoolgirl. "And there has been more sparring. That's another perk."

That got an outright laugh from Amanda. "I swear, it's a match made in a very scary heaven," she teased. "So, how long's this been going on? 'Cause it didn't seem that long ago the rumour mill had Logan pining after Jean still."

"And I imagine they always will. In fact, I'm willing to bet he'll probably always have a thing for Jean." Sarah shrugged, surprisingly easygoing about the whole idea. "But we hooked up just after Xavier's prom."

"Prom, huh? Those things tend to make people's head go all mushy - Doug and Angie tried to set me and Ange up at last ye..." Amanda trailled off as she realised something rather important about this year's prom. "Um, wasn't Logan a woman at that point?"

"He was. He came over plastered out of his mind, and we decided to make our own fun." She grinned wickedly at Amanda. "It was great up until I realized we sent pictures to my pretty ex, and the hangover of doom set in."

"You sent photos of you having sex with Logan as a woman to Shinobi?" Amanda started giggling, and then couldn't really stop. "Oh, to be a fly on the wall when those came through. That's it, you and Logan are perfect for each other. You're both completely barking."

"We weren't having sex right then, but apparently he doesn't want pictures of myself and an anonymous female friend posing naked before his second cup of coffee." She sighed dramatically, suddenly sorry she didn't have the phone with her to show the pictures off. "How did I ever date him? Seriously."

"Probably the same way I dated Manuel - it seemed right at the time." Amanda looked at her friend with a certain amount of wry sympathy. "And we were both very messed-up kids. Still, at least things are looking up, yeah?" She grinned. "This calls for the traditional girly gossip, which needs booze of some kind. Come down to my place and we can crack open a few bottles and you can give me all the horrible details?"

"'It seemed like a good idea at the time' tends to be my motto for those years at Xavier's." She pushed herself off of the roof, brushing dirt off of her sweatpants. "You're on. Just let me leave a note at my place in case Logan shows up. I'm thinking 'Trying to make Amanda blush. Back later.'"

"Oh, that's going to be the way of it, is it? You weren't the only one with a gender-swapped special friend, you know. Angelo made a very nice girl..."