xp_logs | Doug and Jubilee (backdated)

Backdated to Tuesday. Jubilee comes by Doug's office. It doesn't go very well.

"Caffeinated beverage?" Jubilee asked, appearing to the side of

Doug's chair almost by magic. "I've got Dr. Pepper, or Dr. Pepper."

"Jesus Christ," Doug said, just short of yelling. He was used to Jubilee appearing out of nowhere, but with his current issues, his nerves ran a bit higher than normal. "Is there a purpose to this visit?" he asked somewhat bluntly.

"Probably," Jubilee replied, arching her eyebrows at him. "Jumpy much, Ramsey?"

"I can't imagine a single reason why I would be, -Lee-," Doug shot back waspishly. Two could play at...whatever it was that Jubilee was trying to do. He honestly had no idea, she could be very difficult to predict. If he had to guess, though, he'd put his money on yet another attempt to Pretend Things Weren't Weird Between Them. And he was just tired of it.

"Wow, hostility much?" Jubilee replied, pulling up one of the computer chairs to take a seat. "Not my fault you can't deal with your shit like a normal person."

"And it's not my fault that you feel this need to keep bugging me and can't just give me some space like a normal ex-girlfriend." Doug's voice was definitely rising in volume and intensity. He wasn't yelling, but his frustration was starting to show more visibly, somewhat unusually for him. Maybe it was something about ex-girlfriends, he thought briefly, remembering some of the shouting matches he and Marie-Ange had gotten into.

"Guess that depends on your frame of reference," Jubilee replied, her own voice getting slightly softer but the anger was no less noticeable to someone with Doug's abilities. "Let's see, past boyfriend interactions equal zero considering both were drug dealers. So, you know, not a lot of follow up there. You? Don't know about you yet, could be you're not actually worth the effort, but we gotta work together so I figured I might as well give it a shot."

Jubilee stood, unable to sit still for the anger that bubbled just under the surface. Had this been years ago, her powers might have gotten involved but luckily she was way past that in control terms.

"The basics of all this, Doug? Not an expert, yeah? All you ever had to fucking do was ask for space. We can't all have your mutant power."

"I didn't figure it was that hard to guess," Doug shot back. He shrugged. "I mean, god forbid someone need space after a breakup, especially if they're dealing with a ton of other shit on top of it." Yes, he'd done the breaking up, but it hadn't been easy on him either.

"Dude, you were all but humping Terry's leg, and there was no fucking way you felt anything for me or you'd have fucking had the balls to break it off sooner, so don't give me that heartbroken bullshit. If anyone had a right for space, it would've been me." Jubilee spat, pushed finally beyond what little patience she tried to maintain. "I was an easy fucking lay to you, that's all, so what the fuck did you have to get over?"

"Christ Almighty, I am fucking sick and tired of everyone jumping on my ass about Terry." Doug's hand smacked his desk with a loud report. "Nothing. Happened." He bit the words off. "She was going through a divorce. Was it complicated? Yes. Just like every other fucking thing in my life. But that's all." His voice dropped to a low, intense whisper. "And if you think an easy lay is all you were to me..." He pointed a finger at the door. "Get the fuck out. Just because I couldn't be what you needed, that doesn't mean I didn't care." His eyes narrowed. "And you don't get to come in here and take cheap shots at me about it."

"But you wanted it to," Jubilee replied, spots of colour high on her cheekbones bespeaking her adjutated state, not that you couldnt have guessed it by the clenched fists or the way shed jumped at Doug's physical outburst. "You don't have to fuck for it to be a betrayal, you asshole."

She wanted to hit him so badly that the need shocked her, and she paused with it, going white.

At this point they were both standing, leaning in over the desk toward each other, the tension a palpable thing in the air. "Go ahead then," Doug said, his voice dangerously soft. It wasn't that hard to see the need to strike out in her body language. And there was a tiny part of Doug that welcomed it, the idea of a physical punishment for hurting her. Because he knew he had, and he had to carry that guilt, even though it would have been worse to draw it out.

"No," Jubilee replied, stepping back from the edge and away from him. "I don't hit people just cause they say things I don't like, and you should'nt want me to hit you either."

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, stepping back from him a little further to lean against one of the server racks. She really did need to leave him alone for awhile, she wasn't being fair to either of them continuing to pretend that nothing was wrong.

"You can't keep doing this," Doug said, in a less confrontational tone of voice. "It's not good for either of us. You have somebody now, somebody who...can be what you need." He shrugged and turned away to hide the brief flash of sadness coupled with envy that she had that from her. "So maybe you should go be with him instead of picking at me."

"I never wanted us to not be friends," Jubilee said, a catch in her voice. She hadn't really allowed herself any emotion beyond anger, but even that had really been fear and pain, something she was an expert at hiding, even from herself. She wished...she wished she knew how to fix this. "I won't bother you anymore."

Jubilee wanted to say more, to offer a future olive branch for when he was better but she couldn't. There were no guarantees in life, you just took everything a day at a time.