A Rogue's Tale

Never judge by First Appearances: Part 2

Somehow, she knew exactly where the closest hotel was. It was in Julien's memories that she absorbed, but so was his attitude. She felt bad for the way she treated that guy Remy, that's what he called himself, but in Julien's memory she had picked up the name Gambit. They were sworn enemies. That much she knew.

She had knocked Julien out and Remy knew it, but she couldn't tell him how she did it. That would have been revealing too much, and she didn't want Remy to think ill of her. She didn't know why she cared so much, and she was, in a way, on the run and didn't want to make ties with anyone.

Finally, she came to a small establishment. It wasn't fancy, but hopefully they had a vacancy. She just wanted a nice soft warm bed and a hot shower. Then tomorrow she could decide where to go from here.

She entered the lobby, or what she thought would pass for a lobby. It was a simple and small room, with white washed walls and basic block tiles on the floor, no carpeting. The front desk looked like it had not been painted in a while.

"Ya wanna room?" the man behind the counter asked before Rogue had the chance to speak.

"That would be nice," she said in a sarcastic tone.

"We got a few vacancies," he said, "but ah need ta see the cash first."

"Sure," Rogue said. "No problem." She reached into her bag and took out a few bills. "This enough?" She had two hundred dollars waving in the guy's face.

"Yeah," the man said. "Nice doin' business with ya."

He handed her the room key and directed her to the last door down the hall. She walked in and took in her surroundings. It was an adequate room, and the walls were painted a pale cream to slightly contrast the beige carpet and off-white furniture that consisted of the dresser chest, bed and nightstand. There wasn't anything unique that stood out. It was a plain design of painted wood that worked more for durability than character.

She quickly closed the door and walked over to the bed and plopped down on it. She was exhausted, and her bones were stiff from sitting on that bus for hours, but she wouldn't be able to relax until she took a shower to ease her aching muscles. She thought that a nice hot bath would do the trick, so she got up and walked over to the bathroom door and opened it. There was a tub, but it was small. She grabbed her bag and walked into the bathroom and turned on the water and was happy to find a bottle of bubble bath and poured it into the tub and got undressed.

Slipping into that tub was the best feeling she had in days and made her forgot about everything. The night of the party was just some weird nightmare she had. This feeling of warmth was the only thing that was real. She didn't know how long she had been in that tub, but she was starting to drift off. Besides that, the water was starting to get cold.

She reluctantly dragged herself out of the tub and dried herself off with one the towels that she found hanging on the rack. She used another one for her hair. She left home in such a hurry that she didn't even think of taking her hairdryer or any other personal items. She towel-dried her hair as much as possible and used the small comb that she always carried in her purse.

She put on her nightshirt and walked over to the bed, laying her bag next to the nightstand and crawled under the sheets with the only thought in her head was of a good night's sleep.

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Back in the lobby of the hotel, the night clerk looked up from his desk to see a young man enter through the front door. He looked surprised and stood up from his chair to greet him.

"Remy LeBeau, what are ya doin' here this time a night?" he asked in surprise. "Business slow?"

"Hey, Lucas, can't Remy jus' come for a visit?" he asked. His eyes carefully scanned the area. "Gotta ask a favor."