Best of You [Open]

[Heather Cameron]

Heather bent down slowly, her eyes focused on the blue striped ball, a long narrow pole held steadily in her hands. Swiftly, but forcefully she hit the ball, and sent it rolling to the nearest pocket. A small smirk appeared on her face as she watched it go in. She didn’t want to sound conceited, but she could honestly say that she was an expert at pool. It was a little after noon at the Salem Center. The tall, blonde had found that she had some free time, okay a lot of free time. She wasn't a student, and she wasn't a teacher. So she didn’t have to plan lessons, or have homework to complete. It left her with an unlimited amount of time. Today she had decided to come down to the Salem Center. She had been in the mood to play pool.

The beautiful blonde had felt like some alone time might do her good. But she soon found out that it was very boring without company. As she continued to play the game she wondered where all the other students or mutants were. It was during school hours, but there was usually someone who skipped class for a day to hang out here, apparently not today.

The Australian woman walked around the pool table, trying to get an angle for the next ball she was going to attempt to hit into the pocket. But that was something that only kept her busy physically, not mentally. Which led her to wonder what her brother was up too. He was only two years younger than her, but their personalities couldn't be more different. He was somewhat irresponsible, and at times immature. Heather was always on task, and many considered her to be an old soul. Heather and Davis could be complete opposites sometimes with their personalities. But they couldn't be more similar in their looks. Davis had the same dark blue eyes as Heather, the same golden blonde hair, the same facial looks. People sometimes thought they were twins. The only real difference with them was that Heather was taller than Davis by an inch.Heather shook her long golden blonde hair away from her face as she bent down once more to hit the eight ball.

Living at Xavier's hadn't been too different from her life in Australia. Okay, that was the understatement of the year, it was completely different. She was now surrounded by people who were like her aka mutants, and was aware more than ever that people hated mutants. Heather was a mutant, her brother was a mutant, and everyone at Xavier's was a mutant so the concept of mutation didn't bother her the slightest. But to the outside world, mutants were something to fear, and recoil from. Rather than embrace, and accept. Most people didn't know she was a mutant outside of the school. So she didn't have to deal with the resentment that some people had towards people with mutation. Heather thought it was idiotic that people could hate anyone just for the fact that they were a mutant. But she figured that fear could get the best of some people. She pulled back her arm, than released. The ball went ricocheted off the side, and went straight upper right pocket. Heather stood up, sighing a little she muttered to herself,"Game over."

[Mark Sheppard]

The ending of the day’s session had fallen upon the handsome young gentleman, and led him here, to Salem Center. His car was due for a tune-up, and with the weekend fast approaching, Mark certainly didn’t want to take any chances with his second most prized possession. With the small amount of money his parents had left him, he had started saving in hopes that he would one day be able to afford his father’s dream car. So, here he was; parked in the garage of Joe’s Mechanics waiting to hand the keys over to a complete stranger. His nerves were high, but he knew the place was one of integrity…well, as much integrity that a place dealing with car repairs could hold.

The automobile was a 1965 Ford Mustang Shelby Fastback, and it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. From the smooth contours, to the sleek leather interior, no one could deny the beauty of the vehicle. The car had cost him every penny he had saved and then some loans he had taken out. He knew he’d be paying this thing off for years, but it was well worth it. The car was truly a work of art, and to DJ, it was priceless. The tune-up wouldn’t take but a few hours, so in the meantime the teacher thought he would walk around Salem Center and kill some time.

Strolling about with no particular destination in mind, he passed by the a café, where the smell of coffee permeated the outdoor air. While the aroma was enticing, the last thing he needed was caffeine with his nerves already on edge in regards to his car. He continued walking, hands in the pockets of his dark grey slacks. His eyes perused his surroundings landing squarely upon a mass of blonde hair leaned over a pool table with incredible form. Mark’s heart nearly skipped a beat as he immediately knew the owner of said gorgeous figure. Heather Cameron, fellow X-Man, intelligent, beautiful, and possessor of the most amazing Australian accent he’d ever heard. The blue-eyed man continued to watch her, working the angles of the table, hitting every shot. This was just another surprise to the relatively shy man. He’d never have guessed that she would be interested in pool, but seeing the intense look in her own gorgeous blue orbs, he was pleased to see he was wrong.

The pool skills of the musician were far from that of the pro level Lifeguard appeared to be at; hell, they were pretty much far from good. DJ however, knew that this could be one of the only times he would actually have the nerve to speak with her. Unfortunately, as handsome as the lad was, his social skills were definitely lacking; particularly when it came to speaking to members of the opposite sex. He’d had few girlfriends, but those he did have meant the world to him. Unlike many of the other men his age, women weren’t objects to Mark. He felt that they deserved to be worshipped for more that just a single night; a woman deserved to be treasured for life. It was that mentality that had driven the women in his life away, feeling they were too young to be tied down so exclusively. He thought Heather was probably like those women as well; with her looks she could have any man she wanted, any time she wanted him. No doubt about it, she’d probably never give him a second look. Glancing down at his watch, he realized he had only been away from the shop for fifteen minutes. If he didn’t at least make an attempt to speak with her it was going to be a ridiculously long afternoon. Inhaling deeply, he thought to himself, Now or never, man.

As he strolled towards the pool table she occupied, his breathing began to quicken and his doubts began to creep into his mind once again. Shaking them off, he continued his approach, reaching his destination in just enough time to hear Heather’s sexy voice mumble softly.

”Game over.”

A small smile coming to his face, he moved to stand beside the blonde. “Then how ‘bout we start another one?” His voice was soft and laced with doubt. Mark could barely believe that he’d actually done it though; successfully spoken to the Australian lass without completely making a fool of himself. Now, if she actually accepted his offer he’d need to pinch himself to ensure that he wasn’t on his way to join mom and pop up above.

[Heather Cameron]

Heather looked up as another person entered the room. Her lips formed a crooked smile as her blue eyes examined the guy before her. She had seen him a couple of times around the mansion, and again at a couple of Danger Room simulations. But besides that she was sad to say that they were just acquaintances. She placed her right hand on the table, and leaned gently against it. She racked her brain trying to remember his name it was something that started with an m. Than it clicked his name was Mark. Well, that was a start. She hoped he knew a little bit more about her than she did him. Than again learning about a new person was always fun to do, unless he turned out to be a psycho, or something. But she highly doubted that. Mark had a friendly and approachable appeal to him, besides psychos were never this hot.

“Then how ‘bout we start another one?”

Her blue eyes dazzled with approvement. He seemed confident, and secure with himself, an important quality in any man. That and his voice was somewhat persuasive at least to her it was. Heather nodded her head, “Sure, I'll rack them up." Her lips formed a playful grin, as she turned around. Heather was feeling a bit more energetic than she had a few moments before. She could say that boys had that effect on her. The fact that she now had someone to socialize with had improved her mood, and the fact that someone was pretty cute, helped too. She grabbed the plastic triangle and placed it carefully on the table. "So," Heather began to say a bit hesitantly, but not so much that it made her seem nervous. "How come you’re at the Salem Center on a gorgeous day like this?"

Heather raised her hand to the window, gesturing to the almost perfect weather. She would be outside right now, but she had already dedicated a portion of her day to the outdoors. She was an athlete, to say the least, and with that she worked hard for an hour and a half a day. Mostly she would spend it swimming, but today she mixed it up. She had gone running for fifteen minutes out of the hour and a half. What could she say she was just full of surprises. She dropped her hand quietly but swiftly as she took another two balls from the pocket and placed them into the plastic triangle. When she had finished placing all the balls in the triangle; she took a spare rubber band off her wrist and tied her long hair back into a secure, tight pony tail. "Do you want to break or shall I?" Heather asked.

[Mark Sheppard]

Her astounding blue eyes shone up into his own, and Mark thanked the heavens he was leaning against the contour of the pool table. For had it not been for the piece of equipment, he would he lying on his ass, and well…that would have been embarrassing. He gave her another smile, hoping it wasn’t one of those Hey, I’m a complete idiot grins. His insides were turning, and suddenly he felt as if he were going to pass out. Was he nuts? Did he actually think Heather, the beautiful, sexy bombshell, would go for him? The shy man felt as if he were going to throw up the turkey club he had eaten for lunch earlier in the afternoon.

“Sure, I'll rack them up."

A look of surprise took over his features, as he nodded the go ahead at her. His body was slowly returning to resting state, relaxing. Just chill, man. Nothing to be scared about here; it’s only Heather. Right, because that made everything so much better! The young teacher was a complete and utter mess. All he needed to do was act normal; portray the confidence he had when in front of the classroom. The one problem was that he certainly didn’t feel about his students, the way he felt for Lifeguard. Upon her arrival at Xavier’s, Mark had harbored an intense crush, yet had barely spoken more than a few words to her. This was his one chance; his defining moment. The time he would remember forever as being his greatest personal accomplishment or his biggest emotional defeat. Shaking himself free of his mental struggle, the handsome mimicrist willed enough composure to hopefully make it through the proceeding game.

"So,…How come you’re at the Salem Center on a gorgeous day like this?"

His gaze shifted back to hers as she continued to rack the set in preparation for their game. “Well, with classes over for the day, I figured I’d take the time to get a tune-up on my car.” Now that wasn’t so hard, simply forming complete sentences and speaking. Maybe this wouldn’t go as horribly as he had imagined it could. “What about you? I’d think a girl like you’d be surrounded by people; what’s it that brought you here?” His eyebrow quirked in interest, as he watched her lithe figure move around the table completing her task.

"Do you want to break or shall I?"

An easy smile came across his lips. He knew for a fact that she was most likely going to hammer his sorry self, but his ego couldn’t possibly be in worse shape than it usually was. The mere fact that he was even speaking coherently was an accomplishment in and of itself. “You go right ahead; ladies first after all.” The blue eyed man bowed in mock galliance. He wasn’t your typical male, with ever stubborn pride, unable to handle defeat with grace. DJ simply prepared himself for the impending loss, taking it in stride. If losing to her meant spending more time with her, he was more than happy to have his ass handed to him on a silver platter. Whatever it takes, she was worth it; he could feel it.