Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Posted on Sat Jun 22nd, 2024 @ 8:11pm by Bobby Drake & Lorna Dane

1,881 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 0: X Lang Syne
Location: X-Mansion
Timeline: October 1986

Lorna smeared a generous amount of smooth peanut butter across a slice of bread before moving on to the jar of grape jelly on the counter next to her plate. She repeated the same action with the jelly on another slice of bread before sandwiching the two together.

Like clockwork, Bobby entered the kitchen at noon. One of the few things he was punctual for was lunch.

“Hi, Bobby!” Lorna looked up from her sandwich making with a dazzling smile. “I’m making lunch for Jean while she’s still in the infirmary. Wanna help?”

Bobby laid down a thin layer of frost atop the kitchen floor, all the better to slide up behind Lorna in a flash.

“Don’t mind if I do!” Bobby snatched the bread slices from the counter in front of Lorna and slapped them together before shoving a mouthful into his mischievous grin. “Any-ing ‘or ‘Ean!” he said around the sandwich bite he was chewing.

“Looks like you’re super hungry too.” Lorna giggled as he stuffed his face before she went back to making another sandwich. Mid-smear of peanut butter she paused and frowned at her realization.

“I guess we should make lunch for Scott. He, like, hasn’t left her side since we got back… he can eat like a million sandwiches.” The amount of work had suddenly tripled but Lorna quickly brushed it off over the prospect of gossiping. “I think he’s sleeping down there at night and stuff which is, like, totally against curfew rules. But, like, wouldn’t the Professor know? He knows everything.”

Lorna shook her head in disbelief at the idea of someone getting away with such a serious violation. “You should totally case his room to see if he goes to bed in the boy’s dormitory tonight, then we would know.”

“You got it, babe.” Bobby winked at her with casual and usually meaningless flirtation, but something about his own gesture gave him pause. It tapped a slough of angsty and curious feelings within him. The Morlock mission was definitely one for the record books. Now Scott was breaking curfew with Jean. Was he imagining things, or… was love in the air? “I’ll do that on one condition…”

Taking a breath, Bobby centered himself and then threw caution to the wind. The twinkle in Lorna’s green eyes could either be her usual jovial self. It could also be something more. He hoped for more.

“... you wanna’ maybe be my girlfriend?” He lowered his head and pulled back the sandwich from his mouth so he wouldn’t look like a total dufus. After having done so, Bobby found it hard to lift it back up. His eyes were similarly drawn to his feet, but he managed to force them back up to Lorna’s face in a hopeful furtive glance. “Or… well, you know. Girlfriend, yeah.”

“Like, girlfriend, girlfriend?” Lorna sheepishly tucked her green hair behind her ears as her cheeks turned bright red. She too began to stare at the kitchen floor rather than looking at Bobby. “I’ve never had, like, a real boyfriend before.”

There was a brief pause and the entire kitchen filled with nervous anticipation before Lorna spoke again. “You were so brave against the Morlocks. You totally didn’t want to wail on Hank or Jean so you picked yourself. That’s, like, the most chivalrous thing anyone could ever do. I would totally want a boyfriend like that.”

“Really?” Bobby blinked it unbridled surprise before he regained his composure. “Really cool. That's just super rad.” He gave a nervous giggle before he realized that he his hands were waving in the air and he didn't know what to do about them. He shoved the rest of the PB&J into his mouth in a wadded mess.

“An I ug oo?” he asked with his mouthful and arms wide.

Lorna crinkled her nose in response to the question, clearly not understanding what Bobby was saying through his stuffed face. “I dunno if we should do that.”

Her facial expression made Bobby start chuckling as he swallowed his last bite. He started choking. Laughing replaced with gagging, Bobby began thumping his chest to help clear his throat.

Lorna couldn’t help but laugh as Bobby laughed, his giggles could be infectious. But her laughter continued after Bobby’s stopped. Lorna thought he was pantomiming another impression or joke making his gestures comical at first. Her giggles finally ceased once she realized he was actually in distress.

“Bobby!” She started roughly patting his back once she figured out he was choking. “Are you okay?”

Low grade panic started to set in when Bobby didn’t answer her. Lorna was only half paying attention when they all had learned the Heimlich Maneuver. “Turn it to ice, Bobby.” It was the best she had to offer. “It will melt and slip down.”

Bobby joined his hands together and struck himself several times in the gut. After the third hit, he doubled over and spat out the slobbery wad of sandwich onto the floor. He took a few deep breaths that soon fell back into his old laughter.

“I was asking if you wanted a hug or something,” he said between chuckles. “Didn’t think it’d kill me to ask!” The quip made his chuckling turn to donkey-levels of guffawing. Nearly choking to death wasn’t so bad if you could laugh about it afterward.

“You’re such a spaz, Bobby!” Lorna returned to giggling with him. She always found herself laughing with Bobby, this mansion could be so serious at times and he was the only one who consistently made the effort to lighten the mood. It was an undervalued skill amongst the team but Lorna understood what it meant and the effort it took to make people smile.

She put down her butter knife and slice of bread and took a few small steps towards him. Lorna wrapped her arms around his neck and enthusiastically crashed into him with the full weight of her petite frame. “But I guess that makes you my spaz, right?”

Bobby’s grin turned from humorous to amorous at her gesture. “Uh… yeah,” he agreed, his heart starting to race. The sweep of her exotic green hair only made her emerald eyes shine all the brighter. There was a sparkle in the way she looked at him, an eagerness that channeled her bright zeal for life into a focused beam that made Bobby feel like the only person in the entire world. “Yeah, I guess it does.”

Before he knew it, his hands slid up her back and over her shoulders where they flipped over to cup either side of her jaw. “I want to kiss you…” The words fell out of his mouth without thinking. When they did, Bobby flinched and immediately wondered if he should take them back. A minute ago she didn’t even want a hug. But now… God, were girls always so confusing? “Or, I mean, not… not if you…”

Lorna’s giggles continued as she pressed her lips to his. Her desire to express affection was easily found thanks to her teenage daydreams of swooning romance. Bobby merely had to suggest it and Lorna met him with that same keen energy she brought to everything.

Her bubbly and effervescent personality was felt in that innocent kiss. A happy and exuberant gesture that made Lorna so much fun to be around. It was cliché to say, but her affection was magnetic.

“If you want to kiss me, then kiss me,” Lorna said with a wide grin.

“Uh huh…” Bobby had to catch his breath after holding for so long and letting it go. The spark that ignited between them felt like Christmas morning and 4th of July fireworks combined with every birthday wish he’d ever made. “Okay!”

His overly eager hands pulled Lorna’s face closer to his where their mouths met again. This time it was more teeth than lip contact, but that didn’t stop Bobby for long.

“Sorry,” he mumbled as he tried again. The extra effort pressed a little too hard and the suction was a bit over the top. An excited humming sound bubbled up from his throat. It was hard to believe this was happening. He was actually kissing a girl!

“Oh my god, Bobby!” Lorna wiped her mouth dry with the back of her hand. But she didn’t recoil or sneer at him, she just met him with that always sunny smile. “You have to go slow and gentle otherwise it’s too much too fast.”

Her laughter stopped and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Let me show you.” Lorna leaned forward and sweetly kissed him once more before she tilted her head to the side and gently brushed her tongue against his lips. It was a subtle invitation to do more that eventually became a deeper kiss. Lorna’s kiss was both temping and inviting, it caused Bobby to slow down and savor the connection between them rather than overzealously claiming her.

“See? That’s so much better, right?” Lorna asked as she pulled her head back enough to look at him while she spoke. “You have to play it cool. You should know how to be cool.” She giggled at her own choice in words.

Bobby blushed at the lesson in subtlety he was being given, but then giggled back at Lorna’s joke. “I’m the coolest, baby.” He grinned at his lame joke. The way Lorna made him feel in that moment took away the nervous energy from earlier… maybe even that he’d ever had.

“Yeah… That was rad...” Bobby leaned forward and tried again, this time emulating Lorna’s form and technique. The brush of her tongue against his lips drew out his own. His mouth parted wide enough for the tip of his tongue to poke out. When they touched, the point to point contact sent a jolt through Bobby and brought out a faint yelp of surprise pleasure. “Wow…” he whispered before indulging himself again.

“A wow and then some.” She smirked at how fast of a learner Bobby was. Lorna knew how badly Bobby wanted to make her happy and she found that endearing. “Let’s drop off lunch down in the infirmary and we’ll pack a lunch for us to eat under the willow tree.”

The willow tree behind the school was notoriously known for being the place you went when you wanted to be alone with someone else. Many heated moments had occurred under that tree. The very idea of spending the afternoon under that tree was enough to make butterflies appear in both of their stomachs.

As good of an idea as that sounded, Bobby was still too star struck to say anything. The best he could manage in reply was to nod his head. His mouth hung agape all the while.

Lorna let go of Bobby and looked over the assembly line of peanut butter and jelly she had been working on. “Now help me make all these sandwiches before lunch is over.”

“Okay!” Too loud, too excited, too agreeable. Bobby was all grins. “You got it!”

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