Who: Jean Grey and Lorna Dane What: The beach When: 11/14, while things were just warm enoguh Where: The beach! Status: complete Rating: PG
The beach in early November wasn’t all that crowded, a lot of people assuming it would be too cold for a dip or to even sun on the beach. But it was in the high 70s and the water temperature was about ten degrees cooler. Pretty cold, but with no breeze it wouldn’t be too bad, or so Jean hoped. She packed oodles of sunscreen, wore a green bikini under a pair of jeans and an old UCLA t-shirt, and headed towards the ocean.
Hopefully this Lorna person was right and she hadn’t quite missed swim season.
Lorna was wearing a sundress over her red bikini and she already had an umbrella and towel set up. Since her red hair came from a bottle she liked to tan, but she’d taken Jean’s complexion into account when she’d set up their base camp. When Lorna spotted Jean she waved and dashed over, taking long, bouncing steps like someone used to running in sand. “Hi! Glad you made it!”
Jean wearing jeans was actually probably a bad idea in hindsight, since she'd have to pull them over damp legs, but she hadn't considered that until it was way too late. Oops.
She waved at Lorna, walking more carefully as sand made it's way between her feet and sandals. "Hello! It's not as cold as I was afraid it would be."
“Nope! I told you it would be nice.” Lorna said with a grin. “It’s nice to meet you.” She held out her hand to shake Jean’s. It was so nice to be catching some sun with a friend instead of doing it alone.
She took Lorna's hand and shook it firmly. Lorna seemed cheerful, which she found refreshing. Too many people were dour and sourpusses. Jean herself had spent too much time being serious lately.
It would be good to let loose.
“Are you ready to swim or would you like to grab lunch first? I’m good either way.” She smiled brightly, drawing Jean toward the umbrella she’d set up.
"I had an energy bar earlier but I'm starving." Food sounded good, then. Jean let Lorna pull her towards the umbrella, then set her bag on the blanket. Lorna's enthusiasm was infectious. "Let’s eat, then I'm going to need to bathe in sunscreen."
Lorna grinned at Jean, giggling a little as she said, “I can help with the sunscreen.” It would be a pleasure to keep her new friend from burning, especially since it required rubbing her mostly naked body. Even if she wasn’t looking to hook up Lorna could appreciate a beautiful woman.
Ulterior motive discovered! Jean laughed. “Sure, I don’t mind.” She pulled her jeans off, then took her shirt off over her head. Folding them and setting them down, she took a seat and stretched her long legs out.
Lorna tugged her dress up and off and sat behind Jean. As nice as it would be to do everything for the other redhead Lorna figured she’d just be helping with her back. “I bet we can look forward to nice weather like this for a while to come.”
"I hope so. Though by this time next month I'll bet it'll be too cold. We'd have to tan indoors. Or burn in my case." Jean leaned a bit into Lorna's hands as she got her back, and got busy with her own legs and stomach.
“I’ll just let the tan go. I’m more about the beach atmosphere than the actual tanned skin.” She moved with delicate and thorough motions, careful not to actually touch anywhere inappropriate, tempting as it was. “I’m kind of glad my red hair is fake, I hate sunburns.”
"Sunburns are the devil. I remember one time when I was in highschool, my best friend and I ended up staying out in the sun too long. Of course her tan was perfect. Me? I turned into a lobster." Good memory, though. Despite the painful outcome.
Lorna made a sympathetic noise. “That happened to me when I was in high school too. A vacation to Florida was just too much for my pale little butt.” She giggled at the memory. “I still had a lot of fun, though, and now I’m smarter about my limits.” It was important to know what she could and couldn’t do. Once Jean seemed sufficiently coated Lorna stood and offered the redhead a hand up. “Would you like a sandwich from the sub shop or a hamburger from the little shack? Tiny shack burgers are usually amazing, but greasy.”
"I couldn't sit down comfortably for over a week." It had been embarrassing, but looking back, Jean could laugh at it. She took Lorna's hand for the help up. "Lets go for a burger, you only live once and I can't turn down the offer of a good cheeseburger." She tilted her head. "They come with cheese right?"
Anything else was a crime.
“This is America, of course there’s cheese,” Lorna said with a laugh. “It’s right over there.” SHe pointed out the stand and slipped her sandals back on. “I’ll race you!”
"That's important and you're gonna lose." Jean playfully shoved at Lorna and took off at a run, barefoot. The sand wasn't hot and neither was the pavement and this probably wasn't safe but Jean didn't always play it safe.
Lorna wobbled a little then took off after Jean, laughing with her first few steps. She was in passable shape but on the sand, in sandals, and with a losing start she just couldn’t make up the distance in time. She bumped Jean playfully with her shoulder when she caught up, grinning widely. “Butt.”
“I’ve still got it,” Jean declared. She laughed, then held up two fingers. “I’ll take two burgers and a water. And whatever Lorna here will have.”
Lorna laughed. “Just one burger for me, but I’ll take a Coke, too.” The burgers were an impressive size. Lorna wondered if Jean’s stomach was as big as her eyes.
“I’m starving and I’ll probably regret this, but I don’t get to indulge too often.” Some of her friends would probably be horrified at one burger, let alone two.
“More power to you,” Lorna said with a smile. “It’s important to take care of yourself, and part of that is letting loose every now and then.” Lorna was a firm believer in the healing power of indulgence.
“What other life advice do you have, o fair faced guru?” Jean took her bag of burgers to carry back to the blanket, along with a large number of napkins to clean up the inevitable mess.
Lorna snorted and took her bag and drink, bouncing along behind Jean, enjoying the view. “That’s the most important thing, I think. After putting in all the work on my doctorate I had to teach myself to relax and enjoy my free time. I think everyone should do the same.”
"I take it if I ask about rocks I won't hear the end of it?" Jean settled on the blanket, under the safety of the umbrella. With the shade and a slight breeze it was actually on the colder end of the comfortable-at-the-beach scale but she supposed this was the last weekend this would be doable, so she might as well enjoy it.
Lorna laughed loudly. “Nope, and you’ll never get a word in edgewise.” She smiled brightly at Jean, plopping next to the redhead. “Whew, that breeze makes it a little chilly. We’d better eat fast before the sun starts going down and it’s too cold to swim.”
“Then I’ll be sure to ask about that when I’ve got the time.” The redhead winked playfully, before unwrapping her first burger. It was, actually, much larger than she expected and she half worried she wouldn’t get her mouth around it, let alone eat a second one. But she was Jean Grey and she was stubborn enough to succeed.
Lorna was focused on wrapping her mouth around her own burger. It was juicy and delicious. She made a happy noise as she ate, focusing entirely on the burger in hand. Jean was pretty and fun but when Lorna ate that was all she wanted to do.
It didn’t take long for her to finish her burger. She sipped her Coke and grinned at Jean. “What do you think?”
“What do I think?” Jean asked. “Oh, swimming? We should probably get in the water and freeze our butts off.”
Lorna nodded, climbing to her feet. “yeah, I don't want to miss the good part of the day.” she offered Jean a hand to help her up. “We'll have the ocean to ourselves.”
Jean took Lorna’s hand, and brushed crumbs from her body. “Race you. And this time I’ll give you a fair start.”
“Sure!” Lorna said, before darting off toward the water.
The water was freezing, but Jean ended up having a lot of fun. Even if she did have to resort to splashing Lorna repeatedly.