Juliette gave her friend a confused look as she watched her burst into laughter. It lasted quite a while, which put Jules off a bit. She felt entirely out of the loop. There didn't seem to be anything particularly funny about what she'd just said, but apparently it had been to Sarah. She sat still across the table, eyeing her friend, and trying not to make eye contact with the people that had turned to look at the two women.

"I... met him..."

Her eyes widened when Sarah finally clued her into why she was laughing that hard for that long. "Where did you meet him? Why?" Juliette asked, trying to sound merely interested rather than slightly panicked.

"It wasn't an, uhm... You two didn't...?" Her eyes flashed to the side. She really hoped that the answer was no. She didn't really want to have to deal with the awkwardness of her friend and her boyfriend having been together. 

Sarah couldn't see how her friend made the leap in question. From her having met Sam to...

Okay, so she could see how her friend would get there.  It was just funny the way Juliette had asked.

Another snorting laugh kept her from answering, but she shook her head as an early answer. "No. No, we did not. He saved my butt from some unsavory characters and got me home safe. That was the extent of our acquaintance. I just found in funny that I knew him, if vaguely. No, Sweetheart, he is all yours." She should probably explain better. "It was during some anti-mutant protests and well, I've never been shy about my views. Some drunks decided I was an easy target and Sam came to my rescue. Helped me home since I had messed up my ankle running from said drunks. Nothing untoward happened." Sarah smiled reassuringly at her friend.

“Good,” Juliette let a little breath escape through her lips. “I mean, it would have been fine if that wasn’t the case, but it also would have been a little… strange, I suppose? I don’t know, I feel like it would be messing with the girl code or something. Plus, you know, it would be awkward for you guys if you were ever introduced.”

It felt like there was a bit of a weight lifted off of her chest. There were already enough weird things in her relationship with Sam, and she really didn’t want to have to add a previous relationship with her friend to the list. The fact that nothing actually resulted from their meeting made things a lot better, and maybe even a little easier if put in certain lights. Now they would both have a face to put to the name, and she didn’t have to worry about them…

No, she was not going to let her mind go there.

She cleared her throat and steered the conversation in a different direction, “anyway, enough about me. I remember you texted me something about this Nate guy, right? What happened with him, exactly?”

>>"...Plus, you know, it would be awkward for you guys if you were ever introduced.”

Sarah laughed a little. "Pretty sure it's still going to be awkward. But I get it. Less awkward than it could be." Had she thought Sam was attractive? Yes. But she hadn't been in a place where she would've asked him out. And probably wouldn't have been for a year or so after their meeting.

The brunette groaned at her friend's question. Nate. Did she want to get into this here? Now? No. But who else would she talk to? "Recently or do you want some of the history there? Because to be honest, it's crazy. At least by my standards."

Juliette offered her friend a tense smile and laugh, grateful that she understood. She wished that she was able to be cool and nonchalant about the whole thing, but that didn't seem to be the case. She had seemed to take on the role of the protective girlfriend - something that she didn't ever think would happen.

"Recently or do you want some of the history there? Because to be honest, it's crazy. At least by my standards."

Sarah's next comment intrigued her greatly. A crazy history with an attractive man? That sounded like the direction she had originally intended for the lunch. Much better than her awkwardly trying not to picture her friend and her boyfriend together.

"Alright, dish," Juliette grinned. "I'm in the mood for a crazy story."

John appeared next to the table almost as soon as Juliette was done talking. "The aracini, and the ravioli," he said with a wink as he set the two dishes down in front of them. "Enjoy!"

How can one be in the mood for a crazy story? Sarah wasn't sure and decided she probably didn't want to know.

Big inhale. This was going to be fun to try to make sense aloud. She took a bite of her meal as she "So when I first came to NYC I met Nate at the park and we helped each other out. He had lost his giant pet spider and I... I lost my wallet. We helped each other and swapped numbers. He then called a few months later asking if I would help him chaperone for a art field trip." Okay, so there was the beginning.

Sarah ate some more as she tried to keep her emotions calm for the next bit. "We had a few dates, got to know each other some more. I thought things were going well. And then I get a note telling me he was leaving and I was 'too good' for him to drag into whatever was going on." Sarah had no problems doing air quotes at this point. Her cutlery may have been involved when she did, but she still did them.

Juliette listened intently as she dug into her ravioli. It really was shaping up to be a crazy story. "Giant spider? Good on you. I would've just left if someone asked me to do that," she interjected with a bit of a chuckle. For some reason, she had a hard time picturing her friend combing the park for an arachnid. 

The plot thickened. A few dates would have been an interesting story anyway. One that Juliette would've liked to hear, anyway, but a fling that mysteriously disappeared? That was a crazy story. Sarah had not disappointed. 

"Go on," Juliette prompted interestedly. 

Sarah nodded in response to Juliette's question. Once her friend had heard all of the past events, the brunette geared herself to continue into recent events.

"Didn't know it was a spider at the time. You know that painting I sent you a picture of? The bowing spider? That was Parker.

"Anyway, so didn't hear from him for four-ish years. That gallery opening I had last week? He showed up. Because he missed me." She stopped. Even now it sounded ridiculous.

Juliette set her cutlery down next to her plate and rested her elbows on the table. She leaned her head forward and let it rest on her folded hands. “So a guy you sort of had a fling with tracked you down after four years… at your art show? I can’t decide if that’s creepy or endearing. It sort of sounds like a daytime soap opera, you know?

“So what was he doing all that time? Why’d he come back now?” She had several more follow-up questions, including a few less-than-work-appropriate ones about their reunion. Those could wait, though. At least until the other ones had been answered.

Oh God. Her life was a soap opera. Sarah let her head fall back at the realization. And the next bit would just make it so much worse. In for a penny...

"Prison," the brunette replied with a sardonic laugh. "He was in prison. For art forgery. Now, am I Days of Our Lives or General Hospital?"

“You’re kidding,” Juliette covered her mouth with her hands to hide the fact that she had started to laugh. She knew that her friend wasn’t lying by her own cynical laugh, but it just seemed so entirely impossible. Granted, she had recently been attacked by a sentient pumpkin while on a date, but still.

He had been sent to jail for art forgery and then attended an art show of all things. To go talk to an old flame that he hadn’t actually officially dated. Either he had fallen hard and fast, or they must’ve had a lot of fun on their first couple of dates. The thought of that made Juliette snicker even more.

“Both, at this point,” Juliette managed to get out. “You have all enough there to make an entire season of twists. What happened after he showed up, though? Don’t tell me he was arrested again?”

Sarah smiled as her friend laughed. She couldn't blame Juliette. It was pretty funny when put in a certain light. "I'm pretty sure I have at least enough for two seasons. We need the first part for one season, cliffhanger, then the recent stuff in season two," she joked. Best way to deal with this from what she could see. The brunette was happy she told her friend about this, otherwise she might brood a little.

"No, he didn't get arrested. He didn't exactly tell me who he was at first. He's changed since... well, he's changed. But we started talking and once I knew who he was and where he had been, I sorta dragged him away from the gallery. Though I probably didn't need to since he knew the curator.

"Anyway, we ended up going to a cafe and catching up. Not a whole lot more. I haven't seen him since, but you might. He's supposed to be at the school." How weird would that be? Going to pick up Juliette and ending up seeing Nate. That would not have been a good way for her to have found out where he was. Sarah chewed her next bite as she wondered about worse ways she could have found out what he had been up to.

"At the school? Is he an X? Or a teacher?" Juliette tried to remember seeing anyone like the guy that Sarah had sort of described recently. Nothing came to mind right away, which worried her on some level. Was it really a good idea for the mansion to be housing a known criminal right after he was released from prison?

Then again, she reminded herself, Sam had done things too. And he was leading the X-men now. The mansion was a place for second chances, and that meant for everyone. She decided to reserve her judgement.

"So he's a mutant, then. What can he do?" She inquired further. Sarah seemed to be a little bit done with the subject, but Juliette wanted to know who to watch out for. Perhaps she would even do a little digging from the other end. Secretly, of course.

Sarah bit back a groan. Could they not just leave her soap opera life alone for a minute? Though if it were reversed, she would probably want more information. Hell, she still wanted more info on Juliette's man. Hmmm.

"Tit for tat. I keep going, you give me some more on you and Sam. This is not 'Pick on Sarah' Day," she joked.  Just a little bit serious.  She really didn't want their entire lunch to be focused on her and not learn a bit more about what Jules had been up to.

"But from what I remember, he had something something to do with shadows. When I first met him, Nate was the art teacher. I don't know if he still is, but that was then. I helped out with an art museum trip and I remember him shielding one of the kids with shadows." She couldn't remember if he had been part of the team or not. Probably not since criminal. But it did leave Sarah wondering how well she had actually known Nate all those years ago.

Juliette threw her hands in the air. Pick on Sarah day? That was definitely not what was going on. They had started with her, anyway. "No, it's not 'Pick on Sarah' day. We started with me, remember? Don't act like this is all on me," she shook her head and grinned at her friend before taking a sip of water. It seemed that Nate was a touchy subject for her.

"Shadows, huh?" Juliette's smile faded and she nodded slowly, rolling her lips in. There were literally thousands of different mutations in the world, and he was a shadow manipulator, of all things. Of course he was. She silently kicked herself for never just going to a therapist or something to get over her fear of the dark, but the longer she left it alone, the more it seemed to fester and overcome her. Now it was a part of her. One that she had to deal with and not burden her friend with. "And an art teacher. No wonder you guys get along."

She sat a little farther back in her chair and set her fork down on her plate. Sarah wanted to know more about Sam, but where to start? The things he had told her at the pumpkin patch? The fact that he woke up screaming almost every night? Neither of those seemed like good things to bring up over a casual lunch. Or at all, really.

"Hmm. Sam has a dog and a cat? What else do you want to know?"