A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews and follows! It means a lot; I didn't think anyone would even read this!


Into your head, into your mind
Out of your soul, race through your veins
You can't escape, you can't escape

Into your life, into your dreams
Out of the dark, sunlight again
You can't explain, you can't explain

Aly & AJ - Rush


She was standing in the shallows of a clear pool, water rippling around her calf muscles and the vibrant buzzing of the jungle filling her ears. A heavy humidity settled against her, pooling in her lungs with every breath. Sweat beaded at the nape of her neck and on her chest. At first the heavy air didn't bother her, but after a moment it seemed to seep right into her skin, and suddenly all Tess could feel was warmth. A radiating heat, deep down between her hips. She wiggled a little, frowning and flexing her toes against the pebbly pool floor, but the nagging sensation remained. Tess scrunched her up her nose.

She walked forward slowly, savoring the little shocks upon her skin the deeper she submerged. Soon the water was chest high, wrapping her in a cold embrace; the waterline tickled the skin between her shoulder blades, and somehow the contact only stoked the embers behind her belly button. Tess stretched out her arms into the deep, pulling them back and forth against the light resistance of the water.

All at once, a desire to feel something solid filled her mind; she thought for a moment about returning to the pool's rocky edge, but the thought was abandoned quickly when she spotted a mossy alcove across from her, about a ten foot climb up into a rock face.

She'd have to swim the diameter of the pool to get to it.

Tess dawdled, enjoying the swishing sound her body made as she moved in the water, but then the gnawing returned to her gut. The nameless desire made her ears ring, made her veins heat as if she was a kettle put on to boil. The cool water welcomed her as she dove beneath the surface just to make the heat ebb. It halfway worked; Tess kicked her legs and swam quickly to the opposite edge. Her heart raced in a familiar way when she emerged at the base of the rock face, like there was something up there for her to find.

The ledge was slick from humidity, but not difficult to scale. Water ran in rivulets down her body as she climbed. Distant elephant trumpets sounded, echoing in the rock. When she crested the top, pulling herself into the alcove, Tess found the source of her fast-beating heart.

Jay stood in the far corner, tall and broad, lean upper body exposed and dripping from making the same swim Tess had. He was at her side a second later, reaching a hand to help her stand up.

"You made it," he said, hugging her.

Tess shivered at the contact; warmth flared behind her bellybutton and she knew this was what she'd been looking for. "Yeah, it wasn't too hard; how'd you find this place?" She mapped his back with her hands, tracing the muscle and tendons beneath the smooth skin.

"Curiosity, mostly." Jay was smiling when they parted, but something burned behind his dark eyes. He held her, arms around her waist and head tilted close.

"Didn't curiosity kill the cat?" Tess asked. She felt their hips connect as he moved even closer. Her body thrummed with nervous energy, every part of her tightly coiled in anticipation. The words didn't matter; they were empty, like lines off a script. What mattered was the heat, the burning, devouring desire. That's all that ever mattered, she thought.

Jay rolled his eyes, the ghost of a smirk playing on his lips.

"Yeah, but satisfaction brought it back."

He pulled her in for a dizzying, searing kiss, lips parted from the start. There was nothing chaste or simple about it. Her hands knotted in his long hair, his palmed her ass. The heat in her veins spilled out into every part of her, sizzling in her nerve endings. Tess felt it in her very bones. Finally.

Jay's lips lifted from hers and immediately settled against her neck, scraping his teeth and tongue along her skin, making her moan. Her hips undulated out of reflex, eliciting a sound from Jay that made her feel wicked. His hands moved to grip her waist, and suddenly there was mossy stone against her back. He pressed her to the wall of the alcove, mouth back on hers. She was delirious with want, high on the smell of him enveloping her, drunk on the taste of his tongue. Tess's back arched as his hand travelled between her legs…

BRRRRIINNGGG BBBRRRIIINNNGGG

Tess lurched awake, sticky with sweat and other things. She slapped a hand down on her alarm clock to quiet the shrill contraption, still a little lightheaded as she emerged from her dream state. Sunlight filtered through the half-drawn curtains of her and Dewey's dorm room, illuminating the clothing cluttered floor. Her dress lay discarded among small piles of laundry and textbooks, but clutched tightly in her grasp was Jay's red leather jacket.

Oh fuck.

Anxiety filled her as images from the night before came flooding back. His jacket. I stole his jacket.

"I've officially lost it," Tess murmured, feeling a bit faint.

"Lost what?" Dewey's groggy voice rose from across the room, beneath the layers of dark green sheets on her bed.

"My mind. My dignity. Any chance of making it through this semester without being the laughing stock of the entire school. Really, take your pick." Tess flung back the covers and swung her feet to the floor. Okay, breathe; just breathe dammit. Agitation moved her hands to fidget as she stared holes in the jacket.

Dewey sat up, arms over her head in a child-like stretch, before releasing a comically big yawn.

"Oh don't be so dramatic T," she said, jumping out of her bed and padding over to her dresser. "I'm sure whatever you did was not even—" she stopped short as she passed Tess' bed, eyes alighting on the same piece of outerwear Tess had been fretting over. Tess saw the shock register on her friends face, replaced almost immediately by a roguish glee.

"OH MY GOD YOU FUCKED JAY," she yelled.

"What?! NO!" Tess screeched, panic coursing through her as she vaulted off the bed to tackle Dewey to the ground. They tumbled for a moment, until the sound of a bedside table crashing to the ground halted them.

"Dewey, please," Tess said, slightly out of breath. "Not so loud." She cringed as one last bauble fell from her desk. Dewey sat on her knees, looking positively beside herself.

"Holy shit I knew you could do it T, I knew it, I knew you could do it wow this is so awesome!" She whisper-shouted, clapping her hands silently and grinning.

"Stop it! I didn't do anything!"

"Alright, so you didn't fuck him—"

"God, no I did not fuck him, have you met me?"

"—you just somehow ended up sleeping with his jacket in your bed," Dewey finished, eyebrow cocked. "You realize how shady that sounds, right?"

Tess buried her face in her hands. "Nothing happened okay? I was cold so he lent me his jacket, then I, being the resident idiot, took off before giving it back and now I'll never be able to face him again." The embarrassment rolled off her in waves.

Dewey looked almost disappointed. "Aw. I was so pumped for you T," she said, before pausing. She looked up at the jacket, then back at Tess. "So wait, that's where you were after you wandered off? Hanging out with Jay?" The disappointment faded almost as quickly as it appeared.

"Well yeah, but nothing—"

"Something obviously happened. You ended the night spooning his jacket."

Tess crossed her legs and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before continuing. "We chatted," she allowed. "That's it. Then I guess he noticed I was cold and let me have his coat. Then I ran away like a fucking asshole…" she added, groaning. "And to top it all off, I had a sex dream about him and now I'll never be able to look him in the eye again."

"Oh, sex dreams are great; how was dream-Jay?"

Dewey went to her closet and began the search for the day's outfit. Tess threw her arms up in exasperation, deciding that if this conversation was going to happen, she may as well stop fighting it. She began picking up the scattered baubles and trophies that had been upset during their brief scuffle, dusting the ones that needed dusting with the corner of her tank top.

"He was strong. And warm. Really warm… and the muscles were wonderful," she said, straightening her display of riverbed stones. "He kissed me and pushed me up against the wall of a cave. I woke up before it got good though." Tess was beginning to feel a little of the aforementioned warmth seep back into her skin as she remembered more of the dream. She started picking up her textbooks to distract herself.

"Sounds amazing," Dewey sighed as she shimmied into a pair of jeans. "How is this a problem exactly? I mean, I have those reoccurring wet dreams about Jordan and it doesn't get in the way of anything; we're in study group together."

"Not the same thing," Tess assured her. "You and Jordan have been friends for ages; I barely know Jay. How can I be a normal human being around him when all I'm picturing is him moaning and naked?" She shivered, remembering just what she'd done to make dream-Jay moan like that. "Ugh, I need a shower." Tess muttered, grabbing her towel from her desk chair and fleeing into their shared bathroom.

"A cold shower!" Dewey yelled before the door was slammed in her snickering face.

~X~

Dewey had already left for breakfast by the time Tess was done getting ready. After she'd filled up her backpack and shrugged into her favorite worn brown cardigan, Tess stood at the foot of her bed wondering what to do with the rumpled leather jacket that lay there. If I could drop it in some common area, I bet it'd eventually get back to him… Ugh, good enough.

She took the long way, meandering around the perimeter of campus, hoping not to run into anyone while she was still so distracted by her dream. It wasn't like she'd never had a sexy dream about a classmate before; after the last tourney championship, she had went to bed with a number of the player's dream versions. There'd even been one or two starring Audrey, believe it or not. But somehow this dream with Jay was really and truly messing with her head. Maybe because it was set at home? Tess breathed in the clear air of a brand new Auradonian morning and tried in vain to distance her thoughts from Jay.

The eastern bit of campus merged with a grove of dogwood, under which a tributary of Glisten River ran. The groundskeepers had erected a number of picturesque wooden bridges over the large stream, and Tess crossed over the smallest one to continue on her way. A few stray dogwood blossoms peppered the planks, coloring them a pretty blush from far away. Tess paused briefly at the apex of the structure, gazing down into the water. The creek-bed was shallow but wide, and the merry little stream was buffeted into dancing eddies as it ran over the pebbles and stones. Tess felt a strange sensation as she stared out over the stream; not happy, not sad, just… potent. It was a little like what she'd felt in the dream, but not quite as intense.

I feel… alone.

I don't know him at all, Tess thought, remembering what she'd said to Dewey. I don't know him—but I want to. She watched a pink petal drift on the breeze. She needed something. Something different. Jay was different. What even is this? Longing? Lust? God, why is everything so confusing. Maybe I really have gone insane.

Tess shook off the weird mood, resuming her walk with a new resolve in her step. The quicker she could get this done, the quicker she could lock herself in the fitness center and sweat all the feelings out. The only thing I need right now is a long session at the barre, followed by an hour or two beating a heavy bag till my knuckles bruise. If she channeled all the sexual energy into ballet and boxing, maybe there'd be none left when it came time to sleep that night. She didn't know if her heart could take another encounter with dream-Jay.

~X~

Tess was creeping in the main lobby, agonizing quietly over where to leave the incriminating piece of leather in her hands, when a voice interrupted her stressed pacing.

"Hi," Carlos said, appearing at her elbow. Tess smothered a startled squeak.

"Oh hey, um, I was just—."

"Tess, right? I think we have Advanced Tech Theory together, after lunch on Mondays—hey, is that Jay's?"

Tess blinked. "Yeeaaah it is," she said, getting an idea. "I found it on the lawn last night and thought I should return it…?" She held the jacket out to Carlos. "Here. Can you make sure he gets it back? Thanks. Oh, see you in class!"

A moment later she was hightailing it once again.