Disclaimer: The people belong to Stephenie Meyer...their ridiculous college years belong to me.


Chapter Seven: Hair Gel and Beer Bongs

I don't know if it was because I was a little buzzed from my drink I had been consuming before his attack, or if it was because Edward's arms were wrapped around me, but the gentle waves were calming, giving me the chance to steal a few seconds to think about the last couple of days.

Surprisingly enough, I ignored the sting of the salty water, and I opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings. Edward's feet were just beneath me, his toes digging into the sand as he held me beneath the ocean.

"Maybe I want to have more traditions with you."

His confusing statement echoed in my mind, and I wished that I had been able to see the expression on his face, the look in his eyes as he had uttered the words that made my heart flutter in a strange, unfamiliar way.

Had he meant them in a, 'I miss our friendship and maybe we should start that back up this week,' way? Or more in a, 'let's hug and kiss and get to know each other in the Biblical sense,'way? I was too shocked, at the time, by the words themselves to notice the tone of his voice.

One thing was for damn sure, I needed to figure out what he meant and fast, because the tiny voice inside my head was whispering, telling me I needed to admit that I wanted to make more traditions with him, too. But, I couldn't do that without knowing his intentions. It wouldn't be fair to my heart, or to his.

Before I could contemplate his mysterious words any further, I felt his arms tighten around my waist and the warm beams of the early morning sun hit the top of my head as he pulled me from the water. Edward placed me on my feet and regretfully, untangled his arms from around my middle.

"That's better," he murmured. I looked up at him, large water droplets falling down from my hair, into my eyes.

Damn, he looked even more delicious now, than he had just minutes ago on the beach.

I grinned up at him. "You were right," I conceded, my mind already racing with ideas on how to get him back for dumping me into the water against my will. Most of them involved me getting him under the water and under my hands.

"About what?"

"The water," I answered in a convincing tone. "It is warm."

Except, maybe I lied a little bit, and the warmth I felt wasn't only from the water, but also from Edward's close proximity.

"Are you admitting defeat, Swan?" he joked.

I scoffed, folding my arms across my chest in a way that increased my cleavage. Boobs, I had learned somewhere along the way, were one of Edward's major weaknesses.

"No, I'm just, uh, telling you that the water feels really good."

A hint of a smile ghosted his lips, and I knew he was forcing the corners of his lips to stay down as his eyes darkened a shade or two.

Of course, he didn't know about the little plan I was forming in my head, something that I liked to call 'payback's a bitch, no matter how breathtakingly gorgeous you look in a pair of swim trunks.'

"Oh yeah?" I asked playfully, reeling him in with my girly powers of tossing my wet hair over my shoulder and smirking.

He took a step closer, unknowingly walking into my trap. "Yeah..." His voice darkened and I got a little excited and caught up in the game. Edward was so easy to lead into my trap. All I had to do was push out my breasts a bit, and his eyes zeroed in.

I took a step towards him so we were close. "Edward?" I asked, lifting my hands so that they rested on his chiseled chest. Reminding myself that I had a plan to stick to, I slid them down a couple of inches, savoring the feel of his warm skin beneath my fingertips.

He lifted his gaze lazily, meeting mine with hooded eyes, before nodding his head for me to continue.

"Payback's a bitch," I leaned up and whispered into his ear, before shoving him backwards into the water, his arms flailing around him as he fell into a crashing wave.

He emerged from the water within seconds, blinking rapidly and smirking. He waded back towards me through the water and my laughter was uncontrollable as I watched him try to look angry and fail.

"Bella," his voice held an allure that made my knees shake like jello as he stalked closer to me, "that wasn't very nice."

I licked my lips and straightened, quickly reigning in my laughter at the sight of him. "Oh, it definitely was on my end of things."

He shook his head, silently saying no. He stopped directly in front of me, and this time, when his arms snaked around my waist, I was just as tingly as before.

Lifting me up so that my back was to his chest, I anticipated another dunking and instinctively squeezed my nose shut to hold my breath without protesting Edward's impending actions. Honestly, I welcomed them as long as I could stay close to Edward. And, I suppose the water wasn't that cold.

I couldn't think as Edward pulled us both underwater, my mind choosing only to allow the sense of touch to take over. The only things I felt were his arms around my waist, his fingers spreading out across my stomach, and his hair brushing across my back.

Twisting in his arms, I opened my eyes under the water again, this time with less stinging, so that I could take in the splendor that was Edward Cullen underwater.

My eyes widened in surprise when I noticed his eyes were open too, taking in his surroundings and…me. Emboldened by the water's veil, I lifted my right hand to his face, enjoying the day old stubble that covered his strong jaw.

He grinned, obviously as affected by the water's veil of secrecy as I was. I grinned before coming to the conclusion that surfacing for air sometime in the next couple of seconds might be crucial to my existence.

As slowly as possible, without risking complications from lack of oxygen, I pulled my hand away from his cheek, and pointed toward the surface with my index finger. He understood, agreeing to my suggestion, and moved his hands to my hips as he hoisted us back to the surface.

"Kissy, kissy," I heard Emmett holler from the shore as soon as we surfaced. "Wooowooo! Hot damn!"

Blushing, I bit my lip and waited for Edward to dispute Em's claims, however, I was met with silence. So much for that chivalry shit he was so in to.

I turned my attention back to my loud friend. "We weren't kissing, Emmett." My stance was defensive and Emmett could, unfortunately, tell.

"Sounds like you were," he taunted.

I glared at him and stalked towards the shoreline. "But we weren't," I turned to face Edward. He was following me. "Were we?"

He shook his head sadly. I hoped his actions meant he wished that we had been.

"Happy?" I asked Emmett once Edward and I were on dry land again.

"Not really," he answered bluntly. I worried that he was going to say something about feelings and how we needed to get our heads out of our asses and admit ours, but instead he whined, "I'm hungry."

Well, of course he was. I chided myself for jumping to conclusions. Rose was by Emmett's side within seconds, her hand quickly swatting him across the back of his big head.

"Damn woman, what was that for?" he complained with wide, innocent eyes.

"You just went inside and made a damn footlong sandwich, Em."

"And?" he pressed.

I watched their exchange with weird fascination, thankful that Rose had taken the attention away from Edward and myself.

"There's no way you're still hungry."

"I am, though," he pouted, his beefy arms crossed over his chest.

I knew it was all a show, because he really, really loved it when Rose bossed him around.

xXx

Emmett POV

March 2008, Sophomore Year

(609): She made a guy cry in the bar. I will have her, oh yes, I will have her.

"I hate this shit," I grumbled in Edward's ear over the roar of the music in the ballroom at the Omni Hotel in downtown New Haven.

He looked at me with surprised eyes. "Drinking?"

"No, idiot. Formals."

He shrugged. "I don't really mind."

Of course he didn't, Mr. Edward 'I wear khakis and a button down on a daily basis' Cullen probably felt like he was wearing pajamas right now or something.

"I do," I scoffed. "This suit makes me feel claustrophobic."

He chuckled and took a sip from his bourbon and coke. "Suits make Tanya frisky."

"Too bad I'm not here with a real date, then," I mumbled into my beer. "Damn Rose got to me before someone in her sorority that would actually put out could."

Across the bar, I saw Tanya lift her bony fingers into the air, beckoning Edward, so I nudged him in the arm. "The fame monster needs your attention," I told him.

Not bothering to correct my rude name for his bitch of a girlfriend, he tossed back the rest of his drink. "Have a good one, man." With a clap against my back, he disappeared into the crowd.

Sighing loudly, I took a long pull of my beer before checking my phone to see how much longer I had to endure in my monkey suit. Two hours. Fuck.

"Emmett?" I heard Bella call out just as I had set down my beer so I could loosen my tie.

I looked up and her face had worry written all over it. "Is everything okay, Swan?"

"It's uh…" she trailed off and paused, "Rose needs a little help."

"Is she okay?"

"She's fine," she said with a quick shake of her head, "it's just, the guy she's talking to might not be."

Huh?

"Lead the way." I held my hand out in a gesture for her to proceed.

The sight that awaited me at the bar was definitely not what I had been expecting. Alcohol poisoning, maybe an attempted roofie, but definitely not a man with tears streaming down his face, pleading desperately with Rose.

"Everything okay over here?" I asked in an authoritative tone that was meant to intimidate.

The man continued to cry…what a pussy.

"Shit, Rose, what did you do?" The man was a blubbering mess and, I had to admit, the fact that Rose was responsible for his distress was hot as fuck.

She rolled her eyes, standing up straight and proud as she did. "This idiot here, Royce, thinks he's good enough to get with me," she said in a bitchy tone, "and I just told him the truth."

"Which is?"

"That he isn't," she said as if it were the most obvious notion in the world. "I mean, Emmett, he's wearing a suit from Target for fucks sake."

Shit, even I had had enough decency to rent a tux for the evening. I bet he wasn't even here for the formal; either that, or he was with that slut Victoria that had been eyeing me all evening.

She continued. "And his hair…there's gel in it."

Well, if I had gel in my hair, I'd be crying too. "I still don't understand why Royce here is crying, though."

The man turned to me. "Have you ever been turned down by Rosalie Hale, dude?"

I grinned proudly. "As a matter of fact, she's my date. So, no."

His eyes widened and I could see him cower back as he noticed the size of my muscles. Before I could blink, he had disappeared into the crowd.

"Thanks, Em," Rose said, wrapping her arm around my waist and cuddling herself into my side, an action that felt surprisingly natural.

Instinctively, I leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her golden mass of hair. "No problem, babe. Need another drink?"

She nodded, looking up at me through her long eyelashes. Damn, she was beautiful. Of course I had noticed before, I wasn't blind, but the realization that she had chosen me as her date over the multiple suitors she had strutting around campus like peacocks in heat stroked my ego in a big way.

I turned to the bartender. "Vodka and sprite and another Jamison on the rocks," I ordered, turning to Rose to make sure I had her order right.

She was smiling broadly. "You remembered my drink?" she asked sweetly, a tone that I only heard leave her mouth once before in reference to the new Chloe bag she had gotten on a weekend trip to New York City with Alice and Bella.

I winked at her. "Of course."

"That was…damn, Rose."

At some point in the evening, probably around drink five or six, I had thrown caution to the wind and pulled Rose out of the ballroom and towards the front desk of the hotel, making sure that none of our nosy friends were around. It had been too damn long since I had gotten any and damn if she hadn't been laying it on heavy since I 'rescued' her from Royce, the hair gel king.

An ass rub here, a nut grab there, and shit, I needed to get her alone.

It hadn't taken much convincing and, within minutes, we were in the elevator headed to our spontaneously rented room. Our hands all over each other and our lips crashed hungrily together for the first time. We made it to the room in record time, and I had her sprawled out on the luxurious king sized bed within minutes.

"Why haven't we done that before?" she purred, her hair fanned out over the pillow.

I shook my head, completely in awe of her. "I don't know," was all I could come up with.

We stared at each other silently for a few minutes before I saw her eyes brighten.

"Em?" she asked hopefully.

"Hm?" I lifted her arm and placed a soft kiss in the crook of her elbow.

She sighed. "How do you feel about, hhmmm, the idea of friends with benefits?"

I trailed a few kisses up her arm. "As long as I'm your only, because once you get a taste of my benefits," I said decisively, "there won't be a need for other 'friends.'"

xXx

When Rose refused to give in and allow Emmett to go inside for more food because she was bossy like that and he was whipped, Emmett threw his hands up into the air in desperation.

"Whatever," he huffed and stalked towards the cooler, "maybe my hunger pains will subside if I down a few beers courtesy of Betty."

Betty was Emmett's beer bong that had, miraculously, survived through four years of college with minimal damage. Probably because he treated that thing like a child, I realized with a chuckle.

"I'll join you, Em," I was eager to get away from Edward for the moment in an attempt to quell the desire the touch him.

"Hell yeah, Swan," Emmett tossed in a fist pump for good measure. Apparently, yesterday had crossed the Jersey Shore point of no return. I mentally noted that if any hair gel mysteriously appeared in any of the bathrooms I would throw them out immediately.

Grinning, I crossed to where he stood and offered to hold the funnel for him first. He happily accepted and we were on our way.

"Ladies and…gentle ladies, care to join in as well?" Emmett asked the others, scanning the group for participants. Alice and Rosalie joined in, while Jasper and Edward were slow to board the beer bong train.

"Fine," Edward accepted last, tossing his hands into the air in mock defeat. "Since you're twisting my arm," he said sarcastically.

Emmett beamed with pride once we all surrounded him in a circle. Completely in his element, I realized that if peer pressure had been a major at Yale, he would have graduated with the highest honor.

xXx

Edward POV

November 2006, Freshman Year

(432): From inside my college history class I see him waving his arms while holding a beer bong trying to get my attention

Lesson #39 of my freshman year: If my hangover this morning was any indication, Yale alumni still knew how to throw a fucking great party. I decided that if I could still get down like they did twenty years from now, I'd die a happy man.

It was the Friday afternoon of homecoming weekend and various celebratory events had already begun to rage campus-wide, enthusiasm spreading like wild fire. Less than a mile away, I knew that Emmett and the rest of our pledge brothers were busy catering to every whim and useless desire of our alumni that had made the trek to New Haven from Manhattan or Boston or wherever they had settled down to build their empires. Most arrived the night before, eager to get the festivities started and I, being the gracious host that I was, obliged their requests of reuniting them with the land of their glory days.

Of course, I had no pity for my friends that were being ordered around by their superiors because, much to my chagrin, Jasper and I were stuck in a stuffy lecture hall with forty-five other lost souls listening to older-than-dirt Dr. Banner outline the highlights of prohibition. The irony of the situation—learning about the outlawing of alcohol sales in the United States when all I wanted to do was chug beers—wasn't lost on me.

Which brought me to lesson #40 of my unofficial freshman year guidebook: Never sign up for a class that meets until 5 o'clock on Friday afternoons with a mandatory attendance policy, no matter the circumstances. Just don't. You'll regret it.

Unable to do anything about the fact that I was stuck inside, while the rest of my friends started their weekend early, I turned towards the back of the room to check the clock. A quick glance told me that I still had another half hour of torture.

I was turning back around to face the front to resume taking notes, when something that resembled the top of Emmett's head appeared into my peripheral vision. After staring at the window for a couple of seconds, my friend didn't reappear, so I nudged Jasper with my elbow.

When he turned to me with a questioning look in his eyes, I whispered, "Give me your cell." Mine had been forgotten at the dorm.

He reluctantly handed it to me without any interrogation.

Before I could type out a quick text to Emmett to confirm his location, the phone lit up. 1 New TXT from: Emmett flashed across the screen. Interesting. Naturally, I opened it without asking for permission.

Look out the window, bro. –Em

I grinned, knowing my eyes hadn't tricked me, and returned my attention to the dusty panes.

Emmett was, as I had suspected, jumping up and down outside the lecture hall with a beer bong in his hands. Holding it up like a prize, beckoning us to join him.

I looked to Jasper for a strategy, confident he would have a solution to get rid of Emmett and the distraction he was providing.

Wrong. He was packing up his books.

"What the hell?" I seethed, confused.

He shrugged. "Shit, Edward, it's Friday afternoon, and Banner is up there droning on and on about alcohol for Christ's sake. Emmett out there is a sign that we should get away from this hell hole."

"A sign?" I hissed. Banner was notorious for calling out students that left in the middle of class and I really didn't want to be one

"Yes," he whispered back, "a sign. Join or die."

I hesitated momentarily, before the promise of fun outweighed the possible embarrassment. I chose join. Luckily, Banner, the old fart that he was, didn't notice our exit.

We emerged from the brick building to find Emmett waiting for us on a wooden bench, the newly acquired beer bong cradled in his hands reverently.

"New toy?" Jasper questioned in a mocking tone.

Emmett stood quickly. "Jasper, Edward," he began, holding it up proudly, "I would like you to meet Betty."

"Betty?" we asked in unison.

He nodded with satisfaction. "Hell yeah! Betty here is going to bring us good times this weekend."

Jasper rolled his eyes and adjusted his backpack on his shoulder. "Only you, Em."

"You know you're jealous."

"Nah," I added, "we know you'll share."

Emmett scoffed. "Not after you knocked Betty."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Where did you get…Betty?" I asked, humoring him.

"Some alumni dude gave it to me," he explained, "apparently he owns a company that makes them. Can you fucking believe that?"

Jasper and I stared at him blankly. Was he serious?

"Well, shit," Jasper said, seemingly in awe that one of our alumni was so awesome.

Emmett moved Betty back and forth between his hands. "Yes, so, now that we've all met Betty, let's go to the party."

We followed him through campus quickly, arriving at the fraternity house to find it already busting at the seams with co-eds.

I turned to Jasper and grinned. "Thank you for saving me from Banner," I admitted as Alice and Bella approached us.

He chuckled. "No problem, dude, just get me a beer. Where did Em get off to with Betty?"

Alice's eyebrows furrowed. "Who's Betty?" she asked innocently.

"Emmett's new girlfriend."

"Oh, huh," she contemplated this bit of information. "Well, let's go meet her."

Oh, Alice, you just wait…

xXx

"Edward, you're up," Emmett announced after the two of us had funneled a beer to his liking.

Moving to stand by Alice, I watched as he walked to the middle of the group, and gripped the bottom of the plastic tube, bringing it to his mouth smoothly, while Emmett poured beer into the funnel.

I told myself not to openly stare, but I ended up having to turn to Alice in an attempt to distract myself from the way his adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed the foaming liquid.

"What's on tap for dinner, Al?" I asked, knowing she had planned every night this week for us way in advance.

She did her little happy dance and eagerly explained the evening she had orchestrated in explicit detail.

"Oh, Bella, you're going to love it. We're going to this little restaurant on Sullivan's Island called Poe's Tavern. It's so good, and then we can all take a walk on the beach or something."

She definitely had it all planned out, sweet little obsessive-compulsive pixie that she was.

"That sounds great, Alice," I encouraged.

She flashed me a bright smile, and said, "It will be," her voice exuding confidence in her plans.

"Rose's turn!" Emmett boomed, drawing my attention back to the center of the circle.

Edward had disappeared from the group, and I had wondered where he ran off to when, out of nowhere, I felt a warm arm snake its way around my shoulders.

Tingles shot down my spine…must be Edward.

Sliding my eyes to the left, I confirmed my suspicions, and I sighed contentedly, scooting closer towards him with a smile forming on my lips, enjoying the sensation as his index finger slid across my shoulder in a comforting path.

In the center of the circle, Emmett was attempting to beat his previous record of consuming four beer funnels without stopping, so luckily, the attention wasn't on our unusual stance.

When Jasper started to pour the fifth beer into the bright red funnel, Edward removed his arm slowly, his warm, long fingers dusting across my back in a teasing pattern.

I whimpered lightly at the loss of contact and looked to my left, getting captured in his predatory gaze.

In his eyes, I saw a glimmer of their true depth, mysteries teasing the surface; things that had been agreed upon between us without words these last few days.

He understood the need to tread lightly with this unveiled attraction we had unknowingly stumbled upon. He knew that both of us had been hurt in the past.

He knew that there were still two very important conversations we needed to have: one about Jake, and the other about Tanya.

He knew our friends would be examining our every touch and smile, looking for hidden meanings in them.

But most importantly, he knew what his every touch did to me.