The Twilight Twenty-Five
Prompt: Languid
Pen name: LightStarDusting
Character POV: Bella
Rating: M

Chapter 11 – Strawberry Fields Forever
1999

September went quickly and before long we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of October. The days were getting shorter, the darkness creeping in earlier and earlier. Classes were done for the day and we found ourselves lying on Jasper's bed, as we often did. We spooned on his bed in the near-dark, our right hands entwined near our heads, his left drawing shapes and letters on my back. Winamp's visualizer danced on the computer screen to the Grateful Dead crooning whimsically about Uncle John's band playing to the tide.

"Do you think that Uncle John's band sounds like Grateful Dead?"

Where does he come up with this stuff? "You..." I trailed off, dragging my eyes off the screen for a moment to glance over my shoulder to see his face in the glow of the computer screen. He smiled a lazy grin at me, waiting for me to complete my thought. "You are truly bizarre."

"You," he breathed out, his lips were close to my ear and he wrote out the word you in lazy script across my back with his pointer finger, "are the one hanging out with me."

Uncle John led into Zep's song about lemons and I blushed, turning my head back to rest on my arm. We watched in silence as red circles morphed into dancing purple lines that zig-zagged across the screen, in time with the tempo. The tip of his finger languidly zig-zagged across my back, which tickled a bit, but I didn't want him to stop so I stayed quiet and did my best not to squirm.

"This is strangely mesmerizing."

I hummed in agreement since my thoughts were swishy, due to the closeness of him. My ears were mostly tuned to the music coming from the speakers and his voice as he piped in here and there, singing along the words he knew. "I know. It feels like I'm high…"

We both chuckled. The comment could have been in regards to the screen in front or the guy behind me; I doubt he'd ever know the high he created within me by his mere presence. When I was near him, the colors danced and the butterflies flew. I'd come to expect the closeness with Jasper: the touching, the hand-holding, and the hugs. It was our way together and while I didn't see him nearly as close with anyone else, I also knew that it didn't necessarily mean that he felt the same for me.

There was a knock on the door but neither of us made any move to get up and answer the intruder of our bubble. Jasper called over my head "It's open." Emmett peeked his head in slowly. The door's hinges squeaked as he slowly pushed the heavy door inward and he muttered something under his breath about writing a work order for maintenance. The harsh fluorescent light from the hallway flooded in and we both squinted up at him.

"Whoa, am I interrupting something here?"

"Dude, I don't think we would have invited you in if you were," Jasper said while waving our hands around together. "Friends." I echoed his statement softly as though somehow my saying it would reinforce the fact in my head. Friends.

Emmett's eyes found mine in the dim light that glowed from the screen, shades of greens reflecting off his skin, and he nodded infinitesimally. Like he knew. However, he did not betray me when he answered. "Right, okay." He paused for a moment and I thought he might say more but instead he switched topics. "Well, I planned this program with you," he gestured to the both of us, "who live in a different music era in mind."

He pushed a flyer toward us and I squinted at it, my eyes still adjusting to the dark/light/lack of light thing that happened in the past few moments. He could see I was having trouble reading it so he filled in the blanks by stating, "Dark Side of Oz."

Of course. I'd watch The Wizard of Oz in high school, synched up with Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album. We sat in James' basement, his parents often gone on business trips and we'd take trips of our own. I also lost my virginity to James while watching "Dark Side of Oz." Ah yes, I knew "Dark Side of Oz" quite well. We were old friends.

"Dark Side of Oz, huh?" Jasper smirked at me while trying to examine the flyer. We had traded losing virginity stories one night on our walk home after selling Blow Pops to the drunks at a fraternity party. He was friends with a lot of the brothers and we worked out an agreement that we'd sell the lollipops there and give them a cut of the profits. The plan worked out well all around and the brothers wondered why they hadn't thought of it before. Our logic was when you were drunk and wanted a blow (pop), you would paid the price, which was a steep buck fifty. Most people didn't carry change and we didn't give change so we usually ended up getting two.

I knew he wouldn't dare say anything in front of Emmett, but even still, I sat up and nonchalantly took the flyer into the hand recently vacated by Jasper's. Groaning, he rolled back and rested his arm on his face. Emmett sat down at the foot of the bed, next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

"You're coming." It wasn't a question, it was a demand. He looked at Jasper and informed him, "And you're coming, too."

Jasper grinned the same lazy grin and, answering for me, stated, "Yes, we're coming together." He paused, thinking about that for a moment. "That doesn't happen often you know. Not in college, anyway. Definitely not in high school."

I smacked his leg at his double entendre, although it was nearly a triple entendre if you considered the fact that he was teasing me about my history. "I don't know, Emmett. I really have to start studying for midterms. My Semantics grade isn't so great so I need to pull it up with the midterm since it's worth twenty-five percent of the course grade."

Jasper chimed in, "When she says her grade 'isn't so great' she means that she's getting a B+ instead of her standard A. And Bella, midterms aren't for another week and a half. You have plenty of time to pull the all-nighters. We can study together. I'll buy you coffee."

I bristled, a bit defensive of my study habits. "I'm trying to turn over a new leaf in college, what with the cleanse and all. I'm being a bit better about the studying thing and looking not to have to pull all-nighters."

Emmett knew about the cleanse too. As time went on, more and more people found out about it. Emmett and the rest of the RAs in the building had come to expect Jasper and my presence at their programs. Going to parties and watching other people drink had gotten old quickly so we looked for things to do around campus as well. Surprisingly, there were more things than we had expected. Bands in the Student Union, and other random programming that we probably wouldn't have otherwise been to if we'd always gone out to parties.

Emmett pulled me tighter into his body, wrapping his other arm around me and squeezing me in a great big bear hug. "Bella, come on. You know you want to. I get brownie points with Res Life, the more people attend. I was thinking that you and Jasper would be sure bets since this is right up your alley. And it's not like you'll be going to any parties that night, right?" He finished his plea with a sad, pathetic look. Turning my head, I saw Jasper with a similar expression.

Amazing what puppy dog eyes can do to me. I felt my resolve wavering. Sighing, I gave the flyer back to Emmett and gave in to both of them. "Why do I feel like this is peer pressure?"

"Peer pressure of the best kind," Emmett reminded me. It was true. Of all the things to be pressured toward in college, going to an RA's program to support them was really on the low end of the scale.

"Fine, I'm in." Emmett squeezed me tighter before getting up to head out of the room and continued on his quest to inform the residents about the program. I settled back down into my spot and Jasper immediately started drawing on my back. Glancing once more over my shoulder, the grin reappeared when I informed him, "You're buying me coffee. Lots and lots of it."

The following Tuesday night, Jasper and I found ourselves walking into the dorm's rec room. Midterms were a week off and surprisingly, there was quite a turnout for the "Dark Side of Oz" program. Perhaps people had better taste in music than Jasper and I gave them credit for. Or perhaps (and more probable) they were pre-partying in their rooms.

"Emmett got a lot of people to come," I said to Jasper and we both laughed once more at the coming jokes. It didn't take much to amuse us.

"Well he is a big guy," Rose zinged back at us as she casually handed us "mocktails." She always came through with the jokes when we least expected and we laughed harder as she joined in. Rose, was a permanent fixture in our dorm, even though she didn't technically live there.

We made ourselves comfortable, settling onto one of the couches that faced the large screen that the Residence Life office loaned out for programs. His head rested on my lap as I languidly played with his hair, the cut from the start of school long since healed, although the scar remained. I traced it absentmindedly with my fingers.

On the third MGM lion's roar, Emmett switched on the stereo and the music synched up with the actions on the screen. I felt Jasper breathe out and relax into my leg. I asked if he felt okay and he closed his eyes, saying he was just a bit worn out from school.

It was nice to know I wasn't the only one feeling the stress of the upcoming midterms, even though he wasn't as open in admitting it and it wasn't necessary for him to study like I did. We all had our ways of handling the pressure. He was soon sleeping and I thought about waking him to bring him back to his room so he could sleep in his bed. Instead, I just sat there, his head in my lap while I played with his hair and created a new memory for "Dark Side of Oz."

After the program, we went back to Jasper's room. I had left my bag there earlier but once we returned to the room, I didn't want to leave. Peter wasn't in the room so I laid down on Jasper's bed and he crawled behind me, placing himself near the window and yawning once more. "Maybe I should go?" I quietly questioned as I turned to face him, finding him remarkably close, our noses nearly touching.

His fingers wrapped around a lock of my hair and he played with it. "Stay and snuggle for awhile?" The closeness of our bodies made my heart do crazy acrobatics in my chest and I shivered, praying that he couldn't feel my heart rapping against my chest and touching his.

Pulling me closer, he asked, "Are you cold?"

"Nah, I'm fine," I answered. The slight waver in my voice went unnoticed.

Reaching down, he took the blanket that his Nana Whitlock crocheted for him right before he came to school and wrapped it around the both of us.

I exhaled a shaky breath and buried my face into his chest so he couldn't see me. My body showed the emotions that I was trying so hard to hide. I spoke, my voice muffled by his shirt, "You're the best, you know?"

He rested his face against my hair and snuggled around me, closer and tighter. "You're my best, you know?" His words were slurred with sleep though it wasn't even midnight.

We were both quiet for awhile and a bit later he mumbled, "Sleep." When I started to pull away, his arms tightened around me, imprisoning me. He followed his one word declaration with a one word question.

"Stay?"

And I did.

KrisBCullen is my sunshine.
LoreliD, TheHeartofLife, ElleCC and Miztrezboo make me happy.

Bored on a Tuesday night leads to an early update. Let me know what you think of the chapter – I usually send teasers with my replies. :) Thank you so much for all those who are reading, alerting, and faving.

Oh! The Twilight 25 challenge will be coming to an end April 1st. My story will NOT - I fail on the time management. Note to self, you can't write a 25 chapter story in three months. No worries though, I plan to continue and write the complete story.

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about – The Beatles