Turn My 6's to 9's

Chapter 11: Sensibility

Although her roommate situation had been one of her primary worries, Beth's interactions with Marianne had only been positive and for that she was very happy. Marianne was different than the girls Beth had gone to high school with; she was unique, sometimes strange, and often caught in a daydream or humming to herself. But somehow their personalities meshed, and Beth preferred the little daydreamer to the college version of Lydia she had feared she'd be sharing a room with.

She and Marianne went to the dining hall for breakfast, and Beth was incredibly grateful to have someone to sit with and talk with. Despite all their other differences, (Marianne had on a Hello Kitty shirt this morning), Marianne was easy to talk with, and Beth found herself genuinely enjoying their conversations. Marianne had a style all her own. Beth had a gotten a glimpse into Marianne's closet and it was full of delicate dresses in subdued colors and silk scarves in pretty patterns...and t-shirts for heavy metal bands, Hello Kitty shirts, and an anime show that Beth had never heard of. Her shoes were black and clunky, with scuff marks around the toes. Everything about Marianne was confident. She wore whatever she wanted; she talked to whomever was around her, and people responded positively. Her confidence was inspiring.

As the first day passed, Beth began slowly but surely to learn the names of the girls in the surrounding rooms and other members of her class. She had everything completely under control and was feeling pretty good about herself until 5,000 people arrived to move into their rooms. All the freshman had moved in a day before the upperclassmen. Suddenly she felt like one tiny insignificant drop of water in a huge ocean of older and smarter people. She liked the anonymity the school offered her, but it was a lot to get used to. Still, she was happy to be where she was, and she couldn't wait for her classes to start.

"Beth…don't you have a class at 8:00?" Marianne asked in a voice laced with alarm.

Beth rolled over to look at the clock. It read 7:49, and she shot up with a start, jumping and kicking out from under the covers, almost landing in a heap on the floor as she struggled down from the loft. She had decided not to procrastinate the night before and she had set out everything she needed for the day. She had tried, in vain, to go to sleep at a reasonable time, but she and Marianne ended up talking for several hours. She had also forgotten to set her alarm.

"I'm going to be so late!" Beth exclaimed as she hurriedly put on her clothes and piled her unruly hair into a messy bun. Marianne handed Beth her bag and a stick of gum.

"You should have procrastinated like I did. I'm sure you would have woken up on time. But, since you prepared, your alarm clock didn't go off. It's some kind of universal law."

"How convenient. See you later!" She hurried out the door, down a few flights of steps, and out her dorm doors. She took a deep breath of the cool morning air and began her run across campus. Thankfully, she was spared any further embarrassment, for there were only a few people out to witness her sprint. Not many students had signed up for the 8am classes. As she opened the door to the science center, a young man collided roughly with her, almost causing her to fall with the force.

"I'm so sorry. I was running late, and I wasn't looking. Are you all right?" he said hurriedly, catching her arm to keep her steady. He looked mortified for almost bowling her over. She looked up laughingly into his concerned eyes. "Hi again!" he said in surprise, and Beth suddenly noticed that it was Will's friend from the night before. Cole Brandon, she remembered.

"Hi! I'm running late, too. Where are you headed?"

"Psych 101. What?" he added at the look on Beth's face.

"Me too."

He smiled at the coincidence. "Let's go." He ushered her through the door. They turned the corner, and Cole pushed her lightly through the classroom door. She was struck with sudden stage fright as 65 heads all turned to see who had walked in late.

"Mr. Brandon," the professor said in a dry voice. "It's so nice of you to show up for class. I really appreciate punctuality in my T. A."

"Dr. Thompson, I was going to be on time, but I ran into Beth...and we got into a discussion about Freud, and you know how I get about him." He said it with the utmost solemnity and innocence. The professor looked very much as though she wanted to laugh, but she let it go. Beth slid into the nearest open seat and mouthed a grateful 'thank you' to Cole, who nodded gravely, and then she tried to concentrate as the professor began to lecture. Her heart was still racing from the run.

As the rest of the class shuffled out, Beth slowly packed up her notes and handouts. She wanted to catch Cole at the door so she could thank him. She waited until he had finished talking with the professor and then lightly touched his arm.

"Are you leaving?"

He looked up, surprised. "Yeah, let me pack this stuff." He shuffled his papers into a neat pile and packed them into his bag before showing her out the door.

"Thank you so much for making that joke at the start of class. I don't know what I would have done if I had to walk in late by myself."

"Don't worry about it," he said calmly. "Everyone has horror stories from their first semester here. It's part of being a freshman." Although Cole was several years older than Beth, he didn't seem to mind that she had struck up a conversation with him. She appreciated how much he downplayed her showing up late to the first class. She felt herself relax.

"Where are you going next?" he asked. "I'd be happy to make you late again."

She smiled. "I'm meeting my roommate. Would you like to join us?" Inviting him to lunch seemed like the least she could do.

Cole smiled sadly. "I have another class. But we're going in the same direction. How about I walk you there?"

They chatted amicably on their walk. Beth had built up all sorts of ideas about college seniors in her head, but Cole was a nice, ordinary guy. He was a little solemn, an impression that was accentuated by the shape of his eyes that tilted down and made him look sad, but she could tell he was kind. He'd taken the time to walk with her, perhaps guessing that she felt a little lost and unsure, and she couldn't say how much she appreciated that.

As they approached the student-run café, she started looking for Marianne. They'd agreed to meet outside by the doors. "Beth! I have to tell you somethi—oh hello," Marianne said to Cole, as soon as she realized Beth had been walking with him. Beth introduced them, and Marianne's glance was polite, and her eyes flickered up and down Cole without much interest before she turned her attention back to Beth.

Cole, on the other hand, seemed very interested. "Is that an Evangelion t shirt?" he asked excitedly, pointing to Marianne's outfit. She'd paired it with a floral miniskirt and her combat boots.

"Yep," Marianne replied. Beth was surprised; she knew Marianne was more than capable of making conversation, but she obviously didn't feel like doing it. But Cole was nice! True, he maybe wasn't the most attractive guy she'd seen around campus, but his wire rimmed glasses framed his face nicely and he had been so kind to her this morning. She turned to Cole, wondering where the intelligent and engaging man she had walked with earlier had gone. He seemed to have been struck dumb. She coughed delicately and pointed to the café.

"We've got to be going. I know you've got a class to get to," she added lightly.

He shook himself a little. "Right. It was nice meeting you," he added to Marianne.

She nodded, uninterested. "Likewise."

Beth gave a little wave before she and Marianne turned and entered the doors. "Marianne, why didn't you talk to him about the anime show?" Beth asked with curiosity. "Cole is really nice."

"I'm sure he is, but I was too excited! I couldn't wait to tell you." She paused for dramatic effect. "I've met my soulmate."

"Really? After only a few hours?" Beth asked, skeptically.

"Yes, really," Marianne said, ignoring her sarcasm. "He's tall and gorgeous, really. You should see his cheekbones. I just want to sculpt them; they're perfect. He was my partner for one of those stupid icebreakers, but we talked poetry all through class. He's an artist too and so intense about his work. He looks at you like he can see right into your soul…so sexy…" Marianne finished with a little sigh.

"Does this dream-boat, sex-machine have a name?"

"John Willoughby... I just love saying it. Isn't that the most perfect name you've ever heard?" Marianne had either missed the sarcasm or chose to ignore it.

"The dreamiest," Beth replied. Marianne narrowed her eyes into a little glare, which was not at all frightening or intimidating.

"I'm sorry that I didn't try to talk to your new friend, okay?" Marianne said, sounding not at all sorry. "When you've met your soulmate, it's hard to care about anything else," she said airily. "Plus, he looked about as passionate as a pair of socks."

Beth made a tsk noise with her tongue. "Be nice. Cole saved me today when I walked into class ten minutes late. And he was kind enough to walk with me afterward, so I wasn't all alone on my first day."

"He sounds great," she said with a wave of her hand. "And I forgot you were late. How did it go?"

Beth realized Marianne was deftly maneuvering around the Cole subject, but she let it go.

"Apart from the whole waltzing in late bit, it was fine."

As the weeks passed, Beth realized there was a reason Pemberley was one of the most prestigious schools in America. Most days Beth was simply buried under her coursework. Her professors had wasted no time assigning hundreds of pages of reading and multiple essays. She'd spend hours in class each day, and the sessions were intense. Most of them were discussion based, and the professors would cold call on students. Not wanting to be embarrassed in front of the class, Beth had stayed up late every night trying to stay caught up. By the end of the third week, she was more than tired and was wondering how she would make it through another 12 weeks of classes. She didn't want to spend the entirety of her college career in the library. She hoped it would get easier with time.

She hadn't run into Will again in her first three weeks at school. She couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. For one, her brain was frazzled by the end of the day, and she worried if she did run into him, she'd say something foolish. Despite apologizing, she still felt that twinge of embarrassment when she thought about how she'd rejected him. In a way, it was amazing he'd been nice enough to talk with her at that first party at all. She was relieved he didn't hate her or seem to have lingering resentment. They'd gotten the first meeting out of the way, making amends as much as the could. She wasn't sure they needed to do any more than that. Marianne had asked about him the night of the party, and she'd given a very short summary of their past and left out all of the juicer bits. If Marianne knew the whole truth, she would make up her own romantic version of the story. Instead of describing the blundering, awkward interactions of Beth and Will, it would become a story of doomed lovers. Beth thought it would be much easier to make a fresh start without Marianne's input.

Beth and Cole would often walk together after class. After bonding over walking in late together, they started up an easy friendship. She wondered if he would ever ask her how she knew Will, but that was the difference between men and women, she supposed, because he never did, even though Beth was secretly dying to know what Cole had thought about living with Will.

She did learn a surprising thing about Cole; he loved to play the guitar. She made him promise to play for her, but he just smiled shyly and changed the subject. That shyness came out in other ways, too. When it was just the two of them, he would smile and talk, but whenever they were around Marianne, he would freeze up and go mute. Marianne was merciless in her snubbing of him, perhaps guessing that his silence indicated a special interest in her. Cole finally brought up the subject one day.

"Beth, I need your advice. I like Marianne and—."

She rolled her eyes and interrupted. "Really? I hadn't noticed."

He sighed. "I don't know how to act around her. I clam up. But I can tell from all the t shirts she wears that we have a lot in common or at least a lot of similar interests. You've got to help. There's a party this Friday. It's at my fraternity house. Will you come? Will you bring Marianne? It would be easier to talk to her there." He saw her starting to protest. "Please? The fraternity isn't what you think—or at least, not entirely," he amended after noticing her judgmental expression.

"I don't know, Cole. A frat party?"

"Don't say it like that. I'm in this fraternity, aren't I?" and that mollified Beth a little. "The three of us will hang out, and if you don't like it you don't have to stay."

She sighed. "All right. I'll try to get Marianne to go. For the record, I don't think this is a very good idea, and so if you get hurt it's definitely not my fault."

"Deal," he said, smiling softly.

On the evening of the party, she let Marianne do her makeup. She'd never been able to do anything more than eyeliner on herself. Marianne made it look easy. No black lipstick this time, although Marianne had jokingly suggested it.

The nights were getting colder, so Beth wore a jacket over her dress. As they walked toward the fraternity house, Beth breathed out a little sigh of contentment. It was such a relief to be done with classes for the week. She'd have an enormous amount to do tomorrow, but she'd think about that later. The evening was a perfect early fall twilight. A half moon was just becoming visible in the darkening night sky. A light breeze sent the first fallen leaves into a whirlwind of color around their feet before dancing off across the deserted street.

They could hear the party before they could see it. A booming bass and a large crowd gathered outside the front porch let them know which house it was. She knew about a third of the people outside from her freshmen classes, and while Marianne stopped to talk, Beth continued on inside. She wanted to find Cole so they could drop off their jackets and purses in his room. He had promised to keep the door locked so their belongings would be safe. She turned to enter another room just as someone was exiting, and they just managed to keep from running into each other.

Beth stepped backwards, looking up in surprise. Will had on dark jeans and a plain long-sleeved shirt. His wavy hair was sticking out slightly in the back like he'd just run his hands through it. He looked surprised to see her as well, although he was doing a better job than she was at hiding it. He smiled down at her, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"Hi," they said at the same moment. Beth noticed his body language and that he seemed completely at ease in the house. She was struck by a sudden idea.

"You're in this fraternity?"

He smiled knowingly. "And I can already tell what you think about that."

Beth looked guilty, getting caught in the very thing he had accused her of outside of Carla's apartment.

"It's not what you'd think based on movies. Lots of the members are sober...although a lot aren't, too. We do a lot of philanthropy in the community. The thing about fraternities is they're only as good or bad as the people who're in them," he added as an afterthought, shrugging. "Anyway, you're here, so you must not think we're all that bad."

"I wouldn't go that far," Beth said with a teasing smile.

"Are you looking for someone?" Will asked curiously as she craned her neck to see who else was in the room.

"Cole."

Will blinked at that, and she could see the question written all over his face. But he didn't ask it. "I was talking to him in the kitchen; he's probably still there."

Before she could reply, a girl Beth vaguely recognized took the moment to come up to Will. Beth's conversation with him had been continually interrupted by people walking by saying hello, but this was the first time someone had actually stopped to chat.

"Will, how are you? I haven't seen you all semester," she said cheerily. She looked Beth over with a quick up and down, and it wasn't friendly. Beth almost laughed at the animosity; she thought Beth was hitting on Will.

He looked taken aback at the interruption, but he answered her kindly, which Beth noticed with some surprise. Over the summer, whenever anyone had offered him unwanted attention, he'd iced them out. She wondered now about this newly nice version of him. The girl gave her another look, and Beth took the cue to excuse herself. She didn't need to get into something over Will. "I'm going to find Cole," Beth said, trying to keep from laughing at the idea of fighting over him. "Maybe I'll see you later," she finished. He opened his mouth to say more, but Beth was already turning away.

She found Cole in the kitchen, standing a little way off in the corner by himself. "You clean up rather nicely, Mr. Brandon," she said, teasing him. He was not a sharp dresser, but he had put on a nicer shirt than usual for the party or perhaps for Marianne. It didn't have any visible holes, at least.

"Likewise, Miss Bennet."

She had borrowed one of Marianne's dresses, even though she thought it didn't look nearly as nice on her as it did on Marianne. On petite Marianne, it was very loose and flowing, hanging down to her shins; she looked like a punk woodland fairy. On Beth, the dress was still moderately modest, but it hugged her curves and stopped just at her knees. Marianne had been emphatic in saying how good Beth looked in it, so she'd worn it.

"Yeah, well, I try. Can I put my jacket in your room?" she asked. "It's hot in here."

It was only as they were going up the stairs together that Beth realized what it must look like. But maybe the association with Cole would do the trick and keep the drunk frat boys away from her, she thought as she dropped her jacket and purse on Cole's bed. His room was tiny, but she noticed Cole had made some effort: the bed was made and the floor was clear of clothing. She also noticed the same anime from Marianne's shirts on the posters in Cole's room.

"Alright, Cole. We're going to go find my roommate, and you're going to make a wonderful impression. You'll speak eloquently, maybe quote some poetry, and she'll fall madly in love with you."

"I don't know about all of that. I'd settle for not looking like a total idiot. You'd think it would be easier than this. She likes anime; I like anime; that should be all it takes."

Beth laughed as they returned downstairs with Cole nervously wringing his hands. The large living room was transformed from when Beth had last seen it. The lights were out now, and couples had joined up to dance. Marianne was dancing quite closely with a tall and darkly handsome boy who did have rather nice cheekbones, Beth noticed. She let out a sigh, disappointed. "Damn." They were too late. She grabbed his wrist. "Let's go back to the kitchen." She had to shout for him to hear what she was saying. What little hope she had had for him and Marianne was gone with the appearance of John Willoughby, her dancing partner. "I've got bad news for you. I thought you might have a chance with Marianne…but I just saw her dancing with a guy that she likes from one of her classes. And, well, I don't really think she knows you're alive." She frowned, hoping it hadn't been too mean, but she didn't know what else to tell him. Apparently liking anime wasn't enough.

"I kind of thought that's how it was. I'm probably too old for her anyway. Why would she pay any attention to me."

Beth frowned again, looking for some way to distract him. Her eyes fell on a giant Rubbermaid tub filled with red liquid.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Jungle juice. Honestly, it's mostly Everclear and powdered Hawaiian punch. Dangerous stuff."

It didn't sound appetizing, but Beth felt like she had a duty to distract him. "In that case, you need to drink up. Forget this Marianne nonsense. Let's have a drink, and then we'll mingle. There has to be at least one other woman here who has seen your Evangelist anime show."

Cole laughed out loud at her blunder, reaching for two solo cups. "Evangelion, Beth. Evangelion."

"Whatever," she replied, unconcerned. She sniffed at the liquid while he took a big sip of his.

"Tastes like regret," he said, struggling to talk through the strong taste of it.

Beth sniffed at the liquid again before shrugging her shoulders recklessly. It was college, after all. She took a gulp and couldn't keep her features from twisting at the taste of the alcohol, only slightly dampened by the sweet flavoring of the punch. She stuck her tongue out.

"This is supposed to be punch? It tastes like rubbing alcohol smells."

Instead of responding, Cole let out a large burp, and Beth laughed. "The mark of a true frat boy. We need to get you a beer can so you can smash it on your head." Beth took a few more tiny sips of the drink, grimacing each time. She hadn't had much for dinner, and the alcohol already seemed to be rushing through her system, warm in her stomach and fingers.

Perhaps because it held the punch, the kitchen had a magic draw to the party goers. A constant stream of people fluxed in and out of the room. Beth and Cole had perched themselves against one part of the countertop and were watching their fellow students with amusement. Braver than she normally would have been after a cup of punch, she asked Cole the question she had been wondering ever since she'd met him.

"I ran into Will Darcy earlier. You two were roommates. How was that?"

"I miss living with that kid," he said fondly. "It was great." He arched an eyebrow at Beth. "Why are you asking about Will? I forgot you two knew each other before."

"No reason," Beth said quickly. She took a drink from her cup to buy time.

"How do you know him?" Cole asked, undeterred. She could see him jumping to conclusions.

"I met him this summer. And then I ran into him earlier tonight, that's all," Beth finished lamely. Cole was still looking at her with his solemn eyes, and Beth had the unsettling feeling that he was filling in the gaps of her story for himself.

"Don't tell me you're part of the Darcy fan club," he said, and that made her laugh aloud. "Every year there's a little gaggle of freshman girls that can't get over him. It would be annoying except for how obviously uncomfortable it makes him."

"I'm pretty sure I ran into one earlier. Very territorial, aren't they?"

"Very."

Beth smiled into her cup. All in all, the night was turning out to be pretty fun. Cole was good company despite the bad news about Marianne, and it was nice to just let loose for a night. She filled up her cup with more punch for good measure, tapping her solo cup against Cole's to cheers him.

A few hours later, and she was drunk, with the room spinning around her. Cole had left her to go to the bathroom, and then she had lost him in the crowd, wandering from one room to the next. She took a moment to lean against the wall of the living room, closing her eyes against the spins. Will was leaving the party, walking through the living room to the front door when he suddenly noticed Beth with her shoes in hand, using the wall as support.

"Are you all right?"

She brightened considerably on seeing him, her eyes popping open. "Will Darcy! I'm fine. I'm…" she giggled. "The ceilingss ssspinning." She blew a stray hair out of her eyes.

"Do you want to go outside and get some air?" he asked kindly, leading her out the front door.

She placed her shoes in his hands without asking while she sat down ungracefully on the front step, pointing to the step next to her. "Sit. How'sitgoing?" She said the sentence in one jumble and leaned over to nudge him with her arm. "Good party?"

"Yeah, pretty good," he said, playfully returning her nudge. "I was actually going to leave, though."

"You can't go home! There's more fun to be had!" A knowing smile came over her face. "Try the punch."

His smile was wry. "Oh, I've had my fair share of that punch in the past. Maybe some other time." He stood up slowly, noticing just how drunk she looked and wondering whether she needed to leave the party. She hadn't been with anyone: no roommate, no Cole, just standing alone in the living room looking slightly ill. "Are you going home too? I could walk you…"

"You're ss-so nice! I'll just—Oh My God! Where are my shoes?" She jumped to her feet frantically only to lose her balance and stumble into him.

"You gave them to me, remember?" She looked up at him, confused. "Don't worry, I've got them. Can you walk?"

She huffed indignantly, tossing her head and obviously feeling insulted. "Of course, I can walk…I just can't remember which way it is," she added delicately, after a pause.

He held up his hands, trying not to smile. "Just follow me."

The night was quiet as they moved away from the party. The moon had risen high in the sky, looking smaller than earlier in the evening. Beth stumbled over her own feet more and more as they walked, and eventually she linked their arms together. Will had cared for plenty of drunk friends in his time at Pemberley, both male and female, so he had no problem chaperoning Beth. Seeing and hearing her be so uninhibited was incredibly entertaining. The evening air was cold and he worried about her not wearing any shoes, but she didn't seem to mind. With a mischievous laugh, she slipped away from him, running ahead to sprawl out on a bench by the sidewalk under a bright street lamp. The bench was too short for the entire length of her body, so her feet dangled off one end as she lay on her stomach. She was making patterns in the dust and dirt with her fingers.

"You should sit up," he said with amusement when he caught up to her.

"No, I -mmphmp..." was Beth's incomprehensible response, but she turned to her side and slid her knees up to her stomach, so she was curled up on only one half of the bench.

As Will sat down next to her, he was struck with a mischievous idea of his own. "Well, if you don't sit up now, that big spider is going to start crawling up-"

Beth let out a piercing shriek. In a flash of movement, she sat up and flung herself across the bench over to him for protection, throwing her arms around his neck. Her knee pressed against his, and her breath was hot on his throat as she buried her face. "Kill it, kill it, kill it, please."

Will laughed so hard his eyes began to water, and after he caught his breath, he said, "I've never seen anyone move that fast."

Beth looked from his face to the ground where the nonexistent spider was supposed to have been. "Jerk."

She caught his eye, but he looked down quickly, the laughter slowly fading from his face. Their knees were still touching and she hadn't moved her arms from around his shoulders. When he glanced at her again, she was still looking at him intently, absentmindedly biting down on her lower lip. This time he didn't look away. Almost like she was testing what would happen, Beth leaned forward, bringing their faces closer together. Her eyes were on Will's mouth, but she didn't move any further. The silence was heavy in the moments that passed, only the sound of their breathing between them. "Are you going to kiss me?" she finally asked, looking up to his eyes.

He raised an eyebrow and searched her face. Her hair was disordered from the wind and the walk, and a rosy flush colored her cheeks. But her normally lively brown eyes were glassy, and he shook his head slightly. "No, not right now. That wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me, would it?"

She narrowed her eyes, putting distance between the two of them on the bench. "Fine. I didn't want you to do it anyway." She got up quickly only to plop back down onto the bench unsteadily a moment later. "Don't think I can walk anymore." She slumped down and closed her eyes.

"Looks like you're stuck with me then," he said kindly. He was still reeling from what happened moments before.

She didn't respond for a few minutes. "No, I'll stay here." She indicated the bench and surrounding bushes without opening her eyes.

"I don't think so. Where's your dorm?" he asked.

She still didn't open her eyes and only pointed off vaguely into the distance. "Dunno," she finally murmured.

"What do you mean, you don't know?'" he asked her with disbelief and growing concern, and she gave a little shrug.

"I don't have my key, Will. A slight problem," she said, indicating the distance of "slight" with her fingers.

"Where is it?"

"InCole'ssssroom," she replied, slurring again. "With all my other earthly belongingss." She spread her arms wide as she said it.

Will sighed, taking the moment to look her over. She was upright but swaying back and forth as she sat, like her body wasn't quite able to maintain balance, even when sitting. He couldn't leave her here. Who knew what would happen to her or what she would do on her own. It was too far to go back to the fraternity house; she would never make it there and back. He'd seen Cole before he left the party, and Cole wasn't in any better shape than Beth. They were close to the dorms now, but she couldn't get into her room and didn't have her phone or her ID. That meant he would have to swipe her into a building. Past experiences with Cole and fraternity brothers had made him good at solving late night problems. This wasn't the only time he'd run into the dilemma of someone losing their key. Still, that had been with Cole, not Beth. He had an idea, but he knew she never would have agreed to it if she'd been sober. Then again, Beth was far from sober.

She could sleep on the futon in his room. She might not like it in the morning, but it was better than waiting hours and hours for her to sober up.

"All right, come on." He put an arm around her waist to help her up. "Put your arm around me so I can help you walk."

"Where'rewegoing?"

"My room. In Donwell."

"Mr. Darcy! Gentleman indeed."

But that was all she said as Will laughed at her comment, and she didn't protest the plan. They had to walk closely with his arm firm around her waist to cover any distance. Beth was still talking and laughing, so he took that as a good sign. She was very drunk, but she didn't seem to be in any serious danger from it. They finally made it to Donwell Hall, and they only had to get up the stairs to reach his room. She slyly slipped out of his grasp and plopped down on the landing of the last flight, giggling.

"We're almost there. Are you going to quit now?"

"Yes." She stretched out on the landing of the stairs under the flickering fluorescent lighting, covering her head with her arms, apparently planning to lie for some time.

"You really won't try to walk?" he asked her, and she violently shook her head. He waited, but it seemed like she was telling the truth. Had she passed out? He couldn't tell. One thing was for sure, it would not look good to get caught like this with Beth lying on the floor. He ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I'll carry you. It's just the last flight of stairs."

"Whoa," was all she said as he scooped her up.

"Beth, if you could try to look like you're alive, that would be really helpful," he said, breathing heavily as they prepared to enter the main hallway of the dorm from the stairwell.

She pulled her head into a more upright position but couldn't quite manage to get her eyes open. "I'm doingmybest," she slurred.

He laughed but had to control it. "Don't make me laugh. I'll drop you."

"Please don't."

"Look, we're here." He propped her up against the wall and fumbled hurriedly to get the keys from his pocket. He rushed to get his door open, but Beth had already slid halfway down the wall. So far, they hadn't run into anyone and he prayed that no one would come out into the hallway because, despite actually doing a good deed, the scene would not show him in a particularly flattering light. This would look even worse than the stairwell. Thankfully, all the doors in the hall stayed closed.

"Oh, no you don't," he said, hauling Beth upright. Her feet slid across the carpet as he dragged her dead-weight to a chair in his room, and she giggled as he did. He took a minute to catch his breath as the door closed behind them and then grabbed a large glass and filled it with water from a pitcher. "Drink this."

"Punch?" She took a sip and nearly spit it back out. "Don't want that," she said, trying to hand him the cup and only managing to spill a lot of the water all over herself.

He took the nearly empty cup from her and filled it again. "I'll make you a deal. When you finish it all, you can go to sleep."

She eyed him warily, arching her eyebrow. "Promise?"

"I promise." He smiled his most winsome smile.

She narrowed her eyes, but she took the cup from him again. Taking a deep breath, she drank the whole cup in one go. "Happy?"

"Very." He turned to his dresser, rummaging in the drawers, and pulled out a long-sleeve t-shirt and a pair of shorts. When he turned back around, Beth was happily munching her way through a box of crackers, which she had grabbed from the top of his mini-fridge without asking. Will poured her another glass of water to go with the crackers. She didn't resist and even took a dainty sip.

"You can change into these, if you want," he said, holding up the shirt and shorts. From resting on the bench and in the stairwell, her dress was covered in dirt. Along with being very wet, there were also a lot of cracker crumbs now as well.

She smiled warmly at him, looking sleepy. "Thankss." She put the box of crackers down and stood unsteadily, balanced herself with the help of the chair, and then frowned.

"Something wrong?" Will asked. He hoped she wasn't about to vomit.

She mumbled something that ended with 'dress zipper'. "Help?"

He stared, mouth gaping for a second. "Ah…sure." She turned her back to him and drew her hair slowly over to the side, revealing the nape of her neck and the back of her dress. When he didn't move, she glanced over her shoulder with a look that clearly said, Well?

Will swallowed, but Beth stood calmly, unconcerned as he approached. His fingers trailed down her skin as he pulled the zipper, and he saw her shiver a little. "Sorry…" he murmured.

She turned around. "No problem." Without hesitation she began sliding the dress off her shoulders. Before Will could blink she was stepping out of it and kicking it to the side, seemingly unconcerned with standing in his room in her underwear. Will tried to have the decency to at least look down but didn't succeed very well.

She pulled the shorts on first and then clumsily pulled the shirt over her head. Beth finally seemed to notice that Will was watching the whole process. With a wicked smile, she reached up a finger and gently prodded his chest, saying, "Gentleman."

He didn't know if it was supposed to be a test or a taunt, but in another moment, she made a rather ungraceful leap onto his bed, which creaked in protest. Apparently he was going to spend the night on the futon instead.

Her voice was muffled by the covers. "You..." She paused and yawned hugely. "Smell good," she mumbled.

"Thanks..." He saw her dress lying in a pile on the floor and picked it up, smoothing out the fabric and laying it on the back of the chair. "'Night," he called out, but there was no response. She had already passed out. He made sure she was lying on her side and then grabbed a few extra blankets out of the closet to make up the futon.

Beth Bennet was in his bed, he thought with a smirk. Who could have predicted that? Of course, under the circumstances it was hardly romantic. But the timing had been good; he didn't know how else she would have gotten home from the party without his help. This was his definitive chance to show that he wasn't, in fact, an asshole. In the morning, he hoped she would agree.