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

Chapter 9 – I Want to Hold Your Hand
1999

"Okay, so tell me again why I'm going to wear your shirt."

"Black light party for rush week." Jasper spoke as he pulled on his undershirt, his voice muffled. "We go wearing crappy white shirts. We bring highlighters. We get to write inappropriate and lewd comments on people's persons, and then we laugh the next day at what was written on ours."

I leaned on the doorframe to his room, waving to Rosalie as she walked past to the common bathroom. I'd officially met her for the first time when Jasper and I returned from our little trip to the emergency room; she and Emmett were waiting for us. I'd remembered her from the basketball courts so I asked her about the campaign. That led into an all night discussion which started with the seedy underbelly of the Student Government Association. For the record, there really wasn't one, at least not that year.

We stayed up all night in the lounge talking with Rose and Emmett. Jasper fell in and out of the conversation as he rested, his head in my lap, while I played with his hair, making sure to stay away from the giant gash. In the morning (after 8am since that's when Emmett was officially off duty), the four of us went to the diner down the street for breakfast. It was almost perfect time: too early for the hung-over crowd to go in search of food, and late enough that almost all the drunk people had already gone home. A few of the very drunk people remained, but they were mercifully quiet and well-behaved. Soon we had the diner to ourselves where we were able to talk for a few more hours about everything and nothing before we came back to the dorm and crashed for the remainder of the day.

"And you're sure that you're up to going out? Your head is feeling okay? You aren't going to pass out or anything?" It had been nearly a week since "the incident" but I didn't want to take any chances.

Jasper raised his eyebrows as he looked at me. "Shouldn't I be asking you the same question?"

"Harharhar, funny man. Why hasn't SNL called you yet?"

"They should. I'm much funnier than Chris Parnell."

"That's not saying much," I quipped back.

A white undershirt that matched his came flying toward me. Ever the graceful one, it missed my outstretched hands completely, and hit me smack in the chest before falling to the floor. He raised his brows but said nothing; he was learning quickly about my lack of coordination.

I slid my arms out of the shirt I was wearing and put my arms into his shirt's sleeves. In a quick motion, I took my shirt off of my head while sliding his shirt over. A little trick I'd learned in eighth grade gym class.

Jasper looked duly impressed. "Damn, Swan. I think you lack coordination and then you pull a move like that. I didn't even see any skin."

"Good to know you were looking, Whitlock."

"Of course I was looking. What guy wouldn't be looking?"

Rosalie came walking back down the hall, returning once more to Emmett's room. She didn't say a word, just walked behind me and pulled the shirt into a knot behind my lower back, making the shirt taut against my body. She patted my shoulders and flashed a beatific smile before heading into Emmett's room.

I turned my head back to find Jasper staring at my chest.

"Dude, seriously?"

"Throw me a bone here, Bella. What color is that?"

I giggled at his word choice while I pulled the neckline out a bit so I could peek down at the girls.

"Dark purple with black lace."

He groaned and mumbled something about lace under his breath while he grabbed a few highlighters from his desk. Handing me the purple marker, he held onto the blue one. "Should we start decorating here?"

"I think that's cheating."

We went on to argue the rules of black light parties and if it could be considered cheating if it wasn't really a game in the first place. Finally, he acquiesced, but pointed to the girls and told me that I needed to save that space for him.

"Oh, so it's like my yearbook and you're claiming your page?"

"Fuck yes. Let's do this."

Before long, we were leaning against the cool brick walls of the fraternity basement, watching the drunkenness of the party attendees in amusement. We'd been hanging out nearly every night since we had made the pact and I felt like I'd known him forever. Time played tricks in college and it made you feel like you knew someone for far longer than you actually did. In the case of Jasper and I, it worked to our advantage.

Rush week was great because it meant free parties. I loved the beginning of school. Free parties to reel in the freshmen and then free parties during rush week. Key word being free. Granted, the parties were usually only about three dollars. But when you're a poor college kid, it's nice to have that money in your own pocket. Especially when you weren't even going to be drinking the Natty Ice that was provided. Yeah, you wouldn't ever hear any complaints about free from me.

That night, we were feeling good, just being around the other people who were drunk. The drunk was contagious. I'd already been decorated with hearts by an overzealous Lucy and her pink highlighter. She had started to head for the area over my left boob, where the heart lies, but Jasper had shooed her away, his hand already there. She settled for my left sleeve, telling me that I wore my heart there. I told her to have another beer before she flitted off to do just that.

Jasper was taking his sweet time drawing a maze like pattern that turned into an elaborate heart over the left side of my chest. His tongue peeked out from his mouth as he concentrated on his artwork and he leaned with his other hand up against the brick of the basement wall. The right side was still barren and he told me he was saving it for later.

We stood for a bit, nursing our sodas and watching people highlight around us. I felt Jasper nudge me with his shoulder.

"Get a load of this one."

We watched as the tiny girl worked the basement rooms. She may have looked like Tinkerbell in stature, but she had a shadow like Peter Pan. There was a guy following behind her the entire time. He didn't talk to anyone but her, but he seemed to be holding something for her, and it looked like she handing something out as she worked the room. We could tell that she wasn't drunk even though she carried a cup of beer, suggesting otherwise. She was good. Moving from group to group, assessing the type of people they were and acting accordingly. She flirted with the guys. She acted silly drunk with the girls. She was there with a purpose in mind. Nothing about the way she acted with anyone was fake; she just seamlessly made the transition as she moved from group to group.

Finally she made her way to where Jasper and I were standing. We could both tell that she was trying to figure out what we were doing there as we were clearly not in the same inebriated state as our party counterparts.

She stood in front of us, an earnest, determined expression on her face. I could see the wheels turning and she made the calculated decision to stick out her hand toward me first, and then Jasper as she introduced herself.

"Don't be a dum-dum – vote for Alice!" She sang as she grabbed two dum-dum lollipops with the same slogan taped on them from the guy standing with her and handed them to us. I looked down and saw I had gotten a chocolate flavored one, my least favorite dum-dum lollipop flavor.

"What are you running for, Alice?" Jasper asked with interest.

"Freshman class president. I have great ideas, which I can share with you if you are interested… but I have a feeling you're not. Not many people here are."

"I'm interested. Tell me more." Jasper leaned on the wall and started talking to Alice while I continued to stare at the chocolate lollipop.

"Something wrong?" the guy with Alice asked with a bemused expression on his face.

"I don't like this flavor." I pouted. I actually pouted over a fucking free lollipop. So much for me never saying anything bad about free. I wasn't drunk. And I had highlighter all over my shirt. Yet, I was pouting over the lollipop. Priorities.

"What flavor do you like? I don't want this to impede Alice's chances of winning the election and, well, I have connections," he said as he held up the bag of dum-dums, smiling at me.

I bit my lip while I thought long and hard. This was an important decision.

"I like grape. Grape is a good flavor and it doesn't turn your mouth some funky color. Grape is the best dum-dum flavor… dare I say, ever?" I said, quite seriously.

"Grape it is." He dug through the plastic bag, searching until he found a grape one and presented me with the small lollipop wrapped in the white and purple wrapper.

"So, how did you get roped into helping her out?" I asked. I sucked on my purple lollipop, after sticking the wrapper into Jasper's back pocket. He was thoroughly engrossed in his conversation with Alice and I overheard her talking about snack machines in the commuter lounge. Very important. The sudden wave of jealousy I felt caught me a bit off guard.

"She's my twin sister. It sort of comes with the territory." He stuck his hand out toward me. "I'm Edward."

Putting the lollipop in my mouth and switching my cup to right hand, I shook his while introducing myself. "Bella."

We went on to chat for a couple of minutes and we both took turns decorating each other's shirts with the highlighters. Jasper and I promised our votes to Alice and then she and Edward continued on their campaign trail, shaking hands and handing out lollipops. If there were babies, I'm sure they would have been kissed but thank god, there were none. It was a quick meeting and at the time, we didn't realize how significant a role we'd all come to play in each other's lives.

After they had walked away from us, I turned to Jasper, only to find him watching me with a tight expression on his face.

"What is that look?"

"He liked you."

Automatically I took my defensive stance, hand on hip and head tilted to the side. "Dude, really? We spoke less than twenty sentences to each other. What the hell are you talking about?"

"Just trust me on this one, he liked you. His sister sure seemed to think so." He unwrapped his blue cotton candy lollipop and pushed the candy into his mouth. He stuck the wrapper into the same back pocket I had put mine.

"Yeah? Well, what about your 'tell me more about your campaign?' Really, Jasper, it's a freshman campaign. What the hell is there to tell?"

Jasper was quite defensive for someone who was just trying to call me out. We continued to rag on each other for a few minutes before Lucy stumbled over to us and took the lollipop out of my mouth and put it into hers, citing the fact that she clearly needed it way more than I did. The next thing I knew, she was making out with Makenna with all the guys nearby cheering them on.

"We should sell lollipops to the drunks. They seem to be a big hit." I joked to Jasper as we watched the two girls. I saw a gleam in his eye and I figured that our little tiff was forgotten as he whispered the word Blowpops in my ear.

An hour passed and my shirt glowed in the black lights as I stood the line at the bar attempting to get more soda for Jasper and me. I saw Edward coming toward me through the throngs of people. He pulled a grape lollipop out of his pocket and tossed it to me. Amazingly, I caught it. Maybe he did like me?

The music was loud and the lead singer of Portishead was wailing about nobody loving her. He tried to say something to me but I couldn't hear him. Pointing apologetically at the speaker, I just waved and he waved back. Unwrapping the lollipop, I stuck it into my mouth and got a cup of soda for Jasper and me to share once I made it up to the bar. I worked my way back over to where Jasper was standing off to the side, alone.

Deciding to go for the gusto, I did a ridiculous little dance, attempting to emulate Lucy, while holding out the cup to him and sucking on the lollipop. Even in the dimly lit basement, I could see his eyes widen slightly, the black lights making the whites stand out more. Perhaps because I knew that we had our pact, I felt more comfortable than I otherwise would. Emboldened by his reaction and the contagious drunkenness, I handed him the cup before turning directly in front of him and pressing my back to his front.

I expected to pull away from him and for us to both laugh at my antics. Instead, I felt his hand on my hip, dancing along the silver of skin that showed from where his shirt had bunched up on my body. I could feel the reaction I had on him as he pulled me tighter against him, bending his knees slightly to align our bodies together. His hot breath tickled my ear and he was about to say something when Lucy once again bounded over to us, telling me that I was doing the dance "wrong."

Shaking my head, I felt the sides of my mouth fall into a frown. I started to pull away but his hand kept me firmly in place, tight against his body. His breath mingled with the wisps of hair near my ear. "There was nothing wrong about that, Bella."

I knew that he looked at me as a friend and the whole interaction was not as big of a deal to him as it was to me. It was obvious to me so I pulled away quickly, flushed pink at our actions and his words. It seemed that drunkenness wasn't the only thing that was contagiousness in the fraternity basement but horniness as well.

The evening ended with the standard last call at 1:30 before the brothers of the house started pushing people out the door and telling party-goers that they didn't have to go home but they couldn't stay there. As soon as the brothers started their first wave of attempts to clear people out, Jasper and I decided to make our way back to the dorm.

The courtyard was mostly empty when we got there, a few random people lingering and getting fresh air before heading inside. Jasper walked me over to my stairwell door and offered to walk me upstairs.

I walked up the stairs ahead of him and he trailed closely behind me. He leaned into me, hugging my body close to his before I let myself into the suite. If I didn't go quickly, I wouldn't let go and might say something I could possibly regret.

After entering my room, I unknotted the shirt and pulled it up and off my body, getting ready for bed. I looked at the highlighted messages and artwork all over the shirt. It was then that I realized the right side of my chest was still unadorned; later had come and gone, and although Jasper had made an impression on me, there was no sign of it on my shirt.

KrisB – You. Me. Remember Me. Cannot wait to "go to school."

Heart & Lore - mine.

Cass & Elle – amazing.

Oh hi, 1999 Edward and Alice!

What's your favorite flavor?

And when I touch you I feel happy inside – The Beatles