So here it is, the party of the century! Must read, sorry its long, but you'll like it hopefully. The LOTR muses keep inspiring me so onward! ~ xDare2Writex

EDIT: This chapter is currently being re-written so I am sorry if its allover the place. I'm working on it, so it should be updated and making sense again soon!

Chapter Twenty-two
Dances and Drunken Escapades

Lauren and Pippin walked arm in arm towards the party in a huge grassy spot with no trees. It was decorated romantically, gold leaves and floating lights in abundance. There were wooden tables and empty spaces for dancing and talk. Despite it being the winter solace, it was quite warm. And if you needed to be warm, barrels of spiced cider and the clear fire-water were there to the rescue. Delilah and Mark sat together at a table. The rest of the Fellowship; Gimli, Aragorn, the hobbits (minus Pip) all sat by the wine kegs. Aragorn automatically filled a goblet for himself and Gimli. I watched them clink glasses.

"Cheers." The ranger said, looking anything but cheery. Gimli drank it all in one draught, then had another. By his fourth one, he began talking about how hairy and masculine female dwarfs were. I decided to not listen anymore.

"Hey." Nick said looking at me.

"Huh. Hey." I said distracted.

"Are you okay?" He asked, holding my wrist gently.

"Yeah. Wanna sit down?"

"Sure." We walked to Gimli and Aragorn's table. Gimli was definitely drunk. When he saw us he said, "Ah lovers! I'm so tired of my Aunt Nellie! Really. REALLY grandma?!" Then he tapped Aragorn's shoulder. "You, my dear are a saint and I love you so, so…much pumpkin! He passed out cold on the table, before Aragorn could strangle him for calling him "pumpkin".

Needless to say, we switched seats. I looked around, waiting for Nick to start talking. Standing over by the trees, was Legolas and Haldiar talking; the usual gaggle of girls following them. I sighed. This was going nowhere.

He jokingly started singing it. Low at first, then louder.

" I closed my eyes listening. When I opened them, he stood up, and waved his arms around.

*Squeal.*I think it's so cute that he's trying to get my attention. At school this would never happen. And just like that, I'm happy that we got into this life-threatening situation for a guy. Sad life.

I see the elves whispering about the scene we're making.

"Come here!" he beckoned. I had to go. Why not? After all, I make a fool of myself all the time. He takes my hand, and leads me in some spazy waltz.

As he sang this, he swung me around and held my waist.

"Okayyy…who are you and what have you done with jock Nick?" He laughed genuinely, and it was a nice, warm laugh.

"Nick is not here right now, can I take a message?" I became aware of no music playing.

"Hey let's have some music huh? Please!" I yell. An airy wishy-washy ballad starts to play and in stantly, other couples on the floor appear.

"Fine! I need a drink first!" Hey, I was in drinking age here. Colyne comes through the crowd with a goblet full of wine.

"Here, let's party the middlearth way!" We clink glasses and drink. As expected, it burned in my mouth and made my head rush. This time, it tasted good.

Lauren whispers something in Pippin's ear, who grins and says,

"No problem luv." Merry and him leave, only to come back minutes later. The music had mysteriously stopped. They grinned like devils.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Oh, you know, stuff." He proudly said while Merry shrugs and winks.

"Oh, you guys are terrible!" I say to them.

"Why thank you!" They say, walking away. I too, walk back to the table, getting the girls.

Some of the elves looked away. Gasp, immodesty! Wait till they saw us dance- some would need artificial respiration.

Nick was off to the side. I winked, and he winked back.

Except… that the elves didn't really understand we were dancing.

"Are they possessed? Should we not stop them?" Haldiar urgently whispered to Legolas. The prince stood watching, trying to understand something far beyond his time.

"No, I think they're… dancing."

"Dancing! What mockery of dance is that?" Haldiar replied, looking confused.

"I think it has more to do with the sound and expression with which they channel…" Legolas tried explaining.

"But it's not refined! No poise, no grace, no floating! It is strange and fails terribly." Legolas turned his head to look at Haldiar.

"Well, I suppose you could tell them that. But I think it's interesting, that we never thought to express ourselves like that."

Haldiar shuddered. "And I hope we never do."

The song ended, and we stopped. The elves stood stock-still, all eyes staring. Panting slightly, I waited for some kind of response from the crowd. All of the fellowship stared, registering this new development. I watched Pippin exclaim and walk away quickly, coming back five minutes later. For some odd reason, Nick had this devilish look on his face

Silence. I gave him such a death look. He laughed, saying, "I had to, okay? Fine how about this-"

Colyne and Boromir were dancing some strange kind of slow dance, which looked funny because he was so much taller them she was. Still, she held onto him and was looking strangely…happy. What was that about? The hobbits, trying to dance like we are, start doing Charlie-Browns without knowing what they are. Lauren and Pippin were twirling fast, and Delilah was, well, grinding the table. Maybe a splinter the size of Isengard tower will get stuck in her fat a-

I noticed some of the elves actually wanted to dance. But, they wouldn't. Even though my friends were elves, they didn't look like true elves, and the people knew they were foreigners. They needed someone they looked up to…one of their own kind. Someone cleared their throat behind me.

"May I have this dance?" Legolas asked me, but I was dazing off. I'd been thinking about Nick all day...I shook my head.

"Of course," I say, taking his hand. Half-expecting him to take my waist, he instead holds onto my hand while staying still.

"Do you think, you can show me how to dance like you do, and I can follow?" I make such a surprised face. "Very well, sir!" I reply. I start to move, slow to the tempo of this watery music.

Legolas shrugged. "You and your strange words! I hope you meant yes." He starts to move as I do, very well and soon he was dancing better than I was!

We joined hands, I was twirled, and we met forward. Everyone was on the dance floor now! Except yep, Manly Stubble Man and Gimli. Who truly was out for the count.

I couldn't stop looking at him. He could feel it too, his eyes were unfocused on the dance steps.

"You look beautiful." He says softly.

"Thank you. You too." Oops, was that weird? The song continued.

"Whoa, slow down." I said as he dipped me. I was beginning to feel…drunk. Forget beginning. I was drunk.

I said, "Did you know that I never noticed how girly your hair is?!" He was still holding me, and I couldn't look away. Legolas looks at his hair for a minute, then back at my flushed face. "No. I did not." I start mouthing the words to the song. His face comes towards mine, and-

And then he's not holding me, and I'm twirling in a circle by myself, too confused to speak. The song ended. I didn't see him anywhere. Vaguely I felt Nick's hot hand on my arm firmly sit me down.

"That was so reckless the way he just spun you! You're probably dizzy…" He was literally foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. I grab his arm.

"Nick, I am dizzy. Can you walk me back to the cabin?"

"Yeah, someone should go with you. If I see him tonight I swear I'll kick that…fairy's ass!" I gave him hard, hurt look.

"If he's a fairy, you are too! And so am I! What did you think these were, free gifts?" Grabbing at his pointed ears.

He helped me up, apologized, and we said goodnight to our friends.

"Bye!" Lauren joyfully calls, Merry and Pippin waving. Colyne waves with Boromir, sitting next to Aragorn, who nods and waves an incapacitated, sleeping Gimli's hand. Haldair raises his eyebrow as we leave, and I'm tempted to throw up allover that hideous orange tunic.

"You know, somewhere in there I'm sure you're a nice person, its just too bad your such a jackass to me." I start talking to him.

"Did you know," I say pointing at his chest. "That I can command the trees to rip someone in half? Ahem, yeah I can and guess what? I'm getting really close to doing it to you. So you better watch out!"

Thank God Nick escorted me away before I burst into singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." We keep walking; I'm leaning on Nick because my head feels so under the influence.

"How much did you drink?" He asks.

"None! One! Two! Five! Oh I don't know!" I say happily.

We were almost at the cabin…now we're here. He stops, I stop. But I swayed, and so landed on my…bottom. He keeps looking like he's trying to say something, but stops each time. Fine, I guess I have to do everything myself! Standing up, I take his hand.

"Nick. There's something I need to tell you! And by tomorrow, I'm going to regret how stupid I sound. But, please just tell me what you think about me, because I think you should be a model! Seriously! You are really hot, and I've liked you since kindergarten!" His blue eyes grew wide.

"I think you know how I feel Vanessa. But I felt like an ass because I couldn't even tell while you made goo-goo eyes at Legolas." I stopped giggling.

"I do like him. But I think I like you more." He stared at me. Then Nick, Football Captain Nick, was leaning in to kiss me.

He did. All those years of wishing, praying, and hoping for nothing short of a miracle… miracles do happen in LOTR universe. What do' ya know?

His lips tasted like the spearmint gum he loved so much; woodland scent filtered into my clothes. Something about our kiss was so sweet and innocent.

"I have to go. See you tomorrow." I stumbled up the wooden ladder up to the cabin, locked the door, and screamed at the top of my lungs.