Title: Midterm Mistletoe Madness

Author: Nate

Pairing: Paris/Rory, some Janet/Tanna (third person POV). Also somewhat OOC behavior.

Spoilers: Really nothing since there was no holiday episode for Season Four, though the timeline takes place a week before Christmas in this season.

Rating: R (sexual content and innuendo, swearing, some minor voyeurism and Tanna romance [she is 16, but I promise it isn't much])

Disclaimer: I didn't get Paris under my tree again this year, so I'm totally wondering if this Santa guy is real. Probably getting hassled by the lawyers at Warner Bros. that run the show, and Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund-Polone who actually write and produce it (shrug). Guess they don't have holiday spirit.

There are Popular references in this story; that show is from Ryan Murphy and Touchstone Television. And Naked News is the property of some company in Toronto; yes it's a real show and advance apologies for the reference to it in this story.

Archiving: GGSlash, ff.net, Realm of the Shadow, RalSt and femslash.net. Everyone else, ask first.

Summary: What happens when you get Paris and Rory in a room together with mistletoe hanging above them, along with Janet in denial about hanging it as a practical joke? You'd be very surprised.

Author's Notes: I decided to take a couple of side trips from Longing for the holiday season (I am still writing it, don't worry) once I got these ideas through my usual chat conversations with Amy and Balti, and I expanded the idea from here. The ending was originally going to be a little earlier, but I figured that Tanna needed to get involved somehow; Olivia Hack is a cutie and though grating, Tanna was exactly what the Yale dorm needed.

Thanks to Amy for helping me with the idea, and Balti for helping me with the beta and the ideas she gave me in addition.

I hope all who have read my work have a very happy holiday, whichever they celebrate, and I will have many more wonderful gifts of Longing for you in the new year. In the meantime, enjoy this gift from me, to you :-D!

Feeback: Please use Feedback Form

The scream went across Durfee 5 like that banshee legend that the freshmen would hear about but later learn was just a junior intimidation technique. Bursting out of her bedroom, the blonde girl whipped her door open and looked dead-on at the girl she couldn't even catch up to in the 40 without a rocketpack and certain BALCO-provided substances.

"Janet, you've gone way too far this time!" Her finger pointed dead straight at the Amazonian-like figure she had to call her suitemate.

"What are you talking about Paris?" she asked sweetly.

"Oh, you know what you did MacKenzie." Her dark gaze made Darth Vader looking like he was just dressing up for Halloween. "You know what you did."

"I thought we came to a truce."

"Truce? You have to be kidding me!" Paris laughed haughtily. "I do not have truces with anyone, especially know-it-all cross country scholarship cases that have boyfriends so big, when they pitch a tent, they pitch an Academy Broadway Deluxe model!"

"First of all, Not-Sarah-Michelle, 3.8 GPA. Second of all, I'll make sure to tell Daryl that appraisal of him. And third," Janet smirked, loving to annoy her roommate, "I haven't been plotting anything at all against you."

"Oh, so that sprig of mistletoe currently hanging down from the light fixture between our beds just magically grew for the last four months out of my view, and came down today?" Janet and Paris were toe to toe, face to face, both itching for confrontation.

"Maybe Rory hung it," Janet surmised.

"I did not, can you two be quiet? This midterm is vexing me something awful." Rory's melodic voice echoed from the dorm, trying to tune out the current argument that was but a daily event in her Yale life.

"See, she didn't," Paris pointed out. "Now admit it, you're trying to be a pest."

"I didn't hang it, maybe one of the fraternities hung it while we were gone--"

"Bullshit Janet, there's one other girl in this room, and Tanna isn't tall enough to reach that high."

"Are you accusing me of playing a trick on you?"

"No, I'm saying that it was you." Taking Janet's hand roughly, she found the strength to tug the girl into her dorm room, where indeed a sprig of holiday cheer hung from the fluorescent light above in the groove. "You can't tell me you weren't tall enough to hang it, you've touched the ceiling several times with those pithy little jumps you do in your stupid exercise routine."

"Paris, did you forget to take your Paxil today?" Janet smirked at her crazy roommate.

"You know what, I don't need you to confess." Paris said, getting an evil glint in her vision. Rory continued to ignore it all, finding her Walkman to be a perfect way to tune out the two.

"Good, because I didn't do it." Janet then slowly approached the smaller girl. "And even if I did, I would regard the mistletoe with reverence and respect."

"Yeah, the respect of the office perv trying to get the office slut under it."

"You haven't even kissed anyone under it yet."

"I don't know anyone who I want to."

"Well it doesn't matter," Janet reminded. "As long as two people are under it, they must kiss. And from the looks of Rory's shoes at her bedside, books on her mattress, and the same on your side, both you and Rory have avoided your holiday duties."

Paris immediately retorted at Janet, though without the benefit of a chair ref and tennis racket. "You cannot be serious!" This was enough to make Rory tear off her earphones and rise up from her aborted studying.

"God, will you two shut up already?"

"Not until you kiss Paris," Janet said, knowing getting Gilmore in the middle would bring her much entertainment.

"What?!"

"What?!"

"There is mistletoe hanging and you both were under it later, what are you waiting for?"

"Death," Paris said coldly. "There is no way I'm kissing Gilmore. I mean look at her, she's so straight, she's like the straight man's Judy Garland!"

Rory responded to Janet with a retort of her own. "I'd rather watch MTV's Spring Break coverage for 12 hours straight than kiss her."

"Aww, you don't have any Christmas spirit girls?"

"Might I remind you," Paris noted, "that I don't celebrate Christmas. See the wacky little candlestick in the window with nine holders? That's called a menorah. The menorah honors Hanukkah, which in turn is celebrated by Jews. In turn, I am Jewish and I don't celebrate Christmas!"

"Hey, not trying to question your faith Gellar. But I will note that the mistletoe is not a stubborn Christian tradition, one legend puts it as starting with the Druids."

"Janet, is there a point to this?" Rory asked. "This exam isn't going to do itself."

"I didn't do anything but stubborn Paris here won't admit she's beat!"

"Because you did it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did--"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT THE FUCK UP?!"

The kindergartners...er, college girls turned over to their brunette peer, seething and letting out a rare profanity at her roommates having yet another clash together.

"Rory..." Janet tried to defend herself, but Rory held her hand up.

"I'm trying to get my work done, but I can't because you're fighting over a plant hanging over our heads. Geeze, it's mistletoe, not a spider placed as a prank. Now I don't care who did it, but I'd like some peace, so get out of the dorm if you're going to continue to fight." Thinking she had finally won a fight against the gruesome twosome, Rory declared victory for herself silently and prepared to go back to work.

With that, Janet decided to make amends. "I'll stop fighting Rory." She smiled, and the apology seemed heartfelt. "Sorry."

"Me too," Paris said. "Exams just ruin my focus so much in December because of everything I have to do."

"It's alright girls." Rory smiled and started back for her desk, when she felt Janet's hand wrap around her shoulder.

"Rory, I'll stop fighting if you and Paris kiss under here already."

The brunette and blonde looked like deer in the headlights as indeed, Rory's rush brought her undeniably beneath the mistletoe, along with her roommate. She looked up and sighed.

"Oh crap!" Rory shook her head. "Come on, you're not going to seriously make us do this, are you? Might I note that usually a woman and a man kiss beneath this?"

"Stop being so Puritan, it's college, experimentation," Janet noted, amused at all that was going on. "It's not as if you hate each other."

"Of course not, we're friends." Rory smiled at Paris, who agreed with that assessment.

"Riggght, so that wasn't Paris a few nights ago as I poured a glass of water moaning your name in pleasure as she slept."

"Huh?" This made Paris clench her fists.

"What are you talking about?" Paris gritted out.

Janet's skill in her school's annual talent show usually revolved around mimicking others, and somehow she formed her voice into a perfect reproduction of Paris' droll monotone. "Rory, right there, that's the spot, oh God...yeah, rub my back, no, not there, now around the front...oh yes, yes..." With Paris about ready to cause a justifiable homicide, she finished with a cat-like growl of how Paris moaned out Rory's last name. "Gilmorrrreeee...that was great."

Rory indeed, remembered that Paris' sleep-talking indeed was heated at times, and a few of the sleep talking dreams involved her. Come to think of it, I've been outranking Jamie lately as a sleep-talking dream subject.

But that would have to be put at the back of her mind, for a red-faced Paris was ready to put Janet into a headlock for violating her only sanctuary. She was gritting her teeth and threatening Janet's huge exercise ball with a razor slashing if she didn't stop now.

Still the athlete didn't back down. "I can always get another one, now you two kiss and be jolly!"

"NO!" They screamed in unison.

"Come on, you know you both need one! Rory, if I remember right, you were up late studying in the common room last month for a test, right?"

"So?"

"In reality you had a marathon of old Popular episodes you taped, and somehow a pay-per-view called Naked News TV got on the cable bill, care to explain it?"

It was Rory's turn to blush like a schoolgirl, violently trying to come up with an excuse to make Janet back off. "I did not, who would--"

"If you remember, Tanna and I were out at a volleyball game, and Paris was visiting with Daddy Gellar, so unless someone broke into the room and rented that show--"

"OK, fine! I ordered it, but just for a thesis I'm doing on modern media and alternate delivery methods!!" Rory's voice was louder than Paris had ever heard it. "I thought it was unique and well-done, it's a great way to deliver the news!"

"Still doesn't explain your perving over Sam and Brooke!"

"What?"

"You borrowed my computer a few days ago because yours had a dead battery, and somehow fanfiction adventures between the two of them fell into my history! Some of them I might note carrying the rating NC-17"

That, Rory couldn't really excuse all that easily. "Uh, I was bored?"

"No," Janet said, with a smirk, eyeing up the two girls. "You have a thing for blondes."

"Excuse me, Brooke's a cheerleader!" Rory correctly noted.

"And so is Paris, in your dreams. Not that I know because you don't have the sleep-talking thing like she does, but no boy since that Jess guy left you last year, fighting with that cute stud over a study tree, not to mention no interest in Marty at all, come on, all the signs are there!"

Sputtering and wondering why she didn't just keep her headphones on instead of trying to stop this whole thing, Rory tried one last argument to make the point there was no way she was eyeing up Paris in more than a friendly way.

"She has Jamie, hello? A guy, meaning she's straight as an arrow!"

Janet snorted. "Yeah, a guy she hasn't seen in months. Unless she puts her cell phone on vibrate and shoves it down her pants, there's no way she's satisfied."

"You're so lewd!" Paris screamed. "Do I have to have sex in order to justify why I don't want to kiss under this stupid sprig?" Then she turned her attention at Rory. "Naked News?"

"It's an interesting concept," Rory argued back. "The news as someone takes off their clothes, what a way to draw in viewers."

"Sure, to a lonely man with absolutely no companionship or shame, how could you reduce yourself to watching that crap?"

"It was for research!" Rory claimed again.

"Whatever, I don't care about that, it's this sudden infatuation with Popular that's shocking."

"I never watched it when I was younger, I was embarrassed to admit to Mom that I like Leslie Bibb and Carly Pope--"

"Ahh, so the plot thickens," Janet mused. "Our fair roommate wanting a three-way with two fine ladies playing kicking and screaming stepsisters who so want each other."

"Get your mind out of the gutter, I meant as actresses!" Rory raised her hands up, wishing for all this to be over. So she did watch Popular for the subtext, and so she had been crushing on Paris lately because of a lack of privacy, any interesting males and that damned body Paris was exposing more thanks to the encouragement of her life coach, how was she to know Paris had a voluptuous figure beneath the Chilton uniform? Well she knew now, but she had to deny the draw of kissing Paris under the mistletoe, scared to show her now true feelings for the smaller woman.

"Janet, just go, please," Paris begged. "We're both not in the holiday spirit, and you're reading way too much into things. We're just friends, that's all."

There was no way Paris' new mortal enemy was leaving without a fight...or a kiss. The clues into their attraction had built up over the last five months and she was going to see them get into Christmas full-tilt.

"Oh of course, friends. A friend who regularly checks out her friend's ass."

"I do not!" No one noticed Rory suddenly sitting down on her bed in reaction.

"You also touch her a lot; same with you Ror. Smoothing out shirts, passing things, close hugging. I see girls in the locker room touch all the time, but not as much as you both do."

"What are you talking about--"

"THERE!!" Janet pointed at Paris touching Rory's arm to soothe her. "And you're looking at her breasts!"

Paris felt caught, because indeed she was looking at Rory, swelling nipples poking from beneath her purple shirt from the arousal she was going through. She was thankful for her thick sweater, for without it she would have that same look directed towards her.

"We don't touch that often!"

"Your hand is at Rory's side on movie nights, especially when she has the popcorn bowl."

"But--"

"Tanna wants to sit in the middle and she never can, because you two have to be together, always."

Rory wanted to use an excuse to flee the room, since she felt the anger radiating from Paris going through her, which she considered a turn-on. Those long debates and the arguments with Janet showed not only to her that Paris could stand her ground, but in bed she would be quite physical. She looked up at the sprig of mistletoe, those clear blue eyes regarding the sprig like a shining beacon, pointing towards Paris, who was standing up to Janet despite the girl having 10" on her, though not as well as she hoped.

"You really think I want Rory as more than a friend?"

"Thanksgiving break after we get back, the common room smells of vanilla perfume. I have to wonder Gellar if you sprayed it as a reminder of your alleged not-beloved."

Paris was speechless at that, since indeed being the first to get back after Thanksgiving, she missed Rory and reminded herself of the girl with a few spritzes.

"Second, you seem shy, yet you and her change in the dorm instead of the bathroom, together." Rory had to admit that was another ruse in order to see her roommate in the buff. Paris tried to deny it, but found the space between her legs wettening from the thought of seeing her slim 'farm girl' and all the various freckling speckled throughout her body, along with the neat triangle of hair covering her modesty.

"Third, come on, I've seen pictures of Jamie, it looks like he barely broke your hymen! The guy screams 'square sex', thus your mind drifts to her in sleep, and you think of her doing much more than he did." The truth was Jamie and her had broken up in September, indeed because of his lack of bedding skills and some erectile difficulties, and his dirty talk seemed stolen from bad Cinemax porn. That and Jamie's family found her unworthy of him. Her eyes finally drifted towards Rory, and she loved what she saw, except that it would have to be a dream.

"I'm not kissing her under the mistletoe, sorry to break your bubble, Janet." She crossed her arms across her chest, trying to stiffen her resolve to not fall for Rory, no matter what.

"Me either," Rory said rather unconvincingly as she noticed her shorter roommate's form looked quite flattering, and flashed to a third-person image of what a kiss between her and Paris would look like. She felt unsettled and nervous, looking up at the mistletoe and back towards the girls, trying to consider all the facts in her own impromptu pro/con list.

It wasn't like she had many dating options lately, and she couldn't give a crap about what Dean and Lindsay were up to. Jess had disappeared, and Tristan? But a glint in her past at this point. Through it all, she had survived it with Paris, a picture of beauty, grace, and intelligence. She was everything she'd want in a lover, except that she was a girl.

Someone Rory 'Innocent Teenage Offspring' Gilmore wasn't supposed to lust for.

She had noticed Paris' deep stares, her scrutinizing over the years over all her work, the slight sniff she gave the moment she was out of the shower, wearing but a bath towel and her vanilla body wash. There were the many transcripts of her sleep talking over the last few months, hearing the tale of her dumping Jamie and sweeping Rory off her feet.

And even though at the start of the term she thought it crazy for Paris to have Harold Gellar pay $5,000 for the chance to get her in the same room in Durfee 5, she had to admit the girl was a great roommate, and made Yale life so much saner.

It also helps that she's quite cute, and only one guy has seen that. They must really be morons to not notice her. Stop looking at Louise, look at her, look at her!!

She came to a conclusion; kissing Paris under the mistletoe wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. It might even be the best.

And if it leads to more than kissing...Rory grinned evilly to herself. She was sure to freak out Paris, but it would be so much fun. If not for the romantic aspects, she would have an amusing tale for Lorelai to tell over winter break.

Back between Paris and Janet, the two were now at loggerheads, continuing to argue about the mistletoe.

"If Tanna and my guy were under the mistletoe, you'd encourage it!"

"I wouldn't because the guy would crush her with his hands!" Paris darkly suggested. "I'm surprised his hickeys don't take up your whole neck."

"Who says he's ever done me?" Janet suggested with a grin. "I let him paw me up, but it's all jog, no play so far." She winked as both Rory and Paris more than got her meaning.

"OK, I didn't need to hear that!" Paris cried.

"Hey, I'm an athlete, you know the superstition, kind of like the 'no sex before the big exam' theory for you guys."

"I never believed that!" Paris screamed out. "As a matter of fact I've read several studies where sex increases blood flow everywhere, including your brain!"

Oh geeze! Rory's conscience stated. Don't make it easy, please...Rory started looking at Paris more, at her curves, the way her sweater fit perfectly, and how perfect those brown corduroy pants looked on her slim legs. She felt herself stir, the bra she wore feeling tight against her bosom.

"See, then it's perfect, you kiss Rory, you both exchange some knowledge and stuff."

"Look at her Janet, you really think she's going to get up and kiss me?!" She pointed towards Rory, who was unsettled and jumpy, just thinking about the idea of Par's soft lips against hers.

Fighting the urge, fighting the urge, fighting the urge...More images of making Paris' dreams come true came to her, along with the daydreams she had herself of having the rich academic all to herself. She was glad for the spray of the shower and the slimness of her fingers, covering up the sounds of her getting off in the shower before accompanying Paris to the dining hall for breakfast.

"You want her," Janet noted one last time. "Under the mistletoe or under you." She smiled, knowing that would ire Paris. Of course it brought more suggestions into Rory's mind...

"She's as innocent as an angel, aren't you?" Paris then looked towards her, and Rory, suddenly cursing her choice of blue Care Bear panties full of a Cheer Bear pattern, didn't want to only get this over with, but make it known that she was always up for a challenge.

Slowly, she got up from the bed, knowing only three feet were between her, Paris, and the wall. With a smile not known before, she regarded Janet, then the mistletoe, and then with hooded eyes a deep blue, licked her lips as she looked over her roommate, so alluring to her after so many dud boys and a sex life that consisted of one roll in the hay with Jess before he left for California that was awkward as expected; they both thought it good, but not enough to keep them together.

Paris looked at her as if her brunette counterpart just sprung another head to the side. "Rory?"

"Yes Par?" she cooed softly.

Somehow, Paris kept her voice even, trying to keep her eyes off Rory's puckered nipples, playing peek-a-boo through her shirt and very hard. "What are you doing?"

"Kissing you under the mistletoe." She brought her left hand to Paris' side, and the blonde shuddered, as Janet got a dreamy look on her face.

"You can't," Paris said. "You don't have to---"

"But I want to." She backed Paris closer to the wall in the space between their beds. "Come on, get in the holiday spirit, though I have to say that the Scrooge imitation? Very cute." She moved her other hand to Paris' untouched side.

"Rory," Paris groaned out, "don't fall to peer pressure."

"What pressure?" She moved her face closer. "There's mistletoe, and I'm kissing you under it."

She tried to move away, but to no avail, since Rory was surrounding her on all sides "Janet, get Rory away from me, you've brainwashed her!"

"Have I? Seems like Rory did this on her own free will." Janet stood to the side, watching this hilarious scene ensue.

"I mean it, I swear that I will tell your coach--" she tried to move out of the way, but suddenly, Rory used her strength to push Paris into the wall, and then with all she had learned not to do over the years with her boys, touched her lips softly to Paris', meaning nothing more than that.

Paris' first reflex, to fight or flee, was undone by her second, to feel. The meeting of her lips, and quickly those images she saw in her dreams of Rory between her legs, pleasing her to orgasms unmet by Jamie in any form of activity, flew up her brainstem and into her memory. She sucked back a breath, trying to deny that Rory's kiss was feeling so good.

Her response to the stimuli was overwhelming, reason pushed to the back as blood rushed to her face. She couldn't understand why she was reacting this way, nor why she wasn't pulling back. Rory was kissing her softly in a friendly way, but it felt just as deep, just as romantic as any kiss she shared with Jamie, and certainly miles ahead of the pity buss of Tristan three years ago.

She had wanted it for so long, but wouldn't convey this, thinking Rory would only do it if possessed. But yet there they were, under the mistletoe, kissing.

Paris came to her senses, this was just a joke to Rory, there were no friendly feelings attached to it. She tried to push Rory back towards the center of the room, releasing from the kiss long enough to say something.

"You don't want this," Paris warned. "This isn't you Rory."

Rory shook her head, and giggled. "Yes it is, can't you have a little fun? What's wrong with a little kissing between friends?" She bit down on her lip, trying to look irresistibly cute to the girl in front of her.

"Besides..." she moved even closer, trying to draw her in, "you are a good kisser, even with your heart not in it." She stuck her chest out a bit, trying to have Paris eye her up. Off to the side, Janet stayed quite amused, trying to hide the fact that she thought the two of them looked like a cute couple.

"Rory," Paris argued. "I'm not---" Another short kiss ensued, Rory pecking Paris and then pulling back, leaving the girl speechless.

"Into labels? I'm not either." A dissuading move to make it known she didn't care about the scandalous implications. "Now admit it, that was a nice kiss." She brought Paris into false security, thinking she could fake her out. The kiss was amazing to her, and she craved more.

Paris nodded. "It was."

"Would you like to try it again?" Her eyes looked into Paris', wide as dark chestnuts, a swell of lust coming through the blonde. "You know, being friends and all?"

"Rory..." Paris tried to dissuade herself from it; she could stop now and keep herself a close friend to Gilmore.

Or she could go the other way and see where things led them. Peace on Earth, goodwill to all men, all that jazz...she now realized that maybe seeing Chicago a few days earlier wasn't a good idea, Catherine Zeta-Jones' Welsh brogue being one of her weaknesses and a reason she went with T-Mobile instead of her former Verizon service. The blonde Roxie-brunette Velma paradox she saw on the silver screen was also less of a help, considering who had natural brown hair in front of her.

She stared at her classmate, dumbfounded, feeling alien to this feeling of pure want, lust, and desire. She had taken Jamie pretty much because he was the first guy to eye her up, not much else. He had the intellectual capabilities to run with her, but he just didn't have that true spark Paris craved.

However, she thought she could find it with Rory, it had to be there, because she certainly felt it. She brought her head around to look at Janet, sitting in her work chair, amused by the entire scene, as she was wont to do.

Her hands at her sides, she wanted to feel Rory's slim form against hers, and maybe give the roommate she didn't want uncomfortable. She wanted me to kiss Rory under the mistletoe? Fine. She's gonna get a lot more than she bargained for. Her eyes back on Rory, she smiled in the way she only did around Rory, and slid her hands onto the lithe girl's waist.

"Rory?" Her voice was full of suggestion.

"Mm-hmm?" Rory's mind was spun towards the same direction, wanting to continue this fun experimentation and give Janet a taste of her own medicine. She didn't expect to shudder as Paris brought herself onto tip-toe to reach the sensitive shell of her ear to whisper into it. Nor did she expect her teeth to brush up against her earlobe.

"I do dream of you in the way Janet said, and let me tell you that it's hot. What do you say we knock her socks off and try to get her out of here?" A whimper from the brunette, and she brought her own mouth to Paris' ear, groaning as the blonde then got back on her feet by brushing a slow kiss across her cheek and onto her lips, the eroticism hardly lost on the girl not really experienced in bed.

Softly, she responded to the offer. "Give her what she wants? Or..." Rory slid a hand beneath Paris' sweater, the soft skin contained beneath one of the reasons she loved their movie night cuddles and wouldn't dare have Tanna next to her. "...what I want?"

"Depends, are you more of a Sam, or a Brooke girl?" Paris intoned. Rory had to choke back laughter.

"You watched too?"

"What can I say, the idea of two girls pushed together in a weird situation floats my boat, I watched during Thanksgiving break. I have to put in my vote for Sam." She smiled at Rory, then kissed her again. "Reminds of a certain someone."

"Brooke is kind of like you, except with less anorexia and cheerleading. And we don't fight over boys."

"We did over Tristan."

"To an extent, yes." Rory softly kisses Paris again. "But he can't warm a bed like a dream of you can...God, your skin is so soft." She hooded her eyes, the feelings and subtext between them finally coming out after years of dormancy.

"Yours is very freckly, if that is a word."

Rory shook her head and brought herself closer. "So you do notice me naked. I guess I can admit I'm jealous of what you keep beneath that shirt." Her eyes directed blatantly down at Paris' chest, causing the shorter girl to blush.

"Touche, Lorelai. I never thought you noticed."

"Oh, I notice a lot of things. Like over there, Janet is getting twitchy and nervous, like she's waiting for us to release contact."

"Should we?" Paris asked, knowing she didn't want to, nor did Rory by any means. Rory pushed her hands further into Paris' sweater, trying to get even more into what Janet might see as a charade.

"Now Paris, we wouldn't want do disappoint traditionalists, now would we?" She smiled and seeing Parispush closer and holding back a soft moan, knew she had permission to instigate further.

"Of course we wouldn't." With smiles, wrapped together so closely, they finally stopped talking about everything and did something about the sexual tension hanging for years over them. They started the kiss slow, nothing that would get Janet's sport shorts in a bunch at all, what the tall athletic thought as normal for two friends realizing what was between them under the mistletoe.

The kiss, at first soft, deepened slowly, both trying to get used to the feeling of soft lips and light scents between them. Both found themselves falling into a chasm, acknowledging what had been between them so long. Rory always knew Paris wanted her in the same dorm for closeness, not just familiarity. All the dreams she heard in sleep made it clear that Rory was the only one ever thought of in them.

It took her a bit, but Rory took the next step, slipping her tongue into the blonde's mouth with some trepidation, scared to freak her former editor out. Surprised at first, Paris took it as a wonderful sign, something she had always wanted. In the space of a few seconds, the kiss went from innocent and cute, to rough and wanting. Breaching that barrier was all it took for their raw instincts of want to trigger.

They started to gasp for air, their feet becoming sore from standing in the same place for five minutes, beneath the mistletoe. Paris was flush against Rory, her legs like rubber, struggling to stay up from her having to tip-toe to meet Rory's height. Her hands wandered Rory's back, wanting more contact, the cashmere sweater on her a heavy impediment against further contact.

She wanted it off, Rory's hands now at her bra line and thumbs brushing against the light pink article beneath, the large cups harnessing her breasts stressed from nipples engorged with blood, fully aroused.

"Take it off," Paris gritted out. "Now."

Over in the corner, Janet was enjoying how awkward things were, and she was about to get her cell phone out so she could get a picture of the 'cute couple' together, ready to be sent throughout campus.

"Not if you don't take off mine," Rory moaned, Paris' slim fingers sending tremors up from her side through her whole body, with blood running in a neat pattern right to the trunk of her legs. Suddenly she was thankful she had on a blouse instead of a t-shirt. "Did I mention I'm not wearing a bra?" she intoned with a hint of lust.

"I could tell," Paris had noticed, and with Rory working her out of the bulky top, felt herself fall further into the holiday spirit so unexpectedly. Rory tugged at the sweater, trying to work it off her quickly. She couldn't believe in the space of twenty minutes she had gone from concentrating on her mid-terms, to wanting her longtime friend. Finally Rory worked the shirt over Paris' head, the sparks of static cling emanating from the article causing Paris' hair to go wild as it came off her head, becoming wild and untangled.

Janet's eyes suddenly popped wide open. What the fuck?! She stood up from her chair, surprised about the sudden turn of events. I said for them to kiss under the mistletoe, not get freaky!! She was even more surprised when Paris decided to rush things along, ripping open Rory's blouse down the middle, a couple of buttons popping off. One of them headed towards Janet, and she had to duck as her shrieking self saw Paris become dominant over the situation, forcing Rory onto her bed and getting atop of her as she moved her kisses down towards Rory's bared breasts.

"Oh God!" Janet exclaimed, seeing what had been a practical joke become a passionate pre-holiday dalliance between two girls with tons of sexual tension between them. She watched as they came together with the occasional word to each other that they should've done this years ago, and they both felt so good and soft to each other, and how cute it was they were coming together this way.

"I don't do cute," Paris glumly explained. "I'm serious." Rory reached around her back and unhooked her bra, then quickly worked it off Paris, now trying to be shy about her God-given gifts.

"I'm doing cute right now." Rory laughed, slipped the bra off, and tossed it away, her mouth working down towards Paris' abundant cleavage. The lacy lingerie ended up near Janet, who was now but an unseen spectator to all this. All the noise in the world couldn't tear these girls away, and Janet felt herself wanting to move a hand where she certainly didn't need it.

Along with a nagging need to join in, which she quickly pushed aside. Hello, you don't ruin something like that. Her face hot with excitement, she watched over the next five minutes as her suitemates finally settled so much tension. Clothes kept coming towards her, shoes were kicked off. Rory's pants ended up hanging off a post, Paris' pair draped over her G4's LCD screen. She tried to make sense of all of this, but had quite a hard time doing so since both girls were in their own little world.

"Rory," Paris insinuated softly as the brunette kissed down her belly, "I really do want this, it's not just a reaction to the sitation."

"I know you do." Rory smiled from above, her fingers playing with the lacy fringe of the bikini underwear hiding the last of Paris Gellar from her view. "I hear you in bed, you're definitely a moaner."

"Shit, Gilmore!!" She brought her hands down to grip at Rory's sides, those poor Care Bears panties indeed quite soaked with arousal and just begging to come off. "If you're gonna make me come, you're going to do it at the same time. Is that understood?" She smirked, sliding her hands onto Rory's firm ass.

"Why didn't you say you wanted to dominate me?" She gave off that long-perfected mousy look and prepared for her and Paris to make love like they never had before. "So we want each other?"

"That's what I conclude." With that declaration, the girls forgot about everything else but their pleasure, and they started to make love, with an overstimulated Janet having just enough feeling in her legs to slowly get out of the room, her eyes still on the two girls as they brought their legs together and started to show how much love was hidden within them both. She made her way out of the dorm slowly, and shut the door softly, to keep the girls within their own cocoon. Janet was overwhelmed by so much as she made her way back into the common room, holding onto the chair rail until she reached the couch in the room, slumping down on it and cursing herself for wearing such tight clothes. Her shirt felt so tight, and as she covered up with a blanket, she could hear the two girls screaming and moaning their pleasure as she tried to tune it all out with one of those sappy ABC Family movies they showed during Christmas time.

It was supposed to be a joke, she thought to herself, that's it! She thought it would be funny and everyone would move on. This despite all the signs she saw of the two having more than a passing interest in each other, up to how they made their dorm their own little world. She couldn't even agree with Tanna about what kind of color they should paint their dorm room.

Tanna...oh crap! She was out at the library getting stuff for Rory, and she would arrive any minute. And even worse the girl on-screen in the movie at that moment? That damned Carly Pope of that damned show with all that damned subtext that turned those two into roommates with benefits! I have to get to bed now!!

Quickly, she wrote a note to Tanna telling her that Paris and Rory were sick, and not to be disturbed because she didn't want the young prodigy to walk in on the two getting all post-coital. She needed to get as far away from them as possible, and no jog in the world would stop the images from coming to her head; she knew what happened when sex filled her mind during her jogs. Friction and wetness would take their toll, and there she would be in an isolated part of the forest, a hand down her pants trying to cool her urges!

Stripping out of the tight jeans and her t-shirt, she changed into her 'ugly suit', the Yale-issued sweatpants and sweatshirt she wore as pajamas, and went to bed, trying to think of anything else besides girls together. Keeping her eyes open, she looked at Tanna's side of the room, trying to think about anything other than this mess the 16 year-old got her into. It's all her fault, she knows I can't say no to her, she thought, remembering Tanna's idea of hanging mistletoe in her suitemate's room in order to screw with 'that mean, mean Paris', who made the formerly home-schooled teenager's Yale life as of far painful. She thought it great and commiserated with Tanna to make the idea a reality.

That Janet had a protective thing for Tanna was another complication. The girl was mousy and ill-dressed on outside appearances, but remembering one of her high school experimentations, Janet couldn't deny she was a diamond in the rough. Her small frame, curly auburn hair, and shy brown eyes were pretty underneath the veneer of the clothes the strict Schrick parents sent her to New Haven with, and with the pressure of being the 'high school ideal' her suburban Kansas City upbringing forced her into, Janet didn't really like keeping her old habit of dating football players, especially because Dylan Kleebold, her current boyfriend, was awful in bed and pathetic in romance. Tanna was a clean slate, one stupid romance with a dorky neighbor boy behind her. A couple of times Janet had accidentally walked into Tanna on her bed with a hand up her dress, the other rubbing her breasts through her shirt. Tanna would stumble off the bed and apologize, saying was sorry but she wanted to since she was alone and her parents didn't like her masturbating.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Janet said, smiling. "All of us buff the pearl sometimes, don't be scared of it. Just do it on your bed next time and lock the door. I'll know what you're doing then and not interrupt you 'till you're done." Tanna was relieved her 'secret' was safe, while Janet now had an inkling Tanna held a crush on her.

She couldn't act on it though, Tanna being 16 and her roommate, and because she was so impressionable. She didn't want the girl's first romance to be with someone like her. I don't want her first romance to be until she's 30! was what she told herself as she fell into an unsettled sleep, a continued hum between her legs, urging her to bring her fingers down and get herself off. She couldn't; she didn't want to succumb to the fact watching two girls in love (she knew it so after they've been at each other for so long) was much more beautiful to her than what her idea of love back in Lee's Summit was.

For three hours, she tossed and turned, ending up with a pillow between her legs and thinking about other things besides Paris and Rory in general. She pushed back a thought of them cuddling in bed, talking in cosigns and complex verbs about their wanting. Her pillow felt lumpy, her head unsettled, as she tried to get to sleep.

"Janet, are you OK?" Around the time she thought she'd never get back to sleep, Tanna walked into the bedroom, after taking her evening shower, brushing her teeth and getting ready for bed. She had gotten back an hour before from the library, saw Janet's note, and had not seen what her mistletoe caused. She went on with her normal evening routine until then, when she came into the dorm room in a white, sleeveless nightgown. "You've been tossing or turning all night, did anything happen?"

Janet stretched her arms, feeling stiff and tried to soothe the girl from her worries. "I'm OK, just can't sleep Tan."

"Is it Dylan?" Tanna sat down on her bed, turning on her light

"Noo," Janet denied. "Just...stuff. Going back home next week and such."

"I know, I'm scared too, for the first time I don't miss my mom or dad, and I think I'm going to miss you. You're like my big sister now." She shook her head as this only reminded Janet again of the Sam/Brooke paradox. "Hey, I have an idea, I'll sleep with you tonight, and it'll calm you down."

"Tan, you don't have--" It was too late, Tanna was shoving her to the side so she could move into Janet's bed.

"Come on, it's nice, isn't it?" She wrapped her arms around the athlete, and Janet felt soothing waves coming off the innocent prodigy. Fresh out of the shower, Tanna had an aroma of honey, blueberries and mint, the body wash and her mouth rinse drawing Janet's thoughts away from Dylan, Paris and Rory, and all the stresses of her life. She smells so nice...stop, two years older, don't try anything! The reminder of her age killed any sexual thoughts about how Tanna's petiteness fit so well within Janet's sporty form.

"Yeah, it does, thank you Tan." She smiled as the two girls fell asleep together. "Night."

"Goodnight Janet." Janet forgot about the mistletoe chaos and fell into a deep sleep, strangely having a dream where her and Tanna were sharing an apartment years later...

The Next Morning

Janet woke up, feeling so much better after Tanna soothed her into a restful slumber. She was out of the room taking her shower, leaving Janet alone to change into her clothes. Her body was settled down and she thought now that Paris and Rory had gotten out those feelings, this morning they would be back to normal, sniping about newspaper matters and all they argued about.

She headed into the common room brushing her hair as Tanna passed by her, and the room was empty. She was relieved, thinking that the two girls who had tortured her so last night were in the dining hall.

When they came out of their room hand in hand however...Oh no, here we go again!

The girls seemed happier than should be legally possible, Rory kissing Paris right after they came out of the room, and the two girls keeping their fingers stubbornly intertwined. She was wearing one of Paris' big pajama shirts, allowing her to come out without bottoms on. Paris wore a robe, and both of them still looked red and flush, like they had woken up and made love before facing the day.

"Good morning girls," Janet said evenly.

"It is a good morning," Paris said in a cheerful voice that made her sound less the morose Mandy from that cartoon show and more the optimistic Cinderella. "God, you were right Janet, mistletoe is wonderful."

"Wonderful?" Rory questioned. "I thought it was more than wonderful. Thanks for helping us out."

"Helping you out?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't have acted without that sprig above us." Paris smiled warmly, bringing Rory into a soft embrace. "I'm not going to kill you now, maybe just use your ball for a TV chair occasionally." She formed her mouth into an 'O' and her eyes widened as Rory surprised her. "What are you doing?"

"I can't touch your butt?" Rory said in her innocent voice. "You might think it's flat, but it's quite nice to me."

"I could say the same thing about your breasts Gilmore." Another kiss, another sickeningly cute moment to Janet. "But not in front of Janet."

"She brought us together though; don't you think we should show her our appreciation for that?"

Whoa, whoa, whoa!! Where Janet was at peace moments before, those feelings she though smushed down the night before were back.

"How do you want to?" Paris asked as Rory leaned against her. They both looked at each other, and seemed to communicate their idea via ESP as Janet stared at them like a dummy.

"Considering she watched us undress, and then fled the room, she was under the mistletoe with us, so we have a kiss IOU for her." Rory smiled and Paris quickly got the hint. Unlike other times she would turn down her rival's crazy ideas, this one didn't seem so far-fetched. Without Janet, they may have never realized their feelings. Both of them approached the tall, frosty blonde, mischief in their eyes.

"No, it's OK!" Janet held up her hands high, trying to stop them from approaching her. "Oh geeze, guys, I thought it was funny, you two really didn't have to take it that far, honest." Her body reacted by tightening up, arousing all over again.

"But we wanted to, I mean there's been a latent attraction between us for at least a year, it was inevitable with sexual tension and all." Paris shook her head as she sidled up to her newly sworn enemy and sudden Jim Lange figure, minus the hideous suits and tacky set. "You can only take automatic stimulation for so long, sometimes you need someone's touch to settle you down. I didn't think Rory could do that..." she whispered close, this unknown seductive side to the blonde coming out to play. "...but I felt myself out of body last night."

"Guys, I don't need to hear this--" Rory joined the tag-team, sliding her hand along the hem of her pink sweatpants. Janet was surrounded on both sides with no easy way to get out, her heart rate getting up to levels usually reached only on her fourth mile.

"How you snuck that mistletoe into our room I'll never figure out," Rory said, amused. "But I know that Paris was indeed right, I'm ready to take on those exams. My blood is flowing so loose and all that first-year and friendship tension is all gone."

Janet was about ready to faint, a jock in a geek sandwich. I had to get 'the quiet ones' as roommates, she cursed to herself, knowing that the next movie night would be very interesting. She had two hands pawing at her flat stomach, two sets of eyes looking over her tall, arousing figure. So much more pressure than a Harvard-Yale meet up in the northwest part of the state was going through her, and she found herself falling into perverted thoughts.

"Y'know, without all that stuff that annoys me, you're pretty nice MacKenzie." Paris brought herself to tiptoe, signaling towards Rory to thank Janet for her yentaing.

"Uhh, thank...you?" Rory also brought herself closer, and Janet felt her defenses falling.

"We do want to thank you, but we want to keep it exclusive between the two of us, OK?" Rory emphasized. "Just a kiss is all we ask, nothing to make this room awkward, nor anything Tanna needs to know about."

Janet, beyond reproach, nodded her head furiously, relieved that the two girls wanted nothing to do with a m ge rios. But there was still the kiss, which kept her on edge and wanting to be alone in her room quick.

"Lovely," Paris purred, with her and Rory drawing Janet in and giving the sporty girl a kiss to remember. Both their lips touched hers, and they alternated between, at times both on Janet, others Paris kissing and then Rory. Janet shut her eyes and just let herself soak in what had happened, a quick thank you for getting them to hook up, despite it not being her idea. Like she was ever going to let them know it was all innocent Tanna's idea.

After a minute of slow meandering bussing, the two girls drew away from a Janet whose leg muscles were about to atrophy, a blush-red face, and so many flashes of Paris and Rory in passion...along with her and a certain roommate, which was drawing her to think how the awkward gangly social misfit was in a kissing situation.

"Thank you," Paris said, along with Rory. "A great kisser, but I see myself much more with Gilmore."

"As do I," Rory noted. Paris leaned against Rory's shoulder as the taller brunette wrapped her arm around at Paris' side. "We're going to go take a shower now." She smiled at her new lover, nuzzled perfectly along her neck, to Janet's chagrin.

"Rory, can we skip today?" The world had ended; it took a sprig of mistletoe and a long night of love to convince Paris Gellar to end her preschool-length attendance record. Laughing, Rory kissed Paris on the cheek and let her know that one day without classes wasn't the end of the world.

"Someone wants to discover the subtext between Sam and Brooke all over again, don't they?" Paris nodded, and purred that if Rory happened to have that Naked News 'research' still on tape, she'd check it out. "Maybe it's not as bad as I think it is."

"It's more cheesy than gross, though the Canadian accents are worth it alone." Janet disappearing out of their conversation, they headed to the shower together, all the while Janet staying still, watching the girls, her chest heaving and eyes faraway.

They did not just flip a switch in me...She felt hot in her tight pink sweatshirt and suddenly felt like she couldn't dare jog. There wasn't a focused thought in her mind as her lips still felt numb, her hips brushed with their touches. All of what she witnessed last night went through her like lightning, until she got to bedtime and Tanna crawling in with her to soothe her worries.

She barely remembered something about three hours into their sleep when she was at a barely-conscious moment stirred by her bladder waking her up, forcing her to shift positions. Face to face with Tanna, she caught the small girl sliding close against her, almost like a hug, more like a spoon. The girl was dreaming, mumbling in her sleep, but not to the extent of Paris' long monologues in rest. She could hear her laugh, as if someone in her dream was tickling her.

"Stop, stop, please..."

Janet thought it a nightmare at first, until she heard the soft words of her roommate so unexpectedly come out.

"My Jannie, I love that..."

It finally came back to her, how unshocked she was about Tanna having a thing for her. She never showed any interest in guys despite the temptations of New Haven, and always showed respect and admiration for her rather than the annoyance that was Paris' demeanor around Janet. Tanna also felt very trusting of Janet, telling her private things she didn't want anyone else to know, and allowed her help on homework when she needed it, which she didn't abuse.

That, and the meek young woman was physically beautiful, not in the classical sense, but in a way only her. Her soft face, small curves and cascading ringlets of auburn hair, the thing that often killed Janet when she watched Tanna cram being the girl's stubby fingers playing with the curls.

Janet was approaching her dorm room, taking off her sweatshirt to reveal a blue sports bra beneath. She needed to take care of her stress, but she wouldn't do it with Tanna in the room, no way, no how. No matter how much she thought about Tanna as pretty...

Opening the door, she was shocked to discover that Tanna hadn't dressed yet, which was odd considering she laid out an outfit every morning before school. Laying on her bed in a tan bra and panties that were as plain as could be, she looked up at the ceiling, her hair still wet, towel off to the side.

This is weird, thought Janet, used to Tanna being as punctual, if not more than her other suitemates. Her legs were crossed over each other, and she looked up as she shut the door, noticing that Tanna's eyes drifted over to her.

"Hey," she said timidly.

"Hi Tanna." Janet looked at her, noticing the girl still had lots of flattering baby fat along her stomach and the tops of her legs. "Anything wrong?"

"Nope, just thinking about next week and other stuff. I just feel like such a social failure so far, I thought I'd make a friend or two here. Yet I have only fellow science majors and they treat me like a little kid."

Janet felt for her, she knew how often the girls on her team nicknamed her 'the babysitter' for her roommate. "Things have to get better, I know--"

Suddenly, Tanna rose up, and got up from her bed, standing on her feet. "Is there something wrong with me, am I awkward Jan? Do I look weird?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well I woke up this morning to use the shower and Rory and Paris were in the kitchenette area being all sweet to each other, which I didn't understand at first. They were comparing cereals, calling each other 'sweetie', and then they kissed. Did something happen last night with them?"

"I don't know--" Janet tried to deny the details for the young girl's sake, trying to protect her, but the other girl drew her own conclusion.

"Is that why you were so jumpy, you saw them kissing?"

"No, of course not," she refuted. "I guess--I don't know."

"Janet," she said firmly, "I might be 16 but I do have a 150 IQ, I'm certainly not stupid. What happened, was it the mistletoe we planned out as a joke?" She looked at the wounded girl, and decided she had to be truthful.

"I thought it would be!! One moment they're arguing, the next they're going at it like bunnies!" Surprisingly, Tanna laughed heartily at this and deduced things from the small detail that was provided.

"I can see why you were so scared last night...oh my goodness that's funny--"

"IT WASN'T FUNNY!!" Janet suddenly lashed out, startling the girl back to her bed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought--"

"I almost got killed by the both of them trying to get them under, I had my cameraphone ready to snap a pic of them, and all the sudden they're talking about Sam and Brooke, subtext and their skin, and I'm too scared to move. Then they go at it, clothes get thrown around and I have to flee because I'm leaking like a hydrant watching them go at it!"

"Geeze, I'm sorry," Tanna snapped. "Sorry for trying to create a joke, I thought it would be funny." She looked down at herself, feeling ashamed at creating mischief in the bedroom. "I guess I'll always be a loser, I better go change."

Suddenly, something snapped within Janet that made her see Tanna for the first time as more than the prodigy that shared her room. She was soft, understated, cute, and had a brain anyone would kill for, and she was about to put herself down for trying to fit in, be herself, more than the Tanna Moira Schrick she was back home, just another home-schooled kid who had parents too scared to put her in public school, much less have her meet other people. She was involved in nothing but her schoolwork, and wanted to have fun for once. Apparently Janet was mortified by her idea of fun.

She made a move for her closet and a robe to cover herself up; with adrenaline pumping through her and a sense of the unknown, Janet made her way to the other side of the room. I can't let her think that way, was the guiding thought as she approached her roommate with some aggression. Tanna was caught by surprise when she opened the closet door, feeling a strong hand at her back turning her around, then backing her right back into the door.

Their eyes caught, green on blue for but a brief moment, and before Tanna could process what was about to happen, Janet grasped her at the sides, pushed her up to her level, then with all she had, Janet opened her mouth and brought Tanna into her first true deep kiss, the 16 year-old shocked and numbed by the sudden turn of events.

At first she was scared as the older girl's mouth brushed hers, trying to figure out what was going on. She shook and tried to catch her breath as Janet took such a random risk with someone so unexpected. At first she tried to push away, but a hand threaded through her wet curls, the other along the small of her naked back, rubbing soothingly in a way Janet knew calmed the nervous girl. She tried to deny her urge, the want for her roommate for so long, hiding it over the months because of the age, class and interest difference, she didn't think she could compete with Gigantor the Football Player boyfriend. This is a dream, she surmised in her head.

She started returning Janet's kisses, convinced this would draw her away, that hormones were influencing her. The hand moved higher up her back and Janet pushed her closer, her breasts mashing against Tanna's. Tentatively, the prodigy slid a hand onto the side of Janet's waist, trying to see what would happen. Janet's fingers played across her neck, making her moan through the kiss, and soon, they found themselves pushing closer towards Tanna's bed. They stood there, kissing slowly and tentatively, the eyes of the world far away from them.

Surprisingly it was Tanna who guided Janet to the bed, pushing the larger girl onto the mattress and making hay of the situation. It had been amazing to her and she loved it, but she wondered if it was just a spark that went off in her and scared Janet. They eased onto the bed, and with a lot of hesitation, Janet pulled away from Tanna to finish her point, her hands moving down to play with Tanna's tummy.

"Don't you ever think of yourself as a loser again!" she emphasized. "I know I shouldn't have done that, but you have to know how desirable you are. Everyone might think you're a geek, but I see you everyday and think of you as much more than that." Starting to cry, she broke down. "Last night I just watched them come together and I thought it would be silly, something to forget. But I noticed it, they've had a spark for a long time. Frankly, I think I have that with you, but there's so much I'm scared of..."

It was time for the nervous to calm the collected. Tanna, feeling herself in a dizzy spell of bliss, She had just been swept off her feet, and had to tell Janet everything was still OK between them.

"Janet, it's OK, I'm not freaked. Well I was at first because oh geeze you jumped on me so fast and look at me like this, but you kissed me. That's a good thing, a sweet thing, and I'm sorry I ever doubted myself."

"Yeah, but your age--" Janet was freaked, but Tanna had calmed down to state her opinion.

"Is just that, I don't care. I think you're cute and I was scared you'd never feel this way. I do think of you more than I should and in that dirty way you caught me at once."

"You mean naughty," Janet corrected. "Never think of it as dirty, it's nice...and you're cute that way." She smiled, finding it strange, yet exhilarating that her dowdy roommate was getting to her so much like this.

"As for my age..." she wandered off, then kissed Janet on the nose. "It isn't anything but a number."

"You did not just quote an Aaliyah song lyric, while correcting it for grammar!" Janet laughed and Tanna shook her head.

"Do you really think I was as hermetically sealed up as Rebecca Sealfon? I listened to music at home, though I had to do it at night and no TV." She looked at Janet next to her, seriously admiring her roommate. "Do you really want to do this? With me? Because I'm not all there and I'm such a geek, you're going to get annoyed at me sometimes."

The same deep look from Janet, and Tanna knew the answer. "I keep you up with midnight sit-ups and exercise, you'll have to get used to that."

"I think I can," Tanna noted after a ponder. "You really think I'm cute?"

Janet stared at her, feeling giddy at the turn of the events of the last twelve hours as her and Tanna prepared for their own off day spent in their room. "You know when I had to lift you up to hang the mistletoe in Paris and Rory's room?"

"Mm-hmm?"

Janet made up for the kiss she owed Tanna for helping her hang the sprig from the fixture. "You definitely have a nice butt." Smiling at each other, Janet and Tanna imagined how much of their own holiday magic they could make as Tanna helped Janet out of her jogging pants.

Definitely better than studying than midterms, our younger genius thought, thanking her lucky stars for getting this entire nutty idea in the first place. Four leaf clovers are way too overrated anyways.

THE END.