Alison doesn't waste time. She walks, swiftly at first, towards Beth's dorm. Thoughts and words swirl and as she crests the hill near the dorm she realizes she started running at some point. She slows to a jog and all but assaults a scraggly looking Junior- yelling for him to hold the door for her as she slips inside behind him.

She takes the stairs two at a time. Her quads burn from the run and the stairs and when she reaches Beth's floor she realizes that this- the race to find Beth- is the only race today that matters.

She knocks 3 times, and her heart is practically vibrating it's beating so hard. The door finally opens, but the face that greets her is decidedly NOT Beth. "Who the Dickens are you? What are you doing here?"

"Um, well, this is my dorm room. Who the hell are you?"

Oh. The roommate, Alison realizes. What was her name? Jackie?- No, Jen. Jennifer. "Oh, sorry. I'm Beth's- uh... I'm a friend of Beth's."

Jennifer relaxes a bit, leans on the door frame. "Well, friend-of-Beth's, she's not here. Sorry to disappoint. I can, you know, leave a message for her if you like. Though she's honestly not here that often. I, like, never see her. She might as well be a ghost or something..." Jen rolls her eyes.

"No, that's fine, thank you. I'll probably see her before that."

"No, prob. See ya 'round," Jen says, closing the door.

Alison is alone in the hallway now. Where else... where else could she be?

Cafeteria?

Alison notes a throbbing in her toes. She looks down, realizing that her earlier shoe selection did not take into account "running" as one of the possible activities for the evening. She slips off the shoes- a cherry red to match her top- and shoves them in her purse, before focusing back on the task at hand.

Cafeteria. Right.

She takes off running.

Over the next hour, Alison crisscrosses the whole of campus looking for Beth. She searches all the obvious choices (Gym and Library were closed and the Cafeteria was empty) as well as less obvious choices (computer lab was deserted, as was the student lounge).

Alison's feet are dirty and aching from making her way around mostly shoeless. One of her left toes has nice, stinging abrasion from where she tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. At least my shoes were spared though, she thinks wryly.

Her head hangs, defeated and as she clicks through the entrance doors to her dorm building and makes her way up the stairs, the swirl of worried thoughts and anxiety finally catches up to her.

I couldn't find her and now I have to wait until tomorrow to explain myself. Why couldn't she just listen to me- instead of jumping to all these negative conclusions? And now I'm going to have to deal with Cosima asking me how it went, and Ramon and Felix and-

Alison's thoughts come to a screeching halt as she exits the stairwell though. Her eyes fall on a familiar figure, sitting in the hallway, across from her dorm room door.

Beth catches sight of Alison and stands quickly, as if she was caught laying down on the job by a boss. "Hey..." She says, as casually as she can.

"Hey," Alison echoes, still in shock that out of all the places she's searched tonight, her own dorm room is where she finally finds Beth.

"How was the rest of the party?"

"I wouldn't know. I left right after you did. I've been looking for you everywhere actually..."

"You have?" Beth asks, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, I checked your dorm and the gym and the Caf, and... well everywhere. Where did you go?"

Beth rubs the back of her neck nervously, reluctantly meeting Alison's eyes. "Yeah, I uh thought about grabbing my sneakers, doing a few laps around campus... it's what I usually do when I need to clear my head a bit. But then I made a decision..." Beth sighs deeply, and stands up a bit straighter. "I decided to stop running. I mean stop running away from things that make me nervous or uncomfortable. I've always done that and I'm just...tired. I'm tired of running away. I'm tired of avoiding the things that scare me and I need to..." she chuckles, "I need to push outside my comfort zone. 'Cause if I don't, I'm not living, I'm just surviving. So... yeah. That's why I'm here."

"You're here because I scare you?"

"Yeah- well, I mean, not you, but... shit." Beth curses, turning away from Alison and leaning her back against Alison's dorm room door, staring at the other wall instead. "I came here because you were right. We should talk about earlier today. So I'm just going to...uh...okay just listen, okay?" Beth takes a deep breath before continuing. "I kissed you. Earlier. In the van. So I'm sure this won't come as a huge shock when I say that... I like you Ali. Like, a lot. And the more I've gotten to know you, the more intense it is. That is what scares me. Feeling that strongly about something- about someone- scares me because it's out of my hands. I used to like being out of control because then I didn't have to deal with anyone or anything, but in a relationship it's not just you, it's another person too. I know I shouldn't have just kept on running away- I should have told you how I felt but I was just afraid of making things weird. I don't want to make things weird, or whatever because you wonderful. You're one of most amazing people I ever met actually. I liked you from the moment I met you and I don't want to lose knowing you just because I have these feelings and-"

Beth's words are cut off, interrupted by Alison's lips. Lips that are kissing hers.

"Beth, just stop...stop talking" Alison says between kisses, her voice almost a growl. "I've wanted you *kiss* for almost as long..."

"Really? I-"

"Shut up," Alison says, kissing Beth deeply, and Beth doesn't even try to reply.

It's so amazing- even more so than she'd dreamed. So much better than a dream though, because she was real, and here. She could touch, taste, see and even smell the hint of shampoo from earlier this day. It was like being high. High on Alison. Beth's been high before, but not like this. Nothing has ever been like this. Every thought, every worry has been exiled, replaced by a single word, a mantra. Alison.

Alison is kissing her hungrily, all but devouring her. Beth is barely able to maintain composure with the smaller girl's hands roaming up and down her sides, fingernails dragging lines down her back. But when Alison nips at Beth's bottom lip, biting it just hard enough, Beth can't handle it anymore.

She flips their positions, pinning Alison to the door instead. Beth's thigh is between Alison's and she presses against Alison's center, eliciting a breathy moan from the coxswain that all but makes Beth's head spin.

Alison's hands find their way under Beth's shirt, fingertips splaying over the bare skin of her sides, ribs, sliding up and over her-

Alison pulls back a bit, suddenly. "Do you want to..." she breathes, nodding her head towards the door to her dorm.

Go inside?

Beth can't make words. She doesn't even remember what words are. So she just nods, up and down quickly, like a bobble head doll.

Alison grins, and pulls Beth back to her, recapturing her lips. She fumbles with the key for her door with one hand, her other hand still grasping Beth tightly to her. The lock finally gives way and they all but tumble through the door and into her room, barely losing contact.

Both are so lost in each other it's not until Alison hears the snicker from the other side of the room, that she realizes they're not alone. She quickly jumps back, caught red handed. She can already feel the heat rising to her face.

On the other side of the room, Cosima and Delphine are sitting on the bed, their faces illuminated from the laptop set between them. Cosima smirks, eyebrow raised in wicked approval while Delphine continues to muffle her laughter politely behind her hand.

"When I planned to just watch a movie, I had no idea I'd be in for a show too..." Cosima smiles and scoots to the edge of the bed, extending her hand. "I'm Cosima and this is Delphine and I really, really hope you're the Beth we keep hearing about."

Beth shakes Cosima's hand, thankful that it's dark in the room because she's sure she must be bright red. "Beth. Nice to, uh, meet you."

"I am so sorry!" Alison gasps at them both, before turning to Delphine. "Je pensais que vous alliez à la fois d'être à l'appartement ce soir de Delphine . Je suis vraiment désolé et-"

"-Il n'y a pas de raison de présenter des excuses! Vous êtes dans l'amour. Croyez-moi , je comprends." She winks. Then addresses Cosima, "I think we will finish our movie at my apartment..."

"Really?" Cosima's dreads sail as her head whips in Delphine's direction at this.

"Oui. And tomorrow morning, perhaps you will make those, eh, blueberry waffles you speak so highly of..."

Cosima's grin is all fangs. The dread-haired girl moves quickly, tossing a few items and her computer in her bag so fast Alison wonders if she's worried the blonde will take back the invitation. Delphine doesn't though, and gives Alison a small smile as she slips out the door ahead of Cosima. Cosima grabs her bag and heads to the door as well. "See you tomorrow Ladies. Have a good night..."

Beth's back is turned so, much to Alison's relief, the rower doesn't see Cosima mouth "She's hot!" or any of the accompanying not-so-lady like gestures she mimes before closing the door behind them.

With the soft click of the lock, they're alone again- Beth standing on one side of the room and Alison on the other- having slumped down on the edge of Cosima's bed, relieved to no longer have an audience for a moment.

Beth turns back to Alison. "So, your roommate... She's g-.

"-Bi. Actually." Alison finishes. "Yeah. And believe me, her sexuality is not the most interesting thing about her. Not by a long shot."

"And her girlfriend... I didn't know you spoke French..."

"There's a lot you don't know about me," Alison says, standing and slowly making her way across to Beth, "But I really, really, don't want to do any more talking tonight."

"I'm surprised you don't want to talk about all this first..." Beth chuckles down at Alison as she arrives to her, only a few inches away now.

"For the moment, for tonight, I'd rather just keep it simple," Alison says, hooking her fingers the loops of Beth's jeans, pulling Beth flush to her.

"Simple huh?" Beth grins, circling her arms around Alison's waist. Beth notes the wicked grin on Alison's face, the glint in her eye- catalogues it. Memorizes it. If this is what I get for not running away... She grins at the thought.

"Yeah. Simple." Alison says, pushing Beth back slowly until her legs bump against the edge of the bed. "Think you can manage that?"

"Mmmmm, I think I'll manage."

Author's Note: Hey all, thanks so much for reading/commenting! Hope you liked it :)