A/N: This is a festive College!Jamko AU. It's not intended to be long, just a few parts (famous last words). Even if they weren't partners, here's my take on what might happen if these two had met in college. And TTWHH is still happening! I just wanted to post this in the spirit of Thanksgiving. Thanks for reading!
"Have you ever had a jaw massage?" Eddie noisily slings her backpack to land in front of Jamie's collection of textbooks and notes on the oversized library table. "Before you look at me weird-"
Jamie glances up and offers one of his trademark single-eyebrow arches, but she continues anyway.
"It's a real thing, Reagan. And it changed my life."
"Shhh!" Someone hisses from a nearby table.
Eddie furrows her brow and directs a disapproving look at the offended kid across the way.
"Eddie," Jamie whispers. "What are you talking about?"
"I just got a jaw massage from this guy-" She whispers back, pulling out a chair to sit down.
Jamie drops his pen to his notebook before pressing the heel of his hand into tired eyes. "What?" He huffs.
"It's not like it sounds."
"There's only one way for that to sound," Jamie reasons. "And it's creepy."
"No, it feels really good."
He sits back, and coasts his hands across the air above his books. "Okay, I am in a very specific research paper pit of despair," he explains. "So if you're here to work, great. But please don't tell me about some guy rubbing your face."
"You are such a drama queen." Her pointed, hushed voice cuts him off.
He sets an unamused gaze on her.
"Drama king," she adds. "How's that? King of the drama. Feel more manly now?"
"I'm not being dramatic," he insists. "I'm probably thirty percent done on a paper for ConLaw due tomorrow so, I'm sort of fucked."
Eddie leans forward and turns one of the books to read the spine. "Democratic Theory and the Constitution," she recites. "Sounds horrible."
"What about you?" He murmurs.
"I mean, I just finished a Mergers exam, but otherwise, I don't have anything due until after the break."
"Lucky you."
"Your professor didn't give you Thanksgiving break to get the paper done?"
"He did, I'm just having a panic attack for the fun of it," Jamie quips. "No, Janko. I have less than twenty four hours."
"Alright, alright," she sighs, pulling her backpack to the chair next to her. There she unzips it and retrieves a few notebooks. "Can I interest you in a jaw massage? I got a guy-"
"Oh, my god," he groans. "I have so many questions about this guy. And not nearly enough time-"
"He's a Human Anatomy major, Jamie."
"Yeah, I bet he is," he scoffs. "That's not even a major here."
Her gaze cuts to the side and little line of concern pulls her brows together. The look makes Jamie exhale a quiet laugh as he shakes his head.
"Well…" she starts, distractedly flipping open her planner. "That's all that happened. He kept calling me Emily anyway, so… there probably won't be any more of that."
Amused, a half smile curves onto Jamie's cheek as he returns his highlighter to another passage from his book. Eddie busies herself across from him and together, they work in relative silence.
Pausing a moment, Jamie's lips twist as he chews the inside of his cheek, taps his yellow marker a few times, then glances up. "So what was this guy's angle with the jaw massage?" He wonders. "That was his big move?"
"He wasn't trying to put a move on me. He was doing genuine stress relief exercises in his dorm."
"Yeah, I got a genuine stress relief for you back in my dorm room."
"Gross, Reagan."
"All I'm sayin' is that guy scammed you. He was just a creep who wanted to put his hands on you."
"I handled it," she assures him.
He leaves her with a skeptical look and resigns himself to continue his research. The words loop in his mind, triggering the memory of the first encounter he'd ever had with the girl he now considers one of his closest friends.
Jamie Reagan had met Eddie Janko three years ago, in the fall of 2000, their freshman year at Fordham. It was an unremarkable October night. At least it started that way.
He found himself at a party where he knew exactly one person - his roommate Paul who had made friends with a bunch of art majors and some guy in a band who had an apartment, and who even knew how Jamie got roped into tagging along. Somewhere in there, Paul had disappeared with a girl and Jamie avoided conversation with anyone else, choosing to internally stress about a paper he should have been working on.
"Hey, do me a favor," she had whispered as she briskly made her way over to him near the back door of the kitchen where he stood.
"Huh?" Jamie's gaze barely had time to connect with the girl's, registering a flicker of urgent blue eyes and straight blonde hair just before her mouth crushed his. He rocked just slightly off his balance. Foamy keg beer sloshed over the rim of his plastic cup and dripped down his hand. But she steadied him, gripping his shoulder.
His instinct was to break off of this stranger's kiss and ask what the fuck but he was so caught off guard, it was as if he was frozen, his reflexes halted.
Her touch traveled up to his hair as her lips softened against his. It made his eyes flutter shut for a moment, but he blinked them back open when he felt her slip away.
She was still right there against him. Her breath tickled his lips and he'll never forget how she tasted like a green apple Jolly Rancher.
"Is there a guy behind me?" She wondered, her hushed voice seeping into him over the bass of the music that thudded the walls of this apartment.
"Uh-" Jamie managed. He glanced over the blonde's shoulder. They were at a party, there were people all over the place.
"Like a douchey one with a trucker hat on?"
"Yeah."
She exhaled an annoyed huff and edged up until her mouth trapped Jamie's once again. She urged him closer, a hand in his hair, one arm slung around his neck to grip the hood on the back of his sweatshirt.
Trapped between her and the countertop, his free hand naturally found her waist in order to anchor himself, but it hesitated there and he was just sort of fixated on whether or not to touch her.
He found himself leaning into her just a moment, almost stealing control of the kiss before he glanced up again across the room. Tilting his chin down, his lips parted, brushing softly across her lower lip, then left her.
"He's gone," he murmured.
With a deep breath she peered down and pressed fingertips into her brow. "Oh my god, I'm sorry."
He couldn't help but let out a soft, good-natured laugh. "Um-" he faltered again.
She double checked behind her, then turned back and smiled up at him, undoubtedly the most charming grin he'd seen that entire abysmal semester.
"I'm Eddie."
He offered a faint, dumbfounded nod before he felt his brow dip in confusion. "Eddie."
"Yeah. And I don't normally- I mean, don't think I'm like-"
"I'm Jamie."
"Thank you. Jamie." Dutifully she stuck out her hand and Jamie exhaled in amusement as he glanced down and grasped it in a friendly handshake.
"Sure. I guess?"
"That guy would not leave me alone. And he was wasted and gross and god! I mean, why are guys such pervs?"
"Some of them definitely are-"
"I told him I had a boyfriend," she rattled. "And he didn't believe me and I saw you and I just-"
"It's okay," Jamie laughed.
"That probably makes me a hypocrite." Eddie looked up at him, worry creasing her forehead. Like, what is that, a double standard? Here I am complaining about a creep who wouldn't leave me alone and I just forced you to kiss me. You don't even know me."
"It's- really it's okay," he assured her. "It's not a double standard considering... how obnoxious some guys can be."
"Okay." She finally let out a relieved breath. "You go to school here?"
"Yeah. Yeah, my um roommate heard about this party from… I don't even know. It's pretty bad though."
"It's completely horrible!" She beamed when she said it and her eyes glimmered in this way that lit him up from the inside. "I'm leaving," she added. "Thank you again."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Um." He noticed the quick avert of her gaze as she swallowed. "Yeah. I handled it." Then she glanced up at him again with a smirk. "Maybe I'll see you on campus, Jamie."
"Let me walk with you. I live in Bishop's Hall."
Eddie's head turned with a critical glance to the beer in his hand. "Oh really?"
Jamie looked at the cup to note the mental connection she obviously made about the students who live in Bishop's Hall and their pledge to avoid drugs and alcohol during their residence in the private housing.
He managed an innocent shrug. "I'm off-campus." But he set his crappy beer on the counter anyway and held up guilty hands. "I know. Expel me."
"I pegged you for a Boy Scout but you're a downright rebel."
"Shut up," he scoffed, and he could feel his playful smile at her teasing.
Eyeing him critically, she seemed to assess his intentions with her. "We're not going to kiss again," she warned.
Her suspicion prompted an awkward laugh from his chest. "I'd never assume we would. I'm just saying. We're both going back to the dorms, it's safer."
"If that sleazy guy is out there, are you gonna kick his ass?"
He could feel the smile on his cheeks. "You want me to?" Reaching back, he tugged the hood from his sweatshirt onto his head, then made a show of lacing his fingers together to crack his knuckles. "I'm from Bay Ridge, I'll do it."
A loud laugh sent her head back as she smacked her hand on the kitchen counter. "Okay you can walk with me, Jamie from Bay Ridge." She reached up to shift some of her hair behind her shoulders and straightened her jacket. "I have police-grade mace, by the way," she noted.
The announcement threw him for a loop and he narrowed his gaze at her. "Are you threatening me, or offering your protection?"
"Both," she giggled.
"Police-grade mace." Jamie furrowed his brow at her as he dumped the rest of his beer in the sink and turned to toss the cup in the trash. "What are you, a cop?"
"No." She bumped his arm with her shoulder as she started toward the back door. "Are you?"
He laughed. "No."
"Then alright, rebel." She tilted her head and glanced back at him. "I live in Martyrs' Court, come on."