A/N: Hello! This is the scene in the Indigo Spell where Sydney and Adrian paint t shirts and get steamy at the frat party. Brought to you from Adrian's POV. I fleshed it out a bit just to make it a little more interesting to read/different. Because I felt like it idk. Enjoy. 3

I looked at Sage. "You're free from your curfew," I said carefully, my mind already spinning with the possibilities of this.

"I know," she sighed. "But that doesn't mean I want to spend all night waiting for Lynne."

Sage's eyebrows knit together ever so slightly, which meant she was probably figuring something in her head.

"I suppose we could wait a couple of hours," she said. "Three at most."

I smiled widely. I could work with that.

"What's fun to do around here?" I asked our hostess. I looked around briefly, knowing this place was not it. "No raging parties here, huh?"

"We're a very serious sorority," the girl replied, clearly put off by my question. "If you're looking for parties, I guarantee there's one going on just down the street. Those girls have one every night."

Ah, those girls. My favorite. I looked to Sydney, my eyebrows raised in hopeful suggestion.

"Oh, come on," she said. "Can't we find some nice museum?"

"We want to stay close, in case Lynne comes back," I said, grateful for the nearness of the party. It made bullshitting all that much easier. "Besides, if you want to go to college so badly, you should see the full scope of what it has to offer. And aren't you a fan of Greek stuff?"

I was just spewing pure garbage now, but Sage was looking at me in that annoyed yet bemused way that meant she was going to give into me just because, which was extra cute with her nerdy brown wig on. I couldn't help but smile.

She informed me quite sternly as we made our way to the party house that I wasn't allowed to drink. I was unbothered by this. Well, I was a little bothered but I could deal. At least I'd gotten her to agree to to the party. Any other situation where I'd be left alone with Sage for hours on end was too nerve-wracking to contemplate. Parties were like my home turf. I felt at ease at them. With lots of people around, it wouldn't be as awkward or tense between us and I wouldn't have as many stupid ideas to do anything really really stupid. Plus, Sage needed a little spontaneous fun in her life. She'd be thanking me by the end of this.

It was a bit tricky getting inside. We'd gotten stopped at the door and informed it was "Greek only" and needed to give proof of who we were with. I rolled my eyes as Sage weakly tried to explain she was from Lynne's sorority.

"Alpha Yam Ergo." I supplied confidently, giving the guy an easy smile. He was already drunk and probably stupid, regardless, which meant I only had to use the teensy-weensy-est bit of compulsion on him.

Once we were inside, I could tell Sage was overwhelmed. I watched in delight as her big brown eyes took in everything. The loud music, the loud people, the mindless debauchery of it all. She stayed close to me as we continued to make our way deeper into the fray, and when a few drunk guys stumbled roughly past us, she pressed herself even closer. I reached out and put my hand on her lower back, pulling her away from them. She extracted herself from me a moment later, but just those few seconds of contact were enough to leave my skin burning. Aching for more. It was ridiculous. Practically unbearable. And that was coming from an addict.

"What a waste of tuition. This is ruining all my collegiate dreams," she finally shouted to me over the music. "Isn't there anything to do that's not drinking or being stupid?"

We could find a dark corner to make out in. But I didn't think that suggestion would go over well. I had no doubt Sydney would have made a killing at the beer pong table, but she'd continually shot that down more vehemently every time we were approached (by the same befuddled girl, no less). I looked around, trying to find anything of interest that would keep Sydney here with me. My eyes widened as I took in a group of girls sprawled out in the kitchen with paint supplies. Whatever was happening over there, I wanted in.

"That looks promising," I reached for Sydney's hand and started leading her through the crowd before she could object. "Come on."

"What are you doing?" Sydney looked down at the girls who were sloppily brushing giant globs of neon paint on t-shirts.

One of the girls glanced up and grinned. "Making shirts for the winter carnival. You want to help?"

I sank down to the floor and smiled back. "Do I ever." I grabbed for one of the white shirts and a brush with some bright blue paint on it. "What are we putting on these?"

"Our names," one of the girls informed me.

"Winter stuff," another one added.

The brush I'd grabbed was spongey and angled, so I immediately started dabbing the tip of it onto the fabric, creating snowflake designs. Pretty entry-level stuff, but I had to admit I was kind of getting into it, though the heady smell of cheap fabric paint was starting to get to me. I took out a cigarette and lit it, taking a long drag and setting it down on a nearby ashtray.

"That's amazing," I heard one of the girls say, "Can I have it?"

I looked up at her and smiled.

"I want it," another girl pouted.

"I'll make each of you one," I promised. They were both hot, and the smiles they gave me suggested that though they wanted separate shirts, they wouldn't mind sharing me for the evening, but that was of course out of the question, seeing as they were human. There was only one human girl I wanted, and she was sitting right next to me. And the fact that she'd shifted closer to me while the girls fought over my silly snowflake designs stirred a warmth within me that neither of them, or anyone else for that matter, ever could.

I finished up the first snowflake shirt and handed it off to one of the girls. I picked out a blue one next, opting this time for white paint and went to work. I wanted to look up at Sage, see what she was making of all this. I wondered if it made her jealous, the fact that I was doing this. She was sitting uncomfortably close to me now. There was something...territorial about it and I was desperately trying to keep my mind on nice, wholesome snowflakes and anything else other than the idea of how hot that was.

She probably wasn't. Jealous, that is. She was too logical for that sort of thing. Anyway, I'm sure there were tons of guys staring at her right now, praying that I was her brother or something and that they might have a chance. I knew they didn't, at least not tonight, and that gave me some semblance of relief. But eventually Sydney would go off to college and meet all sorts of guys. Smart guys who knew about all the stuff she was into. Smart and interesting and human. I was zero for three. Well, actually, I supposed an emotionally unstable half-crazy vampire boy with unresolved daddy issues and a tendency to abuse substances was technically interesting, so at least there was that.

I cleared my throat. I was thinking weird. Too much into my own head. I needed to cut it out before it got any worse. I wanted a drink. But Sage would be super pissed, and I knew deep down it wasn't going to make it any better. Instead, I handed the other girl her snowflake shirt and attempted to clear my head in a healthier way. I grabbed a black shirt in my size and began painting out the letters A Y E.

"Gotta pay tribute to my fraternity."

"Right," Sydney scoffed. "Alpha Yam Ergo."

I nodded solemnly. "A very old and prestigious society."

"I've never heard of them," said one of my snowflake girls.

"They don't let many people in," I told her, trying not to laugh. For some reason, I could tell the AYE thing annoyed Sage to no end and it was incredibly satisfying to wind her up about it.

"Isn't that what pirates say?" asked one of the other girls, noticing the letters on the shirt.

"Well, the Alpha Yams have nautical origins," I explained patiently. I couldn't see the look on Sydney's face, but I could imagine it. I held in another laugh as I began to paint an iconic symbol she knew all too well.

"Oh, no," she groaned. "Not the tattoo."

"It's our logo," I informed her, switching to a thin paintbrush as I started to work on the finer details of the pirate skeleton. "Isn't it badass?"

My dark mood thankfully seemed to ebb away as I immersed myself in what I was doing. It was a stupid thing, yeah, but it was attached to a treasured memory with Sydney. I didn't know how many more memories with her I was going to get. Especially once the law was officially changed and it was safe for Jill to return home. I needed to make the most of the time I had left with her, and that's what I was trying to do. Plus, painting like this, for no reason at all, was just really fun. It was what I liked to do. And I was good at it. Those girls who I'd made the snowflake shirts for had looked at me like I'd made their week. Well...maybe they had something else in mind about me...but whatever. They'd still liked my work enough to want to keep it. And that was a really cool feeling.

I was nearly done with my shirt now, though I kept getting distracted with this pulsating light bleeding into my peripheral vision. Curiously, I finally looked up toward the source and stilled.

It was Sydney. Well, it was her aura. It was swirling all around her right now, brighter than the neon paint for the shirts. The yellow was intense and solid, more-so than usual, which usually meant the person was thinking about something pretty hard. And the purple...the purple swam through it in beautiful, twisting ribbons. It was deeper than I'd ever seen it. Passion. She was thinking about something passionately. And she was looking right at me.

Suddenly, she turned away from me, her aura flickering but remaining as bright as ever. "Don't forget the ninja throwing stars," she told me with a flippant, amused air.

"Right." I continued to stare at her. She'd been doing a pretty good job at acting like she really had no feelings for me. I'd even started to believe it. With each day that passed the memory of her lips on mine, hungry and feverish, faded more and more. And when I was down on myself, in the throes of spirit darkness, it was easy to tell myself that. She didn't want me. But her aura told a different story. My heart hammering in my chest now, I turned back to my work. I added the stars and sat back, proud of myself. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"It's not bad," she said.

"You want one too?" I smiled lovingly at her. Her aura flared up in response and she smiled back. God, I just wanted to pull her onto my lap and wrap my arms around her. I needed to be close to her, to be touching her. It was torture not to be.

"We don't have time," she said after a moment. "We've got to check on Lynne."

"I'll make you a fast one." It had been my plan to make her one all along, that was what I was doing with the original snowflake shirt but then those girls both wanted it and if I was going to make something for Sydney it had to be different. Special.

"Not the pirate," she warned, but there was a soft, affectionate note in her voice that told me she would have accepted any design I chose.

"Purple?" she seemed surprised by my choice in shirt color.

"It's your color," I told her. It was painfully obvious to me. It was all around her. Crazy that she didn't get it. I knew she couldn't see her own aura, but it wasn't just that. Purple was such a bold, strong, vibrant color. Sydney was all of those things ten times over. She may not look like it at first glance, but she was...I don't know...there was always fire around her. Whether I was looking at her aura or not. She was a force of nature. I thought on this while I sketched out my design onto the purple shirt. I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing, just thinking about Sydney. All the ways she inspired me. Amazed me. All the reasons I was desperately in love with her. Even if the design itself looked terrible, I just wanted those emotions to be completely clear in the piece. Then she'd have that tangible thing to take away with her, whereever she went in life, and would think of me when she looked at it and remember the time we spent together. Or she might just throw it in the trash and never think of it ever again. But a guy can dream, can't he?

"Where did you get that from?" Sydney asked me breathlessly. I wanted to scoff. All the pieces I'd worked super hard on that she'd just narrowed her eyes at, and this is what was finally winning her favor? Maybe the emotion I was putting into was actually working.

I kept my eyes on the design as I spoke, unable to look into her eyes. "Just something kicking around in my head. Reminds me of you. Fiery and sweet, all at the same time. A flame in the dark, lighting my way." I finished the flames around the heart and swapped out the silver paintbrush for a black one so I could write AYE over the heart and underneath it: HONORARY MEMBER. Now it was perfect.

"What are you doing?" Sydney gasped. "You ruined it!"

I grinned wryly up at her. "I figured you'd be flattered at being accepted as an honorary member."

"How can I get in?" asked one of the girls. I wasn't really paying any sort of attention to them anymore. I was watching Sydney closely as she gingerly picked up the shirt I'd made for her. She held it so carefully and looked at it as if it were something awe-inspiring. Looked like all my hard emotional work had paid off. She got it. Even if she didn't like it, she got it. She understood what it meant to me. What she meant to me. And that was all I cared about.

She turned to me, her cheeks flushed slightly. I had to suppress another urge to pull her close to me. She looked so lovely, and though I loved the sight of her wild golden hair and would be glad to have it back once this was over, the brown wig was just making it worse.

"You haven't painted anything," I said softly.

"That's because I have zero creativity," she scoffed.

Oh, Sage. "Everyone's got some creativity," I told her. I handed her the silver brush and slid over to join her against the wall, my arm pressing against hers. She made no effort to move away from me. I laid out the shirt I'd made for myself across my lap. "Go ahead. Add something, anything."

She shook her head, looking hilariously terrified and shoved the brush back to me. "I can't draw or paint. I'll ruin it."

It was so fucking cute I could hardly stand it. It was just a dumb shirt I'd made to amuse myself. And to tease Sydney. And here she was all frantic, like anything she could do to it could possibly ruin it. I wanted to kiss her so badly. I don't think I'd ever wanted to do anything so badly, but of course, I couldn't. Shouldn't.

"Sydney." I said, pushing the brush back toward her. "It's a pirate skeleton, not the Mona Lisa. You're not going to decrease its value."

She got that little look on her face again. Her thinking look. I tried to think about anything other than my intense desire to kiss her. After a long deliberation, she finally went to work, carefully painting something around the pirate skeleton's neck. My eyes widened when she finished. "Is that a noose?" I hadn't imagined something so morbid coming from Sage.

"It's a tie!" she exclaimed, clearly offended.

I laughed, wanting to wrap my arms around her and squeeze, but being forced to settle for simply saying, "my mistake."

"He can go to a boardroom meeting," Sydney was practically pouting now. I wondered if she knew she was torturing me by being so adorable. "He's very proper now."

"Of course he is," I murmured to her. "Proper and dangerous." I was reminded of what I'd been thinking of earlier, how underneath her cardigans and khakis (also known as very much where I'd like to be), Sydney was this fiery force to be reckoned with. "Just like you."

She turned to look at me again and our faces were much too close. I couldn't do this. I needed to back off, but how could I? When I was this close to her it was intoxicating. Being a Moroi, my senses were higher than that of a human's or a Dhampir's. And I was reaping the full benefits of that right now, sitting here with Sydney. I could hear rapid thud of her heart, her breath was like water rushing in and out of my ears. The light scent of a powdery deodorant, a hint of sweat, and an unmistakable warm, musky smell that made my heart race and my eyes flutter. Arousal. I was smelling it, on Sydney, and I was about to lose my mind.

"I'm not dangerous," she finally said. Her voice so innocently seductive I would have laughed if it wasn't so goddamn sexy.

"You are to me," I whispered back. And I honestly don't know how it happened, but then we were kissing.

It was urgent from the start, my lips hard and hungry against hers. And hers were just as hard against mine. God. I'd been so desperate for her, imagined this moment so many times, it didn't seem real. I reached out, needing to touch her, needing her so much closer, and she didn't stop me when I pulled her to me, so that she was practically in my lap. Her body responded eagerly, arching into my touch, and I wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her even closer still. My other hand slid up her neck, tangling softly in her hair underneath the wig. I couldn't believe she was letting me touch her like this. My mind spun with the possibilities of what this meant until I couldn't think of anything at all. I just let myself get lost in her, not caring what it meant or how long it was going to last. I was too busy getting drunk off the taste of her, letting her completely overwhelm my senses. Breaking from her mouth, I trailed light kisses along her jaw and down her neck. Her head tilted to the side obligingly and I continued to kiss her there, reveling in how good it felt to lose control like this. I kissed her hard, sucking on the tender skin of her neck, and she gasped, arching into me again. By my experience, this might have been fairly tame making out, but I'd never really done something like this before when someone I...loved. And, God, I really loved Sydney. And she loved me too. She wanted me just as much as I wanted her. And that feeling...just...knowing I was wanted by the woman I loved...was almost so intense that it hurt. It scared me a little. We probably needed to stop, but it felt too good. The weight and warmth of her body against mine was so agonizingly good. The way it felt to have complete access to her body. Well...not complete access. Not yet. But, soon, I hoped. Maybe very soon if there was a room in this house we could get to. Somewhere dark and private where we could go slow. I could take my time touching and tasting every part of her-

"Oh my God!"

Sydney sprang back from me in shock. I had to admit, I'd been terrified for a moment too, but the girl who'd screamed wasn't even looking at us. She was yelling about some girl being found unconscious and the moment was definitely ruined after that. I helped Sydney shakily to her feet as she regained her bearings, her cheeks flushed and her eyes searching for anything to look at except for me.

"What happened?" she asked a girl standing nearby.

"It's Lynne," the girl bit her lip. "They just found her in an empty auditorium."

Sydney's eyes widened. "Is she . . . alive?"

The girl nodded. "I don't know . . . I think so, but they said there's something really wrong. She's unconscious and looks . . . well . . . old."

"Damn," I cursed. "Too late."

Sydney was incredibly upset. I was too, for her and for the poor victim but...I was also mentally freaking out. What did this mean for me and Sydney now? Certainly we couldn't just go back to being friends after that. Then again, she'd probably just find some way to claim the whole thing had been a mistake and we couldn't ever see each other again.

Sydney and I stuck around, trying to get as much information as we could, but really all that mattered was that Veronica had struck again and we hadn't been able to stop her. I knew Sydney was probably kicking herself right now, and I was grateful that at least the party was my idea, and she could blame me instead of herself. Sydney was already so undeservedly hard on herself, I honestly didn't really care if her opinion of me took a nosedive temporarily if it meant she'd leave herself alone.

Not to mention, I thought as I noticed the reddish purple bruise beginning to blossom on her neck, whenever she saw that, I was definitely going to be in trouble.