University Adventures Ch. 08

'Yeah I think everyone needs to go to sleep. Where's Jess?' Jericho peered around for their friend, then raised an eyebrow when he saw her making out with some tall guy as they stood pressed up against the fridge. 'Oh, never mind.'

'Yeah, look at her go.' Holly took a sip of her drink and exhaled wearily again. 'At least she's having fun.'

Jericho frowned at her. 'What's gotten into you? Why are you being such a grinch, it's the end of term, you should be having fun too.'

'Yeah I know, I guess I'm just tired now and everyone's too drunk to be interesting anymore.'

'Do you want to go to bed? We could just leave.'

'Nah. Well maybe. I don't know...'

'Come on, what's wrong?'

'I'm not sure, I just feel a bit down. Maybe I'm sad about leaving here tomorrow, I'm going to miss everybody. And tonight was good for a bit, but now everyone's just wasted and it feels like it's all over already.'

Jericho had a thought. 'I guess... actually you're right, everyone is black out drunk right now.'

'Yup.'

'And I'm guessing it's the same in all the other accommodations.'

'Probably.'

'And it's pretty cold outside.'

'Jerry now you're being boring, listing boring facts, what's your point?'

'Rude. Well, my point is that I bet there's no one around on campus right now. It's probably the quietest it's ever going to be, all year.'

'So?'

'So...'

'Oh...'

'What do you think?'

'Don't be stupid, I'm not doing it.'

'Come on.'

'No.'

'Holly...'

'Jerry...'

'You know you want to.'

'Do I though?'

'Yeah.'

'No.'

*****

What were they talking about? Well the previous night Jericho had walked into Holly's room after a late workout, to find her already in bed with her laptop open in front of her. He'd dropped his bag on the floor and then sat down next to her, kissing her on the top of her head before turning his attention to her screen.

'Umm, Holly?'

'Yes babe?'

'What is this?'

She was watching a shaky amateur video of what looked like an American university building, where students were lining the halls and cheering along a stream of runners who sped past them down the corridors. Not too weird, apart from none of the runners were wearing anything other than trainers. They were a mix of genders but they were all fresh faced and giggling nervously as they jostled along together, some covering themselves as they ran but most letting everything hang out.

Holly explained. 'It's this yearly tradition they do at Berkley and some other places in the states. Anyone who wants to gets to run around the campus like this, and everyone else comes to watch. And some film them, clearly.'

'Bit of a weird tradition isn't it? What's the point of it?'

'Just dumb young fun I guess, like when else in life would you ever get away with doing something like this, in public? Anywhere else and you'd just be arrested, or maybe tasered.'

Jericho was briefly distracted by a particularly busty student who was too top heavy to be a runner in all honesty. 'Yeah I guess. Pretty crazy though, can't say I'm really surprised it hasn't caught on over here.'

'Urgh but why not!' Holly slammed the laptop shut in frustration. 'Imagine if we did that here, it would be incredible! Serena's been nude in the library but I haven't, but if we had this tradition I could have run up and down every floor if I wanted to. I could have bullied you into doing it, maybe Jess too...'

Jericho snorted. 'Fat chance of that happening.'

Holly pouted. 'Even better then, I could have just done it myself and then the whole flat could have lined up to watch me run past. And my seminar group, all my lecturers... and it would be totally fine because other people would be there with me too! You can't judge a tradition.'

Jericho patted her playfully on the shoulder. 'There there my little exhibitionist, don't be too upset. You've done way more daring stuff than this in the past anyway, remember all the times with Charlie?'

'Yeah but telling you guys those stories just made me want to do something like this even more. I've been so busy with deadlines these past few weeks and the idea of another adventure just immediately turns me on so much, you know? I can't stop thinking about it.'

'How about you do it then? Get the ball rolling, be the originator. Someone at Berkley must have been the first person to do it to even start the tradition, you could do that here.'

'Now you're just teasing me.'

'Nah, I just don't think you have the balls.'

'Wow. My balls are twice the size of yours mate.'

'Nope, I disagree. I think you're too scared.'

'Jericho come on. I can't do this here, everyone would report me and then the campus security would be on me in like ten minutes.'

Jericho shrugged. 'Ok then, if you're too cowardly to do it properly, how about an alternative run. You have to make it all the way to the middle of campus, and seeing as you would be on cctv if you went in the library, how about you just have to touch the main door outside?'

Holly yawned and half-heartedly shook her head. 'No, it's too risky man, I can't afford to get kicked out of this place.'

'How about I dare you to do it?'

This made Holly bristle slightly, and Jericho knew that he'd touched a nerve. Holly and Charlie's dedication to completing dares was well documented, and he was well aware that she hated being called a chicken.

'Ok, how about I think about it?'

Jericho raised his eyebrows and stood up to tug off his trainers. 'See, I knew you wouldn't --'

'Oh be quiet.' Holly put her computer to the side and then pulled her duvet away, revealing that as always she was ready to sleep in the buff. 'Now come on,' she slapped her mound playfully. 'I've been keeping your dinner warm.'

*****

Back at the party tipsy Jericho was keen to bring up the dare again, more just to see whether or not she'd actually seriously consider going through with it.

'You know you want to.'

'Do I though?'

'Yeah.'

'Do I though?'

'Yesss.'

This drunkenly slurred cycle repeated a few times until Jericho reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. 'Ok, how about this. Heads or tails?'

Holly just scoffed. 'In your dreams.'

Jericho tossed the coin but kept it hidden under his hand. 'Heads or tails?'

Holly paused for a moment, but then that crafty smile broke through and she started to twirl a lock of her hair apprehensively. 'Tails.'

Jericho moved his hand. 'Unlucky, heads.'

'Ok but no, best of three.'

'What? Since when?'

'Come on, I'm not doing it on one guess.'

'Fine.' The coin looped through the air again.

'Tails.'

'Again? Brave.' They both leant forwards to see the result. 'Heads again Holly...'

She gulped slightly and took a long swig from her cup, finishing the rest of her drink for some Dutch courage. 'Yeah like I said, first to three.'

Jericho shook his head vehemently. 'No you said best of three, I already win!'

'Nah nah, I said first to three, and your coin is clearly broken so I choose heads.'

Jericho was going to argue further but he was feeling strangely lucky. 'If you're sure...'

Holly squeezed her eyes shut, she couldn't bear to watch the final flip, and when she opened them again her heart sank as she was greeted by Jericho's beaming face. 'Shit.'

'Three wrong in a row baby!'

'Oh god...'

'Up you get, we've got a challenge to complete.'

*****

Five minutes later Jericho was standing outside Holly's door, grinning with excitement. After some intense negotiating she'd finally conceded that she'd lost the coin toss, and that Jericho could get her to do what he wanted, but only on the condition that at some point she'd be able to get revenge and give him a dare of her choice too. Jericho had agreed to this but only if he could film her run tonight, to memorialize the great event. They'd shaken on it and then quietly snuck away from the party, and just to spite him Holly had decided to make Jericho wait outside as she got undressed. After what felt like an eternity she emerged from her room, clad only in her trusty dressing gown.

'I'm seriously not even allowed shoes?'

'Not if you want to do this properly. Now come on, let's go!' Jericho reached out and took her hand to lead her down the corridor.

'I can't stand you sometimes...' They trotted down the deserted hallway and rushed down the flights of stairs to the ground floor, Holly clutching her solitary item of clothing tightly at the front as it threatened to unravel. They passed through the front door and both shivered as they stepped outside and were hit by a blast of icy winter wind. Jericho tuned to look at Holly, who decided to backtrack and shake her head indignantly.

'Come on Jay this is ridiculous, this has gone way too far.'

Holly stood outside wrapped in a fluffy white dressing gown, shivering slightly and shifting her weight from side to side in an attempt to keep her bare feet warm. Jericho just laughed as he pointed his phone at his uneasy friend.

'Rules are rules Holly, you knew what you were getting yourself into. So, you ready?'

'No.'

Holly hugged herself and continued to peer into the darkness, anxiously looking for any signs of life. Even though it was one in the morning in the middle of December there were still a few groups of students heading back to their flats, as well as the occasional campus security van driving around looking for trouble. Her quick nervous breathes turned to fog as soon as they touched the cold night air, and her teeth were beginning to chatter.

'There's still too many people.'

'No there aren't, coward,' Jericho was still grinning. 'And you're going to freeze to death soon so come on, let's go.' He walked backwards away from the doorway and into the gloom, keeping the camera trained on her as he went. 'Come on!'

'Someone will see! Then they'll call security, or the police, I'll get caught, probably expelled out of uni-'

'No you won't, you're going to be absolutely fine. Now move.'

'I hate you.' Scowling, Holly took a deep breath and glared upwards at the sky. 'Ahhh fine!' With that she quickly ripped off her robe, threw it to the side and sprinted straight past Jericho. He immediately turned and followed in hot pursuit trying, with some difficulty, to keep her in frame.

'Slow down man, I can't keep up!'

Even with no shoes Holly was already pulling away and disappearing into the dark.

'Wait for me!'

'Are you crazy? No way,' Holly glanced back furiously. 'You're not the one who's naked!'

She was going at full pelt but Jericho was faster, and he soon caught up to her as she streaked down the empty pathway that led towards the center of the campus. He managed to get slightly ahead and panned the camera back to video her full frontal glory, one arm pumping furiously as she sprinted and the other pinning down her breasts, not out of modesty but because otherwise their jiggling would be too wayward.

'Jesus christ, I can't believe I'm doing this!'

'Me neither, how does it feel?'

'I feel so alive oh my god... oh my god I'm really doing it...' Holly didn't slow down as she vaulted over a bench to take a short cut, dancing over the gravel. Her skin was still bathed in the light from all the bustling kitchens in the blocks that she was running past, and she just prayed that there was no one looking out of the windows.

'Shit! People!' Holly gasped as she rounded a corner and saw a group up ahead, presumably students returning home after a late night out. This time she did instinctively cover up and quickly ducked behind a tree as she waited for them to move on. Jericho wasn't concerned with hiding so he just stayed on the path and pointed his phone at Holly.

'So Holly, what's it like being completely naked outside at your own university?'

He was drunk and in an evil mood so he spoke intentionally loudly, giving anyone nearby a chance of overhearing him. Holly's eyes widened in disbelief and she quickly glanced round the tree trunk to see if the group had noticed anything, but now the coast seemed to be clear again. The dark clouds that had loomed over the campus all evening had started to rain down over them and Holly quivered as the cold water began to hit her skin.

'Shut up you idiot! This is already hard enough, without you giving me away...'

She scurried out from her cover and continued onwards, not running this time but skipping anxiously over the ground and darting her head left and right as she stared suspiciously into the dark. They proceeded to furtively creep their way through the maze of vacant faculty buildings, checking round every bend before dashing frantically to the next one. Holly's body was only running on a few rum and cokes at this point but that was all the energy she needed, and she kept up a good pace as she moved without showing any sign of tiring. They carefully worked their way past the humanities block, along the gym and swimming pool complex, and finally ended up on the central boulevard which led up to the main plaza and Holly's destination. On this path there were bright street lamps illuminating their way, reflecting their yellow glow off the slick paving slabs, and Holly was relived to see that the way ahead was free of people. She slowed her pace to a stroll and let her hands drop down to her sides, now free to walk uninhibited alongside Jericho.

'I'm singing in the rain...'

She started to laugh tipsily and twirl around, pirouetting wildly as streams of droplets span out from her soaked hair.

'Honestly I've fantasised about doing something like this since I first came here... and it's even better than I thought it would be.'

'Really?'

'God yeah. Whenever I'm bored in a lecture I imagine just taking off my dress and walking to the front, just to see what happens. Whenever I go out for a run, I wonder why I have to wear clothes at all. You know I intentionally applied to flats with shared showers, not en-suites? I thought it would give me more opportunities to have some fun... and now I know I was right. This feels magical.'

She suddenly launched into a tumbling cartwheel and just about pulled it off, but fell slightly as she landed and almost stumbled straight into the path of a very surprised looking undergraduate.

'Oh! Shit! Umm, sorry!'

Holly gulped and flung both arms across her chest as for a brief moment she apologetically made eye contact with the stunned student, who just stared back at her from behind his frosted up glasses. The reality of Holly's stupidly risky situation seemed to hit her, and she was briefly lost for words.

'I... er, ok bye?' She awkwardly ducked away and began to run up the road, and after a pause Jericho just shrugged at the unexpected intruder and jogged off after her, glancing back to see that he was watching them go.

'Hahaha Holly that was priceless, the look on both your faces!'

He caught up with her and was delighted to see her beetroot red cheeks radiating with heat, even this daredevil could get humiliated. Holly glanced back to confirm they were finally out of sight, then put her hands to her head in exasperation.

'Where the hell did he come from! I thought I'd just walked tit-first into a ghost for crying out loud.'

'I guess he must have been cutting across from one of the other paths, and we just didn't see him in the dark until he stepped into the light.'

'My heart genuinely skipped a beat, I've never had such a scare in my life.'

'Well I guess him neither, one minute you can't see where you're going because your glasses are fogged up, next thing you know a vagina and pair of legs are flying through the rain towards you.'

'Oh god,' groaned Holly, cringing in shame. 'He'd have seen everything...'

'Yup. Early Christmas present I guess?'

'I guess, hopefully he was more distracted by my body than my face, because if he sees me on campus next term and recognises me I might have to drop out of uni.'

For the first time that night Jericho felt bad. 'You want to stop? You can take my jacket if you want and we can go back?'

Holly just replied with a scornful look and rolled her eyes dismissively, then confidently strode off up the road once more. One pretty major setback notwithstanding, she was still having the time of her life. She'd also learnt with Charlie that it's always the first time getting caught that feels the strangest, after that initial shock to the system you actually begin to feel more confident in a counterintuitive kind of way. However, as they approached the plaza she reluctantly became more cautious, furtively dashing behind bins and parked cars as she moved ever closer to her destination. Jericho still didn't care about revealing her position so he kept walking along, filming her bare behind with amusement, until the unexpected sound of music up ahead made him duck down next to her behind a row of flower beds.

'Jerry, look!'

Up ahead they could see the library which sat at the center of the large square, and sitting on the steps leading up to the main doors was a bunch of eight late night partygoers, sheltering from the increasingly bad weather under the overhang. They had a bluetooth speaker which was blaring away, and a sea of wine bottles and beer cans surrounding their feet, implying that for them at least the night was still young.

Jericho tutted. 'Damn it, there's no way they're moving any time soon.'

Suddenly Holly felt very small and very vulnerable. 'No... man, why are they still out here? It's like two in the morning and freezing, just go home already.'

'Says the girl who decided to leave a party to go streaking.'

'Shut up.'

Jericho sighed. It would have been cool to see Holly complete the dare properly, but it was a miracle they'd come this far relatively unscathed, and she had made it to within thirty meters of her destination, which was pretty impressive.

'Ok, I guess that's us done then. Congratulations, you did the best you could.'

Holly was sitting tucked into a ball behind the flower bed, hugging her knees as her chin rested on her arms. She muttered something under her breath as she glared at the group that was standing in her way, then seemed to make her mind up about something.

'No... come on, over here.'

For the first time it was Holly who was the assertive one as she grabbed his arm and they scurried off to the left, keeping low so that they weren't spotted. The university's main square was surrounded by a border of open lawn which eventually led to some of the surrounding buildings, but was otherwise deserted but for a few benches. Here there were no street lights, and the total darkness contrasted with the bright lights of the plaza meant that anyone on the grass would be impossible to see, completely shrouded in the gloom. This was why the student earlier had appeared from the dark as if by magic, and it gave Holly her most outrageous idea to date. They reached the edge of the path and quickly ran out into the blackness, the cold ground making Holly's toes curl. Sure enough, even though they were now in direct eyeline of the library group no one could spy on them, even if they were trying to.

'Jay look, we're basically invisible to them!'

Holly whispered excitedly as she waved in their general direction, then did a couple of jumping jacks before she hunched over again in feigned modesty. Even though she knew they couldn't actually see her, the fact that her nude body was completely exposed to a load of strangers sitting just a stone's throw away was simply too bizarre to deal with.

'Ok, take this off.'

She pulled off Jericho's coat and laid it on the ground, smoothing out the creases as best she could, then yanked him onto the make shift blanket with her. She knelt down in front of him and after a quick fiddle with the zip tore down his trousers and boxers in one aggressive motion, only to be taken aback when his fully erect penis shot out towards her, almost taking her eye out.