.:Sensation Boulevard:.

An original romance novel By Dearly Demented

Disclaimer: I am the creator and the storyteller. This piece of fiction is made purely for the enjoyment of writing it and for the readers who choose to read it.

Warning: This is my very first piece of fiction that i have published on fictionpress, so please be patient with the n00b. This will also have lashings of teen drama. I may be in my twenties, but i can't seem to shake it off. I also have an atrocious problem with tense changes, so i apologise for that too.

Chapter One

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war, love is growing up.

- James Baldwin

-

Madison Parker was one of those people who liked to stay on the sideline and people-watch. That was not to say that she was a peeping tom or anything, because that's just kind of gross. Rather, being the quiet intuitive person that she was, she simply enjoyed observing more than interacting. She felt more comfortable to be left in the corner to do as she pleased, namely reading books the size of a small whale or scribble quotes down in a ratty journal. It was best to leave the dramatics and hysterics of daily life to people who were born to be in the spotlight.

Therefore, although she shared a number of classes with Asher Greaves, she never really had much to do with him. They ran in different circles of friends for a start. It wasn't the whole popular/unpopular cliché that always seemed to happen back in your average school when you sprouted spots the size of volcanoes on your chin or when boys sounded like they had just been kicked in the crotch one too many times. College had a more mature approach to the hierarchy of the student body (if you knew your subject inside out then you were so totally 'in'. But flaunt it in front of everyone and cozy up to the lecturers then you were pretty much avoided and sneered at for the rest of your course. See? Totally mature). Classes in Ancient to Early History had around two hundred pupils in them so it was pretty easy to miss the other. Not to mention it was very easy for an outgoing, brash person like playboy Asher to miss quiet mousy Madison.

They hadn't talked once, if one discounts that polite "Excuse me" "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going" when they had bumped into each other in the library in the first few weeks of starting College. Madison would have easily forgotten about it if Adam hadn't dragged her down another isle of books by the hood of her top and demanded (translation: threatened her very life) to know what crashing into Asher's 'hard pecs of burning man' had felt like. Madison had given him a dark scowl, reminded Adam that she wasn't there to fulfil his homoerotic fantasies with other students, before diving back into her search for the Alexander and Hephastion textbook that she needed for her Greek essay that was due in for the week after.

In fact, they probably would have gotten through College with that one exchange as the only time they had conversed with the other, had Nina Drew's boyfriend not been hunting Asher down with his team mates in a fit of jealous rage after Asher and Nina had…well, you know. The result was quite interesting to say the least. What ensued was the most humiliating situation that Madison had ever been in.

But then, some things were just meant to happen.

-

-

Tuesday morning dawned mild and slowly warming. The sun rose, changing frost to icy dewdrops that glittered like broken glass on the pavements and road. It was the kind of day that Madison would have enjoyed, the sort of day that called for warm fluffy scarves and gloves, hot cups of coffee and sweet cinnamon buns, and curling up with a good book about the last of the Mohican tribes in America. In fact….if she could just muster up enough strength to reach over to her night stand where she had placed her copy of The Last of the Mohicans, maybe…

Madison's nose twitched ominously. She froze, scrunched hers face up, and pinched her nose tightly with her fingertips. She would not sneeze; she would not-

"Accchhhoooo!"

God damn it!

Madison groaned in agony and curled up into a tighter ball beneath her duvet. Being sick was definitely not a bundle of joy. She felt like the skin on her face was tightening and the pressure behind her eyes and nose would make her head explode if she had to sneeze one more time. Or maybe next time she won't be able close her eyes before the sneeze and her eyeballs would pop out to roll on the floor like some kind of cheesy Halloween trick. They kept watering pitifully, all red and blotchy, and her taste buds were shot to hell. Gunk was building up at the back of her throat and it was getting difficult to swallow without it feeling like she was trying to chew through shards of glass.

Around her were used up tissues that were scattered everywhere and a large mug of halls soothing lemon drink for sore throats and itchy coughs was left by her bed to cool off. If anyone had entered her dorm room they would have wondered if she was keeping a little animal farm on his floor with the amount of stuffed toys strewn around. They were all courtesy of a rather flaming homosexual of a best friend who didn't understand the concept that just because Madison was a girl didn't mean she liked stuffed toys (She was definitely not a fan after she was made to watch the Chucky films. Granted, Chucky was a scary ginger doll with a penchant for mass murder but Madison never liked to discriminate against the toy population).

Pulling the bed covers further up her body and tucked snugly under her chin, Madison sniffled miserably. She felt like the walking dead with her blocked up sinuses and her stomach acting like a washing machine on a full spin cycle. She was feeling like crap as she had the mother of all colds and all of her friends were too busy to come by with a can of chicken soup or a tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

A little tender love and care wouldn't have gone amiss either.

Madison sighed dejectedly and closed her tired eyes. It would only be a couple more days and then she would be as right as rain. No more sniffles, no more sneezing and no more coughing up horrible gunk that looked like gremlin slime from her lungs.

It didn't take long before sleep claimed her. She was just getting into a perfectly ridiculous dream involving a double chocolate muffin telling Madison it was going to give her the squits for a week if she ate it when there came a massive bang that jolted her awake. She stared around his room with bleary eyes that couldn't focus properly.

Nothing seemed to be out of place.

Staring around her room for a while, the bang didn't come again. She slid back under the covers comfortably and closed her eyes. She was just about to drop off when the bang came again. Suddenly her window was shoved open and a hand snaked over the windowsill before a mop of messy black hair peeked over the side. Another arm appeared as it hoisted a lean torso and legs over the top and they tumbled through her dorm window and landed flat on their ass on the floor.

And they seemed to be very much naked.

Madison did the first thing that came to her head. She shrieked like a little girl.

The naked guy seemed to be shaken by Madison's terrifying war cry and scrambled to his feet, yanking on something that was caught on the edge of the windowsill. A white bed sheet, it seemed. He tried to cover his nakedness with the edge of it but failed miserably.

Madison yelped, clapping a hand over her virgin eyes and groped blindly for something –anything to defend herself with. Her hand closed around an 800 page hardback dictionary and she flung it in the general vicinity of where she thought the intruder was.

There was a pained grunt and Madison felt a temporary flash of smug satisfaction that she had managed to hit her target without even looking. Maybe she should try out for some sports teams. "Get out!" She yelled, reaching out again for a box of ibuprofen and flinging them at him. "What the hell are you doing in my room naked?! I said get out!"

"Hey-" The guy quickly ducked as the flying box flew over his head. "Stop throwing things!"

A hairbrush narrowly missed the guy's face and sailed out the window to land on some unsuspecting fool's head two-story's below. "I said stop throwing things!" he growled, taking a step forward. A stuffed penguin the size of a small cow came hurtling his way, hitting his bare chest and landing harmlessly to the floor. His left eyebrow gave a spasm. "Did you just throw a penguin at me?"

Madison's hand finally closed around something large and heavy. Quickly glancing at it to determine what it was, she realised she had picked up he bedside lamp. Ah, perfect. Lifting it up, Madison took careful aim at the stranger's head.

The guy's eyes widened comically as he figured out what the object was. "Oh shit!" Madison barely had time to let out an indignant squeak before the tall, scarily naked guy completely forgot that he was fighting to free the bed sheet and took a running leap, knocking Madison flat on her back on the bed with him on top.

"Ow, you jerk," Madison groaned in pain as she got a bony elbow lodged into the side of her ribs. "Get the hell off of me!"

"Jesus Christ, would you shut up for one bloody minute?!" The stranger hissed, grabbing the tiny fists that were trying to pummel him and holding them down to the mattress with little effort required. For someone who was so lean, Madison thought the guy was unusually strong. This only caused Madison to struggle more and lash out with her legs but the naked guy had pre-empted this move and pinned her legs down with his thighs.

Madison's cheeks glowed a bright pink.

Okay. Well, this was certainly awkward. "Me shut up?" Madison demanded as an after thought. "Who the hell do you think you are? You decide that you would haul all of your naked glory into my bedroom when I don't even know you so don-"

Rolling his green eyes in exasperation, the guy clamped a hand over Madison's furiously working mouth. "Seriously, I will explain everything if you would just be so kind and keep silent for one moment. Oh, and stop throwing things. That book kind of hurt."

Madison's own eyes narrowed and she nudged her face up, pushing gently against the large hand still covering her mouth. The guy just smirked down at her and shrugged his wide shoulders. "It was the only thing I could think of to get you to stop your girly hysterics."

Madison huffed in indignation. It was definitely not hysterics. Any person in her position would have done the exact same thing. Oh, god. Position. Madison's cheeks went a darker shade of red and she shifted uncomfortably, very aware that the guy on top of her was naked. Can't stress enough how naked this guy was.

"Are you going to behave for me and not yell the dorm block down?" He asked in a mock-polite voice. Madison just stared up at him expectantly and, heaving a massive sigh that suggested he was the one who was put upon, the naked guy finally pulled his hand away and theatrically wiped his hand on the quilt.

Madison stretched her jaw muscles, glaring heatedly up at the man who was still sprawled on top of her. "Do you mind getting off of me now?"

The guy stared blankly down at her for a few moments, until he must have finally realised their situation and quickly scrambled off of Madison with a hasty apology and a scratch of the head. Madison made sure she kept her eyes averted from the stranger as he went back to the window and untangled the bed sheet so he could wrap it around himself like a toga.

Madison coughed discreetly as she sat up on the bed, arranging the covers around herself to get more comfortable. "So, you mind telling me why you came tumbling through my window without prior permission? Or better yet, why are tumbled through my window naked?"

"Not technically naked." The guy groused, wrapping the sheet tighter around himself for emphasis.

Madison just gave him a deadpan look that pretty much summed up her opinion on the whole situation.

The guy just gave her a sheepish smile that probably would have the ladies turning into puddles of girlie slush. "Alright, Alright. I was actually in the dorm rooms beneath you. I had to make a uh…hasty exit, hence the tumbling through your window."

"The dorm rooms beneath me?" Madison frowned. "You mean Nina's dorm? Nina Drew's?"

The green-eyed boy blinked once. "That would be the very one, yes."

Madison's eyes once again narrowed to cat-like slits. It was only then that she really took a closer look at the guy's appearance. Tousled choppy black hair, hooded green eyes, suspicious bruising down a long neck and scattered across his lightly muscled torso, the fact that he was naked in only a bed sheet. Well. That just made the whole situation a little more awkward than before. "You mean the same Nina Adams who has the rugby player boyfriend that's built like a double-decker bus? The boyfriend who would probably snap you in two with his little finger if he found you were in Nina's dorm doing the horizontal mamba?"

"Horizontal mamba?" The guy let the corners of his lips lift gently in a smirk. "Heh. I'm Asher Greaves, by the way" he drawled as if it were an answer to Madison's question and held out his hand to shake. "And I think we are going to get along splendidly."

Madison just gave the hand a puzzled look (she felt a little disgusted, too. Where had that hand been for God's sake?) before reaching out and delicately shaking it. "Madison Parker. One of Nina's friends, coincidentally."

"It's a small world." Asher intoned cheerfully as he let his hand slide away. He looked around Madison's room for the first time and whistled. "Woah, what happened in here? It looks like an explosion of toys and…" he kicked a rolled up tissue by his foot across the floor. "Tissues? Building yourself a snow storm or something?"

Madison spluttered as she shakily got to her feet. Her eyes struggled to focus on him. "Building a snow st-? Oh for Christ sake, I'm ill you moron," she hissed. This was so not how she envisioned this day would go. "I don't need some arrogant naked guy bursting through my window because they're a cheating toe rag and took the coward's way out instead of facing up to the big bad boyfriend."

He gave her a sharp look. "Okay, number one; I'm not the one who's cheating. Number two; you've seen how big that guy is, right? I'm man enough to admit that there is no way in hell I would survive one minute in a fight with him."

"So you climbed out the window? Not enough time to grab your clothes? Shame. Now if you would kindly remove yourself and your bed sheet from my dorm room, I would like to get some sleep." She pointed imperiously at the door.

Asher just stared at her. "You know, for someone so small you're actually a little intimidating…if it weren't for the fact that you're wearing sponge bob square pants pyjamas."

Madison opened her mouth to unleash a particularly scathing retort about Asher's own state of dress (or lack thereof) when a wave of dizziness hit her and she nearly ended up face first on the floor. But she didn't. Instead, Asher must have interpreted the dazed look on her face for 'oh-going-to-pass-out-now' and wound an arm (that wasn't holding the sheet) around Madison's waist to steady her. Well, that was what was supposed to happen. Asher must have tripped over one of the toys on the floor and his momentum sent both of them sprawling back on the bed.

It was precisely that moment that the door swung open and Madison's life came crashing down around her.

"OH MY GOD."

Those three little words seemed to echo off of Madison's dorm walls and she froze in a frightened stupor. Four things suddenly occurred to her at that exact moment:

1) Because of Asher's bout of clumsiness he was now lying on top of Madison, with one of his arms wrapped around Madison's waist and the other (as if on instinct Asher braced Madison's head for impact) cupping the back of her head, looking down. Madison was sprawled on the bed beneath him, her legs parted with Asher between them, head tilted to one side and looking up.

2) Asher was no longer holding onto the bed sheet/toga.

3.) From behind Asher, it was very possible that it might look like they were about to be participating in the horizontal mamba and had absolutely nothing to do with being clumsy and an oh-so-innocent slip up. Something that in College, particularly, was instantly incriminating and subject to extensive rumour and speculation.

4.) At that particular moment, Nina's rugby player boyfriend and half of the team, who were quite obviously rounded up to track and destroy Nina's new bit of stuff, were standing behind Asher and openly gawking at them.

Madison felt physically sick, red heat spreading across her cheeks like fire for the hundredth time that day. She could honestly say that this was the most mortifying situation she had ever found herself in. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, to explain away the situation. Even if it meant that she broke the awkward silence that hung over everyone like some giant pink panda. But she couldn't. Her vocal cords wouldn't obey the signals from her brain.

And Asher was just staring over his shoulder. He didn't say a word in defence of the rather pornographic position they have been found in (but so obviously innocent!). Not. One. Single. Word.

He just gave them this blank look, as if he was bored of the situation already or he did things like this everyday. He probably did, but definitely not with Madison Parker.

So Asher stared, Madison blushed like a schoolgirl with her first crush, and the picture of sin and guilt was complete.

Nina's boyfriend (was his name Brian? She could never keep up with the girl and her boyfriends) continued to gape at them for a full minute—a minute that felt like an eternity—before spitting out a strangled, "What the hell? Madison?"

Before Madison could get a word in edgeways, Asher propped himself up on his elbows to stare at them more comfortably from their position. "Do you mind shutting the door? I don't want the whole college seeing my naked ass."

And with that parting shot, Madison's fate was sealed.

-

And that would be the first Chapter!

Feed(my muse)back please.

EDIT: 3/4/09 Fixed some little typos that you guys pointed out, so it should read a litle better.