There’s a chorus of greetings through the phone before I can reply. “Hey everyone! I would say I’m missing you, but as you can probably hear, I’m having a blast.”
“Sounds like it,” Diablo says, “as long as you’re using that brain of yours for work too.”
“Yeah,” one of the bikers, Pretty Boy, laughs, “not just to impress college chicks at parties!”
“Come on, you know me,” I say, “I’m working too, I promise. Hey, is Beth there?”
“No, why?” Diablo asks.
I sigh, worried about her. “I made her promise that she’d go to the clubhouse when she was invited, I don’t want herbeing by herself at home all weekend. I thought you invited her, Ana?”
“Yeah, I did,” Ana says, “I told you I messaged her earlier.”
“Did she give you a reason why she couldn’t come?” I ask.
“Um…” Ana says, her voice nervous, “yeah, she said something about needing to get laid and going to the bar instead.”
“Hey Donovan, which bar does she go to?” Pretty Boy asks. “If that’s the type of girl you can pick up there maybe we should go!”
There’s laughter down the phone, from everyone but my brother.
“Fuck you,” I chuckle. This is typical of Beth, trying to distract herself from whatever might be going on with my brother, but I’ve got an idea of what might help them along… “Seriously though, I hate the thought of her going out, especially when I’m not in town, usually she knows she can phone me if there’s any issues. Maybe one of you should check in with her, she’ll be at Platinum.”
“I’ll go,” Diablo says, “I haven’t drunk anything yet. Catch up soon, Donovan.”
The line goes dead; I knew he’d fall for it. Even though the rest of us are sure something happened between them, they’re both too stubborn to admit it, or Diablo genuinely believes Beth and I are a couple… if only he knew the truth.
Anyway, I don’t need to be thinking about them, I need to focus on myself. I make my way back into the house, grabbing a beer from the kitchen as I go, searching the rooms for Kyle and finally spotting him on some sofas with Tracy, Martin, and Pierce.
“Uh, hi,” I say, trying to make my approach more confident than I’m feeling.
“Donovan,” Kyle says, grinning up at me. “You made it!”
“Yeah, I got here a bit earlier, but my brother called so I wanted to deal with that.”
Kyle moves closer to the middle of the sofa, making space for me next to him, but not enough to stop our thighs from pressing together. His warmth spreads through me, making me blush at the thought of being so close to him. We talk and people watch for a while, as they fill me in on some gossip from the guys who are in this frat, apparently Kyle is one of them.
“So, what’s it like being in a fraternity?” I ask.
“It’s cool,” he says, “we get to do shit like this whenever we want, and we get our own space. Speaking of, do you wanna see my room?”
Shit. He’s asking me to his room, alone, just us…
“Yeah, okay,” I say nervously.
I don’t know what’s about to happen, but as he stands and offers me his hand, I take it. This is the first time I’ve ever held hands with a guy, and I glance around nervously, wondering if anyone is noticing, and if they’ll say anything. But nobody does, the world doesn’t end because I’m holding another guy’s hand.
I follow him upstairs, weaving our way around the people that line the halls until we reach his room. He uses a key around his neck to unlock the door and leads me in, turning the lights on low and locking it behind me.
His room seems cool, with band posters on the wall, a double bed in the middle and a desk for studying. It’s about the size of my dorm room, but this is all for one person.
“It’s nice,” I say, as I turn to face him.
“Yeah, I like it,” he says, taking some steps towards me and getting as close as he can without touching me. “You know what else I like?”
“Um… no…” I murmur.
“You.”
