I, Fraternity: A Novel In Progress: Chapter6

“Because if you think pledging is tough now, wait until tonight when your new pledge program begins. It’s going to make the last seven weeks seem like a walk on the beach. You better believe that I’m not going to miss a moment of it, Nick. I’m going to be right on your ass like your shadow, watching your every move.” I then heard some footsteps coming from the other side of where Brother Jack and Nick were.

“Ease up on my Little, Jack,” Brother Greg said. “I don’t mess with Anthony so why mess with Nick?” Brother Jack let out a grunt and then I heard a pair of knees give a familiar crack like when someone rises from a crouching position to stand up. I then heard footsteps leading away from the room.

“Remember what I told you,” Brother Jack said, his voice was quickly fading away and barely audible in the distance.

“Hey, you alright?” I heard Brother Greg say to Nick when it seemed, the coast was clear.

“Yeah.” Nick said. “You know, he’s real dick.”

“Hell, I pledged with him. I know him better than he knows himself.” Greg laughed. “I couldn’t stand that kid. Sometimes I wanted to…”

“Kick his ass?”

“Well, yeah, you could say that.” They both laughed. “Hey, you thirsty?”

“Yeah, real thirsty.”

“Here, I snuck you this…” I heard a crack and then a hiss followed by a succession of gulps. Suddenly, I became very thirsty, jealous that I didn’t have an ice-cold Pepsi just like Nick over there. How did I know it was a Pepsi? Because that’s all the guy drinks, the way a car only uses gasoline, Nick only drinks Pepsi. “Feel better?”

“Hell yeah. Thanks bro, I needed that.”

“I know you did. Now, hang in there alright? Things may be a bit hairy right now, but it will be okay, all right? Just trust me and you’ll be fine. The Family is real proud of you.” What Brother Greg meant was that their entire family tree was very proud of him—that is, the Brothers that preceded Brother Greg and Nick throughout the chapter’s history at Saranac.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. We’re all pulling for you. You probably don’t know this—at least not to the full extent of it—but we’re watching you. Your entire family tree is watching you very closely. We’ve all been through this before remember, and we haven’t forgotten just how tough it is. But I promise you this—stick with it and you won’t regret ever becoming an Eta. Remember this for as long as you’re a Pledge and then you won’t ever have to remember it when you finally do cross and become one of us. But hey, let me go. Remember what I told you, okay? And keep it up.”

“Alright, I will.”

Footsteps walked past me as I sat up a bit to show Brother Greg that I wasn’t at all asleep and very much alert. I felt a pat on my shoulder and knew it to be Brother Greg.

“You too, buddy,” Brother Greg said to me. “We’re all proud of you guys.”

Not in recent memory while in Saranac do I remember ever before being as happy as I was that day. Sherry seemed to know me very well, or plain knew men well, because she was a goddamn wizard when it came to turning me on. It was tough to control myself, believe me, but in the end I made it through enough.

Sherry led me through Brother Charlie’s doorway and into his living room in which the Brothers had designated just for her. Following along behind us the bouncer who I thought was going to watch us the entire time. I was surprised however, when after entering Brother Charlie’s that he instead turned around, his back facing us and the door to apartment was left wide open. The bouncer stood, assuming the exact same position as when first observing us.

“Don’t blow your load, Jason!” Brother Adam yelled inside the apartment and few other brothers began laughing. Outside in the commons area, the music changed again. This time around, the song was “Come on Eileen.” The beer was flowing once again. The atmosphere around the house must have been like an intermission during a show or something. But I had a personal show of my own with Sherry. She led me to a reclining that sat in the middle of the room. She playfully threw me onto to the recliner and then threw her hair back while wearing the most seductive smile. I made myself as comfortable as possible, waiting for the fun to begin. I was ready as I would ever be.

She then reached down with the slowest of ease, cupping her hands on the underside of her and began feeling herself up for me, letting out a slow moan to the ceiling. She then slowly turned and stuck her perfectly firm ass in the air, touching first the tips of her toes upon stiletto heels with both her hands and began slowly moving them up the insides of her legs, past her ankles, up past behind where her knees bent, and then…

Sherry let out another soft moan. It was enough to make the bouncer turn his head for just a moment to check on her. After seeing her for just that moment, he turned around and resumed his posture. Sherry’s first and second fingers were slowly rubbing her thong back and fourth, soon finding the crease and allowed the two fingers that were flat against the surface to sink home just slightly. From out between her legs she was watching me and smiling while upside down. My expression was like a stone, my grin permanent. If someone had swung a bat at my head and knocked me unconscious at that point, I bet I would’ve awoken with much the same shit-eating grin on my face. Suddenly, she rose up from her bent-over position and turned to face me. She approached me then, climbing on top of me. I didn’t move a muscle and probably couldn’t have even if I tried. Sherry then started riding me, the way a mock cowboy rides one of those mechanical bulls in those rodeo bars I think they call them.

The only difference was that if that were true, then I would be the mechanical bull. But I wasn’t the one that was moving. Sherry was. She was the only one that was moving, and the way she was in control was notable. I didn’t think she was falling off me anytime soon. As crazy as it may sound, Sherry was sensually aggressive with me, if there is such a thing. And if there isn’t such a thing then she just invented the thing on her own accord.

At one point while she was doing this, I asked her as politely as possible, “Hey, can I touch?” Sherry was still smiling at me. She placed her soft hands on both my cheeks. She then took her hands and laid them on my clammy ones, guiding them onto her hips where they stayed for the entirety of her sexually charged act. When it was all over, I was dizzy simply from just holding her, much of it due of course to the jerky movements of her body that was both fast and slow at different intervals. All I could muster up at the end that was nothing short of spectacular was, “You are fucking amazing.” That’s what I said and I stuck with it. Sherry let out a giggle that tickled me one last time down there before heading back to a houseful of Brothers and Rushees alike. I was flattered and taken by surprised when she reached out and placed her hand on my cheek. “You’re cute,” she said to me. I blushed and gave her a playful shrug of my shoulders, which made her smile. I then reached into the front pocket of my jeans, which by now, you have to understand, were damp with sweat (and nothing more, mind you) and pulled out the remaining thirty dollars I had on me and handed it to her.

“What’s this for?” She shook her head and patted my hand. “No sweetie, it’s on the house.” I gave her a look. I didn’t understand. “The Brothers covered you.” I was even more confused then when I got the request to bring the money in the first place. Then what the fuck was the money for? I thought. After a moment, Sherry continued on, doing her best to convince me that everything was okay. “The Brothers will explain it to you, okay? But thanks anyway. That was very nice of you.”

When I began walking out of the room I had the urge to turn around and ask her something to the effect of, can I see you again…Like ever? I imagined that there were guys out there that became absolutely infatuated with strippers they had the pleasure of meeting. Besides all that, I’m sure the bouncer standing over by the door wouldn’t have appreciated that. The rule is that strippers don’t date their clients. It was taboo and could lead to Sherry getting fired. The last thing I wanted was for her to get into trouble all due to my selfish, uncontrollable endeavors, mainly because I wanted to be “cute” as she referred to me as being. But a guy can dream, can’t he?

When I walked back out to the commons area, I was greeted by Brothers Eric and Shawn who were clapping their hands and smiling at me. They both patted me on the shoulder and wanted to know how Sherry was. “Are you kidding me?” I asked them. Eric through his head back and let out a loud whoop. Shawn handed me a red Solo cup filled with Busch and told me to drink up. I must have misunderstood him, because when I chugged the entire cup of beer in two and a half gulps, their eyes grew wide in disbelief. Shawn looked around the room and then whistled over to a group of brothers that were huddled together, talking to one another on the other side of the room.

“Lawrence!” Shawn called out and motioned for him to come. Lawrence was a NIB, or Newly Initiated Brother. He and his class crossed the one semester ago. His Big Brother was none other than the Archon, the Big Cheese himself. “Where’s your Big?” Lawrence shrugged his shoulders. “Go and find him. Tell him to get over here, because we finally found him a competitor.” Shawn then looked over at me and gave me a nod. He was beaming at me. “Legend has it that if you can beat the Archon in a chug contest, you will become the Next Archon…What do you think of that?” I was impressed. I’ve been chugging beer since high school with my friends from back home. Suddenly, I was determined to beat the Archon with the hopes of someday taking over his post. “But just to let you know, he’s never been beaten but I think he’s due. Just remember, you can’t spill any beer when you chug. Spilling just one drop is a DQ and it’s over, alright?” I nodded my head and raised my cup to show him that I was game. I was ready.

While waiting for the Archon, swept the room, noticing that there seemed to be twice as many Brothers as before and they were all wearing the letters of Eta Iota Mu. The only guys that were not wearing letters of course were the Rushees who were the only ones invited into Brother Charlie’s apartment. I wasn’t sure why I didn’t pick up on this before. By then it was so obvious. I watched as Sherry made her way back to Charlie’s again with Mattie following behind her. She was leading him by the hand and once again, the Brothers were cheering a Rushee on. Mattie looked unsolicited, innocent and practically virgin-like as he walked past us. I wondered if I looked the same when it was my turn.

“Hey!” The Big Cheese yelled out from behind me. I became so startled that I spilled half my beer all over the hardwood floor. I shook my head when looking at the mess I made.

“Shit,” I said, switching the half cup of beer from my wet hand to my dry one. “I’ll clean that up, if you want—”

“Dude, don’t worry about it,” Shawn said, leaning in. “You’re in a fraternity house for God’s sake. Besides, the president is talking to you. Look at him when he is talking to you.”

I straightened up like a tree and did what I was told.

“So you think you can beat me, huh?” His eyes were wide. While looking into them, I could imagine bolts of lightning shooting out and smiting me into a pile of ash.

“No, well…I” I was nervous all of a sudden.

“Ready?” Shawn said. I wasn’t ready. “Go!” Immediately, I spilled half my beer all over the front of my shirt when the hammer dropped. The rest went down in three desperate gulps and some of it went inside my nose. I was submerged in chaos before I could even get set, and saw from the corner of my eye that the Archon already finished; he lifted his cup high in the air in victory while I struggled. His execution was smooth and methodical and made it look easy. He chugged just about as fast as you could pour. His Adam’s apple moved up and down only once, which meant he could open up his throat—needing to take only one gulp when chugging. Having finished his far ahead of me the Archon waited and stood, standing in front of me with his arms crossed and his eyes fixed on me the entire time. He was grinning with satisfaction. I’ve embarrassed myself in front of the mighty Archon. With my pride crushed, my eyes faltered and so did my hand that held then the empty cup that dripped the dregs of my utter failure. So much for making a good impression with the Big Guy, I thought. So woe is me.