The following is a pure work of fiction and is the property of the author. It's a story with some sex, not sex with some story. Please remember this is fiction. Representation of characters and institutions may not be relevant to today's society. I do not usually acknowledge e-mails, instead using my time to write. I do appreciate hearing from you to let me know if this story is meeting your expectations. Hope that you continue enjoying the story. LJB
Joseph Andrew Collins Chapter 12 (This chapter is dedicated to Mike in San Diego and for Brad)
The laundry basket seemed awfully full. It was all of Brad's and my dirty clothes and it was my turn to take them down to the laundry room and do the wash. I really didn't mind. It gave me a chance to read some of the new book I'd started, or if some of the other Brothers were there, maybe we'd slip around the corner to the Games room and throw some darts, or shoot some pool.
The basement corridors seem very dim tonight, not lit brightly like they normally were whenever I'd been down here before and it seemed like I'd walked a mile and still not come to the Laundry Room. As I looked ahead, the hallway was completely black and when I turned around it was the same behind me. Facing forward, I saw a partly opened door with light shining from within and decided to see where I had gotten myself. Approaching the door, I could hear a clear, distinct voice, which I recognized. It was Brad, my brother.
"That's it. Not too fast. You're getting the hang of it now." he said, his voice thick with passion and lust. I set down the laundry basket and moved up to the door, so I could see what was happening. I was surprised by what was going on. My brother Brad stood naked, his long, lean frame with pale, smooth skin stretched taut over his broad shoulders, back and tight butt. I watched the muscles of his butt clench and unclench rhythmically as he spoke soothingly to the person in front of him. The fingers of that person were stacked along the lower back just over the firm butt cheeks of my brother as the other's hands clamped firmly onto those hips. Brad swayed forward and backward slowly.
"You've got it now." Brad was saying. "In deep, out shallow and swirl. In deep, out shallow and swirl. Work that tongue man, it makes all the difference." His calming instructions, laboured breathing and the slurping sounds I heard, made it pretty clear Brad was getting his dick sucked. I stood silent, not wanting to disturb or distract the concentration of the two forms before me.
"Slow down, we're just getting started." Brad purred, coaching his partner. "We've got a long way to go before we're done." Brad's hips kept swaying forward and back, setting the pace he wanted the guy on his knees in front of him to work. Having seen Brad's fully primed dick before, I knew the sucker had a mouth full of solid meat. I could imagine the plump, purplish helmet sliding forth from the tight skin, which normally encased it. Brad is an immaculately clean person, so the taste buds of his partner would be savouring the clear liquid, which would be dribbling from the almost lip-like slit in the end of Brad's 7" tube.
Last summer during break, I had walked into our shared bathroom while Brad was in the shower. It took me a moment after I had stood in front of the toilet to realize that he was jerking off. As I stood over the toilet bowl peeing, my eyes wandered up his long leg and stalled at his hand, which was pumping the swollen, reddened top of his spear, causing the extra skin at the end of the shaft to whip back and forth over the head. I looked up into his eyes.
"I was just leaving." I said to him in our personal way.
"It's all right, Tick." he communicated back to me. "You're my little brother. I've never intentionally hidden anything from you." I continued to stand there scrutinizing his hand while he watched me. I hadn't realized I had started stroking my own hefty, fully extended 7 ½" slab, but when Brad started shooting his white, male essence against the wall of the shower, I dropped a load into the porcelain bowl before me. Both of us had cried out at the same moment of ejaculation as the rush of release swept both of us away in its all-encompassing arms. As our senses returned we each stood with one arm extended, supporting our bodies against a wall and the other squeezing the last traces of our passion fulfillment from our softened and retracted manhood. We had then both just continued on with our business and never again mentioned anything about what had happened.
Recalling this memory made me become conscious that I had pushed my slacks and under shorts down enough to let my rigid shaft free and was now studying the scene in the room, while the pleasure of my stroking radiated from my dick throughout the rest of my body.
"You're doing really well." Brad complimented his companion. "Time for a little reward." He reached down and guided the other man to his feet. When Brad stepped to the side, I saw the face of Vince Willows standing before him. When his body was exposed, I recognized the reddish brown hair and the large, dark red, bell shaped cock head, constantly exposed by the circumcision of his 7" shaft, which now stood rigid and pulsing fluid like the first time I'd seen it.
Brad suggested they lay on the mats, which were on the floor beside them and they assumed a 69 position. Vince was eager to return to Brad's tool and sucked it into his vacuuming mouth almost immediately. Brad grasped Vince's weapon and slowly, licked that shiny, wet crown like an all-day sucker. I saw Vince shiver as Brad's rough tongue surface scraped over the sensitive crown of the towering spike. Without warning my brother's lips slid over that crown and descended the entire length of the spike until they were tight into the reddish brown bush, as he pushed Vince over flat on his back. Vince's dick had to be half way down Brad's throat and I wondered how my brother had ever learned to do that. Certainly not from the never-ending line of high school co-eds who had shared his bed during his time living at home. Two years at college had been teaching him things I had no idea he'd learned. It never occurred to me that Brad could teach me about pleasuring another man.
Brad held Vince's shaft in his throat for the longest of times and just as I expected him to need to gasp for breath, Vince let out a roar, which I had heard once before from him and as Brad came off that brawny post, it spit a jet of creamy white milk straight up into the air about two feet. The jet came down heavy onto Vince's chest and was joined by at least four more jets, each gushing forth with decreasing force, but clearing the canon, which Brad held pointed skyward and leaping the span to join the newly forming puddle.
Vince appeared to be exhausted, his eyelids remaining shut as his laboured gasps for air rapidly rasped in and out of his throat. Brad was by no means satisfied. His dick wagged stiffly as he moved around in between Vince's legs. Sliding his hands behind Vince's knees, he lifted his Brother's legs, effectively folding the muscular man in half. His well- developed butt was raised and exposed. The crease separating the two muscular globes parted and bared a pink, puckered rosebud, surrounded by a circle of fine, brown hair. Vince grunted, but still was not recovered enough from his climactic explosion to comment.
Before I realized it, Brad had three fingers deep in Vince's ass to lubricate and loosen his tight hole. Vince moaned and groaned as his hole was worked and Brad probed deep enough to rub his prostate.
"You know I've always been a top." Vince rasped as he watched my brother lube his own rigid pillar.
"Not with the Collins brothers." Brad growled in heat. "Better get use to it." He put his dick at Vince's entrance and pushed. Vince shouted and Brad stopped.
"Don't stop, Bro." Vince called out. "Go for the gold." Brad leaned forward and slowly slid into our friend. Vince groaned and Brad moaned. Brad started sliding in and out, picking up speed as the sound of the grunts and murmurs they each made grew in pitch and volume. I couldn't get over the sight of my brother's long, thick dick, sliding out and then disappearing back into Vince's tight, smooth butt.
I felt myself approaching my climax as the speed of their rutting reached maximum peak. As I stretched and stood on my toes, my dick began to shoot volleys of cum against the door in front of me. Vince began spurting his second load as Brad expelled a roar, which could only have come from the deepest recesses of his being.
Still spewing my seed, I glanced at Vince on his back and then at Brad, but Brad was gone and Andrew stood in his place, his massive boxer's arms, shoulders and chest pumped, still roaring from his depths. Looking back to Vince, Kirk instead lay on his back gasping for air while his rigid tool continued to drool the aftermath of his ejaculation. My eyes returned to Andrew's mighty form, which had hovered over my roommate, but Vince's gymnast body now stood in the same space.
"Son of a bitch." Kirk declared, his voice hanging between surprise and anger. My eyes popped open, I turned over from my side and sat up in bed, only to find I had ejaculated a large puddle of semen onto my sheet.
"What's the matter ?" I asked Kirk. There was silence for a moment.
"I just came in my bed." he told me in quiet tones obviously somewhat embarrassed. "I've got to get a girl friend."
"I did too." I admitted back to him. "I had a dream."
"Oh shit, so did I." he exclaimed. "It was about you and Brad and^Å^Å..oh, shit." I didn't know then, but when Kirk woke me, three quarters of the bedroom lights in the House had gone on and 10 Pledges sleeping the night in the residences woke too. There were a lot of pyjamas, underwear and bedding changed that night.
The Friday night party had been a Beer Fest. It was a time when the Brothers and we Pledges could be together without pretence or formality. In our state the legal drinking age is 18 and most guys had been having beer since they were even younger. Brad had been sneaking beers since he was thirteen, but wouldn't let me have any until I was 16. On my eighteenth birthday he took me out to a bar and I got blitzed on hard liquor. The next day I spent with my head in the porcelain bucket and him lecturing me on the evils of drink. I have been a strict beer sucker ever since.
Kirk was pissed when he found out I had not arranged a date. He paced and stewed until I agreed he could call his date and see if she had a friend available. He got embarrassed when I said, he should try to make sure she was gay too. When our group arrived at the House, there was no one tending the door, which was wide open. We went in after seeing and hearing people milling around in the main lounge and looked for a location to drop off our required essays. A box with a sign designating it as the site was quickly located and that responsibility was put to rest.
Music played on the stereo system throughout the House. My group of friends broke apart and we each took our dates and went to see what was going on. Clusters of couples sat and stood throughout the lounge holding discussions. Off in one of the corners a bunch of guys watched a baseball game on one of the big screen TVs. A number of women sat in a cluster behind them, obviously use to sharing their men with the world of sports entertainment. Other couples were going to the basement to try out the facilities in the Games Room. It had video and pinball games, darts, billiards, air hockey and several unique items to challenge the intellect and humour.
Brad waved to me as we wandered around the main lounge. I moved over to where he sat with a young woman, Andrew and Vince. Brad introduced us to Connie, an attractive young woman who I assumed from her height was a basket ball player. It was pretty obvious to me she and Brad liked each other a lot. Kirk came over at the same time and we all sat with them and talked as a group for a while. I slowly took note of who was in the different groups talking around us. Excusing myself from the people we were with, we walked on down to the Games Room and noted who was there. A pattern was starting to appear to me and we headed back upstairs to where Brad, Connie and Andrew were still sitting.
"I see this is not quite the casual night I had expected it to be." I commented to the guys. Brad, Vince and Andrew all stared at me without saying anything.
"What do you mean ?" Kirk asked.
"Well if you look around, you'll find that the second year Brothers are moving around, trying to spend some time with as many of the Pledges and their dates as they can. Third and fourth year Brothers are just hanging out." I suggested. "That means the junior Brothers are trying to accumulate information for something, aren't they Andrew ?"
"What do you want me to say ?" Andrew asked. "How many times have the Pledges been told they are always being evaluated ? I don't think anyone should be surprised if some of it goes on tonight. Don't you think that those who drink to excess, or can't handle their beer, should be noted ?" I smiled. Andrew was trying to mislead Kirk and me. Kirk was buying it, but I wasn't and Andrew knew it.
"Hey, yeah." Kirk agreed. "If someone's going to barf on me every time we have a beer together, I sure would like to know ahead of time." I didn't comment any further. "Excuse me please gentlemen. You can never buy beer, only rent it and I need to go and deposit the returns." Once Kirk had headed for the toilets, Andrew excused himself, got up from his seat and putting an arm around my shoulder, urged me to walk with him. I excused myself to my date for a minute.
"Not buying it, are you ?" he suggested. I shook my head. "The second year Brothers are making contact with the Pledges, so that when it comes time to match 'little Brothers' to 'big Brothers', they will have a better understanding of who's who." I could see where that was reasonable. Each Pledge would be matched to a 'big Brother', who would become their guide and adviser for the next three years. Andrew was Brad's 'big Brother', Brad was Sandy's 'big Brother' and this year, Sangy would be matched to a 'little Brother'. I anticipated it might be me. Brad had told me previously to choose someone other than him as my 'big Brother', so I would have more resource people to draw from. Because of our being related, I could have had Brad as my 'big Brother', even though he is two years ahead of me instead of one.
"Excuse me, Sirs." Don Williams, one of our Pledge brothers said to our seniors. "There's someone outside and he's yelling his head off about seeing whoever is in charge." We all sort of glanced at each other and then stared collectively at Andrew.
"I'm just the senior Advisor," he stated almost defensively, "where's Chris ? He's Chapter President now." Chris was quickly located and the group I had been with, plus Chris, RAT and Harry Stiles moved out the front door onto the large veranda. The well- lit yard showed a single guy at the bottom of the front porch stairs sitting in a wheelchair.
"One of you guys in charge of this outfit." the guy asked with a hostile tone to his voice. Chris stepped forward.
"I'm Chris Service, President of this Chapter of DPD." he stated. "This is a Fraternity. We don't do 'in charge', but I'm authorized to speak for the members."
"Can you tell me why I arrive tonight from two weeks at the International Competitions for the Disabled in Europe, ready to be Rushed and to Pledge, only to find that this Fraternity is done, when Rush week doesn't start until tomorrow ?" he demanded.
"Well, your timing is a little off." Chris commented. "Rush week for the College was this week, starting last Monday. The other Fraternities are notifying their Pledge invitees on Sunday. Our Rush week was two weeks ago and we've already had Pledges in Trials for a week." The ire left his face and was replaced by obvious disappointment. He appeared to be trying to think of something quickly.
"You mean I'm too late to get in anywhere ?" It was really more of a statement than a question. He looked a little dejected momentarily, but then a determined face became set. He looked around the porch. "You people have something against the handicapped and disabled ?"
"Certainly not." Chris stated.
"I see this House is not wheelchair accessible." he declared. "That makes me think you're not prepared to even consider having a disabled applicant, much less as a Pledge or Brother." Everyone was dead silent, but I started to laugh out loud. "You think this is funny, shrimp." He glared at me.
"No. Not in the least funny." I said, still giggling. "I just wondered now that you've played your trump card, what's left ?" His glare softened and within a few seconds he smirked.
"You're pretty sharp, Shorty." he stated with a little humour in his voice. "Oh my God, you're Joe Collins, light-weight martial arts. I saw you at the Olympics and earlier this year at the Nationals, when you won. Sorry about the 'Shorty' crack, Joe. I'm just dispelling some of my disappointment."
"And you're Ellis Durham, member of the National Basketball Team for the Disabled." Brad announced as he stepped up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders. "I've seen you guys play. You're awesome, aren't they Harry ?"
"I don't believe it." Ellis groaned. "Brad Collins. And Harry Stiles." he said, after looking around. "You're both starters on the National Men's Basketball Squad. I'm feeling worse about this all the time."
"C'mon, lets have a beer." Andrew suggested. Harry and Brad trotted down the veranda steps and before anything could be said, they picked up the wheelchair with Ellis Durham in it and brought it up onto the porch where they set it down. We all went back inside and Ellis wheeled in behind us with Brad following.
"What do you think ?" Brad asked me silently.
"About what ?" Ellis asked and then looked around to see who had spoken to him. The expression on his face became a mix of surprise, confusion, and I guess exposure. He realized he had unwittingly allowed himself to react to some unidentified stimulus and given someone unknown an indicator, which pointed directly to him.
"It's all right, Ellis." I told him silently. "You've come to the right place. There are friends here." He searched each person's face until he came to mine and when I smiled at him he stared intently at my eyes.
"Andrew, what can be done about Ellis ?" I asked. "Do the Fraternity By-Laws allow for a late entry, or a probationary Pledge, or someway to bring someone in outside of the regular routine ?" I asked.
"Yes, Pledge Joe." Andrew answered, effectively reminding me this was Fraternity business and I was still on the outside myself. "I think we can leave this in the hands of our President, don't you ?"
"Yes, Sir, Brother Andrew." I concurred.
As the evening progressed, I tried to find an opportunity to spend some time with Vince, but every time I approached him, he seemed to avoid me. After this happened the third time, I was feeling pretty rejected and mentioned it to Brad.
"I don't know what's with him." Brad noted. "He's been withdrawn all afternoon and really only involved where he has to be." I was hoping Vince would take off to his room early, so I could talk with him, but it didn't happen.
The gathering continued until about 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning. There was dancing through most of the night. The Brothers seemed to have a preference for the older, slower tunes and the Pledge brothers and their dates seemed to appreciate a chance for slow dancing too. Everyone sort of mutually agreed we'd had enough and a few took our dates back to their dorms, while other couples just sort of disappeared for the rest of the night. Pledge Master Vince made it clear before we left that the House was off limits to Pledges from then until we were summoned on Sunday. Most of us were so tired we didn't care. A couple got really snookered and they had to be mostly carried back to bed by the rest of us that were going to the dorms.
It was about 9 o'clock that the knock on our door woke both Kirk and me.
"Who is it ?" I called out to see if it was anyone who would be uncomfortable with us being naked in our beds.
"It's me, Andrew." the response came.
"Come in Sir, if you don't expect us to jump to attention," I called back, "otherwise you'll have to wait 'til we get clothes on." The door opened and Andrew came in.
"I doubt if I'll see anything I haven't seen before." he commented as he came over, took the chair from my desk and set it down beside my bed. "I believe you had some problem last night regarding dream broadcasting." I was stunned. Kirk had picked up my dream, but he was here only 10 feet away from me. How did Andrew know about it ?
"It woke Kirk and me." I stated. "How do you know ?"
"It woke up more than just you and Kirk." Andrew said with a big smile. "It woke up at least 25 of the Brothers, including me and the few Pledges I have questioned today also admitted to having the dream. They were a little hesitant because of the nature of it, to admit to the dream, each believing it had been their own."
"You mean all those people shared my dream ?" I asked quite astounded. Then, remembering the substance of the dream and both Kirk and Andrew's parts in it, I felt embarrassed and felt myself blush.
"I'm not sure 'shared' is the proper word, Tick." Andrew responded. "They didn't have much, if any, choice in the matter. You pretty much forced the dream on all of us." I'm sure I blushed even redder.
"You mean that was Joe's dream ?" Kirk asked with a certain sigh of relief. "Then I'm not turning gay. Oh thank God. I thought it was my dream and Joe just knew what it was. Wow Bro, that was really hot."
"Well, that's an explanation I hadn't thought about before." Andrew teased him. "Maybe I'd best include that theory in my hypothesis and examine you instead of Joe." Kirk gave him a 'bite me' look, but said nothing further. He climbed out of bed and strolled naked into the bathroom.
"Thank you for your concern, Sir." Kirk answered with a trace of sarcasm as he passed Andrew. "I think you and Joe should sort this out and just leave me out of it." Andrew laughed and I felt better hearing it.
"Would you mind having breakfast with me and then coming back to the house ?" Andrew asked me.
"Is this a date ?" I asked teasing. Andrew actually blushed and looked down to the floor.
"Not this time." he teased back, but there was something in his voice that hit me as strange. I climbed out of bed and grabbing my towel followed Kirk into the bathroom to shower. When I came out, Andrew was still sitting waiting. It was clear he and Kirk had been talking, but when I started to dress, Andrew turned away from me and was silent. I thought it very strange because we had always had a very open, even caring relationship and now I felt like Andrew was blocking me, cutting me off from himself.
That feeling continued through breakfast. Andrew and I talked, but there was nothing personal. It was like I was a stranger he was warming up for an interview.
"I don't like this." I said to him as we walked to the House. He gave me a questioning look. "You know what, I don't need to explain it to you. You are holding yourself away from me. You've always been more than my friend, you're my brother's 'big Brother' and you've always been mine too. Now it's different and you're the one making it that way. I don't like it." Andrew didn't comment, we just kept on walking in silence.
"I'm sorry you were in my dream, but it's not like I had any real say in it." I whined without intending to. Andrew stopped walking and moving off the pathway sat on the grass. I followed him.
"I'm not angry with you, Tick. Certainly not about being included in your dream." Andrew said quietly to me. "I'm concerned about the growth in strength of your transmission ability, but only because I want to be sure it isn't doing any harm to you." Andrew looked across at me and for the first time today we made eye contact. The barriers he had put up fell and I sensed his disturbance.
"You know I'm a virgin, Andrew." I stated. "Why are you bothered by my dream ? I can't have a very accurate dream when all I know is what I've seen and heard. What was wrong about it ?" He hesitated before he answered.
"There was no love, Tick. If that was your concept of what your first time involvement would be like, it just seems that there should be some expectation of love somewhere." Andrew told me. "I don't know if Vince can share that with you. A good time, likely, but your first time should let you feel something about love too." I thought about what he was telling me. It certainly made sense. I knew sex fulfilled pleasure and desire, after all I'd been a champion jerk off artist for some years. I also knew sex was an expression of love, but that aspect had never dominated my fantasies, because although I'd been infatuated with some individuals, I had never been in that kind of love.
I remembered when Brad had moved past the exhilaration of passion and decided he was hopelessly in love with one of his overnight nymphets, who had lasted three weeks at that time. The shift in his emotions had become apparent to me and I thought then how unusual his feelings had been compared to the normal passion of the moment he went through all the other times. He had told me then, it was different because he was in love. Naturally enough I guess, I didn't understand. Now I was beginning to see. Reflecting back to then, I could see what Andrew meant about the benefit of love to make my first experience really meaningful.
"I understand what you're saying to me, Andrew." I acknowledged. "I don't know how to make sure I'm going to achieve the type of experience you're suggesting."
"Be in love with the person you share yourself with, Tick," Andrew declared, "and be certain he's in love with you. You need to decide right from the start if sex is going to be a toy, or if it's going to be a tool for exploring and sharing your love for someone."
"I will think about this, Andrew." I declared. "Thank you for being my big brother when I needed you to be."
"I'll always be there for you, Tick." Andrew assured me and I knew he was serious in saying it. "Now let's get to the House and see what we can sort out about last night's dream event."
I ended up spending the rest of the morning and half of the afternoon with Andrew at the House. He gave me a number of tests to do and took an EEG (electroencephalogram) tracing of my brain waves. No, it doesn't hurt, it's just messy because of the contact goo used on the electrodes. After we were finished at the Frat House, Andrew located Brad and they came back to Roberts Hall with me. I was aware that the Pledge selections had been made while I was at the House, but I had no knowledge of who the choices were, or when the invitations to return to the House would be sent out.
Brad and Andrew took Kirk, Pete, Chuck and me out to dinner. Pete was all worried we would miss the Brothers delivering the second invitations, but Brad assured him they would come back, if we were out. Brad drove us downtown to a pizza shop and we all had pizza and beer for supper. It was a lot of fun being out with my brother and our friends. I was really happy how well Brad and Kirk were getting along. Since the day Kirk had spent at the house, it was obvious he had come to trust Brad and Andrew. Pete and Chuck were still a little overwhelmed when the Brothers were around, but they were coming to accept that within a week, we could all be Brothers, so their intimidation was abating.
While we were seated in the Pizzeria, a group of half a dozen guys came into the shop. They all wore dog collars, which were leashed together in a line. They were shirtless and wore only boxer shorts, which were on backward, meaning when they faced away from us, their bare butts were exposed regularly through the gapping fly slits. On their feet each wore a mismatched bedroom slipper. Magic marker had been used to draw suggestive pictures over the exposed parts of their bodies, particularly highlighting their nipples. I was very surprised to note that the sixth Pledge in the dog collar chain was Terry Sommers, the would-be DPD Frisbee thrower who was going to take a piece out of me on registration day. He flinched when he saw and recognized me and turned his back, hanging his head. Obviously, one of the other Fraternities had begun hazing its Pledges.
When this group went to pay for the pizzas they had been ordered to pick up, they were about $1.00 short. Andrew told us this was a standard event, sending Pledges to get something without enough money and letting them scrounge for the rest of the cash, however they could manage. Brad went over to the counter and placed the amount of money they were short onto it. The sullen expressions on six faces turned to smiles and thanks.
"When your Pledge Master asks where you got the extra money," Brad told them, "tell him I said, seeing as your Frat couldn't afford the whole price, it was a donation from Delta Phi Delta." The six Pledges took their box and exited. Terry looked back at me as he left and gave me the slightest nod. I casually returned his acknowledgement and he smiled.
We arrived back at the residence about 7:30. Andrew and Brad stayed and visited with us for about an hour. Andrew spent most of the time questioning Pete and Chuck about their dreams, quickly zeroing in on last night. They tried everything possible to avoid his questions, until he pulled rank on them and had them standing before him at attention. Brad, Kirk and I were lying on my bed behind them trying to stifle our laughing as he slowly drew the substance of last night's dream out of them. It seemed the longest time before they realized, they were each describing the same dream. It surprised them so much they broke ranks, jabbering at each other and totally forgetting Andrew's presence. He laughed as hard at them as the rest of us.
Brad and Andrew left about nine o'clock. We all thanked them for a great time and terrific dinner. They both said, they had a lot of fun and looked forward to doing this often with us once we had moved into the Frat House, after our investiture. I think their confidence that we were going to make it, gave each of us a boost. Brad didn't say anything specific about the selections, but his attitude certainly implied what we hoped to hear.
"Joe, are you still awake ?" Kirk asked me as we lay in our beds.
"Yeah." I responded.
"They didn't come." he verbalized what the four of us had each been thinking before we climbed into bed.
"I don't think we should be too concerned, Kirk." I assured him. "Maybe they came while we were out and they'll come back tomorrow. Or maybe they aren't going to send out the invitations until tomorrow afternoon. Brad didn't seem concerned."
"No, he didn't." Kirk agreed. "I guess I'm just worrying over nothing."
'I sure hope so.' I thought as I rolled over and went to sleep.
The bathroom door slammed open and the circus arrived. Chuck and Pete came zooming into our room, shouting, jumping and whooping at the top of their lungs. Kirk and I were both sitting up in our beds with our eyes popped open to an almost painful width, trying to gather the wits which we'd had scattered when the clown troop had arrived.
"We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it." our two friends chanted together as they hugged each other and swung around in a circle. Suddenly they came to an abrupt, silent stop. Each looked over their shoulders at each of us and then back at each other.
"How come you guys are still in bed ?" Pete asked.
"Yeah, didn't you get your invitations yet ?" Chuck wanted to know.
"No." Kirk growled, giving both of them the evil eye.
"Oh." Pete acknowledged, obviously losing his high spirits. "You sure they didn't knock on your door while you were sleeping.
"I think we would have heard them." I suggested.
"We're sorry guys." Chuck groaned. "We just figured your invitations would be delivered when ours were."
"And so you should have." I agreed. "It's not your fault it didn't happen that way. Congratulations guys. It's great to know you two are set."
"Yeah." Kirk said. "The next best thing to getting ours is knowing you have yours."
The guys brought Kirk and me some breakfast back from the cafeteria. We'd decided not to go anywhere. We were just going to stay in our room until those invitations showed up. The morning was spent catching up on some schoolwork and reading some assignments. Lunchtime rolled around with Chuck and Pete again bringing our meals to us.
The afternoon was unbelievably slow. Several of our Pledge Class members came by and we began to learn who had been invited to return and who was still waiting to see if an invitation would still arrive. Chuck and Pete began to get ready to take the two days worth of clothing, gym togs and bathing suits they had been instructed to bring with them along with their school books.
The instructions with the invitation to return had been very specific. Pledges were expected to be in the Pledge wing of the Frat House at 6:p.m. precisely. At 5:30, they had to leave. Kirk and I hugged them, shook hands and wished them the best of luck in completing the Trials and then they were gone.
"How did this happen. Joe ?" Kirk asked. He had a tear running down his cheek.
"I don't know, Kirk." I admitted. Everything seemed surreal, as if I was moving through a foggy dream. "Sometimes I come to realize I really don't understand anything. I had previously imagined I understood how bad those who weren't invited back felt. I wasn't even close."
"I'm sorry, Joe." Kirk told me. "I know how much this meant to you. Even more than it meant to me. I at least ended up with you as my roommate. That's always been good enough for me."
"It's okay, Kirk." I said sincerely. "If we couldn't have the Frat, then I'm just fine about being here with you."