“Me, aye.”
Asher Osborne isn’t a surprise, he’s never made a mystery of the fact that he doesn’t like me or Chase, especially since he lost the election to Chase last year.
The last brother who speaks in favor of the new guy isn’t shocking either: Tripp Matthews was passed over for quarterback and he resents being second string to Chase.
“Well, fuck. If we didn’t just get ourselves an election. As past president, it’s up to me to decide if I want to proceed to an immediate vote or if I want to give the candidates two weeks to campaign. Normally I wouldn’t mind a friendly competition but I have no time to handle an election with rush week and football tryouts looming over us. So let’s vote right now. Hoyt, bring the voting materials, please.”
Chase looks at me when he says that, he obviously thinks that an immediate vote will be in my favor, since the new guy is ... well, new.
“By the way, dude, I didn’t catch your name earlier,” my brother says addressing my opponent, who stands up and extends a hand for my brother and I to shake.
“Oliver Horatio Raglan Wellesley III, how do you do?” I notice an ornate, antique looking ring with what looks like a family crest on his index finger.
I force myself to shake the guy’s hand, aware that all the brothers are watching this interaction and Chase is smart enough to do the same.
Obviously neither of us wants to show how much this new turn of events really pisses us off, it’s not even about the possibility of losing the presidency to someone we don’t know, it’s something in the new guy’s attitude that rubs us the wrong way.
“All right, here we are.” Hoyt comes back into the room with a wicker basket full of cheap looking lace panties and a burlap sack that he hands to Chase.
“All right, brothers. You know the rules. Each of you gets one pair of panties in each color. You’ll put the color of your chosen candidate in the sack. The candidate with more panties of his assigned color will be elected president. To keep the vote secret, Hoyt will set the sack and the basket outside on the deck. We’ll go out one by one from the door on my right, cast our vote and come back inside from the door on my left. Discard the remaining pair of panties back in the basket. You have to cast a vote, abstaining is not permitted. Reid’s assigned color is white, Oliver’s assigned color is black.”
After every brother gets one pair of panties in each color, Hoyt goes outside to set down the sack and the empty basket.
“Before we start voting, I’ll allow each candidate to address the brothers and tell us briefly why he thinks he should be president. Reid, you’re up.”
I stand up and look at the brothers around the room. I meet briefly Bryce and Parker’s gazes and they both nod encouragingly. They arrived right before the ceremony started and they’ve been observing the whole dynamic quietly. The other brothers know how tight the four of us are, everyone does on campus, really, so there’s no doubt who they’re going to back.
“Gammas, if I’m elected president, I promise to uphold our tradition of brotherhood, academic excellence and obviously fun. I already have some awesome shit planned for rush week, including a party with our favorite sorority, the ΖθΒ (Zeta Theta Beta). You know I’m a legacy and I was Chase’s deputy last year. You can expect another awesome year under me.”
A few of the brothers applaud my speech, Parker and Bryce are among them but I’m surprised to see a lot of undecided looks among the others. There’s thirty-five of us right now, since a few brothers graduated last year and if I had to judge by the number of people clapping their hands, I’d think that I’m absolutely screwed.
But I don’t want to jump to conclusions, after all I think I have a few good friends among the brothers and Chase was a very loved and respected president, so my odds shouldn’t be that bad.
“Oliver, you’re up.”
The new guy stands up and looks at me with a derisive smirk.
“Gammas, I was president of my chapter at Yale. I could talk to you about how my reputation precedes me, how I was first in my class and how ΓΔΤ is the most popular fraternity at Yale, but I won’t. Because I don’t bloody need to. You were all at the party I threw last weekend, right? Is there anyone among you guys who didn’t get laid last Friday night?”
The brothers begin to holler and whoop in response, making approving noises and agreeing with him.
Oliver looks at everyone around the room, finally settling his arrogant gaze on me. “So, if I’m elected president here at Bridgeport, this is what I promise all of you: parties, hot girls, booze. Pussy, pussy and more motherfucking pussy ready to fall at our feet. This is gonna be the best bloody year of your life, brothers!”
Hoyt begins chanting, “Ollie, Ollie, Ollie!” And all the brothers join except for us four and two sophomores who play football with us.
All of a sudden, I’m not so sure that I’ll get to be Gamma president and the idea of losing to that pompous prick pisses me off a lot more than I believed possible.
The brothers begin to go out to the deck to cast their votes and a lot of them clap Oliver on the shoulder on their way back into the living room.
“So, you mentioned a party last weekend? Why weren’t we invited?”
Chase asks bluntly and I appreciate my brother sticking up for me, he’s always done that since we were kids. I’ve always been more quiet, less willing to show my feelings but Chase is a force of nature, someone to be reckoned with.
Oliver doesn’t look intimidated in the least, he swipes his hand through his strawberry blond hair, the emerald on his crest ring catching the light. “I absolutely planned to but I was informed that you guys weren’t back in town. You’re definitely going to be the first on my list next weekend. I plan to throw a party every weekend but this coming week I have a family engagement, so unfortunately it’s a no go.”
Right.
For as much as I’d like to doubt his words, he’s fucking right. We were still in Star Cove. Chase and I were sailing for Dad’s team in the regatta, which by the way we won.
The high I get when I sail, the freedom I feel when it’s just me, the sea and the wind is something I can’t compare with anything else. Even the rush of victory when we play football can’t top that feeling of absolute freedom and power.
Obviously that moment was fleeting and the harsh reality of my broken heart was there waiting for me every time I looked at Kaya.
I’d been thinking about talking to her and confessing my feelings, telling her that I was the one who kissed her but then I saw how doting Parker and Bryce were with her, how they made her smile.
And I caught Dad watching me looking at her and the hard set of his jaw made me realize how things hadn’t changed at all from the summer of three years ago.
“Ok, brothers. Let’s count the votes and see who’s the new Gamma president.” Hoyt hands the burlap sack to Chase and when my twin tips its contents on the coffee table, it’s absolutely clear who’s the winner.
A sea of black lace rains on the polished mahogany, making any notion of counting the votes a futile attempt.
I stand up, walking toward Oliver with an outstretched hand. I’m fuming but he won fair and square and I’m gentleman enough to concede and congratulate him on his victory.