Countdown, And So It Begins

On the second day after The End of the World party, Rusty walked into the Kappa Tau house. The ground floor was surprisingly empty and quiet. It was late enough for his brothers to be up, especially because they couldn’t party due to their suspension of their social calendar. Rusty walked into the kitchen and found Cappie pouring coffee into two cups. “Top o’ the mornin’ to ya, Spitter!” he said cheerfully.

“Hi, Cap,” replied Rusty. “Where is everyone?”

“Ogling upstairs,” groaned Heath, walking into the room and very noticeably rolling his eyes.

Rusty and Cappie looked at each other in confusion before both heading upstairs. They found their brothers standing outside of Cappie’s room, looking in through the open door.

“Are you serious, guys?” Cappie sighed when he and Rusty pushed through them to the front.

“Rusty, there you are,” said Dale from down the hall. He also pushed through the KT brothers to get to them. “I was wondering if you wanted to—oh my good gosh,” he said, becoming distracted and looking over Rusty’s shoulder. The guys were ogling Devin, who was sleeping on the cot that Cappie had set up for her the previous night (“Since when do we have a cot, Beav?”). She was lying on her stomach, her feet towards the door, and the blankets were only covering her upper half, leaving her legs and panty-clad bottom exposed. “I’m going to Hell. I can’t resist any longer. Satan presented himself as a snake to Eve and gave her the fruit of knowledge,” said Dale, seemingly in a trance. “Devin is that snake and wow, look at that apple.”

Cappie coughed and stepped in front of him. “There’s nothing to see here, guys.”

“Cap never shares,” mumbled Beaver as he turned around.

“She is not mine to share,” replied Cappie. “Nothing happened. She slept in her cot, I slept in my bed, both clothed.”

“Barely,” grinned Wade, peeking around Cappie.

“Enough,” the president said. “Go.”

The group slowly walked away, moaning and mumbling in their new depression. Cappie rolled his eyes and walked into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He set the cups of coffee on his dresser. “Devin?” he said. “Devin.”

“Mmph,” she mumbled, rolling around on her cot. “What time is it?”

“Almost noon,” Cappie replied. Devin rubbed her eyes and sat up. She fixed the blankets over herself and sleepily looked at Cappie. “Devin, you should probably sleep with pants on. In this house, you’ll get mauled dressed like that.”

“Maybe I want to,” she winked and stood up, letting the blanket fall. Cappie tried his hardest to look at her eyes. Devin reached under the cot and grabbed her duffel bag. She pulled out a pair of jeans and slid into them slowly.

Cappie gulped. “Uh, coffee?” he said, standing up and walking over to his dresser.

“Thanks,” she said, and walked over to him. She ignored the cup on the dresser and looked at the other things on it. “You’re quite the jewelry man.”

“Yeah, what can I say?” he chuckled. “I’m your modern Jack Sparrow.”

“No,” she said. “He was sexy.”

“I’m sexy,” he said quickly.

“Right,” she said, looking back to the dresser. “I’m stealing this.” She picked up one of his necklaces and put it around her neck. He didn’t mind much because it was one that he rarely wore. She also picked up several different metal rings, but he didn’t recognize them. She slid two of them into her lip and one in her eyebrow and he understood. She had taken them out the night before. He didn’t even notice that he could not stop watching her.

She walked back over to her cot and dug through her bag. She pulled out a t-shirt and quickly took off the one she was wearing. Cappie coughed nervously and looked out the window, taking a sip of his coffee. When he looked back at her, she was fully dressed again and putting her hair up in a ponytail.

“What is there to do around here?” she asked, settling her hands on her lap. Her phone buzzed and she opened it and pressed a few buttons before shutting it again. “Nevermind. I’m meeting Casey for lunch. See ya.”

Once she left, Cappie changed his clothes and then went back downstairs, carrying both mugs of coffee, one completely untouched. “You are so lucky,” smirked Wade.

“Nothing happened,” replied Cappie.

“Cap, you let Karmic Synergy put her in your room and nothing happened?” asked Ben Bennett.

“She’s Casey’s best friend,” Cap answered, sitting on the couch. “It was her first night here. Karmic Synergy is still working everything out.”

“I thought Ashleigh was her best friend,” said Beaver.

“She is,” Cap answered. “Devin is her best friend from home. They’re neighbors. I can’t go rushing into bed with this girl after what’s been happening with Casey. Karmic Synergy will take care of everything.”

“Are you sure?” asked Ben.

“I hope so,” sighed Cappie. “She changed her clothes right in front of me. I really, really wanted to…”

**********

“How was staying at Cappie’s?” asked Casey.

“It was fine,” Devin shrugged. “He was actually quite the gentleman. Not the Cappie I remember.”

“Did he say anything about me?” Casey asked warily, almost nervous about asking.

“Is that why you’ve got her staying at the KT house?” said Ashleigh, joining in on the conversation. The three of them were out at a nearby restaurant. “You want her to spy on Cappie?”

“No,” answered Casey. “It’s just a perk.”

“No, he didn’t say anything,” chuckled Devin. “I’ll get him to crack, though. I’ll help you out.”

**********

Dale was pacing back and forth in the apartment when Rusty and Jordan entered. “I’m going to Hell. I’m going to Hell. I’m going to Hell,” he muttered over and over again as he paced in the living area.

“What’s wrong, Dale?” Jordan asked him.

“I’m going to Hell!” he shouted, stopping and turning to face them while throwing his arms up in the air.

“We heard that about fifteen times,” said Rusty. “What happened?”

“I am a sinner. I’ve sinned in the eyes of God and He will punish me,” Dale said.

“What did you do?” Jordan asked.

“I’ve committed one of the ultimate sins. I have failed my parents, my church, and my fellow pledgers,” he said. “I had sex with Sheila.”

“What?” Rusty and Jordan both asked in unison.

“Holy crap,” Rusty laughed and immediately started dialing his cell phone. “Calvin? You have to come over to the apartment now. You have to hear this.” He paused and laughed harder. “Dale sinned. I know!”

“This is not funny!” yelled Dale and he sat down on the couch. “How can you think my damnation to eternal suffering in the pits of Hell is humorous? Oh wait, because you’re going with me!”

“Dale, just calm down,” Jordan said as she sat down next to him. “We’ll work this out.”

“Right,” said Rusty after receiving a death glare from his girlfriend. “Just tell us what happened.”

“I gave into temptation,” Dale answered. “I let her take off my clothes and she touched me and I touched her. And then we both did things with our mouths—”

“That’s too much information,” said Rusty, interrupting him. “Did you go all the way? Wow, I sound like I’m twelve.”

“Did you have sex?” asked Jordan.

“I penetrated her, yes,” Dale replied.

They sat in silence, Rusty trying not to laugh and Jordan rubbing Dale’s shoulder in support, until Calvin burst through the door. “Dale, what did you do?”

“I’ve failed you,” he said. “I can no longer wear my ring. I’ve had sex.”

Calvin snorted. “Are you going to Hell?”

“Yes!” Dale shouted and put his head in his hands. Jordan glared at Calvin.

“Dale,” she said. “Can’t you become a virgin again? I read about that.”

“Yes, but it requires a lot of prayers and commitments to God,” he answered.

“You’ve done it before,” shrugged Rusty.

“Yes, but I can’t break that commitment to Him again,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll be able to resist again.”

“Why not?” Calvin asked.

“Oh, it was wonderful,” Dale sighed. “I liked it so much. I want to do it again. I’m so going to Hell.”

“Sorry I wasn’t there for you,” Calvin shrugged.

“Wait a second,” said Rusty. “When did this happen? Just this morning you were asking me if I wanted to do something with you and you weren’t worked up like now.”

“She came over after I left your frat house,” Dale said. “It just happened.”

“You’re going to be fine,” said Jordan.

“What about you, Calvin? There’s still hope for you,” Dale said. Calvin looked away nervously and scratched his neck. “No, Cal. You didn’t.”

“I did.”

“Oh well, you were already going to Hell anyway,” he shrugged in reply. “At least I’ll have a friend.”

*********

Cappie threw back a shot at Dobler’s. He was pretty proud of himself. It was the night before Casey’s friend Devin was leaving and he avoided both talking to Casey and ravishing Casey’s friend Devin. Devin didn’t make it easy, though. She had every guy in the KT house practically drooling over her, Cappie definitely being one of him. Every morning, he woke up to see Devin sleeping across the room from him in different stages of undress. He wanted to join her in that cot, or pick her up and lay her down on his bed. He wanted to wake her up and then make sure she becomes wide awake. First, he would…

“Cappie,” said Rusty, coming up to him at the bar and interrupting him from his thoughts. “Have you seen my sister?”

“Nope,” he answered.

“Oh well,” Rusty sighed. “Hey, did you hear about Dale?”

“No,” Cappie said. “What happened to my little chipmunk?”

Rusty gave him a curious look, but then shook it off. “He lost his virginity.”

“No,” said Cappie.

“Yes,” chuckled Rusty. “He and Sheila did the nasty.”

“Spitter, you did not just call it that.”

“Sorry,” he shrugged. “Are you ready to get my neighbor out of your house?”

“Yes, dammit,” Cappie said. “She’s corrupting our brothers. She’s giving them a misconception of women.”

“How so?”

“She actually wants to play drinking games with us at noon,” Cappie said. “She watches football and eats Cheezaritos with Beaver. She beat Wade at video games. This isn’t right. Hot girls don’t do that.”

“Someone has a crush on her,” mumbled Rusty. Cappie just glared at him. “What about my sister, Cap? I don’t think Karmic Synergy is working.”

“Just like you thought it wasn’t working with Andylicious?”

“Right,” Rusty mumbled and left the bar.

Before Cappie had the chance to order another drink, Devin joined him. “Hey Cap,” she said. “I’m going to head back. I’ve got an early flight. I can’t get too smashed.”

“I’ll walk you,” Cappie said loudly over the music. When they got outside, where it was much quieter, he asked, “Did you have a nice visit?”

“Yeah, I missed this place,” she said. “It was a lot different this time, though. I should have come here for school.”

“It’s okay, I guess,” he laughed. “It’s still school.”

“You don’t go to class,” she pointed out.

“True,” he said. “Ok, so this place is pretty awesome. I almost don’t want to graduate.”

“Are you going to be able to?”

“Shut up.”

When they got back to the house, they went up to Cappie’s room and got ready for bed (both consisting taking off their jeans and climbing it bed, something that Cappie had become used to doing and seeing with Devin). “You know, this wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” Devin said.

“You thought it was going to be bad staying here with me?” he asked. “I’m hurt, Dev.”

“Well from what Casey says, there is an endless stream of girls through this room. In through the door and out through the window,” she said. “Is that right?”

“Maybe a little,” chuckled Cappie.

“Not while I was here,” said Devin. “I didn’t even need my earplugs.”

“I can be respectful when I want to be,” Cap said. “I respect you.”

“I was hoping I could be one of those girls,” she mumbled.

“Wait, what?”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed this, Cap,” she chuckled. “I’ve kind of always had a crush on you.”

Cappie sat in silence and stared at her. She climbed out of bed and walked over to his. She kneeled down in front of him on his bed and leaned in to kiss him.

He kissed her back for a few moments, but he pulled back. “Devin, I can’t. I just can’t.”

“Casey?” she asked.

He looked down at his lap.

“Cap,” she said. “Go talk to her. Screw Karmic Synergy. Go do something about it.”

“How do you know about Karmic Synergy?” Cappie asked her as he put his pants back on.

“I do know you, Cappie,” she chuckled. “And I talk to Casey.”

“She put you up to this?”

“Not exactly, now go!”

He ran out of the house and down Greek row. Once he got there, he wished that he would have knocked down that Psi Phi nerd that he passed and stole his inhaler. He bent over and rested his arms on his knees as he regained his breath before walking into the Zeta Beta house. “Casey!” he yelled. “Case, are you up?”

“Cappie?” she called back and she soon appeared at the top of the stairs. She was in her pajamas. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought you might be at Dobler’s,” he said. “Thank God you were here because I’d die if I ran all the way to Dobler’s.”

“Why are you here, Cap?”

“I love you,” he said. “There, I said it. I still love you. I loved you when I was with Rebecca. While I was with anyone. I thought that you might regret coming back to me, because it’s me.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked.

“You broke up with Max for me,” he said. “You cheated on Evan with me. I’m always the fall back guy. I made a huge mistake losing you the first time, and I keep losing you when you fall back on me. I can’t do that anymore. That’s why I turned you down last night. I can’t keep being your mistake.”

“I broke up with Max after my talk with you,” she said quietly. “I know Ash told you that I broke up with him. Even if nothing happens between us, it won’t with Max either. I meant what I said.”

Cappie looked down at his feet for a few seconds before looking back into her eyes. “Am I too late to accept your offer?”

“I don’t know,” she smirked. “It was for last night. You need Casey to overturn it.”

Cappie smirked back, knowing where she was heading with this. “Well, you’re Casey, right?”

“I am, Cap,” she smiled. “And I’ve considered your appeal. Welcome.”

He grinned and lifted her into his arms, spinning her around as he kissed her. They had kissed a number of times since their break up, but this time, he felt at home.

“You got Devin to do this, didn’t you?” he asked after they broke the kiss. “You asked her to convince me to come over here, right?”

“Karmic Synergy, Cap,” Casey smiled.

“I love you, Casey Cartwright.”

“I love you—”

“Don’t even think about calling me by my name.”

“I love you, Cappie.”