Erick Warner stumbled into the dimly lit frat house living room. He was three sheets, and yet there was no wind in his sails. The thumping bass from the party next door echoed through the house, and seemed to taunt him. He slumped onto the shabby couch that dominated the living room. The sticky residue of spilled drinks and disappointment coated the coffee table. Across the room, Sean Hunter sat quietly on one of the lumpy armchairs, scrolling through his phone, his eyes glazed over with a mix of boredom and defeat. The room smelled faintly of stale pizza and desperation.
"No luck?"
Sean had sat the night out because of a late final the next day. He would be driving home after the test, with Erick as his passenger, as always. Erick and Sean grew up in the same town, but went to different high schools. They had only connected when they joined the same fraternity. Erick grumbled, feeling like it was Sean's fault for his miserable luck. If Sean came with him he probably would have gotten laid. Instead he got a drink thrown in his face and slapped. His cheek was still stung. He glared at Sean, the frustration of his failed night out bubbling over. The warm air was unseasonable for May and the central air was on the fritz. The open windows beckoned no breeze and an ancient electric fan feebly stirred the still air.
"You could say that. Not a single girl at the party was into my charm. Maybe I'm losing my touch." He grabbed a half-empty bottle of cheap whiskey from the coffee table, and downed a mouthful, the liquid burning his throat. He glanced around the empty room, looking for anything to alleviate his sexual tension.
Sean hardly gave him a glance. He was reviewing some final flashcards on his phone app. Erick looked at him in the dim light. Sean's long reddish-brown hair cascaded down his neck. Most of the brothers tended to prefer shorter, more masculine styles. Erick let out a frustrated sigh and leaned back on the couch, his eyes scanning the room again, playing with the bottle in his hands. Sean ignored him, knowing his tendency to pout when things went badly for him.
"You're not even going to bother to look up from that thing? What's so important that you're ignoring the fact that your bro is suffering here?"
"Getting an A in Anatomy and Physiology? I need to ace it to get into medical school."
Erick rolled his eyes, setting the whiskey bottle down with a clunk.
"Fuck med school. You could be playing doctor right now." He snorted at his double entendre. He reached over, and snatched the phone out of Sean's hand, causing the latter to jolt in surprise. "Come on, Sean. Live a little. You can't just ignore the world for books forever. You got your whole life to be a nerd, but we're only young right now!"
Erick held the phone up, examining the picture of a cut-away image of an erect penis labeled "CORPUS CAVERNOSUM - Erectile Tissue." He snickered, his frustration morphing into mischief.
"Looks like your phone knows what you really need."
"Give that back!" Sean shouted. The others had gone home already, so they didn't need to be particularly quiet. He reached for the device as Erick kept it out of his reach. Sean's five-foot-ten was only slightly dwarfed by Erick's six-two, but he playfully held the phone just out of Sean's grasp, his eyes gleaming with mischief. Erick's chuckles filled the room, bouncing off the grimy walls.
"Relax, man. It's just a little bit of fun." Erick laughed, his eyes scanning the flashcard app. He swiped to the next card, revealing a graphic image of a vagina. "Wow, this is what you've been hiding from us, huh? Studying pussy all night long?"
"It's for school!" Sean's face flushed red as he reached for the phone, his voice a mix of embarrassment and irritation. "It's not what you think, Erick. It's just part of the course."
"Why so shy, Sean? You're not hiding a little obsession with female anatomy, are you?"
Sean slumped back into the arm chair, his grip tightened on the armrest and his knuckles whitening as he bit his tongue, trying to ignore Erick's teasing. The room was too hot, Sean's cheeks were burning and he took a deep breath to calm himself. Erick's smug grin grew wide with the failed attempt to retrieve the phone. Erick's eyes caught the whiskey bottle on the table. Maybe, just maybe, he could convince his uptight friend to loosen up and help him forget his own disappointing evening.
A plan hatched. Something he had heard whispers about.
Erick smiled and returned the phone. "He, dude. It's not healthy to study all the time. You should have a drink," Erick offered Sean to lighten the mood.
"I guess I could use something to take the edge off." The whiskey bottle had been calling to him all night, but Sean wasn't a drinker. At least not like Erick was. And, he needed to study.
Erick watched Sean's internal struggle play out across his face, the tension in his shoulders and the clenching of his jaw. Sean's eyes flickered to the bottle again, and for a moment, Erick saw a glimmer of hope.
"Come on," Erick cajoled, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "One won't hurt. You know you want to."
He poured a generous shot into a plastic cup and held it out to Sean, the smell of cheap alcohol wafting through the air. The silence stretched taut, filled with the hum of the fridge and the distant sound of the party. The room seemed to hold its breath, waiting for Sean's response. Finally, with a resigned sigh, Sean took the cup.
"To an 'A' in Anatomy," Erick toasted, clinking his cup against Sean's before downing his own shot. He watched as Sean took a tentative sip, his eyes watering as the whiskey burned a trail down his throat.
The warmth of the second shot spread through Erick's own chest, a welcome balm to his bruised ego. He leaned back into the couch, his thoughts drifting to the possibility of a different kind of victory tonight. He had never witnessed the act, but he heard rumors from his frat brothers about certain favors which might be exchanged between guys when things didn't go their way.
"Fuck. Since I've declared premed it's been books, books, books. I feel like I should drop out. I don't think I even kissed a girl since freshman year," Sean whined, taking another sip.
Erick sat up with a mischievous glint in his eye. He slapped Sean on the knee.
"Well, that's just a tragedy. You know what they say, 'A doctor without experience is like a librarian without glasses.'" He poured another round of shots, sliding the cup back over to Sean. "To new experiences," he said with a wink.
