The Fraternity Files

by Stephanie Joeline Kerfoot

  “I hope so,” Steve retorted. “Alex, look at me, please.” Tentatively, Alex obeyed, shrinking against his big brother as he met Steve’s stern eyes. Patrick placed a hand on his shoulder as the president continued. “Be advised, Young Man, that Pat and I will be keeping in close touch from here on in regarding your progress. Your performance has been barely satisfactory this semester, and I urge you to spend some time rethinking your priorities before a more serious discussion concerning your habits and behavior becomes necessary!”

  “Yes, Sir,” Alex replied meekly, glancing at James.

  Steve too shifted his eyes once again to the more disgraced of Kevin’s two friends. “I’m afraid you and I are going to have to have a long talk tomorrow, James,” his voice was gentle, but stern, and Sean and Jesse both paled as tears filled their little brother’s eyes.

  “Is that really necessary, Steve?” The soft question came from Ryan, showing them all that he was more cognizant than they had imagined him to be. He had composed himself considerably by now, and Steve looked fondly down at him as his little brother looked at him pleadingly. Steve brought his hand up to brush at some stray tears that were still trickling down Ryan’s face and he remained quiet for a moment. “It was an accident,” Ryan continued softly, grasping hopefully at the indecision with which he equated his brother’s silence.

  Steve raised his eyebrows at him, “An accident?” he questioned. “You think it was an accident? Come on, Ryan.” There was the tiniest glint of amusement in the fraternity president’s eyes now as he looked at his little brother. He knew what Ryan was trying to do, and he wanted to give in. He wanted to, but he couldn’t. It would be wrong to let this go. “Danny, come here for a moment, please,” he called.

  “Do I have to?” Danny demanded from the corner.

  “Yes, you have to,” Steve insisted. Reluctantly, Danny separated himself from Kevin, leaving his little brother to sob in the corner by himself as he made his way quietly to stand just in back of Steve’s shoulder. “Come on,” Steve encouraged, “come up here so they can see you.” Biting his lip, Danny did as he was told, avoiding Jesse and Patrick’s eyes as he stepped up behind his brother. They had not seen the damage yet, and now they both sucked in their breath.

  “Jesus Christ,” Jesse muttered.

  James snuck a look as he heard his brother’s horrified exclamation, and as he saw Danny’s face, he started to sob. “I’m sorry!” he exclaimed. “I’m so sorry!” Jesse tightened his grip on his little brother’s shoulder as an awkward silence fell. Danny’s red, swollen eyes and tear streaked cheeks might have made things look a little worse than they were, but it was bad. There was no doubt about that. Alex gaped at him in dismay and Sean and Andrew shifted uneasily.

  “It’s ok, Bud, I’m ok,” Danny finally broke the silence as James’ agonized sobs continued to fill the air.

  “No!” Steve contradicted sharply. “No, it’s not OK! I’ll have you know, James,” he went on grimly, “that I was this close,” he illustrated with his thumb and forefinger, “to having you switch places with Kevin tonight! This,” he reached up to grasp Danny’s jaw gently in his hand, “was NOT an accident.”

  “Ok,” Ryan acknowledged fretfully as he tried to regain his brother’s attention, “but James just reacted, Steve. He didn’t mean to hurt Danny so badly. It’s been a very long night for all of us. Can’t we just let it go? Please?”

  Steve tightened his arm around his brother, but he was looking at Sean and Jesse, now. “Does he know what a summons is?” he asked quietly, indicating their little brother. They swallowed hard and nodded as James started to cry harder.

  “No!” Danny cried as the significance of the conversation finally caught up with him, but Steve ignored him.

  “Look for one tomorrow, James,” he instructed Kevin’s best friend with dismal finality.

  “No! Steve, come on! Please!” Danny begged. “He didn’t mean it to happen! Can’t we just forget it, please?”

  “No, Danny. I’m afraid we can’t. We simply do not do these kinds of things to one another, in this fraternity. In this fraternity, we do not fight!” The pointed reprimand went over the heads of the youngest fraternity members, but nobody else missed it. Ryan and Danny lost what little color they had left in their faces, and Danny clutched his head in exasperation. They had no leverage in this situation, clearly, where they might have had some before. Steve had grabbed hold of this fighting thing now, and he was intent on making his point. For a minute Steve’s younger brothers were quiet, not knowing what else to say. They avoided their friends’ eyes and Patrick, Andy, Sean, and Jesse shifted restlessly as James continued to weep.

  “Does it have to be tomorrow?” Ryan choked, finally, still clinging to his brother. “Can’t it wait a little?”

  “We’ll talk about it later, Ry,” Steve responded, hugging his little brother close to his side.

  “But Steve, please . . . .” Danny entreated desperately.

  “Later, Danny,” Steve repeated. “We’ll talk about it later.” Steve had no intention of changing his mind, but he also had no intention of arguing with his brothers at the moment and he could tell they weren’t going to let the issue go. Danny and Ryan both opened their mouths to protest, but Steve held up his hand to cut them off. “It is late,” he continued decisively. “We are all exhausted, and it is time that we all went to bed.”

  It had been a very long night as Ryan had previously pointed out, and now was not the time to talk about this. He certainly was not going to involve his brothers’ already anxious friends in the dispute. Besides if Ryan and Danny were going to insist on bringing this subject up right now, he had things to say to them that he would rather nobody else heard. “Go on back to Kevin,” he commanded his second youngest brother in a tone that was not to be argued with. “Let’s get him upstairs, so we can all start to put this night behind us.” With an anguished look of apology in Jesse’s direction, Danny did as he was told, and Ryan buried his face on Steve’s shoulder once more. “Thanks again, guys,” Steve turned back to his brothers’ friends. “Ry and I are going to help Danny get Kevin upstairs. Why don’t the rest of you go on and go to bed. We’ll see you guys, tomorrow.”

  “Night Steve,” Andrew returned quietly, and, ushering Alex before them, Andy and Patrick headed for the hallway. Jesse and Sean started to follow with James, but Steve placed a hand on Sean’s arm, and covering Ryan’s ear with his hand, he mouthed, “Make sure he,” he pointed at James, “checks his mail early tomorrow.” Sean swallowed again, but he nodded. He had one hand on each of his little brothers now, and he offered Steve one final good night as he guided both Jesse and James towards the door of the common room.

  Not long after Sean and Jesse had gone with their little brother, Danny came up behind Steve and Ryan with Kevin. He had his hand on his little brother’s shoulder and was carrying his jeans. Kevin had managed to pull his underwear painfully back up over his still burning bottom, but Danny had seen no point in having him go through the excruciating business of pulling up his jeans when he was just going to take them off again upstairs.

  Poor, Kevin. Upstairs seemed such a very long ways away now and getting there was such a very slow, disconcerting process. All he wanted was a bed and a pillow, and an opportunity to cry himself to sleep. He couldn’t think straight at all, and he leaned heavily on Danny as they inched their way up the stairs. Steve and Ryan came behind. Danny took the spare key he had given Kevin from his little brother’s hand and opened the door to his room, steering his little brother inside to the bed. Ryan and Steve saw them that far and then left them with some last gentle words of encouragement for Kevin. Kevin was not really paying attention by that time, though. He already had his face buried deep in the pillow, and he was hugging it tight to his chest as he sobbed.

  “I’ll be down in a bit,” Danny managed brokenly as he followed his big brothers to the door. “I just want to make sure he’s all right.”

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nbsp; Ryan nodded. “Take your time, Bro,” he responded hoarsely. “We’ll see you in a little while.” The two brothers shared in that moment a look that spoke volumes. For them, they suspected, the night was not yet quite over and Ryan gave his little brother’s shoulder one final parting squeeze before he followed Steve into the hallway, and closed the door softly behind him.

  Alone, finally, with his own little brother, Danny dropped to his knees beside him. There was a pile of icepacks on the nightstand that he and Ryan had brought in earlier. They were the kind that you had to crush to activate. Danny took one now, and immediately began the necessary activation process, with perhaps just a little more than the necessary amount of vigor. It was no time at all before he felt the pack growing cold in his hands, and when it was cold enough to satisfy him he whispered a warning to Kevin, “This is going to feel cold, Bud, but it will help.” He then unceremoniously lifted the waistband of his little brother’s briefs, and as gently as possible slid the icepack between his bottom and his underwear. The sudden cold against his scalding skin made Kevin buck a little and clutch the pillows tighter, but it did feel good and after a moment he relaxed. Danny was already repeating the process and soon Kevin had another icepack sticking out of his underpants. He was still sobbing, but slowly, as the cold went to work soothing his tortured bottom, the vehemence of his sobs began to subside. His eyes began to droop as Danny stroked his hair, and at last he fell into a deep, exhausted sleep. For at least an hour, Danny stayed with him. Several times, he changed the icepacks which quickly warmed beyond usefulness, and finally the cold seemed to be lasting a longer time.

  Danny prayed, as he changed the icepacks one more time, that his little brother would sleep through the night. He remembered all too well what those first few days after the meeting felt like. “Night, Kev’bo,” he whispered as he got to his feet, and gently pulled the sheet over him. Kevin’s world had been turned upside down tonight, and when he woke up Danny knew that he would feel like everything had changed, and not for the better. He looked back one more time as he silently made his way from the room. Kevin was still sleeping soundly. ‘Let him get a good night’s sleep,’ Danny thought again, ‘he’s definitely going to need it.’ Softly, he closed the door and with a bitter heart made his way down the hall to Ryan’s room.

  Steve was still there, and Danny found his two brothers engaged in heated conversation regarding James’ impending punishment. Slowly, he started to undress. He felt just as strongly as Ryan did, but he didn’t have the energy to argue about it right now. Ryan was sitting on the cot that Danny would be sleeping on, and now Danny stripped to his boxers and flopped down next to him, clutching the pillows and burying his face. Ryan placed a soothing hand on his back, but the argument continued, and a few minutes later they were joined by Matt as they heard Gregg Mcarthy’s door slam all the way down in the lower corridor of the house. “If he woke Kevin up, I’ll kill him!” Danny seethed into the pillow as hot tears once more began to streak his face. That brought the conversation to a momentary halt.

  “I think it’s all right,” Matt said softly, cracking the door and listening hard. “I don’t hear anything. Want me to go check on him?” Danny shook his head. If Kevin was awake, they’d probably hear him. “What were we arguing about?” Matt asked quietly, addressing Steve and Ryan now.

  “It wasn’t an argument exactly,” Steve replied softly, glancing uneasily at Ryan. He wasn’t sure he wanted his older brother involved in this conversation right now. Matt was already pretty put out with both Danny and Ryan. “It was more of a discussion, really,” Steve went on, carefully. “We were discussing the importance of controlling our impulses and specifically we were talking about the fraternity’s position on fighting.”

  “Ahh, I see,” Matt returned, taking a seat on Ryan’s bed next to Steve, and looking steadfastly at their little brother. Ryan gritted his teeth and looked away, and for a moment, there was silence. “Would somebody like to elaborate further?” Matt inquired, finally.

  “Steve is going to summon James,” Ryan began to sob again as all the emotions of the night resurfaced. Danny flipped over onto his back, bringing his hand to his eyes as Ryan’s distress over the situation reignited his own.

  “Well of course he is,” Matt said gently. “What other choice does he have?”

  “To let it go,” Danny sobbed in support of his brother.

  “But then, what has this whole night been about?” Matt inquired in the same soft tone. Ryan and Danny didn’t respond. “There is a certain standard for the way we treat each other in this fraternity,” Matt went on, placing his hand on Steve’s shoulder as Danny and Ryan continued to sob. “We do not fight,” he reiterated.

  In that moment, Ryan and Danny knew they had lost. There was no point in continuing the argument. They also knew the conversation had taken a turn. This discussion was no longer about James. Ryan placed his head in his hands and Danny covered his eyes with his arm. Patiently, Matt and Steve waited while they tried to collect themselves.

  “Are you going to summon us?” Ryan queried fretfully. Neither Matt nor Steve was really prepared for the question, and Steve stood abruptly, turning his back and bringing his own hand to his eyes. That was a question he did not want to think about, let alone answer right now. He bit down on his lip hard as his little brothers looked at him and waited.

  “Steve and I have not talked at length about this yet,” Matt began, gently redirecting Danny and Ryan’s attention as Steve’s agitation became apparent, “but I think you should prepare yourselves for the answer to be yes.” Both his little brothers’ faces crumpled and they hid them once again, crying more quietly than they had been before, but just as hard. For a few moments, the soft sounds they made were the only ones to be heard, but finally Matt broke the silence again. “Why don’t you go to bed, Steve,” he suggested evenly. “I would like to have a private word with our little brothers on this subject.”

  Danny’s sobs became audible again and Ryan glanced quickly at their oldest brother. He swallowed as he met Matt’s now stern eyes, and his bottom began to tingle. Matt was not a big believer, as all his little brothers knew, in the process of the summons. He was a bigger believer in on the spot discipline, and most of the time felt that his hand, or the small wooden ping pong paddle he had nicked from the game room, served as a more than sufficient implement. He had, more than once, punished Danny and Ryan this way in their freshmen and sophomore years, though not many people knew it. He had, in the past, punished Steve this way too, and even fewer people knew that. In any case, they all recognized the signs. Steve was

  reluctant to have the night end like this for his already emotionally taxed little brothers, but he was also too emotional himself to argue. Still biting his lip to keep the tears back, he made his way over to Ryan, and placed his hands on top of his little brother’s bowed head.

  “We will talk more about this tomorrow, Ry, ok?” he inquired tenderly.

  “About James, or about us?” Ryan looked tearfully up at him and Steve cupped his face in his hands.

  “About both,” Steve answered huskily and tears started to streak his face despite himself as Ryan looked down again and began to sob harder. He brushed his fingers through his little brother’s hair once more, and then catching Danny’s ankle in his hand, he gave it a brief, gentle squeeze as he made his way to the door, and then out into the hallway.

  “Danny, come here,” Matt called softly as the door closed.

  “Matt, don‘t, please . . .,” Ryan pleaded.

  “Ryan,” Matt looked sternly at his little brother, “you and Danny are subject to the same rules and codes of conduct as James, Kevin, and everyone else in the fraternity. When you break rules, there are consequences. It’s as simple as that. This is not so much about the fight because that it is too serious for me to handle right now. This is more about the extremely awkward position the two of you put Steve in. I want to impress upon both of you how very serious t
his situation is. You have no room to be begging favors right now, for yourselves, or for others. Your actions this afternoon left Steve with few recourses. Danny, come here,” he repeated firmly.

  Anguished sobs racked Danny’s shoulders as he got hesitantly to his feet, and in one swift movement Matt took him by the wrist and pulled him across his knees, lowering his boxers and resting his hand on his bottom. “Go on and get ready,” he commanded looking up at Ryan again as Danny twisted under his arm. “I am seriously disappointed in both of you,” he scolded as he began to spank. Danny yipped and squirmed as Matt’s hand fell, and Ryan rose sobbingly to his feet. He was still wearing his jeans, but now as Matt continued to punish their little brother, he unzipped and unbuttoned them, pushing them down and off.

  “Oww! Oww! Oww!” Danny yelped and wiggled, but Matt continued to spank him hard, toasting his bottom to a warm, rosy pink before sending him to bed and moving on to Ryan.

  “I’m sorry,” Ryan sobbed as Matt pulled him over his knees and lowered his boxers.

  “I know you are,” Matt replied gently, but his hand was not so sympathetic. Danny lay in his bed, rubbing his bottom and sniffling as Ryan too paid his penance. Matt spanked him perhaps just a little harder and a little longer even than he had Danny. Ryan’s bottom, by the time Matt let him crawl into bed, was perhaps just a little redder because Matt expected more of him, especially when it came to protecting Steve and understanding his position. It was nice to be the president’s pet, but on occasion there was a price to be paid, and tonight Ryan had paid it.

  It wasn’t that the spanking Matt gave either of his brothers was very severe. Really, it was just enough to make them uncomfortable, and the punishment hurt their hearts more than anything. They knew they had put their big brother in a bad position by acting on impulse the way they did. Matt had reminded them that it was their fault, not Steve’s, that they were in this mess. Steve had a responsibility now; he was not in any kind of position to play favorites, and they were the ones who had put him in that awkward situation.