7. The Kissing Booth
CHAPTER 7
THE KISSING BOOTH
A ngry voices reach me from my window.
My Zeta sisters are yelling at each other so loudly, that I can hear them with the window closed and we have double panes all over the house.
What is going on?
And why isn’t my army style war course not installed? I don’t see any tires the aspiring pledges will have to jump, no ropes to climb, no wall to scale, no mud pit.
All I see is some kind of booth on my front lawn. Are we opening a lemonade stand?
The pitch of the arguing goes up a notch, it looks like Bianca is having a disagreement with Liv and I decide to go down and see what’s up.
“No, I don’t like that. Why should she be the star of the event?” Bianca snarls, getting right in Liv’s face.
“Because she’s the President, something you might have forgotten since we came back from summer break.” Liv doesn’t back down.
“This was my idea, so I should be under the spotlight.” Bianca argues.
Liv crosses her arms over her chest. “Then run for president next year and you’ll have your way. Thankfully I won’t be here to suffer through your tenure.”
“You’re such a bitch,” Bianca screams. “My presence in your ranks gives you prestige, I’m the Dean’s daughter.”
Liv has never been able to keep her cool when provoked and this time it’s no exception. “That’s the only reason why we let you pledge to begin with. And why you’re Master of Ceremonies. Are you gonna have your Daddy buy you the presidency next year?”
Master of Ceremonies? What the hell are they talking about?
“Sisters,” I clear my throat. “What’s going on? People will start arriving in a couple of hours and I see no war course. Why are you yelling? If I was someone trying to decide if I want to pledge Zeta Theta Beta, your angry bickering would put me off.”
Liv lowers her gaze, embarrassed. “I’m sorry Bay. You left me in charge and I feel like I’ve failed you.”
“I don’t understand. How could you possibly have failed me?”
The explanation comes from Tami. “We aren’t having a war course this year for the Rush Week Fair, but a kissing booth.”
“Come again?” I blink, confused. “We always have a war course. It’s tradition.”
Bianca intervenes. “It’s boring, that’s why we aren’t doing it. A kissing booth is much more exciting and the tickets are already sold out. The proceeds will go to Star Cove Memorial Hospital, toward their new sports medicine center.”
I don’t understand why Bianca is so belligerent toward me. If anyone should be mad, it’s me. I wasn’t the one in her bed, fucking her boyfriend after all.
“It’s a worthy cause,” I say, fighting to remain calm and to sound diplomatic, when in reality I wish we did have a mud pit so I could drown her in it. “But we always give to the Star Cove Women’s shelter and I don’t remember approving a kissing booth. Also, are you running for Master of Ceremonies?”
I know something is going on when none of my sisters looks me in the eye. “Does anyone care to explain what’s happening?”
Bianca’s smile is victorious when she tells me. The bitch is enjoying this.
“The vote to replace the Master of Ceremonies who graduated last year happened on Friday. I ran and won the election.”
That isn’t possible. “How could it have happened this Friday? This is moving in weekend. Summer break doesn’t officially end until tomorrow night. This is why we kick off Rush Week with the fair, it’s a fun event but pledge night won’t be until next weekend when everyone will have moved in for the academic year. That’s when we usually have elections, when all the sisters are back on campus.”
Bianca looks like the cat that got the canary. “This year, we decided to vote before Rush Week.”
What the fuck? “We?” I raise my voice. “Who’s we? Whatever you think you voted on doesn’t stand. There are rules and regulations that we all must abide by. You can’t just vote whenever you want.”
The Dean’s daughter’s smile widens. “That’s where you’re wrong. I read all those rules and bylaws and we had the minimum legal number of sisters back in the house to have a house meeting and an election. I ran for Master of Ceremonies and won. My first initiative as the new master was to do a kissing booth instead of your boring war course for the fair. You would have had a vote if you hadn’t disappeared for the entire summer. And my idea to immediately put the tickets on sale on the university website and on the Greek government website was awesome because we’re all sold out. Before you know it, there’s gonna be a line spanning the length of Greek Row of guys who want to kiss us. You’re welcome.”
I can’t think about anything worse. I mean, eww. Who wants to kiss a bunch of random strangers?
Have you ever been in public and wondered what would happen if you suddenly started screaming? Or if you started doing something wildly inappropriate like scratching your crotch?
Right here and now, I wonder what would happen if I followed my instincts, grabbed Bianca by the top of her red hair and dragged her into the mud pit… wait, we don’t have a mud pit because of her stupid kissing booth.
Besides, I’m still the Zeta President and I need to set an example and not kill one of my sisters. If I ever kill Bianca, I shouldn’t do it with all these witnesses anyway.
“I don’t like this. We aren’t the ΙΑΚs (Iota Kappa Alpha).” I say disdainfully, mocking the skankiest sorority on campus affectionately known as Yucks. “If you wanted to play tonsil hockey with a ton of random guys, you should have pledged them.”
My words miss their intended target. Instead of recognizing that she overstepped, Bianca ups the ante.
“No, I joined the right sorority. We just happen to have the wrong president. A selfish bitch who decided to disappear rather than being here to close the academic year last year. Someone who showed up at the last possible second this year expecting that her sisters did all the work to kick off Rush Week. If I were president, I would have put the Zetas first over my personal issues.”
She says personal issues as if she wasn’t the one who was fucking my boyfriend in my bed.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go curl my hair. I want to look amazing tonight.”
She struts away with her henchman Kylie hot on her heels .
I’m fucking shocked.
“How did she get elected?” I ask more to myself than to Liv, Viv and Tami. “I can’t work with her all year.”
Liv sighs. “I’m sorry, Bay. She ambushed us all yesterday afternoon with that surprise meeting. I told her we couldn’t have a meeting without you, but she was actually right about the bylaws. As long as we have the minimum legal number of sisters in the house, we can meet and hold elections and make official decisions. She must have planned this. She demanded we elect a new master of ceremonies. We tried to stop her but she was backed by most of the sophomores and juniors.”
There’s something Liv isn’t telling me, I can see it in her eyes. “What?” I ask her.
The answer comes from Tami. “Master of Ceremonies wasn’t Bianca’s first choice. She was gunning for the presidency, Bay. She called that meeting yesterday with a motion to remove you as President. She tried to make a case that by taking an extended leave of absence, you neglected your duties as President.”
I open and close my mouth a few times. I’m rarely speechless, but I can’t make sense of what my sisters are just telling me.
“What the actual?—”
Viv wraps one comforting arm around my shoulders. “Your sisters still have your back. We stopped her yesterday, but the vote was close.”
I’m almost scared to ask, but I need to know. “How close?”
“By two votes. All the seniors voted to keep you as President and all the underclassmen voted for Bianca’s motion to remove you and hold a new election immediately. The only two juniors who didn’t vote for her were Candace and Paige.”
I feel like I walked into the Twilight Zone. None of this makes sense.
“I’m grateful that they had my back, but I wonder why. Candace is actually Bianca’s big sister. She sponsored her last year when she pledged. And Paige is Kylie’s.”
Liv lowers her voice. “You didn’t hear this from me, but you know the four of them are puck bunnies, right?”
I twist my lips. “You know I hate that term.”
“I know,” Liv nods. “But most of them are proud of it, they actually want to be called that. Anyway, you know Bianca was really into Luca, right?”
I nod. “She hooked up with him before he met Lake.”
“Yeah,” Liv continues. “Well, Paige was into Luca too and there was some rivalry. Candace is Paige’s best friend and there was a cat fight last year after a game. Bianca kept throwing herself at Luca but kept getting brushed off and Paige called her pathetic for not taking a hint. It spiraled from there. They started calling each other names and it got pretty ugly. I guess Candace and Paige are holding grudges.”
I guess so.
“Where was I when all that happened? I don’t recall that fight at all.” I ask.
“It was when you and Topher were really… close.” Tami says sheepishly. “I think you guys went to your room during that party and didn’t come back out.”
“God, I can’t believe I’m saying this. But is Bianca right? Am I a shitty President, too wrapped up in my own crap to keep Zeta business under control?”
My sisters all come to my defense.
“No, Bay.” Viv shakes her head. “We all have our shit and you’re entitled to a personal life. Under your tenure, the Zetas have grown not only in numbers but also in popularity. We never had as many pledges as last year, after you were elected President sophomore year. I bet this year is going to be even better. And it’s because of you. People follow you on social media and every girl on campus wants to be you.”
Including Bianca apparently, since she wanted my boyfriend and my presidency .
“So how did I get stuck with Bianca as Master of Ceremonies?”
Tami shrugs. “To become President, Bianca needed a vote against you. After Danielle graduated last year, I guess no one wanted to shoulder that kind of workload.”
I sigh. “Yeah, we have a very full social calendar. I was hoping that one of you would want to run, I was going to ask you at the first opportunity. But now the point is moot.”
“I’m sorry,” Liv says. “Bianca caught us totally by surprise. We were still shaken by her attempt to steal your presidency and when she demanded that we elect a new Master, we didn’t know what to do. I made a last minute desperate attempt to run but Bianca must have bribed some of the sisters. It’s like she knew she had it in the bag.”
All I know is that aside from the obvious animosity I harbor toward Bianca, working with her won’t be easy.
“This year is going to be tough,” I bite out. “If this surprise kissing booth is an example of the way she is going to act, I’ve got my work cut out for me.”
My sisters look at one another.
“What?” I ask.
The answer surprises me.
“Actually,” Tami explains. “The way she planned this was quite smart. Each sister will be at the booth for a limited amount of time. You can choose where you want to kiss people who bought a ticket. I guess not even Bianca wants to be stuck kissing too many frogs.”
I exhale, partially relieved. “Ok, then that’s not too bad. Kissing someone on the cheek isn’t as skanky looking as I thought.”
Since this was Bianca’s idea, I should have known there would be more to it.
“Yeah,” Viv doesn’t look at me when she drops her bombshell. “You can kiss anyone on the cheek or forehead, it’s up to you. That’s if they bought a ten dollar yellow ticket. There are also thirty-five red tickets that went on sale by auction with a starting price of two hundred bucks. If someone has one of those, they’re entitled to a kiss on the lips. There was also one golden ticket for five hundred bucks that buys the proud owner one French kiss.”
“What the fuck?” I seethe. “My war course would have been so much better. And how in the world were we allowed to run this booth anyway? Every activity is usually competitive and the winner gets a token. The house with more tokens gets the Greek Olympic trophy.”
I should know since I smashed last year’s trophy against the wall of my bedroom aiming for my ex-boyfriend’s head. “How are we going to assign our token? Kissing isn’t competitive.”
I should have known the answer.
“Our token goes automatically to the house that managed to purchase the golden ticket.”
I can’t even.
“So basically our token was for sale? This is such bullshit, the tokens should be acquired with skills, not money. If this is the kind of initiative Bianca is going to have,” I gripe. “This is going to be one hell of a long year. Working with Bianca is bad enough, I just wish I didn’t have to live with her too.”
Remember what I said earlier about Murphy’s Law?
The universe has another… universal rule.
Be careful what you wish.
COLE
The Rush Week Fair has always been fun.
Every year we take turns manning our slip and slide station, so every brother can enjoy all the different activities Greek Row has to offer .
We’ve won the Olympic trophy my freshman and sophomore years. Last year we lost it to the Zetas but we’re determined to defend our honor and reclaim it this year.
Rush week is a bittersweet memory for me.
It’s where I met Bay for the first time. I was an arrogant freshman who wanted to hook up with the prettiest girl at the party. Bay immediately caught my eye, but when I lost her in the crowd of partygoers, I just forgot about her and hooked up with two hot fashion majors.
It wasn’t until I got to know her, that I gradually fell for her.
Isn’t it funny how things happen?
After that first party, I almost forgot about her. When I eventually saw her again, she was already going out with Topher. I was jealous of course, but it was purely because any man would be jealous of the lucky motherfucker who gets Bay in his bed.
It’s not like I didn’t have my pick of the hottest women on campus anyway, so for months I kept banging my way through the bunnies and all the cheerleaders and every pretty girl who would give me the time of day. I would occasionally see her at parties and I’d be lying if I said that I never thought about the hot blonde Zeta. But Bay was barely a blip on my radar in the grand scheme of things.
Then one night at the beginning of sophomore year, Topher got totally shit faced and she asked me to help her drag our new frat president back to his room.
Bay and I got talking after dumping Topher in the bathtub of the presidential suite and we really hit it off.
We have the same sense of humor, love the same TV shows and we just enjoy spending time together.
I didn’t realize in how much trouble I was until another night
Topher had overindulged in cheap beer and even cheaper liquor. He said something mean to her and when I saw the hurt in Bay’s eyes, I had to fight the urge to kill the asshole.
It was a slippery slope from there.
I could lie to myself all I wanted. The need to protect her however wasn’t just because she was my friend.
My heart doesn’t race every time a girlfriend—as in friend who’s a girl—looks at me. If I ever texted a “girlfriend” late at night, it could only be for a booty call.
With her? She’s the last person I want to talk to before I fall asleep.
Bay is also the first person I think about when I wake up.
I think about her every waking moment. At practice, during classes, during a game. When I’m driving, training, hanging with my teammates, she’s just present in my mind all the time.
Her smile, the sound of her voice, her mere presence makes me happy.
Of course there’s also her hotness.
The general attraction I would feel for any gorgeous woman, is amplified with her because I care. I live to hear the ring of her laugh, I want to be the one who makes her laugh.
When she’s sad, I’d do anything to make it better. And I’ve offered her a shoulder to cry on when she’s had trouble with Topher this past year.
I thought he didn’t deserve her even before he cheated on her. The fact that he did, does nothing but confirm that Topher Mumford is the biggest idiot that ever walked this campus.
I’m right behind him though because when I was there for her, day after day, I slipped into the fucking friend zone.
It happened almost without realizing it. I kept telling myself that it was for the best. I’m not a relationship kind of guy and if Bay and I had ever crossed the line, I would have found a way to fuck things up. There was also Topher. As long as Bay was with him, I knew my dreams of being with her as more than friends would never come true. Because one of Bay’s best qualities is her loyalty. So I’ve been her friend and I’ve been biding my time. At first I kept hooking up with a string of meaningless women to take my mind off the only one I wanted and couldn’t have. Since last year, even that wasn’t enough. After an embarrassing incident when first I couldn’t perform unless I got drunk and then I called the bunny in my bed “Bay,” I decided to quit while I was ahead.
So in the last twelve months I’ve been pretending that it was business as usual. I would either take a girl to my room and then find an excuse not to go through with the hookup part of the deal—too tired, too drunk, you name it.
Or I would hang out with Bay when, more often than not, Topher was drunk. Either way, I haven’t gotten laid in about a year. I feel like an idiot but before I fell for my best friend all I was looking for was meaningless sex. Now that I caught feelings for the one woman I can’t have? I can’t even bring myself to do it just for the sake of getting off.
Until I get over her, I guess my left hand will be my only source of release.
“Hey Cole,” Jagger and Ryker walk toward me. “Wanna go check out what the other houses are doing? Maybe get a couple of tokens and take back that Olympic Trophy?”
“Sure,” I shrug. “The Eta Psi Pi guys have an arm wrestling challenge we should have no problem winning.”
Jagger slaps me on the back. “We’ll wipe the floor with those guys.”
Tucker joins us with Corey in tow. “The Pi Omicron Sigma have a pie eating contest I’m gonna crush.”
I can’t help but snicker. “How funny, the Pi eating pie. You better hope no one films you bro,” I warn him. “Next week we have the first home game of the season. If Coach catches you stuffing your face with pie, he’s gonna put you on a diet. ”
Tucker slaps his washboard stomach. “Do I look like I need to count my calories?”
In all fairness, he doesn’t. We all consume an insane amount of food, we need it because of the strenuous training we endure during the season. But there’s eating and then there’s Tucker. I don’t know how he does it and keeps in the shape he does. The man is a human garbage disposal, there’s no other way to put it.
“Hey brothers,” Topher catches up with us before we leave our front lawn. “Wait up. I want to try a couple of activities too.”
“What about the slip and slide?” Jagger asks. “I thought it was your turn to man it.”
Our president shrugs. “I delegated. Hunter, Paul and Barry will take care of it. The sophomores can pay their dues, I’m up for some fun.”
Topher has been giving me a wide berth since I practically kicked him out of the Zetas’ property last night.
Even now, his eyes skim over me as if I wasn’t even there.
If this is how he wants to play it, it’s fine by me. I’d prefer to break every bone in his body, but last night Bay made me promise that I’m not going to do anything stupid and ruin my future over Topher Mumford.
After an hour, we have a very respectable amount of tokens in our possession.
His ear to ear grin is contagious and I don’t have the heart to tell him that the dunking game wasn’t supposed to feature white t-shirts. But since it’s the Yucks we’re talking about, they all decided to give the school an eyeful every time the ball hit the target and a sister would get dunked.
“So guys,” Corey is looking at his phone. “I’ve got the fair app here and it keeps a tally of how many tokens each house has. We have six but so have the Zetas. We need one more token to win the Olympic trophy.”
Topher’s laugh is more like a bark. “We’ve got that trophy in the fucking bag. We don’t have an election this year, but if we did? You’d have to vote for me. I’m the fucking best president in the history of this fraternity.”
He holds a golden poker chip, showing it to us as if it were the Holy Grail.
“I don’t know this campus that well yet, but I think we’ve been up and down the entire Greek Row. Does any of the houses have a roulette or a craps game?” Ryker asks, confused.
Topher’s smile widens. “Nope. But there’s one house we haven’t visited yet. We haven’t been to Zeta Theta Beta.”
I should know better than to engage with him, but I can’t stand that cocky tone for one more second. “Are you saying you’re gonna do their war course? Usually you don’t want to go near that mud pit at the end.”
“Fuck,” Tucker chuckles. “I forgot about that. It’s almost better than the Yucks white t-shirts. There’s something about a girl covered in mud…”
I’m not about to yuck on his yum, but Tucker’s preference for wet garments is something I don’t necessarily get.
“This year there’s no war course,” Topher grins. “The Zetas are breaking with tradition and they have a kissing booth.”
“What?” Tucker is rubbing his hands together with anticipation. “Let’s go kiss some Zetas.”
“Hold your horses,” Topher grins. “To kiss a Zeta you need one of these chips. They had different colors to kiss different places and they sold out in a couple of hours. There was just one golden chip, the most expensive one. The man or woman in possession of this chip is entitled to a French kiss. The girls all did shifts at the booth tonight, the app should tell you who’s there now? ”
I don’t even need to hear Corey’s confirmation of my suspicion.
“Right now Bianca and Bay are at the booth.”
“Let’s go,” Topher’s giddy tone promises nothing but trouble. “There’s a Zeta I’ve been dying to kiss and with this token? She can’t refuse me.”
I hope he means Bianca, since I have it on good authority that the two of them have hooked up a few times after Bay found them in bed together.
The evil smirk Topher throws in my direction however makes me fear for the worst.
I follow my brothers toward the Zeta house, hoping that my night isn’t going to end in a jail cell. Because if Topher does what I think he’s about to do? I’m gonna fucking kill him.