It was a Saturday night when me and my brother Derek and some of our buddies decided to head over Todd Johnson’s house. He lived in Paris, Kentucky in a well to do neighborhood. We heard they were having some kind of party, so Derek drove us over to the liquor store and we bought some Jack Daniels and vodka. Derek said that Amy Barns and some of her friends might be there. I guess I was kinda tagging along. I was feeling a little anxious, but it was cool to hang out with Derek. He was always more popular in school than I was and being that he had played on the basketball and football team gave him access to all sorts of hot girls that would just throw themselves upon him. Every time Derek walked into a crowd of people, they would look and hover around him. Girls always think tall, muscular guys are hot. I don’t think I’m a bad looking guy, it’s just that everyone seems to compare me to me brother. “Oh are you planning to go out for basketball? Your brother Derek was so good,” they’d say or, “You have a little growing to do to be as big as your brother,” Blah blah blah. Everybody’s full of shit. I think I’m pretty good at sports, but not a star like my brother.  

We arrived at Todd’s house around 9:30. Derek and his friend Paul Grimes had already gotten drunk and were wrestling and horsing around. They were seeing who could punch each other the hardest without flinching. They were acting kinda stupid. Derek knocked on the door and one of Amy’s friends answered. She squealed and invited us in. “Hi Derek,” she said, batting her eyes like a dumb bird.

“Tammy, where’s Amy?” Derek said pushing pushing past her.

She turned back to the crowd and said, “Amy! Derek’s here!” I was already a bit annoyed by this girl gushing all over Derek and I rolled my eyes. We walked in and I could see that there was already a crowd of people here.

“Come on in, guys. Most of us are out in the backyard,” she said.

Amy had been Derek’s girlfriend since high school, but since he had been going to college, they had not seen each other that much. He’d been home all summer and his classes were starting back next week. It was kinda like a last fling before going back to college. We walked through the house and it was already trashed with beer cans everywhere. Some girl was in the bathroom puking her guts out as we walked past. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

Paul started laughing and nudged Derek saying, “Hey bro, check out the drunk chick with her head in the toilet.”

Tammy led us to the back yard. Amy was standing there with her friends. She saw us coming and started squealing. “Derek sweetie! You finally made it.”

She ran up and jumped into his arms. The crowd all seemed to stop when they saw Derek. He has that way about people.

Todd turned around, waved and said, “Hey boys we got plenty of beers.”

There were a few cute girls chatting around the cooler. I smiled and said hi. I reached in and got a Bud Light. I couldn’t help but notice one of the pretty blonde girls was looking at me and smiling. I sorta nodded at her and walked over to the fire pit. I was trying to look cool and put one hand in my pants pocket and nodding my head to the house music they were playing. I downed the beer fast. I got a bit excited playing eye tag with this girl. She occasionally looked my way and slightly smiled. I was trying to hide an erection.

A little later after downing a few more beers, I was feeling great and a bit cocky. I stood with my buddies Steve Pearl and Brandon Ott who showed up late. Steve was this tall, thin skater dude with a red mohawk and a little goatee who was bragging about some girl he fucked in the bathroom. He said she was all fucked up and wanted it. Brandon who always tags along with us is kinda awkward. I mean Brandon’s okay but maybe a bit annoying. I think Steve just lets him hang out with him because he has a car and Brandon can get good pot from his brother. Steve talks shit about Brandon behind his back. Anyway, Steve had been my best friend since Jr High school. He noticed that there was this blonde chick staring at me all night.

“Dude, that girl wants you bad,” said Steve pointing.

“Yeah, you think so?” I said.

“Fuck dude, all you gotta do is go talk to her,” said Steve trying to push me to walk over. “If you don’t say something soon, then I will.” Steve got a big grin on his face and started to say something. I countered him and put my hand over his mouth.

“Shhhhh don’t.”  

He broke loose and waved his hand and yelled,“Hey you!” and pointed at the cute blonde girl who was now looking over at us. “Yeah you. Come here a minute.”

I was mortified and looked away. I punched Steve in the arm and whispered, “Fuck dude, why’d you do that for?” But it was too late. She smiled and walked over with her friend. I turned my head away and stared at my feet.

“So I see you were you staring at my friend here?”Steve said.

She smiled and said, “Maybe I was.”

“Well Chet here has been talking about you all night,” he said, as I tried to hush him, but he just kept laughing and talking.

“Oh yeah? So what has he been saying about me?”

“Oh, nothing much, just that he thought you were the hottest girl here.”

I turned back around and smiled tilting my head upwards as if I was innocent.

“Well, you can tell your friend I think he is kinda cute also. And by the way, my name’s Kate… and your name is?…”

“Well I’m Steve Pearl and this here is my best bud, Chet Claypool.”

Howdy Chet,” she said grinning and fumbling with her hair.

“And this is Brandon.”

Brandon shyly smiled and looked down. She said a quick hi barely acknowledging him. Then she looked at me again.

“So are you any kin to Derek Claypool?” she said excitedly.

“Uhhhh, yeah, He’s my brother,” I said feeling a bit annoyed that she would mention him.

“Wow your brother’s way hot! I’ve had a crush on him since 9th grade. Do you think you could introduce me to him?” she beamed, as I rolled my eyes.

After she said that, I felt my heart drop. What interest I felt towards her disappeared.

“Yeah, I guess I can do that if he comes by this way. You can meet his girlfriend too.” I added hoping to ruin her hopes. She still smiled  but I could see that twinkle fall from her eyes when I said that last part as I smiled back.

“Well it was nice to meet you Chet, Steve. I guess I’ll get back to my friends,” she said prancing away.

Brandon looked a bit mad and said, “What a bitch! She acted like I wasn’t even there.”  

“Yeah once she found out I was Derek’s brother, she just wanted me to get me to introduce them. Fuck that!” I said rolling my eyes again.

“She was hot, though. I bet you still could have laid her,” Steve said laughing.

“Fuck it,” I said now in a grumpy mood.

It was getting late and most everyone was going inside. Steve, Brandon and I sat on the couch talking to some older dude about pot. I was still feeling kinda pissed. My mind flashed back to two days ago when we were cutting tobacco for Mr Layson. I’d just finished a row and was going to take a piss. I walked towards the edge of the tobacco just barely out of the row hidden between the plants. I pulled my cock out to pee when I looked down towards the left about 50 yards away and saw Jeff standing right next to Travis and then I saw something that shocked me. Jeff reached over and kissed Travis on the lips. And then I saw them embrace and kiss each other again more passionately. They stopped and looked around. I ducked back behind the tobacco. I didn’t know what to think. I’d known Jeff my entire life. We played together as kids. Jeff and Derek used to be best friends in high school. They even went to boy scouts together. But seeing this made me feel a bit weird, maybe even sick. I felt a bit squeamish. Back then I decided to just keep it to myself. But now, I was drunk, feeling a bit jealous of Derek. Part of me thought that I would get some attention if this bit of knowledge were to get out. Steve was hitting on some girl and then she was kissing him back and making out on the couch as I sat with Brandon yakking on and on about some video game with this older hippy dude. Then it just happened.

“I saw something strange while I was cuttin t’bacca the other day.”

Brandon heard me and said, “What did you see?”  

I looked around to see if anyone was listening. “Well, you know my cousin Jeff Stewart?”

“Yeah sure,” said Brandon.

“Well, we were cutting t’bacca all afternoon and I’d just finished my row and went to take a piss. While I was pissing I looked down the row and saw Jeff and this guy named Travis kissing.”

“Nuh uhh, You did not,” said Brandon. His eyes getting big. “You mean Jeff’s a faggot?”

Steve stopped kissing the girl and looked up with surprise. “Who’s a faggot?”

“Chet just said he saw Jeff kissing some dude while he was cuttin t’bacca,” said Brandon all excited.

“No Way!!” said Steve sitting up on the edge of the couch now. He had the look of a predator and this big evil grin popped on his face. “Dude, wait till your brother hears about this. He’s gonna crap his pants when he hears this.”  

Steve jumped off the couch and ran looking for Derek. I started to feel a bit ill and really guilty. Jeff had always been very nice to me all my life. He helped me and Derek build a treehouse in third grade. At this moment I felt like Judas. Pandora’s box had been opened and this was not going to stop. All eyes were on me at the moment.

A few moments later Derek rushed across the room followed by Steve who had a big grin on his face. Derek looked furious. He walked up to me and grabbed me by the arm and drug me across the room to the front door. Everyone now was staring and talking. He slung open the door and pushed me outside. I felt shocked and ashamed. He grabbed my arm again and pulled me towards the front gate.

People were coming out the front door when Derek looked back and said, “Go the fuck back in while I have a talk with my brother!” I watched as they went back inside and started peeping through the curtain. “What the fuck did you say about Jeff?” Derek looked into my eyes with rage.

“Well Uhhhhhh, uhhhhmmmmm.” I couldn’t get the words out.

“Come on tell me what you told Steve,” he said grabbing me by the collar.

“Well, remember this past Wednesday while we were cuttin t’bacca? Well I went to take a piss and caught Jeff and that guy Travis kissing on the lips. Huggin and shit halfway down the rows. They didn’t even see me ‘cause I was still in the rows hidin’ behind the big baccer leaves.”

“You telling me that Jeff’s a fuckin faggot? If I find out you’re lying, I will fucking kill you!” he said shaking me. His eyes were all full of rage.

“I’m just telling you what I saw. I was planning to keep it a secret, but I got drunk and it just popped out.”

Derek started pacing, kicking crap on the ground. He was mumbling, “Fucking faggot! God damned fucking fag!” over and over. He walked over to his truck opened the door, climbed inside and sat behind the wheel for a minute slamming the steering wheel with his fists, then he started up the truck and peeled out. Amy and Paul came running out the front door.

“Was that Derek that just left?”she said all concerned.

I felt angry and sad for what I’d done and said, “Yeah, he just got in the truck and drove off.”

“Fuck, Chet! Derek was too drunk to drive. You shouldn’t have let him take off,” she said.

I looked at them with tears in my eyes and yelled, “How in the hell was I supposed to stop him?”