Page 6 of Endless First Kisses
Chapter Two
“Are you absolutely sure?” The person on the other end of the urgent phone call asked, talking to a shaky and paranoid voice.
“Yes, I swear. We drank, and that was pretty much it. And I left soon after. I had no part of it. I am telling you the honest truth.”
“Told you to use your little pinhead before getting into trouble, didn’t I?”
“I didn’t get into trouble. I swear,” pleaded the anxious voice.
“That is easily refuted by the fact that you picked up the phone to call at this ungodly hour of the day.” The stream of words was said with a restrained scream.
The father’s admonishing was returned with silence. There wasn’t anything the child could say to win an argument with his father. He found himself in the middle of a crisis, and he needed his father’s help to save him.
“No point sticking around, is there? Come back home now. We’ll discuss what to do next when you get here.”
“Alright, dad.”
Most students had already vacated the campus premises. The few milling about the lavish campus older than the republic were seniors and others staying on for the summer session. Rumors were circulating with speculations of what had happened the night before. Students who had left early were regretting their decision for missing out on the action, relying on second-hand sources to substantiate the rumors.
Keith Lloyd knew he had no business being on campus. He was dragged into something he secretly had craved by the sheer force of his unrequited adolescent desires. It had been an elusive dream ever since he heard rumors about the wild parties where the girls let loose and the two-week long celebration leading up to graduation, a campus tradition that dates back to the founding days. From the moment the final exams were done all the way until graduation day. A non-stop and epic season of free-loving celebration for the select and secret group of students.
In Keith’s overwrought mind with the agony of never measuring up to the elites he went to college with, it was time to make up for the lost years in high school and the freshman year that had gone without seeing any action to relieve his pent up frustration.
In the era where every group organized to protect their rights, he represented a minority of one. A working class kid of no pedigree, routinely told he had the world in the palms of his hands as a ‘white male,’ supposedly privileged with the kinds of access and influence that were as foreign to him as Japanese or Zulu. He knew deep down he had a less fortunate upbringing and likely future than the upper-middle-class minority students. That very fact had been a source of resentment. More so than the inescapable fact that no girl of appreciable beauty ever looked at him with any kind of interest.
As the end of the semester neared, the promise of adventure ahead had loomed large in his imagination. Looking at all the seniors on campus, he had felt small. It didn’t help that he hadn’t gained more than three inches since junior high. Too short to be taken seriously. Seeing and wondering about all the girls that looked so much more sophisticated and mature than anything he had seen in real life. These were the finest women the world had to show for it. Not in his Southie neighborhood of South Boston, the infamous former home of mobster Whitey Bulger. He imagined the girls that went to private schools looked like them. At least in movies they did. Such lovely birds.
It had taken long for Keith to find his place in the sea of affluence for the better part of a semester and a half. Mustering his courage, he had signed up to be a reporter for the daily newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. The perfect excuse to go places he didn’t belong, all with the pretext of reporting on the latest breaking news. What his investigation had shown was surprisingly similar to the age-old secret of puberty. He had to figure out a way to break into the cliques that wouldn’t give him the light of day by making a meaningful contribution and forming the right alliances.
Keith had his key to success: Detailed study notes that he generously shared with those who had better things to do than attend classes. He figured, accurately it turned out, these kids of privilege weren’t fond of failing. They had the weight of generations of legacy to keep up with. If he was lucky, once expensive liquor takes hold of these younglings, he hoped he would stumble on open legs that would not reject his objectionable presence.
The heavy rimmed glasses were gone by the second semester in exchange for contacts, which were itchy and made his eyes tear up. He had started going to the gym. But all that couldn’t undo the unfortunate gift of nature, which inspired more pity than interest in others whenever they looked at him. It wasn’t just the height. Oval and chubby face, with his big nose and slanting jaw sticking out as if he were punched by a mean upper hook. There was nothing he could do about how he looked. That was the disheartening truth he came to accept.
There were simply more guys that looked better than Keith did. Even to his strictly heterosexual interest, he couldn’t deny that fact about him staring in the mirror twice a day. He was at the absolute bottom if all that mattered were looks. He knew better, and he prepared night and day to take advantage of the loopholes he discovered.
And then there were guys like Andre Palermo whom God had taken the time to create just right. Such was the unfairness of life. What excited Keith about the graduation week extravaganza had been the possibility of being in the same field as the best of them. The possibility of blending in with less competition. If only he could muster the courage and build his confidence to step up... He planned everything meticulously, tracking an itinerary of campus activities. It was all there for the taking, he concluded. He had done his study and decided to go for the home run.
Everything had gone well until it didn’t. Now he had to leave the campus premises as soon as possible. He had turned to his father as a last resort. A well-connected lawyer of distinction. Learned in the ins and outs of the legal system. That was the only thing that could save him. He devilishly hoped and wished Andre, who he considered to be a stuck up piece of shit, would pay for it.
Keith was entirely sure he had disguised his voice enough to not get in trouble. And who could tell him apart among a sea of attendants all wearing face masks? He had added a glove to complete the disguise to good effect. The most top secret party at the most secretive fraternity on campus. Making it through the door was so thrilling as to give Keith enough adventure to last him for a long time. He had discovered the night before these parties were held weekly throughout the year. There were bound to be things he would never know fully about the privileged.
“So, was that why you stayed behind on campus? What happened to the research project?” His father asked after picking him up, roadside long way away from trouble. Keith had walked frantically while keeping his mask on. And flipped his clothes upside down in some dark alleyway. He now remembered the panic that had consumed him fearing an attack from random stragglers in the street. He couldn’t believe only hours prior he was rubbing shoulders and more with those he could never be with in real life.
The father had driven more than twenty minutes before uttering a word. “You had better start talking,” he said spending more time gazing at his son than the road.
“I was doing it… The research… Still in the early stages… We just started…” Keith said, slowly trying to balance the shock inside of him and the need to not annoy his father.
“Whatever happened to your clothes?” The father asked. He had to turn to his lawyerly ways to get into the mind of his grown son, who looked so much like him. He was never the one that believed in corporal punishment as he had been subjected to while growing up. For the most part, his only son had turned out good, which he thanked his God for every day.
“I turned them upside down,” Keith answered, still mentally replaying the scenes from the party. He had scanned through the area and found his target. It was the dress that gave him the final indication. If he were to tell his father about his adventures, he was sure he would be proud of him. The problem was how he was going to begin to explain everything…
Keith had taken on a summer research. His way of avoiding having to go back home, where he was born and went through all his education. He couldn’t get away for college for his father had preordained he would go to Harvard the day he was born. To start a legacy in the family no other family member had benefited from. To change the fortunes of the generations of Lloyds to come. And to set a good example to his younger sisters.
“We know what you were doing, don’t we? Wasting your time when you should be taking advantage of this golden opportunity,” said the father, veins bulging in his forehead and neck. Keith had noticed them already.
“I’m sorry,” Keith murmured.
There was some satisfaction he felt in at least planning for something and getting what he had dreamed of for so long. He had kissed more girls over the past two weeks than he ever did all his life. Eighteen and half years of his life. Granted they all snickered at him and laughed noticing his overzealous and clumsy ways. He had even managed to slide his hands between the thighs of a couple of girls before they were yanked out. The sensation of warmth and softness was enough to last him for a long time. Jerking off was never going to be the same again. And then last night. The culmination of it all. The day he conquered his fear and became the master of his destiny.