My name is Brian Keifsin. Iâm a freshman at *_________* State University. Iâm not all that lucky with the ladies, as some would say. I guess it stems from my high school days. Back then; I was a nerd; a geek. It was the worse time of my life. That was why I had my sister help me get out of my shell after I graduated.
She put me though hell. She made me read things I never thought of reading before, and discussing it with her. She ended up keeping me so tied up, between her and work, that I was only able to get about 5 hours of sleep a night, if I was lucky. She taught me how to think about my looks. To see how I looked affected how people saw me. She got me to evaluate my attitude around women, and my attitude of life in general. That summer I was able to completely change myself for the better. I went to college a different person because of her help. I was more confident, and better looking.
But knowing how to act around women and actually acting that way are two completely different situations. I was still a bit of a blunder talking to girls. They flustered me to no end. That was the reason I rushed Chi Theta Gamma. I was hoping to continue my change for the better with XTG. They were known as the ultimate fraternity around campus at the time. The stories of their parties were legendary. And that was what I wanted to be a part of.
The rush process was grueling, both mentally and physically. But it was necessary. At least, thatâs what they said to us. With the rush process being so grueling, pledges were sure to drop and leave, thus the frat would be left with the best of the best.
Truthfully, after the summer with my sister, this was a cakewalk. With classes and the meetings and homework, I was left with only 4 hours a night to sleep. With having to work over the summer to afford school, then working out with my sister, and then doing all of the âhomeworkâ she gave me, I was already getting used to 5 hours of sleep, so one hour less wasnât so bad.
Within the frat everyone had a nickname, mine was âSteinâ, short for Einstein. I guess the guys were impressed with my ability to keep up a 4.0 while rushing, again thanks to my sister.
One of the perks of being in any frat at our school was that all of the frats where associated with one of the sororities. We were associated with Alpha Kappa Gamma. They were known around campus as being the âbest-lookingâ Sorority on campus. Throughout the semester, we had many outings with them. That is where I first met Amy, but I later found out that she was in my freshman biology lecture hall. Somehow, to me, she really didnât fit in with AKG. It wasnât that she was ugly. I couldnât even say that she was plain looking. In truth she was drop dead gorgeous. But she acted in a way that she didnât realize it.
She was always hanging around Kristen. Kristen was a pretty popular girl in AKG, some said the best looking, and it looked like she was Amyâs âBigâ. I think it was so that some of Kristen would rub off on Amy. She seemed not to have much self-confidence. Most peopleâs first impression of her was that she was mousy and overly shy. But to me she was perfect.
She always had her hair in a ponytail, and she always wore the same type of clothing every time I saw her. It was always a skirt, a t-shirt and a sweater, with a pair of stylish shoes to match (you learn to look at those things after a summer of training with your sister). She never wore anything revealing. She never wore any makeup that I could see. Something about her didnât make me nervous as other girls.
I decided to talk to her one day after class. I had to catch up with her, seeing that she always sat at the back to the auditorium.
âHey, youâre Amy, right?â
âUmâŚyeah.â This kind of struck me as odd seeing that she just took a quick look at me and then continued walking, looking down at her feet the whole time.
âYeahâŚum, well, Iâm Brian.â
âI know.â She still looked at the sidewalk, walking to places unknown to me. âYouâre rushing XTG.â
âYeah! Hey I was wondering if youâd like to get together sometime, get some coffee, maybe get some studying in for Bio?â That got her to stop in her tracks.
She turned to look at me. That did it to me. Her eyes were this majestic shade of Blue-Green that I have never seen before. I was instantly lost in them. This girl was going to be mine, if it took me the rest of my college career.
What she said next hurt.
âIâŚIâŚI canât. Iâm barely able to make it through classes and all of the AKG stuff as it is. Iâm sorry.â She turned and walked awayâŚfast. If I didnât know better I would say she was running away. I didnât know what to do. I just decided to be âcasually persistentâ, as my sister would call it.
Making her know that youâre around. Making her know youâre available, but not asking her out. In a sense becoming a friend, but not going into the âfriend zoneâ. I decided to talk to her after class every once in a while, just to see how things were going and to make sure she knew I was still alive. She didnât really open up much just answering my questions. I felt like I was talking to a wall, and every time she would say that she was late for her next âappointmentâ and would run off.
***
After a few months of our âtalksâ it was the end of the semester, and there was to be a formal dance between XTG and AKG, to celebrate the end of rush, and finals, the following week. I was hoping to be able to ask Amy to the dance, but this thought was soon crushed when the rushes were told that since we didnât have much time to get to know the girls of AKG, our dates would be set up for us. This was a bit of a shock to us; we were essentially going to be on blind dates, on what was the last big bash before becoming members of the frat.
Thus I resigned myself to my fate. Not that my fate would be all that bad, It was going to be an AKG girl no matter what, and it might have even been Amy, if I was lucky. Luck obviously wasnât with me that week, when I found out that I was paired up with Kristen. Not that I was complaining. I knew plenty of guys from my classes that would cut off their nuts for the chance that I was given. Kristen had to be the most stylish of AKG. I had never seen her have a bad day.
She had brown hair with highlights, making it look a dirty blonde. She had a body to die for. Some of the guys had a betting pool to go to the first man to âget to know herâ, biblically that is, and be able to prove it. There was even a website (if you knew where to look). It amused me that no one had stepped up to claim the prize, yet. I doubt that she had been able to go two years of college, especially a member of AKG and not have had sex.
I did my general duty as a date and rented a tuxedo and bought her a corsage. I got the most generic color for both, going with a silver colored vest and a white corsage so I wouldnât clash with whatever she was wearing.