Page 17 of The Amazing Alpha Tau Fratmas Experience
I sat down beside him, leaned in close, and whispered, “You’re welcome.”
His mouth twitched.
Fratmas was loud and crazy and disorganized, and everything Scout pretended to hate, but he handled it like a champ. There was food—deviled eggs, prosciutto roll-ups, canapes, and a whole lot of sugar cookies and junk food besides, and even more to come, according to Marty. I was seriously impressed at the finger food and figured the selection was down to James Two. There was a reason he was in charge of next year’s Super Bowl party.
“Bro, there’s gonna be a storm this afternoon,” Marty said. “So we’re having a sit-down supper tonight and everyone’s staying over. Do you know how to cook a turkey? Archer said he thinks he can, but he had to phone his mom to see if she knew how to preheat our stove. Or maybe it was to get the temperature. I’m not sure, but the point is, I’m not super confident there will be a roast turkey by dinnertime tonight. We have a bunch of sides, though.”
“We could order something from Waffle House,” I said.
Scout elbowed me in the ribs and pulled out his phone, his fingers dancing over the screen. “I’m ordering baked ham from my emergency catering service.”
“Who has an emergency catering service in their contacts?” Eli asked, wrinkling his nose.
Scout’s brow creased like he was genuinely confused. “Whodoesn’t?”
“A ham would be awesome,” Marty said. “Dude, order that, then you can open your presents!”
“What presents?” Scout asked suspiciously.
“Bro, you can’t have Fratmas without presents,” Marty said. “Hey, Trey, can I be Santa?”
Like there would be any stopping him. “Go ahead.”
Marty beamed at us and disappeared, coming back a minute later wearing a giant velvet Santa hat complete with fake beard and a pair of half-moon glasses perched on the end of his nose. He looked ridiculous. If Marty ever had kids, their holidays were going to be unforgettable, that was for sure.
He went over to the tree and picked up a parcel, peering over the top of his glasses.
“Scout,” he announced and tossed the parcel through the air. It went wide and I dived to catch it because I knew Scout wouldn’t. I passed it to him, and he eyed it like it was unattended baggage at an airport.
“You’d better open it, or we’ll be here all day,” I said.
“That one’s from me and Eli!” Archer said from the doorway, an arm around Eli’s waist.
Scout relaxed slightly and tore open the paper, and a bunch of glittery gel pens fell into Scout’s lap. They were the kind of things a little kid would lose their shit over. Not as popular with the college crowd, and Scout raised his eyebrows while his mouth fought not to smile. “Thank you?”
“We’ve seen you stealing Briar’s,” Archer said. “And this way you can write all your angry refrigerator notes in pretty colors.”
“I don’t write angry refrigerator notes,” Scout lied. “I write helpful reminders about the standards of behavior expected in Alpha Tau.”
“Angrily,” Archer said, and Eli snorted and hid his laugh behind his hand.
“Incoming!” Marty shouted and lobbed another little parcel Scout’s way.
“Babe, I think you should just hand them to him,” Dalton said, laughing. “Scout doesn’t cope well with surprises.”
Understatement of the year right there.
Scout turned the little parcel over in his hand. The tag said From Charlie and Tanner, and Scout stared down at it, his body stiffening in discomfort. I knew exactly why, but I was also aware of Charlie watching eagerly, and hopefully, from across the room.
This could be awkward.
Anything with Scout could be awkward, even before adding Charlie to the mix, because Charlie had a whole bunch of his own brand of awkwardness to add to the equation. But what nobody knew outside a select few members of the chapter executive—not even Charlie—was that Scout was paying for Charlie’s fraternity dues and accommodation at the house. He also regularly made excuses to buy Charlie meals and take him places. I knew that he’d hate the thought that Charlie was spending his hard-earned money on him.
I hoped he didn’t mess this up for Charlie’s sake.
Scout opened the tiny gift and showed me the gift cards from the donut shop, Hole Foods, that Charlie worked at. Then he flashed a genuine smile at Charlie. “Thank you, Charlie. And Tanner, too. I guess we’re going out to breakfast in the new year?”
Charlie beamed, clearly delighted and relieved in equal measure. “You bet!”
