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When Heath showed up at the KT house, it wasn’t a surprise to find Cappie already there. Heath loved the KTs, but Cappie was a KT, had been from the moment he stepped in the door, in a way that none of the rest of them were.
The thing was, Cappie was alone. No Casey, no Evan. Just Cappie, slumped against the couch, eyes closed. Heath waited for Cappie to hear him, to jump up with one of those bright smiles and start talking, full of plans and ideas.
But Cappie didn’t move.
“Hey, Cappie,” Heath said, and sat on the couch opposite him.
Cappie didn’t make a sound. So, maybe he was asleep. It wasn’t nap time, but a lot of the brothers seemed to develop the skill to sleep no matter how much noise and chaos surrounded them. It was the kind of thing Heath imagined Cappie picking up on his own, breathing it in like he’d breathed in so much of the KTs.
He’d asked Cappie about it once, about who’d taught him the KT ways.
“Evan.”
But that didn’t explain it. Evan had been Bing, the guy who didn’t quite fit in, who skirted in on Cappie’s shirttails and Cappie was . . . Cappie. Even his name fit. Cappie the Kappa Tau. It was like he’d been made for this house, like the house had been waiting for him.
On Rush Night, everyone had gravitated to Cappie. The other rushees, the brothers, Casey . . .
There was that, too.
Heath had imagined meeting someone on Rush Night. Houses full of guys, there was surely someone there for him. But the love story was for Cappie. They’d all known, watching it unfold. Known that there was something special there, like they were watching the beginning to some well-known movie. Watching the hero meet the girl.
And it had seemed real. The weeks and months went by and you saw them together everywhere. Cappie and Casey. And Evan. The three of them maintaing a bright, glowing friendship.
But now Cappie was alone.
And Cappie was never alone.
When Beaver came in, Heath nodded his head at Cappie. “What’s up with him?”
“Dude! Where were you last night?”
“What?”
“The dance!”
“Oh, I . . . had homework.”
It wasn’t a good or even believable excuse, but Beaver didn’t seem to notice. Heath mostly hadn’t wanted to be surrounded by happy couples. There wasn’t anyone he wanted to take and, even if there had been, well, he wasn’t sure he was ready to come out to his brothers.
“Huge fight!” Beaver said. “Cappie and Bing!”
“Cappie and EVAN?”
“I can hear you,” Cappie said. He put a hand over his eyes. “Take your gossip somewhere else.”
“Sorry, Cap,” Beaver said.
It didn’t take Heath long to learn the details. Casey broke up with Cappie and was now with Evan. Harsh. He figured everyone had seen the vibes between those three, but he’d always thought Casey really did love Cappie. And he knew Cappie loved her.
*
When Heath came by the house the next day, Cappie was still on the couch.
“Hey, Cappie.”
No response again. Heath was worried. This just wasn’t like Cappie.
“He won’t even drink,” Beaver said, plopping down on the couch next to Cappie. He held out a beer under Cappie’s nose. Cappie opened his eyes just long to make a face at the beer and turn away. “See?”
“Wow.”
Beaver shook his head. “We have to do something to Bing.”
And now Cappie fully opened his eyes and sighed. “It’s not his fault. It’s all mine.”
“He was your best friend!” Beaver said. “I’m going after him!”
Beaver stood up and Cappie grabbed him by the arm. “Leave him alone.”
“But Cappie—“
“Listen to him,” Heath said. He kind of agreed with Beaver that Evan needed a beat down, but Cappie clearly wasn’t in the mood to enjoy it quite yet. Revenge could come later.
*
After a week of seeing Cappie sit unmoving in the same position, Heath sat next to him. “You know, I never liked Evan.”
“That doesn’t help.”
“Oh.” Heath thought for a moment. “You’re going to have to move sometimes.”
“I’m not going to watch them together.” Cappie turned his head towards Heath and opened his eyes. “Have you seen them?”
“I—yes,” Heath said. He thought about lying, but it was pointless, wasn’t it? Cappie would see them eventually. Or someone would tell him. Plus, he seemed to already have a pretty good idea about the answer. He didn’t look anything like Heath would’ve imagined. He just nodded and looked away.
“It’s probably what was meant to be,” Cappie said. “Omega Chi and ZBZ makes much more sense than KT and ZBZ.”
“Yeah, but—“ And Heath broke off. There was nothing he could say that would be helpful. It would only hurt Cappie to tell him that he thought Casey really did love him. Was perfect for him. That maybe they just needed to give it some time. So, instead, he asked, “Want to go to Dobler’s?”
Cappie hesitated for a moment. “Okay.”
When they walked into Dobler’s, the other KTs hooted and hollered at Cappie and Cappie smiled and said, “I’m back!” and raised his arms up.
“We missed you, Cap,” Joe said, and put a hand on Cappie’s shoulder and stared him in the eyes. “We need you.”
Cappie smiled. “And I need beer!”
It felt like a normal night, then. Like maybe Cappie was back to his old self. Only . . . he still seemed alone to Heath. He kept looking around the room for Casey, expecting her to be there, hanging out with the brothers or maybe shooting Cappie glances, her eyes asking if they could leave now.
And then he saw her. She entered the bar with Evan. He saw her notice Cappie right away and whisper something to Evan. But Evan shook his head and slung his arm around her shoulders.
Cappie kept drinking and laughing, but Heath saw him look over at Casey and Evan. He thought it would probably be a long time before things were normal for Cappie.
And, later that night, when they walked back to the KT house, Heath worked his way over to Cappie. “You’ll be okay,” he said. “You’ll see.”
Cappie smiled. “Maybe.”