We arrive at AXX.

Steven and I stroll up to a white colonial house with three tall black letters nailed in between the first and second story: AXX. There was a group of either freshman or sophomore girls standing in the outside entryway talking with a guy smoking a cigarette. As you can imagine, he was wearing a shirt that had the house letters printed across his chest. You could hear dance music coming from the open front door. Despite how dark it looked from the inside, there was a mixture of neon lights seeping out of the house from every window.

“My brother has so many stories about this place, man. Next year I’m going to live here. Only one sophomore from the previous year gets one of the 6 bedrooms and I intend that guy to be me.” Steven says all of this with childlike excitement. He’s clearly been waiting for this moment since his brother first told him about it. “You should consider pledging, man. We could be brothers! Only if they let you though.” He says with a smile and a wink.

After letting the girls ahead of us go inside, the guy out front motions for us to come a bit closer. We obey.

Eyeing us both up and down he turns to Steve and says, “you’re Kevin’s little brother aren’t you?”

“Yes sir, Steven”, Steven says with respect.

“Cool man. He was Vice-President when I joined. I still haven’t come across a guy who could rip a bong and then do advanced calculus homework. Dude was smart. How is he?”

“He got a job working for a chemical company out in San Francisco. You should see his house.”

“Damn, he’s in Cali? Lucky dude. Anyways, who is your friend?”

“This is John. We were supposed to be roommates but we found out today we have separate rooms.”

“Nice! You guys got lucky. Well, since neither of you are members or chicks, it’s $7 to get in.”

Shit. I didn’t bring any cash. My eyes dart towards Steven, who is already reaching for his wallet. Pulling out a twenty dollar bill he says, “keep the change.”

We step into the house.