Everyone knows that a hot girl, alone at a party, must be looking to hook up. At least, that's what Eli Bennett's brothers seemed to think.
"Oh man, I'm gonna tap so many chicks tonight, I can feel it. I'm pumped!" Michael Bennet, running into Eli's room with nothing on but the gallons of hair gel he had just finished applying. "I saw some of the girls who're attending on Facebook – damn! Who knew there were that many sexy girls in Toronto?"
Eli sighed, hardly taking his gaze away from the book he was reading, spread out in bed. "Michael, why do you seem to think I don't mind you being naked in my bedroom?
"Our bedroom – " said Jacob, frantically searching through piles of dirty laundry looking for his watch, "and who said you were coming along?"
"Well, I figured – " Michael began.
"You're sixteen. Sorry, this is an adult party," said Eli.
"What?" Michael went into the hallway and screamed out, "Kev! Get your ass over here! Jacob's saying we can't come to the party!"
"Hold on, I'm watching Jersey Shore. Wait for a commercial!"
"No you dumbass, come here now!" Yet still Michael decided to run down the hallway to start talking with Kevin, his seventeen year old brother.
"You're not wearing that, are you?" asked Jacob to Eli, now that they were alone.
"Why, what's wrong with?"
"A sweatshirt?"
"It's cold."
"So, what happened with you and that girl you went out with last week?"
"Oh, well I used the word equilibrium in a sentence and she just stared at me blankly. I knew it was all over," said Eli.
"Do you always need to do this with every girl you meet? Don't you think you're being a bit picky?"
"Excuse me, but I can't settle for some shallow, unintellectual, social zombie. I just think there's bigger things to worry about than finding a girl, and I don't see why I should settle. Besides – it's not like you're dating anyone either."
"That isn't because I have a sick impulse to sabotage the affection of any woman who shows interest in me. I just happen to be busy."
"Any girl with a pretty smile would keep you happy, I'm sure. Well, maybe I am picky. I guess I'll always be alone. I'm not other guys, Jacob. I know what I want, and that's my downfall. Any woman high enough to meet my standards, would never want to date me. You got the good looks in the family."
It was true Jacob was taller, more rugged, with chiseled features and blue eyes that contrasted to a dark black mane. Eli, twenty, was two years younger. He was leaner, shorter, his features a bit more awkward, with small arms. Still, there was an attractive quality to his face, the button nose, high cheek bones, that did not make him noticeably ugly, but did not set him apart either.
But his personality set him apart. Dry, witty, always looking for the ironic and insane, he was not always pleasant company to those who did not know him. He was intelligent, and never shied from expressing it. He could not let his guard down, did not know how to relax and have fun without some part of his mind analyzing what was going on, and judging what everyone else was doing.
By contrast, Jacob was carefree, genuine and a pleasure to every one. He was sweet, had a real interest in other people, and never spent much time thinking about ulterior motives or anything bad about others.
The five Bennett brothers were never a family that had much going for them. So many boys of such close age meant there was not a lot of money to go around, so they never wore the best clothes or had the latest technology in the their hands. Eli and Jacob went to a local community college, and were usually either in class, at home studying, or at work.
"Alright," said Michael, reentering the room along with Kevin. "So, both Kevin and I want to go to the party, so that means we outvote you!"
"Well, I could always ask mom and dad to veto it, if you'd like," said Eli.
"Come on!"
"Actually, I don't have to, because me, Jacob, and James leaves three against two."
"James? You won't let us come, but you invite James? He may be like a year older than us, but we are way more mature than him."
"Well, you know," said Jacob, "James really needs a night out." Suddenly remembering the middle Bennett boy, Jacob went across the hall to the room the three youngest brothers shared. There in the darkness but off the old laptop he was hunched over, was James. His fingers furiously typed away at the keyboard, his face glowing under the screen.
"James, are you about ready to go?"
"I personally find these festivity proceedings to be most infantile and time-consuming, but as I did promise to accompany you, yes, I am ready."
The only Bennett boy without a trace of good looks, James was a very under-developed eighteen-year-old. He was very pale, his glasses almost slipping off his skeletal face, and his neck was hunched from spending every spare moment of his in front of the computer. He never expressed much interest in the goings on of the world outside his head. His favorite hobby was studying, which he did excellently. He knew a scholarship was his only way of affording a real university.
"Come on, you'll be there, what's the worse that can happen?" said Michael.
"Yeah!" repeated Kevin.
"Why are you so desperate to come?" said Eli.
"Don't you know who's going to be there?" Michael shouted out wildly. He rummaged the top of the desk and pulled out a magazine, flipping to a page in the middle of a perfume ad. A beautiful young woman's face adorned the page. "Chloe Brown. A fashion model. She lives like a half hour away from us, and she has a friend who's friends with the host. And she's bound to bring more of her friends along. FASHION MODELS! And you hold the power to get me in the same room as them. How can you refuse?"
Eli saw Michael put on his puppy-dog eyes, and knew Jacob would be no match.
"Alright, I guess you can come along. But don't stay out of my sight."
"Oh yeah!" said Michael, fist pumping Kevin.
"But first," said Eli, "may I remind you – PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"