About Halfway
by K.I.L. Kenny
97 pages / 21400 words
ISBN: 978-1-61040-060-2
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Andy doesn't see himself as a typical college freshman after three years
of traveling with his diplomat father. But there are compensations to campus
life, and he plans to make the most of them. He joins his father's frat,
makes the basketball team, and starts sampling the local nightlife -- where
he finds Steven, an aloof, exotic cross-dresser who doesn't think much of
frat boys.
Bridging the town vs. gown divide is tricky, and keeping the flame of
romance alive in places like laundry rooms and parking lots seems to be
Andy's biggest challenge at first. It's not long, though, before the frat
president is making suggestive comments, and with pledge hazing to get
through, Andy knows things are about to get much, much worse. When the
pressure is on, will Andy have the guts to abandon compromise and take his
commitment to Steven all the way?
Review
Alexa Snow, author of Clear Cut writes: Andy is a pledge at the Tau Eps
frat when his fraternity brothers take him to the local bar, Buster's,
to see the once-a-month drag show. He's not keen on the idea, but goes
along with it -- and much to his surprise, he meets someone. Steven
works at the bar as a stage hand, and at the university in the
maintenance department; he's a townie, not a student, and there's
something about him that draws Andy in helplessly and hopelessly. But
Jason, president of the frat house, has plans for Andy -- plans that
could destroy his relationship with Steven and much more.
This is the kind of story that draws the reader in immediately. Andy is
a good guy and a sympathetic character, and Steven so alluring that it
would be impossible not to understand why Andy is attracted to him.
Their romance seems unavoidable, a tale spun into gold by a writer with
a significant talent for dialogue and characterization. The town is very
nearly a character in itself, the various locations where the story
takes place as clear in the reader's mind as the written word can make
them. The ending arrives at just the right moment, and yet far too soon!
It would be a shame to miss this story.
Sample
The music came up, and Miss Felicity shimmied out to "Le Freak." Six foot plus, before the platforms. Andy rolled his eyes. She was funny, though, he had to grant that. The crowd heckled her with joyful shouts, roaring approval as her retorts became more explicit. Even from this far back, the twinkle in her eye and the lipsticked grin were clear. She had the entire group of frat boys hooting and clapping, eyes glued to the stage.
So nobody except Andy noticed when the rope barrier dropped. He felt the brush of it against his arm and looked over.
The pixie stood absolutely still, staring at him. It was a leotard, that top, tight enough to show nipples. The sleek black hair had to be a wig, styled in a flawless bob like an Asian girl might wear. Face so thin it had hollows: great, dark smudges under the unblinking eyes and shadows along the sharp cheekbones. There was an empty glass in one narrow hand.
Andy could feel the blush creeping over his own cheeks. He couldn't blame the pixie for staring; he was wearing another lavishly embroidered kameez today, sapphire blue, and an ear clip set with red crystals. Around here, he looked like a sideshow freak who'd wandered into the wrong tent.
Soundless on ballet-slippered feet, the pixie approached. Andy stopped breathing. Right between his outstretched legs the figure walked, setting the glass down on the table. So whisper-thin was that body that choice, not constraint, made it halt at Andy's knees. A bubble of silence seemed to encase them.
"Thank you for the drink," said the pixie. Andy was desperately aware of how close the denim of his jeans was to those fishnet calves. Even one breath would spark them. He was on the brink of spontaneous combustion.
"That's no way to thank a man, Steven," came Jason's drawling voice from the next table. The bubble had not been some trick of the senses; every one of Andy's frat brothers had gone silent, avidly drinking in this scene. So much for the lure of Miss Felicity's charms.
Andy's lips parted, but there was still too little air for his lungs to work. Steven had arched one eyebrow, the dark gaze remaining on Andy. There was the slightest hint of an upward tilt to Steven's mouth. "I love your shirt," he said. Then he leaned, perfectly controlled, and touched his lips to Andy's.
Andy stretched forward, trying to capture more. The thrust of Steven's tongue against his own, the press of two roughened fingers against his sensitive throat, startled a tiny sound from him. Not a whimper, no, it was just... His head went back, lips softening, but Steven was already stepping away, leaving only the taste of Kahlua in Andy's mouth to prove the kiss had been real.
"Thank you for the drink," Steven said again.