Prologue: You're So Vain

Today was New Year's Day, the first day of 2004. It was also Seth Reilly's birthday. Seth was turning eighteen years old today, which made this birthday even more special than most. He was an adult now, and it was time he took on adult challenges. Seth knew 2004 was going to be his year.

He always liked the fact that the day he celebrated his birth, the rest of the world celebrated as well. His birthday was all ready a national holiday and all he did to deserve that was being born. Seth thought there was something portentous about being born on the same day a new year was born. It meant something. A new year meant new resolutions, new aspirations, and new opportunities.

His parents had thrown him a lavish party at his dad's restaurant, Reilly's Pub and Grill. The place was decorated wall to wall with streamers, balloons, and "Happy Birthday' banners, along with the Christmas and New Year's decorations still up from the holidays. The restaurant had been packed with friends, family, and people who generally just wanted to kiss his ass.

Seth may only be eighteen, but he could have written his own book on winning friends and influencing people. He had learned early in life that the more people who thought you were their friend, the more power you had. Everyone had something useful about them to exploit. You never knew when you might need someone with the right connection, and Seth knew that having the right connections was a way to achieve power and influence.

The party had been quite entertaining. His parents and siblings lavished him with affection, more than one of his friends invited him to a "real" party after this one ended, and he got a shitload of presents, some of the best ones coming from the ass kissers. It kind of reminded him of the beginning of "The Godfather". People came up to him all night asking for favors.

Seth wasn't averse to doing favors for people. In fact, he felt quite the opposite. He considered favors a type of credit. If you did something for someone, then they owed you. Most of the time what people asked of him was easy enough to accomplish, especially with his network of connections, but that was the great thing about favors, there was no real rate of exchange. You did a small favor for someone and could ask for a big one in return.

The one thing Seth demanded was respect. If he was going to bestow a boon to someone, he damn well better see they respected him as a person of power. If someone asked him to do something as petty as to pass the salt and Seth perceived they regarded him as little more than their bitch, he would tell them to fuck off. It was all about respect. Vito Corleone knew about respect and resultantly he knew about power.

Tonight Seth felt powerful. People from school or around the neighborhood that he barely knew or didn't know at all would come up to him trying to find the nerve to ask him for something and he could see they were ready to piss their pants in fear. When Seth put his arm around them, affected his most friendly smile, and acted like they were his best friend in the world and said, "Sure, I'd be happy to help you out!" he saw the fear drain from their body instead of piss. He knew he had become a hero in this person's eyes and they would stop a bullet for him now if they had to. That was when Seth assumed his most practiced expression. His previously congenial blue eyes grew cold, his brows knit to shadow those eyes, and his mouth locked to form one straight sober line. The fear would return to their expression, they better watch that bladder after all. Then Seth would say, "Just remember who helped you out," implying that if they forgot they would be reminded in a most disagreeable way. Respect. He demanded it because he deserved it. People came to him because they needed him. After all, Seth was a people person.

Feeling powerful gave Seth a hardon like nothing else. Seth willed control over his erection. He liked to be in control of everything in his life, and that included his libido. He enjoyed fucking as much as any other eighteen year old male; he just didn't let his hormones dictate his actions. He decided the times he would fuck and who he would fuck with. Tonight he decided to indulge himself and have a birthday fuck.

Seth located Sheryl talking with his mom and dad. Seth grimaced when he saw this. Ever since he had started going out with Sheryl he would catch looks of disappointment in his parents' eyes. It annoyed Seth that they were disappointed in him because he had stolen Sheryl away from Colin. What the fuck was with that? They had no right caring about Colin after the way he'd been treated. They should have been proud Seth had taken her away from the asshole. His parents were disappointed in him? Fuck that, he was disappointed in them.

Seth strolled over to the table where his parents sat with Sheryl. He took her hand in his and motioned her to get up. "C'mon, some of the guys invited us to an after party, party," he said.

"Seth, you know it's rude to interrupt people when they are in the middle of a conversation," Sarah, his mother, said.

Inwardly Seth rolled his eyes, but outwardly he put on his "aw shucks" expression. "Sorry mom, it's just been an exciting day and I got carried away," he said. There were two ways to exert power over someone: intimidation and manipulation. It didn't take a neurosurgeon to know which method needed to be used on his parents. "This has been the best birthday party I ever had. It just seems to be winding down now and a few friends had invited me to hang out and have sort of an informal celebration. Would it be all right if I went?"

His mother sighed but he saw the corners of her mouth trying to upsweep, then she said, "I suppose so, if it's all right with your father." Seth felt like grinding his teeth. He swore there would come a day when the only method he needed to exert power was intimidation.

Seth looked at his father expectantly. "May I go Dad?" he asked.

Patrick Reilly took a minute to look like he was giving the matter serious thought. C'mon Dad, Seth thought, this act grew old when I was ten years old! Everybody knows you always agree with whatever Mom decides.

"I guess you can go," Patrick said. "Just remember, even though you are eighteen now and legally an adult, that doesn't mean you can do anything you want. Be home at a reasonable time and act responsible."

"I will Dad, thanks," Seth said. Do they give every parent the same handbook with all these speeches written in them for them spout? Seth wondered. Ah well, he knew his dad was saying that more for his mother's benefit than his own. With Sheryl in tow he grabbed their coats and made his way out of the restaurant, saying "Goodbye" to his brother and sister and any friend he came across that wasn't going to be at the other party.

The party was held at Ricky Woods' house, one of Seth's flunkies from school. Ricky's parents had gone out of town on New Year's Eve and wouldn't be back until Sunday. The previous night having been New Year's Eve, there had been a lot of parties with a lot of drinks. It had been pretty easy for each person to bring a bottle or two of leftover booze or a six pack of beer or something, and it wouldn't be missed. Most parents were still suffering hangovers from last night's festivities, and a few of their kids were too, but for them the best cure for partying too hard was another party.

Seth never got drunk, especially when other people were getting drunk around him. Part of it was he didn't want to lose control, but also there were many opportunities to exploit when people around him were losing their inhibitions. He would only allow himself a few drinks at a party like this, spread out over decent intervals.

When they got to Ricky's, Seth refused the drink offered him as he pulled Sheryl along to an empty bedroom. He gave people only the most cursory of greetings when they stopped to say "Hello" and wish him a happy birthday. Most of the people here were people he had direct power over so he didn't need to be sociable.

He was a little bit more cordial when Carrie Moore greeted him, although he made sure Sheryl didn't notice, just a brief but meaningful glance between the two of them. It was rumored that Carrie had fucked half the boys at school (and a number of the girls too). She seemed to get a perverse sense of pleasure from fucking guys that she knew were in relationships with other people. Seth had to admit, it was kind of a turn on to cheat on your girlfriend but all Seth really cared about was Carrie was a hot piece of ass and it paid to stay on friendly terms with her.