Robbie Grows Up (Part 1 of a short story)

Sandy’s wasn’t the kind of place you went to for ribs and beer. It’s the kind of place you went to for ribs, beer, and women. Jeff sat in the back of the club, taking in the well-proportioned young woman currently dancing for the fellas. She was Jeff’s favorite- the way she moved, her body, and he could have sworn she would look directly at him sometimes. He took her in from a distance, to get the full effect. You can’t admire these things too closely. They’re like works of art; they must be admired from all sorts of angles, but with beer instead of wine. Lots of beer, but not so much that you couldn’t remember what she looked like in the morning- you wanted to be able to recall her in your mind whenever you pleased.

That was how Jeff saw things at least. He admired the beauty with a slight grin on his face, then looked at his friend Robbie who was sitting across from him at the small round table. Robbie seemed to get a little uneasy when the topless girls came out; he was only 18 after all. Jeff, 21, was used to it by now, and was helping Robbie become a man.

“Jitters,” said Jeff to Robbie, “You can’t be acting like that when we’re sitting in the front and they’re so close you can reach out and grab them, if you ever got the nerve to do so.”

Robbie smiled nervously then quickly looked back to the girl on stage, who was finishing up. This went on for another hour or so, with Jeff and Robbie sitting there, taking everything in. Jeff was encouraging Robbie to loosen up, and thought that Robbie was getting more comfortable, so he decided it was time to go to the front.

“I... I can’t.” said Robbie.

“You can’t? Look man, what is wrong with you? Don’t you want to see them up close, where you don’t have to squint your eyes and so you can see all their nice, little, details? It’s great man, you’ll love it. Don’t be so uptight.”

Robbie looked like he was suddenly struck with a cramp in his stomach, but stood up anyways and said, “Ok.”

As they made their way to the front, Robbie became increasingly lightheaded and didn’t lock his eyes on any particular person or object. He tried to look confident, as if he knew what he was doing and like he had been to a strip club hundreds of times. He really wanted to see the girls up close, to take in their bodies and their seductions. He had viewed plenty of porn, but to really see it in the flesh- that was what he desired now.

Robbie was sweating from apprehension, but once he and Jeff finally made it to the front and were waiting a few minutes for the next girls to come out on the floor, he began to relax. It wasn’t so different after all. In his heart, with his mind, he had been in this exact spot hundreds, even thousands of times. It was just a fantasy becoming reality, and the realization of this filled Robbie with excitement.

“Dude, Jeff man, thank you so much for taking me tonight. You know I’ve been waiting for this moment for a really long time.”

“Yea, haven’t we all? Glad to see you’re finally getting excited. I was starting to wonder if you had any man parts or not.”

Just as Jeff was finishing, the girls came out. This was the grand finale, so they were all on stage, doing their thing to the whoops and whistles of the lusty young men.

Robbie could barely contain his pleasure. What inhibitions he had before were completely gone now. He took in all the girls unreservedly; it was more than he ever could have imagined, the pleasure it brought him. Soon he was whistling and yelling at the girls too, much to the delight of Jeff.

Indeed, Robbie was growing up.

After a few minutes it was all over. Robbie and Jeff had consumed plenty of beer, but they stayed in that zone where they could at least remember all that they saw. Jeff had taught Robbie well. As they stood up and started walking to exit the club, Robbie was all smiles, but suddenly his countenance darkened.

At first Jeff didn’t notice the change in Robbie because he was waving and talking to some other regulars that he knew. But then He saw Robbie, and it looked like he had seen a ghost.

“Rob man, what’s wrong now? A little queasy from all the beer?”

Robbie looked down at the floor as he walked as if he was too ashamed to look up, let alone respond. Jeff just shook his head and opened the door to leave. Robbie followed behind him, still looking down at the sidewalk. They turned the corner and were about to make their way to the parking lot and their car when Robbie bumped into someone- it was a girl, a good friend of his from the church he sometimes went to, and she was with a few of her friends.

“Melanie? Wha- what are you doing around here?”

Immediately guilt swelled up inside Robbie. It was like a dam he had forgotten about had just burst inside him. He knew that she knew exactly where he had been- there was no chance of lying his way out of it, and now it was time to face the consequences.

________ TO BE CONTINUED________