It was her third cigarette. Joe lit one with the dying ember of the other. The toe of her black boot crushed the discarded stub. She never smoked this much and couldn't remember the last time she chain smoked. Her friends were laughing inside. She could see them through the front window. They were too absorbed in their merriment to notice her standing alone on the porch.
Little Bobby Blackwell, in his kaki utility kilt, closed the front door behind him. He swaggered over to the rail and leaned on his thick arms. She wasn't sure why she still thought of him as "little". He was a sturdy man, with enough muscle to be impressive. You couldn't tell from looking that he was three years younger than her.
"Got tired of the heckling?" Booby asked and followed the question with a knowing glance.
She flicked ash on the rail. "I just needed a smoke."
"The hens haven't noticed your disappearing act yet. But that won't last forever."
Irked by his perception, Joe turned on him. "Bobby, when was the last time you wore pants?"
"Hey," Bobby said as he straightened up, "I came out here to get away from that kind of derision, same as you."
"I just needed a smoke." She told him emphatically, gesturing with her cigarette.
"I thought you'd like comfort from another soldier against conformity but I guess I was wrong." Bobby shrugged and took a step back. "My bad."
He was about to turn but she stomped her foot. "Wait."
Grimacing, she slid down the porch rail and took a defeated seat.
"We've been friends forever...I didn't think..." She trailed off and then started with another thought. "Do you ever notice how things change slowly and then suddenly?"
Bobby lowered himself to the porch floor and gave her a long look. When he finally spoke his words were no longer cavalier. "Like when you come to your best friends' 27th birthday party and realize that all your friends have grown out of their cool, disenfranchised affectations. That, seemingly overnight, they all grew up?"
"Wow." Joe said after a slow blink. "You really put a nose on it."
"I have a better vantage point." Bobby told her, once again playful. "Being the invisible brother and all."
"The thing is they were never affectations for me." Joe waved at her gothic uniform of black on black on black. "This is just who I am."
She leaned her head back against the rail. Her hair was cut perfectly for the Betty Paige style pony tale she wore. Agitated, she drew in a breath of smoke. Even her brand of cigarette was stylish.
Perplexed, Joe continued, "Mandy has always been the head of the group. The whole mod goth queen thing was her idea. Am I lost in my youth? Or behind the times? I mean, when did I end up on the outside of my own friends?"
Bobby put an arm on his upraised knee and leaned into it. He asked her frankly, "Do you remember that jacket with the yellow banana?"
"Yeah." Joe said with a chuckle. "That thing was my pride and joy. My tribute to the Velvet Underground. I wore it until I realized how ugly it was."
"And then you started putting stickers on your boots."
"Because Mandy hated the yellow banana jacket I put Chiquita banana stickers on my boot just to spite her. I wanted to give her something other than my jacket to bitch about."
"But the other girls did it too."
"Yeah. So?"
"My sister might have been the leader but you were always the original one."
Joe blinked. She let her head fall towards him. She blinked again. The image that met her eyes didn't match with the image in hear head. She sat up and gave him a long hard look. It was like she was seeing him for the first time. The picture became clear and she was suddenly very uncomfortable.
"Bobby, are you hitting on me?"
His laughter came swift and fierce.
She turned bright red, pulled her legs up to her chest, and muttered, "That was flattering."
"First off," he told her, suppressing his amusement, "no one calls me Bobby. I hate to sound like a broken record but I keep telling you girls that it's Robert or Rob. I'm certainly not going to hit on anyone that calls me Bobby."
Joe forced out a terse "Okay."
"After all these years," he continued, "and despite your complete lack of awareness of my existence, I consider you a friend. I was doing what good friends do. I was being honest with you."
She waited a moment and then peaked out from under her embarrassment, "Was there a second part? Or was that it?"
"Well." He said drawing out the word and barely suppressing a self satisfied grin. "The second part is that you missed that boat. By about three years. I stopped crushing on you when I met someone that returned my feelings."
"Oh." She said flatly. "Your girlfriend Julie?"
"Yeah."
"The one you're no longer with?"
"Good point." Rob said with a cocked eyebrow. "I am currently single. But that doesn't mean I'm hitting on you."
"Because you're not interested in me."
Rob gave her a considering look and then shook his head. "I'm not going to answer that on the grounds that it might incriminate me in later court cases."
Joe turned her face away and allowed herself a grin. When she turned back she was once again composed. Rob wasn't fooled but he played along.
"So..." She said, trying to sound flippant. "When did all my friends become normal?"
"Somewhere between popping out babies and garnishing their yuppie lifestyle."
His caustic reply put an easy grin on her face. "All I need to do is give up my art, forego my childfree philosophy, leave my quaint coffee shop job for something more corporate, and then I'd fit in again. Right?"
"Yep."
"Okay, Mr. Know-It-All, let's get a little personal. When did you become so handsome and interesting?"
He leaned back and folded his arms. "Given up on coy, huh?"
"Not my style." She said with a waive. "I'm impatient."
"So now we're flirting?"
"Answer my question," she said deliberately, "and maybe I'll answer yours."
He took a breath and shrugged. "The hen patch never cared about my interests. So you didn't notice that they transition from nerdly obsession to something that gained me awards and prestige." He tipped his head and then brought it back up. "It was another one of those over time and then suddenly things."
"Prestige? From throwing telephone poles."
"The caber toss is one of the events I excel at. I'm not famous worldwide but within the circles I travel, I am known for what I do."
"Wow." She was getting overwhelmed again. It wasn't just his physical size. Or the way he looked. It was an unperceivable quality. The way he held himself. The fact that he was completely unshaken by anything she said. He smiled and she felt lightheaded.
"And that's why you're so..." she stumbled over her tongue, "manly."
Her cheeks were once again flaming. Rob slid right up next to her. He put a hand on the opposite side of her, so that arm was resting against both her upright calves, and put his weight on that arm. She was completely blocked in.
He began to lean in and she panicked. "What're you doing?!"
"You want me, right?" He asked, like it was a perfectly normal question to ask.
"Well..."
"I figure we should just get this over with."
She wanted to be offended by his unromantic approach but she couldn't seem to get that part of her brain to work.
"You're going to kiss me?"
"Unless you object."
She swallowed. The option was hers to pull out but that seemed like such a waste. He was a brute and...oh, fuck, she just really wanted him to kiss her.
On a breath she whispered, "Go ahead."
They were only inches apart when the front door flew open. Mandy stumbled out onto the porch.
"Oh." Mandy said with honest surprise. "Excuse me."
When she didn't exit immediately, Rob swiveled his head. "Anything else?"
"Oh, no." Mandy looked at Joe. "Are you good?"
"I'm fine." Joe forced out. "Thanks."
Mandy shut the door behind her but even through the door the chattering women could be heard.
"Didn't you get her?" Kathy asked.
"My brothers hitting on her." Mandy replied.
"I thought he got over that." Illene said with her usual aplomb.
"Not that it matters." Kathy said with a chuckle. "Joe'll shoot him dead in the water."
"I'm not worried." Mandy said and then whined, "I just don't want them to keep antisocial hour going on my porch all night. The neighbors..."
The voices became muffled as the women moved further into the house.
Rob turned back to Joe. "Dead in the water, huh?"
Flustered, Joe replied quickly, "The girls've always thought I'm a little more forward than I actually am. I'd probably let you kiss me and then wait until tomorrow to call and tell you why it wouldn't work. I'd never just shoot you down. Not at this point."
"So the kiss is still a go?"
"Oh yeah." She told him, breathless. "Please. My mouth is a slut-" She grimaced at her choice of words and then rushed to finish the thought. "-so, go for it!"
He leaned in again but stopped with their lips only a breath away.
"I just want you to know that I plan to totally take advantage of the slutty lips thing. And I feel no shame about that."
"Uh huh."
"After all, I've been dreaming about this kiss since I was sixteen. I don't want to hold back or -"
"Shut up and kiss me!"
He smiled and with deliberate slowness he leaned in and gave her the kiss. It opened her eyes and bloomed in her a feeling that if she had to be outside, at least she could be outside with him.
The End.
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