Robbins mood picked up considerably at my last statement, she sat up straighter and I could see a smile start to form on her lips.
"I didn't say anything specifically, I thought I would leave that up to you. I don't think you have to do anything fancy, maybe just dinner and a movie or something like that." She left the thought hanging.
"I'll think about it." I answered just as my father came down the steps to join us in the living room.
"So what's the score?" He asked, glancing over at the game on the TV.
"I don't even know, dad. We just turned it on for a little background noise." I offered, that's really all the TV was doing at this point.
My mother called us in to dinner shortly, all talk about me taking Robin's friend out was quickly forgotten. I was grateful that any talk about Robin's request was not brought into the conversation, my parents were the type who would feel sorry for Robin's friend and the three of them might potentially gang up on me until I acquiesced to my sister's request. I appreciated her consideration by not pursuing the subject in front of them.
Just as it always was, Sunday dinner was great and we spent two hours eating and going over events in our life, nothing special there. Shortly it was time for me and Robin to leave, each of us needing to get back to our own places.
"I'm still not certain about this, but assuming I agree, what do you want me to do?" I asked Robin as we stood near the door before leaving.
"I've got her number right here, you can call her once you make up your mind and work out the details. I know she'll really appreciate it." Robin said, digging into her purse before taking out one of her business cards with a number written on the back.
"You know, you haven't even told me what your friend's name is." I mentioned as I took the card and toyed with it before putting it into my pocket.
Robin looked a little embarrassed before softly saying "Fanny."
"You did say Frannie, you know like short for Frances?" I asked, even though I was pretty certain I had heard exactly what she said.
"No, her name is Fanny. It's her real name or at least that's what it says on her driver's license." Robin added, I'm sure she thought I didn't believe her.
Things just kept getting better and better. What else could go wrong??
"Ray, there's a big dog peeing on your car outside."
"Thanks dad!"
*****
I thought about Robin's request all the way home, I still wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do. Of course that was foolish, I knew that if I didn't I would never hear the end of it, the only way to get her off my back was to do what she wanted. She always knew just how to push the right buttons as we were growing up and she always got her way. I couldn't fault her for that, she was my sister and I loved her dearly. I guess we were fortunate, we didn't have the antagonistic relationship a lot of siblings seem to. In fact, I had always tried to be her protector as we were growing up. I don't know if she knew it, maybe she did and maybe she didn't, but she never said so if she had a clue.
When we were younger she didn't need a lot of protecting, we were just two kids whose lives sometimes meshed and sometimes didn't. Once we got into high school, I did start to feel more protective of her. I guess as I started becoming more aware of my own development, both physical and sexual, I started seeing Robin in a different light. Don't misunderstand me, I didn't have any sexual feelings for her and despite what others might do, I had never even thought about her in sexual fantasies I had. She was a very attractive girl but not one of the super hotties in the school. Unfortunately, that was a problem. Most of the guys in school would fantasize about the super hot girls but knowing they could never get them, went after the girls who were a notch below super hot. Robin fit this criterion perfectly and many guys thought she was attainable. That's where the problem came, she had more attention than she knew what to do with it.
I didn't think she was naΓ―ve and I didn't believe I could really dictate who she saw or what she might do, but still tried to do my best to take care of her. If some guy might be bragging around school that his intent was to get into Robin Franklin's panties that weekend, then I felt the need to counsel him. If she wanted to go out with a loser like that I really couldn't tell her no, but I didn't need him posting it around the school that's what his plan was for her. Maybe some of it was just bravado and bragging for his buddies, but I made certain his intentions were not broadcast to the rest of the student body. For the most part I think I did a pretty good job, she managed to make it through high school without any real issues and some of the dead wood who had thought to make inroads with her had been convinced otherwise by my little counseling sessions.
The only real incident came during a period when Robin was going through a rather rebellious phase. For whatever the reason she thought she should do exactly the opposite of what anyone told her. This included our parents and for the period of a few months they weren't certain exactly what to expect from her. I knew that if I tried to tell her one thing she would do the exact opposite so even what little advice I offered her had to be carefully constructed so that she would do what I hoped she would
The object of her interest during this rebellious period was Jack Pruett. I don't know why otherwise intelligent girls somehow become attracted to the bad boy, but Jack was definitely the bad boy of the school. It seemed he was constantly in trouble for one thing or another and for whatever the reason that seemed to attract a lot of girls to him. He had a nose ring and wore his torn pants hanging off his ass. He always had a cigarette behind his left ear which totally violated the school's policy and many a time he had been called into the office to be disciplined for it. I can remember the vice principal taking the cigarette from him and tossing it and then seeing Jack take another from the pack in his pocket and replacing it even as he was walking out the door. He drove what had been his mother's 20-year-old Honda commuter car but he had put one of those fart can mufflers on it to make it louder and also some shiny wheels and tires. He had a big whale tail spoiler on the back that was attached with duct tape but he had the coolest car around if you asked him.
I remember the day Robin let slip that she had agreed to go out with him one Saturday night. She regretted saying it immediately, but then looked at me defiantly as if daring me to say or do anything. I knew better than that so just kept my thoughts to myself and wondered what I could do to prevent her from doing something which I knew she would regret later. Fortunately she ended up not going out with him, he had to cancel out on their date. Somehow a rake had been left lying on the ground next to his car and as he went out to get in one evening he stepped on the tines which were facing up and the handle came up and hit him square in the face. The handle had been heavy metal and broke his nose. It also blackened both of his eyes and he ended up losing his two front teeth. In the hospital emergency room doctors discovered that his idea of hygiene with respect to his nose ring had been to spit on it every once in a while before replacing it. They found a bacterial infection in the cartilage of his nose and before they were finished, most of the cartilage had to be removed. At some point some cosmetic surgery would enable surgeons to replace the damaged cartilage with a plastic prosthesis, but he finished his last year of high school with essentially no nose. This had caused him to be so distraught that he gave up any desire to go out with women for fear that they might be laughing at him. In truth they were laughing at him and many of those who had succumbed to his advances earlier now felt sorry that they had. Funny thing though, he swore that his family had never owned such a rake and couldn't understand how it had been left lying next to his car.
*****
I spent the next two days thinking about Robin's request and worrying about what I might do. In reality I knew I had no options, if I failed to act she would hound me until I gave in. We each knew it so there was no point in trying to put it off to find excuses not to do what she wanted me to do. That part had been settled, but I still had reservations about how to approach this whole thing. Normally meeting a new woman and going out with her had never been an issue for me in the past, but a blind date was new territory for me, and besides that, despite what my sister had done to minimize all of the issues, Robin's friend seemed to be carrying a lot of baggage.
Robin had told me that perhaps just a quick dinner and a movie would be suitable and knowing her, I could probably assume she had already promised her friend that would be our plan. With much trepidation I called Fanny on Wednesday night, not sure exactly what to expect. She picked up right away as though expecting my call but her tone was short and curt. I could sense nervousness in her and remembered what Robin had told me about her various insecurities. I didn't have to be a professional therapist to get that vibe from her. Not wanting to prolong things, I came straight to the point and we made plans for me to pick her up Friday evening about 6.
All day at work on Friday I started to get more nervous about meeting Robin's friend. I tried concentrating on my work and some of it enabled me to lessen my worry, but still it was there in the background waiting to come forward at any second. I knew this was foolish, I mean I'm a mature adult and I had been on several dates in my life that hadn't turned out as well as I would have liked. I was positive this would probably be another and that fact alone shouldn't have worried me, but for some reason it did. I had originally thought to ask her to meet me at the restaurant just to make it easier to bail if things didn't look good, but that seemed like the coward's way out. Shortly before I left work I told myself that I was being silly and that I should just man up and deal with things however they happened. It took a while for me to convince myself but soon I was driving toward home so I could get ready.
I took a quick shower and started to prepare for tonight's date, but then I had to decide what to wear. I knew I had to look nice but at the same time I didn't want to get dressed too nicely just for an informal restaurant and then a dark movie theater. If I had been going out with a new girl I was trying to impress I might have, but now my appearance was less critical to me. I didn't want to appear too casual, so in the end chose a nice shirt and some khakis, I thought it a good compromise between formal and too casual. The clock was ticking as I finished getting ready, I knew I would need to be at her place to pick her up at the appointed hour. Again I worried about time, I didn't want to be late but at the same time showing up too early might look as though I was anxious and I didn't want her to think that. As all these thoughts whirled through my mind I realized I was acting much the same as I had when I was 16 and going to see a girl for the first time in my life. That night had been a little awkward for me but I survived and I assumed I would as well tonight.