𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐒, robby keene

chapter one, twelve

— chapter one, twelve !

BOWIE WOODS remembered Robby Keene's twelfth birthday. It wasn't as though it was destined to be a big and memorable birthday; it was supposed to be the same as every other one, really. As per tradition, Robby and Bowie would come home from a long and boring day at middle school to be greeted by Shannon and plates of store bought microwave pizza and a stack of movies for them to work their way through. 

Midway through movie number two, Robby would become fidgety and eager, waiting for a knock on the door. Midway through the fourth movie, the knock would finally come, and Robby would jump upwards eagerly to answer it, nearly knocking his dad to the floor due to the combination of his enthusiastically forceful lithe body and the alcohol that Johnny Lawrence had spent the last two movies consuming whilst Robby waited. Johnny would stick around for half an hour or so, asking absentmindedly about Robby's school and his hobbies that he knew nothing of before switching his attention to Bowie and asking the other boy about his father, recalling the old times the two had spent together. As much as Bowie hated it, that tended to be how Robby's birthdays went, and even when Johnny would leave after only twenty minutes, Robby still considered it the best birthday present he could ask for.

Bowie remembered Robby's twelfth birthday in particular because it was different. It started off the same; the two boys had finished off their Tuesday at school and hopped on the bus eagerly, running up the many flights of stairs to Robby's apartment and opening the door to be greeted by store bought microwave pizzas being sliced up by Shannon and placed on the coffee table beside the stack of movies. Bowie won the game of rock, paper, scissors so the two started off with Back to the Future, despite knowing full well they wouldn't get round to watching the two sequels. 

As per usual, half way through the second film— The Amazing Spider Man— Robby began to get antsy, squirming beside Bowie and constantly glancing at the door. Even after Bowie placed his hand over Robby's gently in an attempt to calm him, the boy only became more and more impatient. Sure enough, half way into the fourth film, Robby was basically lurching towards the door, with both Shannon and Bowie's eyes on him sadly. What made Robby's twelfth birthday so different was that it was the year the knock never came.

It was midnight before Robby gave up his wait. Both Shannon and Bowie had figured out far earlier into the night that the chances were that Johnny Lawrence was probably too hammered in a bar or passed out on a park bench to remember he had a son, let alone that it was his birthday. 

Shannon tried to pry her son from where he was perched on the arm of the chair, waiting for the door to go at any moment, but she was unsuccessful. Robby was firmly fixed in his position, waiting for his dad no matter how tired he got or how his body drooped with defeat. Even Bowie tried to entice him with the rest of the movies they had laid out, but Robby was adamant in waiting for Johnny to show. When midnight came, Bowie watched as Robby's eyes travelled to the clock on the TV as the numbers changed, and saw them well with tears. Standing up, Bowie walked to the foot of the couch and wrapped his arms around his best friend, feeling as Robby cried into the side of his neck, holding on tight.