I wanted to be a normal guy. Or at least, I wanted Bree to see me as a man who was at least a little bit like other men. I had never wanted that before. In fact, I had wanted the opposite–to look as abnormal as possible so that no one looked at me. But now, now there was Bree. And I longed to give her what she deserved, not a sad hermit who never left his property. I was sure that she had gone on dates with men before me. They had probably taken her to restaurants and coffee shops. I didn't know how to do any of that. I needed to learn.

I nodded at Travis and mouthed, Okay.

He looked slightly shocked, but grinned–his big, white teeth flashing. "All right, then!" he said. "I'll be back to pick you up later tonight. Nine o'clock okay?"

I shrugged. That seemed kind of late, but what did I know about what time guys' night out should start.

Travis extended his hand and I reached forward, clasping it. "Okay, see you then." He smiled. "I'll let myself out." And with that, he walked out of my kitchen and closed my front door behind him.

I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms over my chest, thinking. For some reason, I didn't have a good feeling about this. But I wrote it off to nerves and went to get in the shower.

At ten minutes past nine, Travis opened my gate and I stood up from the chair on the porch where I had been waiting. I walked up the driveway and locked my gate behind me. Travis had a big, dark silver truck and it was idling on the road. I took a deep breath. The last time I'd been in a car–that I remembered anyway, I didn't think the ambulance counted–was the day that I lost my voice.

I gritted my teeth and climbed up into it, forcing thoughts of that day out of my mind.

Travis revved the engine and started driving.

"So man," he said, looking at me, "you clean up pretty well. You might even be better looking than me." He laughed, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Bree had practically jumped up and down when I told her that I was going out with Travis and his friends, whoever they were. Then she had helped me pick out a decent outfit, not that I had much to choose from.

"Archer," she had asked me, holding up a shirt, "when was the last time you went clothes shopping?"

I had shrugged. My uncle did that. He bought me some stuff when I was eighteen.

She had regarded me quietly for a minute and then said, "And let me guess, you weren't quite as…" she waved her hand toward me, indicating my muscles, I guessed, "developed."

I nodded my head and shrugged.

She sighed as if this was a problem and started digging through my raggedy clothes. Finally she came up with a pair of jeans that was decent and she said could pass for purposefully worn, and a button down shirt I'd forgotten about, that had been a little big on me when my uncle initially bought it.

Bree seemed satisfied and so I was too. Maybe I'd even go into town and pick up a few new things if it made Bree happy that I looked nicer.

Travis turned on a music station on the radio and we drove along just listening to the music for a little while. When I noticed that we were heading out of town, I tapped Travis and pointed at the road and raised my shoulders questioningly.

"We're going to a club on the other side of the lake. It's called Teasers." He looked over at me, raising his eyebrows and then looked back at the road.

After a minute, he looked over at me again. "Can we talk? Man to man?"

I raised my eyebrows, not knowing exactly where this was going and feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"You get physical with Bree yet?"

I glanced quickly over at Travis and back at the road. I didn't especially want to talk to him about this, although if I had fully trusted him, I might have wanted to ask him a question or two. But I didn't. Until he proved otherwise to me, I was going to assume that he was mostly untrustworthy.

"Okay, I get it, you don't want to say anything about Bree." He was silent for a minute. "Can I at least assume you haven't gone all the way?"

I shrugged my shoulders and nodded. I guessed it was okay to tell him what we hadn't done.

He smiled, and in the dim lighting of his truck, his teeth flashed and a shadow crossed his face, and for a second, he looked like one of those evil clowns I saw in the stores at Halloween. I blinked and it was just Travis again.

"I'm assuming you want to though, right?"

I looked over at him and narrowed my eyes, but nodded. Of course I did. Who wouldn't? Bree was sweet and beautiful.

He smiled again. "Okay. Well I'm gonna tell you how it is, Archer, when you're… seeing a girl as beautiful as Bree. She most likely has some experience, and she's going to want you to know what you're doing when you take that big step. That's why I'm taking you to this club. There are women who will let you… practice with them. Get it?"

My heart started pounding in my chest. Not really, I wanted to say. Instead I just stared at him, narrowing my eyes slightly again to let him know he'd need to explain this further. So far, I wasn't liking it. Not one single bit. But most of all, I didn't like thinking about the experience Bree might have, the men she might have been with in the past. In fact, it made my blood run cold and made me feel like I wanted to punch something. I'd rather not think about that at all.

Plus, Bree had told me that it didn't bother her that I didn't have any experience in that area. Had she been telling the truth? Doubts started to settle in my chest, making it difficult to swallow.

Travis seemed to read my thoughts. "Girls will tell you they don't mind if you're inexperienced, but trust me, she's going to appreciate you knowing what you're doing when you get her in bed. You don't want to fumble around like a damn fool with her, do you? Embarrass yourself?"

I looked out the window, wishing I could tell him to turn his damn truck around and take me home. This was not my vision of what tonight was about.

"Hey, don't look so pissed, man. All men do it, trust me. Single, married–my friend, Jason, has been married for almost ten years now, and he still takes advantage of the girls in the back rooms. His wife looks the other way because she benefits from it too. Get it?"

I continued staring out the window, thinking about uncle Nate and how he had gone out sometimes and come back smelling like women's perfume and had lipstick all over his shirt collar. He didn't have a girlfriend or a wife, so he must have been seeing women like the ones Travis said worked at this club we were going to. And Nate was a good man. I wished he was still alive so I could ask him about this.

I knew I wasn't stupid, but I also knew I had a lot to learn. I read all these books constantly, but when it came to the real world, to the way people related to each other, to the way they acted and reacted, I felt like I was constantly playing catch up–I didn't like the way it felt.

We pulled up in front of a building with dark windows and a big parking lot out front. There was a huge pink and black neon sign that said, Teasers, in flashing letters.

We pulled into a parking spot and Travis turned to me. "Listen, don't feel like you have to do anything you're uncomfortable with. But trust me when I say, if you do see someone you like, go for it. Bree will appreciate it. It's what men do, Archer."

I sighed and pulled the door open. I'd go inside with Travis. If nothing else, Bree would be happy that I had the guys' night out she was so enthusiastic about.

We walked up to the door and a big guy with a shaved head and a t-shirt that said, 'employee,' asked for our ID's. Well, there went that. I didn't have an ID. I started to turn around, but Travis grabbed my arm and leaned in and flashed his badge and said something to the big guy. He nodded and waved us in.