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Robbie and Stephanie sat quietly in Stephanie’s car wondering what to do next. Robbie was thinking it was strange that she was not surprised. Her middle school nemesis, the bully Junior Bonner went into a well-known gay bar holding hands with another young man.

Five minutes went by, then Stephanie asked, “What do you want to do?”

“Have you ever been here before?”

“No!” Stephanie almost vehemently denied the question. “You?”

“No, uh, uh,” Robbie replied. “Should we go in?”

“Up to you,” Stephanie answered.

“Let’s. What the hell, we’re part of the community now,” Robbie said.

“Okay, let’s go, you first,” Stephanie said.

Robbie looked at her friend, shook her head and said, “Come on, chicken. We’ll go in together. They won’t hurt us.”

They showed their IDs and paid the twenty dollar cover charge. The man at the door then attached a red plastic wrist band on each of them.

“Red means you’re underage. You’ll have to stay in the minors’ part of the building. No alcohol.”

“Okay, thanks,” Robbie said.

For a weekday night, the nightclub was busy. The Blue Lagoon was nicer than any club, gay or straight, in the Upper Midwest. There was room for five hundred. Of course, it had a tropical island motif with a pool in the middle surrounded by tables under faux palm trees. The pool had a couple dozen people swimming in it on both sides of the nightclub.

The interior was divided in two by a wall that arched over the pool to separate the adults from the teens. A metal fence in the pool prevented swimmers from going back and forth. Adults could go into the non-alcoholic side without taking drinks with them but not vice versa. There was a DJ on the adult side blasting earsplitting music. A dance floor encircled the pool .

A hostess led Robbie and Stephanie to a table. It was at the end of the building, across from the dance floor and pool. The waiter came dressed in a Chippendale male dance outfit. They ordered soft drinks and watched the crowd. As Stephanie watched the crowd, Robbie looked for Junior and his friend. She found them four tables away.

“There he is,” Robbie told Stephanie.

“What?” Stephanie yelled back unable to hear because of the music.

“There,” Robbie yelled just as the music stopped. “There he is. To my right.”

“Okay, I see him. What’s he doing?” she asked.

Junior’s hands were under the table. In his left hand he held what looked like a Coke. In his right hand was a small, leather-bound flask.

“He’s pouring booze into his drink,” Robbie said.

Robbie looked around at some of the other tables and noticed a couple others doing the same thing.

The waiter arrived with their drinks. He set them on their table and said, “Be discreet.”

“What?” Stephanie sked.

“We’re fine,” Robbie answered the waiter.

The waiter left as Robbie went back to watching Junior Bonner.

“Twenty five dollars for two Cokes,” Stephanie exclaimed looking at the check.

“We need to get a photo of them with the sign in the background,” Robbie said.

Above Junior and his date was a neon sign. It was almost identical to the one on the front of the building. A smaller version of The Blue Lagoon neon sign.

“Drink slowly,” Stephanie told Robbie.

“Can you get that picture with your phone? The two of them sitting at that table under the sign?”

“Sure, why?” Stephanie asked.

“I want proof he was here with another guy. Oh, look at that,” Robbie said. “That’s disgusting.”

Robbie was referring to Junior and his friend giving each other a very passionate kiss .

“I don’t know,” Stephanie said. “It’s kind of a turn on.”

“Can your camera work in here without the flash?” Robbie asked.

“Sure, no problem.”

“Get it ready. Take some shots of them. Especially if they do that again.”

Back in her car, with Robbie looking over her shoulder, Stephanie scrolled through fourteen photos on her phone. There were three with passionate moments. Robbie expressed disapproval, which made Stephanie laugh. The best part was the neon sign of The Blue Lagoon behind them.

“Okay, so now what?” Stephanie asked.

“I don’t know. I haven’t had time to think about it. What do you think?”

“I want to find out who did that to Holly,” Stephanie said.

“Me too. Let’s show her these and make sure he was in on it,” Robbie said.

“Are you sure it’s this guy, Junior, you knew back when?”

“Yes, but we can get it verified,” Robbie said. “Get three or four of them printed off, enlarged and enhanced, cleared up. We’ll take them to Holly.”

“Where can I get that done? How much will it cost?”

“Any photo shop should be able to do it. I’ll get money from my mother,” Robbie answered.

Robbie pressed the buzzer for Holly’s apartment. They had called ahead to let Holly know they were coming. They did not say why, wanting Holly to have an unbiased reaction.

A few seconds after buzzing her, Holly answered on the intercom then let them in. She was waiting for them with her door open on the second floor. They went inside and found Amanda on the sofa.

“Oh, good, you made it,” Robbie said to Amanda.

“You’re really gonna push this thing?” Amanda asked.

“Yes, we can’t let them get away with this. It’s not right and it will encourage more,” Robbie said.

“What are we doing? What are you talking about?” Holly asked .

“I have some pictures for you to look at,” Stephanie said.

Holly sat on the couch with Amanda and Stephanie. Robbie found a plastic chair from the kitchen.

“I have five photos for you to look at. One at a time, take your time, tell us if you recognize the guy in the picture,” Stephanie said.

“Okay, let’s see them,” Holly said.

Stephanie handed a clear 5 x 7 print of Junior and his date at their table. Holly looked at it for, maybe, two seconds.

“That’s him! For sure. At least that’s one of them,” she quickly declared.

“Wait, let’s be sure,” Amanda said. “Look at the others.”

Stephanie handed Holly three more, all with slightly different poses. One at a time. Holly looked them over while being very careful.

“That’s him, I’m certain of it. One of the others even called him something. I think it was Junior, but I can’t be positive.”

“That neon sign above them, The Blue Lagoon , is that where these were taken?” Amanda asked.

“Yes, we followed him and the other guy at the table with him,” Robbie answered. “She has one more photo.”

Stephanie handed the fifth one to Holly. It was a photo of Junior and the other guy sharing a passionate kiss.

“Ewww! Ick,” Holly said. “Is he gay? What’s the Blue Lagoon? A gay bar?”

“An LGBTQ plus bar for adults and teens,” Amanda answered. “It caters to the entire LGBTQ plus community.”

“Have you been there?” Robbie asked Amanda.

“Couple times. It’s a meat market to the LGBTQ plus crowd. It was opened a couple years ago specifically to be an LGBTQ plus place,” Amanda said.

While they talked about The Blue Lagoon , Holly went back to examining the photos.

“I want to kill him. Can we figure out a way to kill him and not get caught?” Holly asked.

“No! We’re not the Mafia,” Stephanie said.

“What do we do with these photos? So, he’s gay, or Bi? So what?” Holly asked .

“Unless he’s changed a lot, a guy like Junior wouldn’t want anyone to know,” Robbie said.

“At the very least, we should be able to use these photos to make him tell us who else was in on the rape,” Amanda said.

“Okay, how do we do that?” Stephanie asked.

The four of them went silent while considering this. The silence lasted for a couple of minutes. It was Amanda who spoke first.

“Well, we’re gonna have to confront him with these.”

“That way we could find out for sure if he’s worried about people finding out he’s what,” Robbie said.

“Queer,” Holly said.

“I guess that word will work,” Amanda said.

“How do we do this?” Robbie asked. “Follow him and try to catch him alone?”

Again, they went silent until Stephanie asked, “Does he have a job? We could follow him from there. We could learn where and what time he will be there and what time he will leave.”

“That’s a good idea. How do we find out if he has a job?” Holly asked.

“I remember some people from middle school who probably went to high school with him. Someone would know.”

“Be careful. You don’t want it to get back to him that you’re looking for him,” Stephanie said.

Robbie looked at Stephanie and said, “Yeah, why? I could use that to set up a meeting.”

“Maybe,” Amanda agreed. “Still, be careful.”

“How about if we can’t kill him, we cut his balls off?” Holly asked.

“Would you want to be the one to do it?” Amanda asked Holly.

“Yes! Well maybe. I mean I’ll watch,” Holly said.

“That’s what I thought,” Amanda said.