Growing Pains

Bobby looked up from the grill at the large number of people that filled their back yard. The party was a success and part of him was happy, yet part of him wanted to kick all of them out.

Both Justin and JuJu were laughing and talking to their friends. He had made up his mind to man the grill so that he could keep an eye on them.

He looked at his baby girl and felt his stomach knot up. She had on a dark pink halter top and white shorts. The top while decent and covered her chest, showed off her ample bosom and the shorts hugged her hips. They weren't really short, but still…he glanced around for Bae and found him talking to another one of Justin's friends. At least the boy was mannerable, but he still didn't trust him.

He had lost the argument with JuJu earlier that day about her outfit when Charity quickly came to her daughter's defense. Yeah, he knew he was being overprotective, but she was only fifteen. It was hard for him to accept that she was a child in a woman's body. He wanted to lock her away somewhere from the prying eyes of perverts and pedophiles.

Charity on the other hand was more worried about Justin and Theresa. She had to keep an eye on them and she stressed for him to do the same. Bobby knew it was a double standard, but he was more worried about JuJu than Justin. Besides boys would be boys and boys didn't get pregnant!

He looked up from the food he was turning on the grill and glanced around again. He saw Justin, but he didn't see JuJu or Bae for that matter. He tried not to panic knowing that Charity was in the house…but still.

He quickly shut the grill and walked into the house looking around. His ears perked up as giggles came from the den. He walked in and found JuJu and Bae playing video games. Charity was no where in sight.

"I thought you guys were outside." Bobby said trying to keep his voice calm. "Where's your mother?"

Bae looked up and smiled. "She will return shortly. She went upstairs to change."

Bobby stared at the two of them. JuJu's eyes locked with his, preparing for the fight she knew was coming.

"Is there something else, Daddy" she asked pointedly wanting to dismiss him.

Bobby stared at her. "Why don't you two go outside?"

"We've been outside. We're inside now" JuJu replied stressing each word.

Bobby ignored her agitation. "I think outside is better."

Bae stood up. "Thank you for showing me your skills, Julianna. However your father wants us to return outside and we should do so."

Bobby knew that look she was giving him. He'd seen it plenty of times on her mother's face. "I'm not ready to go outside" she remarked defiantly.

"Julianna!" Bae said shocked. "Your father has made his request, we must obey!"

"Well you go on then, Bae" she hissed. "I'm not ready to go outside." She stared at Bobby.

Bae looked from her to her father, unsure of what to do next. Bobby glared at him and Bae quickly walked past him and Bobby waited until he heard the back door slam."

"I don't appreciate you disrespecting me in front of your friends." Bobby growled his voice threatening. "I am your father and you'd better get used to obeying me!"

Tears welled up in JuJu's eyes. "Why are you so mean? We weren't doing anything! You just want to ruin my party because I wouldn't change my clothes."

"Look at your breasts! They are jiggling when you walk! Those shorts are too tight. I know boys and boys like looking and I guess you like showing." Bobby snapped without thinking.

JuJu jumped up aghast at her father's comment. "I hate you!" she said and then burst into tears and rushed past him.

Bobby heard her run up the stairs and sighed. Maybe he didn't handle things properly.

Charity came into the den.

"What in the world is going on?" she asked . "I just saw JuJu run into her room and slam the door!"

Bobby quickly related what had just occurred. "I didn't think that it was right for them to be alone."

Charity sighed. She knew that if Bobby didn't loosen his grip, their daughter would rebel. Julianna was a good girl. There had to be a degree of trust and she had to make Bobby understand that.

She pulled him down on the sofa. "Bobby, I had only left them for a few minutes to change. You know yourself that Bae was raised differently from most boys and honor is everything to him. He wouldn't have tried anything right here in the house with so many people around."

Bobby didn't argue with her. She was right, but it still bothered him that his daughter had a body of a woman.

"I don't understand why you allowed her to wear that outfit!" he accused. "It's makes her look-"

"Like a young lady" Charity finished. "Get used to it Bobby. She's not a baby. She's a developing young woman. She has breasts, she has pubic hair and she has periods."

"I don't want to hear this!" he replied standing.

Charity grabbed his arm. "Listen, Bobby. This is no picnic for me either. It took me months to get your daughter to wear something other than jeans and oversized tee shirts because she was ashamed of her body. She was self conscious about her breasts and her big butt. She thought that if she wore baggy clothes, no one would notice."

"What's wrong with that?" he asked. "Let her cover up!"

"She should not be ashamed of her body, Bobby!" Charity hissed. "That's not right. She has self esteem issues and I had made progress and you tore all that down in one sentence to her. She wanted to wear a halter because it's hot. I helped her find one that covered her nicely. There's no abundance of cleavage showing and she gets to dress like other girls her age. The shorts are not that short. She can't help the figure God gave her."

Bobby looked sheepish. It had never occurred to him that JuJu might be self conscious about her figure. "I messed up, huh?"

Charity kissed him. "Yeah, you messed up. Now go upstairs and apologize to your daughter and make it right."

Bobby climbed the steps slowly and knocked on the door. There was no answer and he turned the knob and found JuJu sprawled across her bed. She had undressed and had on a tee shirt and jeans. The halter top was thrown on the floor as well as the shorts she had on. Bobby picked them up and sat beside her on the bed.

"JuJu-"

"Leave me alone!" she hissed lying facedown on the bed.

He turned her over, forcing her to meet his steady gaze.

"I messed up, alright!" he admitted. "I was scared. You scared me and I messed up!"

JuJu looked up at him in disbelief. "You're not scared of anything, Daddy!"

"Yeah, I am" he said holding up the halter.

JuJu giggled even though she still wanted to be mad at him.

"You're scared of a pink halter top?" she asked.

"Yeah, especially you in a pink halter top. " he said fingering the top.

She sat up on the bed. "Well I have changed now so you don't have to be scared anymore!"

"Put it back on." He replied, his voice low.

"What?"

Bobby looked at his daughter. She was growing up and he missed so much of her life. It wasn't her fault that she had a figure that would make men drool. It wasn't her fault that the thought of men looking at her like that angered him and scared him at the same time.

"You said I jiggle" she accused, snatching the top from his hands. "I can't wear a bra with this. Mama said I looked fine. I wasn't showing my breasts. I can't help it that they're big. That's why I don't wear clothes like other girls. My breasts are big and ugly!"

Bobby grabbed her by the shoulders. "You are beautiful. You looked beautiful. That's why I was scared."

She stared at him a moment. She stood up and walked across the room, tossing the halter on a nearby chair. She turned back and looked at him.

"I don't believe you. Mama probably told you to come up here and make up! You said what everybody thinks. My breasts are like a cow's teats and I should strap them down and wear big clothes! They are huge and ugly!"

Bobby sighed. "You have perfectly beautiful breasts. You have a beautiful figure. You're have a woman's body and that scares me because I know boys will be looking at you."

JuJu studied him a moment. "Well don't worry about it. I won't wear anything like this again. I'll keep wearing my tee shirts and jeans."

"No, put it back on." Bobby said lifting her chin. "You have to grow up and I have to grow up too. There's no use hiding under big tee shirts anymore. You have a woman's body now. I have to get used to the idea. You are beautiful. I mean that with all my heart."

"You really think I'm beautiful?" JuJu asked grinning.

"Yeah, and that scares the hell out of me" Bobby sighed grinning back at her. "I guess it's growing pains. "

"Growing pains…" JuJu said nodding. "I know about those myself."

Bobby stood up. "Well get dressed. You've probably caused me to burn up the food on the grill so your boyfriend will have to eat black hamburgers and get a stomachache!"

JuJu giggled and he winked at her and walked out the door shutting it quietly behind him.

((***))

Angel checked the grill and wondered where Bobby had gone. He should have known that his brother would wander off somewhere! Most likely he was trying to get a little bit from Charity! He grinned to himself. Well, he couldn't blame him if he did.

He looked around and began putting the hamburgers and hotdogs in an aluminum pan that Charity had provided. He cut the grill off and sat the pan on the table. He looked around for JuJu and since he didn't see her, decided to ask Theresa to wash her hands and put the food on their respective buns.

There were a bunch of kids milling around, but he didn't see Theresa or Justin either. He walked around the yard and decided to go around the front of the house.

He didn't see them in the front of the house either and walked back around back. He started to go into the house when he noticed that the shed in the back of the yard. Normally there was a lock on the door, but the lock had been removed. Most likely Charity did it to remove the chairs for the party.

The shed was in the very back of the yard and was somewhat secluded. He walked to the door and could hear someone inside. He opened the door and saw Justin and Theresa blinking from the evasion of light. Theresa was standing between his legs and they had been kissing.

"Alright , what are you two doing?" Angel asked even though he knew what they had been doing.

Justin began to stammer. "Noth-Nothing"

"Uh huh. " Angel replied unconvinced.

"I think you two need to return to the party. " He grabbed Theresa's arm. "The two of us are going to have a talk."

Theresa nodded unable to speak. Angel looked down at Justin's obvious erection and then looked back at his nephew. His face was beet red and he wouldn't meet Angels intense stare.

"You need to get yourself together and come into the house." Angel said.

Justin nodded and Angel walked out of the shed and headed for the house.

He saw that Bobby had returned to the grill and he walked over to him.

"Where have you been, brother?" Angel snapped.

"I had some business to take care of concerning my daughter" Bobby replied. "What's it to you."

"Well it's really your son that needs the talk" Angel responded. "I found him and Tee in the shed necking and he was at full attention if you know what I mean."

"What?" Bobby snapped shocked.

"Yeah" Angel continued. "And if I tell Tee's grandmother, I know she's going to go off and forbid her from coming back over here. I know she and JuJu are best friends so I won't say anything, but you need to handle Justin before he makes a terrible mistake!"

"Well, are you going to tell Sophie?" Bobby asked.

"Hell no" Angel replied. "She'll be worse than her mother. You just need to talk to Justin. I'll handle Tee."

Bobby took a swig of the beer he was holding. "Yeah, I'll talk to him alright. Do you think they're actually doing it?"

"I'm going to find that out now." Angel replied walking off.

He walked over to Theresa who was eating a hotdog.

"Come with me" he said.

Theresa looked up at her uncle and swallowed. She knew that she was in trouble. Angel walked her to the front of the house and opened the passenger door of his car. He got in the driver's side and shut the door.

"So what's going on with you and Justin? Are you two-"

"No" She replied interrupting him. "We were just kissing…"

"Theresa I don't want you to get yourself into trouble." Angel replied. "I'm not going to say anything to Sophie or your grandmother, but you must be honest with me."

"Justin and I are not having sex." She replied.

"Good." Angel replied nodding. "Has he touched you?"

Theresa's face was red. "No."

"Never?" Angel asked in disbelief.

"We've just kissed, Uncle Angel. That's all."

"Have you touched him?" Angel continued.

Theresa was quiet for a moment. "No, but I wanted to." She said finally. She looked at Angel. "I guess I'm just a slut, right?"

Angel grabbed her hand. "You are not a slut. I never want you to say that about yourself again."

"But I want to touch him." She whispered. "And I want him to touch me sometimes when we kiss, but he wouldn't do that."

Angel sighed. "That doesn't make you a slut, Tee. Its natural to want those things. You're not ready for that… which is why you should not have started down that road."

"I think you and Justin should cool it for a while" he said after a long pause.

"But we were only kissing." Tee protested.

"Kissing on the verge of leading to other things" Angel corrected.

"What about JuJu?" Tee replied. "Are you saying that I can't go over there anymore?"

"I want you to give me your word that you and Justin will take a break" Angel replied. "Otherwise I'm telling. I know Bobby is talking to him right now as we speak."

"Oh, alright" Tee replied giving in.

((***))

"What were you and Theresa doing in the shed?" Bobby asked Justin. He led him into the house and quickly marched him to his room while Charity was preoccupied.

"We were just kissing." Justin protested.

"In the shed?" Bobby replied in disbelief. "You took her there for other reasons. I'm a man, I know those reasons."

"I didn't do anything. It's not like that!" Justin snapped. "I would never hurt her. I'd never take advantage of her like that other guy!"

Bobby stared at him. "What other guy?"

Justin looked away and didn't reply.

"Are you telling me that someone raped Theresa, Justin?" Bobby snapped. "Did she tell you that?"

"Yeah, she did which is why I wouldn't try to do anything with her. I care about her. All we did is kiss."

"Yeah and from what I heard from Angel you were hard as a rock! What were you going to do about that"

"What I always do" Justin snapped glaring at him. "I remember our talk, do you?"

Bobby stared at his son. "Yeah, I remember, but the day is coming that you're gonna want more than your hand taking care of things."

"That's enough for me right now" Justin hissed. "I don't want to hurt her."

Bobby thought about JuJu. Here he had just reamed her out while her brother was the one that he should be watching. He let out a sigh.

"I'll have to tell your mother about this. I doubt if she'll let Theresa come over any time soon."

"That's not fair to JuJu" Justin snapped. "When she's with JuJu, I'm not even allowed in the same air space with her. Don't punish JuJu because of what I did."

"How do I know you two aren't sneaking off when she's pretending to visit JuJu"

Justin looked him in the eye. "Because I gave my word to my sister."

Bobby knew that he and JuJu were close. He doubted if JuJu would be forgiving if he lied to her. Maybe they could work this thing out.

"Alright Justin." He replied. "But we'll be watching both of you. I'm sure Angel is going to have her put on lockdown."

((***))

Bae watched as JuJu walked across the yard. She looked especially beautiful today he thought. She didn't have on the tee shirt and jeans she normally wore. She had on a pink top that tied around her neck and her back was exposed.

Bae thought she was beautiful and it amazed him that she liked him. The other kids thought that he was such a dork, but Julianna told him that she thought that he was handsome and that his deep voice was sexy.

"Bae" she said grinning shly.

"Julianna" he replied, his heart beating fast. "I hope that you are not in trouble. Your father seemed extremely upset."

JuJu sat next to him at the empty picnic table. "It's ok. Just a little misunderstanding."

"OK" Bae said nodding relieved.

"Bae…"

"Yes Julianna" he asked givng her his full attention.

"Will you sit with me on the front porch? I have to ask you something."

"If it is agreeable with your parents, I will do so" he replied.

JuJu sighed. "Yeah, I'm sure its alright."

He followed her to the front porch swing and she began to rock it back and forth.

"What is it you wish to ask of me?" Bae asked grinning.

"Do you like my outfit?" JuJu asked not meeting his gaze.

"Yes, it is very nice" Bae replied.

"Do you think it makes me look…slutty?" JuJu asked looking at him.

Bae stared at her dumbfounded. "What do you mean?"

JuJu sighed. "I mean…does it make me look like…a loose woman…you know an easy girl."

Bae stared at her a moment trying to comprehend what she was asking him.

"You have been behaving appropriately with me, Julianna. I have no reason to think badly of you." He replied.

"Boys think I'm easy because I have a large chest." She confessed. "They stare and make comments. That's why I wear big tee shirts. My Mama says I should dress like a lady and so I liked this top but I thought it was…too much for my big chest. Mama says it looks fine, but Daddy says my boobs jiggle."

She looked at Bae and saw that his face was red.

"What do you think, Bae? You're a boy. Be honest with me." She said turning to him.

"I think you are a good girl, Julianna" he replied. "You are very beautiful. Your clothes look nice on you. I don't think you look slutty."

JuJu smiled. "Really?"

"Yes. I do not lie. You look nice." Bae said nodding.

"But the boys at school said-"

"They do not know you." Bae replied. "All they see is body parts like in a men's magazine. When you really like someone, you just don't look at their body."

"But-but Daddy says they jiggle!" she insisted. "He's a man and he noticed! Do you think they jiggle?"

"Julianna, he's your father. He is protective, so he looks at you differently." Bae replied patiently.

"You didn't answer my question!" JuJu pressed. "Do you think I jiggle?"

Bae looked away. "In a nice way."

JuJu sighed. "I guess I won't wear this again" she said more to herself than to Bae.

"You should wear it." Bae responded. "You are not slutty. You should not think that way."

"Bae, be honest with me." JuJu replied. "Boys don't want a girl with big breasts unless it is for sex right? That's why I wear big clothes. I don't like boys staring at my chest!"

"I don't stare at your chest, Julianna." Bae replied. "That is not what attracted me to you."

JuJu looked at him surprised. "Are you attracted to me?"

"Of course." He replied nodding.

"What was it that you liked?"

"Your dimples" he replied turning red. "They are very beautiful."

"If it was proper, I'd kiss you." She said giggling. She was relieved that he didn't think like other boys.

"It is not proper, so do not do it" Bae replied grinning. "Even though the thought of your kiss is quiite pleasant."

"You made me feel a whole lot better!" JuJu said patting his hand. "You make an excellent boyfriend. I can't wait until it's official when I'm sixteen!"

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and stood up. "That wasn't a real kiss so that doesn't count." She said grinning. "Come on, lets go get some icecream and cake."

Bae touched his cheek where she had just kissed. "Of course" he replied grinning following her.

Bobby stepped from the side of the house. He had noticed JuJu when she had taken Bae's hand and led him to the front of the house and he had followed them.

He stood at the corner of the house and listened to their conversation. Maybe it wasn't right, but he was her father after all! He had to admit that Bae was the safest boyfriend that his daughter would probably have. It was obvious to him that the boy was respectful. Maybe he would talk to Charity and allow Bae to come over to visit from time to time…in their presence of course. He grinned to himself. A boy who noticed his daughter's dimples above all else couldn't be all that bad.