Roomies by ItWasMe

“I still can’t believe she agreed to help us out,” Duncan said, looking up at Alyssia from the palm of her right hand. “She just seems so … above childish stuff like this, you know?”

Alyssia was crouched down in a small gap between a pair of bushes just at the edge of a parking lot. Her fingers were slightly curled to prevent any branches from knocking her miniature friend out of her hand. The evening air gently kissed the smooth skin of her cheeks.

“I think she’s going through this phase where she’s trying to do all the shit she missed out on because she was too busy being successful,” Alyssia said. “I actually had to talk her out of being out here for this part. Deep down she just wants to be one of the girls, just like you.”

She grinned as Duncan gave her a death stare but said nothing, just crossing his arms in defiance. She reached over with her left hand, extending her forefinger and booping him on the nose, her fingertip hiding the entirety of his face.

“Um, that doesn’t sound like Ms. Shale at all,” Ada chimed in, her head on an anxious swivel. “I don’t even know how you talked me into this.”

Alyssia glanced up from her hand, glaring at the girl in the thin-framed glasses. Upon catching Alyssia’s ire, Ada rubbed the right temple of those glasses between her thumb and index finger.

“You should consider yourself lucky to be here,” Alyssia scolded. “Do you have any idea how hard Duncan and Callie had to try to convince Monica and me to give you a chance? Well, this is that chance, so quit your bitching and man up!”

She motioned down to Duncan with her head, expecting him to back her up. But instead, he was staring back at her with a quizzical expression.

“But she’s not a man?” he said.

Alyssia wiggled her hand slightly, causing Duncan to lose his footing and fall on his ass, which landed right where her middle finger met her palm.

“It’s a fucking expression, Duncan!” she hissed.

 Duncan smirked up at Alyssia, that annoying smile he always gave her when he knew he had gotten under her skin. She grunted in frustration, which only earned a chuckle from Duncan. She ignored him and turned her attention back to Ada.

“Just keep an eye out for the signal, alright?” Alyssia said. “Monica will let us know when we’re good to go.”

Ada nodded, then turned to study the business administration building with great intensity, paying particularly close attention to a second-story window, lit by dim lamp light from within. Alyssia released a light sigh and lifted Duncan from her chest level to her face.

“Sometimes I forget that you’re actually pretty cool,” Alyssia told him. “What made you think to do this, anyway?”

Duncan stood up and took a couple steps toward the center of Alyssia’s open hand, his bare feet tickling her palm.

“Callie has been a bit off ever since the day we found Kristie,” he explained. “I wasn’t sure if that was why at first or if it was because of … other reasons. But yesterday she told me that Stillwell has been giving her shit since he handed back midterms. She got a perfect score and the bastard thinks she cheated!”

Alyssia laughed and shook her head.

“Uh, she did cheat,” she said. “You were there, remember?”

Alyssia leaned in closer as she spoke, her nose almost touching Duncan as her eyes narrowed in mock accusation.

“Yeah, but that asshole doesn’t know that!” he said without missing a beat. “Besides, she did the last four or five on her own, and those were the hardest questions on the test. From what I saw, we hadn’t even gone over some of that stuff together yet, so she’s definitely picking things up better now.”

 Pulling her head back, Alyssia decided to move on and let him have the point. It’s not like she wanted to take away from Cal’s accomplishment anyway.

“So you really think this Stillwell guy is the reason Cal has been down?” she asked. “She’d be cool with this if she were here?”

Duncan looked up at the second-story window under Ada’s watch and then back at Alyssia.

“Yeah, I think that jerkwad is the problem,” he said. “And it doesn’t matter if she’d be okay with it because she’s at work and won’t find out until after we’re done.”

Alyssia raised an eyebrow.

“So you didn’t tell her anything about this?” she asked. “Bold move, 3D.”

Looking away nonchalantly, trying to slip her new nickname for Duncan past him, Alyssia noticed that the last car other than Stillwell’s black BMW was pulling out of the parking lot. The lone vehicle was parked in a space just beyond the reach of the light shining down from the streetlight above.

“3D? What the fu …” he stopped mid-sentence as his eyes flashed in realization. “Wait. You’re doing this now?!”

Alyssia looked back at Duncan, giving him an eager nod.

“Yup!” she said. “When you least expect it, just like I said.”

Duncan gulped as Alyssia waited for the inevitable question.

“I’m afraid to ask,” he said, “but what does it mean?”

Alyssia’s answer was preceded with a wide, evil grin.

“It’s short for the three words that sum you up best,” she said. “Dumb Dinky Duncan!”

Alyssia waited with rapt anticipation, waiting for Duncan’s reaction as his face was at first unreadable. Then his lips began to curl upward, followed by uncontrollable laughter as he fell over holding his stomach.

“That’s the dumbest shit I ever he—” he began, before being cut off.

Alyssia’s fingers swiftly curled over Duncan, closing in on him and hiding him within her fist entirely. She could feel him moving around in there, almost like holding a worm or a really small mouse within her fingers. The feeling was kind of cool, nearly cool enough to take away the sting of the little guy’s reaction to her insult.

“Hey, I, um, I don’t think you should do that to him,” Ada spoke up after silently watching the pair go back and forth for several minutes. “I know what it feels like to be laughed at, but just think of how scared he must be now that he’s made you mad. Besides, I’m sure he’s learned his lesson.”

Alyssia made direct eye contact with Ada, shaking off her mild surprise that the black-haired girl had the guts to stand up to her, something Alyssia actually respected. Without looking away, Alyssia raised her closed fist between their faces and opened it palm up to reveal a still-laughing Duncan.

“—had a month and a half, and that’s what you came up wi—” Duncan said before Alyssia encased him in her fingers once more.

Ada looked from the fist back to Alyssia’s alluring blue irises.

“Okay, so maybe I was wrong, but still,” Ada said.

Alyssia begrudgingly nodded and opened her fingers once more, waiting for Duncan to calm down. After a few minutes, the laughter stopped and he sat up. She was about to ask if he had gotten it out of his system, expecting him to laugh in her face even more, but he spoke first.

“Hey, do you think you could not call me that, actually?” he asked. “At least not the 3D part? I mean, I’ll laugh at your dumb dinky nickname all day, but 3D reminds me too much of Kristie.”

An odd combination of anger and shame hit Alyssia at the sound of Kristie’s name. She truly hated her, but knowing that she missed how similar her nickname for Duncan was to what the now-tiny bitch always called him hurt her heart. The last thing she wanted to do was remind him of her.

“Yeah, of course,” Alyssia said with uncharacteristic seriousness. “Sorry.”

Duncan flashed her a warm smile.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s just me being too sensi ...”

Duncan trailed off and turned back toward the building. The two girls trailed his gaze, noticing the same thing. The blinds to the dimly lit room on the second floor were now closed: Monica’s signal that now was the time to strike.

“Alright, it’s time,” Alyssia said. “Monica said she could give us a 15-minute window, so we shouldn’t waste too much time.”

She moved her hand holding Duncan right in front of her face, replacing the seriousness it wore just seconds before with a mischievous smirk.

“I just need to stash you away real quick!” Alyssia said.

The brunette reached toward her chest with her left hand and grabbed the zipper of her black jacket. She took her time pulling it halfway down, freeing her breasts, contained in a white tank top, for the world to see. Assuming the world was hiding in the bushes, at least.

“Before you even have to ask, I’m wearing a bra,” she explained. “This tank top is also tucked in, so even if you do somehow get out of my tits, you aren’t going anywhere.”

Alyssia tilted her hand, chuckling as Duncan tumbled over her palm and fell atop her breasts, right on the cleavage line. Her hands crept to the sides of her large chest.

“In you go,” she said.

A boob in each hand, Alyssia pulled them apart, watching with fascination as her cleavage spread into a gaping chasm, swallowing up her tiny friend. She caught a glimpse of his shocked face, releasing her breasts and letting them slam into him from both sides before he could even get in a word of protest.

She zipped her jacket back up as she surveyed the parking lot one last time, ensuring that it was still empty as she enjoyed the warm, electrifying sensation of Duncan wiggling between her breasts. She idly wondered if he was comfortable in there as she looked back at Ada, who was also dressed in all black.

“You ready for this?” Alyssia asked her.

The secretary reached down the length of her right leg, pulling up her pant leg to reveal a pair of sharp two-inch serrated switchblades sheathed and strapped onto each side of her leg between her shin and calf. She pulled one out of its sheath and held it out for Ada to take.

“You mean you want me to come with you?!” Ada asked. “B-but you said all I had to do was look out for anyone who might come into the parking lot.”

Alyssia met the nerdy girl’s complaints with a neutral stare, doing her best to ignore the tiny man squirming pleasantly between her boobs.

“I am altering the deal,” Alyssia said in a low tone. “Pray I don’t alter it any further.”

Ada’s eyes went wide.

“You …” she said with excited awe. “That’s …”

Alyssia started to emerge from the bushes, still holding the knife out for Ada behind her.

“Come on, Lando,” Alyssia said as she rolled her eyes. “Let’s go.”

 Ada nodded and took the knife, a look of determination coming over her face.

The two girls put the hoods of their jackets up as they stepped onto the asphalt of the parking lot. Pulling the drawstrings tight to hide a little bit more of their faces, they then sprinted toward the black BMW, avoiding the circular patches of light illuminating the ground around them.

Alyssia could feel Duncan bouncing around in her cleavage. While she was enjoying his every movement, intentional or forced by her shaking chest, she was also a little paranoid about him getting lost again, despite the safety precautions she had taken. She slowed her stride slightly to give him a break.

Once they reached the vehicle, she pulled her pant leg up again and removed her own knife. She was about to instruct Ada on how to go about slashing the tires on her side of the car, but the other girl had already flipped open her blade and positioned its tip against the sidewall near the rim of the tire.

“I’ve always wanted to do something like this,” Ada said, a fire in her eyes. “I was always too scared.”

Alyssia nodded, realizing that Ada actually knew what she was doing. The secretary flipped her own blade open and positioned her blade the same way. She mouthed a three-count to Ada, with the two girls slashing on three. The two tires made a loud noise as they were slashed open, and they could only hope that Monica could keep his attention long enough to finish the job.

It wasn’t until after slashing the back tires that they heard yelling from above. Without looking up, Alyssia and Ada booked it for the bushes. Alyssia could feel Duncan fall below her tits and find himself being sandwiched between her left breast and her bra.

Safe and secure, she thought, his struggles tickling the bottom of her boob as it lifted and fell on top of him with each stride.

As they reached the edge of the parking lot, ignoring the insults and threats shouted by the man, they were giggling madly as they gave each other a quick simultaneous glance.

Duncan and Callie might have been right, Aylssia thought as they reached the bushes and kept on running. Maybe Ada isn’t so bad after all.

********

 A hand landing on Callie’s shoulder broke her from her thoughts.

“You good, Cal?” Brooklyn asked. “You’ve been out of it a lot lately.”

Callie’s eyes shifted away from the salmon wall opposite the register she was working as she turned around to address her friend.

“Um, yeah,” she said. “I’m, like, totally fine.”

Regaining her senses, Callie scanned the room. It was a slow night, with no customers around to peruse the boutique’s many racks of stylish dresses, jeans, shorts, and various other women’s attire. The bright LED lights overhead made every vibrant fabric color stand out, but it also seemed to make the hours stretch ever longer in her mind.

“Okay,” Brooklyn said doubtfully. “But if you wanna talk, I’m here, okay?”

Even if Callie could talk about what was bothering her, she doubted it would help. It wouldn’t make Duncan feel the same way about her that she does him. But the point was moot, anyway. She couldn’t tell Brooklyn her problem. Not only would that betray Duncan’s trust, but just think of how silly she would sound.

Oh, I’m just bummed because my three-inch-tall roommate doesn’t love me, Callie played out the pretend conversation in her head. I wanted to shove him inside me so bad this morning, but I had to settle for his couch instead.

She smiled at the memory. Then her eyes popped open as she remembered that she had to half-ass clean the piece of furniture off before Duncan finished his morning run around the kitchen and living room, as he would then have to get cleaned up for work.

“Fuck, I hope I got the smell out,” Callie mumbled.

She slapped a hand over her mouth after realizing that she said that part out loud.

“What was that?” Brooklyn asked, giving Callie the side eye.

Callie was saved by the bell, as it rang to signal that a customer had come in through the entryway. The two employees looked up, putting on their brightest smiles, ready to help whoever came through the door find something to accentuate their best features.

Those smiles quickly vanished when they saw who had entered the boutique.

 Professor Stillwell approached the register, a pair of police officers in tow, one male and the other female. Stillwell sneered at the two college students as he neared them.

“I knew you two would be together,” he said. “That’s them, officers. These are the girls who slashed the tires of my BMW.”

Callie gasped at the accusation. She knew Stillwell had been out to get her since he had been forced to record her perfect score on the midterm, but she didn’t expect him to outright lie just to get her in legal trouble!

“Of course you drive a BMW,” Brooklyn said in an annoyed tone.

Callie turned to her friend, giving her an expression that screamed “What the fuck?!”

“What?” Brooklyn said, holding her hand out near her face as she examined her pink-painted nails. “We didn’t do anything wrong, so why sweat it?”

The female officer stepped forward, standing beside Stillwell.

“Sir, do you have anything to back that claim up?” she said without looking at him. “The security footage didn’t give us enough for a clear ID, so I hope you have some evidence since you dragged us down here.”

Undeterred, Stillwell pointed his right forefinger at Callie as he turned to face the female officer.

“I heard them giggling like school girls after they vandalized my vehicle,” he said. “This one is one of my students, a troublemaker of the highest caliber. And I’ve seen her meet with her friend over there outside the lecture hall after class several times. Clearly they’ve been planning this for some time.”

The female officer looked annoyed by Stillwell’s presentation of the “evidence” against the two college girls, but before she could express it aloud, another woman, this one an elegantly dressed redhead looking to be in her 40s, walked in from the back room.

“Is there a problem, officers?” the older woman asked.

The male officer stepped ahead to meet the woman.

“We apologize for the disturbance, Miss …” he said.

The woman smiled brightly at the male cop, who looked to be in his mid-30s.

“I’m Elena Gadry,” she said. “I own this boutique, and please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m a little concerned with two police officers standing in the middle of my store.”

The officer explained the situation, with Stillwell jumping in to accuse Callie and Brooklyn of the crime in question. Callie made eye contact with Elena, whose warm smile put her at ease.

“Well, I’m sorry Mr. Stillwell, but it couldn’t have been these girls,” Elena explained. “They’ve been here working since 5 o’clock, which was before your tires were slashed. You officers can check our security tape if you would like.”

Before the cops could answer, an angry Stillwell beat them to it.

“First off, it’s Professor Stillwell,” he told Elena snidely before looking back at Callie. “And second, it absolutely was her. There’s no one else it could be, so she’s guilty!”

The female cop looked at Callie and then back at Stillwell.

“Why couldn’t it have been anyone else?” The police officer asked.

Stillwell’s menacing glare never left Callie as he responded.

“She’s the only one with motive,” he said. “And aside from that, she viciously taunted me with … revealing attire during her class’s midterm exam.”

Brooklyn walked around the counter to stand face to face with Stillwell, hands defiantly placed on her hips.

“Oh, and just because a woman decides to dress a little sexy, she’s doing it just to get at you?” she asked mockingly.

Stillwell narrowed his eyes angrily at the brunette for having the audacity to question his faultless logic.

“She is when she refuses to sleep with me to improve her grade!” he yelled. “She came to the exam dressed like a slut, dressed me down in front of the rest of the students, and ‘earned’ herself a perfect score, which never happens. Now, after she came to the realization that I would never accept what was clearly cheating in my class, she took it upon herself to seek unjust retribution against me!”

Everyone in the room aside from Stillwell seemed to stop breathing for a second, and every eye in the room was on him. The silent attention wiped the arrogance from his face, and he seemed nervous. Then, a flicker of recognition lit his widened eyes as his mistake became obvious to him.

 “You … you threatened her grade for sex?!” Elena spoke up first.

Stillwell took a step back.

“I, um, may have misspoke …” he said.

Brooklyn took a step forward to match Stillwell, her hands removed from her hips and her right index finger pointed directly in front of his face.

“Bullshit!” she said, pausing for a second. “Now that I think about it, how the hell did you even know Callie was on shift tonight? Fuck, how did you even know she worked here at all?”

Stilwell stuttered, struggling to come up with a plausible answer.

Callie remained behind the register as her boss and her friend berated the man who had tormented her so much over the past several months. At first, she was surprised when the two of them didn’t turn to her with looks of disgust on their faces, blaming her for Stillwell’s lust. But now, as she realized that they had her back, her lips curled into a happy smile.

“Isn’t there anything you can do about this, officers?” Elena asked the two cops present.

The officers looked at each other before scowling at Stillwell in tandem.

“Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do,” the male officer said. “Even if she had … taken him up on his offer, that technically wouldn’t have been a crime, so long as it was a consensual act.”

The male cop cringed when mentioning Stillwell’s “offer” to Callie, clearly disturbed by the very notion of it.

“Believe us when we say we wish we could do something about this,” the female cop told Elena while giving Stillwell a death stare the entire time.

Elena walked behind the counter and put a comforting hand on the blonde’s shoulder, giving her a sympathetic look before turning toward Stillwell with an angry glare.

“Well, at the very least, I want you out of my store,” Elena told Stillwell. “You’re no longer welcome here!”

The older woman’s words seemed to bring back Stillwell’s indignant attitude. He stepped around Brooklyn and stared at Callie once more.

“I most certainly will not be leaving,” he said. “I’m staying here until that girl admits to what she did!”

The male cop walked past Stillwell, gently grabbing the perverted professor’s right arm and lightly pulling him toward the door.

“Come on, buddy,” the cop said. “I think you’ve bothered these girls enough for one night.”

Stillwell instinctively tried to remove his arm from the officer’s grasp. However, as he tried to wiggle his arm away, his elbow struck the officer in the chest, not enough to hurt, but hard enough to surprise the cop.

“Officer,” Stillwell said nervously, “clearly I didn’t intend to—”

The male cop gripped Stillwell’s arm harder this time, bending it behind the professor’s back as he went for his handcuffs. The officer read Stillwell his Miranda rights after explaining that he was being arrested for assaulting a police officer, all over the sniveling man’s complaints.

“This is outrageous!” Stillwell howled in a rage. “This injustice will not stand!”

The male officer smirked at him.

“You may be right,” the cop said. “That’ll be up to the DA’s office once they get a look at that store security camera. In the meantime, it looks like you’ll be spending the night in jail and I’ll have a little more paperwork once we get back to the station.”

The female officer walked next to her partner and the now handcuffed Stillwell.

“Another incident report, huh?” she asked before turning from her partner to face Stillwell. “You know how much the chief hates the way you write those, putting in every little detail. Like every word spoken on the scene, no matter how irrelevant, for example.”

Stillwell gulped as the female officer grinned wickedly at him, realizing what she was implying.

“Well I do like to be thorough,” the male cop said. “These things are available to the public, after all. I don’t want the department to look sloppy! But so long as your friend Cindy and the rest of the local media don’t get wind of the arrest, I’m sure no one will ever even think to ask for the report.”

The female officer’s eyes never left Stillwell as she responded to her partner.

“Ooh, I’m meeting Cindy at the bar after my shift tonight!” she said excitedly. “I’ll have to be extra careful that I don’t slip up and mention it to her.”

The two cops continued to chat as they escorted Stillwell out of the building and into their squad car.

Callie just stood there, still too stunned to fully comprehend what had just happened, as her coworker and boss each flanked her, offering words of sympathy and comfort. While their warm response to her situation was so appreciated by her, one thought made its way to the forefront of her mind.

Well, if I didn’t slash his tires …

********

 Monica kicked off her heels as soon as she walked through the door.

She had just returned home after her “meeting” with Carlton Stillwell, pretending to seek out his expertise on a business matter while Alyssia and Ada slashed the piece of filth’s tires. While the girls were too loud to avoid detection, they had successfully escaped the premises without being identified.

As Monica made her way to the kitchen, she thought back on the update Alyssia had given her on the operation. The personal assistant had spoken surprisingly positively about Ada’s role in the evening’s events, as well as about the girl in general. If the nerdy girl could win Alyssia over like that, perhaps Monica had been a bit too harsh on Ada.

Monica retrieved some leftover wagyu steak from a high-end restaurant that just opened downtown from the refrigerator and reheated it in the oven. Before sitting down to eat her dinner, she cut off the tiniest slice of meat she could and carried it into her bedroom.

She walked past her fluffy king-sized bed, the bedspread’s bright white shade contrasting perfectly with the inky blue walls. On the other side of the bed, she found a tiny, professionally handcrafted bed, an equally tiny circular wooden table with a single chair, a smartphone leaned against a few books, and one tiny girl, who was sitting on the opposite side of the bed facing away from Monica.

“Your dinner,” Monica said, setting the piece of meat on the tiny table.

Kristie didn’t acknowledge Monica’s presence, holding herself with crossed arms at her abdomen. She had been like this since Monica had fished the bitty bitch from her panties a few days ago. At first, Monica felt good that Kristie had been so thoroughly humbled. But after seeing the effect last as it had, Monica began to worry that she had gone too far.

No, she told herself. She raped Duncan, and she didn’t even care! She deserved the retribution I gave her.

Yet a nagging feeling of guilt wouldn’t leave Monica alone. It caused her to linger over her little guest for a few seconds before shaking off the feeling and turning around to leave.

“You aren’t going to give me to him now, right?” Kristie’s hollow voice barely reached Monica’s ears, the first words she had said in days.

Him? Monica had no idea to whom Kristie was referring. The CEO didn’t recall threatening to give Kristie to anyone. All she had done was open the dossier she had her people put together on Kristie. Did she make an assumption based on that?

“No,” Monica answered.

She debated adding further assurance or comfort to Kristie that she would be safe under her care, but the executive couldn’t bring herself to offer such luxuries to the vile tiny. Instead, she simply walked out of the room without saying another word.

Still, Monica’s curiosity had been sparked. Rather than heading back into her living room as originally planned, she stopped by the conference room first. It didn’t take long for her to dig up Kristie’s file and open it to the first page.

Odd, she thought. This is only the background page, covering her family history. It wasn’t the meat of the file at all!

Reading the file, Monica noted that Kristie was a product of foster care, much like Duncan, being sent to many different families throughout her childhood. Monica remembered where she had placed her finger when Kristie had tried to push it away, noticing the picture of an adolescent boy, no older than 13 at the time, centered atop the text.

According to the information below the photograph, the boy was the biological son of one of the foster families that had taken Kristie in for a few months when she was 15. The details were vague, but there had been an incident, with the boy’s nose being broken and the blame being placed squarely on Kristie.

Monica didn’t know why it bothered her so much, but she had to know what it was about this boy, now a fully grown adult a decade later, that terrified Kristie so much. She removed the photo from the folder, placing it in her front blazer pocket as a reminder to seek more information on the matter later.

********

 Callie looked herself over in the mirror after finishing with her hair and makeup.

The hem of her short denim skirt settled mid-thigh on her, and she had paired it with a stylish white off-shoulder ruffle-trim blouse with short sleeves, maybe her favorite outfit. As she examined her reflection, she remembered that it was this very ensemble that she was wearing when she first talked to Duncan.

Well, the first time that she talked to him and he talked back, anyway.

Callie smiled warmly at the memory. She felt a little guilty about leaving him alone for the evening, but Brooklyn had invited her to celebrate at a local club after seeing Stillwell receive what was coming to him the night before.

It hadn’t taken very long for that police report to make its way into the media cycle, even catching some national attention. By the end of Callie’s last class of the day, word had leaked that the university’s board of directors had terminated the corrupt professor’s employment after showing cause to remove his tenure.

She walked out to the living room and found Duncan hanging out on his couch, which she had moved from his shoebox home for him, near the edge of the coffee table watching TV.

“Are you sure you’re good with me headin’ out?” Callie asked him. “I can cancel and just hang here. I feel like we’ve been doin’ less of that lately.”

Duncan looked away from the screen and stood up, walking toward Callie, who was standing near one of the ends of the table.

“No, you should go,” he said. “Celebrate. That fuck is finally gone. The last thing I want is to keep you trapped in this apartment with me. Have some fun!”

Callie smiled at him in response, but she felt conflicted inside. While she was sure Brooklyn and her would have fun at the club, Callie secretly wished Duncan had asked her to stay. But he was probably right. She should go out and celebrate being free from Stillwell. Speaking of which …

“Thanks, by the way,” she told him. “I don’t know how you got Alyssia to work with Ada, but I appreciate you doin’ what you did.”

Duncan gave her a questioning look.

“I don’t follow,” he said.

This brought a giggle out of Callie.

“I already called Ada and made her tell me everything,” she said. “Well, almost everything. She said that you stayed here, but we both know there’s no way you wouldn’t be there yourself.”

Duncan lowered his head.

“I figured the less you knew about it, the better,” he said. “You were supposed to hear about the slashed tires today and think it was karma or something. I just didn’t want you to worry, especially about me being out there, too. Sorry.”

Callie shook her head.

“Nah, you’re good,” she said. “I mean, yeah, I’m gonna worry, but that shouldn’t stop you from doin’ what you wanna do. I just don’t know why you waited so long to get back at that prick. It would have been so much easier when you were still big.”

Duncan laughed as he looked up at Callie.

“Get back at him?” he asked. “I don’t give a shit about that asshole. I just thought it would make you feel better to see something bad happen to him at once. Which worked a lot better than I planned, honestly.”

Wait, Duncan did that for her? Callie didn’t realize she was being so transparent about her feelings lately. That was something she was going to have to try and watch from now on. But more importantly, while Duncan may never love her the way she loved him, he really did care about her deeply.

That’s good enough, she told herself. I can live with that.

Callie and Duncan said their goodbyes, and then she made for the door. As she strapped on her sandals right in front of the entryway to the apartment, there was a knock on the door. She looked back at Duncan, who nodded to her as he quickly descended the ladder blended into the table leg, eyeing a spot under the couch to hide, just in case.

Once Duncan was safely hidden, Callie stood up and cautiously opened the door, hoping to find anything other than another box waiting for her.

What she found was Alyssia.

“Hey Cal,” Alyssia said. “I know you said you were going out tonight, so I was hoping maybe Duncan might want some company?”

Callie looked back to see Duncan crawling back out from under the couch, giving her a thumbs up. She felt her heart drop. She knew she shouldn’t be jealous, but she couldn’t help but be upset that it would be Alyssia keeping him company tonight instead of her.

Not that there was anything wrong with Alyssia. Far from it, Callie really liked her! Also, it’s not as though Alyssia showing up like this meant anything was going on between Duncan or her or that it was any of Callie’s business if there was. She was totally fine with it, or at least that’s what she kept telling herself.

“Of course,” Callie said, burying her feelings and stepping aside, both literally and metaphorically. “I was just headin’ out. Come on in.”

Alyssia thanked her and walked into the apartment. She told Callie to have a fun night out before walking in front of Duncan, bending down, and offering him a hand to lift him up to the couch. Callie let out a quiet sigh as she walked through the door and closed it.

Callie leaned her back against the door and closed her eyes as she took one more deep breath before opening them, feeling ready to take on the night. She headed to the complex’s parking lot, where she found Brooklyn’s car already parked in a nearby spot, waiting for her.

********

Alyssia glanced down at the couch's armrest as Duncan leaned on its back portion and continued to watch the cheesy reality show they had spent the past half-hour ripping into.

“The foster brother? Why?” she spoke into the phone in her right hand. “Okay, okay, I’m on it. I’ll get the research team together and we’ll start in the morning.”

As Alyssia said goodbye and hung up, she couldn’t help but be a bit concerned. Why did Monica want to do more research into Kristie? Why now? Alyssia could only guess that her boss was starting to go soft on the little cunt and trying to help her somehow. Maybe she should have a talk with Monica about this in the morning.

“What’s up?” Duncan’s voice came from below.

Given Duncan’s own behavior toward Kristie, Alyssia decided she didn’t want to even mention it to him.

“Work stuff,” she said, looking back up at the TV. “What’d I miss?”

Duncan shrugged and also focused on the screen in front of them.

The two of them continued to make fun of the reality “stars” and their dumb antics for the remainder of the show. Then Alyssia turned off the TV and stood up, staring down at Duncan.

“As fun as that was, I think it’s time for my vengeance now,” she said with an innocent giggle. “After the nickname incident that we’ll never speak of again, I took some time to think up a way to get back at you for real.”

Before Alyssia turned around to walk toward the door, she caught a sly smirk on Duncan’s face.

“Is it dumb and dinky?” he asked.

 Alyssia grunted in annoyance.

“You know what, let me help you get down to the floor,” she said, reaching for him.

Alyssia pinched Duncan at the waist between her forefinger and thumb. She expected him to protest her grabbing him without permission, maybe even struggle a little. But he just stared up at her with that same smug expression, even after she set him all the way down on the floor beside the coffee table.

She made her way to where she left her high-heeled cream-colored sandals, more determined than ever to finally gain the upper hand over Duncan. After taking a minute to kneel down and strap the sandals onto her feet, she stood up, three inches taller than before, and made her way back toward Duncan.

“Fee. Fie. Fo. Fum!” Alyssia said as she stomped down with added emphasis on each word.

The secretary almost squealed with glee as she saw how the shock waves from each step caused Duncan to lose his balance, the last one knocking him on his ass.

“That may be the corniest thing you’ve ever done,” he said as he pulled himself to his feet.

Alyssia lifted her right leg and dropped her foot in a hard, petulant stomp, knocking Duncan over a second time.

“Just shut up and let me enjoy being big for once!” she huffed.

Alyssia could feel her cheeks turning red with embarrassment at her mini-tantrum. She cleared her throat and simply moved on.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” she said. “Since you’re always telling me how short I am—”

Alyssia could barely hear Duncan interrupting her from down by her feet, but hear him she did.

“You are short!” he yelled. “You’re only 5’3”.”

Alyssia couldn’t stop herself from scoffing.

“Five feet taller than you!” she grumbled back, before catching herself. “Er, I mean, since you’re always telling me how short I am, I figured I would take it easy on you. All you have to do is climb me!”

Alyssia stared down at Duncan standing there beside her toes, mouth agape in stunned silence. She was ready for this, choosing short white shorts and a tight black crop top to give Duncan as little clothing to grip as possible. There was one other bit of preparation she had taken as well.

“I also shaved my legs right before coming here,” she said. “Happy climbing!”

Duncan grabbed the back of his neck and winced as he strained to look up at her from the floor. Oh, Alyssia liked this feeling!

“What happens if I say no?” he asked.

Alyssia pursed her lips, touching them with her right index finger as she looked up and to her right in thought. There were so many ways she could make him regret refusing her challenge but only one that she knew he’d hate enough to just suck it up and climb her.

“I’ll never let you live it down,” she said. “Every day, for the rest of your life, no matter what size you are, you’ll hear about what a wuss you are. It’ll be the most important part of my day. Or the most fun part, at least!”

Duncan didn’t say a word. Instead, he made his way to the front of her left sandal. Alyssia almost giggled as she noticed that the sole of her shoe was almost half as thick as he was tall. He didn’t hesitate as he pulled himself onto the top of the platform, standing directly in front of her toes.

Alyssia had a hard time seeing him, as her formidable tits mostly blocked her view of her feet. She felt the bottoms of his bare feet make contact with the tops of her second and third toes. He started to walk up their length, which she took as her cue to wiggle her cute little digits.

She felt him fall onto the knuckles of her toes but kept wiggling until he fell from her toes, rolled off her sandal, and was knocked on the ground in front of her left foot, once again within her line of sight.

Oh yeah, nothing dumb or dinky about this! Alyssia mused.

********

Callie and Brooklyn both slammed down their shot glasses upside down and in sync on the table at their booth, their third shots of the night.

“Fuck yeah!” Brooklyn yelled over blaring music, throwing her hands up in the air.

Callie giggled at her friend.

“Thanks for this, Brooke,” Callie said. “I needed this.”

Brooklyn tilted her head as she looked at Callie, a sly smirk on her face.

“That’s not all you need!” the brunette said. “Tonight, I’m gonna get you fucked!”

Callie, despite feeling a tad tipsy, gasped in surprise at her friend’s bluntness.

“What?!” Callie replied. “I-I can’t do that!”

The smile evaporated from Brooklyn’s lips, a stern expression replacing it.

“I never asked about Mr. Whatshisface that had you so wet the other day, but it’s clear from how you’ve been acting this last week or so that things didn’t work out with him,” Brooklyn said. “I can’t sit back and let you let this guy do this to you.”

Duncan didn’t do anything to me, right? Callie asked herself.

“Look, you’re, by far, the sweetest, smartest, hottest person I’ve ever met. I mean, I’m straight, and I’d fuck you if I had the chance,” Brooklyn slurred slightly. “If whoever this guy is can’t see how great you are, fuck him!”

As Brooklyn held up another shot for a toast, her words swam around in Callie’s brain. For the first time in her life, she started to see herself the way that Brooklyn described. She was a catch. If Duncan couldn’t see that by now, that was his problem. She wasn’t going to let it get her down anymore!

“Fuck him!” Callie shouted as she banged her shot glass against Brooklyn’s.

The two girls gulped down their shots and slammed the glasses on the table, their eyes already scouting out the crowd on the dance floor for suitable targets.

********

 Duncan finally finished his ascent up the slope of Alyssia’s foot.

Fuck, she didn’t make that easy! he thought.

Leaning against the base of her shin, Duncan decided to take a quick break before continuing. He needed it after almost literally wrestling with Alyssia’s toes for the past 20 minutes. He couldn’t help but worry about whether she felt the rock hard erection he had when he was trapped between and under those toes, an erection that was just starting to go away.

Looking straight up, he couldn’t find a single hair on her endless legs that used to be well shorter than his own.

How the fuck am I going to get up that?! he asked himself.

“A little early for a break, isn’t it?” her voice thundered from above. “You think you’re going to win American Ninja Warrior like that?”

Duncan pushed himself off of her shin. He really didn’t care when most people talked shit about him, but there was something about Alyssia doing that just got to him. He wouldn’t give her any more ammunition than he needed to.

He ran his right hand up and down the nearest part of her shin, then did the same with his whole arm. It looked like the friction from their skin meeting would be enough to hold him in place as he shimmied up her leg. At least that’s what he told himself, hoping he was right.

Realizing he needed as much skin-on-skin contact as possible, Duncan took off his shirt and shorts and threw them over the side of Alyssia’s foot. He refused to do the same with his boxer shorts for obvious reasons. With that, he approached the point of the shin bone and began his real climb.

It was a slow process, inching his way up her shin. His legs were wrapped around as much of her shin bone as they could, while his arms stretched as far overhead as they could and pulled his body upward. His arms, chest, and legs dragged pleasantly across the silky smooth leg with each pull, although the heat generated from their skin touching quickly drenching him in his and her sweat.

It took Duncan 10 minutes to get a quarter of the way up Alyssia’s shin. He looked down and was surprised at how far away the ground was. Without anything with a proper grip to hold on to, he could feel his fear of heights starting to come back to him.

A sudden quake almost shook him from his perch. He tightened his grip just in time, as another quake followed in quick succession. Then another one. And another. His whole body was constantly vibrating from whatever was causing the quakes. He looked down again to see if he could find the source.

What Duncan found was Alyssia’s left foot impatiently tapping right below him.

“I’m getting bored, Duncan,” she said in a voice that sounded anything but bored. “Hurry up already!”

Duncan spent the next several minutes clinging desperately to Alyssia’s shin. After realizing that she wasn’t going to stop tapping her foot, he decided the best strategy was to pull himself up in smaller increments. He was reduced to half-inching it.

This … may take a while, he told himself.

********

 “Hey ladies, can we buy you a drink?”

Callie was already rolling her eyes. The two tall, musclebound, attractive guys dressed in nice button-down shirts and stylish jeans were standing in front of their booth already flagging down the waitress for those drinks, not bothering to wait for Brooklyn or her to answer.

So original, Callie thought in a sarcastic tone. Do girls even go for this shit anymore?

Brooklyn giggled and nodded, pushing her chest out a little bit right after. Callie rolled her eyes again.

She noticed one of the guys, a black-haired one that looked to be about her age, subtly flex his chest once he saw her looking his way.

Callie was not impressed.

“I bet a squirrel would eat you alive,” she mumbled, her words sloshing together a bit.

The guy stopped flexing as his face adopted a confused expression.

“Excuse me?” he asked.

Callie pushed herself out of the booth and stumbled past the two guys.

“I said I’m gonna go dance!” she shouted over her shoulder, leaving a stunned Brooklyn with the two obvious losers.

********

Alyssia felt Duncan cross over her kneecap.

She had stopped tapping her foot once he made it halfway up her shin, as she thought he could seriously hurt himself if he fell from that distance. He actually made pretty good time after that, and she found herself impressed with how well he had managed to work his way past her knee.

When she came up with this idea, Alyssia was convinced that Duncan wouldn’t even be able to find a way up her leg and that she could get a good laugh at his expense, making jokes about how he couldn’t even make it past a shortstack’s ankle. She had been surprised when she felt his bare chest rubbing against her lower leg.

But she was always quick to adapt, and this wouldn’t be any different. Rather than get upset that things didn’t work out as planned, she decided that she was going to enjoy the game as she eagerly waited to see how it would play out, and tapping her foot to fuck with him had been tons of fun.

Of course, the fact that Alyssia couldn’t see Duncan made her nervous.

She didn’t dare move, closing her eyes and focusing on that wonderfully tingling sensation of him crawling along her skin. She kept her hands at the ready, prepared to snatch him out of the sky should he lose his grip and fall.

However, paying such close attention to the tiny man struggling to make it up her legs was having a different effect on Alyssia as well. Having never felt so huge in all her life, she felt herself leaking from her womanhood, dampening her panties. Apparently being big was a turn-on for her.

To make matters worse, Duncan’s path was starting to drift toward her inner thigh. He was already halfway up her upper leg, and she was getting wetter by the second. She was starting to worry that he could smell her arousal through her shorts. Even if he couldn’t, the crotch area of her shorts was going to be drenched by the time he got there.

“Hey!” Alyssia said, thinking quickly. “I see what you’re doing. Keep straight, mister!”

She reached down and extended her left index finger, touching it down on the middle of her thigh and tracing it directly upward.

“What?” Duncan said, seemingly in a daze. “Oh! Oh yeah, definitely. Sorry, I was struggling a little and wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

Alyssia could feel Duncan correcting course. She breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted!

As Duncan was making short work of the upper third of her thigh, her only problem was that, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t think of a good excuse to shove her hand down her pants.

********

Callie raised her arms in the air and swung them back and forth as she moved her hips seductively to the beat bursting from the club’s sound system.

She closed her eyes and focused on the music, as she needed a distraction from her increasingly cloudy thoughts. However, she still found herself wondering why she walked away from that musclebound blond earlier. She knew right away he wasn’t someone she’d date, but he was hot enough for a good fuck, right?

Isn’t that what you’re here for? Callie asked herself. Someone to take your mind off of … him.

Her eyes opened, right in front of her was another guy, this one looking a little older than her with slick-back black hair and wearing a white polo shirt and khakis. He flashed her perfect smile as he looked directly into her eyes. He was cute enough, she guessed.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?” he asked. “Or should I walk by again?”

Callie’s eyes narrowed as she stared back at the guy. This guy was smooth. Too smooth. Duncan would have been much more to the point. He—

Damn it! she scolded herself. Why am I thinkin’ about him again.

“Like, I do believe in love at first sight,” Callie said. “Sorry.”

She stopped dancing and walked away from the guy, who actually looked a little hurt by her response, and made her way back to her booth.

********

I can’t believe this is still working, Duncan mused.

He was nearing her chest now, after angling himself toward the center of Alyssia’s torso for most of his climb over her abs. He had been worried that, between the sweat and how flat her stomach was, his skin would lose its grip on her own, but the stinky moisture appeared to actually make him slightly more adhesive to her skin.

Not to mention that her surprisingly defined ab muscles provided nice grips for him as well.

Duncan glanced down over his left shoulder, seeing her belly button well below his position. He had been planning to use the opening as a rest area, as he was pretty sure he could fit if he scrunched in enough, but Alyssia not only made him change course back on her thigh, but made sure that he didn’t line up with the center of her body until he was above it.

Why is she being so weird about that? he wondered.

Shrugging off his exhaustion, Duncan decided to focus on his next decision as he neared Alyssia’s crop top: over or under?

Climbing her shorts had been so much easier than her bare skin, but the size of her breasts made for more climbing. Powering between her tits would be its own challenge, but he wouldn’t have to worry about falling.

Down by her waist, he could see that Alyssia’s hands were poised to catch him if he slipped. He noticed that they were ready when he reached her thigh as well, but now they were already cupped and looked to be ready to swoop in the second he started falling.

As comforting as that was to see, he figured they could both relax a bit if he took the more secure route.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Alyssia asked as he climbed under the hem of her shirt.

Duncan was happy that she couldn’t see the grin on his face as he made his way under the wire of her bra.

“It’s not like it’s my first time in here!” he shouted as loud as could, still unsure if she could hear him through the mountain of flesh just above his head.

With a little wiggling and a lot of pulling with his arms and pushing with his legs, Duncan was able to squeeze his way between Alyssia’s boobs. Surrounded on all sides by pliable girlflesh, Duncan remembered how he managed to climb up Callie’s cleavage back during the midterm.

I wonder what she’s doing right now, he mused, a sudden sadness hitting him at the thought. I … I hope she’s having a good time, at least. She deserves it.

Spreading his legs and bringing his knees toward his core, Duncan kicked them back out, his soles catching on the supple walls of flesh. His arms, positioned over his lead and each laying against a breast, pulled him upward as well. His nearly nude body brushed against the soft, inviting skin of Alyssia’s inner tits as his body ascended.

He repeated this move a few more times, enjoying the feeling of sliding between her breasts despite the burning sensation coming from the muscles of his arms and legs. He guessed that he was at or near the midpoint of his journey through her boobs when he finally had to stop and take a rest.

It only took a minute before Duncan felt the first impact.

He heard a near-deafening smack to his right immediately before his whole world was violently jostled to the left. He struggled to maintain his position as he could feel Alyssia’s tits sway and jiggled at the same time, the latter of which shook his whole body as it started to slide back deeper into her breast.

“No breaks!” Alyssia said with a giggle.

The vibration of those two words powered through her sternum and rattled Duncan’s bones. It took a bit of time for the shaking both inside and outside of Duncan to settle, giving him time to process what happened.

Alyssia had struck the side of her left breast.

Almost on cue, another smack assaulted Duncan’s ear drums, this time from his left. Again he was thrown against her boobflesh and again he tumbled a little further downward.

He knew Alyssia well enough, both in general and from this climb specifically, to know that this wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. If he was going to make it through her breasts, he needed to come up with a strategy and fast!

********

Callie sat at the booth, her left check in her left palm as her arm was propped up on the table by her elbow. She wore a bored expression as she held her shot glass I her left hand, staring at the contents as she lazily swished them around with a flick of her wrist.

“C’mon Cal,” Brooklyn whined. “You’ve turned down every guy who’s talked to you all night!”

Callie looked away from her glass and glanced in Brooklyn’s general direction. Callie’s vision was a little bit blurry, but she could still make out her friend just fine.

“It’s not my fault they all sucked,” Callie said, throwing back her drink and grabbing the arm of a random guy walking past their booth. “Hey you! You suck!”

Brooklyn apologized to the man as Callie let go of his arm. She then pulled Callie in closer to her.

“Cal! You can’t just grab at random people like that!” Brooklyn said.

Callie leaned on her smaller friend’s shoulder, almost tackling her on accident.

“It doesn’t matter,” she slurred. “None of these guys are Duncan.”

Brooklyn pushed as hard as she could, just managing to push Callie in the opposite direction, the tall blonde maintained just enough balance to keep from collapsing in her seat.

“Yeah, I think you’ve had enough,” Brooklyn said. “I’m ordering you an Uber. Do I need to come with you to make sure you can walk into your apartment?”

Callie slowly shook her head.

“Nah, I can walk just fine,” she said.

Callie stood up, holding her arms out to keep her balance, and walked to the other side of the table. She was a little shaky, but she could still move around alright.

“Okay, they should be here in 10 minutes,” Brooklyn said. “I’m gonna stay here and make sure at least one of us gets fucked tonight! Come with me tomorrow afternoon to pick up my keys from the bartender?”

Callie nodded and leaned down to give her still seated friend a hug, almost falling on top of her. Then she stood up straight and made her way to the door.

********

 Alyssia held perfectly still as she felt Duncan scurry past her collarbone and onto her right shoulder.

She was too nervous to fuck with her little friend now. He wasn’t supposed to get this far. He wasn’t supposed to get past her ankles. She was supposed to just knock him around with her toes a little bit, maybe shake her foot to buck him off it or something.

Alyssia didn’t even know how Duncan made it out of her tit pendulum trap! She thought for sure that would not only stop him but keep him safe and secure while doing it. Now there he was, standing all the way up on her shoulder. If he fell from there, it would be a 10-story fall.

It’s such a long way down for him, she thought with a blend of concern and arousal. I’m like a fucking building to him!

As Alyssia felt herself getting wetter by the second, she also felt a tug on a few of her brunette strands. She resisted the urge to turn and look, knowing how disastrous even such a simple move could be for Duncan. His bare feet touched down on her neck and started “walking” up it.

He’s climbing my head like a damned mountain climber, she realized internally.

Duncan’s left foot stepped onto Alyssia’s right cheek, his left coming down just above her earlobe. She felt his soles step up the side of her head, dragging a few stray hairs under them with each footfall. It didn’t take long for pull himself above eye level, his tiny toes tickling her forehead each time his foot touched down and lifted up again.

Finally, she felt him pull himself onto the top of her head, rolling over on his back near the center of her scalp. She could almost picture him holding his hands in the air while laying down on a bed of her lustrous hair.

“Fuck you!” Duncan cheered happily. “I did it!”

He really did it, Alyssia confirmed to herself. How the fuck did he actually do it?

She was left in awe of Duncan’s accomplishment. Of course, she’d never let him know how proud of him she was. That wasn’t their way, after all.

“Congratulations,” Alyssia said in a sarcastic tone. “You’ve climbed to the grand height of 5’6”, not even as tall as you used to be, as you always liked to remind me every time I wore heels.”

She felt his arms fall onto her scalp and hear him groan, and her heart sank a little bit at the sound. Maybe, just this once, she could drop the routine and give him a little bit of honesty. Reaching for the top of her head, she gently plucked him up and brought a clearly exhausted Duncan before her eyes.

“Hey,” Alyssia said, flashing him a warm smile. “You did good.”

That smile morphed into a smirk before Duncan could respond.

“Even if my legs are cramping up from standing there for so long,” Alyssia said. “Maybe pick up the pace next time?”

As he chuckled at her words, she could tell by her smile that the message got through. At his request, she took him to his shoebox and refilled his makeshift tub with warm water so that he could take a bath before turning in early for the night.

After they said their goodbyes, Alyssia left the apartment, locking the door on her way out. She hurried home, eager to put all that lubrication leaking out of her pussy to good use.

********

“Duncan!” Callie’s voice penetrated the walls of the shoebox at full volume. “I gotta … gotta talk to you! Yeah, I gotta talk to you! Get out here!”

Duncan shot out of bed, confused at first about what was happening. He could feel the vibration of footsteps send heavy quakes throughout his home, knocking a few pictures from the walls. As the shaking finally stopped, his brain processed who was calling for him.

It’s been a while since I could actually feel Callie walking, he thought. Wait, did she sound drunk?

Duncan’s ceiling disappeared into the sky before it was tossed away, leaving him with the sight of Callie staring down at him, her eyes glossy and red.

Yep, he told himself. Definitely drunk.

Callie’s right hand came for Duncan at a speed he didn’t expect from her, and he found himself wrapped in her fist with only his head and shoulders sticking out. As she carried him up to her face, her grip on him tightened, making it hard to breathe.

“A little tight, Callie,” he barely managed to get out.

Callie didn’t respond or give any indication that she heard Duncan, except for the fact that her fingers loosened their hold on him considerably. He was still snug in her hand, but he was much more comfortable.

And she was worried about fucking up with me? he laughed to himself. She even makes sure I’m good when she fucking drunk!

“I should be getting fucked right now!” Callie yelled. “Look at me!”

Without changing her expression or level of intensity, she lowered her voice after seeing Duncan cringe at its previous volume. She also lowered him past her full chest and exposed abs, past her skirt and down her endless legs, then all the way back up to her face again, all at a pace that started too fast but slowed as he showed signs of discomfort and motion sickness.

“Don’t I look like I should be getting fucked right now?” Callie asked. “I do look like I should be getting fucked right now! Why aren’t I getting fucked right now, Duncan?”

Duncan stared back at her blankly, unsure of the answer she was looking for.

“It’s because of you!” Callie stuck out her left index finger and put its tip inches from Duncan’s face as she spoke. “You ruined my night!”

She pulled her left hand away and started walking toward the bed, nearly tripping a couple of times throughout the short trip.

“There were plenty of hot guys at the club tonight,” Callie’s tone softened. “But every one of them just didn’t do it for me.”

She sat down on the side of the bed, holding Duncan in front of her breasts.

“Every time one of them came up to me, all I could think was, ‘He’s not as smart as Duncan,’ or ‘He’s not as funny as Duncan’ or ‘He’s not as cool as Duncan.’ And none of them were as hot as you,” Callie said as she looked down at him.

Duncan could feel his face turning red.

“Thank you?” he responded.

Callie scowled at him.

“No, that’s bad!” she said. “You ruined other guys for me! Even pick up lines were just annoying! Guys always come up to me with the dumbest fucking lines, sometimes even ones that are a little gross, but I used to find them funny and kind of cute. I was mean to a guy who used a line on me tonight. I’m not a mean person, Duncan!”

Duncan wasn’t sure what to make of this drunken rant, but he did feel bad that Callie had apparently had such a rough night. He couldn’t say he was disappointed that she didn’t hook up with anybody, though. It’s a reality he knew he had to face eventually, though, as she was far too perfect to remain single for too long.

“I’m sorry,” he told her, unsure what he was sorry about yet still truly meaning it.

The apology only appeared to make Callie more flustered.

“Don’t apologize!” she said. “You didn’t … I mean … Urgh! You don’t understand! Tonight I was supposed to take my mind off of …”

Callie’s eyelids fell over her eyes, and she started to fall backward. The hand holding Duncan slowly lowered itself to the mattress, touching down softly after her body had already crashed onto the bed. The fingers holding him opened up, but her palm landed on him before he could move away.

He tried to squirm out from under her hand, but he was stuck there, with only his head sticking out from under the side of her hand. He didn’t even bother calling to her, as he knew she would be out until morning, when the hangover was going to hit her hard!

Eh, I can think of less comfortable places to be, Duncan mused.

He allowed the warmth of Callie’s hand to take him as he lay his head on its right side against the bedspread and drifted to sleep.

********

The early afternoon sunlight shining through Callie’s bedroom window and onto her face was finally enough to rouse her back to consciousness.

Her head was killing her! She shielded her eyes from the light with her left forearm as she started to come to. At first, it came as a surprise to her that her legs were hanging off the side of the bed and that she was wearing the same clothes she wore the night before.

Then Callie started to remember the previous night’s events. Drinking too much at the club. Being unnecessarily rude to every guy who tried to talk to her. Coming home drunk. Calling for Duncan and—

“Duncan!” she cried out as she sat up.

As she found him lying there, trapped under her right hand, Callie started to feel sick. She had just grabbed him out of his house and yelled at him. She still couldn’t remember what it was she was so mad about or what she said to him, but she was sure he had to have been terrified.

“Duncan?” she called out as she lifted her right hand and poked Duncan softly in the side with her forefinger. “Oh God! Please be okay!

How could she have been so careless! Had she hurt him? What if he’s scared of her now? Why couldn’t she do anything right when it came to him? No wonder he didn’t love her back.

“I’m up, I’m up,” Duncan said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with the back of his right hand. “And I’m fine.”

Callie breathed a sigh of relief. He was okay. But just because he was fine physically didn’t mean he wasn’t bothered by what happened. She couldn’t imagine how humiliating and upsetting it must have been to be manhandled like that. All that trust she built up with him? Gone, just like that.

“I think we should talk about last night, though,” Duncan said as he stood up. “But do you think we could do it in the kitchen? I don’t have to look up at you as much from the dining room table.”

He’s pissed, Callie thought. What if … what if he’s mad enough or scared enough to move out? Ada, Alyssia, or Monica would room with him for sure.

“Okay,” she said, offering Duncan her right palm.

He climbed on, and Callie, despite everything, enjoyed the feeling of his feet against her skin as he walked to the center and sat down. She wanted to savor it, in case this was the last time he would let her carry him.

The walk to the kitchen was slow, but Duncan didn’t complain. Maybe he thought it was because of her hangover? She was just thankful that he granted her the time to enjoy the trip.

They arrived in the kitchen, and Callie lowered her hand to the table, allowing Duncan to step off. She sat in the nearest chair, folding her hands in front of her body on the table. She decided she would start the conversation in the hope that maybe if she showed how sorry she was, he would be more likely to forgive her and stay with her.

“I know I fucked up last night,” she said. “I get that I scared the shit out of you and that I probably hurt you more than you’re lettin’ on. You’ve got this whole ‘whatever will be will be’ thing goin’ on, but I know that what I did went past that. I’m so, so sorry! I promise you it won’t happen again.”

Duncan stared at her with a blank expression.

“Uh, that’s not what I was going to talk about, but, for the record, you didn’t scare me at all last night. All my shit is still in there,” he chuckled. “You weren’t as gentle with me as you usually were, but you were trying to be, and I never thought I wasn’t safe with you.”

Callie couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Really?” she asked. “You weren’t even a little scared? I don’t remember much, but I’m pretty sure I yelled at you.”

Duncan shook his head.

“Not even a little. You were the most considerate drunk person I’ve ever seen,” he said. “But since you mentioned the yelling, I was hoping to talk about what you were yelling at me about.”

Callie’s eyes went wide. She hadn’t even thought about that. Those words were lost to her, and she was so busy assuming he was upset with being handled by her drunk self that she hadn’t even stopped to consider that she might have said something worthy of discussion.

“Wh-what did I say?” she asked nervously.

Duncan’s expression was unreadable, causing even more anxiety to build up inside her.

“You told me I ruined your night,” he said. “You said some very nice things about me in a very mean way.”

Duncan’s reminder triggered her memory, and a lot of what she said came flooding back into her brain. Oh God! She damn near confessed to him! As a drunken mess at that! She was so humiliated.

He must think I’m a fuckin’ joke, she told herself. Just some dumb kid with a crush.

“You don’t need to say anything,” Duncan said. “I just wanted to make sure things weren’t awkward between us now. So I figured the best way to do that is to let you know up front that I know none of that was real.”

Not real? What did he mean by that?

“You don’t think I meant what I said?” Callie asked him.

Duncan gave her a sad smile.

“You really going to make me say it?” he said. “Callie, I don’t know if I’d even have a chance with you if I were my actual size. At three inches tall? Of course you wouldn’t be interested. You said so yourself last night; you had a ton of ‘hot guys’ coming after you in that club. Regular-sized guys.”

Duncan paused for a moment, lowering his head and looking off to the side.

“So while I appreciate those compliments you screamed at me before you passed out, I already know it would be moot for me to try and compete with that field,” he said.

Callie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This whole time, Duncan just assumed he didn’t have a shot with her? Does that mean … would he have asked her out already if he thought he did?

“It wouldn’t be,” she said quietly. “Moot, I mean. It wouldn’t be moot.”

As Callie gazed down at him with questioning eyes, she saw Duncan turn back to her, a shocked expression etched into his face. She could almost see the gears turning in his head, piecing together what was happening. She loved how his mind worked!

She just hoped that she read between the lines of what he was saying the right way. She was still worried that he didn’t actually feel the same way, that maybe he was using his size as an excuse to let her down easy or something. So she could feel her heart almost jump out of her chest when she saw Duncan walking toward her folded hands.

Duncan stopped in front of her hands, laying his own right hand on top of the middle joint of her right index finger. He rubbed it slightly as he looked up into her eyes with a comforting smile.

“Are you a carpenter?” he asked. “Because you’re giving me wood.”

Callie blinked. Then she started to chuckle, which turned into full-throated laughter. She couldn’t stop laughing. A feeling of warm giddiness had overtaken her. He did feel the same way! She wanted to kick herself for all the nonsense and worrying she let get in the way, but she was too happy to dwell on such things at the moment.

“Well, now that you’ve successfully been wooed,” Duncan said as her laughter finally subsided. “Callie Voss, would you do me the honor of letting me take you out tomorrow night?”

Take her out? What did he mean by that? Where would they go? What if other people saw him? How would they—

Fuck it, Callie told herself. No more worries.

“I’d like that,” she answered with an infectious smile.