Ben pulled out his phone for the seventh time and sighed when he saw that only four minutes had passed. Not knowing what else to do, he just looked around at the place. He sat in a booth in the back corner of Tommy’s Pie, a local pizzeria. As far as pizza restaurants go this place was nothing special. The boots and tables went around the room in a ‘U’ shape, with the counter/kitchen in the very center. The walls were lined with black and white pictures dating all the way back to the 1920’s. No one knows why, though, the place has only been around for barely thirty years. Around this time a decent number of people were there for lunch and the cooks toiled away at the ovens, trying to complete orders in good time. Just as Ben was about to check his phone again he looked up and grinned, putting his phone back in his pocket. Then he stood up to greet the friend he hadn’t seen in a year. 
   

Mark Fisher stood at about six feet tall, making him roughly three inches shorter than Ben. He had dark, ebony skin and dark eyes to match. His hair was neat but thick, with some beard stubble growing back in after having recently been shaved. He wore sweat pants, and a black T-shirt over top of a white long sleeve shirt. He strolled on up to Ben, neither one even bothering to hide their grins.
  

  “You’re a sight for sore eyes,” Ben remarked just as he approached him.

“Glad to see your eyes ain’t too sore from ogling Amy to notice,” Mark shot back.

    The two of them laughed as they clasped hands and hugged. It was one of those manly hugs, with plenty of back slapping. As they pulled away Ben looked around. “Now where’s that other pain in the ass at?” he asked.
   

 Mark shrugged. “I don’t know. He hasn’t answered any of my texts. Should be here any minute though.”
   

Sure enough, after only six minutes, Johnny Rice swaggered in through the doors. Standing at five feet and ten inches tall, Johnny was the shortest of the three, though not by much. He had dirty blonde hair he always gelled a bit in the front to make it stand up, green eyes, and a light complexion to his skin. He wore a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, bluish-grey jeans, Converse sneakers, and a pair of sunglasses. Unlike the last time he saw them in person, though, he now wore a full on beard. “Well aren’t you two a sight for sore-”
   

 “Already said it,” Ben interrupted.
   

Johnny stopped mid step, lowered his shades, and looked between the two of them. “Well fuck you then, I’m out.”
  

  Mark couldn’t keep his lips from twitching into a smile. “What’s with the dead animal on your face? You taking a job as lumber jack, or a truck driver?”
   

“What? You got a problem with it?” Johnny demanded.
   

“It’s not a problem Johnny, but it doesn’t compute either.” Ben explained.
   

Johnny rolled his eyes. “Why the hell did I even bother?”

“Just shut up and get over here,” Mark said.
   

Just as before the friends embraced each other. Ben, Mark, and Johnny have always been close friends, ever since elementary school. They learned parkour together just to help escape bullies. They survived middle school, high school, as well as the events that took place last year. After senior year, however, the three ended up finally splitting ways as they went off to college. Johnny and Mark both left town to go to two separate colleges. It wasn’t that they wanted to split up, it was just a matter of which college was better for the majors they had in mind. Only Ben decided to stay home and commute to college, studying environmental engineering. All in all neither of them have seen each other, in person, in a year and had a lot of catching up to do.

*****

“Wow,” Johnny breathed. “I almost forgot what it was like walking up to this place.”

    “Imposing, isn’t it?” Ben agreed.

    “Man, we got into some serious shit here. Remember?” Mark asked with a grin.

    Johnny snorted. “When the fucking national guard shows up, that’s an understatement.”

    “Hey. You guys coming or what?” Ben called out as he walked towards the elevator doors.

    Mark just shrugged. “Alright. Let’s go see the 150 ft woman.”

    Amy Jackson’s house was nothing short of unbelievable. From the outside it looked like a one story house, made of concrete, but scaled for someone as big as Amy. The roof was flat and covered in specially upgraded solar panels. Likewise there were wind turbines in the back of her house. Keeping a building as big as Amy’s house powered took a lot of energy, so current methods had to be upgraded heavily in order to accomodate. Now solar panels can absorb twice as much energy in half the amount of time. Next to the giant door was a set of smaller doors. It would be dangerous to allow doors that stayed on the ground where Amy walks. These doors lead to an elevator that would carry someone up to a platform, about 100 feet off the ground, putting them about level with Amy’s remarkable chest.

    Together the three of them stepped into the elevator and began their ascent up.

    Mark looked around confused as elevator music began to play. “Frank Sinatra?”

    Ben nodded. “Apparently Amy’s dad is a big Sinatra fan.”

    After a second of pondering that Mark just shrugged. “He’s pretty good, Sinatra.”

    The doors opened after a minute and they stepped out onto the platform and into Amy’s house. The inside of Amy’s house is actually very at odds with it’s outside appearance. While on the outside it looks like a plain concrete house, the inside is a typical girl’s room. The walls were painted a nice sky blue, a bed with purple blankets was on the side of the room exactly opposite the platform, and the carpet was of a light beige color. At the wall to the left of the platform was a giant dresser with a mirror, at the right wall were a few shelves lined with stuffed animals. To the right was also a kitchen and bathroom. Next to her bed was a desk with a giant laptop and lamp on it. Amy sat on a chair, taken from that desk. She sounded to be talking to herself but stopped mid sentence when she heard the elevator chime signal someone’s arrival. As soon as the three of them stepped out of the elevator she jumped to her feet.

    “Mark! Johnny!” she exclaimed. “Oh my God, you guys are back!”

    Without giving them a chance to recover from the shockwave of her voice, Amy scooped Johnny and Mark up in her hands and pressed them to her chest in a hug. She was gentle enough that they could still breath fine, yet she rocked back and forth fast enough to make their vision fade in and out.

    “Oh my God,” Amy spoke quickly as she continued her violent hug. “It’s been two months since we last Skyped, and about a year since we’ve hung out. You guys have to tell me everything about what a college university is like! Is it big? Is it like a mini city? What are the classes like? Are the teachers nice? What do college students do when they don’t have class? Have you been to any parties? Did you meet any girls?”

    Suddenly a throat cleared. “Amy, I think your friends are about to pass out.”

    Ben turned to see a woman sitting at one of the tables left for visitors. The first thing about her that struck Ben was her age, she was older than all of them. Probably somewhere around twenty three or twenty four if he had to guess. Another odd observation was that she was dressed in formal business attire, much like one would wear to a job interview. Still, she was quite pretty. Her reddish-blonde hair was kept back in a ponytail yet bangs framed both sides of her face. She held a folder in one hand and a pen in the other.

    Amy blushed deeply when she realized she was overdoing it. She gently set Mark and Johnny down and blushed a deeper red as they staggered and fell. “Sorry guys,” Amy whispered.

    “It’s . . . ok,” Johnny replied weakly. “I didn’t . . . feel like holding onto . . . that pizza I just ate anyway.”

    Amy giggled a bit before clearing her throat and gesturing to the woman sitting down. “Guys, this is Betty Collins. She’s studying Anatomy and Physiology at the University of California in San Diego. As part of her final she has to write a big research paper and she wants to write about me.” She turned to Betty. “These are the friends I was telling you about. Ben, Mark, and Johnny.”

    Ben quirked an eyebrow at that statement. “Researching you? Is that going to involve any experiments or something?”

    “No no, nothing like that.” Betty chuckled as she walked towards them. She had a very lush voice. “I’m merely here to observe and ask questions. From what I understand, Amy’s parents have gone to great lengths to prevent any testing from being done on her.”

    Amy nodded. “But, since she’s a college student just asking questions, they have no problem in her researching me.”

    Betty stopped right in front of the three of them and paused. Her eyes, as lovely as they were, seemed very off putting. They took in all three of them, gazing, studying, memorizing, and storing away every detail about them. It was unnerving, thinking she had just made a mental file on all three of them. “Amy told me a lot about you. How you three stood up for her when the town wanted to send her away. I was amazed to hear about what happened.”

    Mark shrugged. “Once she kidnapped us we didn’t have much of a choice.”

    “Kidnapped you?” Betty asked. The corners of her mouth quirking up in another smile as she turned her head towards Amy, who just blushed again.

    “It’s not what you think.”

    Betty nodded. “Well I’m definitely going to have to hear that story. But I’m out of time for today. It was nice meeting you three.” She turned to fully face Amy. “I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me and agreeing to help Amy. I’ll be back tomorrow around the time we discussed to begin.”

    “Anytime Betty. I look forward to it.” Amy replied.

    They waved their goodbyes as Betty stepped into the elevator and left. Once she was gone Mark turned to Amy. “She seems nice. She single?”

    At first Amy tried to scowl disapprovingly at him, but gave up as a smile spread across her lips. She shook her head with a sigh. “Honestly. I don’t even know why I’m happy to see you guys again.”

    “Awwww, you hear that?” Johnny asked. “The big, mean giantess actually missed us.”

    “This is coming from Mr Road Kill over there?” she shot back as she leaned back into her chair. “Seriously dude, what is on your face?”

    Johnny rubbed a hand over his new beard as he grumbled. “You’d honestly never believe me if I told you.”

    The four of them all shared a laugh together. The guys took a seat as Amy began asking them what life was like at each of their respective colleges. There wasn’t much to talk about on her end, since she went to college online. She did, however tell them about all the activities she’d been doing for the town. After it was announced that she would be doing community service as penance for her actions, the Mayor said he would collect requests from anyone who had a task for Amy to do. Considering how big of a town they lived in, it wasn’t a surprise that requests flooded in. Speaking of which, Amy made sure to invite them all  to the big Memorial Day Barbeque at the park in two weeks. She’d be helping to transport things like grills, tables, chairs, food, and fireworks.

    “Yeah, we’ll be there.” Ben said. “Consider it a promise.”