If there was any positive to Tanner being away from home it was the reprieve from having to think about Ingrid, now that was out the window courtesy of Abigail. It was up for debate if she made an astute guess or if she knew more than she let on.

“Before Julie dropped you off, I overheard Abel talking to her over the phone. I don't know exactly what happened, based off the pieces I heard though Ingrid did something pretty bad.” She expounded.

“It was a little argument that's all.” Tanner downplayed; Abigail was too clever to fall for it though.

“I'm pretty sure it was more than an argument that brought you here. You can tell me what happened.”

He hardly spoke a word about it to Ivory or Julie; both had the clarity to tell he didn't want to recount the event. Now that some time has passed he could at least talk a little bit about it, plus it helped that Abigail was more of a neutral party.

“She was drinking and... long story short I got a load of how she really feels about me.”

“Do you think she meant what she said?”

She's better off without me.

Idealism wasn't a trait Tanner possessed in abundance, no matter how deep he read into everything Ingrid said, there was nothing that could dissuade him from thinking they weren't her bottled up feelings. “...She sounded like she was holding it in for a while.” He never would of thought it would break him up inside as much as it did, if it was someone like Marcelle who was naturally mean spirited he probably would've taken it with some salt. To take it from Ingrid, someone whom he respected, admired, and loved, she may as well have stomped his heart underneath the ball of her foot. “It just hurts for someone that close think so... lowly of you.” Tanner's words were straining and he wanted to hit himself for almost getting too emotional.

Abigail keenly noticed his mood lessening and drew her finger to his cheek. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry about it.”

“It's okay... I hate feeling like I'm a nuisance to everyone.” Tanner admitted. It was something Ivory and Ingrid would never admit to him, however when push came to shove it was an irrefutable fact in his mind that he was a hindrance to them.

Abigail twirled a strand of her black hair and looked off to her side. “I don't think you're a nuisance.. I like having you around.”

“Thanks Abigail-”

“Gail.” She corrected.

“What?”

“Call me Gail.” She clarified. Abigail sounded so plain and boring to her, sometimes her peers called her Abby, which sounded too immature, by process of elimination Gail was the best of the possible abbreviations.

“Ah, Gail thanks for listening, I didn't mean to bear my grievances out like that.”

“It's okay...I don't have many people I can talk to like this.” Gail said softly, her voice coming down to her whisper, trying not to sound embarrassed to say it.

“Blake, Abigail, we're home! Come downstairs, to help unload the car and make dinner!” Abel announced. The quickness that Abel could swap from being a soften-spoken person to barking orders never ceased to make Tanner flinch. It was debatable in his mind if it were good or bad luck that the parents returned when they did. He wasn't quite used to airing out his feelings and there intervention stopped him before he got too uncomfortable, however Gail turned out to be a very easy person to communicate with.

In timely fashion both girls were downstairs to help. Unsurprisingly Gail left Tanner at the counter while she and her sister went to unload the trunk of the car. To further predictably Blair was in full effect leading the conversation while she seasoned the chicken with Abel, Blake took care of the dishes in the sink, and Gail preparing the salad. Typically the matriarch had Blake to match her loquacious tendencies, after understanding the full ramifications of snapping at Tanner the way she did left her much less talkative than normal. This left Blair mainly listening to herself as she hummed, sung, and remarked on how she may get liposuction in the near future to lose 5-10 pounds.

Once all the food was prepared, everyone took their seats and Blair rationed out the food to everyone.

“Don't you think you overdid it with the portion size?” Abel asked. Tanner's plate resided in between Blair's and Gail's, despite using a smaller plate she still crammed it with as much food as everyone else.

“He's a growing boy, he needs to eat!” The rest of the dinner participants understood what she was saying, but were left in baffled silence at the fact that her statement could almost literally not be any more untrue.

“Just eat as much as you can.” Abel added to help his wife save face.

“I'll do my best...” Tanner said staring down the smorgasbord of food in front of him. It smelled very good, if she had gave him less of it he'd be a happy camper right now.

The tempo of conversation was much of the same with Blair dominating the flow and making it revolve around her vanity. “Did I tell you the cashier asked for my ID when I bought my wine?”

“I think he did that for his job security.” Gail corrected.

“Nu-uh, the sign said they weren't required to check if the customer looked over 27.”

“Isn’t your ego bloated enough?” Gail muttered.

“I bet if I got Botox I'd look 19 again.” Blair commented, taking a look at herself in the backside of a spoon. After she was done looking at her distorted reflection in the silverware, she looked down to Tanner’s plate. “It hardly looks like you took a bite dear.” It was even more noticeable when compared to her own plate that she cleaned to the letter.

It wasn't something he could really help, he didn't eat much and she drastically overloaded his plate. “I finished what I could.”

“Well don't mind me then.” Blair drove a fork into Tanner's plate, helping herself to the salad that looked virtually untouched.

It made Tanner’s stomach queasy to see her clearing sections of his plate that would take him days, maybe weeks to finish. He didn’t like watching people eat; no matter how graceful there table manners were, seeing people the size of buildings stuffing their faces, chomping away, and swallowing looked so grotesque. Moments like that served as a reminder no matter how civilized they appeared humans were still animals.

Blair deviously smiled swapping out utensils back for her spoon and positioned it behind Tanner and drove forward, getting a spoonful of salad and more importantly Tanner himself onto her silverware.

“Oh looks like I got myself a bonus topping.” She smirked bringing the spoon closer to her face. Hamming it up right when he was near her mouth she widely opened her jaw with an audible. “Aaaaah.”

Never mind the fact that Blair unwittingly startled Tanner by threatening to eat him; he stared mystified at the inside of her mouth. The human body was such a beautiful and disgusting thing. He should want to be far, far, away from the maw of doom that generated saliva and served as the primary means to crush food into unrecognizable pieces and transport it to dark pit of her belly. Towards the back he saw a few small pieces of lettuce at the end of her tongue that didn't get swallowed. Just thinking about being trapped in the damp prison and getting coated in saliva seemed gross to the highest degree, so why did he still find it so enthralling? Blake mentioned it earlier about cartoons making phenomena like shrinking look interesting. When he thought about it in more detail, he had seen a few cartoons with episodes revolving around shrinking and exploring the human body. To an extent he was as close as it gets to the real life version of that. It was gross yes, but who has ever had the possibility to literally step inside someone else’s mouth? How would it feel to touch her tongue or teeth, it’d probably be pretty slippery and humid in the pink cavern.

What the heck is wrong with me?

By the time he came out of his thoughts he realized that Blair already set him back on table and was bickering with her youngest daughter.

“Why'd you do that for, you could've scared him?” Gail argued.

Blair rolled her eyes at her daughter ruining her fun. “You guys are too serious with him, it was in good fun.”

“Because putting someone in your mouth is the epitome of fun…” Gail rebuked.

Blair huffed like a kid who lost an argument to their parent, reluctantly acknowledging her point. “Alright, I’m sorry Tanner.”

I’m going to piss my pants one of these days if you keep doing shit like that. “It’s okay.”

“You’re awfully talkative this evening Abigail.” Abel mentioned, spare for sporadic one or two word comments, it was unprecedented to hear her speak so much during dinner. Blair’s devious grin reemerged after her husband brought their daughter’s uncharacteristic chattiness.

Back to her introvert fashion Gail turned her head. “Am not.”

Blair was ready to press the subject. “I also have to come up and drag out of your room to get you to have dinner with us.” The theory was formulating. “And you came downstairs holding Tanner.” Her hypothesis was set. “Does my little girl have a crush?”

The fact that her hair framed around her cheeks and her head being off to the side kept everyone from seeing her blushing face. “…Shut up.”

Abel coughed nervously, realizing his initial statement triggered the subsequent inquiries from his wife. “Blair now, don’t go and embarrass her.”

“It’s okay sweetheart, we can take care of dishes if you want to go back upstairs with Tanner and-” A sharp glare from Abel indicated for Blair to stop before she made another ill-advised comment.

“Anyway, you can excuse yourself Abigail.” Abel succinctly said.

“Whatever…” Gail said scooting her chair back and standing up. She debated whether to pick up Tanner and supply credence to her mother’s speculation. Meanwhile the boy was trying every form of non-verbal communication besides outright begging Gail to not leave him next to Blair. He didn’t dislike her, on the contrary he found her carefree spirit to be as enjoyable as Blake’s, but she was an exhausting person to be around when riled up and she was always a hair-trigger away from going from zero to one-hundred. Keeping her head down, she hastily scooped Tanner into her hands and went back upstairs.

She wasn’t as calm as before, being rattled by Blair’s comments made her palms a little sweaty and had her moving a tad too fast for Tanner’s liking. She relaxed substantially once back in the security of her room.

“I swear, why does my mother have to be so embarrassing?” She ranted, pacing back and forth. “We couldn't have a simple meal without her being...ugh.”

“She's an interesting one, but can we talk while I'm sat down.” Tanner mentioned, starting to feel a motion sickness from Gail's constant changes in directions while in her hand.

Coming back to her senses she set him down on the top her game shelf. She exhaled resting her elbows on it as well. “Sorry about that.”

“No worries, it's not like I have the best of dating track records. Girls aren't exactly lining up to be with a guy only slightly taller than their pinky.”

Gail's heart sunk at Tanner's self-deprecation. “...You don't need to be any taller.” Her heart raced as she tried to express herself. “I like you just the way you are.”

Tanner was flustered beyond words, has anyone ever said that to him? Does he even like the way he is?

“Besides, I've never had a boyfriend either...” Gail continued.

Tanner was in unfamiliar territory, he's found girls attractive before, but between shrinking and his general absence from the social sphere of life he's never been in a position to have to talk extensively about romance. What does he do in this situation, what does he say? His heart was beating in his ears, his tongue felt dryer than it ever has, his legs felt like they were made of jelly, was that all normal? To cap things off Gail was staring right at him, being downstairs with Blair didn’t sound so bad anymore.

“I like you Tanner.”

Elated? Overjoyed? Astonished? Tanner wondered if that is how he should be feeling, if so he was the furthest thing from it. Instead he felt like a boulder was dropped on his shoulders and his body was hundred times heavier.

“You don’t like me?” Gail asked her tone sounding disappointed taking his silence for rejection.

Tanner responded quickly, not wanting to unintentionally upset her; it was pivotal he picked his words carefully, which would be a difficult task in it of itself when he was a novice in romance talk. “It-It's not like that... I like you a lot, it's just...”

“So why don't you want me to be your girlfriend?”

I don’t know, good question. Will a confession ever happen again in my life? It was a painful truth that Tanner was prepared to live with perpetual singlehood and that he’d never have a love life for the duration of his existence. His chance to have one arrived on a silver platter and he didn’t have an inkling of a clue on what to do with the first and possibly the only confession he’ll ever receive in his life. There was one clear question in his mind though “Why me?”

“What do you mean?” Gail asked.

“...You don't think it's weird?”

Gail still didn’t understand what he was getting at. “I’m not following.”

Was she seriously going to make him say it? “I'm tiny... Most girls would want a guy, bigger than them, who can protect them, who can-”

“Why does it matter?” Tanner was prepared to give at least 10 more reasons to why he'd make for an unconventional (putting it lightly) choice of boyfriend material until Gail cut him off.

Because... societal norms? Again Tanner had a whole lot of nothing to offer for a response. From everything he’s seen in media, couples he’s seen in real life, and the chatter he’s heard between his sister and Blake that's just the way things were supposed to operate. Obviously he knew there were couples out there where the girl was taller than the guy, but himself with any normal sized girl would be taking it to an extreme.

“Exactly.” Gail responded, his silence proving confirmation of her point. “I don't care about any of those societal norms.” She added as if she read his mind. “What's the harm if the guy I like is smaller than me?”

Tanner shrugged indifferently, she wasn’t wrong. On the contrary everything she’s said has been spot on, but he couldn’t bring himself to agree with her manner of thinking.

Despite showing her bolder side up to this point, some of her timidity resurfaced briefly. “Besides… I think it's pretty cute how much smaller you are than me.”

He was floored at how easily she was able to admit that, whereas he was struggling to come to grips with what he believe maybe his own fetishes that would make him die in embarrassment to admit aloud. It takes a lot of teens significantly longer, heck maybe their whole life for some to realize the futility of caring what others think. It was praiseworthy for her to already have a good grasp on that concept. Frankly, Tanner envied her mental fortitude. “You don’t think it’s strange at all?”

Gail shook her head. “I’m always around people who are bigger and stronger than me. I'd like you if I was an inch taller than you or towered over you.”

She still saw apprehension on his face, for someone who resigned himself to an absence of a dating life this springing up for him was difficult to process.

“Maybe it'd be easier if I showed you how I felt.”

Tanner knew exactly what was coming when she said that and his body was frozen in place as she leaned closer, lips first. His first kiss was going to happen right now? On no level did this possibly compare to the pecks given to him by his family, this was from a girl who actually liked him. His primal brain wanted to abandon all semblances of decency and wanted to lunge body first into Gail's lips and smear the traces of clear lip gloss all over his body, what would it feel like for her affection to overwhelm his entire body this again was also something that only he would be able to experience. So what stopped him from giving into his beastly urges, a funny thing called conscience. For all intents and purposes he still shouldn't harbor any feelings for his step-sister after what happened, yet in the heat of the moment throughout this conversation he couldn't repress the lingering emotions he had in his heart. It wasn't right, he knew that; but it would be wrong for him to lead Gail on when he didn't reciprocate her feelings. When her lips were nearly in contact with his body, he finally backed away and spoke up.

“ Stop..It's not right, I.. there's someone I like.. I mean I think I like..”

“It's Ingrid isn't it?” Gail correctly assumed.

Is it that obvious? Tanner reluctantly nodded.

Her reaction? The worst one possible, it wasn't crying, it wasn't rage, it was.. nothing. She backed away, her demeanor shifting back to her resting bitch face. When that was her default mode it gave no indication if she was legitimately upset. He'd almost prefer a total mental breakdown rather than being left in limbo.

“I think it's time to put you back to your house in Blake's room, seeing how quiet she was at dinner she's probably ready to apologize.” Her tone was callous, not allowing Tanner to draw any sort of insight to how she took being turned down.

“Gai-..” Before he got a word out Gail scooped him into her palm and started walking towards the door only saying one sentence as she exited to the hallway.

“I wouldn't hurt you like she did.”