Ingrid opened the box of pizza that she ordered and brought into the living room in front of the television beside a disgruntled Tanner.

“ Why couldn't we have gotten an olive topping?” Tanner lamented at the pizza covered with mushrooms.

“ I hate olives.” Ingrid simply responded.

“ And I like olives, most people would settle these types of disputes with a coin flip or something.”

“ You can't even finish a whole slice of pizza and yet I should order your topping?” Ingrid casually explained, cutting off a small piece that would be manageable for his size.

“ I hate it when you're right, isn't being bigger enough?” Tanner conceded.

“ I try to juggle both.”

Switching gears Tanner knew what they both wanted to talk about now that Ivory was away“ So what do you think of mom dating again?”

Ingrid shrugged. “ I'm still trying to process it myself to be honest, it's weird to imagine after so long.”

“ I know it's before I entered the picture, but she really never dated since the accident?” Tanner vaguely worded out of sensitivity.

“ Not once. I guess I am happy Ivory's finally trying to move on, but I still think it's something we all should have talked about in detail and not last minute or at least meet him once. Like you said before what if he's some sort of man-whore or pig.”

Tanner laughed at the sort of role reversal going on. “ It's kinda funny how you're the one sounding like a parent right now.”

“ Ugh, whatever lets not try to worry ourselves to death and rot our brains on whatever is on TV.” Ingrid suggested., flipping channels to find a suitable program to distract her mind. All of three minutes into browsing she heard the doorbell.

“ You order something else?” Tanner asked. Whoever the visitor was they were enthusiastically ringing on the bell not giving them a moment to reach the door before ringing again.

“ Come on already Ingrid I know you're there, I can see the lights on from outside!” The outside guest shouted.

“ . .That voice is hard to mistake.” Tanner deduced.

Ingrid took her sweet time going to answer, knowing the ball of energy that awaited her. “ Why am I not surprised?”

As soon as the door opened a couple of centimeters the guest took initiative to push it open the rest of the way, inviting herself in.

“ So nice of you to come over with so much notice.” Ingrid said watching as her best friend Blake brisk past the door and into the living room.

Blake turned around to address her friend. “ How could you expect me to resist when I heard your mom was out?” In her mind that logic was sound and impeccable as she strided towards her friends younger brother.

“ And how is the weather way down there?” Blake asked locking eyes with him.

“ Pretty shady with you standing there. How's the weather way up in the stratosphere?” Though he quipped, it never ceased to cause him some degree of shock whenever he saw the towering Blake, especially when she stood next to Ingrid. His sister was no small fry possessing an athletic body and standing 5'7; seeing Blake's similarly framed body scaled up to 6'1 even the brash Ingrid sometimes looked petite by comparison.

“ Well played. So you guys really weren't pulling my leg about your mom being on a date?” Blake inquired, darting her eyes about to verify what she was told over the phone.

Ingrid scoffed, finding themselves back on the popular topic of the night. “ Yeah, she is.”

“ What a sad day. .” Blake sarcastically put her face in her forearm, fake sobbing. “ Your mom found a boyfriend before you, plan to follow in her lead? ”

Hook, line, and sinker, Ingrid took the bait and got defensive. “ I'm way too busy with soccer, maybe you 're the one who should be following my lead and you know actually TRY to take a sport seriously?” She found it a shame that her friend took her physical gifts for granted. Whereas her own energy was laser-focused, Blake's was erratic and impulsive which took her all over the place in her pursuits as an athlete. Starting alongside Ingrid in soccer for several years before growing bored and taking her prowess elsewhere. Her tremendous height made her a standout in basketball, track, and swimming leaving all those teams looking to recruit her. '

“ Screw that, I'm trying to find a boyfriend of my own.”

Ingrid rolled her eyes. That was one area where her friends height would never help her.“ Yeah I'm sure the guys are lining up to date a 6 foot tall amazon.”

Blake pouted and exhaled. “ Alright so I maybe a bit taller than the average girl. Still I can't help it if guys find me intimidating.” The statuesque young woman stated, running her hand down her toned and long legs.

“ Talk about understatements . .” Tanner thought to himself.

“ I need to find a guy who can look past my height. . .I'm sure Tanner wouldn't care. I mean, everyone to him is giant anyway, you don't mind me stealing him from you?” Blake teased making sure to stare at Ingrid while making that comment.

“Stop being weird, we maybe step-siblings but I'd never . . . just drop it.” Ingrid huffed obviously trying to not be bothered by her friends off colored remarks.

Blake laughed taking a seat on the sofa, knowing Ingrid since they were kids there families were close and she was among the few outsiders to know about Tanner and his condition. She was also efficient at pressing Ingrid's buttons knowing exactly how to get a rise out of her.

“ Seriously though I think it's great for your mom, especially with college being right around the corner and you'll be off in university. She'll need some extra company.” Blake reasoned.

Ingrid shook off her comments “ Oh it won't be that bad for her, I'd visit and she'll still have Tanner to keep her company.”

“ Sounds like it'd be a blast...” Tanner lowly uttered.

“ But there's certain things her boyfriend can do for her.” Blake motioned her hand into a fist and with her opposite jammed her index finger into the small opening between her index finger and thumb.

“ Thank you for that stunning visual.” A disgusted Ingrid said.

“ If you think that's bad, wait till' I tell you what I heard in the cafeteria today.”

At that juncture of the conversation Tanner sat down Indian style trying his best to focus on the television screen as Ingrid and Blake delved into school gossip. For as hard as he tried to focus on the screen there rising voices made it an increasingly difficult task as he was forced to hear snippets of there gossip regarding who was sleeping with whom, who back stabbed whom, or whose outfit looked plain ugly.

Turning up the volume on the television would have been his optimal solution, but with the remote seated next to Ingrid and her being equally invested in the conversation they were both too busy staring at each other, making astonished faces at every twist and turn of there stories to pay him any mind.

Blake was getting extra comfortable in the thick of things and decided to prop her long legs up to rest her feet on the edge of the table, nearby Tanner to his dismay.

“ At least she has the courtesy to have socks on.” He thought, if he had to put up with her bare feet he'd be weighing the possibility of a suicide dive off the table right about now. He'd ignore them altogether if he had the luxury, however the chance of a sudden move from her would result in him getting punted half way across the room if she got careless enough; leaving him with no other option than to get her attention.

Shouting he knew off the bat was out of the question, the voices belonging to the two giants behind him would easily conquer his own so physical stimuli was the only route to go. He sighed watching her foot occasionally sway from side to side knowing he had an uphill battle ahead of him. Tanner lowered his base and tried to give a nice hard shove to the monolith that was her left foot.

Even he had to laugh for how comically silly his effort was. “ Like trying to move a boulder.” He thought at the large appendage that was 3x his size. He bet she didn't feel a thing and the only response he was able to illicit was a slight curl of her toes. It'd be a waste of time and energy to keep going though he had a new curiosity brew, wondering how much further he could go without her noticing. Balling up his fist he gave her sole the hardest punch he could muster. Again, Blake hardly moved an inch and continued chatting away without missing a beat.

“ Heh, no reaction.” He confirmed. Initial assumption proven, Tanner happily tested other means of impact as a means of venting, throwing a couple of punches, kicking, and even a football tackle or two confident that the gigantic teen didn't feel a thing.

“ Enjoying yourself?”

Tanner nearly fell flat on his face as he was jolted out his zen, almost going red in embarrassment. “ . .How much of that did you see?”

“ Enough to see you making my foot into your own heavy bag.” Blake answered, giving her toes another curl.

“ Don't blame me, I had to entertain myself while you two were occupied in your daily social soap operas.”

“ Alright, I'll take the blame for being inconsiderate.” Ingrid admitted. “ I'll take you back to your house. I'll only be a second Blake.”

“ Why can't I come see his dollhouse?” Blake asked.

Tanner did a double take of her question. “ Dollhouse!? It's a regular house kinda. Scaled for my size. . .better yet. How do you even know about that?”

Blake smirked, pointing over at a guilty looking Ingrid “ You know girls talk about everything. Come on Ingrid, I've known you both forever can't I see it at least once?”

Ingrid didn't look any more enthused about the idea than Tanner did. “ I don't think that's a good idea.”

“ I'm only curious.” Blake pouted, trying to hide her excitement with pure intent.

“ It's the only place I can feel semi-normal, I'd rather not have you around gawking all around it and making me self-conscious.” Tanner stated resolutely.

Blake hardly saw the big deal of the matter and thought they were both overreacting. Tanner wasn't going to crack, but she knew whose skin to get under. “What are you so scared of Ingrid? You know I mean no harm.”

Ingrid as brash as she was didn't take kindly to that comment. “ I'm not scared of anything, lets just move on from it.”

Blake was anything but ready to move on. “ How about we make this interesting then, a challenge. 1 on 1 soccer match, first one to make a goal wins. If you win I'll leave the topic alone. But if I win you'll have to show it to me.”

Tanner looked to Ingrid hoping he had some sort of telepathic ability to mentally tell Ingrid all the reasons why it was absolutely pointless to accept her challenge, but with one look in her eyes he saw the fiery flames of a competitor. It was already a lose cause.

“ I'll set up the goals outside.” She declared.