Eventually Cadence fell asleep, leaving me alone with Keira. I had since quit crying, but the physical contact was comforting as I stared blankly into the distance riding the rise and fall of Cadence's breathing.
Keira glanced over at me every now and then, rolling her eyes. I really couldn't blame her. It was the 2nd time in as many days that somebody had to cuddle and baby me. I didn't want my size to be such a blatant handi-cap but in my defense, both Cadence and Tess had been pretty accommodating.
A short time later, the frequency of her yawning caught up with her and Keira stood up to go to bed.
"Do you want. . .the lights left on?" She asked, struggling to be decent to me.
"Nah. . . . Can you. . . .take me to my room?" I asked. Awkwardly.
Keira let out the heaviest sigh I've ever heard, before walking over to me.
"Fine! Let's go!" She said, totally exasperated as she stuck her hand out and plucked me off of Cadence's chest by the back of my shirt.
She shut off the lights and walked up the stairs, depositing me on the landing before continuing on to her room. I only stood there, knowing I wasn't quite done bothering her for the night. I weighed my other options heavily for a few minutes before making the decision. I figured it was best to go talk to her before she fell asleep and I had to wake her.
I walked down the balcony past Cadence's room and around the corner to her closed door. I took a breath, and knocked. I heard the thumping of big feet, before the door opened. Keira looked clear over my head, obviously expecting Cadence. Her face looked confused, before she looked down and saw me. She only gave me a look of distaste.
She said nothing, but the door was immediately closed in my face.
I sighed, and knocked again. . .
As expected, the door opened again. This time I was greeted with the bottom of a fuzzy thigh high sock poised to stomp me into the ground.
"What the fuck do you want?!" Keira demanded, in an almost whiny voice.
I caught her steal a glance down at Cadence, and I knew I had her. Nervously, I walked out from under her foot and into her room.
She let out a an irritated grunt, and turned to pursue me.
"Preston, you're about 3 seconds away from getting stomped out!" Keira said, loud enough to be intimidating, but quiet enough that Cadence wouldn't hear her.
"I need a favor!" I blurted out, not wasting any time.
"No!" She replied without hesitation, pointing towards the door.
"Please Keira! It's important." I pleaded, putting my hands together in a begging motion.
"I don't care! I've had enough of you! This is your last warning to get out of my room!" She threatened, folding her arms and glaring at me.
I knew that she wasn't bluffing, and that I had probably been pushing my luck up to this point. In a final show of desperation, I got on my knees and bowed, still begging. I'm not sure if she was moved by my submission or just felt bad for me, but she at least decided to hear me out.
"Jesus! What do you want?!" She demanded, her voice dripping with irritation.
"I. . . Need a ride tomorrow!" I exclaimed, sure that a giant foot was going to come crashing down on me at any moment.
"Go ask Cadence!" She replied almost in a shout, before covering her mouth in fear that she had been too loud.
"I can't! She can't know about it." I tried to explain, but I could tell my secrecy was going to piss her off.
She visually struggled with the urge to inflict any type of harm on me, clenching her fists.
"And where do you want a ride to?" She snapped finally.
". . . . Mario's." I said, quietly.
Keira's face grew red, and she stomped past me and closed her bedroom door. She then turned around and layed into me.
"Mario's? He lives a fucking hour and a half away! Not only do I not want to spend that much time with YOU, you know that I can't stand HIM either! Plus. . . Whose paying for the gas for that trip, huh?" She shouted, not caring if Cadence heard her or not.
"I'll give you. . .whatever you want!" I offered, knowing I would probably regret it.
Keira stood glaring, considering my offer.
"I want the painting." She said finally.
The confused look on my face gave her a clue that I didn't know which one she meant.
"The one you had Cadence hide from me!"
Relieved that she didn't want the one Cadence had just gotten me, I agreed.
"Yeah sure. That's fine." I said, standing up from my prone position.
"Good." Was all Keira said, before I was snatched off the floor and carried out of her room.
Keira walked down the hall, and into Cadence's room, where she grabbed the painting under her arm. Next, she continued on to my room, where she knelt, and tossed me roughly to the floor. I bounced on to my back, knocking the wind out of me.
Before I could catch my breath, Keira planted her big foot on my chest, pressing down hard enough that I couldn't breathe.
"The next time you come into my room without permission, you're fucking done! Understand?" She Threatened.
I only groaned and nodded in response.
"Good! Be ready first thing in the morning. I'm not wasting my whole day with you so we need to get on the road. " She informed me, before taking her foot off of me, and leaving, pulling the door so it was almost closed.
The morning came all too soon, as I was woke up by Keira kicking my door open and flipping on the light.
"Let's go, I don't have all da-
Keira stopped mid-sentence and when I stuck my head above the sea of covers, I saw why. . .
She was staring at the painting Cadence had gotten me yesterday. More accurately, she was staring at the painting that I had done. The painting that SHE had pawned. The painting that had been my first to be featured in a big city gallery.
"Day. . ." She finished, slightly stunned as she walked into my room just staring.
"Are you ok?" I asked, knowing full well what her deal was. I just wanted to see how she would react.
She shook her head and played it off.
"Yeah, I'm fine! Put some clothes on and let's go!" She said, not even mentioning the painting and I knew why.
It was an admission of guilt. Now that my favorite and most important painting was back and staring her right in the face, she had to admit that pawning it was the shittiest thing she could have done to me, while thinking I was dead. It wasn't a secret how much the painting meant to me.
Every artist has one piece that means the world to them, and she crossed a line by selling it that you don't cross. But. . . . Seeing as how I had to spend the next few hours with her, I though better of it than to confront her about it.
I climbed out of bed and 20 minutes later we were on the road to Mario's. The trip actually felt kind of normal as we began to argue about radio stations and music. We also debated local and worldwide artists. To my surprise, she didn't question WHY we were going to see Mario and that definitely relieved some of the potential strain on our relationship.
Eventually we pulled up in the alley behind Mario's shop. Besides being a sculpture, Mario also ran a automotive repair shop by day, and it was technically business hours so I knew he would be there..
"Ok, before we go in there. . . . I want you to promise me you aren't going to act like an asshole in there." I said in a serious tone.
Keira gave me an almost comical look of distaste.
"First of all. . . Fuck you! Second, don't tell me what to do! I'm not the one you need to worry about. Mario is always the asshole when I'm around!" She spat, undoing her seatbelt and opening her door.
She snatched me out of the passenger seat and checked to make sure nobody was looking before walking into the open overhead door on the back of the garage.
Mario stuck his head out from under the hood of a car and his face said it all when he saw Keira walking up to him.
"And to what do I owe the pleasure, Red?" He asked, not concealing his feelings of distaste for her.
"Fuck you too, Mario!" Keira said, flipping him off. "I'm not the one who is here to see you in this dump!" She finished, before revealing me embarrassingly from under her shirt.
Mario's eyes got huge and he rushed to me, taking me from her and hugging me.
"Thank God you're ok!" He exclaimed as tears ran down his face. "I'm. . I'm so sorry Preston!" He bawled.
Keira just looked on, having no clue what was happening.
"I'm fine Mario! No harm done." I lied.
He looked me over, not believing that she hadn't done anything to me.
"What did she do to you? What kind of fucked up deal did you agree to?" He asked, carrying me over to his makeshift lounge made up of old car seats and a couch.
He set me down on a seat and took the one next to me. Keira sat on the couch.
"How do you know about the deal? I asked, confused.
"Edith always makes a deal. . . It's how she gains leverage over you and makes you compliant." Mario answered, somberly.
"Wait!" Keira interuppted. "This is about Edith? Cadence's mom?" She questioned, confused.
Mario went quiet, and let me answer that question.
"Yeah. . . She uhh. . " I began.
"Don't even bother! I know you're just going to lie anyway!" She said, cutting me off and looking away.
"What did she do to you, Preston? You don't seem to be hurt so that's good." Mario commented.
"I really don't want to talk about it." I said, looking down. To my right, Keira scoffed loudly.
"I understand. . . . I imagine since she didn't just kill you outright, she must want something from you?" Mario asked, ignoring Keira. Unsurprisingly, she couldn't ignore him.
"What do you mean "just kill him outright"?" She demanded, a look of concern on her face. "What the fuck are you guys talking about?!"
"Look" I said, taking a deep breath. "Long story short, Cadence's mom is making me move out, and probably not talk to Cadence ever again."
Sure it was missing a ton of information, but I thought it was a satisfactory answer.
"That sounds like standard Edith. . . . What is she going to do if you don't?" Mario said, fully understanding exactly what I was going through.
"Well. . . I was in a pretty bad way when I got to Cadence's place. We fucked up and Edith found out about it. Now, she is threatening to take me back to where I came from."
"What a fucking cunt man!" Mario fumed.
"Wait! You expect me to believe. . . . That Cadence's mom. . . Has the ability to take you back to the "evil woman's" house?" Keira questioned.
"Yeah, pretty much." Was all I said, quietly.
"Well first of all. . . How would she even find this mystery girl, huh? Like finding a random stranger in a city this size? Doubt it! And 2nd, you think Cadence would let her take you? No fucking way! And 3rd, what do you have to do with any of this, Mario?" She rationalized.
"Don't underestimate her. She is a bad bitch. Some of Cadence's and her brother's friends didn't take her seriously and she fucked their lives up for good, believe me. She has connections all over the state, and she can dig up whatever dirt she wants to on anyone.
"So wouldn't it be best to just not have any "dirt" for her to dig up?" Keira said, implying Mario's shady background.
"In a perfect world maybe. . . But in the real world, people do what they have to do." Mario said, ominously.
"Oh, right! So stealing people's lawn ornaments and bullshit, then storing it in Cadence's garage is "doing what you have to do?" Keira scoffed at his logic.
"It's nothing that you would understand, Red!" Mario said, trying to justify his actions.
Keira stood up and walked over to where Mario was sitting.
"You know nothing about me, you little shit!" She said, venom in her voice. " I'm a skinny, 6 foot 3 red head! You think no one ever made life tough for me?! But unlike you, I decided I wasn't going to take it sitting down and after enough beatdowns people decided I wasn't somebody they wanted to mess with!"
"So great! When Edith decides she has a problem with you, you can just kick her ass huh?" Mario said, leaning back to get away from Keira.
"The thing is, she has no reason to have a problem with me! I'm not tiny, and I'm not a thief!" Keira said, calming down a bit and returning to the couch.
"Ha! You're definitely not tiny, nobody will argue that, that's for sure! But a thief. . . I mean, that is the only reason we k is who you are. . " Mario informed her with a grin.
"Oh shut the fuck up with that! That is such old news! I'm better than Preston is now, so it doesn't matter anyway!" Keira said, proudly sticking her nose up at both of us.
Mario let out an obnoxious laugh.
"I don't know about all that, but whatever you need to tell yourself Red.
"Ok. . . So she blackmails her kids' friends. How is it that Cadence lets her keep doing it?" Keira pressed, doubtful of the whole thing.
"It's basically a hostage situation. If anyone of her victims tells Cadence, she finishes not only them, but everyone else she has under her power." Mario explained both to Keira and inadvertently to me.
Keira sat silently, just mulling over the information.
"If you know so much about her, she must have something on you too?" She ascertained.
"Unfortunately yes. . . I got on her radar a few years ago when Cadence was letting me store my. . . . "Inventory" from your city, in her warehouse. That led to her looking into me and digging up some unwise business decisions and otherwise, that I made when I was younger. Decisions that, if the right people were made aware of, could mean the end of this shop. My grandfather's shop. On top of me possibly getting locked up and abandoning my wife and kids. I've. . . Been under her thumb ever since. " Mario finished, hanging his head.
"So wait. . . Yesterday you saw that she was with Preston, and you knew what she was capable of and you could have saved him, but you just left him alone with her!?" Keira shouted, as she suddenly put all the pieces together.
"Keira. . . It. . It wasn't like that. . I" Mario stuttered.
"Oh really? Then what WAS it like?" Keira spat, standing up to her imposing height and stepping up to loom over Mario.
"I just-
"Do you know how fucked up that is?! It's the first time you see your friend after 7 months of thinking he is dead, and you have the perfect chance to help him in his time of need, and what do you do? You leave him alone with some manipulative cunt who is 10 times his size, who is likely to kill him might I add, to save your own ass!" She screamed.
I really didn't know where this was coming from. . . Keira didn't even like me, but here she was. . . . "Defending me" I guess you could call it. It was weird, but she had a point.
"I said I was sorry! I panicked, ok? It happens to the best of us!" Mario said, standing up so Keira wasn't bearing down on him, but like me, his meager height of 5'7, did very little to match up to Keira's lanky 6'3. She dwarfed him as they stood toe to toe, Keira furious, and Mario on the defensive.
"That's no excuse! All you had to do was anything, and you fucked that up! Now Preston is fucked because of you! Because YOU couldn't stand up to a bully in your pathetic life!"
Keira's face was red now, and her fists were clenched. I knew if I didn't intervene in some way, she was liable to rip Mario limb from limb.
"Don't get it twisted, child!" Mario came back with. "Edith isn't just some schoolyard bully! I have the well being of my own family to think about! Besides, you don't even like Preston anyway! What do you care?"
"Just because I don't like him, doesn't mean I want to see him dead. I would still lift a finger to save his life if the situation arose, you little piece of trash! Unlike you, I actually care about someone other than myself every now and then! The fact that Edith didn't want you around her daughter in the first place is proof enough of the kind of "man" YOU ARE! Preston's only crime is that he is small and that somebody he crossed paths with, decided to take advantage of him!"
I didn't think that Keira could get any louder. It echoed off the concrete walls of the shop. I never would have thought in a million years that she would fight so passionately for me. It was kind of awe inspiring.
"Get. . Get the fuck out of my shop!" Mario stammered, pointing to the door. He really wasn't an aggressive guy, so Keira on the verge of wrecking him, was more than a little overwhelming. "Preston. . I apologize, and I admit and acknowledge that I let you down! I'm sorry, but I'll talk to you sometime later, when she isn't around!" Mario said to me, without taking his eyes off of Keira.
"Fine! Let's fucking go! We've been in this trash pit long enough!" Keira sneered, before she snatched me off of my perch and stomped out of the shop. She placed me roughly on the passenger seat, before she started her car, and sped out of there.
We were silent for awhile, but I could tell something was on Keira's mind, and eventually she spoke.
"I honestly don't know what you and Cadence see in him! You two are literally the only ones who don't see how much of a piece of shit he is!" She said, having calmed down quite a bit.
"Yeah well. . . It's water under the bridge now. . " I said, absent mindedly.
"He is so lucky I didn't kick his little ass right then and there! I should have shoved him up the tailpipe of that car he was working on! " She fumed, just venting the last bit of anger.
"Remember when I told you not to act like an asshole in there? . . . Well, you kind of did just the opposite. . . " I joked cautiously, praying she wouldn't get more upset.
"Yeah, sorry! . . . I just get worked up sometimes, I mean what a little coward! Willing to more or less let you die so that Cadence's mom doesn't pick on him!" Keira half heartedly apologized.
"She. . . Does more than just "picks on him" I think. . ." I said, nervously. "Mario had real terror in his eyes, Keira."
"Ooohhh, poor Mario!" Keira cried, feigning pity. "You're so worried about him, but what about the "unspeakable things" she supposedly did to you?" She continued, insinuating that I was lying.
"There is no "supposedly". I said, refraining from saying anything I would pay for later.
"Well. . . You totally showed us how well you keep shit bottled up last night, didn't you?!" She scoffed.
I took a deep breath. She was wearing me down and pissing me off.
"You really want to know what the fuck she did to me!?" I snapped, losing my cool.
"It's not even that you need to tell ME. But all this crying and tit sucking you've been doing is kind of pathetic, is all I'm saying." Keira said, nonchalantly.
"Fuck you! The last time I was crying, is because somebody decided to punch someone 1/6th their size!" I shouted.
"Maybe somebody shouldn't talk shit to someone that much bigger than himself, huh?" She laughed, completely snuffing out the anger in my voice.
Knowing that arguing with her was a losing battle, I stood up and crawled over her center console and into her back seat.
"Aww, where are you going?!" She cooed, looking back at me, while still trying to focus on the road. "Are you going to throw a little hissy fit back there?
I was past my limit now. She was pushing my buttons exactly like Tegan always did, but unlike with my sister, there was nothing physically that I could do. I only sat in the back seat behind her where she couldn't see me.
We drove in silence for miles, me thinking about my future moves and Keira thinking about who knows what. Finally she spoke to me.
"Hey listen. . . . I know I'm giving you shit. . .but seriously. . . If you need to talk to somebody about it. . . . I'm here. You. . .didnt seem alright last night. Like you saw a ghost or something. And I'm not stupid. . . . I know it had something to do with that woman you were with. " She said, laying out the invitation.
I sat quietly for a few minutes before I found the words.
"Honestly. . . . I really don't know if I don't want to talk about it because of the shame of it all, or because I would have to relive it."
"There's no shame in it! They took advantage of your size! I'm sure you did all you could. . . . You can't keep just holding on to it. . . . Sooner or later it all comes rushing out. Believe me." She assured me, and I was honestly considering telling her.
"Maybe some day I'll tell you. . . But you have to admit that it feels weird even hanging out together at all. . . . Let alone sharing life altering experiences with you." I said, truthfully.
"Yeah, it's sort of strange, but then again I never believed you were an unredeemable asshole. I was upset that you were tearing ME down, but from the outside looking in I could tell you were mostly a good guy. You are a thorn in my side, but far from the highest hurdle I've ever overcome." Keira explained, just staring through the windshield.
"Yes my resentment came from you kicking me while I was down, but also from the fact that I somehow lost. . . "The privilege" of being a fan of yours. To have someone who inspires you so much, treat you like garbage. . . " She trailed off.
Damn.
"Keira. . . You have to understand. . ." I began.
She said nothing, allowing me to collect my thoughts.
"I really. . . Never thought of it that way. . But it just clicked. I was just a self-centered . . .AM. . a self-centered kid. I was just beginning to get real recognition for my art, and I thought you were somebody just trying to ride my wave, you know. It didn't occur to me that you actually looked up to me. . ." I explained, somewhat looking for at least a bit of. . .understanding?
"What, you never had anyone admire you before? It was pretty obvious that I adored you. Before I even knew who you were. It just sucked that I fucked up and you couldn't let it go and actually cultivate and teach me anything." Keira replied, a hint of bitterness on her voice.
"Honestly no. Nobody ever looked up to me. I have a younger sister, but our relationship reminds me a lot of you and me. From about middle school on up, we fought like cats and dogs."
"Well were you constantly a prick who tried to stifle her hopes and dreams?" Keira remarked with a smirk.
I couldn't help but laugh.
"Nah. It's just the way things are. . . Or were, anyway. I keep forgetting that I'm legally dead. She was just a super girly "daddy's little princess" type person, and that clashed with. . . Whatever I am. She thought I was pompous and pretentious, I thought she was shallow and too concerned with what other people thought of her. I don't know where it began, but all throughout high school, I made her look stupid in front of my friends and she made me look stupid in front of her friends."
"And do you regret doing that now? Knowing that might be her last memory of you. . . ?" Keira questioned, keeping her eyes on the road.
"Ehh. . Sometimes. I mean. . . I thought about it at times, but I also had bigger problems to deal with.
"That's fucked up, Preston." Was all I got in response.
"Yeah well. . . It's sad to say, but Tegan was probably my closest relationship in my family. ." I admitted.
"Something you want to talk about?" She asked.
"I won't bore you with the details." I said, avoiding the question.
20 minutes later, we walked back into Cadence's apartment.
Giantess World
