It was a Sunday night in February, the snow was bad and the store was dead.  Andrew was dreading the drive home.  It was 9:30 now; he had an hour and a half left to finish closing down the deli and getting things ready for the morning shift Monday.

The salad bar had hardly been touched that night, unsurprisingly.  It was going to take some time to get all of the food cleared out and either stored or thrown away.  He checked the lettuce bins first. Sure enough, the huge lexan was almost completely full.  It was heavy, but he managed to pull it out and hauled it back to the walk-in refrigerator in the back of the department.  Things had been slow lately, so there was a lot of food sitting around in storage and not a lot of places to put the big tub of lettuce.  He thought about moving around some of the other stored items, but the chefs that prepped the food during the day would get irate when anyone touched or moved their things.  Andrew had been yelled at enough times in the past to know better.  There was a spot on the second to top shelf, about five and a half feet up, where he could slide the tub in.  That was going to be hard, since the lettuce was heavy and the shelf was as high up as he was tall (5'5", in shoes, actually), but he could probably do it.

He picked up the rectangular lexan.  He was going to have to put it in long ways for it to fit, so he turned it around that way and realized how awkward it was going to be trying to get it up there at this angle.  He tried lifting it up high enough with his biceps so that he could get underneath it to push it up with his shoulders , but it was too heavy for that.  He tried to use his upper leg to jackknife some momentum into it, but he still couldn't get underneath it enough to be able to clear the shelf.  He sighed, then remembered they had a foot stool in dry storage.

The foot stool gave him an extra foot, at least; the problem was that he still couldn't lift the lexan quite high enough with just his arms to get it over.  His footing wasn't stable enough on this flimsy thing to try to swing some momentum into it either.  Briefly, he wished he could just leave it on the floor or throw it away.  But food had to be stored at least six inches off the ground, according to code.  If he left it there or threw it away, they would know it was him.

He fought down some bitterness that he was grateful to be closing with Jade tonight.  He couldn't stand her.  She was one of the 'popular' high school girls - Andrew was 31 and *all* the popular high school girls were equally annoying.. except for Jade, who seemed to be on her own level.  She seemed to go out of her way to break every food handler related guideline there was.  She didn't care about company policy.  He didn't like how she treated him, either, though the truth was he didn't know how to handle that, or himself, around her.  There were other things, too.  But she worked hard.  He knew she was some sort of athlete, track maybe, or soccer, in her junior year at the local high school.

And she was tall.  He wasn't sure exactly how tall (she was 5'11", without shoes), but maybe if he got her to help, between the two of them they could get it in the empty slot.

He walked back out to find her.  He saw her standing over the hot case, looking over the food.  When he got past the counter and could see her from the side, he stopped in his tracks.  She was *picking* through the fried chicken, piece by piece.  With her bare hands.  He watched, unable to form a coherent thought, as her lightly tanned hands with absurdly long hot pink nails turned over piece after piece.  Finally, they settled on a drum stick near the bottom that didn't look dried out from the heat lamp.  Dimly, he was aware of how tiny it looked in her hand.  She brought it up to her mouth, and took a bite.

"J-Jade!"  He blurted out.  "What do you think you're doing?  You can't just.. I-I mean.. you don't even have gloves on, and you can't.. Wh-wh.."

"Mmmm..." she said, looking right at him and continuing to chew.  Oh, he couldn't stand her.  There was a piece of dark meat, hanging off the side of her mouth.  It fell the ground with a wet plop.  He searched for something to say, or do, for a moment.  She just kept eating and watching him.

He knew she couldn't stand him; not that she was ever really *mean* to him.  It was more intuition.  He knew she must think him a pest, a joke - like the others did.  A 31 year old salad boy.  The lead salad bar person they hired a few months back had been a 19 year old girl with almost no experience.  Andrew had worked at the store for 9 years and was underneath her in pay and rank.  He was always correcting Jade, but only because he was trying to do a good job and wished other people did, too.  Well, not that Jade didn't do a good job mostly.  He used to help with the leftover dishes at night until the deli manager, Dan, asked him to stop and just let Jade do them.  He couldn't figure out why, until he noticed she was handling three or four plates in one hand at a time, loading up the dishwasher racks in just a few seconds and putting them away when they were done faster than he ever had.  Or could.  He had a strange feeling, real low in his stomach, when he saw that.  He didn't like feeling small, which he certainly did right then, but there was something more to it when he was watching her handle the dishes like they were a child's tea set.  She wasn't a bad worker.  She just.. the rules.. and, her hygiene.. he shuddered.

One night a couple of weeks ago, he had been working and noticed a foul smell.  He thought the grease traps might be getting backed up again, but the odor wasn't everywhere.  And it was.. different.  He'd never smelled anything like it - incredibly pungent, almost oppressive and.. heady.  They had had three closers that night, and even Hans had wrinkled his nose and started sniffing about.  Not one to let things go unsolved, after a while Andrew figured out the source.  He'd pulled Jade aside.  "Jade, I'm not trying to be rude but I think something you are wearing.. I-I'm not sure, maybe you spilled some rotten milk on it?"

She'd looked down at him for a second before breaking into a huge grin.  "Oh my god.  I hoped no one would notice, but I knew it was bad.  It's my shoes."

"Y-it's your shoes?  What do you mean?"

"It's these stupid non-slip shoes.  Every night when we clean the floors, they get wet.  I'm not sure why, but.. well, they didn't smell so bad before but now they just keep getting worse every time I get them wet.  It probably doesn't help that my feet are pretty sweaty from the day before I change into them, but..  Even when they dry, they're.. really bad.  Oopsie."

"M-maybe you could try to just.. clean them, or.. buy new ones?"

"Buy new ones?  Oh.."  She had bent over, and actually taken the shoe off, right there in front of him.  Dimly, he thought about how large the shoe was.  Even though he wasn't all that close, the heat and the smell seemed to envelope him almost instantly.  He retched.

"Oh my.." Jade had said, but she was laughing.  Quite a lot.  "That bad?  Oh my..  Sure, I'll buy some new ones."  She hadn't.  He got used to breathing through his mouth if he got too close to her.

Andrew shook his head, breaking his reverie.  He supposed he should just let this go.  The food was going to go in the garbage soon anyway.  Once it had been under the heat lamp, if it didn't sell, it was trash.

"Err, I um, I wanted to know if I could get your help with something real quick, Jade.  Do you mind?"  Her eyes lit up behind her oversized glasses.  They were hideous, even though she was popular and.. well, she was pretty, he had to admit.. that annoyed him too.  She had ridiculous eyelash extensions, and then those glasses; he'd never understand the way kids dressed themselves or what was 'in'.

"Ooo, sure!  What is it?"  Why was she so excited?  She had been acting weird all night around him, but especially the last hour or so.  What a strange girl.

"It's just, I need some help with a lexan in the walk-in.  It'll only take a minute."  He turned around and she followed him in to the walk-in.  Once they got there, he started explaining how he thought they might be able to squat down and lift the lexan together, up over their heads, to get it high enough to slide in the empty space.  She listened to him intently while he talked, then looked over.  He saw the lexan on the floor and the foot stool he had forgotten to take back.  He felt a bit embarrased.

Jade smiled, looking in that direction.  "Oh my god.  That is *so* fucking cute."  He wasn't sure exactly what she was talking about, was she looking at something he couldn't see?  She started walking over to whatever she was looking at.  Then she bent down to pick up the lexan.  By herself.

He rushed to her, but it was over in a second.  She bent down at the waist, not even having to use her long legs to lift with.  She pulled it up with her arms, pressed the lexan into the third shelf from the bottom, adjusted her grip, then lifted it up and over into the empty slot in one fluid motion.

Andrew began to stammer, "Oh, I-I didn't even think of that.  Well, I h-hadn't really tried to put it in myself yet, I just kind of assumed it might be easier with, with both of us, so.."  Why was his heart hammering so hard?

Jade started walking toward him.  He didn't want to be rude, didn't want her to think maybe his pride was hurt, so he tried to be casual.  "Uh, thanks, stretch.  Hehheh.."

She came right up to him.  Why was she getting so close?  He involuntarily took a breath in.  He could smell her aura.  God she was tall.  That smell.. he thought he was getting dizzy.

Jade patted him on the head.  There was a glint in her eye.  She was always looking right at him tonight, like that.  Did she ever do that before?  Maybe.  Something was off with her though.  Did kids still do drugs in high school?  "No problem.. bug boy."

Andrew remembered earlier, when she had been at the front counter and was texting someone on her phone.  A customer came up, and she walked away from her phone.  Andrew had been heading that way, past the counter, and her phone was still lit up.  Why did he want to look at it so much?  But he did, tried to make it look casual.  The text she had received was long, and he couldn't see all of it.  He didn't want to get caught.  It seemed like it was someone talking about.. torturing?  Maybe they were talking about a movie.  But he remembered what Jade wrote clearly.

That is *so* fucking hot.  OH my god, there is this guy at work - hold on a sec..

He'd walked away.  Kids were so weird.

But this.. what the hell?  He was too stunned to speak for a second.  Why did she seem to huge right now?  Jesus, this girl was 17 years old?  She was still just looking right at him, with her hand on his head.  Jesus.  He swallowed.  "B-b.. what do you mean, b-bug?"

She smiled right at him like a cheshire.  "Andrew.  Look."  She took her hand off his head, and casually reached down and grabbed his wrist.  He wanted to back away, but couldn't will himself to do anything.  He was dumbstruck.  The walk in was so cold, but her hand was warm, and soft.  She held his hand up.  She reached out with her other hand and pressed it up against his.

"Compared to me.."  Andrew felt like his heart was going to hammer its way through his chest.  He had never remembered it beating so hard.  Jade's hand was warm and soft and.. enormous.  Andrew knew he was not a big man, some people would call him small, but this..

She had long, chestnut brown hair.  Her skin was lighter, but still  somewhat tan.  Her hands were long and full but very feminine.  But the proportions could not be real.  He remembered when he was in college, had measured his hands out of curiosity, knowing they were a bit small.  Barely six inches.  He looked at his own pale hand, the tip of his middle finger peaking over her palm and not quite reaching the end of her first knuckle.  Her hot pink nails were long, too, adding to the illusion.  Well, it wasn't an illusion.  Not at all.  Her thumb seemed to be at least twice as long as his and three times as thick.  He started feeling something low in his stomach again, a pulsing that almost hurt.  Just like when he'd seen her washing those dishes.

"You aren't much more.."  She bent her fingers down, closing them over his and emphasizing the difference between them.  Andrew was close to passing out.  He was completely overwhelmed, unprepared.  Too many neurons firing simultaneously.

Dimly, he imagined his size six and a half shoe pressed up against this high school girl's heavy, warm, perfectly manicured hand.  How small it, too, would look.

Oh, God.. this is too much.. I'm going to..

She began squeezing his hand in hers, enveloping it.  It completely disappeared.  When was the last time he'd even touched a woman?  No, no.. too much.. He finally looked up at her, into her huge, brown eyes, behind her oversized black frames. 

Her smile was so lovely it hurt.  Or maybe that was..  She was applying more pressure, so much more, and Andrew let out a noise that seemed just as small and sad as him.

"Than a bug."

He felt his bladder let go.  The walk-in refrigerator was cold.  Dimly, he thought his pee was almost as warm Jade’s hands.