Tuesday, September 15th, 2009.

My alarm clock wakes me up, the light from outside shining into my apartment, I slowly turn over on my side, yesterday was the first year anniversary of me living in Buffalo.

It's crazy how much can change in a year.

I get up, rising out of bed slowly, practically slamming my snooze button with my fist, hurting my hand. I make my sheets, in my bedroom, a Flat screen TV mounted on the wall near my closet, the bedroom set of these wooden drawers next to me, and a lamp on each side, hopefully it doesn't run up my electric bill, since I actually have to pay for that. I open up the shades a little, the feeling the coldness of the window radiate onto me, fall landscape of upstate New York shining, cars passing by and all. The trees multicolored due to it being fall, days like this you just wanna stay in bed all day and drink a nice mug of hot chocolate, but sadly I can't.

I take my showers at night so I don't have to waste time in the morning doing so, so I just grab my bar of Old Spice deodorant and apply to both of my arms and brush my teeth, rinsing my mouth out with some minty Listerine afterwards. I walk into my closet and grab my usual outfit for work, a button down white long-sleeved shirt and a either blue, red, or light green blazer, that I usually wear in the fall or winter depending how cold it is, but if it's spring or summer the dress shirt just works. I put on my blue blazer and grab my dress pants, quickly slipping them on. I walk out and grab a pair of black work pants off of the chair near my desk in my room, quickly slipping them on also.

I open my drawer again and grab a pair of socks, dark brown, they smell freshly washed and dried, I apply them to my feet. I exit my room, head down my small hallway, leading into my kitchen/Living room/laundry room, it's somewhat jumbled up, but that's apartment living for you. It's pretty modern, despite the building being at least 40 years old, judging by the outside and how close it is to the city center of Buffalo.

I take a good look for the first time, at my pad. I've got a pretty sweet place, the brand new plasma TV I got installed in the living room last week, a Sony flat screen TV, with a new cable package to ago along with it, a Playstation 3 laying on the side on the rectangular drawer holding the TV, the controller and a couple of games laying right beside it. My living room wall with a couple of Movie posters in frames on it, them being, Superbad, Goodfellas, and SAW, all three movies being of a different genre and all in different areas of the living room, Superbad being Above the TV, SAW being above the couch, and Goodfellas right next to the window. My kitchen is pretty good too, my sleek metallic microwave and fridge, looking like something straight out of a futuristic cartoon in my opinon.

"I do have a pretty sweet place" I say, as I walk and grab my keys and a banana off the kitchen counter, putting the keys in my pants and putting my shoes on, putting the banana back down again.

I open the door, grabbing the banana and walking out the door closing and locking it, I get out to the hallway, I see about three other people who seem to doing the same thing I am, we nod at each other and carry on our own ways.

As I walk down the steps I attempt to un-peel the banana, possibly the only thing I'm having for breakfast, my shift starts at 10, even though the Bank is right down the street, I'm scared I won't make it in time even though it was only 9:43 last time I looked at the clock.

"Ah, SHIT. I forgot my cell phone" I say, stopping myself in my tracks.

I turn around and quickly run back upstairs and go to my floor and jog back to my room, quickly unlocking the door and grabbing my LG cell phone off of the table in the living room and my wallet. I just practically throw the banana down on the counter and say I'm not that hungry anyways, and then shoving both items into either of my pants pockets, and then rushing out and locking the door behind me.

I basically run down the steps, my keys and phone and wallet jumping in both of my pockets as I run. I make it downstairs and go through the lobby and out the door, the cold air hitting me hard. I remember it would get cold in Seattle, but not this bad, the cold air coming in from Canada probably having something to do with it.

I walk towards my car, a beige 2003 GMC Envoy SLT that I've had since 2004 as a graduation gift when my bought it brand new from the dealership and my very first car from my rich stepfather, Howard. I drove it all the way from Seattle last year to Buffalo, a road trip one would say. My stepdad sending my stuff to my apartment via Mayflower so I didn't have to worry about packing and unpacking and all that junk. I get my keys out and unlock my SUV's door, opening it up and climbing in, the car also ice cold and the leather seats really reflecting that.

I put my keys into the ignition and turn and let it sit for a bit, blasting to hot air onto me, turning the knob on the red side.

I wait about 5 minutes for the engine to get warm again, I look at the clock and it's about 9:50, I immediately pull out of the parking lot and out onto the street.

"Oh right, I have a date tonight" I say in my head as I head down the street, remembering going out to the bar with friends yesterday and chatting it up with a girl who was doing the same thing with her group of friends, and we hit it off and exchanged numbers and all.

The radio's off, and I usually keep it off when going to work, since it's not really long distance to my job.

I get close to the bank, the traffic not usually bad on this street, since it's basically in the center of town. I park on the side of the road, parallel parking never was my strong suit, but hey, I still passed my driver's test at 16 first try.

I shift to P and get out, taking my keys out of the ignition in the process and opening my door and getting out and locking it in the process, I walk into the building, it still having that fresh money smell.

"I see someone finally made it into work today" says Danny, one of my fellow bank tellers and one of my after work friends. He's a redhead who was born and grew up in Buffalo, he's about a year older than me.

"Har Har, I wasn't as late as I usually am. Plus you were out last night too bro" I reply, as I walk into the back and get into my station.

"Yeah, but we were both still earlier than you" says Ashlyn, she's one of those fresh out of High School Types that joined here over the summer, being a former cheerleader and seemingly was one of the popular girls in school, everyone here pokes fun of her about the fact she's pretty new to the working world. She'll give a little bit of banter back, trying to compete with us, and sometimes she'll win. She'll stick out like a sore thumb when she walks into work, dressing in a sweatshirt and a metal nametag clipped on it and jeans rolled up at the bottom cuff, everyone ignores it due to her youth, a bit more casual than most people at the bank.

"Yeah, but I've been working here longer than you" I say and me and Danny laugh, Ashyln just rolls her eyes.

Not too long after this our first customer comes in and we start going to work, cashing checks and all that bank teller stuff, it's a boring job, but I'll probably quit once the recession is old news, the event still pretty recent in everyone's minds.

For lunch I just half a Wegmans sub with Danny, him offering to share since I forgot to pack a lunch for myself.

Around four or so I get off of work, and drive home, I shower and call the girl from last night.

"Hey, Molly right?" I say, walking through my bathroom, with my towel wrapped around my body, the only thing that's exposed is my chest hair and my head and legs.

"Brandon, right?" She says, lovingly mocking me.

"(I chuckle a little at this) So what time do you wanna go out, I just got out of the shower, maybe around 7 or so? I've been thinking about going to the new Cheesecake Factory in Cheektowaga" I say as I take the towel off and quickly put on some Fruit of the Loom underwear from my drawer.

"Yeah, 7 would be nice. I love The Cheesecake Factory, I remember my ex-boyfriend took me there back when we were dating and I visited him while he was going to Law School at UCLA a couple of years ago, in Beverly Hills, it's the original one I think" She says, honestly I really don't like it too much when chicks talk about their former boyfriends while you're currently dating them, but I suck it up.

"Do you want me to pick you up or like?" I say.

"You can pick me up, I'm kinda tired of driving right now. I live at Hyde Park apartments, you know where that is?" She asks me.

"Yeah, I think I've drove past it before. See you at seven" I say, hanging up my phone, sliding the text pad back up.

I look at the clock on the alarm clock, it's currently 4:48.

I iron my clothes in my underwear, a casual look, some blue jeans, a pair of Adidas I've had since high school, a Universal Studios Orlando t-shirt I've had since probably middle school that still fits me, and a light Toronto Blue Jays jacket I bought around early May of this year when I finally had a chance to cross the bridge and go to Canada, driving with me and a couple of buddies to Toronto to do stuff there, one of the things was to go see a baseball game, me not being much into sports in general but I went anyways with them to the game.

I grab my pair of red Adidas that and slip them on, not bothering to put on any socks.

I sit and watch TV until about 6:52 or so, flipping channels, mostly reruns and stuff.

As soon as 6:52 hits on the cable clock I turn off my TV and head out down stairs, grabbing my keys and my wallet as I do so.

I make it out to my SUV and get in, and I turn on my radio after I insert in my car keys, and the song "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas, a song I loved at first but grew to hate over time due to it's overplayed-ness, so I just turn the radio off.

I make it to Molly's apartment, as soon as she walks out, and I feel totally underdressed, she looks stunning. Red dress that shows off her slender looking legs, red lipstick, and high heels, her dirty blonde hair swaying side to side as she walks, she frowns at me, and gives a weak smiling, I cringe internally.

She walks up to my car, opens the front door, letting the cold air in, kinda blasting me with it, she sits down and closes the door.

"You look, comfortable" She says, as I pull off and begin to make my way to The Cheesecake factory.

"Thanks, I know what you're trying to say. I thought you would go casual too" I say, fiddling with the radio, it turns on as I turn this corner to get onto the main road, the song "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon plays, I usually keep the radio on the pop station, since I don't really have much of my own musical taste so I just listen to what's currently going on to try and keep up with the trends or whatever sounds good on the radio.

"Well, I didn't" she says, throwing her hands up in the air briefly .

It's quiet between us as the song on the radio ends and the radio station jingle goes and then goes to a ad-break. When I get to the highway shortly afterwards I speed up and attempt to break the ice.

"Well, are you a Buffalo native?" I say, as I turn lanes and adjust my speed to the highway.

"No, actually. It's kind of a long story" She says, I notice she's trying to talk over the radio ad so I turn down the radio with my other hand.

"I mean, we've got time. It's a 17 minute drive to the restaurant since it's kinda on the outskirts of town to get there" I say.

"Alright, fine. Well, I was born and grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, so I'm a southern girl. Grew up in Matthews, which is apart of Charlotte. Went to elementary school, high school, and middle school there. My early life is pretty generic, did all the typical girl stuff, sleepovers and parties and all that. In beginning of ninth grade I took the bus with this guy named Matt, he was new, he was this "Northerner" from Baltimore who had recently moved down here, this guy with brown hair and kinda looked like Michael J.Fox in Back To The Future, "Marty Mcfly" was his nickname that I'd call him every now and then and he'd blush a little. We'd kinda hang out after the school year was done that year, going over each other's houses and getting a ride from our parents to go to different places. It wasn't until tenth grade we started to like each other a little more, and he popped the question if he wanted to actually date and I said yeah. Over the couple of years he gained some more friends, a guy named Richie and another guy named Jon, I can't really remember much about them, all I remember is that Richie went into the military after high school, I talk to Jon every now and then, as friends of course, me knowing him through Matt" she says, I'm actually pretty interested in what she has to say.

"What were his friends like?" I respond, driving further down the highway.

"I mean he had friends in school but I'll just focus on the two he hung out with in and outside of school. Richie was this black guy with dreadlocks and all that, he was pretty chilled out, I actually worked with him at the mall I used to work at before I headed off to college, he was from a family of veterans and stuff like that, so he was really the odd one out. He was into rap and hip hop and was somewhat of a ladies man at the school I went too. Jon was one of those guys who was really into the whole pop punk scene that was going on at that time, you remember it right?" She says.

"Yeah, it was everywhere earlier this decade, it's seemingly kinda still there nowadays, but I don't really notice it, I'm not in that age group anymore" I say as I begin to turn lanes and slow down, seeing the exit in front of us.

"Yeah, he was really into it, almost to the point where it was his entire personality. We got along okay, even though we would butt heads every now and then. He we got along more once once Matt headed to college, though that was a short time before I left out to go to college in New York City. I joined the Red Cross part time too for about 3 years, I quit last year. Went and helped out in Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami. Matt went to college in L.A, law school. We had a long distance relationship for about 3 years, I visited him in Los Angeles once a year either in the fall or over the summer, and he visited me usually after spring finals each year. We broke up not too long before he graduated last year, he became less caring about me and more focused on his career. Last time I talked to him was last year, when he wished me a happy thanksgiving one day out of the blue, and he sounded like he was drunk and his mom in the background yelling at him and his family laughing" she says.

"Wow" I say, the last guy she dated was quite the character.

"Yeah" she says.

I turn the radio back up, the song "Fireflies" by Owl City playing, I haven't really noticed it this entire time.

"Did Jon say anything about him, like what he's doing nowadays?" I say, as I get onto the exit, turning my steering wheel a little as I do the turn.

"Last time I talk to Jon was about 2 months ago, he filled me a little bit in on what Matt's doing nowadays. He said worked at his father's old firm in Charlotte for about a year, and he moved out around may, and went back to Baltimore and worked for his father's old firm he used to work at in Baltimore, he's dating another girl currently, a black girl. He says they sound pretty happy together" Molly says.

"Oh, well, life goes on" I say.

I make my way through the street, slowing down and transferring to street speeds. I park at the mall and we walk to the Cheesecake Factory, it takes about twenty minutes for us to get seated.

"So, I've said a lot about my background, so what about yours" she says with a sexy smirk, grabbing a slice of bread off of the basket and buttering it up with her butter knife, the sounds people talking and waiters walking around us invade my head.

"Well, you remember that whole missing persons thing that was really big in like, late nineteen ninety nine. National news and all. That was my dad" I say, as I say this I see some of the people around us look at me as I say this somewhat outloud over the chatter of the other voices around us, some of the other diners remembering the event and looking at me with pity. A old man with thicked rimmed glasses seemingly in his 60s sarcastically pretends to play a violin while making brief eye contact, as if he's saying "so what?". His wife slaps his wrists and mumbles at him to stop doing so.

"I'm so sorry, I remember watching the Dateline episode in my dorm a couple of years ago, and I remember watching it the event live as it happened, my parents were glued to the TV when this was going on, kinda like they were doing that whole O.J. Simpson case" she says, sounding somber in her voice.

"Yeah, it took mom awhile to recover even though she was married to a different man by that point, being him being her first love and all. I remember my older sister visited him not too long before he went missing" I say, I feel tears start to come up but I hold it back, not wanting to breakdown in front of everyone inside of this place. I didn't even know him all that well besides a couple of memories, they split when I was only four or so.

The entire dinner between is pretty quiet and somber the rest of the dinner , we do simple conversation after that, just stuff like what we do for a living or both of us somewhat being a fish out of water up here in the Northeast, Molly being from the south, me being from the Pacific Northwest. Although Buffalo and it's surrounding cities have much more of a Midwestern feel to them. I drive Molly back to my apartment. Both of us somewhat starting to talk a little bit more and open up on the drive back, the radio turned off the whole ride back to my place.

"Alright, hey, so you wanna..." I say, as I open my apartment door.

She laughs and walks in, I close the door behind us.

"I mean, I just met you, let's wait a little bit more into our relationship" She says.

As soon as she says this, I start shrinking immediately, Molly freaks out.

I look up, and I see a giant Molly touring over me, screaming. Her long red dress and her long slender tanned legs. I can kinda see her lace panties, somewhat of a camel toe going on under her dress, I somewhat I have to look up for this.

"Oh, Crap" I say, realizing that everything around me is big and I'm not dreaming.

Molly screams again, she stumbles over over to near the couch, and faints, landing on it a boom that echoes into my ears.

This, This can't be good" I say, realizing the severity of my situation, me still being struck by the fact I'm one inch tall in my own home.