~

“Alright, she should be here any second. How are you feeling, Brian?” asked Allison. Brian shrugged, his expression eerily neutral. He was currently standing on Allison’s nightstand, where he would stay until it was time to reveal his existence to Elizabeth. Allison had invited her over for dinner, and she was about to arrive.

That bad, huh? Allison thought. As she had learned over the past few weeks, Brian adopted his infamous “robot” expression whenever he was stressed. The more emotionless he looked, the greater amount of stress. Judging by his face at that moment, then, Brian was very stressed. Allison could hardly blame him, considering what happened the last time someone had discovered him. As such, she felt like it was her duty to reassure him.

“Hey,” she said as softly and reassuringly as possible, “everything is going to be okay.” 

She got on her knees, so her face was at Brian’s level. She then gently teased his chin upwards with the tip of her fingernail, and he soon locked eyes with her.

“I am not going to let anything bad happen to you, you hear me? Elizabeth is not Cathy, she would never try to hurt you. Even if she did, I wouldn’t let her. You are going to be in my hands the whole time, and I will keep you safe. Do you understand?” she continued. At that, Brian’s expression slightly softened, allowing a hint of emotion to shine through. He simply nodded in response.

Suddenly, a soft chime rang throughout the apartment, causing Brian to flinch. His gaze immediately hardened once again, as a new pang of fear washed over him. Allison gazed at him sympathetically, wishing she could just take his stress away.

“Okay, I’m gonna go let her in. We’ll probably talk for a few minutes, and then I’ll come get you. You don’t have to say anything to her if you don’t want to, just do what you feel comfortable with. I know this is hard for you, but I promise that this will be a good thing. Thank you for agreeing. I love you,” she said. Brian took a deep breath.

“I love you too,” he replied in a small voice. With that, Allison walked away, ready to welcome her former professor.

~

“Hi, Elizabeth!” Allison said cheerfully to the woman outside her door. Elizabeth smiled warmly in response.

“Hi, Allie, I’m so happy to see you again! Thank you for inviting me.”

“Of course. Please, come in!”

Allison promptly welcomed Elizabeth into the apartment, taking her coat and the bottle of wine that she had brought. They then moved into the living room, while Elizabeth looked all around.

“This is a very nice apartment, Allie!” she said. “You’ve always had great taste. Simple but effective, you know?”

Allison laughed.

“Right, also known as boring,” she replied. Elizabeth furrowed her brow, but Allison continued before she could offer a rebuttal.

“Thank you, though. With that being said, I’m actually looking for another place to live at the moment. Something smaller,” she said.

“Oh, and why’s that?” Elizabeth asked.

“Well… I kinda sorta lost my source of income recently, and I don’t want to burn through my savings while I’m figuring out what to do next,” Allison replied. Elizabeth nodded appreciatively.

“I also just don’t need this much space…” Allison muttered, thinking of Brian.

“I see. Well, I’d be happy to help you find something, if you want. Just let me know,” Elizabeth said. At that, Allison thanked her and motioned for them to sit down. She took a deep breath and steeled her resolve, as the important bit was about to begin.

“So, I invited you here because I wanted to talk to you about something. Would you mind if we do that before eating?” she started nervously.

“Not at all,” Elizabeth replied softly, taking note of the troubled look on Allison’s face.

“Okay. I’ve been thinking about our conversation the other day, about the Shrink Penalty. Well, first off, let me say again how much I appreciate your understanding. I was really worried that you would be angry, and it means the world to me that we’re still friends,” she continued.

“Honey, please,” responded Elizabeth, “you had nothing to worry about. Everyone goes through rough patches, I could never get mad at you for that.”

Allison smiled appreciatively, before her face turned serious once more.

“Thank you. What I wanted to talk about, though… well, it’s about Brian Bentley.”

At the mention of his name, Elizabeth’s expression saddened.

“I see… what about him, Allie?” she asked quietly.

“I was afraid to say so, but I agree with everything you said about him. It was absolute bullshit that Brian was re-sentenced to death, and everything about how his case was handled is just wrong. And… people were just so willing to accept it! We knew virtually nothing about the actual case against him, but because the media said otherwise we all just looked the other way. You did the right thing in questioning it, and I wish I had done so as well. I lied when I said there wasn’t a specific reason why I quit being a Chev. I quit because of Brian, completely,” Allison said, her tone growing angrier and angrier as she went. She had not expected to get so heated, but finally being able to express her true thoughts brought on some strong emotions that she had been suppressing for Brian’s sake. Through it all, Elizabeth just listened silently with a worried expression.

“Allie, are you okay?” she asked, like a concerned mother. “I agree with what you’re saying, but what’s going on? Why are you only telling me this now?”

Allison took a deep breath, getting her temper under control.

“Sorry. I guess I’ve been keeping that in for longer than I thought. Before I can explain, I just need to ask you something, okay?” she replied. Elizabeth’s face only grew more concerned.

“Um… okay?” she responded unsuredly. Allison looked at her with a deadly serious gaze.

“Do you think Brian Bentley should have died, regardless if he was innocent or not?” she asked slowly.

“Absolutely not,” Elizabeth responded instantly.

“If Brian was innocent and you had the chance to save him from death, do you think saving him would be the right thing to do, even if it was against the law?” Allison continued.

“Absolutely,” Elizabeth replied, just as quickly as before. Allison smiled in relief.

“Okay. I’ll be right back,” she said, before standing up and rushing to her room, leaving Elizabeth in absolute bewilderment.

~

“Did you hear any of that, Brian?” Allison asked.

“All of it,” he replied quietly. His expression was still neutral, but decidedly not as much as before.

“Good. Are you ready?” she asked. Brian nodded, and she beckoned him into her palm. Once he was secure, she gently covered him with her other hand, leaving him completely enclosed in a curtain of her fingers. She then made her way back, being extra careful to keep her hands steady.

~

“Allie, you’re acting very strangely. What is going on?” Elizabeth asked, watching as Allison approached and sat down on the sofa, keeping a moderate distance between them. Her eyes darted between Allison’s face and hands, looking for an explanation.

“Well… there’s no real way to prime you for this, so I’m just gonna show you,” Allison said, before removing one hand from the other, revealing what was contained within to the world.

Elizabeth took in the sight, her brain not being able to fully comprehend what she was seeing. There, sitting in Allison’s palm, was a tiny person. He was sitting cross-legged with both arms draped over Allison’s thumb, which was keeping him secure in her hand. He was naked except for some kind of cloth that was covering his waist to his knees, tied with what looked like string. Once the initial shock slightly lessened, she noticed his finer details.

He was slightly pale, but surprisingly fit. His abs sported the slightest hint of a six-pack, and his arms were thick and toned. Drifting upwards to his face, she saw three things of great interest. He had messy black hair and striking green eyes, which were showing an eerily neutral expression.

“What…?” Elizabeth said, before all the information compounded in her mind at once to create a revelation.

Messy black hair.

Striking green eyes.

Neutral expression.

One-inch tall.

She was asking about… 

“Brian Bentley,” she whispered.

~

Allison waited patiently for Elizabeth to regain herself, while Brian simply sat in her palm, stiff as a board. After a few moments, Elizabeth seemingly snapped back to awareness, albeit still with an expression of shock.

“Allie, is that really…?” she started.

“Yes. This is Brian Bentley. The same Brian Bentley who was ‘re-sentenced’ to death,” Allison replied slowly, leaving no room for misinterpretation.

“So… you were the Chevalier that he was sent to?” Elizabeth continued.

“That’s right. And I saved him. I smuggled him out of the facility, and I’ve been hiding him here ever since.”

“Oh, my…” Elizabeth muttered, her eyes never breaking away from Brian. Despite the intense gaze from a person thousands of times his size, Brian simply returned the look with equal intensity. Elizabeth thought he looked like he was hardly aware of his surroundings in any capacity, judging from the neutral look on his face. She continued to stare at him for a few moments, thoroughly lost for words. Suddenly, though, her face dropped in sickening realization. She turned pale, and finally broke away from Brian to look at her former student.

“Wait… if you saved him… why would you…? Allison, are you saying that…?”

Allison firmly nodded.

“Yeah. He didn’t do it. Brian is innocent.”

Elizabeth drew both hands to her mouth, and tears began to form in her eyes. Her expression was one of pure and overwhelming dread, as she realized the full implications of what Brian had been through. Her faith in Allison’s judgement was absolute, and her own instincts surrounding Brian’s case had already made her more than willing to accept the possibility. She believed her instantly.

“Oh, no…” she squeaked, as a few tears ran down her face. "I'm so sorry…”

Her whole consciousness was overtaken with excruciating sympathy in the face of such a heartbreaking realization. Seeing such overwhelming concern for his well-being, Brian’s heart softened in appreciation. His grip on Allison’s thumb lessened, and his steeled gaze ever-so-slightly lifted, albeit not to an extent that most people would notice it. 

Elizabeth’s mind was running a million miles an hour, as three years worth of events were re-contextualized for her. Every scathing news report, every hateful statement, every piece of abuse, none of it was deserved. His case was being covered up, and he must have only been ‘re-sentenced’ so he would never be able to tell anybody. His own family had thrown him away immediately. For three years, he had been completely and overwhelmingly alone, the whole world despising him. It made Elizabeth want to cry, both in sadness that such a young person could be subjected to so much, and anger that she lived in a world where it had been allowed to happen. Another realization hit her as she looked back at his face: his lack of an expression was not a sign of some robotic child killer psychosis, but a young brain consumed by overwhelming fear and sadness.

At that realization, Elizabeth got herself under control. She realized that they had given her a precious gift by telling her about him, and she was determined not to waste it by breaking down in front of him. She wanted to put his mind at ease, and assure them that they had not made a mistake by telling her.

“Um… okay. That’s a lot to take in. Okay… okay. Let’s, um… let’s start with some proper introductions, okay? We can go over more details later, I don’t want to barrage you with questions right away. Does that sound good?” she asked, keeping her tone steady and soft. Her one goal in life at the moment was to not scare the one-inch man in her former student’s hand. Allison smiled, remembering and appreciating how quickly Elizabeth was always able to take charge of a situation in a positive way.

“Sure, that sounds like a good idea,” she said before slightly extending her hand outward, as if presenting the tiny man in her grasp. Elizabeth took another breath, and adopted the warmest and most comforting smile she could manage.

“Hi, Brian. Is it okay if I call you that?” she began. After a brief hesitation, Brian nodded. The movement was barely visible to Elizabeth, but it nonetheless made her heart soar.

“Thank you. As you probably know, my name is Elizabeth Dawson. Although I wish it was under better circumstances, I’m very pleased to meet you. Also, let me just say how honored and thankful I am that you and Allie decided to trust me with this knowledge. I know that can’t have been easy, and I promise not to tell a soul about you. I hope we can come to be friends.”

At that, Elizabeth began to extend one finger towards Brian. The sight of her approaching finger caused Brian to stiffen, however, and Allison gently pulled her hand backwards in response.

“Sorry, Elizabeth, but I think we should hold off on touch for now. As you can imagine, Brian is a little nervous about meeting somebody new,” she said. Elizabeth retracted her finger and adopted a gentle smile.

“Of course, I completely understand,” she replied.

Perhaps emboldened by Elizabeth’s willingness to accept boundaries, Brian decided to finally speak.

“Um…” he started. At the sound of his tiny voice, Elizabeth suppressed the urge to gasp, and Allison’s eyes widened in surprise. She had not expected him to open up so soon. Brian forcibly removed any traces of fear in his voice, and began to speak in a soft tone.

“I hear… I hear that you advocated for me when I was first convicted,” he said.

“I did,” Elizabeth replied, matching his tone.

“I also hear you paid a heavy price,” he continued.

“I did. But, as of a few moments ago, it just became worth it,” she said, smiling brightly. Brian showed the faintest trace of a smile for a moment, before extending his fist out towards the gigantic woman before him.

“My name is Brian Bentley. Like the car. Nice to meet you,” he said. Elizabeth’s eyes darted between Brian and Allison for a moment, confirming that it was okay to extend her finger again. Allison gave a quick nod, quite surprised herself that Brian was choosing to do this. With that, she reached forward and tapped his fist with her finger, in a finger-fistbump. The slight sensation at the tip of her finger sent what felt like an electric shock throughout Elizabeth’s whole body, and she smiled at him warmly. Albeit tentatively, Brian had accepted her.

~

Some time had passed, and the trio had just been talking for a while. Or, more accurately, Brian had been listening while Allison and Elizabeth talked. That’s not to say they were ignoring him, though, far from it. Their conversation was entirely for his benefit, as they reminisced about some of Allison’s college days. Brian listened intently, tracking the conversation with his eyes. As you could imagine, he was quite interested in hearing about the college experience, since he was cheated out of one. Through it all, as he got used to Elizabeth’s presence, his posture slowly relaxed until he was comfortably leaning into Allison’s upturned fingers, a neutral but peaceful look on his face. Allison was teaching him how to trust again, and Elizabeth’s truly gentle and warm demeanor quickly put him at ease. Finally, Brian decided to ask a question.

“Did you ever go to parties, Allie?” he asked. Surprised by the unexpected addition of his tiny voice, Allison simply looked at him for a moment while his question registered in her mind. Before she could respond, though, a laugh cut through the silence.

“I’m afraid not, Brian. Our Allie here was quite the overachieving bookworm. I actually encouraged her to go to parties, believe it or not, but she was always on about how there was no time amidst her studying,” Elizabeth replied jovially. Allison suddenly turned beet-red.

“P-Professor!” she cried. “Don’t tell him that!”

“Another thing you should know, Brian, is that she reverts to calling me Professor when she gets flustered. I practically had to beg her to start calling me Elizabeth,” Elizabeth continued.

“Oh my god, shut up!” Allison exclaimed. At that, something unexpected happened. Brian laughed. The two women looked down at him, and saw that he had a genuine smile on his face, which promptly disappeared once he felt like he was being stared at. Allison’s heart warmed at the sight of Brian quickly warming up to Elizabeth, as she took it as a sign of his growth. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was positively thrilled. She found Brian to be just about the cutest thing she had ever seen, and her instincts were overwhelmed with the urge to protect him and make him happy. As Allison was well aware, making the infamous “robot” Brian Bentley laugh was a big step in gaining his trust.

Then, before any further teasing could commence, the doorbell rang yet again, shaking Brian out of his relaxed state. 

“It’s okay, Brian, it’s just the food,” Allison soothed. “Sorry, Elizabeth, but I figured I should just order some takeout for dinner this evening. As you can imagine, I didn’t exactly have food on my mind when I invited you over.”

“Fair enough, Allie, fair enough,” laughed Elizabeth. At that, Allison went quiet for a moment, clearly in deliberation.

“Hey, Brian…” she started. “Would you like to stay on the couch with Elizabeth while I pay for the food, or would you like me to put you in our room?”

Brian stiffened for a moment at the unexpected question. After a moment, though, he relaxed.

“…here is fine,” he said quietly. Both Allison and Elizabeth suppressed the urge to react too strongly, so as not to embarrass him for what was clearly a difficult thing to say. With that being said, they couldn’t stop themselves from smiling, while Brian averted his eyes.

“Okay. I’ll be right back,” she said, before standing up and gently setting Brian down on the sofa. While he wasn’t exactly close to Elizabeth, he was still in grabbing distance. While this normally would have stressed him, at the moment a greater fear was drowning out his senses. At the sound of Allison opening the door, Brian retreated as far into the couch cushion as he could go, while craning his neck in the direction of the door. Elizabeth took note of this, and her face twisted in concern.

“Does the door scare you, sweetie?” she asked gently. Brian darted his eyes towards her, a neutral but clearly distressed look on his face. 

“Uh… yeah, I guess so. It’s just… well, it didn’t go so well the last time somebody rang the doorbell unexpectedly, that’s all,” he said, thinking about a certain blonde-headed woman. Elizabeth’s expression darkened at the implication.

“D-Did somebody…?” she started, before quickly changing her mind. “Actually, no, I’m sure you don’t want to talk about it.”

Brian nodded gratefully, before the sounds of the deliveryman at the door caused him to flinch once more. Elizabeth decided to keep distracting him.

“Instead, can I just tell you how happy I am that you’re alive?” she said. “I was so upset when I learned about your ‘re-sentencing.’ As a former lawyer, believe me when I tell you that the way they handled your case was disgraceful.”

Brian looked back at her, and his eyes softened once more.

“Allison told me that you lost sleep over it,” he said. Elizabeth let out a huff.

“I surely did. Hopefully I can sleep a little better after tonight,” she said with a smile. Brian chuckled.

“Well, I’m sure I’m not exactly in the state that you would have preferred,” he replied, gesturing to his one-inch body.

“Nonsense, honey,” Elizabeth responded dismissively. “You’re still you, even if you’re small. And besides, it’s not like the shrinking is-”

“Here we go,” Allison interrupted, holding a takeout bag. “You still like italian, right Elizabeth?”

“You know I do, Allie!” she replied, before she realized something. “But wait, how is Brian going to eat with us?”

At that, Brian suddenly snapped to attention, looking more excited than Elizabeth had ever seen him. His eyes were sparkling, which she found adorable, while Allison groaned in the background.

“Oh, god…” she muttered. “He’s gonna want to show you at some point, so let’s just get this over with.”

At that, Allison placed the bag down on the kitchen counter and strolled over to Brian’s position, scooping him up from the couch. She then motioned for Elizabeth to follow with her free hand, and they all moved into Allison’s spare bedroom. There, set up on a table, was a strange looking cube. It had several transparent windows, showcasing the various odd gadgets and gizmos contained within. Elizabeth could tell that Brian was infinitely more excited about this than Allison was, so she decided to ask him for an explanation.

“What’s that, Brian?” she asked.

“My most treasured possession,” he responded.

“It’s a 3D printer,” Allison cut in dryly. “We use it to make stuff he can use, like furniture. We also use it to make cutlery, which allows him to eat ‘big-people’ food.”

Brian slowly turned his head to look at Allison, a look of mock outrage in his eyes.

“Way to take all the fun out of it, Starr,” he said while bopping Allison’s skin with his tiny fist. She simply shrugged in response. Elizabeth smiled in response to this bickering, before nodding appreciatively.

“I see… that’s absolutely brilliant, you two!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah. Allie thought of it,” Brian declared proudly, as if the achievement had been his own. Allison gently rustled his hair.

“If that’s the case, then why aren’t you more excited about it, Allie?” Elizabeth asked. Once more, Allison shrugged.

“I don’t know, I guess I just don’t think it’s particularly exciting. It’s extremely useful, that’s for sure, but Brian talks about it like it’s the coolest thing ever,” she replied.

“Wrong, the actual answer is that she has no imagination, so she can’t understand how cool it is,” Brian corrected. Allison sighed, indicating to Elizabeth that this was not the first time they had argued about it.

“On that note, why don’t we go eat?” suggested Elizabeth, trying to avoid conflict. At that, they all moved into the kitchen to prepare for dinner, and soon found themselves enjoying some delicious italian food. Although Brian was still hesitant to join the conversation, he was certainly more talkative than Allison had expected him to be. For the first time ever, Allison’s apartment was filled with the cheerful noises of a dinner amongst friends.

~

After dinner, Brian and Allison were relaxing on the sofa. Brian was sitting on Allison’s thigh while she ate some ice cream. Every once in a while, she would lower the bowl next to him, and he would scoop out a miniscule amount with a tiny spoon. Elizabeth was in the kitchen, as she had insisted on doing the dishes. After a little while, though, Allison noticed that Elizabeth was covertly motioning for Allison to follow her into the bedroom.

“Bathroom break, be right back,” she said, before gently plucking Brian up and setting him down on the armrest of the sofa. He promptly flopped over on his back and closed his eyes, as he was getting sleepy.

She walked to her bedroom and quietly closed the door, and then turned to face Elizabeth, who was waiting inside with her arms crossed.

“What is it, Elizabeth?” Allison asked quietly. 

It must be something important, she thought.

“Do you think he ate enough?” Elizabeth asked concernedly.

“…huh?” Allison asked. Apparently not that important.

“Brian. Do you think he got enough food? I know he’s small and everything, but I could hardly tell he had eaten anything at all if I didn’t look closely. Do you think he’s still nervous?” she continued.

“Elizabeth, it’s fine,” Allison said. “That’s what it normally looks like, I promise. He fills up quickly. I’m sure he’s still somewhat nervous about meeting another new person, but I’m honestly amazed how quickly he’s warmed up to you. It’s going great.”

Elizabeth smiled in relief, before something clicked in her mind.

“You said another new person, Allie?” she asked slowly, her tone darkening.

Shit.

“Um… w-well, you see…” she stammered, trying to figure out if she could worm her way out of this.

“You know, when you were answering the door, Brian looked terrified. When I asked why, he said that the last time someone rang the doorbell unexpectedly, it didn’t go well. What… exactly… did that mean?” Elizabeth continued. Allison broke out in a cold sweat..

“Uh… it’s just that, he was, well, accidentally discovered by a friend from work,” she said quietly. Elizabeth’s eyes widened.

“Work… as in, another Chevalier found him?! What the fuck happened, Allison?!” she said angrily, struggling to keep her voice down. Allison had never seen her so angry before.

“Everything turned out fine! Brian came up with the brilliant idea to act like I had only kept him to torture him, which she totally bought since she’s a sadistic pervert, and we got her to leave! W-Well, we kinda had to do a session to prove it, and also because she threatened to blackmail me, but I always stopped her before the torture went too far-”

“The torture?! You let Brian be tortured?!” Elizabeth interrupted.

“I, uh, also had to… kind of participate,” Allison replied sheepishly. Elizabeth grabbed Allison by her shoulders.

“You tortured Brian?! Allison Starr, it’s your job to protect him!”

“I know that!” Allison hissed. “I didn’t know what else to do! We had to get her to leave! Look, it all turned out okay, okay? Brian was never seriously injured, and he forgave me right away. Well, he did kind of have a breakdown afterwards…”

At that, Elizabeth held one hand up to stop her, pressing the other one to her forehead.

“Alright, that’s enough. Allie, we’re definitely going to talk about this in more detail at some point. Just tell me, though, does this Chevalier still believe that you only kept Brian to torture him?”

“Uh… well, no. I tried telling her that I killed him when I resigned, but she, uh… kind of understood everything. She knows that I think he’s innocent,” Allison continued.

“Oh, for God’s sake. And how did she react?” Elizabeth asked exasperatedly.

“Like I said, everything turned out okay! She said that she respects my choice, and won’t tell anybody,” Allison replied. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

“And you believe her? You actually believe that this supposedly sadistic pervert is fine with you keeping the Brian Bentley alive?”

“It seemed reasonable at the time! You don’t know her, I think she’s actually a good person. Maybe she just didn’t want me to get in trouble?” Allison responded.

“I don’t buy it. I know what Chevaliers are like, Allie, they wouldn’t just let this go. Listen, just tell me her name, alright? I want to look into her,” Elizabeth continued.

“Well… we’re really not supposed to reveal the names of-

“Allison.”

“…her name is Catherine Gates.”

“Thank you. Now, let’s head back out. I don’t want to stay gone too long. You go first,” Elizabeth said. Allison sheepishly nodded, before briskly leaving the room. Wiping away any traces of that uncomfortable conversation from her face and body language, Allison made her way back to the couch and plopped herself down. Brian looked at her with a suspicious eye, which he soon turned to Elizabeth as she came strolling into the room.

“You two were talking about me, weren’t you?” he asked, although it came across more as a statement.

“What makes you say that?” Allison replied, a little too quickly.

“I heard it. One of the side effects of the shrinking process is that it enhances your senses, including hearing,” he said.

“It does?!” both women exclaimed.

“No,” Brian replied. “I was guessing.”

“Oh my god,” breathed Allison. “You’re the worst, Bentley.”

“And proud of it!” Brian responded. “Anyway, feel free to talk about me as much as you want, just let me go to bed first. I’m falling asleep here.”

“Yes, I guess it is getting kind of late,” Elizabeth said. “I should probably get going.”

At that, she walked over to the sofa, and gazed down adoringly at the half asleep one-inch man she found there.

“Listen, you two, this has been a wonderful evening. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you decided to entrust me with your secret, and I promise that you won’t regret it. I’m going to do everything I can to support you both, okay?” she asked. Allison smiled gratefully, while Brian nodded. Allison then placed Brian into one of her palms and stood up, getting ready to transfer him to the pet carrier. Elizabeth gently reached out and poked him on the cheek, which elicited a sleepy smile.

“Goodnight, Brian. It was a pleasure to meet you, and I promise to come back soon.”

At that, Allison quickly moved into her room and placed Brian in the carrier, where he promptly made his way into his shirt-pocket-bed. Confirming that he was comfortable, Allison then went to see Elizabeth out.

“So, you said you want to come back soon. When are you thinking?” Allison asked as she opened the front door.

“How about tomorrow?” Elizabeth replied. Allison was shocked.

“Really, that soon?” she asked. Elizabeth chuckled.

“Of course! I don’t know if you noticed, Allie, but that boy you rescued is an absolute cutie. I’d love to get to know him better,” she said.

“I might have noticed…” Allison muttered, feeling the slightest pang of jealousy.

“More importantly, though, we have a lot to discuss. I assume you told me because you want my help, right? So we need to go over your plan as soon as possible, and figure out the best course of action from there,” Elizabeth continued. Allison was perplexed.

“Wait, wait, wait, what are you talking about? What plan?” she hurriedly asked. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

“Your plan to clear his name, obviously. So, be sure to clear it with Brian first, and if he’s okay with seeing me again so soon I’ll drop by, same time tomorrow. I’ll cover the food this time,” she said with a wink. “Night, Allie. Thanks again for telling me. You did the right thing in saving him, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

With that, and a quick hug, Elizabeth was gone, and Allison was alone. She stared at the closed door in a haze, with only one thing on her mind:

“…my plan to clear his name?”