The Gifts: Picked up and Gobbled down
Upton finished the book (it was the fifth in a series and it took five years for this one to come out). He was disappointed to find out that a sixth book was due out next year. Next year. I might not even be here next year. Heck. I might not be here tomorrow! He looked at the clock. Five till seven. He decided to wait outside. At ten after, Donna’s car pulled into the parking lot. Aww, come on! The girl’s dorms aren’t even that far away. Punctuality had always been a big deal to him.
“Hey Uppers!”, Ronni yelled out the window. She was in the front passenger seat and Donna was driving. She eyed him up as he walked towards the car, then turned and leaned over to whisper to Donna, “I guess he’s braver than you thought!”
“Hi Veronica. Happy birthday.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was like a force field of awkwardness radiated from him.
“Thanks Uppers, now get in the car”, she reached out the window and slapped the door, “We’ve got things to do!”
Upton got in next to Martha. He didn’t remember much of the ride. From the moment he sat down in the car to the moment they met the hostess was a blur. He knew that they were carded at the door and that Veronica was more than eager to show off her I.D. And he accepted Donna’s insistence that he wear one of those gaudy red bracelets.
“Hey everyone!”, Ronni yelled, “It’s mah birthday!” Scattered cheers started throughout the restaurant. Upton and Martha tried to hide behind Ronni to little success.
Ronni put her arm around Upton, “Come on Uppers. Let’s get some birthday shots!”
Upton looked at Donna uncertainly. Donna shrugged in a ‘What can you do?’ sort of way and they all followed her. They chose a table semi-close to the bar, but not in the line of ‘bar traffic’. There was a decent crowd and sitting at the bar itself would’ve been impossible. Upton made sure to sit next to Donna.
“Ooh fancy!”, Ronni said as she unrolled her silverware from the handkerchief and began drumming on the table.
Upton looked up in time to see a gorgeous strawberry-blond waitress approach.
“Hi! Welcome to Forbidden Dish, I’m Lindsay and I’ll be your server today”, Lindsay said, “I heard someone say it’s their birthday today.” She turned to Ronni, “So, how do you want to kick off the celebration?”
“I wanna get drunk!”, Ronni said, pumping her fist at the word drunk, “Let’s get some birthday shots! I mean it! I wanna be like ‘Why didn’t you call me - ?’” She began crying into her hand like she had a telephone, “- Drunk. d-r-u-n-k.”
“We’d like a party sampler of shots please. A little bit of everything”, Donna cut in, “Please excuse my friend. It’s her first legal night drinking. We have to make sure to save room for, uh, other activities, right Ronni?” They both smiled at each other like they were sharing a secret.
“Oh yeah, how do we do that part? Do we order, or do we go nab ‘em? How does it work?”, Ronni barraged Lindsay with questions.
“Anybody in this bar wearing a red bracelet is a potential snack”, Lindsay said, “You just go around and mingle. No nabbing - you have to ask. If they agree to go with you, you take them to the back over there,” she pointed to the booth room, “There are shrink booths and private rooms should you feel inclined”, Lindsay smiled, “Anything else?”
They all shook their heads, “If you need anything, I’ll be around. I’ve got other tables and little men of my own to tend to.” With that, she left them to enjoy the night and wait for their shots.
“We need two more men. At least!”, Ronni slapped the table, “I hear once you pop, you can’t stop!”, she added, “Sorry Uppers - you’re not gonna be enough man for all three of us.”
Upton hated when she called him that. He couldn’t figure out when it started, most likely at orientation. But superseding this annoyance, he was more than a little disturbed at her apparent flippancy and disregard for his person in how casually she talked about his forthcoming disposal. To take his mind off the situation, he tried to make small talk with Donna. “Uh huh,” muttered Donna as she absent-mindedly took her phone out and began fiddling with her messages.
Ronni, feeling tipsy and a bit anxious, stood on her chair, “Who wants to get in mah belleh?”, she yelled. There was a mixture of laughter and applause as well as a few sideways stares from fellow diners. Scanning the other tables, Upton noted that all the patrons seemed to be having a good time.
“Careful on that chair. You don’t want to wipe out on dry land”, a male voice said from behind Ronni. She jumped down and looked at their first taker. He was well built man in his early twenties, wearing only a tank top, his lean muscular arms and the sides of his abs showing. His only other clothing was board shorts, sandals and a hemp necklace with sharks’ teeth on it which lay across his beefy, tanned chest. Most importantly, he wore a red bracelet. He had a tanned, golden appearance to fit his clothes (or lack thereof). Without asking, he pulled a chair up between Upton and Donna and sat down.
“We just ordered shots!”, Ronni said, “Wanna join us? Uppers here is buying.”
“Alright Uppers!”, the man said, slapping Upton on the back, “Way to go brah! I’ll chill with you, but no shots for me. I want to be totally sober when I take my last ride.”
Upton was of a different mind on the matter. He would rather be a bit sedated if and when that happened.
“Are those sharks’ teeth?”, Donna asked, fingering the necklace.
“Yep, and each one from a different shark”, the guy said, “Until this restaurant opened, things like this were impossible. Hanging out with the sharks was the closest thing I had to chasing thrills. It’s the whole reason I took up surfing in the first place. Good thing I didn’t bite it, or it didn’t bite me - knowwhatimean?”, he said with a hearty laugh, adding, “This is gonna be total-ly rad!”
The girls laughed. Upton was annoyed. He wondered why he never took up surfing, and then realized he might never get the chance now. Surfing was one of the many things that might soon be beyond his reach.
When the shots arrived, everybody but Martha and the surfer downed at least two. They were expensive, but money was not high on the list of concerns for Upton at the moment. Upton had two four horsemen shots and decided he was dulled enough. He sat and contemplated his life choices. Martha sat quietly on the other end of the table while the surfer spent time joking back and forth between Donna and Ronni.
“What about Martha?”, Ronni asked. She wanted to find a man to shrink down for her.
Before Martha could tell her she was fine, Ronni had already climbed on her chair again. She wobbled, and the surfer jumped up and steadied her.
“It’s like this”, he guided her with his hands firmly, but not roughly, on her sides, “Yeah, that’s it - lean in.”
“Hey everybody!”, Ronni yelled, “Who wants to feed my friend here?” She grabbed Martha’s arm and pulled her protesting friend from her chair. Martha pulled her hand away quickly and sat down crossing her arms. She was beet red and bent over. The surfer helped Ronni down while people cheered. After no volunteers showed up, conversation resumed.
The surfer moved to a chair between Martha and Ronni and was trying to get Martha to look up. Upton didn’t know if it was the horsemen kicking in or what, but he was starting to like him. He wished he could just talk to anybody like he did. It bothered him that he didn’t know his name, but they were already in that awkward part of the conversation where it felt rude to ask. It only reminds the person that you didn’t ask earlier; besides, he didn’t want to interrupt. The surfer was making progress with cheering Martha up. Still, Upton was feeling a bit jealous of the attention the other women were paying to the surfer, especially Donna. This was supposed to be his moment.
As Martha finally warmed up and began to smile, they heard a commotion and yelling near the entrance into the restaurant where it joined with the foyer lounge area.
“What are you doing? Let us out!” A woman was yelling at the bouncer and trying to walk past him. They could see him calmly talking to her and holding her back.
“This is my boyfriend, not some leftover prawn!” The yelling escalated.
Donna and Ronni were laughing. “She must be a bit drunk too”, Ronni said.
Upton noticed that Martha was watching the woman intently. There was something in her eyes he’d never seen before and couldn’t place, but it scared him beyond description. Nobody else noticed. They had already started talking to each other and ignoring the “crazy lady”.
“I-um, I think I’m going to go get a drink of water”, Martha said starting to get up.
“Why bother?”, Donna asked, “We can just get the waitress to do that.”
“It’s ok”, Martha said, “I don’t mind.”
She got up and walked towards the bar.
While she was gone, conversation resumed. The place was pretty packed. Lindsay walked over and looked at Upton and the surfer. “Ready for your papers?”, she asked.
When they gave her a questioning look, she said, “It’s just a formality. Something to document that you were here voluntarily. I’ll go get them for you.”
Upton didn’t like the sound of Lindsay’s usage of past tense in relation to himself. He gazed at Donna, who had the biggest grin on her face as she chatted with Ronni. She also seemed to be making eyes with the surfer, which Upton found bothersome. “Um, Donna, I thought we might talk a bit before, um…”, he began, but he wasn’t exactly sure how to proceed.
Donna flipped her hair at the disturbance from where her focus was and looked Upton straight in the eyes, a smirk playing about her lips, “And just what would you like to talk about Upton?”
To Upton, the comment came across almost as a challenge. He recalled the first time he’d met Donna at an event organized by the dorm’s RA. He also recalled encountering her another time when she seemed giddy with glee (though he knew not the source of her glee) and how nice she’d been to him. “Uh, well, we’ve been getting along so well all semester, and I’m so happy to be out with you on a date.”
Donna tried to reminisce their past interactions, but could not seem to recall much. “Yeah, we’ve had some fun”, she lied, trying to disguise a somewhat confused smile. “Though I’d hardly call tonight an actual date”, she hastened to add, making sure that the surfer saw her rolling her eyes as she said this. Still…”, she paused as the waitress set the papers in front of Upton, “What say we go get you shrunk and then we can have some real fun, right.”
The papers made it all more real for Upton somehow. He noticed the surfer just leafed through them and signed without checking anything. He, on the other hand, began with the intent to read the entire thing, but sped his pace up after Donna began to protest. He saw something about ‘food considerations’ and something about ‘exceptions’. Or was that ‘no exceptions’? He was having a hard time concentrating with the girls joking. He looked up and saw her laughing at Ronni.
He pulled his phone out. This might be a good time to send a text to Kylie and see what she thought. Should he sign the papers? As he began to text, he was interrupted.
“Ahem”, Donna cleared her throat, “I better hold on to that for you.” She held out her hand and motioned him to place it there. Upton sighed and handed it over to her.
Well, there’s no backing out now, he told himself. He hoped Donna would be impressed and appreciate his devotion to her. He wanted to prove how serious he was about dating her and show her he wasn’t just some guy. If she didn’t recognize it, he was about to go on a one-way trip. The moment of truth was soon to arrive. Had he misplaced his trust in Donna? Or was Kylie right? He would know shortly. Yet even as he fought back his apprehension, he took another glance up at Donna’s mouth. A primal urge tickled at the deep recesses of his mind, telling him it would be such a thrill to be in there, causing an almost imperceptible quiver in his crotch. That part of him had a strong desire to find out how that felt, the temptation palpable and powerful.
Upton signed the papers and looked around to see if Lindsay was back to check them. He saw Martha sitting at a table with the woman who was yelling earlier and talking like they were old friends. “What the - ?”
Lindsay showed up and took the papers before he could say anything to anyone. Donna grabbed him and the surfer by the arm and started walking towards the booth room.
“Come on, let’s go”, Donna said impatiently, “Ronni, stay here and enjoy a few more shots. I’ll have a treat for you when I get back.”
“Woohoo!”, Ronni said, downing another shot.
--
The line looked long, but any line to your potential doom is going to feel way shorter than it is. With each couple that was processed, Upton wondered (and hoped) when Donna would announce that she was just teasing him.
They were in front of the booth before they knew it.
“Who wants to go first?”, Donna asked.
“I’ve got this”, the surfer said, “But first,” he undid his necklace and gave it to Donna, “Give this to Martha for me will you? I think it will cheer her up.” He climbed into the booth and the operator shut the door.
“Now, are you sure you want to do this? After we shrink you, there is no backing out”, the operator said.
“I’ve been sure my whole life”, the surfer said.
“They all say that”, the operator responded and pushed the button. There was a blinding light and the surfer was about an inch and a half to two inches tall. Upton looked on in amazement, his mouth hanging ajar.
Donna bent down and scooped him up while he was still dazed, then shoved Upton, who seemed a bit reluctant, from behind. “Get to stepping”, she commanded him, “We’ve got a lot of partying to do.”
Still reeling from the shock of seeing the tiny surfer, the glass door was closed over Upton before he realized what was happening. Holy shit! She’s really going to shrink and eat me, he realized. It was a surreal moment for him and he was trying his best to reconcile his thoughts. He tried to concentrate on what he knew would be a pleasurable, intimate experience with Donna, but things were moving way too fast and it was hard to move his focus off the finality of it.
“Last chance to back out”, the operator told him. Upton swallowed.
“Um...”, he said, focusing on Donna's face and trying to look brave.
"Do it”, ordered Donna. The operator hit the button, there was a flash of greenish light followed by a tickling jolt of electric current through his whole body, even to his extremities, making him shudder in place as his clothes tumbled around him. There was a haze and the next thing Upton saw was Donna’s giant hand lifting him quickly into the air. Even though he was going up, it felt like a rollercoaster drop to his stomach. Before he could re-stabilize, Donna was already back at their table with her hands behind her back. The surfer nodded to Upton. He nodded back. They were both understandably nervous. Upton’s heart was racing.
“Ta Dah!”, Donna said, whipping Upton suddenly from behind her back and showing him to Ronni in her flat palm, “Happy birthday from me and Upton.”
“Aww, you shouldn’t have”, Ronni said as she plucked Upton from Donna’s hand, staring at Upton with a studious look on her face. He looked a bit dizzy and off-balance from the quick movements by the women. He was sporting a tiny erection and his cock tilted up at her, but he was covering his crotch with both hands in embarrassment.
For a fateful moment, Upton stood mesmerized as he gazed up at Ronni’s huge face as she lifted her palm up towards her face. It was that instant of paralysis brought on by his subjugation at the immensity of her size in proportion to him and the closeness of her that made him forget about his imminent danger. It was a moment of opportunity he would not get back.
With her other hand, Ronni took hold of his leg and removed her palm, upending him and dangling his tiny body upside down in front of her eyes, holding him in place by one leg between thumb and forefinger. The movement made Upton’s heart drop and his hands left his crotch as he held them outstretched to brace himself, lest she let him fall. It took his breath away.
“Now how do I do this?”, Ronni asked as she lowered him towards her mouth. She felt his little body tremble and noticed his erection. How cute!, she thought.
“But...I thought…?“, Upton began to protest. This was not at all what he had agreed to. He had always found Veronica fun, if a bit annoying, but he didn’t have the hots for her like he felt for Donna.
“It’s eeee-zeee”, Donna interjected loudly, “Just get your mouth really lubricated, put it in and swallow.”
Looking down her nose, Ronni smiled at Upton, “Hear that Uppers? You’re going down!”
“But Ronni…!”, he was able to get out as he felt her fingers let go of his leg.
Ignoring his squeaks, she licked her lips and slid Upton into her mouth face-first, heedless of his protests, his back landing on and being pulled in by her moist tongue and his legs dangling out over her bottom lip. It was hot, wet, and smelled of alcohol in her mouth, though the feel of her tongue on his flesh was a strange sensation.
Desperately Upton struggled, but the thick wet tongue was bigger than him and forced him against her hard palette. He swiveled his body around so that he was facing the cavity which was her throat. He was soaked through and through as he felt around for something to hold on to. His light was cut off as her lips descended over his legs and he felt the tip of her tongue rise up under his taint and his nutsack. She was tasting him. As he realized this, her tongue pulled the rest of him in.
“Ronni! NO!”, he yelled. He had to somehow make her aware he was for Donna and not for her. But she was humming a happy tune that drowned out any sound he made. His ears, his nose, his skin, and now even his mouth was assaulted by alcohol thick saliva. It burned his eyes and made him cough. He began to hyperventilate at the sudden course of events and realized that yelling would do more harm than good. As he tried to wipe away saliva, he felt himself sliding forward and down on the slick surface. When he offered resistance, the tongue pushed him harder against the hard palette. This is it, he realized, his doom approaching like an onrushing freight train. He urgently racked his brain for any ideas. If I don’t find a way to escape soon-. His thoughts were interrupted as he felt a powerful suction. He started sliding faster and his legs were suddenly above him, touching the roof of her mouth, as his upper body slipped into a cavity below him. His arms were forced awkwardly to his sides as he was grabbed by her esophagus.
"Jesus, fuck!..", was all Upton managed to yell until he was completely engulfed by the constricting tube. This was all happening way too quickly for his young mind to comprehend. He could feel himself being violently pulled down, then suddenly squeezed extremely tight and he found his abdomen get stuck on something, but he thrust his limbs out in spread-eagle fashion and succeeded in stopping the downward momentum. He was beyond disbelief – he had always thought getting eaten was a real possibility once he was in Forbidden Dish, but he wasn’t prepared for the speed and callous nature of his unceremonious handling. After all, these girls knew him and that had to count for something. He was wrong, of course.
--
Donna suppressed a snort. It was funny watching Ronni swallow Upton. It had only been a few seconds since she’d returned to the table. She wasn’t sure how Upton felt about it, but that was just too bad. He was hers to give away and she wanted the other one. After all, he had meant nothing to her. She saw the small bulge still in Ronni’s throat as she coughed and brought her hand to her mouth.
'Ulp-uhulf' coughed Ronni loudly. “I’ve never…(cough)…swallowed anything this big before. I think he got stuck.” She gave no thought at all to Upton’s enjoyment. Though she had expressed an early curiosity as to the motivation of the male in getting shrunk and consumed, as the night wore on, she had forgotten all about the sexual needs of the person being shrunk and her thoughts had instead turned increasingly towards a singular purpose. She was anxious to see exactly how swallowing her shrunken schoolmate was going to taste and, more importantly, how he would feel going down her gullet. She downed a shot.
--
The next instant, Upton's whole body was twisted and wrenched as the tight tube first gave, then contracted, squeezing him all over. Pain shot through his groin as his legs were forced into a banana split and then curled along the sides of his torso. Though he suffered no fractures, he was sure the muscles in his groin had ruptured on both sides along with sprains in his torso and limbs and he reflexively curled his body in a fetal position, hugging his own shoulders in a helpless defensive posture. For the moment, he was cradled within the soft and moist, but tight and undulating esophageal flesh. With his limbs curled tightly, he began to slowly slide down once more. There was a loud rumble as Ronni talked with him in her throat, but he couldn’t understand any of it. It was like a jet engine coming to life right above him.
Before Upton could recompose himself, he was flooded with liquid. Surrounded by burning alcohol and holding himself, Upton shot down Ronni’s esophagus. If, at any other moment in time you would’ve suggested an alcoholic waterslide to Upton, he would see it as nothing but a good thing, but today, right here and now, it was the most frightening thing he’d ever experienced. Of course he was young. He had a few minutes left that could make this a pleasant memory.
--
Donna watched as the little bulge in Ronni’s neck loosened, than smoothed out.
“Ooooh”, Ronni cooed at the delightful feel of the shrinky squirming down her throat. ”All better”, she said patting her chest, “Mmmm, he tasted kind of like vanilla, you know, but good. Wow, I can feel him in my tummy. Good thing he asked for this”, she looked down and rubbed her belly, “See ya around Uppers”, she said, laughing and doing a celebratory shimmy.
--
Upton went from falling in a tightly confined space to freefalling into a mixture of liquids he couldn’t begin to describe. Ronni hadn’t eaten anything besides Upton that day, but she’d been drinking steadily since they’d arrived at the restaurant. The mixture of alcohol and stomach acids was very unpleasant. It burned immediately and when he tried to swim, he only managed to spin in circles. His eyes were burning, as they were open wide when he had landed in the muck and the liquids had splattered directly into them. Even his cock was sore from the jostling he’d taken on his trip down Ronni’s throat. Things were mercifully fading. After a minute, he no longer felt the burning, but he was sure it was still there. His thoughts quickly went to Donna. How could she do this to me? Geez, I should’ve just went to class. It was his last coherent thought as the huge muscle began to churn around him. His consciousness had begun to fade and he passed out a few moments later, the digestive juices going to town on his limp form as the stomach muscle tossed it around like a rag doll.
To Ronni and Donna, he’d been nothing more than a chunk of brief sexual fun-sized food, soon to be forgotten in search of their next prey.
--
The surfer had watched Ronni swallow Upton with awe. Donna could feel his arousal in her hand. “Your turn”, Donna said bringing him to her mouth.
“Wait!”, he yelled.
“What?”, Donna looked impatient.
“I just realized I never introduced myself. My name’s…“
“Don’t care”, Donna said popping him into her mouth. It won’t matter soon anyway, she thought. She could feel him struggle as he slowly slid down her throat. Donna had been a man-eater since before she’d even heard of Forbidden Dish. She just got to be a bit more literal now.
“Well, that was-“, she started, but she felt a flutter from under her left breast. Is that him? I think I feel him fighting! The feeling sent a warm tingle down her abdomen and to her nethers. “I can still feel him!” she said.
“Really?”, Ronni asked, “I think Uppers already gave up on me.” She ran her hand over her belly, “Lucky.”
Donna had an idea. It being a Thursday night, there were sure to be lots of people upstairs on the dance floor and she was one to hunt for prey rather than have it brought to her. “Hey Ronni, how about joining me on the dance floor? We can cut it up and see if we can reel in some fishes.”
Ronni thought about it for a minute, but told her to go on without her. “I don’t think I could dance right now. Besides, someone should wait here for Martha.”
Donna reconsidered going, but Ronni told her, “go ahead, I’ll be ok.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Go, have fun. Find some more boys for us to eat”, Ronni insisted.
***