"Shrinking Under Pressure"
by Sonicfan287
Chapter 3: Making connections
SLAM!
"It's just the lamest thing ever, man..." Zack sighed, throwing another swift kick into the training dummy within Eastern's fitness center. Jack braced for impact, holding the hard foam training implement.
""I don't know, man, at least your dad pays attention to you, I barely even see mine" Jack sighed.
"I know, it's just -- ugh, he can be so annoying sometimes" Zack grunted, kneeling down to grab a drink of water from his sports bottle. "Now we gotta do this lame fall festival thing again..."
"Well what does he pay you?" Jack asked
"What does it matter?" Zack sneered, "Nothing's worth this trouble... I already got school to contend with... fucking Asstino's determined to flunk me"
"Well you did get kind of hot under the collar" Jack commented, following Zack over to the shoulder press for the next set of work outs. He sat down next to him and began lifting free weights.
"Do you blame me?" Zack said, thrusting all his force into the first set of shoulder presses. He strained himself on the first rep and sets the bar down with some excessive force.
"Dude, you can't push all that weight at once" Jack said, "you gotta build up the muscle first"
"Damn it, man, it's only 60 pounds" Zack commented, "Even Eddy can lift 60 pounds"
"Ha, you kidding?" Jack laughed, "He can only calculate 60 pounds, besides you're doing fine. You're always pushing yourself man, you gotta relax"
"How can I ... relax?" Zack said, pausing slightly as he gripped the bar and took another thrust upward, slightly ashamed to have lowered the weight to 45. "I've got all this college crap going on, my dad always expecting more of me, and I just don't have any direction in my life..."
"Man, who does?" Jack asked, "We've made it through rougher times than this , we always find some way to land on our feet"
Zack sat still for a brief moment, contemplating what his friend had just said. At that time, Julie came around from behind a pull-ups machine.
"Just by the way, Zack, I totally think you could've taken him" she chuckled, brushing her red hair from her eyes. Julie was a younger girl with a cute twinkle in her eye, who stood at about 5'4. Probably her most distinguishable characteristic was her light blue eyes, which added a level of intrigue to her otherwise average appaearance.
"What?" Zack asked, still preoccupied with raising the weight on his shoulder press. He let out a pained grunt as he reasserted his strength on the machine, struggling to raise the bar. Jack chuckled in the background, focusing on the conversation Julie was attempting to initiate.
"Eddy, man, you could've taken him" Julie chuckled, "I'm kinda glad you didn't though... class would be pretty boring without you"
"Yeah" Zack said, maintaining a stone-like appearance in his face as he made another attempt on the shoulder press, a bit more satisfied to be lifting the bar higher, even as he felt a strain in his left shoulder and could feel the muscles in his right shoulder tighten as well.
"So Jules, you going to the party tonight?" Jack asked.
"Y'know, I'm not sure..." Julie sighed, "Jason keeps wanting me to go..."
"Well, of course" Jack replied with a certain hint of sarcasm in his voice, "he wants you bad"
"Yeah, no shit" Julie chuckled, "How about you Zack?"
"Heh, what about me? I don't like Jason either" Zack chuckled, missing the point completely
"No, I mean are you coming to the party, silly?" she asked.
"Wh-What party?" Zack asked, finally ceasing his workout long enough to talk to his friends. A small drop of sweat had formed on his forehead, secreting from his hairline as it made its way down his face.
"I tried calling you last night" Jack said, "but you never got back to me, it's going to be this huge party in Noble Hall, Sandra's older sister is bringing booze and..."
"You say that like it's such a big deal, man" Zack interuppted, "Of course there's booze, its a college party ... besides I don't even know if I feel like partying"
"Oh c'mon" Jack said, "Remember in high school? We always wanted to be invited to these kind of parties but we never had the connections"
"Well, you've been to a few" Zack reminded
"Yeah but that was a long time ago" Jack said, "and besides it wasn't exactly what I thought it'd be..."
"Why? Because you didn't get laid?" Zack joked, eliciting a laugh from Julie as well. Jack narrowed his brow
"Yeah, real funny" Jack said, faking a laugh, "No, I just felt out of my element and..."
"Yeah, because you were..." Zack said, shooting Jack a brief glare. "Why can't we just put high school behind us? It's ancient history now"
Julie paused before asking, "Didn't you guys like just graduate?"
"Yeah" Jack replied nonchalantly, "and it was fucking awesome! Remember how wasted we got during graduation? I think we all got some that night"
Zack remained silent for a few moments, letting Julie and Jack continue talking. Without saying much else, he proceeded to the bicep curls and began the workout process anew. Julie had to get going and bid farewell to Jack, exiting almost as quickly as she arrived.
Jack walked over to the bicep curls and sighed.
"Man, you know she's into you, right?" Jack asked.
"Who, Julie?"
"Yeah" Jack said, "You see the way she acts around you"
"Nah man, that's just how she is" Zack said, getting that determined look in his eyes again as he took hold of the bicep curls and started lifting again, his arms tensing up as he pulled with all his strength, "she's always nice and cheerful like that"
"More than that, man" Jack said, "I think she wants you"
"Oh yeah, here it is..." Zack said with his usual sarcastic tone, rolling his eyes as he continued working out.
"She's pretty decent" Jack shrugged, "I'd tap that"
"You'd tap anything" Zack said, a certain cycnicism in his voice
"Hey, I'm just trying to help you out" Jack said defensively
"Help me with what, man? I got enough going on, I'm sorry if going to some random party and fucking Julie aren't on my mind every second" Zack said
"Sometimes I wonder what is on your mind..." Jack sighed, "Anyway, I tried to call you last night because I really do need you to go to this party"
"And why's that?" Zack said, sighing before finally admitting defeat. He lowered the bicep weights gently, for the last time and stood up from the bench.
"Y'know that hottie I was telling you about? Sandra?" Jack asked, "She's going to be there and man, I could really use a wing man"
"Sandra? She's way out of your league... she's out of all our leagues" Zack said, as they begun making their way from the fitness center.
"Out of our league? Nah." Jack said, a certain determined quality in his voice, "Terms like 'out of our league' is high school bullshit... there are no more leagues anymore"
"You certainly changed your tune fast" Zack retorted, "That's not what you were saying last year"
"Can we just let that go, man?" Jack sighed, his bushy eyebrows wrinkling as he spoke. "What do you care anyway? You were too busy with Ashley at that time and..."
"You leave her out of this" Zack snapped, the only time his voice changed tones and seemed to show some real emotion. "You abandoned all of us last year to go pursue some juvenile fantasy and we all understood that and let you do your thing, even as you continued to shun us"
"Shun you? What are you talking about?" Jack asked, "You weren't available much either... always hanging out with Ashley. I can't 'shun' someone who isn't even around"
"Maybe you're right, we should drop this" Zack said, deciding to change his own tune for the moment. Whatever had happened in the past needed to be buried. As his thoughts took him from negative to positive yet again, he decided that maybe a party would be what he needed to take his mind off the stresses he had. "When's this party?"
"This Friday night, man" Jack said, his usual confidence returning to his voice as they strolled down the student center towards the cafe. "A bunch of people from Noble Hall will be there and of course Sandra, and her sister Angie who ain't too bad either"
Zack simply nodded. He could've said more but he didn't see the point in arguing or agreeing with Jack. Whenever his friend got on these determined missions of his, it was just a matter of letting him find out on his own that things aren't always as ideal as he thinks. Zack had plenty else to occupy his time anyway and wasting a few hours at a party on Friday night wouldn't do too much harm, he figured.
As the 2 boys sat down to eat, Zack couldn't help but make another astute observation, bringing his cheeseburger towards his mouth to take a bite.
"Man, this food kinda sucks, huh?" he chuckled.
Not too far away, at UCONN Storrs a similiar conversation was taking place.
"This food kinda sucks, huh?" Ashley chuckled, as small strips of lettuce dribbled out of her loaded cheeseburger and landed back onto her plate. She took another bite, smearing some ketchup and mayonaise on her face. She tsked and quickly wiped herself with the adjacent napkin. Her friend Alicia chuckled
"Hey, it's college" Alicia said and shrugged. Alicia was a very laidback girl and had been a great influence on Ashley throughout their time in high school. She was a year older but in the same grade due to her being held back in middle school. Because she was older, Ashley seemed to look up to her even if her "wisdom" wasn't always insightful.
"You take what you get"
"Yeah, I mean, what do you expect for a 400 dollar meal plan?" Ashley chuckled, "but I mean yeah, it's not really that bad, I'm just feeling bitchy today I guess"
They both chuckled briefly.
"But seriously, I think you're going to like it here" Alicia stated, "Actually scratch that. You WILL like it here"
"Ever the optimist.." Ashley shrugged, making another attempt to finish her cheeseburger. A pickle clumsily dribbled out from under the bun but she didn't notice the errant topping, which slid to the floor with a soft squishing sound.
"So I assume you found your classes okay" Alicia inquired.
"Yeah" Ashley laughed sarcastically, "I'm not a retard, c'mon"
Just then, a guy carrying his tray slipped and fell right beside the table, his shoe slipping on a misplaced pickle. He caused a small commotion around them before pulling himself up, his burger and fries disheveled on the navy blue tiled floor.
"Fuck" the guy exclaimed, before calming down. He was a taller guy, wearing a vertically striped navy blue button up shirt with nice jeans, a fancy silver buckle and Puma sneakers on. He sat up and retained his normally mellow demeanor, "Well I guess that's what I get for ordering out, huh?"
Ashley sat aghast at what had happened for several seconds before getting down to floor level and trying to help the guy out.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry" Ashley said, her voice filled with distress.
"For what? Shit happens" the guy replied.
"Yeah but I think you may have slipped on my pickle" she said, slightly cracking a smile from the stupidity of it all. "...yeah, I can't believe I just said that"
The guy laughed again, before extending his hand. Ashley helped him up.
"My name's Jake, what's yours?" he said.
"Ashley" she said, "What a great way to be meeting..."
"Nah, it's cool, don't worry" he said, "although I think you got a little ketchup on your face...right here."
He took one of his napkins and gently dabbed her cheek, eliciting a quick smile from her, as she became unable to make eye contact.
"Heh, thanks" Ashley said, her voice soft and muted.
"Yeah, no prob... I should probably clean this shirt" he chuckled, "Hey I'll see you around"
Ashley glanced back at Alicia as Jake started getting himself up and began walking around. She gave her a stare that said it all, and Ashley found herself prompted to follow him.
"Um... hey" Ashley said, feeling uneasy as he turned around to face her again. His demeanor didn't change, neither positively or negatively. "I... uh... kinda feel bad about ruining your meal... how about I buy you lunch?"
"Oh yeah?" he asked, his face finally smiling for a moment as he looked down at her, "You sure? You don't really have to"
"No, I insist" she said, sounding a little more confident, "Y'know... when you're all cleaned up and all"
"Actually I was just going to go to the bathroom and wash some of this ketchup off... I'm still hungry as hell..." he joked, "so... you mind, waiting here?"
"Here?" she asked shyly, Jake nodded yes. "Y-Yeah... right here. I'll be... right. here."
"Ok, cool" Jake said nonchalantly and continued to proceed into the bathroom to clean his shirt. Ashley's nervous grin burst into a wide smile as soon as he was out of sight. She looked back at Alicia who smiled as well and gave her a thumbs up.
Maybe this won't be so bad... Ashley thought to herself.
Giantess World
