"Shrinking Under Pressure"
Chapter 6: Awkward run-ins
Shapes everywhere were in danger of extinction. Dr. Architype was threatening the citizens of Slantsville yet again with his massive Geometron and there was only one jagged hero who could save the day.
Like clockwork, Polyman ascended onto the scene, surrounded by his trademark circle of poorly drawn stars, each one slightly different than the others ; like snowflakes. It wasn't always pretty, but Polyman always found a way to get the job done.
"...kinda like me..." Zack muttered, his voice trailing off as he finished the last frame of his 2 page comic. He suddenly heard rustling getting closer to his room, a room which he had neglected to close the door on. Sensing a human presence closing in, he shuffled the papers, like so many others, into his nearby drawer, which had been stuffed with crumpled notebook paper.
Just in the nick of time, Jack entered the room.
"Haven't you heard of knocking?" Zack scoffed, only half joking. He had requested a room at High Rise dorms at Eastern because there generally weren't many tenants on the upper floors where he stayed. He had been lucky enough to land a single room and usually didn't have to deal with loud noise or intrusions, which is why he didn't bother to close his door.
"What's the big deal, man?" Jack chuckled, shrugging his friend off as he tried to maintain his confident demeanor. "Anyway... the party's tonight... I am definitely going, and I think you should too"
"I don't know, man, I wasn't even invited" Zack said.
"Psh, so?" Jack laughed, "it's a COLLEGE party... I'm only going because I know someone who knows someone who's friends with Sandra's cousin and..."
"No, you're going so you can bang Sandra" Zack scoffed.
"Nah, you were right" Jack sighed, putting his arm around Zack as if it were a "father-son" moment. Zack shot him an uncomfortable glare, but Jack persisted, going into his fake 'theatrical' sounding voice. "Sandra is too far out of our leagues... she's an angel in disguise and we... we are here to worship her in..."
"Okay okay, cmon!" Zack laughed, finally mustering the strength to throw Jack's arm off himself, "I know you don't believe THAT either, I was just trying to keep your expectations realistic"
"Hey, my expectations are fine where they are" Jack insisted, "but you... you need more confidence, man. You need some charisma..."
"I need a fucking vacation is what I need..." Zack said, picking up his phone briefly again before putting it back down on the dresser. It continued to vibrate a few more times before going to voicemail.
"Your dad again?" Jack asked.
"Yeah," Zack sighed, referring to the 6 missed phone calls that were on the screen. "He's been trying to reach me all day, he swears it isn't for work but he doesn't tell me what he needs... or what he wants. I'm sure it's some kind of project he forgot to tell me about..."
"Maybe you should pick it up?" Jack frowned, trying to give his friend some sincere advice.
"Since when are you about being responsible?" Zack asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm just saying man... you don't know..." Jack said.
"You know what, you're right..." Zack said, feeling a strong burst of confidence for whatever reason. Maybe his mind was just too bogged down by other things to care, or maybe his judgement had finally failed him once and for all but this party was starting to seem like a better and better idea. "I don't know, and you won't know and I won't know... what can happen unless we get to this PARTY!!"
With that, his friend Jack jumped up in surprise and exclaimed "YES!! That's what I'm talking about, man"
"Yeah, so let's go!" Zack said, taking a swift step towards the door before doing a double take, and grabbing his phone. Just in case Jack was right, he decided it was a good idea to keep the phone on him, just in case.
"Oh, there is one thing" Jack chuckled.
"What?" Zack asked.
"We kinda need to make a stop..." Jack said, "I need some new cologne"
"You can't be serious" Zack groaned, disgusted by such shallow things.
"C'mon man, it'll be quick, I swear, we got time to kill anyway" Jack said. "We'll just stop by the mall, they got a sale going on and I've got a gift card. I need some new threads too"
"I thought you said you just needed cologne!" Zack snapped, beginning to have second thoughts. He was just looking to forget about life for a couple hours, he didn't plan on putting this much importance on it. "Maybe I should grab a LEISURE SUIT while I'm there!"
"Yknow, you may be able to..." Jack said, giving his friend a look over.
"Okay, this ends here!" Zack said, throwing a hand in his face.
"Oh c'mon!" Jack laughed, "I was kidding. Now c'mon, I'll drive..."
"No, we should take seperate cars" Zack quickly answered, "I know how you get when you go shopping... I don't want to miss the whole fucking party"
They both laughed as they left Zack's room, the door characteristically left open yet again.
Elsewhere, Zack's father Frank returned to the living room to sit beside his wife as she watched a movie.
"Still no answer?" Diana frowned.
"Nothing" Frank said, "I think I'm giving up for tonight... if I call him too much, he'll just be more disillusioned"
"Well, I give you credit for trying" Diana smiled, giving her husband an encouraging pat on the shoulder.
"I just wonder where he could be..." Frank pondered, "he usually at least answers his phone once..."
"I wouldn't worry about it, dear" Diana said, "he's probably just having a busy day or maybe his phone died..."
"Yeah... yeah, maybe" Frank Austin muttered, left to his own thoughts.
Back at the mall, it was Alicia who was deep in thought, admiring several cute skirts on the shelf at Express. Ashley stood behind her, mockingly looking at her wrist and the watch she didn't have on it.
"Yes, they're all so adorable..." Ashley chuckled, her voice trailing off into a sarcastic ramble, "how can you possibly pick just one?"
"Ugh, I know, right?" Alicia chuckled, before realizing what was happening, "You're being sarcastic again, aren't you?"
"A little" Ashley smiled, still clutching her 3 bags from the other stops the girls had made. She also was the recipient of a new hairstyle, and had her highlights put back in. Her autumn hair was now streaked with a couple vibrant strips of flourescent blonde.
"Well I'm sorry we can't ALL look fabulous without some help!" Alicia said, referring to her friend Ashley's reinvigorated appearance. Even Ashley, despite her humble nature had to admit that her friend was right. Things had been going a bit better for her in the past couple days, and somehow she even got talked into attending that big college party by both her roommate Caroline and her best friend Alicia. Why she had agreed to let Alicia drive though was anyone's guess.
Chance would have it, that within this same mall was another duo of friends, two males who were just finishing up a little shopping venture of their own.
"This collar is too tight" Zack protested, pulling lightly on the dark grey collar as it constricted his neck. Somehow, Jack had talked him into getting a nice dress shirt. Besides that, he would make no further attempt at improving his fashion, still wearing his usual beat up jeans, although he had thrown some gel through his hair as well.
"It looks fine to me" Jack shrugged. "All I know is, we are looking good and ready to get with the ladies!"
"Really, man?" Zack sighed, "You talk like someone out of a bad 50's movie..."
Zack then slipped into his bad impression of 'the fonz' as he assumed a pose and said 'Ey... let's get some chicks'
While his voice hadn't resonated to another part of the mall, his appearance was effecting somebody at the moment. From across the way, Ashley briefly made eye contact with her ex boyfriend, unsure if it was him in the dark dress shirt but she definitely recognized Jack.
Her strolling slowed to a near stop, causing Alicia to turn around and shoot her a look.
"What? Oh." Alicia said, realizing what she had seen. "That's... that's Zack, isn't it?"
"Y-Yeah..." Ashley sighed, her mind suddenly drifting. Almost by instinct she felt her feet taking her towards him before a forceful arm grabbed her back.
"H-Hey, what are you doing?" Alicia asked.
"I... I don't know, I figure I could say hi" Ashley said, her voice suddenly wavering.
"Yeah, okay... not!" Alicia said, suddenly changing her usually bubbly tone. "We are NOT saying hi to your ex boyfriend"
As Jack tried to brush off Zack's childish antics, he couldn't help but notice the 2 girls staring their way, if only briefly.
"Hey... hey man," Jack said, causing Zack to stop moving momentarily, "Is that... Ashley?"
"You fucking with me, man?" Zack said, his voice suddenly becoming quiet and disturbed.
"No, man, I'm serious" Jack said, "Hey... Hey Ashley!"
"Shut up, man!" Zack nearly shouted, pushing his friend behind a fake plant. "What the fuck are you doing?"
Ashley and Alicia reluctantly made their way over, trying to be polite in response to Jack's loud greeting.
"Um, hey... Jack" Ashley said, tilting her head curiously to figure out why he was on the ground. She then glanced over at his attacker. "Zack. Um... how's it going?"
Zack nodded. "It's going... it's going well, how are you.. and how's it going, Alicia?"
"It's going... we were actually just leaving" Alicia said, trying to contain her frustration at the current turn of events.
"...um, yeah, yeah we were" Ashley said, smiling and nodding. "We're uh... going to a party tonight and..."
"Oh. Oh yeah" Zack said, a bit surprised by her answer but he nodded as well, trying to act as casual as possible as Jack remained nearby, all too ready to break into their mediocre conversation.
"Z and I are on our way to something too" Jack said, nodding his head and smiling. "It should be a blast"
"Oh ... yeah?" Ashley asked, faking a smile. "Well, that's uh cool"
"Yea... it's uh... yknow, what it is" Zack said, trying to downplay Jack's behavior.
"Yeah... yeah I bet it is" Ashley said, unaware of the fact that her mouth was hanging open in indecisiveness. By the time she realized this, she felt rather silly and closed it, resuming her wide smile. "You boys gonna uh... 'pick up some chicks'?"
She had momentarily assumed Zack's false fonzarelli voice when making her reference, causing everyone else in the group to give her a peculiar look.
"Heh, I'm sorry, I just... I overheard you... a little bit and..." Ashley stuttered.
"Oh!" Zack exclaimed, "Oh that, y'know... I was just... heh, Jack here, being all ... ladies man and everything"
Alicia acted swiftly to break up the quickly deteriorating situation.
"Okay, well we gotta go" Alicia retorted rather rudely, "I've uh got an appointment, and so do you, Ashley..."
"I do?" Ashley asked, absent minded.
"Yes! We're getting our nails done, so c'mon! We'll see you boys later!" Alicia said, quickly pulling on her friends harm as she helplessly walked away.
"Um ok... but I thought we already did our nails..." Ashley stammered as the 2 girls fled out of sight. Ashley turned a bright red in the face, relieved that her friend had pulled her out when she did. That was really all she needed. Her mind had finally settled down and she no longer had those knots in her stomach.... until now. She thought seeing Zack would be a somewhat pleasant experience but it was anything but. She gazed down at the floor for several moments.
Meanwhile, Jack and Zack headed out a seperate exit, retreating to their vehicles as Zack remained silent.
"What?" Jack said, continuing to pry at his friends' privacy as he continually walked away. "What? How was I supposed to know you didn't want to see her?"
"How were you supposed to know?!" Zack asked, yelling and practically throwing Jack against his car. "The fuck you were supposed to know! I shouldn't have to tell you I don't want to see her, why's that so hard to understand?"
"okay, okay man, I'm sorry" Jack said, "I didn't know..."
"You didn't know... you didn't know... of course you didn't know... NOBODY KNOWS!" Zack shrieked.
"Okay, chill out man" Jack said, trying to return the conversation to a friendly tone. Like pouring gasoline on a burning fire, he soon realized what a mistake that was.
"I will not fucking chill out!" Zack said, his face turning bright red with rage. "It's one thing that you got me going to this convoluted party and then you try to..."
"Hey, you wanted to go this party!" Jack said, "I've been asking you all week and you finally agreed to go, so let's go and have a good..."
"No, you go! I'm fucking done! I'm done with all this bullshit!" Zack said, ripping the top button from his dress shirt, releasing his neck from the warm grasp of the collar. "You go, and you fuck your chicks and drink your booze and tell me all about it on FACEBOOK tomorrow"
"You're never on Facebook anymore..." Jack answered.
"Gee, I wonder why!" Zack sarcastically responded, "maybe because I don't need an open window to see how fake everybody's being... nobody's as happy as they appear on facebook!"
"No, you're just never happy!" Jack yelled, "You hold in all this shit from 2 years ago and..."
"Fucking go to hell, man!" Zack shouted and stepped away from the confrontation, going to his car instead.
"No, you know what? I'm going to the party" Jack said, "and I'm going to have a great time, you can do what you want!"
As Jack drove off, Zack slowly slumped into his vehicle and again sat motionless, staring at his keys. It was closing time at the mall and the party was fast approaching. In fact, several people were probably there now and while he couldn't garuntee it would be any fun, it would be better than returning to his small dorm room for the night.
His thoughts slowing down and his pulse finally returning to normal, Zack was able to think more clearly. As he set sights on his next destination, he had only one thing on his mind.
"Since when is Ashley Tremorton a party girl?"
Giantess World
