"Shrinking Under Pressure"
by Sonicfan287
Chapter 9: The Morning After
"So why are we here?" a smug Zack Austin asked the auburn haired girl on the back of her uncle's pickup truck.
"Oh stop, you..." she laughed, flinging a small portion of orange pumpkin gunk at the young boy who laughed as he blocked it with his hand, still causing errant goop to fly in his face.
"I'm joking, Ash, chill" Zack laughed, handing his girlfriend another oversized pumpkin which she helped load onto the back of the truck.
"Well, we're going to need a few more than this..." Ashley frowned, looking at an adjacent pile of pumpkins that came up to her ankles. Some of them were fine specimen indeed, but still more of them were dented or rotting ; certainly not the kind of sample one would try and attain for Aunt Betsy's pumpkin pie recipe.
"Hmmm..." Zack said, scouring the pumpkin patch. Ashley jumped off the back of the truck from behind him and joined as the 2 honed in on the remaining pumpkins. "I suppose you're right... geez, your uncle really let this place go this year"
"Yeah..." Ashley sighed, "well he had his legs operated on not too long ago and couldn't really be out here as much as he wanted. Betsy tried to help but she's not in great shape either and..."
"I know..." Zack muttered, momentarily interuppting her, "I know I said I'd be here more often to help but it's just school's been ugh..."
"Oh my gosh, I know, Zack!" Ashley sighed, "I was never saying you had to..."
"I know, but I said I would..." Zack frowned, "and I don't like to go back on my promises..."
"You haven't, okay?" Ashley said, in a reassuring tone as Zack turned away, fixated on more pumpkins. She came up from behind her boyfriend and turned his face towards her, holding it in her soft hands. "Okay? You promise me you won't make a big deal of this?"
Zack smiled and playfully gave her a kiss.
"That's a promise I think I can keep" Zack replied.
"Good" Ashley said, slowly letting him go.
Just then, everything turned to darkness.
"Of course..." Zack grumbled, deep in thought. "Another lousy dream..."
As Zack stirred,he was startled by some noise. He was draped in darkness and yet he could sense somebody was on the other side of the closet door. Was it Caroline? He instantly felt startled by the possibility of that psychotic bitch awaiting him. His memory was foggy as to what had happened the night before but he was pretty sure that she drugged him.
The door dragged open in front of Zack and to his surprise, a towering male stood over him. He wasn't towering because he was a giant though, simply because Zack was slouched into the corner of the closet.
"Oh, sorry man... I see you already claimed this spot" the gruff male voice responded, casually sliding the door shut. Zack briefly gazed up in disbelief and then stood on his feet, able to reach the doorknob. In fact, it appeared he was completely normal in every way. Then again, why wouldn't he be?
He opened the door to see a dormant scene around him. Many of the people from earlier were gone but about a dozen had stayed behind. Some of them were collapsed on the couch (some on top of one another) whereas others were still awake but very intoxicated as they stumbled about.
"Go big or go home" Zack chuckled to himself, in a satirical way as he watched the post party massacre around him.
He smelled his shirt briefly which reeked of perfume and alcohol and remembered more about his encounter with the slut from last night. "What the fuck did she do to me?" Zack thought to himself, vaguely able to remember their sexual encounter. She must've given me some mushrooms or something, holy crap...
Zack stepped out of the closet, feeling relatively okay and crept to the door. There wasn't even a sign of Caroline and he decided he liked it that way, so he continued leaving, retreating from the party that was. He quietly closed the door behind him, not wanting to be spotted and descended the staircase.
From ahead, he thought he recognized Jack but he almost didn't want to say anything to him. There was really nothing to say and Zack had his own concerns ... such as, could he drive and had he been drugged by a psychotic bitch? The answer to both questions would hinge on his escape from UCONN if he had hoped to get any sleep and maybe see his dad the next day.
He slipped out of the dorm lobby unseen and headed towards his car. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be lucky enough to completely evade Jack. Some things were just meant to be.
"Hey, Z" he heard from behind. He considered ignoring the voice but he had already stopped long enough to acknowledge that he was hearing Jack call to him. He turned around slowly to see Jack, relatively unscathed approaching him.
"Dude, that party was righteous!" Jack laughed, forcing Zack into a high five. "You smell like you got laid, dude"
"Um... yeah... I think so..." Zack stuttered, not really sure what had happened the night before.
"Righteous!" Jack laughed, his speech slurred but only a little. By Zack's standards, he considered Jack somewhat sober.
"So uh... you have a good time?" Zack asked, humoring Jack.
"Dude,... well yeah, but actually kinda not" Jack said, hesitantly. "I mean, I met this guy who's kind of a total nut and that was pretty funny"
"Oh yeah?" Zack asked, wondering exactly how much interest he would have to fake before Jack left him alone entirely.
"Yeah, his name's Andy or Andrew, or some shit, geez, I don't even fucking remember..." Jack said.
"Sounds like you two really hit it off..." Zack said sarcastically.
"Dude, I'm telling you, this guy was fucking nuts but it was hilarious... he kept babbling on about dark magic and shit..." Jack laughed.
"What?" Zack asked.
"Yeah, he was showing us some card tricks and dude was insane... I have to admit, he's been practicing but he's totally messed up in the head... talking about dark spirits and spells and shit..." Jack explained.
"I see..." Zack said, feeling more and more tired as the conversation carried on. "You mind if we catch up some other time, man? I gotta get back to the dorm and try and get some sleep, I'm supposed to be working with my dad early tomorrow... well today"
"Oh yeah, man... take it easy" Jack said, "I think I'm just gonna crash here tonight, I am SMASHED!"
"You sure are..." Zack smirked, getting into his car. He turned it on and drove away slowly, still not sure how sober he was himself. He didn't feel impaired and actually felt a strange sense of alertness. As he thought about the party and everything which ensued, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty and stupid for going.
For one thing, he had to meet his dad at 11 and he was barely going to get any sleep. It was already 4 am and while he could drive himself, he felt like something still wasn't right in his body. He felt a warm feeling overcome him as he clutched the wheel tightly. He only had a short distance to go but worry and doubt set in as Zack thought of the dreadful fallout from the party.
What if he had gotten so intoxicated that he started hitting on Ashley again or did something else to make a fool of himself in front of her? He couldn't remember her being there but then again, he couldn't remember much past his interaction with Caroline. As he felt his heartbeat racing again, he told himself to breathe and relax.
He desperately tried to recall the advice he was given from Nancy, to calm down and relax.
Then again, Zack thought glumly, Nancy also said seeing Ashley would be good for me and all it did was make me feel worse.
As Zack tried to shake it off, he realized he was basically back at Eastern. All he had to do was get out of his car and walk back up to his room. He took the keys from the car and slid out of his seat but he realized something shocking. He had had some trouble reaching the door handle and when he finally did open and close his door, he came up to the windows. He was about the height of a 12 year old. He looked around to notice nobody was around to see him (thankfully) but this worried him tremendously. He took another deep breath and sighed.
"Something is seriously wrong right now" Zack thought.
Giantess World
