“…Huh…? What do you mean?”

“You heard me.” Jaz shrugged, “Tonight I’m taking you home with me and you are staying there until tomorrow.”

“No.” I shook my head, “I mean why?”

“Do I need a reason to invite a friend over?”

“Yes, you do.”

“Well too bad. I don’t have one and you’re coming anyway. Besides, I already told your Mom. She’s okay with it.”

I opened my mouth for a rebuttal but nothing came out. I knew better than anyone; once Jaz set her mind on something it was going to happen. Maybe if I really begged someone I could get out of it but I had no reason to panic like that. Actually, this was exactly the kind of thing I’d been wanting for a while now. Human contact, a different place, new things to do, I just never expected my wish would be granted like this.

“Sounds like I win this one.”

“I just figured I’d bless your place with my presence for a bit.” I leaned back against the ridge of her ear lazily. 

“Whatever you tell yourself tiny.” She started walking again, signaling the end of the conversation.

At first I played on my phone like I always did. Although it didn’t take long before my mind started to wander and I got lost in my thoughts. I really didn’t know what to make of this sudden development. I mean, a night in a girl’s home was anything a guy could dream of. Just two problems: the guy in question is both taken and the size of a bug. Would Kari get jealous I wondered. Maybe this was kind of thing we needed to get us to start talking again. If nothing else I’d spend the night in a different place and probably have a good time for a while. I knew Jaz would never hurt me. In fact, her attitude was so different from everyone else’s she was probably the most refreshing person to just hang out with. So why was I worried?

I didn’t even need to ask myself. I knew full well why. The last time I was alone with someone I nearly got crushed. She would never hurt me. She cared about me more than anyone else. And yet so far she’s the one who came closest to killing me. How close would Jaz come? Maybe she’d be the one to succeed. So far I’d been lucky. All it would take is one little mishap and…

I gotta stop thinking like that. I shook my head. Ever since that date with Kari I was all-too aware of how easy it was for me to die at any point. Usually it didn’t affect me, but right then, on the way to Jaz’s place, I grew increasingly worried. Once we were in Jaz’s car I fought the urge to try and back out of this. This was what I wanted…right?

The roar of the car’s engine made me jump. Although I couldn’t see anything I knew we were now moving.

“You’ve been quiet for a while.” Jaz noted.

“Just tired.” I lied. “Your ear is surprisingly comfy.”

“Duh, it’s mine.”

“Yeah yeah.”

Then came a moment of silence.

“…Don’t worry.”

The sudden soft tone took me by surprise. “Jaz?”

“You’ve been worrying too much. Ever since you showed up today you’ve been…off. Usually you never shut up.”

I immediately answered evasively. “I try to watch my mouth these days. Gotta be careful.”

“Or you’ll get crushed?”

“…”

“You haven’t been crushed yet have you?”

“…No?”

“And do you think I’ll crush you?”

“Of course not! You’re my friend! I’d never-“

“Then stop worrying.” I felt like she was somehow smiling at me. “Trust me.”

Trust her?

Trust…?

I didn’t say anything; she…had a point. I called her my friend but here I was acting like I didn’t have the slightest bit of faith in her. When did this happen? At what point did I stop trusting the people closest to me? Here I am with one of my closest friends and I’m panicking about whether or not she’ll crush me. People start losing their trust me in me and my first reaction is to start losing trust in my friends? I’m as bad as the people who brush me off.

That roughly summarizes my thoughts the second Jaz said that. It was such a simple, even cheesy, line but it left me totally speechless. That also apparently applied to Jaz since she was strangely silent afterwards too. She turned up the radio, which was all I heard until we made it to her house.

Wish I could give you some interesting description of her home or maybe some noteworthy entrance but the truth is actually pretty dull. We arrived. She told me we arrived. And she walked inside quietly. I knew she had an apartment with a roommate but said roommate was apparently not here so we just had that great silence again. After maybe a minute or so I heard the loud sound of a door shutting behind me so I figured we were now in a room, probably Jaz’s bedroom.

Then I heard the click of a lock.

“Why are you locking the door?”

“I don’t wanna be bothered.” Came the nonchalant reply.

“…Bothered with what exactly?” I cautiously asked, suddenly aware of the goose bumps on my arms.

“You.” Came another nonchalant answer.

My eyes widened, “What do you…” My sentence dragged when I noticed a giant brown finger just outside of the ear, wordlessly telling me to climb on. For a moment I debated on not doing so. I was small enough I could go deep enough into her ear that she couldn’t reach me.

Trust me.

What Jaz had said earlier that day echoed in my head. Before I knew it I was climbing down onto her finger. A moment later I was in front of her massive face, staring at me with a small smirk.

“Consider this an intervention tiny.”