“Garrett! Could you help me reach this?”

“Coming!” 

He chuckled to himself. Sophie was definitely petite, only 4’10, but she always thought of Garrett as taller than he was, that he could reach anything and everything. “I know I’m taller than you, but that doesn’t mean I’m tall.” he would say.

His protests betrayed his true feelings. At 5’4, he was accustomed to being looked down on - in more ways than one - and having half a foot on his girlfriend gave him some confidence.

By the time Garrett had put down his pen, got up from his desk, and walked the distance between his office and kitchen, his girlfriend Sophie had climbed onto the counter, opened the cupboards and thrown a pile of tupperware containers on the floor. 

“Jesus, what are you doing, Sophie?!” Garrett yelled as a plastic lid narrowly missed his head. Her presence on the counter wasn’t unusual by any stretch, but the mess she had made was.

“Aha!” Sophie exclaimed. In her hand was a flyer - bright orange with big bold text - Garrett could see that even from his low vantage point. 

He could see more from his vantage point, too. He saw her long brown hair flowing down her back. With just her underwear on, he could see almost all of her smooth, shapely legs, and her pert butt. Her top exposed her midriff, which wasn’t quite curvy, but not too thin, either. He remarked that she was very well proportioned for such a short woman. 

Before he became too entranced, he looked down at the mess on the floor. He snapped back into the moment. “What - what the hell, Sophie, you could have - ”

“What? Killed you?” She climbed off the counter, eyes transfixed on the flyer, and ran out of the room. 

He kept close on her tail. “Can you at least tell me what you’re looking at?”

As he turned the corner, he discovered her sitting in his office, a pair of scissors in her hand, cutting the flyer in the two. 

“You went to all that trouble and now you’re destroying it?”

“I’m not destroying it, Garrett. I’m sharing it.” She reached out and handed him half of the flyer.

He hesitated.

“I’m sorry for wrecking the kitchen, OK? Just take the damn thing.” 

He looked up at her. 

She rolled her eyes. “And I’m sorry for nearly hitting you over the head.” She placed the flyer into his hand and chuckled. “Drama queen.”

He looked down at the flyer. At the top was written “cut here”. At the bottom was a barcode. He looked over and saw that Sophie’s had the same barcode. He looked back at the flyer and started reading.

"STRUGGLING TO PAY OFF YOUR STUDENT LOANS? LOOKING FOR AN EASY WAY TO MAKE MONEY WHILE ALSO SUPPORTING A GOOD CAUSE?"

He looked up at Sophie skeptically.

“Just read it!” she yelled.

"JOIN A NEW CLINICAL TRIAL WITH FISCHER ENTERPRISES!”

He looked up again, waiting for a punchline.

“Fischer Enterprises!” Sophie exclaimed.

Garrett shrugged. What was she going on about?

“Oh god, you don’t remember? Skylar Fischer!”

Garrett lit up. The image of a tall, attractive brunette flashed in his head. 

“Yeah, Skylar…! She was one of your high school friends, right?”

“My best friend! You don’t remember her, do you?”

Garrett had met Skylar once, at Sophie’s college graduation party. Skylar and Sophie had both attended Roper Lake High School, and went on to attend the same college. Sophie had studied to become a nurse, and Skylar went into biochemistry.

“I remember her, Sophie, it just took me a minute. I barely knew her.”

“The three of us never hung out?”

Another flash went through Garrett’s head. Shit, Sophie was right. Skylar had stayed at least another few hours after the party. 

“You’re right, we did! I completely forgot!”

To be fair to himself, Garrett was very drunk that night. While Sophie was celebrating a milestone in her life, Garrett was recovering from a back surgery that nearly put him in a wheelchair. The drinking helped with the pain. It still did.

“She was all over you!” Sophie giggled.

Sophie was right. Garrett remembered Skylar being very friendly. He remembered feeling somewhat uncomfortable, in fact. Skylar was a beautiful woman, but he had always been faithful to Sophie.

“She’ll be glad to see you!” Sophie said, smiling.

“So she sent you the flyer?” Garrett asked, examining the orange paper again.

“No, funny enough, it was Willow!” Willow worked with Sophie at the hospital.

“She gave it to me a few months ago. Said she had a great experience with the trial. Somehow I misplaced it.”

“You misplaced it on the top shelf?” Garrett asked, bemused.

“Good point. You must have taken it then.” She teased back.

“I did no such thing. I might remind you that I don’t crawl around on the counters like a cat.”

She giggled. “Are you calling me a cat, Garrett?” She took a step towards him, a seductive look replacing her child-like amusement.

“I said no such thing.” Garrett smiled.

“Am I a pussy cat, Garrett?” Sophie asked, as she put her hand on his chest. As their lips touched, Garrett picked her up and spun her around, landing her squarely on his desk. The papers on his desk flew away, and he began unbuttoning his shirt. 

“Let me do that for you, big guy.”

“Big guy” Garrett thought. He definitely wasn’t going to protest this time.