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Saturday, October 31 (cont.)
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Veronica was attending her party as a vampire, and as such was dressed in total contrast to Jessie’s angelic aura. And it looked like a real costume from some store too, unlike Jessie’s which was pretty, but couldn’t match her classmate’s level of detail. Whereas pale-skinned Jessie had on a white crop top and skirt with white stockings, the much tanner Veronica was wearing an intricately designed red and black corset with a long cape and black fishnet tights. Jessie’s wings were made of white feathers, and the other girl had spiky wings that seemed made out of a black leathery material. Silver, two-inch heels adorned one pair of feet, vs glossy black 4 inch stilettos on the other’s. Even their modesty rivaled one another. While Jessie’s top was still relatively humble and only showed a small peek of her developing cleavage, Veronica’s outfit was very clearly made to exhibit the wearer’s breasts, the ones that Marcus’ daughter had said just a few days ago that she was jealous of because of how big they were. As the host sauntered over to the three recent arrivals, everything about Veronica’s physique, from her fully formed, curvaceous figure, to her slow, hip-swaying gait, seemed to indicate that she was twice her age. Yet her youthful face made it abundantly clear what the rest of her body did not: she was just as young as Jessie. For a brief few seconds, when Marcus could only see her from across the house, he wondered if maybe the girl was an older sister of Jessie’s classmate, or some other adult who had gone overboard in attending with their kid (like he was doing). But as Veronica stopped in front of the newcomers, Marcus realized there was no mistaking it. She was a teenager. A mere seventh-grader, just like his daughter. And that realization sent a chill through his body.
“Welcome to my party!” the young Japanese girl exclaimed, looking to Jessie, Paris, and Marcus. But she had a special look in her eye when she looked at Jessie’s dad. It seemed like curiosity to him, but still made him uneasy. She’s probably just suspicious of someone as short as me, even most kids would be a few inches taller than I am, he thought, remembering just a few hours ago when he had encountered the little girl while trick-or-treating. But he was also taken aback by how tall Veronica was. In addition to her wide hips and impressive bust, she sported the height of a fully grown woman as well. Normally she was 5’9, but with her heels she now stood at just over 6 feet, which was even taller than Marcus had been when he was fully grown. He couldn’t make the connection for himself, since from down where he stood, everyone was pretty much at least twice his height. But he could tell Jessie was only about as tall as Veronica’s nose.
“Well thanks for inviting us,” Paris responded politely, still looking around in awe at how decorated everything was. “This is so cool! How long did it take you to set up?”
“My parents hired a couple people to set up stuff like the giant spider or the lights and fog machines yesterday, and then we did all the smaller stuff today like the food and cobwebs,” Veronica proudly explained. “You guys didn’t come last year, right?” The two girls shook their heads. Everyone in the class had been invited, and even kids from other schools showed up, but Jessie and Paris had chosen to go out with a couple of their other friends. “I’m glad you decided to come this year then,” she smiled, feeling as if she had won them over. Even the juvenile intricacies of their middle school’s social scene was a competition to be played for Veronica. “I’ve always felt that since people have to miss out on trick-or-treating all night or going to haunted houses in order to come, that the parties have to be extra incredible to make up for it. So there’s some candy gift baskets for everyone in the dining room.” She pointed behind her to a room with dozens of generously-sized bags of goodies on a table. Not that it was her money being spent on all these extravagances anyways, but Veronica felt a kind of high every time someone new walked through her doorway on Halloween. It meant they had heard about how epic her parties were and how fun the experiences were. It was practically like a business, except instead of climbing to the top of the stock market charts, she was climbing to the top of the social ladder. As a seventh grader.
“Honestly, I kinda feel stupid for not coming last year,” Jessie said. “I remember you showed us pictures in class of your house being set up a few days before Halloween, and I was still like ‘eh, I’ll think about it.’ Like, how did I not immediately want to come, this is ten times cooler in person.”
“Tch, don’t feel bad,” Veronica purred. “You two are here now, that’s what matters, right?” she said, and gave a quick hug to both her classmates. She glanced at Marcus besides them after withdrawing from Paris, and Jessie stepped in to clarify who the baby-sized Iron Man was after realizing she hadn’t introduced him yet.
“OH! Sorry, I forgot to introduce you,” Jessie said, squatting down beside her dad and putting her arm around his shoulders like he really was a kid. “This is my cousin Noah, my aunt and uncle have been out of town for a few days so we’ve been babysitting him. Luckily this isn’t a college party or anything too mature for him,” she added, laughing awkwardly. “He’s a little shy though so he might not talk very much… or take off his mask.” The more she talked, the worse her lies were starting to sound. Both father and daughter were beginning to worry for different reasons over how well she was handling this.
“If he’s shy, why’d you bring him? Couldn’t he just stay home with your parents?” Veronica asked, sounding genuinely confused. Does she not know Jessie’s mom is out of the picture? Marcus wondered. I guess she’s never come over to our house before, and it’s not like Jessie’s classmates are all aware of each other’s family lives anyways.
“Well my dad suggested he come so he could get out of the house,” Jessie explained, then froze as she thought about what she said. “Noah, not my dad I mean. He suggested Noah come.” You’ve really gotta pull it together, Jess. There wasn’t even anything wrong about how you worded it the first time. Paris bit her lip, keying in on how close her friend was to fumbling their secret.
“Oh, OK,” she replied, seeming to be buying their shtick. “Well yeah, I guess it’s fine if he’s here, there’s nothing like, inappropriate for him or anything, like you said.” But as soon as she said that, she leaned over and placed her hands on her knees, talking down to him like the child he was supposed to be portraying. As she did that, he noticed she also had on fake extended nails: several inches long, matte black, and pointed on the ends. But as he looked up just a little bit higher, he was met with an alarming display of her cleavage. She couldn’t see his eyes anyways beneath the mask, but he quickly darted them upwards to keep himself from ogling. Nothing inappropriate? Yeah right, how do her parents let her dress like that? And how the hell does someone so young look like such an adult? It shouldn’t matter though, I shouldn’t stare anyways, regardless of her age. “Hey Noah, I’m Veronica,” she said, and held out her hand to introduce herself. He didn’t say anything, but took her hand and let her slowly shake it up and down. Her hand dwarfed his, of course, and she had a strong grip. Then she let go, and stood back up to full height. “Well Noah, Jessie said you’re a little shy, and it sounds like it wasn’t really your idea to come to this party in the first place. Am I right?” She beamed down at him with twinkling eyes, as if she completely understood his supposed feelings of shyness and introversion, despite being the total opposite. Keeping his mouth shut again, he simply nodded up and down. It definitely wasn’t my idea to come, at least that part was never a lie. But I’ll just agree with whatever story Jessie wants to make up about me. “Aww, that’s OK bud, I totally get it,” she added, tilting her head and pursing her lips sympathetically. “Well the party is only on the first two floors, but we have a guest room on the third floor that’s secluded from everyone else. It’s nice and quiet up there, and there’s a TV with a Playstation. I think some coloring books too if that’s your thing, my cousins came to visit recently too. Do you think you’d like that?” Marcus was frozen for a second. The plan was for me to stick with Jessie all night, but if I’m supposedly shy then wouldn’t it make sense to hang out alone until the party’s over? He turned to look up at his daughter, what did she think? Veronica picked up on his hesitation. “Oh yeah, as long as Jessie’s fine with it of course,” Veronica said, and turned back to face her.
Jessie was biting her lip, thinking the same thing as her dad, but leaning on the side of the two of them sticking together so she could keep an eye on him at all times. “I don’t know if—“
“I mean, if he’s so shy that he doesn’t even feel comfortable talking with strangers,” Veronica interjected, cutting Jessie off, “then I really don’t think a big, loud party with over a hundred people running around would really be a lot of fun for him. Might even be stressful. The guest room would be perfect for him though, and you could just come up and check on him from time to time too.” Jessie still hesitated, although Veronica could tell she was definitely close to changing her mind. She squatted back down in front of Marcus, and placed her hands back on her bent knees with a big, friendly smile on her face. “What do you want though? You wanna stay down here with your cousin, or head up to the guest room?” Marcus glanced at Jessie, who was now looking at her dad, her finger on her lips, unsure of what to do next. He was familiar with that expression on her face; she was looking to him for guidance. Guess that’s why I’m the parent, still gotta make the tough decisions. Well, Jessie’s not the best at lying, I don’t know how Veronica even still believes her. And I didn’t even wanna come here to begin with. How do I tell her upstairs without saying anything though… He nodded, and Veronica’s eyes widened, “Yeah? You wanna head upstairs?” He nodded again, more enthusiastically this time. The giant girl stood back up and looked to Jessie, who felt relief at her father’s decision. Maybe her idea was too risky after all, but it might not matter if he can just hide upstairs the whole night.
Jessie smiled faintly at Veronica, “Yeah, I think you were right. That’s probably a good idea. Can I come with you guys so I know where he’ll be though?”
“Of course! You should totally know where he is, he’s your little cousin, right? Yeah, come with us.” She turned to Paris, who hadn’t said anything in several minutes. “Do you wanna come too, Paris?”
Jessie’s friend shook her head, “Oh, no, that’s OK. I think I’ll go get something to eat and check out the place some more.”
“Definitely, yeah!” Veronica answered. “There’s a ton of stuff in the kitchen, we had to rent a couple pizza heaters just to keep all of the food warm. Help yourself!”
“Oh, wow,” Paris said, seeing the large, 6 foot tall heaters Veronica was talking about. There were two of them, and they looked like vending machines, except with big glass doors on the front and racks filled with pizza and wing boxes. “Thanks,” she added, and drifted off towards the food.
Veronica looked back down to the little Iron Man in her foyer. “Shall we?” she asked, and reached out her hand. Marcus grabbed onto her finger, partly because he knew that that was how a lot of kids held hands, but also because of how small his was anyways. Then she turned back around and led him and his daughter through the sea of people towards her staircase, several kids getting out of the way as they saw the 6 foot girl approach.
She began to head up the steps when another girl from their class called out Jessie’s name, and his daughter turned, her face lighting up to greet one of her friends as they hugged each other. Jessie remembered where she had been going and turned to her dad and Veronica, who had heard Jessie’s name called and stopped to see if she was still coming. “Oh uh, I guess you guys can go on without me. I’ll be up to check on him later,” she said, and turned back to catch up with her classmate. As Marcus looked back towards his daughter, he suddenly felt uneasy about heading upstairs alone with Veronica. But he knew he couldn’t say anything or else the party’s host would hear his deep and obviously adult-sounding voice. He had to let Jessie go, and venture on without her.
He turned back to face the stairs, and the young girl who was leading him up them. “It’s OK, buddy. You can see your daughter later… Sorry, wait, I mean your cousin,” she said sarcastically and rolled her eyes, then smirked at him with a mischievous look in her eyes before grabbing his hand and leading him up to the third floor.
Marcus felt like he should be paralyzed in fear, except his limbs were moving, ascending the long staircase of Veronica’s scarily large house. Had she known the entire time that I’m really Jessie’s dad? Her ignorance had been more than convincing just a few minutes ago, but he remembered back to the first few seconds of their arrival. When Veronica’s eyes had landed on him, their was an unmistakable look of recognition that washed over her. So her whole act had been a ruse from the start. It had to have been. It made sense now why she had pressed Jessie to let her bring him upstairs. And now his daughter had ditched him, unaware that her classmate knew more than she was letting on…
He contemplated his options. He couldn’t run back downstairs, since Veronica had grabbed his entire hand and held it firmly within his own. And he couldn’t call out for help, since everyone would hear his voice. There were several people on the second floor, and a few of them glanced at Veronica and Marcus coming up the stairs. I can’t run or call for help, but I can struggle and thrash about, that’d grab people’s attention. But it would result in the same outcome as yelling. He didn’t know if Veronica was just pulling some kind of prank, or if she had some kind of worse plans in mind. But if he tried anything, she could easily play dumb and say she thought he was just Jessie’s cousin. And then unmask him and demand to know why Jessie had brought her father. And she didn’t just bring me, she clearly dressed me in such a way to hide my identity. That just makes us even more suspicious. Ironically, the presence of so many people around the two of them was what made him unable to escape. He was trapped.
Arriving to the second floor, Veronica turned the corner and walked along the bannister, passing several other classmates of hers (and a few outsiders who didn’t go to their school but came anyways). The second floor was more chilled and relaxed, with people talking or taking a break from the downstairs commotion. Most of them didn’t pay attention to Veronica or her two and a half foot friend, but a few whispered to each other or tried to subtly nod in his direction to their friends. “I think someone brought their little brother,” he heard someone whisper quietly behind him, snickering at the little Iron Man being led away from the crowd by the party’s host. Nope, but they did bring their little father with them, he thought to himself. In a weird way, he felt like he was about to get in trouble, even though he was the adult in this whole scenario. They ducked under some tape that said the party was only supposed to be on the first two floors, and started climbing up the second set of steps towards the empty and mysterious third story. Where are her parents in all of this? he wondered, unable to escape her grasp as she pulled him up along with her, past all the onlookers, until they disappeared from sight into the final floor of the house.
It’s noticeably quieter up here, he thought. He was still able to hear sounds from the party, but the house seemed to have thick floors that trapped most of the commotion down below. And there weren’t any lights on, since nobody was allowed up here anyways, so the only thing illuminating the hallway as they walked down towards the end was the moonlight coming in through the skylights and windows. Veronica stopped halfway down the corridor next to a door, and pointed towards two more on opposite sides at the end of the hall. “Those are the guest rooms, you can wait in either one if you still want. I wasn’t lying about that. But first…” she said, and opened the door to her left, “we’re gonna have a little chat.” She pulled Marcus inside as she flipped on the lights and closed the door again. They were in an intricately decorated bedroom, which from the dark purple and gray decor (along with the fact that Veronica took him here alone) seemed to obviously belong to the young girl. The room was huge, easily bigger than Marcus and Jessie’s combined. There was a king-sized bed, with a 60 inch flatscreen hanging on the wall across from it; several chairs for guests, and a couch that transformed into a sitting area beneath a large, circular window; there was a smooth, wooden desk with a Mac and several of Veronica’s homework papers laying on it, along with another table filled with makeup and hair accessories on the other end of the room. And in the corner, next to the door to her personal bathroom, was another set of sliding doors that led to her walk-in closet. Marcus knew there were a lot of fortunate people who were wealthy enough to live so lavishly, but the fact that a middle school girl was going to sleep in a room that was nearly as nice as his entire house? Jessie would’ve simply felt jealous if she got to see Veronica’s bedroom, but Marcus felt… embarrassed, inadequate. Like he didn’t belong.
Although there was another reason why Marcus didn’t belong up here.
“You can take off the mask now,” Veronica said, slowly pacing around her room as she looked at the tiny man she had hauled in with her. Marcus knew there no point in delaying the inevitable. She obviously already knew his secret. With the shame of being called out by someone twenty years his junior, he reached up and pulled off the superhero disguise. Veronica inhaled sharply, feeling confident in her assumption but still surprised and glad to see it confirmed now in front of her. ‘Noah’ was no child, he wasn’t Jessie’s cousin. He was an adult man, someone she had never met, but knew of nonetheless. The young girl regained her composure, and spoke softly to Marcus, who wanted to look downwards but managed to keep eye contact with his daughter’s schoolmate. “I can’t believe Jessie brought you here, like I just invited her because she’s in my class like everyone else, I honestly didn’t even expect this to happen,” she said, her child-like giddiness breaking through her facade. “But then I saw her come in, with someone so little trailing behind her. And I don’t know what everyone else here is thinking,” she scoffed, “but the fact that you got DSD isn’t a secret. She’s mentioned that her dad was shrinking multiple times ever since school started. So when I saw someone half her height, and a lot leaner than most little kids are supposed to be, wearing a full-body costume? And then when she introduced you and said you were why and didn’t like to talk…” Veronica laughed and crossed her arms, “It was pretty obvious at that point.” She turned to face him directly, and strutted over to him, her long, tanned legs soon towering directly in front of him. “So why’d you come, huh? Did you just wanna supervise her, or is there like some kind of medical reason?”
He felt intimidated by how forward the girl was. The only time Jessie had been this direct with him was when she had lost her volleyball game and come home in a huff. Or, for a fleeting moment, earlier on in the night when she’d told him how she wanted him to act before they headed inside. But normally, she was a lot more relaxed and easy to talk to, and the same went for her friends: Paris, Harper, even Camila, their neighbor who he’d met a couple times. But this girl’s attitude, her minor scheme to bring him up here, and obviously the clearly-made-for-adults outfit she was wearing; they all made him more nervous than he’d been ever since before he shrank.
“It…” he started, but was quieter than he was expecting, and cleared his throat to make himself feel more authoritative. “It was Jessie’s idea. I wasn’t planning on coming, but she really wanted me to, for… reasons I still don’t even really understand. I’m a single father to her, it’s just been us ever since she was born. So we spend a lot of time together, and I think… I think she just got a really wild idea and got carried away.” There was silence between the two of them for a few moments. Veronica wasn’t expecting that much openness from someone she’d just met, and Marcus hadn’t expected to give it. “So why’d you bring me up here then? Why do you care?”
Veronica took a deep breath, glad that he was moving on from their brief moment of realness. “Well for one, I was curious if you really were her dad. There was a chance you could’ve taken off that mask and really been a little boy,” she laughed. “I don’t know, maybe it runs in your family or something. But besides that, I have been… a little curious, I guess.” She bit her lip and turned away from him for a moment; now she was the one being open. “I’ve never actually met a shrunken person before,” she admitted. “Like, obviously I’ve seen them in public before, every once in awhile, but I’ve never actually known one, I’ve never had someone like actually in my life who’s little.” Her eyes flared now with fascination and imagination as she turned to Marcus. “But I’ve always wanted to. I just…” She bit her lip, surprised at how candid she was being, “I’ve always wanted to… date someone little, just to see—“
“WHOAH!” Marcus was already on edge, but now alarm bells were really going off in his head. “Whoah whoah, hold on, that’s— I don’t— you’re…” he stuttered back and forth, scared of where the young girl was going with this conversation. “I knew I had a bad feeling about coming up here alone,” he frantically declared. “This is getting way too dangerous, I’m gonna go get Jessie and Paris so we can leave right away.” He spun on his heels toward the door, but Veronica ran right past him, and stood in between him and the exit.
“Wait wait wait, just lemme finish!” she said, holding out her hands for him to stop.
Marcus gazed up at her, heaving in a deep, angry breath. “I’m old enough and smart enough to see where you were going with that train of thought,” he bit back. “But I’m 36 years old, and you’re a fucking teenager. I don’t—“
“I’m not a teenager,” she interrupted, a calm expression on her face. Wait… she’s not… Marcus felt like a wave of calm washed over him. He had been so nervous just being in the same room as her, despite the fact that neither of them had done anything, but her statement made him feel like a burden was just lifted off her back. So… is she not really Veronica then? When he first arrived, he thought that the girl standing across the house from him might be an older sister of the party’s host. Was that the case? Is this some kind of prank or something? But then Veronica smirked, and that uneasy feeling just crept right back up. “I mean, I’m not a teenager… yet. I’m still 12 for a couple more months.” She giggled at herself for having tricked him, if only for a few seconds. “I saw the way your face changed though,” she insisted, pointing to him accusingly. “You really believed I was an adult for a second, huh? I mean obviously I’m in your daughter’s class, I just had a conversation with her like 10 minutes ago! But when I said I wasn’t a teenager, your first thought was that I was 20 or older, not that I could be 12.” Then she stood up straight, proudly crossing her arms in front of her chest and slightly squeezing her boobs together in the process. “I wonder why,” she smirked, and Marcus gritted his teeth now, even angrier than before. This was twice tonight now that he had been tricked.
“That’s it, I’m done here,” he stated, and tried to maneuver past her. But she was more than twice his height and size, so when he tried to doge right, she countered right back and stood in his way, and when he then tried to go left, there she was again.
“OK OK, I’m kidding, obviously, god, old people don’t know how to take a joke,” she huffed, rolling her eyes. “I was teasing you before, I mean like I wasn’t lying about wanting to meet someone with DSD but obviously I’m not gonna try and date you.” Marcus stopped trying to get past her now, and looked back up at her. She seemed to be telling the truth again, although she’d been a pretty convincing liar back with Jessie. “I didn’t even say I wanted to, it’s just like as soon as I said the word you freaked out and thought I was crazy or something.” She looked up, trying to gather her thoughts, and took a deep breath. “Just let me say what I wanted to say, OK?”
Marcus glared up at her, having every right to be plenty upset in his mind. But she was right, he had freaked out and tried to leave before she was done talking. And it’s not like she’s gonna let me get past her anyways. If I could I’d ignore her and just leave right now, it doesn’t matter what she has to say, she’s already violated my trust twice. But since I can’t really escape without a fight, I mind as well keep some dignity and pretend it was my decision to hear her out. “Alright. Fine.”
She smiled softly, perhaps the first heartfelt gesture she’d made all night. “Thank you… Mr. Tilden,” she added suddenly, figuring it couldn’t hurt to be a little polite. “OK. So. Yeah, like I said, I’d never met a shrunken person until tonight, but I’ve always been kinda… interested in them. Like…” she rubbed her thumb around in her palm, nervously trying to articulate her thoughts in a way that wouldn’t seem weird. “Like I dunno how to put it really, I just really like the idea of people that are as small as you. Guys and girls. It’s just… I guess cuz I’m so tall for my age, maybe that has something to do with it. Anyways, ever since Jessie told me in class one day that you were shrinking because of DSD, I got like, super interested. But we’re not really friends, I mean like, we get along, but like we’ve never hung out, you know? Like I had no idea who you were, she just mentioned that her dad was shrinking. And that you stopped a couple weeks ago at like, 2 and a half feet, right?”
“Two foot seven,” he muttered, clearly caring about that extra inch.
“Yeah, anyways. When I heard that, I was like ‘oh, I really wanna meet him,’ but like I didn’t know how, you know? Since me and Jessie aren’t really friends, I couldn’t just like pop on over to her house one day to see you and meet you. Or like, I guess I could, I just thought that might sound suspicious.”
“OK, so what’s your point then?” he sighed. Her age was a lot more believable now after how much she was babbling.
“Alright, so like, I just wanna repeat, since you freaked out a ton before, I don’t wanna date you, or… like, do anything else. Obviously that’d be illegal. At least for you. I mean, dating probably isn’t illegal but like people who date eventually do other stuff and that’s definitely illegal so— Nevermind.“ She shook her head, she was getting sidetracked again. The girl who had seemed so cool and collected when they had first met was now an almost incoherent mess when she was being open about something important to her. “So I don’t like, wanna do anything with you, but… I’ll… admit that like, I kinda think you’re cute.” Her lips pursed together. There it was, her confession. That was the other reason she wanted to get him alone tonight, was so she could see what he actually looked like. And since he was only in his mid-thirties, and had lived (up until he shrunk) a fairly active and healthy lifestyle, he was pretty good looking. Especially compared to some of her other classmates’ dads.
Marcus shifted uncomfortably, but he could tell that she wasn’t done talking yet, and he knew he still couldn’t get by her. So he continued to listen. “Which I don’t think you should like, freak out over necessarily. I mean, I know tons of other people in our class who have crushes on some of our teachers, and like, I know that some of the teachers probably suspect something, you know? Like, if some of my friends have crushes on a couple of the teachers, that probably means some of the teachers were the same way when they were young, right?” She wasn’t wrong. Marcus had had a crush on his math teacher in 6th grade, a blonde woman named Ms. Jacobs who had been in her first year of teaching and was only 24. “Even like with you,” she continued, “like, me and Jessie have a couple mutual friends, and I don’t know about all of them obviously but there’s at least one who’s told me before that she thought you were hot.” Marcus blushed, and felt a bit worried about that. “Don’t worry, it’s not Paris,” she laughed, “she would never say anything like that, at least to me.” Well that’s somewhat of a relief, at least Jess’ best friend is in the clear. “But like, you’re not just gonna stop letting her bring friends over just because one of them has a kind of crush on you, right? Like even if you knew who it was, you wouldn’t just like, ban her from your house, right? I might! I definitely wouldn’t encourage them to come over… “Or like, you shouldn’t, I guess you could, maybe you’re kind of a crazy parent whose super strict, I don’t know, but you definitely shouldn’t I don’t think. Like I’m assuming she hasn’t done or said anything yet, cuz obviously she knows better, just like I also know better, like I said. And you’re an adult anyways, like you know not to let anything come from it, just like you tried not to let anything happen a few minutes ago.” She took another deep breath, almost done with her speech, and tried to gauge his reaction. “So anyways… my point is: yes, I kinda like the idea of shrunken people and you’re shrunken and kinda hot so I kinda like you, but obviously I don’t wanna do anything with that or like take it anywhere, but just like I’m sure you were like when you were my age or maybe you even still are now with other women, I dunno, but whenever I have a crush on someone I’m always looking for excuses to hang out with them cuz I like being around them. Even if like, they’re in a relationship or don’t wanna date or whatever reason, like I still like being around on them, right? Cuz like, that’s how like… crushes work, right?” She sighed, finally rounding the corner to get to her point. “So all of this to say, I like, I kinda wanna be Jessie’s friend now just so we can hang out more often cuz I’ve never met anyone shrunken before and I probably never will for like years and years again so like I just really really wanna be able to hang out with her… because of that. And I also know that you lost your job recently, but my dad’s an executive at a big company, so I help you get a new job if you wanted to too. And you could probably get paid pretty well too, I mean I don’t know what your old job was and how much you made, but like, I just figured I should mention it.”
“Are you bribing me?” This was not at all how he expected the night to go. It wasn’t even how he had expected the conversation to go just a few minutes ago.
Veronica sighed, “No, I’m not bribing you, like you don’t even have to accept the offer. But like, I’ve helped another one of my friend’s mom get a job with my dad’s company before, and I didn’t ask for anything in return of course, I just did it cuz she was my friend. So… if me and Jessie became friends, then you’d be like a family friend so I could help you out too.”
Marcus thought about what she was saying. It had been a couple weeks since he got laid off. He would only be able to last so long living off his savings, and even with the disability benefits that companies would get from hiring him, there weren’t super prospective odds of him getting a job anytime soon because of how limiting his condition was, and especially his lack of experience in any other field of work. But also, just the entire idea of Veronica’s proposal… to be his daughter’s friend? Isn’t that the plot of a movie? Or maybe a couple… a guy befriending someone just so he could hang out around his friend’s mom a lot. Or was it a music video? Maybe a TV show… Either way, that seems to be the case here, and I never thought badly of the kid, but the key difference is the kid in that movie—or music video or show or whatever—he never told anyone. It was just his little secret. But she didn’t keep it a secret with me. “That seems kind of mean to Jessie, like you’d just be using her, to… get to be around me or whatever,” he said, crinkling his face at how weird it sounded out loud.
Veronica thought about his rebuttal, but shrugged. “I can see why you’d think that, but I don’t dislike her or anything. I mean, there’s hundreds of kids in our grade and we only have a couple classes together, we don’t play any of the same sports. We just haven’t really had the chance to get to become friends anyways. But I do like her, it’s not like we’re strangers, we’ve hung out a couple times with mutual friends.” Marcus was silent, continuing to think about what she said. Was this all just another trick? She was a good liar before, but that doesn’t mean she’s evil, everyone lies sometimes, and her demeanor definitely seemed to change when she opened up to me. I kinda believe her about that. It’s still just weird. But what if she’s trying to trap me? “Look, I know I probably fucked myself over by joking with you earlier, but I never tried to like seduce you or anything, I just wanted to see what you looked like without your mask on and I didn’t know how else to do it other than bringing you up here, or if I’d even get another chance. And then one thing just led to another and I ended up opening up to you a ton like a therapist or something. But I told you before we came in here that you could wait out the night in the guest rooms after we talked, which you can. I’m just… now you know my secret. And hopefully you don’t hate me because of it and tell Jessie we’re never allowed to hang out and I can never come over, although like I’d totally get it if you do, because I don’t think I’m really any different than her other friend who has a crush on you too, who you obviously don’t have a problem letting come over. Even now that you know, you probably still don’t, cuz like I said you’re an adult so everyone knows nothing’s gonna happen. But I’m just like… a kid, who probably had a stupid idea I guess. So… sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable. This isn’t how I expected my night to go and everything happened so fast.” Yeah, it’s not how I expected my night to go either. But besides that, Marcus realized that that was the first time she’d apologized all night. And who was he kidding, she’s only 12 years old. Just because she was smart enough to think on the spot when they first met and bring him upstairs, doesn’t make her a criminal mastermind. It’s way, way, WAY more likely that she really is just an awkward kid. Everyone gets awkward when they talk about stuff that’s personal to them. If it hadn’t been for her bad first impression, how would I react? If she was already Jess’ friend and accidentally let out her secret to me just now, I wouldn’t suddenly say she can never hang out with Jessie again. But I’d definitely be more cautious. I’d probably say maybe she couldn’t come over for a little while, at least until she develops a crush on someone her own age and moves on like everyone does at her age.
Even if she doesn’t have any kind of ulterior motives… all of this is just too weird. I can’t in good conscience listen to a middle schooler who I don’t know tell me they have a crush on me and then say it’s totally fine and dandy for her to come over to my house. As much as having a leg up on the job search would be… there’s nothing good that can happen by giving her the go-ahead. Either nothing will happen, or something bad will happen. But… I don’t think she’s a bad person anymore.
Veronica let out a big sigh. “Anyways, that was everything,” she said, standing up straight again to try and recollect her composure. “You can still go stay in the guest rooms if you want now, I just wanted to be able to fully explain myself first. So thanks for letting me do that.” She smiled down at him, and opened up the door behind her, stepping aside to let him past. He looked up at her, but didn’t smile back, still on edge from the whole ordeal, and put his mask back on. He took several steps towards the exit, and true to her word, she let him by, and exit the room back into the dimly lit hallway.
But then he turned to look at her, as she was looking down to the floor in disappointment, assuming she’d screwed up and said too much. “Alright,” he said quietly, from beneath his mask. “I forgive you.” Her head snapped up, and she gasped in surprise and happiness. She was wrong, she hadn’t scared him off after all. “BUT. I disagree with you. I think in any other case, if someone your age confessed they had feelings for someone like me, any other parent my age would put up boundaries. Which is what I’m now doing too. I understand you have a lot of feelings at your age, I felt the same way. But we shouldn’t be encouraging behavior like that. You should find someone your own age that you like, and I know you will. And then you can ask them out, maybe even go on a date, but you shouldn’t and you can’t do that kind of stuff with someone like me. And if I ever find out who the other girl is, I might limit her from coming by our place for a little while too. If you think that makes me a strict parent, so be it. I’m just doing what’s in the best interest for everyone.” Veronica’s face fell sad again, but she had a look of understanding in her eye. As soon as she started talking, she pretty much couldn’t stop. But she knew how it was going to end.
“But despite all that, I do forgive you. I’m sure it was weird and awkward for you to admit something like that. It’s not wrong for you to feel those kinds of things, it’s natural and I was the same thing when I was your age. You just shouldn’t take action on them. And to be frank, at my size, it’s a lot easier to physically get taken advantage of, and sometimes people forget just how old or human I really am.” That part hurt for him to admit, and Veronica looked away, as it hurt for her to hear it too. “So as the adult, I’m putting a stop to it here. I don’t go to school with you guys, I guess if you really want to be friends with her, then I think that’s great, and I probably can’t stop you guys anyways. But for now, it’ll have to stay at school. Fair?”
The young girl smiled softly, glad to be forgiven, but sad nonetheless. It was a stark contrast from the rest of her dark, vampire outfit. “Yeah.” She breathed a sigh of solemnness and closed her door behind her, then turned to head away from him and back towards the stairs to return to the party. “I’ll let Jessie know which room you’re in for when you guys wanna go,” she added, and started heading down the stairs as he nodded in understanding. “Bye Mr. Tilden,” she whispered, before disappearing down the steps, while he took a few moments in the hallway to make sense out of everything that had just happened.