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Friday, November 6 (cont.)

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     The two girls hugged each other, and Paris set her things down so she could come to the door and greet Veronica as well. Marcus was still transfixed, vividly remember that night from only a week ago when she had walked him up to her room and confessed her feelings for him. That brief feeling of relief when she’d said she wasn’t a teenager, only to follow it up with saying it was because she was still 12. He had hated that whole encounter, and was angry (and a little scared) by the fact that the only reason it had been able to happen was because he was barely taller than two and a half feet. He might’ve been an adult, and Veronica obviously had known that, but clearly she didn’t seem to view him as one. “I wasn’t actually sure if you were gonna make it,” Jessie commented, stepping aside and inviting the girl into their home.

     “Of course!” Veronica replied, smiling kindly back at Marcus’ daughter and giving Paris a hug. “I was actually kinda surprised you invited me at all, I don’t think I’ve ever even been to your house before. It’s just you and your dad, right?” 

     Jessie nodded, “Yeah.” Then she turned to her dad, who was still standing over by the door to the garage. “Hey Daddy, do you remember Veronica from the party we went to last week? You should come and say hi! I already told her at school about bringing you along, so she knows you were the spider-man.”

     “Right, yeah, I remember you a little bit,” he answered carefully, trying to downplay his memory of the whole evening a lot more casually, while also pretending that he’d never been taken up to her room in the first place. Veronica took off her shoes by the door as Jessie shut the door, and Marcus made his way over.

     “Hey Mr. Tilden, nice to formally you,” Veronica said, turning back around after setting her shoes down, and extended down her hand to shake his. She didn’t bend down like most people tended to do, but he wasn’t sure if he was appreciative of that or not. On one hand, it often made him feel like a child to have someone bend down to talk to him, but on the other hand, it could be intimidating to interact with people who didn’t make any effort to alleviate their difference in height. He couldn’t help but gulp reflexively upon looking up at the tall tween; even without her shoes, or obviously the 4-inch stilettos she had on the first night they met, she was still so tall that the top of his head didn’t even come up to the crotch of her pants. She was dressed in a scarlet-colored sweater, and wore pale-blue jeans that popped against the Japanese girl’s tan skin. It was a modest outfit, even by conservative standards; nothing form-fitting or revealing. And yet the young girl’s body was still so developed that it was impossible not to notice her curves slightly visible through the looser clothing. He slowly reached up his hand in response, and she quickly took ahold and firmly shook it, polite but confident. She had remembered that night just as vividly as he did. And now she’d come back for a second chance.

     Veronica wasn’t used to not getting what she wanted, so it wasn’t often that she needed second chances at all. It wasn’t that she was spoiled, although her millionaire parents’ money certainly played a part. She’d just grown up with the perfect blend of looks, wits, and genuine kindness, that allowed her to easily persuade and convince other people in her life to get her what she wanted, even if she wasn’t aware of it. But she’d only recently become cognizant of her influence in the past few years. After her Halloween party, she didn’t want to just accept Marcus’ rejection, no matter how much logical and ethical sense he made. So she’d started talking with Jessie a lot more at school in the week that had followed. It wasn’t even a fake friendship either; Veronica legitimately enjoyed Jessie’s company, but she’d just never really gotten a good chance to hang out with her until her party. Going to watch one of Jessie’s games on Tuesday had helped out a lot too. So when Jessie invited her over for a sleepover earlier that day, Veronica had been giddy with excitement. It had only taken her a week to grow their bond, and now she’d already gotten a chance to come over to Jessie’s house. Like anyone else her age, she’d had plenty of celebrity crushes before, but this was the first time she’d felt attracted to an adult that she actually knew in real life, and it was her friend’s dad! Obviously they could never ‘be together,’ Veronica was smart enough to know that… But still getting to hang out at his house was satisfying and exciting enough.

     She let go of his hand, and he smiled uneasily up at her before turning to face Jessie. “Hey, can I speak to you for a minute before you hang out with your friends?”

     “OK, sure,” she nodded. “I’ll be right back,” she told Veronica and Paris. “You guys can take your sleeping bags and stuff to my room.” Marcus led Jessie down the hallway as the other girls went to grab their things while the father and daughter had their discussion. Jessie had to be careful to take tiny steps so as not to bump or run into her dad, since his walking speed was obviously a lot slower compared to hers.

     Marcus’ room was at the end of the hall, which is where he led Jessie into, stepping aside so he could close the door after she entered. “Actually, let’s head into my bathroom so they can’t hear us,” he said quietly, and she obediently turned to head towards the furthest room in the house as her perky, wagging butt once again led her dad for the second time that day towards the room he requested. Once they reached his bathroom, he closed this door as well, before turning back to see his daughter already facing him with her hands on her hips, and a camel toe formed by her tight leather pants directly in front of his face. He tried to take a step backwards to give himself some space, but his heel rammed into the door and he realized he couldn’t go back and further. So he just ignored it and took a deep breath, looking up at her.

     “So what’s wrong?” she asked.

     “Is Veronica gonna be staying the night?”

     Jessie glanced to to the side, like the answer was obvious. “Well, she brought her sleeping bag, so I’m assuming she is.”

     “Did you invite her for a sleepover? I thought it was just gonna be you and Paris.” He didn’t, but he was being honest about not expecting Veronica to get an invite.

     “Well, yeah. I told you at school today, I was gonna invite some friends over which is why I wanted you to clean my room for me. Which, thanks by the way,” she smiled, shimmying her shoulders.

     “But you don’t really know Veronica that well, right? I mean, isn’t this your guys’ first time hanging out together?”

     Jessie shrugged, “So?” Just the one word put a stop in Marcus’ tracks. If he was being honest, he didn’t fully know why he wanted to speak to her in private, since he couldn’t reveal his and Veronica’s conversation from a week ago anyways. And that was really the only ammo that he’d be able to use to get the girl to leave. So instead, all he was able to do was voice a half-assed mix of confusion and disapproval, but neither of which would realistically change his daughter’s plans with her friends for the evening. Marcus bit his lip, looking aside. What else can I say? Am I just gonna have to power through with that girl in my house all night?

     “Aww, Daddy,” Jessie cooed. “Look at me,” she added, then leaned over and gently took Marcus’ head in her soft hands, and directed his face to look back up at hers. “I know today was a big day for you, coming to school and meeting my friends. And that we—“

     “That’s not what—“ he started to say, but was silenced as her thumbs pressed up against his jaw and closed his mouth for him.

     “Don’t interrupt,” she instructed, keeping her thumbs firmly pressed to keep him from cutting her off again. “Like I was saying, I know we haven’t had anyone new in the house since you shrunk—well, except for Camila. And Harper. But I’ve gotten to know Veronica a lot better since her party, and she’s really nice and super fun. I know she’s pretty tall but I think you’ll like her. Mkay?” He didn’t know if she was still intentionally keeping his mouth closed, or if she’d merely forgotten that her thumbs were even keeping his jaw shut, but all he could do was nod in response. Technically, he could’ve shaken his head if he’d disagreed, but he’d already come to the conclusion before Jessie had even said anything that there was nothing he’d be able to say to get Veronica to leave without exposing her confession. “Good,” his daughter replied contentedly, leaning down even further and accidentally giving Marcus a peek down his daughter’s hoodie before she kissed him on the top of his head and stood back up. “Now let’s head back out there.”

     “Sorry about that,” Jessie announced as the two of them emerged from Marcus’ bedroom. Veronica and Paris were sitting on the couch in the living room, trying to find something to watch on TV. Marcus stayed behind in his bedroom as Jessie walked ahead, figuring that if he couldn’t get Veronica to leave, he could at least spend the evening getting some work done and leave the girls to have fun. But Jessie stopped and looked behind her as she realized he wasn’t following her. “Wait, are you staying in your room?” she asked.

     “Yeah, I was just gonna get some work done.”

     “Well you might’ve been done with me, but I wasn’t done with you,” she said simply, beckoning him to come follow her. He didn’t know what she was talking about, but he did as he was told anyways and followed her once more as she headed into the living room to join her friends. “My dad’s been giving me foot massages every once in awhile after matches, and sometimes practice,” she explained nonchalantly to Paris and Veronica, taking a seat in the middle of them. Veronica offered Jessie a stick of gum, who happily accepted and popped it in her mouth.

     “Ohhhh, that’s so sweet!” Paris exclaimed. “I figured the one at school was just a one-time thing.”

     “Yeah that’s pretty nice of you,” Veronica agreed, looking at him adoringly. Not only was her secret crush pretty cute, but apparently her friend’s dad was quite the gentleman as well.

     “Oh. Did you… want me to rub them now?” Marcus asked. It felt unexpected considering she was with her friends, but after earlier today at lunch it technically wouldn’t be the first time he’d massaged his daughter’s feet while her friends were around.

     “Well we did just get back from practice like, 5 minutes ago,” she laughed. The smacking of her gum made a cracking sound as she pulled off her shoes and tossing them behind her without looking. She knew they’d land somewhere close to the door. Good enough.

     “You can have my seat Mr. Tilden,” Paris offered, quickly standing up to make room for her friend’s dad, but Jessie coerced her back down, speaking for Marcus.

     “No no, it’s fine, you can sit down,” she told her friend, and Paris slowly returned to her spot on the couch. “You don’t mind sitting on the floor so my friends can have the couch, right?” she asked her dad. “How bout you get the ottoman actually, and then you can sit against that while they use it.”

     “Sounds like a plan,” he said, trying to feel like he was an equal part of his daughter’s suggestion. The footrest had been shoved aside to make room in the center of the floor for Jessie’s yoga sessions, but he pushed it back into position now, surprised that he was barely even able to move in the first place. He was promptly greeted by Veronica’s white ankle socks and Paris’ fuzzy green ones as the two other girls lifted their feet up onto the ottoman in front of him.

     “Thanks, Mr. Tilden!” Paris cheered, as warmhearted as ever. Then he made his way around to the front of the couch and ducked under Veronica’s legs, before awkwardly sitting down in the narrow space between the ottoman and the couch, resting his back against the footrest for support. Seeing that he was ready now, Jessie pried off her black and blue athletic socks and deposited the warm, slightly sweaty foot into her dad’s lap below her. Her skin was still spongey and pink from the several hours of activity, and the smell wasn’t any less noticeable than it had been at lunch. Her other leg joined her friends’ on the ottoman behind him, and he looked up to realize he was sitting under a ceiling of legs, both from Jessie’s and her friends’. He accepted Jessie’s foot into his hands though as the girls started up an episode of Sabrina on Netflix, and began tenderly rubbing at her sole just like any other day, trying to forget that her friends were there too. It shouldn’t even matter that they’re nearby, he told himself. Paris is the sweetest girl in the world anyways, and Veronica…? He glanced upwards, and his eyes caught Veronica’s as she happened to look downwards too, and she gave him a wave with her fingers.

     “Is he a pretty good masseuse?” Veronica asked Jessie, chewing her own gum as well, although a bit more quietly than Marcus’ daughter. “Like does he only rub yours or does he ever do your friends’ too when they come over for sleepovers and stuff like this?”

     “Umm… well I guess he’s really only ever rubbed mine before, but I don’t see why he wouldn’t be able to do yours too,” she offered. “Right Daddy? You wouldn’t mind?” She blew a bubble as she leaned forward to look down at him, awaiting his answer as Veronica gazed at him too.

     “Oh, well I thought this was just a thing we did, like between you and me,” he said, not wanting to add Veronica into the mix and taint his view of their new little father-daughter tradition.

     “No I know that,” Jessie replied softly, revering the activity with as much specialty as Marcus did. “But it’s like, your gift to me pretty much, and now I wanna give the gift to them too.” Marcus hesitated, but didn’t say anything back, looking back down at her foot in his hands and continuing to rub at it gently. He wasn’t excited about the idea, so that was pretty much the best ‘OK’ he was gonna give. “I guess the answer is yes!” she announced triumphantly, sitting back in her seat. 

     “Should we keep our socks on or take them off like you?” Paris asked, biting her lip. Nobody had ever given her a foot rub before, so she wasn’t sure which was the more polite avenue to take.

     “Socks on or off Daddy?” Jessie asked, leaning over again to ask him and smacking her gum noisily with her mouth.

     “I guess… they can keep them on,” he answered.

     “He says on!” I’m pretty sure they can hear me, he thought to himself, but didn’t bother saying anything as Jessie leaned back again.

     “Why do you take yours off then?” Veronica asked, looking down at Jessie’s pale foot being tended to by Marcus’ dutiful hands.

     “Ummm… I dunno,” Jessie shrugged, glancing down at her dad. “I guess cuz it feels a little bit better, cuz he doesn’t have to rub through the socks or anything. But that’s cuz it’s my volleyball socks though, so they’re pretty thick.”

     “But don’t they smell worse that way?” Paris asked. “I remember being able to smell them when you took your shoes off at lunch.”

     “I meeeean… probably? But they’re not, like, that bad.” Without warning, the young girl suddenly lifted her foot out of Marcus’ grasp, and then pressed it forward against her dad’s head. Her toes covered his eyes as the ball of her foot brushed up against his mouth, but most importantly, his nose was sent right into the gap between the ends of her toes and the top of her sole. He reflexively wanted to jerk his head back, but because he was sitting against the ottoman he had nowhere to go, meaning he couldn’t escape as the 13-year-old’s pungent sweat invaded his nostrils and reminded him of how long and active her day had been thus far. “And I’m pretty sure you’re used to it by now, right?” she asked, before retreating her foot and setting it back down into her dad’s lap. The whole moment had only lasted a couple seconds, but it left Marcus blushing out of surprise, as Veronica raised her eyebrow at Jessie’s audacity and Paris’ mouth opened, holding back a full gasp.

     “Jess,” he remarked, cringing in disgust. “I might be used to the smell, but I’m not used to… that.” The trio of girls burst out into laughter at the man’s response; even Paris found it a bit funny.

     “OK, fair,” Jessie chuckled. “Maybe that was too far. I basically did that a couple days ago though and you didn’t freak out, but maybe I shouldn’t have done it again with friends here.”

     Marcus rolled his eyes. “Ya think?”

     “Well, unlike your daughter, I actually care about how I smell,” Veronica mentioned, causing Jessie to shove her new friend playfully for the not-so-subtle dig. She bent her leg towards her and slipped off her clean, white sock, laying her ankle on its side on her other leg to show off her foot to everyone. Her well-trimmed toenails were painted an ocean blue, and her skin was so clear, it was clear that she had the softest soles in the room. “I put lotion on them every night before bed,” she explained proudly. Jessie and Paris looked on with admiration rather than jealousy, and even from his spot on the floor Marcus could tell she took care of herself. “I won’t shove them in your face to prove it though, unlike some people who apparently have no manners,” she smirked, eliciting another lighthearted shove from Jessie. “But I’ll still keep my socks on if that’s what you want,” Veronica concluded, sliding the dainty sock back onto her foot.

     “Thanks,” Marcus said, grateful that she wasn’t trying to match Jessie’s ‘playful’ behavior this afternoon. Maybe tonight won’t be as bad as I was expecting. Shortly after Marcus finished with giving his daughter’s feet a massage, he moved on to Paris’ feet. She had initially felt odd about having her friend’s dad—a man she’d known since she was just a child—down at her feet and giving her a massage. But his little hands and fingers felt better than she was expecting, so she soon forgot about her prior reluctance. And then after her, he scooted over to the third and final girl, Veronica. And to his surprise, she hadn’t been any different than Jessie or Paris; he expected some kind of teasing along the lines of how she acted with him in her room a week ago, but no such interaction occurred, much to Marcus’ delight.

     After everyone got their feet rubbed, they had Jessie’s dad comb and braid their hair next. Paris’ hair was already up in a bun, but Jessie and Veronica were still willing (it was Jessie’s idea after all). Marcus was plenty acquainted with Jessie’s light brown, wavy hair, and weaving together strands of hair together into an intricate, patterned bundle was a skill he had learned almost a decade ago at a class for single fathers who were raising children. Luckily, her sitting down on the couch put her head at a perfect level for him, so she draped her hair over the back of the couch where he went around and did the braiding. He was even able to bring over a stool, allowing his head to reach just high enough over the back of the couch that he could sort of watch TV with them. It wasn’t often that he braided Jessie’s hair, but he treasured the bonding experience and was glad that she had asked him.

     And he didn’t mind combing Veronica’s hair either. She liked her long, straight black hair just the way it was, so she didn’t need it braided. But Jessie still told her that her dad could comb it for her, which she took him up on. He was unsurprised to find her hair incredibly soft and volumous once he had started working with it. She murmured how soothing it was to have someone comb her hair; even though he wasn’t touching her scalp, the slight tugs and pulls caused by the hairbrush turned the session into a kind of massage in itself. So far, the night was going better than he was expecting. After the foot massages and hair treatments for the girls, he would’ve expected to want to retire back to his room like he had originally planned. But when Jessie invited him back to the front of the couch and pulled him up onto her lap, he decided that maybe a night of hanging out with his daughter and her friends would be more fun than he previously assumed.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     After Marcus and the girls had watched Sabrina for a bit, the doorbell rang, and Jessie turned towards the door, exclaiming “Pizzas here!” excitedly. “Can you go get it for us Daddy?” she asked, lifting him off her lap and setting him back down on the floor.

     “When did you order pizza?” he asked, turning to look up at her instead of heading for the door. 

     “During when you were brushing our hair,” she answered, her eyes focused on the show instead of addressing him directly. “We always get pizza when I have sleepovers,” she reminded him. Not that night from a few weeks ago when Harper and Paris stayed over. But I’m pretty sure I remember them coming home late, and I had fallen asleep on the couch by then. Other than that night though, she was right. The key difference though was that Marcus would usually drive to the local pizza restaurant to pick them up, and would only have it delivered if he was feeling especially lazy. But it seemed that Jessie had taken the initiative for him and gone ahead with ordering a delivery on her phone. 

     The doorbell ringing a second time snapped Marcus out of his thoughts, and Jessie glanced down at him, still standing in front of the couch between hers and Paris’ legs. “Right, I’m just not used to getting it delivered,” he said, ducking under Paris’ legs to head to the kitchen and grab his credit card from his wallet. Then he hurried over to the front door and reached up to the handle, gradually pulling it open. A lanky teen boy who looked around 16 or 17 was standing on the other end, holding 2 pizza boxes and a 2 liter of Sprite. He looked a bit surprised initially to see a two and a half foot man answer the door, but he quickly regained his composure as Marcus held up the credit card.

     “Um, do you wanna…” the boy started to say, not sure if the smaller man would be able to carry the large, 16 inch boxes and the big bottle of soda by himself. Before he’d opened the door, Marcus had assumed he’d carry the boxes over his head. But he hadn’t known they’d gotten a drink too, so he figured he’d have to take two trips in order to safely carry everything. Maybe even three. 

     “Oh… you can just put them down for now,” he replied, and the boy put down the boxes and the soda bottle so he could take the card from Marcus. 

     From his pocket, the boy pulled out a phone with a card reader attached, and swiped Marcus’ credit card to confirm his payment. Then he handed the card back to Marcus, and stood awkwardly for a moment, looking between the boxes and soda on the ground and Marcus. “I can, uh… do you want me to bring them in for you?” he asked.

     From across the house, Veronica turned towards the door, and spotted the two of them standing there just as Marcus got his card back. “Oh! Do you need help carrying them Mr. Tilden?” Veronica called out from across the house, and sprung up from the couch. He heard the patter of her feet running across the floor, and just as he shook his head, about to call back that it wasn’t necessary, he heard her feet approach right up behind him before stepping right over him. The crotch of her jeans flew less than an inch over his head, and her inner thighs brushed the sides of his head, as she was just barely able to get her legs around his body. The boy stood with his mouth open, wondering if what he had just seen was technically appropriate. Especially considering the girl looked even younger than his 16-year-old self, whereas the man was obviously older than both of them combined. Plus she’d called him by his last name, implying that they weren’t even family at least.

     “I can bring them in,” Veronica told the delivery driver with a smile. “Thanks!”

     “Yeah…” he stuttered, thinking about how emasculated he’d feel if a girl had done that to him. “Have a good day,” he said, and turned to leave.

     Glad that the pizza had arrived, Veronica stooped down to pick it up off their porch. She wasn’t even thinking of the little man behind her, who suddenly got an up close view of the girl’s wide hips as her jeans stretched over her butt while bending over right in front of him. She placed the soda bottle on top of the pizza boxes and effortlessly picked them up before standing again, and turned to head back inside. But holding the boxes prevented her from seeing the floor below, and she accidentally walked right into Marcus with her legs, nearly tripping and jumping back in surprise. “Oh!” she exclaimed, holding the boxes to the side so she could see him again. “Sorry, I thought you went back inside, I didn’t know you were still there.” She grimaced, feeling apologetic considering she had legitimately forgotten about him and assumed he’d headed to the kitchen after she offered to bring in the pizza.

     “It’s fine,” he muttered, side-stepping around her and closing the front door. As much as she seemed like the kind of girl to mess with him, he actually believed her this time.

     “Perfect timing you guys,” Paris said, as the episode’s credits started on screen. Jessie exited the show, and joined Paris in heading to the kitchen with Veronica and her dad. 

     While Jessie’s friends headed to the table, Jessie went to grab plates and napkins for everyone before joining her friends. Marcus headed to the fridge and opened it up, grabbing a bag of carrots from the vegetable drawer. “I can’t force our guests to eat anything they don’t want to,” he noted, carrying the bag over to the table and setting it down next to his daughter’s plate. “But I still want my kid to have some veggies.” He rubbed Jessie’s head, and she rolled her eyes. “And you two are obviously welcome to have some too if you want,” he added, taking the seat next to Jessie’s.

      “Thanks Mr. Tilden,” Paris said, grabbing some carrots of her own and crunching into them before she’d even started on her pizza. Veronica opened the boxes, and everyone grabbed a slice of pepperoni.

     “Technically you can’t ‘force’ me to eat any carrots either,” Jessie joked, smirking at her dad. “But I will because I’m such a good and obedient daughter,” she cheesed, grinning at him sarcastically.

     “I could force you if you wanna keep getting rides to and from school every day,” he replied. “And an allowance every week.” She was right, he couldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to. But that would’ve been true even if he was still his full size.

     “Okay, okay,” she blushed. “I already said I would.” Paris laughed at the two of them, and Veronica smiled too, quietly watching the dynamic between shrunken father and giant daughter as she ate her pizza.

     Marcus grabbed a slice of his own, and looked a bit intimidated by the idea of eating the whole slice. He was sure the girls would each have 2 or 3 slices, but the 8 inch slice looked a foot and a half long in his eyes. At least that was one of the advantages to smaller size: There’s always plenty of food.

     Jessie was browsing through TikTok on her phone when she came upon a video that piqued her interest. “Oooooh, we should do the Mirrors Challenge since we have multiple people here! The one from that Justin Timberlake song.”

     “Yeyeyeyeyeah!” Veronica exclaimed, excited by the idea, and put down her pizza to go stand out in the open.

      “Here Daddy, you can record us,” Jessie said, handing Marcus her phone after setting up the sound. It wasn’t the first time she’d asked him to record a TikTok for her, so he knew what he was doing for the most part. Then she and Paris got up so they could join Veronica. “OK, so I’ll be in the middle, and we’ll turn this way, and then the other way, and then you two turn around and I’ll slap you guys, and then we’ll switch and you guys can slap me.” Marcus knew that Jessie liked making videos, and it was clear that this wasn’t the first time she’d orchestrated one with her friends. He didn’t know what particular trend they were planning on doing, but he liked Justin Timberlake so his interest was somewhat keen too. “OK, ready?” Jessie asked Marcus, and they all turned to face the camera, with Paris on the left, Veronica on the right, and Jessie in the middle, as Marcus held his daughter’s oversized phone up with both his hands and pressed the record button.

     The song started to play from the chorus and the girls all turned to their left, and then right as Justin’s first line from the clip ended, Veronica and Jessie swung their palms forward and lightly slapped them the butt cheeks of the girl in front of them on time with the beat. Marcus raised his eyebrows; he was expecting some kind of group dance like most of the other challenges, and was surprised at what it was instead. The three girls pivoted 180 degrees, synced up as if they’d already rehearsed it before, and then in the middle of Justin’s second line, Paris and Jessie once again smacked the asses of the friend in front of them. They were all giggling already, as Jessie turned to face the camera and the girls on the outside both turned with their backs to the camera in anticipation of the third hit. Except Jessie brought her hands up high, biting her lip mischievously, before slamming them down on her friend’s butts on the third beat, causing their cheeks to jiggle far more than the first two times, and eliciting gasps from her surprised friends. For the fourth and final one, Jessie spun around with her back to the camera, squeezing her eyes shut for what she knew was coming, as Paris and Veronica turned back to face forwards again. They each lifted their hands that were closest to Jessie, and with even more gusto, crashed their palms firmly against Jessie’s butt cheeks. Even despite the tight leather material she was wearing, his daughter’s ass wobbled the most of them all, and she shrieked out in a mixture of pain and laughter. Marcus quit recording, speechless at what he’d just recorded for the group of middle schoolers. But before he could decide if he should make the parental decision to delete it, Jessie had run back to her dad and snatched the phone out of his hands.

     “Thanks!” she smiled, still giggling from the whole thing. Every time she made a video she’d get excited but ultimately underestimate how much she enjoyed it, until actually doing it and having more fun than she was expecting, every time. Paris and Veronica gathered around to check out the final product, although Marcus was too short to see for himself very well. After they watched it all the way through, they all laughed at the finished version again, and Jessie wasted no time in adding the caption “s/o to my dad for filming lol” before posting it.

     Everyone took a seat again, and the girls all started talking about some of the videos they’d seen recently as Marcus quietly ate some more of his pizza. Are all of Jessie’s videos like that? he wondered. He didn’t have TikTok on his phone, so he’d only seen her page whenever she showed it to him. But from what he remembered, most of her videos were pretty normal, harmless dancing videos.

     Veronica had been scrolling through her own page, when she found the video she’d been looking for, something she’d made a few weeks ago. “Oh, I found it! Did you guys see the one I did that went kinda viral? It’s almost at 5 million views!”

     “The ‘small waist’ one?” Jessie sang, remembering the lyrics in her head. 

     Veronica nodded, “Yeah, and 700 thousand likes so far.” She turned the phone around so her friends could see, as Jessie and Paris leaned over the table so they could see closer. Marcus had a view of the phone too, and he glanced at it to see what dance this 12 year old could’ve done that was worth going viral. “Small waist, pretty face,” the girl from the song sang, and Veronica, dressed in a white t-shirt and yoga pants, pointed to her tanned, exposed belly first for the first part, and then reached her hands up and laid them flat under her chin as she smiled for the second part. Then she hopped up in the air and spun halfway around, landing with her bubbly butt facing right at the camera, causing it to jiggle up and down a bunch from the vibrations as the singer added “with a big bank!” Marcus nearly choked on his pizza out of shock, quickly looking away as the TikTok ended with Veronica jumping again and landing at a slightly different angle, causing her tween ass to jiggle all over again for the singer’s second verse as she mouthed along with the lyrics. 

     “Jeez, you look so good Veronica,” Jessie said in awe, sitting back down in her seat. “None of mine are even close to a million.”

     “Yeah, me neither,” Paris agreed. They each had a few thousand followers, but Veronica was closing in on almost 600,000. Not to mention her 90,000 on Instagram too. Marcus just ignored them as he continued eating his food, trying not to think about the video he’d just seen. 

     Veronica noticed he wasn’t paying attention to them, and had an idea for another TikTok they could make. “Hey, I have an idea for another video,” she told them. “I wanna play a sound and see if you know the choreography without having to look it up.”

     Paris shook her head and took a bite out of some more carrots. “Oh, I have such a bad memory, I’d be so bad at that,” she said, staying in her seat.

     But Jessie was game. “Alright, bet,” she mumbled through a mouthful of pizza, quickly taking a swig of soda to wash it down before hopping out of her seat again. “But nothing obscure, right? Like it’s gotta be something I recognize.”

     “No no don’t worry, you’ve definitely seen these ones before,” Veronica assured her, using her own phone this time to record the video. “Hit her in a Benz, we fuckin all in the street,” the song started, and Jessie obviously knew it right away, gasping in recognition and nodding along to Veronica’s idea. “She told me to recline so I had to let back the seat,” the song continued, and Jessie turned to the side, moving her fist in a cranking motion as she arched her back behind her while keeping her legs planted on the ground. Marcus was paying attention now, wondering if this was going to be another song that ended up being inappropriate. Jessie’s hips grooved along with the beat, as the song finished off with “Pull out and she sucked it, I nut all over her meat,” while his daughter brought her splayed fingers up to her face and slowly draped them down her body and over her breasts. As soon as the clip ended, Veronica quickly switched to her camera app and started recording on that too, but as Jessie was laughing from having fun with another challenge, Veronica quickly panned over to Marcus and got his reaction. His jaw was open, even more shocked than he had been with the last one.

     “Did he just say what I think he said?” Marcus asked incredulously, and suddenly Jessie and Veronica broke out into cackling, hysterical laughter at the reaction from Jessie’s dad. Even Paris was nervously laughing along with the other two. Marcus turned to Veronica, and found himself staring into her camera’s lens, his eyes going wide as he realized he was being recorded. Veronica put the phone down and ended the video, but she was still wheezing with laughter at catching Marcus’ reaction to his daughter’s dance on video. “Were you recording me?” Marcus asked rhetorically, as Veronica quickly went back to TikTok, saved the first video, and spliced the two together. Without looking up, she nodded in response to Marcus’ question, and then added some text saying “HER DAD” that appeared as soon as Marcus showed up in the video. It all took less than 15 seconds for her to do, and then she tagged Jessie in the caption and pressed the post button. “Wait, I don’t know if I wanna be out on the internet like that,” Marcus said, and Jessie came back over to her seat and shrugged.

     “It’s not a big deal, Daddy, it’s not like anybody knows who you are anyways.” He was about to say something back, but his daughter spoke up again in defense of Veronica before he could get a word in. “Also, it’s her account, and you’re my dad, not hers. So it’s not like you can really tell her to remove it anyways.” He didn’t have much of a response to that, knowing that she was right. He could obviously ask her to take it down, but it seemed clear that the girls thought his reaction was hilarious and wanted to share his embarrassment with her hundreds of thousands of fans. His best hope was to just move on. It’s just a video, it’s not like it really matters that much anyways, he told himself.

     “I trust your parents wouldn’t let you make a video like that on your TikTok, right Paris?” he said, turning to Jessie’s best friend, always the moral center of the group.

     She chuckled and shook her head, “Probably not. They usually don’t have a problem with the stuff I post though.”

     “Do you have any viral videos?” he asked.

     “I made one for this trend that was like ‘We’re wolves, we own the night,’” she sang. “It’s got like, 20 thousand views I think, which isn’t like, viral viral but it’s a lot more than most of my videos.”

     “Twenty thousand, that’s kinda impressive,” he mused. “What’s the challenge?”

     Paris shrugged, “You pretty much just get on your hands and knees and howl and pretend to be a dog. It sounds stupid when you say it out loud,” she giggled. “But a lot of the trends are and they’re still fun.”

     “Like this,” Jessie said, pouncing on the floor and howling up at the ceiling. “Here, you should try it!”

     Marcus shook his head, glancing at Veronica and back to his daughter. “No thanks, I don’t want someone to record me doing it badly or something.” 

     Jessie shot Veronica a look, who put her phone on the table away from her, holding her hands up in surrender to show her willingness to cooperate. “There,” Jessie said, turning back to look at her dad. “Nobody’s gonna film you. Now will you try it?” She tilted her head to the side, looking up at him with pleading eyes that matched the rest of her puppy dog demeanor.

     “Okay, okay,” he sighed, and slowly got off his chair and onto his hands and knees in front of Jessie. 

     “You just howl, AWOOOO,” she demonstrated again, “and then you paw at the ground like this.” She scraped her hands across the floor back and forth, just like how in the videos. Marcus repeated what she did, causing Jessie and the other girls, who had gathered around to watch, to clap and cheer him on. “There you go, Daddy, you just learned a TikTok dance! Kinda. Does it qualify as a dance?” she asked, sitting up onto her ankles and turning to her friends, who shrugged. “Can you do a good bark?” she asked, turning back to her dad.

     “A bark? You want me to bark?” he asked, and she nodded enthusiastically.

     “Yeah! What’s your most convincing bark?”

     “Uh…”

     “C’mon, bark for us! Bark, Daddy, come on!”

     “Alright alright… ARF!” He laughed at his own bark, and the other girls laughed too, but not in a mocking way, they were all just having fun. Jessie certainly likes to be weird. “Arf arf, ARF!” he barked again, pretending to be a puppy for his daughter. 

     She reached up onto her plate and grabbed one of her carrots, still sitting on her ankles but holding the carrot high above the ground. “See if you can reach your treat now,” she encouraged, eager to keep up the charade.

     Marcus frowned and looked at Jessie with a dull expression, “OK, now this is getting to be humiliating.”

     “Wow, Puppy can talk?!” Veronica exclaimed, joining Jessie’s side. “I didn’t know dogs knew English.”

     “Yeah, that was so weird,” Jessie agreed sarcastically. Rolling his eyes at the girls’ antics, he decided to just play along and readied himself on his hands and knees, before jumping up into the air towards the carrot. He was far too short to reach it, but Jessie decided it was a good attempt anyways and dropped it into his mouth. The three girls all broke out into cheers and claps, which made Marcus smile and actually feel a bit good about himself. 

     “Good boy,” Jessie teased, patting her dad on the head. She stood back back up too her full height, putting her hands on her hips as she looked down at him with a smile. “You’ll always kinda be my pet,” she cooed adoringly. “A princess and her pet!”