"I...uh..." I mutter, staggering back as I take the bag and begin to head towards the door. "Why...why are you being so..." I begin to muse, looking back at Vivian as I reach the door. "So nice to me?"
The older goth woman merely smiles back, leaning on the low counter a little as she looks over my outfit with her eyes lingering on the massive boots I had found myself loving.
"I don't know" she ponders, looking away for a minute. "I guess...You...kind of...well it's like you're the daughter I never had" she mutters, the smile flashing away for just an instant as a more sorrowful look overshadows her doughy features. A silence hangs in the air for a moment, I simply look back at the older woman as she pulls herself out of whatever train of thought she had stumbled into.
"Oh, listen to me rambling nonsense" she mutters, coughing a little as if to clear her throat. The pained look still lingers though, like she simply couldn't shake the memory of something lost long ago. "Don't leave your friend out there in the rain all alone on my behalf" she continues, waving for me to leave.
I don't though, instead I simply fidget nervously in place with my over-stuffed bag. Despite the weird phrasing of her abrupt statement, I could see this meant something to her. She had been so nice to me as well, my heart immediately going out to this kind albeit strange woman.
"I..." I manage to choke out, trying to break my part of the silence but entirely unsure of what to say. Leaning into the lie I give her a little smile, "I can bring my ex's stuff over tomorrow, if that's alright?"
Vivian's smile slowly returns, the warmth she had exuded filling her expression once more. "I'll look forward to it..." she states, pausing expectantly.
"I...oh...I'm Jordan, I mean my name is..." I stammer, causing the older woman to chuckle.
"It's a pretty name dear" she calls back, her eyes darting down to an old ornamental barrel between one of the bay windows and the front door. "In that case, why don't you borrow an umbrella sweetheart?" she offers, drawing my attention to the polished and well-worn wooden handles rising out from the barrel.
I almost refuse, but as I hear the rain pick up outside I know I'd need it. Leaning over I fish around in the barrel, eventually pulling a relatively large mahogany-colored umbrella. I move to pop it open but quickly manage to stop myself, remembering the superstition my great-grandmother had instilled in me about the bad luck that would come of it.
"Good move" chuckles Vivian as she notices my trepidation. "Don't want to risk angering the spirits with any more bad luck."
"I...no, I guess I don't" I giggle back, wincing slightly as I hear my light adorable voice distorting what I had wanted to be a deeper chuckle. "Thank you Ms....um..."
"Just call me Viv dear" Vivian replies, waving at me again. "Now shoo, I'm sure you and your housemate still have celebrating to do.
"House..." I whisper to myself, quickly catching myself as I realize what Anna and my relationship must look like to the outside observer. "Right, thanks again Viv" I call out, quickly trudging my way outside in my heavy clomping boots.
As I open the door and stomp my way up to Anna I'm immediately met with the true sound of the rain once again. The downpour was coming down so heavily it sounded almost like static as opposed to individual droplets as the water slammed down in heavy sheets.
Anna stands in a bit of a haze, fiddling with her bag of clothes on second before looking out at the rain the next. She is only snapped from her stupor as I walk up beside her, my slight increase in height helping to draw her attention to me.
"Jordy...I don't know..." she mutters, her voice quivering and shaking as she tries to look back to the annex. Her sentence snaps to a quick and decisive end as she sees the umbrella in my hands, the large implement not easily going unnoticed. "Where did you find..." she squeals excitedly.
"Vivian...Viv loaned it to me until tomorrow" I explain, cutting her off as I figure where the line of reasoning was going.
"That witch is soooo nice..." she coos, reaching for the umbrella with a notable lack of coordination. Her expression sours however as she sees the little extras Viv had added to my bag. "At least to you." I hand the towering tipsy woman the umbrella, figuring her height would serve us both well in keeping the rain away.
"Yeah, she..." I mutter, stopping myself short of revealing what she had told me after Anna left.
"She...what?" Anna blurts out, beginning our walk around the awning and towards the annex.
"I...nothing, I'll tell you later" I explain, needing at least another two or three drinks before I want to unpack that.
The walk back to the annex is surprisingly more difficult than the walk down the to store. While running, the alcohol coursing through my busty petite body, I had barely noticed I was running down the incline of the street. I had seen it when I drove in, the whole town running down between two mountains towards the bay and the harbor, but walking up against it was an entirely different matter.
The wet ground beneath me only makes walking in the large thigh-high platform boots all the more difficult, though I am pleased as I feel my fishnet-encased legs remaining mostly dry beneath the supple leather.
"So..." Anna mumbles, trying to make conversation as she strides slowly up the hill alongside me. "You can walk in six-inch platforms?" she asks, her mind obviously jumping to a conclusion before she even finishes the question. My jaw drops as I glance down at myself, wobbling for a moment as I try to see just how big the sole of these things were.
"Were you...I mean did you ever wear..." Anna begins to stammer, trying to find a way of wording the question in her dazed and tipsy mind.
"No!" I squeak, shifting my attention to her instead of my new boots. "Are these even..."
"Well you're around...what? Five-foot six...ish" Anna muses, squinting down at me as she tries to work it all out with the naked eye. "And you were...I don't know...Around five even, maybe a little bigger...Let's say five one..." she mutters, the gears turning as she tries to do the math.
"I thought I was around...maybe five-foot-two" I mutter meekly, wringing the hands of my reusable bag.
Anna just hisses a little, looking at me again and at my nervous expression. "You're right" she chirps, placating me a little. "My mistake...but the platforms..." she states, quickly returning to her line of questioning from before much to my dismay.
"It's the body" I whisper at her, glancing around nervously as I realize the street is absolutely empty. "When I took my...when I tried to walk in them I nearly fell, then...well I just knew how" I awkwardly explain, unsure as to how to best explain the convulsions and painless cramps that had rocked my body.
As we approach the front door to the annex Anna grins down at me before looking at my shoes with glee. "Oh my gosh" she coos, a sly grin spreading across her plush pink lips. "We have to see how tall a heel you can just...magically wear" she states, the look in her eye sending chills down my spine.
I chuckle back nervously, placing my hand on the umbrella as she opens the door. "I think I'll need more drinks first...and..." I mutter, my mind wandering to the thought of the crumpled cigarettes in my car. "I need to go get..." I begin to explain, Anna quickly releasing the umbrella in response as she staggers inside.
"Go. Go, and get you thing" she calls out, walking back through the poorly lit annex and bumping into things as she heads towards the back room with the liquor shelf. "Meet me back here, we'll go to your place" she explains, slipping from view. "It's closer!"
I begin to quickly walk back around towards my car for hopefully the final time today. As I splish and splash my way down the lane way I can't help but become painfully aware of the breeze whipping up around the ruffles of my skirt and chilling my soft plush thighs. As I round the corner and approach my car I come to a stop, the sight of the blue-haired girl overly dressed in alternative and goth attire catching me off guard for a moment.
"Gotta get used to that" I huff angrily under my breath, knowing that I would be stuck like this for the foreseeable future thanks to the little additions they made to my head.
I struggle to grab my keys and open the door while keeping the bag and umbrella in tow. However, after a brief fight with my tiny hands and numerous belongings I manage to pull the passenger's side door open. I quickly place the bag down for a moment, grabbing the crumpled box of cigarettes and snatching out one of the thin white sticks inside. Quickly placing the cigarette between my lips I search for the tiny lighter I had been given, shaking it free from my old shoes before lighting the smoke with a long drawn-out sigh of relief.
"And I'll need to get used to this too I guess" I grumble, the nicotine quickly soothing me as I inhale deeply before puffing out billowing plumes of smoke under my umbrella.
I quickly stuff the lighter and cigarette packet into my bag, though it rapidly becomes apparent that I was running out of room to carry things. My eyes light up as I see my answer in the back seat, my laptop bag resting nestled between a few of the moving boxes.
"That'll do" I mumble, wriggling into the passenger's seat and stretching my arm into the back of the car. I try my hardest not to get ash everywhere, by my flailing struggles seem to strike out that possibility. After far too much straining and shaking my pert little behind I manage to snag the strap of the bag, wrenching it out from the seat with a triumphant grunt.
Remembering the gigantic redhead I had abandoned on this little quest, and all the alcohol she could be downing in my absence, I quickly set about packing this new bag. Amongst the shiny, relatively new, laptop I begin to place all my new documentation and my phone. Glancing around I try to find anything else, but with most of my stuff resting in the boxes I simply can't find anything.
I heave the laptop bag over my shoulder, feeling as the coarse black shoulder strap finds its home between my ample breasts. I grimace at the sight of it, my gaze darting between the strap in my cleavage and my reflection as a dark and brooding college girl.
Sighing and resigning myself to my fate I quickly gather up my bag of new clothes and the rest of what I had been carrying before slamming the door shut behind me. Staggering back a little, still fairly tipsy, I lock up and begin to race back to the front of the annex to meet Annabelle.
Walking up the short steps to the front door I find Annabelle leaning against the table on which she had left the scotch. The fancy bottle has noticeably less of the golden liquid sloshing around inside it as Anna grips it poorly in one hand. In the other she holds her own bag of assorted clothing, the fabric bulging and threatening to break thanks to the newly added bottles of bourbon and vodka.
"One for...one for the road?" she hisses out, holding the scotch bottle out to me. Her face is twisted into a sour look as she runs her tongue around the inside of her mouth, her new virgin taste buds still rejecting the liquor she was forcing on them.
Before I can respond I find myself offering her my borrowed umbrella, exchanging it for the scotch as I begin to take a massive swig from the glass bottle. I'm forced to fumble briefly with my cigarette, carefully holding both it and the bottle between my slender fingers as I down the searing ambrosia from the fancy decanter. The liquor, despite the painful taste, feels almost right as I drink it, the feeling being relatively similar to the cigarette between my fingers.
Eventually I come up for air, my head spinning and body swaying slightly as I stare up at Anna. I slowly place the cigarette between my lips once again, watching as Anna eyes it cautiously.
"Is that...that the best idea?" she blurts out, slowly moving out the front door and fumbling to juggle both the annex keys and the umbrella. "You should...hic...oh my..." she squeaks, wobbling slightly in her low heels as she tries to get the key into the hole once more.
"Can't" I huff, a cloud of smoke erupting from my lips and nose. "Part of the..."
"Body!" squeals Anna excitedly, happy to have guessed the end of my sentence. Her face goes ghostly white as she says it, realizing just how loud she had been while talking about something she had suggested should stay secret. "Sorry" she slurs, her words hanging for far too long on the 's'.
"It's...fine..." I mutter, shifting the cigarette around between my lips. "Apparently I'm...I'm super healthy or somethin'" I mutter, moving as close as I can to the stairs while still remaining under the aegis of the umbrella.
Eventually, Anna manages to get the annex locked up before we both begin to head back down the street. Our pace is relatively slow, though for the opposite reason for our slowed march up. The decline, while easier, plays havoc with our inebriated sense of balance and causes both Anna and myself to double-check our every step on the water-coated pavement.
I lean close to Anna, both to get more cover from the remain and for mutual support as we approach the intersection yet again.
My eyes begin to dart around, searching the old building for some sort of sign of where exactly I lived at this point. Many of the buildings simply resembled the second-hand store, with aging white render covering strong and sturdy brickwork.
Eventually I pipe up, nudging Anna to get her attention first. "Which one are we...am I staying at?" I ask, slipping up for a moment after Viv got the idea of being roommates into my head.
Anna looks down vacantly for a moment before brightening up, the question finally reaching her through the fog. Her head snaps up, her eyes narrowing as she scans the intersection for the building she was looking for. Finally, she lets out a little gasp, pointing off to one of the corners with her hand as the bag swings dangerously beneath it.
"There!" she calls out, beginning the last stretch of our walk towards my home. "You're staying in...
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