There had been dozens, nearly hundreds of days where Nick plugged away at his office and Elise trudged away at the book store, but among these were very few evenings when they actually talked about what they did with each other. When they did, of course, it was to share a particularly bad day, a database crash for Nick or a book group hounding Elise about a book whose title or author they couldn't recall "but it has a blue cover." Nick's stories took much longer, were more detailed, and built up to a satisfying denouement, and Elise found them very interesting. Elise's stories were much shorter, seemed to place an emphasis on how she worked with other people rather than the hostile environment and the resources she gathered to achieve resolution, and so Nick rather tuned out. She never seemed to notice, as he'd become relatively adept at listening to intonation and rhythm and could insert a "huh" or "mmm" throughout her monologue, and she was satisfied that he was listening.

But he wasn't, and he realized he never had as he overheard the goings-on of her day through the filter of her bra cup. For instance, who were all these friends she joked around with? Who were they? Men's voices, women's voices, some with accents and some without. The bossy one didn't seem to actually be a boss, whereas the very kind-sounding man who spoke in cautiously respectful phrases seemed to be in charge of quite a lot. Had Elise told him anything about them? Nick racked his tiny brains for any name that might have floated by in conversation... Miguel? Michelle? Sandy? Brock? It was no good, he was just making things up. He felt a little lost, eavesdropping on the chatting and gossip, having absolutely no idea who she was talking to or about.

Well, his own work wouldn't be getting in the way of listening to her now. He'd have to see if they'd allow him to work from home, because otherwise he'd have to quit in a most dishonorable way, leaving Elise the indignity of stopping by his office to collect his things and dodge all the questions that would doubtlessly be leveled at her.

Before him, however, was her massive, swelling breast. He loved her breasts at normal size, and he told her so frequently (but without that modifier), but now it was just about all he could think of. The cushion of her bra cup cushioned his back, forming around his body as the enormous mound weighed upon him. With every step Elise took, gentle rumbles spread throughout her boob, shuddering against him, as though her breast were throbbing to nudge into him. He smiled, feeling the mass of fat and flesh tremble constantly. It was never annoying, he never got tired of it. Sometimes he'd lie back and let it shudder into him, and sometimes he'd exert his little arms and legs to embrace it as much as possible, pushing gently back into the soft, sweet flesh. Of course, it was a great temptation to tease and antagonize her nipple, the perfect, sweet button that lay against his face and chest. But she had been very clear in warning him away from that: though she probably wouldn't lash out with violence, against which he'd have no defense, she still had plenty of options to make him dread his actions, and she enjoyed total and absolute physical authority to make him accept and receive whatever punishment she meted. It was a total imbalance of power, to be sure, but all he had to do was avoid incurring her wrath and they could coexist in peace. He could do that.

He did still like to test the boundaries, however, like resting his tongue against her aureole, just to taste the dry flesh and taste it again once he moistened it up. He would wrap his lips around a slim fold in the wrinkles around her nipple, not using his teeth to pinch it but just to hold her skin, feel the pliant, rubbery flesh content to rest within his jaws for a moment, then feel it slip out of his reach with any motion of her upper body. He had no idea what was going on outside of her bra, but he could read some of the actions based on what her breast was doing against him.

It was difficult to lose himself completely in the reverie of breast-worship, however, because there was always something going on to snag his attention. "Would you mind running inventory on next season's boxes?" the soft-spoken manager asked her.

"That's Scott's job," Elise said. Who was Scott? Had she complained about him to Nick before? "Is he on break? Actually, I asked him to do that last week, is it still not done?"

There was a long sigh, but Nick could hear the smile in the manager's voice. "I'm very sorry, Elise. I didn't mean to take that out on you. I wondered why it hadn't happened. You're right, that's Scott's job. I'll go pull him off break and have a little talk with him."

"I mean, I can do it."

But the manager wouldn't hear of it, apologized again, and departed to straighten things out. Nick felt a little relief, knowing that his girlfriend was being taken care of by a conscientious manager, a very rare jewel indeed. Her nipple nudged at him like a large dog needing attention right now, but he was distracted by wondering how often she'd tried to tell him about her manager and he'd just blocked it out. Elise's nipple chucked him under the chin and rubbed against his chest, stiffening slightly, but Nick felt too guilty to enjoy that right now.

"Excuse me, miss, I'm looking for a book?"

Well, no shit you are, lady, Nick thought. What business is this of anyone's? Oh, are you trying to ask for help in some backward, passive-aggressive way? Nick learned long ago he had no talent at customer service.

"Certainly, ma'am! Please follow me to the counter, I'll look it up for you." Much walking, much earthquaking of Elise's delicious boob upon the whole of Nick's naked body. "What was the title of that?" The woman recited the title and author, and Nick was astonished by the sound of Elise's rapid typing. He thought he was fast, but the way she struck the keys sounded like the steady patter of rain. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, it's out of stock. Would you like me to special order that for you?"

"No, just show me where it is on the shelf and I'll pick it up."

"Ah, I'm sorry, but it's out of stock. That means we don't have a copy in the store. I'd have to special order it for you, it would probably be here in about four business days."

The woman's tone hardened and grew louder. "No, it's not. My friend was just in here and she told me that she saw it on the shelf!"

Nick wondered if he actually felt Elise's body temperature rise slightly, if he could actually sense her pulse speeding up a little. "How long ago did your friend come in?"

"She was just in here!"

Another pause, and Nick heard the ocean roar behind his girlfriend's vast chest as she drew a long, slow breath. She was pissed: she took the same breath when they were about to have a fight. "Tell you what, I'll go and have a look in back. If you'd like to follow me, I can show you where we would normally keep it."

The woman kept babbling to herself, angrily, about her friend the reliable witness, and how she didn't understand a bookstore couldn't store any books. "I don't think you'll stay in business much longer! If you can't keep any books on your shelves!"

"That would mean we're selling them, you old bat," she whispered, and Nick wondered if that was for her benefit of if it were simply her habit. "Here you go," she said, louder, "it would be on one of these two shelves. Let me know if you find it, otherwise I'll be in back going through inventory." The woman said something that wasn't "thank you" and Elise ducked through the store.

"Hey, Elise." This voice was unsteady. It came from the side.

"Oh, uh, hi," she said. Her own voice was distracted, clipped.

"Funny meeting you here," the man said. His casual tone was so forced, even Nick had to wince.

"Well, I work here." Elise did not break her stride, nearly running through the enormous bookstore. Nick had no idea how large this store truly was.

"Yeah, I'm just studying for... something for school..." This kid was a terrible liar. Nick really wished he could see his face, if for no other reason than to punch it. When Elise didn't respond, he tried again. "But I'm here for lunch... a late lunch, I guess... and I was wondering when you go on break?"

"Sorry, just got back from break." Nick was impressed with the snappiness of Elise's lie. No quaver, no hesitation. He didn't think it was just because her boyfriend was lodged in her chest, either: it sounded like Elise had dealt with this guy before. Did she ever tell him about someone stalking her at work? He was furious with his inattentiveness: there was so much she was dealing with that he couldn't be arsed to pay attention to.

"Really? Because usually your break is around 1:30, isn't it?"

His voice receded as Elise opened and closed a door, swearing under her breath. Nick tried tapping against Elise's boob but his fist only bounced against her skin without a response. She clomped down a hallway into another, larger, quieter room, where she called out for Miguel.

"Is there a problem?" came the gentle voice. Elise explained the situation with the woman and said she was going to take a minute to cool down. Miguel offered to walk out and meet the customer with her and Elise thanked him for that. She also told him about the young punk who found her again. Miguel's voice showed a little more anger now, as though the entire world were slipping out of his hands, first Scott and now the stalker. So this was a known issue. "You just hide out back here as long as you need to, Elise. Give me ten minutes, I'll get rid of both of them." Wow, Miguel's a real stand-up guy. Nick felt a pang of jealousy.

The day went on like this. Nick never heard anything else from the stalker, and Elise was lucky enough not to have to deal with any other shitty customers. Nick overheated a little, plastered smack against his girlfriend's tit for hours, but he was still in love with it and the experience of being tiny was still new. Maybe in a year he'd get tired of it, but he couldn't imagine that he ever would. More than anything, however, he wanted to pull Elise aside and buy her a drink and ask her all about her life, all about everything he never knew, everything she might have tried to share but sensed he couldn't care less about.

"I'm so sorry, Elise," he said, running his palm over the slope of her breast. "I'll be better, I promise."

The hours counted down and evening fell. "That's it, you're outta here!" In anyone else's mouth that might have sounded threatening, but Miguel made it sound like a reward. "Thanks for another great day, Elise, and thanks for clearing that up with Scott. He likes his cigarette breaks too much, so I gave him a pamphlet from our wellness program to help him quit the habit before it gets in the way of his work. I think he picked up on the hint."

"Thanks for everything, Miguel! See you after the weekend."

"Have a great couple of days off. Hey, do you want someone to walk you to your car?" Nick's brow furrowed to hear this. Had he misjudged Miguel?

Elise laughed and her breast danced aggressively against her little boyfriend. "No, thanks, I'm just right outside. Thanks, though!" They made more farewell noises, and then the heavy front doors swooped and ushered Elise and Nick out into the chilly night air. It was quieter out here, with the distant rumble of traffic. Yeah, this would be about the time of night where Nick would have been home for a couple hours, and if he was feeling especially motivated he'd have made dinner and would be keeping it warm for her as she drove home. He rested his cheek against her sweet flesh: no more cooking anything for her for a while.

Elise's shoes clopped over the gravel-and-tar pavement and Nick heard her keys rattling in her hand. An engine revved and she yelled, "Hey, watch it!" Brakes squealed and a door opened.

"You blew me off, bitch." It was the kid from before, but there was no nervousness. Only anger. "You fucking lied to me. What was the harm in having a sandwich with me? I'm a nice guy."

"Nice guys don't box women's cars in with their van." Elise's voice was strong but tense. Nick heard her keys jostle slightly: she had shown him how she poked them through her fingers to make her fist extra spiky.

"Nice girls don't fucking lie to decent, ordinary guys just trying to make friends." His voice was louder, closer.

"I have a boyfriend."

"See, you assume I'm trying to hit on you, right away. You don't even give me a chance. You'd like me if you knew me. Bitches like you make this world an angry, lonely place."

"Stay back!"

Nick felt the momentum as her body twisted, heard her throat grunt. The kid yelled, something thudded against something else, and Elise cried out. She twisted again and the kid laughed at her.

She took one blow to her breast and Nick went out like a candle.