I can’t place it, but something in her voice has changed.  It’s calmer, smoother.  More human.  The fire in her eyes may or may not be extinguished for the time being.

                “Yes?” I say, neutral as possible, as always.

                “I know you told me you liked how I looked…” she begins, and she’s trying to be calm and formal about this, but I can hear a peep of glee in her voice.  She clearly is over the moon that she’s actually gotten one of us to have a deep attachment to her.

                “Yes?” I say, starting to sound a little nervous, emulating my voice from our earlier conversation.

                “…so I wanted to talk a little more…” she says, and the hand that’s been smoothly massaging her calf suddenly shakes it roughly.  I go into a laying down position in an attempt to keep my balance, but there’s no chance; I go sliding off her smooth calf a moment later.

                I gasp in surprise as gravity grabs at me and yanks me downward.  I land with a little thump on the cottony floor of Julia’s t-shirt, just above her crotch and where the t-shirt ends.  I pull myself up, using a little poking fold of fabric as a grip.  Julia giggles.

                “Sorry about that, Jack.  It’s not that far of a drop.  You okay?”

                “Yeah… yeah…” I repeat, shaking my head and reorienting myself.  I look up from her shirted stomach and find her massive palm already in the process of gripping me up for the second time today.  She’s very gentle, though, having a light grip on me and twisting her pinky finger to the bottom of her fist to allow me something to stand on.  I use it, and find that I actually have enough room inside her hand to hang on to the cracks between her fingers for extra balance.  It’s not like I have any chance of falling in this little tube of flesh that is her fist, but for my sense of balance it’s comforting.  She pulls me closer to her face, then actually raises me above her face far enough that I can see most of her face below me.  It’s odd for her to have to look up to see me, when it’s always me straining my neck just to see her eyes.

                “Yes?” I say, hoping to look cooperative by being the first one to speak for once.  Her grin widens, showing her teeth again.  She gives me a little squeeze, tightens her grip, then turns me at a diagonal angle so I can see her entire face.  It’s a little disorienting, but her fingers assure me I have no chance of falling.

                “I wanted to know… if you like me,” she says, actually sounding kind of bashful. 

                You know, like any normal sixteen year old girl with a crush on someone would. 

                Obviously in this case she is, for all intents and purposes, the owner of the object of her desire, but it’s something to hear a spark of a real person in her voice.

                This is perfect.  She’s played right into my hands.  Again, ironically, I’m sitting precariously in hers, but metaphorically, she’s in mine. 

                Time to play it up.  I tilt my head away far enough that I look sheepish but not scared.

                “Awww… Julia, you’re trying to embarrass me,” I say, but I do it in an almost playful way, putting positive emphasis on her name as if I like saying it.  She smiles, then giggles again.

                “It’s a simple question, Jack.”

                I take a deep breath, much deeper than I need to, but I want her fingers to feel my chest rising as if this is a big moment for me, as if I have to muster up the courage to get the next part out.

                “Yes…” I say quickly and deviously, burrowing down as hard as I can into her fist to gain cover.   I actually manage to hide part of my face, but I feel the fingers from her other hand at the bottom of her fist, pushing up on my feet to force me back out.

                “Wuu-wuu-waah!” I gargle for the second annoying time in the last few minutes.  She pushes up so far, that she’s actually only holding my feet in her curled pointer finger; the rest of me is standing up, trying to balance.  I look down at her face, and it’s absolutely alight.  I have never seen her so happy looking.  I of course don’t mean insane-about-to-kill-someone happy, I mean happy.  Legitimate, real-human being feeling.  Another first from her.  Why didn’t we try this sooner?

                “Well…” she says, equally as playfully.  Suddenly, her fist opens, releasing my feet.  I bump through her soft hand, now in the shape of a C, and land in her outstretched palm below that hand, which doesn’t close; it’s not much of a drop, so it doesn’t hurt.  I quickly crawl to the end of her hand, which is now about level with her face.  She arches her neck up a little so she can see me, her eyes now actually a little above me.  “Isn’t there something else you want to say, Jack?” she says finally.  I take a sitting position in her palm, feeling it’s safe to do so.

                “Umm… I mean… I don’t mean to be rude, or anything…” I say, hinting back at that whole ridiculous humble thing I did earlier to her about her looks.  The head tilt, eyes squinting, mouth curving thing happens.

                “Jack… now, we talked about that, you’ll never make me mad if you’re just being a nice little boy like you normally are… no, I mean, don’t you know what you’re supposed to say next?”

                “Ummm… I’m sorry, I’m not quite sure what you mean,” I say respectfully, and I’m honestly not sure what it is she wants at this point.  “You’re… very pretty and very sweet,” I offer, wondering if this is what she wants.  She shakes her head playfully side to side.

                “Noooo… Jack, don’t you know ANYTHING about women?” she says.

                “No, and I never will after what you’ve done to us, bitch…” I think to myself, reflecting on how any perceptions I ever had of women were kind of shattered by the last two years spent in the warm hands of my crazy captor.

                “I… guess not, sorry,” I answer.

                “Well…” she begins.  “It’s just that when you LIKE someone, you’re SUPPOSED to…” she says, and suddenly her palm is moving closer to her mouth.

                Shit.  Shit.  Shit.  Shit.  Shit.  What is she doing with me?  Surely she’s not going to repeat…

                Her lips part a little, just so she can speak, and the oven of her mouth begins releasing heat, forcing me to close my eyes, before she murmurs gently: “…ask her out on a date.”

                She moves her hand back to its original position where we can see each other better.  Sweet baby Jesus, I can’t believe what I’m hearing. 

                This… just… might… work.

                She begins to stare at me expectantly, her eyebrows raised ever so slightly, her mouth frozen in a kind smile.  She’s actually waiting for me to say it.

                The funny part is, she’s apparently new to this too.  Clearly, she’s pushed me into this whole thing but now she’s sitting there, waiting for me to talk but at the same time I see hope and glee in her eyes, as if this whole thing was entirely MY idea.  It’s like a little fantasy for her, to have the boy she likes ask her out on a date, and she’s clearly willing to stack the chips however she has to to ensure that the words “will you go out with me?” come out of my miniscule mouth, no matter the actual circumstances.  It’s another terrifying reminder that the girl is just old enough to get a driver’s license.

                “Well…” I start slowly, milking it.  She’s getting so much joy out of these moments of waiting silence, I have to milk it for all it’s worth.

                “Yes, Jack?” she says, now unable to contain her smile.  Her fingers curl inward a little, almost protectively, but they don’t close around me.  I decide I better look official for the next part.

                I grab onto a fingertip for support and stagger to my feet, then look her confidently in the eyes.

                “I was just wondering…” I continue.  Her eyes glisten.  I almost want to laugh at how simple this is becoming.

                “Hmm?” she says.

                “If you would like…”

                “Yes?”

                “…to go out on a date with me?” I say, sounding bashful but happy at the same time, probably the perfect combination.  I’m so good at disguising my voice I could kiss myself.  I literally want to puke at all the sucking up I’m doing right now, but it’s so worth it to see the effect it’s having.

                I really didn’t think it possible, but her face actually manages to get happier and glow a little more, her smile getting a little wider.  Her nostrils flare.  Her eyes sparkle.  If she was any happier she’d probably be having an orgasm.  And honestly, for all I know, she’s having one right now, because she’s also vibrating a little.  Hopefully just from excitement and thrill.  God, I better push that thought out of my mind, I’m sick enough already with myself.

                “Jack…” she says, feigning shock as if I just said something promiscuous.  As if I had just asked her that out of the blue of my own free will.  “I would LOVE to go on a date with you!”

                I almost want to laugh again.  This is the most ridiculous situation I could possibly conceive that could take place between a (for lack of a truthful word) “couple.”  You hear about people ending up together that randomly met on a subway, like maybe the guy spilled his coffee all over the girl, or maybe she hit his car and waited around to pay the bill and they ended up together.  You know, things like that.  Weird stuff that makes people think “wow, okay, it works for them but that sounds a little unbelievable” but the person secretly wishes they could have the same experience.  Well, I had just gone through the weirdest one in history.

                For all intents and purposes, Julia is now my girlfriend.  My big, beautiful, smooth-talking, 150 foot tall, crazy, murderous, evil girlfriend.  But hey, besides the fact that I’m small enough for her to pick up with two fingers and squish like a roach, is she really that different from any of ‘em?

                “Um… well, great!” I say, putting on a huge grin.  Lord, I hope this is over soon.

                She tones down the insane smiling and glowing coming off her face, but her eyes remained completely locked to mine, glistening.  Her teeth disappear as she purses her lips into a tight smile, as if she’s trying to contain it.

                “When?” she says, almost breathlessly, as if still reeling from my shocking offer.  Wow, she really is making me go through all these motions to make her moment special.

                “I’m… not sure, when is it good for you?” I ask.  It’s occurred to me that since she’s sort of decided on herself as my teacher, parental figure, law enforcement officer, and significant other, the other aspects might leak in and tamper with her reactions to my answers.  It’s an odd thing to have to consider, but then again, Julia is flipping crazy, so I suppose it’s no stretch.

                “Oh… almost any time.  I’ll be busy with school tomorrow for most of the day, and…” she says, and her teeth break free from the prison of her lips, shining at me, almost blinding me.  “…so will you, mister, getting ready for the AUDITION tomorrow, but…”

                “…after the audition?” I say hopefully, wondering if I can win some points for actually throwing my answer out there to make it look like I give a shit when our date is.

                “That sounds GREAT!  I’ll make a private dinner for us…” she says, and from the look in her eyes, I can already see her piecing together her dream date.  I highly doubt I’ll have any say in what actually occurs during the date.  But hey, we’re moving right along.  I’m eager to end this so I can catch the others up on the progress I’ve made.

                “Awesome!” I lie through my teeth.  “I’m excited!”

                She whips her hair around quickly, letting it fall over her other shoulder.  “Me too, Jack.  I’m glad you asked me.  You’re such a gentleman.  Now…” she says, and her hand suddenly cages up around me with her fingers, and I fall backward, caught against them.  Her legs swing out off the bed and she stands, raising me into the air.  She does it quickly, and I am thrown against her soft palm by the force of the air hitting me.

                “Oops… sorry, Jack.  But now I think it’s time you got some rest.  You have your big audition tomorrow, and you’ll want to look your best for our…” she says, giving off a low murmur-giggle, as if turned on by the idea. “…special night.  Now, off to bed with you!” she says, pulling the house out with the other hand and raising the cup up.  I am lowered back in, and the light goes out.