Day 1: Tiny Purchases

The school bell rang just as I woke up from my desk. My classmates had disappeared from the room, leaving me behind to pack my things and get my bearings back. I didn't sleep. The events of yesterday were still freshly painted in my mind, and the more I thought about it the more I worried.

In all my time in my hometown, there were certainly some giantesses moving about the streets, but I've never actually met one before. Hell, I've never even heard of a tiny dating a giantess before. What was I even thinking, anyway? Shouting the worst possible thing to a stranger out of the blue, and then regretting it the rest of the day. Why did she say yes, too? Was Madison just playing along with my impulses, or did she have something else in mind?

I let out a sigh. All this overthinking made my head hurt. If I was really against it, I'll just tell her politely that my earlier outburst was a mistake. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I'm sure she'll understand. We'll part ways amiably, and greet each other as acquaintances when we pass each other by again. I felt calmer now. I looked out the window to savor my relief, when the scenery outside jolted me up from my chair.

There was no mistaking the figure outside the gate. She was dressed in a lilac one piece dress with a sky blue shrug jacket. A pair of laced sandals were tied to her handbag, but she was otherwise barefoot. Oh, and she was still wearing that Sunday hat of hers.

Madison was crouched down, hunched over the departing students streaming out the campus. Her eyes were darting between the crowd, searching for any signs of me. All the students must have looked the same to her, what with the uniforms. She wore a worrisome expression on her face, getting increasingly anxious as more and more me lookalikes walked past her.

Guess it was time to face the music. I hurried down to the exit, and made my way to the gate. I noticed the stream of students favoring the opposite side of the gate to Madison, as the crowd curled away and around her. Not too surprising when she was taller than the school itself, I suppose. I broke off from the crowd and stood before the giantess, waving to her, “Oi, Madison!”

Immediately, Madison turned her face towards me, and immediately brightened up when she confirmed who it was who spoke to her. “Elliot!” she cried, “Thank goodness, I thought I'd never find you...”

“Yeah, look,” I said, nervously looking around when I realized the sudden attention I was getting, “I think we should find someplace else to talk.”

Madison only smiled that gentle smile of hers, and let down a hand for me to sit on. I climbed on and before I knew it, I was in the air and moving. The scene of the school drew further away, and we began our way brushing past a row of houses.

“Oh Elliot, I wasn't sure how to find you,” Madison told me anxiously, “I realized I only knew where you studied, so I came looking for you.”

Oh yeah, I didn't tell her the place she kicked me was right next to where I stayed. We didn't change phone numbers either, but I wasn't sure if giantesses even had phones.

“Sorry, Madison,” I said, scratching my head sheepishly, “We should've left off yesterday differently.”

I meant that in more than one way. Should I take back my confession now?

I was hesitant as I watched her amble merrily down the street. She chose to walk only on the sidewalk today. Her feet were once again expertly dodging pedestrians, as if challenging herself when she brought the sides of her feet only inches away from the people below with every step. She made a point to bring her toes as close to oncoming passersby as possible, as if greeting them with a surprise hello. The startled commuters would shriek as a sudden brush of feet passed them, and Madison would only offer her sheepish grin to anyone who protested.

She really liked her strolling. I couldn't stop her now.

Finally, we came to a small shopping lane. Madison stopped at the crossroads just before the road swung into the bustling street, and brought me up to her face.

“Actually, there's been something I'd like to ask you,” Madison told me, her gigantic hazelnut eyes focused entirely onto me. I felt that if I fell forward, I would be swallowed into that boundless gaze of hers.

“Um, I actually have something to say too...” I started, but when she brought her full attention (and face) onto me, I got cold feet. “Er, you first.”

“It's about your scooter, actually...” Madison began, her eyes looking slightly away and distant now, “I wanted to replace it today, but...”

Something churned in my stomach, could she not replace my bike? Maybe expecting to replace the whole scooter in a day was too much to ask for. Hell, I spent my whole life saving up for one, how could I expect Madison to pay for one overnight? “Look, Mady, it's alright, you don't have to...”

“Actually!” Madison suddenly said, startling me, “I've never bought anything from a tiny's shop before!”

There was huge sparkle in her eyes when she said this. She looked at me expectantly, but my mouth just gaped open.

“Please show me how tinies buy things!”

So that's why we came to the shopping lane. Madison's probably never had to buy anything tiny sized. She couldn't enter the store either, and never got the chance to learn how used money. It was interesting to know that the simple act of purchasing was completely foreign to the giantess.

“Alright,” I finally said, though I wasn't sure what I could do. Bringing her into the store was out of the question, so all that was left were the stalls setup along the shopping lane.

I pointed to an ice cream truck parked not five steps from Madison. She let me down and joined me on the ground by lying close to the ground, the rest of her body taking up a good portion of the road.

“Okay, er...” I pondered the odd situation before me. Madison was kneeling down, with her face almost up against the ice cream truck. The bewildered ice cream man was bowled over by the sudden face blocking out his view of the street, and both parties just stared at each other, unsure of what to do.

“Well,” I said, walking up onto the counter of the ice cream truck, “This is place sells ice cream, so you just have to tell the man what flavor you'd like.”

Madison pondered on this for a moment, and meekly asked the ice cream man, “...I don't suppose you have celery ice cream?”

Interesting choice of flavor, I thought to myself. I wasn't sure what a giantess's diet was, but for their size, I reasoned they could only afford to eat greens in bulk.

The ice cream man was sweating profusely and still shaking, but he seemed to get his bearings back, “We uh...we don't serve that here, missy. Maybe you'd like to try vanilla?”

This elicited a massive smile from Madison. It was her first time buying from a tiny, and she did it! ...was what I thought she thought. “Yes, two please!” She nodded eagerly.

The ice cream man dug out two scoops of ice cream from the tub with vanilla, and placed them onto two separate cones. He was going to hand them to her, but Madison's hands came to take them, a new problem surfaced. A giantess's hands were as big as a grown adult, and the simple task of holding an ice cream cone suddenly seemed like a monumental feat in dexterity. Pinch just slightly off, and the ice cream falls onto the floor. Grab them between your fingers, and only a crusty paste would remain.

Eventually, the ice cream man figured that he could poke the cones into Madison's pinched fingers, thereby slotting them between her fingertips without incident. I paid for the cones and thanked the ice cream man for the trouble, and the two of us went on our way.

I sat on Madison's shoulder, watching her admire at the two cones caught between her fingers. “It's my first tiny purchase,” she announced to herself proudly. It was funny watching her get worked up over something I considered so trivial.

Madison swung her right hand before me, offering the cone jutting out of her digits to me, “Here, you can have this one.”

“Thanks,” I said, taking the cone from her gingerly. The bottom of the cone was slightly crushed from her gripping, but it was otherwise intact. We enjoyed our cones together, Madison needing some instruction on how to eat one. She took a careful lick of hers so as not to finish it in one go, and gave a delighted squeal on tasting the sweet dessert.

We tried other stalls as well. Madison ordered food and bought little trinkets all by herself now, even insisting on lining up before a queue. She placed her feet behind the man standing in front of her in line, and inched her toes forward every time the queue progressed closer to the stall. I paid for everything, but Madison promised that she'll pay me back.

Eventually, Madison decided she should try her hands on shopping from a store. She peeked into the storefront and knocked on the window for a sales rep, explaining to the tiny woman that she'd like to buy the tiny pair of shoes on display. The sales rep jokingly asked if Madison would like her foot size measured, but delightedly, Madison insisted. She stuck her foot through the doorway of the store, where the lady hastily made measurements for her.

“A size 55, miss,” the sales rep finally declared, wiping the sweat from her brow, “Unfortunately, we've ain't got a size that's a fit you.”

Madison gave a small laugh, “Oh, it's fine. I'm happy with my purchase as it is.”

The sales rep gave Madison a mock salute before heading back into the store. Madison offered me her hand again, and I leapt on, letting the giantess take me to wherever.

“That was fun,” Madison said to me, a happy grin on her face.

“Yeah,” I replied. Daylight was dwindling as the sun began its descent towards the horizon. I was too caught up in Madison's shopping adventures to notice how late it had gotten.

“There's just one last thing I need to buy,” said Madison. We made our way out of the shopping lane and towards a bike dealer. I think I knew what she wanted to do.

“I didn't know how to do this before you showed me...” Madison mumbled, but a certain fire of determination shone through her eyes as she stopped before the dealer shop, “But I think I know now.”

Madison let me down onto the pavement, and bent forward to knock on the dealer shop's roof. Three resounding thumps reverberated through the building, prompting a man in white shirt and tie to scramble out.

“Excuse me, sir,” Madison said to the startled man, “But I'd like to buy a scooter, the same as this one.”

Madison pulled from her bag the same hunk of metal she took from me yesterday. The frame of the scooter had almost buckled into two halves now, and it was a miracle it still held together when Madison placed it down. The three indents from her toes were still visible, with the added crumbles incurred from being carried in a giantess's bag.

The salesman wasted no time bringing out the new scooter. It was exactly the same; yellow frame, rounded side mirrors, and a love letter to the old Vespa design. It was like the day I bought my own bike, still shiny and unblemished by dirt or giantess toes.

It occurred to me then that I could not pay for Madison this time round. Madison only smiled when I told her this, and reached for a pouch inside her handbag. She dug out several rolls of tiny bank notes, a small bag of coins, and a piece of paper stapled to the bag with the exact amount Madison held written on it. She had come prepared.

Upon purchase, Madison lifted the scooter gently and placed it before. “I've finally done it,” Madison said, giving me a victorious smile, “I kept my promise now, didn't I?”

I touched the handle of the new scooter. It felt as if it had just rolled out of the factory. Emotions began to swell in my chest, as if reuniting with something I once held dear. I braced myself, and looked up to Madison one last time.

“Madison, I had something to tell you,” I said, clenching my fists.

“Oh, yes!” Madison said, her face brimming with anticipation, “What is it, Elliot?”

“The truth is...” I began, raking my teeth together as I spoke, “Yesterday, I felt I had done you a great disservice, letting my impulses get the better of me...”

Madison sat still, listening intently to my words. She knew I was being serious, and respected me by listening quietly with all her attention.”

“I didn't feel what I said yesterday was right. I barely knew you, yet I've confessed knowing what I did couldn't possibly be the right thing to do. I didn't think it through, and I didn't even have the consideration to think about how you felt...”

Madison was Patience sitting on Monument. Her face betrayed no emotion, save that she patiently heard me out throughout.

“That's why!” I shouted, finally release what was on my chest all night and day, “I want to do this right this time!”

I got down to a knee, looked up into the beautiful face in the sky, arms stretched out to her and with all my heart, I shouted.

“MADISON! PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME!”

Madison broke her stoic form and let out her characteristic gentle smile. This time, there was no doubt from either of us. We both enjoyed each other today, and I found the love I had for her as I shouted the same words as yesterday to be true. She looked at me lovingly, taking a small breath before answering:

“Yes!”