The rest of the day was uneventful. 

Laura kept being grumpy for a while, but during dinner she eventually eased up in the light mood as everyone talked about their day.

During dinner Rachel received a notification and grimaced, as it was probably Revy asking to meet up. She made a mental note to wait for the next day to answer and make up with some bullshit to justify the fact that they wouldn’t be able to meet up anytime soon.

As for me… i’m not gonna lie, i felt a little hurt. When Laura said so nonchalantly that she didn’t care if i met other people, it stung a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, i never thought that Laura ever felt any affection towards me, but the recent developments had given me the illusion that maybe, perhaps, she didn’t really mind me and that she kinda enjoyed my company.
Her flat-out rejection was like a cold shower for me. Sure, it was painful, but at least i wouldn’t risk anymore of fooling myself into thinking i have a chance with her.
That’s what i deserve for being greedy. What did i expect? That she would be jealous? Yeah right.

Truth is, i was just arrogant. I’ve always been. My arrogance had already betrayed me once before, by thinking that someone else might have feelings for someone like me. It wouldn’t happen again.

All the times when we talked, were because i had started the conversation, which she never did. She never felt the need to talk, and answered only because she had nothing better to do.

I was just a roommate for her, nothing more, nothing less.

An annoying one at that, since she had to carry me around and be careful not to hurt me by mistake. I should just be thankful for that.

That evening i just went to bed, without bothering Laura with meaningless chatting.

During the following days, the college routine began: everyone got out of the apartment around the same time, and we split at the college gate. There, Rachel was often ambushed by Revy who was clearly going out of her way to “accidentally” bump into Rachel, who had to weasel her way out of it.

Rachel was too distraught  to notice that Revy was often hanging out with that Beatrice girl, among other students. Actually, that was a little inaccurate, it was more like Beatrice hung out around Revy, who clearly didn’t show much interest in her, at least whenever Rachel was around. That did not please the short blonde, not one bit. 

In the meanwhile, i got to know much better Emily, who began sitting next to us every day. Sometimes she brought someone else from the class to chat, but they never stuck around. They seemed to be a little skittish around me, and i could tell they were trying to avoid talking to me on purpose. 

Some were probably grossed out, some were scared to hurt me, some maybe just didn’t care about me. Once i even heard one of them whisper “why would i want to talk with a Tiny?” in a disgusted tone, as Emily tried to convince her to hang out with us. 

It was quite disheartening, even more if i recalled the difference in popularity in our respective classes between me and Mike. That damn extrovert.

On the other hand, Emily’s company was just lovely. She was an extremely pleasant and kind person, and was such a fun girl to be around.

Besides her enjoyable personality, she also had a scatterbrained side to her which i found hilarious. Soon she also showed some difficulties in handling some physics topics, so i offered to tutor her during the breaks.

In those days, i noticed that Laura was getting more and more taciturn. She didn’t intervene much in our conversations, although sometimes the blonde girl tried to include her. She didn’t seem to be in the mood to chat on the way home either, so i didn’t try.

That made me sad, mostly because it meant that i was right.

Laura didn’t care about me. The sooner i understood it, the better. 

I was fine keeping those feelings of a one-sided love all for myself.

Unbeknownst to everyone of us, the apparently peaceful situation was slowly building up stress and tension.
And things that build up stress eventually break.

—— 

The first clue of what would happen came after a week, when lectures were over for the day. Rachel was the closest one to Mike so she went to pick him up.

It wasn’t the first time she got to collect her tiny roommate, but it was the first time her own lecture had finished so late.

Usually, when she arrived to Mike’s class, she would find the tiny surrounded by giant girls, but this time as she approached the door she didn’t hear giggles and chatting from within the room. They must have left.

Rachel entered the class, noticing a lone figure of a girl sitting in the front row, in a bored pose as she held her head on her left hand.

It took her a second to recognize Beatrice, and recall where she had seen her already. It was her first time seeing her without Revy.

As she stood there, a feeble voice called out “Hey Rachel! I’m here! Beatrice was kind enough to wait here for you to come to make sure i was safe!”

It was Mike, on Beatrice’s desk, waving at Rachel.

“Uh, yeah, thank you” Rachel muttered, as she approached Beatrice, who was staring at her in an unfriendly way.

She let her roommate climb onto her hand and thanked again Beatrice, who had been silent the whole time.

Before Rachel could leave, however, Beatrice said “Rachel, right? Why don’t we exchange contacts, so that we can warn each other next time someone is late?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m sorry again for being late” the older girl said, flipping out her smartphone.

A few minutes later, Mike was sitting in his roommate’s hand, as she carried him home.

He noticed that Rachel wasn’t as talkative as usual, so he asked “You alright?”
“Yeah, sorry, i’m fine. I’m just a little tired” she answered, with a reassuring smile.

Mike wasn’t reassured.

——

That evening, after dinner, as Laura carried me to our room she asked  “Hey Will, do you have some time now?”

I was a little taken aback, since it was pretty rare for her to just talk to me

“Sure” i said.
She closed the door behind her and carried me to her desk. 

“Can we review today’s lecture together?” she asked shyly, twirling a strand of hair as she dropped me off her other hand.

I felt elated for a fraction of a second, but immediately reprimanded myself: *She doesn’t care about you. She just wants to study physics. She only needs a little help with her notes, nothing more. Don’t get your hopes up if you don’t want to be hurt again*

I smiled and said “Yeah, no problem”.

As we got ready, i asked “Come to think of it, I studied this stuff together with Emily today during the breaks, couldn’t you just review it with us?”

“Ah, well, i.. um i prefer to study at home, yes, because i can concentrate more. Yeah” Laura answered, slightly flustered by the sudden question.

The reviewing was pretty quick. Laura is a very smart girl, so we went through the topics in a breeze. 

I wondered if she even needed my help. 

——

The next day started like every other, and nothing out of the ordinary happened until the end of the lectures.

As the usual crowd had formed around Mike, Beatrice slipped in and told Mike “We have to go. Rachel said that she’s busy and she asked me to bring you over”

That sounded strange, but Mike didn’t dare to object. Beatrice was even more pissed than usual that morning, for whatever reason, so he thought it was not a good time to ask questions.

He said goodbye to his giant classmates, and hopped onto Beatrice’s hand, who carried him outside. 

They were both silent as she walked. Mike was still a little afraid to talk, but couldn’t help but notice that Beatrice was heading for the college entrance.

Eventually, he gathered a bit of courage to ask “Hey, where is Rache…” but before he could even finish the enormous hand suddenly closed on him, smothering him in the soft flesh of her palm. 

Without saying anything, she continued walking, and eventually got out of the college entrance square.

Mike started panicking immediately, his feeble struggles pointless against the overwhelming strength of the giant fingers. Beatrice was a small girl, frail even, but from the point of view of a normal sized person. But compared to a tiny, she was still a titan. And the tiny guy was completely at her mercy. 

Eventually, he stopped struggling and tried calling for help, quickly realizing that the fleshy cocoon of her closed fist was completely blocking his already faint voice.

In panic, he started to hyperventilate, the feeling the oppressive heat and claustrophobia becoming more and more unbearable. 

But the feeling didn’t stop. It got even worse as she started to sweat. The salty liquid started getting in his eyes and mouth and he almost chocked on it multiple times.

Suddenly, he remembered: his phone! He could call for help!
With immense effort, he wiggled enough to reach into his pants, and eventually managed to extract it from his pocked. However, suddenly the giant fist shook for whatever reason, and the slippery sweat doomed him: his phone slipped from his grasp, and tumbled away in a gap between the giant fingers.

“NO!” He shouted, unheard. 

The swaying of Beatrice’s walking kept on unperturbed for a while.