"My little friend"
by Sonicfan287
Chapter 8: Exploration begins
"Ok Jen" I said, strapping myself in, while she got comfortable nestled in my cup holder, "what kinda music do you want to hear?"
"I don't know... what do you got?" Jen asked, as I slowly showed off my blue ipod nano. "Oh, just let me see it"
"Are you sure you can hold it?" I asked, setting it near her.
"Just leave it in the cup holder" she said, and pushed on the buttons with her hands. "Hmm, this song is pretty good"
"I bet it would be" I said, "just hold on one sec, while I back up"
I shifted the car into reverse and took a quick turn out of burger king before inserting my ipod into my fm transmitter and hitting play.
"You should like this one..." Jen said, "if only because of the irony..."
"Irony?" I asked, as the song slowly began to play. I could recognize the tune, but I wasn't quite sure why it was ironic.
"JENNY, JENNY, WHO CAN I TURN TO...?"
"Ah...right..." I sighed, realizing the significance of the ever-popular Tommy Tutone song, "it's funny... because... you're Jenny"
"Yeah, I always used to listen to this song, if only because it had my name in it" Jen said, "how stupid is that?"
"That's not stupid" I said, "wait, how'd you listen to it if you're...well, y'know..."
"Bobby, you assume because I'm small I have no access to technology" Jen said, with a tsk, "I've had an ipod before too"
"Really? Fairies get ipods?" I asked, with a sense of joking childlike wonder in my voice.
"Yes, Bobby, we get ipods, and we turn pumpkins into carriages" Jen laughed.
"That was only in one movie, though" I said, as I navigated the back roads out of groton and headed for the goldstar bridge tha connected Groton to Waterford.
"Yeah... I used to love disney movies too..." Jen said.
"I'm guessing fairies get dvd players too" I said.
"Well technically a vcr, but yeah, same idea" Jen said, blowing some of her hair out of her face as she struggled to find a comfortable position.
"You okay down there?" I asked, when we came to a red light. She was sort of curled up in the corner of the cup holder, with her arms around her knees.
"Yeah I'm fine" Jen said, "it's just so hard to find a good position, like when I try to sleep sometimes, y'know?"
"Yeah I know what you mean" I said, as the light changed to green. I slowly accelerate because I don't want to toss Jen as she's trying to stand up and reposition herself, "I can never find that right sleeping position, heck even when I fall asleep, it's not so much that I wanted to sleep that way but I just give up"
"Yeah you do" Jen said, taking a page from my book. She then looked up at my ipod and tried to reach for it but it was just out of her reach.
"Here" I said, using a free hand to hand the ipod down to her in the cup holder.
"Thanks" she smiled, and looked through the songs. "Yeah... you REALLY got a lot of Maroon 5 on here..."
"Hey, they're a good band" I said, while clicking on my left blinker as I merged onto the busy highway, "you should give them a chance"
"Okay" Jen said, scrolling through my 42 maroon 5 songs, "Maybe I will"
After she had picked something, I reconnected the ipod to my radio and heard "If i never see your face again" playing.
"Oh yeah" I said, "This is one of my favorites"
"Yeah, I just liked the title" Jen shrugged, "it's fairly negative"
"But it's such a great song" I said, resisting the urge to sing along, until I could take more and kind of drifted into the lyrics, "...now you've gone somewhere else far away... I don't know..."
"Wait, are you singing?" Jen laughed.
"Yeah, sorry" I said, trying not to make eye contact with her at this point because through my peripheral vision I could see the confused look on her face as she had been watching me sing.
"No no, it's fine" Jen said, "honestly you were pretty good"
"Well, it's funny you say that" I said, "because while I can sing in general, Maroon 5 is not really my style of singing... at all."
"Very few could pull it off" Jen said.
"Yeah, only Adam" I said, but Jen just looked at me bewildered before I said, "yknow, the lead singer"
"Riiight"
"Anyway, we're almost to the mall" I said, as we got off at exit 82, and I took a left.
"What do you do at the mall anyway?" Jen said, "no offense but you don't strike me as one who goes shopping for all the latest fashions"
"Yeah, I really don't" I admitted. "I don't go to the mall for the usual gimmicks, no I guess you could say... I go to the mall for the simpler things"
"Like what?" Jen asked.
"Well, I could tell you..." I said, "or I could show you"
"I'd much rather you show me then" Jen said, as my Maroon 5 music wound to an end.
It was about 5 o clock now, and the sky was a sort of greyish color. Not quite nighttime but certainly not the day time I was able to recognize so vividly back at Avery Point. I get out of my car and have Jen climb onto my hand. I secure her in my pocket as usual, feeling sort of accustomed to our trends now. It was almost starting to feel natural carrying her around like this.
"So where to first?" Jen asked, burrowed in my pockets again. I was always afraid she might have trouble breathing in there, but hopefully she'd say something if that were the case.
"Well first we trek through JC Penneys, and then I was thinking I could show you around the mall some" I elaborated.
"I'd like that" Jen said and so I walked into Penney's holding the door open for a few people on the way in, as Jen stayed hidden. When there weren't so many people around, I could feel her gripping the edges of my pant pocket, looking out at the world around her. It must've been a strange ride, to see all the giants walking around, with giant merchandise scattered everywhere. Occasionally, she would duck back down from sight to keep hidden. It must've been tough for her, always having to hide.
I walked out of Penney's fairly quickly, bringing us out into the central hub of the mall, before the landscape of stores.
"Wow, this is a nice mall" Jen said.
"You think so?" I asked her, "I mean I obviously think so, but a lot my friends rank on this mall, because it doesn't have 3 floors and amazing visuals"
"Nah, I like it" Jen said, "besides this would be your kind of mall, mr. simple things"
"Hey, I like what I like" I said.
"Calm down, I meant it as a compliment" Jen said. "So show me more of the mall"
"Alrighty" I said, "hang on for this ride"
I then stepped onto an up escalator and let Jen enjoy the slight ascent upwards to the second floor. From there, I walked to the center of the mall, from which was hanging a luxurious crystal chandelier, to fit the namesake of the mall.
"Yeah, I really like this chandelier" I said, "it just works"
"Yeah it does" Jen said, and then said to me "hey is there anywhere quieter we can go?"
"Yeah I know of a place, why?" I asked.
"Well no offense, but it's hard to enjoy this from inside your pocket all the time" Jen said.
"Oh right, sorry" I said.
"It's fine" Jen said, "so where are we going?"
"Downstairs" I said, "I think you'll like this, or at least, I hope you do"
"Geez, you're always so unsure of yourself" Jen said, as I walked across the wonderful looking mall with people at every corner and steel beams hanging from the ceilings. Even from my point of view, I considered it massive, even if it was one of the smallest malls in the world.
I got back on the escalator and headed to Macy's with Jen in tow, cutting through the downstairs entrance, past all the kitchen applicances and bathroom towels.
"What are we doing here?" Jen asked, looking up at me with a puzzled look. Hanging out with me as much as she had so far made me wonder why I didn't see more puzzled looks.
"You'll see" I said, and took my final corner towards my destination, which was the decently sized furniture department. It was just what I needed right now, and just what Jen needed too, a cool place to relax with almost no peope around. In fact, on this night, there were no people, not even the occasional Macy's employee.
"Ooh giant furniture" Jen exclaimed, "looks fun"
"I enjoy coming here to think, plus now..." I said, slowly taking Jen out of my pocket, "you can get some relatively fresh air"
"Thanks" Jen said as I cradled her in my hand, until we sat down on a mattress in the corner of the furniture department. I set her down on the mattress and chuckled when she tried to stand up straight, but the lumps on the bed caused her to stumble and fall on her stomach. She got back up with a 'why me' look on her face.
"Yeah, this is a pretty quiet place, as far as the crystal mall goes..." I said to her, "I used to have one other place that was pretty quiet..."
"Really? What was it?" Jen asked.
"Eh, I don't like to talk about it..." I said, trying to end the conversation there, but Jen looked up at me with a puppy dog pout so I continued talking, "it was called 'secret chair room'... okay not really, but I called it that, it was just a place in tweeter's etc that I would sit down and think, kind of like this but darker and more secluded"
"Seclusion is nice..." Jen said, with a sigh of pleasantry this time, "dont you think?"
"Yeah, most of the time" I said, "but sometimes I wonder what would happen for me if I actually came out of my shell once and a while, instead of always seeking the shelter of hiding"
"I don't know Bobby" Jen said, "being super social can be a bit... not good"
"What do you mean?" I asked, kinda curious to learn more about Jen's background and her views on life.
"I don't know..." Jen said, looking down at the mattress as she spoke, "being social never leads to anything good...at least...not in my case"
I looked down at her with a frown, but again, she regained her composure and looked at me with a playful smile. She said, "hey, how about we play a game?"
"What kind of game?" I asked.
"Well, this place is like a playground to me, and it's really quiet..." Jen said, pondering as she looked around to make sure there were still no people wandering the area, "how about we play hide and seek?"
"Are you sure?" I asked, "I mean, I wouldn't want to lose you"
"You won't lose me, Bobby" Jen said, smiling, "I promise."
She seemed eager to do something besides sit, because she stood up again and navigated the curves of the mattress towards the edge. I stood up and used my hand as a walkway for her to get off the mattress and she pointed to another section of furniture, where several couches were congregated together.
"Okay, over there" she said, and I slowly walked with her in my hand, "just put me down and I'll run and hide... count to ten and try to find me"
"This doesn't seem quite fair" I said, "Seeing as how you can navigate smaller areas than I can and how am I supposed to catch you without hurting you?"
"If you're skilled enough to find me..." Jen said with a wink, "we'll just say you win, but I doubt that'll happen"
"Oh is that so?" I said, with a sly smile and I put her down on the green carpet. "You have til the count of 10"
Jen scampered away, and as I watched her tiny form fade between the recliners and couches, I began to think to myself how bad of an idea this was. I decide to count to 10 really fast.
"Okay Jen, here I come" I exclaimed and started walking carefully over to the chair section, when I heard a jolt... someone's voice.
"Who's Jen?"
I turned around and saw Sarah, my eyes wide with panic. I was a terrible liar, at best.
"Uh, Jen? What are you talking about, there's no Jen..."
"You said, 'Jen' here I come" Sarah said, with a strong look of skepticism on her face. She had already suspected something from the incident the other day at Avery Point, and now this. I was horrible at keeping secrets and Jen could pop up anywhere now.
"Oh, that's... that's just something I say..." I sighed, "I'm weird, you know that, Sarah... so what are you doing here anyway?"
"I was just here to do some shopping with my mom when I saw you here, so I thought I'd say hi" Sarah said, "is John here?"
"I haven't seen him" I said.
"You mean you came here alone?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, thought I'd mix it up" I said.
"Oh, well maybe I'll call John then, I kinda want someone to hang out with while I'm here" Sarah said.
"NO!" I exclaimed, "I mean, no... you don't want to heh, bother John... he's so busy... he..."
"He's probably playing UNO in his room right now"Sarah said with a smirk, and went into the corner to call John on her cell phone. Damn John and his UNO!
I walk away from Sarah while she calls and walk around furniture, trying to find Jen. Sarah seems to have dissapeared for the moment, but I can't risk her coming back and finding Jen on the ground somewhere.
"JEN!!" I say, in my loudest whisper, "come out, please!"
"You gotta find me first!" I hear a meek voice say, but I don't know where it's coming from. Ugh, Jen, this was no time for games.
"JEN, IM SERIOUS!" I said, and paced the furniture feverishly, trying to find her. I checked under couches and chairs, but saw nothing. "IF I DON'T GET YOU OUT OF HERE WE..."
"Hey" Sarah said, "wanna get a bite to eat?"
I paused in my tracks and turned back to Sarah, "uh, not right now"
"What's wrong with you anyway?" Sarah asked, and started walking over but I suddenly panicked again.
"WATCH WHERE YOU STEP!" I yelled.
"What?"
"Watch... where you step... y'know...the floors... are sticky" I said, trying desperately to save myself, but I was a god awful liar.
"Riiight, I'll keep that in mind" Sarah said, and then yanked on my arm playfully, "come on, let's get you out of here, I think the scent of plywood is driving you insane!"
"No!" I yelled, as she was forcing me to take a walk with her. I had to do something...
As Sarah tries to initiate a conversation with me, I think to myself "Where ARE you, Jen?"
Giantess World
