The days of the week went by and Rachel spent more time each day at her place of work, coming home later every evening. She had taken me to work with her before once or twice, but only on the condition that I stayed hidden out of sight in her purse or a desk drawer. This had turned out to be so tedious that I mostly stayed at home now during the day. I could explore all around her huge house (just a little cottage from her perspective) or sit on her couch and watch TV if I felt lazy. Alternatively, I could spend time refurbishing and painting my dollhouse, which did take up quite a bit of time, more than I’d thought it would. On Thursday morning, however, the day her presentation was set to happen, I insisted that she take me with her for moral support. Even if she just kept me in her purse the whole day, I wanted to be close to her on the day that her potential future with the company was decided. I promised to keep quietly to myself and not distract her from any of the work she had to do, so she agreed, while also promising me that, whatever the outcome of today, she’d make more time for me in the days and weeks to come.
She had moved my house to the breakfast table, and I sat in my tiny living room and finished off my earlier-than-usual breakfast, while she was busy showering and getting dressed. I myself had only a few rather ill-fitting T-shirts and pairs of pants to wear, courtesy of Rachel’s attempts with a needle and thread, which she admitted wasn’t one of her stronger skills. Even though no-one else would see me, I did feel a little underdressed when she appeared in the kitchen to collect me. Clad in a dark red jacket and white blouse, with a dark red skirt to match her jacket and show off her shapely legs, she looked like the definition of elegance and professionalism. Her superior size also added to how stunning she looked, but I left that part out when I complimented her. She pinched my waist between two of her fingertips and lifted me up to her face, which felt both arousing and unnerving at the same time.
“Come on, let’s get going,” she said, after giving me a kiss. “I’ve got lots of other work to get through before this afternoon, besides preparing for my presentation.”
She placed me down on her shoulder, and I had to hold on to her jacket collar for support as she collected her papers and laptop and put them in her briefcase. I was fairly sure I wouldn’t be put inside her handbag until we reached the office building where she worked, so I lay down on her shoulder and relaxed while she drove there. I could tell she was nervous about what would happen today, despite all of the hard work and effort she had put in over the last few weeks, and I was secretly glad that I myself was spared the competitiveness of the job market for now, at least while I was still three inches tall.
“You’ll do great today, baby, I know it,” I said to her, while she kept her eyes on the morning rush hour traffic. “I can’t imagine that any of the others put in more effort and long hours than you did, at least since I’ve been back with you.”
“Thanks, Sam, I appreciate it,” she replied, without looking at me. “Maybe you’re right…but I can’t help it, worrying about what’s gonna happen once it’s time. At least Alan will be there, along with the managers higher up in the company…and you too, of course! I’m actually glad you talked me into bringing you along. When I screw up, at least you’ll be able to see it happen live, then I don’t have to explain it to you afterwards all over again.”
“You’re not going to screw up, and you’re not gonna keep on thinking negative thoughts like this either! Just remember all of the things you’ve learned, and you’ll do fine.”
“You make it sound like I’m back in school, writing my first exam,” she said, laughing. “Okay, I promise, no more negativity! Come on, it’s time for you to go into my purse – we’re here.”
After coming to a halt in the parking lot, she took me from her shoulder, gave me a long, hard kiss, then slipped me into the by-now very familiar compartment of her purse. I settled into a comfortable corner and hoped she’d be able to keep it together until the day was over. Even though she was as smart and brilliant a person as anyone I knew, Rachel wasn’t the best when it came to the confidence department. I was also aware that many of her fellow interns, who lacked her sense of fair play, had been engaging in all kinds of manipulative tactics against her, undermining her confidence even further, and even using my supposed hospitalization against her. Thankfully, her supervisor, the aforementioned Alan, was supportive of her and seemed to recognize her skills and her dedication to the work. He was also a young and handsome guy, only a few years older than her, and I had feared that he would take advantage of my absence to make a move on Rachel. But she had assured me that he was actually gay and also already in a relationship, and that there was no reason for me to be jealous of a potential ‘rival’.
I could hear plenty of activity going on all around me as Rachel entered the building, but she took the elevator and headed immediately to her office. This was just a small room, ten feet square, located along a long corridor at the side of the building. Most of the other interns had similar little rooms for their temporary workspaces, except those who worked on other floors in other departments. I could hear her unlocking the door to her office when a voice greeted her and interrupted her.
“Looks like I’m not the only one getting an early start!” the loud feminine voice said.
“Hi, Leanne. Yeah, looks like you're right. I thought I’d be the only one here this time of morning, as usual, but looks like everyone else had the same idea.”
“Yeah, ain’t that a bummer? Hey, have you seen the time schedule? Looks like you and me are gonna be the last two ones to present today.”
“Uh-huh, Alan sent me an e-mail last night. I’m actually kinda glad, that gives me more time to prepare myself…and tell myself that everything’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure it will, sweetie. You’re such a hard worker, after all. All the guys are telling me that you make them all look bad! Hey, how about you and me go out tonight, after work, and unwind, okay? We’ll only find out which of us gets the job tomorrow morning in any case. There’s this great restaurant over on 23rd Street…”
“Thanks, Leanne, but I really don’t think I’d feel up to going out tonight. It’s been such a draining week. I’ll probably just head home and go straight to bed.”
“Really? Oh, that’s too bad, you’re really gonna miss out. Still, I guess it’s a better excuse than going to see good old Sam again for the thousandth time…Jesus, Rachel, it’s been three months already! Isn’t it about time you moved on?”
“Look, I’ve got lots of things on my plate this morning, can we talk about this some other time?”
“Oh, sure, don’t mind me! I’m just concerned that you’re throwing your life away for a guy who’ll be a vegetable for the rest of his life, but if that’s what you want…”
Rachel didn’t reply to this comment, but I could hear her walking into her office and slamming the door shut behind her. She hastily began setting up her desk, only taking me out of her purse once she’d unpacked everything else. She put me down on top of her laptop’s keyboard and gave me a weary look.
“See what I have to deal with every day?” she asked me sarcastically. “When she’s not trying to hook me up with every guy who happened to cross her path, she’s trying to piggyback off the effort I put in at work. You know, I’ve never had the urge to slap anyone before in my life, but sometimes, with Leanne…”
“Well, if she gets under your skin that much, I could always go and sort her out for you,” I suggested. “Just say the word, and I’ll march right into her own little cubicle and give her a slap for you.”
She laughed at my attempt to sound intimidating. Of course, it was only a joke; if I actually attempted to put Leanne in her place, I’d probably end up crushed beneath one of her shoes in a matter of seconds. Rachel did appreciate my attempt to lighten the mood and she nuzzled me against her lips for a few minutes before turning on her computer to begin her work for the day. To make sure I wasn’t seen by anyone who happened to enter her little office, she put me inside the top drawer of her desk. There wasn’t much for me to do in here, besides walk back and forth across a stack of papers the size of a small house, but at least she kept the drawer open, so that I wasn’t stuck in darkness and could look up at her attractive figure instead. Whenever the coast was clear, however, she’d take me out for a couple of minutes and hold me in her hand, and we could talk to each other.
Rachel left me inside the open drawer when she went off for lunch, and she brought me back a thimble-sized portion of a blueberry muffin and a single grape, which was more than enough to satisfy my hunger. Then it was back to work for her. She left me alone completely in order to finish off her work quota for the day, which she managed to do in a short enough time that she finished an hour and a half before her presentation was scheduled. This gave her enough time to prepare herself for the task, so I was left to amuse myself for a while longer. I didn’t complain; coming along had been my idea, after all, and I had braced myself for many hours of boredom back when we first arrived here. But that was about to change when I heard Rachel give a cry of anguish from high above me.
“Oh no, please don’t…god damn it!” she yelled, trying not to be too loud and attract attention. “Shit, why did it have to happen now?” She began rearranging every item on her desk, looking around for something, and eventually began to search through the drawers too, after first taking me out and putting me on top of her desk.
“What’s going on?” I shouted, hoping she’d notice me in the state she was in. “Did you lose something?”
“My USB drive!” she said, giving me a look of exasperation. “The little purple one I always use; it’s got my PowerPoint presentation on it! I had it in my pocket when I went to get lunch…shit, how the hell could I have lost it?”
“You probably just put it somewhere in this room and can’t remember. I mean, you’ve been so busy today, maybe you just forgot where you put it.”
“I didn’t forget, Sam! I know I had it in my skirt pocket, I haven’t taken it out all day. There must be a hole in it or something…”
“But didn’t you save the presentation on your computer? I mean, that would be the logical thing to do…”
“No, Sam, I didn’t! I forgot to do it, okay? The one I’ve got saved on here is an earlier version from a couple of days ago. I’ve added a lot to it since then, I can’t do it all over again now!”
“I didn’t say you should…”
“No, no, you’re just thinking how stupid I am for not saving the thing on my laptop…well, I guess you’re right, it was really stupid of me! Guess I’m not the perfect, flawless girl you make me out to be, huh?”
“Oh, come on, you’re being ridiculous! I never called…”
“Look, just stay here for a bit, all right? I’m gonna go and look for it. I’ve still got more than an hour before I have to present, maybe someone else around the office has found it. Stay here and stay out of sight, okay?”
“What? Stay here? Where the hell else do you think I can go?”
She was already up and out of the room before I’d finished that sentence, locking the door behind her. I sat down and pressed my face into my hands, infuriated by her behavior. Personally, I thought she was overreacting and that she was wasting her time looking for the flash drive instead of trying to improve the older version of the presentation she’d saved on her computer. But then again, I had no familiarity at all with her work here, so I had no idea how big a task that would turn out to be. If only she’d been less engrossed in what she was working on and more careful to keep her files up to date…but it was too late now. I knew it would take a miracle for Rachel to overcome the stress and anxiety this latest setback had caused and still pull off her lecture this afternoon, which I felt certain she could do even without the PowerPoint. If only I could help her in some way…
Giantess World
