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Wednesday, June 2 (cont.)
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Wednesday evening found the two siblings at the mall; just like the week before, Olivia had enlisted in her brother’s help to go clothes shopping once again. Since she and Jordan were heading to spend the night at their family’s beach house tomorrow, Olivia wanted to pick out at least one new outfit for their trip. And because of how relaxing their bath together had been, he’d said yes when she invited him to come with her after they dried themselves off. To her, it was a continuation of their bonding for the day.
As they wandered through the busy evening bustle of the shopping center, he struggled to match his sister’s pace. Not to mention the fact that everyone around him was taller, bigger, and didn’t even see him most of the time. On several occasions people bumped straight into him, would hastily apologize, and then he’d have to hurry up to try and reach Olivia’s side again. Luckily she was fairly easy to spot because of her height, but eventually he resorted to grabbing her hand. From a distance, he didn’t look any different from the moms that would hold onto their little sons’ hands so they wouldn’t get lost. He didn’t like to admit it to himself, but he was thankful for Olivia, to be able to wade through the crowd of people and make sure he never left her side. She looked down at him as he grabbed her hand, giving him a warm, sympathetic smile.
They eventually made their way into the place Olivia wanted to shop at, one of the major, multi-level stores with thousands of things to choose from. As she slowly circled her way around the stands, checking out all the different garments available, Reese simply followed behind, beginning to get a bit bored of all the clothes that he’d never want to wear, even if they weren’t way too big for him. And his phone was dead, so he couldn’t pass the time with that. But his sister sensed his impatience. “You know, you don’t have to follow me around the whole time, you can check out some of the stuff in the guys’ section downstairs,” she told him, holding up a crop top so she could examine its material more closely before losing interest. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready to try stuff on.”
Oh yeah, I guess I don’t really have to follow her around; I’m an adult now. Although even if I wasn’t, I came here voluntarily. “Oh, alright then,” he said, and turned towards the escalators to take her advice and check out the men’s section. Even if there wouldn’t be anything at this specific store with clothes his size, a lot of places carried smaller sizes online. So I might be able to find something I want, and then I can order it online later.
But after a few minutes of checking out the clothes in the guy’s section, he felt himself getting bored again. The store wasn’t really his kind of style; just a bit too sophisticated, like everything was designed for upper middle class guys going on an expensive date. He liked more laid back apparel.
Olivia still hadn’t come to get him, but he glanced out the giant entrance to the store, the one that led back into the mall, and realized that a shoe store was right across the walkway. He hesitated over whether or not he should check the place out. I’ll just stay near the entrance to the store so I can glance over a bunch while I’m checking out the shoes. Then if I see her I can head back. He knew he was taking a bit of a risk, but he had shopped with Olivia enough in the past to know she could take a while, and he didn’t wanna be stuck twiddling his thumbs til she was ready to try stuff on.
So he made his way across the wide aisle and went into the shoe shop, making sure to stay close to the entrance while he gazed at the tall wall and the hundreds of shoes it displayed. He spent awhile checking out all the shoes, along with some of the other merchandise the store had, always making sure to look up every once in awhile to see if Olivia had come down to get him. But still no sight of her yet, so he continued browsing.
“Let me know if you see anything you like,” he suddenly heard a voice say behind him, and he turned to see a girl who looked to be about his age, standing a few feet back with a polite smile on her face, wearing the store’s T-shirt. “Unfortunately we won’t have any smaller sizes in the back room, but most brands have special sizing that should fit you, and I can order a delivery to be shipped for you.” Reese was initially taken aback. Partly because he’d noticed retail employees didn’t seem to approach him as much compared to when he was normal sized. Some people would have a patronizing level of pity for people with his condition, and others felt awkward around someone his size, instead of treating him like just another person. But mostly he just thought the girl was cute.
“Oh uh, thanks,” he smiled, blushing a little bit. “I think I’m just browsing though, I wasn’t planning on buying anything today.”
“That’s OK!” she replied without missing a beat. “Everyone needs to get new shoes eventually, and if you change your mind then I’ll still be here.” She’s pretty nice, he thought. And she obviously treats me with respect too. Most people weren’t rude to Reese, to be fair, but he could tell there was something different about this girl. I should probably ask her out, even if she said no there’s no way she’d be rude about it.
“That’s a good point I guess, thanks,” he responded, but didn’t turn back around. And neither did she. “Actually, I know this probably seems kinda random, but would—“
“Reese!” He was cut short by Olivia yelling at him, and he turned to see her stomping up to the store, marching right up to stand directly beside him with her hands on her hips. Shit, I should’ve been paying attention to the store. He gulped nervously as he looked up at his sister. She wasn’t furious, but she was definitely more than just annoyed. The employee was caught off guard too, and gawked up at the 6 and a half foot girl who’d just barged into the store, clearly upset about something.
“Oh, um… is this your girlfriend?” the employee asked Reese, glancing nervously between the two of them.
Olivia crinkled her face in disgust, turning to face the other girl. “Ugh, no, I’m his sister,” she said. “And sorry for yelling, I didn’t mean to cause a scene or anything,” she said with a calmer tone, looking to a few of the other store patrons who had noticed the commotion. “It’s just that somebodydidn’t answer their phone when I called them,” she said, turning to glare down at Reese again, “and it went straight to voicemail so I figured it was off for some reason. So then I had to look all around the store, on both levels, calling out your name and starting to think that something had happened to you. Only to find that you were here instead.”
“I’m sorry,” Reese mumbled, avoiding eye contact. “The battery died earlier to… day.” He realized too late that he should’ve said instead that it died just recently, but accidentally gave away the fact that it had already been dead when he left.
“And you never told me that before you left?!” Olivia asked, continuing to stare down at him even though he wouldn’t look up at her. “That store is fucking huge, and I had to go around every square foot of the place cuz I had to be sure you weren’t behind something and I just couldn’t see you, or in the bathroom. But you were just here the whole time?” The employee stood awkwardly by, glancing nervously between the guy and his titanic sister lecturing him for running off like a kid.
Reese didn’t know how to respond. He’d already hesitated about coming here, knowing the risk. There wasn’t really any good excuse he could give her. He could only apologize. “I’m sorry. I… yeah. Sorry.” It was all that could be said, as he finally looked up at her, feeling anxious in her looming shadow. He glanced at the girl, who had lost her professional attitude and was now just an onlooker like the other people in the store. If she’d ever been interested in him before, she certainly wasn’t showing it anymore, and now he’d never know if he could’ve had a chance.
Olivia sighed, rubbing her eyes as she thought about what to do. “It’s fine, it was just an accident. But I was really scared there for a second, I can’t even imagine what I would’ve told Mom and Dad.” She took another deep breath, and reached her hand behind his back to push him towards her. Even if he had been able to fight it, he didn’t want to make any more of a fuss. So he just let her hold him close to her body, his face smushed uncomfortably against her crotch while her hand held his head there, as she looked down at him and regained her composure. “At least I know you’re safe now though.” After a few more seconds of the forced one-way hug, she let him go, and he glanced at the girl out of the corner of her eyes. Her mouth was barely opened, the slightest hint that she was dumbfounded at Olivia’s intimate actions. His face could only redden even more in embarrassment, and he looked down at the floor again.
“I know you obviously weren’t trying to run away or anything, but it was still annoying as hell trying to find you, and I don’t want you to wander off again,” she instructed. “I think we should head over to that family store and pick up one of those toddler safety harness things, it might be a little big on you but it’ll probably fit OK.”
Reese’s eyes widened as he realized what she was talking about, and he turned to look back up at Olivia’s stern expression. “Wait, no! This is only the first time it’s happened, I don’t wanna wear something like that though, that’d be way too humiliating. Come on Olivia.”
His big sister’s face was unchanging though. “You don’t need to wear it at home, obviously, or school or anything. It’s just for when we’re out in public like this and there’s a lot of people around. Maybe Mom and Dad won’t make you use it when you’re out with them, but I don’t wanna lose track of you again.” By now, the other girl had her hand up to her mouth, her unconscious reaction to seeing how this guy was being treated by his sister. She felt like she’d way overstayed her welcome, and Reese watched as she awkwardly stepped backwards before turning to head back to the front of the store until they’d leaved. But Olivia didn’t know that he had just been about to ask her out, and ignored the girl as she grabbed her brother’s hand and turned to leave, pulling him out of the store whether he wanted to come or not. “If you don’t make it a big deal then it won’t be. But at least for now, until we can think of some kind of better solution, you’re just gonna have to wear a leash whenever you head out with me, mkay?”
* * * * * *
“How about this one?” Olivia asked, grabbing a box from the shelf of the family store they were shopping in. She turned to show it to her little brother, who winced at the packaging and looked up at her incredulously. On the front was a picture of a kid wearing a harness around their torso, with their mom holding onto the leash attached at the back, keeping them from running away. The woman was smiling at being able to keep her kid close-by, while her child was laughing, far happier and more content than Reese could ever imagine being in their place. “It looks more comfortable than the others, and it’s the closest to your size,” his sister added, as he looked to the small marking in the corner of the box: “3-5 years.” It would’ve been less humiliating if the harness sizes were tiered based on chest size instead of just in age groups. But it wasn’t a new feeling for Reese anyways, being compared to a kid. He obviously still hated it though.
He glared up at her, but refused to acknowledge the box or participate in any way in her decision making. She rolled her eyes, and stuffed the box underneath her shoulder, “You know it’s pretty ironic that by being a little diva about this whole thing, you’re just coming across as even more immature. Plenty of other adults way older than you do this when they go out in public, it’s just common sense considering how easy it is for someone your size to get lost.” But Reese held firm in his indignation, not willing to let Olivia evoke a response out of him. She just rolled her eyes and sighed, grabbing his hand as she led him towards the register.
She smiled politely at the staff member as they scanned the box while she inserted her credit card into the card reader. “Is he your son?” the employee asked, smiling at Reese while they tried to make kind conversation while they waited for the transaction to go through.
Reese cringed at the worker’s question; just a few minutes ago, the other store’s employee had recognized him for how old he was, but now this other person had barely glanced at him and assumed he was a child because of the harness Olivia was buying. His sister scoffed, looking down at her little brother beside here. She laughed a little bit at the notion as she turned back to the employee, shaking her head. “Definitely not. And I hope I don’t look that old,” she laughed anxiously.
The staff member blushed as the reader beeped and the receipt printed itself out. “No, you look like you’re in your 20’s, but you never know sometimes,” they shrugged, handing the receipt to Olivia.
“It is for him though,” she grimaced, taking the receipt and picking up the box, then turned to look down at Reese. “So can I like, open it here? Do you guys have a recycling for the box?” she asked, effortlessly ripping it open and grabbing the item inside.
“Yeah, sure thing,” they said, taking the remains and flattening it, before ducking under the counter to put it in the trash.
“Thanks,” Olivia said, smiling at the worker, and turned back down to look at Reese. “Now I won’t have to worry about any little brothers running away again today,” she chimed, and nudged him with her knee, indicating for him to move along. The employee felt awkward now, sensing a weird tension between the two of them.
“Oh, um, good… luck then I guess. To you guys. Have a good day,” they said.
“You too!” Olivia called back, as she walked closely behind Reese, guiding him back out into the mall, towards one of the seats. “OK, we’ll put this part on first,” she said, setting the line down on the bench so she could have two hands at her disposal, and then knelt down onto her knees to get closer to his level.
“Olivia, I get it… we don’t need to actually do this,” he told her half-heartedly, glancing at the surrounding shoppers, as some of them noticed the woman before him about to harness him up.
“No, technically we don’t need to do any of the stuff me and Mom and Dad do to help you. But it definitely makes life easier, right?”
He nervously swallowed, looking from the straps she was holding back up to her face. “Yeah, but… it’s humiliating. The box literally said it’s for fucking toddlers, and I’m 18.”
She rolled her eyes, sitting back on her haunches. “Everything’s humiliating for you…” she stated. Reese froze, shocked that she’d just outright say something like that. But… she’s kinda right, he thought, until she finished her statement. “…if you let it be. Like I said, a lot of other people do this no problem. Do you really, honestly, like actually believe that I’m lying to you and just actually wanna embarrass you, cuz…” she shrugged, throwing her arms up in exasperation, “I don’t even know. For any reason. Do you actually think that I’m that I’m being that petty, or that maybe, just possibly,” she said, leaning forward and placing both of her oversized hands on his mini shoulders, “that I might be doing this for your own good. To make things a liiiiittle easier for me.” The two of them sat in silence for several seconds, staring into each other’s eyes.
Reese broke first, looking away with a sour expression on his face. But he relented anyways. “Fine. I guess.”
Olivia nodded thankfully as she let go of him, and took a deep breath, glad that she’d gotten him to finally come around. “Good. Thank you. Now, can you turn around for me please?” she asked. Reese shook his head, unable to believe he was really going through with this, but turned around anyways, lifting up his arms so she could wrap the harness around his torso easier. “Thanks,” she acknowledged, and straightened out the harness before pressing the middle up against his back.
“If this is normally for kids, what’s to just stop them from just unbuckling themselves?” he wondered aloud as he felt her wrap it around to his front. “Like I could just put it on myself,” he started to say, until he saw a big metal ring in between the two buckles on the left side. “Wait, this is backwards. The… connector thing is up here,” he said. Olivia paused, then realized he was right; there was nowhere on his back for her to attach the cord.
“Oh, you’re right. Ok nevermind then, turn around again.” He chuckled as she held onto the harness while he spun around again, but then his expression dropped as he saw that right in front of him was Olivia’s cleavage. The neck hole of her shirt was open wide, and her boobs were hanging low from her chest as she leaned forward to reach around behind him. His face was suddenly mashed against the top of his sister’s gigantic boobs, the collar of her shirt rubbing against his mouth, as her head looked down behind his back so she could see the buckles as she clasped them together, two sturdy snaps announcing their union. Then she pulled the ends of the straps as far as they could go, attempting to tighten it as much as possible. But she couldn’t quite make it snug enough for his body. Sighing, and figuring it was gonna have to be good enough, she stood up to inspect her work.
He rolled his shoulders around, trying to get more comfortable. “Can you tighten it some more?” he asked, looking up at her.
She sighed and shook her head as she picked up the tether from the bench. “Sorry, that’s as tight as it’ll go. I think it’s cuz kids usually have a lot more body fat on them so compared to you, even a skinny one would have a bigger chest than you.” Well that’s great. Even something designed to be used by a fucking preschooler is too big for me. “Anyways, at least it’s not too loose though. Can you turn around again?” she asked, bending over with with the carabiner in her hand. He turned around for the last time, and heard the metal clasp behind him open, before snapping into place around the ring. Olivia stood back up, and he turned around again, but this time felt some resistance. As he turned, he realized it was from the cord having to wrap around his side, and he followed it up with his eyes until he saw the end of it: a handle, held firmly within his sister’s hand. Even with being against the idea from the start, he couldn’t prepare for how emasculating it was, seeing his big sister actually holding it in front of him. His head slowly raised up to gauge her reaction, and he saw that she was smiling, glad that the harness fit relatively well, and that her brother hadn’t had quit putting up a fuss about it. She lifted her hand up, and the end of the cord along with it, and he felt the slight pull of it, tugging him forward and causing him to step out so he wouldn’t fall forward. She stifled a slight giggle, causing him to blush from how easily she’d been able to control his movements. If there had been any chance or way of changing his sister’s mind before, it didn’t matter now, since the hook was behind him where he couldn’t reach. Because his sister now had him on a leash, and with more shopping still ahead of them, he knew it wouldn’t be coming off anytime soon.