Meet Cute-Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Christmas Day

Everyone sat in the living room in silence. No one spoke about what had happened the night before, but somehow, everyone knew.

By the fire, Fiona read her book as if to block out all perception of the surrounding world.

In the chair across from her, Rachel pored over the crossword. She had yet to solve a single clue.

Mark and Barbara lounged on opposite ends of the couch—although Barbara encroached significantly on Mark’s end—and occasionally smiled knowingly at one another. Each nursed their mug of coffee.

Marnie Jo sat in one of the oversized armchairs under a blanket. She could barely see, and barely be seen, over the arm of the chair. She was typing away on her laptop, emailing the Orange Yak team about setting up a training plan for the ultramarathon course that ran from the Baltic Sea to Lithuania’s border with Belarus, and whether they’d be interested in a film crew documenting her pursuit of an old-school training regimen in heavily rural Latvia, á là Rocky IV.

Jennifer was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, with her legs stretched out across the room.

Ryan was sitting next to her and leaning back against her hips. “Sooo, are we just not going to—”

Rachel jumped up. “Presents! Let’s open presents!”

Three Minutes Later

Jennifer held up an extra long knit scarf, which looked extra short and skinny in her hands. “I love it!”

Ryan grunted in frustration. “In my defense, when I bought it, you were under nine feet tall.”

“I really do love it. And I love you.” She bent down and kissed Ryan on the lips (and, incidentally, the lower half of his face).

Mark held up an engraved plaque that read, “Ard Emergency Construction: Laying Surplus Pipe is Our Specialty!” He narrowed his eyes at Rachel. “I’d have expected this from Fiona. From you, I worry.”

Rachel tittered. She tore the paper off of her gift and pulled out a large fleece blanket that had been embroidered with the text, “FUCK GAVIN (but not literally)”. She hugged it to her chest, kicked her feet excitedly, and grinned at Fiona. “It’s perfect!”

Fiona shrugged nonchalantly. “Of course it is. She tore open her gift. “Oh. An extra large mesh bra bag for the washer, liquid laundry soap for handwashing bras, and a gift card to HumongousUglySturdyBeigeBras.com. Just like last year, and the year before, and every year before that since puberty. Very practical. Thank you, Jenny.”

“You’re welcome! I felt I owed them because they’re the only place that still carries my size.”

Everyone in the room looked up at her.

“What? They pride themselves on catering to large cup and band sizes.”

Ryan opened his gift from Mark, which was a key. He made eye contact with Jennifer’s dad, who gestured for him to put it down and mouthed, “We’ll talk later.”

The exchange would have attracted more attention except that Barbara, who was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, gasped. She reached inside the box on her lap. Then, slowly and reverently, she lifted a faded, multicolored striped ribbon. From it dangled a two-toned gold medal. “Is…is this…”

Marnie Jo beamed. “That’s the one! Merry Christmas!”

Barbara stared at it for a few seconds, mouth agape, before tears started to roll down her face. “There’s no way—MJ, I can’t accept this! This is—”

“Oh, please. I have, like, eight of them.”

“You have nine. One awarded after Svetlana Flipistanislova was disqualified for doping.”

“Heh. Bitch got what was coming to her.”

“Plus three silver and one bronze.”

“We don’t count those.”

“Plus five all-round world titles.”

“Well, you and your family have been kind to my son. Your little—or, well, youngest but extremely large—“

“Not necessary, Mom.”

“—girl saved his life. This is just a token. It’s meant less and less to me over the years. But I gathered it would mean a lot to you.”

“It means the world.”

“Well, then, Merry Christmas!”

Once all the presents and hugs had been exchanged, Marnie Jo retreated to her guest room. She barely looked up from packing when Ryan knocked. “Don’t start.”

“That was very giving of you.”

“They deserve it. They’ve been good to us both and especially generous to you. Is that key what I think it is?”

“Yeah. A building near campus, which they’re converting to living space for Jennifer.”

“Make sure they do some converting for you. You can’t just sleep on her boobs.”

“Mom.”

“They’re too wobbly and if you fall between them you’ll suffocate.”

“Mom, please.” He sat down on the bed next to her bag. “That medal has been your good luck charm for how long now?”

Marnie Jo dropped her arms to her side. “Ryan, I—it’s hard to talk about this with my son.”

“You’ve never really had boundaries before. Why start now?”

“Who taught you to have such a sharp tongue? Don’t answer.” She twisted the pair of pants she had in her hands and tugged on them. “Ryan, I haven’t felt like this since your father. And now I realize that I closed myself off to…to this part of me. What Barbara has given me—given me back—is access to this rich well of feelings. I wanted her to have something of equal emotional value.”

“I’m sorry you’ve been so lonely.”

“I didn’t even realize it. But now I do. I don’t want to diminish myself anymore. So I’m not going to.”

“What’s the plan, then? Head home, fill out a Tumble profile?”

“What’s Tumble?”

“It’s a dating app for gymnasts. Their gimmick is that the artistic gymnast has to message first.”

“Seriously?”

“No, Mom.”

Marnie Jo rolled her eyes and resumed packing. “Smart aleck. The plan is to milk Orange Yak for all it’s worth—”

“Okay, ew.”

“—go to Latvia, train for the Baltic to Belarus Bolt, maybe make one of Orange Yak’s awful YouTube documentaries with the soaring orchestral music scored to overhead drone shots, meet someone, and fall in love.”

“Who’s the someone?”

“Barbara’s cousin.”

“Barbara’s setting you up with her cousin and you’re putting together an entire racing and documentary crew as a front to bankroll the effort? What in god’s name has possessed you—”

Marnie Jo held up her phone to display a picture of Barbara’s cousin, Sofija. The picture alone made clear that she was a behemoth of a woman: Over 7’ tall with every bit and more of Barbara’s bust and hips, plus luscious black hair that cascaded down to her narrow waist.

“—Jeeesus fucking Christ.”

“Ryan!”

“No, Mom, you go for it. Wow.”

“The problem is that Orange Yak, true to form, is 110% on board. We leave tomorrow. I imagine you have no problem staying here, what with unfettered access to—”

“Mom, please don’t.”

“Fine.” She took his hands in hers. “I’ll be in touch as much as I can. Sofija’s village is apparently a ways out there.”

“I understand.”

“You be good. No slacking off on gymnastics.”

“You mean my studies.”

“Right.”

“I got straight As, by the way.”

“Good job. Maybe ease up. Focus a little more on your workouts. Don’t burn out.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Okay, Mom. I love you too.”

She pulled him up to standing and hugged him around the waist. “Don’t make light. You’re the most important thing in the world to me. I’m incredibly proud of you. Your father would be, too.”

Ryan teared up and drew a sharp breath. “Th-thank you.”

She let go and resumed packing. “He would question your taste in women.”

“Okay, Mom.”

“He liked us petite! Then again, even he wasn’t dealing with what Barbara tells me you—”

“Okay, nope! Nope! I’m out!”

Twenty-Four Hours Later

Fiona turned from her computer to Rachel as she waited for HumongousUglySturdyBeigeBras.com to process the code from her gift card. “So…do you think all Orange Yak helicopters have a motorcycle mount?”

Rachel sipped her leftover eggnog and nodded. “Ryan told me they’re standard issue.”

Two Weeks Later

Jennifer knelt down and leaned over to hug her father goodbye. “Thank you so much, Daddy! This place is wonderful.”

Mark did his best to ignore the fact that he was being hugged against his daughter’s giant breast. He patted the back of her hand, then her proffered cheek. “Remember, check in with the Dean of Students before classes officially start. You need to work out which classes you can still attend in person and continue to talk with your professors as that changes over the semester. You should also set up an appointment with the fire marshal.” He nodded to Ryan. “And you remember that you can’t officially live here as a first year. So try to at least make an appearance at your dorm every now and again.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” He shook Mark’s hand.

“You two take care of each other. And keep up the good work, okay?”

Ryan and Jennifer waved as Mark climbed into the moving truck that he’d rented for the return trip for the Spring semester. After he pulled away, Jennifer sighed, brushed away some tears, and stood to her new full height of 12’1”. “Hey Ryan, you know that Christmas dress my Mom sewed for me?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t need to fit it anymore.”

Ryan laughed. “Didn’t you outgrow it already?”

Jennifer pushed open the door to their apartment. It was a converted, four-story warehouse with 80’-high ceilings. “Okay, fine. I’d like to outgrow it even more, please.”

Seven Hours Later

A bleary-eyed Mark pulled into his driveway. He had returned the rental truck and was looking forward to the first relatively quiet night at home since Jennifer’s Winter Break had begun. So when he walked in through his front door—the normal one, not the 18’-foot-high one that Jennifer would outgrow in a few months but he’d installed anyway—and saw Barbara sitting at the kitchen table flanked by Rachel and Fiona, he couldn’t help but groan. “What is it now?”

Barbara gestured for him to sit. Her expression was grim. “The doctors called. Jennifer’s increased rate of growth was not just due to the exertion with Gavin. It has to do with the cumulative effects of the medicine itself. Her growth is speeding up. It was always going to speed up, they just didn’t have the data to know it before. It will continue to speed up until it is stopped.”

“Because she’s sexually active, right?”

Barbara shook her head. “That was a meaningful contributor this year because her growth was relatively small.”

“Small?”

“It will be meaningless from this point forward, as her growth accelerates.”

Mark pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned forward on the table. “So what do they need? More tests? Do we have to bring her home again?”

Rachel rubbed his back. “They do need more tests. In a manner of speaking.”

Fiona added, “They need more test subjects, Daddy.”

Mark laughed ruefully. “Oh! Well, great, let’s just find them a population with the same one-in-seven-billion acromegaly that nearly killed Jennifer! Of which, by the way, she is the only known survivor in human history!” He smacked his palm on the table with increasing force to emphasize “survivor,” “human,” and “history.”

The three women were silent for a few seconds. Then Fiona said, softly, “Or the researchers could use CRISPR on genetically similar individuals to create a population of test subjects, inducing the acromegaly, then trigger the subsequent growth.”

Mark froze. He looked around at his grim-faced wife and older daughters. “No. No! It’s—gene editing? Plus a still-experimental treatment for a fatal condition that’s only worked once? It’s too dangerous!”

Rachel winced at the fear in his voice. “Daddy, they’re justifiably confident in the treatment for the acromegaly. We also know to freeze embryos in advance to address fertility issues. The only real danger is that we’ll be like Jennifer.”

“And even though there is risk, it’s worth it to help her.” Fiona put a hand on his forearm. “Daddy, this year’s 500% growth? That’s this year. It goes up by a factor of 5. It was going to be 100% this year, but the incident….” Fiona shook her head. “And now that’s her new starting point. Next year is 2500%—25 times—bigger. Then 125 times. By this time four years from now, Daddy, she’ll be twice the size of the planet.”

Barbara added, “And they say there’s no reversing it. However much she grows, she stays. We need the research to move faster. Stop it before she grows so big there is no air for her to breathe. Or…or our Jenny has to be killed to save everyone on Earth.”

Mark swallowed. “This is a lot to take in. Can I think it over?”

Rachel exchanged glances with Fiona. She waited a beat, then said, “Daddy, we’re not asking you.”

Mark’s jaw dropped. He looked to Barbara for help.

None came. “Nor am I.”

Two Minutes Later

Mark raged at his wife. “How can you make this decision without even speaking with me? And not just for yourself! To encourage our little girls to make this decision!?”

“There was no encouraging. I defy you to stop them from helping their sister.”

“You’re all risking your health! Your lives! There are so many questions we need answered! The risks, what they even intend to do!”

“And we will answer them as we go. What matters is helping Jennifer. Above all else.”

“Oh, great. Great.” He threw up his hands and let them slap to his thighs. “Then what about us, Barbara? This decision affects me, too. Have you considered how I might feel? That I might want a say in whether I’m married to a…a giant?”

Barbara put her hands on her hips, squared her shoulders to him, and stood up straight. She scoffed. Then she bent over at the waist and looked at her husband eye-to-eye. “Who are you kidding? You’ve had your say on that. Do you remember what you said?” She stepped in close, put her mouth up to the top of his ear, and whispered, “Grow for me, Barbara.”

Mark’s knees nearly buckled. “Oh, God.”

Barbara guided one of his hands to her ass and the other to her breast. “And I pretended for you, didn’t I. Despite how big I am already.” She took her time on the “b” of “big.” “Pretended to swell, and tower, and burst from my clothes. Didn’t I?”

“Y-yes.”

“Well, now you will have it for real. I will dwarf you, Mark. Make you feel tiny.” She grabbed his crotch. “Soon this big cock of yours will be pathetic to me. I won’t even be able to feel your thrusts. You will push into me, and push, and push…and I won’t even notice you.”

“Oh, oh Ggggod.”

“As my flesh swells against the walls of our room, as my breasts crack the ceiling and my ass crashes down through the floor and fills the foundation, you’ll be forced to take one of the pills. Just like I know you’ve ached to. But I’ll keep growing, and barely feel you again. Then, as I demolish the house, you’ll take another. As I crush our town, another. Then, as all of Long Island is swallowed by my buttocks and my breasts thunder into the ocean, another.”

“Barbara, I’m going to—“

She ripped open his pants, hiked up her dress, and thrust him into her standing up. She whispered in his ear, “If we do find a cure, little flower of my heart, I will grow as big as you want before I take it.”

Mark’s body spasmed in orgasm.

Barbara kissed him lightly on the forehead. “I’m glad we could work this out.”

Three Days Later

Ryan hung his backpack and keys on the hooks by the door and shouted, “Hey, I’m home!” He could see Jennifer’s long legs from the knees down extending past the wall that partially separated the entryway from the main living area. When she didn’t answer, he assumed she either didn’t hear him or was on the phone. Because of the high ceiling, the acoustics in this place were weird. But Ryan wasn’t about to complain: Jennifer was comfortable here. She could stand up straight, lie down straight, and (at least for now) fit under the shower head. He walked around the partition to see that Jennifer’s eyes were red and swollen, and she was still crying. He ran to her, but wasn’t sure where to touch her to comfort her. Even sitting with her back leaned against the wall, her head was slightly higher than his. “Oh no! Jennifer, what’s wrong?”

She started to sob and grabbed him off his feet, hugging him to one of her now S-cup breasts like a teddy bear. “The f-fire marshal says I c-can’t be on camp-campus at all!”

“Wait, what? That can’t be right.”

“He s-says I’m a safety h-hazard!” Jennifer sat him on her thighs with one hand so she could dry her tears with the back of her other. “I ‘ob-obstruct doorways, hallways, f-footpaths, and other modes of egress and access for em-mergency responders.’” She sniffled.

“That’s bullshit, Jennifer. We can talk to the Dean.”

“But it’s not, Ryan. He’s right! I’m so big. The Dean and I were going through the list of buildings yesterday. Do you know how many I can even go inside? Two. Two! Three, if they let me crawl through the double doors in Perelman.”

“Perelman has double doors?”

“I mean the other Perelman.”

“Oh, right.”

“And they’re not sure if I can get inside any classrooms at all.” The corners of her lips turned down involuntarily and fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. “She was so nice about it, too! She said we’d look for classes taught in classrooms with windows to the outside so that I could watch from there!”

“Well, okay. Okay. So we do online classes if you can’t attend in person. And we get the Dean to talk sense into the fire marshal about you attending classes from outside.”

Jennifer’s face slowly crumpled again and she sniffled, then buried her face in her hands and started to sob.

“Oh, no, Jenn. I’m—I didn’t mean—I jumped straight to problem-solving instead of—”

“No! No, it’s not that! My doctor called, too. My growth is…Ryan, I’m going to grow faster than we thought. A lot faster. So even if I can go to classes this year, or next Fall, outside, by the end of next school year….” Her voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “I’ll be over 550 feet tall. I’ll be too heavy to be near buildings.”

“You can be careful—“

“No, Ryan, I mean my weight alone will damage them! I’ll crack streets and the foundations of buildings just by walking!” She exhaled and looked up at the ceiling. It no longer seemed so high overhead. “I know I wanted this—we wanted this—but that’s when it seemed far away. Now, it’s close, and there’s so much to figure out!”

Ryan rubbed her thighs, even though, since he was sitting on them, it felt like he was comforting a loveseat. “We will figure it out, though.”

Jennifer fixed him with a frustrated, skeptical glare. “How?”

Ryan smiled up at her and shrugged.

Jennifer gaped at him in disbelief, then laughed despite herself. “I do admire your confidence, little man.”

“I have a lot of experience conquering seemingly insurmountable heights.”

Jennifer smiled gratefully and caressed his cheek. “You’re sweet, but I’m not really in the mood for innuendo or the sex that usually follows.”

“No, that’s okay. I understand.” He hopped off of her thighs and patted her hip. “Although Nancy and Ben did say that they wanted to hang out. They miss you and, when I told them about the new place and your new stature, they said they’re down for another foursome.”

“You know what? I am in the mood for the sex that usually follows.”