Even though I felt I could now call the other two girls my friends, I never mentioned my plan to meet with Mark the next day. I was sure Heather would get the wrong idea, and then feel left out because she couldn't do the same thing with someone she knew. I didn't want to look like I was getting any kind of special treatment.
We talked for quite a while longer, sharing a bit more about ourselves, but I mostly kept my own stories brief and just listened to the others. Heather seemed pretty happy with her life, though she admitted she was having trouble getting her studying done when all she could think about was getting shrunk at the casino. Lori, on the other hand, continued to lie about herself, and on at least one occasion that I noticed, she contradicted something she'd told us in an earlier conversation. Heather didn't pick up on it, but then, she'd not trained to notice details like that.
I wanted to take Lori aside and tell her I knew the truth, but I couldn't do it without blowing my cover. Besides, we might be friends now, but we were still just getting to know each other. I didn't really have the right to judge how she lived her life, at least not yet.
After dinner we went to a movie, which was Charlie's Angels VI. It was awful, but in a fun kind of way, you know what I mean? Long on action, short on plot, tongue in cheek. There were some interactive scenes, where you can direct the story to go in any of several directions using the armrest controls, but not much. That technology was still in its infancy, but I had a feeling it would get much more advanced in a few years.
After that, went back and walked around the casino until I was sure I knew tomorrow's route by heart. Although Heather had to go home to study, Lori hung around and we memorized the path together. She seemed a little more at ease around me, without Heather there. It was almost like she was intimidated by Heather's bizarre shrinking fantasies.
I knew the feeling, because right now, being shrunk was about the scariest thing I could think of. To have a young woman, just a freshman in college and almost ten years my junior, be so delighted with something that frightened me so, was actually pretty embarrassing.
In fact, thinking about that made me feel a little better about having to face Mark tomorrow. If Heather had known about my meeting with him, she'd have elbowed me out of the way in her rush to beat me there. And she wouldn't have been content with just having Mark pick her up, either. She'd have wanted him to do a whole lot more.
He'd probably do it, too, even though he was half again as old as she was, and would practically be robbing the cradle. I'd seen Mark go out with similar women in the past, cute young babes he'd met in a bar somewhere, but none of those relationships ever lasted. Then, as now, I rolled my eyes at the thought.
Besides, for some reason I just didn't like the idea of Mark getting together with Heather. I was glad I hadn't told the other girls about my meeting with him tomorrow. Lori would have probably tried to give me a pep talk, but Heather wouldn't have been able to stop talking about all the things he and I could do in the privacy of that little room. And I didn't want to think about that right now.
After Lori and I said goodbye for the evening, I went back home, where I watched some TV and mostly tried not to think about what was going to happen the next day. I managed to avoid the subject until I tried to go to sleep, and then I couldn't get it out of my mind. I don't think I finally drifted off until three or four in the morning.
That left me pretty well spent the next day, but I forced myself to get up anyway. Now that I'd convinced myself to go through with it, I didn't want to be late and look like I'd chickened out. After showering and getting some breakfast, I felt a lot better, and I made my way back to the casino without calling and bothering Mark.
I got there early, so I paced around a bit, working up to what I knew was to come. At first, I was going to do the meeting in street clothes, as Mark had suggested. After thinking about it, though, I decided if I was going to learn anything, it would have to be in the uniform. After all, I'd be wearing it all the time when I was working, so I might as well get comfortable in it under any and all circumstances.
So, I went in and changed, as though I were getting ready for a regular day at work. Beth dropped in and let me know the room was set up and the cameras shut off. Now I was sure she was lying about that, because her voice shifted slightly as she spoke. I let it go, though, because it didn't really matter, and because Mark knew about it already, it would ensure he kept his hands to himself.
Speaking of Mark, Beth told me he was already inside, waiting for me. She'd seen him come in the casino and had taken the opportunity to introduce herself and lead him to the breakroom. Then she reminded me, yet again, how good-looking he was.
For some odd reason, I found this very irritating, but I shoved it aside. What Beth thought of Mark didn't mean anything to me. Sighing, I headed to the miniaturizer, waited for the shrinking process to finish, and made my way through the halls to the rookie area. Then, extremely nervously, I headed to the breakroom.
The little room actually had two doors, one inside the other, to accommodate employees of both sizes. The interior was divided in half, with some normal-sized furniture, refreshments, and restrooms, and waitress-scale accoutrements on the opposite side. There was nothing for anyone smaller, though. As I found out later, the women working the various games had their own break areas, and even bathrooms, accessible through side passages underneath the tables. The casino had thought of everything, apparently.
Enough stalling, I thought. I opened the smaller door and stepped through. Mark was inside, sitting at one of the full-sized tables. "Hi, Ashley," he said shakily, making sure he used my alias in case anyone was listening in.
I turned around and threw the lock, securing both doors simultaneously, and then walked over to Mark. He looked down at me like I was a poisonous snake about to bite him. "What's your problem?" I asked, perhaps a bit testily.
"Nothing," Mark replied, putting up his hands in mock protest. "Don't get all jumpy, Ashley. I'm trying to do you a favor here, don't forget."
I looked up at him and bit off the snippy reply I was about to make. He was right, of course. I had to focus. I was here for a reason, after all. "Sorry," I said after a moment. "You're right. This is just so--so uncomfortable."
"I know what you mean," he told me. "I feel like I'm back in school, sneaking out to go bar-hopping when I should be studying."
That was an odd analogy, but I let it drop since I really couldn't relate. When I was in school, all I did was study. I never did any sneaking around--I was too busy getting my criminology degree. "I don't know about that," I replied. "I just feel really weird."
I stood there for a few awkward moments, looking up at my gigantic partner, studying his face as he stared down at me. He had the strangest expression, a look I'd never seen him wearing before. It was sort of like I was too impossible to believe, but there was more than that, like he was studying me carefully, and that made me even more uncomfortable. Fortunately, he spoke up before I could think about that too much. "It's okay to be scared, you know," he said cautiously, in a low voice.
I was going to deny it, but he was right. I was scared out of my wits. "Yeah," I muttered under my breath. "Yeah, I know that."
Shaking, I looked up at Mark, just awed at the sheer size of him. He was so big, and I was so small! I knew what I had to do, but I couldn't bring myself to speak.
I wanted to run and hide, but I forced myself to stand there, unable to decide how to proceed. You could have cut the awkwardness with a knife.