As soon as the elevator had gone down a short ways, I couldn't control myself and cracked up laughing. That look on Mark's face had been precious. He was sooooo embarrassed!
As I descended, I took off those damn boots as quickly as I could. Even though it meant I'd have to go back to the dressing room in my stocking feet, I just wanted them off! Words can't really express just how much my feet hurt. I sat there on the floor for a few minutes, just massaging my toes until I felt ready to walk again.
As I headed back to the restoration machine, I thought about Mark for a bit. It was painfully obvious that something was going on with him. Every time he'd seen me in my shrunken state, he'd become all distracted and flummoxed. It was like he was more self-conscious about it than I was.
Riding along on the conveyor belt and flexing my weary toes, I turned that thought over in my mind. Mark had never, in all the time I'd known him, ever stared at my body like that. Well, that's not entirely true, I recalled. When we'd first met, he'd checked me out a couple of times and made one or two lewd comments, but as soon as we'd been assigned to each other as partners, he knocked it off at once. There had been a couple of other occasions during field work that I'd worn less than I would have liked, but it had barely turned his head. Well, of course he'd always joked about it in that infuriating way of his, sort of like after my first day at the casino, but that's about it.
This was completely different. He had been leering at me, and the look on his face was unmistakable. I think he really liked seeing me like this, shrunken down and decked out in this sexy costume!
Was Mark a closet SW fanatic, like those people I met on the Internet? Surely he would have mentioned that, or given me some clue before now. Unless he was just now discovering this fact about himself? Maybe I should tell him about the Virtual Shrinking Center, I thought...but then again, maybe not. I didn't want to encourage that sort of fantasy, what with me being shrunk all the time!
By now I had reached the restoration machine, which was a LOT bigger than I remembered it. I stepped inside, making sure I put my feet on the activation plate. The light came on, and to my relief, after a moment or two I started to grow.
It took a bit longer to get back to normal size this time, but I didn't mind the wait. I was just happy to be getting back to five foot nine again!
Beth was waiting for me when I got back to the dressing room, and I noticed that for the first time, she was wearing regular clothes, not the costume. She must have been getting ready to go home, which meant she was probably waiting here just to talk to me.
"Your feet must really hurt," Beth said as I tossed down the boots disgustedly. "Most of the girls take a pair of street shoes with them for when their shift is over, and you might want to buy some gel pads for your toes."
"Good idea," I replied. "Right now, though, I just want to soak my feet in a hot bath for a couple of hours!"
"Well, I won't stand in your way," she replied. "I just wanted to say you were excellent tonight. I have nothing bad to say about your performance. You're a natural, Ashley!"
"Glad to hear it," I replied, but my tone was less than thrilled. I didn't relish the idea of being that small any more than I had to be.
"You seem to be getting over your fear, too," Beth went on. "I saw you let that hunky ex of yours pick you up. He is still your ex, right?"
"Yeah," I answered carefully. "For now, anyway. Well, we haven't gone out or anything, but you might be right. I think he's, um, interested in me again." That much, at least, was true, in a way.
"Well, if you decide you don't want him, let me know. I'd love to take a crack at him myself!"
Now there was a bizarre thought--my partner going out with my boss! "I'll do that," I mumbled, not really sure what else to say.
She seemed to think about something for a moment, then finally went on. "Well, I should be going," she said. "I do sleep, you know, despite how it might appear. Thanks for coming in tonight, and sorry it had to be on such short notice."
"No problem," I replied. Then I realized I'd been so busy acting in the SW role that I had almost forgotten to be an agent. "Who was it who didn't come in, by the way? It wasn't Heather or Lori, was it?"
"No," Beth replied. "It was Vicky Sanchez. Had you met her?"
"Nope," I answered. "What, did she get a better job or something? I don't see how that would be possible."
"I'm not sure," she told me. "She just came in to cash out her account and said she was through with this place. It happens sometimes. It could have been because of something that happened on the job. She'd been here six months already, so I wasn't keeping as close an eye on her as I would a newbie. I'll be reviewing the tapes later, to see if she was threatened or anything like that."
Not a bad idea, I thought, and I wished I could get my hands on those tapes without arousing suspicion. I was already thinking that Vicky might be the next disappearance victim. Since Mark wasn't recording this conversation, I repeated her name in my head a couple of times to make sure I'd remember it. Tomorrow, I'd have him check to see what he could find out about her.
"Okay," I replied, pretending to brush aside Beth's comments as if they were unimportant to me. I couldn't ask any further questions now without drawing attention to myself, so I let the whole thing drop. "You still want me in at noon tomorrow, then?"
"Yep," answered Beth. "Don't worry, you won't be doing roulette again. I'll have you on the floor, as usual, at least for the next couple of days. With Vicky gone, though, I'll pull you onto the tables starting Wednesday, all right?"
"Sure," I replied resignedly. "I'm looking forward to it."
She didn't seem to notice my sarcasm. "Well, anyway, thanks again. Oh, on your way out, be sure to stop by the accounting desk. I think you'll like what you find there. See you tomorrow!"
At that, she departed, and I finished getting dressed, wondering what she meant by her final comment. I must have done well in the tip department, I thought, but it couldn't have been THAT good. I hadn't noticed that many people dropping tokens in my slot, but then, I'd been more than a little bit busy.
I left the dressing room, looking quickly around to see if Mark was waiting for me, but he wasn't. Good, I didn't want to talk to him any more tonight anyway. I headed over to the accountant's desk and gave the man my number, waiting patiently while he called up my file.
When the numbers appeared on the screen, I got a little shock. I had over twenty-five hundred dollars in my account! The last time I'd checked, back on Friday night, it had only been a thousand!
Well, I noticed, they'd deposited my first week's paycheck in there too, but still, it meant I'd made a grand in tips just for tonight! Holy shit! No wonder the women liked working here so much!
That meant something else as well. I must really have done a good job tonight, or I wouldn't have earned such a huge helping of cash!
I must be getting better at this than I'd thought.