"You're kidding me," I replied, shocked. I probably shouldn't have been so surprised. This WAS Heather, after all. "Didn't you even bother to study?"
"No, and I'm gonna fail my quiz tonight, I just know it!" she wailed in mock frustration. "Nah, not really, I'll cram for it after work."
"Just don't go back to the VR room," I told her. "You yourself warned me how addictive those places were, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know!" she insisted. "It's gonna be hard t'resist, though. If only I could do all that stuff in real life!"
"Well, you can't," I reminded her. "Besides, you need to get back to work, and I need to report in. I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Okay!" she said. I got up and started to turn towards the door, but she yelled, "Wait! C'mon, Ashley, help me down!"
I rolled my eyes, knowing how much she enjoyed being picked up. Well, it wouldn't hurt to humor her. I lifted her up and lowered her safely to the ground, trying to ignore how much she squirmed with delight in my grip. "There, you happy now?" I asked.
"Thanks!" she called up to me. "Oooh, I just LOVE that! Where's my Tallguy when I need'm?"
I sighed. I was never going to understand her!
I held the door as she skipped back off to her station, and headed in to get changed. By the time I was through, Beth had put in an appearance, which of course meant she had something to say. "Hi, Beth," I said amiably as she walked up, wondering what she wanted this time.
"Hey," she said, "I saw you pick up Heather on the monitor."
"Yeah?" I replied. Damn, did this woman have eyes on every camera in the place simultaneously? Nothing escaped her gaze, it seemed like. "What of it? She asked me to. She loves being held, for some reason I still can't figure out."
"So I've noticed," said Beth, still grinning. "But that doesn't matter. You only pick someone up when they give the signal."
Oh, crap, she was right, I'd forgotten the protocol! "Yeah, I understand. It won't happen again, I promise!"
"Good. Now one more thing," she went on. "I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but I need you on roulette tonight."
Oh geez, not again, I thought. However, instead, of sounding annoyed, I decided to look happy about it. After all, I needed Beth to think I liked my job as much as possible, so she wouldn't have any reason to let me go. Despite what she'd said before, I knew there was a certain level of competition to get positions in this casino. "Good!" I replied with as much enthusiasm as I could fake. "I made a ton of money Friday night, and I could really use the extra cash."
"Oh, I thought you might like that," she laughed. "But even that's nothing compared to what you'll make on the craps table, or in high-stakes poker."
"That reminds me," I said. "I watched some poker the other day, but I didn't get it. The girls didn't seem to do anything."
"Oh, they do plenty," she replied. "They're chips!"
"Whaaaat?" I asked, dumbfounded.
"On the poker tables, the girls are the highest value chips," Beth explained. "The players bet with them!"
"You're joking!"
"Nope. It's the most personal thing you'll do at the casino. Remember how I said men like to look at tiny women because it makes them feel more powerful, so they take more risks? Well, treating girls like currency, like they own you, is the ultimate power trip!"
I just stared at her. She was right, of course. The very thought of a man buying me, and betting with me, was loathsome in the extreme.
Suddenly, roulette didn't seem so bad any more!
"Well," said Beth, obviously reading the distaste in my face, "no one forces you to do the poker thing. Besides, that's a ways off. We'll want to try you out on craps first. Of all the newbies, you look like the most athletic, so I'm thinking about maybe Friday night, after you've done a few more spins on roulette."
This was just getting better and better! For craps, they'd make me six inches high, and I'd have to run around chasing dice all night! I almost shuddered at the thought, but controlled myself. As I said, I didn't want Beth to think I couldn't handle this. And I really WAS getting better, I told myself. Being two feet high was no longer much of a problem, and I figured after a while I could get used to roulette, if it weren't for those damn boots!
"All right, sounds good to me," I replied. "Now I'd better get out to the floor. I'm already late."
I took my leave of Beth, got myself shrunk and started my shift. As I'd said, doing cocktail work was now easy. I spent most of the time daydreaming, walking my route on autopilot. I didn't even have to think about the people I was meeting. I just automatically took note of their distinguishing features, got their drinks, and brought them back straightaway.
As I walked around, my thoughts drifted. I worried greatly about the roulette table tonight, and the upcoming craps experience on Friday. After a while, though, I shrugged those fears aside, figuring I'd just adapt as I had before. I guess I was starting to get a handle on this shrinking thing.
Finally.
What had turned me around, I wondered? Was it the experiences online? Or had the fact that I'd gone down to 15 made being 33 not so bad? Or had Heather's inexplicable love of shrinking had an impact on me? Well, whatever it was, I was grateful. I still didn't like it, but it wasn't quite so terrifying any more.
I thought about Heather a bit. That girl was going to get into some real trouble. Sooner or later she'd tell some freak online who she was, and he'd track her down. FBI files were loaded with similar cases, where someone young and inexperienced had fallen prey to an online sexual predator. Hell, I'd spent a couple of months investigating cases like that myself, and things never worked out well for the girl involved. Never.
Her online experience last night had been a perfect example. She'd even admitted that she'd tried to find out who Tallguy was. Why hadn't he told her? Was he that protective of his private fantasy? Well, whatever, I was glad he hadn't.
It was amazing, I thought. Heather had gotten online and in the space of a few minutes jumped right into an incredibly satisfying experience with someone she didn't even know.
And that, I think, was the spark that finally enabled me to figure it out. For some reason, my next thought was "What if she did know him, and didn't realize it?"
I'm not sure where that little nugget of inspiration came from. Probably my subconscious, which had obviously figured this thing out long before my conscious mind, and was just giving me the nudge I needed. In any case, everything suddenly snapped into place, and I stopped cold in my tracks, almost dropping the drinks I was carrying.
Tallguy was Mark Powers!
Of course he was. It all fit! That explained why he had been so unwilling to talk to me on the phone, and that was why he hurriedly moved stuff around when I showed up later at his hotel room. And Heather had even said he'd had to leave suddenly after two hours, which would have been just when I interrupted him. Plus, I remembered that Tallguy's online description had said he was still new at this. And of course, he'd probably recognized Heather's avatar at once, since she stupidly used her own face and body, and the cocktail girl outfit, too. No wonder he was waiting right there, ready to break into the conversation at just the right moment!
Damn! How come I didn't figure that out before now? And what the hell was Mark thinking? It wasn't so bad that he'd played around online--I could understand that much (hey, at least it was safe). But to do it with Heather, my friend, who was only two-thirds his age--and without telling her who he was, when he knew her all along? That was the height of callousness!
I realized I was all but hyperventilating, and calmed myself down. Remember to do your job, Kate, I told myself. I moved on, delivering the drinks I had, and seething all the while.
After a bit, my anger cooled, and I reminded myself it was still possible he wasn't really Mark. I shouldn't just jump to conclusions without proof. I could be mistaken, after all. It might have been a coincidence.
Yeah, right!
By the time my shift was over and I had to report for roulette duty, I'd pretty much decided I was going to confront Mark tonight. I'd demand to know what the hell he was thinking, and give him a piece of my mind.
And while I was at it, I'd find out just what he was doing in the Virtual Shrinking Center in the first place.