The Reveries of Aaron Cooper, Chapter 20

I posted the full story up to this point in a pdf at the bottom of this post, just in case any of ya'll need a refresher. Enjoy! <3

Chapter 20

Just a few minutes later, Aaron was standing next to his apartment door, staring uncertainly up at Courtney, who was towering above him in all her 8’4 glory, hands on her thick hips, clearly enjoying his bemusement.  

“Wait, so…that’s…that’s it?” he asked searchingly.  Courtney slowly nodded her head up and down, the long, elegant curls of her brown hair bouncing playfully on either side of her gorgeous face as she shifted her weight to one hip.

“That’s it!” she replied brightly.  “You just needed to tell me all the details you could about your little diary, and you did that…so I can fill in the rest.”

“But…” began Aaron, feeling like their discussion had ended a bit anticlimactically, “Don’t you…I mean…isn’t there more that we need to, uhhh…” – and here his words petered out, his mouth breaking into a sheepish grin as Courtney gently shook her head.  It wasn’t just that, at 4’10, he felt absolutely dwarfed by Courtney’s gigantic body, or even that he was totally overwhelmed by her beauty.  The main thing was that he knew that this bombshell mini-giantess standing before him also had a 284 IQ, and had been directing every bit of it into understanding his size fetish.  Just existing in the presence of that kind of brain power could easily make anyone feel a bit silly, and Aaron had already started learning how to laugh at himself when it was clear that Courtney was a few steps (or more) ahead of him.  

“You trust me, don’t you?” she asked genuinely, bending down at her waist so that her face loomed closely over him.  Her dark eyes were intimidating…powerful…and seemed to hold his in a kind of captive embrace, where Aaron felt like he could not look away.  He swallowed, feeling rooted to the spot, and if Courtney had been a stranger, he might have just snapped and run away.  But she wasn’t a stranger.  Despite all the physical and mental augmentations that had been made, despite everything that had happened the last few weeks, Aaron knew that this was still Courtney.  There was no malice behind those dark eyes, no predatory designs, no disquieting warnings that she had become a power-hungry tyrant who was going to run Aaron’s new world order off the rails.  If anything, he knew that she was going to help him craft this order in ways that he couldn’t even begin to imagine.

Aaron nodded, staring up at her meekly.  She smiled lovingly back at him and reached a huge hand down and softly palmed his head, ruffling his hair as her long sharp nails gently scratched his scalp.  Aaron couldn’t help but feel, despite the obvious affection behind her gesture, that he was being touched…pleasured…PET…by a superior being.  That was it exactly – he felt like an animal that Courtney was petting, and it turned him on all over again.  

“I could pet you like this for days, Aaron,” Courtney cooed down at him, “Daaaays…and it would never get old.  You didn’t even realize it, but you just went up on your tiptoes to press your head up into my hand…like an adorable little cat.”

Aaron immediately felt even more bashful than before, since he indeed hadn’t realized that he was up on his tiptoes, and he very nearly went back down out of embarrassment.  But the next moment, he reconsidered and, instead of lowering himself back down, he went up on his tiptoes even more, pressing the top of his head deeper into Courtney’s palm.  The deep, soft rush of her laughter washed over him, and he joined in, laughing at his own antics.  

“Soooo adorable,” murmured Courtney, “You’re going to have to dial back the cuteness, Aaron…otherwise I might have to reconsider sending you around the block for a walk.”

“Yes, reconsider!” Aaron pleaded, not caring that he sounded a bit ridiculous as he pushed himself up against Courtney’s huge leg.  “Let me stay here with you!”  

It was almost like, because she was so much taller, bigger, and smarter than him, he felt free to act in this uninhibited way.  It was easier to openly embrace his submissive instincts around her.  Cassie and Kristina of course inspired these feelings as well, but Courtney, because of her extraordinary intelligence boost, was now in a league of her own.  Aaron actually had to remind himself multiple times that, in fact, they were both humans, and that Courtney wasn’t some superior species.

‘But…maybe she actually is, now,’ countered a voice in his head.  ‘Maybe she’s the beginning, the first of a new female species that’s superior to me in every possible way…so much so that they’re not even technically human anymore.  They’ll be something else entirely…something so much more!’

“No, no,” chuckled Courtney gently, reaching her hand down to ruffle his hair affectionately, “You need to go on a walk and clear your head.  Look at you – you’re daydreaming about our new world order as we speak!”

Aaron opened his mouth to retort that he wasn’t, but Courtney just inclined her head slightly, staring down at him, as if daring him to go ahead, and he shut his mouth almost as soon as he had opened it.  Trying to lie to Courtney was a fool’s errand.  She had already been able to see through him, even before her IQ had doubled.  Now it wasn’t even up for debate – she could read him like a book.  

“Mmmm okay, go along now,” she hummed richly, almost like she was a mother telling her son to go out and play (even though she and Cassie and Kristina were all several months younger than Aaron!), and she gave Aaron an encouraging but firm pat on the back as she opened his apartment door for him.  “Go for a nice walk – stretch those little legs!  I’ll just be here…experimenting.”

“Wait…what!?” Aaron asked, blinking up at Courtney as she ushered him out the door.  “Experimenting?  What do you mean?”

“You’ll see, sweetheart,” winked Courtney.  She leaned her forearms on the door frame, bending her head down enough so that her dark eyes were gleaming down at him.  Backlit by the deep red glow of the setting sun through Aaron’s living room window, most of the features of Courtney’s face were suddenly shrouded in shadow.  Her dark curls hung low around her face, and her huge body nearly filled up the entirety of the door frame, her breasts and ass literally squeezed into the frame itself, with only little pockets of the blood-red sunset managing to wink through at the corners.  Aaron couldn’t even see the expression on her face…but he could see those eyes gleaming down at him.  A shiver went up his spine as he found himself afraid of this entity standing there in the doorway.  She was more than human.  And with her size, her strength, and, most of all, her supernatural intelligence, there was no telling what she was capable of.  What was she going to do!?  

But almost as quickly as all of these things were flashing through Aaron’s mind, Courtney ducked her head a bit more, letting her right arm drop down as she did so, which flooded her face with light from the sunset.  

“It’s just me, honey…” Courtney breathed down at him tenderly, and Aaron saw that she had been smiling gently…or, at least, that’s what she was doing now.  “I know some things have changed, and many more things WILL change…but it’s always just gonna be me, in the end.  Alright?”

Aaron felt himself take a deep breath and let it out, exhaling his fears away.  It must have been the intensity of all these changes that was making him paranoid or jumpy or…whatever that had been just now.  A germ of fear still lingered somewhere in the back of his brain, but just looking up at Courtney’s face was enough to reassure him.

“A-Alright!” he nodded, trying to recover himself.  “I…uhm…”

“No need to explain yourself,” Courtney cut in warmly.  “I already know what you’re feeling, and it’s nothing that a nice little walk won’t cure.  Come back in half an hour.  See you then!”

And with that, Courtney’s long fingers snaked around the top of the door, and gently but firmly closed Aaron’s door in his face – not rudely by any means, but he still felt the suddenness of being shut out alone in the hallway of his apartment building.  The next moment, he heard the smart clink of the deadbolt sliding into place.

‘Wow!’ he thought, ‘She’s actually…locking me out!  I wonder what she’s gonna be getting up to?’

It was slightly disconcerting to imagine what Courtney could be planning, and why she had actually taken the dramatic step to lock him out.  But despite any misgivings in his mind, Aaron really did trust her, and, in any case, it wasn’t like he had much choice in the matter.  Slowly turning in place, he made for the exit, though he glanced back over his shoulder when he heard some thudding movements coming from his condo.  He was so intrigued…but he kept moving, knowing that’s what Courtney wanted him to do.  He had to trust her – after all, that was the whole reason for doubling her IQ, wasn’t it?

He came out of his condo to the advancing sunset, a deep red expanse of striking color which stretched majestically all the way across the sky, flecked with gorgeous little wisps of purple clouds.  The sun itself had vanished beneath the horizon, but its dying light was putting on an encore show for the ages.  Aaron didn’t know if he had ever seen a more beautiful sunset, and, as he stared up at it, he noticed the twinkling little dot of Venus in the west, heralding the coming of night. 

A sudden tinkle of female laughter sounded in his ears from somewhere behind him, very faint, almost like he was imagining it.  Aaron turned around, trying to find the source, but couldn’t see anything other than the gently bowing branches of the trees as a cool breeze whispered through them.  

‘Maybe it was just the wind,’ Aaron thought to himself, his hair ruffling a bit as he started walking toward the park on the other side of the street.  The streetlamps were beginning to come on, and all around there was a strange, beautiful stillness.  Normally there were people walking around at this time of the early evening, but right now the entire area was deserted…or, at least, it appeared to be.  As he crossed the street and made for the park, Aaron couldn’t help but think that this stillness, this quiet, was a little eerie.  It felt like everything around him – the chattering leaves, the bowing tree branches, the stately lampposts, the slowly swaying empty swing sets – were all watching him, waiting…holding their breath for something that was about to happen.  

‘I think maybe Courtney was right to send me out on a walk,’ Aaron chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he tried to clear these thoughts from his mind.  ‘All this supernatural diary stuff and growth and shrinking and IQ-buffing and…just all the rest of it…I think it’s made me go a little nutty.  Nothing like a nice evening walk to clear my head.’

And then, from behind him, he heard it again – that same teasing echo of female laughter, a bit louder this time, and closer.  Aaron whirled around, his heart beating fast in his chest, and he thought that he caught a golden wink of blonde hair disappearing behind a large oak tree.  The leaves above shivered, and he heard it again, this time unmistakably: the high-pitched giggle of a young woman.  Aaron stood still for a moment, a bit scared.  A disquieting thought popped into his head: that he was being stalked…hunted.  He was all alone, a short, skinny little man, in a world of tall, huge, curvy women, many of whom were sexually voracious.  At this point, it didn’t matter that this was a world of his own making; he was out in it now, exposed.  He briefly thought about turning around and retreating back to his apartment, but he remembered the sharp, heavy sound of the deadbolt, of Courtney locking him out.  

‘I’d be disobeying her if I went back,’ Aaron thought, ‘She sent me on a walk for a reason…it would look silly if I came back because I was afraid.’

He took his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the time: 8:36.  Courtney had told him to go for a half-hour walk, and that had been a few minutes ago, so he could come back at 9.  The breeze kicked up again, and Aaron felt a sudden lightening in his chest as he took a few deep breaths of the fresh, cool air.  He trusted Courtney.  She knew what she was doing; she wouldn’t have sent him out into a dangerous situation.  By this point he knew that he hadn’t imagined the sound of laughter (although maybe he had hallucinated the sparkle of golden hair), but…so what?  Why was he suddenly so anxious?  It really was such a nice evening, better than any he could remember.  And he could enjoy it knowing that, even though she wasn’t there, he was under Courtney’s protection.  In the midst of these mental meanderings, he had completely forgotten that she was alone in his apartment with the diary.  

Resolving to savor the lovely evening, Aaron started walking again, this time toward the large oak tree behind which he had seen – or imagined – that glitter of golden hair.  This was his way of showing himself that he wasn’t afraid anymore, and that, instead of running away, he’d investigate.  The closer he got, the sweeter the air grew, and the faster his heart beat.  He was half-expecting to find a young woman behind the tree, but once he got to the tree and cautiously glanced around it, he saw nothing.  But the air was thick with a heavy, fragrant aura…the smell of roses.  

Behind another nearby oak, the giggling laughter sounded again, a little louder still…mischievous and playful.  Aaron’s head shot up, and this time there could be no doubt: a wavy fall of blonde hair had just danced behind the tree trunk, quite high up, close to the first overhanging branch.  Steeled by his resolve, and remembering Courtney’s protection, Aaron set off towards the tree, walking faster, the scent of roses growing ever-stronger as he followed the trail.  He reached the second tree, breathing hard, less from the effort of walking and more from the expectation of who he was going to meet.  But looking around the trunk’s expanse, he once again found nobody.  Glancing up at the branch, close to where he had seen the blonde hair, Aaron could tell that it was about a foot above the top of his head…maybe a bit more.  This young woman, whoever she was, was about 6 feet tall.

Aaron looked back down from the branch, and he slowly began to scan the park, looking for signs of the woman.  The park appeared to be deserted, but as the blood-red light from the sunset began to fade, replaced with the soft glow of the streetlamps, Aaron knew that he wasn’t alone.  He continued scanning, scanning, feeling like he was going to spot something that hadn’t been immediately obvious before.  But after a minute or so he hadn’t seen anything unusual, so he started walking again.

But just then, he suddenly detected movement on the far end of the park, close to another huge oak tree.  Aaron stopped in his tracks, and his eyes narrowed, trying to make out the source of the movement.  At first he didn’t notice anything, but after a few seconds of staring, he felt a sudden shot of realization go through him, and his heart seemed to stop for an instant.  There was someone hiding behind the tree, peering out at him with sapphire eyes that glimmered in the lamplight…a young woman with golden blonde hair.  Even from this distance, Aaron could see that her eyes were crinkled up, narrowed at him furtively, playfully, as she peered at him from behind the tree.

Pushing down his fear, Aaron started walking toward her, quicker now.  This seemed to delight the young woman, and another melodious giggle sounded out; obviously she was the one who had been laughing at him.  Aaron picked up his pace, breaking into a jog, and she ducked behind the tree out of sight.  By the time he had reached the tree, the woman had vanished once again, with only the aromatic scent of roses to tell that she had been there.  But Aaron had caught the tail-end of her as she had disappeared around a bend in the winding path, her colorful clothes flashing briefly before vanishing.  A series of metallic clinks died away in her wake, an indication of the jewelry she was wearing.  

‘She wants me to follow her,’ Aaron thought, his excitement rising even as he still felt a lingering sense of danger.  But his curiosity was more powerful, and he took off after her, now in a full jog.  The bend of the path was long and thickly-wooded on both sides, so he couldn’t actually see the woman at all, but from the lingering fragrance he knew that he was on the right track.  A couple minutes later, he finally emerged out of the bend, where the path straightened up and opened out to the center of the park.  A large fountain was bubbling there, the quadruple plumes of rounded water softly chattering in the evening.  Aaron had been around this fountain many times before, but it seemed to him like he was looking at it for the first time.  Its white marble gleamed gorgeously in the soft glow of the lamps, which were positioned all around the park’s center in a circle, and, as Aaron approached, he had the strange sense that the fountain’s waters were talking to him, and whispering his name.  

Coming up to the fountain, Aaron’s attention was arrested by something new: right by the fountain’s edge, lined up neatly side by side, was an enormous pair of tall platform heels, winking up at him, hot-pink.  Walking up to them, Aaron saw that they were so tall that they came up to his mid-shins.  Already, he could feel himself getting aroused, just by looking at those huge heels.  He knew they belonged to the young woman, and that she had purposefully left them out there for him to gawk at.  

But more intriguing still was the pair of wet footprints that emerged from the fountain and led away, towards a wooded glade close by.  Aaron bent down, looking closely at the footprints, and saw that they had been made with bare feet.  Almost automatically, Aaron put his own foot in one of the wet footprints, measuring himself against it, and felt his arousal heat up when it became clear that his foot barely even covered half of the print.  He began to follow the footprints, going towards the glade, and scanning for any signs of those playful, glinting eyes peeking at him from behind the trees.  

He was a bit puzzled, then, when the footprints veered off the concrete path, straight in the direction of a huge beech tree that hung over a large patch of soft green grass.  Aaron followed the footprints through the grass (noticing how much deeper the indentations were than his own footprints), and stopped right at the trunk of the enormous tree.  He stood there for a few moments, blinking at the last print at the very base of the tree, and then looked up.  At first he only saw a thick, winding mix of heavy branches, but then his eyes locked onto something anomalous, a huge, dark shape that was hanging high there in the deep shade.  Two glinting sapphire eyes blinked down at him, and Aaron’s own eyes widened as he saw the curved white of exposed teeth underneath…a silent grin.  

“Huuuuaauggh!!” he cried in alarm, for the huge shape had suddenly dropped down, descending from high above like it was going to fall right on top of him.  He scrambled out of the way, twisting as he fell backward on his face in the soft grass.  The girlish laughter echoed in his ears, and he struggled to his feet and turned around.  An enormous young woman was standing before him, smirking down at him playfully as she smacked loudly on her pink bubble gum.  Her fresh face was gorgeous – stunning, in fact – and her golden spill of shoulder-length blonde hair vibrated and shook as she bounced up and down on the balls of her bare feet.  Aaron quickly saw that she must have been taller than 6’0, because his eyes were just about even with her nipples, which were clearly erect and poking through the tight fabric of her rainbow-dyed, one-shoulder top.  There were innumerable necklaces around her neck, and many colorful friendship bracelets around both wrists.  Her long manicured fingers twinkled in the lamplight, adorned with manifold golden rings, which caught the light as she flexed and unflexed her hands.  Her hips looked like they were only barely contained within a pair of tight jean shorts, which stretched around two pillars of solid impressive thighs that Aaron was sure each exceeded the circumference of his own torso.  She was huge.  

“You found me!” she exclaimed, those sapphire eyes opening wide as she smiled down at him, constantly smacking on her gum.  Her voice wasn’t as deep as Courtney’s, or even Cassie’s or Kristina’s – it was higher-pitched, more sprightly, more impish.  

“Y-yeah…I…I found you!” Aaron laughed.  He had no idea what he was doing in this interaction, or really even why he had followed her in the first place.  But he didn’t have time to feel awkward, because she was already speaking again.  

“Did I scare ya?” she laughed, holding up both of her big hands and curving her long fingers into claws.  The golden rings glinted and sparkled, and Aaron saw that her manicured fingernails were very long and very sharp, meticulously painted bright rainbow colors, just like her shirt.  Her mouth opened into an aggressive snarl.

“Rrrrawwwrrrrr!!” she growled, causing Aaron to take a step back, even though he knew that she was just being playful.  Her sheer size compared to him, and the general buoyant, ebullient energy of her presence, made his protective instincts kick in.  In so many ways, she just seemed…overabundant.  

“Awww I’m just playin’ with ya!” she laughed, quickly extending her hand to Aaron, bidding him to come closer.  “I’m Neera!  What’s your name?”

“I’m Aaron,” he replied, coming back to accept her hand.  He almost shivered when he felt the cool, pillowy expanse of her huge palm swallowing up his own hand, and when they shook, he could feel the effortless power of her hand and arm compared to his.  He quickly realized that, if she had wanted to, she could have snapped his arm in two like a twig.  But as Neera straightened up and grinned down at him, her face glowing in the streetlamps, Aaron didn’t feel scared of her.  Cowed and intimidated by her size and beauty, of course, but not afraid.  She was like a ball of sunshine, reflecting a rainbow through the air wherever she went.  And her smell…it was intoxicating, nearly overpowering.  If Aaron had closed his eyes, he would have assumed he was standing next to a very large rose bush in full bloom.

“Aaaaaaron,” she sounded out slowly, relishing the sound in her mouth as her pink gum hung on her teeth, “That’s a cute name…just like you!  You’re a little cutie, you know that?”

“I’ve…been told that,” he managed to reply.

“Yeah, I bet you have,” Neera grinned, shifting her weight over to one side as her thighs and hips jiggled with her movements.  “Cutie…”

Several seconds of silence passed by, with Neera not seeming to care at all about the social niceties.  She just stood there, chewing her gum, her striking eyes going eagerly up and down Aaron’s body.  He was strongly attracted to her – she was probably about 6’4, and looked like she weighed upwards of 230 or 240 pounds…a real voluptuous hulk of a woman.  And her apparent youth, her colorful fashion, and her peppy, jaunty mannerisms all just seemed to accentuate and intensify the effect of her size.  

“I saw you standing on the street corner,” Neera said, breaking the silence, “And I thought, wowwww…what a precious little guy!  Maybe I can get him to chase me!”

“I…eheh, I thought that you were the one chasing me at first!” laughed Aaron.  

“Oh nooooo, no, no, that wouldn’t have been fair at ALL!” exclaimed Neera, her face at once breaking into a scandalized frown.  “Look at your tiny legs!  No way you would’ve been able to outrun me!”

“No, yeah, you’re right,” nodded Aaron, feeling like there was something a bit “off” with this young woman.  Not worrying or disturbing, just…”off.”  It was like she was from someplace else, a different plane…almost like she was some type of…fairy, or something.  Aaron tried to get control of his thoughts, inwardly shaking his head at himself.  He sure did tumble down some mental rabbit holes at the drop of a hat these days!

“Yeah, I wanted to make it fun for both of us,” Neera continued, her expression abruptly flowering again into a smile, “So I left clues for you along the way!”

“Mhm, I…yes, I saw your heels over there,” Aaron said, pointing over to the fountain.  Neera balled her big hands up and shook them.

“Ooooooo you saw them?!” she laughed.  It was so odd, her behavior was almost childlike, but she seemed very obviously to be an adult.

“Yeah, I saw them,” nodded Aaron, his eyes searching her face. 

“And you saw my footprints, of course,” Neera nodded, “That’s how you found me in the tree!”

“That’s…that’s right,” Aaron said.  He felt a need to get something straight.  “Uhm…so Neera, how…how old are you?”

“How old are YOU?” she asked, leering back at him challengingly.  

“I’m 27,” he replied simply, an answer that caused Neera to break out into laughter.

“Oho…hahaha…I’m WAY older than you!” she exclaimed.

“You are!?” asked Aaron, dumbfounded.  Of course Neera’s body was massive compared to his, but he had assumed she was in her early-twenties, or even younger. 

“Oh yeah,” she grinned.  “Ages and ages…”  She paused, her mouth hanging halfway open in that same smile, like she was barely able to process the joy of interacting with him.  Aaron found the overall effect disorienting and even a bit unsettling, even as he felt himself get more and more aroused.  Ages and ages?  What was she even talking about?

“So did ya find my other clue!?” Neera asked eagerly, “In the tree??”

“In…that tree?” asked Aaron, confused, pointing at the big beech tree Neera had just dropped out of.  

“No not THAT one!” she cried, “The OTHER one!  The one I was hiding behind at first!”

“Oh right that one,” Aaron said quickly, “Uhhhh…you left me a clue there?”

Neera stared down at him intensely for a few moments, and then her eyes shut tightly as she swiftly smacked herself in the side of the head.  The motion was so sudden that it caused Aaron to jump back a little.  She was so big and strong that even this self-inflicted smack was intimidating.

“I’m a big dumbo bitch!” she laughed, her big chest heaving.  “I left you one of my golden rings on the tree branch, but I didn’t realize that of course you’d never even see it because you’re sooooo short!”

She stepped towards him and snaked a huge hand onto his back, pulling him into her.  Before he could process what was happening, Aaron felt his face smush into the soft but firm flesh of her upper stomach, the underside of her breasts resting on top of his head.  He felt Neera’s abs tense up and shake against his face as her laughter continued, and her big hand softly caressed and petted his back, a touch not unlike Courtney’s when she had pet him before.  But Neera’s touch was cooler and, as strange as it felt to think about…smoother.  

“See!?” she grinned, stepping back a little so that she could actually peer down at him over her big breasts.  “The top of your head barely even comes up to my boobs!  You’re staring into my stomach!  And that’s with me standing in my bare feet – just imagine how tall I’d be in my pink platforms over there!”

“Y-yeah…” Aaron replied, feeling his cheeks beginning to flush.  She was just so hot…so huge and warm and curvy and strong…and her exuberance was the icing on the cake.

“Aww now I feel bad,” Neera said, her mouth collapsing into a frown again.  “That ring was for you…I wanted you to wear it!”

Her eyes searched him over her breasts for a few moments, and she seemed genuinely sad.  But almost as quickly, her face brightened into a smile again.  

“I’ll just give you another one!” she declared, and instantly collapsed down into a crouch next to him.  Aaron swallowed as he realized that, even crouched down like this, he was still barely taller than her.  She looked even bigger with her face and torso this close to him.  She had splayed her big right hand wide open and was scanning her fingers, trying to decide which ring to give him.  While she did this, Aaron felt a strange, deepening confusion.  He had just been eye-level with Neera’s nipples a few minutes ago…he was sure of it.  But when she had pressed him into her, he had been eye-level with the top of her stomach.  And now, crouched down, she seemed even bigger still.  What was going on?  Who WAS this woman!?

“Here!” Neera exclaimed, slipping a thin, sparkling golden ring of her pinkie finger.  She had to work it for a few seconds before it finally came off her finger.  She held it up to him, triumphant.  “There you go!” she continued, “For you!”

“Wow, thanks…thanks so much!” Aaron replied genuinely, accepting the ring.  He had the odd sense that if he had politely refused, Neera would have burst into tears.

“Put it on, put it on!” she said eagerly, “I want to see how it looks – try it on your middle finger, because my fingers are so much bigger and longer than yours.”

To prove her point, Neera held her hand up, wiggling her fingers at him playfully, and Aaron sheepishly put his own hand up to hers.  The difference was staggering – the tops of his fingers barely even reached the second knuckle of hers.  Neera stuck her tongue into the side of her cheek, showing her gum, and engulfed his hand completely in hers, shaking it and whispering “Grrrrrrrrrr!” at him like she was some kind of cat.  Aaron blinked at her, thrown off by her oddly primal behavior, yet totally smitten.  He tried putting the ring onto his middle finger, but it was so big that it immediately slipped right off, falling into the soft grass.

“Oh never mind, never mind!” laughed Neera, now taking both of his hands in hers, swallowing them up in her palms as she shook them playfully, “I thought it had a shot of fitting you, but you’re just so itty-bitty, Aaron!  Even my pinkie rings are too big for you!”

“Uh-huh,” Aaron breathed, now blushing completely.  

“I thought about giving you one of these friendship bracelets,” Neera said, holding out her wrist to him, “But I don’t even think one of these would fit on your upper arm, do you?”

She gently wrapped her huge hand around his wrist, then broke into a wide grin as her hand continued to go up, up, up his arm, past his elbow, and then to the widest part of his bicep.  Her hand still easily went around, with plenty of room to spare for her fingers.  She shook her head at him, smirking and smacking her gum.  Aaron felt his breath catch in his chest.  She was in the same crouching position as before, but…they were the same height now.  

“Not…even…close…” she hummed in his face, those sapphire eyes sparkling like jewels.

“Uh, Neera…?” asked Aaron, feeling like he had to somehow ground this interaction in some recognizable reality, “Where…uhm…where do you live?”

“Oh come onnnnn!” she laughed, “That’s a silly question!”  Her bracelets sounded out into the air as she lifted her big arm, pointing past him to the center of the park, towards the fountain.  

“The condos behind the trees?” Aaron asked.  Neera tilted her head at him, her brow furrowing, like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  Then her face softened as she seemed to understand, and a large pink bubble expanded from her mouth as she blew it, popping right as its thin film hit his nose.  

“You little bean,” Neera teased, gathering her gum back into her mouth as she reached out to playfully pinch one of his nipples, “Not the condos…I live in the fountain!”