Miniature Ch. 02

"I brought you some food," James said gently as he walked into his room. Lena was still sitting against the corner and she stubbornly refused to look up at him.

"I'm curious what you normally eat, do you have tiny food where you come from?" James asked. Lena only glared up at him.

"Here," James had unloaded the stuff onto his desktop. He picked Lena up out of the drawer and sat her on the desk as well. "Help yourself to whatever you like," he told her, motioning to the small range of food he had gathered from his kitchen.

"You liar," Lena accused spitefully, apparently not able to hold her anger in any longer. "You told me that you had never seen a little person like me before, but then where did these clothes come from?" she questioned.

She was standing now, and James could get a better look at her body. The shorts fit her pretty well. Her breasts were smaller than Barbie's, though, and the shirt was a bit awkward. The neckline drooped a bit and threatened to fall off her shoulder. The shirt was intended to be a belly shirt, so it didn't cover her torso all the way.

"They are for a doll," James explained. "My sister has a bunch of Barbie dolls, they are really popular, and they sell a bunch of clothes to go with them."

Lena looked at him suspiciously. "Here, I'll show you," James laughed as he picked Lena back up in his hand and started to walk toward the attic.

Lena appeared to be very interested in all the Barbie things that were just her size. "Look at that house," she said to herself and James set her down inside of it. She curiously explored the big pink house. She tried to turn the sink faucet in the kitchen, which of course didn't work. She opened the refrigerator door and inspected some of the fake food.

"It's all fake," she told him as she held a tiny plastic turkey that looked life size in her hands.

"They're just toys," he told her. She walked up the spiral staircase carefully, and lay down in Barbie's hard, plastic bed.

"What an intricate doll house," she said curiously, looking up at him.

"So I guess you're talking to me now?" he questioned her with a grin. She just glared up at him, making James chuckle.

James reached into the box he had left open from before and pulled out one of the barbies, setting it down next to her. Lena closely inspected the doll that was as tall as her, grabbing its arm and moving it, feeling the hard, smooth plastic.

"Are you hungry?" he eventually asked, feeling hungry himself.

"Yes," Lena said, and he picked her up, taking her back to his room.

James set her down on top of his desk where he had set all the food. He watched her interestedly as she inspected the fare. "What is all this stuff?" she asked, picking up a potato chip in both her hands.

"That's a potato chip," he told her. "What sort of foods do you eat where you come from?" he asked her curiously.

Lena eyed him warily, then hesitantly answered, "We have potatoes," she delicately sniffed the yellow crisp in her hands, "But no potato chips."

"Are your potatoes normal size?" James asked her, picturing a bunch of men digging up a potato that was bigger than they were.

"Yes," Lena looked up at him.

"I mean, are they about the size of your hand or the size of your body?" he asked her, realizing that she didn't know what "normal size" was.

"The size of my hand," Lena answered.

"Interesting," James said to himself. He was getting more and more curious to see the tiny village where she lived, where everything was the same except smaller.

"Why don't you try it," he said, as she was still holding the potato chip, but not eating it.

Lena looked from him to the potato chip, before she took a small bite out of it. She chewed and swallowed before looking up at him with surprised eyes. "It's good!" she said amazedly, taking another bite.

"Wait till you try this," he said, handing her a small square of chocolate. "Have you ever had chocolate before?" he wondered, and Lena shook her head no. She wasn't so hesitant to eat this time, but eagerly took a bite.

"That is so good!" she exclaimed, "It's better than anything I've ever tasted before!" She greedily took a few more bites, "What else is there?"

Lena tried everything he had brought up. She really liked the cold pizza and cheese puffs. James laughed out loud when he saw how practically her entire face and hands had turned orange with the cheesy powder, and got her a napkin to wash herself. She had some of the vegetables and fruit he brought, but said that her village had those things, albeit smaller. She was more interested in trying the things she had never had before.

"Aren't you full yet?" James asked, amazed how she had managed to fit so much food into her tiny body.

Lena groaned and sat down on the desk. "Are you okay?" James asked her.

"I feel sick," she said. James cursed himself for letting her pig out so much. It was too much to eat for anyone, let alone someone who had never had junk food before. He was just too enthralled with the ecstatic look in her eyes as she tried all the new things, and how cute she looked munching on the oversized food gripped between her two hands.

"Sorry, I should have warned you," James admitted guiltily, "Junk food can make you feel a bit nauseated if you eat too much," he told her.

Lena just groaned, and James realized that she was turning green. "Oh no," he said, picking her up, realizing that she was going to puke. He rushed her to the bathroom and set her by the sink just in time. She leaned her head over the edge of the porcelain bowl, puking up the food she had just eagerly gobbled down.

"You poisoned me," she said between her puking bouts, tears streaming down her face as she emptied her stomach.

"No," James said horrified. "You'll be fine. Just an upset stomach," he said. He rubbed his finger against her small back as she continued to puke into the basin.

"There, there," he said soothingly, until her stomach was finally emptied. He turned on the sink to wash the remnants of her meal away and filled up a Dixie cup with cold water.

"Here, drink some water," he told her. She was lying prostrate against the sink, her eyes closed. She didn't respond. "Come on," he coaxed, "Just to get the taste out of your mouth."

She opened her eyes, and struggled to sit up. James supported her back, and held the cup for her as she drank some water. James was so wrapped up in what he was doing that he didn't even hear his sister come to the bathroom door until it was too late.

"Holy shit!" Jaime shouted, as she looked at the tiny person her brother was holding. At first glance, Jaime had thought that he was playing with dolls, but then the tiny figure moved.

James's head whipped around, and he stared at his sister in horror. "What is that?" Jaime asked, staring down at the woman.

"Just relax for a second, J," James said, holding his hands out in front of him, looking a bit wary of her.

"What is going on here," Jaime's head whipped from her brother to the tiny woman who was looking at her a bit nervously.

"Just hold on a second. I can explain everything," he said.

Jaime stared at her brother in shock, but didn't say anything, only stared at him, waiting for the promised explanation.

"Come into my room," he said, picking up Lena and carrying her with him. Jaime followed him, and James set Lena down on his desk.

"J," he said to his sister, "I would like you to meet Lena. Lena, this is my sister Jaime." He said, not really sure where to start the explanation, and thinking that it was only polite to introduce them.

"Hello," Jaime replied.

"Hi," Lena said. She still looked a little sick, but still stood on her feet, looking appraisingly between James and his sister.

"What the fuck is going on?" Jaime asked when her brother didn't start answering her questions fast enough.

"Okay," James said, "Knowing that there was nothing he could do but come clean to his sister. Lena says that she comes from a village in the forest out back, where there are other small people like her. She climbed on DeeDee's back, who brought her to our yard. She fell in the pool, and I fetched her out and brought her inside and gave her some old Barbie clothes to wear." James told the basic events of the day, leaving out the parts which made him sound like a total ass, the part about him keeping her against her will.

"What?" Jaime said, more as an exclamation of disbelief than one of miscomprehension. She stared at Lena, who stared back at her.

"This is insane," she said, but the proof was right there before her eyes. "Laura is going to freak!"

"No!" James shouted as soon as the words were out of her mouth. "You can't tell anyone!" he denied.

Jaime got a mischievous look in her eyes. "I mean it Jaime," James told his little sister.

"What are you planning on doing with her anyway? She can't stay here forever with no one finding out," Jaime warned.

"I don't know what's going to happen yet." James told her, "She's eventually going to go back to her village. We just have to find it first." James said this, though he and Lena hadn't talked about it. She seemed to have started trusting him, but she might still be too suspicious to let him see her home.

"Mom and dad are going to find out," Jaime said off-handedly. She was studying Lena, who was now lying on the desk, apparently having fallen asleep.

"She got sick from eating too much," he explained to Jaime, who was looking at the little woman curiously. James was looking down at her fondly, and Jaime didn't miss the look in her brother's eyes when she glanced up at him.

"You perv," she accused. James snapped his head around to look at her, startled.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, outraged.

"You like her," Jaime accused. "Gross James. That's just gross."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just feel responsible for her." James was a little flustered by his little sister's comment, which put a voice to what he feared was true. He did have some tender, inexplicable feelings for the girl. But nothing would come of it, so he pushed it aside.

"Listen," he said, grabbing his sister's shoulders. "You just have to promise me that you won't tell anyone about her. Okay?" his question was more of a command.

"All right," Jaime held up her hands in surrender, and James let go of her shoulders. "If..." she added, and James sighed and looked at her. It was just like Jaime to try and get something out of him.

"I want you to set me up on a date with Todd," she said, crossing her arms, waiting for the challenge she knew her brother would give her.

"Todd? Todd Clifton?" he questioned disbelievingly. Jaime nodded.

"Absolutely not," he denied, shaking his head in stunned disapproval. He had no idea that his sister had a crush on his former best friend, or would want to go out with him.

"Then I'm telling everyone," Jaime said stubbornly.

James eyed his sister. She could be unpredictable sometimes, and he wouldn't put it psat her to tell, just to spite him.

"Why would you want to go out with a loser like him anyway?" James tried a different tactic.

"Nice way to talk about your friend," she said scathingly.

"No, no way," James said, scolding himself for even entertaining the outrageous thought for a minute. "He's nineteen years old!"

"So?" Jaime replied.

"You're thirteen!" He couldn't believe that she didn't see how ridiculous she was being. "I'm not going to set my baby sister up with a nineteen year old pothead," he complained. He knew he was being unfair. Todd did smoke pot occasionally, but he wasn't a mush-for-brains druggie by any means. Still at that point, he didn't care. He wasn't going to let his baby sister around some nineteen-year-old horn-dog.

Jaime's mouth screwed up in anger. "Fine. I'm going to go tell mom and dad right now. She stomped out of the room, and it was only another second before James followed her. "Fine, fine," he said, catching her by the arm. "I'll see what I can do."

Jaime squealed and jumped up and hugged him. "Thank you big brother!" she said happily, "Are you going to call him now?" she questioned.

"I'll call him tomorrow," he said resignedly.

Jaime glanced at the clock. It was only around 7:30. "It's still early. You can call him now," she said, eagerly pushing him toward the phone. Rather than argue with her, he picked up the phone and dialed Todd's number, figuring that his friend would already be out. To his surprise, Todd picked up.

"Hey man, you change your mind?" Todd's voice questioned from the other line.

"Uh," James looked over at his sister. Rather than have her eavesdrop, he decided to just go hang out with Todd for a little while. His also figured it would make his friend a little more willing to help him. "Yeah, actually I did."

"Cool." Todd replied.

"I'll meet you at your house," he said, hanging up the phone.

Jaime looked up at him expectantly.

"I'm going over there for a couple of hours," James told her, "Watch over Lena, okay?" he asked her. Jaime nodded. Despite the fact that she could be a brat sometimes, he knew that he could trust her with important things, when it really came down to it.

"Long time no see," Todd greeted his friend as he waited in the opened the door leading from the garage to his room in the basement.

"Yeah, how's it hanging?" James greeted him, giving his friend a half hug and a pat on the back. "How's college going for you?" Todd questioned as he sat down on the couch. His room was exactly what you would expect from a community college dropout who was living in his parents' basement. The coffee table had chip bags and game controllers strewed over it. There were crumbs ground into the carpets and dirty laundry everywhere. The only thing that appeared to be clean in the entire place was a basket of neatly folded laundry in the corner, obviously put there by his mother.

"It's good," James answered. He thought about asking his friend how things were going for him, but he knew that he was working at the local grocery store, and he didn't really want to sound like an arrogant jerk by making him say it.

"I've got a favor to ask you," James said, diving right in.

Todd laughed. "Ah, so here's the reason for your visit," Todd said, making James feel guilty. There was good-natured smile on Todd's face, though, showing that he wasn't angry, making James feel a little bit better.

"Um, you know my sister, right?" James asked, not really sure how to ask his friend to take his sister out.

"Yeah, sure. Jaime right?" Todd nodded. He picked up a bag of chips of the table and offered some to James, who shook his head.

James continued as his friend munched. "Well, apparently she likes you or something," James shrugged.

Todd raised his eyebrows at him. "No kidding?" he asked. "But what's the favor."

James tried to keep the look of disgust as he pictured this guy taking his sister on her first date, and just forced himself to ask the question. "Could you just, maybe, take her to he movies one night."

Todd raised his eyebrow at his friend, setting the bag of chips down. "You want me to go on a date with your kid sister?"

James's eyes narrowed at the way he phrased the question. "Yeah, I guess so," he said. "You'd just have to take her somewhere one time. Two hours at a movie then bring her back home." James was feeling more and more apprehensive the deeper he got into this thing. He was already starting to worry about his little sister, and Todd hadn't even agreed yet.

"Uh, yeah sure. I'll take the kid out. What the heck." Todd said, leaning back against the couch.

James was surprised at how easily Todd agreed to do this. James hadn't even had to bribe him with money yet, which he for sure thought that he would have to do. This made him suspicious.

"Todd," he said threateningly, "If you even lay one hand on my baby sister, I swear to God—"

"Dude, dude," Todd cut him off, "Are you going to threaten me when I just agreed to do you a favor?" he asked, though he had a teasing grin on his face.

James looked at him warningly. "Come on man," he said, "I wouldn't make a move on my best friend's sister," he said sincerely.

James once again felt guilty. Best friends. James hadn't really thought about Todd that much since going away to college, but now he thought back on their time together in high school. Though they hadn't discussed it back then, he guessed they were best friends.

"Yeah, sorry." James said. "Thanks."

"Sure," Todd shrugged, "When do you want this to happen?" he asked.

"How about Saturday?" he questioned. "You can pick her up at six and have her back by eight?" James questioned.

"Yeah, okay," Todd agreed. There was a knock on the door and some guys came down into the basement.

"What's up?" there was a general greeting all the way around. James recognized two guys from high school, and they greeted him with warmly. There was another guy who James didn't recognize, and Todd introduced him as a new friend.

They were discussing their plans to go out and meet up with some girls when James felt like it was time for him to leave. "I got go," he said to Todd.

"What? You're not coming with us?" he asked.

"Nah, I have stuff to do early tomorrow," he made up an excuse.

One of the guys from high school and Todd made a minimal effort to get him to stay before giving up and James made his escape.

As he drove home, he started thinking about Lena. He wondered if she was still sleeping or if she had woken up. Then he started wondering if she had woken up, what she would say to Jaime. What if she convinced Jaime to let her go? He felt a slight panic before he realized that even if that were the case, they wouldn't go anywhere at night.

When he got home, he found that Lena was in fact still asleep, though a pillow was under her body. Jaime had fallen asleep in his bed, and he picked her up and carried her to her room before going back to his own bed. He found that he had some trouble falling asleep, and he simply lay in bed, watching Lena until he finally closed his eyes for the night.