"Eep!" Jon squeaked at the the booming impact of the voice, startled, but turning reflexively to face it. After an entire day of nothing but softer, lighter, feminine voices, his being one of the worst offenders, the deep baritone of Karyn's father's baritone was a shock to the system. In front of him stood a man Jon was quite familiar with after years of spending time at Karyn's house, but uniquely different. Now barely coming up to his shoulders, a size Jon hadn't been since before puberty, he felt miniscule in his presence. Throughout the day of being surrounded by women, most of whom were on the petite side, had lured Jon into some sort of false illusion of the situation, allowing him to forget how meager and fun sized his new shape had become, but Jon was fully left breathless by this presence, this man he knew all to well, who he used to see eye to eye with, who would try to awkwardly talk to him about sports now stood as a reflection of everything he wasn't. His chiseled jawline, deep, steely blue eyes, broad shoulders, toned forearms, rugged handsomeness...
"Oh, I'm sorry miss," the man continued. "Didn't mean to frighten you."
"Dad!" Karyn bellowed. "Stop it! You know this is Miss Gibson, right? The cheer squad coordinator? Zoe's mom? You two have met, like, a dozen times."
"Really? My apologies, my head has been feeling foggy all day. Please excuse me for not remembering the name of someone so charming."
"It's Sandra," Jon blushed, feeling the man's eyes scan and sometimes linger his outline, "Sandra Gibson. But nothing wrong with re-introductions Liam." Jon's stifled a laugh after his comment suitably shamed and flustered, finding it almost adorable seeing Karyn's father worked up for the first time. "It's a pleasure," Jon smiled, limply offering his hand only to be engulfed by Liam's coarser, assertive grip.
"Likewise," he smiled, his captivating eyes seemingly peering right through Jon.
"Omigawd! Dad stop!" Karyn groaned, shaking Jon from the trance. "I knew I should've told you to stay in the car! You're so embarrassing! Can you go look at ties or something? This is awkward enough without you here."
"Fine, fine. Just try not to take up too much of Sandra's time, okay princess?"
"Ughhhh!" Karyn groaned, tugging at Jon's hand and leading him towards the changing rooms, Jon feeling Liam's remain eyes on his rear as they parted, subconsciously adding a little sway in his step while worrying if he was grossed out by how big it was, completely oblivious that he was holding Karyn's hand for the first time.
"I'm so sorry about my dad, Miss G, I can't believe him."
"Oh, it's no big deal Karyn, it was nothing. He was just being polite." He was just being polite and nothing more, right? I'm just overthinking this because I'm not used to being treated like a... like a mature woman. That's all it was. Jon did his best to rationalize. "And please, just call me Jo-Sandra. Sandra, okay?"
"Jo-Sandra? Are you okay? Don't tell me that pathetic attempt at flirting has you riled up. A Neanderthal would blush at his lack of subtlety. You think he'd have learned to flirt better than a pervy high school boy by now. Seriously, that effort makes Moose look like James Bond in comparison."
Flirting? With me? No, absolutely not. It's so unlike Karyn to be so overdramatic and I know I'd notice if he was doing that. Plus, I've seen the types of women Liam, er, Mr. Black, would date. Ladies that would make Karyn's eyes roll with their superficiality and promiscuous attire. Certainly no one as full figured, voluptuous, and plump as me. I mean, I'd have to be crazy to think he'd prefer me over girls with younger, perkier, bodies... Why am I even dwelling on this nonsense? That's all it is, nonsense.
It wasn't until almost two hours later that Jon came to, the bra straps digging into his shoulders once again feeling foreign and uncomfortable, unsteady on his heels, and long hair heavy on his head. He could feel the 'Sandra-isms' creep into his thought process throughout the day, like weird urges to check and touch up his makeup, odd word choice (honestly who refers to their behind as a hiney or derrière?) and a strange recollection of names and job duties. No doubt, a side effect of Zoe's wish, but they were mostly benign and rather helpful. Something happened with Karyn though, something far stronger. Seeing Karyn so nonchalantly disrobe in front of him, stripping down to her panties and unhooking her bra broke him. The disconnect between Jon and Sandra seemed to great in that moment to warrant any reconciliation and Sandra jumped in and took over, unflinchingly stepping in and measuring Karyn's cup size with a clinical, un-phased precision, picking out numerous bras, listening to cheer gossip, boy problems, dispensing advice and behaving like a mom. Like Sandra. What was a long time of fantasy of Jon's had become basic, routine, and casual under Sandra's guidance, frustratingly recalling how sterile Sandra's cupping of Karyn's chest was, nodding in whole-hearted agreement how terrible a large bust was with no hint of irony, his words dripping with sincere empathy, knowing "all too well" the constant nuisance of having rather large fun bags and how gross men could be about nothing more than bags of fat.
Even now, with Jon fully in control, that word made him cringe, something possibly left over from the Sandra imprint. He tried to recall the image of a topless Karyn, but felt a strange fuzziness and disconnect and quickly focused on something else, lest he snap into mom mode again and not even be able to enjoy a buttered pretzel on his lunch break without fretting over it going 'straight to her hips' and wondering if Liam's little wink as he and Karyn left was intentional or not. But at least, for now, he had his focus, he was Jon, brother, bit of a nerd, but a young man through and through. He just needed to be more aware of certain triggers. If only they could use the stone to make sense of what just happened, by at least understanding what caused that outburst to happen might make it easier to prevent during this week.
Maybe Zoe would know something. After getting the inside scoop from Karyn, Jon was pretty certain Zoe might undergo the same 'switch flipping' during her day. Apparently, Sarah had taken Zoe under her wing as heir apparent to be cheer captain (which made 'Sandra' gush with pride at the time), not letting her out of her sight, and was becoming an absolute monster on the practice field with Regionals soon approaching. Karyn was more than happy, which she seemed ashamed to admit to Sandra, to miss a day of practice and the brutal regime of "Pom-Pom Stalin" since her breast situation had become "unmanageable" recently.
That was another thing, Karyn knew it was odd not one of her bras came close to fitting, but made no mention of the stone, and seemed puzzled by the whole situation. It seemed like Karyn, through her grumblings, knew something felt off- her dad's fogginess, her mixed opinion on her longtime bff Sarah, wanting red hair because it felt more natural, but couldn't place the source of these confusing, mixed feelings. Did it have something to do with the stone's range or just the nature of the wish in general? Was there some loophole that could be exploited? It even seemed to follow Jon, any person who may have had a loose connection to Sandra experience some sort of haziness behind their eyes before continuing on as if nothing had happened. It was definitely something Jon knew he had to ponder on longer to make sure the reversal wish was done absolutely perfect. Zoe had been right to put this off for a week, there was a lot to consider.
After bumbling sloppily through the rest of his shift, avoiding any guidance Sandra might have had to offer. Cindy's death glare only reinforced how poor of a job he was doing and almost felt Sandra's smugness in his ineptitude and being able to discern between formal and business casual. Instead of stopping and browsing through Gamestop and treating himself to a purely Jon hobby, he wobbled as fast as his heels could take him through the parking lot, digging through his purse, fishing through what seemed like a care package of supplies, before locating his keys and phone. Like his life as Jon, his phone was largely unmolested by texts. There was a few from Linda, someone named 'Courtney', and two from Zoe.
It was hard to decide which one was stranger-
The first:
πΎπΌπΆ!!!!!! πππππ πππππππ πππ πππ ππ ππΌππ· ππππππππ! π²ππ π’ππ ππππππ πππ πππ ππ’ ππππ ππππππ πΈ πππ ππππ π πππ πππ πππ πππ π πππππππ πππ? πππ ππππ ππ π πππ ππ ππππππππ ! π'ππ π ππππ ππππ, ππππ π’ππ ππππ! πππ‘ πππ, πππ π!!! <πΉπΉπΉπΉπΉπΉπΉ
And the second:
πππππππππ πππππ π ππππ ππ πππππ ππ, π π ππππ ππ ππππ ππππ
Whatever had happened, it sure seemed like Zoe wouldn't be thinking of this as a little vacation anymore.
