I sat on her knee, the TV in front of us looking like a movie screen stretched off to each side of me. It would still be massive at my regular size too, but as it was, it felt hard to absorb what was going on on-screen without physically looking around at it. I didn't much care what was on screen though, it was just some docu-drama series about people with more money than I'd ever have, doing dumb things in places I could never afford to go. Although... If Marissa went, I suppose I'd come along by default, and she had more than enough money to do go to the fancy places in the show...
She shifted under me, and I toppled, tumbling off her knee and onto her thigh as she lowered her leg. I gripped the edge of her shorts to steady myself, and she scooped me up into her hand, still slightly damp from her lotion.
"I'm getting a blanket, do you want a tissue or something, Rat?"
"Uh, that's- Yeah, actually, a tissue would be nice, I'm getting really cold..."
Marissa snorted, amused "I was kidding. Have some self respect, don't wear tissues. I'll just hold you or something."
I sighed. Marissa's hands were cold too, so it wouldn't help much. Earlier today when I was in the bottle, I was against her upper chest all day, right under her neck, so the heat from her body kept me warm, and the few minutes I was let out of the bottle were short enough that I didn't have time to get cold. We'd been watching TV since she got home and changed into her lazy clothes though, and knees weren't known for being warm. I hugged myself and rubbed my arms. Hopefully the clothes that she ordered me had some long sleeves... I should have worn my pink jumpsuit while we watched TV, but she'd told me to put on my PJs to 'get cozy', so...
After grabbing a blanket from a wall cubby I couldn't even see until she opened it, she flopped back onto the couch alongside her bed. She had a good grip on me, but I still felt the world shift and my stomach drop as she fell, and my teeth clicked when she landed. I needed to get my hands on a tiny mouth guard, I swear.
She picked up her glass of water and sipped, the ice cubes clinking as she set it down, and folded her hands on her stomach, pinning me to the fuzzy blanket. It was warmer than I thought it'd be and I wiggled into a laying-down position to see the TV while I warmed up.
"So... Do you watch this show a lot?" I asked, hoping she'd help explain the appeal.
"You're talking without being talked to again, Rat." She said, but without too much bite. "No, I just watch whatever. I used to like to watch videos about people cooking, especially the tv shows where they had to compete, but these days I just don't really care what I watch."
"That makes sense... There's not a lot of good stuff on. I really like old shows, black and white ones, like... Bewitched, or Twilight Zone and stuff. It's kinda cozy."
"Huh... I never watched black and white stuff, actually. Maybe we can give it a try some time." She said, absently.
I lay there for a few minutes, rising and falling with her breath. She seemed tired, almost peaceful right now. It'd been hard for her to get the paperwork needed to get me approved by the school, and she'd argued the while time she was filing. It'd taken over an hour for Drew to show up with the purchase proof after she'd found out she needed that too, so she was stuck there waiting on him, complaining the entire time.
I was tired, not because of the longer that usual day at college, but because I'd been on display the entire time on the desk in the college offices waiting on the paperwork, and the faculty had much less shame in staring at me and making comments about me than the students, so I had to stand and look polite the whole time, no sitting or resting. One or two had tried to talk to me, but once they realized I couldn't talk through the glass, they just stared.
I thought very carefully about what I was going to say next before opening my mouth. Something had bugged me, and I wanted to clarify while she wasn't in her scary mood.
"Hey, Marissa? Why did you cut our visit with Henri short earlier? I understand that it's your right, but I just was wondering why you proposed a supervised visit, then bottled me again so fast..."
She was quiet for a second, her breathing slowing down.
"She went too far, it was supposed to be a visit, not... that."
"What do you mean? Because she kissed my head?"
Marissa's hands closed over me.
"Yeah, she shouldn't have done that. It made me mad."
I thought for a moment. "What about it made you mad? She's my best friend after all..."
"Do 'best friends' usually kiss each other, Rat?" Marissa said, an edge to her voice.
"Well, I think people subconsciously don't think of me as a person now, it's like, you know, I'm small, too small to remember I have personal space? I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it, and she's European, so like they kiss people, right?"
"Well, she's not in Germany anymore. And you being small is no excuse."
I was surprised, did that mean she still saw me as a person? I didn't think she'd ever admit it even if she did. That said, she was taking a weird interest in my boundaries for someone who regularly picked me up without asking and manhandled me like a doll constantly.
"Well, thanks, but if it's Henri, I don't really care, she was just being sweet..." I said softly.
Marissa's hand closed around me.
She was firmly gripping me now, and I wiggled, confused and concerned at the hardness in her voice. Was she homophobic or something?
"No! She's my friend, she doesn't usually kiss me, we only did it once, in high school, I swear, like, as a test, we're just friends!"
"A test? A test to see what she tasted like?" Marissa said sarcastically
"No, gods, just a test, to see if we were like, you know, I don't know, like, gay or something."
"And were you?" Marissa asked, her voice quiet.
I coughed, and tried to respond.
"I don't- not then, I was like, I just wanted someone to love me, I didn't care who, but kissing her felt like if I kept going, it'd end with me losing her, so I told her I didn't like it..."
"And?" Marissa followed up in the same quiet voice "Did you like it?"
"I- I didn't care, it was fine, it wasn't world changing or something." My ribs ached and my side was flaring up again "I don't think I care about gender or stuff when I kiss people, I don't know what that makes me, but like, I just- I like whoever, I don't care."
I was struggling to keep my arms braced against her tightening grip, the air slowly but surely leaving my lungs. Why did she care? What was this? She lifted me to her face and stared me down, an emotionless glare that cut through me.
"So what do you look for, if gender doesn't matter?" She said, just as emotionless.
I took a deep breath and tried to squirm up higher in her hand "I look for- gods, you're starting to squeeze too tight, I can't-"
"Answer me, Rat."
"I- I like- I look for people who I get along with, with- oh, gods, please this hurts..." I coughed more and felt my insides twist as she held me, my bruise starting to spike in pain with the pressure.
"It seems like you're getting worked up thinking about it, why don't you cool off and get me an answer later?" She said, opening her hand a crack. I sucked in air and shuddered, I'd felt like I was going to pass out, I don't think I could have lasted much-
She tipped her hand, and I fell, screaming. My knees hit the ice in her glass first, knocking them out of the way as I plunged into the freezing water. The air I had fought for so hard suddenly gone, replaced with liquid in my lungs. The water hurt my eyes, my muscles felt tight, and I spasmed, unable to stop shaking. I twisted and looked up, the ice cubes were above me now, blocking me from the air. I needed to get past them if I wanted to breathe, to live. I kicked franticly and slammed into them head first, knocking them around me as I fought my way to the surface. I hit air and gushed water out of my lungs, coughing and gasping as the ice around me made it harder and harder to keep swimming.
I felt the water level slosh, and saw through the glass that Marissa had lifted the cup. I screamed out to her, but she just took a sip, ignoring me. As she held the glass to her mouth, drinking deeply, I felt the water pull me to her lips and I crashed into them, the ice cubes hitting me in the back as she tipped the glass up further. Her mouth was barely open, just enough to drink the water, not enough to pull me in, but the suction was strong anyway. The last of the ice fell on top of me and I screamed in pain from the impact, hugging and clinging to Marissa for warmth and for any kind of protection.
She took deeper gulps, my leg slipping into her mouth, my tracker bracelet getting caught between her upper and lower teeth. I felt the heat from her tongue and I gripped her lips harder, my body shaking and shuddering as the rushing water drained my strength. The last of the water rushed over me and trickled away into her mouth, and she lowered the glass, leaving me clinging to her face, teeth chattering and head spinning. I felt her fingers gently pinch under my arms, pulling me away from her mouth, making a kissy noise as she did so, and she looked at me, hair in my face, body jerking with shakes, soaking wet, and she smiled.
"Huh, well. I guess it's not that weird to kiss your friends after all, Rat. I thought that was fun, we should do it again sometime..."
~~~
I lay in bed, my blankets, a washcloth, a handkerchief and my microfiber cloth all on top of me. I was in my jumpsuit, and the temperature in my house was turned up to max, and I still couldn't stop shaking. It was the next morning, and Marissa had made a very big deal about me going to class with her anyway, but once she'd made me get out of bed and seen me collapse in a shaky heap on the floor, she'd stopped talking and put me back in bed herself. She'd put the extra 'blankets' on me, and had left my tablet propped against the bed.
I had been a strange mix of too hot, and feeling like I'd never be warm again, and I kept sweating despite feeling like I was freezing. That was much earlier though, and while I was still feeling bad, I was much better than I was when Marissa left to go to class.
I slid up in my bed enough to pick up my tablet, and opened my messages. I'd prefer to be using my phone, but it was still under the couch cushion downstairs, and I didn't think I could make it there and back. I pulled my legs up to make a platform for the tablet and winced at the pain in my knees. They were bruised now too, as well as my back from the ice falling on me.
I opened the messages, and found one from my mother's phone, asking for an update. I realized with a pang of guilt that I hadn't texted them in quite a while, and spent some time giving them a full update on my living situation. Leaving out the parts about Marissa hurting me, of course. My father would do... something even dumber than trying to smuggle me to Germany if he found out, and I wanted to make sure I could still talk to them for now. Once it was sent, I opened Henri's texts, and sent her an explanation.
'hey bbgrl, srry im not at college, fell in water, got super sick, ill be better soon tho'
She responded almost instantly
"Oh, lovely, I have been following your new caretaker all over campus, I had thought she had stowed you in a pocket or somewhere. I was quite worried she was suffocating you. I'm happy to hear you are home, but sorry to hear you are sick. Will you be ready be tomorrow?'
I frown. What?
'whats then?'
'Oh, that is when I get to talk to Marissa about seeing you again, remember? How could you forget?'
'oh, yea, srry, times all run together now'
"I understand, I've been trying to find a way to present my case, I think I can convince her to let me see you regularly, but I'm worried about what she said; that I must earn seeing you. I will fight for you, klein fee."
I was worried about that too. The way Marissa had mentioned 'having two new pets' called to mind Henri on all fours with a collar on, and... while I knew Henri wouldn't mind that in a slightly different setting, I was sure she'd hate it in this particular one. Marissa hadn't said anything about it since we'd met.
Henri, but... I had been asleep or in bed for almost 16 hours total now, so there wasn't much opportunity for us to have talked about it. What we had talked about concerning Henri's actions though... I thought about if it was ok to talk about it on the tablet, or if I should wait until I could get out of bed. In the end I decided it'd be pretty suspicious if I didn't talk about it to her, so I bit the bullet.
'hey, tho. the kiss... dont do that, ok?'
'Oh, no no, I was just so happy to see you, it was nothing more than me being overjoyed to have my lovely friend back in my arms, nothing more, I'm sorry I caused you to be upset.'
'no, i wasn't upset, i get it, but lady m was like 'thats inaprops' so not again plz'
'Oh. Interesting. I see, I'm so sorry, I hope nothing bad happened because of me..."
I thought about the squeezing, the ice water, being stuck in bed, and I tried to think about her reaction. Either she's very careful around me forever, and I don't get hurt, or... she gets mad, and she really does kidnap me. If she was super careful, I'd miss getting to see her be silly or tease me like she did, I'd lose out on her bluntness and candor, she wouldn't be herself. If she tried to kidnap me, bad things could happen. An image of Henri and Marissa playing tug of war with my whole body flashed in my head, and I quickly typed out a response.
'no bad stuff, just a comment, ur good bbgrl'
'I'm happy to hear that, I shall keep my lips to myself from now on, then, my sweet.'
I powered off the tablet and slid it back to where it was. I was getting tired again, and I really wanted to see her tomorrow, so hopefully if I went back to sleep for a couple hours, my body would be well rested enough by the morning to go to school again, I was looking forward to it.
...Then I remembered the jar. Fuck. I was looking forward to it a lot less, now.
~~~
I woke up the next morning to Marissa poking me gently with her finger. I moaned and sat up, my back popping with the effort. I pushed the blankets off, and looked over at Marissa, her face practically inside my house. She looked worried, and almost scared, but she started to relax when she saw me moving.
"So... you feeling better?" She said, trying to sound casual.
I thought about it. My knees hurt from the impact, my side was still bruised, my back was sore from the ice, my mouth was a desert, and I was stiff as a board from laying in bed for over a day. But if it was Friday, I got to see Henri if I was ok, so I must be fine, right? I nodded and stepped out of bed, falling onto the floor instantly as my knee gave out.
"I'm fine, I just- I need to get my legs..." I stood shakily, and leaned against the bed.
"You don't look fine... Are you still cold?" Marissa asked.
I checked myself "Nnnno? I'm really hungry, and I really need a shower, but other than the bruises, I think I'm ok."
She reached into my room with the finger that woke me and pressed it onto my face. It was cold, again, and I fell back onto the bed.
"Well, you don't have a fever or anything I think... You should be fine, I'm guessing. Anyway, get dressed and stuff, eat your food or whatever, I gotta get to school. I can eat here today, but in the future, I need you ready when I'm ready, Rat." Her tone had turned haughtier once she'd made sure I wasn't dying, but her heart wasn't in it.
"Um, I was wondering, it kinda hurts to stand, and the bottle is hard, and I'm bruised, so..."
"You want to ride in a pocket?" She interrupted, her eyebrows going up in surprise. "Yeah, if you approve it, we can absolutely do that, I'll have to change, but-"
No, sorry..." I said, cutting her off. "I was just wondering if I could get a pillow for the bottom of the jar this time. I asked yesterday- or, I guess two days ago, but you didn't hear me, and I really need it today or my bruises are going to get worse..."
Her expression fell, and she snorted in disappointment. "Yeah, yeah, you can put a sofa cushion in there for today, if you can fit it through the lid."
She picked the bottle up off the desk and set it next to the couch in the middle floor.
"Anyway," She said "I'm going to eat some eggs benedict or something else you'd never be able to afford, I'll be back in like, forty minutes."
"I- I've had eggs benedict before, I've made it before, it's not THAT fancy." I said, confused.
She looked back at me. "You know how to poach an egg? I'm actually impressed, I didn't know you cooked. I've seen full on chefs fuck up a poached egg on TV."
"Well, we cooked all our meals, we only ate out like, once a month, so if I wanted fancy food, I had to learn to make it. It's not too hard, poached eggs take like 5 minutes, I can teach you sometime, if you want?"
She looked at me, and tilted her head. "Like, you'd teach me how to cook? That sounds... yeah, I'd love that. I like watching people cook, but like, when you have a live in cook, it's hard to learn for yourself, it's always made for you."
I nod. There was her human side again, the side with interests and goals, the side that could talk to me like a normal person. I could tell she genuinely enjoyed being a bitch, but every time I was reminded that there was more to her than that, I felt a little bit more hopeful about living together with her.
"I can teach you to make mandu, too, I know you didn't like the name, but it's really good, and we can make them steamed if you have the right stuff, that's my favorite way to eat them, and I'd love to get to have them again."
"Well, you won't be eating much of it unless you want to spend the day making out with a toilet, remember?" Marissa pointed out, smirking.
I held up my hand and shake my head "Listen, if it's for mandu, I'll deal with the consequences."
She laughed and poked me "Yeah, ok. We'll do that sometime, it'll be fun, I'm looking forward to it, Rat."
She left and I lie there on my bed sideways for a moment. It was... jarring, to have a conversation like that with the girl who almost drown me and chilled me so bad I had to stay in bed for a whole day. I almost wanted to like her, the her that was open and genuine and had her guard down, but... I knew that as soon as her guard went up, I was in danger of being hurt badly. I needed to get my place here figured out. I had a feeling I could keep her in 'human mode' most of the time if I knew her better, but it was hard to want to know her better when a lot of our conversations ended in me getting hurt.
I needed to get ready, I'd think about it more later. I still hadn't really processed the whole thing, I was just going with it and letting time wash over me. Some time soon, I needed to sit and meditate on how I felt, how I needed to move forward, and what I wanted from life now that I was disabled. I still wanted to have goals, even if my old plan of getting a logistics degree and starting a company to sell print-on-demand items for online artists wasn't a possibility, there had to be something I could do with my life still...
I got my phone and hid it under my mattress while the cushions were off the couch, and crammed the couch cushions into the bottle. They filled the bottom of the jar, and if I put one cushion on the ground, one on a wall, and the two back pillows on the two sides I could kind of have a little throne to sit curled up on. I wouldn't be able to stand up without hitting my head, and it'd be a very tight fit, but only one wall would be open for me to knock up against, so I'd be way safer too.
I headed downstairs and re-heated and finished the poke bowl from Wednesday, but I was still hungry. It was a new day, and I had skipped eating yesterday due to being sick, so it should ok if I had more. I heated up a 'Deluxe Chinese Meal", and ate about half the rice and a couple pieces of breaded... somethings, before heading upstairs to shower. The shower was frustrating, I'd had issues with it last time too, but I was just quickly getting clean then, now I wanted to fully soap up. The water was hot, but it was more of a steam than a shower, so it was annoying to rinse, but I got the soap off once I found the option to turn the shower into a faucet, dumping water out on my head at what felt like a gallon a second.
Toweling off, I went to get dressed, and realized I had no clothes. I had been wearing my PJs when I 'went swimming', and I had been sweating in my jumpsuit under a pile of blankets for a full day, and as a result it was NOT in a condition to wear in an enclosed space. My toga from before was on the bathroom floor, and I had dumped my wet clothes right on top of it when I'd gotten undressed, so it was soaked.
"Damnit..." I muttered
I wrapped the towel up around me, and put all three sets of clothes in the washer. One of the perks of being small was that clothes washed faster, and dried way faster, because there was less water to dry, I guess? I set the washer to quick dry, and put in a grain of soap starting it up. I had like, 10 minutes to wait, I could only hope Marissa was taking her time with those eggs. I sat down in front of my TV and turned on a video about a guardian training his class B to jump through hoops and run obstacle courses. He claimed the class B loved it, but the little guy just looked exhausted to me. I heard the buzz, swapped the clothes to the dryer, and went back downstairs. Just a few more minutes and I could put on my dress... I heard the door and turned to see Marissa walk up to me.
"Hey, Rat, ready to get bottled?" She said, reaching for me. she stopped shy of grabbing me and her eyes got slightly wider.
"Uh, you're not wearing clothes?" She asked, her cheeks coloring lightly.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I have like, 5 minutes left on the dryer, is that ok?"
She looked at me, her expression strange, and seemed to be thinking about it.
"Well... The other option is you're in the bottle all day in just a towel..." She said, her hand still reached out for me. She pursed her lips. "Damnit, we have to meet your stupid friend... She'd report me for 'improper dress' or something..."
I frowned. "Do you want me in a towel all day?"
Her cheeks turn more pink and she glares at me. "You're my property, if I wanted to dress you in a bunny suit and make you follow me around in a hamster ball, I'm allowed to do it."
I cross my arms, slightly self conscious. "You didn't answer the question, you just kinda made it sound like you wanted me in a bunny suit..."
She threw up her hands "Whatever! Just get dressed as soon as you can, Drew is already waiting in the car, and if I get marked absent because of you, I'm going to... to..." She trailed off, unable to think of a fitting punishment.
"...to make you sorry!" She finished, weakly. She turned and walked over to her bed, sitting down and pointedly looking away from me.
...That was... strange. And maybe a little enlightening, but I couldn't tell. I heard the ding from upstairs, and went up to change. A few minutes later, I sat by the bottle, the toga dress wrapped more in a long, dress-like formation, across one shoulder.
"Ok, 'Lady M'," I called out, making sure my tone showed my distain for the title "I'm ready to go."
She glanced up, glaring slightly, and came over.
"I don't like the way you said my name, Rat. Try again."
I rolled my eyes and spoke in a saccharine voice
"Ohhhh Mistress, I'd like to be bottled now..."
I fluttered my eyes at her, fanning my face with my hand.
"Ugh, whatever, good enough." She griped, picking me up and dumping me in the bottle headfirst. The cushions caught me, and I righted myself, getting cozy against the pillows. Marissa held the bottle up and lifted an eyebrow.
"That's a lot more than one cushion, Rat." She observed.
"Well, I wanted to-"
"Yeah, I don't care." She said, rudely. She capped the bottle and clasp me around her neck. "We need to get going, seriously, you'd better not have made me late."
~~~
After her first class, we were once again sitting in the library. Henri was finishing up her class, and would be here soon. We- or, I guess Marissa, had another class this evening, but it was a lab, so she was planning on dropping me off at home and coming back, so I wouldn't be exposed to the fumes. I lay back on the pile of cushions and pillows on the table and stared at the tiles on the ceiling.
"Thanks for thinking of me, I really appreciate that. I hadn't even thought about the chemicals and stuff being stronger to me." I said, to break the silence.
She looked up from her phone "Hm? Oh, yeah, it's in the class I took. It's like, I could lose custody over it, so I'm not risking it. Hey, smile for me"
She held up her phone, and I quickly sat up and put my hands in my lap and smiled. I heard the click, and relaxed.
"Why did you need a picture of me?" I asked, trying to remember if she'd taken one before.
"I'm finally making a social media announcement about you, I figure Tracy's got the nasty rumors going around by now, I wanted to make it official and post something bubbly and happy, really get people's attention."
She tapped away for a few minutes, then asked "Hey, does it sound like I'm being a bitch if I say 'I couldn't risk our beloved charity case getting taken away from us by someone who isn't equip to take care of her, so I knew I had to step up and be there for her when she needed it most' with a heart emoji after it?"
"Yeah? I mean, it does to me, you're calling a disabled person a charity case, and flaunting how you bought me out from under my family without saying it outright..."
"But the heart emoji makes it look like I'm trying to be sweet, right?"
"I mean, I guess? Are you trying to sound like a bitch? I'm confused."
"I'm trying to sound like I'm being a bitch without meaning to. That's the whole point."
I shook my head "I'm sorry, I still don't understand, but I think that message is fine."
She knocked me back into the cushions with a knuckle. "Whatever, you'll get it one day."
She posted the picture, and muted her phone, putting it her jeans pocket.
"And now, we let the drama fester. I'll get on tomorrow to see the comments and arguments and posts by people who think I don't know who they are in real life saying what they really think and I'll play the victim and blow up at them, it'll be like fireworks." She said, smiling to herself and rubbing my head.
"Truly you are the queen of bitchy-ness, Marissa... Actually... Can I just call you Queen Bitch? I like that song, and like-"
"Nope, I like the name, but no, I don't like that guy overall, sorry."
"Ah, damn... Ok, that's fair."
We sit for a while, and I rub my bruises. My side was feeling almost better, it was still a weird yellow color, but my knees still hurt to move too quickly. I could walk more easily, walking around my house had helped, but it still hurt. I move the pillows into a throne shape again, and sit up on them. It didn't really work without the sofa frame, but it was still pretty cozy. I reached out with my foot and flicked the heater button on the bottle topper laying near my feet, and felt the rush of warm air blow up into my throne. This was pretty nice, I'd have to remember this next time Marissa wanted to watch TV with me.
"Hello, Amber..." Henri said from behind me.
I look up to see her looking down at me, her hands behind her back.
Marissa pointed to the seat across the table where she'd sat last time.
"Sit down. Stop looming over her, you're going to freak her out."
Henri sat, and stared at me, her mouth moving like she was about to start talking, but her words fell short of her tongue each time.
"Well? You wanted to meet, I could already be on my way to drop the Rat back at the house if I wasn't meeting you, you know." Marissa said
Henri looked up at her and swallowed. "Marissa... I am so sorry I kissed Amber on the head, she was so small, and I care about her a lot, and I just got carried away, it won't happen again, I promise."
Marissa looked at Henri for a few moments, then nodded. "Yeah, I know. If it does, I'll have to do something about it."
Henri looked down at me and I waved at her. She gave me a half hearted smile and waved back.
"So how is this going to work? Are we just going to keep meeting in the library all the time? Me and Henri practically lived together, I want more than just a quick meeting a couple times a week." I said, emboldened by Henri's company.
"You have a tablet, Rat, you can still talk to her you know." Marissa said, glaring down at me.
"If- well... I would like to see Amber in a less formal setting, if we can work it out, I miss her lots, this week is the longest we've spent apart in years, other than when I went home to see my parents." Henri said.
Marissa's glare deepened. "Yeah? You two are really joined at the hip, huh?"
I took a chance, she wouldn't do anything in front of Henri, and she'd be calmed down before we got someplace private anyway, hopefully.
"Yeah, Marissa, we were." I said, plainly. "We had to be, otherwise people like you could have torn us to shreds."
To my surprise, her glare broke into a smile. "Yeah, I would have eviscerated you. You two were such easy targets, gods, it's like you wanted to be bullied the way you just sat and took it. I swear you're secretly a sub."
I perked up and point to Henri "Well, I'm not, but she-"
"I WANT TO VISIT YOUR HOUSE." Henri said, far too loud for the library.
Marissa looked at her, then back to me, and slowly took on her signature smug look. "Ok, yeah. We can do that. Tonight, you come over about 6:30."
"Wait," I said "You won't be home until like 7 something, right? How will that work?"
"Mmm, she'll get like an hour to spend with you by herself, then she gets to spend the rest of the night doing whatever I want her to do. That sounds fair, doesn't it?"
Henri tensed up. "What do you mean 'whatever you want me to do'? That doesn't sound nice at all..."
"I'm sure it won't be nice for you, but I'll have fun. Tell you what, bring an overnight bag, and a couple changes of clothes, let's make it a real party, ok?"
I looked back and forth between Henri and Marissa. This was... Honestly great for me, as long as Henri was around, I was practically untouchable by Marissa. I'd feel bad for Henri doing whatever it was Marissa had in mind, but she was full sized, she could take it a lot better than I could.
"I like this plan Henri, let's do it, I'll be at the sleepover too, right? So it's like way more time with me, it'll be like before!" I said cheerfully.
Henri looked down at me, scared and anxious "But klein fee, what about-" She looked up at Marissa and closed her mouth.
"I'm part of the deal, pet number 2. Take it or don't, it doesn't matter to me." Marissa plucked me out of the pile of cushions and started stuffing them into the jar. "Either show up, or don't. I'll tell the help to expect you."
Marissa stood, slipping me into the bottle, and smiled at Henri. "I'm off to drop her off at home, I hope to see you later. If not, I guess you don't really care about your little friend here, huh?"
Henri sat in her seat, not moving, looking small. She looked at me, and slumped, lowering her gaze, not saying anything as Marissa once more left her alone in the library.
~~~