Emma ended up leaving the party on the high note of a pleasant, warm glow throughout her mind and body, but it took awhile to get to this point. She had been initially struck, upon walking into the party with Daniel, how easily her body commanded attention, and this sudden realization did not make her feel terribly comfortable. She wasn’t used to people staring at her like this, and even though most people were looking at her with admiration or even aroused intimidation, she did not enjoy her big body being the center of attention. She just wasn’t ready for it.

Even though it was Emma’s work party, Daniel took the lead in guiding her around the room, talking to groups of people one by one. He knew that she was going to be anxious, at least in the initial stages of the party, and he wanted to nonverbally communicate, with the gentle squeeze of his hand in hers as he led her, that she was safe and that he had her back. Emma appreciated this gesture, and for the moment, she took refuge in the feeling of being led by her boyfriend, even though the top of his head didn’t come up to her eyes...and even though his hand felt small in hers.

After a bit they came up to a group of three of Emma’s co-workers, a group that included Keith. Daniel knew the other two guys in the group fairly well, and they were soon engrossed in a conversation about IBM stocks. Emma quickly realized that she wasn’t going to be playing much of a part in this conversation (which didn’t really interest her anyway), and so, naturally, she turned her eyes down to Keith. She saw that he had already been looking up at her; their eyes met, and for a second or so, neither of them said anything. Keith’s mouth opened slightly, as if he was about to say something, but no words came out. Emma couldn’t believe how tiny he looked. This man, who not long ago was an inch taller than her, was now essentially eye-level with the top of her breasts. The crown of his head barely came up to her chin. Emma shifted her weight slightly in a nervous motion, and she saw that Keith actually took a little step back as his eyes got wider.

‘Oh my god,’ she thought suddenly, ‘I’m totally huge to him. He doesn’t know what to do. When I move my body even a little bit, it’s intimidating to him up this close.’

A number of conflicting emotional impulses fired off through her brain. On one hand, she was irritated at Keith for acting so weird around her — it was just her, after all, the same woman he had worked with at Scheuster Marketing for a while now. So what if she had gotten a little taller? A little bigger? It didn’t mean that he had to just dissolve in front of her and change his behavior. Emma didn’t quite realize it, but this flash of irritation was born from her continued insecurity about her size. She didn’t like to be reminded how dramatically she had grown, in just a couple weeks, and Keith’s cowed reaction to her was the exact type of reminder she wanted to avoid.

However, there were other things happening in her mind as she looked down at him. Just seeing a grown man of fairly average height appear so tiny before her…well, it made her feel…strange. And it wasn’t altogether a negative kind of feeling. It felt new — like a part of her mind that had never been touched before was now being gently prodded. It didn’t really feel all that bad. In fact, there was something a little funny, and almost ridiculous, about the whole situation. Keith blinked up at her and Emma suddenly pushed away her irritation and smiled brightly down at him. She was going to just try and make do with herself as she stood, and she may as well have a little fun along the way.

“So…haha, what’s up Keith?” she asked, chuckling and trying her best to sound natural.

“Uh…I, uh…haha, you!” Keith stuttered through a nervous smile. “You’re up!”

“Ummm?” asked Emma confusedly, furrowing her brow a little as she inclined her head slightly down at him.

“I mean…haha, like, you’re up there,” laughed Keith awkwardly as he pointed up at her, “And, like…I’m down here.” He finished his sentence by pointing at his lower stature.

“Oh! Uh, haha, yeah,” said Emma, feeling her spirits drop a little. Why did he have to be like this? Why couldn’t they have a normal conversation like two adults?

“Hehe, uh, I know…uh…lame joke,” muttered Keith, bowing his head a little.

“No…I was just, um…haha, a little slow on the uptake, I guess,” said Emma, trying to keep the conversation going along. Keith looked up at her again, once more catching her eye.

“Uh…hehe, I’m sorry Emma, I d-don’t mean to be, uh, like, acting all weird like this,” he stammered. Emma could see that his face was getting red, and she suddenly felt a little sorry for him, even though she wished he would just grow up and act normally around her.

“It’s just that…haha, well, I didn’t really expect you to, uh…to be, um…”

“Wearing heels tonight?” Emma offered, sighing inwardly. She glanced over Keith’s head, scanning the party a little for maybe Molly or Stacy to signal to come over and rescue her from the awkwardness.

“Uh, I mean…yeah,” said Keith, almost apologetically. “B-but, but don’t take that in a bad way, Emma! I, uh…you look great. Um…amazing, actually.”

Emma looked back down at Keith carefully as she felt something buoy up in her. He wasn’t flattering her — he wasn’t kidding. He was legitimately paying her a compliment. Emma’s eyebrows went up a little as she smiled again.

“Well, haha, thanks Keith.”

Keith seemed encouraged by Emma’s smile, and his face continued to color as he opened his mouth to speak again: “I’ve actually always thought that tall women were, uh…were really— ”

“Hey honey!” came Daniel’s voice, interrupting her and Keith’s conversation. “Haha, sorry guys, I don’t mean to butt in, but I need Emma to back me up here — Toby here says that El Camino’s tacos are a distant second to Los Bravos. What do you have to say to that, Emma, huh?”

Emma paused a moment, actually wishing that Keith had been able to continue what he was saying. He had been about to confess that he had a thing for tall women, right? Or maybe not? Emma didn’t know. It would surely explain his awkward bashfulness around her now.

“Uh, tell Toby, said Emma, pointing at her other co-worker (who was 5’10), “That he must have never had El Camino’s fried chicken taco with that jalapeño mayo…well, either that, or he has terrible taste in Mexican food.”

Daniel, Toby, and the rest of the group laughed. Emma smiled over at Daniel, giving him a wink. As she did, she felt the eyes of the other men go up and down her body, using her eye contact with her boyfriend as an opportunity to take her figure in. She looked back at them and their eyes darted towards the floor, almost sheepishly.

‘It’s not just Keith,’ she thought to herself. ‘They’re all attracted to me, and they’re all intimidated by me…every one of them.’

She turned back towards Keith, but he wasn’t there anymore. Apparently, he had gotten too nervous and fled. Emma found herself wishing that he was still there below her, so he could continue on with what he had been about to say…about liking tall women. An odd kind of exploratory eagerness had come over her. She wanted to talk with other people, and see how they reacted to her and treated her differently. For the moment, she began to forget how much she disliked being this big.

“Here honey, take a martini,” said Daniel a few minutes later after they had gone around the room a little more, towards the makeshift mini-bar. “I made it a little sweet, just like you like it.”

“Thanks Daniel,” she said, grinning as she accepted the drink.

“So…like you doing ok?” asked Daniel quietly, getting a little closer to her and speaking lower, so that no one could hear. “The heels doing ok? Dress feels alright?”

“Haha, yes!” chuckled Emma, nodding as she took a medium sip of the martini. She felt the pleasant bite of alcohol in her mouth and down her throat as she swallowed. Already she was feeling warmer. “Actually, I mean…it was a little awkward at first, in my head at least,” she continued, “But now…I think I might actually enjoy myself tonight!”

“Of course you will!” laughed Daniel, looking straight forward into her shoulders for a moment and then averting his eyes back up into hers. “It’s a party!”

It was a party indeed, and as it progressed along later and later into the evening, Emma found herself feeling more and more natural in her body. The drinks definitely had something to do with it. After a few martinis, she found that it was easier than ever to forget the unpleasant reality of not knowing what was happening to her body…and of missing her old stature. Eventually, she found herself beginning to enjoy how all her male co-workers seemed unable to to keep themselves from stealing glances at her when they thought she wasn’t looking. She started to make a little game out of it: she would be talking to someone, and then, out of the corner of her eye, she would catch one of the guys looking at her. She would then turn and look whoever it was straight in the face — inevitably, they quickly darted their eyes down to the floor, but they would know that they had been caught red-handed. It was a bit of an amusing game for Emma, more than anything else. When she got tipsy, she got playful.

Another interesting moment was when she met Shelly’s husband, Hank, who was 6’6. In her heels, Emma was actually eye to eye with him, and as she shook his hand, their eyes met and they both grinned a little. They were the two tallest people at the party by far, and in their shared glance was a hint of mutual understanding. It was as if they were both saying, ‘Oh hey, so you know what it’s like, don’t you?’

“I, uh…wow Emma,” Shelly was saying, momentarily taken aback. “I…you’re as tall as Hank! Oh my god!”

Shelly seemed genuinely shocked — she had been surprised at how tall Emma was when she walked into the party, but she hadn’t realized that, in heels, her co-worker was actually as tall as her husband. Shelly was 5’4, and if she looked straight forward at Emma, her eyes were even with Emma’s nipples.

By this point, Emma had downed a few martinis and was feeling nicely tipsy. If Shelly had said this exact thing at the beginning of the party, it would have made Emma feel ungainly, awkward, and depressed. Now, though, she couldn’t help laughing.

“Haha! We are, aren’t we!” she sang out pleasantly. “Although, haha, I mean…Hank, I’m not actually 6’6…just 6’2.”

“Right…”just” 6’2,” said Shelly, making air quotations with her fingers. Daniel looked over at her warningly, as if to tell Shelly to cut out the comments about Emma’s height, but Emma just laughed again, looking at Hank. He was a good-looking quiet type of guy.

“So this is what it’s like for you all the time, huh?” she asked, her cheeks reddening a little as she sipped her drink.

“Haha, yep!” answered Hank. “Been this tall ever since I was 18. I’m pretty used to everything at this point — when I was a teenager, though, I was totally awkward…knocking over stuff everywhere I turned, haha!”

“Haha oh wow!” enjoined Emma. She felt the unpleasant sting of a reminder that she had only been growing for a couple weeks — she wasn’t used to being this big at all…and she could still be growing…

‘But I’m not,’ she thought to herself reassuringly. ‘I’m not growing…I mean, I could be, but I’m not. This is as far as I’ll go. It’s like the doctors said.’

The alcohol flowing through he made it easier to dismiss her worries. She glanced down at Shelly, who she caught looking up at her. If Keith had looked tiny, Shelly looked positively miniature. Her head didn’t even come up to Emma’s shoulders. And, while Shelly was petite, Emma had gained quite a bit of weight as she had grown taller, and her luscious curves were stretching the red fabric of her dress impressively. There was something in the way that Shelly was looking at her speaking with Hank…a kind of fear in her eyes. It was like Shelly was afraid that Hank would think that Emma was “more of a woman than she was,” or something.

‘Well, technically, I am,’ thought Emma, indulging the silly thought a little as she kept talking eye-to-eye with Hank. ‘I’m like two whole Shellys put together, haha…’

“And it turns out,” Hank was saying, gesturing down to Shelly, “That lots of women love tall men.”

Emma had a little snap of sourness bite at her mind. Lots of women did like tall men…she was one of them. And she felt guilty to remember how nice Hank’s big hand had felt in her own as she shook it — that’s how Daniel’s hand used to feel…how his body used to feel. Big, huge, and strong all around her. But now…now all of that had changed. Now she was the taller one…the bigger one.

Emma drank down the rest of her third martini and honed in on herself.

‘Now is not the time to get all boo-hooey about it,’ she told herself sternly. ‘This is a party and you’re having fun!’ The alcohol was hitting her faster now, and she pushed the troublesome thoughts away.

“Haha, well apparently it’s not just girls who like tall guys!” she laughed, feeling the heat and color rise in her face. “Apparently there are some guys who like tall girls!”

Emma was speaking louder than she had intended to, and as she spoke, she deliberately looked over at Keith, who was in an adjacent group. His face got red as he heard her words directed towards him, and he quickly scurried off, escaping the whole exchange.

‘Hmm, was that too much?’ thought Emma immediately. She shrugged her shoulders playfully and continued on with her conversation with Hank.

A little later on, as Daniel drove them back home, Emma was actually feeling quite nice. The party had ended up being far more enjoyable for her than she had anticipated. However, once they got back home, when she shifted her body to get out of the car, Emma heard something tear. She froze.

“Uh-oh!” said Daniel. “Was that what I thought it was?”

Emma looked down and her heart sank — there was a small one-inch tear in the right hip of her dress. Her happy giddiness vanished in an instant, and all her old worries came flooding back. Was she still growing!? They had just bought that dress a day ago!

“Hey, don’t worry about it, honey,” said Daniel soothingly, coming around quickly to help her out of the car. For an instant, as Emma accepted his hand and rose up, they were the same height, but then her legs straightened and she was back to looking down at the top of his head.

“It was a tight dress to begin with, anyway,” Daniel said to her reassuringly. “I’m sure that’s it.”

But over the next week, however, it became abundantly clear that Emma was continuing to grow. At the party, she had actually been able to tipsily enjoy her size, but that was all because she had managed to convince herself that her growing had stopped. It was a strange paradox in her head: she had thought that she wasn’t going to get any bigger, even though she knew that she was. She had stopped measuring herself for a few days, just to entertain the idea that she wasn’t any bigger. But all the signs indicated that she was.

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To begin with, Emma was starting to notice how out-of-place everything was seeming in the house. The cereal boxes were a shelf too low, the vegetable drawer in the fridge was too low, the bowl for their keys was too low…everything was too low. Emma couldn’t help but get frustrated every time she had to arch her back and bend down for something that used to be perfectly within her reach. And, she had to admit, even though Daniel was being as kind and loving as ever, Emma wished that he would be a little more considerate of her space. Every time she drove the car, for instance, she had to adjust the seat back a few clips.

‘Doesn’t he realize how annoying that is!?’ she thought to herself as she was forced to adjust the rearview mirror and sides mirrors too. But she said nothing out loud.

Another sign that something continued to be amiss was the fact that Emma’s limbs were starting to consistently ache. Even though she hated to admit it to herself (and outright refused to think about it), she knew what it was: growing pains. She tried to just ignore it for a few days, but eventually, she broke down and had to ask Daniel to massage her.

“Woah babe!” he said he rubbed her big feet, which she had put in his lap. “Your feet really are getting big, haha!”

Emma looked at him silently for a moment and then looked away. She didn’t want to entertain any of that kind of talk.

“That feels nice,” she murmured.

“Honey, don’t worry about it — if you’re getting bigger, you’re getting bigger!” said Daniel, trying to be reassuring. Emma wished he would stop.

“And, like, babe…I have to say,” he added, taking up one of her hands in his and massaging it, “I think you are getting bigger.”

“Would you stop it, please, Daniel?” begged Emma. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“But honey, you can’t just pretend it isn’t happening,” said Daniel. “I mean, look at this!”

He brought his hand up to Emma’s, and compared their palms. The tips of his fingers only came up to the third knuckle on Emma’s hand, and her palm extended out beyond his noticeably. Emma stared at the comparison for a second, dumbstruck. She had been trying to push all of this out of her mind! She had been trying and trying, but apparently Daniel wasn’t going to let her forget about it.

“Can you just…keep rubbing me, please?” she asked with a hint of irritation, dropping her hand away.

A couple days later, Dr. Hartman called. He and his team were still looking into what might be going on with Emma’s growth, and he had called to ask that Emma measure herself each day, so that the doctors could have a steady stream of data that they could work with. Emma reluctantly agreed, and her crestfallen tone came through the telephone line.

“I know it’s hard for you Emma,” said Dr. Hartman, “But you don’t have to do it alone. Have your boyfriend measure you — it could be a nice little intimate activity that you two do every day.”

Later that day, they had their first “measurement session,” and it turned out that Emma was now all the way up to 6’3-and-a-half, and 187 pounds. These stats confirmed what Emma had been trying so hard to avoid — the fact that she was still growing, and maybe even faster than she had been before. Daniel had to order delivery from El Camino to calm her down, and even when they were happily eating together, it was not lost on Emma that she was eating nearly twice as much as her boyfriend now.

The days continued to pass by, and now it was impossible for Emma to pretend like she wasn’t growing. Every day, it was confirmed — a quarter inch here, a couple pounds there, and always increasing. Daniel’s shoes were getting too small for her feet, but Emma didn’t want to say anything about it. She dreaded having to admit that her feet couldn’t fit in his shoes, but a few days later, as she struggled trying to get her feet into them, Daniel was watching her.

“They’re just too small for you, hun,” he said quietly.

Emma turned and looked at him helplessly, but there was no denying it; he was right. Later on that day, they went out shopping for new clothes. Emma had first been very down and depressed about it all, but she managed to cheer up once she saw how nice she actually looked in a lot of the outfits she tried on.

“I mean…I actually look ok in this,” she said multiple times, spinning around in the mirror.

“Congratulations on realizing what I’ve been trying to tell you all along!” chided Daniel.

“Oh…you!” she responded playfully.

Later on that night, after a huge meal of pasta and meatballs, Emma was actually the first one to fall asleep. Daniel managed to get to sleep soon after, but he was awakened later on by a numbness in his left arm. He turned over and saw that Emma had rolled over onto his arm in her sleep. Daniel gently tried to move her body off to the left, but finding that he couldn’t move her that way, he pushed harder. Still, she didn’t budge. Daniel relaxed and tired again several times, but there was no use — Emma had become too heavy for him to move.

“Emma…” whispered Daniel in her ear. She snoozed on.

“Emma!” he said, a little louder.

“Hmm!? Whasssa?!” she moaned.

“You’re on my arm, honey, could you roll over that way a little?”

“Oh…ohh yesssorry babe.”

A couple days later, Emma was very nearly 6’5. She was trying hard not to be stressed out about it all, but it was very difficult to be reminded every day of a reality she didn’t want.

“Do we have to measure every day?” she complained to Daniel.

“The doctors need their data, so yes,” he replied simply. His eyebrows went up as he saw her weight on the scale. “Aaaand…ok, we’ve cracked 200 pounds!” he announced.

“Fuck!” cried Emma miserably. “This is terrible! I’m soooo huge now!”

“And proportional!” added Daniel. “You’re looking great, honey.”

Emma felt so irrationally incensed with her boyfriend’s sunny attitude that she stormed off into the bedroom. Daniel decided to give her her space and sat down on the sofa to watch TV. An hour or so later, Emma came out and apologized.

“I’m just a mess emotionally right now,” she said contritely. “And I’m sore everywhere…my back especially — could you rub it?”

“Of course honey — come over here and sit in my lap!” said Daniel, smiling. Emma paused a moment and then smiled back, walking over and plopping herself down in his lap. She heard the huff of an involuntary exhale escape from Daniel’s mouth — her weight had literally pushed the air out of him. Once again, she felt a flash of irritation. She knew that he didn’t mean to highlight her size, but did he really have to make that noise. Couldn’t he have, like, prepared better to receive her weight?

The next morning, Daniel was trying to reach the cereal box, but Emma had unwittingly put it out of his reach.

“Uhh…honey?” he asked.

“What?” Emma replied, not looking up from her phone as she ate her own cereal.

“I, uh…I can’t reach the cereal,” chuckled Daniel apologetically.

“Huh? Can’t reach it?” asked Emma, not understanding, as she looked up.

Daniel had his arm fully extended to show how he couldn’t quite get to the top shelf.

“Oh…oh, uh, sorry,” said Emma. “I guess…um…I guess you need me to get that for you, then?”

“Haha, that would be…great,” Daniel replied, having a little laugh at the situation. Emma got up and walked over in her socks. She stood next to her boyfriend for a moment, studying his face suspiciously.

“I seriously can’t reach it Emma!” he laughed, extending his arm once again to show her. Emma reached up past him, her hand extending inches beyond his reach, and effortlessly grabbed the cereal box, bringing it down and handing it to him.

‘There, was that so hard?’ she thought suddenly to herself. ‘He wasn’t really trying — he could have reached it.’

Later on that day, it was confirmed that Emma had reached 6’5, and she weighed in at 206 pounds. Her growth seemed to be slowing a bit, and, in a conversation with Dr. Hartman, Emma was heartened to hear him say that this slowed rate was likely a good sign. Finally, it all seemed to be abating.

Emma felt relieved at her slowing growth, but her relief didn’t stop her from noticing more and more how different everything was. When she typed on her keyboard, she had to make an extra effort to bend her long fingers at sharper angles to actually hit the right keys. Her big palms covered her laptop way more than she was comfortable with — the whole computer was just starting to seem like it was miniature. Utensils and dishes were the same way — forks and knives were starting to feel very small in her hands. She realized that she could wrap her hand all the way around their water glasses. And everything that had seemed low before just seemed lower still. Even the clothes that she had bought a few days before were starting to feel a little tight. The waistband on her new jeans was digging slightly into her flesh, and the new sneakers she had bought were starting to feel a little tighter.

For the next few days, Emma’s growth had slowed to a point where it was “only” an eighth of an inch, and an extra pound or so, a day. Things were certainly looking up on that front, but Emma now had other reasons to feel anxious. Daniel was going to be leaving to go out-of-state on a work trip, and Emma would be home all alone for a week. Normally, this kind of a trip would only make her a little anxious, but with all that had happened over the past few weeks, she felt extra anxiety at the prospect of being alone without her partner.

“Don’t worry — we’ll face-time every night,” Daniel said reassuringly to her the night before he left. “And you can measure yourself in front of the camera and we’ll have a little fun with it all, haha. No reason not to keep our same routines in place, right?”

“I guess so,” she murmured off the side of the bed as they spooned together. Emma had insisted on remaining the “little spoon,” despite the fact that she could feel how narrow Daniel’s hips were compared to hers. But this way, she didn’t have to look at the size comparison. Just seeing it once before had been a little much for her. The way that the curve of her hips rose up powerfully next to his had been almost shocking to see. And that was days ago, and she had gotten bigger since.

‘But only a little bigger,’ she thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep. ‘Only a little…it’s slowing down…’

The next morning, Emma was on edge. She was not looking forward to Daniel leaving — they ate their breakfast mostly in silence, and then, when Emma stood up to put her bowl in the sink, it happened again. A ripping sound cut through the air. Alarmed, she looked down to see that her new khaki work pants had torn a few inches down her right ass cheek.

“What the!?” cried Emma.

“Oh no!” exclaimed Daniel, smiling despite the situation.

“I thought it was slowing down!” blurted Emma.

“Well, maybe not as much as we thought,” said Daniel casually, standing up from the table and putting his dish in the sink.

“This is not good…not good,” muttered Emma. “Maybe I’ll call Dr. Hartman again.”

“Because you ripped your pants?” laughed Daniel. “Honey, I think you’re overreacting a little bit here.”

Suddenly, something snapped in Emma’s mind. She stood up and faced her boyfriend, absolutely furious.

“Overreacting!?” she yelled. “Three weeks ago I was 5’8…and now I’m six foot fucking five and I weigh over 200 pounds and any clothes I buy I outgrow…and apparently I’m still growing. How the fuck am I overreacting!?”

“Just easy, easy…take it easy babe,” said Daniel, pushing his palms down on the air. He still had a hint of a little smile on his face. The truth was, Daniel was not thrilled about Emma ripping her pants either, or about the prospect of her continuing to get bigger. But unlike Emma, when Daniel felt uncomfortable, he would sometimes smile.

“Don’t tell me to take it easy, Daniel,” Emma shot back, taking a step towards him. “It doesn’t help. It just makes me more stressed out.”

“So, just…do whatever you need to do to calm down,” said Daniel, his smile vanishing. Emma could tell he was becoming irritated at her anxiety, but realizing that only made her more angry. She had every right…every right…to feel exactly how she was feeling right now.

“You’re getting pissed at me right now, aren’t you?” she asked, her voice shaking a little.

“Well…sometimes I just wish that you wouldn’t freak out whenever something doesn’t quite go your way.”

“Doesn’t quite go my way!? Are you hearing yourself, Daniel?! Look at me!! I think we’re a little past that, aren’t we!?”

“Well, freaking out doesn’t help anything,” countered Daniel. “And it’s honestly kind of exhausting.”

“Oh well I’m sooooo sorry that I take up so much of your time and energy,” replied Emma sarcastically.

“And it’s just…with you getting so big and all,” said Daniel, ignoring her sarcasm, “When you flip out it can be a little much.”

Emma couldn’t believe how angry he was making her. Her anger was fueled by her anxiety at his impending departure, but she wasn’t thinking about that now. Right now, she just wanted to get back at him for saying that to her. She stepped closer to him, so that they were only a few feet apart. She made it a point to stand in close, so that he would be in her shadow. She put her hands on her hips. He looked smaller than ever. His eyes were just about even with her shoulders.

“Oh?” she said, doing her best to control her voice even though it was shaking with anger. “Am I a little much for you, then? Can’t handle me at this size, huh? You wish I was back to my normal size so I wouldn’t intimidate you?”

Daniel looked up at her wide-eyed, and he opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. She had really surprised him with her behavior, and how imposing it could be when she was this big. It looked like he was realizing her true size for the first time.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” continued Emma, determined to twist the knife. “Short guys like you need smaller girls to feel big and strong, huh?”

“I’m…not short, Emma,” said Daniel as his face got red.

“Well you look pretty damn short to me from up here!” said Emma, stretching herself up to her full height as she looked down on her boyfriend imperiously.

A few moments of tense silence passed between them.

“Fuck you, Emma,” muttered Daniel, and he stomped over to his suitcase, yanked it up, and left the house, slamming the door behind him. Emma just stood there in the kitchen for a minute as she listened to Daniel leave in the car. So much was happening internally — anger, bitterness, frustration, regret, guilt — that she just went over to the sofa, sat down, and cried for minutes on end.

When she was finally done, she felt so preoccupied and depressed about how her “goodbye” with Daniel had gone that she almost left to go to work in her ripped pants.