The drive from Summit Peak into downtown Sacramento was relatively quiet. Part of that was due to the emotionally charged day both Roni and Joey had endured at school. Between the whispers, stares, and difficult conversations, neither of them seemed particularly eager to talk.
The other part was that Joey was currently gripping the center console hard enough to qualify as a structural reinforcement. Roni had her license, and could drive a coupe or sedan decently enough when needed. However, that experience didn’t seem to translate very well to handling a full-sized pickup through Sacramento traffic
Every lane change was preceded by a brief hesitation before Roni finally committed. Every turn earned an extra glance in the mirrors, while rows of parked cars made Sacramento’s already narrow streets feel even tighter. Through it all, she drove with the rigid, jerky precision of someone who was still learning exactly where the corners of the truck ended.
Joey wasn’t actually worried about Roni crashing, rather he was worried about how many years the experience was taking off his life.
From time to time, the truck drifted slightly toward a lane marker before Roni corrected it. Joey would glance out the window, knowing the truck was in the lane, but double checking anyway.
They both knew the truck fit. Joey had driven it through downtown often enough to know Sacramento’s lanes were tight but perfectly capable of accommodating vehicles like Jeff’s pickup.
That didn’t stop either of them from occasionally wondering if the engineers responsible for downtown’s streets had been paid by the inch.
“In hindsight, Mr. Hale probably should’ve been the one teaching her,” Joey thought as Roni spotted their exit and guided the truck toward the off-ramp.
At least Jeff wouldn’t get punched in the arm for making jokes about Roni’s driving.
Finally on the last stretch to LittleMart, the truck settled onto the exit ramp.
Joey slowly opened one eye.
They were still alive.
“Good,” he thought. “I’d really like to survive long enough to actually become a Little.”
The teens took the final stretch to the store with much more ease than earlier, feeling a bit more self assured knowing they had just survived the treacherous changes between interstate and freeway. Traffic had seemed to die down, and Arden in general was quiet for a Monday afternoon where most of the schools were still in session.
The pickup would pull into a well-maintained and easy to navigate parking lot, large with many lamp posts and Generitech developed CCTV cameras that you’d need to be a part of Oceans 11 to even stand a chance at bypassing. All of which serve as a daunting welcome to LittleMart.
It was not like any store either Roni or Joey frequented. The large building was clean, polished, somehow optimized in a way that neither teen could explain. The entrance was as welcoming as it was daunting, and the sight of guardians carrying their littles in and out like it was the most casual thing in the world leaving them feeling estranged, like they’re the outsiders despite being on the fringe.
“Well,” said Joey, standing up a bit taller and squaring his shoulders, “lets go check it out, Roni. Probably some–some useful stuff in there that I should–I mean we should pick out.”
The use of the word we made Roni hesitate a moment. She realized this may likely be the only time that Joey can offer input at full size, see things how guardians do, as normal humans do.
When he is in his little form, it’ll just be Roni, with Joey either in her hand, on her shoulder, or even in some kind of transport that made it easier for them both. The thought made her uncomfortable still, controlling Joey’s access to the outside world, how he interacted with it, where his place would be in it, in her own life.
However, now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. She needed to be present for him, to support him like he has always done for her.
Just as important, though, she needed to learn to support herself. Otherwise, Joey’s life as a little could become one influenced by someone that isn’t her, and she’d be damned if she let herself become that weak.
“Right, let’s do it. Maybe, maybe we should ask about getting some kind of starter kits?” Roni said, looking at Joey to gauge his reaction, “just in case you–change–and we need something for you immediately.”
Looking back at her, Joey smiled warmly. “Spoken like a true pragmatist. I think that’s a good safe idea.”
With that, the two steeled their resolve and began to enter LittleMart. The doors parted as they approached, and the two were hit with a gust of cold air carrying the scent of citrus and some other aromatic that the two couldn’t identify, but found comforting.
Warm lighting spilled across polished floors that reflected almost no glare. Wide aisles branched off beneath neatly suspended department signs, while soft instrumental music drifted overhead just loudly enough to mask the quiet conversations around them. Nothing competed for their attention. Everything seemed designed to gently guide it instead.
It was like they stepped into a dimension that stood outside of the real world. Everything they could see was either targeting the guardian, the little, or promoting the importance of the two’s cohesion.
While long aisles and shelves dominated the floor and hanging signs with various little products or defining the different locations commanded the space overhead, what had actually drawn Joey’s focus were the people.
The guardians, the littles, and the normalcy, all of it left Joey in quiet intrigue as he took in the interactions. Guardians pushed shopping carts through the aisles while Littles rode comfortably in padded compartments near the handles, chatted from their shoulders, or walked beside them along narrow raised pathways built into the edges of the floor.
They communicated with each other as casual as could be, a guardian could be seen helping their little pick out new clothes, while another little was laughing at their guardian for knocking over a clothes rack, their face flushed with embarrassment as they desperately tried putting it back up without making it worse. Nobody stared. Nobody whispered. All of it seemed like this had existed for decades, that homo sapiens and homo parvus had lived together like this and that littles that had once stood as tall as he did were in fact always a few inches tall.
Full-sized shelves displayed products for Guardians while miniature displays set up on secured tables beside them held the same items scaled for Littles. Clothing racks no taller than Joey’s knee stood beside adult apparel. Tiny couches, beds, desks, and entertainment devices occupied carefully constructed model homes that looked more like high-end furniture showrooms than retail displays.
Every sign, every shelf, and every product quietly reinforced the same message. This wasn’t a temporary solution. This was everyday life.
Joey felt his stomach tighten.
None of it looked cruel. That was the unsettling part. LittleMart wasn’t trying to convince anyone that becoming a Little would be easy. It was trying to convince everyone that it was ordinary.
Roni was the first to start moving further into the store, the cool air making her skin raise a little in response. Part of her could tell Joey was really taking it all in, really seeing what his future would look like with her. She’d never be cruel to him, and she’d never deny him access to comforts he’d need, but she couldn’t delude herself into thinking that would make things better for him.
She knew seeing up close what his life would be like–taken care of by his best friend or not–was hard for Joey. The normalcy of it all, how people seemed to just accept it and move on, must have made it feel like life was going to pass him by.
What Roni worried about deep down, was that he might not be completely wrong.
Suddenly, something caught Roni’s eye, and before she knew it, she had walked right to it.
Before her stood a life-sized stand-in of Sarendipity, the spokesperson for LittleMart and, outside of Chloe Gracewood herself, the most recognizable Guardian in the country; quite possibly on the whole planet. She had a big smile on her face, and was striking a pose that was as endearing as it was flashy, with one hand on her hip while the other struck a peace sign.
Roni had to lean in closer to get a better look at the popular streamers shoulder, her brows furrowing as she sees the smaller figure of Little-dipity resting on her shoulder. Where Sarendipity looked to be outgoing and energetic, her little looked to be less enthusiastic. Roni couldn’t quite make out what he was doing, though, as the figure was too small to get captured cleanly in the photo and standee blowup.
“You know, your eyes will pop out your keep squinting like that,” Joey said with a sense of humor that overshadowed his own nerves, a small warm smile on his face as he walked up next to her.
Roni, snapping back to reality, just gave him a stern look, sticking her tongue out at him.
“I was just trying to see what he looked like. Her little I mean…” she quipped dryly, before stepping back, “Sucks that these images don’t do the littles any justice…”
Joey shook his head, tapping on her shoulder before pointing at a nearby stand.
Following where he was pointing, Roni’s face flushed a little seeing a scaled down, high resolution standee of Little-Dipity, posing, albeit noticeably uncomfortably, for whomever took that photo.
Roni got closer to look at the littles face, and found it hard not to smirk. She knew that exact look, the one of complete reluctance to do something they genuinely just don’t want to be a part of, but still doing so because someone they care about dragged them along.
It was like looking at a Joey from the future, in more ways than one.
Joey, meanwhile, looked at Sara’s standee, and felt a similar experience. Joey couldn’t help but notice Sara wore confidence the same way Roni did. The kind of person who could walk into a room and somehow convince everyone else they belonged there too. Similar still to Roni, Joey got the sense that there was more under the surface of Sara. Things she’d rather keep to herself or share with specific individuals.
In a way, it was weird to see another person giving off the same vibe as his best friend, but it was also reassuring.
For both teens, seeing these two standees seemed to ease the tension. For both teens, seeing the two standees eased the tension.
They didn’t know Sarah.
They didn’t know Jordan.
Smallara had brought them together through unimaginable circumstances.
And somehow…
They looked like themselves, and like they belonged beside each other.
The two stepped back from their metaphorical mirrors, before turning to each other and smiling softly.
Roni swept an arm toward the path, “Let’s go, bro. We need to make sure we’re as ready as possible.”
Joey nodded, and strode cockily past her.
“Try to keep up little sis”
With that, the two continued past the entrance and into the store, whatever trepidation they had replaced with the reassurance that they could come out of this just as close as before.
Nice Chapter. Hope you have more to keep the week interesting.😇