[qzar9999]

Hey, you guys remember Vanessa?

* * * * *

Vanessa gasped as she let go of the waist of her jeans. She groaned in frustration at her continued inability to fasten the closure. “Dammit!”

From his seated position on the bed, Jake sighed. “Babe. For the tenth time, you don't HAVE to wear that particular pair of jeans.”

“I told you, Jake, they make my ass look fantastic and I want to wear them for our date!” She gripped the button again and strained to pull it closed.

“Well, hon, that's the problem with jeans that fit you so tight. They're impossible to get on if you put on even...” he trailed off when he saw the murderous glare she was giving him. “Um. I mean. Your ass looks great without those,” he corrected hastily. “Can you please just pick something else? We're going to be late for the movie if we have to wait much longer.”

“I can get it!” she snapped. “I've almost--” She was interrupted by a loud tearing sound. Jake glanced at the waist of her jeans and saw that her continued pulling at the fabric had ripped it. Vanessa's face flushed and she let out a wordless growl of anger. “Not one word if you know what's good for you,” she said, glaring at him again. “Well, I guess I have to pick something else now.” She stepped into the closet and he could hear her moving things around. Figuring she'd be a few minutes, he brought out his phone to double-check the movie time.

Shortly, he heard her step back into the room. He looked up from the article he'd been reading and his jaw dropped. She was wearing a form-fitting black dress. A noticeable amount of cleavage was showing up top; in fact, between the dress and whatever bra she was wearing her tits looked bigger than usual. The dress hugged every curve of her hips and fell less than halfway down her thigh; she had a lot of leg showing, and the heels she was wearing only accentuated them.

“Well, how do I look?' she said with a smile.

The only response he could think of that was appropriate was an appreciative whistle. “You're gorgeous, hon,” he said, rising to approach her. He gave her a hug and a kiss, then pulled back with a puzzled look on his face.

“What?” she asked, seeing his expression.

“You're...it's weird, but you seem...taller,” he replied, still looking at her strangely.

“Jake, honey...I'm wearing heels...” she said with exaggerated slowness.

“Yeah, I know...it's just...” he frowned. “I dunno. Have you worn those heels before? How high are they?”

She was about to answer when her phone rang. Picking it up from the dresser, she looked at the caller ID and frowned. “Sorry, Jake, I have to take this. It's Carla, might be important.” She pressed the answer button and held it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Van, hey,” came her friend's voice. “How are things?”

“Oh, I'm fine, thanks,” she replied. “Just about to go out for the night with Jake,” she added pointedly.

“Oh! Sorry to interrupt. I'll get right to it, then,” Carla responded. “You remember how you asked me to keep an eye out for any, ah, unusual health problems related to water exposure?”

Vanessa instantly switched her full attention to the call. “You've seen something?”

“Oh, yeah,” Carla said, an edge in her voice. “I've seen something, alright. Something like I've never seen before.”

“....Okay, so?” Vanessa prompted after a few seconds of silence.

“Oh, sorry. It's just...it's going to sound crazy.” Carla sighed heavily. “But no sense beating around the bush. A bunch of women—only women, oddly—came in to Bruce's office today, and they're...well, they're bigger.”

“Bigger?” she replied, confused. “What do you mean, bigger?”

“Like, I dunno, just, bigger. They're taller, bigger breasts, more curves...they've turned into Amazons, basically. They're all over seven feet tall, a few of them are even bigger than that.”

Vanessa started to scoff at the idea...then she thought about how odd she'd felt the past few days. Favorite clothes felt too tight or too short. The feeling of wrongness or being out of place everywhere she went. The unexplained awkwardness that had recently appeared in her and Jake's physical contact. Looking down at herself, she realized that even now, the dress she was wearing showed much more of her breasts (did they look bigger?) and didn't come as far down her legs as it was supposed to, and her heels felt tighter than usual. She felt her blood chill at the realization that somehow, she had been affected too. Only mildly, apparently, because there was no way she was over seven feet tall, but still...she'd been contaminated.

“Hello? Earth to Van! Still there?” Carla said. Belatedly Vanessa became aware that she'd been dead silent on the phone.

“Oh. Uh, sorry, Carla. Just got lost in thought for a second,” she replied, trying to make herself focus on the conversation. “And you're sure it was caused by the water?”

“No, I'm not sure,” she answered. “All the women could've been exposed to the water, and it's the only thing I could think of that might be a common element, but when I mentioned it to Bruce he didn't seem to think my idea, heh, held water.”

“Well, let's not rule it out just yet.” Vanessa swallowed nervously. “So, just out of curiosity, did you notice any, um, detrimental health effects? I mean, was anything else wrong with the women?”

“No, nothing. Other than their unusual size, they all seemed to be the picture of health.” She paused for a moment before adding “Why do you ask?”

“No reason! Just wondering,” said Vanessa a little too quickly. “That's just kind of a weird thing to happen, didn't know if there might be other issues you noticed, that's all.” Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Jake looking at his watch. “Listen, Carla, thank you so much for keeping an eye out for me. You'll let me know if anything else comes up?”

“Sure, Van. Have a good date night.”

Vanessa ended the call, heart pounding in anxiety. Carla had said nothing else was wrong with the women. She'd only been exposed very faintly, it seemed. There was no reason to panic. Thinking these things over and over wasn't helping her calm down. She briefly considered canceling her plans with Jake, but stopped herself. Really, a movie could probably give me a nice distraction for a little while. Willing herself to relax, she gave Jake a bright smile that she didn't really feel. “Sorry, hon. I hope I wrapped that up quickly enough for you. Ready to go?”

“What was that about?” he asked. “You seemed upset for a minute there.”

“I'm fine, Jake. I'll tell you all about it in the car. Now let's go or we're gonna be late.”