Growing into the Job, Post 530: Retail Therapy, p4

The checkout counter was a blur of colors and crinkling bags and the low, sunny buzz of the girls’ voices - each one of them floating on a high of victorious affection. They’d had their way with me twice in the course of the last twenty minutes and it had energized them. Now they were playfully arguing who got to use their credit card for my gifts; they settled on a split. 

The cashier - the same tall, sharp-featured young woman with the kind of dark, retro-casual polish that had helped measure me and choose these clothes we (well, they) were buying - smiled warmly at our little group as she continued scanning tags.

The pile they’d placed on the counter dwarfed me: little collared shirts, soft slacks, boyish shorts, sporty hoodies, pajamas, socks, underwear, and of course the teddy bear onesie folded lovingly atop the stack like a crown jewel.

And me? I wasn’t in my scrubs anymore. They had gotten me into one of their picks - a slim-fit heather-grey polo with navy joggers. The outfit was light, young for me, and with my height if I dared look in a mirror, probably made me look about ten. And a short ten, at that.

I stayed quiet as the scanner beeped merrily over each item.

“Looks like somebody’s getting spoiled today,” the salesgirl teased, glancing down at me with a knowing grin. She tossed a playful look at the girls. “How’s it feel to have three sugar mommies, little guy?”

I felt myself ignite with blush.

The girls? They melted. “Sugar mommies??” Josie squealed, bouncing on her heels, practically sparking with giddy energy, “I love that!”

Aubrey meanwhile laughed behind her hand - a low, rich, affectionate sound - and ruffled my hair.

“We are just looking after him,” Lakshmi said, squeezing my shoulder like I was a prize puppy, “He is very, very precious.”

“Don’t be surprised if he’s back again soon,” Josie added sweetly, “We’re already planning a whole new wardrobe for him - y’know, as he…grows down.”

The salesgirl blinked, but chuckled. She leaned in towards us; the girls leaned in too. She looked down at me. “You’re Dr. Vulni, aren’t you?” she asked me, in a low voice, with even more interest. 

“He is,” Josie giggled, her affirmation telling the girl all she needed to know: I was small, yes, but I’d be getting smaller.  “So, yah - we’ll probably be back for more clothes when he shrinks out of these.”

“Well,” said the cashier, back to tapping at the register, “we do have a reward program. Ladies who buy for their Vulni today get points toward the next size down.”

“That sounds like a good deal!” Aubrey exclaimed. 

The salesgirl smiled wider. “Can I get mommy’s email for the account?”

Without hesitation, Josie grabbed the card reader, tapped a few keys, and typed Melissa’s clinic email address with a flourish. Meanwhile, bag after bag was handed over - and of course, none of them were given to me. Aubrey, Lakshmi, and Josie divided the load between them like a pack of proud older sisters, while I stood empty-handed under their watchful gaze.

The cashier smiled again as she slid the last receipt into a shiny mint-green bag.  "You three take good care of him now," she teased.

"Oh, don't worry," Aubrey promised sweetly, shouldering one of the heavier bags, "we always do."

Josie giggled, practically glowing with satisfaction. Lakshmi gave a regal little nod of thanks to the cashier, then gently pressed her hand to my back, steering me away from the counter like a particularly prized piece of luggage.

We were just a few paces away from entering into the mall’s main concourse again before I finally found my voice. "Um… thanks, girls," I mumbled, looking up at them, feeling about six inches tall in every way that mattered, “for… all this."  I gestured weakly at the mountain of shopping bags dangling from their arms.

It was like I’d hit a switch.

Aubrey immediately squealed and bent her knees a little so she could coo right into my face. "Awww, Doctor! You’re so welcome, sweetie! We loved doing it!”

"Seriously," Josie chimed in, twirling one of her bags in a circle and tossing her long brown hair back, "I feel, like, so big right now. Buying you stuff is the best feeling.”

Lakshmi’s smile was more reserved - but just as potent. "You are giving us a gift too, Dr. J," she said simply, her dark eyes shining warmly. "Letting us take care of you like this. Letting us be the providers."

There was a moment - a small, soft moment - where their words seemed to hang between us like confetti.

I didn’t know what to say to that. I didn’t even know how to feel about it. All I knew was that, surrounded by their towering, laughing warmth, their youth, with the weight of new clothes swinging from their strong arms and their soft hands brushing my shoulders, my back, my hair-

I felt small, sure. But I felt wanted.

I nodded, and looked up at each one of them in turn. “Anyway, thank you.”

Warmly, they just smiled, and - unusual for this group - remained quiet. Something was changing between us. 

We emerged back into the bright, bustling thoroughfare of the Vendare Center, and again I was overwhelmed by the scale, the branding, the sheer presence of tall (to me), composed, fashion-forward women everywhere. It was even busier now: a river of women, sleek and ebullient and laughing, flowing around store entrances and between the polished benches. The girls with me were some of the tallest, most ebullient of the bunch, and immediately seemed like they were on parade - showing off themselves, beautiful, in sync and more confident than before, and clearly in charge of their precious little companion (ie:me).

Somewhere down the hall, maybe in some, atrium, a live quartet was playing - soft, bright music that seemed to bounce around the soaring ceiling like sunlight. It was a contrast to the glaring mall pop music that once filled this place, in another life, another time. 

And then somewhere much nearer: whistles, playful catcalls.

“Aww, look at him!” “God, he’s precious! Look at his little legs!” “Somebody snagged themselves a real catch!”

I flushed deeper.

I shrank a little closer to my group without even thinking, and they reacted without speaking. Josie’s left hand slid down and grabbed my right, twining her slender fingers through mine with effortless familiarity. Lakshmi, not missing a beat, claimed my left hand, her grip firmer still, grounding me. Aubrey brought up the rear, carrying bags, her presence warm and protective at my back.

I was, to my comfort, surrounded.

The women flowing past looked at me - not exactly with mockery - but with a kind of collective, indulgent admiration. Like seeing a prize calf being paraded at the fair. There were guys here, too, fewer of them. Their glances, when they found me, were filled with various things: confusion, anger, and sometimes not a small bit of jealousy. 

“Oooo look at that!” Josie sang, interrupting my reveries and pointing above our heads. 

The other girls paused, squealed. 

A massive line of text was carved into the stone slabs that ran the length of the balcony of the upper floor, high above the shoppers milling through the central passageway. It read:

Welcome to Vendare. Welcome to the Future.

My mouth went dry. Because if this was the future-

“Wow Dr. J, how’s that make you feel?” Aubrey spoke from behind me. 

I knitted my brow. We’d stopped in our tracks, stepped off to the side. “Y-you mean that saying? Written in the stone?” I asked

“No, silly,” Josie giggled, “I wasn’t pointing at that! Look over there, next to it-“ She then took my chin and redirected my gaze just a few yards to the right where-

Holy shit.

A big, huge, glossy poster - a banner, really, maybe ten by twenty feet in size  - hung from the upper level. It was one of the huge things that ran at rare intervals through the center, serving as a billboard for local businesses or organizations or the Vendare Center itself, as advertisement. This one, currently, was for Far Horizons. 

And it was Melissa.

Melissa, a huge banner of her. The face, figure, and apparently the bustline of FHEC. 

“Omigod Missy is gonna love this!” Josie laughed, already snapping pictures.

“She totally is,” Lakshmi smiled, staring up in blatant admiration of the thing. Ostensibly it was listing the services offered in the building, the different practices. But what of course grabbed the eye - mine, at least - were the massive breasts of my girlfriend, bigger than the people walking below her.

“Like I said, Dr J,” Aubrey began to repeat, “How does that banner make you feel? And maybe the saying too - ‘Welcome to the Future’?”

“I’m so proud of her,” Josie gushed, now snapping a selfie of herself with the banner in the background, “She’s getting so famous.”

“I-…I guess I’m proud of her too,” I finally answered, trying to sound thoughtful rather than freaked out by the whole thing, “and, yeah, things are changing.”

If the world was heading this way, to become more like this place, this Vendare Center - a world of empowered, towering women, velvet-voiced and unstoppably busty, a world where someone like me was seen as precious, or something to be overcome - then how would I make my way in it?

More catcalls. ”What are you staring at little guy? The poster?” “Isn’t she pretty??” “Omigod that’s Dr. Vulni!” “And that poster..?!?” “Is that your girlfriend up there, Dr Vulni??”

And yes.

I was going to need protection.

Melissa’s. And the girls’, too…

Aubrey’s hand was on my shoulder again, Lakshmi took up my hand. Josie smiled down at me warmly. 

…maybe a lot more than I realized.

I was musing over that when we came to a point where one of the center’s main hallways met another. Here was a Valkyrie Motors display, with patrons milling about and in between the several auto models on showcase at the Vendare Center, all of them in gleaming white. I saw an XX Fury Sports Car, an XX Empress Luxury Sedan and the familiar XX Behemoth (though still huge, it was of a smaller scale than Melissa’s custom vehicle). Each was paired with a smaller, obviously subservient XY model, each of a matte gray with white detailing to match their larger partners. Amidst the cars’ admirers were several “Valkyries” - the tall blonde saleswomen that seemed all but synonymous with the brand, one of which was looking our way and-

“Doctor Jay-Jay!!” she called from across the makeshift showroom, waving excitedly our way over the crowd, pneumatic and bouncing up and down on her toes in her fitted uniform, white to match the cars.

Immediately I put my head down, and shot a small wave back.

“Who is that?” asked Lakshmi, cocking her head, watching the young blond in the too-tight suit still peering over the crowd at us, trying to catch my eye.

Inga. “That’s, uh…one of the girls that sold m-...that sold Melissa her new car,” I answered. I raised my head again, smiled and waved wanly back at the bosomy ubergirl. 

She was still looking my way, but it appeared like she was speaking something into the watch on her wrist. She then waved again, smile huge and beaming.

“Let’s, uh, go…” I insisted, quickening my step a few paces. The last thing I wanted was to be the center of attention in any sort of way. Inga looked busy with some potential customers, anyway. 

The girls quickly caught up to me, and my efforts of avoiding attention were obviously in vain. I heard more whispers and murmurs as we made it through the crowd -

"Aww, so adorable!" "He's so short!" "Nngh, wanna take that home with me."

More covert catcalls. More fluttering laughter.

The girls just kept walking, tugging me along by my hands, steering me toward what I guessed was going to be the smoothie place - one of them had mentioned wanting BoomFood, and I guess there was a shop here. Great. I tried to keep my head down, focus forward, but then -

A voice. A voice I knew. A voice I knew really, really well. 

"Oh look, it’s Dr. Vulni," it crooned behind us, dripping honey and vinegar all at once. "How cute."

I froze. Literally froze, mid-step, so fast and so hard that Josie and Lakshmi nearly yanked my arms out of their sockets. Their hands tightened reflexively around mine.

I turned. I had to.

At first - god help me - I thought it was one of the women from Valkyrie Motors. She had that same look in some ways. Tall, blond, stacked. My eyes goggled, and I ogled her. I started, though, at her feet. White pumps, then a tightly matching skirt, cut to the knee. A white fitted jacket clung to her, with a deep plunge of a glittery, corset-style bustier underneath threatening a wardrobe malfunction with every breath. Exactly something one might see on a Valkyrie. For a second, my eyes - traitorous, stupid - stuck right where they were, locked helplessly on that impossible shelf of cleavage.

Then I pulled my gaze up. Saw the face I’d feared I’d find. And my stomach dropped into my shoes.

"Sh-Sh-Sheryl?!!?" I blurted, horrified.

She smiled at me, that huge smile - wide and sunny, all white teeth and effortless confidence. It was a smile I’d known for more than a decade. It was a smile that had seen me through school, lit our way into our first house. It was a smile that once warmed my bed, and kept the rain away. But today, right now, it was the smile of a royal surveying a peasant who'd wandered back into her court.

"Jayyyyyy," she said sweetly, like she was greeting a former pet she'd long since given away. "How...nice to see you."

“Um, it's...” I tried, trying to return the pleasantries, but found that between her sparkling eyes and shockingly large breasts, my thoughts seemed to slip away from me and get lost somewhere…specifically, into her cleavage.

Good god, they were bigger, seemingly even bigger than when I’d last seen her - and that was just last Friday, at the gala. Let me catch you up, dear reader: Sheryl had not been a busty woman, when we met in our twenties. She, though, understood my, uh, preferences in the female form and - in an act of extreme spousal generosity - got breast implants early in our marriage. Modest ones, 450cc’s, but on her thin frame they did the trick - until they didn’t. Until I was tempted away by others more voluptuous. Right at about the time of our divorce, though, she’d enrolled as a study subject for the Evolution Pharm product we were testing for the FDA and, well-

Jesus, she’s fucking huge now. Could she have had more surgery? If so, it was looking as if she’d decided on new implants well beyond the triple digits. But something told me that no - this wasn’t just new implants. This was now naturally her, she’d put on cup size after cup size around those 450cc’s, courtesy of the Product. I started to muse that if she had had these proportions when we were married, I might not have been tempted by Deanna, by Rina, by Melissa…I mean, look at those tits…

Stop it, Jay! I scolded myself, this is your ex-wife! She already thinks you're a pervy worm! She doesn’t need any more reason to know she’s right! Her cleavage, though, was near magnetic, and I could barely look away. 

Sheryl simply smiled patiently through my struggles, and I strangely couldn't bring myself to say what I was beginning to think, to greet her in return. 

The girls were already turning around, and Sheryl - who could be pure social grace incarnate when she so chose - breezed forward into their space like she owned it. She leaned in, arms wide, dispensing cheek kisses like social grenades. One for Josie: "Look at you, darling! Josie, right? You’re blossoming into a real beauty." One for Lakshmi: "Oh, Lakshmi! Always so poised. You must be running the whole clinic by now!" And one for Aubrey:  "Still the sweetest heart there, I bet. Are you all keeping an eye on the little man here?”

They smiled, stiff at first, unsure of how to react. But there was something to Sheryl now, something new - I saw it right away. She was always socially gifted, adroit. But today she immediately seemed magnetic, and it was impossible not to at least pretend to bask in her glow. The girls began chatting with her, assuring her of how well Melissa and all the girls were treating me. 

And me? I just stood there, a tiny little idiot between them all, clutching onto a shopping bag that Josie just handed me like it was a flotation device.

The women continued politely above my head for more moments, sharing warm remarks about how beautiful the new Vendare Center was, how exciting the grand reopening week seemed, and how "forward-thinking" the whole venture seemed. Through it, Sheryl's smile never wavered. I admittedly watched her with admiration; she seemed a skilled social swordsman - every move polished, every jab concealed behind velvet.

Finally, though, she turned her glittering eyes back down to me - and gave a little mock-tilt of her head, like examining a curious child.

"I can feel all the positive maternal energy here in the center, all these strong women everywhere," she said, her voice syrupy and indulgent, looking back pointedly at Josie, Lakshmi, and Aubrey, "And so much of it from you three!” Then she looked back again to me, eyes sparkling. “Jay, sweetie, you're a lucky little man, you know that? Especially today, with Melissa off at Evolution Pharm."

I blinked. How does she know that? My face started to twist in consternated confusion. . 

"But don't worry, sweetheart," she cooed, reaching out to brush one manicured fingernail lightly under my chin - a gesture so casual and belittling I wanted to melt into the floor. "You've got three new mommies here with you now."

The girls chuckled politely - they loved the compliments, the comparisons. That they could fill Melissa’s role while she was away was a thought they obviously relished. But I could also feel their hands squeeze my shoulders a little tighter, and that they were bristling under the surface.

Me? Under Sheryl’s gaze? In her presence? I was mortified. Confused. Small.

And Sheryl? She just kept on smiling like she was winning something - and she probably was, scoring points in a game for which I didn’t even know I’d signed up. She and my three companions went on talking - about what shops the girls wanted to take me to, the best restaurants here, Shanette’s performance later. 

“Oh, and if you have the time,” Sheryl said, “come over to Atrium 2 at 2:30. I’m on a panel and we’ll be talking about women in real estate...” At that, she leaned down towards me with a sparkle in her eye, tempting me anew with the frankly mind-bending view of cleavage down her top. “…big girl things.” 

The hands on my shoulders tightened a bit more. 

Sheryl then stood again, addressing the three girls once more. “It’d be nice to see some friendly faces in the crowd,” she finished, and unsnapped her sleekly petite, white leather purse to begin thumbing through its contents. She pulled out a small handful of bills. Only several, but I saw Ben Franklin on them. 

“Here, take some money for him,” she said, handing the cash to Lakshmi - who was too startled to refuse it, “there’s a spa salon  right around the corner. Maybe you all can pamper yourselves a bit.”

The girls thanked Sheryl for the money, who waved them off nonchalantly. They all exchanged a few more pleasantries while I still stood there stewing over what that just was, the cash - because it felt like a babysitting fee, and like something done just to emasculate me. Before I could consolidate a protest, though, the women were saying goodbyes. 

“See ya, Jay. Give Melissa my best,” Sheryl smiled, and left me in her wake. 

We all watched her go. Nobody said anything for a bit, the four of us just standing there next to some giant potted tree. I kept my eyes on her as she moved away with the crowd. Even her hips had a new swing to them.

“Wow. What happened to her?” Josie asked, after Sheryl was far enough away, “She looks amazing.”

“Yeah and her, like, voice and everything, the way she spoke,” Aubrey added, casually petting the back of my head, “She sounded so…impressive.”

“It is the Product, she has been my patient,” Lakshmi began, “She is evolving, the way she needs to. It is what the Product does. She is becoming a better attorney, a better business woman.”

Behind me, I could feel Aubrey pausing thoughtfully. The hand she had on my shoulder seemed to be gently tugging me closer to her. “And she needs bigger breasts to do that?”

Josie snorted. “Just like you need those enormous tits for the front desk?” she quipped, “Because it’s kinda the same thing Missy’s doing to us. Changing us so we’re most…I dunno. Useful.”

Wait what?

“They do help in so many ways when you have to deal with men,” Lakshmi said evenly, “Aubrey - have you had any problems with Mr. Kowalczyk recently? Or any of the old, cranky, male patients?”

“No,” she answered, the hand that was petting my hair now on my other shoulder, pulling me even closer, “they’ve all turned into sweetie-pies for me.”

I could feel my face flush red as I felt the warmth of Aubrey’s breasts brush onto my pate, from behind. I shuddered, and felt myself - no no no no no - hardening in my new joggers.

“So, yes, I’ve seen some of the batteries they have put Sheryl through,” Lakshmi continued, “she is becoming more intelligent, more business savvy. Her personality is also becoming more persuasive, more commanding…more manipulative.”

I shuddered again.  

“You okay, Dr. J?” Aubrey asked, the weight of her breasts now plainly resting on my head.

“Yeah, I’m, uh…fine,” I answered, praying to god that somehow my boner wasn’t going to be visible yet.

“Alright then, Ms. Super-Lawyer gave us babysitting money to go spend at the salon,” Josie chirped, snatching the handful of bills out of Lakshmi’s hand and waving it between the four of us, “let’s go get pretty!”

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