"It's okay," I told her "Let's just sit on the bench for a few minutes."
Not saying anything and not looking at each other we sat on the park bench. Mothers pushed strollers along the paths and squirrels chattered as they scurried around. Mary hadn't realized that I was the one who'd changed her, she thought it was something weird happening to the two of us. I realized that I was intensely afraid she'd find out it was me--and what?
It wasn't like she was a physical threat to me. With my new muscles I could restrain her without even breaking a sweat! Or maybe I'd just flex a bit and see if she'd start petting me again. I stopped that line of thought and blushed, feeling the tightness in my shorts begin and then ease off again. Last thing I wanted was to get a raging boner sitting next to her out in the open like this!
It dawned on me that what I really wanted was for Mary to like me. No way would she do that if she found out about the wishing ring. I toyed with the idea of wishing it away, but the potential uses were just too much to pass up. Then I thought for a moment about wishing that Mary *couldn't* find out about the ring, but for all I know she might drop dead, go catatonic, or forget me entirely. I didn't have a good enough idea how the ring worked to try messing with anyone's head.
I decided the best thing to do would be to just be really careful never to make a wish out loud, and hope for the best. I glanced over at Mary. She was picking at the hem of her skirt.
"I heard you yell something about not fitting, but I couldn't see what was going on. It sounded like you were in trouble, and I guess maybe I was feeling like there wasn't much I could do, even if I knew what was happening. Then all my clothes were really tight, and I heard that truck braking, and well, you know the rest."
Mary kept picking at her hem. "I was on my way to the bus stop when it felt like someone had yanked on my boobs. I looked down and they were, like this, so I pulled my top up and tried to figure out what was going on, then my skirt got really tight--it was a lot longer than this before--" she looked up at me, staring into my eyes. "I wouldn't wear something like this by choice!"
She looked back down before continuing. "I asked someone if they'd seen what happened to me and she made some catty comment about my clothes, and I yelled at her, then there was a crowd all around me and suddenly my skirt was half as long and nobody cared about me any more. It was like they just forgot anything had happened. I was totally freaking out, looking all over like there'd be something that would explain it all if only I knew where to look."
"Then I saw you standing across the street and your butt and back got all muscly all of a sudden, and," she stopped to swallow and blink, "and I was so relieved I wasn't the only one I ran out into traffic to get to you. God you must think I'm such a spazz."
"I think, under the circumstances, you're handling this a lot better than I am." I reached over and patted her hand. She turned her palm up and closed her fingers around mine. "Really, I have a muscly butt now?"
She giggled, started to say something, but my expression made her laugh harder, then she slipped her arms around me and gave me a hug. I enfolded her in my arms. It was so easy to forget how small she was, between her personality and the figure I'd given her. her laughter turned to sobbing and she clutched me tighter, letting her fear and stress out at last.