"AAAAAAAH!" You're not sure who's yelling. Heck it could be all three of you, or perhaps just one of you. As you barge into the cabin you raise your metal pole high, ready to bash in the first sign of a threat.
As you reach the den, you see, standing in nothing but a white towel wrapped around her and holding a poker from in front of the fireplace. Her black hair is still wet and hanging limply down her shoulder, her dark skin is still glistening from her recent shower. She looks like she could be Indian, as in from India. She looks at you all with wide-eyed determination, ready to jab the first one of you that steps toward her, but you're all frozen in the doorway.
She glares between each of you, locking eyes. "Who are you?! What's going on, here?"
After an awkward moment, Colby's look of astonishment changes into a genial smile. Combine with his short stature, beard, bald head, and round form he looked almost cuddly. A strange adjective, but it fit. "Alright, let's all calm down here. We're not going to hurt you. Please put down the poker."
Her expression softens a little, but she's still threateningly pointing the poker in your direction. "Put down that thing, first."
Colby glances back at you, and motions for you to lower the metal pole in your hands. You do so and hold your hands up non-threateningly.
She continues pointing the poker at the three of you, but seems a little less on edge. "Who are you guys?"
Colby takes a careful step forward, still smiling, his hands visible. "My name is Colby, and I own this cabin."
She raises a dark eyebrow, glaring at him. "Bullshit."
Colby raises his eyebrow back at her. He holds up a single index finger and begins pointing around, starting from the door you came in and moving clockwise. "First floor: kitchen, den, bathroom with shower, game room, trophy room with full size grizzly bear, bathroom with tub, and storage closet. Would you like me to do the upstairs, as well?"
She merely stares at him, the poker in her hands slowly lowering.
Colby takes another step forward. "Listen. My friends and I only came up here to my cabin to get away for the summer. We weren't expecting anybody else to be here. I'm sorry we startled you. What's your name?"
His genial attitude seems to throw her off guard. She lowers the poker completely, but doesn't let go of it. "Uhm, I'm Rani. I just needed to get away for a while, and I heard that this cabin hadn't been used in years, but that it still had water and electricity, so I just..." She suddenly looks embarrassed. "I am so sorry. Listen. I'll get my clothes on and go. I'm so sorry. Please don't call the cops on me."
Colby smiles and shrugs. "No harm done. Go on and get dressed. We won't bother you."
She gently sets the poker down next to the fireplace. Still keeping an eye on the three of you, she backs into a door you assume is the bathroom.
The three of you breathe sighs of relief. You collapse into a nearby couch, suddenly exhausted. It's possibly the softest couch you ever sat in.
George laughs and flops into the couch next to you. "Wow. Holy shit!"
"Language, Georgie," Colby mumbles. He turns to the two of you, a stern expression on his face. "What do we do with her?"
You shrug, feeling sick to your stomach again. "I say just let her go. We've already scared her half do death, what more needs to be done?"
George leans back on the couch and stretches his muscular legs. "Heck if I know, man. It's your cabin, you do what you want."
Colby stares at the bathroom door, thinking.
A few minutes go by and the door opens up again. Rani steps out, wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Her hair is still wet, but has been pulled back into a limp ponytail. "I'm really sorry, again. I'll just grab my things and go."
Colby glances at the dark landscape out the window. "It's awful late out, almost 11. The mountain roads can be dangerous at night if you don't know the way. Why don't you stay the night?"
She seems surprised by his request. "Excuse me?"
Colby puts on the genial grin again. "Stay the night. Then you can leave in the morning. Or, if you want, you can stay as long as you like."
Taken aback, Rani glances between the three of you. "Stay here? With you guys?"
Colby smiles and nods. "Yes."
"Stay here with three older men who can easily overpower me."
Colby frowns, visibly hurt. "I can assure you that none of us would ever do anything to hurt you."
Her expression cold again, she crosses her arms and glares at Colby. "You expect me to believe you?"
Colby holds out his hands. "It's your choice. Leave now if you wish."
She glances at each of you again. There's Colby, the friendly older guy in his 50's, George, the muscled man who never stops smiling, and you, a guy that's old enough to be her dad who's eaten too much and has a stomach ache.
She sighs, giving in. "Alright. I'll stay the night. But no funny stuff, alright?" She eyes each of you as she walks out into the hall and makes her way upstairs.
George chuckles. "Well, she was friendly."
You nudge him. "We did just terrify her out of her wits."
George frowns at you. He nudges your bloated stomach, causing you to wince in pain. "She shouldn't have broken in here in the first place. And how am I supposed to use the socks if she's going to be here? I don't know how we would ever explain that to here."
Colby shakes his head. "She could be gone by tomorrow, anyway. Or maybe she won't. I got the feeling she needed to get away for the summer even more than we did."
George rolls his eyes. "Ugh, you really are turning into my uncle. That's the kind of sappy stuff he would say all the time." He sighs and stands up off the couch. "I'll get out bags."
A few minutes later, George walks in easily carrying all your bags on his muscled shoulders, as well as a case of beer. He drops your bags in the middle of the room, and then gently sets the beer beside it. He pulls out three cans, handing one to you and Colby. He pops the top of his and holds it up. "To a no restraints summer!"
You and Colby do the same with your beers. "A no restraints summer!"
You drink deeply, feeling the carbonated fluid trickle down your throat, oddly easing the pain in your stomach. It didn't taste great, but it sure did the job.
The next day you wake up with a bit of a headache. You must've drunk too much last night. You can't even remember how late you stayed up for. Glancing at the clock you see it's almost noon. At least the bed you were in was comfy. Sitting up, you see your bag was in one corner of your room, some of your clothes draped unceremoniously in a pile next to it. You're glad to find that your stomach pain is finally gone, as well as the bloat, returning your gut to its normal size. You throw on a shirt and scratch at your stubble, half surprised to feel it thick on your cheeks. You run your hand under your shirt and over your stomach, feeling its round, hairy form, somewhat soft but with muscle hidden underneath. You tentatively run a hand through your hair, feeling your high forehead. It was so surreal being your dad. This was going to take some getting used to.
You stumble out your bedroom door, only in your shirt and boxers, scratching your belly. You smell something, something delicious. You make your way downstairs and find your way to the kitchen. You’re surprised to see a dark haired woman at the stove, cooking up some bacon.
As you enter she looks back at you and grins. "Hey! I just thought I'd cook you guys an apology breakfast. Well, lunch-breakfast. Brunch? Anyway, it's bacon and pancakes if you want some."
You suddenly realize you don't have any pants on.
"Over here." You turn and see Colby, still as George's dad, seated at the table. He already has a plate with several pancakes and a side of bacon. "I told her she didn't have to but she insisted."
Still in your boxers, you make your way over to a seat and grab a plate. You wince as the sunlight streaming through the windows catches your eyes. You feel a tap on your shoulder and see George thrust a can of cold beer in your face. "Here's some hair of the dog."
You take the can and look it over. "This is just Budweiser."
George shrugs. "Yeah, well, that's all we've got for now."
You pop the can and take a drink. It does little to help your headache, but it sates your thirst just the same. You grab yourself a stack of pancakes twice as high as Colby's, and as much bacon as you can fit on your plate. This earns you a look from Colby.
You dig into your buttery, syrupy, stack. "Hey, I missed breakfast, alright. Besides, I'm a human trash compactor, remember?"
George grins and grabs a stack just as big as yours, with just as much bacon.
Colby turns to Rani, still making bacon. "How much good did you make, Rani?"
She shrugs. "I figured three grown men would eat a lot, so..."
Colby pulls the chair out next to him as you and George tear into your meals. "Take a break from that. We have enough food here for three whole families."
She finishes her last set of bacon before joining the three of you at the table. She seems out of place and uncomfortable next to the three of you, but Colby does his best to make her feel welcome. He introduces the three of you and even tells her the town you came from. He explains that this is something the three of you like to do every so often when you can. As she listens to him, she seems to relax more, his genial nature getting the better of her.
You sop up the last dredges of syrup from your plate with the last bit of pancake before devouring it. You push away your now empty plate, satisfied. George, only half done with his stack, stares at your empty plate in disbelief. "I don't know how you do it, man. I don't think I can eat another bite."
"Trash compactor," you remind him.
He glances form his half-full plate to your now empty one. "I bet you twenty bucks you can't finish my plate."
You eye his stack, half the size of what you'd already devoured, judging it. "You're on."
He slides the plate over to you and you dig in, thankful you're not wearing pants that you'd have to unbutton at the moment.
Rani can't help but laugh a little. "Are they always like this?"
Colby shrugs. "This is actually kind of a recent thing."
In only a few minutes you clean George's plate of any sign of bacon or pancakes. You hold your hands up in victory. George slowly shakes his head, digging another twenty from his wallet. "That's crazy."
You grab the bill and lean back in your seat, absolutely stuffed. "If you guys don't mind, I'm going to try and put some pants on, now."