“Mini-golf?” Jason echoed back over the phone, disbelief in his voice.

  “Yep, mini-golf,” Marco confirmed, undeterred.

  "Care to eborate on that one?"

  "Nope."

  “Well, if you’re not going to help, I’ll just see how things work out on my own,” Jason said with a sigh.

  “Hey, I am helping! Trust me on this one, man. I wouldn’t joke about something like this, especially now...Like I might bust your balls a bit, but I wouldn’t purposely steer you wrong. Have some faith, homie,” Marco reassured him.

  Jason was very skeptical, to say the least. “I just don’t see how mini-golf is going to fix anything,” he remarked.

  “Listen, you’ve gotta trust me on this. And just so we’re perfectly clear, I mean you should take her with you. I swear at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if you called back compining about how you went by yourself, and it didn’t work,” Marco teased, poking fun at his friend’s past mistakes.

  “Oh like you’ve never messed up before,” Jason bantered.

  “Haha, I don’t think I’ve ever made a mistake quite like-“

  “Gabby,” Jason interrupted, making Marco wince.

  “Ouch, why ya gotta aim those insults at my dick so much. I can’t control the fucker,” Marco grumbled, but Jason just chuckled.

  “Haha, serves you right. Anyway, I’ll give your idea a shot, but if it blows up in my face, I’m coming after you when I’m back.”

  “And when it works, I expect you to bow down and call me Master Don Juan Big Schlong,” Marco ughed. “Anyway, Good luck bro. I gotta grab some meds for my Abue then take her to her doctors appointment.”

  “Thanks dude, give her my regards. I’ll swing by next time she makes her empanadas.”

  After exchanging goodbyes, both hung up.

  Jason was still lying in bed, idly scrolling through his phone, when he did a quick search for the nearest mini-golf center. Turns out, there was one not too far from town, nestled in a little touristy spot. The pce looked alright, with an outdoor course and a bck light version inside. Was he seriously considering asking Jillian out? To fucking mini-golf, of all things?!

  With a deep breath he summoned what courage he had left and copied the link to the fun center. Then pasted it into his messages to Jillian and spent the next twenty minutes crafting messages, some short and some way too long.

  Finally, he settled on a simple “Wanna go?” and hit send, immediately feeling a pang of regret.

  “She’s gonna think I’ve lost it. She’s probably reading it right now and ughing at me,” he groaned to himself.

  Jillian’s phone buzzed with a text from Jason, but she was out cold, snoring softly as she rolled onto her side, the pillow version of Jason now shoved between her thighs. While real Jason spent the next three hours worrying about why she hadn’t replied, Jillian enjoyed a good nap without interruptions for once.

  She gradually woke up when her little sister came in, getting ready for bed. Jillian let out a groan and slowly came to her senses. She watched for a moment as June walked over to put on her pajamas and gave her little sister a sleepy smile. With a yawn she rolled onto her back, freeing the pillow from between her thighs and smacking her lips. She reached for her phone to check the time. It was still pretty early, but there was a text waiting for her. She zily scanned the message after unlocking her phone.

  “Huh... What’s this... a kid’s py pce?” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. Jason’s simple message, along with the context, left much to the imagination.

  Jillian wasn’t exactly thrilled about going to an arcade or whatever it was, but Jason seemed to want to go, so she figured, why not? It would be their first outing after their biggest fight to date. Maybe something more casual was just what they needed. She tapped the link he sent her and called her sister over.

  “Hey June, wanna check out this pce tomorrow with me and Jason?” she asked, showing her the details on the phone. June shrugged and nodded in agreement.

  Jillian smiled and texted Jason back, “What time?”

  Almost instantly, Jason replied, “They open at noon on weekdays, so I was thinking we could head there around 12:30 or 1?”

  She smirked at his quick response. “Sounds good, but only if we can grab lunch first.”

  She threw in a winking emoji for good measure, and Jason replied promptly, “Deal.”

  Jillian let out a small smile, setting her phone aside once again. It took a moment, but then it hit her. “Wait, was that Jason’s way of asking me out? Like on a date?” she wondered silently.

  It sure sounded like his style suggesting a date at some kids’ fun center. She mentally facepalmed at her oversight.

  With her little sister already invited, she couldn’t just back out now. She really needed to shift her perspective for dealing with the man, and just let things evolve naturally. She couldn’t deny the fact she was eager to give the monster in his pants a ride around the block. It had been months since she had any kind of intimacy past her recent exploits with Jason. She had been much too afraid to try anything with anyone else. The night she spent in his bed next to him awoke a desire she had thought was lost.

  That evening, Jason sat down to eat with his mom. Since the pizza incident, Katia had been serving smaller portions, which Jason noticed but didn’t comment on.

  “So, I’m taking Jillian out tomorrow,” he mentioned as casually as possible between bites. Katia looked up from her pte with a small smile.

  “Really?” she asked, pleasantly surprised. Jason nodded, stuffing more food into his mouth.

  “That’s great, sweetie. I’m proud of you for taking that step,” Katia said, reaching out to squeeze his hand. It felt strange to receive praise for something like this, but not entirely bad.

  That is, until his mother asked, “So where are you two going?”

  Jason suddenly found himself frozen with a mouth full of mashed potatoes.

  At Jillian’s, she was helping her mom with some st-minute undry while trying to keep her little brother, Calvin, from causing chaos. Her way of fixing that little problem was to put him under a undry hamper with a few toys and sit on it to keep him contained. But being the mischief-maker he was, he kept trying to grab clothes through the rge holes in the hamper. With the chaotic monster mostly contained, Jillian and her mom continued to fold clothes and chat, with the TV providing some distraction. Midway through, Jillian casually dropped the news about going out with June after getting an invite from Jason.

  Ginny looked surprised. “Oh, he invited the both of you? I didn’t realize you were back on speaking terms with him,” she remarked.

  Jillian blushed a bit. “Uh… not exactly both of us, but yeah, we are.” She confessed, feeling her cheeks warm slightly for some reason.

  The next day rolled around, and the morning flew by quickly. Jason had almost finished his longest run ever when he received a text from Marco. He paused to catch his breath and fished his phone out of his pocket to check the message.

  “Forgot to mention, make sure you rub one out before you go Mini Golfing. It would be a shame if you went in with a loaded gun.”

  Jason couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the text before continuing his run.

  Meanwhile, Jillian was helping June with her outfit and hair. She enjoyed dressing up her little sister but went for a more simple look today. The young girl wore a rather cute white sundress that had stenciled patterns of flowers all over and bck leggings underneath.

  While the two stood in front of the tall mirror in their room, Jillian couldn’t help but look at herself. The progress of her recovery became more evident every day, especially when compared to her first day back home. Before, it looked like someone had sucked the life out of her, and she wasn't much more than skin and bones. While her ribs were still quite visible, she definitely had a bit more meat on her bones. Her stomach was the most noticeable change; it used to be so concave you could almost see the shape of her spine through it when she sucked in, but now there was just a small dip. Maybe even a little bit of a bulge, depending on when she st ate.

  Jillian’s butt had slimmed down a lot during the time she was away, but of course, was the first area to perk back up. Lins women had a strange genetic issue where most of the weight they gained went to their hips and thighs first and the rest after, while the chest was taboo to mention.

  Just getting to this point had taken a long time and had been a slow process, over six months of constant struggle. Even now, there was this nagging voice in her head telling her she should stop eating. That had been the first hurdle she had to get over. Simply telling herself that eating when she was hungry wasn’t a bad thing. But thanks to therapy and her family’s support, she had been able to push back against that voice pretty successfully.

  After Jillian finished putting June’s hair in a French braid, she took one st gnce in the mirror. She was dressed in a thin, long-sleeved purple shirt that had a cowl colr that hung off her neck slightly, paired with snug stretch jeans that, of course, accentuated her plump bottom. She attempted to tame her unruly curls, which cascaded past her shoulders when her phone chimed.

  It was a text from Jason: “Ready for lunch in about 30?”

  Jillian quickly texted back, “Yep, sounds good!”

  “Cool. Any preferences on where to eat or what to have?”

  This prompted Jillian to turn to her little sister, who was sitting back on her bed, absorbed in a book already.

  “Hey, what sounds good for lunch?” she asked. June looked up, contempting for a moment, then mimicked chopsticks with her hands.

  “Chinese or Japanese?” Jillian asked for crification, to which June signaled with a hand in the shape of a ‘C ’.

  “How about a Chinese buffet?” Jillian texted Jason again, figuring since he liked to eat so much, a buffet would be perfect for him.

  “Sounds good to me. If you’ve got a spot in mind, let me know.”

  Putting his phone aside, Jason finished getting ready as well. He air-dried a bit from his shower before drying off with a towel, then threw on some new casual clothes he’d picked up while shopping with his mom – a basic gray tee and some boot-cut jeans that were a tad snug on his muscur legs. As he searched for his missing sock, he lifted his pillow in desperation and was met with a surprising sight: a pair of red ce panties lying on his bed. With a gulp, he lifted them up, and unfolded them.

  As he gazed at the wide expanse needed to contain Jillian’s ample backside, his heartbeat picked up speed. Marco’s text repyed in his mind. It had been weeks since he st touched himself, and with how easily Jillian seemed to be able to turn him on, it was a disaster waiting to happen. Plus, being away from her for a few days probably weakened his resistance even more. It all made too much sense to ignore. The st thing he needed was to get randomly turned on while pying mini-golf. With a deep breath, he gnced at his bedroom door before getting up and locking it, then gnced back at his bed. He had been sitting on his missing sock the whole time.

  “Typical.”

  He mumbled, still holding the panties in his hand. He swallowed nervously and lifted them to his nose, breathing in her scent as he unbuttoned his already tight pants.

  Jillian and June were hanging out in the living room, waiting for Jason to give them the heads-up that he was on his way. June tried to get Jillian’s attention away from her phone, waving and miming as if she had a watch on, asking how long it had been.

  “He said thirty minutes, but it’s been about forty. Not sure what’s up, he isn’t really the type to be te,” Jillian pondered, equally confused.

  Another five minutes ticked by before they finally got a text: “Sorry, got held up. Outside now.”

  Jillian stood up with a smile. “He’s outside waiting. Let’s bounce.” They both headed out the door, spotting Jason parked at the curb.

  “Let’s ride in the back together,” Jillian suggested.

  June gave her a strange look, then shrugged as her sister opened the back door and hopped in.

  “Hey there! Thought you forgot about us for a sec,” she teased as June got in shortly after.

  “Yeah, sorry about that. I... Wait, us?” Jason was initially confused as to why Jillian was getting into the back seat, but as he gnced back, he spotted two redheads instead of one. He stared at June for a moment, who seemed to grow a bit uneasy under his gaze.

  “Yeah, I thought it’d be fun for June as well, so I figured it’d be a good way to get her out of the house... You’re cool with that, right?” Jillian asked cautiously. How he responded was probably more significant than anyone realized.

  June shot her sister a hard stare, upset that she never told him. While Jason was a little surprised to see her coming, he wasn't upset by the unexpected guest.

  “Of course. She’s more than welcome to come with us,” His words were surprisingly genuine, like he actually wanted her to come. Truth was, her presence helped eased the tension between them. It felt less like a date now and more like just friends going out for some fun.

  Jillian returned the smile, feeling relieved. If Jason had reacted badly, she might have had some choice words and told him to fuck off.

  “She says thank you for having me along,” Jillian transted June’s sign nguage. “She doesn’t speak much, so I can transte for you,” she said, offering an expnation.

  “You’re welcome June. And yeah, I remember, we talked about it the other day when I came over for lunch,” he said, smiling at them before turning back to drive.

  “Oh… right.” She had totally forgotten. Those days had become such a blur while she had been so distracted by everything going on between them.

  “I am sure you are more than happy to talk for two today,” he said with a smirk. She narrowed her eyes at him before catching what he meant.

  “I don’t talk that much!” She argued, but looking over at June, her expression clearly said, “Yeah, ya kinda do.” Jillian just folded her arms and pouted. “Oh, screw you both.” The other two ughed as they all headed out of town.

  They ended up at the only decent Chinese buffet in town. The three of them hopped out of the car and headed inside to get a table. On the way in, Jason accidentally bumped into Jillian.

  “What the…” She thought, giving him a weird look behind his back, but not much else. They were led to their seats while Jillian took the lead, suggesting Jason and June get their food first while she stayed to order the drinks.

  “I’ll be fine with water,” Jason said, while June nodded in agreement. With their drink orders sorted, the pair headed off to load up their ptes. Meanwhile, Jillian stayed put, scanning the room out of boredom. Mid-scan, she noticed a man across the restaurant shooting gnces her way. Trying to be polite, she gave him a little half-smile in return. His bald head shone with light from the window. Small amounts of wispy strands were all that was left of the man’s hair.

  Fortunately, the waiter came over to take their drink orders. Jillian ordered water for the table, then quickly left the booth to grab some food for herself.

  Jason returned to the table with two ptes loaded with food, accidentally brushing against Jillian once more on his way. Still not saying a word after. This time, she shot him a gre.

  “If he does that one more time, I swear I’m gonna kick him in the shin.” She tried to shrug off the annoyance when she noticed her sister with an empty pte taking her time selecting her food.

  “How are you this indecisive? They have Chinese food and hot dogs with toothpicks in them for some reason. I know how much you love those!” she teased, grabbing a few items herself while June stuck her tongue out at her. Buffets were always a bit of a challenge for Jillian since she didn’t eat much, but she didn’t want to go back with just 4 noodles and an almond cookie.

  The two sisters made their way back to the booth and took their seats opposite Jason. He’d practically demolished one of his ptes already while they were still getting theirs. Which was just so typical for him. But that wasn’t what caught Jillian’s attention. Her gaze drifted to the man who had been eyeing her earlier, and he was still staring.

  “I swear he was farther away st time I looked…” Jillian thought, frowning as she felt what little appetite she had fade away. She hated being stared at, especially now that she had to worry about Luis again. It was all so nerve-wracking. Just then, she felt a light tap against her calf.

  Gncing down, then up at Jason, she stared at him for a moment. When he didn’t look up from his food, her eye twitched slightly.

  Jillian struggled as hard as she could to make a dent in her meal. When June gave her a small pat on the arm, she gnced over at her sister, who motioned toward Jason. He was busy polishing off his second pte of food with ease.

  “How the hell do you manage to stay in shape eating like that? I mean, sure, you work out a lot and all, but… just damn, I can see why there are starving kids in china now.” Jillian said bluntly as Jason wiped his face clean.

  “Huh? Oh no, I don’t usually eat this much.” Jason replied, shaking his head. “I’m in vacation mode right now. I still eat a lot, but it’s more portion controlled and protein. My coach would flip out if he saw me eating all these carbs. I usually have to double my road work because my buddy Marco constantly brings over alcohol.”

  “Uh huh…” The sisters just stared at the man as he finished every st morsel on his pte.

  Jason got up again, and Jillian tried to eat a bit more. As he passed, she felt his hand lightly bounce off her arm. She tensed up, dropping her fork that cttered against the pte.

  “That’s. It,” she fumed angrily. Her patience had run out, and she was going to teach him some manners. As she was moving to get up, she noticed the strange man was just a few booths away now. He had pasty white skin that looked like he hadn't seen the sun in years. So close now she could see the stains on his heather gray sweats and ratty blue university sweater. She shot him a fierce gre, but his gaze remained directly on her, only breaking to gnce at his phone for half a second, then back to her, undeterred by her anger. Something was definitely off, and she didn’t like it one bit. She was scared. Sitting back down, she frowned deeply at her picked at pte of food. She wished Jason would hurry up and come back even if he was going to bump into her again.

  When Jason returned with two more ptes, without bumping into her. She stood up quickly.

  “Jason? Can we… can we please switch seats?” her request, prompting confused looks from the other two. He quickly set down his ptes.

  “Uh, sure, but why?” “I’ll expin ter, but please… just switch for now?” she pleaded with him, trying to tell him what was going on with her eyes. He looked into her bright blue eyes that were filled with unease and fear. It was obvious that she was scared, but he didn’t know why. But he didn't question it further and took the seat next to June, and Jillian took his. June seemed a little uncomfortable sitting beside the rge and imposing figure. Being next to him made her feel even smaller than she already was.

  June looked over at her sister, feeling a bit betrayed. Jillian signed an apology, urging her to let it slide for the moment. Soon enough, Jason was busy eating again when he gnced up and caught sight of a mostly bald guy leaning out of his booth slightly, trying to sneak gnces at the now mostly obscured older redhead. She had scooted as far in as possible, trying to avoid him. Jillian hoped Jason would notice the creep, her own discomfort growing as she felt his gaze lingering on her again.

  Jason quickly collected every set of unused chopsticks on the table, clenching them in one fist. His knuckles were rough and scarred from so much use. She hadn’t paid much attention to them before, but now they seemed rather imposing, maybe even a little scary.

  Jason let out a loud cough, catching the attention of the creep. Then, with a satisfying CRACK! that startled the girls a bit, he had effortlessly snapped the chopsticks using just his thumb, like snapping a pencil. The two men locked eyes for a long tense moment. Jason’s stare was hard and cold, clenching his jaw a little to make the vein in his neck pop slightly. The strange man scowled, not showing fear but annoyance, then getting up from his table and trudged out of the restaurant.

  “Why people think it’s okay to stare like a creep is beyond me,” Jason muttered, shaking his head before diving back into his meal. He also despised being stared at, but that was mostly due to his social anxiety. There had been more than his fair share of people who gawked at him like he was some kind of exhibit. Some women had very little restraint when it came to staring at him.

  Jillian couldn’t help but grin at his less than subtle show of strength that made the unwanted observer retreat. Meanwhile, June had a different response altogether to his chopstick-breaking prowess. She slipped under the table and crawled out of the booth, and pulled out several more pairs of chopsticks from the container by the utensils. Rushing back to the table and holding them out to Jason.

  “She’s uh, asking if you can do it again.” Jillian transted hesitantly.

  The rest of their time at the buffet, June kept handing Jason more and more chopsticks until he failed to break them all at once.

  “I just can’t get a good grip on them with so many. They keep slipping out,” he said with a ugh. She seemed a little disappointed by the outcome, which somehow inspired Jason to try harder. Taking a deep breath, he let out a groan of effort and gritted his teeth, gripping the stack as hard as he could. His thumb pressed against the rge stack of chopsticks, his hand shaking with tremendous effort. With one st effort, the sound of cracking started filling the air. He had managed to crack, but not break most of them. Despite this, June cpped excitedly, as if he had done something really impressive. Jillian, on the other hand, simply leaned on the table and covered her eyes in embarrassment.

  “We can never come back here.” She murmured with a sigh.

  June and Jason were really starting to connect as they sat there. The small mute girl becoming much more comfortable with the rge man. Jillian still helped transte most of June’s words, but Jason was catching on and understanding things pretty quickly. She also tried to teach him along the way, and he picked up a lot quickly. It was just like him to take something he’d never even thought of trying before and immediately get the hang of it.

  “Um, I think the fastest I’ve scored a knockout was around a minute thirty. I nded a solid smash to the guy’s liver. There was no getting back up after that. I honestly felt kind of bad afterward,” he said, trying to stay as humble as possible.

  June gave him a puzzled look and signed her question, confirming that the hit wasn’t to his opponent’s head. Jason smiled and shook his head.

  “Nope, getting hit directly in the liver is one of the quickest and most painful ways to end a fight. It's a small target but super effective. That’s why I feel the orthodox stance is better than southpaw. It’s quicker to protect the liver with the back-loaded arm.”

  He demonstrated by moving his arms into an orthodox boxing stance while still seated. “Trust me, it’s no joke.”

  The younger redhead nodded, understanding at least most of what he was saying and deciding to take his word for the rest.

  The three had long eaten their fill and were mostly just talking by the time they decided to head out. Jason took care of the bill, teasing Jillian that she could pay him back ter. She frowned slightly but agreed. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to contribute. Her mom had given her some money since she was bringing June along. It just felt odd having him cover everything, bringing back memories of when Luis was courting her. All the gifts he sent her and the fancy dinners they went to. She would take a small town buffet over a five-star restaurant any day.

  As they made their way to the car, Jason once again lightly bumped into Jillian with no apology. She stopped in her tracks and put on a sickly sweet voice.

  “Hey Jason?” She said fshing him an equally sweet smile.

  “Hmm, what’s up?” Jason said, stopping and turning to her. She motioned for him to come closer, and he obliged.

  “Could I maybe see your hand, please?” she still sounded as sweet as ever. Jason gnced over at June, who was watching, and shrugged, unsure of what Jillian was up to.

  Jason reluctantly extended his hand, and Jillian gingerly took hold of it. But before he knew it, her innocent smile shifted into a snarl. She quickly brought his hand to her mouth and chomped down hard between his thumb and index finger.

  “Ahhh! What the fuuuu-dge Jillian!” Jason excimed, barely stopping himself from cursing in front of June, pulling his hand back quickly.

  “Now stop fuckin’ bumping into me!” Jillian snapped, shooting him a stern gre.

  “Alright, alright, sorry, sheesh,” Jason muttered, inspecting the deep teeth marks on his hand. That was the st time he’d take Marco’s advice. He was tired of getting bit, and now felt very concerned about this whole mini-golf outing. June couldn’t contain herself as she doubled over in ughter. Her ughter was surprisingly loud and infectious. Usually, she only let out small titters, but this was a full-blown belly ugh. Jillian seemed particurly pleased to see her sister ughing so openly as if she was witnessing something magical.

  “Alright, let’s go!” Jillian excimed, back to a rather cheerful tone as Jason rubbed his injured hand and followed suit, all of them getting back into the car.

  “Hope you’ve had all your shots,” he mumbled quietly.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing!” he said quickly and started the car and drove off, heading for the amusement center.