After Mari's departure, everyone else gave you some space for the rest of the day, which was thoughtful of them. Under normal circumstances you probably would've wanted comfort after being dumped, but your new size would've made it difficult to hang around Jenna and Lauren without the risk of an accident. So at least for the day they opted to give you some breathing room to parse through your thoughts and feelings about this break-up.
Because it was far from a normal break-up, wasn't it? Mari wasn't just some girl, she had been the love of your life for the past ten long years. You'd gone on thousands of dates with her, spent tens of thousands of hours hanging out with her (and frequently being crushed by her), and you'd had many blissfully happy nights drifting off to sleep dreaming about the future and the family you'd build with her after you asked her to marry you. Mari had felt, for these ten long years, like your destiny.
And now, because of cruel fate, the accursed chemicals within the Appetiny formula, and the callous carelessness of Cynthia Morrow, that destiny had shattered into a million pieces. It would never be rebuilt again. Mari was gone forever, perhaps not as a friend, but at the very least as the love of your life.
Logically, you new Mari's decision to call things off was the right one...but that didn't make it hurt any less. So for the rest of the day, you laid on your side on the pillow and sobbed.
*****
The next morning, you immediately threw yourself into trying to preoccupy your thoughts with anything other than Mari. The sting of losing her would be a shadow over you for months (or perhaps even years), but Small Wonders had extended you a lifeline out of the despairing hell that was being one-sixteenth of an inch, and you were determined not to waste the chance to salvage your life in some small capacity. So if you just had to block out the bad thoughts, then that was what you would do.
You spent the majority of the day exploring your new Tinex House inside and out, acquainting yourself with its layout. It was almost uncanny how much it felt like a real home but sized to your new height. There was a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom on the ground floor, and then a bedroom and a study room on the second floor. The Tinex furniture was also surprisingly comfortable, and your mind was left boggled at how Small Wonders had possibly created such an amazing thing as this.
The next day, Jenna informed you that the trackers placed on both you and your Tinex House were officially online, which was a huge weight off your chest. Apparently the trackers could detect your presence up to a distance of about fifty feet. It wouldn't necessarily point a laser beam at your location, but it was more than enough to help should an accident befall you and you got lost. Jenna, Lauren, and Piper all downloaded the tracker app to their phones.
And it was a good thing they did, because your next week was spent dealing with all sorts of difficult conversations and scenarios, and more than one accident occurred. Thankfully, because you were inside your house, they were each resolved relatively painlessly.
Rio came over to give you her condolences over the fate that had befallen you, to wish you all the luck and strength in the world for the rest of your life, and to thank you for treating her daughter with love and compassion for ten years. Her kindness was touching, even if you were left a little miffed that she hadn't said any of this out loud to you before, instead coming off as if she was vaguely disappointed in you and needed you to constantly work to impress her. Still, it was nice to hear, and her visit went smoothly.
Ashley's a few days later was...less so. The bubbly redhead sobbed profusely after hearing what had happened to you, and apparently felt it was necessary to give your house a hug of support that ended up smooshing your abode against her massive mammaries. Then, the pancake-thin house had slipped into her cleavage, where it (and you, by extension) remained unnoticed and crushed for another hour, almost being smuggled home with the colossal ditz when she prepared to leave. Thankfully, Jenna saved you.
A week after that, Aunt Cass stopped by for a visit. Your gorgeous aunt poured out her love and sympathy towards you and your new plight, expressing with deep regret that she never got to know you well enough when you were still one-inch (thanks to Jenna's ceaseless machinations and your aunt's own preternatural aura of chaos). Of course, before that touching remark, Cass confused your new house for a quaint toy and shook it around with amusement, jostling you like crazy. And then when she left, she knocked your house onto the floor and stepped on it without realizing, splattering you and your durable abode under her sole.
During these moments of friends and family visiting, you passed most of your time with Jenna and Piper. Seemingly more than willing to make up for two decades of torture, Jenna happily sacrificed all of her time to be with you, and the three of you watched some shows and movies, talked about the latest tech news and celebrity gossip, and played a few video games (or rather, you watched them play).
Of course, your technological handicap soon became a thing of the past thanks to Small Wonders.
Keeping true to their word of gifting you free inventions to improve your quality of life, Small Wonders began steadily supplying you with micro-sized goodies. These including such things as wireless controls that could connect with your sister's gaming console, a bike that you could ride around your house and Jenna's bedside table to get in some exercise, and even a tablet that allowed you to do most of the things you'd previously been capable of doing on your old phone.
In fact, it soon dawned on you that maybe your dreams of getting some sort of job weren't entirely off the table.
A month after Small Wonders first visit, Fran and Tina (thankfully without Mackenzie) stopped by for a check-up visit. While they were there, you posed the possibility of doing some part-time intern work for them, using your new tablet and putting your Engineering degree to good use. Fran agreed with the proposal, and thus you started to spend an hour or two each day sketching out inventions and ideas you had, and collaborating with the other Small Wonders employees on a company forum.
It wasn't much, but even managing to scrounge back just a little fragment of your old hopes and dreams was enough to feel nice.
Slowly, you were getting used to the new normal...
*****
And so the months came and went, and before you could even blink, an entire year since your initial shrinking had passed. A year since you'd started living your life at one-sixteenth of an inch.
Your daily routine was still pretty much the same. You got up, ate breakfast, and then got in a workout on your bike (and your newly acquired treadmill). You then did a bit of your intern work for Small Wonders, watched a few shows, and spent the afternoon hanging out with Jenna and Piper if they were both free. If not, you sometimes hung out with Lauren instead, who had underwent almost a complete 180 back to her old overprotective but well-meaning and loving self.
While not much had changed with you personally, a fair bit had changed for those around you.
The intensity of Jenna and Piper's love for each other had grown substantially, and Jenna had confided in you that she was close to proposing. Apparently she was trying to sort something out with Doug, Piper's abusive brother, first, and then she planned to ask the precocious pinkette to marry her. You wished her all the best, even if you'd grown a little sad at the increasing infrequency of time you got to spend with them thanks to their flourishing love life.
Speaking of flourishing love lives, Mari had just been proposed to by Selena. The two had started dating shortly after your break-up with Mari, and you couldn't pretend that it didn't sting in more ways than one. The short turnaround, the fact that they didn't even date a year before Selena proposed and Mari accepted, and the fact that it was Selena's mother who had doomed you to this life to begin with. Selena herself hadn't helped either with her callous pressuring of you that day at the waterpark all those months ago.
But holding a petty grudge didn't make you feel better, so instead you just tried to be happy for them. Mari was clearly on cloud nine with Selena, and putting your resentment aside allowed you to be happy that she'd at least found someone who could love her and care for her. Your love of Mari had never faded, after all, and you still wished her the best. You still remained close to her too, with her coming over every few weeks to hang out. She even brought Selena, and the silver-haired girl seemed ever-so-slightly less standoffish around you, and perhaps even a bit guilty at her part in your new accursed size.
Then there was Dodger and Sydney, Piper's best friends and bandmates, and those two were a whirlwind of chaos every time you saw them. A bit exhausting in their constant flirting and teasing, but harmless overall (thanks to Piper keeping them on a tight leash around you). Aunt Cass also moved into your house permanently, and you got to spend a lot of time getting to know her like you never had been able to before...when she wasn't crushing you and your house on accident, that is.
All told...it wasn't awful, honestly. Months ago, you'd been on the verge of a mental collapse. Now? Well, you could honestly say that this life wasn't the worst.
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