Jackie

[PeculiarChangeling]

"You want to come by, sweetie?" Nathan asked, his IPhone beeping at him that it needed an update again. "I was going to fire up the grill and maybe cook some dogs, probably watch the game later, but if you want to come by that'd be great."

Checking that the lighter was working, he started a fire going and left the grill to heat up, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulderblade as he walked inside and began prepping to actually cook.

After hearing the response, he smiled. "I love you too, baby. See you in ten." Saying goodbye, he hung up and tossed the phone on the counter, getting the potato salad out of the fridge and setting it on the counter.

Ducking outside once again, he had to bend his head slightly to fit under the 6'6" doorway without mussing his blonde hair. Carrying a couple sacks of charcoal briquettes in from the garage, he set them by the grill.

Placing the dogs in to cook, Nathan covered the grill and went back inside, checking his calendar. He crossed out 'Piggers Vs. Sooners' and replaced it with 'date night.' He was proud of his calendar, feeling like it showed how organized he was. In the same way that he had bought a big brick house and a powerful truck to match his own physical perfection, he felt like the calendar emphasized he was organized and smart. (Circling all the times with 'gym' written down didn't hurt.)

Recently, though, he had felt especially confident: Benching a new record of 320 at the gym, a promotion to upper management at the steel factory, and he had even managed to score a beautiful, smart girl as his latest catch.

Sarah really was amazing. The smartest girl he knew, she made a sizeable fortune in the cosmetics and exersize industry, which was how he met her: He had gone to the mall to buy some protien shakes and met her endorsing a new diet pill. She was nearly as tall as he was, (God bless her, a tall girl who wasn't taken,) had pristine breasts and a supple ass, and was fantastic in bed. He was the luckiest guy in the world to have her, even if he occasionally suspected she looked so perfect by sampling her own products. Beauty was beauty, no matter how she achieved it.

He turned off the game playing in the background as the doorbell rang, and went to meet her at the door with two of his favorite things: A six pack and a very short skirt.

[PeculiarChangeling]

"Hey there, babe," Nathan said, grabbing the beer and grabbing her ass playfully as she walked in.

"Hi, Nate. How was work?" She asked, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Good. There was a problem on the floor, but we got it all sorted out." He directed her to the back porch, pulling the tab on one of the beers and slurping off the fizz. "You want one?" Nathan added, sipping the drink and setting it by the grill.

"No thanks," Sarah said. "I'm testing out a new diet, alcoholic isn't part of it," was the explanations she gave.

"Oh come on, you're already perfect. What exactly could skipping a beer do to help?" Nathan asked, turning a hot dog and grabbing condiments from the minifridge below.

"It's an emotional cleanse too," she told him, "I don't just deal in cosmetics, you know, I have to make sure beauty goes more than skin deep. I find that going without vices for a while helps with it." Sarah took great pride in her job, doing (as she put it) 'A service to boost mankinds collective self esteem."

"Sounds wonderful, but I like to drink." Nathan grinned, adding some more charcoal.

Hot dogs. Beer. Water. Talk. Movie. More drinking. Fantastic sex. Another perfect night with the perfect girl.

The only strange part was that she didn't spend the night, and for the first time in twenty five years, he wet the bed.

[Personalias]

Interesting set up. As is your usual style, you set this up in quick vignettes, but you manage to get the characters across. Watch for typos and grammar on a few small words though. (she was fantastic in bed, not fantastically in bed.) I think your auto correct is doin' its thing again. Watch out for that.

Also, a compliment disguised as criticism: I normally am against the "info dump", ie: "Megan was your average 16 year old with blonde hair blue eyes, a huge rack and a big butt." But the way you present the info dumpy information on Sarah through Nathan's eyes gives you an idea of what kind of guy he is and what his priorities are.

Also a guy with the same name as the famous hot dog eating contest is grilling hot dogs...tell me that wasn't an accident.

As a fan of your writing my only request is that you don't let Colony fall by the wayside for this (admittedly well done) side project.

[PeculiarChangeling]

Thanks. Normally I wouldn't even info dump through anyone's lens, but it was necessary for this one due to... Reasons. Reasons that have spoilers.

I'll fix typos real quick, thanks for mentioning that. And don't worry, The Colony will get all the attention it deserves.

[PeculiarChangeling]

"What the hell?" Nathan shot up in bed, almost falling out. What did he have to drink last night? Certainly nothing to cause this. For that matter, where were his clothes? Had he gone commando and pantless?

Getting up, he inspected the scene. Empty box of condoms by the bed, that'd be from when Sarah came by. Reminder to buy more, written not so subtly st the top of his calendar. Jeans by the side of the bed, underwear nowhere to be found. White sheets soaked yellow, blanket definitely needed washed.

Fuck it, I've got a hangover too. How much did I drink last night, the whole six pack? Sheets could wait, he felt like shit. Pants on, an old stained Tshirt, sandals. To the bathroom, where he found a general lack of aspirin. Shit, no aspirin, no toothpaste either, next thing... Yup, the coffee pot was full of dirty water, he had put on the timer but there were no beans left. Looks line he's going shopping.

Out the door, Nathan wasted no time driving to the gas station a few miles away. The sooner he got the day over, the better: this Saturday wasn't his best of late. Hopefully Sarah could come by later and that'd cheer him up.

Pulling into the Speed-joint, he stuck the pump into his truck and filled up with premium, before shielding his eyes from the light as he walked into the shop.

A bottles of aspirin, toothpaste, condoms. Coffers he would get somewhere else, maybe the Waffle Hut. Hell, he could afford it. The florescent light burned in his retinas as he waited between a short highschool girl and a fat mother with a crying baby.

"Can I get eleventh fifty three in gas at pump four?" The woman asked, each wail of the baby pounding in Nathan's head. His nose inhaled sharply, the pungent odor of a messy diaper infiltrating the area, every one of his senses on assault.

"I'm sorry ma'am, we only do whole dollar increments," the cashier droned.

"But I need this much gas. Can you..." The womam argued. Back and forth. First too much was pressed in by the cashier, then not enough. Finally, Nathan snapped, his aching head overriding politeness.

"Jesus fuckimg Christ, woman! It's fifty three god damned cents! And if you can't get your baby to shut the hell up, at least change it's shitty diaper!"

All eyes quickly focused on him, his shouting causing quite a stir.

"I would appreciative you not to swear around my baby boy, and I just changed Jimmy's diaper," the woman said, resentfully.

What? "But... Who..." Nathan looked around, surprised, before noticing the girl behind him was bright red and carrying a stick if gum and a packaged of depends. He blushed, having not meant to embarrassing the young girl like that. "I'm so sorry," he said, to the woman and the girl. "Um... Put fifty dollars on her pump," he added, to the cashier. "Actually, scratch that. Fill up her tank, with premium." He could afford it, and she needed it. "I'm sorry, I'm just..."

"Hung over?" The girl behind him asked.

"Yeah, that." The woman shot him a strange look, stalking out of the store. "How'd you know?"

"I've had my share if nights out," she replied. "Names Jackie, by the way. Waffle Hut next, I take it?"

[diaperpt]

interesting...

[kirababy]

nice twist, looking forward to seeing where this is going, as it has a promising start.

[PeculiarChangeling]

Nathan shrugged, non-commiting but generally affirmative. He had been planning on it, after all.

"I'll meet you there then, I haven't had breakfasts yet. Give me a minute to, um, change," she held up the bag of adult diapers meaningfully with a small blush, "And I'll be over there soon."

Nathan smiled, as the cashier said something. "Cool."

"What? I asked credit or debit," the pimply teenager running the checkout said.

"Right. Um, Debit," Nathan said, checking out. He stopped to go to the bathroom, walking in. If was a cramped one-person bathroom, barely enough space for a toilet and a sink, but it worked. Walking out, a kid giggled as he realized he had gone in the women's restroom. The signs were side by side and he hadn't been paying attention, apparently. Blushing, he walked to his truck and got in, driving to the Waffle Hut.

He walked in casually, sitting down at a nearby table when no waitress came for him. They were pretty slow, it was just a seat yourself thing most likely. A few minutes later Jackie showed up, hopping in her seat smelling of fresh baby powder and crinkling mildly.

"Order yet?" She asked, hopping in the seat across from him.

"Not even coffee," Nathan replied, shrugging.

"Cool. Waiter?" Jackie snapped her fingers, somehow casting an air of command despite her tiny stature. A waitress showed up in seconds with a menu, but she didn't even glance at it. "Two black coffees, two jumbo slammers," she said.

"Hungry, are we? Long night?" The waitress asked.

"Didn't get a wink of sleep," Jackie replied. The waitress immediately took the menu, walking back with their order. Turning back to Nathan, she smiled. "So what do you do?" She asked.

"I'm a manager at a local factory. We make steel products, metal buildings, anything that needs lots of machinery to make and is too heavy to ship overseas." Nathan shrugged. "It's okay. Pays well enough at least, and the hours are good. How about you?"

"Unemployed. Pay is shit but I've got the best hours ever." Jackie said.

Nathan paused, surprised. "How do you live without income?"

Jackie grinned. "Live at a very close friends house and chat up strangers for free food. The rest of the day I mostly wander around town. For my medical expenses," she glanced down with her eyes significantly, "I just do turn some jobs around town."

Nathan was more surprised. Was she a...

"Not a hooker, that sounded bad," Jackie realized, blushing a bit. "Like, drug testing or handyman stuff. That actually ends up killing two birds with one stone sometimes, occasionally I'll be paid to product test various diapers." She smiled, but noticed Nathan was uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, was that TMI? Sometimes people are weird about the incontinence thing."

"No, no, it's fine. I," he paused. "It's just that for some reason I wet the bed last night and I'm on edge about that kinda stuff."

"Oh. Does that happened often?" Jackie asked.

"No, that's the thing, I haven't since I was five. In fact... I don't even know why I'm telling you this, but ever since I've started dating this I'd girl I've felt fantastically about things and now suddenly there's this and I feel like its just a huge step back and if she finds out everything will go to shit and... You don't really care, do you?" He asked, finding that opening up to a complete stranger was oddly relaxing.

"No, its fine. Please, con-" she was cut off by the waitress, who brought over their food and negotiated it onto the small table. Nathan, relieved for the interruption, stopped Jackie from speaking again.

"Let's eat?"

"Bon appetit."

[diaperpt]

No! No! Please don't stop to eat! Sure you're hungover and hungry, but we have story hangover and we're hungry for more!