Chapter 2. Old Flame
Todd and his friends were each two pints in at the local bar, and Todd was midway through recounting the events of his day at work. "...So then her dad just walks off, and tells me to holler if she causes any more trouble."
"Damn man, he seriously shut you down. And to think, you were so close to getting spanked!" Art reached across and punched Todd in the shoulder to accentuate the point. The punch was harder than he intended, his balance a little off from the drinks. "If I didn't have this ring holding me down, I'd ask for her address to go hit that right now!" In Art's typical style, he held out his wedding ring, as if it was a curse. Todd felt for him. The change happened just a couple years into his marriage, and it had nearly ruined it.
Ever since the scientists figured out what was going on, Art hoped his wife would get infected. First secretly, then publicly. It didn't seem to bother him that more than fifty percent of women died from the plague. Most of those who didn't were gifted with unusual metabolism, adding as much as two feet of height a midst a myriad of other changes. Most desirable for men, severly increased libido.
Like most women, his wife was much more concerned. She didn't want to play a fifty-fifty coin flip with her life, so she followed the health recommendations, stayed inside, took a leave from her job, and made it through the spread. Art loved her too much, and had too much pride to leave her. However, he treated her like she stole their chance at winning the lottery, and she felt like she was just a piece of meat.
Their friend Simon was sitting across the table, hardly paying attention. "I don't know what makes two so interested in a woman built like a linebacker. I'll take a little petite number like her over there." He gestured somewhere into the crowd. "In fact, excuse me." Simon was single, and got more than his fair share of action at the bar. Something Todd admired about him.
"Art man, that is not the end of the story. This girl kept flirting and flirting. I'd be working there on the ladder, and she'd bring me a glass of water and just stand there smiling at me. Like she was making a point of being almost eye to eye even when I was up several steps off the ground." Art lived vicariously though Todd's stories. He leaned onto his elbows.
"Then she'd say flirty shit, and giggle at my reactions. The girl was basically begging me to stare at her rack. Which I did of course, because it was fucking hot. The whole time I thought she was just toying with me. But then as her dad leaves to write me a check, she tells me to wait in my truck around the corner, and she'll give me a little something extra."
"Holy shit man!" Art clumsily startled, bumping over an empty glass in the process, barely catching it before it slipped off the table. "Maybe you should expand your business, hire me as your slacker lacky so I can get propositioned by carriers. So you waited in your truck right? Did she come and do you?"
"I wish. I waited there longer than I care to admit. She never showed. Her dad probably took her to town about it. More likely she was just screwing with me." Art nodded, both of them accepting their position in the social order of things. Guys like them, construction guys, didn't get action with carriers. They had both worked together at a construction company before Todd started his door-heightening business, and the only guys they knew getting actions with carriers are those whose wives were infected and got lucky. Todd guessed that was what Art was hoping for putting all that pressure on his wife. Still, it didn't seem right.
"Speaking of carriers, isn't that your ex over there?" Todd's heart sank as Art pointed across the bar. He was referring to Tessa, Todd's ex-g/f who he dumped just months before the plague hit. She had been head over heels for him, but in a needy way, and she had been a bit overweight. He had considered visiting her in the hospital, when he heard she was sick. Nobody knew what was happening at first. Then people started dying, and he thought the last thing her family needed was an ex-boyfriend hanging around.
It was more than six months later that scientists realized carriers who survived were going through an unexplained growth spurt. The girl who had once been his five-foot-six needy and slightly overweight ex turned into a ripped and toned six-foot-four stunner who took every opportunity to lord over him what he walked away from. Todd jappbed and shook his head, urging him not to get her attention. That just made him try harder. Art would do anything to interact more with a carrier. He waved to her across the bar, and sure enough she spotted them and headed over.
They both stared as she made he way towards them, they couldn't help it. She was blond, and wearing a slinky black dress which seemed a little too fancy for this dive bar. It showed off absolutely every curve and then some. The change did more than make women taller and slimmer. It exaggerated their features. A sharp jawline or chiseled brow became even more prominent. While Tessa had been well endowed before, and the change left her with an even more impressively stacked. A fact which was abundantly clear from the way her dress was cut to show an obscene amount of cleavage. And they were too firm to seem real, only Todd knew they absolutely were.
"Well hello there boys. If it isn't my favorite ex boyfriend and his dirt bag friend. You still pressuring your wife to risk her life so you can get a boner? You know if she did get lucky, she'd just leave you." Todd regretted ever telling her about Art. Still, Art didn't seem to care. He seemed happy just to be this close to a carrier.
Tessa slid a chair intimately close to Todd and sat down. "And how are you sweetie?" As always, she reached for a hug which so blatantly smashed her huge tits against him it was comical. "Planning any midnight serenades I should know about?" Ever since Tessa changed, Todd had trouble getting her out of his head. A year ago, in a weak moment, he called her up, telling her how much he missed her -- telling her how he wanted her back. She just laughed and flaunted it in his face ever since.
"You know I had a dream about you last night?" Tessa directly addressed Todd, as if they were alone. Art didn't seem to mind, as he just wanted a chance to oogle at her anyhow. "We were in my bed, and you were riding me and going on about how much you love my tits, you know, like you used to before you dumped me. Thing is, I woke up kinda wet." She paused with an sneer. "I know right? It surprised me too. So I thought, maybe I should give you a second chance, or at least a pity fuck. You did date me back when I wasn't much to look at." Todd wasn't surprised at Tessa's explicit sexuality. The change brought on a strange form of confidence for most carriers, like the world was just there to amuse them. He was, however, surprised at what she just said. It was like a glimmer of hope.
"But then I remembered how you never once visited me in the hospital, when I thought I might die. So I decided I'd just let you feel me up instead. Give me your hands." She didn't really wait for him to comply. She reached out, and pulled his hands right onto the sides of her tits, which dwarfed them. "Go ahead, now's your chance to see how they turned out." Todd was slackjawed at her actions. They were not horribly out of character for a carrier, especially to an admirer. Carriers could pretty much do anything they wanted, wherever they wanted. However, even for Tessa this was an awkward new level of flirtatious torture.
"Really?" Todd was drunk, and wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He pressed into her tits. They felt every bit as firm as they looked. He felt awkward feeling her up at a bar, but he wasn't likely to get another chance, so he lifted to feel their heft, and couldn't help be impressed, "Wow" In barely more than a minute, he had fondled her as much as the circumstances allowed and took his hands back. "Damn they are nice Tessa. No, they are fucking amazing. You're amazing. Can I take you to dinner? So we can talk?" Todd wasn't sure where that last part came from, probably the alcohol.
Tessa just laughed. "Ohh i want to Todd. I just haven't forgiven you yet. Maybe someday." She conspicuously reached into her bra-line, and pulled out some cards, handing one to each of them. "Unless you want to come by my new job that is. I'm working down at the Spectacle. A healthy donation will get you dinner with me there. If you can afford it." With that her whole mission became clear. They all had heard rumors about Spectacle. It was kind of a strip club without the stripping. Admirers would donate outrageous amounts of money to have a drink, dinner, or some private time with a carrier. Only that's all it was. No stripping, no lap dances, no obligation of any kind, just time with a carrier.
As she stood up, she turned to Art. "Come down and buy me a drink, and I'll let you cop a feel too. Maybe it'll save your wife a day of grief from you about risking her life by getting juiced." That was the term for getting intentionally injected with an active strain of the virus. It was illegal of course, but that didn't stop some women from seeking it out and taking their chances. Todd couldn't blame them either. Women were quickly dividing into the haves and have-nots, and some would rather die than live without. With that she headed back across the bar.