Role reversal

Chapter 6

    I woke up to my alarm blaring at 6:30 A.M. I was extremely tired, as I was not able to get much sleep. I got in my shower and spent much longer than I should have trying to adjust the shower head for my new size. After my extra-long shower, I wrapped myself in my towel and made way to Tori's room. I knocked, and rested my head on her door while I was waiting for her to open it. After about 30 seconds, I realized she had not waken up. I started knocking more aggressively. Eventually she had gotten up and unlocked the door. Mentally, I knew what to expect when she opened it, but I still was not prepared for it. When Tori had opened the door, it really sunk in that I was now eye level with her boobs. There was no way to be ready for that, not when I previously had to look down on her so much. It was bizarre to be towered, especially by my own daughter. I would have to get used to this feeling.
"Oh my gosh, mom!! You're so tiny! Is that what you felt like looking at me?! I just want to pick you up." Tori ran in for a hug, and she felt so much stronger than me now she was almost smothering me.
"How are you this energetic? I didn't even think I could have been considered a living human when I woke up. Not until I had my coffee at least. Anyways..." I said right before I let out a huge yawn, "you need to shower and get ready for work. And I guess we need to use each other's wardrobes too. Remember, I have a big...." I let out another yawn, "meeting today, so you need to look super professional."
"I feel asleep pretty easily when we went to bed last night! At, what, 11 P.M.? Almost a full 8 hours of sleep for me! But, ok! Let me run to your shower and I'll just get changed in your room after I'm done."
"Yeah, sure thing. You'll have to adjust the shower head back. I'll just get ready in your room." I dried myself off, put on a layer of clothes so I wouldn't freeze and feel down in Tori's bed to rest my eyes for a little bit. I had considered calling out, but today would be the worst day to do so. I had to prep Tori to give my presentation for the last few hours before the actual presentation. I also sort of wanted to go around the office and see everyone. If I was always the daughter to them, does that mean they knew me as how I was when I was this age, or do they think of me as how they thought of Tori, based on what I told them? I had so many questions, and even though they would be answered today, it was eating away at me. I never really had anxiety, but today I felt it very much.
I had closed my eyes for a split second, and when I opened it, it was around 8:45 A.M, and I was under a blanket. I was freaking out about being late for work on such an important day when I had checked my phone. Tori sent me several messages, which was very thoughtful of her. The first one was around 7:15, she was saying she was leaving so she wouldn't be late. She had tried to wake me up, but I was so dead, she instead covered me up with a blanket to let me rest. This was followed up by her saying she had picked out some clothes that I could wear, so that I didn't spend time trying to go through her closet. She then texted me about half an hour later saying she arrived and was preparing for the presentation already, before she even clocked in. I was put a lot more at ease by this, but was definitely still nervous about it all. I noticed that on her desk chair was that outfit she had mentioned. I threw the outfit on, did my makeup as quickly as I could, ate some breakfast, and made my way to the car that I had turned on a few minutes prior to get it warmed up. Another message she had sent was in regards to the cars. She said she had told the office that she had taken "my" car (in reality, it was the car I bought her) to work since "her" car (in reality, my car) was at the shop and I would stop by with it later when they ask her about the unfamiliar car she arrived in. No word on how I got to the mechanics.
I texted her back to tell her thank you for everything, but also to cover up loose ends on this story. "How did I get to the shop? What did you tell them?" To which she replied "idk lol I dropped u off in the morning I guess" and then followed by "no one actually asked". The way she typed made got me nervous again, this time about how she would talk to others in emails and other forms of communications. I didn't want to micro-manage her, so I just made my way to the office.
    I stopped by Dunkin' Donuts to get her a coffee. I know the office never splurged on a coffee machine for us, and on top of not having her favorite coffee, I thought it would be a small way to say thanks. I even got a few dozen donuts for the office. Tori had texted me saying she got one of the people in the office to help her prep. I pulled up a few minutes later, and sort of struggled to get everything out of the car, but eventually made my way inside and was almost immediately met by Chris, my assistant. I had to remember to remind Tori about Chris. No one had told me directly, but apparently he had been known for trying to sleep with me. I mean, I had figured something was up before I heard, he was always flirting with me and trying to go to dinner with me to discuss work, which I knew he didn't want to actually to discuss work. I didn't imagine he wanted to sleep with me, and I'm not entirely sure for what reason he wanted to, or if he even did want to. It was hearsay, so I tried to not let it affect how I saw him.
    "Wow, Barbara?! Is that you? How many years has it been since you came by the office?" He asked as he made his way to me. He easily took the boxes of donuts from me. I was thinking about it, and it really has been years since Tori visited. I actually am surprised Chris was with us the last time she visited, since she was probably still in 6th grade, so 6 years ago?
    "Umm..." why did I feel so nervous? I know Chris. Despite him being much taller than me now, I shouldn't haven't been nervous. "I think about 6 years or so? I'm not entirely sure!" I was being really awkward with my hands. Usually I'm comfortable with speaking, but I just started freezing up. Is this what Tori goes through? "Thanks for taking those donut boxes for me. I bought them for the office."
    "Oh, thank you so much! That's so kind of you. Wanna follow me to the kitchen? We can set these up there and then I can take you to your mom's office." I nodded my head because I couldn't get out a word and started following him. "So, what are you now, like a college sophomore? You look like just like your mom! But a smaller, blonde version! You must have tons of guys all over you at your college. Oh, man I bet you're the prettiest girl in your sorority too."
    "Uhm." I started blushing. Was he flirting with me? Was it working this time? Why does having his attention feel so much better. Because he's "older" than me now? "I'm still in high school, actually. My last semester starts next Monday."
    "Really?!  No way! You totally look in your 20s already! You gotta be 18 by now though, right?"
    "Still 17!" I said, as I let out a faint smile. "I turn 18 the first week of January."
    "Wow! Could have had me fooled. Anyways, let me set down these boxes! I'll take you to your mom's office after we go let people know donuts are here brought in by you after that." He set the boxes down and started opening them to see what kind of donuts I bought. I had known everyone's favorite, and bought enough for everyone to have 2, and some people could get thirds. We have about 15 people in the office today, so 3 dozen donuts total. I know some people wouldn't want more than 1. Anyways, I couldn't take my eyes off of Chris. He wasn't any more attractive than he was before, but something about him being such a towering figure was enchanting. He was about 5'6", so me in my heels was considerably taller than him, but that never deterred him from hitting on me. I almost wondered if he was into taller women, because he seemed to only be seen talking to them, and we only have about 4 women total taller than him. I think he saw me checking him out, because he offered to take off my coat for me. I usually would have said no, but I was frozen again, and instinctively nodded my head yes again. He came from behind me, took off my coat and said "Come on. Your almost everyone is this way." I started following him and couldn't find anything to say. "How did you which donuts to pick, by the way? You seem to have gotten everyone's favorites!"
"Haha um lucky guess?" I let out the most nervous laugh in my life for some reason. Chris must that thought that I was in love with him with how nervous I was. I was still following Chris around, and since of course I knew the office, I could tell he wasn't taking me directly to Tori.
    "i just have to drop these files off before we go meet up with your mom, sorry about that. It works out though, cause I can let people know you're here and that you brought us goodies. But, y'know, a doll like you deserves a good guy, Barb. My younger cousin, Santi, is about your age. You probably even go to the same school as him! He would be great for you. And you're totally his type." I had actually met Santiago last Tuesday during our Christmas office party. He was a brat, from what I could see.
    "Oh, thank you, Chris, that is so nice of you. But I am sort of looking forward to college and what the boys there will be like."
    "Ahh, yeah, of course! My cousin is a junior anyways. Or a sophomore? Either way, you should definitely enjoy college. Ok, so this is were a lot of the people in the office work. I would say a majority. Only the really badass people like your mom have their own office. The rest of us work here in these cubicles. Here, I'll introduce you to everyone!" Before I could tell him this was no need, he was already getting everyone's attention with his booming voice. "Hey everyone, today we have a special guest. And she came bearing gifts! This Barbie doll here is Barbara. So, Barbara doll? Anyways, she brought donuts for us and they're set up in the break room. I know the work day officially started not too long ago, but go on, enjoy a break. Courtesy of Barb!" Ugh, the moment he called me a doll, I knew that was coming. I had a good grasp of his sense of humor. A majority of the employees that were there made their way to the break room while thanking me. It was so odd going from one of the tallest to easily the smallest. I noticed that Chris still hadn't started making his way to Tori. "Sorry, one last thing, I promise. Just gotta hand these files over to Maggie at the of the cubicles here and we'll be done, I swear." If there was anyone I did not want to see, it was Maggie. Maggie was very competitive, since she was a D1 athlete. We always tried to have friendly competitions about anything we could, so I didn't really want to her to see me in this reduced state, even if she didn't recognize me as, well, me. She was one of the more recent hires, and I had taken a liking to her because her work ethic carried over from her athletic career.
    "Hey, Chris. You got those files for me?" She asked while extending her left arm without lifting her head. I swore sometimes she had eyes in the back of her head, but she didn't seem to notice me, so maybe not.
    "I do! I also have a guest." Maggie stopped working, and swiveled her chair around.
    "Oh, who is this cutie?" She said, extending her hand out to shake mine. Her reach was so crazy, I had to step back to be able to extend my arm fully to meet her hand with mind. I managed to squeak out a "I'm Barbara, Tori's daughter" before Maggie was ready to jump up to hug me.
    "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Before you get up, Maggie, let me ask you something. How tall are you?"
    "6'4"." I hadn't mentioned she was a D1 volleyball player, did I?
    "And with those heels?"
    "Uh, these are about 4 inches? So 6'8"." My eyes widened when she said this.
    "I see, I see. I'm about... 5'8" myself." I knew this was a lie. He was 5'6" max. "Barb, how tall are you?"
    "I'm 4'8"..." I said, after a bit of a pause. I almost instinctively said 5'10".
    "Wow!" Chris let out. "I know you were a tiny thing, but I didn't know you were that tiny. This is crazy though. A whole 2 feet? We gotta get you two next to each other for a picture!" My mind immediately flashed back to a viral photo of a cheerleader and a volleyball player that were 2 feet apart themselves that I had seen a few years prior. Maggie stood up, so I thought she was getting ready to get in position for it. Instead, she hugged me, and told Chris that we didn't need to do that. She thought that I didn't seem that comfortable with it, and I am glad she saw that I was indeed a little out of my element. I wouldn't actually mind the picture, I think it would be funny. I love Maggie, even though I didn't want her to see me so little.
    "Your mom told me so much about you, Barb." I got happy for a second, but I realized this was me talking to Maggie about Tori, not the other way around. "I'll take you to her office, I need to head that way anyways." I felt much more comfortable with Maggie and was able to have a more natural conversation with her. Once we had gotten far away enough from Chris, I had told her I wouldn't mind taking the photo. "Oh, that'll be fun! But either way, I don't want Chris to take it. Between you and I, he has a bit of a... reputation. I think your mom just keeps him around because he does do some good work. Otherwise, he should have been gone awhile ago." This had me thinking... since I was no longer their boss, could I get all the juicy information they might have kept from me otherwise? Of course I couldn't shake up the work environment too drastically with any information I was told, but I could, under the guise of evaluating coworker relationships or something, could potentially make it a better environment. After the little detour which felt like forever, Maggie dropped me off at my office. Of course I was headed here directly in the first place, but Chris taking those donuts off my hands was nice.
"Oh hey, mom!" Tori said when I had closed the doors. I wasn't sure if anyone was around to hear her, cause they weren't sound proof offices, so I just shot her a glance. "Oh, right. Sorry. How are you? Did you enjoy your nap?"
"Yeah! Actually. It was nice. Your bed is comfortable! How has it been going?" I replied as I sat down in a seat and handed her the coffee I got her.
"Oh, wow, thanks! It's going great, actually. I got some help like I mentioned and we've been killing it."
"Thank you so much. It means so much to me. I would say 'you have no idea', but you actually probably do! Hahaha." I took a sip of my coffee while kicking my legs since they no longer touched the floor. "Oh! I need to warn you about Chris. For the most part, stay away from him. I'm not sure if that is something that transferred over with the rest of my knowledge, but trust me on that."
"Oh... really? Uhh... He was the one I got to help me... He seemed so willing to help! Sorry!"  I laughed it off and said it was fine. Not like it's her fault. I told her to be careful with him, but I would be here too so it should be fine. "By the way, mom, you're actually so hot."
"Oh, am I sweating?! I didn't even notice. I'm so worried about the presentation."
"No! I mean, like, you're so pretty! You look so young but hot."
"Oh, thank you, sweetie! You look so mature and sophisticated. It's crazy to see!" I hadn't had a chance to really look at Tori, or even myself. I was so tired this morning that I hadn't noticed her. She didn't look old, I would say. Mid 30s is still young, at least that is what I tell myself. You can tell she was past her peak, but she was still extremely pretty.  She actually reminded me a lot of my own mother. My real mother. "You look a lot like your grandma. The brunette hair comes from her." She stopped writing, but didn't see anything. I let Tori see my family, of course, I never kept her from them, or them from her, so I was wondering why she froze up at mentioning her. Maybe it was because I didn't talk about my mother much at all. I took another sip and said, "I'm gonna run to the bathroom actually to see what I look like. I didn't even stop to check it out."
"Didn't you do your own make-up this morning?" "I did! But I was so focused on this I didn't really stop to see how I looked!" I left my office and snuck into the bathroom where I found the mirror was much to tall for me. Thankfully Theresa was only 4'11" herself and was kind enough to bring a little step stool so that she could the mirror herself. I always thought it was cute, but now I feel her struggle. Once I got to the top step, and I was able to look at myself, I was in shock. It really was me as I was all those years ago. I had accepted this as my reality, I even saw Tori looking years older, but now that I see me as a teen again, I started thinking what this all really entailed. But, I was not against it. I was for it, if anything. I was hot! Not to be conceited, but I always did think that I fell in the conventional standards of beauty. I don't think I was like a 10 or someone every boy goes crazy for, but in all honestly probably an 8 and a half? Maybe a 9 if you're into tiny girls? It's all subjective, anyways, what I mean to say is I love the way I look. Sure, i would change a thing or two, and, well, I did! But I don't think I aged the best. Seeing myself in what I consider my peak, since this was before I had a baby, was exciting. I started thinking about how I could do it all differently. I had many regrets, and even though Tori was not one them in the least, if this was a second chance, even for a little bit, I would make the most of it.