GT Lyfe

Rochelle fought back her anxiety as best she could as she sat on a stool at a high table in

the crowded bar. Be casual she told herself look friendly – but not desperate.

She had spotted a few of the women from work, but they seemed to have already left. God,

she was so stupid, why did she talk herself into doing something so dangerous? A

Halloween party at a bar? To top it all off, she was stupidly dressed as Red Riding Hood.

She bobbed her head self-consciously to the music to attempt distracting her brain from

pulling a 3-alarm fire.

“Hey!” a woman seemed to look at her and smile

“H-Hi” Rochelle tried to smile back but it was short lived when the woman’s eye line went

over her head and to the friend she had been intending to greet.

Rochelle put her head in her hands and sighed.

Suddenly, she felt the presence of someone behind her, but before she could lift her head,

a large arm was wrapped around her and a man’s stubbly face pressed against her cheek.

"Hello there, little red” he whispered “If I blow on you, will you fall over?"

Rochelle tried to break out of his grip but she was pinned by his arm on one side and his

face on the other.

"T-that's three little pigs" was the only thing she managed to choke out

"Same big bad wolf” He smiled against her cheek “Would you rather I eat you instead?"

The man chuckled and released her, and she should not have been surprised when his

face came into view.

“Steve,” Rochelle’s voice was a nervous laugh “You scared me”

Her stomach dropped at the way his eyes lit up at her words.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, trying to change the subject

“Same as you, I imagine”

He took to resting his arm on the table in front of her so he could lean over her from her

seat on the chair.

“The party?”

He rolled his eyes playfully “Come on, stop playing hard to get, we’ve been there before”

He must have taken her inability to speak for being caught out, because he smiled even

wider and leaned forward to whisper in her ear again.

“This time, I’m taking you home”

With her thoroughly frozen in place, he lowered his mouth and kissed her neck.

“No!” Rochelle barked as she jerked away “I really am here for the party”

He pulled away, completely undeterred and ran a hand through his hair.

“Don’t worry, I’ll change your mind” he winked

“Steve,” she tried to speak but he held up his hand

“I’m going to score bump off someone before we go, you just wait right there, okay?”

“I’m not-”

To her ongoing terror, he brought a finger up to her lips to stop her protesting.

“We aren’t at work, we can do whatever we want”

With that, he walked away.

She had no time to waste. She immediately climbed down the stool and weaved her way

through to the bar and climbed up one of the stools in the hopes of being able to flag down

the bartender for help, but she was busy with a sea of customers. Her chest was heaving

trying to figure out what to do, too afraid to leave on her own but running out of time before

he came looking for her again.

"Hey there," a man was behind her, leaning towards her shoulder.

She turned around like she was on fire, chest heaving.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I scare you?" It was Nate. What was he doing here?

Rochelle’s chest was still heaving from the fear of being found, she couldn’t speak.

He leaned in closer, eyebrows drawn together with worry

"Are you okay?"

"I-I need to get home” she said “Can you help me get out of here?"

He hesitated and looked behind him. She could see the polite excuse about to form on his

lips.

"I'm sorry, forget it" she wiped her eyes, what was she thinking, asking him? He was her

boss, this was extremely inappropriate. Why were all of her interactions with him like this?

She ungracefully slid off the stool and fearfully checked over her shoulder for Steve before

trying to push through the crowd.

"No!" He quickly followed her and placed a hand on her back "of course I'll help. Lets go"

As he walked behind her she felt his fingertips on her shoulder as he protectively guided

her out and didn’t take them away until they were out of the bar and halfway down the

street.

"Thank you, you don’t have to take me all the way" Rochelle brushed her hair behind her

ear and let out the breath she had been holding.

Just as she spoke, some drunk men were rambling down the street and called out to her.

"Hey little red! Mind if I EAT you?" One of them cackled

"Uh...” Nate grimaced towards the men then down to Rochelle “I think I will, if that’s okay

with you. How did you get here?"

"It's just short walk, I’ll be fine, really" Rochelle tried to protest but Nate was shaking his

head.

"I'll drive you"

~

They pulled up to her building and he parks on the quiet street right outside and walked

around to the passenger side to let her out of the car.

"Thank you, again" she said meekly, climbing out of the car.

"Not a problem. Be careful, okay?" He smiled and rounded back to the driver’s seat and got

in.

Nate watched from the car as Rochelle walked up to her building's door and....waited

outside? What was she doing? Was she not planning to go home?

She wrapped her arms around herself trying to keep warm and kept waiting.

Nate wound his window down.

"Everything okay?" He asked

"Oh" Rochelle startled "uhm I usually just have to wait till someone is coming in or out to

let me in"

When he looked at her, confused she sighed "I can't reach the door, or the intercom"

His mouth made an 'O' and the realization. He quickly wiped the piteous look off his face and got out of the car. He walked up to her with his hand out and expectantly.

Rochelle dug through her bag and handed him the keys.

He unlocked the door and held it open, gesturing for her to go inside. When he followed her

in behind her, she looked him up quizzically.

"Well I don't trust that you can make it all the way to your door now"

Rochelle laughed nervously and walked to the elevators. Before she could jump up to hit

the button, Nate was already there, pressing it for her.

"What floor?" He asked when they were inside.

"Twelve"

He hit it easily and the doors closed and they began to move. Nate shifted to lean against

the back wall and crossed his arms across his chest.

"I'm really sorry" Rochelle brushed her hair behind her ear and looked at the floor.

"Why?"

"You look mad, I'm sure you had other plans than being stuck taking one of your staff

members"

"No!" His face cleared "I don't mind helping, I'm just trying to work out why you would live

here if you can't even get in the building"

"Oh" Rochelle laughed "it was the only place I was accepted for"

The doors opened and he followed her out and down the hall. When she stopped at her

door, she realised he still had the keys.

He seemed to remember better than her, as he was already pulling them out and putting

them in the door. She saw him eye the stool that had a permanent home outside her door

so she could reach the lock.

When he pushed the door open, he pulled out the keys and handed them back to Rochelle.

She walked inside and turned a few lights on.

Nate, unable to help himself, stuck his head in slightly and looked around, a confused look

growing on his face.

"Halfling apartments are few and far between, and extremely expensive, so I'm making this

work" Rochelle shrugged

Nate just nodded, not looking entirely convinced.

"Did you want to come in? Do you want some water or something?" Rochelle asked

Nate bit his lip, the same hesitation on his face as he did at the bar

"I'm sorry, that’s probably inappropriate" Rochelle sighed "I just don't know a lot of people

yet and this is the first time I've had someone here"

Nate looked piteous again but tried to mask it with a smile.

"Water would be great"

He came inside and Rochelle shut the door behind him. She walked into the kitchen and he

stood awkwardly in the entry hall, looking around.

In front of him was the kitchen and over looked she small lounge with a couch at the most

random angle covered in blankets and to his left there was a short hallway, at the end of it

was her room. Her door was open and he could see her bed, also seemingly randomly

placed in the room it appeared to be broken at one of the legs as the whole thing leaned

down to one corner - it looked like it would be impossible to sleep on without rolling onto

the floor. He looked back to the couch and realised from the pile of blankets; she must

have been sleeping on it. As his eyes trailed around the small apartment, he realised the

whole things was entirely haphazard, like the furniture had been thrown around like dice

and wherever it had landed, that's where it stayed.

He was looking around with so much concentration, he hadn't realised she was waiting in

front of him with the water. He laughed, embarrassed and took the water from her.

"I'm sorry the place is such a mess"

"You have an interesting way of arranging your furniture"

Rochelle looked around, confused before letting out a bitter laugh

"I didn't do that, I rented this place fully furnished but when the last people moved out, they left it like this"

"And you wont change it?"

"I can't" Rochelle felt embarrassed again "It’s too heavy for me to move. I even have to

sleep on the couch because they left the bed broken and the super refuses to fix it"

"Seriously?"

"He said I'm only small so I should be able to sleep on it fine"

"I'm sorry, that’s messed up"

Rochelle just shrugged. If she pondered on all she had to endure too much, she'd start to

cry.

"It’s just how it is for Halfings in the city"

"What’s the point then? Living here?"

"I wanted something different and I heard Astley was becoming more halfling friendly"

"I guess, but it’s still not exactly safe. I'm not sure it’s wise to walk around bars, especially

dressed like that"

He gestured to her Red Riding Hood coat.

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying, maybe a meek fairytale character wasn't a great choice"

"You think I was asking for it?" Rochelle was mad now

"No!" Nate tried to backpedal, sighing "I meant-"

"This is the first work thing - the first anything - I had been invited to since I moved here.

This is the only thing the costume rental place had that fit me. Being a group of colleagues I

thought I would be safe. But as soon as we got there everyone left me"

"I'm sorry," Nate tried but Rochelle carried on

"I just thought if I tried tonight, someone might talk to me, like actually talk to me and

maybe I could make a friend" Rochelle was wiping at her eyes and realizing she said too

much, turned away from him

"I really appreciate you taking me home, but you can go now"

She heard him open is mouth to speak but he just let out a breath, leaving without a word.

The next morning there was a knock at Rochelle's door, it startled her awake.

She pushed her ladder to the door to look out the peep hole.

It was Nate. He was in casual clothes, looking down her hallway nervously.

She got down, pushes the ladder out of the way and opened the door a crack.

"Nate?"

His eyes whipped down to her

"What are you doing here? How did you get in the building?"

"Hey" he looked nervous "I waited until someone was leaving; I didn’t think you would let

me in and I wanted to apologise for last night. I shouldn't have said what I did, it wasn't

right"

"Okay..."

"I was thinking, and...if you wanted, I, er, we, could be friends"

"What?"

"You said last night you went out hoping you might find someone to talk to and make a

friend. We talked, you told me some things and I'd like to be your friend" he said

diplomatically

"But you're my manager?" Rochelle opened the door up wider now

"Well, technically I'm your manager's manager. Anyway-” he shook his head “we're just being friends, it’s not like we're having a relationship"

Rochelle baulked

"Hurry up and accept my invitation of friendship, this bag is heavy"

"Bag?" Rochelle opened the door wide and Nate immediately walked inside and put down

a backpack and a tool bag

"Is your definition of friends to do murders on them? Because if so, I'm going to have to

decline"

"Ha" Nate laughed dryly, walking towards her sofa "no, I'm going to fix your bed and help

you put stuff where it should be"

"What?"

He put his hands on the arm of the couch but stopped to look at her, still by the door frozen

in place

"You said you can't move it yourself, right? It’s not like this," he gestured to her lounge

currently diagonal across the lounge space "is where you want it"

"Well, no..."

"Okay, so you tell me where you want it and I'll move it for you"

"Why....why would you do that? Its Saturday, don’t you have anything better to do?"

"Well, that’s what friends do, they help each other. Plus, it will be my penance for last

night"

Rochelle was lost for words. He would really come here just to help her, without her even

asking?

She turned away, trying to hide the tears in her eyes.

"What is it?" Nate asked, taking his hands off the couch and standing straight "did I

overstep? Did I offend you again?"

"No!" Rochelle quickly wiped at her eyes and turned back to him with a smile on her face "just not something I'm used to"

He frowned at her "you don't know anyone here, do you?"

She shook her head

"Well," he hit his hand on the couch "now you do. Lets get to it! Where do you want this?

Here?"

He moved the couch so it ran parallel to the kitchen bench with so much ease, Rochelle

almost wanted to feel angry, if she wasn't so elated that it was finally being moved.

"Perfect" she smiled

"Whats next?" Nate smiled back

He moved her table and chairs out of the way because she never used them, then he fixed

the enormous wool rug to fit under the couch.

He moved her chest of drawers so it no longer blocked the way to her small balcony,

moved her bed so it was up against the back wall, no longer floating in the middle of the

room.

Then he set to fixing the bed.

She stood in the door frame while he lay at the foot of the bed on his side, drilling a set of

brackets to hold up the broken side frame and attach it to the foot of the bed.

"There," he smiled triumphantly and wiping at his forehead "its not pretty, but it'll work"

He sat up and leaned back on one arm, catching his breath.

Rochelle stepped closer to him and gingerly held out the glass of water she had filled for

him.

"Oh, thanks" he said, taking the water and drinking it immediately "that was harder than I

thought it was going to be"

At one point, he had to hold up the entire base of the bed while he set up the bracket and

Rochelle was struck, as she always was, at the strength of humans, especially the men.

Nate didn’t even seem like he would be particularly strong, but she definitely noticed his

large strong hands and the way his biceps flexed under the weight.

"Can I try it out?" She asked, shaking the thoughts from her head

He waved his hand out in front of him, as if saying 'be my guest'

Rochelle quickly, and gracelessly, jumped and clambered up onto the bed.

"Oh my god" she was beaming

"How long have you been sleeping on the couch?" Nate asked, now standing beside the bed, smoothing out his hair.

"Six months. It’s not so bad, it's a big couch; to me at least. But nothing beats an actual

bed"

“well,” he looked disbelieving “I’m sure this will be much better”

“It will,” Rochelle sat up on her elbows “I don’t think I could begin to thank you,” She

gestured to her whole apartment “I could never have done any of this”

“My pleasure” Nate smiled warmly “is that everything?”

“I think so” Rochelle slid off of the bed and they both walked out into the living room

“Well,” he said, turning to her once in the entry way “if you think of anything else or you’re

just in need of a friend,” he dug out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her

“Here’s my number. Call or text me any time”

Rochell took the paper and smoothed it out in her hands “Thanks”

Nate busied himself collecting all of his tools and belongings. Rochelle didn’t want him to go, but it felt awkward now that he had done what he set out to do. Perhaps he had just come

to clear his conscience.

“I’ll see you Monday I guess” she smiled tightly

Rochelle: Halfling, 2"5

Working in the Big City of Astley as the only Halfling on staff at Saunders and Brawn News

Nate: Human, 6"1

Co Editor at Saunders and Brawn News

Chapter 1 - First Encounter

Rochelle walked into the copy room and felt instant rage bubbling in her stomach. 

Her step stool was gone.  

Over the last few months it had been knocked over, moved to the other side of the room or folded and tucked away, but no one had yet to take it out completely. 

She sighed and let her arms fall to her side, holding the documents that her manager, Marriane, needed copies of ASAP. 

“Oh dear,” a voice was behind her and it instantly made her stomach plummet. She couldn’t even bring herself to turn and acknowledge him as he now joined her. Him. Steve. The number one suspect in step stool tampering. 

“What happened, Ro? Someone take your step stool?” 

When Rochelle first started at Saunders and Brawn News, she didn’t know any better and had stupidly believed he was as kind and friendly as his voice. 

She quickly learned there was something sinister him that couldn’t take no for an answer and loved to scare and embarrass her. He spent his days teasing her, purposely walking into her so she would be forced to collide with his leg. She thanked God that at 2”5 she was just short enough not to be crotch height. 

“Here, let me help” 

Before Rochelle could protest, Steve had his hands around her waist and lifted her up towards the printer. 

Rochelle’s voice caught in her throat at the sheer audacity of his actions, leaving her speechless as he walked her over to the printer, holding over the buttons. 

“N-no” she managed to choke out “it’s okay, p-please just put me down” she hoped he couldn’t tell how much her voice was shaking, she imagined it would only encourage him. 

"Oh come on" he teased 

"I-I can’t even copy like this, I just need my ladder" 

"I could set you on my knee?" 

"Steve" she said, voice as stern as she could manage. 

 “Oh you're no fun,” he sighed “I was just trying to help you." 

He lingered her in the air a few more moments before he finally put her down, but he still stood right behind her, looming over her. 

“Don’t worry, we shan't let Marianne go without her back-ups, then you'd really be in trouble" 

He leaned over her and tried to take the copies from her clenched hands, but she was so frozen she couldn’t let go. 

He always poked fun at her. Made comments. Loomed over her every chance he got. But he had never picked her up. 

Tears began filling her eyes but someone else came into the room and Steve let go of the papers. 

"Quit hogging the copier” the new person complained 

"Rochelle's ladder is gone, I'm just trying to help her make these copies" his cool, calm, casual tone. He had no fear that she might say something, because she never said something. Not once. How could she when she brought this on herself? 

“I-'ll just come back later" she blurted and ran out of the room. 

She tried not to sprint past all the other cubicles, trying to avoid drawing more attention to herself. She couldn’t go back to her desk, not when his was just a few spaces down. Where could she go? The bathroom was always full and she had no plans to make herself more of a joke than she already was, being the only halfling in a floor full of humans. 

She looked to the side and saw the co-editor's office, door ajar. It was Thursday and he worked from home on Thursdays. He was Marianne’s manager and was usually so busy she had never even spoken to him before. 

She b-lined in there, hurrying in and pushing the door closed behind her. 

She slid down the door and brought her hands to her face as she cried. 

"I'll uh...." a cautious voice filled the room. Rochelle pulled her hands from her face and to her utter horror, Nate, the co-editor, who wasn't supposed to be in, was sitting at his desk. He was looking directly at her, talking to someone on the phone  

"Can I call you back? ...yeah okay, thanks. Bye" 

He slowly pulled the phone from his ear and placed it on his desk, an unreadable expression on his face. 

"Are you okay? What do you need?" 

He had stood up and walked around his desk and sat on the corner, adjusting his dress shirt cuffs as he looked down at her, brow furrowed. 

"I am SO sorry, Sir" Rochelle scrambled to stand and fruitlessly wiped at her face. He must think she came in here to see him. If she were well trained at these encounters, she would have been wearing waterproof mascara, but she wasn't so she imagined she looked not unlike a racoon. "I thought your office was empty, its Thursday, isn’t it?" 

"It’s Tuesday" 

Rochelle hit her palm to her head and sighed. 

"I'm so sorry, again, I didn't mean to barge in on you, I'll -" she looked back at the door, fearfully "I'll leave you be" 

"Well, would you wait please?"  

He stood now and pulled out one of the bucket chairs that sat on the other side. He leant down and pulled a step that had been neatly tucked neatly underneath. 

When he rounded back to his chair and sat down, Rochelle walked over and, with the step, easily climbed on the chair and sat down. She had to shuffle all the way back just to be able to see him behind his desk. 

"What’s happened?" 

"I uh," she felt hot tears begin to form again. She had to pull herself together. She looked up and blinked a few times before looking down at her hands. "I really didn't mean to bother you, I thought your office was empty and I just needed to...catch my breath" 

He looked at her for a few moments before speaking. 

"Fair enough, we all have those days" He said, looking behind him and pulled a tissue from a box and leaned over the desk to hand it to her. 

She reached out and took it and rubbed at her eyes, trying to clear up her face. 

"I've got to call this lead back, but feel free to stay and leave when you're ready" 

She nodded and with that, he turned in his chair and started the call. 

Given he was on the phone now, she let a few more tears fall before gathering herself up, wiping her face again. She slid off the chair, gave herself a pep talk and – she was stuck. 

She managed to get in just fine because the door was ajar, but when she pushed it closed, she had locked herself in. She was too short to reach the handle; all the handles in this office – in this city – were placed stupidly high. 

She sighed and turned around to hopefully catch Nate’s attention, but he was still facing the wall. 

Dreading interrupting him for a second time, she took a steady breath. 

“Uhm...sorry, Sir?” she said, wincing 

Nate, who was listening to the person on the other end, turned back around, eyes first looking to the chair, and then landing on her waiting at the door. 

“You can go” he mouthed and gestured to the door. 

“I can’t reach” she whispered, even though she didn’t need to. 

He hit his hand to his forehead and quickly got up and opened the door for her. 

“So sorry” he said looking mortified and holding his hand over the phone to speak at full volume.