(Chapter originally written by PhoenixStriker)
Jenna's smirk widened, and you felt as if you were the only person in the room who caught the nefarious glint in her eye. Even standing on the soft, warm palm of your loving girlfriend, you began to feel anxious about what your sister had planned for the day.
Jenna turned around, rummaged under the couch, and then pulled out a gigantic blue binder. "So, I was doing some cleaning up around the house the other day, and I found this!" She held the binder proudly out to everyone gathered. The four giantesses stepped closer to take a good look at the hefty tome, which was emblazoned with a simple plaque on the front.
The plaque read: Jacobs Family Memories
You felt a shiver run down your spine. You recognized what your sister had found, though you had truthfully nearly forgotten all about it. It was a binder stuffed full of page after page of family photos from the past twenty-odd years. Your mother was both extremely photogenic and very hyperactive when it came to taking photos and micromanaging her albums. She'd eased a bit in recent years, but the binder Jenna had found surely had nearly a thousand photos crammed into it.
You grimaced. From what you could recall, not a lot of those photos brought the best of memories back.
Heedless to your own trepidation, your girlfriend smiled wide. "Oh my gosh! Old family photos? I love that stuff. Do you have any of cute little Matt?" She grinned down at you, and you blushed at her praise.
However, the second she looked back at your sister, you frowned. The last thing you wanted to do was encourage Jenna showing off hundreds of embarrassing photos of you. If you knew your sister, you knew she'd only come up with an activity like this if she'd planned in advance to make it a humiliating experience for you. Sure enough, as you looked back at Jenna and caught her eye, she discreetly winked at you. It seemed Mari had taken the bait and fallen right into her trap.
Jenna smiled innocently. "As a matter of fact, Mari, this album is actually divided into sections. My favorite section, and the one I personally think is the funniest, has got to be the last chapter." Licking her thumb, Jenna flipped open the photo album and brushed through the pages until her thumb met with a little index card glued to the page and sticking out. Yanking open the book to that chapter, there was a singular picture of you with bright bold words scribbled above.
The words read: Little Matt's Mishaps
Your blood ran cold.
Jenna pressed on, taking visible delight in your discomfort. "So, this entire back portion of the photo album is just chock full of the most hilarious and cute photos of Matt all squished, stretched, and just having terrible luck." Jenna threw in a giggle, spurring Mari to give you a compassionate (but still eagerly intrigued) smile, and causing Ashley to giggle as well. The redhead was practically bouncing up and down with anticipation of seeing old pictures of you.
Your mom, surprisingly, was the one still vocally unconvinced. "Oh, sweetie. Don't you think this might be a little rude to poor Matt?"
Jenna waved off your mother's concern. "Mom, there's embarrassing and humiliating pictures of all of us in this album. I just thought starting with Matt might be easiest because there's a whole chapter of just him. We'll all get a turn to be laughed at."
"I suppose." Your mother mused, biting her lip. You had been surprised to hear her stand up for you, but were now even more startled to see how easily Jenna was swaying her to her side instead.
Before you could interject, Jenna tapped her chin and spoke again. "And, I mean, I honestly think it might be kinda therapeutic, you know? Give us all a sort of sense of relief?"
Lauren furrowed her brow, but appeared intrigued. "How so, sweetie?"
"Well, most of these pictures are kinda old. And, obviously, Matt's sitting in front of us right now, so he's totally fine and survived all the craziness life threw at him. But mom, back then, you were a lot more stressed and high-strung around Matt, right? But, now that he's older and assured us all he's a mature and responsible adult, it's a lot easier to see the humor in his life. To laugh at his mishaps instead of being so concerned."
"That is true." Lauren nodded, and you could hardly believe how readily she was agreeing with your malicious sister.
Jenna spared you another discreet wink before continuing. "So, looking back on these now, I think we'll all see the humor in these incidents. They'll be funny little memories, not sources of stress anymore. Plus, the more we think about them and laugh at them, the more they'll become normalized, right? Eventually, I think we'll all sort of learn to ease up around Matt and not be so hyper-focused on his whereabouts, you know?" She looked directly at you. "I mean, that's basically what he said he wanted us to do, right? Treat him like he's independent?"
Your heart sank, and it sank even further as your mom clapped her hands together with a full smile. "You know what, Jenna? That makes perfect sense! I'm sorry I doubted you, dear." She turned her grin on you. "You agree, right Matt? Oh, this sounds like so much fun actually!"
Rio jerked her head in your direction. "I'm down. Being beholden to the past is never a good thing, but thinking about old memories is certainly a fun pastime."
Ashley's smile lit up the room. "Oh my god, then let's do this! This is totally gonna be so funny!"
The giantesses began migrating over to the chairs and couch around the coffee table, each claiming a seat. Jenna spread the photo album out on the middle of the table, allowing everyone to see the pictures inside.
Mari affectionately rubbed her finger on your back. "Ready for some trips down memory lane, hot stuff?" She said to you, smiling warmly.
You tried to return her smile, but you couldn't quite manage it. However, before noticing your apprehension, Mari was looking at the album, already fully focused on hearing as many cute and entertaining Matt stories as she could.
Lauren had fully bought your sister's elaborately crafted manipulation, and was now fully ready to engage in a pseudo-therapy session to turn old stressful memories into carefree funny stories. Ashley was similarly engaged, waiting with baited breath to hear about the exciting and embarrassing situations you got into as a kid. Rio was also keenly prepared, half eager to hear about past hardships you'd overcome, and half taking mental notes of what circumstances she'd no longer have to rescue you from in the future (after all, if you'd escaped them once in the past without her help, why would she encourage your weakness by lending aid now).
With a proud smirk, Jenna flipped the page to reveal the first set of photos.
Which one catches someone's eye first?
1) Mari points to a picture of you smeared onto the bottom of a pair of hiking boots. Jenna begins telling the story of a hiking trip your family went on when you were twelve. As the picture implies, you ended up pretty embedded into your mother's boots...though that was hardly the only thing to happen that trip.
2) Writer's Choice
3) Writer's Choice
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