Tell You What's Next

They lay curled in each other's arms, basking in warm afterglow and waiting for their hearts to stop racing, for that stillness of silence when he breathed out and she breathed in.

"That was amazing," she said.

He blushed and ducked his head, pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. "I love you."

She smiled. "I love you, too." She sighed happily and snuggled closer to him. "We have our whole lives together. I'm excited. And a little scared. Mostly excited, though."

He sighed. "If I could tell you what's next --"

She grinned impishly up at him. "Go ahead. Tell me what's next. Make a prediction. I want to know my future." She waggled her eyebrows and giggled.

He laughed softly. "All right. What's going to happen next is..." He trailed off, and his gaze went dazed, unfocused.

She prodded him in the shoulder. "Dave, what's wrong? Come on - tell me what's happening next for us." She laughed, but the sound was unsure.

Dave said, voice flat, almost mechanical, "What's going to happen next is that they're going to break down the door. They're going to shoot me and take you, and in twelve hours they'll ask your father for half a million dollars."

She stared up at him, pale. "That wasn't very romantic."

Dave blinked. "What? I'm sorry. I must have spaced out." He leaned in and kissed her again, and he smiled. "I think, what's happening next for you and me, is we're going to have kids, lots of them, and --"

"That's not what you said before," she said.

He blinked. "Before what?"

"Before you started in about kids," she said. "You said --"

Someone kicked in the bedroom door.

Wishing and Hoping

Annie had always wished, vainly, that she was taller. At a solid 4'11", she was doomed to Seven Dwarf jokes from the age of twelve onwards, and she had watched with emerald envy as her guy friends - of whom she had many, for she overcompensated as a vicious tomboy - grew all through middle school and high school and broke the 5'8" barrier with ease.

When Annie first got her wish, she didn't even realize it. She just rolled out of bed, cranked out the requisite crunches and push-ups in a half-awake daze, and then stumbled into the bathroom to brush her teeth. It wasn't until she looked at herself in the mirror and saw a pale-faced Irish boy staring back at her that she realized something was different.

She stared down at the strange, large pale feet, so far away, and realized she was much taller than before. Her wish had come true.

She screamed.