"So, you're gonna do this, then?" I said. After Shelley's surprising revelation we had decamped to Queen Penguin, the ice cream parlor next door, and were now discussing it in a window booth over sundaes, mine chocolate fudge, hers caramel pecan. Naturally, given the topic of conversation, we'd each ordered an Extra Large when the curvy waitress had listed off the sized, but hadn't been prepared for the frankly ridiculous heaps of ice cream we'd received. Shelley dug into hers with gusto, though, and watching her made me want to join in and enjoy myself like that.
"I want to," she nodded, "but I'm not really sure where to start. I pretty much eat whatever I want to already; my sister's always telling me I need to lose weight and trying to drag me out running with her."
"I guess there's a difference between just eating when you feel like it and stuffing your face. Like, if you had access to a 24-hour buffet like Amber and Katy did on that cruise, you wouldn't even have to think about it, you could just eat mindlessly."
Shelley snickered through her mouthful of chocolate ice cream. "Those two really made an impression on you, huh?"
"Can you blame me?" I asked, taking another large spoonful. "I don't think I've ever seen someone pack on so much weight!"
"I think you're forgetting Katy always had a lil chub; people didn't notice because her butt was so disproportional," Shelley said. "But yeah, it's pretty wild, and I don't know WHAT Amber was eating. You know she mentioned in the fitting room she's 280 pounds?"
I almost choked on my mouthful of molten fudge. "No shit," I spluttered. Shelley nodded.
"Katy's 265. And a lot of our customers are even bigger."
'Well, if they can do it on accident, you can definitely do it if you're trying," I said confidently. "Why don't we make a meal plan – when you're going eat, and where, and how many courses..."
Shelley smiled at me with eyebrows raised slightly skeptically. "Really, you want to help?"
"Uh, sure, I guess – it's kind of an interesting project, plus-sizing someone." To be honest it had kind of sideswiped me too, my sudden enthusiasm for this, but inspiration had struck. I took a napkin with a pastel blue penguin stamped in a corner from the dispenser and a pen from my pocket, and started to sketch it like a school timetable. "There's a few buffets in town, and some diners that have big portions. Plus there's fast food places, and here for dessert. But you probably want to have some at home."
Shelley frowned. "I don't think my folks will go for it, and if sis gets on to me..."
"You can always sneak some snacks into your room, so you have a stockpile in case you get hungry at night," I said. "And hey, here's a thought: my house is halfway between your place and here. You could stop by there for a big breakfast every day, start the day off right?"
"Yeah, okay," said Shelley, reaching out a hand so we could shake on it. "Aren't you worried I'll rub off on you?" she said, eyeing our matching and rapidly diminishing super-sundaes.
"Not really," I shrugged. To be honest, I hadn't thought about it. But I didn't think it worked like that. Would helping Shelley get into the plus sizes really make me gain weight?
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author