8 years ago, at a boarding school along the North Carolina coast...
Pauline Spillum was not keen on transferring to a dumb prepatory school for her sophomore year of high school. She couldn't remember the last time she had spent more than three consecutive grades in the same educational district. Having a prodigy of a sister in the music arts, who could write orchestral scores by the time she was seven, had meant a lot of moving about as her family focused on her sister, Rebecca's, talent. Leaving Pauline plucked to and fro across the states as better institutions wanted to foster her sister's genius.
Once they had been close as sisters, when Pauline was in her single digit ages, yet her teenage years under such a shadow sucked. Paul had secretly relished, after Rebecca's accelerated graduation, that she had landed a chair on a prestigious touring orchestra. Finally some breathing space.
Yet finding her own independence had lead to minor fallout in her family. Her parents didn't appreciate Pauline lying about her age to get a job. Nor when she got the two studs, snakebite piercings under her lips. Those weren't the only secrets Pauline was hiding.
And now, from Pauline's perspective, Rebecca had screwed everything up again by deciding to teach music! At an academy eager to have her, with an extended condition to get her kid sister enrolled as a student. Terrific! Paul hated it.
Pauline was as moody as one would expect for an angsty teen with an emo phase. She listened to a lot of bands with questionable lyrics. She shortened her name to Paul. She didn't consider herself male but 'Pauline' no longer fit her, although you'd be excused for thinking so given her short, boyish looks compared to an elder sister that had inherited all of the height, talent & acclaim. Paul had shifted to an nigh-all liquids diet. The most solid things she would eat were the likes of mashed potatoes, gelatin, overripe fruit, peanut butter and soggy bread. She developed a bloating kink, watching her stomach swell from late night soda binges. She had her first taste of alcohol before she was 18 and quickly learned her limits.
She was decidedly the most unlike the preppie, perfect bitches at an all-girl academy. And Paul was fine to brush everyone off including the others of her dorm.
At this same school, a foreign exchange student from Spain, although her family was also mixed from Israeli decent, arrived on scholarship. Jafit Gamor was a culinary major and had wanted to travel and see America. She barely made the cutoff date to get a visa. While her merits and skills were impressive her English was horrible, broken fragmented sentences.
And from the American perspective, puberty had been more than kind to her, with overdeveloped breasts and hips into an exaggerated hourglass phenotype. Her boobs were large and eye catching. Given her oversexed looks and horrid English, most everyone else made fun of her, mocking that she had the body of a porn star.
Fate had conspired that Pauline Spillum and Jafit Gamor became roommates. It had been rough, initially. Jafit was hoping for a close friend, wanting to have Paul try dishes from home. Although a bloater, Paul couldn't stand the thought of getting fat from the rich food once she began gaining a few pounds. Too mired in her own angst, bad words were said. There was a row. They learned of each others secrets in the worst way possible.
But after those heightened emotions came a sort of understanding.
6 years ago, JFK International Airport, New York...
Graduation brought a road trip to mark the end of an era for a resolute friendship. Jafit hadn't been home in over two years and now she would be flying back. Paul had insisted on the kinds of road trips she once enjoyed with her family. A rental car was pointed towards New York with enough good eats and misadventures along the way.
Paul was back on solid foods, yet still favored those with near liquid consistency. Each stop at her guilty pleasure, Sonics' drive-in, had her attempt to keep topped off on a liquid bloat through each leg of the road trip. Jafit had put on more than a university 15, becoming all the more voluptuous from an American diet.
They spent the last three hours ignoring the inevitable. Up until their respective connecting flights would tear them apart. There were no tears. There was little more than a hug to say goodbye. To Jafit it was bittersweet, she was going to miss a dear friend but return home. She had big hopes and wanted to get a job in a restaurant. Paul played it cool, yet slunked into her flight home knowing that the friend who had come to understand her the most was gone, on the other side of the world.
Sure they did email and video chat. But it was decidedly not the same.
4 years ago, a snapshot of two different lives...
Pauline Spillum had loosened her preferences to be called 'Pauley' as the new preferred nickname. She was clever and street smart, yet as wayward as ever given her dark humor and continued rebellious spirit. She hated attempts from her sister, Rebecca, to reconnect. She fell into a like minded crowd of punks. She was a founder of a small scene grunge band that wanted to be experimental. She never had the music talent like her sister, the prodigy. The band partied a lot, although Pauley was often still the loaner of the group. She hit the alcohol hard, forgetting old limits. She grew a beer gut.
Jafit had gone from being a sous chef to almost running a restaurant in Madrid. Talent, charisma, and sex appeal did her wonders. Still, being handed the reigns didn't sit with her. She thought about her friend who had struggled to forge every part of her own personality to stand out, one she couldn't contact as often as she liked. Jafit wanted to revisit her roots, be her own standout. Show there was more to her than a head for stews and dangerous curves. She sought to start her own restaurant.
2 years ago, Tuscany, Italy...
Pauline was back to Paul. She had quit the band, they were lousy musicians, and it said something when you were the only one who was willing to stare at the realities of life without avoiding them. Paul was no longer looking for that escape. She had mellowed out some, realizing a lot of things she saw in life as issues were of her own making, much as she thought she could always adapt. Much as she couldn't undo a lot of baggage with her sister she could look forward, and was talking to Rebecca again. She lost some of the weight yet had a stretchy belly that could balloon to volumetric size during her binges.
Plus, while she had been envious hearing of Jafit's success from afar, she jumped at the chance when Jafit invited her on a globe trotting vacation. Who else did that for a high school dormmate from way back when? Nobody but a rising star chef now with two restaurants in different countries who wanted to invite a dear friend to see them. And more then a childhood spent pin balling around the United States.
There was lots of wine. So, so much wine.
Present Day
"To top it all off, because Jafit forgot to properly vent the pressure cooker, it blew a hole in the wall," Paul said. "She's crying up a storm so after she shuts up I'm able to go out to the hardware store with only a translation dictionary and I'm sealing the hole at 2 am."
Cheryl, or rather Sheryleeanne from Choice Tidbits delivery, snorted into a spiced rum long island tea after having quite the unforgettable luncheon. Jafit's fantastic cooking plus a variety of cocktails from Paul, with only the ones following desert having booze in them, had left Cheryl feeling stuffed but giddy.
To say nothing of the impromptu hosts. Jafit, of course, was quite plus sized and it was easy to see where the weight settled along her chest and buttocks. She was't skinny around the middle, either, and a bulge was taking shape in her middle.
Paul, who quaffed quite a lot of fluid over the meal, sported a rounded potbelly under her clothes, having some sort of lycra material undershirt to keep her bloated midriff covered.
"Paul will help keep me grounded while I live in America," Jafit said, breasts resting on the edge of the table. "You should come to the opening in a few weeks. Toro Tapas will be my pride & joy. Maybe Paul will run it for me after I return home."
"Pft," Paul snarked. "As if. I'm not learning how to cook."
"Well, I don't know. I'll have to try," Cheryl said. It was getting awkward befriending Jafit and Paul knowing what her boss ultimately wanted to do with all this insider intel she would be providing. It brought Cheryl some pause.
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