This choice: Helping a friend diet has flooded the house of fatty foods for the Widers… • Go Back... Brooke, Mikayla, and Olivia had known each other since grade school.
At least two weekends a month, literally since childhood, Olivia had bounded over to the Wider house after school to come hang out with her best friend Brooke. And while there, she would occasionally make nice with her slightly bratty younger sister Mikayla. Olivia had been friendly with Mister and Missus Wider, to the point where she had actually been given a key to the front door as an eleventh birthday present. She cried, and it was really sweet.
Growing up, the three of them grew to know almost everything there was to know about one another. Sure, Olivia was more Brooke's friend. But she and Mikayla were on incredibly friendly terms too. To the point where the three of them had shared, either with just Brooke or with Brooke and Mikayla, countless Bad Movie nights, plenty of afternoons crying over bad breakups, and a mutual First Experience with alcohol that Mikayla had been far too young for (and had lied about, considering she'd had her first drink a year before).
In a way, Olivia was a Wider in all but name—Brooke often liked her better than her own sister, and Mikayla sure as hell liked Olivia a lot more than Brooke most days.
So when she announced that she'd taken an internship that would take her to Kansas for two years, both Brooke and Mikayla were absolutely devastated. What kind of teaching job would take her all the way to someplace called Abercrombie? That wasn't a real fucking place, and Brooke absolutely bawled her eyes out for two weeks straight because she missed her best friend and it just wasn't fucking fair.
And sure, it wasn't as bad as the other program that would have taken her to like Switzerland or wherever, but Brooke was still really torn up that there were a whole eighteen hours between her and her best friend. All because of some stupid intern position? And it only got worse when she got the job...
With her full-time job, Brooke had only been able to drive up once, six months into Olivia's internship to celebrate her getting the job. And sure, she could see a little bit of what would—in hindsight—have become a problem down the way. But it wasn't until Olivia moved back down South that it had become clear just why she had been so evasive; these last few months especially...
***
"Holy shit, Liv."
"I knowwww..." Olivia's double chin creased as she frowned excessively in her shame, "Please don't make this a big deal, it was already so hard to ask for your help..."
"Mikayla, don't be mean." Brooke's 'Mom' voice had been on point pretty much ever since Olivia had come home, "You said you'd help."
"Is it so mean to say 'damn' when the woman comes at us with a garbage bag full of snacks?"
Olivia had always been a somewhat anxious person. Stretching all the way back to when they were kids and she used to freak out about getting picked last in gym class or not having her homework done before bed. But that had never translated to stress-eating until now—or rather, until she had made the move to Abercrombie.
Two years away and almost one hundred and fifty pounds later, the Olivia that was standing in the Wider's kitchen for the first time since was absolutely unrecognizable as the birdy, awkward brunette. Instead, a porky pear had waddled inside with a big black trash bag on her back like Santa Claus, and it was absolutely loaded with junk food that she had taken from her apartment.
"I can't have this stuff around me anymore." Olivia huffed, breathing hard from her light walk from the garage, "Or else I'm gonna eat it and I don't want to eat it because if I do I'm just gonna get even fatter than I already am and then—"
"Be nice to yourself." Brooke pointed at her friend sternly, "You're asking for help, and that's the first step. Okay?"
"Sorry... you're the best, Brooke." Olivia's fat face folded in another, much more sympathetic frown, "I don't know what I'd do without you..."
"Prolly fuckin'—"
Brooke lifted her heel behind her to covertly kick Mikayla in the shin.
"Ow!"
When Olivia had moved back home, Brooke had been absolutely flabbergasted by the changes in her friend. Gone was the slender, birdy physique of her bestie and in waddled from the airport a chunky, squishy little penguin that had actually been eating while Brooke picked her up! Brooke had said something about it being a big surprise and Olivia took it the wrong way and...
Ugh. It was just good to have her home.
It was clear that Livvie needed some support right now.
"Okay. So step one, we get rid of all this junk food." Brooke broke away from the hug and put her hands on her hips, "I'll... try to pass some around my office. Whatever I can't get rid of, we can donate or whatever. As long as it's out of your apartment. Out of sight, out of mind."
"Plus, it'll save us a trip to the grocery store." Mikayla said, having side-stepped out of Brooke's legroom and into eyeballing view of Olivia's stash of snacks "You've got some pretty good stuff in here, Liv."
"Ugh, don't remind me." Olivia reached down to touch her middle tier of tummy in shame, "I'm keeping the apple pies though... they're really good..."
"It's okay to keep some, but no more junk food after this, okay?" Brooke put her hands supportively on Olivia's chunky shoulders, her own tiny pot brushing against the shorter girl's apron of squish, "I'm gonna be on you about this, okay?"
"...okay."
"Okay." Brooke looked up over the top of Olivia's head, "Mikayla, you've got mornings off, right?"
"Sure do—me and Liv are gonna go shed some pounds every morning at the gym." Mikayla flexed her arm playfully as she gripped a package of Oreos under her arm, "Gonna get our cardio on."
"And we are gonna spend time together eating healthy." Brooke looked back down with a smile, "Catch up, build some healthy habits."
"You don't need to lose weight though, I'm the one who can't—"
"We're going to lose some weight together, okay?" The elder Wider widened her eyes, "Because you're my friend and I love you."
"You're right, I'm sorry..." Olivia sniffed, "Thanks again."
"There's nothing to thank me for—me and Kay could both stand to shed a few pounds. What's the harm in doing it with friends?"
"You guys are the best..."
Olivia wrapped her arms around the taller woman, and Brooke... tried to do the same. Olivia had gotten pretty big while she was away, hadn't she?
"Oof... it's okay... hun..." Brooke tried not to sound like she was struggling too hard, "What are friends for?"  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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