chapters 3 & 4

Monday morning started for Lauren with an alarm clock beeping in her ear. She jumped out of bed with ease and started her pre-work routine. She felt the need not ride her bike with this being her last week at work so she caught an Uber and had them stop at the Starbucks drive-thru as a rare splurge. Since when did she like their frozen drinks and croissants? As she arrived to work she saw a familiar face walking around the corner dripping in sweat and utterly exhausted.
“Don’t worry I brought a change of clothes, I figured this would happen, my airbnb for the week is over a mile away.” said Hailey from a distance.
“Look at you, my little recruit working off some of that belly.” Lauren said with a smack to her chunky hip.
“Hey, don’t! And I’m trying, okay. Cardio is going to start being a daily thing for me.” said Hailey
“You know, I was planning on selling my bike before the move but if you want you can just have it, I was going to take Ubers this week anyways.” said Lauren
“Oh my god, totally yes.” said Hailey

The day went on with training procedures until lunchtime started to bustle in the office.
“Hey, you getting hungry? I was planning on eating out this week this week to deal with cleaning out the fridge.” said Lauren
“Sure, I would have expected to be starving by now as I only had a banana this morning but somehow I’m doing fine. I did bring my lunch though but I’d love to eat with you either way.” said Hailey
Lauren came back some minutes later with a po boy, fries, and a coke. Hailey sat looking wide-eyed with her measly greek salad and pita bread.
“Hey, I thought you didn’t drink soda” said Hailey
“I mean, it was calling me from the cooler. How could I say no. Look at you with your healthy little lunch.” said Lauren
“Thats what I’ve been eating and look where it got me.” grabbing a belly roll and shaking it. “ And thanks for noticing, since Saturday I’ve been trying to meal prep.” said Hailey
“Atta girl, I think this week and going to be my cheat week, looks like we’re switching diets.” said Lauren patting her flat stomach.

The week seemed to fly by as it carried on much the same as Monday except Hailey was now riding a new bike, well new for her that was. Lauren tried hard to stay motivated to finish off all the preparations before she’s off on a Uhaul Sunday morning. Lauren and Hailey got together for a good bye to day before.

“I know we’ve only hung for a week but I think I’m to miss that fat butt of yours.” said Lauren
“Hey, mean! You know, I’m working on it. And I’m gonna miss you too. I have some family up there so we can catch up now and again.” said Hailey
“Shoot, really? Thats awesome, we can certainly make some time to hang.”
And with one last hug Lauren didn’t see Hailey for nine months.

________


It’s been three months into the move and both Lauren and Hailey seemed to keep the same recent habits they had developed in that fateful week spent in each other’s company. Being both thrown into drastically new environments seemed to be the catalyst for their inability not to sway from the new lifestyles they had assumed. And those two lifestyles couldn’t be more polarizing. It was almost like they were keeping one another around by doing the things that reminded them of each other.

Hailey was working hard to keep up with her biking regimen while using her alone time to work on putting together healthy meals for the first time in her life. Making sure to get adequate water and sleep helped her stay on the ball with battling the intense Georgia heat. And together it was really having an effect on her body.

It was when her clothes started fitting more loosely and coworkers would throw her compliments here and there that really made her aware of the response her choices were having on her heavyset physique.

Lauren would call every so often out of boredom and gossip over work life and which of Hailey’s new coworkers had dirt she could resurface. Over the phone it was hard to tell but Lauren was starting to notice her clothes were having a different kind of problem.

Lines she would tell herself like, “Come on these always used to fit”, or something along the lines of, “Wacky Wednesday two for one pizza specials are the financially responsible choice.”

She would vent it out by calling up Hailey with planned fat jokes that hiked up her confidence, but from an outsiders point of view her lack of exercise, awful sleeping schedule, and poor eating habits seemed like a disaster for her metabolism and waistline. To make matters worse ever since meeting Hailey, she had started to crave foods she never would have before. The lack of sleep made her tired, the boredom made her hungry, and the grease made her lazy. For someone who never had to struggle with these kind of habits, she did have the tools to make a stop to it all.

On the phone Hailey mentioned in nine months she was planning on heading north to visit some family if Lauren would like to spend some time together during the week. Of course Lauren accepted and so the two went back to their lives and waited in anticipation.