chapter 3: uniform

Over a month had gone by, and Amber was happier than ever. She enjoyed her job, even though it paid just enough to get by, and looked forward to coming in every day. She came in on most of her days off, though she’d have what she’d call a “lazy day” every now and then. She never really went grocery shopping any more either. She was saving a lot of money just eating at Dairy King. It was wonderful! It was another 30 minutes until her shift, so she started getting ready.

Amber was hungry; she figured she could pop in and grab something before starting her shift too. She pulled up her pants, but they felt rather snug. In fact, they were VERY snug.

“What?” she said out loud to herself.

The black jeans were pushing into her sides. It didn’t hurt, but it was certainly uncomfortable. They didn’t feel like this yesterday, did they? “What the fuck?” She thought to herself. “Maybe the wash? I’m sure I would have noticed if they were too tight yesterday.” She continued to herself. “The wash; the damn wash!” she convinced herself.

She put on her bra, but the same thing. It was super tight, and her boobs were bulging out. She managed to strap it on, then went on to her shirt. She started pulling it on, but her boobs gave much resistance. She wasn’t stupid; everything felt off all of a sudden. She went to the scale.

“150lbs?!”

She couldn’t remember the last time she weighed herself, but she was pretty sure she was 130; 135 tops. She couldn’t have gained 15-20lbs in over a month could she have? She felt a panic. She didn’t know how to react. She definitely wasn’t happy. She had to stop eating at work. No more of that. She was going to go back to grocery shopping and prepping her meals like she did before. No taking advantage of her work.

“Fuck.” She said out loud.

She walked out of her apartment and headed to Dairy King. She could feel it all now. She couldn’t believe she never noticed how chubby she was getting. How did it get past her? She felt stupid, embarassed, and ashamed. She could feel a very slight jiggle in her stomach, but her boobs seemed uncontrollable. They wanted out, and they kept helping her shirt rise up to reveal the new bit of chub she had gained.

She kept tugging it down. She had to work like this; HOW could she work like this? She was nearly there, and didn’t know what to expect.

“Wait.” She thought to herself. “They’ve probably already noticed” It wasn’t really THAT bad. 15-20lbs is manageable, and it’s not like it ruined her figure. She was building her confidence back up. “No more eating at work..” She opened the doors and went behind the counter.

Jeremy gave his usual stare, followed by a retreat to his phone. Amber continued past him to the kitchen, where Stan was waiting for her.

“Hey Amber! You know what’s up with Sarah?” he asked, taking a bite of a freshly made tender.

“No, is everything alright?” Amber instinctively grabbed a tender for herself as well. Stan looked back to the office and back at her.

“I don’t know; she seemed pretty upset. All she said was ‘hey’ and has been in her office ever since.”

“She’s always in her office though” Amber stated matter of factly, finishing the tender in the last breath.

“Yea, just something seems off.”

“Probably because she was dumped” Jeremy chimed in from his food window.

“Huh?” Both Amber and Stan said simultaneously. Jeremy usually kept to himself. He’d talk every now and then, but he usually kept his face buried in his phone.

“Some dude broke up with her. It was all over her facebook” He let out a quick light laugh. “It was brutal.”

Stan’s face went from worried to annoyed. “That’s kind of shitty, don’t you think?”

“Uh…” Jerremy stumbled to think of what to say. “I guess, but she’s better off anyway.” He turned away and went back to his phone.

“Douche…” Amber muttered under her breath, having finished another tender in that time.

Stan and Amber gossipped most of the day. New topics never really popped up at work, so there wasn’t really much else to talk about. Stan had known about Sarah being in a relationship, but she never really talked about it. Neither Stan nor Amber had her as a friend on facebook either, and they came to find out that apparently neither did Jeremy. It was a bit unsettling finding that out, seeing as he knew about Sarah's relationship through that, but it wasn’t really all that surprising either.

Sarah’s situation made Amber completely forget about earlier that day. As they talked, she would eat whatever came up fresh, then finish off whatever would be thrown out for having sat for too long. Sarah would also generally come out of the office to check up on everyone here and there, which would put a pause on their eating, but she never came out.

It was finally almost closing time. Stan and Amber waited for the manager to dart out the office like usual. Instead, the office door opened slowly. Sarah’s head was low; it looked like she hadn’t slept the night before. Her eyes looked dried up; probably from too many tears.

“Lets go.” She said in an almost whisper.

It was crushing. Amber had only ever seen her spaztic and happy. Seeing her like this was too much.

“Are you alright?” Amber asked.

“Oh, yea. I’m okay.” She smiled a fake smile. Sarah lingered as the others finished up closing the store. Stan was making the usual milkshakes for him and Amber, but made an extra one.

“Hey, Sarah?” He shook the milkshake slightly, presenting it to Sarah. She started to tear up, but not to the point she let any out.

“Thanks” she smiled.

Amber smiled at the gesture. At least one of her two coworkers wasn’t an asshole. She felt like she had to do something for Sarah, but wasn’t sure what she could do. She fixed herself up a bag of leftovers like usual after having finished closing up, and headed for the door. Stan and Jeremy had already walked out, so she went to catch up.

*POP*

Amber felt a release in pressure in her jeans. For a brief moment, she felt relief; but then: horror. She looked down to see her jeans button had popped off; her zipper had come undone slightly as well. Suddenly she remembered about just before starting her shift. She started to tear up, until she looked up to realize that Sarah was still waiting for her to leave.

Sarah’s eyes were wide open staring at her; she had seen everything. Amber grew bright red. She told herself she wouldn’t eat at work, but had completely forgotten. Eating on the clock had become almost second nature; as if it was part of the training she received when she first started.

“Oh no! It’s okay!” Sarah said. “Have a good day guys!” She was yelling to the guys outside. “I forgot to take care of something for Amber. Take care!” She closed the door. “Come with me.”

Amber followed her to a storage room that she never really took note of.

“Don’t worry! We have different sized uniforms for whenever we have new hires!” She began rummaging through boxes of Dairy King supplies until she came to a box filled with bags of uniforms.
“I…” Amber was so embarrassed. She didn’t want another uniform. She wasn’t supposed to outgrow the one she had on. She was supposed to lose weight before that happened, but she gained more than she thought. She started to tear up.

“It’s okay! It’s okay!” Sarah comforted her. “A lot of people gain weight working in fast food! I’m sure you can lose it! But until then, wear this.” She handed her a larger uniform.

“Th-thanks.” Amber said shyly.

“Now lets get out of here; I’m done with today.”

“Really though, thank you.” Amber said. “You’re so nice. I’ve never had a manager as great as you are.”

Sarah was back to wearing a genuine smile again. “Thank you!”

“I know you’ve had a rough day, but you still helped me out. I don’t know if you’d want to, but I’m here if you want to talk about it.” Amber had to at least try to help in any way she could.

“No.” Sarah said softly. “I really just want to go home, but thank you.”

“Ok, I understand.”

Amber and Sarah walked out together. Amber was holding her uniform over her stomach to hide her gut in case anyone was still outside. Luckily, it was just the two of them.

“See you tomorrow.” Sarah said.

“See ya!”

Amber began to walk home. She was still embarrassed, but she was more focused on how nice Sarah was. She was too nice to have been treated so poorly. Whatever problems Amber had were nothing in comparison to hers. Amber had gone through breakups before, but not like how she heard it went down with Sarah.

Amber continued walking, thinking about what a weird day it had been; all the while munching on some leftover fries.