chapter 5

A couple of hours later, Olivia was wrapping her lips around a fried chicken taco. The lettuce and tomatoes convinced her it was the healthy option, especially since she had also gotten two more fish tacos. That was fried too, but it's fish so it doesn't really count.

Lori was fixated on Olivia's ravenous behavior, but snapped out of it and looked downward, focusing on her own meal, an avocado salad. Lori figured that losing the job to Kendall had hit Olivia harder than she thought it would. Otherwise...

"I'm sorry, Olivia," Lori said solemnly.

Olivia raised her head from her basket of tacos and chewed quicker to get where she could speak. Daintily holding her hand up to cover her mouth while she ate, she replied: "It's fine," she said before swallowing the massive bite and continuing: "Something else will come up soon." She picked up her napkin and wiped her mouth. "Kendall was a great pick, honestly. She'll do great in the role, it's just..." she trailed off. Her brow shifted as if her muscles were working to restrain tears. "When is it going to be my turn, you know?"

Lori nodded sadly, wishing there was something she could do, but also realizing that Olivia didn't quite know exactly what Lori was apologizing for. Lori took a deep breath, preparing to come clean to Olivia about her recent predicaments, but she was interrupted by Olivia's phone.

A shrill ring signified an incoming work email and Olivia rolled her eyes, already halfway through her next taco. She opened her mouth and shoved the latter half of the taco into it, treating it as one, huge bite. As she chewed the abnormally large "bite" she wiped her hands on her napkin and swiped the screen of her phone while it lay on the table.

It was from Claudia: [Hey Liv - Was hoping to get some of your materials for tomorrow's meeting so I can prep and better follow along. Thanks!]

With a heavy sigh, Olivia kissed the taco remnants and sauces from her fingertips and tilted her phone to the side to begin typing. [At lunch, will send them when I'm back in the office!]

"Everything cool?" Lori asked, taking a sip of water, grateful for the distraction.

"Yeah, I'm heading up that software meeting tomorrow and Claudia's asking for stuff," Olivia explained, placing her phone down and picking up the next fish taco. She took another large bite on the front half and chewed furiously. Again, she held her hand over her mouth before speaking while she chewed: "Sorry to cut lunch short, but we should wrap up and head back."

"Cool with me," Lori said, taking another few bites of her salad before giving up on it.

Olivia moaned as she chewed the last half of her last taco, slower than she had been, savoring it. Her eyes closed, blocking out other senses to maximize the taste, she breathed deeply through her nose and moaned again.

Lori's eyes were wide. She had never seen her friend like this before. It was so out of character. Olivia was a borderline health nut. But now...she was becoming something else entirely.

Olivia rubbed her belly and snorted a bit as she awoke from her reverie. "Let's go!" she inadvertently shouted scooting her chair back and grunting as she stood, still acclimating to the slight but recent increase in heft.