chapter 2

Danny had booked them in a nice hotel with a view overlooking the water. He took her to lavish dinners, took her shopping for touristy overpriced clothes, he even paid for a moonlight ride on a pleasure boat. Like I said, he maxed out his credit card. Naturally he took pictures and posted them on facebook. I could tell he was loving every minute. He took a lot of pictures of Crystal, by the pool, by the ocean, in town and at the high priced restaurants that he took her too. When I looked at the pictures of Crystal, it seemed like her smile wasn't totally natural. Like she was playing a part. I thought about taking a little stroll through her mind to find out what she was really thinking. Then I told myself firmly that it was none of my business, and as long as Danny was happy I should stay the hell out of it.

On the day that they drove back, I expected to see Danny and Crystal bubbling over about their trip. Instead, Danny showed up at our apartment with the longest face I had ever seen on him. "Dude," I asked, "what's up? You don't look like a guy that spent spring break with the love of his life."

"She broke up with me, man," he answered, crestfallen. "On the drive back she told me to drop her at her apartment. When we pulled up, she told me that she just didn't want to be with me. I couldn't believe it. I asked her what was wrong, we'd just had a great week in Daytona. That's when she told me that she just couldn't see herself with a fat guy. It just didn't fit her image. She patted me on the cheek, grabbed her suitcase and went into her apartment. Didn't even look back."

Well, there wasn't anything to do but get Danny good and drunk. We drank I don't know how many beers, with plenty of shots mixed in. As much as I drank, Danny drank a lot more, which was the whole idea. Over the course of the evening, as Danny talked about how it had been with Crystal, I realized just how she had played him. As long as he had money and was showing her a good time, she had time for him. On the drive back, he'd told her that he was out of money, out of credit, and he was going to have to lay low for the rest of the semester. That's when Crystal decided she didn't have time for the fat guy anymore. And dumped him like a bad habit. His feelings didn't matter a bit to her.

Sometime in the course of the evening, we ordered a pizza, which I gladly paid for, so least we had food in our bellies when we ended the evening. Well, I ended the evening under my own power. Danny passed out on the sofa, and I left him there. No way was I carrying him to bed.

The next morning, I had the hangover from hell. I drank water, then tomato juice, took aspirin, drank more water, and finally ate a piece of toast. My head still hurt, my belly was still rumbling, but I felt like I would live. Danny came out of his stupor, and I could tell that he was in even worse shape.

I left Danny to his own recovery program while I took a walk. I had stayed out of people's minds for years because what was private was private. I knew that if I wanted, I could make anyone do anything I wanted them to. I hadn't, because it didn't seem right to take someone's free will from them. But this was different. Crystal had chewed up Danny and spit him out. My best friend ever. Because he was fat. Not even real fat, just a little fat. He had treated her like a queen, and she threw him away when she had spent all his money. Because he was fat. And she knew she could get some other guy to treat her like a queen, easily, because of her good looks and her hot lean body.

That's when I made my decision. It was time for Crystal to lose that hot lean body. She needed to pay for what she had done to Danny. It was time for her to find out what it was like to be fat. And I knew exactly how to do it.