chapter 0: prologue

“Holy sh*t, she got HUGE!”

Bri felt her chest tighten as she read the first tweet.

To her horror, that was only the beginning.

“What a whale! I can’t believe how much she let herself go.”

“Winter weight? How many winters does she think she has to last through?”

Bri’s hand went to her midsection. She knew she had gained some pounds, but not enough to deserve all this… right?

“I bet all the health brands that sponsored her drop her the second this pic dropped.”

“I bet she’s been photoshopping her instas for months.”

“I bet she’s ruined her body for life.”

Red hot waves of embarrassment erupted inside her as she kept reading.

She knew she should stop but she couldn’t.

“How’d she get that big - going to a buffet every night?”

“Maybe she can partner with a lipo center.”

“There goes her brand. No one’s gonna wanna take her advice on how to look good now.”

This wasn’t fair, she hadn’t gained *that* much weight. She wouldn’t let herself… would she?

She had been a consistently growing influencer since she was 16. She had so carefully kept her body toned and lithe so that she looked perfect in every dress any brand paid her to show off. She had amassed an empire across her socials full of make-up tutorials, style tips, and health advice under her personal brand – BeautyByBri.

She of all people would never let herself get fat.

... right?

“I wonder if she can stop.”

“I wonder how big she’ll get.”

“I wonder if she even realizes how fat she’s gotten.”

Each new tweet sent a bang of horror through her.

But… it sent something else.

Something she could barely admit to herself but was impossible to ignore.

It set her loins on fire.

On impulse, she got up from her computer chair with a grunt and raced over to the mini fridge she kept in her closet (when did she become the kind of person to keep a mini fridge in her closet?). She pulled out a full carton of ice cream and raced back to her computer.

She opened the carton, grabbed a spoon from her desk drawer (when did she become the kind of person to keep spoons in her desk?) and started digging in.

With each new tweet, she took a large bite.

It did nothing to cool the emotions running through her.

Embarrassment, guilt, shame… pleasure?

How was it in the middle of her worst nightmare coming true, part of her could feel nothing but bliss?

What had she become? Why did she feel this way? She had spent her whole life carefully crafting the person she wanted to be, and she had probably lost it all because she couldn’t keep herself from slipping her hands into her mini fridge night after night…

She moaned as she took another bite of ice cream and read about how she looked more like a cow than an influencer with over a million unique views per post.

That was when Nikki stepped in.

“Hey, Bri. What were you thinking for din- what happened?”

Bri didn’t want to think about what Nikki had walked in to. She suddenly realized she had ice cream on her cheeks, that her shirt was rising up over her midsection, that she wasn’t wearing pants at all.

D*mn, she must really look like a pig.

She blushed and used her hand to wipe her face and sheepishly pull her shirt down.

“Someone… someone posted a photo of me online and…”

“And what?” Nikki asked calmly, walking over to the screen to see what Bri was looking at. She took a moment to read then let out an annoyed puff of air. “Oh, geez these assh*les are harsh. It’s not like you’re all that big, I don’t know why they have their collective panties all in a bunch. Who posted it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why’d they post it?”

“I don’t know.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

The last answer made Nikki square her shoulders.

“Hmm. You always have a plan,” she said quietly turning to Bri. “Are you ok?” she asked softly.

“I’m… I…” Bri said, redness continuing to leak onto her face.

She reached up and grabbed Nikki’s shirt collar. She pulled the other girl down and kissed her hard.

Nikki clearly wasn’t expecting that. She froze for a moment before placing her hands on Bri’s jawline and leaning in.

They held themselves there for a moment. Then Nikki relaxed into it and they were suddenly kissing passionately.

Bri’s hand found Nikki’s thigh, squeezing at the strong muscle she knew she’d find hiding just beneath the girl’s worn blue jeans. She let her fingers travel upwards, leading them under the loose tee-shirt to where she knew she would find strong abs underneath.

Nikki was muscular all over, and she was so with such a natural ease. There was no flexing, showing off, or bragging – she needed to be that strong to live the life she made for herself and so she made sure she was.

She was so grounded, so real, so in the moment.

Bri snuck a hand around her and tried to pull her down.

“Woah, woah. Eager,” Nikki chuckled, breaking the kiss. “Let’s move to the bed.”

Nikki leaned back, grabbing Bri’s hand and tugging her upwards easily. Bri let herself be lead to the mattress and pushed back onto it, then lay still as Nikki crawled on top of her.

Bri reached up, putting her hands on Nikki’s *ss, pulling the strong girl towards her. She couldn’t help but shudder in pleasure as Nikki’s tight form pressed onto her doughy belly. Something about the contrast sent sensations through her that she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around her.

“Well,” Nikki hissed, leaning down into Bri’s embrace. “Remind me to get strangers on the internet to call you fat more often.”

“I’m… not… that… fat,” Bri moaned as she arched her back to squish more of her midsection into Nikki’s chiseled body.

Nikki seemed to pause for a moment. Thinking, calculating. The next thing she said, she sad carefully.

“Bri, you aren’t stupid.” Nikki placed a leg between Bri’s and let the larger girl start grinding on her.

“Not stupid… and not fat…” Bri hissed between pumps, but in her head all the tweets she read were flying around, sending electricity through her every nerve.

Nikki hummed as Bri started to build. Then she leaned down and hissed into the beauty guru’s ear, “You’re fat, Bri. You’re fat and now everyone knows it.”

Bri felt her whole body explode around her as Nikki’s words crashed against her like a tidal wave.