Chapter 4 - the late night show

Marie had done a good job of sneaking down to the kitchen without anyone hearing. Laura hadn’t been aware that anyone was out of bed when she went down at 2am for a glass of water. The kitchen was dark, but for the light of the refrigerator. Behind the open door, Laura could hear someone chewing and nibbling on things that they were reaching inside for.

“Marie?” Laura whispered, not wanting to startle whoever it was, quietly gorging in the middle of the night. “Is that you? Are you all right?”

Despite Laura’s efforts, Marie sill jumped a little and shut the door to the refrigerator quickly, as if she had been caught doing something very wrong. Laura reached for the light switch and clicked it on; both of them squinting as the bright light flickered into life. That was when Laura knew that the other girls had not been exaggerating. Dressed in only his short bottoms and a tight t-shirt, it was clear that Marie really was getting a tummy on her; a small, soft-looking puddle of fat that sat beneath her belly button, with softness spreading into her hips. And it was clear to see why. Around her mouth were the remains of the things she had clearly been devouring tonight: ice cream, cakes, chips. “What’re you doing up?” she asked accusingly, as if Laura had no right to be there.

“Just… getting some water,” Laura replied, lifting her empty glass as if to show that she wasn’t making it up. She walked over to the sink, taking a moment to glance at Marie’s cute butt while her back was turned. But instead of marvelling at those fine glutes, it was Marie’s chubby thighs that captured her attention more. They’d always been so slender and athletic. Now they rolled into a thick, chubby butt, with each glute pressed unflatteringly up against the tight material of her pyjama bottoms; looking, bizarrely, as if they were far too small for her, as they slipped up her butt crack. Marie was a beautiful girl; but part of what the boys’ loved about her was her impressive height, large chest and narrow waist; a waist that now seemed to be looking thicker than Laura had ever expected.

“For a second, I thought you were Mike, sneaking up on me,” Marie whispered, as if to explain her earlier harsh tone.

“You make that sound like a bad thing!” Laura laughed back. For a second, she really wished she was Mike, ready to receive Marie’s inevitable outpouring of love, lust and affection.

“Nah, it’s just… he doesn’t like me snacking. I usually wait until he falls asleep before I come down for something…” Marie explained guiltily.

“Why does he not want you snacking?” Laura asked, already pretty sure of the answer, but feeling a strange curiosity to have Marie say it herself.

The girl rubbed her little tummy shyly. “He thinks I’m putting on too much weight. He wants me to cut down and diet."

Laura bit her tongue. At over four hundred and fifty pounds, she hardly thought that Mike had any right to put Marie on a diet. But, even so, she didn’t know their relationship dynamic. She needed to remind herself not to judge. “I think you look fine,” she declared breezily, wanting to offer Marie a compliment without giving away too much about her true feelings.

“I’ve gained almost thirty pounds,” Marie confessed with surprising eagerness. She looked down at her stomach and rubbed it, as if still shocked to see it there.

“Well… that’s the good thing about being so tall,” Laura began awkwardly, unsure how best to reply. “Thirty pounds has got a lot of space to spread around on your body.” She cringed inside. What sort of a response was that?

Marie smiled and patted her middle. “I know where it wants to go, though,” she chuckled, tapping the softer skin around her belly button and watching the slight flutter of fresh fat. “I’ve just really, REALLY been enjoying my food recently,” she went on, sounding strangely enthusiastic. “You got anything in your cupboards that needs using up?”

Laura paused for a second at the strange question. “I have some cookies that my grandma bought me a few months ago,” she mumbled, reaching into her stash in the top left cupboard. “I’ve always hated this brand.”

As she picked them up and went to pass them over, wondering whether it was the sort of thing Marie was after, she found that they were already being snatched out of her hand. “Awesome!” Marie declared, greedily, opening the box and making a start. Before long, her mouth was so full of cookies, further conversation seemed unlikely and Laura simply stood there awkwardly. She tried not to look, she really did, but a subtle glance down at Marie’s fingers showed that they seemed almost desperate to slide between her legs. They danced around her stomach, making their way south, before seeming to realise and return.

Marie was getting aroused, and her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen.