Chapter 9

We sat silently for the next two minutes as Cam ravaged her hamburger like it was some kind of lost lover she'd been reunited with. Honestly, it was kind of sad to watch, giving me further context around how horrific Cam's relationship with food had become. There was an air of intensity to her bites that never used to be there on the rare occasions I'd seen Cam eat before she became a fat person. I could tell her head was entirely somewhere else as she ate, and the glazed-over look in her eyes was a little bit scary to witness, as if she was an addict getting a fix. It looked like eating gave Cam everything she was missing from her life, which I found deeply pitiful. Something had happened to Cam to make her act like this, and I still wasn't exactly sure what that was.

Shockingly, Cam looked fatter sitting down than she did standing up. Her thighs and butt appeared to spread more expansively, and the fat elsewhere on her body sat and bulged differently. I didn't want to embarrass her further by calling it out, but in the process of sitting down, her shirt had ridden up another inch or two, exposing more of the lower lard roll of her stomach. I'd already been shown more of Cam's bulging naked paunch than I wanted, but the pale and sagging flesh streaked with dull stretch silver, pink, and a few red stretch marks sat atop her fat thighs and filling her lap was a new visual low. So badly, I wanted to slap the hamburger out of her hand and give her a salad instead, but decided ignoring her grossly obese body was easier.

When she looked like she was close to finishing, I took it upon myself to break the silence, growing frustrated by trying to ignore the slobbish eating noises and tiny moans of contentment. "So... you still an economics major?" I asked.

After Cam finished hastily cramming the last of the first burger into her mouth, she grabbed a half-drunken 2-liter bottle of Sprite from the coffee table and took a big swing. Then, after a satisfied sigh, she finally answered. "No, I dropped that major at the start of Sophomore year. It was too boring. My roommate stuck with economics, though, and from what I've been hearing about her classes, it still sounds super boring. What about you? You stick with it?" Cam was already reaching into the bag for a second burger.

"Yup, Still an Econ major. Haha, but I hear you on that." I agreed. Economics was a dull affair. "I managed to survive through the four-year undergrad program, that is, as long as I make it through the next two weeks."

"I just didn't have the attention span for those classes, and the material was so dry." Cam shrugged. "I'm sure you'll make it through the next two weeks. You were always really smart. Probably even have a job lined up, too."

"Thanks." I said, appreciating the praise being laid on me. "Not necessarily a job, but an internship I'm starting in the summer that could lead to a job." I'd landed a pretty swanky internship in the city that I was looking forward to, but I didn't want to brag about myself too much.

"Congratulations," Cam said, sounding sincere as she pulled a second hamburger out of the bag.

"So, what major did you swap to?" I asked, watching with disgust as Cam unwrapped the second burger and took a huge bite.

There were a few awkward seconds of chewing before Cam responded. "I swapped to a business major at first because I thought it would be easier. It was, but I don't know what I'd do with a business degree." She took another large bite of the burger before continuing. "Then, last year, I had the bright idea to swap to food science, and while it was interesting, I kinda burnt out on it." Then Cam spent the next 30 seconds cramming the last of the burger into her mouth before she finished talking. "So here I am, two semesters into an art history major."

"Oh wow, you're really sampling everything, aren't you?" I asked, surprised. I'd always thought Cam was a girl full of conviction in what she wanted, so it was a bit off to me that she seemed so directionless. There was no doubt in my mind Cam's indecision about her future had set her graduation timeline back.

"To a fault." Cam sighed deeply, resting both of her hands on her upper belly, breathing with difficulty after housing that second burger. "*bwap*... excuse me." Cam gently burped, blushing. I felt embarrassed for her and couldn't deny hearing her burp thoroughly disgusted me.

Pretending that burp didn't happen, I tried to pull Cam out of her sulky attitude. "Are you at least having fun trying out all these different majors?" Letting my eyes wander away from Cam to get distracted with anything else.

"Kind of..." Cam responded but then paused and seemed to reconsider her answer. "Actually, not really." Cam frowned. "Don't get me wrong, some of the classes are interesting... but... I'm way behind on credits, not graduating this year, and collecting student loans. It's stressful." Upon saying that, Cam's eyes drifted to the bag of burgers.

"Well, do you at least enjoy art history?" I asked, trying to get her mind away from the food I saw her staring at.

"Yeah, it's interesting for sure, but what the heck am I going to do with an art history degree? I feel like I should just drop out." Cam sulked, awkwardly leaning forward again and extending a hand out towards the greasy bag of food just out of reach.

"Hey, don't say that." I tried arguing. "It's worth it to have a degree. Even if it takes a little longer." Frankly, I found it off-putting how little Cam seemed to care about finishing her education. Sure, my parents had drilled a specific sensibility about higher education into me, but even though I goofed off in some of my classes, that influence had brushed off on me to the point where it was just as much a part of me as it was them.

Cam let out a scoff. "Ok... Says the guy who knows it's much more valuable to have an economics degree than an art history degree." Cam said, rolling her eyes as she scooted forward just enough to start rummaging around in the fast food bag. "By the time I get a degree, I'll be paying off six years of student loans while my diploma gets me a job working at a museum. Could be a fun gig, but I'm screwed financially." Cam sighed again, her hand exiting the bag with a third burger in hand.

"Well, you said you never cared about making money." Recalling a conversation I had with her the first time we met.

I averted my eyes as I watched Cam shamelessly take a bit of her third hamburger and then take another pull from her soda. This bottomless pit of a girl looked so morbidly obese and in desperate need of a diet, yet here she was, eating like this without showing shame, deeply disappointing. It bothered me that Cam had become such an unmistakable and stereotypical glutton, but I tried my best to not show how upsetting this was for me.