Chapter 4

"This is getting ridiculous" sighed Steph, as she looked at her reflection.

"What is?" called Emily, from the living room.

"Come and see"

Emily walked in and saw her friend standing in front of a full-length mirror, jeans unbuttoned.

"What is it? You look fine"

"Fine? Are you serious? Look at me!"

"Yeah, and I'm telling you, you look fine"

"I've put on weight, I look huge"

"What? You look the same, come off it!" laughed Emily.

"I'm not kidding. These jeans don't fit, they're too tight"

"Oh, so that's it? You've got a bit of a muffin top, big deal"

"Big deal?! It's not a bit of a muffin top, I look massive"

"You're not massive. You're a tiny bit bloated and that's it. You need to relax"

"Relax?! What's wrong with you? We've been eating like crazy for weeks and you're acting like it's nothing"

"Because it's nothing. You're a bit bigger, so what? It's not a big deal"

"It is a big deal. It's a huge deal"

"Oh, calm down"

"I will not calm down. This has got to stop. I can't carry on like this"

"Okay, so stop then"

"It's not that easy, is it?"

"Of course it is"

"It's not, it's really not. Look at me! Look at you!"

Steph turned to look at her friend, who was still wearing her pyjamas. She lifted up Emily's t-shirt and revealed her bare belly.

"You've put on weight too. Look, your belly is softer"

Emily giggled, "So what? It's fine, because we're both so skinny"

"Are you being serious? How can you possibly say that?"

"Well, why shouldn't I? You look the same. Your face hasn't changed"

"I'm not talking about my face; I'm talking about the rest of me. This needs to stop"

"Why does it need to stop? We're on our break, aren't we? And it's not hurting anyone. You're so uptight"

"No, I'm not uptight"

"Look, alright, maybe we've put on a couple of pounds, but we'll just diet it off when we're ready. I need this. I need this freedom of eating; it just feels so right. I'm not ready to give it up just yet, it feels like we've only just started. But I promise, when the time comes, we can diet it off, get back to where we were, if that's what you want. But honestly, we are still really skinny. No one is going to notice. Let's buy some stretchy jogging bottoms and not worry that we're not fitting in our size zero skinny jeans or whatever"

Steph stared at Emily, trying to decide what to do. Getting fat was like a fate worse than death, but she had to admit that they were still skinnier than the average girl. And she had been enjoying indulging with her bestie.

"Oh, alright. But only for a few more days, okay?"

"I'm not going to make you. Come on, let's order some pizza and have some ice cream. We deserve a treat, don't we?"

Steph sighed and nodded.

"That's the spirit"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore, okay?"

"Sure, let's just forget about it. Let's have some fun"