Chapter 4 - Plans & Deliveries

Sadie parked down the street from her house. She got out of the car, rubbing crumbs from her sweatshirt and onto the street. And grabbing the small handful of bags and wrappers, she’d accumulated throughout the day, she stuffed them into her neighbor’s garbage,

Until she found a better way, Sadie planned to rely on her school’s vending machine as her source of fattening materials. She knew she couldn’t suddenly stock Greg’s pantry with potato chips and candy bars without getting lots of questions. Heck, there had already been a couple.

Greg and Sadie’s mother had returned home without incident. They’d had a wonderful trip, full of pasta and wine and good stories. They were pleased to see the house remained intact, with no evidence of wild parties. To begin with, that wasn’t Sadie’s style. But, Greg found it odd that the pantry looked exactly as he’d left it.

Sadie, who was always an avid snacker, made the simple excuse of not having been hungry. But, if anyone had known (or noticed) her 5 pound gain, it would’ve fallen apart pretty fast. But, just in case, she’d been wearing baggy shirts and oversized hoodies, so no one would notice. “For now, I still have that luxury”, Sadie thought, while feeling ready to move out the following fall.

Getting back in her car, and moving it to its proper spot outside the house, Sadie grabbed her things and went inside. Immediately, out come a familiar voice. “Hey-a kid!”, called Greg from his office, “had a good first day?”

In Sadie’s estimation, it had been fine. It was school, after all, so nothing exciting. But these were her final high school classes, and there was a bittersweet, if excited air to them. The thing that stood out was the partner assignments in math. Sadie thought it was a bit of a gimmick, but that guy, Trevor (she hoped she remembered his name right) certainly seemed into it. Maybe it could be fun…

Sadie lost her train of thought when Greg came out his office. “Wanna go for a run and tell me all about it?”, he asked.

Sadie internally groaned. She’d gone for a single run in her 3 weeks alone, if only to “keep up appearances”, but she really wanted to phase out unnecessary movement as soon as possible. But that’d be easier said than done over the next few months - Sadie had her routines with Greg to consider, as well as her position on the track team.

Resigning herself to long-term planning, Sadie agreed and changed into her running outfit. The shorts were slightly tighter than usual - she looked forward to when she’d have to buy new ones. And as they were about to head out the door, Greg turned and said, “Oh and before I forget, your mom and I have plans on Thursday night. You’re gonna be on your own for dinner. I hope that’s alright.”

Sadie’s mind buzzed. She smiled and said, “Yeah, fine by me”. She felt another pizza night in her future.

——————

It was Thursday night, the evening after the 4th day back, and Trevor was on a high. For four days straight, he’d made small talk with Sadie.

And, it seemed to him, she was pretty open to those short convos. She’d sit at her desk, crack open her daily bag of potato chips and, once, a soda, and say hi. Trevor would use that opening to always ask her something - about her evening, last night’s TV, whatever.

Sure, he needed to actually schedule a time to work on the week’s homework with her, but that would come. Trevor assumed they’d meet up at the school library, but maybe he could suggest someplace off-campus. Hmm…

On that night, Trevor sat in his usual place, near the counter, at the pizzeria, waiting for the next delivery orders to come in. So far, he’d delivered to a couple teenagers the next town over, three families, and an older couple.

And now - the phone rang and his manager picked up. “Uh huh…. 1 large… meat deluxe…”, Trevor paid little attention and picked up only snippets of the conversation. Then, 30 minutes later, he loaded the order into his car, and was on his way.

It was only when Trevor was nearly there that he realized he was on his way back to a familiar address, Sadie’s. A sharp intake of breath and a surge of anxiety washed over him as he pulled over. Time was of the essence, but Trevor needed to figure out how to play this. He’d imagined it so many times over the past few weeks, but all his scenarios now seemed creepy, rather than brilliant.

“It’s okay”, Trevor told himself, “I’m just the delivery guy, there to do my job. Heck, no one ever looks at the delivery guy. And what if she’s not the one who answers? What if it’s her dad? But, if it is her, wouldn’t it be weirder if I don’t say hi?”. There was merit to that, he internally conceded as he made up his mind.

5 minutes later, Trevor pulled up to the house, grabbed the pizza, went up to the door, and knocked.

——————

Sadie stood in her room, in front of that familiar mirror, checking herself out. Tonight was like a mini version of the weeks she’d spent alone.

She’d spent the day at school snacking even more than usual. She’d taken the step of adding sodas to her regimen, in addition to constant bags of chips. The extra calories and sugar, she hoped, would add up in a good way.

And that’s what Sadie was in the process of figuring out. Her shirt and shorts were both halfway off, and she was examining her body. There were a couple purposes to this. The first was to begin documenting her gain in a real way, with pictures, videos, and maybe diary entries. She was even considering posting them on one of the feedism blogs she’d been recently frequenting.

The second reason was much more straightforward. As of this afternoon, the scale had read 115.8, up half a pound in 5 days, and up nearly 6 in four weeks. Sadie desperately wanted to know where her extra mass had gone. So now, examining herself, Sadie was *pretty* sure, she could see it, but only if she squinted. There was possibly a little more fullness to her upper arms, a small softening to her lower tummy, and maybe a bit more bounce to her butt.

Sadie was about to begin the recording session when she heard a knock at the door. “Shit! The pizza!”, she thought. Sadie had ordered an all-meat pizza from the same place as the pepperoni . The challenge was to complete it in a single night, before Greg and her mom got home. There would be no second sitting this time around. And yet, Sadie had completely forgotten it was coming.

She pulled her clothes back into their proper positions and went running for the door. When she opened it, all eyes were on the pizza. She was ready.

But when she made to say thanks and take it, a voice broke her reverie. “Uh, hey Sadie. I guess I have your pizza”, said the delivery guy. Sadie’s first thought was that he was cute, with dark hair and features and more than a few inches taller than herself. Her second thought was a lament on how silly the pizzeria’s uniforms were. The third thought, which came in a rush, was recognition - she knew this guy!

“That’s, uh… what was his name again?”, Sadie thought in a hurry. “The guy from math, the one who partnered up with me… Trent, Tanner, Trevor. Ah yeah, that’s right, Trevor!”

“Oh, hey, Trevor!”, she replied in a friendly tone, “I didn’t know you delivered pizzas”. Trevor, who had seemed nervous, appeared to relax, “Yeah, it’s been about a year or so now. It’s alright.”, then added, “This is, like, our best pizza, by the way. I think you’re gonna love it. Anyway, here you go.”

Smiling Sadie took the pizza box from Trevor’s outstretched hands, saying, “I’m excited already. Thanks!”. And with that, she made to go back inside, but decided to follow up with something nice as she shut the door. “See you tomorrow, math buddy”.