Chapter 4 - Less Than Ideal

“Goddamnit these pants are supposed to be two sizes bigger than the stuff in her closet,” Jessica groveled quietly at her office desk as she fidgeted with her brand new pants, the already ill-fitting clothing clinging tightly to every conceivable region of her lower half.

To Jessica’s horror, her first week living in April’s body had been characterized by countless unpleasant surprises and unshakable urges. Though the body she had been transferred into was far from ideal, the former personal trainer had been confident that she could whip her new and schlubby form into shape.

But that confidence was short lived. The 26-year-old had figured that one week of vacation would be plenty of time to set some new habits that would catapult her new self towards a “brighter” future. She would buy new workout clothes, join a gym, get out for frequent walks, and start eating healthier. Then when work came around and it was time to hop back into the daily grind, she would be well on the way towards real change. However, the now 207-pound woman soon discovered that getting a spoiled pig to obey orders was an uphill battle, especially when the beast’s previous owner had been overfeeding the fat sow with an entire apartment filled with unhealthy junk food.

What was supposed to be a free week from work that would kick start her new body’s healthier lifestyle quickly spiraled into a hazy blur of gluttony. Jessica had taken her old self control for granted, and the always naturally skinny woman had no idea just how commandeering the human mind could truly be. Her new body came with a ravenous hunger unlike anything she had ever experienced before, and the overwhelmed woman found herself in a constant battle to sate her stomach’s demands.

Jessica was stunned by just how much her new body could put away in one sitting, but even more bewildering to the plump 26-year-old was the way she felt immediately after stuffing her face. Each stuffing caused the overstuffed plumper to feel horny, sleepy, or a combination of the two. Every meal began a cycle that repeated again and again as the week wore on, and what started as a potential new healthy start on life ended up becoming the laziest and most hedonistic stretch of Jessica’s life. The lazy vacationer had failed to leave the confines of her new apartment a single time during the week off, and opening the door in order to grab her food deliveries or other necessary packages.

When the day finally came for Jessica to report to her new job at a local accounting firm, she nearly had a total mental meltdown as she frantically scoured her closet for something that fit, her panic intensified by the bathroom scale’s revelation that she had somehow managed to add four pounds of flab to her already out of shape body in just one week.

“These pants fit five days ago, I don’t understand how the hell they are so tight,” Jessica groaned in her office chair.

“Well, have you been overeating lately?”

The unexpected voice took the unsuspecting woman by surprise, spurring her to jump slightly in her seat. Swiveling her chair to face the direction of the unknown voice, she found a tall and handsome guy in his late twenties staring from above.

“What did you just ask me?” she said with palpable annoyance, one part because he had snuck up on her but the other due to how rude she believed it was to ask someone such a question, especially a young woman in her twenties.

The brown haired and blue eyed man only smiled teasingly. “You asked how your pants were so tight, so i asked if you had been overeating. I bet a couple extra pounds around that waistline is likely the culprit.”

Jessica blinked incredulously. “Who are you and are you always this big of a dick?”

“Names Dan, and only when I feel like it,” he annoying teased with a snarky smile. “But you should know that, shouldn’t you April?”

Staring into the annoying yet cute guy’s eyes, Jessica felt her stomach suddenly sinking at the realization that she had no idea who this guy was despite him insisting she should. Knowledge and memories of every other coworker in her office had made been available for her consciousness to access so she could perform her job, and even though the man standing before her possessed an unexplained familiarity she could not shake, every attempt to remember anything about the stranger produced the same empty results.

“All right fine I can’t keep this up any longer,” the man teased as he drew closer. “I know you’re not the real April,” he said in a hushed tone so that no eavesdropping snoops could overhear.

Jessica sat there looking like a deer frozen in headlights as the stranger knelt next to her.

“There’s an address written on the inside of this piece of paper,” he whispered as he placed a folded note on her desk. “Meet me there for lunch at eleven sharp.”

“Why eleven?” Jessica asked nervously.

The man smiled as her stood from his knee. “You’ll understand soon enough.”

The confused woman watched as the stranger walked away before disappearing into the maze of walled cubicles

“What the hell was that?” she thought to herself while turning her attention back towards the paper on her desk.

What had already been a cluster fuck of a morning had now become shrouded in a layer of mystery. Picking up the note, the young woman felt as if she were getting wrapped into some sort of elaborate joke, and she was the punchline.

“Cheesecake Factory?”