A Taste of Indulgence

Chapter 1: Let's Get Out of Here

Amber tossed her heavy winter coat onto the chair, collapsing onto Jenny’s apartment couch with a sigh. “I need the sun. Badly.”

Jenny grunted an affirmative from the kitchen. A cupboard door was shut from within. There was a clink of a set of glasses being laid onto a countertop and the unmistakable ‘pop’ of a bottle of wine being uncorked.

Amber shook out her shoulder length dirty blonde hair, which hung limply and was in need of a color touch up, not only for her complexion, but to cheer her up from the dull dirge of winter.

Jenny, entered and carried two glasses wine. She clinked her glass against her companions and took a healthy sip. Both glasses, a blood red merlot, were filled beyond the customary half-way point and were in danger of spilling over the rim.

“Oh, god yes.” Said Amber, closing her eyes as she took the first mouthful. She hurriedly followed up with a second.

Jenny smiled knowingly and, taking another sip herself, set the glass down on a coaster on her coffee table. She curled up in an armchair with her laptop and after a few keystrokes, grinned. “Florida?”

Amber groaned, stretching her legs out. “Cliché. Every other teacher in the district is probably heading there right now.”

“Good point. Do you want to run into the superintendent in a speedo prancing on the beach with a woman who is not his wife again?” said Jenny with a wink.

“Oh god, so much back hair.” Amber said with a shiver.

“I know, and he didn’t look much better than she did.” Jenny said, flicking her eyes up for a moment to catch the gawping face Amber usually made when presented with an unexpected comment.

“You’re so bad.” She chided.

Jenny tapped a few keystrokes on her laptop and scrolled through until she arrived on a well-known travel site, her blonde-brown fair hair slightly mussed from leaning back. “How about this? Southern France, right on the coast. Flights are cheap. And we get a discount as educators.”

Amber leaned forward, her dark brows lifting in interest. “Beaches, pastries, and wine? That sounds like an actual escape. Book it.”

Jenny smirked, clicking through the options. “We won’t regret this.”

Amber let out a dramatic sigh. “Even if we do, at least we’ll be regretting it together, in the sun.”

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The last few months had drained them both. Teaching high school was exhausting on the best of days, but the seemingly endless winter had made it worse. The gray skies, the bitter wind, the way the cold sank into their bones—it had left them sluggish and uninspired. And their subjects, 9th grade Math for Jenny and 10th grade Science Amber, respectively, were unrewarding, owing to a particularly bad batch of kids.

Still, as new teachers to the district, the two women were hired only two years ago at the same time and became fast friends, owing to the rest of the staff skewing to the older and more cantankerous nature. The two women bonded quickly as sisters of the educational system and spent nearly as much time hanging out with one another outside the classroom walls as they did within them; as they shared neighboring classrooms on the uppermost floor of Wallmount Grace High School in Billings, Montana.

But it wasn’t all bad. Teachers, after all, got two unbridled months off of school. Eight weeks of continuous, worry-free, student-free vacation time. It was these months both women cherished most as early twenty-somethings. Both women were fitness addicts, practicing their respective hobbies with maximum effort during these summer months, while clinging on as best they could during the busy school season.

Amber’s usual morning runs had become a thing of the past, and despite the treadmill gathering dust in the corner of her own apartment, she had chosen the comfort of her couch and the sweet lure of streaming Netflix marathons while sharing her company with either ice cream or popcorn. Her toned runner’s frame had softened, no longer as tight and lean as it had been in the summer; and certainly a far cry off from when she was in college as a Division 1 collegiate volleyball player.

The waistband of her leggings pinched a little more than she liked to admit, and she had started avoiding mirrors with full-length views. Her stomach, once taut, had the beginnings of a curve, going from toned and flat, to soft and doming. Her thighs brushed a little more loudly when she walked and the inner thigh fabric on many of her favorite pants began to pill. She was just on the right side of lean.

Just.

It wasn’t dramatic, but she could feel the change in her body every time she moved. Even her arms, which had always been slender and muscly, carried a little extra softness. She’d never been overly concerned with weight, but this winter and the academic schedule had done a number on her.

Jenny, on the other hand, had stayed committed to her workouts—she loved CrossFit too much to quit—but her weakness for food had caught up to her, too. She was still muscular, her arms firm, her legs powerful, but her stomach had softened under her gym tank tops, and her face had rounded slightly. She carried the extra weight well, but she knew it was there every time she buttoned her jeans, which were already elasticated.

Her usual confidence wavered when she caught glimpses of herself in the women’s bathroom mirror of the Teacher’s Lounge before class, noticing how her shirts hugged her a little too tightly in certain areas, even though she still had visible ab lines. They were more filed in creases now than their previous deep-cut valleys as they had been at the peak of her summer fitness. But it wasn’t just about looks, though. She felt heavier, slower, like all her winter indulgences had taken their toll on her energy and definitely were hurting her CrossFit gym scores.

Amber let her head fall back against the couch. “I just want to feel warm again. To not wake up dreading the cold.”

++++++

Back in Jenny’s apartment, Amber took another deep pull from her wineglass. It was the perfect way to cap off their academic week. And, with one week to go before Spring Break, the time couldn’t fly by fast enough.

Jenny who seemed to read Amber’s expression nodded, as she continued clicking through the booking page. “There. It’s official. We’re booked. South Coast of France with all-inclusive hotel. Very swanky—and affordable, even when you account for the Euro.”

“Oh, I hadn’t considered that.” Said Amber, thoughtfully. “But math has never been my strong suit.” She added.

Jenny grinned. “Well, I’ll just be glad to eat something that doesn’t come from the cafeteria or a plastic container—no matter where we end up over there.”

Amber laughed, rubbing her stomach absentmindedly. “You had me at pastries.”

Jenny glanced up with a smirk. “I knew that would get you.”

Amber sat up, leaning forward. “Just think of it. One more week, then no lesson plans. No grading. No screaming students who think learning about covalent bonds is a personal attack. Just sun, food, and wine.”

Jenny grinned, turning the laptop around for Amber’s benefit. The page showed a green checkmark, confirming the booking. “France, here we come.”

Amber got up and joined Jenny on the couch, wine in hand. Jenny lifted hers and they looked at one another and gently clinked their glasses together, the excitement finally setting in.

A week away from lesson plans, from the drone of fluorescent classroom lights, from the monotony of everyday life.

A week of sun, indulgence, and freedom.

“Wait—should we have gotten travel insurance?” Amber asked suddenly.

Jenny shrugged, “nah. What could go wrong?”

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