Chapter 12 - maria's meal pt 1

With her bare feet slapping against the hardwood floor, Jess turned the corner at the top of the stairs and the light of the sunset stunned her momentarily as it warmed the dining room below. The shifting colors of the sunset danced across the floor boards and its rays caught in Maria's orange sundress, shining through and giving her a glow and warmth to match that of the room.

As Jessica slowly stepped down the second set of steps, her eyes spread out across the four or so courses already piled up on the table, her heart skipped in her chest and seemed to slip down into her tummy where it played at making her nauseous. If tonight was one of Maria's cooking class meetings, where were the others? If it wasn't such a night, why was Maria returning to the kitchen for yet another piece of the growing feast.

Returning to the room with a sizzling platter of Fajitas, Maria gave Jess a meaningful pout and set it down in the tray she had earlier set up. "Everyone canceled," she said as she set the sizzling meat and peppers into its place. "I've never even had one cancellation, let alone three at once. Do you think they just hate my cooking?" Jess reached out and absentmindedly rubbed her friends shoulder as she looked out at all the food, comforting her as best she could as she considered what item might have the hex on it. It was clear to Jess that the crossroads had worked it magic when it came to the others in Maria's cooking class, the idea of all three canceling at once was preposterous, even more so when one considered the high quality of Maria's cuisine. "But you'll help me try some out wont you Jess," Maria was giving her a puppy dog pout and leaning forward onto the table, showing off a bit of her world class cleavage, her C cups fitting perfectly into the tight summer dress. No this was no coincidence, and as Jess smiled blankly and nodded to Maria, taking a seat at the end of the table, she knew that this was precisely where the crossroads wanted her to be.

Maria was delighted with Jessica's acquiescence and popped up from the table, half skipping into the other room before returning with crisscrossed wine glasses in one hand, and a bottle of red in the other. The girls both preferred red, and neither was worried much about paring them to a meal, especially in the sanctuary of their home. There was something else Jess noticed however, Maria was chewing on something when she entered the room, and as the tan woman swallowed Jessica noticed immediately that her breasts were swelling ever so slightly in the summer dress. She knew Maria had a tendency to eat light once she got to the dinner table, a bad habit caused by snacking her way through the preparation of the meal, and Jess's mind raced as she tried to figure out which portion of the feast Maria had already caused her friend the slight gain that had just spread across her chest. The pounds could not have been more than five spread equally across each breast, but in a dress like the one Maria currently had on, that sort of gain was particularly obvious.

Setting the glasses down on the table, Jess noticed how Maria, now hunched over, was unaware of the way her cleavage had deepened. The once perfectly fitting dress was now teetering dangerously on the edge of being tasteless. An opinion Jess could never have of her roommate, but one she knew the girl would have of herself in the new fitting clothes. For Jessica, this meant one thing, the hex of the Crossroads was already keeping Maria from noticing her own gain. That both horrified Jess and gave her some sense of relief. If Maria did not notice whatever damage happened to either one of them tonight, there was a chance they could work it off together without Maria ever being the wiser.

And yet it seemed so wrong. Jess had already doomed her sister to a life of extreme obesity, and the purpose of this evenings dealings with the Crossroads was to find someone to share that with, to perhaps grow closer to Maria, not to cause another person in her life an unwanted gain. Jessica would have to do something to settle this, and she would have to think quickly. Already Maria was looking across the table at her, smiling mischievously. There was a certain twinkle in Maria's eyes and Jess realized that she had been caught staring at her one time lovers chest.

"I know that look naughty Jessica," cooed Maria as she poured the wine into the glasses, "If i had known that all i needed to do was make a big meal for the two of us, i would have slipped this dress on an started cooking years ago." She giggled at her friend across the table and winked as she passed her the wine and took a seat herself.

Jess felt her mind race, competing thoughts barreling through her head at an unrelenting pace. She smiled playfully across the table and was horrified to hear the idea that was most dominant in her head slip our of her lips, the idea that was both the most dangerous to herself, but was also the only certain way to keep her friends figure safe. "A meal for the two of us?," asked Jess as she raised a playful, hungry eyebrow and brought her hand up over top her utensils, holding them up in a comical, almost cartoon style, one shining instrument in each hand, "Why I thought you made this all for me dear?"

Maria's face went blank, trying her best to control her reaction as her cheeks went warm with blush. She smiled sheepishly, making sure her friend was serious before she committed herself to something that could potentially be quite embarrassing if Jess was only teasing. Jess could see that her friend had waited quite a long time to hear those words come from her mouth and so she added a few more to try and seal the deal. "Can you feed me? Pwease?" she gave a childish pout designed to mimic Maria's puppy dog look from earlier and could see her friends head nodding in agreement even as she stared in half disbelief.

"Shall i feed you, all of it? You don't want to use your hands at all Jesse?" It had been years since Jess had heard that nick name come from her friend, and in a moment the two of them were back in time, and somehow deeper than they had ever been. "Any way you want to do it," came Jessica's response from across the table, even as her eyes swept the banquet and were shocked by just how much food she was agreeing to gulp down, "I'm very hungry dear, and I don't think I can be trusted to do what's best for me."

Maria smiled at this, tipping her wine up to her lips and standing across the table from her newfound victim. "Any way I want to?" she asked and Jess knew that this might be dangerous. Maria had sometimes hinted at kinks when they had dated, and Jess had a good idea where some of those hints led, but at this point she could see no other course of action. To make sure that each and every crumb went into her own tummy, Jess would have to agree to do things in a fashion which her long time lover desired. She nodded playfully, and in that single movement of her head she passed control of the situation, of the evening really, over to her friend.

Maria turned and exited the room, and as she did she grabbed at a plate of olives and popped one into her mouth before disappearing into the kitchen. Jess was too late in protesting and the girl was gone before she could do much. Reappearing from the other side of the room, Maria was still chewing happily as she approached Jess from behind with a long white rope wrapped like a lasso dangling from her fingers. "Okay my greedy friend, i need you to place your arms behind you, crisscross." Jess pouted, half for real, half playfully and did as she was ordered. "Okay but no more snacking, I want it all," came Jessica's retort. As Maria wrapped her arms up Jess could hear her friend moan slightly in response to what she had just said. "If you want it all, that's just what you will get."

And yet, as Maria secured her to the chair and came around the edge of her vision, Jess could see that once again the pounds had been added to Maria! This time the handful of poundage had settled nicely into her bum, which swayed by even in the frilly fabric of the sundress. Jess had been too late once again, but at least now she had narrowed down the culprit. The idea was harrowing as she looked over the small bowl of twelve or so remaining olives, thinking how each one might be worth another five pounds. She closed her eyes and thought of her friend and then smiled up at her. "Prove it then," she called from the seat she was uncomfortably bound to, "Prove it and make me eat each and every one of those olives..."

(Running out of room on this one, looks like I'm going to have to split it up and make it a two-parter."