Chapter 6 - naughty or nice?

There are certain events, in any story, which threaten to define both the flow as well as the tone of an entire tail. In some cases, such as this one, a single event may even be the deciding factor as to whether or not a tale is even worth telling. The actions, or lack there of, which took place over the next few weeks, culminated in one such defining moment. The denizens of Crossroads had felt confident in their decision to give Jess the chance to envelop herself rather than forcing her hand, knowing that if she compromised herself of her own accord, their victory would be final, not to mention sweeter. Yet in the weeks that passed, as Jess contemplated the weight of her current situation, and of the decision she had been saddled with, it became clear that satisfaction was anything but guaranteed. Even the most self assured member of Crossroads began to doubt their choice as Jess's inaction stretched on for weeks as she and her family prepared for Christmas.

With the looming holiday, and their sisters arrival, Jess and Samantha relaxed, and tried their best not to compete as everyone focused on merriment, gift giving, and overall enjoying one anothers company. Jess settled into her expanded size with some hesitancy, but with plenty of needed support from Laura. They both discussed diets and even went to the gym several mornings. She has suggested that she and Jess could go shopping one morning after the gym if she was up to it, but this was still too much for the recently swollen butterball.

Jess found that working out was much easier when you could focus on the idea that someone or something else had done the fattening, rather than your own greed. She had a new focal point, and knowing crossroads must be watching, delighted in throwing a wrench in their plans. This is not to say that the pounds fell off the two girls in spades. Their mothers famous Italian cooking was a weight loss nightmare, and for every work out morning there were two where they simply slept in or stopped for coffee on the way home. Coffee which eventually lead to donuts or eclairs. And no matter how much focus was granted by Crossroads, the site and it's menacing power had inflated Jess's already sizeable breasts, making work outs of most kinds considerably more taxing, not to mention embarrassing.

When Laura and Jess would come home either covered in sweat, or joking about their over filled bellies, their bond would get under Sams skin. Obviously she had briefly had the upper hand, and evidently quite enjoyed it, but now being the sister in best shape made her the odd gal out. She and Jess still got along better but this wedge between them grew more bitter as time went on. To the relief of the members of Crossroads, waiting with baited breath, this bitterness came to a head during the family's Christmas Eve party. Jess was not exactly thrilled to have distant relatives measuring her up like a holiday ham, but the evening was fun and Sam had even volunteered to play Bar tender, making her famous margaritas for the rest of the family for the length of the festivities.

Both Laura and Jess had decided to enjoy the holiday this night and ignore calorie counting, but both of the tubby girls would be lying if they said this was completely possible with so many prying eyes washing over their soft skin. Jess in particular had to be careful, for unlike Laura who had her entire wardrobe with which to pick from, Jess, still picking from Samantha's hand me downs, had rather limited possibilities for a party like this one. Laura was able to pick a looser blouse, giving her a stylish look that she could grow into as the night went on. Jess however ended up wearing her tightest top, an elegant black sweater that squeezed her sweater puppies and, she hoped, would distract the crowd from her bulging belly. After her third trip to the snack table, she could feel the gust of wind playing across the bottom of her exposed belly and knew the plan was overly hopeful. A few more drinks from Samantha and she was honestly only half aware of the exposed belly even as it inched it's way free.

This was not true of much of the party however, and even though the buzzed Jess was unaware of it, she was becoming the nights entertainment. Laura was trying to slow her down a bit, but it was Sammy who lead her upstairs when she had spilled across her chest. The bouncing fabric sparkled with sticky green margarita mix as she stumbled up to her bedroom and let Sammy dress her.

When the sisters emerged Sammy was pouting dramatically, with her hands above her head as if to say she couldn't help it, and the drunken Jess, who had been plied by drinks from Sammy all night, was wrapped up in one of her own shirts she had brought from school. Feeling very appropriate considering the djinn like entities of the crossroads, Jess was wearing a skin tight blue t shirt that only hardly covered get breasts and gave her the look of an Arabian belly dancer. Her tummy, filled with liquor and snacks, sloshed from side to side as Sammy lead her porcine sister out onto the dance floor.

The two of them danced together for a time, the contrast between them stunning as Sammys body jiggled in all the right ways, where as Jess seemed to jiggle even when she wasn't moving. Sammy slipped away after a time and began to chuckle with cousins and others about Jess's new look. Sam knew she was lucky her parents hadn't seen the outfit she had put Jess in, but Laura had found her uploading pictures of the dancefloor to Facebook, and nearly snapped the thin sisters phone in half. Jess was drunk enough to be behind in all this, but as Laura walked her off to bed, she began to piece it together.

When Laura looked back after she had put Jessica to bed, she saw she had her phone out and was crying lightly. She frowned to herself and assumed her drunk sister had found the picture on her feed. Had she been able to look at Jess's screen she would have seen an odd looking shopping cart from a site she had never seen before.

Jess was getting Sammy a last minute Christmas gift.