Chapter 2 - the eating

Leah quickly ripped open the bag as the unmistakable aroma of grease permeated throughout the car. She went for the burger first, tearing it out of its wrapper as if her life depended on getting it into her mouth as quickly as possible. She took the first bite out of it and was in heaven. During high school, her cheer leading had her on a strict diet, and it had been over four years since the last time she ate fast food. All the memories came soaring back to her as she chewed, instantly regretting her abstention since her last meal here in eighth grade.
She tore into the sandwich with incredible vigor, barely bothering to chew and appreciate its deep fried goodness before swallowing. She took one bite before her mouth was even done swallowing its precedent.
"Slow down, honey, you're going to choke!" Emma cautioned. "The food's not going anywhere."
"Yes it is, my stomach!" Leah responded. "Anyways, I can't choke if I'm done eating."
And indeed, she had already finished her burger in the mere minute between leaving the parking lot and their conversation. She then took a single fry out of the enormous carton and placed it in her mouth. As soon as it touched her tongue, she reached in for another handful, unable to help herself. The fries were even better than she remembered, if that was possible. Leah quickly grabbed handful after handful, 10, 12, 15 fries at a time and stuffed them into her mouth, regretting even more the time she'd spent away from them. Soon, they had all gone the way of the burger, and Leah was left picking the stragglers out of the bottom of the bag.
"I can't believe you ate that so quickly," Emma remarked. "It's been less than three minutes since we got the food, and you're already done!"
"That's not true, I still have my shake." Leah responded.
That was quickly changing, though, as she was parched after all the salt from her fries. She sucked it up as fast as it would go through the straw, but finding that too slow took the lid off and chugged the rest of it in one go.
"Ahhh," she sighed. "That was really good. I'm glad you talked me into this, mom."
"You're welcome I guess," Emma replied. "Uh oh, low on gas, we're going to have to stop on the way home.

Five minutes later they pulled into a small, local gas station, and Emma got out to pump. Just then, Leah noticed her mom's meal, just sitting, there, unattended. She didn't go for it right away. This wasn't out of self-control, but fear of being caught. Her mom was right outside the car and could come in any second. Right on cue Emma opened the door. However, instead of sitting down she said,
"Leah, I have to pay inside, be right back."
Now Leah waited for her mom to get inside the convenience store before rifling through Emma's food. She decided not to go for the burger, because she didn't want the whole thing and also didn't want to come back to find several bites taken out of her meal.
What she wouldn't notice missing though were a few fries here and there, and a sip or two of shake. So she munched a handful of fries and took a medium sip of the shake.
She then leaned back and turned on her ipod, trying to ignore the delicious food right next to her.
In under ten seconds though, her tiny bit of resolve crumbled, and she grabbed a few more fries. Then a few more. She washed those down with a good sized gulp of shake before grabbing more fries. Before she knew it the fries were gone and the shake half empty.
Rather than worrying she just ate two large fries, and a large shake and a half, she was only concerned with her mom's reaction. She wasn't too scared though, her mom would probably understand.
Inside the store, Emma was heading to pay after using the bathroom when she noticed Ben & Jerry's in the freezer next to her. She decided to grab a quart of her favorite flavor, Peanut Butter Cup.

Back in the car, she didn't look in her carry out bag until after they got home, by which point Leah had run up to bed before she could be chastised. Emma just smiled at her daughter's gluttony and ate her burger and drank her shake in the kitchen before taking her B & J to the living to eat out of the carton while watching her favorite show.
Upstairs, Leah took off her clothes and threw them into the hamper. After brushing her teeth, she put on her pajamas and climber into bed. What she didn't notice was that even though her nightclothes weren't tight, they were definitely less loose than they had been a week or two ago, and that there was now a small gap between her waistband and the bottom of her top that positively did not exist 10 days ago.