Chapter 3 - catherines selfdiscovery chapter 5 part 1

As Catherine approached the mall's sizable food court, she could already smell the abundant aromas in the air, taking deep breaths she savoured each one, trying to deduce what it was she could smell. Her belly rumbled again, she stroked it firmly and picked up her pace, with Amy in tow. Amy didn't think that a pregnant girl of Cat's size could maintain this kind of pace for so long, they'd almost power marched from one end of the large mall to the other on the path of the food court to sate Cat's very apparent hunger. But it was clear that Cat's desire was fuel and motivation enough to power her, and Amy could have sworn her speed had just increased. 'God, this girl must be hungry. This is going to be awesome.' A sly grin spread across Amy's face as she watched Catherine's bountiful figure move, she practically licked her lips at the thought of what was to come.

Arriving at the food court Catherine felt famished, her calf muscles were almost burning from propelling her at that speed, she couldn't wait to get seated and eating. Peering around at the various eateries on offer, Mexican, Italian, Vegan/Vegetarian, good ol' American, and a multitude of others, but she knew there was only one for her at this point, an obvious yet timeless classic, the all-you-can-eat Chinese. At 'The Fat Panda' for $15 you could load up your plate as many times as you pleased with the high end foreign cuisine (tapered to local/national tastes of course) with 6 large drink refills, Catherine couldn't think of anywhere else in the world she'd rather be at this moment, and having Amy there with her was a nice bonus. The restaurant greeter welcomed Cat and Amy to the establishment, and noting Catherine's large size took the initiative to show them to a large, roomy booth, for which Catherine was grateful, she didn't trust the chairs here, she felt a lot more comfortable with a stable place to sit, no chance of it moving or sliding causing Catherine to fall on her well cushioned ass.

With a rumbling belly, Amy and Catherine left their belongings in the safety of the booth, trusting the restaurant's security measures to keep them safe and deter thieves.

Attempting not to appear too eager, Catherine tentatively approached the wide array of food, it looked beautiful, so many colours and aromas, her senses were subjected to the onslaught the feast presented, she couldn't wait to get stuck in. With the mildest of shakes Catherine took up a large plate from the pile and began ladling various foods onto it. Spiced chicken strips, tempura shrimp, beef in black bean sauce, sweet and sour pork, all of these different foods took up their own separate little territory on her large plate, and in the centre of it laid a heaping pile of egg fried rice. Amy couldn't resist glancing round at what was sure to be the first of many plates of food that Catherine was about to consume, and a quick look at Catherine's face told Amy there would be no stopping her. Amy filled her plate with a modest amount of various foods, but wanted to take it slow and enjoy the show.

Catherine returned to the booth and got seated at the far end, next to the wall and dug in, the world just fell away, there was nothing else for her to focus on but the food and her hunger. Knife and fork worked tirelessly propelling mouthful after mouthful into Catherine, Amy could only look on in amazement. 8 minutes later and Catherine was already shuffling towards the edge of her seat for a second attack at the buffet, and returned 2 short minutes later with another heaping pile of food, which disappeared at the same pace as its predecessor. Catherine was in the zone and from the looks of it, she would be there for some time.

Approaching the end of her third large plate full, Catherine's haze briefly lifted, looking up from her plate she met with Amy's face, but not her eyes, Amy's eyes were busy surveying the sight seated in front of them. But it was strange, Catherine could have sworn she recognised that look from when she and Amy would overstep the bound of their friendship and fall into bed together, while Catherine was certainly wearing a look of hunger for sustenance, Catherine was sure Amy was wearing her carnal hunger face. 'Is she watching me eat? Is she ENJOYING watching me eat?'

At that second Amy looked up and caught Catherine's gaze, she suddenly went very hot and very red, she'd been caught checking out her now very chubby and very hungry ex lover stuff herself, 'Holy shit, I've been rumbled!' she shouted inside her head.

In an attempt to not embarrass Amy, Catherine acted like all was cool, shifting the focus to herself and her possibly embarrassing conduct, a touch of self-deprecation was sure to cut the tension, right after Catherine got another plate-load of food, of course. Sitting down back in the booth with her fourth plate of food, Catherine let lose an exaggerated "oooph" as she shuffled to the end of her bench. "I'm so sorry, Amy, I've just been making a total pig of myself, but I was SO hungry you wouldn't believe", she said running a hand over her larger and gradually filling belly. Just then she realised how tight her clothing had been drawn, how much larger her belly was, and of course how good it felt. She was filling up nicely and she didn't want to stop. "I suppose now you understand why I'm as big as I am, I may have been a little off when I said I'd been eating for two, seems more like I eat for 4 instead."

Feeling the tension subside, Amy joined in, "I can tell, you can certainly put it away. You eat like a football player", she said in a playful tone.

"I know, but it's only this past month that I've actually been-" oh god, she was about to say it, "-stuffing myself." 'Oh crap, did I just say that? I did, didn't I? I just admitted t someone that I've been stuffing myself with food.' Catherine suddenly started feeling very warm, she could feel her underarm grow slightly damp and a cold sweat setting in. And yet, there was no reaction from Amy...

"Stuffing yourself? So you mean this isn't just a one-time thing?"

Catherine swallowed hard, and shook her head in response to Amy's question. 'I WHY DID I JUST ANSWER THAT QUESTION?! What's wrong with me?!'

"So you do this often?"

Catherine nodded silently.

"And that's the reason you've gained so much weight with your pregnancy?"

"...Yep...", Catherine answered in a low and unenthused tone, looking down, too embarrassed to look at Amy, she felt like a child who was being scolded by an angry parent for some misdeed around the house or something and she was being interrogated over it.

Without Catherine's notice, Amy had left her place in front of her and walked round to the other side of the table, settling herself next to Catherine. She slid a hand under the table and placed it on Cat's belly, rubbing slow, large, round circles, then getting close to her ear she asked in a soft voice "So how much have you put on then?"

If she hadn't felt so low and out of it she would have jumped in shock at the feel of Amy's hand suddenly rubbing her belly, then she heard the words slide into her ear, 'So how much have you put on then?' and Cat looked up and turned her head to meet with Amy's. Her tone was.. nice, kind, curious, this coupled with the belly rub made Catherine want to answer. Her mouth was dry, her hand shot out and took her drink, taking three very large gulps, then she answered, stuttering with trepidation, "W-w-w-well, my l-l-last doctor's visit put me at-t-t 172 pounds, but that was almost 3 weeks ago, and my scales last week put me at 179". She relaxed, feeling like she'd just lifted some incredible weight, and took another long gulp of her drink.

"And what did you start at?" Amy asked with a raised eyebrow, close to Catherin's ear.

"About 128, I think." She swallowed hard, it seemed like no matter how much of her drink she drank her mouth was in a perpetual state of dryness.

Amy got even closer to Catherine's ear, continuing her belly rub under the table, she said in a low, sultry whisper, "Well that's only about 50 pounds, I think we can do better than that, don't you?"