Chapter 60 - the women of their dreams: part 6

134.
Annie was in the middle of sneaking another snack when Niall and Lettie came heading towards the bakery's stall, supporting a panting, red-faced Faye. The girl's fiery hair was messy and tousled. With her glassy eyes and her half-open mouth, she looked more than a bit worse for wear. Her flab quivered and shifted under her loose dress as she waddled awkwardly to her stool. Having sunk onto it with an exhausted groan, she sat there, panting and staring at the ground.

"Um, is she okay?" asked Annie once she'd finished her treat.

"Yeah," nodded Lettie, "poor Faye here has just had herself a bit of an accident. Are you sure you're alright?" she added, turning towards the fiery-haired fatty.

Faye answered Lettie's question with an absent nod. "I think so," she mumbled, without looking up at the girl.

"Do you want a little something to munch on, sweetie?" asked Niall, placing a hand on his girlfriend's pillow-like shoulder.

Faye nodded once more, and before long she was taken up with shoving a plateful of crunchy, sugary cookies in between her lips.

"Thanks for the help," said Niall, smiling awkwardly at Lettie as his girlfriend stuffed her face. "I think she'll be fine now. She just needs to sit down and catch her breath for a bit. She's not as fit as she used to be, you know." He added, giving Faye's naked arm-flab a light pat.

"No," agreed Lettie, "I've noticed."

Tearing her eyes away from the loose layers of billowing blubber that'd long since buried Faye's once slight frame, the golden-haired girl turned towards Annie.

"Hey, are you busy right now? I'm pretty much done with everything I had to do today, so I figured I might just walk around and take it easy for a bit. Do you want to come?"

Annie hesitated. She and Lettie hadn't really talked much since that night when Annie had made a pig of herself at Lettie's sleepover. Since that night when... Annie still wasn't sure what to think about the thing that'd almost happened that night. Some part of her longed to go with Lettie, to just be in her presence. And yet, she couldn't help but to feel a strange twinge of fear at the sight of the gorgeous girl with the golden hair.

"I don't know..." she said, at length, not quite looking at Lettie. "I think I might be needed here... Somebody's got to take care of this place, you know."

"I wouldn't worry about that," interrupted Niall. "I'm not planning to go anywhere anytime soon."

Annie glared at the tall man with the messy hair. "Well, in that case I think, maybe, um..." she stuttered, turning once more towards Lettie.

"Oh come on, sweetie," with a single step Lettie bridged the gap between the two of them. She placed her fingers gently under Annie's soft chin and lifted her face until the two of them were gazing into each other's eyes, "you're not planning on standing around here all day, are you?"

"W-well," Annie stammered, her chubby cheeks turning a bright pink, "no, no I guess not..."

"Then why not come?" The golden-haired girl grinned ever so slightly. Her smile was as bright and mischievous and utterly gorgeous as ever.

"Yeah, ok," nodded Annie, "I guess I could tag along for a bit."

135.
As she and Lettie walked, side by side, around the fete, Annie couldn't help but to think what an odd couple the two of them must make. Lettie, in her form-fitting sun-dress that clung to her sensual curves, looked as thin and perfect as she always had. Next to her, Annie, in her tight leggings that strained to hold her broad backside and her quivering thighs, felt every bit like the plain pudgeball she knew she was.

Annie remembered only too well how jealous she'd used to be of Lettie. How much she'd wanted to look like her, to get the sort of respect and admiration that her friend always did.

"Do I have something on my face?" said the golden-haired girl and Annie realized that she'd been staring at her.

"No, sorry," she shook her head. "It's just, well, you look really pretty."

"Yeah," nodded Lettie, her lips spreading into a smirk, "I know. You don't look too bad yourself." She added, her eyes trailing all of Annie's rolls and folds.

Annie frowned. "I look fat and you know it."

"Yeah," Lettie's smile widened, "you do. But you look pretty all the same. And anyway, that's what happens when you eat five cupcakes and a bar of chocolate before lunch every day."

"I don't eat that much," Annie protested.

"Don't you?"

"Well... maybe," Annie scowled petulantly. "But you make it sound like I'm some sort of a pig, or something."

"I bet you're dying for a treat right now," Lettie smirked. "I could buy you a little something if you want?"

"No thanks," Annie shook her head. "I'm fine. I think I might have had enough already today, actually."

"Are you sure," asked Lettie. "I could get you a huge wad of cotton candy, or three scoops of ice cream with sprinkles on top? I mean, with a gut like that, there's not much point in holding back. And anyway," she hesitated, "I think it's kind of cute how much you like your food."

Annie wanted to be strong, to show Lettie that she wasn't the weak fatty that she obviously thought she was. But she knew only too well that the golden-haired girl was right. She really did want something to eat. These days, she seemed to find it hard to think about much of anything other than food.

"Well, I guess maybe a little snack wouldn't be so bad..."

"That's my girl," beamed Lettie. "You know, Niall and I passed a pretty interesting place while we were walking Faye back your way. I figured it might be something for you..."

Lettie led Annie through the crowd until the two of them had reached a pie stand before which a sturdy bench had been set. Standing behind the table, Annie was surprised to find Lilly and Martha. In front of the stall, there stood a sign advertising a 'pie eating challenge'. Eat more than five and have as many as you want for free, it said.

"Hi girls," said Lettie as she walked up to her friends. "I figured we might let 'little' Annie here have a go at the challenge."

As the three girls all turned towards her, Annie took a step back.

"I don't know about this."

"Oh come on, sweetie," said Lettie, "I know you're hungry. And anyway, if you can't eat all five, I'll be only too happy to pay for the ones you do eat."

"Yeah, but..." Annie stammered.

"What?" teased Martha, "worried about your image all of a sudden? In that case you should probably have stopped stuffing your face a year ago."

Annie frowned. She knew the girl was right. At this point, she really had no reason to pretend to be anything other than a hungry fat girl.

"Go on, dear," said Lettie, gently putting her hands on her fat friend's shoulders, "we know you want to."

Some part of Annie wanted to resist as Lettie guided her to her seat. But she knew the golden-haired girl was right. Those pies really did look delicious.

136.
"What are you thinking about?" Niall asked as he watched his girlfriend gobble up another cookie.

"I don't know. Nothing, I guess," Faye mumbled between bites.

The fiery-haired girl was sat just as Lettie and Annie had left her: with her broad butt parked on her stool and her gaze locked on the ground before her. When Niall tried to talk to her, she didn't even bother to look up.

Having quietly watched his girlfriend for a moment, Niall knelt beside her. Before she could do anything to stop him, he started tickling her flabby flank.

Faye's belly quaked and quivered as she laughed in spite of herself. "Stop it," she whined, breathing heavily between fits of laughter.

"Only if you tell me what's on your mind," said Niall.

"Oh alright!" Faye said, still panting as her laughter subsided. "It's nothing, really. It's just, I used to really enjoy dancing, you know. I mean, it used to make me feel so good. And now I can't even do it anymore. It just makes me all tired and sore." Faye sighed. "It's like I've turned into a completely different person over the last few years, like I'm not even myself anymore."

At that, Niall paused, studying his blubbery ball of a girlfriend for a moment.

"Well," he said at last, "If that's the way you feel you might want to slow down a bit on those cookies.

"What?" said Faye, looking down at the treat that she'd hardly realized she'd been munching on. "Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that," she added, hurriedly. "It's just, I feel like I don't really know who I am anymore."

"Well," said Niall, "if it's any help, I think I do."

"Is that so?" said Faye, looking at him with amused scepticism, "who am I, then?"

"Why," said Niall, grabbing a cookie and holding it out towards her soft lips, "you're my hungry, lazy little piggy, of course."

At that, Faye let out a sound somewhere between a chuckle and a sigh. "Yeah," she agreed and bit into the cookie Niall had handed her, "I guess I am."

"Tell you what," said Niall, "I know we promised to stay put, but you look like you could use a bit of fun. I saw something on the way back here that I think might suit you a bit better than dancing, these days."

"I don't know..." Faye hesitated. "I don't really feel like going anywhere..."

"Are you sure?" asked Niall. "I mean, since you're here already you might as well try to do something you'll actually enjoy."

"Yeah, I guess," Faye sighed. "It's just, my legs are so tired. You're not going to make me walk somewhere far away, right?"

"Of course not," smiled Niall. "But just to be sure, why don't I bring your stool. Then you can stop and rest whenever you like."

"Well, okay then," Faye nodded. "In that case I guess I can go."