A Little Slice of Life
Deborah thumbed the marriage band on her finger while she waited on a wooden bench. The sun was dipping below the horizon. The neon sign for Dooley’s Bar & Grille buzzed above her. The dinner rush was at its peak.
“It’s been like five minutes. Maybe she cancelled?"
Deborah tapped her brand new shoes against the cement.
"I oughtta check, just in case.”
She took her brand new smartphone out of her designer purse. No new messages. Damn. She looked at her new wristwatch. Every second was agonizing. Each minute was an eternity.
“Oh man, what am I doing here? Why did I let her talk me into this?”
She tugged at her jeans-- they were a little too tight. She’d have to bring them back to be refitted. The buttons on her shirt bulged. It was definitely too small. But she bought it a only month ago. Did it shrink? No, it couldn’t have. Her new lifestyle must be getting to her. More specifically, it was getting to her already doughy waistline.
“Do I want to get any bigger? I have enough trouble buying clothes that fit already. It’s been, like, three months and I’ve already gone up by at least two sizes.”
Come to think of it, it was looking like number three was on the horizon. Deborah looked around. Nowhere in sight.
“I’ll tell her something came up. We can just do it next year.”
Deborah stood up and made a step toward her brand new Lexus.
“Hey Deb! You’re going the wrong way!”
Deborah froze. Caught red-handed.
“Oh, h-hey Mary!” Deborah forced a weak wave. “Sorry, you were running late so I thought you cancelled.”
“A wizard is never late nor is he early, he arrives exactly when he means to.”
Mary watched the joke sail over Deborah’s head, a full head lower than her own.
“Come on, Deb, lighten up!”
Deborah forced a smile and followed Mary into the restaurant. Her red form-fitting dress, with a skirt that ended a third of the way down her thighs, caught the allure of every man in the building, and drew attention that Deborah really could have done without. Once again, Mary totally overshadowed her in every way. Which isn’t surprising, considering that while Deborah barely made five feet on the tips of her toes, Mary was perfectly five foot eight. She had a meticulously crafted body, fit and trim but with a bombshell rack. Deborah, however, had the body of a marshmallow. Mary’s perfectly shaded light brown hair was long and silky, while Deborah swore there was a crayon lodged somewhere in the vast jungle of her curly hair. How did they even become friends in the first place? One day, Deborah bought a powerball ticket and got lucky, then suddenly Mary came into her life out of nowhere. Hell, she wouldn’t even leave her alone.
“Table for two please.”
Deborah didn’t even know what Mary did for a living. All she knew was that tonight, both of them were putting their fortunes on the table all or nothing. The thought of winning made Deborah tingle. A hundred and fifty million dollars?! What couldn’t you buy with that? But the prospect of losing made her blood run cold.
“Lighten up, Deb. You look like you saw a ghost!” Mary laughed and took a seat. She immediately squirmed. “Fucking sticky seats, gross. Stupid shanty bars, I bet these idiots couldn’t find a stain under a blacklight.”
Deborah sat down.
“How are you so calm?! Seriously, it’s freaking me out!”
“Relax, you’ll be fine. Besides, I’m not the contestant.”
Deborah’s face paled. Shit, she was right! She never said that they both had to do it! How did she never realize that?
Deborah gulped. “I want out.”
“Not an option.”
“I don’t care. I’m not doing it!”
“Sorry, not an option. You signed a contract in front of witnesses, dummy. You forfeit, your money is mine.”
Deborah deflated. “That’s not fair! You should do it to!”
Mary shrugged. “Welcome to gambling, honey.”
A waitress in the standard all black uniform walked to the table. Mary barely held in her disgust at the sight of her. Outclassed, across the board. Full, long blonde hair that flowed like rivers of gold over and behind a face Venus herself modeled for. Eyes more blue than tropical waters, and more dazzling than a pair of Indian gemstones. Her breasts were large enough to kill a bear, and in perfect ratio with her perfectly round ass. What the fuck was she doing working here?! There just had to be one girl in this shithole more attractive than her, and it just had to be her waitress!
“Hello! My name is Jennifer and I’ll be your server. Can I start you off with something to drink?”
Christ almighty, even her voice outclassed Mary's. It sounded like fresh honey on handmade ice cream. Hell, you could get a sugar high just listening to her talk!
“Diet pepsi, please.” Mary said, avoiding eye contact with the plebeian.
“Uh, may I please have a pepsi please?” Deborah spoke with an air of reverence.
“Deb, honey, that carbonation won’t do you any good.”
Deborah's face flushed red and cringed. She couldn't even look Jennifer in the eyes.
“I'll have a water instead, please.”
“Okay, diet pepsi and a water. Be right back!” Jennifer smiled her perfect teeth and walked off. Damn it! Her stride completely obliterated the best Mary could ever do. It had the perfect balance of allure, confidence, and mystery with every eye gouging step her immortal legs took. The worst part was that Mary swore that every cell of Jennifer's body oozed a contempt so vast it was tangible, like her very existence was to outclass her. Mary quietly spurned God for insulting his greatest creation so completely with this... this... thing.
There was a quiet pause while the waitress got their drinks.
Deborah whispered, “Hey, Mary. I think all the waiters are looking at us.”
Mary glanced at the bartender, who glowered back. Every muscle in his shaved face expressed total disgust and contempt directed solely at her.
“Nah, you’re paranoid.”
Mary knew what they were thinking. You could be blind and still tell. But you know what? Fuck ‘em. She’s rich and they aren’t. So what if you had to pop a few dumbasses to climb the ladder? It’s just natural selection, after all. Survival of the Fittest. Mary glanced at Deborah’s sickly pale skin, her fat stomach, and how the buttons of her gaudy shirt strained to hold her disgusting mass of Twinkie cream and pizza slices behind a thin veil of unwarranted dignity. Her posture was as if she was trying to hide in her fat, like some gelatinous turtle. She couldn’t wait for that pitiful rag to be destroyed. Survival of the Fittest. And Deborah was anything but fit.
Jennifer came back with their drinks, beaming her obnoxiously perfect smile.
“Here you go! Diet Pepsi and a water! Are you two ready to order, or do you need a few minutes?”
“I’ll have a six piece buffalo wing. You know what you want, yet?” Mary asked Deborah as smug as possible.
Deborah started to sweat bullets.
“I’ll have… uh… um… the… the uh… blu-blueberry pie?”
Jennifer glanced at Mary with a stink eye and stifled a sigh.
“Are you sure ma’am? It’s extremely dangerous, and we aren’t liable if anything goes wrong.”
“I’m… I’m sure.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back with the waiver.”
Mary could hear them now. ‘Hey, it’s the con artist. You know what she wants.’ Yeah, they know what she wants all right. Fuck ‘em. They’re just jealous. She clawed her way up here. She earned it. And she’ll be damned if she lets a bunch of wage slave busboys and pearl divers blow her biggest haul yet.
Jennifer gave Deborah a pen and the form. “Are you sure? Even if you sign it, you don’t have to eat it.”
Mary reclined in her seat.
“Oh no, she does.”
Jennifer scowled at her.
Deborah signed the form without reading it. “Here.”
Mary smiled and watched the waitress take the form into the back office. Victory!
Twenty five million dollars was an awfully big prize for any restaurant to offer, let alone a dive like this. Sure, she may have played a part in that. Went on a splurge, bought a crummy restaurant under her sister’s name, and boosted a silly little money challenge they had. Sure made her job easier, and they sure can’t complain about all the customers they get now, even if a good number of them leave through a drain. With so many stupid girls and in such little time, a hundred thousand became a million became twenty five million dollars. The stakes got higher, and the game just gets easier.
“You excited to win big, yet?”
Deborah shrank from Mary and said nothing.
“Come on, don’t be so glum. If you’re lucky enough to win a powerball, you’ll win this like it’s nothing! All you have to do enjoy the ride and keep yourself together.”
Deborah looked at one of the overhead TVs.
“Deb, this is easy for you. You’re so flabby already, this’ll be nothing. What’s a few more pounds to you, anyway? I mean, you'll just gain it anyways, right?”
Deborah blushed intensely and looked at her distended, flabby gut and straining shirt buttons, and thought of how this was only the third time she wore this shirt. She blushed even harder at the thought of needing yet another set of pants, and looked back at the TV without saying anything. She wasn't even watching the game. She just needed something to look at that wasn't Mary. She said nothing for some time.
Jennifer walked back to their table, beaming with rehearsed cheer.
“Your wings’ll be ready in a few minutes.” She looked at Deborah with a sullen face so genuine that Deborah couldn't fathom there being a possibility it was fake. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but you’ll have to eat our pie in a separate room.”
Deborah got up without saying anything, red as a tomato. Oh, come on. Really? They have a special room? she thought.
Jennifer led Deborah and Mary, who tagged along of course, to the back of the restaurant. Every set of eyes followed them as Jennifer pulled back an over-the-top red curtain hiding the small execution chamber. It was about ten feet in each direction, with the floor, ceiling, and all but one wall made of concrete painted white, but stained heavily with blue. The wall facing the restaurant was made from a thick pane of spotlessly clean plexiglass. The floor tapered down slightly to a drain in the center of the room. Above the drain was a small folding chair and table, where her paper plate of pie sat. Jennifer opened the plexiglass door.
“Are you sure? You can back out at any time for a full refund.”
Deborah responded by sitting down and grabbing the fork.
Mary rolled her eyes. “Jeez, you're so melodramatic!”
Jennifer closed the door behind her. “There’s an open table close by, if you’d like to sit there.”
Mary smiled. “That would be lovely.”
Deborah watched Mary take a seat directly in front of her room, move her chair to have as best a view as possible for Deborah, who sat facing the plexiglass wall. A crowd from the bar gathered around for the show. She was on display like a zoo animal. Deborah scooped a chunk of pie and gazed at it. This was her last chance to quit. Just walk away. But all that money… Just as soon as it was hers, it was gone. Like she never even had it in the first place. That evil fucking bitch! It wasn’t fair! Die rich, or live broke. That was her choice. She brought the chunk near her lips and wavered. The fruity smell wafted up her nose. It was tempting. Die rich, or live broke. Die rich, or live broke. Deborah sighed, utterly defeated.
“I’m a fucking idiot.”
She popped the chunk in her mouth and chewed. Holy crap! It was delicious! Definitely the best pie she’d ever eaten in her life. It was a shame she'd only have it once. Hell, it nearly made up for everything by flavor alone.
“Is it any good?” Mary asked. She made a point of asking that question every single time. It was muffled, but the air holes at the top let it through.
Deborah smiled morbidly. “It’s to die for.” She took another bite. She paid a fortune for it, might as well enjoy it. The slice was a little small, though. They better not be skimping on her. She took another bite, and stifled a satisfied moan. “You should try it sometime.” Deborah’s stomach growled. Not a quiet, low ‘I’m hungry’ growl. It was a bombastic, earthy ‘What are you doing you crazy bitch?!’ roar that startled half the restaurant, and drew their attention to the show Deborah was about to host.
“Nah, I’m not a big fan of pie. I like cake, especially Death By Chocolate.”
Deborah felt her stomach fill up with juice and took another bite. The slice was mostly gone now, just crust and a bit of blueberry filling.
“How much is the prize for that one worth?”
Jennifer brought Mary her buffalo wings and walked up to the door.
“Ma’am, if you’re done I’ll take your plate now.”
Deborah felt her shirt buttons tighten, and took one last bite.
“Yeah, I’m done. I don’t like crust, anyway.”
Jennifer entered the room.
“I’ll have to take the table and chair, too.”
Deborah stood up and folded her chair. Her belly darkened to a deep blue behind the quarter-sized gaps in her shirt. She massaged her tight and full belly as Jennifer folded up the table and took it out of the room. As she rubbed, she even felt with her hands the juice gushing out, from where she couldn’t tell, and splashing against the inside of her swelling belly. It felt tingly, like someone was tickling her from the inside. The juice was cool, even refreshing, and goosebumps raced across her body. Her shirt was really straining now. The first button to pop off was the closest to her belly button. By now, her hands were turning blue as well, and it was just beginning to creep up her neck.
Jennifer closed the door behind her.
“Good luck!”
Deborah smiled. Her cheeks turned blue. Another button, just below, popped off and bounced against the plexiglass.
“Huh. So that’s why it’s there.”
True, but not the only reason.
Her breasts were beginning to grow now, as well as her rear. Deborah gasped as the juice tickled her nipples, which were getting sensitive against the stretching. The dense juice tugged at her skin and pulled her toward the floor. She felt so heavy and full already, how would she feel a minute from now? Or ten? Would she even make it that long? Another button, above this time, popped off. She spread her legs apart and cupped her growing gut in her arms.
“Ooh, how big am I going to get?" If I really am going to explode, at least let me fill up the room first! She thought. Don't let me go out like some nobody.
Mary ate up the show, greedily licking buffalo sauce off her fingers while Deborah blew up like a blueberry to a live audience. Dinner and a show! Her skin rippled as juice filled her like a balloon. She’d never felt anything nearly as electrifying before in her life, and she had the foreboding feeling that she never would again. Her thighs stuffed her jeans like sausage links in less than a second, and a massive tear burst through her inner thigh, sending a big wave rippling across her body. Another tear, another, and another across the seat of her pants that went up to the bottom of her zipper. Her nerves were on fire! Her thighs bulged through the tears, ripping them more. Deborah bit her lip and groaned as her body quaked. Just fall off already! Her massive ass begged for release from its shrinking denim prison. Deborah dropped her gut, reached underneath, and tugged at her pants button, straining to get it undone.
“Aah, ooh, ugh this hurts! Nngh! My pants are gonna cut me in half!”
Mary giggled and took another bite. Sooner or later…
The button exploded off, and the sudden shifting mass of juice pulled her zipper apart and broke her jeans in half. Deborah grunted like an ape at the relief.
Sooner. Mary thought.
The jeans, without any support, fluttered like rags to the floor. Juice from her nethers began to stain her brand new, expensive white lace panties. Seams already started to pop. There was no way they could last long. By now, nearly all of the buttons on her shirt were gone, and her leaking nipples stained her matching white lace bra. Her growing breasts spilled out from above and underneath her bra. Deborah kept rubbing her belly, desperate for some relief. The pressure! The weight! And it was only getting worse.
Damn, that is a high quality piece of underwear.
The clasp snapped and her breasts lurched forward like a tidal wave, obliterating the last button on her shirt. Deborah was starting to pant. It was exhausting to stay on her feet, and would have been impossible if her legs weren’t so rigid with juice. Her waist was as wide as she was tall, and her enormous thighs tapered like cones to her cartoonishly small feet, like an elephant balancing on a bowling pin. Her back tapered up to her neck from her ass, which was forming a large tear up her panties.
“I can smell the money already, and it smells fruity!”
Another line Mary felt obliged to say every. single. time.
Deborah grunted, berry scented sweat pouring down her face. “S-so heavy! Ugh!” Her legs finally buckled under her, after a courageous last stand. A massive wave cascaded through her body as she toppled onto her colossal rear, utterly disintegrating the remains of her panties. Deborah moaned impulsively. Her brain was going to fry from sensory overload at this rate. Slowly, she tipped backwards.
“What?! Oh, shit, shit, shit shit shit shit!”
Deborah flailed her increasingly heavy arms in vain, and rolled onto her back. Juice shifted with the change of position. Her thighs shrank slightly, her ass and back rounded out completely, and her breasts shrank to their original size. Juice filled her arms until they were rigid cones, tearing the sleeves of her poor shirt to pieces. Her shoulders filled up with juice, shoving her torso into her jaw.
“How big am I grnna grt? Mmmph? Mmmph! MmmmMmm Mph!”
Juice filled up her cheeks and lips, sealing her up like a valve. Mary laughed at Deborah’s predicament and picked up her last buffalo wing. Deborah’s body had an unsurprising similarity to a water balloon. The bottom bulged out and flattened against the floor while the rest of her curved like a dome. Her arms and legs were jammed outstretched toward the top corners of the room as they sank into her growing body. Leaking juice pooled on the ground around her. The room stank of blueberries, and the smell was seeping into the rest of the restaurant.
Mary drank in the smell, the sounds, and the sights of watching her idiot 'friend' hand over her entire lottery winnings. “Come on, girl! You can do it!” She mocked.
Deborah felt her hands and feet sink into her body and swell into stiff balloons. Every single pore of her body was leaking juice, and she was still growing! She was so tight and full, and the juice was so heavy! It felt like a ton of bricks were resting on her chest, and it kept getting heavier. Maybe she would suffocate before exploding?
Oh god! If that can happen, I think I’d rather pop! Deborah thought.
Her body rose like dough in an oven as she continued to grow, shattering even Mary’s most outlandish expectations. Who could have thought that a blob of fat that barely reached five feet could grow big enough to nearly fill the room?
She must be at least seven feet across by now. Then the boom will be all the better! Mary devilishly thought. The best one yet!
Deborah did everything she could to keep herself together. Her skin was tortuously tight, still growing, and she could feel her limits approaching. Her skin began to groan, and the juice still kept coming! It should be stopping soon, right? Maybe she even had a chance of winning after all!
Come on, you can do it! Keep it together! Keep it together! You're almost there!
Mary finished the last of her wings and licked her fingers sticky clean. Now she was getting impatient.
Just pop already, for crying out loud! I want to go home and watch NCIS at some point tonight. Mary thought, and nearly said out loud.
Deborah was nearing eight feet in diameter. The inflation was slowing down to an agonizing crawl. It took every ounce of strength to even breathe, and all of her willpower to keep from turning into a big blue puddle on the ground. Deborah’s headsank into her body, making it even harder to breathe. A shock of cold ran up her body as her crotch pressed against the plexiglass. Deborah nearly lost her focus.
Am I touching the wall?! No… No I have to be! I did it! I did it! I filled up the room! I have to be the biggest blueberry ever! If I do end up bursting, I can at least burst happy.
Mary watched Deborah’s crotch squeeze against the plexiglass and rolled her eyes. “Now that’s just indecent.” She drank the last of her Diet Pepsi and looked at her watch. Come on, any second now.
The restaurant was deafened by Deborah’s groaning body. Juice dripped down the plexiglass and pooled at the bottom. Deborah’s skin was screaming for it to end, one way or the other. Her drum-tight body trembled as juice kept coming and coming, even as the inflation was almost imperceptible. The pressure was immense, pushing on every cell of her body in every direction, stacking on top of each other.
Oh god, this is it! I can’t take it any more! I’m going to pop! I’m really going to pop!
Mary sensed Deborah's fear, and her heart pounded. This is it! This is it! She couldn't even blink. She couldn’t risk it! She couldn’t miss this! Deborah might even break the plexiglass! “Come on… Come on! Do it! Burst! Burst like a balloon already!” Now she was saying it out loud. Practically screaming it, actually.
The restaurant watched with bated breath. Time slowed down to a halt. What was going to happen? Would she do it? Could she do it? Then, a single side comment shattered everything.
“Wait, she’s not even growing anymore! Is she still filling with juice?”
On no, she really wasn’t growing! No, no, it couldn’t have stopped. She must still be filling up. But liquids aren't compressible, if she was still filling she would have burst already. Mary’s eyes began to dry up. At the risk of everything important to her very being at this moment, she blinked. No. No, god damn it, no! Nothing! Nothing happened!
Deborah was beginning to realize it, too.
Did… Did it just… Did it stop?! It did! Oh, It did, it did, it did, it did! I can't believe I did it! I’m not gonna pop! I’m the biggest blueberry in the history of ever, and I didn’t pop! I didn’t pop! I’m invincible! And filthy rich!
The crowd of onlookers roared like victorious barbarians at the witnessing of the impossible explode into the realm of reality. Mary toppled from her chair like a tower of dominoes.
Everything. Every cent I've made. Everything I've worked for. My whole life. It's gone. I'm nothing.
Jennifer squatted next to Mary and gave her a thoroughly carnivorous smile. "It's so beautiful to see cosmic justice in action. Don't you think so, Mar--"
Without any warning, Deborah's skin tore open in a flash and a piercing boom thundered through the restaurant. A massive tidal wave of blueberry juice smashed the plexiglass wall and cascaded across the room, soaking everything and everyone in its path. All of the tables in the immediate range were broken and overturned, the chairs destroyed and tossed like toothpicks, and people thrown like ragdolls. Everyone took their time getting to their feet after being washed to the opposite side of the room. They needed to, after having the wind knocked out of them twice. Once by someone coming so unbelievably close to winning, and again by the huge wave of her internal juice. It felt like something out of a storybook.
The bartender got to his feet and wiped off his nametag. Some of the letters were wiped off by the blast, so now it read ‘ uth r’. He checked the liquor. Most of it was destroyed, but some still survived. The cheap stuff, mostly.
“I told them to get better glass, didn’t I? See, this is why you need stronger glass, Jenny. Jenny? Hm. Probably washing off in the bathroom. She better help with the clean up. Damn. We even gave her a smaller slice.”
Luther went to the kitchen, which for the most part avoided the onslaught, and grabbed a mop. Meanwhile, Mary darted out of the restaurant while nobody was looking for someone to blame.
Mary rung her hair to get the juice out. Her now purple dress was definitely ruined forever. She might have to burn it or something. She took the keys to her Mercedes out of her purse and unlocked the car. She opened the door and paused.
“Damn, I really should have gotten those seat covers.” She looked around to see if anyone else was looking. No, she was definitely alone. Taking her chance, she unlocked the trunk, stripped off all her clothes, and tossed them in. She slammed the trunk as fast as she could and darted into her car butt naked. Thankfully, she made it before a cruiser could materialize to write her up for indecent exposure. She was so quick at it that she didn’t even notice the second pair of soaking wet clothes in her trunk. But it’s not like it was easy to see. It was night time, after all, and the clothes were black. Mary backed out of her spot without even looking for frail, elderly women or wandering disabled children and took off out of the parking lot.
She took a deep sigh at the stop sign out of the lot, and dug out a cigarette from her purse. She lit it with her lighter and took a long drag. She let out another massive sigh of relief.
“Oh my fucking god, that was so fucking hot. I gotta start recording it.”
She pulled out of the lot and took a right without signaling. She checked the mirror, in case someone was following her.
The figure in her backseat tapped her on the shoulder.
“Hey, can I bum a cigarette?” It asked in a horribly seductive voice. One that sounded like it was made out of honey and ice cream.
Mary froze up. Caught red-handed. Mary took shallow, uneasy breaths as Jennifer turned on the interior light, leaned forward and dug through her purse. Mary glanced at her as she drove. What was going on? Jennifer's blonde hair darkened until it was glowing like red hot embers, and her skin was so white, it wasn't even human!
“Man, this thing is a fucking disaster area! Where-- Ah, there you are, my little nickies!”
Jennifer pulled out a cigarette as two small horns poked out of her head.
“Uh… N-n-need a l-light?”
Jennifer laughed. Her yellow eyes looked bright enough to start a fire by themselves.
“Nah, I’m good.”
Jennifer snapped her fingers and a small flame sparked from her thumb. Her fingernails sharpened into claws as the tobacco caught the flame. She took a drag and blew it out with the cigarette smoke.
“Not a big fan of menthols, to be honest. They rot your teeth out, you know?” She took another drag. "For the record, my name isn't Jennifer. It's Alba."
Mary gulped and gathered up her spilled guts.
"Wh-what do you want?"
Alba smiled, her razor sharp teeth gleamed like knives in the mirror.
“I think you know what I want.”
She took another drag off her cigarette, and flicked the interior light off.
“Drive. And drive where I tell you.”
Alba's sulfuric eyes smouldered in the dark, piercing Mary's reflection as she drove. The glowing ember of the cigarette illuminated her teeth as she grinned like a Cheshire cat. She giggled and took another drag.
"We're gonna have so much fun."
Isn't it beautiful to see cosmic justice in action?