And so it went. Friend's snowballing into butterball continued apace, though wife still wrangled her into the gym as much as she could.

Friend however was increasingly skilled at diversions, or if for whatever reason she couldn't manage to cut a gym visit short it transitioned quickly into "celebrating that we were so well-behaved today!" These celebrations typically involved a quantity of sweets that could easily provide a large family enough dessert to make their stomachs ache.

If Wife's early poor-advice and frequent indulgences regarding snacks were training then Friend had truly surpassed her former teacher. Even with the advantage of her height and her considerable head start, Wife was quickly coming to be surpassed by Friend in both appetite and weight. This fact hadn't gone unnoticed by Friend, rather it had helped to drive her frenzied appetite even further in the hopes of finally being the bigger of the two.

Wife found herself a bit surprised. She and Friend were set to have their usual Monday gym session early this afternoon, but in what was quickly becoming a pattern Friend had reached out beforehand to arrange a mall hangout instead. No stranger to the appeal of retail therapy, Wife was usually an easy target and swayed from their usual gym escapades with little more than a gentle nudge.

All the same, Wife really did enjoy going to the gym, and beneath a more than generous layer of fluff there existed some semblance of an athlete. Further still, Wife knew her grandiose size well because it had remained extremely constant since the day she had finally convinced her hubby to get her that long sought-after gym membership. 

Which leads us back to Wife finding herself a bit surprised. Wife knew better than most that weight was just a number, but with some time to spare before Friend arrived Wife stepped gingerly on her rarely used scale to inspect those familiar three digits. There was the usual tap, the calibration, and then a step. Wife managed a graceful bend to check the scale's reading but her usual numbers, those old friends, didn't match. No, the steadfast first digit remained, but two new strangers joined it.

"Seven pounds?"

Considering her size it was a drop in the proverbial bucket, but the idea of the numbers increasing had been alien to Wife for some time. Her apprehension was broken by a ring of her doorbell. Wife greeted Friend brightly, each wearing a flowing sundress that was practically painted on. Some time later as the strolled through the mall's extensive food court, Wife made the mental note that she needed to get Friend back into their old gym routine sooner rather than later.

Wife didn't spend that much time worrying when Friend hadn't responded to her texts and invites a few weeks back. She definitely enjoyed hanging out with Friend and looked forward to when they would get together again but it had hardly been a week and Wife knew that people get busy sometimes.

What Wife had been slightly less prepared for was the gusto that Friend demonstrated in the weeks that followed her brief ghosting. There was their gyms visits, but there was also the movies (with snacks), trying new restaurants, cafes, book stores (with snacks), concerts (with drinks and snacks), even the odd dance club (you guessed it). Wife refrained from commentary, recalling Friend's quiet week had come shortly after her proclaiming herself as "fat". There was no denying, however, that Friend was acting like a woman possessed. The sheer zeal of her indulgence reminded Wife of her earliest efforts to convince her husband of her need for the gym membership that started it all.

Wife mused over the gym membership, she was grateful for it to be sure. It had allowed her to get a new best friend, after all. Besides that they had just opened a new spa section. Regulars and VIPs as they were Wife and Friend were two of the first to try out the new services offered, the massages, the special "cheat day" treat menus for the members to enjoy. If Wife had any concerns for Friend's newfound attitude she could save it for another day, she decided; Friend just looked too happy working through her third sundae.

Having surmounted her misgivings about her new lifestyle and changing body, Friend began to relish every aspect of her new freedom, so to speak. The occasional treat that was her hang outs with Wife were no longer exceptions, even her moments not reveling in the casual hedonism of Wife's presence had become a celebration of all her various appetites. There was a true excitement to the extravagance, buying rich treats, replacing successive wardrobes, accompanied by an increasingly provocative sense of fashion as she embraced her swelling figure.

In the rare moments she regarded her old life in her newfound existence of indulgence she was amused mostly. It felt so quaint, that old, meek, lonely way of living according to some abstract ideal. Somewhere along the way, along the boxes of donuts, orders of fries, slices of pizza, Friend somehow found a more honest way of being herself.