The Bellflower Part 1 (Patreon)

As promised, per the goal I set up, this is the first installment in a long term story I'm doing in smaller chunks, a week at a time. In summary, it's a story about two sisters with a theme of slow, gradual weight gain. It's a story I've been plotting in some form or another for a while now, & figure this might be the best way to tackle it. 

Before diving in, I want to be clear about a few things. 

First, while it might share a few of the same dynamics, this is something entirely different than the three roommates stuff I'm working on (more with them soon, I promise). The premise was to do stuff in more of a random cartoony vein with them as a setup, while this is more of its own kind of suspense-style thing, & focused on a long story. 

Secondly, while the goal is to post weekly, I reserve the right to go as long or as short as I feel makes sense for each chapter, given the story beats. They might not all be as long as this. And fair warning, that might also mean not every part will feature an explicitly WG-centric focus all the time, especially as the story first starts unfolding. But the hope is that, the sum will be greater than the parts & form a nice, long, interesting read. Hope you enjoy.

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1

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Her beater, four cylinder compact sputtered along just barely. Crammed into with most of her more valuable earthly possessions, Rachel really just wanted to get this long drive over with. But she knew there was only so much her little car could take, leaving her clinging to the furthest right lane as gaudy luxury SUVs & town cars zoomed on by at least twice her speed. Between the cavernous sound barrier walls flanking each side of the interstate, every bump made it feel as though the whole car was one step closer to rattling apart underneath her. Like those old cartoons where everything dismantles itself around her in her seat (& all her junk), which continues with momentum for another couple yards. Luckily, it felt like things had slowly seemed to smooth out, as she drove across relatively new patches of highway, & the bumps became more infrequent. After a slight bend, a city's skyline came into hazy view in the far distance. As far as cities to live? Overall? It seemed okay, but it was certainly never her first choice. Or her third. Or maybe even her fifth. But artist friends she knew back home always used to swear by it. At least a few years ago. And frankly, it certainly beat moving in with her mom & dad now that they were down at their weird culty "pre-"retirement community or whatever in Florida. But then again, she wasn't moving to this city itself either really. A new city would be SOMETHING to look forward to. No, she was going to be staying just outside it.

The GPS on her phone suddenly chirped up to remind her of that, after nearly an hour & a half of half-muted nostalgic screamo & solid highway driving. She held back a bit of a surprised yelp as the robotic voice traveled along her aux cord & blasted out the speaker way louder than the drone of the music.

"In. One mile. Take exit. 36. B. On the right. For. Oak. Mont. Ridge. Heights."

"I hate robots." Rachel growled under her breath, leery of her phone hearing her. Shattering all expectations, it seemed her car had somehow just made it. After hours on the road, now all she had to do was try to co-exist with her sister.

"In. Half a mile. Take exit. 36. B. On the right. For. Oak. Mont. Ridge. Heights."

"Heard you the first time!"

Pulling off the highway, Rachel's first view of Holly's neighborhood was a sprawling outdoor shopping mall of fancy, upscale stores. Brands she didn't even know offered their own brick & mortar shops. Nothing, other than perhaps a certain ever-ubiquitous coffee chain, she could ever possibly afford. As she continued on, she realized the commercial area was flanked on all sides by not only a startling lack of trees, but a myriad of different luxury condos & office towers. They were spread out sparsely, like islands rising up out of seas of mostly parking lot. The few bits of ground that weren't asphalt had construction under way, or signage with conceptual renderings signaling construction was coming soon. The stuff that was already built was all sleek, & modern. It all seemed designed by commitee, & presumably no older than three or four years. Exactly like her mom had described to her in excruciating detail during several of their biweekly phone calls, talking about how nice Holly's neighborhood was in the six months since she had first moved in. And even though she had only been there for all of two minutes, Rachel already strongly abhorred it.

"In. Eight. Hundred. Feet. Turn Left. Onto. Bell. Flower. Boulevard." She winced at the sudden instruction, but prepared to follow them. 

Rachel was never really that conventional. She was somebody who always went her own way. And to her, all of this steel & glass monoculture nonsense? It all felt soulless. Corporate. And expensive. She had harbored her suspicions, & now they had been confirmed: It was all corporate drone space. A civil engineering project designed to keep "young professionals" like her over-achieving older sister in a short space where they could live, work, & spend all their money, never leaving more than a three mile radius. Not being a corporate drone, like her sister, the idea of this was gross. She knew was totally going to hate every second she was forced to stay here. Good thing it was only supposed to be until she could get back on her feet again. And perhaps she could channel some of this general disgust with the area into something of a motivator, she thought. That thought was immediately interupted.

"Your destination," the GPS chirped. Rachel shuddered, her left eye twitching a little. "Is on the. Lef...." She yanked the aux cord out of the socket without looking. 

"No more robot." She sighed, making the turn through a large but mostly empty intersection. She had realized that the designers of this soulless, office park "utopia" had at one point maybe overestimated the amount of traffic they'd get on a daily basis. Sure, it was a little past peak rush hour & the sun was setting, but there was only one or two other cars, making all of this seem like even more of a waste to her. Passing a sign for "The Bellflower" she continued to drive onto the path towards Holly's complex, past an unmanned security booth, strategically obscured by some topiary, & an open, iron gate. But even as a turn-off for a condo, it was still an empty, four lane road up a windy, though seemingly man-made hill. She could see that atop it were four identical high rises, attached by what seemed like a parking garage in the middle. She noticed, that the top deck was some sort of courtyard or highline-style park, with some of the only trees she had seen since getting off the interstate. In the most relative terms, her sister's complex seemed a little nicer than some of the others coming off the highway, but it was still nowhere Rachel would ever willingly choose to live. At the same time, beggars cannot be choosers. 

"Hey you!" Answering after only one ring, her older sister sounded excited. While she usually didn't mesh well with Holly's general chipper demeanor, Rachel was tired after the long drive. She was not in any sort of mood, & suddenly, it started dawning on her just how taxing this whole endeavor was all probably going to be. "Are you close?" Holly asked.

"Yeah, actually," Rachel stammered, trying to convey her mood without instigating any sort of conflict. "I'm circling the ring road to this place wondering where I park. The garage looks like it has another gate, but the ones out front say they're only for delivery. What gives?"

"You're here?! Oh! You're going to need to pick up a card at some point," Holly said bubbly now, having failed to mention an important detail earlier when she probably should have. "They have cards with chips in them. For residents. They're only about $75."

"Oh, only about $75," Rachel squinted. Her heart rate was already rising out of contempt. 

"We can get that all sorted out in the morning. For now, why not just circle back & park out in front where the delivery guys park. You should be fine if its only overnight."

"You sure?" Rachel asked.

"I mean, I don't know why you wouldn't be. Not like anyone's going to steal it! Didn't you see the gate?" Rachel was already angry. But instead of taking it out on Holly, she took it out on her poor car. The violence manifested as a sudden left turn across two lanes, making the tires & gears shriek in protest, while unwittingly cutting off a prius heading towards the garage. There was a loud, but meager honk. 

"Alright, I guess I'll try to find a spot." Rachel said, trying to take a deep breath.

"Omigod! I'm so excited! You finally get to see my place! I'll make my way down! See you in a second." 

"K." a road-weary Rachel said matching Holly's perkiness with a sarcastic facsimile that faded quickly. 

She thumbed the button to hang up, chucked her phone into the passenger seat & sighed, involuntarily replaying those last words in her head. The way she knew she probably shouldn't, but in the way that seemed to encapsulate their whole relationship. "I'm so excited. You FINALLY get to see MY PLACE." Not "I get to see you," or even "we get to hang," since it had been almost two years. You know, the things family are at least supposed to say to one another, even if they're not entirely truthful. Not "MY PLACE." It was always ever about Holly. Ever since they were kids. Holly's dance recital. Holly, making State for Track. Holly the Salutatorian. Holly making the Dean's list. Holly & her six figure salary. It was all Holly & their parents ever seemed to talk about. So much so, it had driven Rachel to therapy.

"No!" Rachel tried to center herself, remembering a few of those sessions she had shelled out for. This was exactly the type of thinking she was trying to avoid. As her compact car, packed to the brim with her bullshit limped into an open parking spot, she reminded herself that she only took Holly up on this offer in hopes that maybe they could work on mending these issues. Besides, it wasn't like she had many other options at the moment, & out of everybody she knew, Holly wasn't only the first person to offer, she ended up being the only person to offer to take her in. That had to count for something.

Rachel sighed again, trying to think about something else. Particularly, needing to stretch her legs. Still stiff from hours of white-knuckling the steering wheel of her crap car, she opened her creaky door & stepped out with a desperately needed stretch, straightening back out to her typical 5'6. Dusting off an errant flake of bun she missed from the convenience store hot dog she had bought over a hundred miles ago, she started feeling a bit chilly now that the sun was going down. She reached for her olive green army jacket from her back seat. As she pulled it on over her narrow frame, she had the sudden suspicion she was being clocked by someone.

She slowly tilted her head to spy a young woman also doing some stretches across the way. Having just stepped out from a side entrance to the nearby corner of the building, she seemed to be trying to warm up for some sort of run. The woman was a bit on the shorter side, with her hair was cropped a bit short, but had the tendency to curl tightly into frizzy ringlets, pulled back out her face with a headband. But she was also fairly round. Wide almost, with a soft gut & thick thighs tapering down into tiny feet. Everything was packed tightly into ill-fitting workout gear, perhaps a full two sizes too small for her frame. It ended up giving her a bit of a ridiculous, almost sausage-like appearance, the way she stretched them out. Rachel, having overcome a few of her own body image issues growing up, was never one to judge. But there was something strange about this woman's apparent denial. Did she somehow not realize? The fact that she thought she could still pull the performance tanktop & gray yoga pants off, & failing so miserably? And if she lived in Holly's building, it wasn't like she somehow wouldn't be able to afford some new gear. It felt almost absurd, the  amount of audicity going on. Or maybe something else. Either way, Rachel couldn't tell if she wanted to respect, or snicker at it.

But she ended up doing neither. She was more disconcerted by the fact that this stout young woman was staring at her with a fairly intense expression. And she had been doing it this whole time. With each awkward stretch. Not wavering or even blinking too much. It was hard to read, especially from about a hundred yards away. She couldn't register it as scorn, uneasiness, jealousy, or maybe some kind of... portentousness? Maybe all of the above? But they had made eye contact for long enough now that Rachel almost felt the need to acknowledge it somehow. Instead, the woman slowly nodded first, finishing her calisthenics, & only breaking the gaze to start her jog. As she did, her tightly packed flab undulated with each step, straining her gear even further towards its breaking point. 

"Weird." Rachel blinked, rubbing the bridge of her nose & shaking her head. She tried to turn her thoughts back towards her own stuff. Specifically, all of the junk in her car at the moment. While she was waiting on Holly, she figured she needed to prioritize what needed to come in with her first. As a delivery driver pulled in two spots down from her, she flung her knapsack on over her back as it had a change of clothes, her laptop, & her toiletries. Then was her crate of records, more out of fear that if she got back to them too late the next day, the heat might warp them. And if she was grabbing those, then obviously her record player was next, which had its own little case with its own handle. Hey, while she was here, maybe she might be able to finally turn Holly onto some decent music for a change, she dreamt. She inventoried the back seat as another delivery driver parked nearby. Oh, & George, her Japanese Peace Lily. "He'd" be coming along too as "he" was a living thing. The rest were mostly just books & clothes & a few kitchenware items, all stuff that could wait. As she slammed her creaking door shut, she heard Holly before she saw her.

"OH MY... GOD!"

"H-Holly?!" Rachel looked up, surprised. Before she could get out another word, or even register what was happening, there was a blur & arms had wrapped into a tight, swaying hug. It certainly sounded like Holly, & whoever this was had a definite Holly-like energy, but at first it felt a little like there was a bit too much of them to actually be Holly. For one, this person felt... downright pudgy. 

Just then, the embraced was loosened & Rachel could finally get a good look. Extending each other out at arms' length, she could see that it was indeed Holly. It was just shocking to her that there was quite a bit more of her now. In all the biweekly phone briefings, their mother never made any mention as to Holly putting on a few pounds. That's when Rachel realized. In the past year or so, Holly hadn't really posted much in terms of photos of herself on social media. She had becoming one of those obnoxious plate photo people. No wonder she had grown thicker. 

And it wasn't as much as the jogger she saw earlier, & for one, Holly was a little taller than Rachel even. But it was still pretty noticable. Holly, the once lithe dancer, the athletic state track & field champ, who from time to time, wasn't above poking fun of a chubby Rachel through out all of grade school through college, had now suddenly filled out herself, in tight, bright blue booty shorts & an old t-shirt from a 5K she ran in college. Ages ago. It just barely covered what seemed like a slight forward paunch.

"You look AMAZING!" Holly said in that way that sort of hollow way ladies always say to each other that never sounds real. But to Rachel, it added just a little bit more to what felt like her karmic comeuppance. "That Justin? He's insane for..." Mentioning her now ex-fiance snapped Rachel out of her internal victory lap & brought her back down to Earth.

"I... Let's not talk about him right now. But you! You look......so... comfortable." Rachel reached. She meant it in the way that Holly had finally loosened up & seemed confident in maybe slacking a little. But that's not how Holly took it.

"Oh!" Holly looked down & shrugged, eyes darting to the side & biting her lip in faux humility. "Long day at the office. I've gotten into the habit of changing into my pajamas the instant I get home these days! Sorry I'm such a scrub!" She sort of sashayed unintentionally, displaying much wider hips than Rachel remembered.

"No, I meant... it...... it's good to... it's good to see you." Rachel settled, meaning it genuinely. Body issues & diametrically opposite personalities aside, it did feel good for Rachel too, to finally see her sister again, especially after such a tough day.

"Omigod! SISTERS!!" Holly shouted, vocalizing that same sentiment at a much more base level. She pounded, again going back in for another swaying hug, once again nearly knocking Rachel onto her (now for the first time in ages, relatively smaller) ass. This was way more affection than Rachel was comfortable with but she gave her sister a light pat on the back while trying to breathe. "Is... is this EVERYTHING?!" Holly said, peering into the back of her car. Rachel grit her teeth, feeling a bit judged by the tone, but Holly got distracted. "Oh... my... god! I just realized! Deborah! You still have her!" 

"Oh jeez..." Rachel hadn't referred to her car as that since she first bought it, used, off her sister, senior year of high school. But yeah. She had jokingly named her car at one point & her sister remembered it even better than she did. "Wow. Yeah. Deborah. Emphasis on the "O." she joked. Another delivery guy parked in a spot left by the last one. Rachel realized there seemed to be a lot of delivery traffic. And a small part of her, tired from the road, was liking the idea of ordering something herself.

"Deb-Or-ah" Holly laughed. "Wow! That's Sooo crazy!" Holly went back to the first question. 

"Uh, this is the important stuff. Clothes, books, et cetera. Rest of my stuff is in a small u-stor-it locker back home. Well... old home." she corrected herself, meaning where she just left. "Figure I'll take a road trip & retrieve it when I finally find a place."

"Well," Holly said with a grunt, reaching in unprompted to grab a box of books. Rachel would've stopped her but it was one of (if not) the heaviest things she had, so she figured she'd just shut up & let her help. "Mi casa, su casa. However long it takes!"

"I... I really appreciate that." Rachel said, fighting off a welling tear. She hated asking for help. But this all meant a lot.

"Of course!" Holly huffed, struggling with the box a bit while Rachel tried to lock up. "What are sisters for?"

Holly led Rachel inside the lobby. As much as she didn't want to dwell, she couldn't help but notice that a lot of the weight had seemed to settle in Holly's butt. And hips. Her shorts were old, & seemed stretched to their limits. "Welcome to my building! They call it the Bellflower. Whatever that means."

"Seems... nice." Rachel lied, diverting her attention from her sister's keister to the building. It probably was nice. It just certainly wasn't for her. Everything was brushed aluminum & presumably upcycled wood. In the way architectural digests all love. The lobby had an open floor plan with something of a cascading fountain that lead up to a landing where the elevators were situated. To Rachel, it all seemed gaudy, & a bit much.

"Very high tech!" Holly struggled to get a hand free with heavy box. She seemed slightly out of breath, but didn't seem to want to show it. She pressed her hand against some sort of sensor surface & the motors of the elevator came alive. It stuck out a bit to Rachel that although there were two, both doors seemed quite wide for typical elevators. Maybe just some type of new design choice or something. Or like the highways out front, designed for more traffic than they ever really got. "The elevators here are a bit slow though. Only thing I don't like about the place." Holly huffed. Rachel just nodded. "Did you eat yet by the way?"

"On the road, a while ago. But it was kind of light." Rachel said, partially regretting that hot dog.

"We can order a pizza?" Holly offered. Rachel, balancing George the Lily atop her record crate managed a slight shrug & smile. "Does a pizza sound good? Oooh! Your first night here! We're celebrating! I'm buying! How about we get a pizza each?!" As the elevator dinged again & door opened, Rachel couldn't bottle it up any more. She tried to avoid it, but instead let it flow out of her as a gentle chuckle. 

"What?" Holly asked as they both stepped into an equally wide, spacious elevator car. She pressed the button for the 14th floor, before standing in the back corner.

"No. Nothing," Rachel suppressed her giggles, leaning against the other wall. It got quiet for a moment, while they waited for the doors to close. But eventually Rachel's devious side won out & when the door did shut, she continued. "It's just funny to me is all." The corners of Rachel's mouth crinkled up into an evil little smile.

"What? What's funny?" Holly pressed, her chipper demeanor fading slightly.

"No it's not... I just think it's great." Rachel chided. She had a hard time committing to how frank she should be. Or whether even to say it at all. But it seemed too late at this point."I mean it's really endearing now that you've... relaxed a bit."

"Relaxed? What do you mean "relaxed a bit?" Holly had sounded the most serious Rachel had heard in a long time, as the elevator began its ascent.

"Well growing up & everything, you were always..." Realizing quickly there was no nice way to put it, Rachel just kind of let herself trail, hoping it would die. But Holly wasn't about to let it.

"Hmmm?!" She pressed further, balancing the box on her thicker thigh for a second to get a better grip. "I was always what?" She sounded more confused than mad.

"Oh come on!" Rachel sighed, thinking Holly was being coy, looking at her sister. "You put on a little bit of weight. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but its obvious. And you talking about getting a pizza each? After all the shit you used to give me for being chubby when we were kids?!"

"What?!" Holly gasped. "I..."

"I mean... don't get me wrong! It's.. it's refreshing is all." Rachel said with a smirk.

"Oh." Was all Holly could say. A silence fell over the elevator car. Looking at her, Rachel could see she had obviously just struck a nerve. But then she noticed Holly looking herself over, her eyes expressing what almost seemed like confusion. Wait! Had she honestly somehow not realized? Surely she realized she was eating more. A pizza all to herself? Working out less. She copped to putting her jammies on the instant she got home these days. But her clothes had to have gotten tighter. How was this somehow a new revelation? Either way, Rachel realized she had maybe struck a chord, leaving her little recourse but to struggle to walk it all back. "Sorry, I just got... it's been a long day. I had to deal with Justin & then pack all of that shit! On my own! And then  I was in a car for literal hours with really nothing but my own thoughts. I... I don't even know what I'm saying."

"Oh." Holly said again, blankly. "It's... don't worry about it." Her perkiness was drained, but she started trying to stammer "I mean... I probably have, I guess. Things have just been so... so hectic. I mean I've been so busy with work!"

"No I get it!" Rachel awkwardly joined in, stammering herself. "I mean you look good though! Really good! I didn't mean it like..." 

"It's just... you know... I haven't even really been paying attention to stuff like that recently..." Holly said. "Just sooo busy, you know...? And like the building has a gym, but it's like... closed for renovations at the moment. For like a bit now apparently."

"Well you still look great!" Rachel reinforced, still awkwardly, each line shot past the other sister with any seeming acknowledgement from the one saying it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it in a bad way! I do, honestly think it's good! You used to be uptight & now you seem... just as confident." 

"Thanks. I mean I would totally make use of the gym, it's just never open!" Holly stammered. "I don't think it's ever been open. The whole time I've been here even!" The two kept talking over each other with generic platitudes until the elevator bell dinged again. As the wide doors slid open, the girls fell silent & Rachel made note to try & never broach the topic again.

The corridor before Holly's place wasn't just quiet. It seemed almost as if it was sound dampened, or had a white noise generator going on. Like the noise produced wasn't as loud as it should be.

"Turn that corner & I'm the second on the right." Holly directed, sounding winded now from carrying the heavy books. Her demeanor seemed to slowly be recovering, but Rachel still felt pretty terrible for even bringing it up. Worse, she was feeling a bit hungry now too even & while a whole one to herself might've seemed a bit much, pizza as a concept wasn't sounding all that bad right about now. 

Holly lead her to a door numbered 1420. There was no lock, keyhole, or even a peephole. There was barely a handle. Just some sort of ipad like device built into it just above center mast. Using a combo of the door itself & her meaty thigh for balance once again, Holly palmed at the black screen & a concealed led went from off to a bright green by the handle. 

"Open." Holly instructed, backing away. And pneumatically, the door slowly opened itself with a hydraulic hiss. "Pretty cool huh?"

"Yeah. I guess when your arms are full." Rachel admitted. Holly smiled a big toothy smile, in a way that seemed to signal this was only the beginning. A beleaguered Rachel, in no mood, suddenly felt slightly less bad for calling her chubby. 

"I LOVE my condo." Holly stated without any soliciting. Rachel rolled her eyes as she followed her sister inside.  

As far as condos went, Rachel had to admit, it was pretty nice. Too modern for her style, but Holly spruced it up ok. After a stubby hallway, it opened up into spacious open kitchen area that flowed through a small kitchenette & into a decently sized living room. The other side was Holly's bedroom & office, with what looked like an en suite bath that connected back out into the hallway too. The far wall were nothing but floor to ceiling windows, with a small balcony, looking out over the courtyard, the other towers in the complex, & the view of the shopping district & interstate beyond them. 

"Glad you like it." Rachel said, trying to be genuine. Holly sighed.

"Penny?!" She seemed to shout, putting the box of books at the edge of the short hallway. At first Rachel was taken back. Her sister didn't mention anything about having a roommate. Instead something else happened.

"Yes, Miss Holly?" a synthetic voice chirped. Holly turned back to Rachel, her arms still full. Her eyes darted for a source of the voice but realized that certain surfaces had speaker grates built into them. It was coming from pretty much everywhere.

"The condo's computer." Holly explained softly with a show-off-y smirk, walking further in. 

"Your condo's... computer?" Rachel squinted, noticing something of a screen with a mechanical arm mobilizing from a retractable console in the center ceiling between the living room & kitchenette area. A default screen of white fluffy clouds over a blue sky gave way to a small, cutesy anime inspired avatar of a blonde woman with dual ponytails. 

"That's Penny." Holly smirked. "Put your stuff down! Stay a while!" Gradually, Rachel dropped her records & crate by where Holly dropped her books, but was sure to put George in the center of the tall pub table in the kitchenette. Holly went on to explain. "It's a smart condo. All of the units in the Bellflower are like this. Some of my neighbors & I joke. We call them A-smart-ments. Get it?"

"Oh. I get it." Rachel blinked flatly. She looked at the monitor hanging from the ceiling, noticing a small little dot below the screen which seemed to be some sort of camera. "So you have this omnipresent AI watching you every minute of every day in the privacy of your own home," she then turned to her sister. "And you consider that some sort of like... a selling point?" 

"It's just a computer." Holly shrugged leaning against one of the table's tall barstool-like chairs. She had almost caught her breath again.

"I am only here to help, Miss Rachel." Penny interjected, the stylized face on the screen gesticulating in a way that didn't really seem to help its case.

"She's not like an Alexa!" Holly argued. "Those things are crap! Penny's great! Every unit in the complex has their own. And she controls the heat, the AC, the internet, the tv channels, the phones, the blinds even..."

"It's my job to keep Miss Holly happy & comfortable." The voice said. While it had a similar tone, it didn't have the same stuttering mismatch of random words Rachel's GPS had. Its responses were concise, & creepily, seemingly custom.  

"And now, Penny, you can keep Rachel comfortable too." Holly smiled. 

"Miss Rachel?" The monitor swung softly & extended into Rachel's face. It was still a foot or two away, but too close for Rachel's liking.

"Yeah. That's me. I guess." Looking into the tiny camera porthole. The face on the screen stared flatly before smiling.

"I see on social media that you are Miss Holly's sister." It said without pause.

"Ok, its creeping me out." Rachel said, throwing her arms up, taking a step back.

"She can hear you. And stop ungendering her!" Holly growled angrily. "It's clearly a SHE!" Her sweeter voice came back as she addressed her computer. "Penny, can we set up some user privileges for Rachel while she's here with us?"

"Oh. Of course. Will Miss Rachel be staying?" the machine asked. Rachel, as a writer, having read one or two books & articles on the topics of both pervasive surveillance states & overreaching AI was quite uneasy with her name coming out this thing's proverbial mouth.

"For a bit in the foreseeable future, yeah." Holly smiled. 

"Hopefully not long," Rachel sighed, wiggling out of her knapsack reluctantly. The monitor spun to her, closer this time, & more as if it was presenting itself to her now.

"I will just need a sample of your biometric data. For my files." Rachel looked at Holly. Holly simply shrugged.

"No. I don't need to use her." Rachel said, trying to wave the screen away.

"You're going to need to give her your data. Or else you're not going to be able to come & go." Holly tried to explain.

"Can't you just have like... a key?" Rachel sighed in frustration.

"She IS the key!" Holly laughed. Rachel couldn't believe how willing her sister accepted all of this.

"What if the power goes out?" Rachel asked, her hand hovering over the sensor.

"It hasn't." Holly laughed again. "Stop being so... insane." Rachel grit her teeth, but the machine went a step further.

"There are redundancy measures in place. I have yet to experience more than .83 milliseconds of down time since coming online three years ago."

"Good to know. " Rachel smirked sarcastically. "Fine." She said finally palming the black screen. To her, it felt like she was caving on a deal with Satan himself. Suddenly, on the black screen, a loading bar in the shape of a circle took a second to orbit around her hand.

"There. Full user privileges, everything short of Admin, for Miss Rachel. Same as you Miss Holly." Penny smiled, the screen pulled back, spinning another 360 degrees before returning to the ceiling.

"That's it?" Holly asked with a furrowed brow, thinking there would be more too it than that.

"That's it." The voice continued ambiently. "Since you gave me the command, I considered it pre-authorized. I have also sent a message to the HOA council, as is customary." 

"Cool!" She smiled, before turning to Rachel. "Only them & supers have full-on Admin access for Penny. That's how they sort of debug her when she needs it." She said, dropping the most advanced technical terms she knew in an attempt to look smart. "But you can basically tell her anything you need. Just call out to her by name."

"My name is Penny." The machine offered once again. Rachel knew that the machine knew that she had heard the name several times by now. And so she took it as a subtle jab by the machine to call her dumb. Or a Luddite. 

"I hate this." Rachel said plainly, but it went unacknowledged. Even before the sudden knock at the door that seemed to surprise them. Rachel & Holly looked at each other. "Were you expecting someone?"

"Miss Holly, I hope you don't mind," Penny started. "But I had heard mention of pizza & decided to take some liberties by ordering some for you & Miss Rachel."

"What?!" Rachel yelled. Her fears were far from assuaged. "That was... in the elevator. Like not even ten minutes ago." She tried to reason.

"Yes I agree!" the computer added. "Quite the impressive turnaround, even for Pazuzzi's!" Rachel still looked a bit shell shocked. Holly reached into her pocket & wrestled her phone out of her tight shorts.

"I have her on here as an app, she probably overheard me." She explained waving it. "And the place I like to order from is pretty much literally just across the way."

"I'm sorry, Miss Holly, did I overstep?"

"Oh no!!" Holly insisted, with a tone not too dissimilar from a parent going out of their way to not yell at their bratty kid. "This is perfect actually. I haven't eaten all day & frankly? I'm starving!" The last sentence she emphasized with a bit of gutteral growl as she made her way back towards the door. "I take it you just put it to my charge card?"

"Yes, Miss Holly."

"But... That doesn't..." Rachel, not finished being paranoid. She looked in the direction of the screen even though it had long retracted into its ceiling compartment. "It doesn't make sense. You had to have ordered that before...?" The machine was suddenly deafeningly quiet.

"Thanks again," She heard Holly shutting the door behind her. She reemerged with not one, but two large pizzas. Holly tried to hide her impatience with a smile. "Penny got me my usual: Veggie Lovers WITH Spicy Sausage. But I think she tried to guess for you. I think it's just pepperoni, is that...?"

"That's fine I guess." As much umbrage as she was taking with all of this, it did sound good at the moment. Then she backtracked & had a short giggle at the fact that her once workout obsessed older sister now had a "usual" kind of pizza. But then she snapped right back. "How did you come to that conclusion, "Penny?" Why pepperoni?"

"Is that ok, Miss Rachel?" The machine seemed a bit desperate to please her.

"Sure, but again... why?" Rachel pressed as Holly grabbed the plates & utensils to cut & so on.

"I'm glad. Sorry, I cross-referenced a tagged image of you out with friends from one of their Instantgraph accounts from March 23rd, 2014. While you were out with friends, I assumed you were happy with the selection of the pizza in the center of the table in that photo, & it was pepperoni." 

"And you did all that between us in the elevator & now?" She didn't get an answer. "I... this is..." Rachel struggled, not liking any bit of this. Instead, Holly smiled & offered her one of her square ceramic plates. And like Holly, Rachel too was pretty hungry at this point. 

"You can have some of mine if you'd like." Her sister smiled.

"Pepperoni's fine! That's not the... point." Rachel tried to argue, but accepted Holly's plate.

"You said you liked that I was more "relaxed" now... or whatever?" Holly asked with a raised brow, pulling out two slices of hers at a time. It seemed piping hot, & the cheese stretched an almost absurd amount as the steam billowed. "But maybe you shouldn't be so uptight when it comes to Penny. Seriously! She's the best!"

"I... I don't know..." Rachel struggled. "It's just... weird." Before she could finish her sentence, Holly had already bitten into a slice & let out a loud "Mmmmmmm!" And just like old times, Rachel felt ignored, once again. 

Trying not to take it personally, she resigned herself to wrestling with the cheese on her own pie to free a slice of the pepperoni. "If... if you say so..." she said with dejection, blowing the steam away.

The first bite was hot, but the pizza tasted amazing.