The Bellflower Part 5 (Patreon)

Sorry, thanks for bearing with me as I finished this installment up. If you're only coming in now, it was important to me to keep this on sort of a consistent weekly schedule, but I ran out of time to work on it on account of some life stuff. So I posted what I had in part, while having a sort of definitive start & end in mind I wanted to get to before calling it done-done. So that's where we're at now.

If you have already started reading, you're not really missing anything if you pick back up in the same spot (after the talk of Chinese food for lunch), beyond some edits for some rewordings, typos, etc. There was one part where I didn't realize I wrote the same sequence of events twice involving donuts & another sentence I left hanging. (Jeez guys, I'm sorry, oof!) Those are fixed & good now, but won't change things too drastically if you just want to keep motoring. Anyway, thanks again for being patient & understanding, I really appreciate it!

In this installment, Holly tries to share some of her concerns with her friend Courtney while Rachel tries to do a little digging.

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5

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After a short recovery period, Holly went in for an immediate, well-deserved, & frankly, as Rachel thought, a well-needed shower. She took her time, leaving her sister on her own for a bit. Feeling a little peckish after their workout, she took it upon herself to see if Holly had anything remotely "healthy" squirreled away somewhere. All of this talk of watching weight aside, she still needed to eat at the end of the day. 

"May I be of some assistance?" The Penny unit asked. Its monitor hung ominously & faced toward her as she made her way to the kitchen. Much the way a haunted painting's eyes would follow someone, giving those same kind of vibes. Rachel flagged it off with a dismissive wave.

"Just looking." she said, reaching for the first cabinet door. Her tone was short & a bit curt, as if she was telling an overzealous salesperson. Like frustrated that it was going out of its way to talk to her. She thought it was done, but it turned out it wasn't.

"Is Miss Holly ok?" Penny asked. At first, Rachel didn't seem inclined to answer this dumb machine she hated so much. But a few persistent "Miss Rachel's" eventually got her to cave in the end.

"She... she just got a little overwhelmed. A little too much too quickly, I think." Rachel said, being a little intentionally vague. She closed the second, ultramodern cabinet door, discovering that one held Holly's glasses. "But she's fine. Had to start somewhere."

"She really shouldn't overexert herself so much. I worry." The machine said. Rachel's brow furrowed, but it continued to speak before she could react. "Miss Rachel, I also could not help but notice that you haven't downloaded me as an app onto your phone. I know you are only with us temporarily, but I believe it would be bene..."

"Can it!" Rachel growled. "I'm not giving you permission to root around on my phone & spy on me! Not like you do with Holly." She moved around some things in cabinets trying to get a good view. The inch or two of height Holly had on her was enough to put a few things a little out of reach for her. "Bad enough you know all about me through being "friends" on her social media." Rachel continued to mutter. For a split second, she thought she actually heard the computer scoff. Almost as if it was upset at her rudeness.

"What I do is hardly spyi..." The AI tried to justify.

"End of conversation!" Rachel demanded. For once, the computer seemed to comply, shutting up entirely. At least for a second.

She found something close to what she was looking for: a super no-frills, adult cereal. "Natural" & "organic" were plastered on it, along with "No added sugar or frosting" as if that was some sort of selling point. Typically, it wouldn't have been. But here? Now? It definitely was. She picked at it from out the box. Almost as if it was a fun cereal.

"Would you care for some milk with that?" For a second, the machine took on a tone not too dissimilar to their mother, & her quick flashes of sarcasm. "I hear it tastes better in a bowl with milk." Rachel's lip quivered into a sneer.

"Can you just like... open the door when I need you to, but never say anything to me ever again?" Rachel said, her eyes pointed in the direction of the monitor. "That would be great. Thanks!" After a short beat, the AI seemed to get passive aggressive with her.

"I am only programmed to assist occupants."

"Right. And you can assist me by never speaking to me again, thanks!" Rachel said, crunching on a handful of a few flakes with an errant freeze dried berry. It was even less flavorful than she thought she had braced herself. But with that, Penny seemed to finally stop talking. Rachel slowly pulled her laptop & its charger back out of her bag.

"It's all yours." Holly appeared, flapping an arm in the direction of the bathroom. She had come back out in a flannel, another item left over by that boyfriend, same as the hoodie, & some old skinny jeans that JUST fit, seeming to unintentionally emphasize her already large rear. On second glance, maybe they weren't actually skinny jeans. They just fit her that way now. She had tied her blondish hair up into a messy top knot bun. She was looking at her phone. "I texted Courtney but didn't get an answer. Thinking I might go over & just knock." Her tone was notibly less jovial, at least for her. To Rachel, she couldn't quite tell if it was solemn about having to go do this awkward thing she had committed to, or if she was just plain fatigued after their morning. She was about to respond with an encouraging "okay," feeling she might even tag it with a "give her my best." But Penny butted in first.

"Do you really think that's such a wise idea?" The AI asked. The sisters looked at each other & then the screen suspended above them. "I hear from her Penny that she needs her rest." The computer said. "After going through quite a tiresome week."

"Why do the "Pennies" even talk amongst themselves in the first place?!" Rachel growled, offering Holly some cereal. Holly seemed put off by the idea of eating the flakes on their own but pinched a few between her fingers anyway & quickly chomped them.

"I'm just going to check in on her, Penny." Holly assured the computer with a bit of a crunch, & an eye roll. Both at the idea of needing to reassure a machine AND her sister's hostility towards it. "If she's busy, I'll leave her be. No big deal!"

"Well," The AI struggled. "It's only proper etiquette to bring a little something."

"Good thinking. It's still early yet," Holly said, looking at her phone. "Maybe I'll grab some bagels. Oooh! Or donuts!"

"HOLLY!!" Rachel's jaw went agape. 

"What?" Holly's brow furrowed a little, confused.

"You remember why you're going over, right?" Rachel asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah... but really! Is like one more donut going to matter?" Holly chortled. "In the grand scheme of things? For her? Now?"

"It's not going to help!" Rachel tagged in bewilderment. "You're no help to her if all you're doing is going over to enable!"

"You saw her last night. Bringing some kind of snack might be what it takes to get her attention for more than three seconds!" It seemed like a weak justification, but Rachel was still just happy her sister seemed to be coming around to realizing something strange was up. And she was proud of her for getting off her ass & even offering to take initiative with this. She decided it was maybe a little better to let it slide. At least somewhat.

"Just... I don't know..." Rachel was searching for the right phrase. And suddenly, in doing so, it helped Fran's words make a bit more sense. "Just... be mindful." While meaning it in a genuine sense here, it also became clearer to Rachel that last night, maybe they were talking about the exact same thing.

"It's fine!" Holly nodded. "You can trust me!" She smirked & rolled her eyes, regaining some glimmer of her typical perkiness, albeit with some snark.

"And you will not even need to pick them up. I have placed an order with BoxPals for delivery. One dozen donuts, that should be arriving here within the next five minutes." Rachel shot Holly a serious look, but Holly already started voicing her displeasure. It gave Rachel some modicum of relief.

"Not a dozen, Penny! I was just going to get her one or two! She's having troubles... with her... weight." 

"Oh, well it is perhaps a little late to cancel the order now, as the BoxPal driver has just left the shop with your order. Estimated arrival in ten minutes. Perhaps we cancel this & get a new one?" 

"No, no. It's fine." Holly sighed. She turned to Rachel. "I had no part in that! We should take half a dozen for us."

"No! No donuts!" Rachel said, half joking, half very stern. While Holly seemed to realize it was way too much, she worried about her willpower these days. Or at least lack thereof. "Not after running up that hill at the end. I want that to count for something!" 

"I know! I know!" Holly insisted.

"Court?" A short while later, Holly knocked on the door for 1610 with her free hand.

"Wh-who's there?" she heard meagerly from within.

"It's Holly," she said as bubbly as she could muster. While it wasn't even 11am, for some strange reason, it was almost as if she had no energy, she thought sarcastically, about her forced jogging experience. She tried to fight through it though. "I was hoping... maybe we could... talk? Just for a few!"

"I... I..." The voice trailed off. "Now's not... not really... a great time." It was stated with a pretty even keel. Not stressed, or worried. Almost as if she was just a little busy with something.

"Well if you can't, you can't. But I brought some donuts." Holly said, pivoting towards her secret weapon. Reflexively, she ended up giving the box a shake, even though they didn't really make much of a noise. There it was, her plan to literally sweeten the deal. No way it wouldn't help break the ice. And she was right.

"Ooooh." she heard the voice coo from within. Some commotion stirred, as it sounded like a bunch of papers crinkling & silverware & a few other things landing on the hardwood inside. "Penny!" the voice bellowed. The door knob twisted automatically & opened a crack pneumatically. "If you brought something to eat, you should've said sooner!" Courtney said, with what sounded like a bit of a mouthful already. "Much sooner!" Holly didn't quite know what to expect, but braced herself as best she could.

The first thing she noticed was that the air smelled sweet. Citrus-y. Not too unpleasant. But given the room the lights being set a bit low, the curtains being drawn, & the air having this slight cave like dankness to it, Holly felt a strange vibe.

"Hiya..." Holly started, before getting distracted. "... Court." Instead of a hello, Courtney, who didn't seem like she slept, seemed now somehow more alert, at least relative to their gathering before. And Holly suspected that was only because the topic now was food.

"Where didya get the donuts from?"

The dark haired girl took up her entire loveseat, covered in what looked like the aftermath of an all-night binge. Like a overly gluttonous sleepover. For one. A pizza box here, a snack cake wrapper there, empty two liter cola bottles, to make no mention of the crumbs & smears of things, decorating her face, her top, & even bits of the seat cushions. It had been quite some time since Holly had seen such a mess. And definitely a first for the Bellflower. For one, Courtney's robotic cleaning units, remote vacuums for the floor & mechanical arms with suction hoses for the upholstery, all powered by her unit's Penny, should've dealing with it all as it happened. At least hers always did. But with Holly here, they only started buzzing to life around her now. They hoovered up the crumbs & errant food particles, while also working to sweep the empty wrappers, bags, & containers together into a pile. Holly still couldn't imagine why the machine would even let such a mess accumulate in the first place. Unless it was preoccupied somehow.

"So... Dunkin?" Courtney clamored impatiently. Under her eyes seemed a little dark. Her puffy cheeks & jowls obscuring what would have been a desperate expression. She seemed frustrated on wasting the energy on repeating herself. A bit disheveled, she was wearing the same clothes from when they last saw each other hours ago. But now, they were somehow looking even tighter. Along with the few added stains & smudges for good measure. But there was so much of her, a lot of which was smooshed so far up into her face, & so much mess, part of Holly was actually surprised there weren't somehow a lot more. But it was that moment that she noticed the heavyset girls brows lower into something of a scowl, as she intensely needed to know "Where from?!" 

"Oh, uh... just the grocery store." Holly rejoined. "Same as last night. My Penny told me that glazed were your favorite. So there's a few regular glazed, & some chocolate glazed in here too."

"Well, all donuts are my favorite!" She smiled, ditching the intensity to show shades of her old personality. "But those sound like a mighty fine choice." She nodded towards an empty plate & fork next to her on the arm of the loveseat. "It's weird! I was just finishing up having some pie for breakfast!" She said, asserting almost a bit of pride with the statement. "Key lime!"

"Really...?" Holly tried to straddle the line between not sounding too judgy, but also definitely trying to get a little bit of disdain across. But Court seemed too distracted to notice, either way.

"Oooh! There's still more! You want some?!" She pursed her lips to lick them a bit, greedily. "Omigosh! We can have a slice WITH our donuts!" At first, the idea repulsed completely Holly. That was too much! Even for her. Especially considering it wasn't even noon yet. But then again, on the other hand, last night? Courtney almost didn't seem willing to share. So maybe catching her right now was a good time, seeing as she seemed at least slightly amiable. And Holly had been looking forward to at least one donut of her own. She hadn't eaten a thing all morning. Well, other than a nibble of bland, six month old cereal.

No! The repulsion was the right course of action. She took a long hard look at Courtney's massive gut, old grease stains & all, in an effort to help dissuade herself from making her own poor life decisions.

"I don't think that's such a good ide..." She realized anything she said wouldn't matter. Courtney wasn't looking at her, but towards her ceiling. The roll of fat that separated her chin from her neck wobbled ungracefully as she once again bellowed. 

"Penny!" 

"Already on it, Miss Courtney!" Amidst the fuss of the clean up crew, two other mechanical arms were making their way from her kitchen, whizzing along the magnetic grid-like track. "Two slices, one for Miss Courtney & one for our guest, Miss Holly! Coming up!" 

"Oh I- I really... shouldn't..." Holly tried. To be fair, she wasn't that big a fan of key lime anyway. But then again, the jog had left her a bit peckish. And she realized that citrus-y smell coming in was from the pie. Had her Penny whipped it fresh? 

"Hope you made 'em big ones." Courtney threw in, as she received hers. She seemed pleased. As punch.

"Why of course!" the AI noted, fulfilling its duties cheerfully. While she had the same exact voice, she almost seemed slightly happier than Holly's somehow. As if she was doting just a little bit harder. Being slightly more encouraging. Deep down, a part of Holly was almost a little jealous as she handed her a plate. 

"Have a seat, Miss Holly!" The Penny said, taking hostess duties upon herself as Courtney greedily began scooping up forkfuls of pie in quick succession. "Make yourself at home. Be comfortable." Holly looked at her own plate to see that the slice was huge! Almost at least a quarter of the damn thing.

"Oh," she said with a slight scoff. "There's no way I could manage all of this."

"Mmmmm," Courtney moaned while preparing to swallow & clear her mouth to speak. "Don't be such a baby! If you don't, I'll take it. But c'mon! Crack open the donuts too!" She bobbed her head towards the box. "Omigosh! I wanna try something!!"

Reluctantly, Holly took a seat on the sofa. It was all the same style as her own sectional upstairs, just configured in a different modular fashion. She set her pie plate down momentarily to wrestle with the scotch tape on the donut box.

"Here... you go." She said, setting it down in the center of the coffee table. The tape wasn't the only thing she was wrestling with. As hungry as she was too, she remembered what spurred her to come in the first place. And so far, it felt as though she was only exacerbating things.

It seemed as though the other arms that were cleaning the living room up were just finishing up getting things back into more of a presentable fashion. Only two arms remained, both with pneumatic tubes. A larger one loudly sucking up the containers & trash, & another one, much more delicately sucking up the final crumbs along the jutting rolls of Courtney's round body. 

"Oooh! Let me try this! I wanna try this!" She leaned in, trying to pick up one of the glazed donuts. But there was just so much of her, it was a struggle. Holly winced, not knowing if she should enable this behavior or not. Should she help? She felt awful helping her, but she also felt bad watching her struggle like this. It was tough seeing her only being able to reach past her bulk so much, with chubby, greedily little fingers wiggling. At least until one "A little help!" She bellowed. Just then, an errant mechanical arm reached into the box delicately. With steely precision, it picked up not one but two glazed donuts & filled in the few feet Courtney's bulk prevented her from the exertion of reaching. "Thankies!" she giggled, dropping one onto her plate. Holly could only stare as her friend took the donut she held onto & tried to run it through the thick pie filling, as if she was looking to scoop some of out with it. It didn't seem to be going so well. The puffier cream was easy, but the filling was just so dense. Instead, the donut seemed to crumble a bit, taking a little bit of cream, but mostly disintegrating over her slice. Courtney only looked dismayed for the briefest of seconds before shoving the rest of the donut into her mouth. "So!" she mumbled through the mouthful, seemingly momentarily sated & giving Holly her undivided attention. "What are you here to talk about? Is everything ok? Something... I could help you out with?" Holly looked at her, remembering how hard a time she had as she started to get moving when it was time for everyone to leave last night. But something about that struck her as sweet, thinking she was the one looking to offer help.

"Actually, if I'm being honest? I was coming here to... ask you how you were doing." She took her first quick scoop of the pie so she could put off continuing for a second. She thought she had practiced what she was going to say in the shower but now, it just didn't feel right. But the words weren't coming. Instead, under the cheeks, she noticed Courtney's expression sour a little. Her eyes went down towards the plate. Holly panicked that she had just ruined her friend's whole day. Maybe week. But it certainly didn't seem to ruin her appetite.

"Is this about your sister?" Courtney asked with flat affect. She leaned back in her seat a little, resting her plate on her belly. It worked a little too well as a table. "Asking about me? What she said?"

"I am SOOO sorry if she upset you. She didn't know. And sometimes, she can be a real... a real..." Courtney interrupted by waving a hand. Then she sighed a heavy sigh.

"She's right though." Courtney seemed pained to admit. Holly reluctantly put on a warm smile.

"Turns out, she's got a terrible habit of doing that from time to time." she agreed, taking a bite of donut. To her, it really didn't go that well with the pie. Not that she was really all that deterred. "Being right. It's awful."

While her sister was out, Rachel decided to do a little digging. With her headphones on & her bestickered laptop resting on her slouching torso, she munched on a handful of the generally cardboard tasting cereal & typed "The Bellflower" into the search bar of her preferred search engine through Tor. Initial results were a bit too general. A neighborhood in LA. Actual flowers. Commercials for some website with that eccentric actor, Rachel was always bad with names. She tried again. "Bellflower Condos Oakmont." Instead of the place in California, the map data that popped up gave her the location of where she was sitting. In several sponsored links were both the official website & real estate listings for the place. While it seemed far from empty, she was surprised by the sheer number of how many there seemed to be. That's why she clicked one of those first. It ended up being a listing for a similar unit on the 12th floor. Not unlike Deidre's. Or presumably Fran's. Not only was it well out of her price range, it made Rachel question if she had ever, accumulatively over her entire lifetime, ever had that much money pass through her hands. But then something else caught her eye: the "Last Sold" column. 

It was less than a year. In fact it was only about ten months or so. Now, it could've just been a matter of some hapless corporate drone transfered to a different office in a new town with undoubtedly the same soulless, monocultural vibe. But something about how brief that seemed struck her, & made her back out to check one of the other listings. A unit down on the 8th. Seemingly a bit smaller than the ones she'd seen so far, but not by much. And while not as out-the-ass expensive as the previous, it still sat well above her income bracket. But that was last sold 8 months ago. She checked a third unit, comparable to that one. No indication of which floor, but the last sold column there said 11 months ago. Another? 8. The one after that? The longest she found, at a full year. In fact, of the dozen or so she looked at, they'd all been bought with in the last 7-12 months.

She thought about how much her sister fawned over her place. And how all of her friends here didn't seem too dissimilar. What didn't make sense to her was if everyone liked it so much, got along great with their obnoxious digital maids or whatever, why did there seem to be such heavy turn over?

She backed out of the real estate listings & into the general search results. She opened up the official website in a new tab. As she had anticipated, it was a whole chic affair, with a giant splash video that didn't show the property so much as just upscale lifestyle sort of stuff. It looked trendier & more jetset. And whoever did it seemed to get a little artsy about it too. There was a definite cringe factor to it, & she tried to make a mental note of going back & posting it to her social media feed for her irony-poisoned friends to make snarky comments about later. Right now, there were more pressing matters & she scrolled past it, looking for actual information. For instance, she wanted to know who actually owned the building. She assumed some management company, or some developer. Whoever built the damn place. All the money had to go somewhere.

There didn't seem to be any mention though. And Rachel couldn't tell if that was part of the site's minimalist, & overly pretentious layout just excluded that sort of information, or if it was intentionally hidden. There was no "About Us" page, the closest thing maybe being the amenities page. Which went on to talk about the "smart" units, the "new" gym "coming soon," & a link to download the app version of Penny. Rachel veered far from that. Beyond that, the only other things on the site were an embedded version of the map from the general search results, & an aggregiated list of some of the same real estate listings she'd already seen. As far as contact info, the closest items they had were an "office" number, not telling you exactly where or what office that was exactly, a vague "info@" email address, & another back up address for the Homeowners' Association directly. For half a second, she toyed with the idea of giving that number a call. It was Saturday & she assumed it would go straight through to some sort of voicemail system, but maybe that would present her with SOMETHING to go off of.

"I see you're searching for the Bellflower," Penny tried to get Rachel's attention. In reality, her screamo playlist in her headphones was way too loud, but not loud enough. "Is there something I can assist you with?" At first, she tried her best to ignore it. But it suddenly dawned on her how naive she was being. She was trying to dig up some dirt about this place on its own wifi. Bush league. She almost wanted to use this as an example to tell Deidre she was no journalist, still slightly put off by that exchange.

"I'm heading out." Rachel announced to the room, despite being the only person in it. She shut her laptop with a bit of a loud snap.

"Where?" Penny asked. "If you're looking for something to eat, I can prepare something. Or perhaps have it delivered."

"Just let my sister know I'll be back. If she asks." Rachel said, throwing the laptop in her knapsack. 

"Are you sure I can't..." The machine tried.

"Why is it that you don't ever seem to listen to what I tell you?" Rachel snapped, zipping her bag up while en route to the door. She flung it on before the tight hallway. "You're no help to me as an "occupant!" All you do is stress me the fuck out!" She stomped to the door before turning & saying "Delete yourself!"

"Quite the attitude on her." The AI sighed through the empty condo. "Quite the attitude."

"Yeah," Courtney seemed slow to admit. "I guess... I guess I have been... pretty bad lately." She had lost some of her fervor, but never stopped with the pie. Solemnly, she collected the last bits of crust & filling onto her fork before burying it past her plump lips. Her eyes shut for a second, still relishing the taste. But the mood was still decidely different. A bit dour & reflective.

"I wouldn't say... "bad"..." Holly tried to contend, awkwardly. "Like we were talking about last night! You're your own person. None of us want to get in the way of that! We're all just... I don't know... a little worried!" She herself was only about a third of her way through her pie. But she had polished off a donut of her own. Or two.

"I don't know what it is," Courtney moved onto the second donut she had on her plate. "What comes over me." The way she said that struck Holly, who listened intently. "I just... I've been getting so hungry lately. In fact, it's more like... I'm never NOT hungry these days."

"Tell me about it." Holly sighed softly during Courtney taking a bite. While it maybe wasn't as severe as Courtney's case, she could certainly relate. 

"And there are times where I try to stop & think about it." Courtney continued, while chewing. "Like... really think about it, you know? I get these little moments of clarity sometimes. And I start to almost... worry... maybe. I think... maybe there's something wrong with me." Holly noticed as a mechanical arm, in a completely unsolicited fashion reached in & dropped another donut on Courtney's plate, a powdered sugar, without her even seeming to notice. "But I don't know. I get... distracted or... something. And I never really think about it for too long, I guess. Something always seems to come up." Holly watched as without skipping a beat, Courtney moved on to that donut she almost didn't even seem to notice was there at first. And she had the very Rachel-esque thought that the "something always coming up" was some other indulgence. They were pampered to, quite a bit. "I guess... I guess I'm getting... pretty big though." Bits of the sugar flaked off as she took a big, albeit maybe self-conscious bite.

"Oh what?! No." Holly lied, purely on reflex. Courtney shot her an incredulous look. She wasn't buying the bullshit, & Holly sighed as if to apologize for trying. 

"Seriously though," Courtney almost snorted. "From where I used to be?!" Her jowl shook as she nodded towards a picture on a shelf behind Holly. Holly turned & craned her neck. There were a couple of photos hanging but distinctly one big one. In the picture were three women, with exceptionally thin frames. An older woman & two of her daughters it seemed like, given the resemblance going on. In fact the sisters may have been twins. But the one in the center was wrapped in the metallic, thermal blanket of a runner. It hung over but still gave her a tight profile. Holly squinted to look a little closer. The face was a bit younger, & a lot less puffier.

"Is that... you?!" She tried to prevent an all-out gasp, but did a bit of a poor job.

"In the middle? Yeah." Courtney took another bite. "In high school, I used to run track. If you can believe it."

"Omigod. Me too." Holly tried to acknowledge, but on account of the shock, it fell kind of flat, stilted. Courtney's eyes flickered.

"With your legs?!" she asked. "I knew it! I guessed it the first second I met you! I was right!" Holly felt some semblance of pride, at least given such a rough morning. But she still couldn't get over skinny Court. And... well... what happened. "S' my mom & sister. No one in my family... looks like... well... this." Holly was too busy staring at the photo again with something close to abject dread to see Courtney gesticulate towards her now round shape. "How I look now..." To her, at face value, finding out her friend was also a runner? It felt like it should've brought them closer together. And for a millisecond, it might've. But given the situation? Given all her concerns? That bond instead now almost served to just make Holly queasy.

"Wha... what did they say... What have they said?" As Holly turned back around from the "before," it was now suddenly a bit tougher to see the "after." The woman in front of her was closing in on being something like four times the size of the girl in the photograph. But she tried to keep a stiff upper lip. "Your family I mean."

"Haven't really seen them since Christmas." Courtney shrugged. "My mom blurted out I was getting fat after getting a couple of glass of wine in her." Her shoulders bounced again as she kind of chuckled. "And that was... that was a few months ago. Actually, around the time you first came in & we met." Her inference being many, many pounds ago. "If she saw me now..."

"I'm... I'm sure she loves you..." Holly tried to be encouraging, & seem present. But she was still reeling. Courtney looked a little put off by it. With a bit of a "tck," she laughed.

"I know that!" Courtney shook her head. Her cheeks wobbled slightly with the motion. "It's not like she was being mean about it. She's not one of THOSE kinds of mothers. It was just... tough to see her get... concerned, I guess." With her fork resting on her plate, she lifted her plate with one hand daintily, while running her other across the expanse of her soft belly. "And if she was concerned THEN..."

"Well..." Holly stammered. "Have you like... been to like... a doctor?"

"I mean, back around the same time." She thought back. "Maybe a little before. They said pretty much the same thing too."

"But how 'bout recently?"

"Mmmm," Courtney finished her donut. At some point, another chocolate glazed had been slipped on her plate, but this time around, Holly hadn't even noticed it happen. Perhaps when she had lifted it up? "But I'm kind of worried about what they'll say when they seem me now."

"Well maybe so," Holly blinked. "But if that IS your concern & the whole reason you're going..."

"Hmm." Courtney nodded, picking up the chocolate glaze. "You're right, you're right." Holly recognized the tone as the same dismissive resignation she gave Rachel from time to time. 

"Seriously though, you said it yourself you were worried, sometimes." She tried to insist to her friend. "And we're worried too." She kind of felt like now was her moment so she took her shot. "You don't seem quite like yourself these days. It's almost like you're just... a little too obsessed with... food."

"I wouldn't say obsessed," She rolled her eyes. "Maybe preoccupied. But like I said, I've just been soooo hungry."

"And we each pig the hell out. All of us! Each & every ladies' night. So I know I probably sound ridiculous, but like, last night? You sat by yourself, with all the food. Instead of us, your friends!"

"Well not Veronica." Courtney argued with a grin.

"Fine," Holly admitted with an eye roll. "She's a bit much. But the rest of us!"

"I... yeah..." Slowly Courtney also admitted. "I'm sorry. It was more because I didn't... didn't want to have to keep getting up. My knees have been... ech."

"No I mean," Holly awkwardly tried to empathize. "I get it, but like..."

"No! I know!" Courtney sighed, finishing the chocolate glazed, what was probably her fifth donut. Of the dozen. Not that Holly was counting. "It was super rude of me now, I get it."

"It wasn't THAT rude!" Holly tried to instill. "But it was... awkward. And made us worry a little. And then Rachel... well..." 

"I mean, I get it!" Courtney sighed. "I must've made a terrible first impression. She seems like she's pretty cool!" Courtney tried.

"Maybe a little too, sometimes." Holly's eyes rolled. "But she didn't know... And she certainly didn't mean anything in like a bad..."

"Oh no! No! I... I get it!" Courtney nodded. Speaking of "awkward," the whole conversation devolving into this stilted back & forth was something neither of them wanted. Silently, the two seemed to both agree it needed to stop, so for a moment silence filled the space. 

Holly looked down to take another scoop of her pie, only to realize it was mostly already gone. Way less remained than she realized. Had she been picking at it this whole time? In fact, there was only just enough to fill her fork.

"Good pie." She said with her last mouthful. "Thanks for sharing!"

"Mmmmm!" Courtney tried to catch a crumb that dropped from her bite. "Thanks for donuts!"

"Miss Courtney, I'm sorry to interrupt." Her Penny chimed. But the two seemed to welcome the distraction.

"Yeah?" Courtney asked the ceiling with a bit of a bellow.

"Did you still want me to place that order?" 

"Hmm?" Holly's brow bounced. Courtney sighed, almost as if she was maybe anticipating some backlash.

"Before you showed up, Penny & I were kicking around the idea about maybe getting some Chinese for lunch." She admitted.

"Oh. Well," Holly started. "I'm sorry to ruin that with donuts."

"Ruin...?" Courtney seemed to laugh. There was a pause until it slowly dawned on Holly that she was serious. That her plans hadn't been ruined by the donuts, & that she was still strongly considering this. "You want some too?" Make that "she was still definitely doing this." Holly blinked in disbelief. She tried to gauge her own hunger. Which, had been a bit tough these days. Courtney hadn't been wrong. And pie aside, Holly didn't go as hard on the donuts as she had, so she did have room but the combination? One on top the other? After all this talk about being concerned about being hungry all the time? "Oh, please tell me you'll hang for lunch! I feel bad about last night! Let me buy! I'll make it up to you! We can invite Rachel too if you want!"

"No!" Holly didn't mean to shout. But the idea of having her sister come in to see this all going so far awry was the last thing she needed. But to be fair, this would at least be a proper meal & not just donuts. And pie. And it had been a while since she'd gotten dumplings.

"Fine." Holly conceded with a heavy sigh. "I'll take an order of pork dumplings, I guess." If only because it did sound good after going a few weeks without any. But she wasn't thrilled with the idea. Not as thrilled as Courtney clearly was.

After a bit of a walk, Rachel had made her way over to the big coffee chain's local shop. It seemed like one of their big, corporate, tentpole, well-to-do ones. The motif was slightly more industrial, but like upcycled, posh, repurposed industrial. And it was in a space with tall ceilings. Basically, she hated it more on the grounds of principle than the design & actual aesthetic. And after the past couple days, she had a pretty low bar. It being a weekend around lunch, it was busy, but the line seemed relatively kind of short, so she hopped in before more people started lumbering in through the door.

Looking around, she started to notice the clientele. It was maybe a little over half a mile from the Bellflower, but a lot of customers looked as though they could've been neighbors of Holly's. But something about them made her feel like she was the only one who had walked. Besides members of the staff, once again, she was the skinniest person in the room. A woman got in line behind her, talking on her cellphone. She was maybe just a little older than Holly, & had kind of a nasal valley girl thing going on. 

"And then what did she say?" Rachel turned to get a quick glance. She was decked out in a beige, velour track suit, presumably never used to actually workout, two sizes too small, hiding her eyes behind giant mirror like sunglasses. She smacked her gum. And she was easily two Rachels wide. "Omigod!" Facing forward again, Rachel's eyes rolled, as she clenched her knapsack a little tighter.

"Next!"

"Caramel Macc', I guess. Grande is it?" She was usually went Americano, but for some reason, she felt like going for something a little different. The guy nodded.

"Name?"

"Rachel," she nodded. She looked around behind the counter & had a thought. "You know, while I'm here, do you think maybe I could also just get an application?" Not that she wasn't going to stop pursuing a job with Deidre, but hedging her bets, maybe a contingency wasn't such a bad idea. Besides, it wasn't far now that she was car-less. And so far it was a place she hated the least in a general three mile radius.

"You wanna work... here?" The guy asked with one brow raised. His tone was chill, but Rachel had a hard time placing his context. Maybe he assumed she was one of these bougie girls trying to apply for a barista position.

"I'm not like..." she started. She turned to look around the room, catching another glimpse of the woman behind her. Then she realized maybe, because of all the bougie girls, wanting to work here was something like having a deathwish. Either way, he smirked something of a sinister smirk. 

"They don't do paper applications any more. Environment & all. Just go online. Tell them Oakmont. Store #12524."

"12524." Rachel recited. "Ok, man. Thanks!"

"It's your funeral." he laughed, pointing towards the latter option. He winked.

With her caramel drizzled drink, Rachel found the one remaining empty seat in the corner & quickly pulled out her headphones & laptop. She hated the idea of looking like one of THOSE people. But she didn't have a screenplay, she felt like she had actual, justifiable reasons for being here. And right now she wanted resume her digging.

She refreshed the search once again for "Bellflower Condos Oakmont." But other than one apparently new listing, there weren't that many updates or changes from her initial results. And the further down she went, there were mostly just old real estate listings, units that had already been sold, flooding every pertinent piece of information. 

It wasn't until three pages deep that Rachel finally found a local news article. It was from a couple of years ago, when the building was first announced, & actually seemed more like a blurb than any sort of actual write up. And in it, they cited it being owned by "Bellflower Acquisitions, a subsidiary of GOF Futures," which sounded both vague & extremely ominous at the same time. But finally! Something!

She immediately copy & pasted that into a new search window. But like her initial "Bellflower" search, the results were all over the yard. In fact, by the fifth page, she started to question if that was even correct information. She even tried each of them separate. First the sinister sounding "Bellflower Acquisitions," then the evil "GOF Futures." But got a lot of the same irrelevant links. If they were so good at business, why wouldn't they have a website? Beyond the one for the condos of course. The deeper she dug, the less sense this all seemed to make. It was then on like the 6th result page she noticed it.

A personal JackedIn page, the business social media site that Rachel tended to avoid like the plague. It belonged to a man named "Philo Bell." As she opened it, she saw an image of a man, a bit past middle age. His hair was graying, & his expression flat. It seemed almost like a drivers license or passport photo. Solid background color, & cropped to only be his head. And while in maybe some kind of a sweater, he didn't seem to be dressed professionally. At least not for a social media site geared for "professionals." And to her, something about his face just... wasn't quite right. Like looking at it, she got the feeling that this guy wasn't... real. 

She opened his image in a new tab, putting in a pin in it as she looked for why this came up as one of her search results. And right there in front of her, his listed employer was one "GOF Futures," for the past five years. Rachel immediately clicked that hyperlink towards that business's page. Only... it was a dead link. Like not even a JackedIn page saying it didn't exist, her browser told her didn't exist. After like a dozen attempts.

"What the fuck?" she mouthed to herself softly. She went back to Philo, catching glimpse of his image again. She couldn't make out exactly what it was, but something was offputting about it. But she figured the best course of action was to first maybe start a new search for Philo Bell's name. Most of the results yielded seemed to be obituraries. But for men seeming much older than the man in the photo. But looking at it once again, she couldn't help it. 

She put it into a reverse image search, hoping maybe she could figure out what was so upsetting about it. A bunch of images of the man showed up. But the JackedIn page came up second. The first? ThisIsAPersonThatDoesntExist.net, a website she had been to once, months ago, that creeped her right the fuck out. 

Every time you go to the site, it uses facial recognition data to construct a composite semblance of a person... who doesn't exist. And apparently Philo here, was one of them. And just as the implications of that started to weigh heavily on her, she realized that someone was casting a shadow over her. She looked up to see a silhouette of frizzy hair.

"How's it going?" Fran asked. "Saw you sitting over here & figured I'd say hi." Rachel's expression perked up into a smile. For the first time, she was not stretching ridiculously small workout clothes across her fatter frame. Instead, it was a vintage NASA tee tucked into high waisted shorts. Although the shorts may've been a bit on the tighter side, she looked the slightest bit skinnier not stretching an outfit to its absolute max. But without knowing much about her new acquaintance, seeing her dressed in something not too different from something she herself would wear helped put Rachel a little more at ease.

"Not too bad. You?" She was eager to show her what she had just found.

"Taking a break today. From my typical routine." Fran admitted, leaning on the chair across from Rachel. "Feel a little bad about, but my knees need a rest. But hey! Skinny mocha though!" she gave her drink a shake. Now that she wasn't wheezing for air after a run, Rachel noted Fran had something of a sexy rasp to her voice. She sort of wished she sounded that cool.

"Cool, cool." she nodded. She skipped a beat before resuming her excitement. "So... I was doing a little bit of digging. On the Bellflo..." She started to spin her laptop around, but Fran suddenly flashed a look of concern.

"Whoa whoa! We're... too close." Franchesca said leerily, looking over her shoulders before staring in the direction of the towers. "I... I don't feel comfortable... getting into it... so close to here."

"Really?!" Rachel asked with some disbelief. Having been called paranoid for so long, she wondered if this is how she seemed to other people. "Even here?"

"Look around. A lot of the Bellflower comes here."

"Well yeah but..." Rachel tried. "They're not gonna..."

"Their phones." Fran said between her teeth, her eyes intensifying for a flash to punctuate it. Rachel growled. She wanted to tell her about this Philo Bell. And "Bellflower Acquisitions," & "GOF Futures." Holly. And Courtney. And all of Holly's other friends. Oh! And the thirteenth floor? What the hell was up with that? But she couldn't, & it was almost as frustrating as dealing with her car. "Fine, fine. But could you at least tell me? What did you meant when you said "Stay Mindful?" Like just to be clear..." Fran looked behind herself again, but was slightly less concerned now.

"Just... exactly what it means..." she shrugged vaguely. It seemed intentionally so. "Stay mindful. Pay attention to what you're doing. What's going on around you. Keep your wits about you. Don't just... go with the flow... Too many do & well..." she said, gesturing to the side. It seemed to be towards one of the bigger women in the room, but still, Rachel couldn't tell for sure. "Look, it really isn't good... us talking like this out here like this. I'll talk to the others, we'll set something up. Away from here. Soon! We'll compare notes, okay?"

"Yeah! Sure!" Rachel said.

"Good seeing you." Fran nodded with smile.

"Yeah," Rachel nodded back. And with that Fran started making her way towards the door, having to wiggle through some of the tighter gaps between tables, & around some of the other even larger patrons.

Rachel looked back down at her laptop, trying to remember where was she. Philo Bell, the deep fake guy, right! But what next? Yeah the guy was made up, or at least the picture was. But it was also sort of a dead end. One where she didn't know where to take it further. But then she thought about it. And if Fran was that worried about this still being too close to the Bellflower, should she be concerned? She started to look around the room. No one was looking at her. No one cared. But a solid 80% of them had some sort of device. And they were all sharing the same network right now.

So, in typical paranoid Rachel fashion, she bookmarked all of the important stuff & figured it was enough digging for one day. Maybe there'd be more whenever this meet up with Fran happened.

"I... I think... I think I've hit my... limit." Holly wheezed.

"You're not going to finish that one?" Courtney asked, looking over her boobs. The subtext being "please offer it to me then." With the order, Holly only asked for one serving of pork dumplings, but ultimately three came. And the place gave out massive servings. One was Holly's, one was part of Courtney's four plate order, but then Penny said she tacked on the other in case they wanted more & could share. But with Courtney's four plates, mostly seemed to go to Holly. Who was now deeply regretting her life choices. This was also after two egg rolls & a packet of fried noodles she hadn't been intending on. And the dumplings had just been so... wonderful. Seared perfectly. She really wanted that last one, but maybe she was better off forking it over to Courtney. Just this once.

"...Here." she sighed. "Otherwise, I might ex -hic- plode." She tried to reach, but her stomach was so full, she had to stop short. Luckily one of the mechanical arms bridged the gap, as Courtney wouldn't have been able to manage either.

"Thanks!" said a salivating Court, nodding to both Holly & her Penny's arm. Instead of chopsticks, she saw no problem with just pinching it between her fat fingers & popping it into her mouth.

"That was sooOoooo good." Courtney said, seemingly ready for almost another round.

"I... " Holly panted. A much different pant than this morning, but a pant nonetheless. "I think I want... to die..."

"Oh come on!" Courtney chided. "You barely had anything." Which might've been true in relative terms, but her tummy begged to differ. 

"No... th-this is..." Holly struggled, fending off another hiccup. "Something's... not right."

"Okay, okay!" Courtney sighed. "I'll go to the doctor."

"No... I mean!" Holly took a second. She wondered if she had ever been this full in her entire life. "Definitely go! Let them... look at you! Get checked out." She leaned back, realizing at some point she must've inadvertantly undid her fly. Or perhaps it had popped on its own. Fuck, did she ruin her jeans? She couldn't quite bend to see. "But it's... it's not just you!" She realized it felt better to give her belly the slightest rub. "I've been realizing... this... this isn't at all like me either."

"You too?" Courtney seemed to suddenly dawn some genuine concern. 

"Court, look at my gut!" She lifted up her flannel to the one side. It was round, & seemingly packed tight. "I just had... 3 or 4 donuts, a quarter of a -hic- pie, two egg rolls, a packet of fried noodles, & a basically platter's worth of pork dumplings."

"I mean, it seems like quite a bit, I guess." she slowly shrugged. "I don't know, maybe given how much I can do, my judgment's a little... off." This kind of sealed the deal for Holly. Rachel was definitely right. She couldn't turn to see thin High School Courtney in the thermal blanket in the picture behind her, but to go from that to not being able to tell how much food was too much food? There was no denying it. Something was definitely up.

"It's... it's a lot!" Holly assured her, hiccupping again.

"Would you perhaps care for an antacid, Miss Holly?" Court's Penny suddenly chimed in.

"Oh god..." she sputtered. "Maybe. I... I don't know..." She let her head fall back a little & stare at the ceiling for a moment, looking at the tracklines for the mechanical arms. She thought back to just this morning, during her & Rachel's jog. How her Penny came in over her phone when she thought she might've been distressed. Now, feeling a whole lot of discomfort on the other end of the spectrum, she thought it was weird Courtney's was the one chiming in instead of her own. Why was Courtney's so much nicer to her, she wondered. Maybe she was peeved about Rachel?

It was then she felt the gas bubbles a-burbling, making a b-line towards her throat. It was too late.

"Buh-RRRRAAAAAPPPPP!"

"Yeah girl!" Courtney giggled. "Let it out!"

"I'm... Jesus! I'm so sorry..." Holly's whole face flashed a deep red, similar to when she busted out of her leggings. But at the same time, she did feel at least the slightest bit better.

"No! Are you kidding me?! You're fine! You're fine!" Courtney chuckled. "Trust me!" She tried to muster one of her own, but, despite the size disparity, it was somehow a lot daintier than Holly's, distressing her even more. But she tried to giggle anyhow.

"I'm turning into such a slob." Holly fretted.

"You're not a slob! You had way less than me!" Courtney suddenly got a bit stern. "Does that mean I'm a slob to you?"

"No I didn't mean it like..." Holly huffed. "Stop! Don't turn my words on me! Not now!"

"I kid, I kid." Courtney laughed. Holly shook her head with a slight giggle, but both trailed until it got quiet again. That's when Courtney pursed her lips for a second. "Do you..." she looked as though she was trying to phrase something in her head, but didn't know exactly how. "... think maybe... it's the place? Being... here?"

"What?" Holly asked, looking at her with some befuddlement. "Causing this? You mean... like... the Bellflower?"

"Well... like... I don't know..." Courtney stammered. "I just.. I mean... speaking for me here. I've been here almost about a year or so now. And like... thinking back? I feel like all this?" her hands gesticulated in game show presenter fashion towards her own bulk. But to really drive it home, gave her side a bit of a firm pat. "I think it all maybe started to happen... just about the time I got here."

"That's..." Holly started, shaking her head. Now Courtney was starting to sound like Rachel. But she thought about her own workout routine. Before she got her job, & had to move here, she was still working out pretty frequently. "I don't think it's..." And when she came here, she had been anticipating the gym reopening from its renovation. After moving her stuff, she figured she'd give it a week. But it came & went. Then another. And another. "... I just...."

"I don't know," Courtney sighed. "I know it probably sounds crazy, but I figured I'd just throw it out there. It all just sort of lines up. At least for me."

"Yeah I just don't..." Holly could see the parallels to her own experience, but for some reason just didn't seem able to commit. And she couldn't even figure out why. 

Just then, Holly's ringtone went off. She patted her pockets & forgot she had stashed it in her shirt's.

"Sorry," she apologized to Courtney. Courtney, in turn shook her head, pushed the corners of her lips down into her jowl, as if to say "no, by all means." "It's... Rachel?" Holly hit the accept button before bringing to her ear. "Hello?"

"-kzik- HOL-kzzzzzk" There was a ton of digital noise. Not quiet static, but... glitchy. And in the middle of it, was Rachel, distorted, but also with a tone of panic.

"Hello...? Rachel?" Courtney could hear the concern in her voice & her expression changed.

"-kzzzik--LY!" Yeah, definitely some sort of panic. Holly didn't like this one bit. On reflex, she bolted up out of her chair, forgetting her packed stomach. She winced a painful wince. "Where are you? The condo?!"

"-ELP! kzzzzzik-"

"That sounded like a "help." Courtney murmurred softly, it having been so loud, she could hear it spill out. "Is she alright?!"

"I... " Holly looked at her phone, only to see the call end on its own quite suddenly. "I don't know! I gotta go! I don't even know!"

"Please! Please!" Courtney waved both her hands. "Make sure she's ok! Uh... uh... I'm fine, but you're right! I'll talk to Penny & set up a doctor's appointment or something. Soon! But go! I hope she's okay!"

"Okay," Holly grit panickedly, slowly backing away. Every step made her painfully aware of her entire stomach's contents. But at the same time, she felt like she had to move. Swiftly. At least as swiftly as she could. "I'll call you! Soon!" 

Cradling one arm against her tummy, she lumbered down Courtney's hall & towards general direction of the elevator. She hurt. Tired from her jog, not packed to the gills with pork & sugar, but she also worried. Her mind raced. Did Rachel say she was going somewhere? Or had maybe someone broken in? With her phone in her hand, she fumbled to call back, but suddenly couldn't seem to get much of a signal. In this building? That had never happened before.

"Come on! Come on!" she said frantically pressing the button to the elevator rapidly. It lit up, but took its typical sweet time. "Fuck!" Holly looked down the hallway, seeing a sign pointing towards the stairs. But the digital read out of the elevator said "2." Was she really considering this? NOW?! But what if Rachel was in trouble? If the roles were reversed, would Rachel do the same? She didn't have to finish the thought to realize the answer was of course, but at the same time, stairs were so much easier for her now. At least in comparison. "3" the elevator finally went up a floor. "Dammit." Holly resigned.

This was the first time in her six months of being at the Bellflower that Holly had ever entered the stairwell. Walking out of the door clearly marked with a giant "16," she first decided to look down over the railing. Pristine, freshly painted, or perhaps barely used stairs, but nothing else. No signs of life. No nothing. 

"Fuck!" Holly sighed, lowering her first step. Her belly felt so... heavy. She worried moving too quickly might jostle things around inside too much. But she still stepped with purpose. And before she knew it, the first flight was done, turning to take the next. She tried to reassure herself that down was less of a big deal than up. But she also had little warning before unleashing another burp, echoing throughout every floor loudly. She had become a bright red again by the time she finally stopped hearing its reverberations.

"15" she saw in front of her. Halfway. And she was out of breath. Not that her full stomach had somehow been letting her take full breaths this whole time. A smaller, more containable belch shook its way out of her by the time she had reached the three quarters mark. And some point, as she started on the last flight, she thought back to that offhand comment Rachel had made about the 13th floor. Had she tried to investigate? Should Holly, now? She tried peeking over the railing again, but the flights of stairs switched back too tightly to get a good view. No, she'd check the condo first! That's what she said she'd do! She'd do that! Besides, reaching this final floor, she had already exceeded her daily stairs quota. 

Holly made her way through the quiet halls, coming out by the elevator. She looked at the digital readout to see it was on "11," & while she hated the stairs, part of her felt justified in her decision. By the time it would've hit 16? 

But she was running low on energy now, despite all that she had eaten. Her purposeful steps, didn't lack the purpose, but loosened a little in tempo. Until suddenly, the elevator dinged behind her. Out of instinct, she just sort of peered back over her shoulder.

"Oh. Hey!" Rachel looked up in recognition, as she stepped out. "Perfect timing. How did it... go?" She asked, starting off earnestly, but slowly, she got a better view of her older sister as Holly slowly turned around. Most notably, the round dome of belly she was now supporting. Even with the flannel hanging a bit, she almost looked as though she was pregnant & just starting to show. 

But from Holly's perspective, she noted Holly's voice. How nonplussed it was. Without a shred of urgency or panic to it. In the slightest.

"Wha..." Holly gasped, ready to collapse. "What was that... phone call?"

"Phone call?" Rachel squinted. "What phone call?"

"You just...!" Holly tried to insist, but couldn't get the words together, but waved the phone that was still in her hand. 

"I... didn't try to call you." Rachel said, shaking her head. "I went out to grab a coffee. Hang out. Was just doing my own thing."

"What?!" Holly growled. Making her run, twice in one day, one of which included stairs? A murderous glint flared up in her eyes.

"I haven't tried calling you. You or anybody!" Rachel then scoffed. "Here." She dug for her phone & held it up, pulling up the call log. No calls, not only in the last twenty minutes, but since the initial call, to Holly, the other night when she first arrived. And before that, their mom, last Sunday. "You know me! I'd text."

"You sounded... you were..." Holly tried to get the words out but they weren't coming. Part of her was thankful Rachel was perfectly fine, but part of her wanted there to be some proper justification for making her freak out the way she just did. Now she noticed her younger sisters face pinch into something of a scowl.

"So how many donuts did you eat?"

"I... -urp- d-don't want to talk about it." Holly winced, trying to stand straight up. But her hand still firmly rested on her blatant food baby. Any bit of forward progress made my their jog that morning had been eviscerated. And they both knew it. But instead of addressing it any further, they started to make their way towards Holly's condo. Once in the door, Holly broke immediately towards her bedroom, shutting it behind her quickly.

"Penny, was she eating that whole time?!" Rachel asked.

"Oh," The AI chirped, "So we're talking now?"

"I jus... Rrrrrr!!" Rachel flipped the bird in the general direction of the console before making her way back to her corner of the living room to drop off her bag.

Holly threw herself onto her bed, though was careful not to land ON her painfully full stomach. Rachel, with a concerned voice tried to knock at the door. 

"You ok? Hol?" Hearing the concern in her sister's voice made Holly feel even more of a deep shame. But she wasn't about to respond. To anybody.

"Are you ok, Miss Holly?" Penny asked, softly. It was low volume. Intended for Holly, & Holly alone. Rachel was well out of ear shot.

"I've been... better." She said, close to tears. "Today was just... rough."

"Can I possibly be of assistance?"

"Just... no." Holly sighed. "I just want to be left alone right now."

"Well if there's anything you need, anything at all, please do not hesit..."

"I know, Penny." Holly flashed something of a smile, genuinely. "I appreciate it. Just, I don't want to face Rachel until like... the morning."

"Done, & done." Penny said. Holly heard the door in the bathroom also lock. "But what about dinner in a few hours?"

"No!" Holly winced sharply. "I can't... please don't even talk to me about food right now! Please!"

"Okay," Penny obliged. "But let me know if you change your mind. If you're worried about Rachel finding out, she doesn't have to know." Was the AI talking about sneaking her food? It didn't matter anyway. There's no way she could eat another thing.

"No! No! I'm too full!" she told the AI. And herself. "Please! Just... just a little alone time..." Her voice drifting a little. She suddenly started feeling her eyelids droop.

"You've got it!" Penny replied affirmatively, before getting quiet again. 

She started feeling herself becoming very sleepy, chalking it all up to just how much she had overdid it today. Between trying to exercise, dealing with Rachel, dealing with Courtney & stuffing her face beyond the furthest point she'd ever been stuffed, only to seemingly be pranked into running again on top of that. Whose cruel joke was that?

Sleep felt good & she wasn't putting up too much of a fight, but there was just so much on her mind & she couldn't seem to get comfortable. Her stomach grumbled as things seemed to shift around a bit. Things might've been starting to digest a little. She worried about where it would all end up. She thought about the revelation that she & Courtney were more alike than she had even realized. She ran track too. And now? Well, that all came as a complete shock. 

She tried rolling over again, but her belly kept getting in the way. She couldn't prop it against anything. Eventually, she decided to just prop her pillows up a bit & rest slightly leaning, on her back. It wasn't great, but it seemed like her best option at the moment. She still couldn't believe how full she was. She couldn't fathom ever being this full. In her life. The pork dumplings were amazing though. And the donuts were bad. Even the pie, not her favorite, still really good. Everything tasted great. At least in the moment. But now? She was in agony.

And the absolute worst part of all: part of her was still sort of hungry. Despite the pain, if she wanted to? She easily could've kept going. And after spending so much time with Courtney alone, that prospect horrified her.