Bellflower Part 23 (Patreon)

In this installment, Rachel experiences some setbacks in attempting to move out of the Bellflower. But the process has left her a bit distracted. And what are Holly & Penny talking about?

As always, it's a little later than I hoped but I was getting into the back & forth of the last Fran sequence a little bit, so it went a bit longer than originally anticipated. Also too, if you got two emails for this, sorry! There was a scene I had originally written before that I wanted to end on & I forgot to add it the first time I posted. I would've just started the next one with it, but I feel like it works a lot better here. So I just wanted to alert folks to that change. Sorry.

It feels like we've been a lot more Rachel-centric lately. So the next few, the perspective might shift around for a bit, maybe catch up with some other characters too. Not that Rachel & her newly burgeoning belly won't be there, mind you. But figured I'd give a heads up.

I've got other stuff for you guys this week too hopefully, both Bellflower & not. So be on the look out! 

But for now, please enjoy!

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23

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Her eyes went wide. “Rejected?!” 

The noise that she followed it with was wild, & radiated sheer disgust. She imagined if she was someone else hearing her make such a noise? It would be on par with the kind of sound one of these basic Oakmont-y type girls would make before insisting to speak with somebody’s manager. But this was different! She was different! Hers? It felt way, way more justified. “Wait! What do you mean “rejected?” Rachel huffed into her phone. She was gradually getting louder, more exasperated.

Holly could only watch, a semi casual observer in all this while waiting for her donut order to be filled. Another two dozen for the office this morning. If only to make up for the fact she was running a little late again, trying to find an outfit that didn’t cut off her circulation or that she was literally busting out of. Jeez, she had been leaving Penny with so many buttons to sew back on as of late. Not that more donuts were going to help that any. Just distract Deidre from her tardiness. But speaking of distractions, that’s when she noticed Rachel finally got the response to her question, & she watched her sister’s eyes nearly bug out of her skull. It was also at that moment the woman behind the counter reemerged with a second large oblong box full of donuts. Holly had turned & just started to lean in to pay.

“What…? “Criminal record?!” Rachel screamed in disbelief. “Manslaughter?!” Even louder now, unintentionally pulling all eyes of the busy shop toward her. “OH! Across state lines I guess? That’s… That’s…!” Absentmindedly, she deflected Holly to the side using a shoulder & started to wrestle with the flimsy piece of tape sealing the box on top shut. 

“Uh, hey!” Holly had tried to protest, but not before a distracted Rachel yanked out a cruller. In the same swift motion, she turned away with a bit of a stomp, while taking a huge bite. 

“That’s INSANE!” Rachel finally managed angrily with a mostly full mouth. The woman behind the counter & Holly locked eyes awkwardly.

“Another…?” The woman tried to oblige with a timid smile & thick accent. “So it’s a full two dozen?” Holly, blushing, grit her teeth, almost as if to apologize.

“Might as well, I guess.” She whispered, her head tilting a little, embarrassed. “Sorry, she…” She watched Rachel pace off to the side. “Bad news, I guess.” Holly keenly listened in on Rachel’s side of the call while resisting the urge to grab one of the three jam filled ones she asked for. “Ooops, guess we need ANOTHER one” played out in her head. But no, Rachel’s rage was already taxing everyone else’s goodwill. And the lady seemed nice.

Rachel angrily took another chomp before continuing her conversation, loudly. Much in the same, obnoxious way she detested when other people around here did. But this was different! She felt completely justified in her outrage here! If the other people waiting in line behind them only knew what she had been dealing with, this past week! Besides? The very slight bit of catharsis she got from causing a scene? It almost helped slightly. She could start to see why those rich, entitled brats did this sort of thing so often.

“Um, yeah! I think you have the wrong Rachel. In fact? I’m sure of it!” She insisted, leaving room for a pause. “No! No. That’s not me! I’m not a convicted felon.” She punctuated the “not” with a laugh, because to her, this was getting absurd. More & more each time! 

As the woman in the donut shop uniform dutifully replenished the cruller Rachel had robbed, Holly helped reaffix the flimsy bit of tape the best she could. When Rachel turned to look in her direction again, she applied an expression of feigned shock. Her own form of solidarity.

“Is that all?” The woman behind the counter asked.

“Thanks,” Holly mouthed to the woman, handing her a credit card. The woman gave a puckered, somewhat patient smile & rang them up.

“How do I know?!” Rachel mimicked angrily. “BECAUSE! I’ve never done anything like that! No trouble with the cops! Or have I even gotten arrested! Or served any goddamn time for that matter!” Another brief pause helped delineate exactly how loud her conversation was than the rest of the donut shop. “Well what do you mean I have to RESTART the application process?! I already…! And my deposit?! You guys fucked it… No! You know what?!” “FUCK!” She pounded the button with her phone & pantomimed the wind up of spiking her phone into the floor before catching herself at the very last second. Instead, she settled on something of a loud growl & violent shake of her hands, focusing mostly at the one clutching the phone, as if the vibe would carry through to the other end or maybe to whom she had really suspected doing this. But in the quiet rest of the shop, a throat cleared. That’s when she noticed the angry mother of the two small children she just loudly cursed in front of. She awkwardly softened slightly, starting to apologize before getting cut off by her sister standing at the ready.

“A-ag-again…?” Holly asked sheepishly, boxes of donuts in hand, with her iced coffee balancing on top. She was trying to hasten their exit. She was already running late as it was, after all.

“That’s been the fifth one!” Rachel sighed an intensely frustrated sigh while trying to hold the door for her sister. It was getting a little more awkward, how wide she had to open it to accommodate for Holly these days while also not letting too much of her own slightly wider frame in her sister’s way as she leaned to hold it. Holly nodded as she lifted the box a little higher to double check her clearance along the sides.

“And they just… keep getting you mixed up with some other, CRIMINAL Rachel?” Holly asked fumbling to hit the button on her keyfob. Her SUV chirped. “With the exact same name & like… birthdate?”

“Yeah!” Rachel snapped back. “One that’s never been an issue at any other point in my life. Only… now.” Rachel simmered, as she popped the door handle. “All of a sudden!” Her head wobbled on her neck as if something was afoot.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Holly asked suspiciously, fearing one of her sister’s conspiracy rabbitholes. All while she took great care in securing the donut boxes along the back seat. When Rachel realized that was what she was doing, she seemed almost a little passed over.

“I… can hold them up here if…” She softly almost whimpered.

“No.” Holly reared back. She shut the door to the back before opening the one to the driver’s seat, hoisting her fat ass inside. “You’re a little too… heated right now.” She continued, the tone of her voice direct, but tiptoeing slightly. And the way she kept her eye contact evasive only reinforced that.

“Heated?” Rachel’s eyes locked on Holly as her chin pointed further down. Holly didn’t return the look. Instead, she started the engine.

“If I let you hold them, you’d probably like… stress eat a whole half dozen of them right now before we even left the parking lot.” The corners of her mouth curled up coyly into a suppressed laugh as Rachel reacted with almost as much disgust as when she first received the bad news a few minutes ago.

“STRESS EAT?!” She scoffed as Holly began to back up. “I DO NOT stress eat!” She saying it through almost clenched teeth, she let her grimace hold for a second. For Holly, of all people, to be the one commenting on her eating all of a sudden?! The NERVE! Meanwhile, her older sister pivoted to check out the back, but was careful to keep avoiding eye contact, continuing her coy semblance of a smile instead.

“I don’t think you KNOW that you do,” She rasped softly, deviously trailing as if the rest was already implied. Holly, knewRachel was already upset. And now certainly wasn’t the time to poke fun. But at the same time? To her? There just seemed to be something right with the world again, now that Rachel seemed to be gaining back a little bit of her classic pudge. Sure, as it stood, of the two of them? She was still the heavier, fine. By a lot more than she’d probably be comfortable admitting out loud even. At the same time? After all the bluster her little sister had when she first showed up, chiding her for how much she might’ve let herself go? There was just something a bit reassuring to her about Rachel with a bit of padding now too. Like she wasn’t immune to a little overindulgence either. Especially after all that walking she went on & on about.

“I don’t…!” At first, Rachel wanted to argue & address the sheer gall of Holly here. “URRRRRR!” She pounded the side of her fist into the side of the door in frustration along with the growling outburst. 

“Hey!!” Holly finally shot a look in Rachel’s direction. 

“Sorry…” She leaned her forehead into outstretched fingers from her arm, leaning against the window. “I just…” It was hard to articulate. While Holly was wrong about her being a stress eater, Rachel couldn’t really argue with her sister’s overall take. That maybe she shouldn’t be pounding donuts right now. And her being right about that added to her already elevated levels of frustration right now. The fact that even Holly was being more mindful than she was.

“There’s no rush!” Holly repeated for the umpteen millionth time that week, as started to pull out of the parking lot. “I actually like having you around. You don’t have to move out right away.”

“Yes. I. Do.” Rachel retorted sternly. As Holly went through another green light, she readjusted & slouched in the seat a little, crossing her arms & hugging them tightly into her softening middle. “And right now? It’s not even about not rushing!” she insisted, even though, it kind of was. “Right now? I just want to know why my references & like… criminal record keep getting all… screwy.” She tried to avoid the curse, worrying she hit her quota earlier. Or at least gun shy after doing it in front of the kids. “This?! This bullshit? Some other Rachel out there? Besmirching my good name? It has literally never came up before. Ever. So why now? Like, all of a sudden? In the span of a week, five places seem to just like… confuse me with some felon…? And then go on to reject me because they think I lied about it? That’s not to mention the three other places I tried looking at that just completely seemed to up & ghost on me!”

“You’re sounding… paranoid.” Holly kept her eyes on the road. Rachel recoiled in her seat, wincing & turning toward her window again. She hated when Holly called her that. And even though it seemed like her constant go-to, it only seemed to build up more of a sting over time. Especially the more they bonded. But Holly, after a long pause tried to pull up from the nosedive. “It’s all a misunderstanding, but like… what I truly believe…? If they don’t see how great you are? Then it just wasn’t meant to be.” Rachel started to writhe, making a hissing noise like she was about to rebound with something. But Holly kept steamrolling. “And I KNOW you’ll find a place. Eventually. But it’s… it’s a process!”

“I know.” Rachel rasped at what she took as condescension. “It’s not my first rodeo. But this…?” She gesticulated, pulling her arms away from her soft tummy. Her tight button down shirt had rode & shifted slightly, showing gaps of pasty belly flesh underneath. She wiggled to adjust & yank it back down, but it only made her stomach growl. She did everything she could from not diving into the back & just attacking the boxes of donuts like a cheetah pouncing a gazelle.

“You’ll find a place!” Holly tried to assure her, her stomach growling too. “But until you do? Just know that it’s great having you around, okay?”

“Sure. Fine. Whatever.” Rachel huffed, settling on the fact that folding her arms & hugging her own belly was maybe the better option. It was turning out to be a rough morning. 

“First point of order, Nadya has officially moved onto... greener pastures.” Dawn announced at their morning meeting with a sigh.

“Oh.” Trudy said blankly. Without much of a lead to follow, Rachel didn’t know quite how to react to the news. Having only spoken to the girl on the phone maybe once or twice? She didn’t want to come off as overtly mean or callous, but given the suspicions she had long harbored? She couldn’t help but wonder exactly how literal that “greener pastures” euphemism  actually was, in this case. But she shouldn’t laugh, nibbling on a chocolate glazed donut. “Did she... quit?” Her coworker finally blurted.

“Her… output seemed to be slowing a little. And I mean she’s been experiencing some… health... things.” Dawn’s hand wave came off a little dismissively, though it didn’t seem as though it had intended to be. She pressed past instead of dwelling. “But, whatever! Ultimately, it was kind of a mutual thing. Amiable, of course!” She was sure to insist a bit sharply. Before mindlessly plugging the last large bite of a pink frosted donut into her maw, anyway. 

While Rachel used the phone call this morning at the donut shop as an excuse NOT to give in to the temptation of bringing in donuts for her office that morning, Trudy had gone ahead & brought two dozen of her own instead. Despite there only being the three of them. Now more especially. Dawn gulped down the rest of her donut. “But door’s always open for her, if she’s ever up to coming back. Frankly, we need the help around here.” Dawn leveled to her two subordinates.

“Hmmmm.” Trudy seemed to hummingly acknowledge with a nod. Rachel didn’t want to come off sounding like a contrarian but she had a few weeks under her belt now. And having grown to be a full-fledged member of the team, she didn’t find what they did to be all that difficult honestly. Hell, they were mostly done with the Marulla catalog, aside from some their end being a little heavyhanded with the revisions. In the pantheon of jobs she held? This was downright cushy, honestly. But she wasn’t going to rock the boat. And so slowly, she nodded too.

“But we’ll like… sign a card. Maybe get her wine & cheese basket or something, if you guys want to chip in.”

“Ooh, yeah!” Trudy slowly, again, sort of blankly answered. “That might be nice.”

“S-sure.” Rachel shrugged, trying to go with the flow.

“Ha! What am I saying?” Their supervisor leaned back in her chair, causing it to creak loudly under her mass. She faced Rachel. “You didn’t even meet her, did you, Rach?”

“Uh, honestly?” Rachel shrugged. “Yeah, no.”

“Well, it’s still a nice gesture.” Trudy noted.

“Oh, it’s sweet, sure. Super sweet of you.” Dawn rocked forward, reaching a wobbly arm in to pull another donut from the center of the table. “Well, feel free if you want, newbie. But don’t feel obligated.”

“No I…” Rachel awkwardly shrugged. “I don’t mind kicking in a few bucks.” She tilted her head to the other side. “Do you know what she’s going to be doing now? I thought I heard she was at the Bellflower. Is she moving away?”

“We um…” Dawn, normally outspoken, seemed a bit cagey. She pushed the donut into her mouth to gain a moment of stalling. “Didn’t really broach any of that so much, honestly. Not in like a non-generic platitude sort of way anyway.” Dawn laughed before kind of semi-ironically continuing. “ But I’m sure she’ll go on to great things. Once she gets a handle on things.” She leaned her head in a way similar to Rachel’s, her cheek smooshing a bit into her round shoulder as she did. “It’s a real shame you two never really met. I feel like you would’ve really hit it off.”

“Yeah! Sucks!” Rachel all but shrugged, lacking much of a frame of reference but trying to fly under Dawn’s somewhat acute awareness of bullshit. “She seemed… nice. Her stuff was good.”

“I’ll miss her.” Trudi said plainly. Dawn smirked a soft, genuine smirk.

“I know, I know.” She said, noticing Rachel reach for another donut.

“Yup.” Fran huffed. After a long, mostly tedious day of Marulla revisions, Rachel had met up with her to get in a short jog. Pacing along the sidewalks of Oakmont, both were a bit winded. And while one maybe moreso than the other, neither girl’s workout gear seemed to fit quite right anymore. “Messing with... your records? Telling everybody... you’re someone else… or worse… that you’ve... got a criminal record? Sounds like… some Penny-level fuckery… for sure.” This had been the most she had said so far this run. The whole time, Fran had mostly been a bit terse. Or at least slightly more terse than usual. She also shot Rachel a few strange glances from time to time. Rachel didn’t know what was going on, but she tried to just ignore it. 

“I mean… It hast to be…” Rachel reasoned, flailing her arms mid stride. “I just… I don’t get… why though.” She winced a little. For all of Fran’s heft, Rachel seemed to be the one struggling a little more to keep up today. At some point, between being accused of “stress eating” & what Trudy brought into the office that morning? She had lost track of exactly how many donuts she had consumed all day long. But she was currently feeling them make every step feel the slightest bit more arduous now. Still, she did her best not to let it show. At least other than her sweat drenched hair, & the bright shade of red her pale skin was turning. “Like… Penny… hates me. Legit... hates me!” She wiggled a little, trying to fiddle & yank down her old ratty t-shirt on the fly, hoping to cover more of the very obvious muffintop she had going from her tights’ elastic waist band. It seemed like every hundred yards or so, it’d just start riding up again. “And the way… it makes Holly… just like… want to gorge all the time…? You’d think… it’d… want me out… So it… could like… have her… all to… it… self. Make her like… her friend… Courtney.”

“Has she… still…?” Fran remembered, speaking of Courtney. They didn’t know each other personally. Fran just knew her from around the building, catching her coming or going from Deidre’s, down the hall from her. But Rachel had brought her up on a few previous jogs.

“Last I heard… still… “working from… home.” Rachel panted her euphemism. “AND! Today…? The girl in my office… who I had never met…? Who had been... doing all... her work from home? Apparently…? She’s now “quit.”

“That… tends to happen after… a few weeks.” Fran sighed. She shook her head. It was something neither girl wanted to dwell on, because of the implications. Fran seemed to want to change the subject, quickly. And backtracked a little. “But hey… Penny…? Fucking with your… whole… moving out…? Maybe she’s just… noticing you… these past few weeks… & is like… getting a little greedy.” Fran’s head tilted to the side, as if she was considering something else.

“Huh?” Rachel turned to look.

“Um… How do I put this…?” Fran’s eyes turned skyward, as if in thought.

“What…?” Rachel asked, put a little off guard about the abrupt shift.

“Don’t be... mad.” Fran clenched her face up a little, almost as if she was bracing for a hostile reaction.

“What?!” Rachel asked, her tone a little more pointed. As something of a confidant, a sister in paranoia? She looked up to Fran. At least just a little. But she had a suspicion & didn’t quite like where this was heading. On top of the rough morning, & the fifth apartment rejection that she received this morning? She was irritable, in sort of a shit mood, & frankly, couldn’t make promises about not losing her cool.

“Well… despite these jogs…” After a pause, she shifted a little. “Which by the way… I really… love having… the company…” Fran continued to stall. It was strange. In a lot of ways, to Rachel, Fran seemed so uncompromising & fearless. Was she really scared of how she was going to react right now?

“What... are you... getting at…?” Rachel prodded, as directly as she could. She wanted her friend to just cut the bullshit. To stop beating around the bush. Fran, beet red from their run, pulled her stride towards a bench. Without much of an acknowledgement, Rachel complied almost automatically. She could use a breather too after all.

“Rach, I hate to… tell you this…” Fran’s gait slowing to just a shuffle. When the two reached the bench, the bigger girl leaned an arm against the corner of it. “But… this past week or so…? You’ve really… seemed to… just…” Fran tried catching her breath. Rachel’s eyes flattened a little, readying for it. But now, even Fran seemed a bit tired of trying to obfuscate what she was trying to say. “Look! You have a pretty... solid gut going on... all of a sudden. Not just a muffintop... any more. An actual gut!”

“I…” Rachel winced. Her tone was fatigued, but even. Not angry, not even in any sort of protest. Without a sense of urgency. More like she just felt the need to explain. But Fran continued between deep breaths.

“You’ve put on… This past week you just sort of… I mean… Have you… been paying attention… to what you’ve… been doing?” She seemed genuinely concerned. Worried even. It made Rachel look down, smooth her tanktop down over the bulge of her soft tummy. There was a lot more of it than she liked seeing. And all of the donuts today certainly did nothing to help.

“No... You’re right.” She exhaled deeply before wrapping her arms around herself almost the same way she did in Holly’s car earlier. “I-I’ve… been well… pretty awful....  this whole past week or so.” Rachel admitted. Fran, stretching her back out a little, seemed assured that while it was a touchy subject, Rachel wasn’t mad at her. 

“Why though…?” The concern had softened, but hadn’t really left her eyes. She arched back into her shoulders a little to bend her spine. It caused her own bulk to wiggle & heave a bit. The stretched spandex almost looked ready to burst. But then again, it almost always sort of did. 

“I mean…” Rachel shook her head. “I could blame it… sort of on Holly. Like… I’ve been in the car with her… Every night… checking out these places… I mean… ! She’s been… like… super cool about it… honestly. Driving me… all around!” Slowly, the air was coming back to her, as she whisked some sweat off her brow with her forearm. But self-consciously, that same arm went right back down to wrap around her middle, feebly trying to obscure her recently regained curviness. “But that also means… I end up… right next to her in the car… & her phone’s like… always right there!”

“And I’m sure that sucks…!” Fran conceded. “It probably gets you… like, starving…But she’s just trying to be... a good sister here. She’s not the one… in charge of you.” Fran leveled, halfway accusatory. Rachel hadn’t set out, intending to paint her sister as the scapegoat here. 

“I-I know that… but… well… she certainly doesn’t make it easy. Like, she’s always… drive thru here… “Burger Palace” there.” Rachel huffed. Deep down, she knew it wasn’t truly on Holly. She started to sag a little, drooping until she gave in & finally just sat on the bench. Something Fran didn’t intended. This was supposed to just be a breather, not an actual break. But Rachel seemed upset. Awkwardly shifting her wide hip around the arm of the bench, she joined her smaller friend. Fran was a little uneasy about how much give the wooden slats under her seemed to have. But the bench held together. “But yeah… you’re right.” Rachel finally sighed. “On some level…? I don’t know. I guess I thought I was like… on my way out of this mess. Free & clear, you know?” She looked in Fran’s direction. “So like… I guess I just let my guard slip just the slightest bit.”

“Yeah,” Fran seemed to acknowledge. “I get that. But at the same time…? You can’t do that. Not around… that evil fucking building. Not for a second.”

“Well, to be fair,” Rachel leaned back, pulling her arms away with her. Mostly under her tanktop, her gut just sort of poked outward, unobscured again. “I didn’t know it was going to be such a clusterfuck for me just trying to leave!” She said, rolling her eyes. “Like, I thought it was just going to be one time. Like just one meal, you know? But then that turned into a day. And then two days… then a week. And… yeah…” A hand went back to her belly. It was soft, plush, & not totally unfamiliar to her. But mostly unwelcome.

“That’s how it happens to everybody that gets caught up in it.” Fran sighed. The way she said it, it wasn’t like she was trying to call Rachel out on anything. It was more like she completely understood it, & just hoped she could maybe draw some kind of lesson from all this. Rachel, in turn, picked up on that, & appreciated it, forcing a tight lipped smile. Fran shifted a little in her seat. She almost seemed like she wanted to get going again. “Then again too... say you did leave. Think about it.” Rachel followed. “You still work at Hailington, right? With an albeit sparse, but still…? An office of Bellflower people, yeah? Which is also still just down the hall from your sister. And then all of her friends. No way they wouldn’t keep trying to invite you to their little hangouts or…”

“Ladies’ Nights.” Rachel’s eyes rolled as she clarified with a giggle. It caused Fran’s eyes to point upward as well.

“But my point is… yeah, you should definitely look to move. But also be aware you’re definitely not out of the woods. By any stretch of the imagination.”

“I… I guess you’re right.” Rachel saw her point. And in doing so, realized how naive she was being. She slumped a little. But Fran pat her on the back, causing her to sit back up. She smiled warmly.

“For one? It’s not something you should beat yourself up over. Slips… will happen.” She cagily seemed to admit. Rachel detected the slightest tinge of self-loathing in the statement. “After all, you have to admit, whoever’s behind all this? They’re going above & beyond, doing everything in their power trying to trick you, right?”

“I… guess you’re right.” Rachel shrugged.

“It just sucks because you can’t get… complacent about it. Ever. Not for one second.” Fran continued. “You know, staying mindful.” She grunted, rocking forward with some momentum. She transferred it into slowly getting back to her feet. “Or else…” She gave her own flab a nudge. Rachel tried to hide her wince. Both at the idea of getting as heavy as Fran was, but also at the idea of continuing their jog. She had just gotten comfortable! At the same time, she didn’t want to seem lazy, & reluctantly pushed herself back up onto her feet. 

“It just… seems to like… wear on you. The more you try to resist it, you know?” Rachel asked it, but realized who she was talking to. Fran just gave an emphatic nod.

“Yeah. Tell me about it.” She brought her elbows up & twisted at her shoulders. “And only because the alternative… well…”

“Yeah.” Rachel sighed, trying to not think about Nadya any more, the girl she had never met. Or hell, Courtney, the one she had. “Maybe we should keep jogging?” she begrudgingly offered.

“Easy for you to say.” Fran repeated her back arching, trying to keep from getting stiff. She had a joking smile. “It might actually make some difference for you. Work off at least some of that tiny lump you call a gut!”

“Pssh with my metabolism? You crazy?!” Rachel scoffed, before lifting an arm towards the path of the sidewalk. “After you.” With a bounce on her heels, Fran pushed off & continued with their jog. Rachel took a deep breath & followed.

“Hey, speaking of your “Ladies’ Night” or whatever,” Fran thought back. “Did they just like… not invite back the other one? The one that had that little… freak out or what have you.”

“Veronica?” Rachel asked. “The basic Southern Belle, “God” girl?”

“I mean I guess…?” Fran already seemed to be losing her wind again, but kept pressing on. “Didn’t you say she called that Courtney girl like, too fat? Caused a stink?”

“Oh.” Rachel recalled. “Yeah. Neither she or Courtney came to this last one. It was actually very low key. I don’t know... what goes on in their office... but nobody other than Holly said shit about it... to me.” She was panting again already too now. Too many donuts. “But like… yeah. I guess she’s like… ex communicado now. Or something…”

“You know…” Fran said, tilting her head. Rachel didn’t like where this was going.

“Uh oh…”

“Maybe you should like… reach out.”

“Look, I know you want to help people here but like… Veronica…? She’s…”

“She could maybe… use a friend. And even if she is as huge… a bitch… as you say… she does sort of… recognize that there is SOMETHING up… at the Bellflower. Enough to cause a scene... ” She floated. “I’m just… sayin’...”

“Ech,” Rachel sneered. As much as she hated to admit it, & as much as she enjoyed not running into her for a bit, Fran had a point. “I just… don’t know how like… bringing her into the fold would… help… I guess.”

“Jesus, Rach!” Fran half laughed, half growled. “It’s not just some... secret club. We’re doing this... to keep the place from... getting its claws into people. Before... it’s too late!”

“No! I know that!” Rachel insisted loudly, before almost whimpering the follow up. “You just… don’t know Veronica.”

“And she doesn’t suspect-” Holly asked with grit teeth before getting cut off by her robot.

“Well, as is her way, with all of her conspiratorial thinking, she seems to think I am pulling strings behind the scenes. However, I do not believe she has traced it back to me operating upon your behalf.”

“Good! Good.” Holly deviously wiggled in her seat, in front of her TV. “And there’s no like… way that she could like…?” Holding a giant bowl of pasta, she continued to twist her fork & coil more & more on to what was becoming an unmanageable bite.

“Unlikely,” Penny continued. “But we should stop discu… She is here!” Suddenly the door hissed open, & a reddened, sweaty Rachel entered the condo, still not having regained her breath in the elevator.

“Wha…?!” Holly gasped, almost dropping her fork.

“Ah, Miss Rachel!” Penny chimed.

“... Yeah. Hi.” She growled. She looked to where Holly was sitting on the couch. “What were you two just…?”

“Nothing!” Holly answered a little too quickly. “Nothing at all. How was your… walk? There’s pasta in that pot on the stove. If you want some!” Her cheeks were turning almost as red as Rachel’s. 

“I heard “But we should stop… She’s here…!” Rachel repeated. Her eyes turned more towards the ceiling, the point where Penny’s monitor swiveled down from. “Penny…? What were you talking about?”

“Would you care for some pasta, Miss Rachel?” The machine asked instead, ignoring her.

“Penny was… just saying... it was rude of me to have a second helping.” Rachel looked back at Holly, who fumbled, but seemed proud of herself for something. “Before offering you some.” Presumably this lame cover story she was feeding her. While still blushing slightly, that look of pride started to shift. It seemed to take on a very serious look instead. “So have some pasta!” It was almost as if she was insisting it. Strongly. “Penny makes such a good sauce!!” she reinforced, shoveling a round, spun ball of it into her mouth. “Mmmmmmmmm.” The moan was too sincere to be her acting.

It had been a long day. Uneasily, Rachel finally relented with a sigh.

“Fine!” If only because she knew Holly was going to be too stubborn to admit they were talking about her. But they totally were talking about her. “I’ll have some. A SMALL bowl! But I have to shower first.” She said, breaking for the bathroom with a huff. She pulled the door closed behind her to shut it faster. But she was keen to freeze, & listen in again.

“That was close.” She heard Holly try to tell Penny covertly. Rachel’s eyes tightened.

“Um… Miss Holly, some other time perhaps.” Penny tried to instruct her. But the robot realized distraction might’ve been the better course of action. And what better distraction... “For now… more pasta?”

“Oooh, please!” Rachel heard her sister coo on the other side of the door. “And is there more garlic bread?”

“Of course!” The AI happily obliged.