On a normal night, in another life where Uma was still hot, she might have just said fuck it and gotten drunk. Or maybe even opened up the ice cream for a feel-good bowl of the good stuff. Even now, there was a little voice in the back of her mind telling her that the real source of her issue was her weight; one that grew louder and louder with every popped button, ripped skirt and busted seam. But it was so hard to work out and eat right with her job, and not having any money, and... and...
Talking to people was never Uma's strong suit. Making fun of them, outrunning them, and beating them in volleyball-slash-drinking contests. Those were things that Uma was good at.
But something about Phoebe's big, innocent eyes made her feel like she could open up to the vapid redhead. If nothing else, it would have gone in one ear and out the other, and she would have still gotten it off of her chest. And at best, maybe Phoebe had some advice? Some words of wisdom to help—
Okay, so Uma was doubtful about that last part. But a confessional certainly felt like what she needed right now.
"I don't mean to be a bitch, Feebs." Uma sighed, "I'm just... sad, is all."
"About your job?" Phoebe asked with a concerned crease in her eyebrows, "I thought you liked working there?"
"Well I don't." Uma took a swig of beer, "But the pay's good, and the food is good, and I like the other girls working there... shit, maybe I do like it there..."
"But you've been cussing your job since you got home." Phoebe scooched closer to her roommate, "Was it just, like, a hard day or something?"
"No. Yes." Uma rolled her eyes, "Yes but no. It's not anyone else's fault, just mine."
"Did youuuuu get in a fight with Audrey?" Phoebe ventured a guess
"What? No, me and Audrey have been great ever since I started paying rent." Uma chuckled a little, "No, it's just..."
She took a deep breath. This was going to be harder to admit out loud than she really expected it to be. For someone like her, who had put so much value in her athletic abilities for so long, saying the dreaded "F" word might as well have been admitting to committing a felony. "Uma" and "fat" didn't belong in the same sentence. But here they were, crammed into the same uniform, and almost nothing else in her closet.
Big-bellied, chunky thighed, chubby-faced with lunch lady arms? Uma wasn't just thicc anymore, and there was no use denying it...
"I've put on like, fifty pounds in the past six months." Uma's voice wavered, "And... I guess I'm just taking it a little hard."
"Wow." Phoebe said, "That's a lot."
Instead of popping her roommate like a redheaded zit, Uma just laughed sadly.
"Yeah, I guess it is." she chuckled, wiping away a tear that had rolled down her cheek, "And, you know, I just feel gross about it."
"I mean... I kind of get it." Phoebe blinked innocently, "I've, like, finally put on the Freshman Fifteen this year."
"I couldn't tell." Uma snorted, "That booty is still all anyone pays attention to anyway."
"See, that's what I'm saying." Phoebe said proudly, "Like, okay, my followers on social media have been going nuts about my butt. It's really (what's the word?) empowering!"
"That's great for you, Pheebs." Uma forced a smile as she jiggled her fat brown belly, "But I don't see how it helps me any."
"Okay, but like hear me out." Phoebe hunkered closer with an excited look on her face, "You just, like, be happy"
A dull silence immediately filled the space between the two roommates just as it had the space between Phoebe's ears. The phat rumped redhead still wore a vaguely proud, prophetic look on her face. Like she'd said something entirely too profound for anyone else to understand. Like she'd just made too much sense.
"Uh-huh." Uma cocked an eyebrow, "And... how do I do that?"
"Okay, like, think about this..." Phoebe clicked her tongue contemplatively, "Do you like working out?"
"...well yeah." Uma scrunched her face up and put her beer down, "I used to do it all the time so that I could stay in shape and—"
"No no. Stop." Phoebe held out her hands, "Do you like working out?"
And Uma thought about it. She honestly, truly did. That was something that she hadn't stopped to think about for a long, long time. Not since she started on the volleyball team back in high school. Did she like working out?
And to her surprise, the answer was...
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