This choice: Tara's not the only one who's put on weight... • Go Back... Tomorrow never quite came for Tara's diet—though she was still thinking about it. Looking up good ones that she could do online and sort of working up the nerve to ask her mom to limit what she cooked to those certain recipes. It didn't exactly seem like the right time, given that she wasn't sure about what diet she would undertake, and it felt kind of rude to say "hey mom, your cooking is the sole reason that I'm fat, please change it, because I'm not doing anything wrong in this scenario".
Or at least, that's how it felt whenever she drew up the question.
In the meantime, life carried on for Tara as it had in the coming weeks. Two more after, to be specific, when she had finally convinced Dani to go shopping with her for new clothes that would fit her better. Or at the very least, find something cute that wasn't fit to burst. She hadn't cut down on any snacking, and she certainly hadn't cut back on her regular meals with mom or at Big Daddy's. So the Tara that had walked into Torrid for the first time in her life was much closer to actually needing to be there than ever.
"What, you've never been to Torrid before?"
Dani had been bigger than Tara from the get-go. And, not that Tara was in any room to judge her for it, she had only gotten bigger since she'd known her. Whether it was working at Big Daddy's, the easy access to bacon cheese fries that she split with Tara on their lunches, or the fact that Tara was easily cajoled into paying for their excursions to Waffle House every time Dani brought up how little money she had, Dani had put on just as much weight as Tara had—which meant at least a solid fifty pounds of growth apiece for both of them, give or take a few pounds.
Lord knows how much Tara would have loved to take a few of those pounds away as she inched closer and closer to two hundred with each passing day.
But Dani, who had to have been at least twenty pounds over that, was far more at home with the shop. Meaning that she was Tara's best chance at getting what she needed without feeling humiliated.
"You're probably like, a 00 at biggest." Dani rolled her eyes, "Not like us real fat girls who have to shop here if we want to look cute."
It was true that Tara and Dani wore their weights differently. Even though Tara wasn't quite as much of a pear as her mom or sister were (God, if Haley ever got fat it'd probably all just go straight to her ass, that lucky bitch) she still had more of an hourglass shape going for her than Dani did. Where Tara's chest and tummy had taken on her gains in addition to her plump rump, Dani's arms, face, and stomach had plumped up considerably alongside her belly.
"Come on, Dani, don't be like that."
"I mean, no, it's fine. We can shop here first though. I need to pick up something cute—I've got a date coming up."
Tara was relieved to know that Torrid wasn't a one-stop shop for all of her "fat, waitress, living at home with mommy" needs. As hypocritical as it might have sounded... if she was going to be here, she was happy that it was for Dani, and not herself. And besides, Dani needed a wardrobe upgrade just as much as Tara did.
"A date, huh?" Tara attempted to lighten the mood, "Who with?"
"One of the cooks in the back, Byers." Dani said as she lifted an arm to flip through the clothes on the rack, "You know, skinny, really like bright blonde hair?"
"The one who called you Morticia Addams?"
"I like Morticia Addams." Dani chuckled, "Better than Wednesday."
"Or Doughy Dani."
"I hear you back there, Tubby Tara." Dani looked back over her shoulder, "Don't be jealous."
"I'm not jealous!" Tara laughed, "I'm happy for you! Good for you!"
"Uh-huh." Dani turned back to the deep red sweater dress that she'd been ogling, "Do you think that it's cold enough yet to wear this with some leggings?"
"It's gonna be November soon so... yeah?" Tara shrugged, careful not to put too much weight on her hip, less the little rip in her panties below the surface of her skin-tight jeans spread further down, "I mean, with South Carolina Weather, who knows, right?"
"Ugh, I just don't want to go out on this date and sweat like a pig." Dani frowned, "I can always wear it when it gets cold though. It's roomy."
All this talk of it getting cold just made Tara that much more aware that she was going to have to splurge for winter clothing that could fit her at her new size. You know, before she lost the weight. She didn't want to blow her budget or anything, considering that she was dipping into her savings for this, but she couldn't exactly wear the same pair of pants all winter...
***
Tara and Dani managed to spend far too much money, each telling the other to treat themselves.
Dani had walked out of Torrid with two bags of clothes that were stretchy, comfortable, and in Tara's words "less Hot Topic". Tara, in turn, had walked out with a whopping three bags of shirts, pants, dress pants, a few blouses, and new bras at Dani's insistence because "hey, you've got money saved up, you're going to need new clothes if you want to get a better job."
Besides, Mom did offer to help pay for some of this...
The little voice in the back of Tara's mind told her as she struggled with the weight of her haul was the very same one that eased her into an extra helping here or there at dinner, or the one that told her to sneak a fry off of a plate at work. And it had been growing louder since the day that she had moved back to Spartanburg, but it was never quite as loud as it was whenever she hung out with Dani.
As much as Tara blamed herself for her rising weight and increasingly low impulse control, sometimes it felt like Dani was the only girl in the world who could talk her into eating two Chic-fil-A sandwiches and an order of chicken nuggets without much of a fight.
"Come on, we got our steps in today." Dani shrugged, "These clothes are fucking heavy!"
"I swear, you're the worst fucking influence." Tara rolled her eyes as she popped a nugget past her lips, "You won't be happy until I'm shopping at Torrid right beside you."
"~Come to the dark side, Tara~" Dani waved her hands and wriggled her fingers mysteriously, "~We have elastic waistbands and stretchy lycra leggings~"
"Ugh, you're as bad as my mom." Tara snorted, "Between you and her, I can't catch a break."
"Says the self-confessed comfort eater." Dani popped a nugget of her own past her lips, "Who just yesterday ordered a double chili cheeseburger for lunch, and—"
"Alright alright alright, I don't need a recap of my many dietary failings." Tara waved her hand dismissively as if to fan the subject away, "At least we got some exercise today. That's a good first step."
"Yeah, we're regular gym bunnies." Dani snorted, "But hey, at least we've earned this Chic fil A, right?"
"Oh we've definitely earned it." Tara smiled, "I've been craving this since we got here."
"You know what else we've earned?"
"...what?"
"A trip to that new rolled ice cream place."
"See? This shit right here, you're the worst influence."
And the two of them threw their heads back at Dani's supposed "joke". But nevertheless, after they'd sat down for a while and found their fast food lunch wanting, Tara's eyes did linger at the sight of the new addition to the food court. She resisted, of course, but couldn't stop herself from wondering what "rolled ice cream" tasted like all the way home...
She wouldn't resist it next time.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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