Making Up for Being Stood Up (comm)

CW: Stuffing, a bit of wine

Heya guys! I've been bouncing between comms a lot, and now I'm getting most of them finished at about the same time, so expect to see a bunch of fics from me in the next few days~.

This fic was commissioned by an anonymous patron. I really appreciate you! Thanks for comming this fun fic~.

==========================================================================

Bella’s blind date wasn’t going well. Not the worst start to one she’d ever been on, but certainly not great. It was hard to qualify a date as anything more than ‘going poorly’ when her prospective partner was running twenty minutes late.

Bella idly sipped her wine while glancing around the fancy, upscale restaurant her date had picked out. The aesthetics were rich, the food was pricey, they had a Maitre D, and it had the immaculate view that comes with being on the thirty-fifth floor of a building. The perfectly dressed patrons all around Bella were discussing high-end topics, like economy-shaping business deals and hundred-thousand dollar rings, all while Bella sat there in her hundred-dollar dress with her zirconia earrings. To put it frankly, she was a small fish in a big pond. This was not her place. Still, her date had looked very beautiful in her profile pictures, and their interests had a lot of overlap, so Bella had agreed to the high-end date spot. Now she was wondering if it was even going to be a date-spot…

“Your appetizer, ma’am.”

The waiter set a plate full of mini bread cups filled with a meat sauce (Turkey Bolognese Polenta Nests, the menu had called them) down on the table between Bella’s seat and the empty seat of her date. To his credit, the waiter didn’t give her a pitying look or anything. He just nodded politely when she said she wasn’t quite ready to order her entree yet, then left. She sighed and ran her finger along the rim of her wine glass. She’d ordered these right after her date had messaged her saying she was running late. She’d been excited arriving here. Some seemingly rich mystery woman had matched with Bella and seemed genuinely interesting. Of course she’d been excited. Twenty minutes of sitting alone with your thoughts in foreign territory can dull a lot of positive feelings, as it turns out.

Bella helped herself to one of the ‘nests’. She popped it into her mouth, and… mmm. Mmmm. That was good! The little bread cup was actually some kind of corn dish, and it paired extremely well with the rich, tender meat sauce it was holding. Bella took a sip of her wine and helped herself to another turkey nest. Sure, the appetizer was forty dollars, but at least it tasted like it cost forty dollars. She’d be content even if she had to pay for this all on her own- which hopefully wouldn’t happen, knock on wood.

The atmosphere of the restaurant drew Bella in as she worked her way through the tasty aperitif. This really was a totally different world from hers. Sure, she was physically apt to be someone dining here. She was on the taller side with a beautiful face and silky shoulder-length black hair. Tanned skin and a toned body with modest curves showed that she was fit and active, and her nails and makeup looked plenty good enough to match up with that of the other women she was seeing. Even her jewelry was probably good enough to pass muster, so long as no one looked too closely. The only thing that really made her stand out as being from a lower tax bracket was her dress. Yeah, it was a great dress- it was a lilac one-shoulder calf-length dress with a split that ran up to her upper thigh on the side opposite her bare shoulder. It was her nicest dress, even surpassing the four-hundred dollar dress her skanky ex had bought her ten years ago (that she could still fit into, by the by~). Still, as nice as it was, it didn’t ooze the scent of money and status that all these other dresses and suits did… and that was ok. Bella didn’t need to fit in here. She was just hoping to meet someone special. Emphasis on ‘hoping’.

After a little while, Bella finally got another message from her date. She opened it, hoping to see something along the lines of ‘just arrived!’, but instead, she got ‘Sorry, still running late. Order whatever you’d like for both of us. Put it on my tab. I’ll be there soon.’

The message seemed pretty impersonal, but whatever. Bella could appreciate a to-the-point kind of lady. More importantly, she said she’d be here soon. Also, the ‘order whatever you’d like’ thing was interesting. She clearly wasn’t a picky eater. That showed a level of maturity that Bella enjoyed. 

The black-haired woman gave the menu a quick read, picked two entrees that looked good, and flagged down her waiter the next time she saw him. He came over and asked, “Are you ready to order now?”

“I am, but first, just to confirm; the woman who booked this reservation for us, Jade, does have a tab here, doesn’t she? I’m not going to order food for the both of us and get saddled with the bill?”

The waiter nodded in affirmation. “Yes, miss Jade does indeed have a tab with us, and we’ve received confirmation to put your orders onto it.”

“Perfect. I’ll have the Steak au Poivre with a French Onion Gratinee. Also, if you know what Jade likes on the menu, it would be great if you could add that to the order as well.”

The waiter finished scribbling on his notepad and nodded again. “As you wish, ma’am.” Then he was off, leaving Bella alone with her thoughts and meat nests once again.

Minutes passed, and still her date didn’t appear. Bella reached for another meat nest but couldn’t find one. She glanced back to the plate and raised an eyebrow. Huh. All gone. She’d cleaned the plate. Sure, it was an appetizer, so it hadn’t been a huge amount of food, but it was still a little shocking that she’d finished it all. That was just how long she’d been left waiting, she supposed. She sighed. Well, if nothing else, at least she’d be getting a free meal tonight. She’d prefer a free meal and an attractive date, but life couldn’t always be perfect, could it?

A little while later, as Bella sipped on her second glass of wine while watching a woman with a particularly strong botox treatment try to smile, the waiter returned with her soup and a salad for her nonexistent date. Bella thanked him and, after he’d left, picked up her soup spoon. Not that her soup looked like soup. It looked more like a mini quiche or a gratin, with a cheesy-looking top layer covering it. She dipped her spoon in to see what was going on. Underneath the cheese was a layer of some kind of bread, which came apart with a little effort from her spoon. Underneath that was the soup part- a lovely brown soup filled with onion and herbs. Bella got a nice assortment of all three parts on her spoon, then had a taste. As expected of a thirty-eight dollar price tag, it was delicious~. The cheese on top had a thin layer of crisp with a thick layer of gooey richness underneath, and the toast still retained some of its firmness even though it had soaked in the flavor of the soup. The soup itself was also a delight, having been perfectly prepared and seasoned. Overall, a great experience~.

Bella casually ate her Gratinee, continuing to watch the restaurant around her as she did. At this point, she wasn’t even keeping an eye out for her date anymore. Either she’d show up or she wouldn’t; Bella didn’t really care by this point. She was just finding it increasingly fun to people-watch in here. So many fancy and unusual clothes, so many incomprehensible conversations. It almost made Bella want to come back here without a date as an excuse, even though it would rinse her bank account to do so.

Naturally, Jade still hadn’t arrived by the time Bella finished her gratinee. What did arrive, however, were the entrees. Bella received her steak and was pleasantly surprised by the portion size. She’d been expecting this rich, nouveau place to have tiny entrees, but this was a decently sized portion of beef, and had even been served with some kind of white sauce (weird choice, but ok). The waiter then set the other plate down next to the untouched salad. It was some kind of pasta… gnocchi? Bella was pretty sure it was called gnocchi. Regardless, it was some kind of pasta served in a delicious-smelling green sauce. Pesto, if Bella had to guess. The waiter took the empty appetizer plate and soup bowl, bid Bella have a nice meal (once again being polite enough to not draw attention to her missing date), and left. With no reason to wait, Bella started on her entree.

Just as the last two courses had been, the steak was immaculate. Perfectly soft, tender, and fatty, with a little bit of kick from whatever seasoning they put in the soft breading they had coated it in. Bella tried a little of the sauce and was taken by surprise by the flavor. It was sweet, rich, and creamy. It would probably make for a great pasta sauce, but as a steak sauce? Ehhh. Still, everything else had been delicious- who was she to start doubting these chefs now? She tried some of the steak with the white sauce and was blown away. That shouldn’t work! Sweet cream with a tender slab of meat should not work, but this just… does! Incredible! No wonder this thing had a two-hundred-forty dollar price! It was a culinary work of art!

Bella enjoyed her meal, listening in on conversations about leasing out neighborhoods and corporate take-overs while savoring her unusual meal. Still, just as everything before it, this too had to end. Bella swallowed her last bite and set her fork down, sighing contentedly. She was pleasantly full after her three-course meal. She’d eaten enough that, when she stood up, she was surely going to have a little bit of a belly. That was perfectly natural, though. Her food had to go somewhere, after all, and there wasn’t exactly a lot of space to store it in her fit waistline.

At this point, Bella was starting to contemplate heading home. If Jade showed up at this point, it would be a miracle, and Bella wasn’t accustomed to miracles. It would be a shame to waste the meal across from her, but she wasn’t sure if this fancy of a restaurant did doggy bags. Plus, she still had some wine left in the bottle she’d ordered. She really didn’t like waste, especially when it came to food and drink.

About then, a thought crossed Bella’s mind. She mulled it over a little bit, then… she shrugged to herself. Eh. Why not? She didn’t get to go to this nice of a place every week. She might as well enjoy herself to the fullest. And after this, she would certainly be the fullest.

Bella replaced the empty plate in front of her with her date’s salad. It looked pretty ordinary as far as salads go, but it was definitely high-end. Everything in it was fresh and perfectly grown. The preparation of the veggies had been done exquisitely, with nothing being too large or too small. It was a dish with light dressing, using only lemon and some kind of cream, but that was honestly all the salad needed. The veggies and the little chunks of tough yet soft bread were so good that they carried the salad just fine on their own.

As full as she was, Bella had to concentrate a little more on the food than before to finish the course. She was really starting to get full by the end of the salad. All that lettuce and the bits of bread were doing a great job of filling up whatever space Bella had left in her belly. She covertly rubbed her stomach, noting how round it had gotten. She would certainly have a prominent food baby when she stood up now. Still, she wasn’t quite done yet. There was still one dish to go…

The gnocchi was just as delectable as everything else had been so far. It definitely wasn’t pasta, though- it was some kind of potato dish. Regardless, it tasted great. It was a soft, puffy dish that went perfectly with what was indeed pesto. It was such a simple dish for a high end restaurant, but Bella was sure that she’d never had such well-made pesto before, and she figured that she’d be hard-pressed to find better gnocchi than this somewhere else.

Regardless of its taste, though, this dish was the one that took the longest. Bella was really getting full now. Her belly clearly didn’t want any more, but the taste along with her innate disdain for wasting food were pressing her to keep going. It didn’t help that the puffy potato was sitting extra-heavy in her stomach, making her feel like she was filling herself with delicious stones. She found herself taking breaks to sit back and rub her stomach, urging the poor thing to take just a few more bites.

It was a slow process, but eventually, Bella did manage to get the whole plate of gnocchi down. She took a long drag on her wine, finishing her fourth glass, and stifled a burp. Ok, she was really stuffed now. Her stuffed belly was pulling at her dress, making her middle feel constricted. All that food was floating around in her stomach, suspended in all the wine she’d drunk. Bella wasn’t usually one for drinking so much alcohol, but she’d made the choice to order a whole bottle thinking she would be on a date tonight, so… hey, it is what it is. At least she could hold her alcohol fairly well. She was only now starting to feel tipsy, even though she was mostly through the bottle.

Still, it was time to get out of here. Jade clearly wasn’t going to be here. Bella had been stood up, which was a shame, but whatever. At least she’d paid Jade back by having a great time spending her money. Would Bella have to do some extra miles on the treadmill in the coming days to work off all these extra calories? Sure. Still worth it, though. It wasn’t like Bella would get to eat food like this very often in the future.

Right about then, her waiter returned. This man continued to be Bella’s favorite water ever, as he didn’t even bat an eye when he saw that every single dish had been cleaned. Instead, he just gathered them all up and asked, “How did you enjoy everything tonight, ma’am?”

“Oh, it was fantastic,” Bella said pleasantly. “It was just about as good as it could have been, considering the circumstances.”

The waiter chuckled politely at this. He then asked, “Before you depart, would you be interested in ordering any of our desserts? It would still be on miss Jade’s tab, of course.”

Oooooh, this man was definitely getting a good tip tonight~. Not as good a tip as most other people here could give, of course, but still, a much better tip than Bella would normally give. Still, as tempting as it was to put yet more food on her ex-date’s bill, Bella had to really contemplate if she could possibly fit any more. “Hmmm… it’s tempting, but I’ll need a minute to decide.”

“Of course, ma’am,” the waiter responded. He spirited away all the empty dishes, leaving Bella alone with her wine once again. She poured herself the last glass and swirled it around, savoring it. She looked out over the city, but found it hard to enjoy the view with just how demandingly full her stomach was. It was hard to focus on anything other than her belly at the moment. She really didn’t want dessert, did she? Sure, it would taste delicious, as everything else had, but the idea of putting even more food in her stomach made her feel the tiniest bit queasy. Still, there was one thing keeping her considering it… a certain set of words that just kept spinning through her head, over and over, pushing aside all of Bella’s concerns over how full she was…

With her choice made, Bella waved her waiter down again. Once he was over, she said, “The offer was just too tempting. I’ll have whatever’s most popular on the menu, with a side of coffee.”

“Of course, ma’am. Is there a particular roast of coffee you would prefer?”

“Whatever would go best with the dessert. Surprise me.”

The waiter nodded, wrote in his little notepad, and departed. Bella sat and sipped her wine, feeling herself heating up from all the alcohol she’d had. That was part of why she’d ordered the coffee, despite being so full; to sober up. She didn’t feel like trying to get home dead drunk in this dress while stuffed to the gills, after all. She needed to keep her wits about her.

That didn’t stop Bella from finishing her wine before the dessert arrived, of course. She was just setting the empty glass down as her waiter returned, bearing Bella’s mistake. “Here is the most popular dessert item on our menu; a lava cake with gourmet chocolate, topped with rich cream, candied cranberries, and raspberries. Paired with it is a cappuccino made with beans imported from Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. Please, enjoy.”

“I will, thank you~,” Bella giggled. She was having a plenty good time, even though she’d been stood up. The size of her stomach by the end of this would prove that! That was how it worked, right? Wasn’t there a saying along those lines? Or maybe it was something about smiles, or wallets… eh, whatever. Regardless, Bella was about to torture herself with the best tasting dessert she’d ever had. What a night~.

Just as expected, the cake was absolutely divine. Sweet, moist chocolate cake gave way to some of the richest fudge imaginable. The sweet cream on top was great on its own, but was best mixed in with the fudge, with each liquid bringing out the best in the other. The fruits were delicious as well, with their tartness pairing perfectly with the mellow richness of the chocolate. The cappuccino was definitely the right choice, as well. The milky drink was both tasty and helped cleanse Bella’s mouth of the chocolate, readying her for more.

Not that Bella wanted more. To be honest, as incredible as the cake was, it was also a struggle to get each bite down, usually needing Bella to take a sip or two of her coffee to convince herself to swallow. Her belly was so packed full of food and drink that it felt like a time bomb waiting to explode. She felt like a sardine crammed into her dress. Yet, despite this, she kept eating. It didn’t even feel like she was eating to not waste food anymore. It was just a pointless display of spiteful gluttony that would serve only to make her struggle to escape her dress and groan at the scale tomorrow. And still… she ate.

Bella felt well and truly packed to the brim by the time she put the last raspberry coated in fudge into her mouth. She suppressed yet another burp by filling her mouth with cappuccino. Before her belly could react, she drained the last of the cup, washing the berry down into her aching stomach. She hiccupped and groaned softly, holding her stomach under the table. The coffee had helped sober Bella up, which made her realize just how overstuffed she was. Jesus, her belly was so bloated from all this! She looked like she was smuggling a salad bowl around under her shirt. She must have an extra four or five inches around her waist right now, good lord…

Yeah, Bella had to get out of here, stat. She couldn’t let herself be tempted into yet another act of petty spite. She tucked a hundred dollar bill she’d been planning on using for her meal under her plate and slowly stood up. Uuuuuugh, she felt even more full standing up! Her dress had popped up a little, giving Bella a little freedom from its constricting ways, but it did make the leg slit go a little bit higher up her thigh than she was comfortable with. She looked even bigger, too. The jutting dome underneath her dress looked all that more pronounced now that she was standing. Bella grimaced and hoped that no one paid too close attention to her. Hopefully, they’d just think she was pregnant or something.

The glutted woman wobbled her way to the elevator, overly conscious of just how tightly her dress was hugging her stomach. She made it inside, hit the first floor, and waited for the doors to close. Once she was alone, she groaned aloud. She pressed down on her stomach in a few places, her face twisting. Her stomach gurgled unhappily. Then, her throat bulged, her cheeks puffed, and a cacophonous belch filled the small metal box. It died down after a few seconds, leaving Bella out of breath but feeling marginally better. There wasn’t quite as much pressure inside her anymore, though she was still extremely full. Still, she’d at least be able to properly walk now. The elevator dinged on the first floor, and after the door opened, Bella stepped out-

And ran right into Jade.

Bella froze in place, not quite believing what she was seeing. Jade seemed like she was in a similarly stunned state. Jade was a little shorter than Bella thought she’d be, standing just a few inches shorter than her. Dull golden hair wreathed her head and piled onto her shoulder, while a minimal amount of make-up did maximal work to bring out her face’s best qualities. She was wearing a blue suede suit, one that looked like it cost as much as Bella’s net worth- minus the coffee stain on the right breast, anyways. Jade was a little softer than Bella, which was honestly more normal for women in their early thirties like them. She still had great curves though, and Bella loved that sharp look in her eyes. She was surprised to see that sharp look now, though. Their date had been scheduled for two hours ago, after all. “J-Jade?” Bella asked in disbelief.

“Bella! Hi!” Jade exclaimed, sounding just as shocked. She pursed her lips, looking guilty. “I, uh… thought you would have gone home by now, considering how late I am.”

“You’re half-right. I was just on my way home,” Bella responded. She finished stepping out of the elevator, letting the doors shut behind her. They both stood in the building's lobby, an awkward silence filling the air.

After many seconds of piercing awkwardness, Jade managed to say, “You, uh… You look nice.”

“... Thanks,” Bella replied. She felt mortified, standing here with her stomach bulging like this. She cleared her throat and said, “Y-You look nice, too. Very handsome.”

Jade laughed. “Thank you. Would you believe me if I said it wasn’t my first choice? My first got soaked in vinegar right before I was going to leave.”

Bella raised an eyebrow. “Vinegar? That’s a new one. I thought it would have been coffee.”

At that, Jade glanced down at the stain on the breast of her jacket and chuckled. “No, no, the coffee came after the vinegar, but before the clown car.”

“Ok, now I really have to hear what happened,” Bella laughed.

“I’d be happy to tell you. Over ice cream, perhaps? I know a phenomenal gelato place not far from here. My treat, of course.”

… Ok, Bella really needed to say no here. She already felt fit to burst! Also, Jade hadn’t drawn any attention to it, but she clearly looked like she’d eaten for three already. Still… this was her first date in months… and sure, Jade was incredibly late, but she’d paid for dinner anyways, and was going to pay for the gelato… and Bella had cleared up some room with the burp… She could probably fit one scoop, especially if she was being distracted by a good story…

“... Only if you promise not to be late next time. I was feeling pretty down that you didn’t show up.”

“Already planning for a second date, are we?” Jade teased. She started walking towards the building’s exit and Bella followed, managing to keep up despite how unwieldy her belly was. Jade continued, “But in all seriousness, I’m really sorry about how late I was. I’m usually very punctual, but today pulled a lot of curveballs on me. A second date would let me prove that, so I’d be very happy to have one with you.”

Rich, hot, comfortable sharing her feelings, has her pride but also takes responsibility, can both take and give a joke… Bella’s initial impression had been very poor, but Jade is looking better and better with each passing minute. Now Bella just had to make it through a scoop of gelato without popping so she could go on an actual date with this prize catch sometime in the future. So long as Jade really is punctual, as she says she is. If not, Bella might end up having another solo feast again. 

Not that she would mind it that much. There were still quite a few things on that menu Bella wanted to try, and Jade not showing up again would mean getting to double down on trying those… Hmm. Jade’s one negative so far had just turned into a slight positive. She really was a prize catch~.