The Bellflower Part 3

Here's part three. The suspense starts ratcheting up a little as Rachel meets some of Holly's friends in the building during their weekly "Ladies' Night," & her paranoia starts setting in. But there's other weirdness afoot too. 

In all honesty, I was going at a pretty good clip on this but it started being A LOT. Things were going well, but at a point Thursday morning, I reached the point where it's a lot of Rachel's inner monologue & it was going really well, & I was liking it & how concise it was &... the power went out & I lost it. So I had to redo it & I think it got long & meander-y on this pass. I might go back & clean it at some point, but for now, I wanted to make sure I got this week's installment up at least within the week.

And in case you missed my comment on the last one, while writing this, I also started working a bit on the next installment, Part 4. It was fun to write & I'm looking forward to moving onto it. It's a little bit more playful. Anyway, please enjoy!

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3

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"Deidre's is just down on twelve." Holly said as she got in the elevator. The ostentatious scale of it & its doors seemed to strike Rachel every time. As Holly stepped on, she spun on her heel to hit the button, unwittingly almost throwing her hip toward Rachel. Despite having all the room in the world. Rachel, paying a slight bit more attention, was able to stop short, narrowly avoiding it with a scowl that went unnoticed. "So she's actually like one floor beneath me, & just like one condo over." Her sister smoothed out the wrinkles of her sundress while cradling a bottle of wine she had purchased with her other arm. Meanwhile, Rachel continued to wear the same short sleeve shirt tucked into the same high-waisted shorts she sweated in a bit earlier. The emergency outfit she had in her knapsack. If this Deidre woman did indeed have some job for her like Holly mentioned, maybe making a good first impression would've gone a long away. But a change of clothes, or even a shower just weren't in the cards. After a stressful morning dealing with her car, they got back, she & Holly both unloaded all her junk, & then during what was supposed to be their post-unpack breather, both sisters proceeded to immediately drift off, snoozing pretty solidly up until around 6:50. An offputtingly long time. Longer than a typical nap, that's for sure. The kind you wake up from & feel disoriented. Groggy. And the weird part was Rachel felt as though she could've slept all the way through to the next morning, had it not been for Penny awakening them with a gentle alarm. 

But it left them only a few minutes to prep. In fact, with all of her stuff still in boxes, there was pretty much only enough time for Rachel to spritz on a little perfume & fix her wavy, deep maroon colored hair. All while Holly slammed a turkey sandwich Penny had made special for her. Not too long after that, they were off. And Rachel still wasn't enthused. 

"Relax!" Holly insisted, noticing her snobby little sister's slight sneer. "They're going to love you!"

"If you say so." Rachel said meagerly. She hated when people defined themselves distinctly as either introverts & extroverts, like it was a whole thing to build their personality around. But she definitely harbored qualities that planted her firmly more in the former camp, & knowing the people Holly usually kept as friends growing up, she felt like she was stepping into a lions' den of the latter. 

The slow moving elevator finally reached the twelfth floor with a ding. Rachel gestured to let Holly lead the way. She seemed to be taking a very familiar route, almost as they would take to get to Holly's. Sure enough, as she had said, it was just the next corresponding door down, marked "1219." On approach, Rachel could already hear cackling emanating from within. As she had sort of anticipated, there were strong, already harsh, "bachelorette party" vibes, &  she could immediately tell just how taxing this was all going to be. Holly shot her a look, as if to tell her to "behave" in just the wiggle of her brow, as Rachel realized she had inadvertently sighed & rolled her eyes, just on reflex. As Holly brought her hand up to knock on the door, it instead opened with the flush of a pneumatic hiss.

"Miss Holly, Miss Rachel." Deidre's very similar sounding Penny seemed to half greet, half announce. "Welcome. Miss Deidre & the others have been expecting you." Holly looked to Rachel again, only this time it was almost in a "wow! isn't that cool?" sort of way. Rachel was far less impressed, but started wondering how it would've known her name exactly. Did the Pennies all talk to one another? Compare notes? 

"Hiii-ie!" she heard a high pitched voice crack from the hall within. Rachel was yanked from her thoughts, & assumed this was their hostess greeting them. Deidre was a bit on the taller side, like Holly. And seemed a wee bit older, at least in the later half of her twenties, or possibly even a really good early thirties. But also just a bit thicker. Maybe even just the slightest bit more than Holly. The bigger difference was that she carried a lot of her extra weight up more in her arms, boobs, & belly. Certainly an "apple," at least in relation to more of Holly's "pear" distribution. Rachel had a small suspicion that perhaps this boss of hers was might've been the source. Perhaps she was the bad influence that got Holly to abandon her workout routine & start... overindulging. 

As she peered up at her, she noticed the woman's platinum blonde hair was cropped quite short into something of a bob she had just managed to throw up into a tiny ponytail. And while Rachel had been slightly worried about making a good first impression, this boss of Holly's or whatever was in flannel pajama pants & an old concert t-shirt (for a band Rachel absolutely despised), just managing to cover the very slight, but distinct rolls of a flabby belly. "You made it! Sure missed you at the office today. What a day! Oh my god & that dress is just adorable!" The woman directed at Holly in rapid fire succession. 

"Thank you." Holly finally cooed in edgewise, giving her outfit a bit of twirl before remembering she wasn't alone. "And this is my sister Rachel." Rachel awkwardly extended a hand to shake, but the blonde woman was going in for a full-on hug. There was only enough time just to realize "Oh, we're doing that?" & get her arms up before being enveloped within the woman's embrace. And as much as Rachel hated to admit it, it was actually something of a great hug. Definitely falling somewhere in her top ten at least. Something about where the weight had settled on Holly's supervisor, & her height. There was something almost wonderfully matronly about it. 

"I've heard SO MUCH about you!" Rachel, feeling a bit of bliss come over herself, was just about to start reciprocating by hugging back when suddenly that good will was ruined when Deidre continued. "Sorry to hear about your break-up. Sounds just... awful!"

"It's..." Rachel was a bit blindsided, having just realized that this was the first day in the proceeding week or two where she hadn't even thought about it. Was she maybe getting over it? Then again, it was on her mind again now, & well, it hurt. But she tried her best. "Thanks. It's nice to meet you too. Holly's spoken highly of you." She said, her tone flatting out & intended to be professional, but sounding slightly more robotic. And it was a bit of a lie, given she had only first heard mention of this woman during lunch, in that there was a Ladies' Night. But apparently, Holly had at some point parlayed her entire life story to this woman.

"Well, come in! Come in! Don't be a stranger!" the hostess insisted. Holly squeezed by Deidre the best she could manage, both plump women clogging the hall for the briefest second, while Rachel hung back, sticking to the rear a bit, timidly.

"Hiya!" Holly said to the rest of the group inside. More high pitched squeals responded, causing Rachel's ears to tighten & clench. Once again, she was definitely hearing the ladies of the ladies' night a second or so before laying eyes on them.

As the Hall ended in the kitchen area, Rachel could confirm Deidre's place wasn't too unlike Holly's, despite the fact everything seemed to be inverted horizontally. Like the exact same, cookie cutter layout, a lot of the same furniture even. But everything just happened to be on the other side, almost a mirror image, with different personal effects & tchotchkes scattered throughout. And at the moment, way more people in it.

"Everyone," Holly started again, as Rachel turned to them. "This is my sister Rachel." The high-pitched, semi-fawning greeting from the room that followed nearly punctured her eardrums this time. Beyond her, & Holly, & Deidre, there were four other women, all sort of just hovering around the table in the kitchenette in some fashion. They each roughly seemed somewhere between her & Deidre in age, one was perhaps even a little younger. But that wasn't the most notable thing that stuck out for her as she scanned them. 

Looking around, Rachel fought the urge to widen her eyes in shock. The term, "no one addressing the elephant in the room" crossed her mind, but she realized just how insensitive that might've been. Yet it immediately jumped out at her. And she couldn't NOT notice it. The ladies of the ladies' night all fell somewhere on the spectrum of not just soft, or even a little chunky, but firmly overweight. And each almost seemed thicker than the last. 

"This is Veronica. She's in sales." Holly began. From the kitchen area, a strawberry blonde with an almost perfectly round face & large glass of wine waved with her free hand.

"You are sooo key-UTE!" she shrilled, scanning her up & down. Rachel first tried to hide her wince, & then her umbrage with the patronizing context. Instead she settled with constrained smile & lilting head bobble, while noting the woman's extreme hourglass figure. Which wasn't to say she still wasn't sporting something of a potbelly too, just... way more... filled other places. With hips & a butt rivalling her sisters, just more up top too. She had stuffed herself into an old sweater & seemed ready to bust out of the dark denim jeans that strained to contain her. Holly, putting down her wine bottle with some others, continued down the line.

"And this is Camille. She started in my department a little after me." A tan skinned girl with shorter, dark wavy hair gave a reserved wave & smile, almost as if she welcomed the diversion after seemingly being cornered by Veronica. Of all the girls in attendance, she was the only one that might've been just a bit thinner than Holly, but it was still quite close, & only debatable given Camille wasn't as tall. 

"Welcome." Her voice, luckily was a fair bit mousier than shrill. She seemed like she might've come straight after work. Her blouse & skirt were a bit more professional, but seemed a bit closer to fitting her well enough, despite what seemed like a fair bit of pudge in the middle.

"Regina!" The next girl volunteered placing her hand on her chest, before Holly could get to her. "YOUR sister is SUCH a hoot!" Her round cheeks pulling back to reveal a toothy grin with a laugh. She had been in the process of pouring herself what seemed like at least a second glass of wine. "A complete riot!" She was Asian, with copper colored hair pulled into a messy top bun, & also, just sort of broad all over, falling somewhere between Holly & Deidre in terms of precisely how much. Looking as though she had a moment to stop home & change, she wore an old juicy couture hoodie & tight dark, navy blue leggings, leaving little to the imagination. Rachel moved on, trying not to stare. But, the last woman, the heaviest one among them, caught her eye like a tractor beam.

"And this is Courtney." Veronica stepped in, tilting her head in the general direction. There were shades of disdain in her tone. "Don't be rude to our guest, Court."

"Mmmmmm" the heavyset young woman muffled over her mouthful. She took a huge gulp & muttered with a weak wave. "Yeah, hi." Seated at the other end of Deidre's pub table. She seemed to be about the same age as Rachel, but was by far one of the largest people she'd maybe ever seen in person. Straight up obese. And just... round. Every part of her.

In order for her to reach what was on it, it seemed like Courtney was forced to smoosh herself into the table pretty firmly. The issue being she had so much gut, it caused the table's edge to cut into her a bit, displacing some of its... fluffiness. That smooshing pushed up her boobs, which in turn seemed ready to smoosh up into her second bulge of a chin & round, puffy cheeks. Upstairs, Holly had the exact same kind of pub table, with the same kind of stools. And something about that much mass sitting that high, pressing into it, felt awfully precarious to Rachel. But also, Courtney didn't seem to care. In the slightest. Instead, she seemed mightily preoccupied with the full spread of munchies in front of her. Even if they were intended to be shared amongst everyone. And that it was only expensive looking bowls of assorted snack items. She reached between the different them, applying excess amounts of dip whenever she could. 

"Jeez, Court," chided Deidre lightly on approach from the kitchen, as she added another bowl into the mix. This one was filled with hard pretzels. "Take it easy."

"What?!" her voice got a bit lost, wetly, in her own cheeks. While reaching for one of the new pretzels, Courtney tried to produce something of an explanation. "I didn't have much of a lunch." Which given her voracity, seemed both entirely plausible & completely unlikely at the same time. While one puffy hand reached for the next chip, her other shoveled a combo of a carrot, a celery stick , & another carrot into her mouth with a fresh sounding snap. She got a bit of the dip mooshed against her plump upper lip in the process. It joined a few other errant crumbs, splotches of salsa, & other things. Rachel winced before her attention was luckily called away.

"Would you like a glass of wine, dear?" Deidre turned to offer politely. But it appeared she was already pouring her some kind of a red. From a bottle not too unlike the one she & Holly had brought, but already opened. Rachel giggled to herself with a mean thought. Between the "basic"-ness, & all the... spread occurring, it felt a bit like she was being offered the key ingredient to a wine mom starter kit to join all these other wine moms in training. 

"Um... yeah. Sure." Rachel nodded, eventually deciding maybe alcohol would help get her through this situation. "Thank you. Whatever you've got. I'm not fussy." she said flat out.

"Well we got a lot, so get ready." Veronica chortled to herself before taking her own big sip. Camille's eyes darted to the opposite side in a show of tedium towards the comment.

"Welcome!" Deidre reached a thick arm over the table to hand her the glass. Rachel accepted & gave a sincere smile back. 

"Appreciate it." She nodded. Deidre then leaned back against her counter, picking up her own glass while getting a bit comfortable. "So tell us about yourself!" she asked Rachel, resting her free arm across her jutting middle to prop up her other, keeping her wine glass close to her lips.

Rachel looked around the room. The eyes of all the round faces were suddenly upon her. Well, except Holly's, who seemed to be inspecting what snacks were in what bowls with a pleased "Mmm." And Courtney, a fair bit displeased, looking almost ready to throw down over Holly's incursion. 

"Well," not wanting to leave the whole room hanging, Rachel flapped her arms in a steep shrug. "As you already know," she dressed with a little disdain towards Holly. It went unnoticed. "I just got out of a long-term relationship. It was... a little rough, but we're okay. Now." Another high-pitched noise, this time, an "awww" performed in unison, swelled to overwhelm the room. Rachel bobbed her shoulders again slightly before continuing. "Or at least we say we are. Frankly, I don't want to spend another word talking about it." She stopped to take a sip. of her wine. She was no expert, but thought she could recognize it was some kind of Merlot. Presumably a nice one, if only because she didn't expect someone like Deidre to really skimp.

"Here, here." Regina raised her glass in salute with a much more reserved bit of cackling. 

"But basically, I had to leave where I was. And really, in all honesty, I didn't have much going on anyway. So I... I just... you know... began thinking I could use like a fresh start. Which... is... what this is..." she trailed. Her sister finally looked up from the bowls, & they locked eyes. Rachel gestured towards her. "And despite me being an awful sister who never calls or anything ever, Holly here was nice enough to let me crash with her while I'm figuring all that out right now."

"Now who's older...?" Veronica interjected, trailing as she pointed between the two sisters. It was the kind of irrelevant, out-of-left-field question that betrayed any notion she had been listening. Holly raised a wiggling hand before chomping into a tortilla chip with a little too much guac steeped on it. "I THOUGHT so." Veronica cackled with a vapid, needlessly boisterous tone. But with everyone else facing her, Rachel noticed not only Camille, but Deidre & Regina wince & roll their eyes as well.

"So... yeah." She still really wasn't liking all the attention. "Don't know what else to say."

"Were you working?" Deidre asked seriously. Unlike Veronica, Deidre had some shred of empathy. And maybe some iota of sincerity.

"In the city? I had like three or four part time things from time to time. Dogwalker. Delivery girl. A bit of bartending. Was in a few bands here & there. Did some bike courier-ing. Not like the intense, weaving in & out of traffic way or anything. Since there's bike lanes now. Uh... some Housesitting. Plantsitting. Some occasional Taskrabbit-y stuff. Tried improv once or twice." Rachel listed, delivering what felt like her tenth shrug in fifteen seconds. "Just sort of odds & ends & little things. To pay the bills." She tried to crack a joke. "Gotta love that gig economy!" Thinking a jab at late capitalism would maybe get a chuckle, or maybe at least a bit of their understanding. And to her credit, Deidre at least nodded. But the rest mostly seemed absolutely horrified by the prospect of working such lowly positions.

"That's awful!" Regina cooed. Which wasn't entirely untrue, as having to hustle had never really been ideal. But Rachel could just tell that was not the way she meant it.

"But I think Holly had mentioned you... were writing? You were... a writer...?" A confused Deidre jumped in again, gesturing with her wine glass, & getting it to swirl a bit. Rachel looked to Holly, whose eyes widened. She bobbed her head, as if to signal something. Was this some sort of impromptu job interview?

"Oh... uh..." Rachel stammered, slightly embarrassed. "Well yeah. From time to time. It's something I've tried a couple of times..."

"Oh! She's sooo good!" Holly jumped in, unsatisfied with her sister's floundering. Rachel was more than happy to let her take the reins. "You HAVE to read her stuff!" She told the room. This came as a bit of a shock to Rachel. Had Holly actually read her stuff? Or was she just saying that to be nice?

"It's no big deal. It's... really just like... glorified blogging." Rachel waved dismissively.

"No," Holly insisted. "You've had articles on some pretty big sites! A lot of traffic."

"I mean... some people saw them. But those sites don't pay as well as you'd think. And it's rough. The jobs can be few & pretty far between."

"But you like writing though?" Deidre pushed, seemingly intrigued, despite all of Rachel's downplaying & self-deprecation. Maybe even some amount of self-sabotage.

Just then, before she could respond, the door opened with another hiss. The condo's Penny sounded to announce what seemed like another arrival. 

"Ah, Miss Andrea! I see you've brought treats." It was as if the AI wanted everyone to be well aware of this. Rachel notice the gal pals all look at one another, as joy struck their faces.

"Sorry I'm late!" Echoed a new voice from the dimly lit hall. She had a slight accent Rachel couldn't quite place. "I JUST missed the bakery I really wanted to try out. The closed while I was in traffic. So I'm sorry, I had to go to the one at the grocery store to pick these up there instead. But that one? Literally? IN-sane!" Another woman, a bit closer to Deidre's age came in. Her hands were full with a large, almost comically tilting stack of white pastry boxes, & plastic bags wrapped around each wrist carrying more even more. Rachel, while welcoming the distraction was leery with all these boxes. It seemed like an awful lot. Was it ALL baked goods? She gulped, worrying for both her & Holly. And the others. And even Deidre's stool if Courtney ever looked up.

Getting a better look, Rachel could see the woman's face was a little long & angular, not as round as the others. She hated that she was judging people by these sorts of standards now. But after everything with her sister, & now seeing the girls her sister considered her friends, she welcomed any exception she could get to assuage her paranoia. At least a little. She could have that one friend who maybe wasn't such a bad influence on her, she thought. Then again, she was in the process of carting in like a dozen pastry boxes. Wait, maybe she wasn't such a good influence after all.

"Wow!" Veronica shrilled. "That's like, TOO much! You shouldn't have!"

"Really," Camille seemed to sigh under her breath, softly echoing Rachel's concern. "You really shouldn't've."

"Oh I think we'll manage." Regina laughed a bit deviously. "Might just have to ROLL us out of here s'all..." Rachel wondered how she could even joke, especially given Courtney being right next to her. She started to contemplate if they even cared at all.

"Andrea," Deidre smiled warmly, tipping her glass of wine in her direction. "This is Holly's sister, Rachel who's visiting. She's a journalist!" Rachel bristled slightly at use of the term "journalist," only as it was way too much. But instead turned to face Andrea.

"Ohhhh-Hhhhh" the new woman cooed in that same high-pitched, basic way. "He-LooOooh." It was only a little less jarring when it was just one person, & not the entire room in unison. She dropped her boxes on an empty bit of table, sticking each bag between the bowls where ever she could find the room. Not only was it a lot of boxes, they each seemed heavy. As if they were packed to the brim as well. But now, without the boxes covering her up, Rachel could see Andrea in full. She tried to suppress her shock. 

The woman wasn't as thin as Rachel had been expecting. In fact, she was quite chunky, only from the waist down. An extreme pear, way more than even Holly. By a mile. Cartoonishly wide hips that extended down into massive, tree trunk legs. "So what kind of stories do you cover?" Her voice seemed to shake Rachel out of her urge to stare.

"Um I mean... I've done a couple political things, but I've had the most luck with... just stuff about TV. Music. Occasionally I get a screener & review a movie if I pitch things in advance." Rachel said, looking at her wine in order to avoid staring at the woman's strange frame instead. "Like I was saying, it's really not that big a deal."

"Stop saying that!" Holly reprimanded as she helped Andrea divvy & set out the boxes. Rachel perked up to see her sister get a stern expression. "You're really good!"

"Yeah," Deidre said while mobilizing to do the same. "Holly linked me one your articles maybe a week or two ago. I think you've got some real talent!"

"Wow," Rachel said, taken back a little. The pale skin of her cheeks reddened quite quickly "...Th-Thank you."  She mustered. But Deidre turned her attention more toward the boxes. Rachel looked again to Holly. But Holly was now more worried about them too. In fact, everyone else was. Even Courtney, taking a few heaves to get her lumbering body to her feet. She groaned on the way up when she finally managed.

"Now THIS is what I was waiting on!" Regina eagerly stepped up to the table. "Uh, no offense, Rachel!" she reeled when it dawned on her how rude the topic change might've been. But it was clear she didn't seem to mean it in a rude way. It was abundantly clear she was just distracted. Besides, Rachel welcomed it, waving it off with something of a relieved smirk. Finally the attention was off her. And just as it was starting to get awkward & complimentary too. Given how adverse she was to that sort of thing, she felt as though she had dodged a bullet. As much as she had her reservations about this crowd pigging out, selfishly? The treats could not have come at a better possible moment for her. Besides, seeing this crazy spread, covering every inch of table space, two deep in a few instances, all laid out? It did make her just the slightest bit curious as to what was in them as well.

"The main event!" Veronica was following hot on Regina's heels, & far less concerned with her etiquette. She approached the table with her wine tucked carefully between her pillowy arm & bosom while holding a plate. She didn't seem used to the berth of her own wide hips, unwittingly bumping into Rachel slightly, who apparently wasn't as quick as she had been in the elevator earlier. She didn't get any sort of acknowledgement, let alone a "sorry." But part of her didn't seem to expect one from the blonde either.

"Yeah," Camille joined in sheepishly, with her much softer voice. She wiggled in between Regina, & Courtney who was slowly attempting to line up. "I couldn't wait for this."

"Me either." Courtney moaned a bit with a huff, pulling two cream puffs onto her little plate in very quick succession. It was the fastest Rachel had seen her move yet.

"Rachel, what can I get you? Eclair? Scone? Danish? I think there's some cupcakes in one of these." Deidre offered, noting her new guest's reluctance. 

"In at least two of them," Andrea corrected, sucking an errant bit of frosting she got from opening one of the boxes off her thumb. "Mmmmmm."

"Oooh!" Holly cooed, seeing something she wanted & diving for it. Her ass seemed to wiggle happily as she bent in.

"I... um..." Rachel started. She watched what seemed like a literal feeding frenzy starting to unfold before her, as each of the chubby women loaded up their plates with way, way too many pastries. Her sister included, bumping shoulders on the other side of Courtney. She appreciated Deidre's offer, if only because she was worried she might lose a hand if she had tried to fend for herself amongst the bedlam.

"Earth to Rachel..." Holly waved, while daintily holding the item she dove for: one of the aforementioned, seemingly giant eclairs.

"I... I think I'll be okay with chips," Rachel said. With every ounce of her willpower. "For now at least."

"I get it!" Andrea said with a wink. "Trying to watch that figure of yours. Don't blame you." Just then, it was her turn to lean in for something, shooting the stretched seat of her shorts into the air in the process.

"Must've been great in the city!" Regina seemed to pine to her a little. She was reluctantly backing away from the table, looking as though she was ready to pile more onto her plate, but had to call it for the moment, seeing as her plate was completely out of room. An eclair, three smaller creampuffs, a danish, all with what looked like a jelly donut balanced on top. "All that walking. And biking?" She almost seemed unaware of her hand immediately pushing another danish towards her mouth, but at the last second, she gladly accepted it into her mouth with a quick, large bite. Her eyes seemed to roll back in her head, enraptured by its taste. After a few seconds, she regained her train of thought with a full mouth. "Wish I still had that."

"Yeah... it sure was...... neat." Rachel trailed awkwardly as Regina passed by her, thinking it ultimately didn't matter what she said. And she was right. Regina was in the middle of reacting to a second bite while the others were way too distracted still loading up.

"Miss Rachel," Deidre's Penny chimed in abruptly. It was bad enough the one upstairs knew her name, but now a second one? She scowled at first, but remembered given the social circumstances, she had to be polite right now. "If what Miss Andrea brought doesn't interest you, perhaps I can prepare something more to your liking?" 

"Uh, no!" she said sharply to the computer. "No," a bit breezier towards Deidre who had perked up again, her hostess' sense tingling. "Seriously. Like I said. Chips are... just fine for me."

"Well here," Deidre insisted anyway, stacking the smaller, lighter bowls with the salsa, cheese dip, & guac on top of the chips delicately, as if to keep it altogether, but also keep crushing to a bare minimum. "By all means, take these over with you." Deidre handed her the bowl while gesturing towards her couch in the living room area. "Get comfortable." She insisted, adjusting her t-shirt, as if she was self-conscious of belly poking out. Veronica was already sauntering her way over, with Regina, taking another big bite, not far behind her. Rachel obliged with a nod, escorting the bowl & her wine. 

She didn't know what the seating arrangement would be, but figured the furthest from Veronica was probably the wisest choice for her. Unloading the smaller dip bowls onto the table, she watched from the opposite end of the sectional, as Veronica mooshed half of a jelly donut into her mouth. All while relaying some banal anecdote to Regina in a sidebar. Sensing a definite personality clash, something about the curvy blonde seemed to live up precisely to what she had anticipated in Holly's choice of friends. But as she took quick stock of her first impressions, she realized that in all honesty? Veronica was really the only one. Everyone else wasn't all THAT bad. Sure, Regina came a little close, seemed a little basic, but seemed nice enough. Camille, shy, but down to Earth. Deidre even seemed kind of nice. Genuinely interested in her. And her writing? And maybe even in getting her a job? On top of that, she gave great hugs! Rachel reached for one of the chips, dragging it through one of the smaller bowls to pick up a modest amount of guacamole on it. Perhaps she had been a little too judgy, she thought, as the rest of the ladies joined them. Well, most of them anyway.

Then again, there were the definitely unexpected, but fairly ominous vibes too. Almost like there had been between her & Holly this whole time, but like... way worse.

"Court, you coming?" Veronica noticed with a bit of a scoff, as if to address something along the line of Rachel's inner thoughts. Rachel realized that everyone else was in the process of finding a spot. Either on the sectional sofa, or somewhere on the floor along it. All except Courtney, who was still closely orbiting the table. Rachel looked over her shoulder towards the larger young woman as she tried to pull her top over an exposed ribbon of belly flesh. "Court?!" Veronica impatiently repeated.

"I heard you." She said, assuredly. But then she seemed to look at the fifteen or so feet she was going to have to walk to join them, & the lack of couch space. Then she looked at the boxes & bowls taking up most of the table, & seemed to be doing some small amount of mental math. "Nah, I'm good." She finally said anti-climactically, slowly shuffling back to her original spot. The stool creaked a bit as she eased herself with a loud, slightly strained breath.

"Are we really going to leave her over there? With all the boxes? Unattended?" Andrea winced softly under her breath as she set her plate & her wine down next to Rachel on Deidre's coffee table. It was just loud enough for all but maybe Courtney to hear. And frankly, even if she had, the girl seemed too into resuming her gorging to care. The rest shot each other concerned looks before slowly making their way back to the kitchenette.

"We're going to move some of the boxes closer to us over here," Deidre announced to the room in seeming agreement, even though it was more of a decree towards only one of them. Veronica & Andrea each picked one closest to them. Gradually, Courtney realized what was happening. And Rachel was surprised with how pure & simple her immediate reaction actually was.

"Wait," She struggled, her arms reaching & her hands clasping open & closed, all grabby. Like she hadn't only lost track of her manners, but maybe a bit of reality. What kind of self-respecting grown adult would possibly beg like that?

"Here!" Deidre half smiled, looking to appease her guest. She was still the hostess after all. "No worries. After all, there's plenty to go around." Offering her another eclair from the box she had picked up. Courtney looked at it wantingly while Regina, Holly, & Camille liberated a few more boxes right in front her. Not only did she happily take the bait, she kept it closely on deck in her chubby right hand as she finished up the cream puff in her left. Rachel watched, awestruck. She looked around to the others.

Veronica & Andrea, who had made their way back, each made a slight face. Veronica's painted with far more disgust, while Andrea's seemed to have at least some modicum of empathy. But it was clear to Rachel now: they definitely noticed something was up with this very much overweight woman who was supposedly their "friend." But they just didn't seem to want to address it. Were they really just going to sit back & let it happen? Or hell, were they actually exacerbating it by inviting her & giving her access to this whole spread in the first place? Instead of maybe some form of intervention? She couldn't take it any more.

"Is... she ok...?" Rachel finally broke down & asked softly. She was proud with the amount of restraint she maintained with it.

"Mmm," Regina said, swallowing a bite of the fresh creampuff she pulled from the box she carried back over. Still standing, it seemed to almost dawn on her that something about their friend's condition might be a little offputting for someone enunciated. "She wasn't always like this. She used to be funny. Like, REALLY funny." After calling Holly a "hoot," Rachel wasn't sure if she could take Regina's opinions on comedy objectively, but keyed in on the notion that this was something of a recent change. "And now...?" She tried to keep her voice down, but looked at her fat friend kind of wistfully.

"I asked my Penny about her. Y'know, because I was worried too?" Camille offered, setting her box in the center of Deidre's coffee table, next to the bowl of tortillas. It was the most words Rachel had heard her say in a row so far. "And she told me something about her having to adjust some medication she was on. Or something. She called what was happening... "something of an... adverse effect?"

"She's fine. She was always at least a little heavy. As long as I've known her." Andrea said softly, leaning in towards the center, trying to keep her voice hushed. "She's just gotten... a little heavier again recently. But it's no business of ours." she went on, almost as if she was trying to put a button the conversation to move on.

"A LITTLE heavier?" Veronica snapped, compressing her voice only slightly. "She's practically oozing out of her chair right now. And still eating." Rachel looked as though she was trying to get a word in edgewise. While she didn't want to agree with the annoying one, she was the one talking the most sense.

"Veronica!" Regina gasped with disgust as she leaned back into her original spot with her plate.

"Wait. Wait. Go back! You said "your" Penny told you that...?" Rachel asked Camille, hung-up on what to her, seemed like a striking detail. "Why does YOUR Penny know about what meds Courtney's on?" 

"I..." It slowly seemed to sink in to the tan skinned young woman, & maybe even some of the others, that maybe something about that should've been amiss. But Camille looked up, & thought about it a little harder. Gears were spinning. "I mean... I asked her last week. Last Friday. After the get-together was over at my place." She ended up trying to find a way to justify it. As feeble as it was. "I think maybe my Penny could tell. Did a scan or something." The mousy girl shrugged, taking an almost involuntary bite of danish. It seemed like a low key signal she was done talking.

"That...? I don't know," Rachel tried to be diplomatic & not just scream "What?!" She also still tried keeping her voice fairly low. "That just doesn't track for me. That's just... not something your computer should be telling you about someone." She half expected Deidre's Penny to suddenly chime in then & there. But it didn't. Instead?

"Well she WAS in Camille's apartment," Veronica decided to play devil's advocate suddenly. And also stop lowering her voice. Rachel hated her more now. "If I have strangers over," she started after a sip of wine. "No offense" she assured the room. " But I'd want my Penny to tell me if they were on drugs!" She cast some of what seemed like her patented disdain on the word "drugs." Rachel looked ready to argue, but Holly jumped in first as Deidre rejoined them.

"I mean, I'm a bit worried for her, but also too, she's her own woman." Holly shrugged, looking over at the subject of this hushed conversation. "And she seems happy. I say... let her be happy. And if she needs help, she'll just ask."

"But Holl," Rachel tried to contend, almost speechless from her sister's response. So much for backing her up on this. But before she continued, another voice unexpectedly weighed in.

"Really guys!" The subject of the conversation moaned from her seat atop the stool. Courtney looked over, mostly to nod with what Holly said. "I'm fine!" Rachel's blood drained from her face. Had she heard the whole thing? "Work's just been... been a little... a little... crazy lately. That's all. Besides that, everything's... just peachy!" It seemed like the same denial Holly put forward earlier when being confronted. About things being "hectic." But sitting here, in a luxurious condo, with all these sumptuous pastries before them, Rachel started to question how hard any of these women really had it. 

In fact, she took some small offense to that idea. She, was, & always had very much been something of a stress eater herself. That, was why she had been overweight all throughout growing up. She happened to know a little something about gaining weight when you're under pressure. And to Rachel? This very much seemed like something else. Something... not right. But no one seemed ready or willing to acknowledge it. And in her last few attempts to earnestly try to, all Rachel managed to accomplish was making everyone feel uncomfortable. Probably more stressed. Not that that was the thing. She winced, her thoughts going a mile a minute.

"See?" Andrea finally chirped, ready to accept Courtney's excuse at face value. Probably because she was still looking to just drop the whole thing. In fact, it seemed to be something of a general consensus now amongst all the girls. And as genuinely concerned as Rachel was, she didn't know to persist without looking crazy. Or as if she was picking on somebody. Or making Holly look bad in front of her new clique. Reluctantly? She tried to just let it all slide with a deep sigh. 

"So! My day off? Did y'all manage without me?" Holly asked Deidre with a smirk, happily changing the topic. Deidre rolled her eyes playfully, welcoming the steep segue. "Did I miss anything?" She chomped into one of the eclairs on her plate, a bit of cream sloppily pushing out the back as she did. 

"Other than Creepy Dan staring at your ass again?" Camille said, seeming to joke. Rachel looked to her sister with a bit of concern. Who was Creepy Dan? Holly laughed with a bit of a blush, but Deidre gasped.

"Is he STILL?!" Her supervisor tsked in disgust. Some of the other girls gasped lightly, while Veronica cackled. 

"Grrr-Oss!" her face scrunched up. "He's SUCH a creeper!"

"Why does he still even work there?" Andrea threw her arms up, flinging a few clumps of powdered sugar messily in the gesture. They only just missed Rachel.

"VP's son-in-law...?" Camille tried to remember, low key.

"Do I have to reprimand him? Again?" Deidre asked earnestly, concerned for Holly.

"Only if you catch him in the act." Holly waved a hand dismissively. "I think I caught him twice since you spoke to him about it, but one was in passing & another was from across the office. Nothing... concrete."

"Ooooooh if I ever..." Deidre steamed. The other girls laughed & made remarks about "needing" to see kind, "Old" Deidre snap. 

"It's... it's not that big a deal..." Holly waved off again, still blushing. 

Rachel, at a loss for all of this, reached for another chip. As much as she was sympathetic to her sister's blight, this was only her first time hearing about this infamous creep at their office. She didn't know him. Or have any frame of reference for any of the intra-office politics or inside jokes that seemed to dominate the topics of conversation amongst the others from that point on. Of course she'd try to seem engaged! She had a lot of practice in the past. She'd just kept looking around the room. Listening & nodding. Or tsking & shaking her head. Depending on the discernable context. The way an active listener would. But really? She was miles away.

For her? Having always been told she was prone to paranoia, she tried to talk herself out of this notion there was something... odd happening. But it was of no use. 

Some very clear patterns were emerging for her. And there was no "just letting this slide." As the girls in the room around her started laughing their ear-piercing laughs again, Rachel's auto-pilot mustered a superficial smile, while she remained in deep thought. 

She thought about how initially, meeting each of the girls? She had suspected their weight issues seemed almost as if they had formed some bad feedback loop of enablers. Where like they were all terrible influences on one another. But she glanced over at Courtney, whose massive, wheezing presence seemed to be enough of a wake up call to break an involuntary cycle like that. She thought about how it definitely wasn't that. Or stress, like every one of them seemed ready to blame at the drop of a hat. She thought it had maybe a little more with each of them "letting it slide" & "letting it slide." And how, in doing so, now their supposed friend Courtney had ballooned to such a point. A point where she had difficulty walking, or heck even breathing as she just sat there. She thought about how it didn't seem malicious, or contemptuous, or even specifically callous. More just... oblivious, almost. And how that didn't really stop with just Courtney though either. 

Sure, she was by far, the furthest gone. Both in physical & mental terms. She was huge, but all of her focus was on eating even more. What looked like constantly. Any person in their right mind surely would've stopped ages ago. So long as they could actually see what was happening to them self. But if not? That's what friends were supposed to be for! Friends of hers, if they were really her friends, would certainly take action at some point, intervene. At least if they were in their right minds. And she began to think that didn't seem to be the case here.

"So I told her, "Not this quarter, sweetie!" Andrea said, cracking herself up a bit before the finish. Another cackle swelled to fill the room. It made Rachel's eyes wander a bit. When pressed, it seemed like each woman had at least some awareness, even some opinions as to what Courtney was doing to herself. But it seemed like no one there wanted to be the one to rock the boat. Or blimp, as the case maybe. Not only that, sitting there, watching? Actually, watching the others? Sure, they might not have been close in terms of BMI, but they all pretty much seemed to be doing the same exact thing Courtney was doing at the moment: Eating. With a voracity. 

Sure, they weren't as singleminded. They were a bit more talkative. And those shrieking laughs of theirs. But still. They'd say a few words, cram something in their mouth. Laugh, maybe take a swig of wine, cram something in their mouth. Sometimes, they weren't opposed to cramming something in their mouth first & then cracking a joke or laughing. Not that she expected them to be prim & proper. But over the course of conversation, there had been a couple of burps & belches, with absolutely no attention drawn to them, even in a brash, gross-out comedic way. They would just lie there & the conversation would keep going. And the girls would just keep gorging themselves. And now, it was starting to seem as though the almost impossible amount of baked goods Andrea had shown up with were slowly disappearing. If she had to quantify it? Probably half, maybe even two thirds. Gone.

And none of the women seemed to show any sign of slowing, let alone stopping. If they cleared their plate, they'd look through the boxes, & simply find more goodies to load it up with. Even Deidre, who seemed to carry an air of maturity about herself, mindlessly put away several danishes before housing what seemed like half a box of creampuffs herself. She gorged herself until her belly actually couldn't help but poke out underneath that concert tee of the band Rachel didn't like. If this was their weekly ritual, no wonder none of them were skinny. Between nights like this & her around-the-clock binging, it was no wonder it seemed like Holly was swelling up like a tick. If anything, she was somewhat shocked Holly had managed to keep things as tight as she had. 

She watched her sister across the sectional a little closer. Low key, she had taken a mental tally of everything her sister shoved in her mouth over the course of the evening, & frankily, she was starting to lose track. Holly bit into what had to at least be her fourth eclair. On top of half a dozen donuts. Three creampuffs. A danish. And two cupcakes. In all honesty, she was sort of impressed with her sister's capacity. No way she could house that much in a sitting. Even when she was a chunker herself. But she thought back to what she had said in regards to Courtney. "She's her own woman. If she needs help, she'll ask for it." Then she remembered the night before, in the elevator. The look of shock on Holly's face when Rachel brought up her obvious weight gaint. Almost ike she had been completely unaware of it, up until that point. Had she not? Was she really unaware? Were they all?

Every now & then, there were occasionally some lines that sucked Rachel back to reality. Including a mini-bitching session over rude comments & interactions some of them had gotten recently.

"... And he actually had the nerve to call me... fat!" Regina pouted, in one instance.

"The nerve!" Andrea scoffed, shoveling the last few bites of a donut into her mouth, clearing her plate.

"He's the one that's a freakin' PIG!" Veronica steamed with a theatrically demonstrative sneer. 

"Yeah!" both Holly & Camille agreed in unison.

"Need a re-up?"  Deidre asked politely. It seemed directed at Rachel, who was suddenly a little confused. Had she missed something? Deidre asked her a question, but she didn't know what she meant. Rachel looked up to see most of the ladies looking at her now too, with their faces each falling into different places on the spectrum of puffy. "On the chips." Deidre clarified, nodding towards the empty bowl on the coffee table in front of Rachel. That's when it suddenly dawned on her.

Through out all of her hypervigilance, her preoccupation with everyone else's weight & mindless consumption, the one thing she hadn't realized? How she herself had been clawing at the tortilla chips & salsa (& cheese sauce & guac) this whole time. Now the once full, rather large chip bowl was completely empty, save two or three very tiny crumbs. In the grand scheme, it might not have seemed like a lot. After all, chips & dip weren't a metric ton of baked goods. But what got her more was how she hadn't even realized she had been doing it. How she finished off the entire thing on her own, as if she was coasting on some sort of appetite autopilot of her very own. She was lucky she stuck to just the chips. But it didn't take this feeling out the pit in stomach.

"Oooh! Or how 'bout melting some cheese on top? Then we can have some nachos!" Holly put forth. For once Rachel was happy she pulled a bit of the attention away from her.

"Mmmmmmmm," moaned Courtney from the kitchenette, over on her absolute champ of a stool. "I'd kill for some nachos right now." Because of course she would. 

"So... nachos?" Deidre seemed to run by everyone, eager to please. There were no dissenting opinions.

"I... actually..." Rachel stammered, setting her mostly empty wine glass down & getting to her feet. She could feel the dip sitting heavily in her belly. While maybe more than a little, it wasn't that she was necessarily full. Not by any means. She was just... painfully aware of it. And what was even worse, she stared at one of the half eaten eclairs on the coffee table & easily could keep going. Which was precisely why she had to cut herself off. Now. "I have to get out of here." she sighed, noticing Holly's expression immediately droop with dejection. 

"Awww, what's the matter?" Veronica asked loudly. It was steeped with a patronizing lilt. One of the other women, Rachel couldn't discern whom exactly, suppressed a belch as things suddenly a side conversation stopped & everything quieted down. All ears fell on her. She had tried to avoid it, but her wanting to leave had officially made a scene.

"Oh, I... I'm sorry," Rachel awkwardly scratched the back of her head as she stepped past Andrea's thick legs. "I just... I'm really tired. I think I'm going to go get some sleep. Long day & all. I mean, I probably don't have a car any more, even though it sucked. We moved a bunch of boxes. I think I need a lie down."

"We had that whole nap." Holly softly argued between clenched teeth, detecting some amount of bullshit. 

"Well it sucks you've gotta go." Deidre put, taking the nacho bowl towards the kitchen area. She sounded a bit disappointed. As if she failed in her duties as a hostess. That's when Rachel suddenly remembered that part of this was all supposed to be under the auspice of talking to Deidre about a possible job. And it felt like they had gotten close to talking about that. But now, it was almost as if she was letting Deidre down a little. And she didn't want to do that. Deidre seemed nice. Or at least nice enough. She gave that great hug.

"I... I'm sorry." She said, surprising herself with how sincerely she meant it.

"No," Deidre assured her with a half-hug arm pat on the back. "If you're tired, you're tired. I'm sure we'll get a chance to talk again soon. Get some rest!"

"Yeah!" Rachel said, "We'll talk soon." she agreed, despite not really having a direct means to get a hold of her. Besides knowing where she lived, anyway. She turned to the living room with a wave. "Good night! It was nice meeting you all!" What followed was a sort of "bye/goodnight" noise that was performed in unison. But it had a softer, more melancholy drone to it instead of the high-pitched squeals their usual cackles had. As she passed by the kitchenette, Rachel turned, making sure she acknowledged everybody.

"Nice to meet you, Court." Rachel tried to wave pleasantly on her way out. Court, in turn gave something of a snort & nod. It felt like the best she could probably hope for, given Courtney's demeanor. 

"It was nice finally meeting you!" Deidre hollered after her as her guest backed out her condo's hallway. As the door hissed shut behind her, Rachel swore she heard Veronica say something not too dissimilar from "lightweight" & Holly whining "you guys" before a bit of lighter cackling resumed. The laughs didn't seem wholly mean-spirited, but it also seemed to reinforce her decision. She stood there a second taking a deep breath. At least she was done talking to strangers for the night. Or at least she thought.

"They... huff... having their... huff... "Girls' Night?" a voice asked from down the hall, very much out of breath. Coming from the direction of the elevator, Rachel recognized the stout jogger. The one who had stared her down from the instant she first got there. This time, she was in a different, but equally ill-fitting athletic outfit, soaked in sweat, as it seemed as though she was just coming back from what must've been a pretty intense jog. Or not, given her stature. Upon closer inspection, despite the workout regimen, she had the beginnings of a slight waddle to her gait. "Franchesca," she puffed, extending a hand to shake as she approached. "But... Fran works too." 

"Rachel." She responded with a pursed lipped smirk & shake.

"You new, Rachel?" the shorter woman asked, seemingly trying to conserve what little energy she had left by being a little terse.

"Just... couch surfing. At my sister's." she said, gesturing towards the door she had just come out of. "She's one of them in there. But her place is up a floor. On 14." Fran made sort of a squint at that comment. She took a few more pants before continuing.

"Oh, so you're just... staying with her? And the HOA council was... cool with that?" Fran asked a bit pointedly. Rachel didn't know exactly how to respond. In her head, she wondered if Fran was some anal-retentive, by-the-book type. But given the tone, in which she asked heaped a little disdain the council's way, maybe she only asked after having her own run-in. 

"Yeah. I mean, seemed like it. Why?" Rachel eventually shrugged.

"Eh. No reason." Fran waved off, looking as though she was trying to stretch the muscles of her back a little. Trying to keep from getting stiff after her run. "It's just... I know they can be a little... weird.. sometimes. About... things." Rachel detected more disdain, but also some reservation. Still, she had no idea what to make of it all. Instead she opted to change the subject.

"I saw you. When I came in. Looked like you were going on a jog."

"Yeah. Probably look... ridiculous." the woman admitted with chuckle, resting an arm on her round belly. Rachel awkwardly tried to back pedal, even though Fran was the one that went there. 

"No, I meant..." 

"No, it's fine. Trust me! It's..." Fran took another beat to catch a bit more breath. "You don't know..."

"Don't know...?" Rachel asked. Fran looked her in the eyes. Then looked over her shoulder down the empty hall. It was empty, & would've been quiet if not for what sounded like Veronica getting unnecessarily loud about something from within Deidre's.

"Have you... noticed anything... strange...? About this um... building I mean."

"Strange?" Rachel perked. She was a terrible poker player, & Fran immediately got her answer through what could've been considered a tell. But Rachel tried to play it cool. "Strange how, exactly?"

"Just... strange." The obese woman in tight, straining spandex, nearly ready to pass out from exertion asked sincerely, squinting with a bit of a nod.

"You... could say maybe... odd. At the very least." Rachel said looking to the side. Fran's eyes widened. Her expression perked into a bit of an excited smile, even despite her exhaustion.

"I think... I think maybe we should meet up some time. Talk about it." Fran huffed. "Just... one second." She said, pressing her hand against the sensor of a door down the hall. She ducked into what seemed to be her apartment, just a bit further down the hall from Deidre's. The corridor had that same eerie lack of noise she had noticed on her way in. At least until another cackle fit broke out from the party. After a second of standing there, Rachel slowly approached Fran's open door. Not looking to go in necessarily, but at least help meet the rotund runner halfway. Just then, Fran shuffled back to her door. Rachel inadvertently jumped, but recovered quickly.

"This... is a number you can reach me at." Fran directed, not only still struggling to catch her breath, but now seemingly trying to keep a bit quiet as well. "A couple of us leave the neighborhood every so often & go... talk... about some of the... stuff we see." She craned her neck to inspect the hallway again, first behind Rachel, then down the other end. "You should come some time. Let us know... what you've seen." Rachel looked at Fran, then down at the number. 

"Oh... okay." She said timidly. "Actually, I..." she looked up with kind of a relieved smirk. "... I think I might just take you up on that.

"Nice meeting you finally, Rachel." Said Fran. "Stay... stay mindful." She smiled, before backing into her condo.

"Huh?" Rachel was confused but realized the door was closing. "Nice to..." It shut. "... meet you too." Rachel stared back down at the number. Like she had said: "odd."

The elevator, per usual, seemed to take forever. She pressed the button & stood there, staring at its glow for what felt like two minutes.

"Mindful?" She pondered, Fran's words echoing in her head. She thought she had some inkling as to what it could meant. But given Fran's shape, she wasn't sure if they were talking about the same thing. Impatiently, she hit the button rapidly a few more times. "What the hell...?" she muttered under her breath. She thought she heard another uproar of cackling coming in the direction of the ladies, but given how starkly quiet the hall was, she worried she might've just imagined it.

"Ding!"

"Finally..." Rachel sighed.

As the doors parted, she saw a scrawny delivery guy holding a huge order of pizza. Three boxes, & what looked like wings. From Pazuzzi's. But she noticed the man looking a bit concerned, his eyes darting from side to side. As the wide doors kept sliding, Rachel saw two women, one on either side of the guy. Both were round, not to far from Courtney's bulging build. And both stared down the delivery guy's bounty, salivating. While they didn't seem like they'd ordinarily be that quick, or agile, both looked ready to tackle the guy & greedily claim the delivery for themselves with a fervor. Their craving was palpable, & while Rachel was not one to put much credence into things like "energy," there were ugly, potentially violent vibes coming from this car. But who knew when the next one would come. Then again, it was only one floor.

"On second thought..." Rachel pursed her lips, whispering to herself. "The stairs might do me a bit of good." She waved. "Sorry." With the dull roar of the rollers, the doors slowly started shutting. Before they met, Rachel swore she saw the delivery guy wince. As if his life was flashing before his eyes. Like the last bit of cackling, she didn't know if the sounds of a scuffle she thought she heard were real or imagined.

After circling the floor twice, Rachel finally managed to find the tower's stairs. While everything in the building was new, the stairwell looked as though it may have never been used. Pristine. There was even a giant, tastefully painted "12," tilted a little & bringing some much needed color to the lightly colored drabness of everything else. Was she the first person to even see it since it was constructed? The ground was spotless. There didn't even seem to be dust.

She went up a flight, turned, & went up a flight, reaching a landing, similar to the one she walked in on, only with no door. So she continued up another flight, turned & went up another. That landing had a door, painted with a giant "14." But that felt like a lot of stairs for one floor.

Curiously, she went up another flight, turned, & went up another flight. Sure enough, there was a door. And a giant "15." To make sure she wasn't going crazy, she bounded down the two flights, back to the door on "14" & then bounded down another two. It was blank. No door. Another two flights? And she was back on "12." Slowly now, having not anticipated to have walked so many stairs this evening, she began her trek back up. Like the other two times, two flights up from "12" had no number & no door. And another two flights brought her to "14."

Was there an ACTUAL thirteenth floor? She thought buildings were always just supposed to skip it. For dumb superstition of whatever. Like thirteen was simply just numbered fourteen, & so on, not actually harbor a physical floor, that apparently, was just blocked off from everything. If it was an actual floor, taking up actual space, her thoughts turned immediately to what might be on it. And why WOULDN'T it have stair access? Wouldn't that in & of itself simply be a coding issue? She wanted to explore further, but she didn't even know how to start. She was honestly tired after all. So she was going to have to stick a pin in this. For now.

Despite her long midday "nap," between exceeding her quota for socializing, & all of those extra flights of stairs, Rachel stepped out into the corridor of the 14th floor exhausted. Out of breath even, though maybe not as bad as Fran. 

But speaking of Fran, & what she said about strangeness, there were so many odd aspects to this place. Rachel's paranoia was starting to run a bit rampant. It was something she had worked to corral, but something about all this that felt warranted. She toyed with the idea of starting a list. But as much as she wanted to explore, & start trying to confirm it wasn't just her & that this place was truly weird, part of her felt almost ready to pass out.

"Miss Rachel," Penny sounded the instant she walked in the door, which like upstairs had opened on her approach. "Back so soon? Is Miss Holly still at the party?" Rachel didn't acknowledge the voice. "You seem a bit... distressed. Can I be of some assistance?"

"Fuck off." Rachel growled, b-lining towards her little nest area at the corner of Holly's spacious couch. But the computer didn't seem to recognize "fuck off" as a proper command.

"You took the stairs. Were the elevators not sufficient?" Rachel didn't respond, instead digging through her knapsack. She found her pocket notepad. And a pen. But she started digging through another pocket. "Perhaps I could fix you something t..." Before it could finish its suggestion, Rachel had grabbed her large, over the ear headphones, & paired them to her phone. She resorted to the same old screamo playlist she had listened to on the drive in to drown out the noise before throwing herself back into the comfy couch with a hard plop. She missed the subsequent twenty or so instances of Penny asking "Miss Rachel?" that followed. And as loud & abrasive as her choice in music was, it helped her to think. And given what she had been seeing around here, it seemed like she had a lot of thinking to do.