Lexi's Last Binge- Part 5

Two weeks later, Brittany and Lexi sat in Brittany's car, slowly inching through downtown traffic as Lexi chatted excitedly in the passenger seat. 

“And the fact that I'm the guest of honor?” she repeated for what had to be the fourth time. “I mean, obviously it makes sense, only one of the girls attending has more followers than me, and like, half her shit is bots anyways, but like, the fact that I'm the guest of honor means they knew they’d get the most eyes on the event if it's all about me.”

“Yup,” Brittany agreed brightly, tucking in the edges of her grin as to appear less eager than she was. 

Truth be told, she was anticipating this event far more than Lexi was. Not exactly unexpected given she’d organized the entire thing, but because Lexi was entirely unaware of that fact, discretion was key. 

“And the fact that everyone’s going to be wearing the exact same thing?” Lexi went on, entirely unfocused on Brittany's barely concealed anticipation in favor of her own. “Everyone is going to be comparing themselves to me, I honestly feel so bad for them.”

“Yea,” Brittany agreed with a nod, the battle to conceal her smile growing in intensity.

Brittany had pulled every string and called in every favor to organize this seemingly professional event, and she’d been working on its coordination non-stop since the straw of Lexi's comments in the kitchen that day finally broke the camel's back of Brittany’s goodwill. It was a meetup of body-positive fitness influencers sponsored by Gymbunny, and, at Brittany's insistence, each popular influencer that had received an exclusive invitation had been very blessed in the asset department, each with an exaggerated hourglass and a plump, plush ass that was often the linchpin of the online attention they received. She’d chosen to title the contrived event “Thick and Fit” and when the Gymbunny influencer relations manager that Brittany had known for years (and begged to go along with her plan) messaged Lexi to ask her to serve as the guest of honor, Lexi had shrieked with glee. 

She was certain that this was the path to verification, and given that the entire event would be live-streamed on the Gymbunny Instagram page, a page that boasted more than 5 million followers, if the event was real, she likely wouldn’t have been wrong. Thick and Fit was real in that it was actually occurring, but every element had been carefully orchestrated by Brittany to finally, finally bring Lexi's ego down a notch, and planning for the event over the last few weeks was the only thing keeping Brittany sane in the face of Lexis less than gentle antagonizations. 

The first call she made, before securing the event space, or the sponsor, or even putting together the influencer merch packets, had been to an old friend from her volleyball playing days; Bella. Bella was a beautiful, sweet girl who’d been famous for her body in the small town where Brittany grew up, and while Bella didn't go on to continue playing sports after they graduated high school, the girl had maintained her fitness on her own, something Brittany had always admired. They weren’t incredibly close these days, their busy lives causing them to drift apart somewhat in college, but they’d reconciled on Brittany's last trip home to visit her parents, where Brittany made two shocking discoveries. 

The first, less surprising than the second, was that Bella’s offhand mention of ‘keeping in decent shape’ was a vast under-exaggeration. Growing into adulthood had exacerbated the expansion of her most famous asset, but her body was still enviably toned, giving her the comically exaggerated form of Jessica Rabbit with the ass of a post-surgery Kardashian. Brittany had been astounded by the size of it, entirely unable to peel her eyes away, but the idea of showing off didn't seem to occur to Bella, who was dressed simply in jeans and a slightly fitted t-shirt. Even through the jeans you could see the magnitude of her ass as it wobbled behind her, and the only thing that had shocked Brittany more was the second piece of information she’d learned. Bella had no social media. 

Odd enough in this day and age, but completely uncharacteristic for someone as beautiful and well built as Bella, someone who could easily fund their entire lifestyle off of the attention she’d get online just like Lexi did. Even for a fitness trainer who had worked with as many clients as Brittany had, who had been as involved in the online scene as Brittany had become, she had never seen a more gorgeous, more jaw-dropping body. And because Bella had no account of her own and still lived in a town where Facebook was considered newfangled, Brittany was the only one who’d seen it. 

She called Bella and begged her to fly up for the event, offering money, fully paid flights and accommodations, any little perk that she thought would get Bella to agree to participate in her little scheme to show up Lexi. To her surprise, Bella had agreed readily, rejecting all the bribes Brittany had offered and assuring her that she’d love to attend, that she’d been planning a trip to a bigger city for a while and would love nothing more than to help Brittany out, especially given the situation. 

She’d laughed uncontrollably on the call as Brittany explained the situation in full, a tinkling, bell-like laugh that made Brittany feel almost lightheaded with bubbling glee, and agreed that showing Lexi up without embarrassing her should be punishment enough, should provide her with all the incentive she needed to adjust her attitude and improve the way she interacted with others. 

After Bella was secured the rest of the pieces fell in place quickly, as if by serendipity, and Brittany's plan was set into motion. She’d been waiting for this day as impatiently as Lexi waited for everything, and last night had found herself unable to sleep with the thought of finally putting Lexi in her place. 

Lexi was happily munching on a chocolate and peanut butter protein bar as usual, spewing crumbs as she chattered on about the jealousy her figure was going to cause, and Brittany drove on in silence, not trusting herself to speak for fear she’d inadvertently revealed the reckoning to come. 

They arrived at the event about 20 minutes later, enough time for Lexi to finish two more bars, and Brittany drove to the entrance of the hotel where the event space was rented, throwing the car into park and beginning to feel butterflies of nerves she couldn't quite place. Everything was arranged, everything was set to go perfectly. What was the strange feeling making her hands fidget of their own accord?

“Why aren’t you just parking, you're coming in to get footage for my page,” Lexi complained through the mouthful of the next chocolatey protein bar she’d opened, the fourth since their car ride began. 

“Well, you’re the talent, you should go in first,” Brittany all but blurted the second Lexi asked, her over-preparation for that question almost giving away the fact that something was afoot. “Plus they’ll probably want photos of you just entering, they won’t want me in them.”

“Good point,” Lexi gloated with a smirk. “Don't worry. I’m sure you’ll get something like this someday, don't be discouraged it happened for me so fast.”

Brittany nodded quickly, barely taking in the slight, and Lexi swung open the passenger door and stepped out, waggling her hips with what seemed like more emphasis than usual as she walked away. Brittany sat watching her for a moment, irritated with herself for marveling at the girl’s rotund, overinflated behind just as she’d likely wanted, then threw the car in drive and sped away to find a parking spot. She had to meet Bella.

That was the real reason she’d split up with Lexi and allowed her to go in alone, although Brittany had hired a photographer who would be acting as makeshift paparazzi as the influencers arrived. She shot Bella a quick text and hustled towards the entrance, headed straight to the elevator instead of checking in at reception like she’d told the rest of the guests to do. 

In an effort to make the confrontation as dramatic as possible, Brittany had scheduled a grand entrance, and in order to maintain the surprise had booked a room in the hotel the previous night and picked up keys for herself and Bella, telling her small town friend to arrive hours early and giving her the room information so she’d be well hidden away. After checking in with Bella and making sure that all was well, Brittany would meet up with the rest of the girls in the event hall and wait for the moment she’d been anticipating since she’d first taken Lexi on as a client. 

She rapped at the door quietly, as if a louder knock might somehow alert Lexi from floors away, and the door swung open, revealing the gentle, smiling face of Bella. 

“Hey,” Brittany greeted in almost a whisper, and Bella laughed and pulled her into the room by the wrist, shutting the door behind her. 

“So much secrecy,” Bella teased, still giggling. 

Brittany went red.

“Well, yea,” she stuttered. “Yea, I mean, it's just, I can't let anything go wrong. This all has to go perfectly.” 

Bella smiled knowingly. 

“What?” Brittany insisted, suddenly concerned that she’d forgotten some critical detail. 

“No, no, nothing's wrong,” Bella soothed. “It's just that….”

“What?” Brittany insisted more desperately, panic beginning to set in. 

“Brittany, it's ok, everything is ok,” Bella corrected, placing one soft, perfectly manicured hand on Bella's exposed arm and making her jump. “It's just… you’ve put a lot of time and effort into this, haven't you?”

“Yea,” Brittany conceded. “Sure.” 

“And a lot of money, it seems like?” Bella questioned. 

“Yea, a ton, why? It's gonna be worth it,” Brittany promised, already pushing back on whatever protest Bella seemed to have. 

“It just seems like an awful lot of time, funds, and energy to spend on someone you don't like.”

“She deserves it! She’s awful, she-”

“I know, I know,” Bella interjected. “She sounds like the worst, I agree with you. But are you sure there's no other reason you’re doing all this?”

Brittany wrinkled her brow, stumped. 

“What do you mean?” she finally asked slowly, that same strange feeling from the car settling back upon her. 

“Brittany, you’ve had terrible clients before, you’ve told me about them. Difficult clients, needy clients, rude clients, we spent a whole night at the bar laughing about it back home.”

“So?”

“So, you’ve never gone this far with any of them. You’ve never plastered any of them all over your social media pages, you’ve never dropped all your other clients for them, you certainly never asked them to move in with you.”

“But that was just because-,” Brittany started, and Bella cut her off with a sweet but cloying look. 

“C’mon, Brittany. And now you're spending all this money and time just to ‘teach her a lesson.’ Sounds to me like some pretty intense emotions.”

Brittany blinked, flailing for words. 

“Yea,” she finally stammered. “Yea. intense hatred.”

Bella laughed again, that musical, light, unoffensive laugh that could never sound mean or condensing despite the context. 

“You forgot I've known you since high school Brittany,” Bella reminded her. 

Brittany bit her lip, suddenly dreading what was coming next although she had no idea what admonishment to anticipate. 

“Growing up everybody talked about my ass, boys liked me for it, whatever, but you, you were always kinda…obsessed.” 

Brittany's face flushed a deeper red and her gaze dropped like a stone, the floor suddenly the most interesting object in the room to focus upon. 

“Especially when I'd wear those tiny volleyball shorts, the spandex ones?? If you weren’t grabbing it or smacking it you were staring at it, and yea, everybody on the team would do those butt pats for a good save or something, I know that's a general sports thing, but like, you were a little too into it.”

“I-” Brittany sputtered at a full loss for words. “I-”

“No, no hun it's really ok,” Brittany comforted. “I didn't mind it then, I don't mind it now. But you showed me pictures of this Lexi girl, and honestly, I think you feel the same way about her and you just can't admit it. And since she's an asshole, you get to transfer your feelings to hatred, when in all actuality… you kinda want her.”

“I have to go,” Brittany suddenly cried, turning back towards the door and flinging it open with none of her earlier regard for discretion. “It's starting soon. Just…just be on time, ok?”

She fled towards the elevator at nearly a run, the sound of Bella's laughter still tinkling in her ears.