Like Mother, Like Daughters (10)

This is the first of the chapters based on the vacation poll! The Emple gals are headed on a month-long, all-inclusive cruise. Minnie is currently the only sister who hasn't put on any weight--but a month on vacation can really change a girl('s figure)...

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Minnie tugged at her t-shirt, face wrinkling with disgust as she realized how much she was already sweating. She’d gone right from the air-conditioned plane, through an air-conditioned airport, and from there into an air-conditioned rideshare to the cruise terminal, which only made the oppressive heat and humidity feel like more of a slap in the face. She’d only been waiting fifteen minutes for her sisters to show up and she was already damp, comfy t-shirt sticking to her back and chest.

Heat aside, she was beyond stoked to embark on a month-long cruise. The whole thing was pretty expensive, but Veronica had kicked in some extra cash for each of her younger sisters to make it happen. Even so, Minnie’s body ached from how much she’d been working. On top of her usual bartending work, she’d picked up an additional part-time day shift at a big box store where she spent her day constantly walking around and lifting heavy shit, all so she could make sure she could afford her portion of the trip. She figured damn well deserved some time to lie back by one of the ship’s three pools and kick her feet up. For a whole month, she was planning be the type of girl who sipped margaritas instead of chugging cheap beer, and who lounged around in a bikini instead of band t-shirts and jeans. In other words: bliss.

Or, it would be, if they ever got on the damn boat.

She checked her phone, wanting to see if her sisters were close. According to Claire, they were. We met up at the airport! Should be there in five!

Minnie tugged at the front of her t-shirt, trying to fan herself. She could feel sweat pooling in the band of her bra. She couldn’t wait to change once they were onboard.

Her internal monologue of complaints was interrupted by her siblings finally arriving–not that she realized it was them at first. She hadn’t seen either of her sisters in person for close to two years. With Veronica busy with her new job and Claire settled into her off-campus apartment year-round, and Minnie being the broke one out of the three of them, there hadn’t been much opportunity to visit. And, if Minnie was completely truthful, she wasn’t all that great about making time for video calls (or even regular calls… or texts…).

When she first saw two women hauling themselves out of a taxi in front of her, she registered them for a moment with a chuckle to herself as “two fat girls on vacation.” She compared herself favorably to them. They were both a little red-faced just from getting out of the car, clothes slightly askew, exposing squishy bellies and the backs of love handles. Minnie was sweating buckets, but all that was really doing was making her t-shirt cling to her massive rack and show off her flat stomach. It wasn’t until the fatter of the two  other girls pulled a very familiar suitcase out of the trunk that Minnie started to put it together, jaw falling open as her baby sister waved at her and called her by name.

Minnie schooled her face by the time they both walked up, her mind a jumble of every synonym for “fat” that she could think of. It was harder than it should’ve been not to let some of those words come tumbling out her mouth. Claire pulled her into a too-warm hug, and Minnie was shocked to feel so much soft flesh pressing against her. She guessed Claire had to be over 200 pounds now, and probably way more. Minnie, who was still as slim as she’d been in high school, couldn’t even begin to guess at Claire’s exact weight. All she knew was that Claire looked like a mini version of their mom, her weight centered in her belly. She was wearing a cropped halter top and a long, flowy skirt, the waistband of which hugged the round jut of her gut. Her arms were chunky.

Before Minnie could really think about how Claire had managed to pack on over a hundred pounds in just a few years, Veronica was ushering them toward the ship so they could board, in full big sister mode.

The changes in Veronica were significant, though after the jolt of seeing Claire, Minnie was a little less surprised. Where Claire had ballooned, Veronica had merely softened. Gone was the sturdy, muscular figure of a pro athlete. In its place was the pudgy body of someone who sat in a cushy chair in a cubicle and noshed a little too often in the office break room. She was wearing a loose dress, so it was hard to tell exactly where all the weight had gone, but when the wind shifted and tugged at her dress, there were hints that she was well on her way to a belly as round and soft as Claire’s, though it seemed like she had a fatter ass, too. Counterweights, Minnie thought to herself.

The whole thing felt impossibly strange. They all got checked in and were led to their shared room. At one point, Claire pulled out snacks–whole sleeves of Oreos–and offered them to Minnie, which was like something out of another dimension. Claire had always assiduously watched her weight, even more than her older sisters. Minnie took a cookie from the packet and munched it absently as they navigated through the ship. A little, panicked thought flitted through her brain: If Claire could end up so big, why wouldn’t you?

Minnie was altogether more casual about her weight. She’d always eaten freely, drank what she wanted, and never bothered to get a lick of formal exercise. As a teen, going out to local shows and throwing herself right into the middle of every mosh pit had been more than enough to keep her slim (though occasionally at the cost of some bruises and scrapes). She didn’t check out new bands quite as often since she worked so much now, but being on her feet most days seemed to balance it out. Looking at her blimped up sisters, though, she could almost hear a biological clock counting down from “skinny” to “momma-sized.” She’d never had to work to be thin. Was she really supposed to start now?

But then, maybe she was the lucky one of the three of them. Her sisters had always struggled a little with their weight, relying on constant activity, calorie counting, and a well-exercised ability to say “no, thank you” to everything fun they were offered. Minnie, meanwhile, had spent her evenings and weekends guzzling cheap beer and liquor and eating burgers with her friends at 2 a.m. She still fit into all her clothes from high school even though her habits hadn’t changed much. So really–did she have anything to worry about? All three of them couldn’t have inherited their mother’s metabolism, right?

That was what she told herself as the three of them took turns in their shared cabin shower to wash off the travel grime so they could change into breezier vacation outfits. Claire giggled about how most towels wouldn’t wrap around her anymore, her rolls jiggling as she toweled off. Veronica was in no mood to make jokes, hardly seeming to look at herself until she had another billowy maxi dress on. She knew she was probably being a fool about the whole thing. She knew she was supposed to start being careful now that she was in her mid-twenties. There was something comforting about believing she was special, though. It helped that both her sisters gushed over how pretty and thin she looked once she was dressed, pointing out that her jean cutoffs were practically falling off her.

All the talk of how skinny she was worked up an appetite, and soon all their stomachs were grumbling. Minnie took the lead. “Let’s see what grub they’re serving on this bucket.”

Veronica wrinkled her nose, but she was smiling. “I really missed your way with words.”

“Well, you better get used to it–you’ve got a whole month to get sick of me!”