Bulking Up (And Out) Pt7

Hey all. Here's the next part. Looks like our rabbit trainer is finally getting pudgy, with a little help from her boss.

*

“Hey Cass, you got a second?”

Cassie looked up from her plate of spaghetti to see her boss standing in front of her, her long arms behind her back. She shoved the forkful of pasta into her mouth

“I, slurp, sure. Sorry. I shouldn’t be eating on my shift, but it was a little quiet, so I figured I’d get lunch in before the later rush.”

Cassie went to put her plate away, but the giraffe stopped her.

“No! It’s totally ok! I told you that you could eat during your shift, not a problem at all. No, I came over because I wanted to say you’ve been doing a great job so far. Really. The customers like you.”

The rabbit believed it. No matter who she saw, when she saw them, or where she saw them, they always stopped to chat her up. They greeted her warmly, and whenever they left after their meal, they made it a point to go and talk to Annette. They’d always point in her direction, so she was sure they wanted to thank the giraffe for hiring someone who’s ass didn’t need two chairs to hold her up.

“The guys probably just love watching me lead them to their tables”, she muttered to herself.

“Hmm” Annette asked.

“Oh, nothing. I’m glad the customers like me boss. It’s made transitioning into town much easier. I know it’s only been six months or so, but everyone has really welcomed me in. It means a lot”, she replied, feigning her appreciation.

Truth was, if she had received a call from the gym that minute about going back to work, she’d tell Annette to piss off and leave. Instead, she would just have to bite her tongue as the spa had informed her that she wouldn’t be needed in January. It had been just another in a series of crushing blows that left her more agitated and depressed.

Unlike in the past, instead of channeling this rage and angst into running and weightlifting, the rabbit, who was around a literal buffet most of her days, surprisingly turned to food. It was slow at first, as in the beginning she stuck to a high protein diet, she just wasn’t exercising. That added a few pounds, but not much. The real change occurred when she began adding carbs into her diet. It was slow at first, a helping of pasta salad here, some sandwiches there. Before long, she was making sure to have a least two sides with her meals. Then, even more surprising, she went to the desserts. She never had a sweet tooth, but that didn’t stop her from trying some of the options that were presented. There were a plethora of choices, and she had gone through all of them and then some. They were flavorful enough that she didn’t mind eating them, though she wouldn’t recommend them if she had the choice.

Still, she was pretty oblivious to what all of this was doing to her waistline. Her work uniforms were usually several sizes too big and Sarah was dutifully washing her other clothes every week. There was no real reason for her to suspect that things were spiraling out of hand that much.

Annette knew differently though and that was why she was standing in front of her employee. She smiled and brought her hands up front, revealing a chocolate cream pie. Cassie’s eyes nearly bulged from her head as she saw the treat in front of her. It smelled so good and looked even better that she was really hoping that Annette had a cutting knife with her; if not she’d just use her own fork, she didn’t care.

“This is a little bit of my appreciation. Usually, I NEVER give someone a full pie, but I think you deserve it. It’s chocolate cream pie. It’s not my best work, those are my pumpkin ones, but those I only make for VERY special occasions. And I work really hard on them.”

She put the pie in front of Cassie, acknowledging that it was hers.

“Th-thanks, Annette. But I can’t possibly accept this. For one, this is against what I’d normally eat as a trainer, and two, I would never be able to eat a full pie in one shift!”

“It’s ok hun. I just figured that you could use a cheat day is all. I see you running all the time, surely one day of cheating won’t hurt, right?”

She smiled warmly at her employee, and then leaned in even closer.

“it would really make me feel better if you did. Many people would run through a wall to get this” she said, pausing to pick the pie up. “Went through a bit of trouble to make this but if you don’t want it, I guess I can just bring it to the back. The other girls probably will be jealous and annoyed that you were offered this AND rejected it, but I’ll talk to them.

Cassie looked over and saw one of the other girls talking. She personally didn’t care about their opinions but she also knew how things could go if you got the cold shoulder from the rest of your coworkers. If she was going to be stuck there for a decent amount of time, she’d have to play nice.

“I don’t want to be mean, Annette, it’s just this pie is so big, there’s no way I can finish this in one sitting. I wouldn’t want to waste it.

Annette smiled once more and lifted up the pie tin to reveal a plastic cover. She gently placed it on top of the pie, so as not to smash the cream too much.

“See? Problem solved. And you can always take home whatever you don’t finish. Same with the rest of the food when you close up. It’ll be between us ‘Spa Girls’, deal?”

Seeing that her boss was happy, Cassie was pleased. She had adverted a possible crisis it seemed. She smiled and nodded along.

“Deal. That’s very generous of you Annette. Thanks again.”

“No problem sweetie. Enjoy.”

The giraffe turned and walked back to the back to her office, pleased with what she accomplished.

Cassie meanwhile eyed the pie with beady eyes, tempted to start eating it now. She was about to remove the cover, but then thought better of it.

“As much as this pie looks good, I’m just going to save it for later. Show the other people here what willpower actually is. Besides, I can have some later and just store it in the fridge when I get home, it’ll stay good until I can give the rest to Sarah and her kids. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. I have the willpower to resist this, unlike the others in this town.”

Satisfied with this reasoning, Cassie put the pie under the top of the work desk and resumed eating her pasta.