“Come on, man! Keep up!” Nick said as he trudged ahead Selim on the track. Nick has always been the shorter of the two; but Selim, although taller, was much huskier and chubbier. He liked to run but hated running with Nick because he just felt inadequate. He did love watching his tight butt ahead of him sway back and forth, however.
“I’m coming, not as in shape as you, bro.” Selim said as he jogged around the edge. It was a beautiful day, but it was close to 85 degrees. He was sweating and just barely keeping up a jog. Nick, meanwhile, was ahead by a lot. Sweaty. His athletic shirt stuck to his built, yet slim body. Pecs were showing, abs were showing; those tight jogging shorts, showing all the right curves. Selim had come out as gay a few years back, and Nick was one of the straight friends who stuck by him through it all. Even after Selim confessed his feelings for him. Nick shut it down, and then asked to go to the gym the next week. While Selim knew there wasn’t a shot with Nick, he still liked admiring his snack of a friend.
“Alright, let’s call it for the day. You have got to lose some weight, my man. With your height and leg stride, you could smoke me on this track if you were in shape.” Nick said wiping his brow and beginning his post-workout stretches on the green in the middle of the track.
“I know. It’s genetics, what can I do? I’m out here with you, aren’t I?”
“Don’t you want a boyfriend dude? I know guys like you may be called bears, but can laziness really be attractive?” Nick asked. Then, realizing what he said quickly tried to recover “I didn’t mean that man, you know what I mean.” Selim looked down at his belly. It had always been a sore spot for him, and hearing his best friend call him lazy because of it, and ugly, really killed him.
“Yeah…yeah, I know what you mean.” He tried his best to keep his cool, but anger was filling up in him. “Alright man, I got to go. See you later.” Selim started to head to his car. Nick stopped him.
“I’m sorry. But I hate seeing someone like you not live up to his potential because he likes fast food joints. You could be amazing, man.” Selim couldn’t take it. He turned and got in his car and took a few deep breathes. God, he couldn’t stand him sometimes! Who was he to say he wasn’t amazing, already? So, what if he had a few extra pounds, he was still good! He has been a high school teacher for 10 years, kids loved him! So what he didn’t model or look good in a trim suit? Screw them all. Selim headed to the nearest junk food spot and ordered 2 double-cheeseburgers.
He brought his food back to the apartment and went through his routine. He opened both cheeseburger boxes, took both sides of fries and dumped them into the empty side of the carton. He opened all four sweet-and-sours and placed each one infant of their designated carton sides. He then went to town. Dipping the burgers into each sweet and sour container, loading five, six, seven fries in one hand and dunking them in the sauce. He had finished the meal in 5 minutes and felt very bloated. As he rubbed his stomach, the feelings of guilt washed over him. He knew Nick was right. He knew he had a problem with food, but it just tasted to damn good! If Nick ever broke from his regimented routine of exercising and damn salads, he would see that.
It was at that moment that a shine caught his eye when the light hits foil at the right spot. It was at the bottom of one of the empty fry containers. One of these peel lottery things. It said, “Peel for your answer”. He peeled it off and underneath was a QR code with the saying “Scan and Gain”. Weird. Selim scanned the QR code with this phone, greasing up his screen. It brought him to a webpage with the headline: “Stop the Guilt! Solidify your weight today!” He read on: “Chances are you saw this after a binge eat of your favorite fast-food fries. Good for you! Are you so sick and tired of friends and family saying you need to lose weight? Have you listened and tried? Only to fail? No more. If you know you can’t lose weight, why not make it permanent? Get rid of the option. Buy Grow and Keep. The world’s first gaining/maintaining powder that lasts.” How could there not be an all-knowing entity out there? This is perfect! He could buy this powder right before his binge, and then he wouldn’t have to feel guilty. “It’s the medicines fault” He would say. “Can’t do nothing about it.” He can focus on my pressing things, like his job and family, rather than his weight. He quickly ordered the powder.
The next day, he came home from work and there was the package he had been waiting for. On the top it said, “End your suffering now!”. With a large smile on his face, he ran inside with the package and ripped it open.
Inside was a package with two medium-sized vials, each with white powder in it. The each had a large G on them. He picked up and read the pamphlet inside. “You made an excellent choice choosing Grow and Keep! Use that bottle of Grow and Keep! Good luck, and happy gaining!” Huh, interesting. Selim opened the package and held one vial in his hands. This was the answer to all his problems. Luckily, he hadn’t eaten today so it was time to go-a knock on his door.
“Sel, hey man, I got you something!’ It was Nick, of course. He opened the door and Nick held out a bag of Junkers fast food. Grease was pooling in the bottom. In his other hand was a white bag. I picked up lunch as an apology for yesterday, I’m sorry man.” He stood there in his plain white tee-shirt, hugging his biceps and torso just perfect. His beard was recently trimmed and hugged his sharp jawline perfect. And those blue, faded jeans hugged all the right curves. He couldn’t stand the guy right now, but the guy was just too good looking to ignore. That, and he had a bag of delicious fast food for free.
“Sure man, come in. Don’t apologize, you were right, I’ll start losing the weight.”
Nick shook the greasy bag, “Right after this though” he said with a smile and wink. “I got you a double-cheeseburger and fries. I picked up a salad on my way here.” He gestured to the white bag as he walked in and sat down on the couch. Selim joined him. “What do you have there?” Nick eyed the vial of Grow and Keep.
“Ahh nothing. It’s this foreign spice, supposed to make all food taste sweet.” Thank God he saw an ad for that on Facebook earlier. Nick’s eyes widened,
“Dude! Yes! Let me try some on my salad.” Selim hugged the vial to his chest.
“Ah no.”
“No? Dude, you have like a month’s worth in there, share the goods!” Selim considered this. If Nick had the Grow and Keep, he would finally know what it was like to have Selim’s body. But he would never get it off. Maybe just a bit wouldn’t hurt.
“Fine, fine. But not that much! It ruins the food if you pour it on there. Let me read the instructions.” Nick smiled and sat back down. Selim read the instructions on the back of the package. “1 oz=25 lbs. Cut or double as you see fit. The less you use, the quicker the effects. The more you put, the longer you must wait for effect. Caution: Only take once every 24 hours.” Okay, a sprinkle. That should make him gain around 12 lbs., not bad! This will be great.
Selim went over to Nick’s salad, opened the vial, and only put a pinch on his salad. “Aw come on, dude. Stingy!”
“Oh stop, that is plenty!”
“Fine. Eat up.” Selim was going to put some on his but decided to just do a sprinkle. Same as Nick. Selim couldn’t take his eyes off Nick as he shoveled in his salad with the powder mixed in. He started to feel a twinge of guilt, until the phrase lazy kept repeating in his mind. He deserved this, and it’s not that much.
“Earth to Selim, are you going to eat or what?” He said with a full mouth. Selim shook his head and bit into his burger. If anything, it tasted a bit saltier. He kept eating, almost ravenous. Maybe this is why Nick was shoveling the salad in his mouth. Before he knew it, the burger was gone. “Damn, dude. That must be like a burrrp world record or something.” Sel laughed at Nick’s outburst.
“Now who’s the burrrp pig?” Selim responded with a louder burp. They both started laughing. “Let’s put on the game.’
“Perfect.” Sel turned the TV on as Nick slouched back on the couch. Let’s see how this works. At first there was nothing different about Nick, his body looked just a chiseled as before. He turned back to the TV. Then, he heard another burp escape Nick’s mouth. He looked back and he saw it. A very tiny tummy roll was growing. He still had his upper abs, it seemed. But there was no debating, Nick now had a small belly right.
It stopped growing as quick as it started, now slightly stretched by the white tee. Nick scratched it and grimaced. “Damn bloat. Guess I’ll go harder today with cardio.” Little did he know that tummy was a part of him forever. He looked at his own stomach, it was still chubby. But it did look like his stomach was reaching further past his waistline that usual. This gave him a bit of a semi, knowing he had changed himself; he would never be able to lose weight. He would always be this size, and no smaller. He felt relieved and satisfied. It was time to have more fun with Nick.