Taylor caught up to Adriana just as she was about to leave the cafeteria and convinced her to chat over another plate of food. Despite some initial hesitation, Adriana gave in. As Adriana ate, Taylor noticed her still hesitating. She raised an eyebrow, curious. "You know, it's weird. Why are you so self-conscious around your friends? You’d think they'd be the last people to make you feel bad."
Adriana looked down at her plate, then sighed, her voice soft. “I guess... it’s just hard, you know? They tease me a lot, especially about how messy I eat and how much I eat. Like, Claire always jokes about how I eat like I’m starving, and John keeps making fun of me for how I spill food everywhere.”
Taylor feigned shock. “That’s pretty harsh.”
Adriana shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. “It’s not just that. They always point out how I can never take a small portion, or how I’m eating way too fast. Like last week, Ben said I should get a 'bib' because I make such a mess, and Claire said I looked like I was 'hoarding food for a famine.' It’s just little stuff, but it adds up.”
As Taylor listened to Adriana talk about her friends' teasing, she couldn't help but find the situation a little funny. She raised an eyebrow with a teasing smile. "Well, I mean... with the way you eat, it's kind of like animal style, right? Like a lion just pouncing on its food."
Adriana’s eyes flashed with irritation immediately. "What? Animal style? You think I’m some kind of slob?"
Taylor blinked, a little surprised at the sharpness of her response, but quickly recovered. “I didn’t mean—”
“No, you did,” Adriana cut her off, her face reddening. “I don’t need anyone else telling me I eat like a pig, okay? It’s bad enough they do it, but I don’t need you joining in.”
Taylor’s expression shifted slightly. She hadn’t expected such a strong reaction, but she wasn’t one to back down from a comment either. “I wasn’t calling you a pig, just saying.."
Adriana scoffed. “Right, sure. Enthusiastic. Keep making jokes at my expense. Just don’t act surprised when I say something back, okay?”
Taylor’s patience thinned. She didn’t like being talked to like that, and she certainly didn’t like being mocked. As she sat there, watching Adriana cross her arms with a huff, an idea formed in Taylor’s mind. If Adriana compared herself to a pig, then maybe she's onto something. She pulled out the notebook and discreetly wrote the sentence: "Adriana eats like a pig"
Adriana’s eyes grew unfocused for a moment, her stomach grumbling loudly. Her lips parted as she glanced down at her untouched plate of food, then her gaze turned ravenous.
Without any hesitation, Adriana reached for her plate, piling more food onto it, eating with a speed and hunger that Taylor hadn't seen before. She tore into the food, her hands greasy and her mouth full, almost as if she hadn't eaten in days.
Then came the mess. Adriana's movements were frantic, slopping food everywhere. Her once neat manner of eating had dissolved entirely. She chewed with her mouth wide open, crumbs and food splattering onto the table and down the front of her shirt. Her chewing became exaggerated, slurping, and messy, like she couldn’t get enough.
But that wasn’t all.
Adriana's movements became more urgent as she devoured her food, and without a word, she suddenly dropped to the floor, her chair scraping noisily as she lowered herself onto all fours. Her hands barely touched the plate as she bent forward, her face now hovering inches above the food. With a grunt, she shoved her face into the plate, using only her mouth to gobble up the food, her teeth tearing into it with almost frantic speed.
Her hands were forgotten, left outstretched in front of her, as she ate with her head low to the ground, her mouth opening wide to scoop up huge mouthfuls. Bits of food spilled from her lips, falling onto the table and her shirt, but she didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes were wide and unfocused as she continued to consume the meal, hunched forward like she was in a race to finish.
Every bite was messy, her face streaked with sauce and crumbs. She didn’t even attempt to wipe her mouth, instead continuing to eat hungrily, moving her head back to the plate as if she couldn’t get enough.
Taylor couldn’t help but stare as the girl she knew as an athletic, poised sophomore transformed into a messy, piggish version of herself, all because of one sentence.