"Well, nice. You are now a slob and trailer trash," I said, rolling my eyes at him.
"You're welcome," Jeff replied, grinning.
As I watched, a few of his yellowed teeth seemed to loosen and vanish as his t-shirt lost its sleeves and the arm openings ripped wide open down his sides, exposing his soft flesh. I realized I had changed him yet again. My new memories informed me that Jeff had lived in run-down trailers all his life, and he wouldn't have it any other way. I really hoped that Emma would be able to fix things soon. I then had a horrifying thought.
"Wait! This means that I never talked to Emma! What are we going to do?"
Jeff looked confused. "What are talkin' 'bout?" He appeared to have adopted a country accent due to my careless words.
I shot him a look. "Emma! The only reason she stopped by to talk to us was because we were neighbors. Now we have no neighbors! Ergo, she would never have talked to us."
He patted me on the shoulder. It was actually more of a slap, than a pat. "Calm down, Sam. You said that she wouldn' be 'ffected by anything that we say, right?"
I nodded. "Right. I guess."
"Then wadder you worried 'bout? Come on in, I'll show you 'round."
"I live here too, you know," I grunted as I walked up the steps.
It was a nice trailer, as trailers go. It was big enough for the two of us to live semi-comfortably. There were even some nice knick-knacks scattered around the apartment. It took me a moment to realize it, but the place smelled awful. I must have been used to Jeff's stench from living with him for so long. The place was scattered with Jeff's garbage and filth. The living area had a covering of liter soda bottles and chip bags. I sighed as I put the groceries on the kitchen table, knowing full well I was only supplying the litter covering the floor.
I grimaced at the mess. "Ugh, Jeff, you're a-" I stopped myself from saying "pig." The last thing I needed was Jeff as a literal animal running all over the place. At least if he were a pig he couldn't talk.
I rubbed my bald head in frustration. "Nevermind. I'm going to my room. I have some videos I've got to edit and post on my channel."
Jeff had already plopped his hefty body in front of the television. "Uh-huh."
My room here was identical to the one I'd had at the apartment. Sure, it had it's own fair scattering of food wrappers and containers, but it was nothing compared to Jeff's mess, which spanned the entirety of the trailer.
I booted up my computer and began putting my videos together. Despite the fact I was now a bald, fat man in his mid-twenties, I had a decent following. Not as good as Dan or Kent, but it wasn't nothing. Still, it didn't pay out as well as the job I had before this whole curse nonsense.
A couple hours in I received a video call from Dan. After a moments hesitation, I decided to answer. Dan's face appeared on my screen. While he wasn't as fat as Jeff had made him at first, his face still had a hint of softness to it.
"Hey, Sam! What's up?"
I shrugged, trying not to cringe at the footage of me, round and balding. "Oh, things are... fine." Satisfied I hadn't changed anything, I continued. "How about your end?"
"Can't complain. Listen, Kent's out doing videos with some other guys. I was wondering if you wanted to record some Zombie Survival together."
"Sure. I was just editing some videos, anyway. Give me a second and I'll be ready."
As I began closing windows I saw my fat face on the screen again. The hair thing worked out okay, for the most part. Maybe I could fix this as well. If I used just the right words...
"Hey, Dan," I said, getting a good look at myself in the camera. "I've been losing weight recently. What do you think?" I felt the familiar cold chill.
He looked at me on his own screen. "Looking sharp, man. You look good with that weight off."
I watched my live image on the screen. But, nothing changed. Frowning, I looked at the photo next to my computer of Dan, Kent, Jeff, and I. The image of me in the picture was gaining weight! In the picture, I looked to be a good 30 or so pounds heavier than I was now. The pants I was currently wearing loosened as the got a size bigger, and a belt manifested, tightening a few notches. The curse had increased my past weight instead of reducing my current weight. Great. Not what I wanted.
Dan looked quizzically at me. "What's the matter, man? I said you look good."
The turn of recent events was really starting to irk me. "Whatever, Dan. No matter what I do, I'll always be a fat slob..."
I felt the chill once again. My stomach enlarged as a gained a few more pounds. My shirt was suddenly covered in a variety of mystery stains. My beard became scraggly and untrimmed, as did my fringe of hair. I knew I hadn't washed in several days, and I surely smelt it. I sighed inwardly. I had not meant to do that.
Dan rolled his eyes. "Whatever, man. Don't take the compliment, sheesh."
I smirked apologetically at him. I had lost a lot due to this curse. The lease I could do was try and hold on to my friends. "I'm sorry, Dan. It's not you. It's just... Nevermind. Let's just kill some zombies."