Tony
was the last of the three up for class the next morning. He stood at the sink
in their room, eyeing the bottle of pills, when Brian came back from the
showers humming. “Checking out breakfast? I took my pills already. You?”
Tony
filled a glass of water. “Not yet. Was just about to. Hey, where’s Joey?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. It’s definitely not like him to be up so
early.”
Tony
tossed the four prescribed pills on his mouth and washed them down. Just as he
emptied his glass, the door flew open, and in bounded Joey.
“Aw,
man, am I fucking stuffed! They had these awesome pancakes at the dining hall,
and man did I pig out. Mmmmm. I think I got in a good two dozen. Oof. Feels
like they’re expanding a bit in here.” He closed his eyes as he rubbed his big
gut. Brian was stunned.
“Pancakes? Did you manage to forget that today is the start
of the experiment? What part of no food did you not get?”
“Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. My memory’s not that short, Mister Hall Monitor. I just decided to
have one last meal, one big huge one, before I go in for the sentence here. I
signed up for this thing. What else to you want from me?” Joey grabbed his
bottle off the desk and dumped a fistful of pills into his hand. Tony spoke up
too.
“Are you sure you ought to start with the pills today if
you’ve eaten, buddy? Remember what that doctor said about mixing solid food with
these things.”
“Yeah,
whatever. I figure there can’t be much difference between starting after a nice
man-sized breakfast or starting clean this morning after eating huge last
night, right?” Before anyone could protest further, Joey had thrown a huge handful
of pills into his mouth, heading for the sink to stick his head right under the
faucet to wash them down.
“So
how many of those does he have you taking?” Tony looked concerned. Joey stood
up from the sink, cheeks full of water. With two exaggerated gulps, he
swallowed them all.
“Ah,
yes, breakfast of champions - NOT. I dunno. I think the bottle said 10 pills a
dose, 6 times a day.”
Brian’s
eyes widened. “Whoa. That’s over three times what he has me taking. Was that
ten you just took?”
“Yeah,
looked like it, I guess.”
Tony kind of winced. “Looks like it? Man, not to sound like
Brian here, but I think you better be a little more exact about this, Joe.”
“Okay, Mister Nervous. Man, between the two of you I feel
like I have the eating police after me. Shit.”
And with his usual bravado, Joey scooped up his books and
headed to class, leaving Tony and Brian staring at each other.
Despite the hearty breakfast and first dose of pills, Joey
was starving by 9:30. It was past time for the second dose, and Joey could hear
and feel his stomach rumbling. The second his lecture ended, he dashed to the
water fountain and pounded down the next ten or so pills. He went on to his
next class, feeling no less satisfied. By 11:00, he felt ravenous. The next
dose was to be taken at noon, but Joey didn’t think he’d make it. “Damn, he
thought, I hate this already. I thought this shit was supposed to keep me from
being hungry. This fucking sucks. I’m gonna kill Brian.”
His next class was at one. As he swaggered across compass,
he thought how he would usually be parked at the dining hall now, putting down
a big hearty lunch. Grumbling out loud, he dug the bottle out of his bag and
counted out the next dose. “I'm taking it early. What difference can it make?”
Ten pills sat in his hand by the time he reached the next water fountain. He
counted this time. The big jock stooped over the basin and swallowed his next
“meal.” He stood upright, looked down at his still rumbling belly and scowled.
Then he looked at his watch. His entire afternoon was filled with back to back
classes, followed almost immediately with wrestling practice. Joey reached back
into his bag and reread the prescription label. Then he checked his watch
again. “What the hell. Four doses now. Four over the rest of the day. Not like
I’ll have time anyway.” Looking over his shoulder as if Brian were there to
chastise him, Joey counted out the remainder of the day’s pills and swallowed
them down. “Maybe this’ll make me less damn hungry.” And with that he lumbered
into the next classroom.
His last lecture broke at 4:00, and Joey felt like he was
going to pass out. He had to get over to the locker room by 4:30 for practice.
He was utterly light headed as he stormed across campus to the athletic
facility. He actually complained out loud, his grumbling turning a few heads as
he stomped along. “I’m STARVING! I’m gonna kill Brian. MAN, I could eat a
HORSE!” He grabbed his belly and thought about how much better it felt that
morning, full of warm pancakes. The campus burger place sat in the building two
up from the athletic facility. Joey paused in front of it and then gave in to
his hunger pains. Charging the counter, he ordered five burgers and had them
stuffed into his mouth before anyone could have stopped him. For the first time
all day, he leaned back, starting to feel satisfied. “I knew this sounded too
weird to be true. There’s no damn pill that can keep this gut full like a good
burger.” With that, he headed to practice, ordering one more burger on the way
out. “An even half dozen,” he thought as he ate and walked.
The roommates met back at the dorm around 7:00. Usually,
this left them just enough time to dash off to the dining hall for dinner, but
with the new routine, they all sat there looking at each other. Finally, Tony
broke the silence. “Okay, I know the cash is big, but I gotta say this is a
little weird. Did you guys really feel full and normal today? I mean, I wasn’t
exactly hungry, but this is gonna take some getting used to.”
Brian obviously planned to fully support this endeavor, so
he tried to appear as convinced as he was the day before. “I felt fine. Maybe I
wasn’t full like when I eat three square meals a day, but I wasn’t really
hungry.”
“Hmm.” Tony thought on it. “Yeah, I guess I wasn’t actually
hungry, but it was bizarre not to eat anything all day.”
Joey was shocked to be the only one ravenously hungry.
“Shit, well I was fucking staring all goddamn day! I could’ve eaten a cow!” He
didn’t confess that he practically had. “If it keeps up like this, I may just
bail out early, boys.”
Despite their hesitations after the first day, Brian talked
Tony and Joey into giving it more time. The massive cash reward was indeed
motivating each of them to stick it out. So the guys headed off to watch
television and study for the rest of the night. Again, Joey’s stomach started
rumbling. After an hour, he leaned over to Tony while Brian was in the
bathroom. “Man, I am totally hungry again. Is your gut rumbling too, or is it
just me?”
“Tell me about it. I can hear it from over here. Nah, buddy.
I’m okay. This no eating thing is still a bit of a mind fuck, but if I think
about it, I’m not actually hungry.”
“Ugh. I feel like my gut is gonna turn inside out here.
Tonz, I gotta eat something or I’m gonna die. Cover for me. Tell our pal Brian
I went for a walk. I’m finding some food before bed.”
Both boys scanned the room guiltily. When it was clear Brian
was nowhere in sight, Joey dashed out of the dorm, making a beeline back to the
burger counter. Realizing that the place was about to close for the night, he
practically ran to the counter to get his order placed. Looking frantically
over the menu, he was actually too hungry to even think clearly and focus on
what he wanted. The guy behind the counter waited as the jock looked all over
the board. “Shit, I dunno. I’m so damned hungry. Just give me a few of those
combo deals. As many as you have.”
“As many as I have?” The guy turned to look at the rack
behind him. “That would be about 12 orders? Having a little party?”
“Yeah, man, in my gut. I’ve never felt so hungry, and I’m
gonna stuff burgers in here until I feel like myself again.”
“Uuuuh, okay then. Coming right up.” Looking a little
befuddled, the little freshman stacked burgers and jumbo French fry orders onto
two trays. “That’s everything I’ve got. It’s actually fifteen orders. You want
the fifteen drinks too?” Joey was too distracted by his stomach pangs to
register the sarcasm.
Instead he grabbed the tray, threw money on the counter and
headed to the nearest table. He rammed a giant handful of fries into his mouth
and started unwrapping the first burger as he walked. “Man, I don’t care. Gimme
three or four I guess so I can wash this stuff down. I’ll be over there. Just
be a pal and bring ‘em to me fast, huh?”
With that, Joey
landed at the nearest table, stuffing the first burger in his mouth almost
whole. While the drink cups filled, the kid watched the huge jock gorge at an
amazing rate. He had never seen anyone eat so much so fast. Joey was shoving in
burgers one after the other. He was practically licking the wrappers clean,
stuffing a burger in his mouth with one hand while working to unwrap the next
with his other. By the time his drinks were ready, he had already shoveled in
seven burgers. He paused when the kid sat them on the table, sitting upright
and grabbing his gut as he let out a groan. “Mmmmmm Starting to feel better.
UUUURRRRRPP.” He ripped out a huge belch and pushed another burger into his
mouth the second he caught his breath. Intent on eating as much as it would
take to stop his bizarre hunger, he didn’t notice that this freshman was still
standing there, staring.
The restaurant closed, with the last few students clearing
out except the gorging jock and the shocked freshman. Joey remained engrossed,
stuffing himself nonstop, only slowing when he had eaten all of the fries and
was gulping down the thirteenth burger. As he opened up the fourteenth, he
looked down at his belly. There was just a tiny space between its overfed curve
and the table. Strangely, his hunger still didn’t feel fully satiated, but he
was glad to finally have a full belly. Joey slowed to eat at a normal pace for
the first time in thirty minutes.
The freshman’s fascination finally got the best of him. He’d
never seen a guy eat so much in a sitting, and he was sure he could see Joey’s
gut pushing out before his eyes. “You better take it easy or that belly of
yours is going to wedge you in that booth.”
Joey startled a little. When he turned to look at the kid,
his gut did in fact bump squarely into the table.
“Whoa. Oooo. Yeah, kinda full gut here I guess, but man did
I need a big chow-down. Stupid food substitute. Who the hell thought that - ”
“So did you get enough to eat there? Or are you going for a
record with the last two burgers?” Joey eyed the remaining helpings.
“Heh heh. Guess I made a pig of myself, but yeah. I needed
all the burgers you had on hand tonight. My crazy roommate talked me into being
some lab test rat for this food pill. Been taking it only one day, and I’ve
never had such bad hunger pangs. I had to fill this belly up.”
“Well, looks like you ate enough for three days right
there.”
“Mmm. Yeah. You know, I can eat pretty big, but even I gotta
admit I’ve never stuffed in that much so fast.” He tapped the top of his belly
with his meaty finger. “See, this experiment is totally nuts. I told him it
wasn’t natural to only eat some freaking pill all day.”
The kid laughed. “Well, I need to lock up here. Want a bag
for those last two?”
“That’s okay, man. I’ll eat ‘em on the way out. Thanks.”
Joey moved to stand, and his belly slammed into the table,
sending him bouncing back into the seat. He caught himself, hoisting back to
standing with his meaty arms. His gut stuck out like an over-inflated basketball,
and he had to arch his back to offset the pull of his burger-laden belly.
“Ooooo. Stuuuuffed. But man does that feel more like it.” And with shoulders
back and hands rubbing his protruding belly, he waddled out with his
ever-growing belly leading the way and one of the remaining burgers already in
his mouth.
Soon, Joey was sneaking into their room, belly near bursting
after managing to shove down the last two burgers on the walk back to the dorm.
He rolled onto the bed, belly high in the air as he sprawled on his back. At
last full and contented, he passed out, forearms leaning against the curve of
his bulging gut, hands spread to grab its stuffed swell.
But the rest didn’t last long. By five a.m. he was
wide-awake, stomach rumbling harder than ever. Befuddled, he decided to rouse
and sneak some breakfast. He quietly slid on his sweats, grabbed his jersey and
crept into the hall. After gently closing the door, he shoved both arms into
his jersey and raised them to slip it over his head. Before his head made it
through the neck opening, he jumped from a sudden slap on his gut. Popping his
head through his shirt, he caught sight of Tony. “Where are you off to so
early?”
“Shit, Tonz! You tryin’ to give me a heart attack? I thought
Brian had busted me. I’m heading to the dining hall. I don’t get it, man. I’m
so damn hungry again. I ended up eating until even I thought I was too stuffed last night, and this thing’s rumbling
on me already.” He was caressing his belly as he talked. “I’m gonna clear a few
plates of pancakes and see if a big old breakfast gets me through a day on
these pills this time.”
“Are you still taking them if you’re eating?”
“Yeah. Well. Heh. Actually, I think I took about four days’
worth yesterday. I know. I know.” Joey made a voice like a child. “No eating
with these things. Take the exact dose.” He tugged at his jersey, trying to
stretch it over his belly. “But man, I’m bigger than you are. I think that doc
musta messed up my dosage if I’m still hungry and you guys are fine. I pounded
down fistfuls of those things, and I still had to eat a ton to shake the
hunger. I really want the payout on this deal, but I’m not gonna make it if I
don’t eat something too. I’m just gonna sneak a few meals, take the pills, keep
Brian from busting me, and collect the cash. But you gotta help cover for me,
Tonz. Cool?”
Tony sighed. Joey’s eyes pleaded with him. Then they both
heard Joey’s belly rumble, sounding like a subway passing under them. Joey’s
hands flew to grab his gut’s bulge, which was still jutting out from last
night’s eating, despite his ever-present hunger.
“Uuggh. See, man! Listen to those hunger pangs. You know I
need to eat more than you guys do, especially during wrestling season. Don’t
bust me man. I’m going to the mess hall.”
And with that Joey waddled off. Tony watched him walk away.
He could see the sides of Joey’s belly to either side of his back, and he could
see how the holes in the jersey fabric were distorting. “Wow, can that guy eat.
That jersey isn’t going to cover his belly for long,” Tony thought.
And again, Joey was stuffing himself. He was practically the
first person to the dining hall, and he still couldn’t wait to get seated and
eating. He was grabbing doughnut after doughnut off the serving line, stuffing
one in his mouth as he asked for a triple order of pancakes and as many eggs as
would fit on the plate. When he reached for the collection of plates, the base
of his belly leaned firmly into his tray, tipping it up and almost launching
food right into his gut. He caught it in time, realizing he needed to turn
sideways so that his belly stayed out of the way. For the first time, Joey
worried that he was getting too big. But his hunger was so blinding, it overran
his flash of concern. He sat as close to the kitchen line as he could, gorging
down every last mouthful of food at record pace. His jersey strained to its
absolute limit when he stood up, looking ready to finally bust right up the
sides. The line server looked surprised when Joey came back, asking for a
duplicate order. He took all the plates to the table and then returned to the
line, grabbing the entire pan of doughnuts and taking it with him. His crazed
look warded off any comment, but everyone stared as he waddled back to his
feast, belly bouncing from side to side with each heavy step.
And there he sat, eating and eating and eating for two hours
solid, putting away more food than seemed humanly possible. In the back of
Joey’s mind, he did start to wonder. “Why am I so damn hungry? Something’s not
right here.” But then his stomach rumbled, begging for more attention. So he
ate on. At last, he stood to leave. Letting out a low moan, he set one hand on
the top of his belly, feeling the tight bulge where the pounds and pounds of
food he had gorged down sat. He leaned back toward his tray and grabbed a glass
of juice, thinking “Oh yeah, my official breakfast. Almost forgot.” He gulped
down a fistful of pills, probably 30. He let out a belch so loud that he didn’t
hear the two stitches pop on each side of his shirt. He lumbered off to class,
hoping the feast would cure his hunger. “If that doesn’t get me through to
lunch, I don’t know what will!”
But he wasn’t satisfied for long. Halfway through class, the
massive hunger pangs resumed. “What the hell? I ate more at breakfast than I
ever have, and I’m fucking hungry again?” Trying to bend around his bloated
belly, Joey reached down for his bag. After stretching his stomach to
accommodate such a massive breakfast, he could barely bend in the middle. He
was grunting and groping to catch the bag’s strap, but his gut pushed firmly
into the narrow desk, holding him upright and keeping his bag a foot out of
reach. Finally, the girl next to him bent down to hand it to him. She eyed his belly
and smirked. He just took the bag and muttered. “Yeah, thanks. Appreciate it.”
She turned her attention back to the professor. Joey rummaged through the bag
and extracted the pill bottle. The girl looked back at the rattle, and Joey
sheepishly worked to open it without more noise. Realizing he had nothing to
drink, he starting eyeing the girl’s Diet Coke. “Psst. Hey. Don’t think this is
too weird, but I gotta take some medicine here. Can I talk you outta that
soda?” Becoming annoyed, the girl looked at him and blinked.
“Yeah, if it quiets you down over there. Here. There’s only
half left though.”
“Aw. Thanks. You have no idea.”
“Shhhh.”
“Yeah, gotcha.”
Joey didn’t even attempt to count a dose. He just threw the
bottle to his lips, filling his mouth with pills and gulping them down with
soda. Then he refilled his mouth a second time for good measure, emptying the
pill bottle and the soda, thinking this had to stop the hunger that was killing
him. Stifling a carbonated burp, he settled back into his chair, belly firmly
pressed into his desk and curving up onto it. “Man, I hate diet soda.” The girl
almost laughed.
But he was only okay for about twenty minutes. And then the
rumbling started again, even deeper than before. He looked at the clock. Five
more minutes of class. The rumbling grew audibly. The girl looked over from
across the aisle. “Are you okay there?” Even louder rumbling. “Shit, I have NO
idea.” Joey was grabbing his belly hard for the last few minutes, trying to
stop the noise and trying desperately not to jump out of his chair to get more
food.
The second class broke, Joey was raced directly to the
dining hall, moving as quickly as his girth would allow. He was so hungry! Not
able to think past the pangs in his stomach, now so bad that he could barely
see straight, he stormed the cafeteria door, only to find it locked. “Fuck!
They’re not open yet?!” He looked through the door’s window and started
pounding. A kid came up to the other side and yelled that they opened “in an
hour, like every day, big guy.”
Exasperated and baffled at his growing hunger, Joey charged
back to the burger counter at the student hall. Once again, he told them to
fill a few trays with as much food as they would hold. Soon he had slammed
mounds of burgers onto a table and was stuffing himself as fast as he could.
The hunger seemed unrelenting. Joey ate enough in three hours to throw the
entire defensive line into a food coma, but his stomach just craved more,
giving the fattened-up jock no choice but to eat and eat and eat. His belly was
pushing out at record rate, bulging up so tight and huge, making him look like
he’d pop if someone poked him too hard.
Working hard to balance himself, with his dangerously full
belly sitting high and huge from the ceaseless gorging, he waddled back up to
the counter to reload. He was dazed from the pounds of food he had gorged down,
but that hunger was still there. Eyes half shut, he asked for another two
trays’ worth of food.
“Back again? Trying to top you own record here, or what?”
Joey opened his eyes to see the freshman from last night. He
had been there eating for so long, the shift had changed behind the counter.
“Look, I don’t mean to offend you, but you look about 15
months pregnant there, and I’m honestly afraid your belly is going to explode
if you take another tray of food. I’m not trying to piss you off or anything,
but - ”
“Uuuggghhh.” Joey just moaned. He was too full to even talk,
completely confused by his body’s signals as the hunger raged when his belly
felt beyond stuffed. “Just . . .a. . . few . . . more. Fuck, I’m gonna split.”
“Buddy – what’s your name anyway? – I think you ought to sit
down and rest that thing.”
“J-J-Joey.” He was so stuffed he could barely breathe. “I’m
still – oooooo –hungry. Just gimme – URRRRRRPPP – Ahhhhh – a few more.”
The freshman felt the belch across the counter and swore he
head a seam popping.
“Joey, huh. Tom here. Man, you don’t look good. Let’s get
you out of here. I don’t want to be blamed if you blow that thing on my shift.”
Tom came around the counter and started to lead Joey toward
the door. Joey was so stuffed he could barely stand, let alone walk. Tom had to
tuck his shoulder up under the jock’s armpit to keep him moving, reaching his
arm around Joey’s back and gripping his bloated love handle to brace himself as
they shuffled along. But they didn’t make it far before Joey started shutting
down. He stopped where he stood and grabbed his belly. His meaty arms looked
dwarfed up against the growing sphere of his gut. He let out another belch,
which at least made it easier for him to breathe. “I gotta lay down, man. I
don’t know . . . if I’m too – stuuuffed - to walk . . . or if I . . . need more
. . . .chow. I think this thing is still rumbling!”
“Okay, follow me. Man, how much did you eat??” The pendulous
swing of Joey’s gut served as the answer. “You can’t possible think you’re
going to eat more!”
Tom guiding Joey to a remote storage room, and he stumbled
into the room and dropped to sitting against a table. It creaked dangerously
under his weight. Tom closed the door and turned to look at the food-dazed
jock. With thick legs spread wide, Joey was slowly shifting forward and back,
holding his gut, trying to find a position that eased the pressure on his
belly, totally unable to stop groaning. He finally just laid all the way back,
dropping his back against the table, leaving his legs dangling. As his back hit
with a thud, his over-stuffed belly rose into that air in a giant curve that
made Tom’s eyes pop. All he could see where legs and belly.
“Holy shit. You look like someone blew up the Goodyear blimp
in there.”
Joey just groaned more, gut too full to tolerate a prone
position. He started flailing his legs while lifting his head to eye his towering
belly. He looked around it to Tom as he tried to swing his legs up onto the
table. “Man, help me out here!” Tom reached down to help hoist Joey’s legs up.
With a moan of relief, the overfed stud smacked his feet flat on the table,
knees bent and canted out to each side to clear his belly. And there he laid,
hands gently rubbing the tight sides of his belly in a vain attempt at comfort.
He shut his eyes and whispered, “just lemme rest for a while.”
Tom left Joey to pass out on the desk and returned to his
shift. As he clicked off the light, all he saw was the outline of a beach ball
belly blocking the view of the stock shelves beyond. “Just let yourself out
when you’re ready, Joey. No one comes back here very often, so you should be
left alone for a while. Though I think it’s going to take a few hours for that
belly of yours to relax.”
Tom heard the start of snores as headed back to complete his
shift.