A Year Abroad - Chapter 3

Weeks passed as Lauren was soaking in all the sights and sounds of Paris.  Shopping for clothes and knick-knacks, marveling at the famous landmarks, and of course, partaking in the fine French cuisine.  A LOT of the fine French cuisine.  Ever since her gluttonous plane ride, Lauren had found herself absolutely starving nearly all the time.  Perhaps it was the smaller European portions, or the fact that all the food on the plane had stretched out her stomach, but Lauren could absolutely not stop herself from eating.  

Lauren had made friends with some of Claire’s friends, and they loved to take her shopping on a regular basis.  After all, Paris IS a fashion mecca.  Sophie was 18 and about the same height as Lauren, although she was a bean pole of a girl weighing about a hundred pounds soaking wet.  Zoe was a year younger and a little shorter, but weighed closer to 115.  Sophie had long, straight blonde hair and green eyes and wore hipster glasses, although Lauren wasn’t sure if she had a prescription, or if they were just for show.  Zoe had raven black hair which she wore at shoulder length.  In the right light, Lauren could see dark purple highlights at the tips.  Zoe usually wore a purple beret, which Lauren thought was oddly stereotypical for a French girl to wear.  

Both of the French girls were fashion-nuts, and Lauren didn’t think she’d seen them wear the same outfits in the entire two months she’d been in Paris.  But, they were actually very nice and patient with Lauren as she adjusted to life in a new country, and Lauren liked hanging out with them.  They were also home-schooled, leaving them with a similar schedule to Lauren’s.  Basically, they could do whatever they wanted during the day as long as they got their coursework done that night.  Lauren’s exchange program allowed her the option of either attending a special English-speaking campus comprised of mostly other American students, that consisted of 8 hours of normal classes per day, or to take a ‘self-guided’ curriculum in which she simply had to complete some reading and a couple of worksheets each night.  Obviously, Lauren had chosen the latter option, as it allowed her more time to explore and enjoy herself during the day.  Besides, she didn’t come to Paris to hang out with a bunch of Americans!

On this particular Saturday, Lauren, Sophie, and Zoe were walking around downtown Paris while Sophie and Zoe window shopped for some new designer top that had just come out.  Lauren wasn’t interested in any of that foolishness at the moment, as the now extra buxom brunette’s attention was fully focused on the huge baguette in her right hand.  It was stuffed with ham and cheese and of course slathered in butter, as everything in France is.  Lauren had asked the cart vendor for extra meat and cheese, since a regular size sandwich never seemed to satisfy her these days.  

In her left hand was the largest hot chocolate available at the small cart where Lauren got her sandwich.  It was extra thick and rich and covered in whipped cream.  Lauren decided to wait for it to cool and just focus on the sandwich first.  

Having never tried this cart (unusual, because Lauren had tried almost every restaurant and cart on this stretch of road at least once), she wasn’t prepared for the explosion of flavor as she took her first bite.  The baguette was one of the best things she’d ever tasted, and was only enhanced by what seemed to be very high quality ham and cheese.  Butter oozed out of the sides of the bread and dripped onto Lauren’s much expanded and exposed cleavage.  

“Oops,” she giggled.  “I’ll have to make sure to get that later!”  

Lauren was wearing a tight white spaghetti strap shirt, and she hoped none of the butter had dripped onto it, since she just bought it a week ago.  However, it was already getting a bit tight, so Lauren supposed it wouldn’t be then end of the world if she did end up having to replace it.  She followed the French girls down the road, half-listening to them bicker back and forth, probably about something clothes-related if she had to guess.  She finished her sandwich and tossed the wrapper in a nearby garbage can.  Then she looked down at her chest to try and retrieve the stray glob of butter that had escaped her greedy lips.  She was surprised to see that several other renegade globs of butter had joined the first one.  With a single swirling swipe of a finger, all of the runaways were instantly in her mouth and back in the safety of her still growling stomach.  With that task completed, Lauren tucked into the hot chocolate which was now the perfect temperature; barely lukewarm.  

French hot chocolate is different than American hot chocolate.  It is made with a much more rich type of chocolate and heavy cream instead of milk.  Lauren was absolutely in LOVE with French hot chocolate…  She would typically chug down three or four a day when she had the chance.  She guzzled the creamy concoction, making sure to get all of the whipped cream out of the cup as she went.  “Wouldn’t want to waste any of the Dubois’ money,” Lauren thought to herself.

While on the subject of the Dubois’ money, it should be noted that the Dubois’ were in fact, quite rich.  Their daughter Claire usually received as much money for an allowance as she asked for, which happened to be a significant amount, so they decided that since Lauren is technically their daughter this year, she should get the same perks as their real daughter.  So, with that being said, Lauren always had more money in-hand than she knew what to do with.  A good thing, considering the amount she spent on food in a day.  Even still, Lauren thought the Dubois’ should at least get their money’s worth, so she tried not to waste anything she bought.

Still hungry after her ample snack, she got the girls’ attention and suggested they stop for lunch, since it was almost 12:30.  The begrudgingly agreed, and stopped off at one of Lauren’s new favorite Creperies.  They served a chicken carbonara crepe that Lauren had fallen head-over-heels in love with.  It was a huge crepe filled with grilled chicken, mozzarella, bacon, parmesan, and smothered in creamy carbonara sauce.  This was enough to hold the average Parisian for an entire day.  Lauren ordered three, along with the jumbo hot chocolate (another reason Lauren liked this place was that their drinks were larger than most other bistros).  As Lauren squeezed her huge ass into the small bistro chair, she thought she heard the arms groan as they dug into her bulging flesh.  The other two girls ordered nonfat lattes and a piece of biscotti, which they split.  

“You girls should eat more,” slurred Lauren between bites.  “It’s not healthy to eat so little.”  

Sophie snickered playfully and Zoe retorted saying “Oh, I think you eat enough for all three of us.”  

Lauren stopped chewing immediately and stared at Zoe for a moment until she couldn’t hold back the laughter any longer.  She swallowed her mouthful of crepe quickly to avoid spitting it out on the table and then laughed heartily as the French girls joined in.  After stuffing the last of the crepe into her mouth, being careful to make sure not a single crumb of bacon was left behind, Lauren went to work on her hot chocolate, guzzling most of it all at once.  While she couldn’t see it through her massive cleavage, her already tight t-shirt had started to ride up, exposing her soft belly.  A thick layer of fat rolled over the top of Lauren’s jeans as the button struggled to contain her ever-growing mass.  She slurped up the last of her mega fattening chocolate drink, then gathered her things as the girls made their way back out to the street.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful with Lauren only stopping twice more for snacks before finally deciding to bid adieu to the girls and take the bus back to the Dubois’ home.  When she arrived, she could smell a delicious aroma wafting from the house before she even made it to the front porch.  It seems Margaux had made dinner.  Lauren didn’t know why she was surprised – Mrs. Dubois made a veritable feast every night.  Even when Lauren and the girls stayed out past dinner time, Lauren knew there would be mounds of leftovers waiting for her in the fridge when she got back.  She had a hard time resisting since she knew it was made especially for her, and frankly, why should she resist?  

Margaux Dubois was probably the best cook Lauren had ever seen.  Every meal she prepared was a masterpiece of culinary delight, and it was obvious by the way Lauren devoured each of her meals like a starving dog.  When Lauren opened the door, she was assaulted by the familiar aroma of Margaux’s famous wild mushroom bisque.  But the Dubois’ were nowhere to be found.  Finally, Lauren saw the note on the fridge.  

It read: Dear Lauren.  Mr. Dubois and I will not be joining you for dinner this evening.  We had a prior engagement and forgot to tell you about it.  I made you some bisque since I know you love it so much, so go ahead and eat as much as you’d like.  The bread is in the cupboard and the butter is on the counter.  Please, enjoy your night.  We will be home at around midnight, so don’t wait for us.  Love, Margaux.

Lauren opened the fridge to find a large pot of bisque, which still appeared to be steaming.  “What luck!  They must have left just before I got here.” Lauren said to no one in particular.  Sure enough, the pot of delicious creamy goodness was still warm enough that Lauren didn’t even bother heating it up.  It was the perfect temperature, in fact.  Lauren grabbed a bowl and was about to ladle a scoop into it, when she stopped herself.  

“Margaux said this was all for me, right?  So why the hell am I using a bowl?”  

With that, Lauren grabbed the pot, a spoon, a crunchy baguette, and the entire pat of butter and plopped herself down on the living room couch to enjoy her dinner.  Margaux had even remembered to replace the stick of butter with a brand new one.  

“She is so thoughtful,” Lauren said out loud.  

The first spoonful of bisque was heavenly, as always, and she savored that first bite.  The following bites were allowed no such ceremony as spoonful after spoonful of the cream-based soup was quickly brought into the hungry girl’s mouth and disappeared down her throat.  Periodically throughout this endeavor, Lauren would tear off a hunk of bread and slather it with butter before either dipping it in the bisque and devouring it, or simply devouring it.  

After a while, the constant effort of bringing the spoon to her mouth was beginning to grow tiresome, so Lauren had the brilliant idea of just drinking the bisque directly out of the pot.  That way, she could just sit back and let the warm liquid ease down her throat until she needed to take a breath, then stop for a second and go right back to guzzling.  

After an hour of watching what appeared to be a French reality show and guzzling ridiculous amounts of bisque, Lauren was amazed to see that she had reached the bottom of the pot.  With nothing left but bisque residue and a small hunk of the bread (the stick of butter was long gone), there was only one option for Lauren at this point.  She quickly swiped the bread around the rim and bottom of the pot to soak up any leftover bisque, then popped the last piece into her mouth as she let out a satisfied belch.  Lauren was impressed at the amount of food she had just consumed.  This was easily enough bisque for Roland, Margaux, and Lauren, and Lauren had just finished it entirely on her own.  And this was after a full day of gorging herself.  

Lauren rubbed her stomach and groaned.  Maybe she needed to cut back.  She had already been forced to upgrade her wardrobe twice since she’d been in Paris.  If she kept going at this rate, she wouldn’t be able to fit on the plane in a year.  She’d be stuck in Paris forever!  

Just then, Lauren remembered seeing a scale in the Dubois’ bathroom.  After mulling it over for a minute, she decided to weigh herself.  She trudged upstairs to the master bedroom and pulled the scale out from underneath one of the cabinets.  It was a really nice digital scale, and she supposed that the Dubois’ spared no expense when they bought it.  After touching her toe on it, the scale sprang to life and eventually settled on 0.0.  

“Here we go,” Lauren said as she stepped onto the glass surface.  

The numbers moved around for a few seconds, then settled on a number: 76.2.  Initially, Lauren thought the scale was broken, but after a minute, she realized it was reading in kilograms instead of pounds.  

“Well, that’s not so bad,” She thought.  “That’s what, ten, fifteen pounds max, right?”  

Satisfied that she had not become morbidly obese in two months, she changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed.  The pajamas seemed a little tighter than she remembered, which was odd because they were brand new, but she just chalked it up to a bit of bloating from downing almost a gallon of bisque a few minutes prior.  Of course had she bothered to do the math, Lauren would have realized that she hadn’t gained 10 or 15 pounds in two months, but closer to 50.