Chapter 5 – Portland

They got to Portland in decent time once they made it back on the road but being cramped into the bench seats together made them feel more tired than they would normally be after that length of a drive. Stretching their limbs, Chloe tried to adjust her jeans, feeling the waistband digging in, but it seemed no matter what they still felt tighter than she would like. Thankfully, they were able to park beside the small hotel rather than out on the main road, so they didn't have to walk far to check in.

They'd opted for a twin room to save money, with Max and Chloe obviously sharing. It wasn't like they had shared a single bed before, however, it would be a far tighter fit with Chloe's larger figure these days as they had found when she crashed over at the dorm one night, but it would do, after all they were only going to be sleeping there for handful of nights.

After a short break to drop off their bags and settle in they discussed the plan for the night, since it was fairly late dinner was the first priority. While looking for the hotel they had seen a number of restaurants and takeaways nearby so there was plenty choice. With them planning to have a busy day the next day and going out later to take in the night life they decided to take it easy for a while and get something they could bring back to the room and eat while being comfy.

A brief argument ensued as they tried to decide what to eat but it was quickly settled by Max reminding them since they were taking it back upstairs, they could just grab whatever they wanted, no need to order from the same place. So, with that they split off, Max and Chloe heading for the Italian place the next street over and Rachel eyeing up the burrito place at the corner.

With their precious treasure in hand Max and Chloe made their way back up to the room only to find it still empty, they'd thought that since they had to wait on their order that Rachel might have made it back before them. Shrugging and figuring she might have also had a long wait or changed her mind and gone somewhere else Chloe fired off a quick text before shrugging off her jacket and leaning back on the bed against the headboard as Max sorted out their meals and cutlery.

A few minutes passed as they began to dig into their food not wanting it to get cold when they heard a loud banging at the door, promptly followed by the sound of Rachel shouting for them to open the door as she had her hands full. Chloe rolled her eyes after her heart settled down as Max made her way over to help out.

"Look at what I got," Rachel excitedly called out holding out in front of her a crate of beers. "Guy behind the counter was trying to flirt with me so I figured why not get us something to get the night started."

"What did you promise this poor sap," Chloe questioned as she stuffed another forkful of pasta in her mouth. "I know he didn't give you those out of the goodness of his heart."

"I told him I was going to a house party and invited him along after his shift ends," Rachel responded off handily like it wasn't anything new. "Poor boy was all excited he was going to get lucky tonight. Desperation makes them too easy."

Max choked on her forkful of pasta, while Chloe rolled her eyes yet again. It was hardly the first time Rachel had done something like this, thankfully though this time the guy was never going to see her again after tonight, unlike that time at the barn concern on the edge of town last year.

"Just pass one of those here already, will ya," Chloe sighed, not bothering to bring up the past and risk spoiling the evening.

"Mmm, fuck, that hit the spot," Chloe moaned, rubbing her swollen gut as she finished off the last few drops of beer. She'd been hella hungry after all that driving it seemed and dinner had been exactly what she had needed. Rachel and Max had definitely appreciated their meals too as they hummed in agreement with that sentiment.

"Oh hey, I nearly forgot, I saw a poster for a gig at a rock bar when I was near the liquor store," Rachel remembered as she grabbed another bottle for her and Chloe, opening them up. "I think we need to check out what the local night life is like around here."

"I'm up for that," Chloe immediately agreed, although after shifting a little and realising how tightly packed her gut was still, she added, "But maybe give me a bit let dinner settle first."

"How about you Max?" Rachel asked since she wasn't sure if Max would maybe prefer a quieter first evening in town.

"I think I can handle that," Max agreed, she'd already prepared herself to expect some more rowdy events peppered in with the planned sightseeing and shopping etc they had talked about.

"This is gonna be a blast!" Rachel grinned as she looked in her bags for the clothing she wanted to wear out.

The bar is dingy and loud, air thick with a mix of sweat and smoke, and Max felt thoroughly out of place compared to Chloe and Rachel who were in their element moshing away in the crowd not too far away from where Max was sat as she sipped at her rum and coke. She'd been drinking it slow, despite that she felt a pleasant buzz as she watched her girlfriend and friend dancing away, the pair looking relaxed and carefree.

Eventually, the two needed to cool down and made their way back over to Max, Chloe grabbing her beer and dropping down next to Max, taking the opportunity to give her a quick kiss before necking the remainder of her bottle while the smaller girl leaned into her.

"Ugh, remind me to ignore your beer recommendations next time, Rach," The punk pulled a face looking at the label, "or at least remind me to not let it sit for so long, tasted better cold."

Rachel rolled her eyes at the comment and happily took a swig of her own bottle. Both of them had drunk more tonight than Max had seen them drink before, but she guessed with their added weight it took more to get the same buzz than it did before. Rachel pointed out it was probably the amount of food they had both eaten that helped soak some of it up too as they had had pretty filling dinners not too long before coming out after all.

With another round of drinks for them all, Max relaxed into Chloe's side feeling herself getting warmer, but she couldn't tell if it was from the contact or the double rum that Rachel had gotten for her. Either way, she enjoyed the buzz of the good company and how enthusiastic Chloe and Rachel could get over bands she had never even heard of, and in getting caught up in their energy she didn't even realise she was steadily making her way through her drink.

After a couple more songs, the band finished up their set and the bar switched back to the regular music while the next band got themselves set up. As Rachel looked around, she noticed that Max was looking a little red in the face and made the suggestion that they all got some fresh air, besides, it gave her and Chloe and excuse to have a final joint before the last band of the evening.

In the fresh air the alcohol hit a little differently as Chloe realised just how bloated she still was, her gut heavy in front of her and her jeans digging in tightly. Rubbing along her waistband she tried to ease the discomfort but to no effect she was just too swollen to have any wiggle room in her clothes. Finding holding her gut in even that small amount was too much effort as she let her mid-section relax and swell out. It was then that she felt Rachel prodding her gut in a less than gentle manner.

"Fuck, don't do that dude," Chloe complained, "I feel like I might burst if you do that again."

"Just wanted to see how far along the baby was," Rachel teased, it was obvious she was enjoying Chloe's discomfort and wanted to have some fun as she continued to ask her when she was due.

"Max," Chloe whined petulantly, "Make her stop."

"She's kinda right, you do look really big right now," Max giggled, the alcohol loosening her tongue as she wouldn't normally comment, preferring to play referee to their playful squabbling instead of joining in.

"See, even Max agrees," Rachel continued, poking the punk again and eliciting a grunt this time. "Oh, my mistake it's just a food and beer baby, because you've gotten F-A-T."

"And thank fuck for that," Chloe grumbled as she took the offered joint, lighting it up as she leaned back against the wall of the alley they had ducked into. Taking a long draw, she took a moment to savour the hit of the warm smoke, before letting it out and repeating the motion. The mix of weed and nicotine relaxing her as she idly rubbed her under belly.

Rachel noticed Max's attention drift while they were talking. The photographer's eyes had latched onto the punk's gut as her hand cupped the swollen under belly, biting her lip and blushing. A smirk made its way onto Rachel's face as she mentally checked of another reason, along with the many others, to believe Max is into Chloe's much expanded physique. It seemed her hypothesis was proving to be true.

Over the next couple of days, the trio spent some of that walking around town seeing the sites and doing a little shopping in Max and Rachel's case, but despite the small amount of exercise they had all eaten enough to feed a family for a week each it seemed Rachel thought as she looked over how much they had spent on meals, snacks, and drinks in that time. Which is why that night they decided to save some money and visit a buffet nearby the hotel so they could still have a good meal without risking eating into their gas money for the trip home.

Thankfully, it was one of those world buffets so there was a little bit of everything, so they'd all find something they liked on offer, and they were determined to get their monies worth as they filled up their first platefuls. Chloe seemed to take it as a challenge to fit as much on her plate as possible without structural failure of the mountain.

Despite the piles of food, they all went back for seconds, and even third platefuls piled just as high, but it was at that stage they began to slow down. Bellies filling up, the carbonated juice not helping that bloated feeling, Max and Rachel decided to rest a moment, but Chloe rose, her belly bumping the table as she did, to get a fourth plateful. This time concentrating on her favourite items from her previous trips round.

Steadily, the punk made her way through her feast as Rachel marvelled at how much Chloe could pack away now, but eventually she wolfed down the last mouthful, setting the plate to the side. They were all stuffed, but the siren call of the dessert table called out to them all. The miniature pots of various deserts and cakes were hard to choose from, so they grabbed anything that looked delicious, not keeping track of quite how much they had picked up.

When they returned to the table, they dug in, making various content noises that slowly became sighs of discomfort with how full they were. Max and Rachel called it quits at that point but Chloe continued and somehow finished off the selection she had chosen. Seeing an opportunity to test her theory Rachel offered over the remainder of her desserts to the punk.

"Ooof, I dunno, I'm kinda full, dude," Chloe replied but Rachel could see she considering it still.

"I'm not gonna eat them so no point letting them go to waste when they could go to your waist," The blonde teased as she pushed the tray over to the punk.

"You want them, Max?" Chloe offered, trying to not be so greedy, but Max shook her head, seemingly too full to talk right now as she leaned back and rubbed her swollen middle, groaning slightly as she did.

With that settled, Chloe took both sets of leftovers and made her way through them. Rachel watched Max keenly, observing as the photographer's eyes were locked onto Chloe, a slight red tinge to her cheeks and shy smile tugging at the edge of her lips as she watched Chloe fill every last bit of space in her belly. With that Rachel made her mind up, her theory was now proven, Max was definitely into Chloe being bigger and eating big. But her own belly drew her attention away as she shifted causing her discomfort and needing to lean back like Max had down to give her belly room to swell out.

Back to hotel Chloe immediately lay down on bed, not caring how she looked to anyone with her jeans undone and her gut hanging out over the waistband of her boxers, even taking off her shirt to relieve any small amount of pressure on her tightly packed middle. Max joined her sitting crossed legged leaning against the headboard, carefully trying not to jostle her girlfriends as she shifted so she could run her fingers through the punk's hair in a comforting way.

"Fuck dude, why'd you make me have that last plate?" she groaned at Rachel as she walked past the bed to the small fridge in the room.

"You chose to eat it, tubby," Rachel smirked "There's a clothing shop down the road, if you manage to wake your fat ass up early enough, I'll take you to get bigger jeans before we go home. Otherwise, you're driving back in those if you can even fasten them again.

Chloe glared at her but was simply handed a beer in return rather than further comment. Unable to stop herself she cracked it open and took a swig, groaning again as it hit her stomach. "That the last one?"

"Mm hmmm," Rachel hummed in response, "May as well finish it rather than take it back with us."

Sensible enough suggestion Chloe thought to herself as she continued to drink back the beer.

"I'm going to have a smoke," Rachel excuses herself suddenly with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Is she ok?" Max asked, she'd noticed that since she and Chloe got together that Rachel would occasionally just peace out for a bit. Max figured some of it was wanting to give them time alone, but it worried her that although she had said to go for it, maybe she was upset that they had?

"Yeah, she's always been like this," Chloe reassured her, grumbling as she shifted trying to get comfortable. "Just give her a bit, if she doesn't come back in like half an hour, we'll go find her, ok?"

Max nods willing to take Chloe's lead when it came to Rachel, for all she'd gotten to know her, somethings were still a mystery about her. Like how everyone in school seemed to have their own version of her, like she blended into to whatever people expected her to be yet seemed so headstrong and sure of who she was.

"Fuck, I think I'm about to pop," Chloe groaned again and rubbed her gut to help relieve some of the discomfort, finishing off the beer and turning to lay on her side to see if that helped any, "seriously dude, don't let me eat that much again."

Max giggled at her earning a half-hearted swat to her arm due to the odd angle it was for Chloe to reach her. Moving down from her mostly upright position to join her girlfriend lying down Max found her hand naturally resting on the lower curve of the punk's gut, her thumb gently softly caressing the softer pudge that had grown there.

Chloe hummed appreciatively, her own face tinging ever so slightly with a blush, "That feels nice,"

"It does?" Max questioned quietly, wanting to make sure of things, her inexperience putting her on the back foot in terms of knowing what was fair game and what needed negotiating.

"It does," Chloe assured, her face taking on a deeper blush as she continued "Although, maybe you could… could rub my belly for me?"

Max's mind bugged out at the request, but she didn't show it, her hand steadier than she ever thought it would be under the circumstance as she lifted it higher onto the widest swell of Chloe's middle. Feeling how tightly packed it was under her fingers but still the softness of the pale skin of the punk's abdomen offset that.

Looking into her girlfriend's eyes she saw nothing but love and affection returned and the quiet sound of contentment from Chloe spurred her on as she began to slowly and gently rub the bloated mound.

"Damn," Chloe moaned, her eyes closing briefly as she leaned into Max's touch, "that feels so good, babe."

The encouraging smile was all Max needed as she moved closer, her hand still exploring the expansive middle of her partner as their lips came together. They'd gotten better at matching each other as tongues came into play, playfully teasing before pulling back and letting things build again.

Hands roamed freely, Chloe's slipping under Max's shirt and pausing to make sure she wasn't crossing a line before continuing to feel the photographers own smaller belly, it was much softer than her own she noted as her fingers sunk into the small roll of pudge. Max gasped pleasurably into the kiss as she rubbed more firmly. But as much as Chloe wanted to do so much more tonight, she knew Max was ready for that, besides Rachel could come back at any moment.

Max sighed happily as the fiery pleasure that shot through her turned into a comfortable warmth at the intimacy as they continue to share loving caresses and simply enjoyed existing with each other.

It was just as well they had slowed things down when they did last night as Rachel re-joined them without the need for a search party. She had a knowing smirk on her face with had infuriated Chloe no end but still she was actually kinda glad for the time alone with Max, especially given what happened. Although, there was definitely something up with Rachel recently that she couldn't quite put her finger on, she couldn't even say when she first noticed it start, but she could read something more in her expression that wasn't being said. For the moment though, Chloe put that out of mind to focus on what they needed to sort out before leaving for home, she'd have plenty of time to think about it once they were safely back to their normal haunting grounds.

Max had already gone down with her bags and was waiting for them in the lobby as she needed some fresh air to help wake her up. Chloe was about ready to join her but last thing to do was get dressed, but she wasn't entirely happy with an audience as she shimmied about trying to tug the sides of her jeans shut. She'd noticed the others had a little more of a struggle to button their own jeans, but Chloe had clearly gone overboard on this trip and was still feeling bloated from dinner last night.

"Try lying down on the bed sucking your gut in?" Rachel suggested through an amused smirk, "or if you admit you give up, I can run down the street and grab you a bigger size while you wait here?"

The teasing was becoming a constant as Rachel had fun at her expense, but she was determined to not let her win this time. Taking a second, she tugged them up as much as possible before laying down, at first this didn't seem any better. Sucking in her gut, it was almost so firm still that it didn't move at first but with a bit more focus she tightened her lower abs with all her strength. It still wasn't easy, the lack of breath as she was still holding it and the staining of her softening muscles was almost too much as she had to relax for a moment.

"Shut up…" she grumbled as Rachel chuckled at her.

Taking another deep breath and releasing it she tried once more, this time knowing, she would need that extra tension. It took a few tugs on the fabric, there was only a small amount of give but as they'd been stretched out a lot recently it was enough and with a great amount of effort, she finally slipped the button through. The zip wasn't quite as bad, or at least it didn't particularly matter if it went all the way up, as long as they stayed buttoned.

Letting herself breathe again she could feel just how ridiculously tight they were as she sat up. She definitely needed get a couple sizes bigger when they stopped off at the clothing store before getting on the road.

"Damn, Price, I didn't think you'd manage it," Rachel commented with genuine surprise in her voice as she rose from the bed grabbing her own bag from the end of it. Passing by the punk, she couldn't help but pinch the exposed strip of fat, "Just maybe go easy at breakfast or you'll have someone's eye out with that button."