Shelley peered in the mirror and wrinkled her nose in disdain at her morning face. She wasn’t chocolate box pretty, but when she applied her makeup her face was transformed. False eyelashes, pencilled eyebrows, lips plumped to perfection and cheekbones artfully sculpted with makeup. This transformation took at least an hour every morning and Ryan was not allowed to see her until she emerged from the bathroom, ready to face her public.
The fact was that no-one, not even her best friend, never mind her partner Ryan saw her naked face. It was all part of the image of perfection to be portrayed. Time had to be spent each day deciding which clothes to wear, making sure she gave the right exposure to all her sponsors. No-one else seemed to understand how hard it was to maintain this illusion of perfection which was vital to her role as a social influencer.
As usual, Ryan waited outside the bathroom door, iPhone in hand ready to start filming for the day.
“Morning Babe” she leaned in and gave Ryan an air kiss on the cheek, careful not to smudge her lipstick.
“Morning Gorgeous, are you ready?”
Shelley felt a twinge of annoyance, of course she was ready, if not she would still be in the bathroom.
Shelley was of medium height, slim, not skinny but with curves in the right places. Her short, pixie style haircut framed her face. She often wished she had long, thick hair, that she was a little taller, a little prettier and was yet to accept that she was perfect as she was.
She’d fallen into her career as a social influencer purely by chance. What had started as a fun way to share videos of her life with friends on Facebook had transferred to YouTube and she now had several thousand followers. When she’d got together with Ryan, the numbers had increased as people followed their blossoming romance. With the increasing numbers had come more money-making opportunities, sponsorships, freebies etc.
Shelley and Ryan now enjoyed a way of life that wouldn’t be possible if they’d had jobs. She’d scraped through a meagre 4 G.C.S.E.s and had no career aspirations beyond working in Top Shop to get a discount on clothes. Ryan was very keen on fitness and had entertained ideas of becoming a personal trainer until he realised that there was a certain amount of work and financial investment required in order to qualify.
The great thing was that with their increasing fame as social influencers, Shelley was given beautiful clothes to wear, Ryan had the services of a personal trainer and local restaurants gave them regular free meals, all in return for exposure and endorsements.
They’d discovered some nice pub restaurants where they had no hesitation in necking 3 course meals and bottles of wine. No more McDonalds for them. Shelley delighted in flaunting the numerous new dresses she was given by a local boutique and of course, gave each donor their due exposure on the blog. The highlight of her day was going through her crammed wardrobe for the benefit of her followers, deciding which was going to be the “outfit of the day.”
A few weeks ago, they’d announced their engagement and thrown a huge party at a local pub (courtesy of the pub owner) and within days had the choice of 3 wedding planners to help them organise the big day. Life was pretty good.
Ryan patted Shelley’s bottom and pulled her to him for a hug as she passed him on the way to the kitchen. She smacked his hands away.
“Don’t, you’ll spoil my makeup, Wanda’s taking me to try on wedding dresses this morning.”
Wanda had been carefully selected as the woman who best fitted with their image and would therefore, be fit to be seen on camera with them.
Shelley hastily ate a bacon butty, washing it down with a latte coffee. After re-applying her lipstick she air kissed Ryan and rushed out to Wanda who was waiting in her car.
“We’re going to a privately owned bridal boutique, the owner has closed it to anyone else for the morning. Can’t have any sneak previews of your dress can we? Now, tell me what you want me to film for you.”
Shelley thought for a moment.
“I’m getting the dress free aren’t I?” smiling, as Wanda nodded in confirmation “then a shot of the outside of the boutique and the owner. They’re going to give me champagne aren’t they?” Wanda nodded vigorously. “Then I think I should try on several dresses. You can film me doing a cat walk in them, and we’ll delete the footage of the one I’m going to wear.”
Wanda nodded again and accepted Shelley’s iPhone from her. Shelley posed in the doorway of the shop, pointing to the signage above the window.
“I’m so excited, I’m going to choose my wedding dress this morning, come inside with me” she gushed, pushing open the door.
Shelley was greeted by a slim woman who looked to be a similar age to her Mum. She wore a chic black dress her blonde hair styled in a bob.
“Shelley, Wanda, welcome to my boutique, I’m Hazel. We’re going to have a fun morning trying on dresses. Lets drink a toast to finding the perfect dress for you.” Hazel handed each of the younger women a glass of champagne, well it was prosecco actually, but she didn’t think they’d tell the difference.
“Now, lets have a look at you. About 5ft 6” and a size 14 aren’t you?”
Shelley nearly choked on her prosecco.
“What do you mean? I’m a size 10 if you don’t mind.” She knew her clothes had been getting tighter, in fact she’d split the seam on one of the dresses she’d been given, but a size 14. Never. She swiftly turned to Wanda, “stop filming now, don’t you dare film that.”
Hazel recovered quickly, she’d had to deal with many brides in denial before.
“Let me bring a few dresses for you to try and see what you like.”
Shelley grew more depressed as the morning went on, each dress made her look fat, she couldn’t deny she had a podgy stomach and large bottom. She left the boutique without choosing a dress, horrified at her figure. She knew she couldn’t be pregnant, so was it all the free meals that had made her put on weight?
She confided in Ryan later, wailing that she couldn’t possibly wear a wedding dress in a size 14.
“Come to the gym with me, I’m sure the personal trainer could help you. We could ask for help with getting our diet right. I bet someone would offer their services for free.”
If looks could kill, Ryan would have been dead on the spot. Shelley had a lifelong aversion to exercise and wasn’t about to change now. Grabbing the iPhone from Ryan she did a quick piece to camera explaining that her Mum needed help getting in shape for the wedding and was too disabled to exercise.
“Let’s see if we can get lipo-suction for free shall we.”
There was no offer for lipo-suction, but a few days later Shelley did get an intriguing message.
“Weight digestion. Non-surgical procedure digests your fat leaving you slim and beautiful.”
Shelley discreetly messaged back and arranged to go to the clinic for a consultation.
Seated in front of the consultant she confessed that it was herself who needed help to get back into a size 10 for her wedding dress. It was humiliating to reveal that she had grown to a size 14 and was now struggling to wear all the beautiful clothes she’d been given. She’d even had to resort to wearing an oversize Tshirt and leggings for this appointment.
“I think our procedure will be perfect for you. You will come in for a couple of days. On the first day we’ll apply a paste to your tummy and pop you in an incubator. We’ll keep the paste moist and within hours we see plant like growth. The plant sends tendrils down through your skin and feeds off the fat below. Your fat is literally eaten and you leave as slim as you usually are.”
“Am I awake for this? Do I see what’s happening? I’ve never heard of it before. Are you sure it’s safe?”
“It’s a fairly new procedure that we’re offering, but it has been tried and tested and is 100% safe. No surgery, no anaesthetic, no scars. When we can see the plant has digested your fat we simply peel it off your skin. You’ll be sedated all the time, so you can have a nice rejuvenating rest.”
“And you’ll do this for free for me?”
“Of course, all we ask is that you give us some publicity.”
Shelley was so excited she could hardly wait to tell Ryan when she got home.
“Really? Are you sure? It sounds a bit weird to me? How can a plant eat your fat?” He put his hands on her shoulders and stood back looking at her from head to toe. “You know you’re lovely as you are, don’t you? In fact, I like the new curvier you.” He pulled her close to try and kiss her but she pushed him away, protesting that he didn’t understand.
The atmosphere was tense for a few days as they went about their day, videoing and sharing their activities. Ryan seemed to spend more time at the gym and was uploading lots of footage of him with his personal trainer. Shelley noticed but decided not to say anything, she didn’t want him to think she was jealous.
One morning over breakfast Ryan explained that he’d been discussing home workouts and healthy eating plans with his trainer, Amy. After half an hour of ‘Amy says this’ and ‘Amy says that’ Shelley was forming an intense dislike of Amy.
“She’s offered to come over and help us get our diet working better and to teach you some Pilates and yoga to help you get back to a size 10. I think we could really make it work and inspire other people to be healthier and exercise. What do you think babe?”
And so began a new regime of healthy eating, exercise in the morning and walks in the countryside. Ryan began to take on a healthy glow, his skin looked good, his eyes were bright and he was developing a toned body. The followers loved what they were doing and numbers were increasing day by day.
Shelley hated it. She sneaked off to her best friends most days and binged on burgers, fries and takeaways. Her weight crept up but Ryan didn’t seem to notice. Wanda did.
“This healthy diet stuff doesn’t seem to be working for you. Are you sure you’re going to fit into your wedding dress?”
The dress had been chosen weeks previously and much to the annoyance of Hazel, Shelley had insisted on having a size 10. There wasn’t a hope in hell that she was going to fit into it without some drastic action.
In desperation Shelley booked herself into the Weight Digestion clinic for the next day. There was no time to lose.
She was reassured by the hospital like appearance of the place and was taken to a room with what appeared to be an oversized incubator.
“Just put on these paper knickers and the gown and settle yourself down on the bed. We’ll apply the paste and then put the incubator over you. I’m going to give you an injection to sedate you, so just relax. All the fat will be gone when you wake up.”
The doctor applied the paste all over Shelley’s tummy.
“The plant’s going to have a feast on this lot” he murmured to his assistant.
Over the next few hours the plant germinated and tiny roots pierced the skin sucking up the fat from Shelley’s tummy. The plant quickly grew to around 3inches high and tiny yellow flowers appeared.
“I’ve not seen that before, looks pretty.” Thought the assistant who was charged with monitoring Shelley. It had been a tiring day and before long her eyes were heavy and she was dozing off in the chair. She woke with a start several hours later and peered at the incubator.
Screaming, she rushed out to find the doctor.
“The plant, it’s spread, it’s all round her bottom and down her thighs, it’s at least 6 inches high and covered with yellow flowers. We need to get it off.”
A frantic hour followed as the incubator was removed and the plant pried away from Shelley’s skin. It was firmly stuck in places and needed to be scraped away leaving the skin red.
“That was close, but look, the fat’s gone. Let’s leave her to rest a bit longer and then we’ll bring her round.”
Shelley went home that night, beaming as she anticipated Ryan’s reaction to her new slim figure. But he wasn’t there. Instead a note on her pillow informed her that he’d left. He was tired of her being totally self-centred and her lack of support for the new direction he’d taken with their blog.
I know you’ve been sneaking out and eating rubbish. I can’t take that you’ve lied to me. I’m calling off the wedding and setting up a new blog with Amy. I’ve taken my clothes, so I won’t need to come back.
Shelley was distraught. She cried the entire night. What would her followers think? She and Ryan were a brand. What would happen to the sponsors, all the free clothes and meals. What would she do? She’d have to pretend that she’d called off the wedding, she couldn’t possibly admit to being dumped.
She made her way to the bathroom, showered and spent an hour repairing the ravages of a night spent crying. Slipping easily into a size 10 dress didn’t cheer her up.
She was so wrapped up in her misery that she never even noticed the green shoots with tiny yellow flowers growing out of her navel.