Shrink to Fit

by Dona Sarkar

  She had to keep up the hard work. She was going to lose the weight and twirl in front of Jay and ask him what he thought. Let’s see him say he just wants to be friends then.

  She was going to be the heroine of this story. Not the fat sidekick. That much was certain.

  “Leah! You have three minutes to get your sorry butt down here, or I’ll—”

  “Coming, Mama! Jeez.”

  Leah scrubbed her teeth and jumped into the first decent workout outfit she could find. A black track-suit with a racer-back sports bra.

  “Bye, Beanie. Sleep. I’ll see you in the afternoon.” She blew a kiss at the cat.

  Leah was pulling her hair into a ponytail when she stopped short on the landing upon seeing Victoria. A low-slung pair of terry-cloth pants. Belly-baring sports bra with rhinestones. A belly chain. Where the hell were they going?

  “Baby, don’t you think a bit of makeup would—”

  “Mama. I am not wearing makeup to Cardio Bar!”

  “Just hold still.”

  Before Leah could protest further, Victoria pulled bronzer out of her gym bag and dusted a puff across Leah’s cheekbones and over her nose.

  She ducked away before the lip gloss came out.

  “When you see the other women, you’ll feel sorry,” Victoria warned.

  Whatever, belly-chain woman. Leah didn’t dare say it out loud.

  Thirty minutes later, Leah understood what Victoria had meant.

  Cardio Bar was dainty step aerobics to cheesy Britney Spears music from the nineties. Not a single bead of sweat or misplaced hair in sight.

  Leah pounded through the set routine for the fourth time and yawned. This was a challenging cardio workout? She got more of a workout warming up before practice.

  Not to mention the instructor. Instead of a hyper-active blond cheerleader type, they’d gotten a David Beckham look-alike who seemed to want to be anywhere but in Cardio Bar.

  All the women in the class were in Juicy Couture workout outfits with their hair perfectly pinned up. Most wore earrings. Some wore heavy gemstone necklaces. All wore makeup. A lot of it.

  None of them needed to work out. All were perfect size 0s and looked as though they had never seen any size in the positive numbers. Any of them could be a model.

  Leah sighed. Unfair. They were here for social hour.

  Those women in the back were just grown-up versions of Jennifer and Shazan. Victoria fit in perfectly with them. Was Leah ever going to get that chance?

  Hop over the step. Step back. Hop up one foot. Hop back down on opposite foot. Hop. Hop. Hop.

  She felt like a freaking dancing bunny.

  She glanced behind to see what Victoria was doing. Chatting up a tall, gorgeous blonde who looked vaguely familiar. Elle McDonald’s or whatever probably.

  “Darling, you are truly incredible! Are you a model like your mum?”

  The sole man in the class, an English gentleman who managed to look the part even in workout gear, was the only one focused on the instructor. And the only one who talked to her.

  “No.” Leah stopped to sip from her bottle, more from boredom rather than thirst.

  “Well, you should be.”

  “Yeah?” Leah’s ears perked up and she glanced down at her stomach. It did seem to be flatter than she’d remembered. Maybe the five pounds she’d lost were showing more than she’d expected.

  “Definitely. A few more pounds and wow. That ass is ready for showtime. You probably just have what, twenty, thirty more pounds to go?”

  Leah rolled her eyes. Only in L.A. could people randomly comment on your weight as if you were a piece of steak.

  “Why?” Leah gave him a dirty look. “You gotta problem with that?”

  Wannabe David Beckham changed the music to an Enya song. Instantly, the class dropped onto the mats into yoga poses. Victoria was still glued to the McDonald’s lady’s side.

  Leah lowered herself into the floor, wishing she could disappear. This was such a waste of time.

  “Don’t get huffy! I’m just giving you the same advice I give all my clients.” The annoying twerp leaned over his bent knees and breathed loudly.

  “Clients?”

  “I’m a life coach.”

  “A what?” Leah stayed sitting up. Whatever the hell everyone else was doing, she wanted no part in it. Weird om-shanti stuff. She’d wanted a workout and obviously this wasn’t the place for it.

  “Life coach. Coach for life.”

  “I get it.”

  “When girls come to me, fat, sad, miserable, I tell them, go online. Look at Web sites of girls who look the way you want to. Emulate them. Be them.”

  “Be them?” Leah started to laugh. “Kidnap them, peel off their skin and tape it to yourself?”

  “Ew!”

  “You said it.”

  “Trust me, love. Look up ‘thinspiration.’ You’ll see the kind of woman you want to be.”

  Thinspiration, huh? Leah stored that nugget of information away.

  “You won’t believe the girls I’ve coached. Did you know a certain rich socialite who’s recently lost close to twenty-five pounds? She’s finally in the single digits.”

  “Single digits?”

  “Under the magic hundred.”

  “What?”

  “You know, the magic hundred. Under a hundred pounds. Doors open for you, love. You get invited to parties, the boys love you, people know you.”

  “A hundred pounds? That’s like a big dog. Or a big kid. Is that normal?”

  “Completely. Remember, no one likes a fat girl.” With that he dropped into a sleeping pose. “Ommmm…”

  No one likes a fat girl.

  How true.

  four

  The Devil Wears Prada

  178 lbs

  “You look good, little girl.” Victoria stood on one foot in the doorway of Leah’s room, slipping on a teetering pair of wraparound stilettos. “I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but it’s worked for you. Perfect.”

  Leah sucked in her abs. Perfect? Still not quite yet. But better. Definitely much better. It had been a torturous two weeks of eating extremely well along with three-hour workouts per day. But it had been worth it. Twenty-two whole pounds had dropped off and every part of her body felt tighter and more toned. Just in time for the Jade magazine benefit.

  She’d become practically a recluse during her rigorous diet and exercise regime, shunning ice-cream socials or even riding to and from school with Jay. She didn’t want anyone to know how hard she was working. How every pound was pure torture.

  She’d walked the three miles from home to school every day. As soon as classes were over, she ran three to four miles on the treadmill, lifted weights and then focused on basketball practice.

  And the food. She’d shunned all bread and pasta. And ice cream. Only protein shakes, salad and deli meat. But it had been worth it. The pounds had melted off and she saw a drastic drop in her weight every single morning.

  And she’d been wearing oversize T-shirts and baggy sweatpants so no one would be able to see her progress. Not even herself.

  Now as she stood in front of the first full-length mirror she’d allowed in her room, Leah was surprised by how good her body looked in the cobalt-blue A-line dress. A few weeks ago, she never would have dreamed of wearing anything so formfitting, let alone sleeveless.

  A navy pashmina draped around her arms hid the remaining upper arm flab she was having the hardest time getting rid of. Still a lot of work to do till she looked anywhere close to Shazan or Jenn.

  “You’re ready, girl.” Her mother finished adjusting her shoes and hair. As predicted, Victoria was a vision in a champagne-pink dress. She glowed like an illuminated oil lamp. “No one will be able to take their eyes off you tonight.”

  Leah smiled at Victoria, who had spent an hour doing her makeup for her. Eyeliner, blush, lipstick, bronzer. The works. They’d really been getting along the past two weeks with Victoria treating her as almost an
equal. Finally, Leah’d felt like her mother’s daughter, for the first time realizing how fantastic it was to feel almost…pretty. She gave her head a little shake to watch Victoria’s sapphire earrings dance in the lamplight. This whole makeup and jewelry thing was working out pretty well for her. She hoped the night would be as magical as Victoria wanted it to be.

  “Ready.”

  Leah’s nerves were quiet during the drive to the NELL where the gala was being held. Unfortunately, as soon as she stepped out of the car, her legs started to tremble and shake. She shivered even though the night air was muggy.

  God, all those people were going to be judging her tonight. Was she ready for that? What if she didn’t look nearly as good as she thought she did? What if they pointed and demanded to know what the “plus-size girl” was doing there?

  She needed to get out of here. She fingered her cell phone in her purse. She could call Jay, beg him to come get her. The last thing she wanted to do was ruin Victoria’s reputation by looking out of place.

  “Come on.” Victoria turned back to gaze at Leah. “Girl, you’re gorgeous. I promise you! Or you wouldn’t be here!”

  Victoria wouldn’t say it if she didn’t mean it. Not in the course of her entire life had Victoria ever called Leah “gorgeous.”

  Leah smiled weakly at her mother. “Coming, coming.”

  No, she couldn’t ditch this thing. She’d worked so hard the past two weeks and she had to know if it had been worth it or not.

  A warm rush of air greeted Leah as she and Victoria stepped inside the heavy doors of the NELL. In the distance, she could hear the sounds of the band playing “Moon River” over a din of laughter and glasses clinking.

  God, she hated these things.

  “Victoria.” Alfreddo Riviera, Botoxed, tanned and wrinkle-free in a refrigerator-white suit, materialized by her mother’s side within seconds of Victoria and Leah checking in their coats.

  “Hello, darling,” Victoria murmured, brushing the air near each of Alfreddo’s cheeks with her lips, her right hand grazing his shoulder. “You remember Lynnette, of course.”

  “Ah, of course. Lynnette.” His eyes skimmed her from eyeballs to toes so quickly Leah barely had a chance to blink before he was done. Leah fought back the urge to smirk as Alfreddo raised his eyebrows. “You’re looking…quite marvelous. Have you been away on holiday?”

  Yeah, sure. Hell of a holiday.

  Before she could say a word, Victoria cut in. “Yes, she is. She’s a shoo-in for the Daughters segment. She’s a foot taller than these other little girls! At least!”

  Ugh. The magazine spread. Leah’d almost forgotten the whole point of this stupid gala. As an “audition” for which mother-daughter pairs were going to be chosen for the Mother’s Day special.

  “I know never to doubt you again, darling. You said she’d be ready and she is.” Alfreddo took Victoria’s arm and gently brushed her cheek with his mouth. He then paused to turn back to Leah. “Not that I ever doubted you, my dear.”

  Leah gritted her teeth. What had Victoria told him? “Plus-size modeling, my ass,” she muttered under her breath. Sleazy Alfreddo didn’t even have the decency to look even slightly embarrassed.

  “Come along, both of you. I must introduce you to Anne LeFleur. She will be making the final decisions on the mother-daughter pairs tonight. She’ll be choosing four pairs out of all of these agencies.”

  Oh, goody. Let the horse auction begin.

  Leah watched Alfreddo lead Victoria across the room, his arm settled comfortably around her waist. That man hadn’t let go of her for even an instant. Leah had always assumed Alfreddo was gay, but after the way his fingers were trailing freely around Victoria’s minuscule hips, Leah was certain this was not the case. She reluctantly followed. There was no way she was leaving her mother alone with that creep.

  Leah stopped a few feet away from the Jade people; two trailing assistants hovered around an imposing woman in a strapless white gown who did the cheek-kiss thing with both Alfreddo and Victoria. The woman’s fire-colored hair was piled atop her head and her almond-shaped eyes scrutinized everyone carefully, all the while the serene smile never leaving her face. The whole scene reminded Leah of The Devil Wears Prada.

  All the fake kissing and the whispered murmuring made Leah feel like more of an outsider than ever. She had no idea what anyone was talking about. Or what to do with her hands. She wished her dress had pockets for her to stick them into.

  All the gushing about whether Prada made the gown or Calvin Klein. Whether Oribe did someone’s hair or Rita Hazan was making her slightly nauseated. What she could really use was a goblet of champagne and an hors d’oeuvre to calm her nerves.

  Speaking of food, where was it? Leah looked around. Band. Check. Tables for cliquey mingling. Check. Ah, the spread. The table started with raw vegetables, dip and other healthy stuff and ended with a ham. A scrumptious, juicy ham that two servers were slivering pieces off of.

  Leah’s mouth watered. To ensure a flat stomach for tonight, she had eaten practically nothing. Two baby tangerines six hours apart. That had been it.

  “Lynnette Mandeville.”

  Leah nearly jumped. The red-haired woman was inches away from her face.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Leah said, feeling as though she should curtsy or something.

  “Anne LeFleur. The pleasure is all mine.”

  “Oh! Not at all. It’s—” Leah practically gagged. Anne was wearing an entire bottle of Poison perfume. The heavy floral scent infiltrated Leah’s nose. She could feel an instant headache starting on the back of her neck.

  “My, you are tall. And what lovely skin.” The woman reached out and gently grazed Leah’s cheek with her fingertips. “You are your mother’s daughter.”

  “Thanks,” Leah gasped. Air. She needed air.

  The woman abruptly turned to face Alfreddo, swishing yet another gust of perfume in Leah’s face. “She’ll need to fit into the sample sizes. Will that be possible?”

  “Ahmm.” Leah bit her lip to keep from gagging out loud, not caring that she was licking off her burgundy lipstick. What the heck were sample sizes? And why were all these people talking about her to Alfreddo?

  “Anne, darling, you have nothing to worry about. This is only an intermediate phase Lynnette is going through. She will be absolutely prepared.” Alfreddo nuzzled Victoria’s neck. “What do you say, darling?”

  Darling?

  Leah started. “I had a question about sample siz—”

  “Lynnette and Victoria. Duo number two.” Anne snapped her fingers at assistant number one, who was frantically writing something in a notebook. “But please have a backup pair ready, Alfreddo, pet. We can’t afford to have any…mishaps on the day of the shoot. Demi and Tallulah don’t have that kind of time.”

  “There will be no mishaps, am I right, Lynnette?” Alfreddo the pet practically purred, turning his eyes to Leah, expression not changing. The man’s face never moved with all the collagen pumped into his skin.

  Leah’s head swung back and forth as if she were watching a Ping-Pong tournament. Before she could get around to understanding what the heck was going on, Anne LeFleur and her cronies were swept away, the trains of their gowns leaving Leah, Victoria and Alfreddo in the dust.

  “Um, what is a sample size?” Leah was the first to speak up. “What is it that I need to fit into?”

  A smile broke out across Victoria’s face. “We did it. We’re in. It’s going to happen.”

  “Um, awesome. But what the hell is a sample size, Mama?”

  “Size 0 or a 2,” Alfreddo helpfully filled in.

  “Oh.” The headache was getting worse.

  “You’ll get there, little girl. You keep eating healthy and working out, you’ll be there in no time. You still got two months to drop this baby fat.” Victoria glowed. “I can’t believe how simple that was. Alfreddo, baby, you are a miracle worker.” With that Victoria planted a big smooch on Alfreddo’s lips.

 
He kissed her back.

  No way. That was even too disgusting to think about.

  Leah turned away and haltingly took a seat at the nearest table. Size 0 or 2. That was at least thirty more pounds. More like forty. She was suddenly filled with a deep emptiness. For once it didn’t feel like hunger.

  A low whistle greeted Leah as she and Victoria arrived home.

  “First you ignore me, then you replace my best friend with this total babe?” The basketball Jay had been dribbling thudded to the ground as Leah closed the passenger-side door of Victoria’s Viper.

  Leah raised an eyebrow. Did he just call her a total babe? “What do you want?”

  “Uh-huh. No ignoring the question. What gives?” Jay’s voice dripped with feigned indignation as he stepped over the waist-high shrub that separated their properties.

  “I’m going to bed.” Victoria patted Leah on the cheek. “Don’t stay out too late. You need your beauty sleep. Good night, Jay.”

  “I won’t,” Leah said at the same time as Jay said, “Good night, Ms. Mandeville.”

  Leah waited till Victoria was safely inside the front door before turning to Jay. “I’m not ignoring you, jackass.”

  “So what gives? What’s all this?” Jay gestured toward her coiffed hair and shimmering dress. “Did you go to that modeling thing?”

  She motioned him to take a seat on the steps of her front porch. Her heeled feet had gone numb over half an hour ago while Alfreddo had dragged her from entertainment agent to photographer back to agent, introducing her as the “new face of the industry.”

  “Yeah, I did. It was pretty cool, actually. Not nearly as horrible as last time.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah. I’m going to do a photo shoot in a few months. The magazine people liked me. Some Mother’s Day thing with Hollywood types.”

  Leah smiled remembering Anne LeFleur touching her cheek. As she’d found out later, impressing the woman was not an easy feat. Apparently, she had a reputation for glancing disdainfully at new models and telling them to pick another profession because “thissss one is cccccertainly not for youuuuu.”