The hug felt strange. Dakota couldn't call North D fat, not after seeing all her other versions. But she was definitely well-padded and that extended to her breasts too. Dakota's eyes were drawn to the daring neckline that displayed them. Her cheeks turned a little pink. Somehow it felt a bit like masturbating to ogle her own attributes.
“So, are you feeling better? Really? Aren't you saying it just for me?” North must have misunderstood her hesitation, so Dakota quickly shook her head. “Good then. Listen, wanna enjoy yourself at Zack's pier party? We'll say you're my cousin, no big deal, eh? You'll get to see another Daven's Port, as the first person ever!”
“Umm, well… The device is going is to take time to cool down anyway,” Dakota temporized, “So I might just as well go...”
“Huh, I was hoping for a stronger vote of confidence. Let's go then!”
“Wait!” Dakota held up her device. “I shouldn't be carrying it around. Or at least I should have some bag for it or...”
“Right, right,” North interrupted her. “Wait a minute.” She stood up and went into far corner, testing the boards there. “Ah, here it is.” She knelt with a small *oomph* and pulled it half out. “Now give it to me. You won't find a better hiding place. OK?”
“Yeah, sure.”
North put the device inside, giving Dakota a front row view of her expanded rump stuffed in beige pants. Then she stood up, dusting her knees, and decisively opened the door. “Anyway, let's run. We want to be fashionably late, not late late. Only,” she halted in the hallway and peered around. “We should probably slip past Mom. If she saw you she would smell a rat. Ah, good, she's in the kitchen. Quickly!”
They ran down the stairs, Dakota noticing more differences to her own world. North stopped in the kitchen door and blocked Dakota from her mother's sight. “Mom, I'm going to Zack's party like I told you, OK?”
“Yes, sweetie, enjoy it! If you're still hungry when you come back, there'll be leftovers in the fridge and ice-cream. Don't touch the cake, please, that's for tomorrow! And don't stay there late, d'you hear?!”
Dakota's eyebrows went up at the mention of ice-cream and cake. But her doppelganger took it in stride. “Yeah, sure, Mom!” North D rushed her outside their house, only to make herself comfortable on a bench (that wasn't there in her world) and pull out a cellphone.
Dakota nervously hunched down and peered back to make sure her – North's – mother wasn't looking. “What are we waiting for?” she asked when North just kept playing with her phone.
“Waiting for the Dynabus, what else? I just called it. Oh, right, you don't have them yet, do you? Well, it's kinda like a bus that you call for yourself. It arrives wherever you call it, within the city. And it takes you anywhere you want, no need to walk all the way to a bus stop and wait for hours!”
North sighed and pocketed the phone. “Well, it's got its downsides, too. Dad says DynaCorp is collecting data on everybody's movements, God knows what for, so I normally try to avoid it. Today Zack's Mom was supposed to pick me up but obviously with the excitement about you and all that I missed that. And I don't want to drive my car since there'll be plenty to drink and I don't want to miss that.”
By the time North finished explaining, a small blue-and white box on wheels was already stopping in front of their bench. She stood up, inserted her credit card into a slot next to a single door on its side and announced, articulating clearly, “Dakota Johnson, two people to the Pier.”
“Thank you, citizen. We wish you a pleasant journey. Please enjoy your complimentary Dyna-Yeng meal,” a robotic voice replied and the door opened to reveal four plush seats around a small table, with a vending machine opposite that just slid open to place a couple snacks there and a large bottle of soda with two cups.
“Ah, good!” North D cheered up. “I missed that,” and she eagerly tore open a bag of chips even before sitting down. “They're sooo good!” She crammed her mouth full, only then noticing South's uncertain look. “Don't worry and have some, too! Before I eat it all!”
“Thank you,” Dakota nibbled on a few chips while her counterpart polished the rest. They were good indeed, better than any chips she'd ever eaten before. But they only underlined the overall… weirdness of it all. Everything around looked so familiar and yet subtly different. Such as the chips wrapper – it was so similar to one of the brands she regularly bought in her home world and yet she'd never seen the overlapping logos of DynaCorp and Yeng, at home they were fierce rivals.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a small burp. “Egh, sorry,” North apologised and rubbed her swollen belly. “I had a big supper, Mom's made pasta and you know how good she makes it! You heard there's still some left, you can have it, too, when we get back. But these chips are too good to resist. Thank God for Huan stretch pants, huh? The ChocoBars are all yours, though,” contradicting her own words, she opened the packet and started munching on one before sliding the rest over the table to Dakota.
South D didn't mind, there was still almost a pound of chocolate left. She took one bar to have a taste, then another. Again they were subtly different, subtly better…
“Sooo,” now that North stopped eating, she was feeling chatty. “You're not that dressed up, girl, but don't worry about it. Some of Zack's friends dress like bums and those're typically the best guys! And it's just a pier party so you won't look anywhere out of place there, South. Oh,” she halted. “We probably shouldn't call ourselves North and South in public, y'know. Since my friends already know me as Dakota, you'll have to be… hmmm, Nebraska!”
“Uh, OK.” Dakota wasn't that pleased with her new name but she couldn't argue North's logic. She looked around for some other topic and she saw a distant beach. “Oh, look, we're almost there.”
“Ah, right. Aren't you going to finish your ChocoBars?” North D asked, reaching for them again.
“Sorry, not used to eating a pound of chocolate in one go,” Dakota said with a pointed look at North's round tummy, trying to subtly hint that such gluttony may not be advisable in the long run.
“Oh, you'll learn, Nebraska, don't worry, you'll learn,” her twin grinned, completely missing the point, and stuffed a whole bar into her mouth at once. “Oh, look, there they are!” she cried out when she swallowed.
“Who?”
“Zack and Piper! By that hot dog stand!”
Dakota looked closer and she, too, found her friends. Or rather the counterparts to her friends. They, too, were subtly different. Or perhaps not so subtly.
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