Story commission for  Jaquel98

Two girls find a vending machine on a different route home from work.

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“And then, at the end of the movie, the guy from the first part comes back! And he’s all like ‘I loved you for my entire life!’ It was such a good movie!”

“Wow… Sounds interesting. I guess.”

Zoe and Raven had a strange, but common relationship. Given most other circumstances, the two girls wouldn’t even know the other existed, but working in an office of nearly entirely males and being around the same age, the two quickly formed a working relationship. Which usually extended to them walking partway home together, at least until their stop came up on the subway.

Zoe was the textbook definition of “perky”. You could open up a dictionary and probably find her picture there. Excitable, a joy to be around, and just always seemed to be having a good time. On the other end of the spectrum was Raven. Gloomy, sarcastic, and, not to be mean, but unapproachable. Always seemed like if you needed anything from her, she’d get annoyed with you, which would most often be the case. Given their conflicting personalities, you’d think it’d be like water and oil, but they were a prime example of “opposites attract”.

The two were walking home from work on Friday. Zoe was dressed in a comfortable, but sporty outfit: a yellow t-shirt, blue shorts, a pair of white sneakers, and her blond hair tied up into a ponytail. Raven’s ensemble was very representative of her: a purple button up shirt, black skirt, black heels, and her long, silky black hair worn down. Normally, around this time, they’d both be on the subway, sitting on their phones and making plans, or lack thereof, for the weekend. On this day, however, their usual entrance was under construction, meaning they needed to take a detour.

While Zoe continued to ramble on about the latest movies and shows she’d been watching, with Raven not so subtly ignoring her, they both ended up turning down an alleyway as the street lights flickered on. As they both stopped and looked up at the stoplights, they looked at each other for a moment, before looking forward. There, as if a spotlight was shown up on it, stood a white vending machine. Now, a vending machine wasn’t something too out of the ordinary, but this one seemed out of place. It seemed… Newer? Nicer? Regardless of whatever it was, it was in a location that it really didn’t fit in.

“Ooh. Lucky us! I was just getting a bit thirsty,” Zoe chirped, quickening her pace over to the machine, her unwilling friend being pulled along. “Hopefully they have Yoohoo!”

“Yoohoo? What are you, five?” Raven grumbled, annoyed at being pulled against her will, but too inconvenienced to fight against it.

Standing in front of the vending machine, Zoe let go of Raven’s hand, putting both hands on the glass of the display and looking inside, mesmerized. Raven, understanding the out of place nature of the machine, looked around the sides, not finding a way for the machine to even be powered. “Uhh. Zoe? I think there’s something wrong with this vending machine.”

“I’d say,” Zoe quickly responded. “I’ve never even heard of any of these drinks! Frosted Moon? Aqua Shimmer? Zen Quench? The Sani? It must be an off brand machine or something…” Taking out two dollars, she inserts them into the machine, pressing one of the lit up buttons. “I guess I’ll go for Cobalt Crush?” With a clunk, Zoe reached in to grab the can, smiling as her hand touched something. She quickly reached her other hand in, grabbing out two small cans. “Freebie! Lucky!~”

Tossing one to Raven, who almost fumbled it, Zoe looked over her can. “I was expecting something… Bigger? I mean, I’ve never seen a 160 ml can.”

“They’re more common in Asia,” Raven quipped, investigating the strange can she held. The logo showed two blueberries, one slightly larger than the other, with the name Cobalt Crush underneath. Below that stated “Extra Strength” On the back of the can, was apparently the nutritional info. I say apparently, because it was in a different language. Raven assumed it was something close to wingdings. “Zoe… I don’t think we should dr-”

Raven cut herself off as she looked over to Zoe, who was already pulling the empty can from her lips. “Wow. I’m surprised at how good it was. I guess quality beats quantity!” Zoe gushed, digging in her purse. “I think I might have some more change thrown around in here. I want to grab some for home.”

Raven looked back down at her can. Zoe seemed fine after hers, what’s the worst that could happen? Cracking open the can with a satisfying hiss, she brought it up to her lips, taking a small sip of the drink. Immediately she was hit with a strong blueberry flavor, the carbonation slowly seeping in to mild it out. There were more subtle notes there, lemons, limes, maybe a bit of ginger? Regardless, it was good. She brought the can back to her lips, quickly finishing it. Raven turned to thank her friend for her drink, to find her literally head deep in her purse. "Ah, the purse-head maneuver, a classic move in the art of confusing onlookers. Bravo!"

Pulling her head out her purse, Zoe looked defeated. “I thought that I had more change… Oh well!” She cheered, her attitude doing a complete 180, “I’ll just have to remember where this is and come back with more change and a shopping bag!” She looked over to Raven as she smiled, a splotch of blue on her nose

Raven rolled her eyes, astounded by the messiness of her companion. “While you were diving in your purse, you must’ve gotten some blue lipstick on something on you,” she mentioned, pointing to her nose to show where. Zoe looked back with a quizzical look, tilting her head slightly.

“I don’t own any blue lipstick. Blue really isn’t my color for makeup.” Zoe crossed her eyes, trying to look down at her nose, failing to do so. She sighed at her failed attempt and looked back at Raven, giggling. “Looks like you got a blue nose too.”

Raven’s face dropped at the utterance of the words. She quickly dug into her pocket, pulling out her phone and turning on the front facing camera. Her heart skipped a beat, seeing a blue splotch on her nose. She quickly tried to rub it off, but to no effect. She continued to stare as it slowly started to spread, the blue color crawling across her face. She nearly dropped her phone as she heard Zoe say, “Woah, this is so weird.”

Looking over from her phone, Raven looked at Zoe, whose face was completely blue at this point. The blue had crawled down her neck and under her clothes, starting to peek out from underneath her shirt. Zoe looked over at Raven and laughed, “Looks like we’re both feeling blue.” Raven’s mind raced as she watched Zoe continue to blue. ‘She drank it first,’ she thought, “Whatever happens to me will happen to her first.”

As Zoe’s skin quickly became entirely blue, she found herself inspecting it, playfully teasing, “I’m that one song now! I’m blue!” She laughed at her own joke as her clothes started to stain blue as well. From the roots of her hair, the color bled down, a wave of blue soaking in. As she let out a little whimper, upset that her clothes might be ruined, she quickly shot her hands to her stomach, a gurgle erupting from it. Zoe blushed purple, a little embarrassed. “I don’t think the soda is sitting well with me.”

Raven’s attention went back to herself as the blue coloring reached the tips of her fingers. She nervously felt her skin, unsure of what to do. She slowly felt a strange sensation rise in her stomach, her own stomach gurgling like Zoe’s. She looked back at Zoe, a new side effect coming from her friend. “Zoe? What are you doing now? Are you getting… fatter?”

Zoe cradled her swelling stomach, her entire body growing larger by the second. “Gosh, I feel like Violet,” she says, a lightbulb going off in her head. “Raven! I think we’re turning into blueberries! Like in Willy Wonka!” She claps at her revelation, somewhat excited at the prospect.

“Why are you happy?” Raven quickly asks, a hint of panic in her voice. Her body slowly starts to swell with juice, her movements getting harder as more weight is added to her body. She pushes against her swelling stomach, hoping for some miracle that stops the swelling. She couldn’t understand how her friend was so calm in this situation. They were both turning into blueberries.

“I mean, I think the soda did this to us,” Zoe happily replied, her body starting to round out, making movement more difficult. “They wouldn’t sell anything dangerous in a vending machine, so I’m sure we’ll be fine.” Zoe starts to try and waddle, giggling and the newfound challenge.She flaps her hands to try and steady herself, enjoying her transformation.

Raven couldn’t find fault in her argument, but it didn’t ease her nerves. Her own body had started to round out, arms and legs getting pulled into her expanding frame. She flapped her hands at her increasing helplessness as gallon after gallon of juice filled her up. She thought of how impossible it was for this to happen and how she shouldn’t have drank that mysterious drink.

As they grew, their juice stained clothes stretched with them, stretching to accommodate their ever expanding bodies. As they continued to round out, their shirts began to ride up, showing off their midriffs as they continued to expand. Raven felt a little relief in the fact that they wouldn’t end up nude, although her skirt was starting to look more like a belt, causing her to blush.

“God. I’m getting so big!” Zoe chirped, drawing Raven’s attention. She was a complete sphere and thensome, growing taller as she grew rounder. 7 feet, 8 feet, bigger and bigger she swelled. Raven was sure that there must be a point at which they would stop growing. They must be right? If it didn’t stop, they might…

10 feet, 11 feet, their bodies let out creaks and groans as their skin fought to contain the thousands of pounds of juice. “Zoe! We have to find a way to stop growing or we’ll burst!” Raven panicked, flapping her hands uselessly as she continued to grow. “I said we’ll be fine, so trust me,” Zoe said with confidence, her body slightly rocking from side to side, as with joy.

13 feet, 14 feet, Zoe’s body let out a loud groan as her swelling stopped, letting Raven slowly catch up to the other berry’s size.

“We stopped… See Raven? I told you we’d be fine!”

“Fine? Zoe, we’re giant blueberries! I can’t even move!”

“Look at the bright side, blueberries are healthy, right? I bet this will do wonders for our health.”

“Yeah, well I see one tiny thing wrong with that bright side.”

“And that is?”

“How do we get back to normal?”