Revenge Body...

She would never have guessed she would enjoy this as much as she had.

About six months ago she saw the flyer and had almost ignored it. In fact, the eyerolling had already started before the small voice in the back of her head whispered, “Why not?”

GET YOUR REVENGE BODY!

Give us 6 months and we’ll give you the body of your dreams.

You do the work; we guarantee the rewards!

She had never been a huge fan of the idea. It seemed petty. But honestly at that point in time she was down for some petty.

Just a few months before she had been blissfully unaware of everything that he had been doing. She was happy in her ignorance. She thought they were madly in love. She had been busy planning the wedding, they were going to be happy forever. Then came the day she saw the first text message. “Miss you.” Two words that tore everything apart.

Miss you? Why would you miss him? Who the fuck are you? I don’t know your name. You aren’t someone he ever talks about so how in the world could you know him enough to miss him? And again, why? Why would you miss him? Why would you send him a message like that?

And why would he quickly shove his phone into his pocket and look to see if she had noticed? Why wouldn’t he explain? Why would he hide it? And then excuse himself to the restroom where she saw him texting when someone else opened the door to go in.

Miss you.

She shouldn’t have opened his phone and read the other messages. It was a total invasion of privacy. She understood that even as she was doing it. But…

Miss you, miss her with that shit.

The anger was deep and constant. She couldn’t unsee what she had seen. She couldn’t quite convince herself that it didn’t matter. That nothing had changed, actually. Maybe she could be one of those women who just turned a blind eye to the dalliances. She could be the number one wife and just make sure her position was secure.

But that wasn’t her. She couldn’t do it. She was too angry. She was too hurt. She felt stupid and there was nothing worse to her than feeling stupid.

Then she saw her. And suddenly she didn’t just feel stupid, she felt ugly. She wasn’t as thin. She wasn’t as youthful. She wasn’t as radiant. Her hair wasn’t as lush. Her lips weren’t as full. She just wasn’t as pretty. And now she was stupid and ugly and no wonder he cheated on her. Her anger turned inward.

Thankfully that didn’t last long. But she wasn’t completely over it when the flyer came her way. Get your revenge body.

It was small and petty and really, she should be looking at it like the universe did her a favor by showing who he was before the wedding. It for sure wasn’t very feminist. She wasn’t the revenge body type.

Usually.

But sometimes petty was what you needed.

It wasn’t cheap. It was fully immersive. Six months, you follow the program, we guarantee the results. She committed to it as fully as she had been committed to him.

Multiple days a week. Hard work. Tone here, tighten there, plump this, flatten that.

There was a group of them that started at the same time, they met in a larger group with others who had started before them and eventually those who came after. It was good motivation. You could see what you could accomplish with hard work, and you didn’t want to let down those that were looking up to you. It was a well thought out system.

And she made friends with the others. She had thought going in that it would all be bitter, unhappy women. Women just like her. Women who had been cheated on or left for someone who was frankly, better looking. But it wasn’t just women like her. It wasn’t even just women. There were plenty of men interested in getting their revenge bodies as well.

She discovered that there were women out there being just as big of assholes to their partners as there were men. She confronted the sexism in her beliefs about men and women and moved forward. Better than she was before.

In one of the groups that started after hers there was a nonbinary person working on their revenge body. The perfect blending of who they had always envisioned in their heads. The one their partner had told them was a fantasy and they should just fucking choose a gender already because nobody believed in this nonbinary shit anyway. She confronted her own binary beliefs and heteronormative baseline and moved forward. Better than she was before.

There were also people there who were seeking revenge bodies because of things their parents had done to them. Things bosses had said. Things that they dealt with every day of their lives while society told them they weren’t good enough. She confronted how easy her life had really been and moved forward. Better than she was before.

There were people who had fantasy visions of every single different kind of body out there. Her revenge body was thin, muscled, full lips and hips, her old Barbie image coming to life as close as she could get it. One of the women who signed up with her had a revenge body that could only be described as lush. It was full and juicy and curvaceous. She had worked to add curves where she had lived a life of only angles. So many types and visions of what that perfect revenge body was. She confronted her diet industry instilled body standard bias and moved forward. Better than she was before.

She had done the work. Not just on her new revenge body but also on her belief systems. She knew she was a better person now than she was when she started. She was better off for the hard discussions she had been a part of. More compassionate after hearing some of the horrible things others had dealt with. More at peace with her choices when the others heard her story and agreed she had been done wrong. That yes, reading someone else’s messages wasn’t great, but her reason for doing so was sound and the wrong she had committed wasn’t anywhere near the wrong he had. She felt absolved.

And more than that she felt understood.

If nothing else had happened that would have been worth the price of the program.

But more had. She was almost all the way through, and she had done the work and the results were beyond her expectations. The perfect revenge body.

Today was a fun bonus session. Past alumni of the program were going to come back and speak to them all. What they thought about the program months or years later. What were the long-term benefits they experienced. Or were there drawbacks? Problems? Part of her expected it to all be sunshine and roses but she also knew that they had been honest the whole way through. Sometimes people had regrets. Sometimes it wasn’t worth it. Sometimes people dropped out. They either weren’t willing to do the work, or they weren’t interested anymore. Sometimes when time passed and healing happened through the work, revenge seemed less attractive. One of her cohorts had already stopped calling it his revenge body and now it was just his. He was doing his work. He was still doing his work, but revenge wasn’t part of it anymore. There was no need. He was healed.

She wasn’t quite there.

They met in a hotel ballroom instead of their normal space. A stage had been set up for the past graduates to sit. A dais in the middle for speakers. Such a standard set up. Except for the banner in the background “Revenge Body Inc.” it could have been any number of sales meetings she had been to in her life. Heck, even with the banner, if that’s what they were selling, fit in perfectly.

The speakers were all engaging. Showing off their work. Their gorgeous revenge bodies. There was no shame here, no feelings of maybe you shouldn’t show off. Everyone knew the work involved and was glad to have the opportunity to show their appreciation and, frankly, admiration. Toned, tight, lush, round, every single body exactly perfect in so many different ways.

And then she saw her.

Her.

The her that had sent her careening into the bitter and petty mind set that made a revenge body sound like a good idea.

She sat there on the stage looking just as perfect as she had the first time, she saw her. As lovely in real life as she had been in the photos on his phone.

“I know it sounds petty, but I was ready to be petty. I was planning a life with him, and he was still on dating apps.”

She had met him on a dating app. He had supposedly not dated in years. Just hadn’t had time. But for her he would make the time. For her and for everyone else. All along.

“He told me he loved me and only me, while he was still fucking everyone he could. I was devastated. He cheated on me and didn’t even care. And then Revenge Body Inc. gave me the chance to even the score. Just a little.” She waved toward the stage and her revenge body stood and gave a small twirl. “I made her to his perfect standards. She says the things he likes to hear. She looks the way he wants women to look. He couldn’t resist. And once he was totally committed, she slept with his boss. And told him it was because he was more successful, more attractive, just better and that he had always been just a steppingstone to a better man.”

Wow.

And in that moment, she realized she was totally healed. She didn’t need to find her revenge anymore because someone else had handled it all. She had committed to the program, she had done the work, the results were guaranteed.

Amazing.

Now she just needed to figure out what to do with the extra body.