Growth Period

Taking some time off from school had seemed like a great idea. She could relax, unwind, get refocused. Did she really want to pursue politics? Was there a better path for her to follow? The extra time would give her a chance to consider her options more and make sure she set out in the right direction when she did finalize her course selections. Plus, there were things she wanted to do, and things she wanted to devote more time to. She’d have more time for Capoeira and Tae Kwon Do. It would be a year just about her, then she could put all her attentions back into school and not feel like she had wasted this period of her life buried in books.

Unfortunately most of her friends had gone off to university or college so it had been a bit quiet, she had been okay with that, since she had planned on focusing on herself anyways, but at times she did find herself getting bored. She had caught up on a lot of reading, and when she wasn’t reading there were lots of TV shows to binge on. Even movies she hadn’t had a chance to see. Plus, although she didn’t consider herself an avid gamer, she did enjoy playing them. She really hadn’t had the time to get too involved in some games, but now she certainly could.

“You’re lucky Nikki,” her closest friend Chelsea had said as she got ready to head off to school. “You get to avoid the freshman fifteen for one more year. We’ll all come back home fat, and you’ll still be skinny.”

Nikki had smiled at that. She was pretty sure the freshman fifteen was an urban legend. And really if you are expecting to gain weight, all you have to do is be diligent. She was pretty sure that Chelsea’s concerns were unwarranted. But she had to admit that both she and her friend had added a few ‘party pounds’ over the last few weeks. Everyone had wanted to spend as much time together as they could before they all went their separate ways. Lunches, suppers, a few parties and a few drinks here and there all added up to a little extra on the scale, but Nikki knew that once she was on her own she could put as much effort into her fitness classes as she wanted. Chelsea probably wouldn’t be so lucky.

And that’s how her fall started off, some light reading, a little TV and then she could let herself get lost in the more exciting elements of games like Grand Theft Auto. She found these times some of the most entertaining and she started to see how other people got so addicted. Luckily for her she didn’t really have any other responsibilities that she had to worry about neglecting, so her video game time was guilt free.

In fact she felt as if she had no pressure on her at all with an entire year still ahead of her. It was so nice to have no routine to follow and no reason to not sleep in. It was like everyday was a Saturday, which did throw her off her schedule a bit. It was easy to forget that she had a self-defense class or was supposed to be at Tae Kwon Do when your internal clock was telling you it was the weekend. She justified any missed classes with the knowledge that she could get caught up later after she had enjoyed her freedom for just a little longer.

It wasn’t uncommon for her to completely lose track of time. Checking her phone she would often realize that it was almost 4:30 in the morning. She would get completely lost in her game more and more often. Once she realized the time, she would feel tired so she would start shutting everything down. She’d usually find one last piece of pizza in the box beside her that she had ordered sometime after midnight and would finish it before dropping the box in the recycle bin. She often had to give it a little stomp with her foot as other fast food bags and empty pop bottles from some of her other late night sessions had the bin quite full.

And although a year seems like a lot of time when it is spread out before you, Nikki was surprised at how quickly the days and then weeks passed as they slowly blurred into one repetitive cycle. She would drag herself out of bed some time after noon, eat a lunch of whatever she could find around the house, or grab a quick bite at a drive-thru, binge watch a part of season or two of a series on Netflix as she ate her lunch and then a few snacks, supper with whichever members of her family happened to be around, maybe a Dairy Queen dessert with a movie and then of to her gaming homes of Vice City or San Andreas, some more snacks and maybe a late night take out session, before dozing off sometime in the early morning hours.

Having no close friends around didn’t help. She still texted with her friends and talked on the phone when time permitted, but she knew they were busy with classes and school life. She missed them, especially Chelsea who had chosen to go and lay in the sun with some new friends from university over her Christmas break instead of coming home. And then, a couple of months later, when study break came around, Chelsea was too far behind on three papers to take the break and ended up staying at school to get everything done.  

The realization of how much time had passed finally hit her in the face when Chelsea had called. The month of May had finally rolled around and Chelsea was just finishing studying for her last exam. She was going to be home in two days and couldn’t wait to get together and catch up.

“You can fill me in on everything you’ve been up to Nikki!” Chelsea exclaimed over the phone. “You were so lucky to have all that time to yourself. I bet it’s been great.”

Nikki looked around her basement where she had pretty much been holed up since Chelsea had left. The TV showed that her game was paused. This is what she had been up to. “Well, it wasn’t really that exciting,” Nikki mumbled, feeling a little embarrassed as she stretched out on the couch to talk on the phone. “I really didn’t do too much.”

“Well, you can give me all the details in person soon!” Nikki could hear the excitement in Chelsea’s voice. “Maybe you can bring me to one of your Tae Kwon Do classes?”

“You want to try Tae Kwon Do?” Nikki asked, a little confused. She had always asked for Chelsea to come to one of her classes, but she had never shown any interest.

“Well, I have been doing yoga, I kinda had to, you know – the freshman fifteen and everything. But anyways I think maybe I could try Tae Kwon Do, or that other thing you do, the South African thing?”

“Capoeira?”

“Yeah, maybe we could do that, you always liked it. It would be good for me too.”

“It’s South American, and no, I haven’t done it for a while,” Nikki tried to process everything Chelsea had just said, “and wait, what do you mean freshman fifteen?” Nikki asked, her free hand finding her own mid section.

“Ugg,” Chelsea replied. “It’s so embarrassing, but it did happen to me. I’ve lost most of the weight I gained, but it’s true about living on campus. There’s food available all the time, and parties and everything. When I went away over Christmas break I looked pretty chubby in my bikini. I had put on almost ten pounds since coming here! Can you believe it?”

Again, Nikki’s hand gave her own body a tentative squeeze. “Ten pounds?” she questioned.

“Yeah, I’m glad I didn’t have to come home for Christmas, you would have laughed at how fat I had gotten. It was bad enough to have to wear that bikini, but the girls I had gone away with were all at least as chubby as me.”

“But did you gain the whole fifteen? The freshman fifteen?”

“No, well, kind of I guess,” she said pausing. “I had gained a little before I even got here, remember?” Nikki did remember, they both had. “I don’t know if that counts, but once I got back to school in January I smartened up. I started doing the yoga and cut out the late night pizza and fast food runs. I still need to lose about five pounds though. Don’t make fun of me for getting fat when you see me.”

Nikki looked down and felt as though she was seeing herself for the first time. Her hand gave a tentative push into her body, feeling how soft it had gotten. She looked at the t-shirt she had thrown on and saw how it was pulled tight against her. Her fingers tried to pull the fabric away from her body, but there was no extra for her to grab. She let her hand spread out again and gave a squeeze. She immediately regretted doing that as she ended up with a handful of soft flesh. She sat up, realizing for the first time that it was a bit of a struggle. She sat there for a minute with her phone still at her ear; Chelsea babbling into it, while her other hand felt the soft roll of fat that pooled around her waist. She looked down and could feel some fat bunch up as a double chin formed.

She had suspected that she had gained a little weight, gotten a little softer. But she had been reassuring herself that she had lots of time to refocus before summer. There was no need to worry about getting to her classes. She had a whole year. Now, seated as she was, she could see her thighs spreading out on the couch, she could feel how tight her leggings had become, not just on her legs, but the waistband was digging into her. But worst of all she could see her belly resting on her thighs, rolling over the tight leggings, pushing against her once loose t-shirt.

She tried to process everything as she stared blankly around the room. How had she not seen this happening? Her free hand cupped her belly. There on the floor was an empty cup from Taco Bell, and a crumpled up matching take-out bag. As she looked around she spotted similar bags from Burger King and McDonald’s, an empty large Blizzard cup, some empty Chinese food containers and some crumpled up chip bags and then, by the stairs, empty pizza boxes. She tried to think back, hadn’t she just cleaned up down here? She stood, again feeling how awkward her body now moved and headed for the bathroom, kicking something that was at her feet. It was an empty cookie container, which had written across it in bright yellow letters, ‘Now Extra Soft and Chunky!’

She flicked on a light in the small basement bathroom and stared at a stranger in the mirror. Her mouth hung open as she saw herself for the first time in almost eight months.

Her once loose t-shirt was pulled tight against her fattened frame, the sleeves completely filled with her plump arms, especially the arm that was bent, still holding the phone to her ear. She could see the fat fight for room at her bent elbow, see the crease where her wrist bent, she could even see how her chubby fingers sank into her rounded face. Her face! Even her face looked fat now. Her mouth hung open, emphasizing the soft double chin. And then there was her body. Again, she couldn’t figure out how she hadn’t realized that she was getting fat. When had she gotten this t-shirt? Christmas? It was pulled tight across her plumped up chest, making her realize how uncomfortable her bra was now. She could make out where the straps sunk into her soft shoulders. Her free hand reached for the bottom hem of her shirt. Surely it wasn’t that bad, maybe the tightness of the t-shirt was making her look fatter than she really was.

Slowly she lifted up the bottom of the shirt, her thumb could feel the warm flesh on the other side as it pulled the material up. She felt hyper-aware of her body at this moment. Just this act of pulling her shirt up caused jiggling. She watched in horror as her stomach was slowly revealed. It budged out in front of her, hanging over the tight leggings. Once she got the shirt up the curve of her belly, she let out a little gasp. It was that bad.

“Oh. My. God.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Chelsea was still on the phone. Nikki grabbed her belly, as she turned sideways, shocked at the amount of fat that had accumulated there. How had this happened?

“Are you still there?” Chelsea asked.

“I’ve gotta go,” Nikki finally got out, pulling the phone from her ear and hanging up on her friend. She felt like she was waking up from a dream and was having trouble coming back to reality. Still staring at herself in the mirror, she put down her phone, then she put her hands on top of her belly, “Oh, God. Look at this. I have a belly,” she traced it as is rolled out and over her waistband, then she followed the waistband as her new love handles overflowed the tight leggings.

“I got these at Christmas,” she thought to herself. Remembering opening the present from her mom. They had looked big to her then, but now they felt tight. What had her mom said to her that day? “I thought these might look good on you and be more comfortable.” She had had a funny look on her face as she said it. Had everyone else noticed she had been gaining weight? She grimaced as she thought of the scale in the upstairs bathroom. But she had to go see. Had she gained the freshman fifteen that Chelsea had been so worried about? She pulled the shirt down over her belly and caught site of her ass. No wonder the leggings felt so tight. Her ass looked huge as it spread out behind her. “Oh God,” she thought to herself again.

She left the bathroom and headed through the basement, again she felt hyper aware as her new soft body jiggled with every step. She ignored the paused video game and the various pieces of fast food debris as she got to the bottom of the stairs. She remembered her plans for this year, reading, relaxing, self-defence and Tae Kwon Do classes, but what had she ended up doing? When was the last time she had made it to a class? Definitely before Christmas, she thought, and probably before the first snowfall.  In fact, thinking back, the weather had still been nice. She took a deep breath as she headed up the stairs, taking another look at the couch where she was starting to realize she had spent too much time.

Other thoughts had started filtering back to her as well. She hadn’t done much shopping for herself lately, but she did remember buying a larger size at some point. Was that in the fall? She had thought her inactivity might have led to some weight gain then, but she had so much time, she really didn’t need to address it then. Her mother too had said things that hadn’t registered, or had seemed irrelevant. “Are you sure you need seconds, honey?” “That’s a lot of dessert.” “You’re not going out for more fast food are you?”  “Do you need anything at the store? Pants? Tops? Underwear?”

The last time her sister had been around she questioned why Nikki was drinking energy drinks. “What do you need extra energy for?” She had asked, “You’re just sitting there and moving your thumbs.” She had also suggested she start doing more than just lounging around in front of the TV. “Why don’t you get out of the house? You don’t want to become a complete couch potato.” And “It smells like a Kentucky Fried Chicken garbage can down here.”

“Oh God,” she thought to herself as she struggled up the stairs. Her body felt slow and lethargic. Heavy. She tried to remember what she had weighed. She had never really paid that close of attention to her weight and it had never really mattered. She knew her weight fluctuated a bit. She was usually in the 130s, but had gotten as high as 140lbs at the end of the summer. Especially after all her friends had been celebrating their last weeks at home before heading off to school.

Finally she reached the upstairs bathroom and pushed through the door. Again that fat girl in the mirror greeted her. She was alone in the house, but for some reason she closed and locked the door as though that would prevent anyone else from finding out about her weight. She bent over, and felt her belly fat form rolls as she pulled the scale out from under the vanity. “Okay, so if I’ve gained fifteen pounds,” she thought to herself, trying to prepare for the worst case scenario, “and if I was 135 or 140 I could be up to 155.” One hundred and fifty five pounds. That seemed so fat.

She stepped on the scale and looked in the mirror. Is this what one hundred and fifty pounds looks like?

It wasn’t. It was what one hundred and ninety-two pounds looked like. She thought back to the last eight months and other than a few classes in September, she hadn’t really left the couch, or even the house. Except when she hit a drive thru. In her mind’s eye she could see herself going though all those fast food drive-thrus at one or two in the morning, no one around to see her as she ate her late night treats. She could feel the seat belt digging into her more and more; she could feel her pajama bottoms clinging to her softening form. She could remember feeling full after suppers, especially as she scraped the last of her dessert from a plate. She also remember the relief she would feel as she got to her spot on the couch and would unbutton her jeans, or after she had started wearing stretchy clothing exclusively, pulling the waistbands down under her stuffed tummy.

But she had ignored it all. Ignored it and wasted eight months. Eight months. It had seemed like so much time back in September, but it was gone, eaten up, and she nothing to show for it. Nothing except over fifty extra pounds of fat.

All her promises to start getting back to some of her activities outside of the house had been abandoned. The first eight months of the year of personal growth that she had intended to take had turned into a groundhog day of couch time, food and screen time.

She spent the rest of the day in a funk. Everything she did seem to highlight how fat she had gotten. She tried on a few of her ‘night out’ outfits, or at least tried to try them on. Everything was too small now. She had been living in t-shirts, hoodies, leggings and pajamas for so long her entire wardrobe was pretty much unusable. While showering her hands couldn’t help but poke and prod her soft body as the water cascaded over the freshly discovered bulges and rolls. And it seemed like she was constantly hungry. Her belly was used to a continuing stream of food throughout the day and into the night. She would find herself wandering towards the kitchen searching out something to snack on. She tried to fight it, but by the afternoon she had already broken down twice, running out to Taco Bell and later the corner store for some chips.

Every part of her was covered in a layer of fat. She tried to think back to how this had gone unnoticed. The clothes she had been wearing were pretty forgiving, especially since her mother had upgraded a few items for her. She had consciously or subconsciously stopped wearing jeans or any clothing with buttons. When she showered she was usually still half asleep or ready to fall asleep. A part of her knew she had gained a little weight and she had turned a blind eye to it. She had always showered quickly, avoided the mirror and then ignored any tightness in her clothes and pretended that her diet of fast food and snack foods was temporary.

When Chelsea called the following day to firm up plans, Nikki really started to worry. “Look Chelsea, I should probably tell you, I’ve been pretty lazy too.” Nikki was in her usual spot on the couch, her hand resting on her tubby belly. “I’ve put on some weight,” she paused trying to think how much she should reveal. “Probably more than you put on.”

“That’s great,” Chelsea replied. “We can lose it together! I’d love to drop this last five pounds before June. How much do you need to lose? More than that?”

“Yeah, a little more than that,” Nikki gave her belly a little shake, feeling the fat jiggle.

“So ten?”

Nikki looked down at her body as she lounged on the couch. She felt as though she was spilling out of her yoga pants and t-shirt, she felt fat. “Fifty,” she mumbled.

“What? Did you say fifteen? Jeese Nikki, how did that happen?”

How did that happen? Nikki wondered, but she didn’t correct her friend that she had gotten fifty pounds fatter, not a mere fifteen. It was just too unbelievable that someone could get this fat without realizing it.

Despite facing the cold hard truth of her weight gain, Nikki found she was still a creature of habit. That night, no matter how hard she tried to talk herself out of it she found herself ordering in pizza at 1:00 in the morning and then eating it while playing her game. She felt a little bad afterwards, but the reality was that she wasn’t going to lose fifty pounds before Chelsea or any of her other friends saw her, so why fight it.

She also knew she was going to need to make some updates to her wardrobe. She couldn’t be going out in t-shirts and leggings all the time, especially when the leggings were already so tight. Too tight actually. After one of her usual lazy mornings she finally headed out to get some clothes that fit better. Between texts from Chelsea she was able to get some larger leggings and yoga pants as well as some jeans that she could fit into.

“Ugg,” Nikki thought to herself as she finished her meal in the food court. “I can’t believe I had to buy size sixteen jeans.” She could have gotten the fourteens, but they were pretty tight and uncomfortable, especially for someone used to wearing clothes that stretched. Even so, Nikki could feel her soft body bunch up and spill over the waistband as she sat, finishing her fries. “I’d love to get some ice cream,” she thought as she scanned the food court, “but I have to start cutting out something, or I’ll just keep getting fatter.”

A text from Chelsea distracted her from her cravings. “Looks like I won’t get in until late – hwy is pretty bad – bumper to bumper,” it read. “Catch up tomorrow?”

“One more day until she sees how fat I am,” thought Nikki before replying. “That’s too bad – C U soon.”

“Did you check on those classes? Got to get back in shape before summer!”

“Crap,” thought Nikki, she had forgotten about that. Not only would Chelsea see her weight gain, but how would she explain it to her instructors? “I’m on it,” she typed back before grabbing a Coffee Crisp Blizzard.

Chelsea hadn’t seen Nikki since before she left for school and that was how she remembered her friend. Nikki will probably never forget the look on Chelsea’s face when she first laid eyes on her new, expanded figure. Nikki had driven over to Chelsea’s house and they were going to head over to a Capoeira class.

“Nikki! What the fuck?”

“I told you I had put on some weight,” Nikki replied, her face flushing.

“I’m sorry,” Chelsea tried to control herself, but the shock was pretty evident. “I just wasn’t expecting this, I mean,” Chelsea stared at Nikki’s pudgy belly. “You got...”

Nikki’s face reddened more and Chelsea apologized. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t say anything. I put on some weight too. It’s just…” Nikki couldn’t see any added weight on her friend. The only difference she really saw was some highlights added to her hair. She could also tell that Chelsea was trying not to say more, but she caught her stealing glances at her belly as it bounced during the drive. Finally Chelsea had to say something. She reached over and gave Nikki’s tummy a gentle poke.

“Well, looks like this time off has agreed with you,” she smiled. “Looking’ a little chubby there, Nikki.”

Nikki could feel her cheeks redden. “Yeah, look, I do plan on getting back on track soon. Now” Her free hand dropped to her belly.

“I gotta say though, Nikki,” Chelsea said, still staring at Nikki’s fattened form, “this looks like a little more than fifteen pounds, I mean, I had gained fifteen pounds and felt pretty, um.” Chelsea paused before saying the word but Nikki knew what she was going to say. “but you look, well.”

“Yeah, look, I know.” Nikki could feel her cheeks redden with embarrassment. “It’s pretty bad, I just kinda lost track of time and, well, I didn’t realize I had gotten so,” Nikki and Chelsea’s eyes met as she finished the sentence, “fat.”

Arriving at the class, Nikki felt very apprehensive. She had found the classes challenging when she was in shape, but now? Seeing Chelsea didn’t make her feel any better. Her friend was dressed in a t-shirt and yoga pants that complimented her still trim figure. Nikki, on the other hand felt like a blimp. She too wore a t-shirt and yoga pants, but while Chelsea’s outfit made her look athletic, when Nikki looked in the full length mirrors all she could see was her added weight. The pants hugged her thick legs, especially at her thighs which now looked almost as round as Chelsea’s waist. Her t-shirt, while somewhat loose, failed to hide her belly as it bulged out in front of her, a line forming where her pants cut into the soft, supple flesh.

It didn’t get any better for her either. Stretching through the warm up caused love handles and other rolls of soft fat to become exposed. She felt like she spent half of the warm-ups just readjusting her clothes to cover her fattened body. She couldn’t help but compare herself to Chelsea who seemed so limber and flexible as she went through the entire set of warm up poses.  Chelsea easily tackled the sit-ups and push-ups, while Nikki struggled. Her belly was completely in the way for sit-ups, Bunching into thick rolls as she slowly tried to lift her uncooperative body. Her arms, not used to all of her extra weight shook with effort, barely able to get one push up completed.

Nikki watched as Chelsea performed the ‘cobra’ stretch. Her back arched perfectly and her arms easily supported her with only her palms and lower legs touching the mats. Nikki let out a deep breath. Her arms were extended, but if felt as though hardly any of her body was off the mats. She could feel her thighs spreading out on the mats and she knew her hips weren’t close to being raised up either. She could tell her shirt had once again come untucked as her exposed belly hung out and rested on the mats.

Nikki felt out of breath just getting through the warm-ups. She could feel a layer of sweat start to form and her face felt flushed. She used to be able to get through classes like this three or four times a week, but she was ready to quit already. The instructors, thankfully they were new tonight, started walking the class through some of the basic moves and jumps that a lot of the art would be based on. Nikki remembered them, but her body just couldn’t move like that anymore. Even the smallest jumps took a lot more effort than she remembered, and the landings made her soft body shake. Chelsea, the beginner, was doing far better.

Half way through the class, when everyone stopped for a water break, Nikki sat down heavily on a bench. She was breathing hard and felt sweaty and gross. “I really like this,” Chelsea said after getting a drink. “The instructor said I’m doing pretty good for a first timer and he’d like to have me try some more advanced stuff. Pretty cool.”

“That’s great,” Nikki breathed out. “But, I think I’m done.”

“What? It’s only half over,” Chelsea reminded her. “You can do it.”

“No, I’m going to sit the rest out, you go ahead, I don’t mind waiting.”

“Suit yourself,” Chelsea said as she started to turn and head back towards the mats. She paused and gave one of Nikki’s love handles a poke. “You’re not going to lose any of this sitting on your butt though.”

Nikki knew she was right, but as she watched the class progress through more and more difficult jumps, kicks and rolls, she also knew she was just too out of shape right now. Maybe if she slowly worked her way back into the classes, she could get back to where she was. She did half a class today, and she could maybe get a little farther at the next class two days from now. If she could get through three quarters then, maybe she could get through the full class after that. She watched Chelsea make some pretty good attempts at some moves she knew she hadn’t tried at her first class. Her hands went to the bulge of fat at her waist and wondered when she’d be ready for those moves again. She would need to lose all of this fat first.

As the class finished up, Nikki got up off the bench to get ready to leave. Her body felt like it was already stiffening up as she slowly made her way to the door. “Thanks for bringing me, Nikki,” Chelsea said has she patted Nikki on her tender shoulder. “I can’t wait to come back.”

Nikki tried to smile through her grimace, “Yeah you did really well.”

“What do you want to do now?” Chelsea asked. “Do you want to see if anyone is at one of the bars? We could dance a little or get a drink.”

“I’m pretty beat,” Nikki signed as they reached her car, “I was going to just hit the couch for a bit.” She was hungry too, but would try to ignore it.

Chelsea made a face. “Oh, I was hoping we could see who else was around, catch up with everyone, you know?”

“I don’t think I’m up for it tonight, can I take a rain check?”

“I guess, but tomorrow night for sure. I’m sure there will be even more people around.”

Nikki dropped Chelsea off and excused herself from the invite in. She really didn’t even want Chelsea’s parents to see her like this. She found even the act of driving a little uncomfortable as her muscles tried to figure out what they had just been forced to do. It was a struggle to get in the house, and she hoped a hot shower would help loosen her up.  Walking through the kitchen she could still smell the lasagna and garlic bread from supper. She had tried not to eat too much before the class and now her belly rumbled. She ignored it as she trudged up the stairs.

The shower did help her aching muscles a little, but it did nothing to alleviate the emptiness in her belly. She finally gave in thinking that no matter how much she ate at home, it would be better than hitting a drive thru or ordering in pizza. So two pieces of lasagna and three pieces of garlic bread later, Nikki finally lowered herself into her usual position on the couch. She gave her now full belly a disapproving pat then fired up Grand Theft Auto. She figured with her friends back, she would be cutting down on her playing time so she might as well get one last night of serious gaming in.

She had zoned out for a few hours when Chelsea started texting her. “Bars are pretty quite. No 1 here. What RU doing?”

Nikki wiped some Dorito powder off her fingers onto her pants and texted back. “Just relaxing, playing GTA.”

“Can you come get me? I’m at the Burger King.”

Nikki sighed. “Meet me outside and I’ll pick you up. I don’t wanna go in”

“Thanks!”

Nikki paused her game and pushed her still sore body off the couch. Her aching muscles protested the short walk up the stairs and out to her car.  It was a short drive, one that Nikki could do half asleep, but one she had hoped to start avoiding. Chelsea was watching for her through a window and came out of the restaurant as Nikki pulled up. She quickly headed out the door, ran over to Nikki’s car and hopped in. Nikki could smell the all too familiar smell of fast food as soon as Chelsea sat down and slammed the door.

“What’s that?”

“Ugg, I bought a whopper meal, but I really shouldn’t have.” Chelsea replied holding up the bag. “Do you want it?”

“That’s why I wanted to meet you outside!” Nikki shook her head. “I didn’t want to go in. I’ve been eating too much stuff like that. That’s how I got so,” she tried to ignore the smell, but she could almost feel her resolve melting away, “fat.” She licked her lips. “Why did you buy it if you’re not going to eat it?”

“I was hungry for bar food, but I’ve almost lost all the weight I’d put on,” she whined. “I’m so close to my goals and…”

“I’m so far away!”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that, I just didn’t want to waste it. Look, don’t worry about it, I’ll just throw it away.” Chelsea reached to open the car door and get back out.

“No, don’t throw it away.” Nikki said as she reached for the bag. “I do need to cut out this sort of thing, but one last time can’t hurt.”

Nikki enjoyed the fast food treat as she slowly drove to Chelsea’s house. Chelsea chatted most of the way and they ended up just talking in her driveway while Nikki finished the French fries and coke. Chelsea filled her in on some of her adventures in college, friends she’d made, guys she’d met and a few other things. “You’re going to love it, it really is a great experience,” Chelsea added. “I can’t wait to go back, I just have to try and not get fat aga…” Chelsea’s eyes dropped to Nikki’s fat belly as it rolled over the seat belt.

Nikki blushed a little. Chelsea was worried about gaining weight, while Nikki had gained four times as much. “Yeah,” she frowned looking down at her chubby body and stuffing the last of the fries in her mouth, “you’re not the only one.”

“The good thing, Nikki,” Chelsea said with a frown, “is that you don’t really have to worry about the freshman fifteen anymore.”