theapes

Allegedly she’s back https://mobile.twitter.com/kerrymariebbw/status/1102538615664660482

That's all. Hope you all enjoy.

* October, 2017 “Surprise!” friends and family yelled as they stood around Vince.. He was completely beaming and still shocked from the initial surprise. Rose had worked with their friends and family to plan his 30th birthday and he had no idea what was going on. He kissed his wife on the cheek and eagerly accepted a beer from Ted. The two went over towards the bar as Rose made her way over to their table to drop off her bag. She tugged on the waist of her tan stretchy slacks, a gift she had gotten from Alice for her birthday. She had purchased the wrong size at the time, getting something that was way too big for Rose, but she politely accepted the gift. Those pants were no longer the wrong size, even starting to approach feeling snug, which Rose assumed was from being washed. “Great job Ro, he had no clue,” Alice said, handing her a glass of white. “Executed perfectly, Rose. My little cousin had no clue. Also, great choice with the food,” Christina said, patting Rose on the back. “It’s from Torellis, Vin’s favorite,” Rose said proudly. Vince made his way back to their table from the bar and gave a toast to his guests. The Hibernian Hall was filled with good friends and good food, something both husband and wife enjoyed in abundance. Vince repeatedly made his way to the bar with Ted and Steve, forcing Rose to stop drinking early. To compensate, she made a few trips to the food tables, loading her plate to the brim each time. She was actually very upbeat for the first time in months, and was surprised how much she was enjoying herself around the people she had been avoiding. They too weren't standoffish in the least, just glad to be around Vince and Rose again. “Have you tried the chicken francese? It’s so good,” Alice said as she made her way to grab another plateful. “Yes it is, I’m going to have to take some more,” Rose said, as she knocked her fork off the table. Rose bent down to pick up the now dirty utensil. At that same moment, Steve stumbled out of the bathroom and made his way to the food table. As he slowly made his way over, he bumped into one of Vin’s cousins. It was clear that he was not functioning at an optimal level. He noticed Rose bending over and grinned. “Hey Cat, I’m sooooooooo drunk right now,” he said while getting very close to the rotund rear-end he saw. Rose immediately shot up and saw Steve drunkenly grinning at her. “Um, drunk much Steve?” Rose sneered. Alice picked up on the confusion and tried to settle things before they escalated. “I got Cathy a pair of those pants, so Steve probably saw tan slacks and thought it was her. Besides, he’s pretty bombed, aren’t you bud?” Alice said, trying to pull Steve a safe distance away. He just looked at them both and plopped on the ground. His wife ran over and quickly apologized before dragging him out of the party. “That was weird,” Rose said, not realizing that Steve had actually mistaken her large posterior for Cathy's. The remainder of the night went off without any further issues and Rose finally got her husband back home and on the couch, as there was no way she was going to be able to escort him up the stairs. “Get some sleep babe, I’ll get you some water.” “Sthankssss, huh. Every, every tin ok? I saw, saw Steve come over before he left,” Vince mumbled. “Oh, it was nothing. That lunatic actually called me Cathy! Can you believe how drunk he must have been?” Rose laughed. Rose helped him get his legs on the couch and he just giggles. “It’s because you got such a nice tush, he’s en, he’s, en, he’s…..” Vince said while letting out a large belch. Vince turned on to his stomach and passed out instantly, snoring as loudly as a bear hibernating. She just stared at him and shook her head. She made her way upstairs and removed her makeup before getting into bed. She bent down to get her pajamas from the dresser and thought back to what Steve had said. “How could that idiot think I’m Cathy? I mean, I get that we both own the same style pants, but…” she said aloud as she peeled the tan pants off, “there is no way we’re the same size. I mean, at worst, these are an 18 and Cathy must be a size 24!” She holds the pants up and looks at the tag on the side. It did not say 18. It said 24. “Size 24?” Rose dropped to the bed and her mind started racing. “How?I’ve been avoiding bad foods, bad influences, what the hell happened?!?" she cried. It was then that the realization hit Rose like the proverbial bag of bricks. She remembered all the times she snuck food from her husband, skipped the gym, had extra helpings. It wasn’t Vince’s fault, or Cathy’s fault, or Christina’s fault; it was all her fault. And that hurt more than anything else. That night Rose cried herself to sleep. * December, 2017 Rose sat in the living room, her eyes blankly focused on the television in front of her. Vince sat on the couch next to her, a big bowl of popcorn on his mountain-like lap. He glanced over at his wife and just sighed. She barely seemed to be paying attention to “Making a Murderer”, even though it was her suggestion to watch it. “You ok babe? You haven’t said a word in an hour," Vince asked his wife. At first, Rose ignored the comment. Eventually, she realized her husband was talking to her and just nodded in response. “Um, ok. Want any popcorn?” he asked. He thrust the bowl leftward and in her direction, but she just shook her head. Rose hadn’t been the same since Vince’s birthday. This wasn’t like when she was trying to lose weight and would be snippy; this time she was just distant. She had lost some weight since she wasn’t eating as much, but was not actively trying to do so. She didn’t avoid people this time, though for the first few weeks after the party she had a hard time talking to Steve. She wasn’t much for conversation and would usually nod and keep quiet. The situation had demoralized the rotund woman, putting her in a funk she didn’t seem to want to get out of. Her realization had hit her with more force than the seatbelt had during her car accident as a kid. The thought of him confusing her with Cathy, a woman whose thighs were so big she could only waddle, whose ass was so fat that the cheeks would not only bounce up and down but also side to side, and who had hips that hung over the sides of even the largest of chairs, made her completely depressed. Seeing Cathy was worse because she’d watch every move the woman made, scrutinize her and ask herself, “Do I really look like that?” She really didn’t; she was much shorter than Cathy and she weighed probably 50 pounds less. The problem that night was that Steve was drunk, he could barely stand, the lighting was bad, the two of them had similar styled pants, and his wife’s hips were close in size to Rose’s. These factors all added up to him confusing Rose with his wife. Vince had figured his wife's resentment would pass, but no amount of talking could get her to let it go. He was getting very worried about her. “I’m thinking about grabbing a glass of wine, you want one?” he tried to ask pleasantly. ‘No, I’m ok. Thank you," Rose replied, blandly. She remained focused on the TV, her head not even turning towards him. He slowly lifted himself off the couch, as it did take a bit of effort to lift his 361 pound body up these days, and made his way to the kitchen. He opened up a bottle of Cabernet and poured a glass. “I hate that she’s like this,” he muttered, “She’s overreacting and she’s still beautiful.” Vince had tried reassuring her. To him, his wife was beautiful no matter how much she weighed. If she lost 100 pounds, she’d be beautiful. If she weighed 1000 pounds, she’d still be beautiful to him. He just had to show her that, he thought. His idea came when he noticed that her athletic shorts rode up ever so slightly, revealing she wasn’t wearing any panties. She had always loved when he had been intimate with her while she was watching TV and decided that this might wake her up. He took the few ponderous steps back to the edge of the couch and pulled out his phone. He acted as if something was very funny and just kept laughing until his wife turned to him. “Hahaha, this is too good! Babe, you gotta see this!” he smirked. She stuck her hand out to take the phone, but he just motioned for her to come next to him. She grunted before plopping down in the space between him and took the phone.As she glanced at the YouTube app, Vince traced the back of her neck with his fingers. She shuddered for a moment before questioning what he was doing. “Shh, it’s been so long. Enjoy it, babe,” he whispered. Rose put the phone down and started to speak when she felt his other hand gently caress her thigh. Electricity went through her body as she felt him move past the shorts and hit her fleshy hips. “Ohhh, what, what are you…” she trailed off He kissed her neck and after some struggling to get around her thighs and his own gut, ran his fingers around her inner thigh and pelvis, each movement bringing his wife more and more excitement. “You, oh god," she murmured. She bit her lip as he started separating her fleshy thighs. Instinctively, Rose helped and peeled the athletic shorts off and allowed her husband easier access. He took in each curve and fold for a moment before getting down on his knees and attacking her with his tongue. Rose flailed away as he licked and kissed her, only stopping to tease her nipples with a free hand. Her breasts, which were no longer firm and perky, were easily accessible to him as he continued to elicit passion out of his once unenthusiastic wife. It didn’t take long before she was violently rocking back and forth on the couch and climaxing loudly, juices soaking the fabric and her husbands mouth. He pulled back and gave her one more little thrust with his hand, just enough to give her another spark and expel just a few more juices and moans from the tubby Italian. She pulled her head back for an instant and then looked past her own stomach at her husband who was still on the floor, his face covered in juices and sweat, even though he had not had to expend much energy to get her off. “Thank you babe. That was so good," Rose said slowly. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips. “I just wanted to remind you that I love you and that you’re beautiful. I don’t care what anyone says or what you may think. You’re my wife and I love you. Even if you sometimes take one of the cupcakes I was going to eat.” He poked her cushy calf in jest. “I just, you know, I’ve gotten so big. I don’t think I’m attractive anymore,” Rose replied, softly. He made his way to the armrest and pulled himself back to this feet. He looked at her lovingly before grabbing his paunch and chuckled. “Babe, do I look like I can talk about getting big? You still love me right? So what if you put on a few?” “But,” she paused. She knew what he was saying made sense, but she then wondered if that meant he loved fat women. “Are you saying you like me this size?” she hesitantly asked. He nodded in agreement. “I love YOU, babe. Not your size. If you want to diet, you can. If you want to go to all you can eat buffets until neither of us can walk, that’s fine too. I just love you, you’re sexy and gorgeous no matter what size you are. I mean it,” Vince told his wife. He brought himself eye level with her and kissed her passionately. In that instant, Rose realized her husband wasn’t lying. And so what if she had gained a few? He didn’t mind, right? She could always lose the weight. She kissed him back and slowly moved her hand past his gargantuan gut and towards his penis. He pulled back. “What are you doing?” She grinned devilishly, her double chin deepening. “Showing you just how much I love you,” she said, slowly pulling his pants down before getting to her knees. * April, 2018 “Shouldn’t we get going? Doesn’t trivia start in a few minutes?” Cathy asked before checking her phone for the exact time. She tugged on her hoodie to ensure that it covered the t-shirt underneath. “That’s what we wanted to talk to you guys about,” Alice said before hugging Ted. “We’re not going to go with you guys to trivia anymore.” Her comments stunned the other two couples. Rose looked at her curiously, her mind not comprehending what was going on. “But why? Is it because we haven’t been winning? I told you all, I’m not depressed anymore, I’ll get better!” Rose said. Ted just laughed. He looked at his wife and gave her a knowing nod. “No, no, no. It has nothing to do with that. I just don’t think a group of drunk strangers is good for my wife in her current condition. If you get what I’m saying.” Ted said, with a sly smile. Alice grinned, her two chins and dimpled cheeks becoming even more prominent than usual. The others still hadn’t picked up on what was going on. “I mean, I know it’s loud at those places and reeks of beer and e-cigarettes, but that’s only a problem if you have health issues or are pregn…,” Vince stopped. A light clicked in his head. “Pregnant? Yep. I’m 3 months, to be exact. Just confirmed last week!” Alice squealed. The four friends hugged the happy couple tightly before realizing it wouldn’t be good for the baby. They backed off, all happy. “That’s amazing! I’m so happy for you guys. But, what are we gonna do on Thursday’s now? We don’t want to stop hanging out just because you can’t drink?” Cathy cheered. “Well, there is a nice buffet spot about a mile away from the bar, we could do that. It’s twenty bucks a couple on Tuesday’s. We could check that out and if it’s good make that our new weekly tradition?” The couples checked out the buffet that night and all agreed it would become their new tradition while Alice was pregnant. It was actually a really good deal for them; twenty bucks for loads of boneless ribs, pepper steak, dumplings, and Rose’s favorite, Bulgogi. She had three plates of that alone. By the time she and Vince had gotten home, her leggings were hugging her elephantine rear end tighter than ever. She and her husband made it upstairs to relax, a sly smile on Vince’s face. She watched him shuck off his tight sweatshirt and sweatpants, letting his titanic gut hand down and rest on his boulder sized thighs. Staring at him, you couldn’t see his boxers at the moment; his stomach and love handles were that big. “What’s up, babe,” she asked while pulling her own sweater over her head. Vince shuffled closer to his wife, only slowing down when his gut hit hers. He side stepped this and leaned down to kiss her passionately. “I think we should try to, babe. I think we’re ready for kids," he said. She took a step back. He had been mentioning this a lot lately and she had tried putting it off whenever she could. Now, seeing the look on his face, she could tell he really didn’t want to hear a no. However, she knew she had to stand her ground. “Babe, I love you. I want kids too. But, you know I need to be available until at least October when the third quarter numbers are finished. If I’m not or they know I’m pregnant, I’ll lose my bonus etc.," she replied. Vince was clearly upset as he just made his way to the bed and sat on it, the poor wood creaking underneath. This bed frame was on its last legs from the over-600 pounds that occupied it on a nightly basis. “I just figured we’d have a kid around the same time as one of your friends or my family and that’s not looking like a possibility at the moment," Vince said defeatedly. She plopped next to him, the bed again creaking as she settled in, her roughly 45 inch hips brushing against his. “We’ll get there. I’m not saying let’s wait a year. I’m just saying give me until at least September before we start trying. Then we can do whatever it takes for me to get pregnant. Deal?" she asked. He looked at her hopeful, and smiled. He kissed her and pulled back before she grabbed his neck and drew him in tight. “Just because I can’t get pregnant yet, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t practice for how I can,” she said, smiling before reaching under his gut and grabbing his hard penis. The next day, an order was made to Knickerbocker beds for one of their bed frames and mattresses, the Marellos had broken their current one. * May, 2018 Rose sat down on a bench outside of Johnny Rockets and took a deep breath. She had been shopping with Christina and Angela all day and was beat. She had needed new clothes for the shore this year and had invited them as both Alice and Cathy had outgrown all the plus sized stores and exclusively shopped online. Rose was shocked when she heard about their outgrowth, but not completely surprised; after all, Alice was pregnant and Cathy literally needed two chairs to rest her 60 inch ass. Still, it was a little sobering to know that everyone but her had to shop at specialty stores. “Aren’t we going to check out Lane Bryant next,” Angela asked. She opened up a water bottle and took a swig. She was only 220 pounds and was by far the skinniest non-coworker Rose knew. “Yeah, I just need a break. The heat is getting to me,” she said before pulling her own water out of her bag. She took a big swig before holding the cold bottle against her forehead. It was an incredibly warm day for the middle of May and she wasn’t prepared for it. The sun dress she had taken out of storage was also a bit snug and was not helping matters much. She was constantly tugging on it to bring it down to cover her thighs but it still left plenty to the imagination. Rose had gotten over her depression back in December and since then her appetite had resumed it’s dominating ways, helping her gain all the weight she had lost and more. This hadn’t bothered her like before due to just how attentive her husband now was. Each night they would have sex and he would work his magic to ensure that she came at least once before he would stop. She was on cloud nine, so it barely registered in her mind as the numbers on her clothing continued to creep up along with the numbers on the scale. Unknowingly, she too was dangerously close to have to everything online. She forced herself up off of the cool metal bench and cracked her back, her gut thrusting itself forward and once again causing her dress hem line to rise up. She cursed before pulling it back down over her vast thighs and turning to her husbands’ cousins. “Alright, let’s check out Lane Bryant, I need some new stuff for my vacation. Plus, maybe a new outfit for your cousin,” she said, smirking slyly. Christina giggled. “You’re so bad. I’m sure my cousin won’t need an outfit to resist you,” she said before giving a light smack to Rose’s ass. Even after almost a minute, the jiggling flesh piece still bobbed up and down, a testament to just how immense it was becoming. Rose winked at her, “Probably not, but I do like to wear cute things, too.” The three rotund Italian women made their way into the plus sized clothing store, Rose unaware that this would be the last time she’d be able to shop there for for the rest of her life. * July, 2018 Making it back to the Jersey Shore for two weeks had been good for Rose. She had stressed out all through the month of June and had probably caused too much stress for her friends, coworkers and family. By July, she had submitted all her outlines for the rest of the year so was feeling rather confident and ready to relax. And relax she did. Ted, not wanting to take any chances with his heavily pregnant wife, effectively made it so she wouldn’t have to move much outside of going to the bathroom. Meals were either delivered, cooked at the spacious house, or the guys would travel to the restaurants and bring food back for the groups. Whenever the guys did go out, the girls, not wanting to abandon their friend, stayed back with her, limiting their physical activity tremendously. Ted would leave many goodies within their reach, allowing easy access to tasty treats. The other husbands pitched in too, not wanting to look bad. Rose had to admit she did enjoy having her husband wait on her hand and foot, joking with him that she was finally being treated like the “princess” she was. It was fine even though both she and Cathy had to sit on opposite benches due to the fact their hips measured over 100 inches combined. This lack of physical activity, along with hanging around an incredibly hungry pregnant woman, which did nothing but increase Rose’s own somewhat insatiable appetite, resulted in her putting on an extra 18 pounds in just under two weeks. That put her “proudly” over the 300 pound mark, something she would have never imagined in her life. Her clothes had grown excruciatingly tight; her sundresses unwearable, her bathing suit looking like a sausage casing and was unable to contain all of her rolls and flab. She had stuck to some of Vince’s t-shirts paired with leggings, but two days before they were set to leave, Alice had a hankering for a juicy rib eye and the only steakhouse in town wouldn’t let them do take out. Reluctantly, the group decided to make reservations for dinner, each person barely squeezing into their most restaurant appropriate outfits. That meal lasted longer than any trip to the buffet ever had. Crab cakes, mozzarella sticks, blackened chicken, steak bites, scallops, tuna nachos, all before appetizers. Rose had barely gotten into her size 42L slacks and the button in front was dangerously close to bursting off. She was constantly shifting in her seat, trying to get comfortable, to no avail. Still, the discomfort did nothing to lessen her appetite. She pushed her way past the pain to try all the apps, the baby arugula salad with blackened chicken, then the 20 oz dry aged ribeye (which was heavenly), the truffle mac and cheese, the roasted garlic mashed potatoes, AND the NY style cheesecake. She was properly stuffed and needed help to stand up afterwards. The fabric had stretched so much on her hips and paunch that the tan material had become essentially see thru. Other diners watched her waddle past them, her panty line visible to all who dared look. Getting into the car was a struggle too, so much so that her pants finally had enough and the button popped off and landed outside the car, never to be seen again. The pressure was lessened after this, but not completely. She took deep breaths in the car and made it back to the house, glad that all of their rooms were on the first floor, there was no way she was making it up the stairs in her pants. “Hun, that meal was great. Do you think you could get me some fried oreos though? Oh! And twinkies! And a churro!” Alice begged her husband from the living room couch, her pregnant stomach rising to the ceiling. “Sure babe, anything you and the baby want, you got. Vin, can we take your car since you parked behind me?” Tom asked. “You got it, bud. We’ll grab a few things and bring them back for everyone.” Rose let her husband leave as she waddled into their room and shut the door. She let out a large belch before plopping on the bed. Her head was still so out of it from all the food that she had eaten that she didn’t even register the loud ripping sound that echoed through the room. She sat there for what seemed like an eternity, trying to digest all the food she had just eaten. “I overdid it, I think. The food was just so good though," Rose said between burps. She glanced down past her swollen breasts and massive stretch-marked gut to see that her pants were stretched to the limit on her thighs. She rubbed her stomach gingerly and took note that the button on her slacks was missing. “I guess these pants are done, too. Looks like I’m shopping online from now on. At least I didn’t have fried oreos or they’d need a truck to bring me home!” she continued between belches. “But I’m sure Alice would let me have one or two. I’ll have to change though, if I want to eat any of them," she sighed. Rose rocked back and forth on the bed before gathering enough momentum to stand up. She made her way into the bathroom, not even taking notice that her entire ass was on display for all to see. The cellulite covered beach ball sized cheeks smashed together violently, each time wedging her panties further and further into her voluminous crack. She delicately peeled her husband’s polo off her body, tossing it to the side. She glanced at herself in the mirror, noting that her chipmunk cheeks were beet red. She pouted slightly, her fully developed second chin and newly protruding third one deepening with the movement. Even though she had gotten over the thought of being skinny again, she was always amazed at the new developments each pound had provided. She had long known that her face was the biggest benefactor of her growth (behind her ass), but it was still always a surprise to see just how fat her face had gotten. Rose continued undressing, making her way to the toilet and carefully sitting on it. She grabbed the flaps of her pants and began pulling them down, her stomach resting on top of her hands as she did so. Her FUPA was so sensitive that even the simple act of brushing past it with the back of her hand caused to her to moan pleasurably. She shook it off and tried tugging the pants down further, not making any progress. She grunted in anger. With a strong push, the material pushed past her blubbery thighs and stopped at her meaty calves. She groaned before lifting both legs up enough for her to kick the slacks off and onto the floor. Rose took a deep breath, trying to regain her stamina. “I need to get more exercise, I am so out of shape!” she huffed. She turned the water on and splashed cold water on her face. She was so focused on regaining her stamina that she didn’t hear her husband’s car pull into the driveway, nor did she hear him and Ted drop off all the goodies before he went into their guest bedroom. Vince moved his spherical body towards the bathroom and got quite the sight; his 304 pounds wife slightly bent over in nothing but her panties, her dimpled ass sticking out like a boulder. Each breath sent a cacophony of jiggling through each bulge, her ass of course being the most noticeable. Vince felt his dick swell under the last fold of his gut and couldn’t wait to be with his wife. He peeled his own skin tight shirt off before taking his khaki shorts off, all of this so quietly that Rose didn’t hear as he approached. His bulging stomach hit her hips first. She felt the warmth of his flesh on her backside and shuddered. “Well, hello, sexy,” Vince said as he turned sideways to kiss her portly shoulder. “Hmm, I would say don’t sneak up on me, but, ohhhh!” Rose responded. Vince had removed his boxers and pressed his shaft against her. She felt herself instantly get wet and reached back as best she could to get her panties down enough for her husband to get access. He assisted her and helped push her legs apart as much as they would go before entering. They had assumed this position often during sex due to their combined sizes, but this was one of the few times Rose had something holding her up that was close to eye level. She didn’t need to balance herself as much and because of this she wasn’t straining with each thrust. She picked up one of her breasts and stuck it in her mouth, grateful that at least this was a result of her growth. She bit her own nipple as she felt her husbands hairy washtub of a stomach bounce against her own impressive ass. She felt their bodies seemingly jiggle as one, the sensation so pleasurable that neither she nor her husband realized that he wasn’t wearing a condom. They both exploded in passion at the same time, both exhausted and dripping with sweat. “I’ll get us some water and a snack,” Vince said, trying to catch his breath. His wife wiped sweat off her brow, trying to recover from the most activity she had done in a week. Rose didn’t even turn around to see her husband leave, she was too busy enjoying the afterglow. If she had, she’d have noticed that he wasn’t throwing a used condom out. The couple didn’t know it, but at that moment their lives would be changed forever. * October, 2018 Rose glanced out the window of Vince’s truck and spotted a McDonalds. Her stomach immediately growled loudly for her husband to hear. “Hey, sweetie, could we pull over? I’m kind of hungry.” Vince looked at his wife with both amazement and anger. They had been at his cousins for their typical Sunday dinner and she had claimed to not be hungry, excusing herself from most of the meal. Now, only an hour later, she was asking to eat. “I guess your ‘stomach issues’ magically disappeared the second we left Christina’s kitchen, huh,” he asked with skepticism. “Sorry, but her chicken alfredo did not smell good tonight, at all,” she replied while making a face. Her stomach gurgled again, more loudly this time as if to agree with her. “Fine, I’ll pull in. Well, at least your stomach is doing better than it was for the past couple of weeks, maybe we can see the baby now. That kid’s gonna be too big for the clothes you got her if this keeps up,” he laughed. Vince was about to pull into the drive-thru when Rose stops him. “I’ll, ohhhh, I’ll meet you back in the car. I have to pee soooo bad,” she moaned. “Again? You peed like ten times at dinner, once before we left and now you have to pee again? It’s been like 10 minutes!” “Nature, ohhh, calls. Just, just get me a Big Mac. And a quarter pounder with cheese. And a large fry, no, two large fries. And extra salt. And an Oreo McFlurry,” she said. She bounced out of the car and waddled her way into the bathroom as fast as her portly thighs could carry her. Vince watched her rush past some people before disappearing into the bathroom. “Ha, she hasn’t moved that quick in months,” he thought before pulling up to the menu. Now that he thought about it, she had been peeing more than usual. And the stomach thing had been consistent for a few weeks. And the nosebleeds. Come to think of it, she had been experiencing quite a few different symptoms the past month or so. It was almost as if she was… His thoughts came back to the matter at hand and he placed his order. By the time he had paid for the food and picked it up, his wife was waiting for him, an apple pie in her hand. She put it in her mouth and held onto it tightly with her teeth as she struggled to get into the cab. “Whew, that was close. I think I need to go to the doctor, I’ve been peeing so much even when I’m drinking all that much water,” she said between bites of pie. He smiled at her, noting how her face seemed to be positively beaming. It was then that he looked down at her outfit, a lovely floral print sundress that she had ordered online. The fabric was stretched especially tight against her boobs and belly. In fact, her stomach didn’t even appear to be fat, it just appeared firm and taut. That was when fireworks began to go off in his head. “We have to make one more stop,” he said to his wife, “I think we need to get a...um...pregnancy test.”. Rose paused from her gluttony and began laughing, the food in her mouth flying through the air and onto the dashboard in front of her. “Pregnant? Hahaha, no way! We haven’t had sex in what, three months? And the last time we did we used protection, so there’s no way I’m pregnant. But hey, you want to laugh? I’ll pee on a stick, you got it!? She laughed again at the thought and returned to finishing off her quarter pounder. Her husband wasn’t laughing, however. “Um, babe. I wasn’t wearing a condom that time in Jersey,” he said flatly. Rose stopped her laughing and swallowed the remaining beef. Her shimmering glow turned neutral and then pale. “You what?” “I wasn’t wearing a condom. It was so spur of the moment and I thought you were still on the pill,” he stated before seeing her anger, “I guess you weren’t.” Rose was a mixed bag of emotions; on the one hand she was annoyed with her husband for what he did, on the other hand she was annoyed with herself for not realizing all the tell tale signs. She had been having crazy mood swings, no period, throwing up in the morning, and her boobs had been awfully sensitive. The more she thought about it, it all made sense. “Oh, fuck me.” “That’s, um, why we’re in this situation I think Ro,” he said, more quietly. She shot him daggers and he kept his mouth shut. “Well, go get the test, but I’m pretty sure we know what’s going to happen when I pee on it. Which by the way hurry up I have to fucking pee again!” Vince parked and then frantically ran into the store to get the test but it was all a formality at that point. An hour later, Rose and Vince stood in their bathroom, looking at the stick sitting on the sink. The white plastic strip showed two vertical lines. Both husband and wife knew exactly what it meant. Vince put his arm around her and smiled. “I’m pregnant,” Rose said matter-of-factly before plopping her zeppelin-sized-keister on the toilet. She glanced down past her incredibly swollen boobs and enormously protruding belly, groaning before seeing her husband’s face. He was so happy that tears were streaming down his puffy, red cheeks, which made him look like a younger version of Santa. “I love you, babe. We’re going to be parents.” He dropped down to his knees and hugged her. In that moment, all her fears, all her doubts, all her uncertainty vanished. She hugged him back and began crying too, but they were tears of joy. They could do this, they were ready. “We’re going to be parents,” she replied. * December, 2018 Sally grabbed her bag and made her way to the reception area. It had been a long day and she was in no mood to deal with any more meetings. Plus she had spent this entire trip avoiding Rose and had managed to go the whole day without speaking to her former close friend. She waved goodbye to the receptionist and opened the door, determined to hit the airport before word could get back that she had left. “Oh, Ms. Walters! Mrs. Marello wanted me to tell you that she hoped you could say hello before you left. She’s going to be gone when you come back in February.” Sally glanced at the young blonde and didn’t understand what she was saying. “Gone? What, did she give notice?” Sally asked, confused. In truth, Sally and Rose hadn’t spoken to one another since that fateful day in September over two years ago. Sally just didn’t have the guts to tell her friend she was wrong. Now, she was hoping that Rose had given notice so that way she wouldn’t have to run into her again. “No, she’s pregnant! She’s supposed to be on bed rest, but she’ll be working from home until the baby is born. She won’t be here when you get back,” the receptionist explained. “Pregnant? Wow. Wasn’t expecting that,” Sally said before closing the door. If her friend wanted to see her, she probably was going to apologize to her, letting her know that she had seen the light and that her critiques were only meant to motive her into becoming the lean machine she had once been. “Ok, I’ll go say hello. She still in 214E?” “Nope, 233W. The bigger corner office.” Sally nodded and just made her way to the other end of the hallway, past the conference room she had been operating for the day, and into the west wing section of the firm. She passed 231W and took a deep breath before entering. “Hey Ro, I just wanted to say…” Sally started to say. “Sally! Hold on, let me get up!” Rose exclaimed. Sally was not expecting what she saw. After much struggling and help from her desk, Rose popped out of her armless desk chair and stood up. If Sally thought Rose was fat before that was nothing compared to the woman that now plodded towards her. Rose was almost twice the woman she had been when they had lunch at Red Robin, more than three times the woman she was on her wedding day. Each step she took sent everything in motion, her voluminous stomach bounced up and down, acting as a pillow for her breasts, which, unsupported by a bra, flopped down each side of the truly magnificently massive pregnant belly before rising back up. They probably would have bounced back up into her moon-shaped face had the oversized dress shirt not held them back. All of this lard pressed into Sally at once and she felt like she was in a tub of rising dough, struggling to breath. “It’s so good to see you.I probably should sit back down, doctor’s orders,” Rose said, puffing to catch her breath. It took her a moment to turn back around, but when she finally did, Sally was left wondering what stuck out further, her friend’s pregnant stomach or her absolutely titanic rear end. Rose’s hips had been steadily growing alongside her stomach, stretching the tape measure past the 64 inch marker. She was actually wider and heavier than Cathy now, something that didn’t bother her like it used to. Her steps resulted in the avalanche of mass behind her moving frantically, seemingly trying to fight their way out of the skin tight spandex fabric. Sally knew she was pregnant, but honestly didn’t know which end her friend was carrying the child in. Her dimpled thighs (the leggings had become essentially see through) were completely forced together due to their sheer size, so there was not even a millimeter of free space. Her feet had also plumped up dramatically, the poor sandals were barely hanging on as she finally made her way behind her desk. Sally was stunned and speechless. Still, after a few breathes, she finally tried talking again. “I...congratulations! That’s wonderful. You’re what, 8 months along?” she asked. “Ha, I wish! Nope, I just hit the 6 month mark yesterday. Still got 3 more months to go with this little guy,” she beamed. “Oh my, you’re having a boy! That’s great. Vince has to be so happy.” “Yes, he is. He’s thrilled. He only wanted one princess, well, queen to take care of,” Rose laughed. She opened a desk drawer and pulled out a Three Musketeers. She offered it to her former close friend who immediately turned it down. Rose shrugged and tore into the candy bar. “That’s great, Ro. I’m happy for you.” “Thanks, Sally. I know we haven’t talked much lately, but I want you to know that I still consider us to be friends. I’m comfortable in my own skin for the first time and would not change a thing.” She greedily bit into the chocolatey treat, almost as if to emphasis her “carefree” attitude. She truly was in a state of bliss almost 24/7; her past worries having faded away for good. She was a big girl now and that would never change; she accepted it. The two former friends made small talk for a bit longer before Sally left, thankful that she and her friend were able to clear the air. They hugged goodbye and Sally made her way out of the office building and into her waiting Uber. Rose, meanwhile, picked up her phone to text her husband, saying that she’ll be home at her usual time and that he had better be sure to get a couple of pizzas and pinwheels from Torelli’s; she was eating for two, after all.

* September, 2016 “Welcome to Red Robin! Can I get you ladies started with drinks?” the waitress smiled at the two women. “I’ll just take a water, thanks,” Sally said as she looked to Rose for her order. “I’ll have a Salted Caramel Milkshake, extra whipped cream,” Rose replied. “You got it," said the waitress as she made her way back to the bar. “This place is great. We only started coming a few months ago, but it’s such a good place for lunch.” Sally looked at her friend silently, in disbelief. “Yeah, I’m sure it is. So, um, did you get put on meds lately? Like a steroid, from maybe a sinus infection?” Rose looks at her friend with a puzzled look. “No. Why?” she asked. “You just, um, look a little bloated is all,” Sally replied, looking at her friend’s very round face. “I know, I’ve put on a few pounds, but it’s not that bad. Vince is the one you should worry about. He’s almost three hundred pounds!” Rose exclaimed. The waitress returns with the drinks, “Ready to order?” “I’ll just have the avocado salad,” Sally handed her menu back to the waitress. “And for you?” the waitress asked Rose. “I’ll have the Whiskey BBQ burger, extra sauce and extra onion crisps. And regular fries,” Rose said, not realizing her friend was staring at her in disbelief. “Coming right up!” Sally and Rose made small talk for a bit; Sally trying her best not to comment on how heavy her friend had gotten. She hadn’t seen Rose since she no longer had to travel for work. She could not believe just how large her friend had become such a short amount of time. Rose, meanwhile, was not sensing that her friend was judging her curve. Sure, the questions about her husband's weight were annoying, but Sally hadn’t had to deal with that for the past year. Rose had accepted her husband for what he was and decided not to change him and ruin his happiness. “Did Jen tell you my department has seen the second most growth in productivity the past 6 months?” Rose asked while taking a big slurp of her shake. “I did. Hopefully that leads to a big fat...um, a bigger bonus this winter. It should, anyway,” Sally said, trying to cover up her mention of weight. “Here you ladies go,” the waitress said as she delivered their orders. Rose immediately began to dig in. Sally watched as her formerly food-conscious friend pig out, showing reckless abandon as she tore into her burger. Her cheeks bulging with food, sauce smearing her puffy cheek, and a second chin prominently showing with each bite. She was completely shocked as to what had happened to Rose. They barely spoke the remainder of Sally’s trip and Rose dropped her off at the airport. Sally got out of the car at the terminal, waved goodbye and Rose pulled away, barely even remembering all of her friends comments about her weight. She got home a little earlier than planned and found her husband tearing into a fully loaded sausage and peppers hero on the couch, the juices dripping down onto his ragged t-shirt. He was in a pair of sweats, with his massive gut hanging out above the waist band on all sides. “You’re home earlier than I thought. Everything ok with Sally?” Vince said between bites. “Yeah…," Rose trailed off, "She seemed a little cold today, but it’s probably cause she’s doing all that traveling in one day.” “I went to Mangiano's. I know you’re not their biggest fan, but I got you a meatball sub anyway.” Rose put her work bag on the counter and kisses him on the forehead. “So thoughtful. I’ll just get changed and be back.” Rose made her way upstairs into their bedroom. She took off her blouse and slacks with a deep exhale. The pants had been bothering her since lunch, but she had tried to ignore it. She was pulling on pair of comfortable sweats when she noticed that she has a text message from Sally. She was about to ignore it after the awkward day they had together, but she didn't want to make the tension worse, so she opened the message and read it. “I’m sorry about today. I shouldn’t have said anything. If you and Vin are happy with your weight, then who am I to judge? I’ll talk to you soon,” it read. Rose stared at the her phone, annoyed. Rose picked up her sweats and was about to go downstairs, when she remembered what Sally had implied at lunch. “Fine, I’ll show her,” she said, making her way into their bathroom. “I’ll just get on the scale, take a picture of the number and send it to her!” She walked in to the bathroom, searching for the scale. It hadn’t been used in nearly two years, so it was not easily accessible. After pulling it out from amongst countless towels and toiletries, Rose turned it on. “Here we go. Probably gonna say 145. Just a few pounds more than what I always weight,” she said to herself. She knew she had gained a little, but did not believe was much more than 5-10. She stepped on the scale and waited a moment before peering down past her swollen boobs and belly. From a distance, the number looked like 148. “Eh, not great, but nowhere near as insane as Sally made it out to be. I can drop 20 pounds in no time,” she muttered into her protruding belly button. However, as she was about to step off the scale, she got a closed look at the numbers. The scale did not say 148, they say 194. This sent Rose reeling off the scale as she sat down on the toilet, bracing herself on the sink. “One…one ninety, one ninety four? One ninety four! I’ve gained sixty fucking pounds?” she shrieked. She got off the scale, waited for it to flash zeros signaling it had cleared, and got back on. This time when she looks down, it read 193.7, a confirmation of her fears. “How could this happen! Sixty god damn pounds?” she shrieked again. She looked up into the mirror and for the first time in a long time truly examined herself. Her reflection looked back at her and she saw that her cheeks were extremely puffy and that tilting her head down in the slightest revealed a bulbous double chin. She groaned, but continued to scrutinize her entire body. She looked down at her breasts, presently pouring out of her 38DDD bra, the material barely hanging on. She unhooked it and saw that without the supportive garment, her hefty breasts started to sag very low. She took note of her arms when she put down the bra, cringing as they jiggled with the movement, not to mention how bulky her shoulders had become. “Great, I have Hulk Hogan arms now,” she said to herself. Glancing further down, she poked her flabby belly and forcefully grabbed her love handles. She looked in the mirror before lifting her overhanging belly chub and dropping it, watching it quiver for a few seconds after. Peering even further down, she noticed a fleshy bubble nestled between her thighs. She pokes at it before realizing what it was. “A fucking FUPA? I have a FU, ohhhh,” she moaned as she patted it again. Her pelvic region was very sensitive, which she recalled had led to many wonderful nights with her husband. “Oh, ok. So that, whew, part isn’t so bad,” she breathed. She looked past that pleasure spot to see that her thighs were squished together, even though she was doing her best to separate them. It would explain all the cream she had to use recently on her inner thighs. It would also explain why she could barely see her panties as they were completely covered by her flabby tree trunks. She bent down further to inspect her calves, disheartened that they, as well as her feet, have also thickened and widened. There was just one last place to inspect. “This is going to suck.” Rose turned sideways to inspect her rear, shocked by just how large and protruding it had gotten. There were small pockets of cellulite on each cheek, and a deep dimple had formed on her left butt cheek. She poked her butt, dismayed that it too jiggled. She put her hand on her fleshy hips and moaned a bit when she saw that her underwear had ridden up her voluminous buttcheeks, now knowing it was due to her gain. “I…I can’t believe this happened,” she said before going back to her bedroom. “How could this happen?” Rose did not remember her many trips to fast food spots for lunch, her donut days at work, or her overeating at Sunday dinners. She did not remember any of it. She was too busy feeling sorry for herself to have any self reflection on her actions over the past months. “Well, whatever happened, I’m not going to let it continue. I’m joining a gym tomorrow and I’m gonna drop these pounds,” she said, looking down at her gut which was poking out past the top of her panties. “From this moment on, I’m on a diet!” “Babe, your sandwich is getting cold,” her husband yelled from downstairs. Rose was about to tell him she wasn't hungry anymore, but then her stomach grumbled. She looked down again at her bulbous belly. “Diet starts tomorrow,” she said aloud before putting on sweatpants and joining her husband on the couch. * November, 2017 “Babe, can you take your pizza somewhere else, I need to concentrate on this email. Thanks,” Rose said, not taking her eyes off the screen. Vince backed away from the center island that was doubling as a workstation and went back into the living room. He had chosen his Friday off to paint their office, which left Rose working out of the kitchen, something that only further irritated her. She nervously sipped her water as she re-read her email. It was a probably the most important email she’d send this year, one that would determine if the deal got closed and if she would be getting a raise, or one that could damage her career. There was no room for error. “Ok, Rose, you got this. The numbers are alright. The legal team reviewed everything, you’re good, you’re good,” she muttered to herself. Vince saw this and sighed. She had been a gamut of emotions lately and he was not going to aggravate her further. In truth, this all started back when she found out she had put on weight. After Labor Day she told him that she was going on a diet and asked him to keep junk food away from her. She said the same thing to their friends and his family, telling them she wanted to be healthy again, whatever that meant. “Still don’t get why she’s dieting,” he thought to himself. Vince was not a fat admirer and never liked “big women”. However, he loved his wife and she genuinely seemed happier when she was enjoying food. Now it seemed like everything was irritating her. “Ok, let’s do this,” Rose said out loud before hitting send. She pushed the laptop back and took a deep breathe. Her husband, still munching on his loaded slice, looked at her and smiled, a dabble of sauce on his cheek. “I’m sorry I’ve been stressed out. This project is big and I wanted it to succeed. Sorry if I’ve been a jerk.” She popped off the kitchen stool and hugged her husband. He kissed her on the top of the head and told her it was ok. “Now that that’s done though, I think I’m going to see about hitting that 7:15pm Zumba class,” she said while adjusting her sweat pants. Rose had been rather consistent and resolved once the initial shock about her weight gain had dissipated. In the 7 plus weeks since her realization about her weight, she had lost more than 15 pounds and was feeling much better about herself. Sure, she was starving herself on most days and her energy levels had plummeted, but when she fit into her favorite work slacks without having to lay on the bed to zip them up, she took it as a sign that she was doing everything right. Now, as she stood there in sweats that used to be skin tight but presently had quite a bit of give, she was on top of the world. “Where are my keys, babe?” she asked before being alerted to a ping on her laptop. She glanced back over at the screen and saw that she had a new email in her Outlook inbox. It was from Steven Schwendeman, the person her company was potentially buying out. “Oh no, he replied already! I’m fucked!” she yelped. Rose closed her eyes while Vince waddled over. “I’m sure it’ll be ok, babe. And if not, just remember that you worked your ass off along with your team,” he said consolingly. He put his arm around her, trying to reassure her. She paused and slowly moved the mouse over to the message and clicked ‘open’. “Rose, the numbers look great on our end as well. I have to discuss with the rest of the board, but I’m going to say that on Monday we will be able to finalize this deal. Your company is making a smart purchase. Thank you and your team for all their hard work,” the email read. Rose would have fallen had her husband’s massive frame not been there. “HOLY SHIT! THEY LOVED IT! THEY LOVED IT! AHHHHH!” she yelled, pumping her arms. Rose went from stunned to ecstatic as she jogged around the kitchen and living room, cheering as she passed through. This kept up for another minute before the still-chubby brunette stopped to breathe once again. “I can’t fucking believe they loved it. This is amazing!” she yelled, still out of breathe. “I told you it’d be ok, and it’s better than ok. You’re gonna get such a huge raise and bonus babe! Well-deserved I might add,” Vince said before popping the remaining crust into his mouth. “I think this calls for a celebration. How about some champagne?” he asked. He was about to head to the garage and get a bottle before realizing that alcohol was no longer on his wife’s diet. And she had been so good about sticking to it. When he turned back to the kitchen muttering to himself, he saw his wife was anything but upset. “You’re damn right we need champagne! It’s time to celebrate! WOOOO!” Rose hollered. Rose took a seat back at one of the stools and smiled, her plump rear-end hanging over the back edge ever so slightly. Vince smiled and lumbered his 300+ pound body into the garage. When he popped his head back in, he found Rose, leaning over the counter to grab a slice of his meatball and sausage pie. He looked at her, puzzled. Rose caught his eye and grinned sheepishly. “I’m entitled to a cheat day when I probably just secured a high five figure bonus,” she said while laughing. Vince smiled and laughed along with her while he filled their glasses. “I almost forgot how good this pizza is,” she mumbled while taking a big bite. “I’ll just have to make sure I work this off tomorrow at the gym.” * January, 2017 Rose rolled over in bed to find that Vince had already gotten up. She sluggishly wiped her eyes and tried to clear her head. The past two nights had involved a heavy quantity of alcohol and an even larger amount of food. She glanced over at the clock and saw that it was 9:30 am. “Vince probably went to get breakfast,” she mumbled to herself. She grabbed the bottle of Gatorade on her night stand and took a big swig. She swung her legs over the side and let her feet hit the floor. She was exhausted. The Italian woman gave a slight yawn and a stretched before pulling her pajama shirt down and getting out of bed. Both the shirt and pants were flannel and looked like they had seen better days. Vince had gotten them for his wife when she had completed the deal for her company, back when she had been dieting and working out. As such, they were designed to fit for a woman who was thinner than Rose presently was. Since that fateful day just over 8 weeks ago, Rose’s diet had gone completely off the rails. She had rationalized that it was just celebrating, but even she knew that quickly became just an excuse. Then she began to play it off that the holidays were coming, so she could be a little lax with her eating habits, as long as she went to the gym. And that would be true, had she actually gone to Zumba class at her gym. At first, she didn’t go at night because of work, but reasoned that she would start going in the morning. However, after one trip in the morning, the walk back to her car had her covered in sweat and she was convinced that she would catch pneumonia and should probably stick to going at night. And so, she never went back. Her food consumption had somehow gone up from its previous high, maybe her body was just trying make up for lost time or for being denied junk food for such a long time. Whatever it was, her appetite was in overdrive. She was back to overeating at Sunday dinners, replacing salads with her usual fried fare, drinking and snacking at a high level at trivia night, bringing donuts to work again and suggesting a bi-monthly department happy hour, as well as helping out Alice when it came to her holiday baking. Her daily consumption went from barely over 1200 calories to days where she’d easily hit close to five figures. That’s why anyone with eyes could see that she was not losing weight anymore, and now was back to gaining weight at a rapid level. But, again, no one clued her in on this and let her go about her gluttonous way. Until the bottom fell out. * March, 2017 “Damn…" Rose huffed, "…bikes…" she puffed, "aren’t made for people wearing size 4 or above!” Rose was covered in sweat as she attempted to ride the exercise bike, though her body was rebelling at every turn. The bike seat was not comfortable for her large posterior and she struggled with every pedal. “That’s…that’s enough for today. I burned off a lot in that short time,” she wheezed before grabbing her Gatorade and limping away from the bike. She had only been at the gym for 20 minutes, but to her it was more than enough, especially with how drenched in sweat she was. Her husband’s t-shirt, one that had at one time been a bedtime shirt, was now one that fit her like a glove. Each and every bulge from her midsection and the folds of her back straining against her bra was visible to all through the tight fabric. Still, she paid it no mind as she was just happy she made it to the gym for a change. It was only the third time for the year. She glanced past the two exercise studios and her exhaustion turned into anger. She had tried signing up for the Zumba class, but it was packed to the gills. Apparently, many people decided they wanted to lose last year’s weight and it seemed all of them were taking Zumba to do so, except for her. After an exhausting drive home, she found she had the house to herself. She was thankful because she knew she looked like crap. She pushed a strand of stray brown hair out of her face and made the slow trek up the stairs, her increasingly shelf-like ass bouncing up and down with each plodding step. By the time she got to the top she was completely out of breath, a further testament to just how pathetically out of shape she was getting. “Just need to get into a hot shower and then I’ll feel better,” she tried rationalizing to herself. She was right, the warm water did make her feel better and her joints and muscles definitely ached less after the steam had hit her skin. However, she was still sore enough that all she wanted to do was flop into bed.. Something caught her eye first, something she hadn’t seen since the end of October; the scale. It was place next to a few boxes of soap and other toiletries from the closet. “What the hell is this doing out?” she asked out loud before bending down to look at it closer. It had a note on it from her husband. “Just cleaning and I couldn’t find a spot for these. Will handle when I get home. Love ya," was scribbled on the sticky note. Rose huffed at her husband leaving things out, but was actually impressed he left a note. “Must have took him forever to get back upright,” she giggled to herself. Her husband had passed the 300 pound mark and was starting to have to rock a bit in chairs if he remained in them for too long. She laughed again and was about to put the device away before she thought about her hard work that day in the gym and decided to weigh herself. “Probably down at least a pound after that workout,” she said before turning the scale on and getting on. “I was 168 last time, so even with the holidays I should only be about 175 now,” she said as she stepped on to it. The scale said otherwise. Peering past her over inflated boobs and paunch, the number flashing was something she never expected to see in her life; 203 pounds. It was a good thing her husband wasn’t home because he’d have gone deaf after the primal scream his wife gave after seeing that number. Rose didn’t even try verifying if it was real or not. She stepped off of the scale and jumped into bed with whatever strength she had left and just yelled into a pillow before passing out into a fitful sleep. When her husband came home, Rose was still in bed. She had thought a lot about what had happened and determined that if she was really going to be serious about losing weight, she had to isolate herself from all the “problems” that had caused her to blow-up so much. That meant spending less time with her husband’s family and her friends. And that is why she lied to him that night by saying she was sick and couldn’t go to Sunday dinner. She was going to have to get serious about diet and exercise, otherwise she’d be joining Cathy at the “two chairs for each butt cheek” table. * April, 2017 Rose tapped away at her keyboard while the people outside her office went about their business. It was just after 3pm and everyone was enjoying their weekly donuts. Well, almost everyone. “I have to close my door after lunch from now on. The noise and smells are too much," Rose sighed. Mrs. Marello clicked on her mouse to send an email before reaching into her desk. She pulled out a box of cookies and cream granola bars and snagged two. “Let them enjoy their fatty snacks, I got my treat right here,” she said to herself. She bit into one and exhaled. These treats, along with protein bars from the GNC in her buildings lobby were part of her daily eating routine. That, and getting a smoothie from GNC’s juice bar. At least three times a week she would stop in, pick up two protein bars and then order her favorite smoothie; a banana peanut butter shake with ‘low-fat’ chocolate milk and whey protein. And, if she was feeling extra peckish, which happened more often than not, she’d add an extra scoop of peanut butter. Doing these things occasionally would be one thing, but Rose was doing them daily, not to mention also ingesting protein shakes for breakfast, two granola bars for a mid-morning snack, then the smoothie and a protein bar, AND two more granola bars with a bag of protein chips, all before her work day ended. Her caloric intake was not going down at all and due to how her taste buds had changed the past year and a half, each ‘healthy choice’ was typically the least healthy of any options. As a result, while her gain may have slowed down, it didn’t stop. Still, denial is a hell of a thing to rid yourself of and Rose still couldn’t admit what she was doing, and more importantly, who she was blaming for her increased heft. Her friends and family may have offered her a taste, but she could have said no instead of licking the spoon clean. So, once again not confronting anything, Rose was happy to keep making trips to the dry cleaners to have her clothes let out, or making new excuses for not going to the gym. The only thing that she was denying was the reality that becoming thin again was long gone. * June, 2017 “It’s your birthday babe, you really don’t want to do anything?” Vince asked his wife. “No. Let’s just stay in and relax,” Rose replied. “Don’t want to even invite Alice and Ted over? You’ve seen them what, once in the past four months?” “No. We can see them another time,” she huffed. Vince looked at his wife and gave up. She had become increasingly standoffish when it came to going out and spending time with their friends or his family. First she cancelled the girls trip to the outlets in March, then she would feign being sick or having to work on Thursdays to avoid trivia night, and on Sunday dinners she would typically bring her own meal to dinner. His wife was acting outrageous and it was annoying the hell out of him. “Fine. We’ll pass. What am I telling Ted about the shore house this year? You're sick? Have to work?" Vince asked, annoyed. Rose barely picked up on his displeasure or anger and simply let it roll off her beefy shoulders. “I am working that first week. I could have taken off, but they wanted a partner in the office so I volunteered,” she said, pulling the wrapper off a granola bar before shoving the entire thing into her mouth. “Of course you did. Whatever, babe. I’ll just order us a pizza from Torielli’s for your birthday and we’ll just sit home. Or is that too much?” Vince could eat the entire pizza by himself, but again, his sarcasm and disdain was not picked up on. “A plain pie is fine. I can break my diet for my birthday. Don’t get any toppings,” she replied, oblivious to his seething. He turned around and rolled his eyes. His wife was taking her unhappiness out on him and everyone else. “I’m going to the store, need anything?” Vince asked, heading for the door. Rose reached into the box of granola bars and pulled out the last one. She held up the box to him. “Get a few more of these, thanks,” she replied. He grabbed his keys and left. His wife just opened the last bar up and nibbled on it before making her way into the refrigerator, trying to find another healthy item to snack on. “Not gonna make me give into temptation that easily,” she muttered in between chewing on the treat. “They may have turned you into a whale, but they won’t get me.” She pulled out a container of low fat frozen yogurt and put it on the counter before grabbing a spoon. Yogurt was healthy, so a cup of the Purity Chocolate Moose Tracks Frozen Yogurt was clearly not going to hurt her waistline, she thought to herself. “Nope, not going to get this girl! They can all be happy being over 200 pounds, but I won’t be one of them,” she said as she plopped on the stool. As she did, the sundress she had been wearing rode up, exposing more of her flabby, dimpled thighs; thighs with the consistency of the frozen yogurt she was making short work of. She tugged on the dress with one hand while shoveling spoonfuls of the fro-yo into her wanting maw, her doughy upper arms jiggling with each movement. She had already passed 200 pounds not that long ago and if she had ventured on a scale again, she would find out that she was much closer to 220 now. “Hopefully he brings those bars back soon, I’m going to need another snack later. Maybe I’ll just have another scoop of frozen yogurt," she said as she shoveled close to two cups of the snack into her mouth. * August, 2017 The air conditioner was turned up to full blast in the Marello house hold. Vince was in the garage, while Rose lounged around on the couch in the living room. It was hot outside, the temperature hitting 90, though the main problem was the humidity. Everything was sticky and the thick air was barely tolerable. That’s it why it came as no surprise why Rose had only moved from the bedroom to the couch, even though it was almost 1pm. She just had no desire to do anything in this heat. “Next year we’re getting a pool,” she stated matter-of-factly before wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, “Or central air. At least that would keep me cooler than this old thing.” Rose looked at the older air conditioner and groaned. Vince had wanted to upgrade to central air once he had gotten his bonus but she objected, stating that the summers really weren’t that hot. She was seriously regretting agreeing with him at the moment. She also had not counted on being well over 50 pounds heavier than she had been last summer, but here she was. She sat up from the couch and reached for her bowl of unsalted peanuts and frowned. She had finished the tin. “Ugh, I don’t want to get up," she whined. She bemoaned her situation for a few minutes until finally deciding it was time to get something else to eat. She placed her hands on the couch and pushed up, giving herself the right amount of momentum to stand upright. Slowly, she walked from the living room to the kitchen. And walk is a loose way to describe her movement. She actually waddled to the kitchen. She could no longer separate her thighs without using all her strength and she wasn’t going to waste energy on that. Each ponderous step caused a cacophony of movement behind her, her once movie star-esque hourglass figure having fully developed into the shape of a large pear. Her behind was made up of jiggly flesh which had pockets of cellulite and a few stretch marks, indicating just how much weight she had gained so quickly. The sundress, which had been loose when Vince had purchased it was now fitting her as it was intended to, although she was starting to push the limits of that too. She was always finding herself tugging on the back to cover her ham hock sized legs. She finally reached the kitchen island and took a moment to catch her breath. The maybe thirteen foot walk had her soaked in sweat as if she had run a marathon. “The damn humidity! I feel like I'm going to pass out,” she wheezed aloud, her chipmunk like face beet red from the exhaustion. She composed herself and made it to the fridge. She scanned the beverages, all of the non-healthy variety: diet soda and beer. She grabbed a Gatorade and took a big swig, the lemonade flavored liquid hitting the spot. She neglected to realize that Gatorade was high in calories if you’re not exercising. She took another swig before putting the cap back on and deciding on what to eat. She reasoned it was too early for frozen yogurt, so something else would have to do. She looked past the gallon of whole milk and spotted her prize. “I don’t get why he always puts them behind the milk, he’s a dunker!” Rose was of course talking about the two boxes of Entenmann’s chocolate chip cookies that Vince had purchased the other day. She grinned devilishly as she looked to make sure Vince was not around before opening the lid, taking out four cookies and plopping them into her mouth. The look on her face was one of ecstasy as she chewed on the tasty morsels, her second chin jiggling approvingly. “So good. I missed you guys,” she said through chews of cookie. Rose refused to acknowledge that she had been sneaking these little “cheat snacks” in on a daily basis. Vince, while not one to argue with his wife when she was in her foul moods, had not taken to dieting and was still keeping his nearly 350 pound body more than well fed. As such, temptation was always a fingertip away. And at first Rose not only yelled at him for this, but she also showed some signs of restraint. She wouldn’t nibble on any pizza, she wouldn’t munch on sour cream and onion chips, wouldn’t swallow any M&Ms, she was good. But, it was only a matter of time before her stomach won out and she was sneaking a bite here and there whenever she thought that he wasn’t looking. He never seemed to notice and just assumed that he was eating things at a quicker rate. Which is why he naturally started bringing home a second box of cookies, or second pizza. Neither he nor his wife even picked up on this pattern. That was why Rose was now standing in her kitchen, wearing a size 20 sundress, at more than double her weight from 2015. She grabbed two more cookies before she heard a noise and put the box back. She quickly chewed and swallowed whatever was left and leaned back up against the counter, her stomach preventing her from getting very close. “Hey, babe. I’m just gonna, get a beer and then shower. It’s too hot to be in the garage for that long," Vince puffed. Her husband’s white t-shirt was completely see through, the lower portion doing nothing to cover his hanging gut that now rested well over his belt. “I know. It’s too hot out there. I’m gonna probably just hang inside watch TV. It's not smart to go to the gym today!” Rose quickly conceded. “I'm gonna try to cool off in the shower,” Vince said, purposely avoiding her new excuse for not going to the gym. He slowly made his way back to the stairs before catching his breath again and heading up to their bedroom bathroom. Once he was out of site, Rose went back to the fridge, grabbed another three cookies and a bag of protein chips from a nearby cabinet before she made her way to the growing indent on the couch that her rear-end had formed. She wasn’t planning on moving again anytime soon.

November, 2015 “Hey Ro, you coming? We’re about to start breaking out the desserts for the potluck.” “Yeah, just a second,” Rose replied. Rose finished up her train of thought in an email and made her way to the kitchen to find a spread of baked goods, candies, and assorted fruits set up. The company had its annual Thanksgiving potluck on the Friday before and now, after lunch, it was time for dessert. She began to scan each dish, salivating. “Sorry Ro, I went a little overboard with the baking,” a short stocky man said while handing her a chocolate chip cookie. “It’s ok, Derek, I know you love to bake. And these are your famous chocolate chip cookies? Don’t mind if I do!” she said as she took a bite. As she walked around, talking to her co-workers, she hadn't even realized she finished off a second and third cookie. “Have you tried the chocolate cream pie? It’s so good,” Jen said, making an exaggerated face. Rose laughed, “Nope, I haven’t tried it yet. Is it really that good?” “I’m not logging it into Weight Watchers, it’s that good,” the other pudgy woman chimed in. “I guess a small piece wouldn’t hurt,” Rose said while eyeing the pie. Rose cut herself a piece, one that wasn’t large but also was not so small. As she did, Jen leaned over to recommend the peanut butter fudge brownies. Rose took one of those as well. When all was said and done, she had sampled most of the desserts and found herself incredibly bloated at her desk. She adjusted the waistband of her slacks, not registering just how snug they were, and not just in the waist. She was oblivious, but she had put on maybe five or so pounds since her last business trip, all of it going to her stomach, filling it out some on every side. She had never been lean, so the extra weight was not all that noticeable. “Oof,” she said, stifling a burp, “I better not dry clean this pants again. They used too much starch. These are so stiff!” she said, shifting in her chair. She closed her office door and unbuttoned her pants, relaxing back into her chair immediatly. “Ah, much better,” she said. Thankfully she had a high enough desk; no one would be able to see that her pants were unbuttoned, so they remained that way the rest of the day. Back at home, she found that Vince had gotten sandwiches from their new favorite Italian place. She looked at him, wearing only sweats and groaned. He had put on more weight since she began to notice, but she still didn't want to confront him about it. “He’ll drop it once the holidays end,” she muttered to herself, as Vince dished out the sandwiches for both of them. She changed into her own sweats and spent the evening on the couch with her husband, falling asleep in his lap during a binge viewing of Black Mirror. All thoughts of his added weight passed as she rested her head on his much softer and rounder beer gut. * December, 2015 “Hon, have you seen my Christmas sweater? The one with the reindeer drinking?” Rose looked up from doing her makeup and called out “Did you check the dresser in the guest room?” She heard heavy steps making their way up to the second floor, followed by drawers opening and closing. “Got it!” Vince called down to her. She finished putting on her eyeliner and turned around to see him beaming proudly, as if he had discovered how to make plutonium. “Isn’t it great? It’s a reindeer with a beer mug. ‘Rein-beer’! Get it?” he said holding up the sweater. “You know you’ve made that joke, like, ten times since you bought that sweater last year, right?” He laughed in response. When Vince finally got the sweater on, Rose looked him up and down. She realized that the once slightly baggy, wool clothing was no longer baggy. In fact, it was now snug. “Hey sweetie, maybe you want to change tops? That thing looks like it shrunk in the wash,” she said, trying to be as delicate as possible. Vince either didn’t get the hint or didn’t care. “Eh, it’s a little snug, but it’ll work. Ted is gonna pee his pants when he sees this!” He left to head downstairs and finish setting up. They had invited the two other couples over for a little party and Vince was dying to show off his hilarious sweater. Truth be told, Rose was glad they were coming over. It meant that they didn’t have to go to her parents that year. Her mother was desperate for a grandchild, so she could hear her asking when she was going to get pregnant because. Could they all just let her breath for a little bit? Rose made her own way downstairs and moved the food from the stove to the island to cool off. She looked everything over and couldn’t believe how much there was for only 6 people. She wanted to have just a simple tray of pasta and a meat dish, but everyone told her they needed more than that, since it would be a long night of drinking and football. In light of this, Vince had promised to call Torielli’s and place a small order. His version of small turned out to be full trays of penne ala vodka, baked ziti, chicken parm, chicken francese, garlic knots, and six dozen wings of various flavors. When she had asked him why he had gotten so much food, he just said he’d gotten a good deal. At worst, she figured there would be plenty of leftovers. Their friends dropped by a little later and everyone enjoyed themselves for the next couple of hours. Steve brought a case of a great craft beer and Ted discussed how he had just purchased a beach house at the Jersey Shore. He was renting it out all year, but said they should go away the following summer for a few weeks. Everyone agreed to do so, including Rose who thought it’d be great to get away and relax. She also had to admit that it was a good thing her husband had purchased so much food because they had made a huge dent in the spread. Rose watched her husband constantly get up to fill his plate, only putting his plate down to either get a beer or pull his sweater down when his protruding gut poked out. No one else had seemed to notice, but she did. It was clear from his clothing and how much he was eating that Vince put on at least twenty pounds since getting his promotion (it was actually thirty-one to be exact) with no signs of slowing down. He drank to his heart’s content, joking with his friends, but also talking with her friends. She could tell that he was happy to finally be spending time with them again, which also made her happy...and resigned to the extra pounds. And she did have to admit it was good to see Cathy and Alice so much recently. Trivia nights were fun, as were the Happy Hour Mondays and the occasional Thursday Night footballs at Buffalo Wild Wings (their parmesan garlic boneless were to die for, and at only sixty cents a pop, she couldn’t go wrong). Still, with as jovial and happy as everyone was, she was worried that being around such overweight people would continue to have a negative effect on her husband’s waist line. Cathy was the smallest of the group, and she weighed in at 210 pounds. At that moment, her friend Sally’'s words were repeated in her head; "It'll catch up to you…" “Gotta talk to him about dieting soon,” Rose said while absentmindedly popping a wing into her mouth. She had done her fair share of eating and would be appalled to learn that she had put on more than just “holiday” weight. She complained to her husband a few times recently that her bras were getting too tight, but he just laughed and tackled her onto the bed, telling her that it wasn’t a bad thing. She always forgot about her ill-fitting undergarments after sex. Below the waist was also becoming an issue for Rose. She often found herself picking a wedgie out of her butt when no one was looking as her pants began to suffocate her hefty hips and thighs. However, with her focus on her husband, and life in general, she ignored these tell-tale signs, never noticing that her body had actually changed as well. “Yep, definitely have to talk to him January 1st," she said to herself again, eyeing his puffy cheeks as he gulped down another beer. “Hey Ro, did you take out the cakes I picked up? Unless you want to wait a bit longer for dessert?” She snapped out of her daze, cursing to herself for forgetting to take out the cakes her husband had purchased. She knew she shouldn’t support his poor eating habits, but she had to admit the bakery made the best Black Forest, which was her favorite. “Whoops, I’ll do that now! Don’t want to deprive anyone of that Black Forest!” she squealed. * February, 2016 Glancing at her phone, Rose sighed deeply. It had been the tenth time she had checked her phone since arriving at Christina’s and Anthony’s and not even forty minutes had passed. She looked up to see her husband high-fiving his cousin Sal enthusiastically, yelling that someone named “Mann” sucked. She didn’t know who Mann was or why they had to watch the Super Bowl at a party, but Vince had begged her to go. “This blows. At least the nachos are good,” she said, reaching into the plate and scooping another pile, making sure to get a bit of all the toppings. Vince had always worked during the Super Bowl, helping the newsroom get constant updates. Now in his new position, he had the day off and could enjoy the company of his family, while dragging his wife along. She watched him laughing with his cousins, smiles on all of their faces as they sipped IPAs and munched on snacks. She grinned, happy that he was enjoying himself. But when she observed him tugging down his new jersey down, which had rode up to expose his ill-fitting white undershirt and beltless jeans, a frown creeped across her face. She knew she could no longer keep quiet. At the beginning of the year, she had told him he put on some extra weight. Much to her surprise, Vince, who once prided himself on remaining active after his football days, just laughed and told her it was “happy weight” and that as long as it wasn’t affecting their relationship or his health, he was fine with it and she should be, too. Rose had been too stunned by his response that she didn’t try to follow up with him. She decided to let him enjoy his moment. Now Rose was having concerns again. He was steadily gaining weight and when his clothes got too tight, he would just replace them. She knew the nights of watching football with Steve and Ted had been partially to blame and although she assumed it would slow down when the season was over, the way he was going tonight, it didn’t appear that those were the only bad influences. She was about to go over and try to stop the gluttony when Christina walked by with a platter of chili glazed meatballs. “Hey Ro, I noticed you didn’t come over to get some and I know how much you like them, so I brought some over to you.” “Thanks Chris., but I wanted to ask Vin something…” She paused when she heard everyone start yelling again. “I think they’re busy right now. Besides, I brought this whole tray over for you, least you could do is take one,” Christina said as she hefted the platter of meatballs into Rose’s hands. “Aren’t you going to try them?” she asked, the sweetness in her voice slowly turning bitter. “Of course,” Rose said as she popped one in her mouth and chewed it, savoring the taste of the chili on her tongue. She quickly threw back another one before grabbing four more from the tray. “These are so good! They always get better each time you make them,” she mumbled with food still in her mouth, bits of meat falling out between words. Christina giggled and promptly put four more on her plate. Rose wanted to say something, she knew she should say something, but they were so good that she found herself thanking her instead, while eating several more. She was in the middle of what seemed like her 30th meatball, when Vince made his way over, snagging a few from the tray with his non-beer holding hand. “Hey babe, just wanted to give you the heads up that Anthony, Sal, and Michael are going to AC for March Madness. I’m gonna see if I can work with our Toms River affiliate the day before and then just head down after,” he said as he grabbed yet another meatball and swallowed it whole. “When is March Madness? And what sport? Baseball?” Her husband laughed at her obliviousness to anything sports related. “It’s college basketball. It’s usually right around St. Patrick’s Day.” “Oh, ok. Well, have fun, leaving your wife to fend for herself,” she replied, half kidding half annoyed. As she said this, Christina looked over towards her other cousins, nodding at Angela and Gina. “The guys have been doing that for years and when they go away, we pack up ourselves and head to Connecticut to shop the outlets for a day and relax. You’re more than welcome to come with us this year, Ro.” “I don’t want to be a burden. Besides, I’m not much fun,” Rose said trying to come up with a plausible excuse. She was about to continue with her excuses when she noticed that both Chris and Vin were looking at her dejectedly; her cousin’s double chin deepening and her husband’s full cheeks reddening. “But since you want me to go, how can I turn down family,” she finally shrugged and hugged Christina tightly, her arms not able to reach all the way around the globular woman’s back. “Great! I’ll let all the other girls know. I have to put out more wings, you guys are hungry!” She said as she waddled towards the kitchen. Vince leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek, “Have I ever told you how much I love you?” “Not enough for all the things you make me do, but it’s a start,” she replied, kissing him in response. “Well, I do. So much in fact that I’m going to leave work early on Friday and take you out to Surasang. I know how much you love there Bulgogi.” Rose’s mouth instantly watered. It was true, she did love there Bulgogi. “Shit, Broncos are driving, I’ll be back!” He jogged back over to his spot on the couch and Rose turned back to the dining room table and the left tray of meatballs. She placed a few more in her mouth, savoring the taste once again. Then she unconsciously reached down and loosened the drawstring on her sweatpants. Though her hand grazed a softer and puffier stomach, Rose was completely unfazed by it and shifted in the chair, trying to get more comfortable. In fact, she had been unfazed by a lot of changes lately. Her husband may have been porking up, but his “little wife” was making sure she was getting chubby right alongside him. Since he had gotten promoted, Vince had packed on almost fifty pounds. It had softened him out everywhere and given him an obvious paunch, swelling pecs and flabby arms. A puffier face and growing double chin ‘rounded’ out the picture. Still, he didn’t seem to mind. His wife, however, did not seem to notice just how much chunkier she had become. She had picked up almost half the weight that he had, first going to her boobs and butt. Now it had started to go to other places, namely her thighs and stomach. The Avaloni women were typically hourglass-shaped and Rose was no exception, though it seemed the sand was now the waist, as opposed to above it. At work, people had thought she was pregnant, but they were able to confirm that it was just a new bulbous belly whenever she would wear tight pants. Her larger rear had added a noticeable jiggle, and that jiggle appeared to be become more pronounced each day. Still, she was completely unaware that she was gaining any weight as no one informed her; not her dad, not her husband, not her co-workers, and certainly not her friends or Vince’s family. Everyone kept it to themselves, which allowed her to ignore it as well, even as she began to outgrow her wardrobe. “I haven’t been to the outlets up there, hopefully they have some good stuff. My clothes all seem to keep shrinking in that damn washing machine,” she said to Christina as she passed by with more wings, which Rose grabbed a few out of. * April, 2016 Jen poked her head into Rose’s office and held a donut up in the air. “Good call on switching to Krispy Crème Ro, so much better than Dunkin!” Jen smiled. Rose watched her boss walk away and smiled inwardly to herself. She had read online that the best way to boost office morale was to do something that brought them all together. So, she felt the best way to do that was to get everyone a sugar rush in the afternoon on Thursdays. She had implemented her donut plan and it had been a smashing success. It helped in the performance too. She had noted that since she had begun bringing the baked goods in, production in her department was up 6.2%. She figured if she kept it up, she’d be in for another nice bonus the following winter. She sent an email to her staff regarding the upcoming status meeting and reached over to her plate to see that her jelly donut was no more. Pity, they were rather tasty and hadn’t quite hit the spot. “Probably shouldn’t, but one more couldn’t hurt, right?” she told herself. She lifted up from her desk chair and made the short walk to the break room, just in time to see that there were no more jelly donuts. Pouting ever so slightly, she was about to make her way back to her office when another donut caught her eye. “Hmm, what’s this?” She was never big on donuts and was usually stuck with jelly, so the other types never caught her eye. However, for some reason today her eyes were focused on two donuts that appeared to have graham crackers on top and a bit of crème inside. She picked one up and, after making sure no one was looking, gave it a whiff. Much to her surprise, it smelled exactly like cheesecake. “Whoa, a cheesecake donut? This smells delicious!” she said while salivating. She took a bite and was not disappointed. She took another small bite as she walked back to her office, the rich flavors coursing through her mouth and down her throat. By the time she reached her desk, the donut was gone. She plopped down and licked her fingers clean. “That was so good. I’ll have to make sure I add a few more of those nest time,” she said to herself. * Memorial Day Weekend, 2016 The married couple opened the door and immediately collapsed onto separate couches. It had been a long day spent out in the hot sun with family and both were now glad it was over. They had gone to Angela’s house for a barbeque, which usually was a small gatheringl, but today EVERYONE in the Antonelli family had shown up and they spent the entire day under the blistering sun. Rose had worn a sundress and by the time she had eaten her first burger of the day, it was covered in sweat; clinging to her chubby body. “Remind your cousin that tents are a good thing to rent when you have about 60 people coming over! It'll take me at least three showers to wash the sweat off,” she moaned, trying to pick the sticky material off her fleshy thigh. “I told her that it would be warm today, as did Anthony. She didn’t even listen to Sal. Why would she bother listening to anyone else?” he asked while struggling to his feet. He had worn a t-shirt that said “Yoda Man” on it with an image of the famous Star Wars character. The only issue was that Yoda looked more like a overinflated Macy’s parade balloon as opposed to his normal appearance. The shirt had been stretched to its absolute limit and Rose was impressed that it had lasted this long. “I’m gonna grab a beer, need anything?” he asked, as a bead of sweat rolled down his double chin. “If there are any left, I’ll take a lime-a-rita.” Ro watched her husband make his way to the kitchen, noting that he was starting to waddle a bit as he tried to keep his legs from rubbing together. His behind had filled out along with his thighs, doing it’s part to ensure he could handle his upper half. He was panting somewhat when he finally got to the fridge, pausing before opening up the double doors and producing both his chocolate stout and her sugary beverage; his a robust 16 oz bottle and hers a ludicrous 25 ounce can. Both beverages had an absurd calorie count at over 500 calories each, not that either of the two bothered to check. “Here you go, my dear,” Vince said handing her the cold bottle. “Just what I need to refresh a bit before I take a shower. I’m so beat.” “At least the food was good. Did you get enough of that potato salad?” “Mhm,” she replied while nodding her head. It was true, the food had been good at this event. The hotdogs, hamburgers, anti-pasta, potato salad, macaroni salad, steak, chicken wings, spare ribs; all of it was delicious. Rose sampled everything, telling herself it was to placate her hosts. But the truth was, Rose had only gone to enjoy the food. Before she ate out of necessity but now, it was as if her senses had been awakened and things needed to be tried. She sampled cooking from Alice, tried new lunch spots with Jen, tasted different Italian dishes at Sunday dinner; all things she had never considered before were now almost habit to her. It made sense that her body had expanded along with her appetite; picking up weight at a constant stream. When it was ladies night with Alice and Cathy, she would over-indulge past the point of being full, but it wasn’t like what Vince, Steve and Ted would do. Her husband was becoming down right gluttonous. They would try to see who could eat the most pizza or drink the most beer in one sitting. Rose was much more restrained than that. Still though, her “restraint” hadn’t been enough, causing her to slip into an even plumper phase. “Finished with your beer?” she asked after suckign down the last drop of her own. Her husband looked up and handed her his empty bottle. She made her way into the kitchen and dumped the empties into the recycling bin and made her way to the stairs. “I’m going to take a shower. I’m still sweaty,” she said, turning her back to her husband. Without warning, she felt a playful swat on her enlarged behind. “I could make you sweaty again if you’d like,” he said, before winking at her. “Oh really?” “I mean, of course,” he said, mocking the stereotypical way porn stars spoke. Rose looked at him and could see the front of his shorts producing a noticeable bulge, one that had nothing to do with his stomach. The only thing that had grown more than his waistline was his libido. He was constantly trying to have sex and Rose had to admit he was much more affectionate around her since he started getting heftier. That alone almost made her not care that he was looking more and more like his pot-bellied friends. As she glanced up at his face, Rose figured she could stand to stay sweaty a little longer. “Come on big boy, don’t make me have to take two showers.” He watched her exaggerate her sway up the stairs and didn’t bother to turn the tv off. “Don’t have to tell me twice,” he yelled as he happily followed his wife up the stairs and into the bedroom. * July, 2016 “Who wants the last sausage? Come on, who wants this hot Italian sausage,” Vince said while motioning to his figure. “Do I have to say me, even though I don’t?” Rose laughed, but shook her head no, too full to want anything else. “If the ladies don’t want any, I’ll have it,” Steve said, taking the link in a bun and winking at his friend. “Get a room guys,”Alice said as she bit into the rest of her own sausage link. The three women were seated on a wooden bench outside the beach house. Ted joined his two friends in front of the grill, shutting the gas off. “You guys never shut this thing off. Now the renters will want a discount,” he said, picking up his beer before walking over to his wife who was seated across from Cathy and Rose. “My husband, the worrier,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. “I just don’t want to waste money for no reason.” “Let them take the cash from the bottles and cans we went through these past two weeks, that should make them feel better.” Rose laughed so hard that she felt her hip bump into the voluminous woman. “Sorry about that, Cat.” Rose glanced over at her friend and was impressed this hadn’t happened sooner, with Cathy sporting at least 50 inch around her hips, a testament to her pear shaped body. “It’s fine Ro, you just owe me a fried oreo later!” “Haha, you got it. Speaking of that, what time are we leaving?” “Probably in an hour. Shit, I better go change then, it’s going to be cold.” Cathy slowly rose from the bench, waddling back into the house to get ready. Rose slid over, her own 36 inch hips enjoying the ability to “spread out more”. She reached into the bag of potato chips on the picnic table and took a handful. “She’s right, I should probably change too. Just gonna finish off the rest of these chips first, there’s next to none left,” she said, tilting the bag up and emptying it’s contents into her waiting mouth. She brushed the remnants off of the once-oversized t-shirt that was covering up her one piece bathing suit and made the trek inside back into their bedroom to change. The one piece suit was among many “firsts” for Rose. She had never, EVER worn a one piece before, always opting for more flattering two pieces which showed off her boobs and shapely rear. This year however, she had been talked into getting a one piece by Cathy two weeks before their trip, when the portly woman informed her that one pieces were in these days. At first, she was going to say something about how lame that was before realizing why both Cathy and Alice were pushing it upon her. “They’re probably shy about me being so much thinner, so they don’t want me showing them up whenever we go to the beach,” she opined to herself. And so, she stuck with getting only one pieces, all of which she let her friends pick out for fear of inadvertently insulting them. She had done that a lot on shopping trips recently, taking their advice when it came to fashion, even shopping in the plus sized stores with them. “Well, I’ll just have these taken in or wash them a few times so they’re not too big,” she’d say, not bothering to look at the sizes. Even still, when she saw Cathy emerge from the house that first day in her bathing suit along with a t-shirt on top, Rose felt bad and promptly made her way inside and threw on one of Vince’s old shirts she had planned on wearing as a sleep shirt. This “sleep shirt” however did nothing to hide just how heavy she had become, with all of her friends being able to see that the swimsuit was probably a size too small. “Can’t insult them, it’s gonna be twelve days together. I’ll just have to play along,” she reasoned to herself at the time. ‘Playing along’ involved not questioning the amount of food that was purchased at the store that day. Or what was ordered for dinner that night. Or the following day. Or at the restaurant two days later. And so on and so on. It seemed that every day was a chance to top the previous days gluttony and without thinking, Rose found herself participating more and more eagerly. Now, as she peeled off the skin tight clothing from her pudgy frame, they were placed in a bag, never to be worn again, though she didn’t know it at the time. She looked out the window to see her husband still holding court with his friends, every so often reaching to grab handfuls of nachos. The bottom of his Hawaiian shirt was left open intentionally, there was no way he’d be able to button again after all the eating he had done. He was close to one hundred pounds heavier than he had been a year before, and now this vacation had brought him even closer to that. “Looks like I’ll have to get him new clothes, again. He sure loves to eat.” At this point, Rose had officially given up on convincing her husband to lose weight. He would always play if off as trying to eat less, but then she’d find him buying junk food or take out all the time. and while he was clearly morbidly obese (when you weigh well over 300 pounds, even at 6-2’, that tends to be the case), his doctor said his blood pressure and cholesterol were reasonable, so he really wasn’t that unhealthy. As long as that stayed the case, she wasn’t going to say anything. As she thought of this, she watched Ted hand him a beer which was punctuated at the bottom, and he immediately shotgunned it. He handled it easily and his friends congratulated him, proud of his ‘frat boy’ work. “Christ, it’s a wonder that gut isn’t even bigger,” she said, watching as his tub of a gut bounced up and down slightly against his thighs. Vince may have been the heavyweight in the marriage, but if his wife saw how much weight she had put on herself, she’d probably scream. She was convinced any extra weight gain was merely just a few pounds, or water weight, rationalizing that anything more would be too noticeable. In the 376 days since Vince’s promotion, Rose had managed to put on FIVE times that amount (actually, closer to six times since this vacation). She was moving past the ‘bloated’ phase and settling firmly into the ‘fat’ phase, if for no other reason than the fact that she was so short. At barely 5-1 and over 185 pounds, she was clinically fifty pounds overweight. Her mind still couldn’t process this as she attributed being constantly winded to working too much, or her thighs chafing due to the excess heat and humidity, or her desk chair being too snug due to how she was sitting. All in all, she was thoroughly denying every sign that she had put on a significant amount of weight in only a year’s time. Even now, as she stood there naked and trying desperately to get into her over-taxed bra, or struggling desperately to fit into the leggings Cathy picked out for her, Rose felt the familiar sensation build in her stomach; hunger. Her mind thought of all the wonderful treats on the boardwalk; the fried Oreos, zeppoles, salt water taffy, chicken cheesesteaks, sausage and peppers. All this food that she had been absolutely devouring during the past 11 days and still she found herself wanting more. Her stomach would be tightly packed each night and still would fill it more. It was difficult to walk by any food stand without reasoning that she needed one more for the road. “Vince better not eat any of my Oreos tonight,” she muttered, finally squeezing her widened rear into the almost sheer pants. The material was stretched so tight that the outline of her panties was visible from both the front and the back. Thankfully for her, she put one of her husbands formerly baggy sweatshirts on, covering up what otherwise would have been an embarrassing moment. “And if he does, he better at least get me something to replace them,” she again muttered to herself, making her way back downstairs to finish up the last gluttonous night at the shore.

This should take about 5 posts or so. Thanks. When It Finally Catches Up With You By Jake (JMJ) and ST July, 2015 “Thankfully that meeting is over. I hate wasting time on things we already covered during the conference call,” Rose said as she placed her bag on the table before sitting down in the booth. Her friend, Sally, nodded in agreement before doing the same. “You know Brian, he just loves to talk. Whatever, it’s over now. When’s your flight home?” Sally asked. “7pm. I’m sure Vinnie will be glad to have me back,” the short brunette replied while she pulled her phone out to check her text messages. “Still in the ‘newlywed’ phase, huh?” the older woman inquired. “You know it! I really lucked out with him. Great family too, they’re really close.” “I could tell. The wedding was all the proof I needed to see how close they are. That comes with a traditional Italian upbringing, I guess,” Sally said, raising her arm to get a waitress’s attention. “He doesn’t get to see them as much as he used to, though. He’s been working hard, hoping for a big promotion, so he doesn’t have to travel at all and can stay in the office. He enjoyed being a cameraman, but is ready for a change. He did go to school to be a broadcast engineer tech, ya know,” Rose explained. The waitress finally sidled up to the table to take their orders. “I’ll just have a chicken Caesar salad, light on the dressing,” Rose sighed. “I’ll take the same, thanks,” Sally added. The waitress nodded and trotted off. Rose took a sip of her water and smiled. She was positive Vince would get the new job and then they could start planning for their future. Since they were both under 30, Vince at almost 28 and Rose two years his junior, they wanted to make as much money as they could before deciding on having kids and buying a bigger house. They met in high school and dated throughout college and graduate school. A little over a year after graduate school, Vince popped the question and a year and a half later, they were married. Now, only two months into marriage, things were really looking up for the Marellos future plans. “Oh, don’t forget to email Andrea the final numbers for that account. She’ll be annoyed if you don’t,” Sally chirped. “Got it,” Rose sighed, “Does that woman ever relax? She’s always going a million miles a minute. That reminds me, where was she today?” Sally grinned at Rose. “She just got back from Greece and will be in tomorrow. That is, of course, if her ass was able to fit on the airplane,” she smirked. “Huh? What are you talking about?” Rose asked in surprise. To her knowledge, Andrea had always been a very thin woman. In fact, jokes were abound about how she might blow out of the Charlotte office if there was a good gust of wind. “You haven’t seen her in over a year, so you don’t know just how fat she’s gotten. She has easily put on 50 pounds, probably a lot more!” Sally exclaimed. “Get the hell out of here! Did she get put on some new meds or something?” Rose asked. “Nope. She met some guy and they hit it off. He was on the stockier side, but it wasn’t a big deal. Then I saw photos of his family on Facebook and realized he was damn near anorexic compared to them. He loves to spend time with them, so obviously Andrea tagged along. Now she’s struggling to fit into anything.” “That’s awful. Poor girl,” Rose cringed. “She’s happy and that’s all that counts. Or so she says, anyway. Although, I can’t imagine someone being fat and happy. People always tend to pack on the pounds when they date or hang out with overweight people. It always catches up to them.” “Ha, not always,” Rose said, unconvincingly. Sally laughed, “You’re probably the only exception to the rule. Most of the time, it catches up and then some.” “I really doubt that, Sally,” Rose said. “Well, I guess you’re right. But then again, didn’t one of your bridesmaids look like she spent the day hooked up to an air tank?” “That was Krista," Rose huffed, "She was only in the wedding because we did dance back in high school and I was in her wedding. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn’t have had her in mine.” “Gotcha,” Sally nodded. “And,” Rose paused to take a sip of water, “even if my husband’s family or my friends are all overweight, that doesn’t mean I’ll get like that. It’s about discipline and moderation, ya know?” “If you say so,” Sally rolled her eyes. The two friends finished their lunch before Sally drove Rose to the airport. Rose landed at 7:30pm and after making her way through the hustle and bustle of the New York City airport, she found her husband at the waiting area. She smiled and Vince gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. “Good trip?” Vince asked when they got settled into the car. “It was. Thankfully I don’t have to make another trip again until October. Sally says hi by the way.” They spent the rest of the ride home catching up and before long, they were back in Dix Hills. Vince headed into the living room of their split-level home while Rose went upstairs to unpack and get ready for bed. Vince’s hours were not as traditional as hers, so he often went to bed much later than Rose. She headed into their bathroom and stripped off her business outfit before hopping into a steaming shower. The water revitalized her and made her forget about the hassles of the past two days. She enjoyed her job and if it wasn’t for the money afforded to her for all her duties, she would much rather be home instead of traveling. It had been a grueling year, with her accepting a new responsibilities because a co-worker had quit unannounced. Now she was doing her job as well as someone else’s job. She wiped the fog off the mirror and glanced at herself. At just over 5’, she had to stand back to see her full self. She liked what she saw; an accentuated hourglass figure and most of her 125 pounds proportioned to her breasts and hips. When her mother was still alive, she always told her she looked like a young Sophia Loren. Rose held back a tear as she thought about her mom. She shook her head and pulled on her pajamas. Listening to her husband talk to the tv, she realized she would be going to bed alone that night. She hummed along with the tv show in their bedroom and soon fell fast asleep. * One week later… Getting out of work at her usual time on Friday typically left Rose drained. Plus, tonight was Vin’s late night, which meant she was going to be by herself. That’s why she was very surprised when she turned down their block to see his SUV parked in the driveway. “Why is he home?” she mumbled to herself. She walked into the house, expecting the worst. Once inside, she found her husband standing in their kitchen with a big smile on his face and a bottle of champagne in his hand. “Babe, I’ve got great news. Guess what happened?” Vince said while rushing over to greet her. She was confused. When he went to work that morning, he had told her to expect him late that night. Had he gotten fired? Quit? Lost his mind? “What are you talking about, Vin? Why aren’t you at work?” Rose tried to contain her anxiety. He grinned again. “You should talk a little more respectfully to the new broadcast engineer tech! Tom gave his notice, so they called an emergency meeting and I got promoted! Can you believe it? It finally happened!” Vince said through his grin. Rose began jumping up and down, hardly able to believe the news. “That’s great! You’ve worked so hard for this!” she beamed, before planting a kiss on his lips. “So, what happens now?” The cork popped from the bottle and Vince poured them both a glass. “I finish up my regular duties this week and then I’m in the new position. It’s great, it means I’m home every day by 6pm, and more importantly, I’m off Sundays, which means we can finally take my cousin up on their Sunday dinner invites!” “I’m sure Christina and Anthony will be glad to have us over every Sunday,” Rose tried to hide her lack of enthusiasm. Vince hugged his wife. “They are family, babe, and I don’t get to see them often. If it gets too boring after a few visits then we’ll stop going, ok?" Vince said, looking at her eagerly. “Fine, fine. Since it’s your big day, I won’t rain on your parade,” she said as she grabbed a glass and took a big gulp. “In fact,” she said, “you might actually be in for another ‘bonus’ tonight,” she gave him a wink before heading towards the bedroom. * “Rose, can you come in here for a second?” Rose put her coffee down and quickly walked into her boss’ office. Jen was a nice woman, but Rose knew not to make her wait if she didn’t want to encounter one of her mood swings. “What’s going on?” Rose said as she walked into the office. Jen looked up from her desk, her face not giving anything away. “I wanted to let you know that HR has hired someone for the East Coast Regional director position,” Jen said matter-of-factly. “Nice, I’m glad we finally filled that role. When do they start?” Rose asked. “Next month. But, there’s one thing I need to tell you. He is going to take over the bulk of the duties for this department when it comes to dealing with management. That means he’ll be handling the conference calls, the client interviews, and also…” “The trips to the other offices to meet with the different boards,” Rose said, feeling mildly dejected. Jen tried to reassure her. “It’s not that you aren't doing a good job, Ro. You know you are. Hell, you just got a raise! It’s that they want someone with more experience when dealing with the suits, who can be assholes. This is better for you, anyway. Now you get to stay close to home and not trek through airports all the time.” Rose nodded. “Trust me, you’re going to love not having to deal with the stress from constant travel!” Jen said assuringly. * The following Tuesday, Rose was heading home when she received a group text from her friend Alice. “Hey guys! Remember a few months ago when we asked about trivia night? Well, we figured we’d try for tonight. Steve and Cathy are in, just wanted to know if you were interested,” it read. Rose was about to type out a polite decline due to her exhaustin, but Vince responded first. “90’s trivia? We’re totally in! 7pm?” he wrote. “Yep, 7pm at O'Reilly's. See you then,” Alice confirmed. Rose called her husband immediately; miffed at this plan. “Hey, what are you doing? How could you just agree to something without asking me?” Rose huffed into the phone. She heard slurping in the background. “I know, babe, but I’m with Steve right now and it would look bad if I went to trivia without my wife, wouldn’t it? Besides, you need to let off some steam, you’ve been annoyed about work since Thursday. This will help!” “That’s not the point, the point is…” Rose trailed off. “And besides, you keep saying you miss your friends, right? Now you can see them!” She then heard what must have been Vince taking another swig of beer. “You’re right. Should I pick you up or are you in a condition to drive?” “Nope, I definitely shouldn’t be driving. Steve got some new IPAs and I’ve had a few. I’ll get my car tomorrow before work, no big deal,” Vince replied, somewhat slurred. “Alright, I’m going home to change, so I’ll see you at the bar,” Rose said as she hit the end button on her phone. After changing into some more comfortable clothes, she met up with her husband and their friends at the bar. Steve and Vince were already downing a pitcher of beer, both looking rather buzzed. Alice and Cathy were making fun of them, while she saw Ted come through with another pitcher, as well as one of a reddish-pink liquid. She greeted everyone before taking a seat. “I see you all couldn’t wait to start drinking without me, huh,” she rolled her eyes. “Haha, sorry Rose, we were thirsty. But have a glass of these cosmos, they’re sooooo good!” Alice pushed one in her direction. Rose took a sip and paused, “This is nasty!” “See? Good. Now, let’s come up with a team name so we can get ready. Oh, and we’re cool with just apps or do we want meals?” Cathy asked while refilling her glass. “Apps work for us,” Alice said, poking Ted in his fleshy side. “Focus babe, I know there are sports on but we got a game to win!” He just nodded sheepishly before pouring himself more beer. Vince leaned in and kissed his wife on the cheek. “This is going to be a lot of fun. Plus, I’m really getting drunk,” he whispered in her ear. Rose shook her head, her brown head swinging over her eyes, before kissing him back. “Sounds like apps it is! Alright, let’s get a waitress,” Steve said, sticking a meaty paw up. Rose was still amazed at just how big he was. He was easily 350 pounds and clearly not on a low calorie diet. Rose eyed the pitcher of beer they just ordered, trying to quickly do the math on the calorie in-take of each pint. The waitress came over and they began to bombard her with app orders; mozzarella sticks, wings, ribs, quesadillas, nachos. Rose had no idea where all this food was going to go, but said nothing while the orders were rattled off. The night proceeded and their team, “The Midnight Society”, came in second. Rose sighed deeply as she saw her husband try to get up from the table; he and Steve were a mess. He finally made his way to the door and smiled at her sheepishly again. She could not be mad at the former football player. He was right; she needed to get out and she did have a lot of fun. The three couples all said goodnight and agreed to do it again the following week. Rose helped Vince get into his seat and he passed out immediately. She grumbled to herself and got in on the driver’s side. She glanced over at him, noticing that his t-shirt was riding up just a bit in the front, exposing his hairy stomach. “Too much beer,” she whispered to herself, “Don’t have too much, babe, it’ll ruin your figure,” she said snidely. Vince let out a snore, almost in response to her statement and Rose shook her head the rest of the way home. * Three weeks later…. “Oh honey, I’m home!” Rose looked up from her tablet to see Vince walk in with a large pizza box with a bag on top. A big smile was plastered on his face. “What’s this? I thought you wanted me to cook?” Rose asked a bit confused. “It’s ok, babe, you can take a night off,” he replied while putting the box on the dining room table, “This is supposed to be the best pizza on the island.” “That’s great, but I haven’t cooked in like, two weeks. I’m getting rusty,” she said. “Cook tomorrow. Look at this slice! It’s huge!” He lifted up the lid and Rose eyed one of the biggest pizza pies that had ever been created. The cheese was gooey and the smell was amazing. As she was checking it out more closely, Vin opened the bag and pulled out a pepperoni pinwheel. Then took a huge bite. “These are good. You should try one,” he said with a mouthful of pinwheel. “No, thanks. Who told you about this place? Steve?” Rose asked. He swallowed the rest of the pinwheel before grabbing a slice. “Yep. He said Torielli’s is close to his office, so he brings it home on Fridays. I figured I’d give it a try since he talks about it so much,” Vince replied, taking another bite of pizza. “Judging by how much he eats, I’m not surprised,” Rose remarked. “Aw, come on, honey. He’s a good guy, no need to mock his weight,” Vince said with a pout. “I know, but you have to admit, he’s put on a LOT of weight the past two years. I mean, all of them have,” Rose said. “That’s true, but it happens sometimes. Are you saying you’re going to turn this down?” he said while holding a big slice near her, the scent hitting her nose like a hammer. Her mouth started to water and she finally gave in, grabbing the slice from his hands. “That IS good! Alright, maybe it is the best pizza on the island,” she giggled between bites, “Just don’t bring it home too often, the grease cannot be good for you.” “Don’t worry babe, I don’t think I can eat this often,” Vince said, wiping his face with a napkin. The couple grabbed their plates and sat on the couch. Over the course of the night, most of the pizza and pinwheels were finished, while they watched Luke Cage on Netflix. Rose did not even cleanup before changing into her pajamas and getting in to bed. When she pulled up the comforter, her stuffed stomach rose up towards the ceiling. * October, 2015 Rose had let Vince drive since she knew she’d be having a lot of wine at another Sunday dinner. Parking on the street, Rose got out of the car and took a long sigh. She didn’t have a problem with Vince’s side of the family, they were good people and incredibly sweet. It was just that they had nothing in common. Many of them were off-the-boat from Italy or first generation Italians. Vince was second generation, so his parents were not as old school, like his cousins were. They had it in their brains that women were meant to stay home to cook and take care of the kids. Rose didn’t believe in that way of life. That was why she dreaded Sunday dinners, and because of Vince’s old schedule, she had gotten away with avoiding them. Now they had been there every Sunday for the past 6 weeks, a fact she reminded her husband of any chance she could. “I wonder what I’m going to get told what I need to do this time - get pregnant or learn how to cook? It’s always fun to guess which one!” Rose gave Vince a sideways glance. Vince wasn’t impressed. “Ha-ha. I appreciate this, babe, I know the past five dinners…” “This our sixth Sunday dinner,” she said, quickly correcting him. “Fine, the past six dinners. The point is, I’ve gotten to reconnect with my family and I appreciate your support.” He leaned over to give her a hug and kiss. “Well, I am supportive,” she said, chuckling to herself. They headed inside and it was like every other visit; Vince went down stairs and watched football with his family, the screaming and cursing in both English and Italian echoing through the house. Rose was stuck in the kitchen, talking about different ways to cook pasta, how long sauce should simmer, or how adding too much basil makes sauce taste too sweet. Bored as usual, Rose nodded along with the women, sipping her glass of Pinot Grigio and munching on the assorted cheeses and anti-pastas. She may not have enjoyed the topic of conversation, but she did enjoy the food they put out. At dinner, Rose listened to all the cousins discuss their plans for Thanksgiving, informing Rose that it was because they want to fly family in and need time to prep. She nodded before passing a plate to her husband. As she did, she glanced over to see that the shirt she had gotten him for his birthday last year, a plaid button-up from J. Crew, was fitting him rather snuggly. She also saw that he was no longer wearing an undershirt when she noticed his belly button as the shirt strained to stay closed. “Ah, Chris, this pesto sauce is really good! Top notch as always, cousin!” Vince said as he shoveled in another bite. “I always make the best. Try the stuffed bell peppers, I added a bit of the sauce to the stuffing for extra flavor!” Chris pushed the plate towards him. Vin grabbed one, much to his wife’s dismay. She started to eye closer, noting that his appetite had dramatically increased. She kept quiet, but made sure to take quick glances over at him every so often, not happy to see that each time she did, there was more helpings on his plate. She let out a sigh before refilling her white wine. Once home, Rose pulled on her pajamas and got into bed, waiting for Vince to join her. She noted to herself that he had definitely put on weight recently, probably 10-15 pounds. He did not seemed bothered by it, though, as he put on his white t-shirt and boxer shorts. He came to the side of the bed and kissed her on the forehead. “Hey, where you going?” she asked as he turned towards the bedroom door. “It’s Sunday night; Seahawks and Cardinals are almost back from the half,” he said halfway out the door. She sat up, confused. “But, you are a Jets fan?” “Fantasy football, babe. I entered a work league. I got Wilson going tonight!” he yelled from the hallway. She decided to read for a bit, but kept thinking she heard the fridge opening and closing. “Nah, couldn’t be the fridge. Just noise from the tv. He’s not eating more after how much he had at dinner,” Rose muttered. Vince was still eating. He had developed a bit of a sweet tooth, so he was enjoying a bowl of ice cream. And the reason the fridge kept opening was because he kept forgetting things, like whipped cream, and sprinkles, and M&Ms, and chocolate sauce. He had to make five additional trips before finally digging in. Since he ran the dishwasher after his indulgence, his wife had no clue.

I didn’t but a lot of people have been commenting on issues with deviant art so I’ll post the full story here and a few other sites later today.

Hey everyone. Finally finished my new story, it’s up on my deviant art page. Thanks. https://www.deviantart.com/jake27/art/When-It-Finally-Catches-Up-With-You-782831930

Depressing

I think she lost weight, still gorgeous

From Instagram

Very pretty woman

Roy called Rosa all day and all night but to no avail. After the first two calls everything went straight to voicemail. Frustrated, he thought about going to her apartment but decided against it; he was too nervous that any action like that would lead her to dump him. He had never been in a relationship before and was not going to risk doing anything that would ruin his only chance to fix things. He knew she had taken a few days off from work so he expected to patch things up when they worked together. However, when those days passed and on the first day she was supposed to return she called out sick, Roy began to think that he was finished. He called her frantically and when it once again went to voicemail he was about to leave a message but chickened out. He threw the phone to the grown and began to weep. As he sat there in the locker room weeping, a familiar voice emerged from behind. “Hey look who decided to show up today. How’s it going bud?” Roy looks over to see George standing next to him. Well, more appropriately, his gut. The big man is standing in front of him in his ill fitting uniform with a bottle of Pepsi in his hand. He takes a big swig before letting out a belch. "Hey, George. Um, have you spoken to Rosa today?" "Sorry bud, haven't talked to her since our last shift the other day." "Damn it. Ok, thanks man." George is a little puzzled by this. "Weren't you just with her? I thought that was Comic-Con?" Roy looks at the floor in an attempt to hide his dismay. George sees through it. "What happened?" He puts his hand on Roy's shoulder. "You can tell me bud. We're friends." Roy lets out another sigh. He's obviously upset about something and George can tell. "You guys get in a fight?" Roy goes about telling the story about what happened at Comic-Con, sparing no details and not lying about anything that happened. George listens and waits to assess what has happened. "That is a tough one. Let me ask you, do you love her?" The question takes Roy aback. "I, I er, I um. I guess I do?" "You guess?" "Well, I mean, I dunno, I think I do." George's voice and tone get stern as he stares at the smaller security guard. "Look Roy. You're my friend and I like you but Rosa and I have been friends for years. So if you're going to lie to me or hurt her I'm going to kick your ass. Now you tell me, right now, no bullshit, do you love her?" The question puts him on the defensive. He’s never been in love before and honestly doesn’t know how to respond. He thinks back to their first real time hanging out together. They had just seen Diablo and Roy was critiquing it in the best way he could. “Man, that movie was so god awful.” Rosa, sipping a large cup of soda, lets out a belch and continues waddling along side him. She doesn’t know much of the mythology so she doesn’t want to sound stupid. She ponders what to say. “I mean, like, um, how dumb was it?” “Horrible CGI, makes Gollum look like a guy in a costume!” “Ha ha snort, yeah, Goldberg. What a stupid character he was. Glad he never made it into the other movies!” This comment makes him stop in tracks. He turns to the shorter and much stockier woman and gives her the snake eyes. “Who is Goldberg?” Rosa begins to sweat more than usual. She doesn’t know why but she doesn’t want to upset Roy. She begins to stammer. “Um, um, the guy. You know, the CGI guy from the movies. “Rosa, are you telling me you’ve NEVER watched Lord of the Rings? Like, ever?” “I, um, urp, um.” She looks at him and knows she can’t lie anymore. “No! No! I’ve never watched Lord of the Rings before! I’m sorry!” She is about to cry while Roy tries to figure out what to do. He puts his hand on her shoulder and tells her it’s ok. He hugs her and tries very hard not to get aroused. At first she doesn’t respond but then he notes she is grabbing him a little close. He backs away in shock and confusion and also not to make himself look bad. “I mean, it’s totally fine. You can tell me these things. You know that, right?” “I, snort, didn’t want you to think lesser of me. I know you know so much about film and that’s really cool and I just didn’t wanna look like a loser is all. “Aw, you’re not a loser at all, just a novice. I promise I’ll watch them all with you and answer any questions.” “Really? You don’t mind?” He looks at her again and notices how happy she seems to be now. He nods. “Not at all. Come on, let’s get dinner and we can talk some more.” His mind comes back to the present and how she quickly studied all the shows and movies he loved; how she even subjected herself to ridicule to dress up with him for something he always wanted to do. He realizes how happy they make one another and finally understands his mistake and what he would lose if he doesn't admit the truth. "You're right George, I do love her. I need to make this right." George smiles. "That's what I wanted to hear. I think.." His sentence is cut off. "George! George! Where the hell are you! George!" George shakes his head and grunts. "Yes Karen?" "George do you see what time it is?!? It's 10:20 and I'm 15 minutes behind on my much needed coffee to complete this round. I don't know what you're doing but you need to get over to Dunkin Donuts now!" The former muscle head gives his walkie talkie the finger before gruffly replying. "I'll be there in a second. Melanie already knows you're coming, you don't have to wait for me." "Hustle up tubby, I'm not gonna look bad to make you feel better. " She logs off. "What a fucking pain in the ass", George says before reattaching his walkie talkie to his belt. It takes a bit of effort due to the sheer size of his gut. "I don't know how you put up with it." "It's not, huff, easy. You'd think like 7 free coffees a shift would help but it doesn't. Even when she's not being abusive it's in a condescending way. 'George you didn't add enough cream or George tell your girlfriend I ordered an extra large not a medium or George glazed are good but I prefer chocolate glazed'. Ugh it's a hassle." "It's not right.I'd talk to Ross." "That won't do any good, he loves her. Besides, if she ever passes the police exam he doesn't want her to get back at him. She seems vindictive." "When's her test again? She hasn't mentioned that for a bit", Roy responds while checking to see if Rosa has decided to get back to him (she hasn't). George smiles. It was about three weeks ago and she claims that thanks to this place she hasn't been able to train which hasn't allowed her to keep pace with the changes the department has made to their entrance exams. She failed though I couldn't really make out why, she was angrily eating a glazed donut.” Roy chuckles. "Anyway, I have to go get over there before she kills me. Roy, go tell Rosa how you feel. Make things right. I'm counting on you." He waddles away and Roy nods his head recognizing what he has to do. With confidence he's never had, he waddles himself to Ross' office. "Boss, I'm not feeling good, I think I'm gonna go home. I may have caught what Rosa has." Ross looks at him and just shrugs his shoulders. "Whatever, we were gonna be overbooked in an hour anyway. Go home and get rest and don't touch anything, I don't want to get sick too." Roy fakes a cough and Ross yells for him to leave. Pleased with himself, Roy leaves the mall and hurries to his car, determined to tell the woman he loves how he really feels.

Bare midriff