literature

The Belle of the Drive-In Part III

Deviation Actions

By
Published:
25.2K Views

Literature Text

Shelli pulled up to the trailer in her new Mustang and by new, meaning old and very used.  Alas, the ’73 died and they found an ’82 that didn’t have too many problems.  Personally, she preferred the old design to the new one, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Across the way the guys were playing football.  So much for the three pounds Jake gained on the honeymoon.  The way he was running around he’d be back to normal by sundown.  No chance of her extra pounds going anywhere.  Her life was just as she suspected it would be.  Once they got home she was back to work sitting on her butt and eating all day.  The poundage she’d been accumulating was bulging from her middle and oozing over her jeans.  She always found her hand there for some reason, whether she was just feeling it or making a lame attempt to hide her overindulgence.
She waved and some of the guys waved back.  Smitty was not there.  Since he got busted he hadn’t been around at all and didn’t call anymore either.  For that she was thankful, given how he treated Dawn.  If he never came back that would be fine.
As slow as the guys were moving she suspected the game was about over, so she decided to make dinner.  Last night was fried chicken night, but she worked late, so she promised to make it tonight.
Normally she made a breast and a drumstick or a thigh and a drumstick.  There were six pieces left and she didn’t want to leave the odd pieces out, so she decided to make them all.  He’d be happy for an extra piece and if not she knew she could make room.  A growling stomach reminded her, her appetite could be insatiable sometimes and she was feeling it now.  
A mountain of food sat on their plates, as always since she started fixing them.  It was important to her to fix his plate because that’s what her mom did for her dad and she also had to make sure he had enough to eat, enough so when he was done he’d lean back in his chair groaning.  Also, she knew from experience the more she ate, the more she it took to fill her. Little by little her stomach stretched and now she could eat a ridiculous amount of food.  
In her mind, she was just taking care of Jake and by fixing his plate she already had him eating as much as her dad.  In the meantime, she stretched his stomach, because to her, he always looked longingly at the leftovers.  I’m really just doing him a favor by stretching that stomach of his so he can eat as much as he wants, she thought.  Now if only he’d show some growth around the middle.
She put the oil on the heat and cut the potatoes into fries, then breaded the chicken with a recipe she learned as a child.   She sighed as she got a roll of biscuits from the fridge and vowed to make them from scratch more often.  Next she got water on the boil for the corn.
As things were coming together Jake came in, his old sweats full of dirt and grass stains.  He peeled off his sweatshirt and dropped it over the back of a chair and walked very gingerly.
“Jake . . . are you limping?”  Shelli asked.
“Yeah.”  He’d come in from football a little dinged plenty of times, but this time was different.  This wasn’t something that he could walk off.  She knew because he just walked across the field between his trailer and the farm, and he was grimacing.
“Are you okay?”  She asked.  “Do you have to go to the doctor?”
He shook his head.  “Just help me get these off.  I need the ace bandage and some ice.”
A bruise was forming on the side of his leg above the knee.  He explained the ordeal as best he could.  Things happen so fast on the field that it’s hard to know what happens sometimes and he basically relayed what the guys told him.  Nothing exciting, just two players headed to the same spot and neither stopped when they got there.
She helped him to the sofa where he rested until dinner was ready, which he started with an ibuprofen appetizer and a tall glass of milk to ease it through his stomach.  His stomach pressed against the slightly damp t-shirt he had under his sweatshirt and she shook her head.  It was almost all gone already.
“Here baby, I made you an extra piece of chicken.”  Shelli said handing him his heavily loaded plate while he sat on the sofa with his leg wrapped and propped.  
“Thank you, baby.”  Jake smiled.  “Mmm, a nice big, filling dinner.  I really needed that.”
“You’re welcome.”  She grinned ear to ear, stroking the short hair on back of his head.  So he needed that did he?  Well, she’d make sure to always accommodate him with extras and find a way to work in desserts.  “So how did you do?  Score a lot of touchdowns?”
“Oh, about nine I guess.”  Jake started with a huge bite of drumstick as he always did.
“Wow!”  Shelli said.  “Nine touchdowns, you could go pro!”
Jake cast her a sidelong glance.  “Not likely, honey.  It’s just everybody’s fat but me.”
“But I’ve seen you play.”  Shelli said.  “You’re so fast.  How fast are you anyway?”
“I don’t know.”  Jake chuckled.  “Not fast enough for the pros.  I’m faster than the guys, but that’s not saying much.  Once I get out in front of them, they can’t catch me.  But that doesn’t mean I’m fast enough for the pros . . . or college.  Speaking of college . . .”
Shelli handed him the remote.  Fall meant college football on Saturdays.  He ate well despite the pain and since he was so grateful for that extra piece of chicken three pieces became routine, along with a pile of fries that kept growing until they fell off the plate.  Biscuits from scratch became the norm most of the time and when corn on the cob was out of season she switched to a recipe for spicy cream corn.  With all that butter and cream it packed a lot of calories into Friday dinners.  She felt devious, but it wasn’t as if she had to force it into him.

As Christmas approached she hoped his lack of exercise would lead to him gaining a few, but he didn’t.  He still lifted weights and walked, but since the injury at least the jogging was done and since the harvest was over, hard labor in the fields also done, which made her happy.
There wasn’t much thought about him putting on weight anymore since even with these changes it still wasn’t happening.  That was okay, she loved him how he was and he wasn’t as skinny as he used to be.  She estimated him around 145 pounds and he was hot to her.
Her weight on the other hand was affected by Christmas.  The yuletide cheer she was putting in her mouth wasn’t helping.  She went from a pleasantly plump 190 pound fiancé to a chubby 200 pound bride, to a fat 210 pound wife and now that Shaggy’s was closed for the year she’d been scarfing up Christmas goodies by the trough load, she felt like a 220 pound sow sitting on the couch day in and day out, just feeding her face.
“You look like you’ve settled into the position of wife pretty well.”  Dawn said looking her over after a big hug.  Living in Columbus didn’t afford them much time to hang out anymore and she was reluctant to come around for fear that Smitty might show up.
“What do you mean?”  Shelli asked.
“You’re getting fat.”  Dawn laughed.  “That’s what I mean.”
“Already was.”  Shelli laughed and reached for the cookie tin Dawn brought her for Christmas.  “You mean getting fatter.”
“Well, yeah.”  Dawn said.  “Not that I have room to talk.  It’s true what they say about people who work for the state.  I just sit around all day munching and pushing paperwork.  I’m surprised I’m not bigger than I am.”
“Do you like your job?”  Shelli asked.
“It’s not bad.”  Dawn said.  “The money and benefits are a lot better than Shaggy’s.”
“I’m sure.”  Shelli said.  “I keep tellin’ Jake I’ll go back to the store but I don’t know.  I didn’t like it there.  Plus . . . well my butt is getting too big for that space behind the register.”
Dawn nearly fell off her chair laughing.
“I’m serious!”  She grabbed Dawn by the elbow, stood and pointed.  “Look at this thing!”
“Man that thing needs its own zip code.  Do you block out the whole TV when you walk past it?”  Dawn gave her a hard swat that sent rippled across Shelli’s backside.
Shelli laughed at first, but every time a car went by, Dawn was whipping her head around to see who it was.  She frowned.  “It’s okay, sugar snap.  Smitty doesn’t come around anymore.”
“Not even for Dungeons & Dragons?”  Dawn asked.
Shelli shook her head.  “He got mad at Jake for not bailing him out.”
“What?”  Dawn gasped.  “I never meant to get you guys involved with that, I swear.”
“We never blamed you.”  Shelli said.  “Smitty said we should’ve posted bail and Jake told him he shouldn’t have done it, and oh yeah, we were in Canada, and we didn’t have the money.  Well, he told Jake that we should’ve left Canada and used our honeymoon money for bail.  Then he saw the new car and was like, no money huh?  I thought they were going to fight.”
“Oh my God.”  Dawn shook her head.  “So what happened?”
“Jake told him it was all we had left after the honeymoon.”  Always hungry, Shelli kept opening and closing her cookie tin until it was empty.  She went on with a cookie in her mouth.  “Then he said the car was only a couple hundred dollars whereas bail was a couple thousand.”
“Smitty’s such a crybaby.”  Dawn said.  “So glad that’s over.”
“He apologized later, but Jake said he doesn’t like the way he looks at me.”  Shelli said.  “That sucks ‘cuz he’s a chubby chaser and now I’m fat enough to catch his eye.”
“Oh shut up.”  Dawn laughed.  “At least he hasn’t sent you love notes saying how he loves your fat body.  Good grief.”
“What can we say, hun?”  Shelli smiled.  “We got it goin’ on.  We’re two hot fat girls.”
Dawn shook her head at Shelli’s silliness.  “I wish you’d go on a diet with me.”
“Still wanting to lose that hundred pounds?”  Shelli asked.
“More like 150, now.”  Dawn said.  “You could probably lose a hundred though.”
“No way!”  Shelli said.  “Jake loves me this way and I can’t disappoint my husband.”
“Oh whatever!”  Dawn said.  “You’re just too lazy to exercise and you don’t have any willpower when it comes to food.”
“That too.”  Shelli plucked the last few remaining crumbs from the tin, including a few cookie-crusted chocolate chips.  “I don’t know what power yummy things have over me.  Look, I emptied the cookie tin while we talked.  I just can’t stop.”
Dawn sighed.  “I can’t either.  Look, my cookie tin is almost empty, too.”
“I can help you with that.”  Shelli popped open Dawn’s tin and plucked four cookies, promptly sticking one in her mouth, trying to keep crumbs from flying everywhere while she laughed.  “Wonder why I’m getting fat, Dawnie Marie?”
“No.”  Dawn snorted.  “You better start cutting back or you’re going to get as big as a house, I’m telling ya.”
“Mmm, I love eating.”  Shelli rubbed the soft mound growing under her shirt.  “Love junk food . . .  Don’t worry, Dawnie, I won’t get that big.”
Dawn shook her head and handed her tin to Shelli, who took it with a big smile.  “Here, I’m way too fat already.  Let me know when you need my fat jeans.”
Shelli laughed, and wondered if her Dawn was serious.  “Don’t think so, Dawnie.  My big behind won’t fit in your jeans now as it is . . .”
“I better get going.”  Dawn said.  “Columbus is long drive and it’s supposed to snow later.  Think about that diet though, okay?  Come visit when you can, Shelli Lynn.  Love ya.”

“Hi honey!”  Shelli sang as Jake lumbered through the front door covered in snow.  “I know it’s Thursday but I thought you might like fried chicken tonight because tomorrow’s Christmas and we’ll be with family.  I made you an extra piece today, a thigh a breast and two drumsticks since I know that’s your fav— . . . are you okay?”
Jake held up a pink slip.  “Mueller is retiring.”
“Uh oh.”  Shelli leaned back against the rounded corner by the sink.  “Now what?”
“I don’t know, but this trailer is theirs, too.”  Jake peeled off his coat and hung it on a hook on the door so the snow could melt and drip to the linoleum where it could be easily mopped.  “I can guarantee we’re going to have to move.  I pay next to nothing for this place.  The next place we live is going to cost at least twice as much.  I know you don’t want to work at the grocery store and I like that you’re here when I get home, but . . .”
“It’s okay, Jake.”  Shelli said.  “Getting out of the house for a while every day will be good for me.  Oh, you know Dawn is always bugging me to come work in Columbus with her.  Do you want me to retake the Civil Service test?”
“If you want.”  Jake said.  “This had to happen Christmas Eve, too.”
“So . . . we don’t have any money?”  Shelli asked.
“He gave us all bonus checks.”  Jake said.  “And I have another week, all the hours I want.  The inventory has to be moved out, including livestock, which he apparently already made a deal to get rid of at the end of the year.  He wants everything done by 11:59 PM New Year’s Eve.  Something about taxes.  So I’ll be working as many hours as I can.  After that . . .”
“Oh no!”  Shelli said.  “Are we going to have to move next week?”
“No.”  Jake said.  “I don’t think so anyway.  There are laws against that, I think.  He has to give us some time.  Plus everybody else who lives here is old and can’t just up and leave.”

The bonus was nicer than they thought it would be and it made for a good Christmas.  The letter about the trailer said it had been sold to developers and all tenants had a month to move.  Instead of issuing eviction letters to throw them out in two weeks, they realized the suddenness of the situation and the move out date read:  January 31, 1993.
On the first Dungeons & Dragons night of January, Jake asked Ralphie about the factory where he worked.  As often as Jake said he didn’t want to work in a factory like his parents, it only took a week off to make him change his mind.  Maybe he didn’t want to work in a factory, but even more than that, he didn’t want to be like Smitty who never seemed to have a job.
Anyway, they were hiring, just not in Chillicothe.
“Where are they hiring?”  Jake asked.
“Dayton.”  Ralphie said.  
“That’s like an hour and a half from here.”  Jake said.  “But there’s nothing here that’s for sure.  I can’t be without a job.  What does it pay?”
“It pays pretty well.”  Ralphie tapped his fingers on his ever growing paunch.  “You might not like the shift though.  New people start on third shift or the swing shift.”
“What does it pay?”  Jake asked again.
“Um, $7 to start, I think, but then like $9 after the probationary period.”  Ralphie said.  “Plus overtime.  That’s where you really make out.  It’ll be six days a week March through November so Saturdays are like time and a half, if you’re picked for Sunday it’s double-time.”

It was a significant boost in pay from the minimum wage, the farm paid.  Shelli wanted to keep working at Shaggy’s so they decided to move to an apartment near Chillicothe which made his commute about an hour and Shelli’s about half that.
Once they moved she thought for sure he’d be back to working out since he seemed to have so much pent up energy just sitting around watching TV.  But he didn’t and she took full advantage of him being around all day for many lovemaking sessions and tempting him with things she baked.  After a few days of that, she fed him so much he started sleeping all afternoon, waking up just in time for a snack before she started making his dinner.
The new job and a new city severed his link to the friends with the weights and exercise equipment.  So there was no more working out.  He still hadn’t taken to jogging, which wasn’t too unusual since he was never diligent about jogging in the snow or cold.  No affect on his appetite, she thought and didn’t cut back on his portions, which he happily ate.  She only wished it would start to show . . . or maybe it had started.
His jeans looked just a hair tight as he rushed out the door with the food-laden cooler she handed him.  Maybe it was time to start adding donuts or something to fill up the extra space . . . or get him a bigger cooler.  She giggled.
As she daydreamed about Jake carting around a cooler filled with goodies for his lunch, it brought her back to hers.  She looked down at the excess tummy which was no longer a small muffin top.  Her portions hadn’t diminished either nor had her snacking, nor had the constant creep of poundage.  She shrugged off the few she gained since Christmas because at least it wasn’t as bad as last year.  That was until the thought occurred that she might be catching up to Dawn.  Dawn was always the fat friend, the fattest friend, to be more accurate and she wanted to keep it that way.
She thought of Jake looking good in his tight jeans again.  Yeah, his jeans were a little tighter, but spring was coming and when Shaggy’s opened her jeans were going to be more than tight.  In fact, she wasn’t even going to get her work jeans to close, not even close.
Today, she opted for stretchy leggings before heading out to see her pregnant friend.
“I’m too young to be this heavy.”  She lamented while she reached for the butter and jam to slather another biscuit.  “If mom knew I was 230 pounds she’d flip out.”
“Are you really?”  Said Barb, Ralphie’s wife.  “You’re so curvy, I would have never guessed you weigh that much.  I weigh the same thing and look at me!  I’m just a butterball.”
Shelli felt a rush at Barb’s choice of words, thinking back to the fat talk during the honeymoon.
“Pass the rolls, honey.”  Barb said.  “This food is too good.  I must have the recipe!”
“Oh it’s my pleasure.”  Shelli said.  “If you ever need me to babysit just say so.”
Barb rubbed her pregnant belly and smiled.  “Oh thank you.  When are you two going to start a family?  Or is that a sore subject?”
“No, it’s not a sore subject.”  Shelli scooped a ladle of sausage gravy onto Barb’s plate.  “Jake doesn’t think we can afford it right now.”
“Honey let me tell you a secret.”  Barb said.  “You can never afford it.  You just start having them and it all works out.”
“Really?”  Shelli asked.
“Yes.”  Barb gave a little wink.  “Just get off the pill and let nature take its course.”
“I don’t know.”  Shelli said.  “I’m getting so heavy as it is.  How much does a person gain from being pregnant?”
“You mean before or after the baby is born?”  Barb laughed.
“Both I guess.”  Shelli laughed with her.  “Too bad the men can’t share that.”  
“Who says they can’t?”  Barb said.  “Have you seen Ralphie?  I gained sixty pounds when I was pregnant the first time and so did he.  I lost forty pounds after the baby was born and he lost none.  I gained sixty-five pounds with the second one and he gained almost that much.  I lost about thirty after the baby was born and he didn’t lose any.  Now with this one,” she pointed at her bump, “I’ve gained about thirty so far and I think he’s put on more weight than I have.”
“Wow.”  Shelli felt herself getting warm.  “And do you like that?”
Barb shrugged.  “It’s nice.  One more baby and I’ll never have to worry about getting cold in January again with a big ole soft heater like that next to me, if you get my meaning.”
“That sounds nice.”  Shelli said quietly.
Barb winked and replied just as quietly.  “You should try it.”
“Who says I haven’t been?”  Shelli sipped her Coke.
“You’re a great cook.”  Barb grinned.  “His waistline can’t hold out forever.”

Not long after the swing shift started she noticed his pent up energy was gone.  In fact, Jake seemed to have hardly any energy at all by the time he got home.  He rotated backwards weekly, third shift, second shift, then first, then back to third.
They got into a routine and she had dinner ready for him at the end of his shift whenever that was.  Sometimes it seemed he barely got the food down before he was sleeping, particularly on those weeks when he was third shift.  His job wasn’t strenuous or very active and most of the time he simply operated the machinery, or watched the product go by.
Between driving and never getting used to his shift before it changed, he was perpetually tired.  Gone was any suggestion of exercise, he didn’t even go for walks anymore.  True he looked a tiny bit softer, but he’d find a workout he could live with as soon as the weather got warmer.  When she was at Shaggy’s and he was home alone, the power of boredom would drive him back to working out.
It didn’t though, with rare exception.  Even as summer approached.
“Hun, what’s this paperwork?”  Shelli asked one night.  “It’s been collecting dust for months.”
“My physical stuff.”  Jake said rubbing his eyes.  It was another grueling transition from third shift to first shift and his body didn’t know whether it was supposed to be waking up or going to sleep.  “They made me do a lift test, drug test, blood pressure test, all that stuff.”
“Shouldn’t you give this to your office?”  She asked.
“It’s just a copy.”  Jake said.  “They said it’s ‘for my records’.  Whatever that means.”
“Well, what do you want me to do with it?”  Shelli asked.
“Put it with the rest of my records.”  Jake said.
“You don’t have any other records.”  Shelli laughed.
“Well, then that’s the first record, I guess.”  Jake said.  “You have to start somewhere.”
She took them back to the bedroom thinking she’d put them in an old shoebox or something.  They had a chest in the back of the closet and an empty shoebox on the top shelf.  As she was folding the pages she noticed it indicated his weight.
“Hmm . . . 155 pounds?”  She muttered and looked over her shoulder to make sure he wasn’t listening or watching.  “That’s weird, he doesn’t look like he’s gained any weight . . . but that’s like ten pounds.  It certainly doesn’t look like that much.”  Then she smiled . . . that was months ago and he certainly hadn’t lost any weight recently.
He wasn’t required to wear anything formal in the factory and most of the time he wore sweats, or those baggy workout pants.  From experience she knew that sweats didn’t need upgraded as often as jeans.  The ones she bought at 220 pounds still fit her just fine at 235 and still had enough room that she could put away two or three Shaggy burgers without any discomfort.  Well, without discomfort from her pants anyway.
If he was gaining weight, she wondered where he was putting it.  Speaking of putting on weight, her weight was still going up, slowly but always up.  As she turned to regard her figure in the mirror, most of it was hips and thighs and true, as Barb often mentioned, she didn’t look like she was almost 240 pounds.  Felt like it, yes.  She was solidly built and she felt heavy.  She wondered what it was like for Jake to be under her tonnage.
He was still an enigma to her when it came to weight.  By all logical thinking, even if he worked out like a madman he should have been quite heavy by now.  Her barometer for his appetite was measured every Friday when she made his fried chicken.  Recently, his three piece dinner had become four.  He reached for extra biscuits, extra corn and extra fries, so she began to make eight pieces of chicken instead of six.  Since he was full of chicken, he went back to two biscuits and one serving of corn and fries.  As his stomach stretched, he needed a little more to get his fill and he started reaching for that extra biscuit again.
A moment later it was forgotten and remained forgotten until a month later when they spent a Sunday afternoon at Ralphie and Barb’s, with Dawn and her new boyfriend Stan.  It wasn’t just that he was wearing clothes she never saw before, but he just looked bigger.  In fact, she did a double take when he stripped his shirt and shorts off and headed to the pool with the guys in his swimming suit.  It was one thing to see him without a shirt at home or in bed, but now he was around other guys, now she had a better picture of Jake now, next to his friends.  Happily, she wasn’t the only one who noticed.
“What happened to your skinny boyfriend?”  Dawn teased with a nudge of her elbow.
“Poor guy didn’t stand a chance.”  Barb winked.  “Ralphie said there are so many guys in the plant that are so heavy they are going to start a weight loss program.”
“Oh, is he hitting the vending machines all day?”  Shelli asked, blinking at the belly her husband suddenly had—and it wasn’t a small one!  Sometimes she thought that maybe he didn’t realize how much more he was eating now compared to when they first met, and if he was hitting the junk food all day too . . .
“That and he has a good woman at home cooking awesome food!”  Barb held up a huge chunk the brownie Shelli made, her other hand rested on a belly so big, it must have been ready to give up a baby any day now.
“Oh, you’re so sweet.”  Shelli said.  “Yeah, I make sure he’s taken care of.”
She watched in fascination as another guy, a neighbor, joined the fray in the pool as a game of water polo started with two person teams.  They played for about a half hour, Shelli smiling from the window with each jiggle and shimmy of his body as he leapt and threw and dove.  He came out huffing and puffing, but at least he was smiling for a change and didn’t seem so lethargic.
“Boy . . . look at all three of them.”  Barb said.  “We better put those chubby boys on a diet.  Especially Ralphie, at least until he’s back below 300 pounds.”
“Oh my gosh!”  Shelli gasped.  “Is he really over 300 pounds?”
“Oh sure!”  Barb nodded.  “Doesn’t he look it?”
Dawn nodded.  “Stan is almost 300 pounds now.  So yes, he looks it.”
“Oh my!”  Shelli had her hand over her mouth.  “That sounds so . . . fat.”
“They are fat, Shelli!”  Barb laughed.
“Then again, so are we.”  Dawn said.  “I’m so much heavier than I want to be . . . why don’t we all go on diets?”
“Because I’m pregnant and ready to drop.”  Barb said.  “I’m not finished taking advantage of this.  Watch,” she said as she picked up another hunk of brownie, “I can two-fist dessert and nobody says a word.”
“We can wait until you’re ready.”  Shelli said, not wanting anything to do with a diet.  She’d be fine with losing weight, just not if she had to give up Shaggy burgers and ice cream sandwiches . . . or friend chicken . . . or pizza . . . or chocolate . . . or, now that she was old enough to drink legally—alcohol.
“Are you sure about that?”  Dawn poked the thick slab of tummy bulging over Shelli’s denim shorts.  “How much are you going these days, Shells?”
Shelli cast a guilty smile and shrugged.  “Maybe 240?  Like 242 or something.  What about you?”
“Still more than you, apparently.”  Dawn said.  “But the day’s coming my hungry food-addicted friend, where you’re going to be the chunkier friend.  Right now, I weigh almost as much as Stan unfortunately, I’m 280 pounds and in desperate need of a diet.”
“But you’re so beautiful, sugar snap.”  Shelli said.  “And I can tell Stan loves you the way you are.”
“Shelli, you’re always trying to find a way out of dieting.”  Dawn frowned.
“She’s right though.”  Barb said.  “About this, at least.  He dotes on you.”
“I know he does.”  Dawn said.  “And I appreciate the way you two always reassure me that I’m attractive and all, but come on ladies, I’m . . . huge.  I mean look at the size of my ass and talk about thunder thighs!”
“We all have those.”  Shelli shrugged.
“Well, don’t you want to trim down or something?”  Dawn asked.
Shelli shrugged.  “Jake likes me this way and I have to admit . . . I’m really cute!”
Dawn threw up her hands and snorted.  “You’re hopeless.”
Shelli shrugged again and reached for two brownies, handing one to Dawn who didn’t hesitate to take it.  Everybody was big in Dawn’s family and beautiful as far as Shelli was concerned.  She appreciated not having a man who harassed her about her weight and thought every woman should appreciate it as well, but Dawn didn’t.

Jake had the guys laughing so hard out on the patio, that Ralphie had trouble picking up the charcoal.  Amazing what a day off and a little fun could do.  Shelli met him outside and wrapped a towel around him.  Shelli bit her lip over Ralphie and Stan’s huge bellies, wobbling as they laughed and Jake’s small one jiggling along.  Did she dare hope he’d ever be their size?
“They’re going to start the grill, hun.”  Shelli cleared her throat and twirled her hair around her finger imagining him that size.  “Do you want to stay?  I know you have to get up in the morning.”
“Yeah, we can stay for a little while.”  Jake said and took the towel dried off as much as he could before walking through their house to retrieve his clothes.  “I’m dying for grilled food.”

He had to stand to the side to make way for the wide and waddling pregnant lady returning from the bathroom.  She smiled as she passed.
“You can grin at me if you want to, Jake.”  She poked him in the chest playfully as she made her way by.  “But Shelli is going to be bigger than me when she’s pregnant.  You can bet on that.”
“Okay.”  Jake laughed and didn’t know what else to say about that.  It didn’t matter to him how big she was when she got pregnant.  Barb was probably right though.  She seemed to take the bulk of her weight in the hips and kept getting wider, her bottom kept its round bubble shape, it just kept growing.  He saw Dawn coming and stood to the side for her too, because though she wasn’t pregnant, was still almost as big as Barb.
She smiled as she passed, too, only it wasn’t because of what was in his mind.  He noticed her eyes kept dipping to his belly and before he knew it, she was patting it, hard enough to make it ripple.  That was a new sensation to him, feeling his belly and chest shake, though perhaps embarrassing it was not entirely unwelcome.
“Gettin’ fat, Jake.”  Dawn chuckled.  “Better lay off the beer and vending machines for a while.  Or is this Shelli’s cooking that’s making you pack on the pounds?”
He felt the heat coming off his face and it wasn’t from the sun.  He shrugged, not sure what to say.  It was both and he knew it.  Too much of both.  But she made it so easy to overeat, so normal and her cooking was so good.  The vending machine, well that was boredom as much as anything.  All the beer probably didn’t help either.  Geez, was this thing a beer belly?  He swore he’d never have one of those.

“Melba rounds, celery, watercress, edimamy, edimawmay, eddie—whatever this is, and tofu.”  Shelli sighed.  “This is going to suck.”
“What’re you doing?”  Jake asked as he closed the apartment door behind him.  First shift always had him in a better mood and getting home at reasonable hour had her in a better mood.  He inhaled deeply at the aroma coming from the kitchen.
“The girls decided we should all go on a diet.”  Shelli said.  “Now that Barb had the baby, she’s had a couple weeks to give her body a break and now we’re all, um, going on a diet.”
“We?”  Jake asked.
Shelli nodded.
Jake sat down on the sofa beside her and took the pad from her hand to look over all the rabbit food she had listed.  There were some things he never tried like edamame, and then there were things that he knew full well he didn’t like . . . like celery.
“Grrrr.”  Shelli bit her lip and Jake felt her fingers squeezing—sinking into a part of his body that shouldn’t have been there, a lot that shouldn’t have been there.
He looked down to his right, to find her fingertips lightly pinching a roll of fat hanging over his belt above his hip.  Some people refer to that part as a love handle, but he knew it wasn’t a love handle, it couldn’t be a love handle because he didn’t have those—at all!  This, at best could be considered something similar.  There was a lot of it, whatever it was.  It was accentuated by the way he was sitting, but still . . . it shouldn’t have been there.  And why was she biting her lip like that?
“Love this.”  She said.
“You love what?”  Jake said as if he didn’t know what she meant.  Her plump fingertips sunk into his flesh.  He never thought of himself as ‘pliable’ before, but that’s what it was.
“This.”  She bit her lip again and squeezed his flab.  “Love this.”
“Dawn said I was getting fat.”  Jake frowned.
“She did?”  Shelli grinned.  “When did she say that?”
“At Ralphie’s cookout.”  Jake said.
“Did it upset you?”  Shelli asked.
“No.”  Jake sighed.  “I knew she didn’t say it to be mean.  I’m just . . . it’s something about my job.  I’m always tired, I don’t get to exercise anymore, I’m hitting the vending machine all the time, on third shift I can drink anywhere from three to six cans of Mountain Dew in one night, not that it helps any.  Sorry . . . I guess I should go on the diet with you.”
“You don’t have to.”  Shelli said.  “It’s really Dawn who wants to go on the diet and she wants to put Stan on one.  I just went along with her because . . .”
“Because you always let her talk you into doing things.”  Jake said.
“She won’t be able to stick to it.”  Shelli said.  “Then we’re off the hook.”
“Why won’t she be able to stick to it?”  Jake asked.
“She works in an office with a bunch of old ladies who are always baking.”  Shelli said.  “Haven’t you noticed how much weight she’s put on since she took that state job?  She’s just getting nervous because she’s almost as heavy as Stan.”
“Well, Stan’s about four inches taller than her.”  Jake said.
“Yeah.”  Shelli subtly tried to get her fingers between his belt and his belly.  By the look on her face, she was noting the tightness and his budding spare tire.  “She’s got a big tum that she’s worried about . . . your pants are pretty tight, hun.”
“Yeah I know.  Do you want to go on a diet?”  Jake asked.
She shrugged.  “Well . . . I’m really heavy.  It’s like I don’t have any willpower or anything.  I see the number on the scale going up and up and I’m just like, oh that’s a lot, oh I wonder if there’s any more fudge.  I know I’ve gotten heavy.  I know I shouldn’t be this heavy.  I’m only 21 and I’m the fat girl of the family.  Fattest by a long shot.  I don’t even think daddy weighs this much.”
“Can’t be that much.”  Jake said.
“I know I don’t look like it.”  Shelli said.  “It’s the way I’m built, but I’m really heavy.”
“You’re solid.”  Jake said.  “Not blubbery and stuff like Barb.”
“I weigh more than she does, and she just had a baby.”  Shelli said.  “Sometimes I worry about my weight getting out of control.  Like I’ll wake up one day and be as big as a whale, like one of the ladies on TV who can’t wear anything but a tent or something.”
“It’s not as bad as all that, Shells.”  Jake said.
“No?”  Shelli said.  “I used to be able to sit on your lap in grandpa’s recliner.  If I sat on your lap now, first you’d be squished, and second, I’m so big nobody would see you in the chair, and third, no one would find you for a month because you would be squished into the cracks of the seat cushion.”
Jake laughed.  “I’d like to find out if that’s true someday.”
“Whatever.”  Shelli laughed too.  But he figured she got out of the conversation what she wanted, and that was to get his mind off of his own weight and finagle an admission out of him that her weight, having reached a whopping 245 pounds, wasn’t too much for him.  Which was good because her stomach was growling.  “How about some lasagna before we diet?”
“Sounds good to me.”  Jake said.  “Did you make those canolies or whatever they are?”
She nodded and smiled back.  “I hope you worked up an appetite.”
“Don’t I always?”  He asked as he unlaced his work boots, noting how hard it was to bend over with his waist so tight.

Shelli sniffed her runny nose, runny from the bite in the air outside.  The forecast didn’t call for snow but it came out of nowhere and dropped six inches, enough to create a huge mess the likes of which she hadn’t seen since the Atlanta ice storm when she was a kid.  The cold wind made her eyes water in the short walk from her car to their apartment and the hike up a flight of stairs had her panting and out of breath.
It must have been the heavy bags, she convinced herself.  Their extended family in the South sent presents to her parents’ house which she collected before the snow began to fall and then made a stop at the grocery store, and a few other places, on the way home.  Three trips to the car had her winded and tired.
Snow fell from her jacket as she unzipped it, noting the snugness around her chest and tummy.  She hung it on the hook on the door and wiped her red nose and sniffed again.  A few trips to the car shouldn’t have winded her so.  She looked down to her shoes and shook her head, she couldn’t see her feet anymore without leaning far forward.  Instead, she lifted her foot out and braced herself against the wall.  Her shoes were covered in snow and had to come off before she tracked slush all about the hallway and living room.
She gave a derisive snort, since eating a post-Christmas dinner with the family her jeans had become too tight to bend down or squat to undo her shoes.  Even a slight bend at the waist caused her belly to form a wide spare tire, the upper part of her belly formed a huge roll under her shirt and the lower part of her belly formed a huge roll in her jeans which sometimes proved too much for the sorry button that held them together.
“Stupid diet.”  The list was so restrictive she was either starving or binging.  This time of year was a stupid time to start a diet.  She stood by the door massaging the groves around her waist where her jeans dug into her flesh during her drive home.  Stupid diet indeed.  So much for the Christmas spirit.  All she heard all day from family and relatives were snide comments (and shocked comments) about her weight.  Perhaps it was justified since she packed on well over a hundred pounds since high school and that was the last time some of her relatives had seen her.
All the teasing had her upset.  It wasn’t at all like the teasing Jake put her through, that was fun and kind of sexy and certainly endearing.  It was mean.
But Jake’s teasing, she longed to give it back to him, but he hadn’t put on much weight recently.  He was around 160 before the autumn and now with only days left in 1993, he was still about the same weight.  She on the other hand . . . not only had she gained over a hundred pounds since school, but now she outweighed her husband by over a hundred pounds, too.
She tried so hard to stick to her diet and did well when she wasn’t at Shaggy’s.  Once the delicious smell of burgers drifted to her nose her mouth began to water and she was back to a burger in the afternoon and another in the evening before heading home to cook dinner.
But Shaggy’s closed for the season over a month ago and her increasing poundage never stopped, nor did her desire for munching on ‘yummy things’.  Her one consolation was neither Dawn nor Barb seemed to lose much in this effort either.  She couldn’t blame them.  The diet was tedious and boring and difficult, not to mention bland and unfulfilling.
Well . . . no more.  On the table sat several fast food bags, one from McDonalds, one from Taco Bell, one from Skyline Chili and . . . something was missing.  She picked up the phone and dialed the local pizza place for a delivery.
She stood at the window to watch for the delivery boy while she unwrapped and devoured the soft taco supremes in three bites each.  “Oh, they’re so good.  Mmmm.”
When the pickup pulled into the lot, she knew it wasn’t the delivery boy, but Sabrina the punk girl who was always hitting on her.  She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help smiling.  She was a sweet girl and Shelli liked her, just not in the way that would have made Sabrina happy.  She sucked in her stomach as much as she could and fought with her button until her pants were done up again and just in time for the doorbell.  She was still out of breath and perhaps her face looked a little flush from struggling with her pants.
“Hi Michelle!”  Said Sabrina, pizza box in hand.  Her hair was sprayed high in something like a Trojan helmet, colored red and purple with blond at the tips.  Her bright blue eyes were very heavily shaded, with thick dark lining and black lipstick.  From what she remembered, she was still in high school, but that didn’t stop her from being so . . . friendly.
“Hi Sabrina, you can call me Shelli though.”  She said as she reached for the pizza.
“Oh, sorry, I forgot.”  Sabrina winced.  “It’s just that the receipt always says Michelle.”
“That’s because it says ‘Michelle’ on my credit card.”  Shelli said.  “But nobody calls me Michelle, not even my mom.”
“Sorry.”  Sabrina said.  “You look beautiful today.”
“Well, thank you Sabrina.”  Shelli smiled.
“More beautiful than usual.”  Sabrina said.  “Have you done something with your hair?”
“I’m just letting it grow a bit.”  Shelli said.  “Do you like it?”
“Love it!”  Sabrina said.  “There might be something else different though.  Can’t put my finger on it.  You’re really beautiful though.”
“Thank you, Sabrina.”  She took the pizza and dug in her pocket for a few dollars to give as a tip and found her pants so tight and her fingers so fat that it was almost as difficult to get into her pocket as it was to do up her pants.  It must have been amusing, given the smile on the delivery girl’s face.
“Taco Bell?”  Sabrina asked and confused, Shelli looked up at her.  “McDonalds?  Skyline Chili?  Is all that for you?”
“Oh!”  Shelli flushed at her forgetfulness.  She should have put that stuff out of sight!  “Oh that!  Um, no of course not.  Jake has such a big appetite.  That little piggy’s always hungry!”
“Oh sure.”  Sabrina winked.  “I didn’t see his car in the lot though.”
“Um . . . he’s not home yet.”  Shelli said.
“Oh okay.”  Sabrina grinned.  “That’s so hot.”
“What is?”  Shelli asked, but Sabrina just shook her head with a knowing grin on her face.  So the delivery girl knew it was all for her.  Her face heated and hoped this high school girl couldn’t see it.  
“Um, Shelli do you think we could maybe get a bite to eat together sometime?”  Sabrina asked.  “You’re such a cool girl I think it would be cool to get to know you.”
“I’m . . . I’m married, Sabrina.”  Shelli knew she was blushing then.  “But thank you.”
“Oh, I know you’re married.”  Sabrina said.  “I thought that maybe, well . . . you  know, um . . . we might still be able to hang out sometime though.  You know, maybe get, um . . . get to know each other.  Hang out.”
“We’ll see.”  Shelli said.
“Okay, well, uh enjoy the pizza.”  Sabrina winked and gave Shelli’s body a onceover.

“What’s so hot?”  Shelli scrunched up her face in confusion and popped open her jeans again as soon as the door was closed.  There on the table sat all the food that was about to disappear into her chubby face and she put it together.  Sabrina didn’t just like girls, she liked big girls apparently.  The thing that was different about her that she hinted at ‘that she couldn’t put her finger on’ was the fact that she’d put on so much weight since she last saw her.
She shrugged.  So what if she was a weird kid?  She was sweet and Shelli liked her.
Jake wouldn’t be home for hours.  Nothing like a little snack to kill the time before she had to make him dinner.  He was doing a double shift and wouldn’t be home until about midnight.  With minimal grunting, she peeled off her jeans and watched her body jiggle like jello as she shimmied into her pajamas.
With the bags of fast food around her and a box of pizza on the coffee table, she dug in.  
There were more reasons than simply ‘needing a treat’ for all the food.  Not only were the holidays stressful, but she and Jake had many ‘discussions’ of late about not spending too much for Christmas treats, and then later that she’d spent too much money on Christmas dinners, she was spending too much on clothing because she was getting so fat, though he didn’t say that out loud, but she was spending too much on eating out in general.  What it came down to was he was making more money than ever before and she was eating up his paychecks and turning it into fat.
She tried to explain that healthy food was more expensive than the cheap junk they’d been eating and how she wanted him to be supportive of her effort to lose weight, and he was, he just didn’t want her to diet them into bankruptcy.  What he didn’t know was most of the money she was spending on ‘healthy food’ was actually being spent on Shaggy burgers and a daily stop at McDonalds, usually in the morning right before they switched to the lunch menu and occasionally the Golden Corral when she was off work and he wasn’t.
“Mmmm burrito.”  She closed her eyes and savored it.  The Taco Bell was new in town and she swore they were getting a good start in their venture because she was spending all her tip money on tacos and burritos.  As her belly filled, it stretched the fabric of her shirt tight, and her skin felt smooth and soft to the touch of her fingers as they slipped under her lower belly roll.  The pounds were adding up fast, so fast her belly formed into two parts.  True, her hips and thighs took most of the weight gain, but her belly was close behind.
She thought about how her weight had been climbing and shrugged it off as if it was no big deal, because to her it wasn’t.  Her family was freaking out over it, especially her extended family who hadn’t seen her since she was thin.  But she wasn’t freaking out over it and neither was Jake and who else mattered?
She crumbled up the Taco Bell bag and went for two slices of pizza, one stacked on top of the other.  Out of the corner of her eye, sat the bag she brought from her parents’ house with the festive treats she planned on enjoying for dessert.
“Oh, I love eating.”  She sighed happily.
A year and a half ago she was a 200 pound bride and thought herself huge, but within a few months, she ballooned to 220 pounds and didn’t stop there.  Once she got into a routine, she was cooking and snacking as much as she pleased and hit 230 pounds by that winter, 240 came by summer and a month ago, before a very filling Thanksgiving, she had grown to 250 pounds.
“Oh I love you pizza.”  She moaned and pushed her elastic below her belly, finished her two by two pizza slices then stacked two more and took a huge bite.  “Why are you so yummy, pizza?  Can’t you see you’re making me fat?”
She listened to the fizz of a fresh two liter bottle of Coke opening and didn’t bother with a glass.  It’d been in the fridge and it was cold enough.  She gulped until the building carbonation wouldn’t let her take another swallow without a release.
She dipped her fries from McDonalds in ketchup or mayonnaise or ranch dressing and ate them as fast as she could because she didn’t want cold fries.  Her stomach was getting rounder as it filled up, the feeling was addicting.
“So delish!”  She mumbled as she dipped one edge of her double quarter pounder into the ranch dressing.  With no one around there was no reason to stifle any belches and she didn’t even try, in fact she smiled at how obnoxious she could be with it.  The super-sized fries disappeared as did one of her double quarter pounders and half the pizza was gone.  She was getting full, but the prospect of Skyline waiting on the counter kept her going.
She dumped the rest of the bottle of ranch in a bowl and decided to dip the pizza in it.  A twinge of embarrassment made her face heat.  What if Jake saw her eating like this?  It was no wonder she was getting so big.
“Can’t stop eating.”  She moaned.  “So good.”
Her stomach bulged out, round and high, packed tight with fattening junk food.  Most of the pizza was gone now and she crumbled up her McDonalds bag and waddled to the kitchen, burping until she had the hiccups, giggling and wincing from the pain from each jolt.
“Ugh.”  She groaned.  “I’m going to have to save up for a microwave, because he’s never going to get one if I don’t.”
She took a large ceramic bowl and dumped her Skyline into it with the hotdogs on the bottom, then covered it with cheese, all the cheese they provided, plus a third of a package of mixed shredded cheese she had in the fridge and put it in the oven.  While she waited for it to heat up she finished the pizza that had gone cold.
The Bengals played in the background while she kneaded her swollen, aching tummy.  She understood how she got so fat, but didn’t understand why her sisters weren’t twice as big.  They both loved food, too.  How was it that she was the only one turning into a blimp?  Maybe they had willpower.  At least Dawn was still a good forty pounds heavier.
Finally, the oven dinged and she put her empty pizza box and fast food bags on the table to be disposed of later and reached for her oven mitts.  Beside her on the table was the bag full of treats.  She frowned.  There wasn’t going to be any room for that.
Not wanting to walk all the way back (twelve feet) to the living room, she put the hot bowl on the table and dug in, smiling at each sloppy, cheesy bite.  With each slurp, a corresponding splatter of sauce marked her chin, or her cheeks or her nose.  She felt her soft, heavy belly creep farther out into her lap, resting on her thick thighs.
What was she thinking getting a serving for two?
Soon it was all gone too.  In an act of sheer diet defiance, she got up and buttered a few leftover biscuits and sopped up all the leftover chili sauce in the bowl.
“Can’t move.”  She panted, belched, then panted some more.  “Oh Shelli you totally overdid it.  So stuffed.  I think I’m gonna be sick.”
Very gingerly she stood—stooped, swaying, her packed stomach cradled in her arms and shuffled to the living room, carefully lowering herself to the sofa and sat back . . . moaning.  There was so much to be done tonight and now she was sitting on her huge bubble butt and couldn’t get back up.  She had to dispose of the trash before Jake got home, she had to make him dinner, she had to hide the sweets, she had to . . .

“Yaaahhhhh!”  Shelli squealed.  Something cold as ice, perhaps it was ice, on her bare tummy rudely tore her from her dreams and had her heart pounding.  She swatted whatever it was away and felt a cold hand restrain her and a giggle, then the icy cold touched the back of her neck.  “Oh my God!  Stop Jake!  That’s freezing!”
He laughed.  “Did you have a party in here or what?”
“Huh?”  Shelli blinked her tired eyes.  She didn’t feel anything wet on her.  It must have been his hands that were that cold.  How he tormented her sometimes!  How she loved it so!  She struggled to sit up, her big flabby dome of a belly always seemed to be getting in the way.  It was just has hard to manage as her overly wide and plush bottom.  She was too tired and it was too much of a bother, so she laid on her side and kept her eyes closed, smiling.
“Pizza, fast food . . .”  She heard his voice but it sounded distant.
“Don’t look at that stuff.”  She chuckled helplessly, sleepily, trying to tug her shirt over her bare belly.
“How could I miss it?”  He said and she felt his cold fingers on her bare belly again, they were cool now and quickly warming up now that he was inside.
“My tummy’s big.”  She giggled softly, her eyes still closed and on the verge of dreamland.  “I needed a snack.  I’m sorry I must have fallen asleep.  I didn’t make you dinner.”
“A snack?”  Jake asked.  “I thought you were on a diet.  Are you on a see-food diet?”
“Sea food?”  Shelli squinted.  “I haven’t had any sea food.  Oh see-food?  As in I see food and I eat it?”
Jake nodded.
“Yeah, smarty, I guess I am.”  Shelli giggled a tired, but amused laugh.  “No willpower, hun.  I’m surrounded by yummy food all the time.”  She took two handfuls of her belly and kneaded it.  “I guess that’s obvious.”
Jake patted it.  “It’s cute.  You rest.  I’ll just run out for something.  Maybe I’ll hit up Wendy’s.”
“Oh, can you get me a Triple?”  Shelli asked.
“Okay.”  Jake said.
“And biggie fries.”  Shelli said.  “And a biggie chocolate Frosty.”
“Anything else?”  Jake asked.
“A baked potato.”  Shelli said.  “With sour cream and chives.  Mmm.  Can you stop at the donut place too?  My tummy’s happily stuffed tonight.”
Jake patted her belly again.  “Your ‘happy tummy’ almost reaches the edge of the sofa cushion, baby.”
“Then I have room to grow?”  Shelli giggled and giggled harder when Jake started making grunting noises like a pig.  “Stop!  It’s because my butt’s so big, not because my tummy’s fat!”
But he didn’t stop, nuzzling her bellybutton, blowing raspberries against her skin and tickling her until she was roaring with laughter.  He pinched her rolls as she tried to bat his hands away.  They were growing, as was the rest of her and the advice he got from his cousin a few years ago at the wedding came back to mind. “I love Shelli,” his cousin said, “so don’t get me wrong, but she’s one of those girls who’ll keep getting fatter until you crack down on her about her weight.  I know her type well, so trust me, you need to crack down on her before she’s huge.  You don’t want her to be 300 pounds do you?”
So what if she got to 300 pounds?  She was getting there and she didn’t look that big.
“Are you seriously hungry, or do you just want to eat?”  Jake asked.
“I just want to eat.”  Shelli bit her lip.  “I promise I’ll get back on my diet.  I know I shouldn’t be this big . . . I just can’t stop eating.  But I’m going to, I promise.”
“I’m okay with it.”  Jake said.
“I know, baby, and that’s sweet.”  Shelli said.  “But I’m tired of hearing about it.  I hear it from everybody.  Literally everybody.  My mom, my dad, my family, my relatives, my sisters are the worst!  Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if my butt wasn’t so huge!  I was knocking things over with this big ole thang at mom’s all day—and my thighs!  Gosh!  I couldn’t even fit my big ass in my grandma’s old wicker chair.”
“Piggy.”  Jake smiled and nuzzled her neck, back to making oinking noises.
“Stop, you bum!”  She laughed, wrapping her soft heavy arm around his neck and pulling him into her cushiony chest.  “You better quit . . . I am a piggy.”
“You look good to me.”  Jake shrugged.
“I know, but like you said, my fat takes up the whole sofa.”  Shelli filled her hands with belly and gave it a shake, hard enough that her double chin shook too.  “See?  I’m so . . . big.”
“You look good to me.”  Jake said.
She took his hands and put them on her bare belly, squeezing his fingers into her folds, kneading her flesh like it was dough, softer and warmer than dough, heavier than dough.  She released his hands and he took over, massaging all the new pounds she’d gained, she sighed in a blissful arousal.
“God, that feels good.”  Shelli whispered.  “I am getting so dang fat, but you always make me feel so beautiful.”
“You are, baby.”  Jake whispered back.
“I’m so dang hungry, too.”  Shelli whispered.  “I ate all day long, and all night, and I’m so dang hungry.  I’m getting so fat.”
Jake pressed his lips against hers, letting his hands explore her belly, up her torso, down her thighs.
“Will you get some donuts when you’re out?”  Shelli whispered.  “A dozen?”
“Sure, hun.”  Jake said.
“And some ice cream?”  Shelli asked.
“I’m thought you wanted a Frosty.”  Jake said.
“I do, but I want ice cream, too.”  Shelli was practically panting in anticipation of all this food, her lips against his, her nose rubbing his.  “And Jake . . . when you come back I want you to feed it all to me.  No matter what, don’t stop until all of it is inside my fat round tummy.”
Comments10
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Borghen's avatar

So it is going to be a mutual WG. Interesting!