Chapter 1 - she graduates

So my girlfriend (Lauren) recently finished her graduate studies program. This is a big deal! She has been working very hard for quite some time and she just graduated from the program a few weeks ago. She wants to be an eye doctor, so she is going through a strenuous education program.

To celebrate this graduation, my girlfriend and some of her friends went on a two week ( Actually 16 days) cruise. It was a group of six of them that went. Two of the girls were childhood friends and the other three were from school. They went on Royal Caribbean cruise leaving from a port in Maryland, and sailed around the Bahamas, stopping at various islands.

I dropped Lauren off at the car loop, we hugged, kissed, and said our goodbyes. She was very excited, considering she had never taken many trips growing up. This was her first time leaving the country so I was happy that she was getting to experience this, especially after all of her hard work. So she left, and I returned home knowing that it was going to be a quiet two weeks for me.

I would text her occasionally, just checking in. I didn't want to be to intrusive since she was supposed to be relaxing. Just the occasional, "Hows it going?" text, followed by the, "Great! Miss You!" response.

Nothing crazy. I would take occasional peeks at her snap-stories, which would usually consist of pictures of the pool or something she was snacking on. The typical post where a girl takes a artsy pic of her food...

About two or three days before they were scheduled to get back, I was sitting at Mavis Tire getting a tire plugged when one of her friends, Carol, shot me a text saying something like,

"Wait Until You See Lauren! LOL"

I wasn't really sure what this meant, so I replied with,

"Yea! I can't Wait!"

So the ship returns back to the port at around 10 am, and I am waiting in a line of cars to pick up Lauren. She shot me a text saying that she was in the car loop waiting by the curb. As I pull up I couldn't really believe what I was looking at.

She wearing the same outfit that she was wearing the day I had dropped her off (She liked to travel in this outfit because it was comfortable). A black tank top, and these cute little aqua blue shorts.

Except it was fitting a little more snug than I remember from when I dropped her off...

Prior to the trip she had a very flat stomach, and now she was standing curbside, sporting a soft gut.

When she left, the tank top fit her perfectly, but now it could no longer cover her entire tummy, settling about an inch below her belly button revealing a good amount of midriff.

The fabric was stretched tight across her tummy, only emphasizing her new pot belly.

Under her exposed belly, the button on her pants was hanging wide open, with the zipper only pulled up halfway, as if she gave it a shot but quickly realized she was going to be fighting a losing battle.

I pulled up, she threw her bags in the back, and she hopped in the car and gave me a huge kiss and hug. It was really nice to have her home, and by the look of it, more of her. On the way home we caught up, and she told me all about her trip. The only thing she wanted to talk about was the food. What kind, how much, and where they ate. If I asked about any activities that they did, she would somehow bring it back to food. Not once during this conversation did she mention her weight.

I looked to my right at Lauren. My eyes were immediately drawn to her lap where her once flat tummy was now resting on her thighs. Her shirt was sitting right below her belly button, allowing her new soft gut to flow onto her lap.

We had plans to go out to dinner with my parents in a few hours as this nice little Italian place to graduate Laurens graduation. When we got home, she unpacked a little, then took some clothes out that she was planning on wearing to dinner. I liked it whenever she wore this outfit. It was a figure hugging black V-neck, with white capris.

As I was also preparing to go out, I was watching her dress out of the corner of my eye. She slipped into the shirt, and then when she went to button the pants, there was a moment of hesitation. She sucked in her gut, got the button done up, and exhaled, causing her belly to surge forward, slightly hanging over the waistband. She sporting a bit of a muffin top as her fat bulged out along the sides as well. When she stood up straight, the shirt rode up, exposing about an inch and half of soft tummy. This didn't seem to phase her. I thought she looked cute. She tugged her shirt down, but it quickly slid back up after several slight movements. She didn't even bother tugging it back down.

As we walked into the restaurant, my parents got up to greet us. Now I should preface this situation by saying that my dad is actually a very nice guy, and him and Lauren have a great relationship. He just lacks social courtesy sometimes.

We got to the table and the very first thing my father said was, or something along the lines of, "Jesus Lauren. Did you eat the whole cruise ship?" as his eyes darted down towards her newly softened midsection.

Before I even let it get quiet, I awkwardly chuckled and replied, "She had a great time!"

My mother could do nothing but cringe.

We sat down, made small talk. The usual dinner routine. Lauren ordered Chicken Alfredo, and I got some kind of ravioli dish. The food was excellent.

Lauren finished before me, but as I was taking one of the last bites I had noticed that Lauren had unbuttoned and unzipped her pants. I wasn't surprised, and figured she was going to have to do that based on how they fit right when she initially put them on. We were eating Italian food which is very heavy. Whatever made her more comfortable.

"Would anyone like dessert?" the waiter asked. We all ordered coffee, and Lauren also asked for a slice of Oreo Cheesecake, one of her favorites.

"You know this isn't all inclusive right?" my dad said with a chuckle, thinking he was so hilarious. Once again, me and my mother just awkwardly giggled. "Yea I know..." Lauren replied quietly.

We all sat and talked, Lauren finished up her cheesecake. As we were getting ready to leave, I got a text from Lauren.

"They won't button..."

"Alright, no worries," I replied...

I told my parents that they could take off and that me and Lauren were going to catch up and talk about the trip. Maybe have another cup of coffee.

My parents said there goodbyes, and left. Lauren managed to get her pants done up, just buttoned not zipped, and when we got in the car, she quickly undid them once more to relieve the pressure. She was stuffed. I'm sure when I picked her up this morning, her belly was soft and squishy, but at this moment, I'm sure it was firm and hard.

Fast forward to the next day at work. I actually work in the same building complex as her friend Carol. She is one of the friends that she knew from when she was younger. We were eating lunch together at Panera Bread.

"So you see what I meant haha," she asked referring to the text she sent me before they got back.

"Yea, she must have really enjoyed the all inclusive aspect. That was her first time doing anything like that. I tried to explain it to her, but I guess she just had to see for herself."

Carol would later tell me that towards the end of the trip, Lauren was pretty drunk, and said something to Carol about how she had weighed herself that morning and had put on around 16 pounds. Carol told me that this wasn't surprising. She said that while the others were staying active, participating in activities provided by the cruise line, Lauren kept herself situated by the pool, and always had a drink in one hand and food in the other. The only time she would get up was to go get more food. The buffet was situated near the pool, so it was very easy to access the food.

I kid you not, Carol said that she literally did this for all 16 days. While the other girls were off at the casino, or playing minigolf, or going to shows, Lauren opted to lay by the pool, pile up some food on a plate, and put in her headphones and relax.

She said the only exception was when they would make stops at the various islands, but they were not long stops, and they would usually just walk around and grab food anyway. Carol said that at one of the stops, Lauren actually decided to stay on the ship, which plenty of people would choose to do, but she just did her usual thing.

Carol told me that the group would call it a night around 11:30-12:00 and be getting ready for bed, and Lauren would be slipping into her pajama pants and head out to the midnight buffet, and usually get back around 1:30. She said that this was almost every night for Lauren.

Hearing all of this was somewhat surprising, considering Lauren had never had that kind of relationship with food. But Carol told me that she had so much fun and was really able to relax after graduate school.

TBC...