Chapter 11 - after hours

Carla lived on the top floor of an old building on a residential street, it was at most a five minute walk. They trudged up the stairs. Red and Carla arrived at the door first. Sofi did not seem used to stairs, she was looking flushed and pulling herself up with help from the balustrade

Carla quietly unlocked the green door and guided Red in.

"Tah Dah!" she said and took the two into a really short, narrow corridor, with 5 doors connected to it. "Time for a tour?"

"Yeah, grand." Red nodded and stifled a yawn.

Carla opened the first door and turned on the lights.... "Kitchen." It was small, only room for one. "Cosy huh?"

Cosy was an understatement, it was not cluttered, but all the space was used, a dining table for one was under the window, the room was packed with cupboards and regular utensils. Curiously she also had a dartboard by the entrance.

She continued the tour. The bathroom was predictably tiny. Toilet, sink, shower and chequered walls, She opened the bedroom door next. This was a sensible sized room, even the celiling looked higher. The floor was covered with a patchwork mosaic of burgundy carpet that she must have assembled from cheap scraps, the wall painted in a dull off white. The bed appeared to be built into the room, it was low down and did not look moveable, there was also a desk and a couple of built in wardrobes and a few hanging prints depicting generic black and white city scapes. He recognised this room from the photo he looked up earlier

Finally, the lounge. This was another tiny room. A sofa, armchair, coffee table and widescreen television were crammed in, the floor was wood panels with an incredibly fluffy purple rug covering half of it. There were two pizza boxescon the table. One huge box, folded in half, another much smaller one. Carla spotted these, she opened the little one, there was a piece left, she took it out and put it in her mouth and took the boxes away.

Red perched next to the couch, he did not want to sit down again until he loosened his trousers. He heard Sofi come in and say "Im off to bed now." to Carla, who sounded like she responded with a hug. Sofi, then stood in the lounge doorway. "Nice to meet you, Red." She smiled at him and trailed off into the bedroom.

Carla came into the room, holding two small glasses of wine and put them on the table. "Only one more, I promise." She sat down on the sofa and gestured Red do the same.

"Thanks." he said and took a seat. He shuffled to help settle leaned forwards to pick up the glass. However, the table must have been slightly too low and top far away, Red felt his belly push so hard on his jeans that he could not bend enough. He felt a pass of embarrasement, which very quickly became excitement. He leaned back into the sofa and very casually undid the buttons on his jeans and the very bottom of his shirt. Without looking at Carla, he bent forwads and picked up the glass. "much better." He thought.

"oh my God, im so sorry." Carla said, acting flustered.

"Sorry?" Red said.

"I don't know! I didn't want you to be uncomfortable." She took a sip of wine.

"Oh, no... Im fine, my own fault." Red smiled reassuringly.

Carla stood up... "I have spare pyjamas!" she said and exited the room again. Red felt his heart flutter.

Carla came back a minute later. She was wearing pink, fluffy, floral patterned pyjamas and held a pair of grey sweatpants and an enourmously baggy t shirt. "these are all I have which aren't girly." she said, throwing them at him. She sat next to him.

He though... "She did not leave the room... does this means she wants me to change in front of her?" Red took a gamble, he kicked his shoes off and slid down his jeans. Carla took sips from her wine as he changed. If she was peeking, she was trying to hide it. He pulled up the sweatpants and began unbuttoning his shirt from the top. It genuinely felt like such a release. He felt his pulse quicken even more as he slid the shirt back. His belly was swollen and rounded, it bulged heavily in the middle. He wanted to look at Carla to catch her spying, but something caught him off guard, she had slapped her hands on it and grabbed it.

"woah?" He exclaimed his heart skipped a beat.

"You poor, silly thing." She said. Her coffee coloured face was noticably redder. She kneaded his stomach and pushed it back. He spotted what she was doing, the lower part was angry red, the jeans had dug into him so much they left an indented red line along the whole are. She stood up and darted oit of the room and came back almost instantaneously.

Carla knelt on the floor in front of him, she was holding a tube of cream. She squirted an overly large blob onto his belly and massaged.

The cream was cold and refreshing, the massage was rough, his stomach felt too delicate to be manhandled, she made it gargle and slosh... But he was in too much shock to pay much thought. He watched her, she had lifted his little stuffed pot belly up to cream the marks, he also noticed she was also rubbing up towards his navel, which was not affected. It did not last too long. When the cream had been rubbed in she stopped.

"This stuff works great! Everyone needs chub rub cream" She said and made a gesture to her own inner thighs... even athletes too! right"

Red was also blushing. He repeared "I'm not an athlete."

Carla playfully poked his belly with her fingertip and grinned. "It must just be your off season now."

Red leaned to pick up the t shirt.

"Oh! Leave it off until its dry, I don't want it to get gunky."

Red obliged and slumped in the sofa. He felt relaxed. Carla had now started leaning on him, her eyes seemed bleary, she leaned closer, wrapped her arm around his tummy and nuzzled his shoulder. Her energy had worn off and she was falling asleep. Red put his feet on the table, closed his eyes and attempted to do the same.