chapter 26

Relationships can be a transformative thing. In a sense, you lose yourself. You aren't you anymore, you have morphed into WE. And that's the way it was with Hillie and Brad, especially for Hillie.

In part, this was because Brad was a commanding presence. He had this way about him. He didn't issue orders or tell Hillie what to do. Instinctively he understood that Hillie didn't deal well with direct commands. Tell her what to do and she was apt to do just the opposite. But Brad had a way of suggesting things and Hillie went along like an obedient puppy.

At first it was about her clothes. Hillie had always been a conservative dresser, perhaps because she had always considered herself kind of dumpy, not really fat just kind of doughy. Brad was always complimenting her on her stunning figure and telling her that she should show it off more often. So, Hillie's skirts got progressively shorter and her tops got increasingly more revealing, causing whispers at DePaul. The word "slut" crept into people's conversations about her when Hillie wasn't around.

Then Brad started in on her hair. Hillie had thick, dark, auburn hair. But Brad just dropped this casual tidbit into conversations, "You know, I think you'd look smashing as a blond. Before you know it Hillie was just about a tinge away from being a platinum blonde. And shortly after that Brad suggested that maybe she'd be cuter with a short hair cut. It wasn't long before Hillie was sporting a very short pixie cut that made her look about five years younger.

All of these were superficial changes, easily changed. As the relationship deepened, Brad started coming around to see Hillie more often, taking her out to lunch three or four times a week. For a many with sophisticated tastes and money to burn, strangely enough, Brad took Hillie out to fast food restaurants for lunch. Of course he would order for her and of course she'd eat every last morsel of food that Brad selected. Brad would eat a salad while Hillie was given a double cheeseburger with everything, including a large order of fries and an equally large chocolate shake.

Over the months, Hillie began to gradually change. Her weight crept up. Not tremendously. Two, three, four pounds a month, sometimes a little bit more. On the whole it wasn't noticeable, at least at first. But even small gains add up over time. By their six month anniversary, Hillie weighed in at a not so svelte 128 pounds, up about 23 pounds.

She still wasn't fat, heck, she wasn't even what you'd call chubby. But she wasn't the tight, toned Golden Girl she had once been. But she didn't care. She was in LOVE! Who knew love could produce such a dramatic change in a girl's life? But Hillie was about to find out!!