Chapter 18

Gabby admired the picture on Chelsea’s living room wall. It was the same photo she had given Chelsea a while back, showing the two then-skinny friends in college, only the picture had been blown up to a pretty large size and framed.

“Hard to believe that was us,” she said.

“Yeah,” Chelsea concurred. “It’s been some ride these last few years.

The two had gotten back from the restaurant and were waiting for Marc and Eric to return from their day of male bonding. They had stopped at the plus-sized store on the way home, and Gabby was surprised to see that everyone who worked there seemed to know Chelsea by name. Apparently she was a regular around there. The two now sat on Chelsea’s couch and, as usual, the conversation had steered back towards the topic of weight.

“How big do you think you’ll end up?” Gabby asked.

“I don’t know,” Chelsea answered truthfully. “Honestly, I’m not worried about it. If I gain another 50 pounds, so be it. I just hope I don’t end up to fat to, like, walk around and stuff.” The two laughed at the thought.

“Well how much do you weigh now?” Gabby asked.

“Don’t know,” Chelsea responded. “I stopped weighing myself after that time you got me to do it to see how fat I’d gotten. I figured seeing the numbers would only make it harder to let go of the skinny days. And now, honestly, I don’t care what the scale says.”

“Yeah, I only check once in a while,” said Gabby. “It’s interesting to see where you’re at.”

“Yeah, guess I’m kind of curious,” Chelsea said. The friends sat quietly for a second before Chelsea pointed to the bathroom and asked “shall we?” They laughed as the got up and made their way towards the scale under the bathroom sink.

Gabby stepped up first. “197 pounds,” she reported. “That’s about where I usually am. Really flirting with 200, here,” she laughed. She quickly did the math that if she was almost 200 pounds then Chelsea was definitely over that mark. She found out for sure when Chelsea plopped herself up on the scale.

Chelsea leaned forward to see passed her gut, and read the glowing “217” on the scale. She didn’t say anything - she just stared at it. She had known that she was going to be over 200 pounds, that much was obvious. But to actually see the numbers was an incredible feeling. She struggled to go back in her mind to her days as a skinny little girl on the playground. She tried to recall how it felt to be in high school, then college, where she was a fit cross country runner. She could not for the life of her remember what it felt like to run and not jiggle all over. She couldn’t remember life without billowing tits and a fat ass outside of what she saw in old pictures. She couldn’t remember what it felt like to be skinny. She thought about the months following her knee surgeries, and how she know she was putting on weight but ignored it. She remembered when Gabby came home after so much time away and saved her from a life of misery by helping her to embrace what she had become. And she thought about Eric, and how he showed her that she would still be loved even if she was as big as a house. And now, here she stood, all 217 pounds of her. Tears welled in her eyes. She felt stronger than ever before.

Gabby stood quietly as Chelsea stared blankly at the scale. She was worried that seeing such a high number had shocked Chelsea back into her old way of thinking, before she had become accepting of her growing body.

“Are you okay?” Gabby asked, gently.

Chelsea looked up from the scale and into her friend’s eyes. She was choked up, but smiled widely. “I’m finally who I was meant to be. Thank you so much for helping me get here.”

The best friends shared a big hug. Gabby began to get choked up herself.

“Oh, you know I’ve always got your back,” Gabby said. “And I know you’re there for me, too. That’s why we make such a great team.”

“Yeah,” said Chelsea as she jiggled her big belly against Gabby’s. “Flabby Gabby and Chunky Chelsea forever.”

Gabby laughed and returned the favor by mashing her gut into Chelsea’s. Chelsea giggled as she felt Gabby’s soft belly roll and slide against hers. She heard the keys in the door - Eric was back. She couldn’t wait to tell him how big she was. The flab that covered her entire frame bounced and wobbled about as she smiled wide with excitement. She felt so fat. She felt so… free.