chapter 34 temptation (cont...)

Colby responds by kissing his morbidly obese patient. Colby grabs Oliver’s fat face with his hand and kisses him harder, slowly inching his tongue into Oliver’s mouth forcefully before breaking the kiss. He moves down Oliver’s chins with quick, gentle kisses reaching his chest and then belly. “This is so fucked up,” Colby breathes between kisses. Colby reaches Oliver’s enormous thighs and traces his fingers down the stretch marks. Oliver yelps in pleasure.

“Shhhh! If we are going to do this, you must be quiet,” Colby whispers.

Colby reaches his hand deep into the crevices of Oliver’s fat folds. He feels like he’s going spelunking in musky, damp, warm folds. He regrets almost instantly not using a glove as his forearms become buried trying to find Oliver’s member. After a minute of searching Colby realizes he’s found Oliver’s penis. It’s small and engulfed in a fat pad. Colby ties his best to put his finger and his thumb around the tiny head.

Colby gently squeezes the tip causing Oliver’s eyes to flutter and his body to twitch. The twitching causes an avalanche effect making waves to travel down his fat body. Colby pauses for the fat to stop moving so much. Once the waves of blubber settle, he continues to run his thick fingers down the buried shaft. Oliver groans softly trying to cover his mouth with his bare hands. All Oliver can think of is getting off by this stud of a nurse. His heart beats faster. A few strokes later Oliver cums deep into his under belly and let’s out several muffled grunts. The pair become silent for a moment.

“S-so... what are you... you going to bring me to eat after working up my appetite?” Oliver pants trying to catch his breath.

“Oliver, I could be fired because of what I just did. I’m not bringing you food too. The game ends now. This is for your own good.”

“I’m starving though. No one feeds me here. Can’t you hear my tummy growl. Do you want me to starve to death?” asks Oliver, giving Colby an equivalent of puppy eyes.

“Oliver, I’m going to tell you something for the sake of honesty. Please, please don’t take advantage of this because as hot as this is, your health comes first. Technically, no one can stop you from ordering outside food or using the cafeteria. The doctor gave you a restricted diet, but he can’t make you stick to it.” Oliver looks at the nurse with confusion. “Dr. Montgomery is headstrong and tries to force good habits. However, he doesn’t own the hospital. There is not an official policy forbidding food. It’s not realistic to monitor everyone’s diet and it doesn’t happen in the real world. Also, our hospital accepts some federal payments opposed to 100% insurance. It’s your right to get the food if you keep pushing the issue.”

The gears in Oliver’s mind turn. “I’m only telling you this because you act like you’re suffering. You seem like a wounded animal and I don’t like seeing that. You still need to lose a dramatic amount of weight. Just use it for a snack or two a week. Don’t abuse this information.”

Oliver starts ordering from the hospital cafeteria often, armed with the knowledge that the staff can’t legally stop him anymore. Sometimes he goes as far as ordering ten to twelve times per day without guilt. It takes Oliver two days to realize he can game the system, so he does so to the best of his ability. Every single meal is wrong or missing items. A few of his chicken nuggets are “missing.” His sandwich is on the “wrong” bread. His cake is “gluten-free.” However, instead of sending the meal back he finishes the meal and demands a replacement is sent up to his room. The staff are powerless to challenge him on his inappropriate behavior.

Oliver looks even bigger than ever after discovering that he can request food and scam the cafeteria whenever he wishes. There is no way he hasn’t gained all of his weight back and more over the past month. The idea seems realistic, but it’s not entirely impossible as his appetite came back with a vengeance. Linda looks at her son anxiously, but not surprised. Oliver refuses to wear the gown anymore leaving him stuck in bed and skipping physical therapy. The tubes carrying oxygen are still in his nose, indicating that he never built enough strength in his lungs to breathe on his own. He is covered in only a thin white sheet outlining every fold of his body.

Oliver’s mother’s resolve cracked under pressure after watching her baby boy pretend to suffer. She is unaware of the actual policy, still under the impression she can’t bring Oliver food. He keeps scamming his meals and convinces her to sneak mini bags of chips, bottles of whole milk, and king sized candy bars in her purse. It became a habit, a secret she would never tell Dr. Montgomery, the physical therapy nurses, or even her husband. Per usual she empties her entire purse on Oliver’s belly as he dives into the snacks like he hasn’t eaten in weeks. Each item disappears quickly. She picks up every bag or wrapper discarded and hides the evidence in her purse to dispose of when she is alone.

“H-honey?” she asks, trying to get Oliver out of his food trance.

“What’s up, mom?” asks Oliver.

“We are going to have to go back to London soon. We can’t keep putting our lives on hold,” says Linda gently.

“Please don’t leave me. I have no one else beside me anymore,” Oliver tries to guilt her.

“I’m sorry, but it has to happen. Your father has already booked our flights. We aren’t trying to be mean, but it is time that you find the motivation and work on yourself.”

“I don’t want to be alone. I will have no one here to help me. No one here to...to love me,” Oliver’s voice becomes soft.

“We won’t physically be here, but I want you to know that despite your weight issue and our tough love, we still love you,” says Linda.

“Why doesn’t he love me anymore?” whispers Oliver with tears in his eyes.

“Honey, I don’t know what happened between you two. I’m sure he still loves you and would be devastated to hear how things have turned out. Sometimes things happen for a reason. I don’t want to overstep my boundaries, but you need a friend through all of this so you won’t be alone,“ she replies before kissing him on the forehead, a rare sign of affection from her that usually marks a crisis.

“What am I supposed to do?” asks Oliver, wiping away the tears with the back of his hands.

“Your father and I asked one of your friends to come keep an eye on you for awhile. He should be here any minute. I have to go now. I love you, Oliver,” she replies and walks out the door.

Approximately five minutes later a familiar looking man around Oliver’s age enters the hospital room. Oliver does a double take processing who he sees in his foggy mind. It can’t be. Oliver’s memories come fading back as he realizes the person before him is Josh. Josh walks over with a balloon that says “get well soon” to Oliver’s beside trying to hide his shock at seeing his best friend confined to a mattress with oxygen tubes in his nose. It is surreal to Josh to see his friend like this.

“What the fuck are you doing here!? Get out!”

“Your parents have asked me to help you anyway that I can with their absence. I plan on keeping my promise to them.”

“I said to get the fuck out,” shouts Oliver.

“I can tell you’re angry…” Josh states calmly.

“You’re shit as sure right I’m angry. I’m expendable to everyone, including you. No one can just let me be happy. You were supposed to be my friend and support me. No wonder my mental health is shit. I feel like shit with this social isolation.”

“Oliver, I’m sorry. I am supporting you. I’m doing that through trying to help you get healthy,” says Josh with genuine concern. “I shouldn’t have yelled or attacked you. It was just shocking and a little scary to see that you blew up so big. Even more so now that you can’t walk. I realize now you have an addiction and we have to treat that, not make you feel bad. Please give me a chance. Otherwise you’re going to be here alone.”

“You don’t even live here anymore.”

“I just graduated with my teaching degree. I start at a local school at the end of the month, so I’m moving back. Like I said, I am here if you don’t want to be alone.”

Oliver crosses his arms trying to think rationally. He already is on edge. Having absolutely no one would be detrimental and keep his mental health declining. “Fine,” he sighs.

Josh sits with Oliver day after day trying to encourage him and keep him entertained while in his hospital bed. Every chance to stop Oliver from ordering food or trying to get Oliver to start physical therapy again fails. Josh tries to remain calm and supportive without making Oliver angry. The results of Oliver’s extra snacking show up on the scale another two weeks later; The bariatric bed scale reads out his new weight in front of Josh and Dr. Montgomery: 802 pounds.

Josh looks at Oliver with concern, but bites his lip trying to maintain the peace. Dr. Montgomery shows no sign of shock and takes a different, more explicit approach. “You’re back above your starting weight, Oliver. How did this happen so fast? Hm?” questions Dr. Montgomery.

“I don’t understand why I’m gaining weight again! I was doing so well. I’ve been doing my best to stick to the diet and occasionally doing these terrible exercises,” lies Oliver.

“It is because you don’t follow the necessary diet I’ve prescribed,” says Dr. Montgomery with a matter-of-fact tone.