Chapter 2 - the secret

Mel couldn’t easily forget about Ethan and she searched for hours, looking for some trace of him on social media; something that might help her unlock whatever riddle she needed to unpick. But all she could find were small, blurred photographs with Ethan hidden somewhere in the background; not even enough to fully appreciate how handsome he was.

It was a couple of months before she saw him again. He was out with the same group, in a new club that had opened up in town. Mel spotted him before anyone else, as the handsome man strutted over to see them all.
“Hey ladies!” he smiled. “Have you met my girlfriend?” he asked, turning his body and allowing a slender girl to step forwards. “This is Kimmy,” he announced, as if lovesick.

What happened to Heather? Mel wondered silently.

Kimmy shook their hands and handed over her drink to Ethan to hold for her whilst she went to the bathroom. There was strange silence as the entire group seemed to watch the pretty woman walking away.

“So, does she know?” Jenny asked Ethan, jokingly jabbing her elbow into the handsome man’s ribs.

Ethan rolled his eyes and rubbed his ribs. “No…” he sighed, as if irritated by the question.

“You’re such a jerk!” Jenny laughed along with the others. “You can’t keep doing this!” she chuckled.

“I’m not going to do anything!” Ethan protested.

“Yes you are!” Sally countered. “You can’t help yourself. You do it every time!”

“Do what?” asked Mel, her curious voice rising above the rest.

Ethan looked at her and sighed, not answering, knowing that yet another person was soon to find out about him.

“Ethan here…” Jenny began, holding the suspense, “…is a feeder!”

Mel’s face must have been a picture of confusion, for Sally jumped in to explain. “He likes his women with a bit of extra meat on them,” she announced theatrically. “And by ‘a bit’ of extra meat, what we mean is…” she joked, spreading her arms out and puffing out her cheeks like a very fat woman, making the others howl with laughter, including Ethan himself. “In fact, we’ve never seen him with any girl who hasn’t piled on the pounds when he dates them.”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “It’s not all my fault,” he argued. “Girls always put on weight when they get into a relationship.”

“Oh yeah?” laughed Jenny teasingly. “What about – what was her name? Hannah?” she asked, trying to remember. “That girl piled on the weight when she was with you! About 100lbs at least, before she realised what you were up to and left.”

Ethan rolled his eyes again, clearly used to being made fun of about this. “It wasn’t 100lbs!” he countered unconvincingly. “And what about your ex, huh? Wasn’t there that one who liked to…” Ethan began, before he saw that Kimmy was returning from the bathroom to join them all.

A hush descended and Jenny thought quickly to change the subject before it became too apparent.

But Mel simply looked at the situation. Everyone clearly disapproved of Ethan’s relationship style and yet, here they were trying to cover it up for him.

Mel watched as Ethan’s hand slid down onto Kimmy’s tight butt in much the same way she had seen him do with Heather’s oversized and blubbery glutes only a couple of months earlier.

Even now, she still felt jealous. What did Kimmy have that she didn’t?