Chapter 1 - Home sweet home

Natalie exits the driver's side of her baby blue Mini Cooper. The smell of freshly baked apple pie hits the tip of her nose as she takes in a deep breath of crisp mountain air. Something she hasn't been able to do since leaving for college in the big city four months ago. From a distance, Natalie hears someone shout "oh my gosh, look how much you've grown!" She looks up to see her mother eagerly awaiting in the front doorway of her childhood home. All Natalie can think is that her mom is right. She has grown quite a bit over the course of her first semester, and it's clearly starting to show.

--She had mentally prepared herself for comments regarding her weight gain. Between her 'Cross Fit crazed' brother, Brett, her 'organic only', cousin Trinity, and her parents, who can't help but worry too much, she knew that eventually her recent transformation was going to come up. But what was she going to say?--

She grabs her bag and starts to walk towards her mom, only to have to stop after getting winded just a few steps in. She then waddles the rest of the distance over to her mom, who immediately throws her arms around Natalie's chunky body, squeezing her as tight as she can.

"Well come on now, where's my hug?" her dad jokingly says as he descends down the wooden staircase into the foyer. Her dad has always been a health freak for as long as she can remember. He was actually a big influence on Natalie's commitment to leading a healthy lifestyle prior to leaving for college. She kept telling herself that perhaps three weeks with him would encourage her to get back into her health routine. But for the first time in her life, Natalie secretly hoped she'd fail.

Throughout her whole childhood, whether it was sports, school or just life in general, Natalie has always been committed to reaching her goals. The word lazy isn't in her vocabulary. Her biggest passion though, is dance. It's the reason Natalie attends school in the big city and not closer to home. And if you know Natalie, you know one thing. That she never gives up. In fact, on her 18th birthday just a few weeks before school started, she got a tattoo on her wrist that reads "go big or go home". Ironically, Natalie was currently doing both. She had gone home, and she had gone home BIG!

Natalie is looking forward to this time off from school so, so much. Her new pudgy physique was starting to make every walk around campus feel like a reenactment of the marathon she completed a mere 5 months ago. When she left for school at the end of summer, she was only 135 pounds. Everyone has heard of the 'freshman 15', Natalie being no exception. But the truth is, nothing could have prepared her for the changes she was experiencing, nor for the ones she was about to.

After saying her hellos to her mom and dad, she decides now is a good time to unpack and give her old bedroom a visit. As Natalie approaches the first step of the staircase, she realizes that she hasn't climbed this many stairs since she was last home. It's as if she's nervous to try and complete this once very simple task.

Taking the stairs one by one, the wood underneath her feet creaks in places she's never heard creak before. Once at the top, she has to stop and take a few deep breaths before she can continue down the hallway and into her bedroom. When she finally walks through her bedroom door, she is immediately greeted by her orange tabby cat, Lily. She is so excited to see Lily! She drops all her belongings at her sides, and bends down to give Lily a big kiss. As Natalie squats, she can feel the band of her high waisted jeans dig deep into her soft belly. The denim covering her now oversized behind, becoming tighter and tighter the lower she bends. As she slowly stands up, Natalie catches a glimpse of herself in a full length mirror over in the corner. She walks closer to it and can't help but notice how much more her outfit hugs her curves than she realized while getting dressed in her dorm earlier.

While observing herself, she also notices how much skinnier she looks in a photo from her 18th birthday that's hanging next to the mirror. Her eyes dart between her reflection and the photo. Left and right. Back and forth. This lasts for almost a full uninterrupted minute. She knew she had grown, but to see her growth via comparison like this was literally eye opening. She still has her silky, long, bleach blonde hair, and the same piercing brown eyes that made you melt like a Hershey kiss if you stared at them long enough. She has the same fair complexion, and the same rosy red cheeks. Although, her once distinguished jawline has become noticeably softer. And if you really look closely, you can see her cheekbones starting to disappear underneath her newly acquired blubber.

Eager to change into something more comfortable, she grabs the first pair of sweats she sees in her closet. The ones she chooses are bright pink and have the word "LOVE" written across them in bold white letters. She crosses her fingers and hopes she can squeeze her pudgy ass into them. As Natalie attempts to pull the pants past her thighs, the struggling begins. "Uh-oh" she quietly whispers to herself.

--When packing for this trip, Natalie decided there was no reason to lug a giant suitcases full of clothes when she has plenty to wear still in her closet at home. She figured, worst comes to worst, her clothes are a little tight. No big deal. Wrong!--

What Natalie failed to realize, is that since going up so many clothing sizes, none of her stuff at home was going to fit. Panic mode immediately sets in. "How could I be so reckless" she mutters under her breath.

After fighting with the sweats for what felt like an eternity, she's finally able to squeeze all her fat into the pants. By this point, she has literally worked up a sweat. Thankfully, the one thing she did remember to pack, was her Coca-Cola. She cracks open a can and chugs the whole thing so quickly, it was as if her life depended on it. After she finishes the coke, her belly starts to gurgle. Natalie places her hand on her slightly bloated tummy. Her pants now even tighter than they were before. The string she'd normally adjust to make them smaller, has disappeared into the waistline. This feeling of being bloated while confined to such tight clothing ends up distracting Natalie from the fact that she has family coming over in just a few hours, and NOTHING to wear that properly fits.

Before she knows it, she's swinging back another coke. Then another one. Sending her tight belly into a world of carbonated bliss. Her previously just slightly bloated tummy, has become so round, she feels as if she's going to pop. She has never drank soda like this before just to simply feel bloated. Massive burps are escaping from her mouth like never before too. "Sheesh, I sound like Homer Simpson" she jokes to herself. I have to do this again, she thinks.

As she sorts through the rest of her clothing, trying to figure out what can pass as fitting, and what she can't even button up, she accepts that she doesn't have many options. She's going to have to go shopping eventually if she wants to survive the next three weeks comfortably. But for this evening, she's just going to have to suck it up!