chapter 10

Allison pulled up to the gym and parked her car. She didn't get out. Instead, she watched as a gaggle of tall, svelte, perfectly manicured women walked inside for yoga class. That used to be Allison. She used to judge other women at the gym. She took pride in her toned body. Her firm butt. Her thigh gap.

Allison was by no means fat. Heck, she was probably skinnier than a lot of the girls in the gym right now. But she was no longer the athlete she was just a month ago. She was soft. And she felt soft. She took a deep breath in, got out of her car, and walked inside.

There was a cute, buff guy with light brown hair working at the counter. Allison had seen him around before. What was his name... Tony? She smiled at him and showed her gym membership card.

"Hey there, Allison. Glad to see you back. We were just about to call you and see if you wanted to continue your membership."

"I, uh, twisted my ankle and couldn't work out for a while," Allison lied.

"Oh, that's too bad."

Allison was going to walk away, but she just couldn't help herself. She took a strange pleasure in needling people about her weight gain. There was some perverse pleasure in having someone, even a stranger, acknowledge her weight gain.

"Yeah, I had to sit on the couch for like a whole month," Allison said. "I got pretty fat, don't you think?"

Tony looked shocked. Allison gestured to the tight leggings that squeezed her midsection into a muffin top.

"Where did these love handles come from?" Allison said playfully. "Must have been all those burritos."

"I didn't even notice," Tony said nervously. "I think you look great."

"Oh, you're too sweet," Allison said.

She figured there was no way Tony remembered her. There probably a hundred women or more who used this gym every day, and so many of them were hotter than she was.

But Allison was wrong.

Tony did remember Allison. He remembered seeing her struggle and pant and work so hard on the machines, practically torturing herself for just a little bit of ab definition. Tony couldn't help but to imagine Allison with more weight — not less. With her taller frame and wide hips, it would look amazing on her, Tony thought.

What could he say? Tony, like athleisure wear, was a bit of an oxymoron. He loved working out, but he loved bigger woman. And he especially loved watching them put on weight.

The gym was actually a good place for this. Stick-figure skinny was no longer in vogue. So many women came to the gym nowadays to lift weights and gain some curves. They wanted to get thick. And thick is a target that can be easy to overshoot. Tony never thought Allison would be one of those women, until he watched her walk to the treadmills.

Allison's ass.

It was incredible. Now he realized what Allison had been referring to. He was amazed at how much bigger it already was. It's a faux pas to stare at someone in the gym, but Tony felt like his brain was broken.

The trance was only broken when a new customer came in.

Meanwhile, Allison was getting on the treadmill. Less than a month ago she could run 5 miles at an 8-minute pace. Three miles wouldn't be so bad, right? She set the pace and started to run.

Immediately, she noticed things felt different. Her body used to feel tight and compact. Now it felt loose and bouncy. She was learning in real time the importance of properly sizing a sports bra — this one was way too small.

Within a few hundred yards her iWatch was telling her she was in full cardio mode. Allison was breathing harder than she ever did. She slowed the pace down and finally started to recover. She got through the first mile, but soon, each step felt harder and harder. Her thighs rubbed together with each stride, and every time her foot landed it caused her ass to bounce. She was constantly having to pull her yoga pants up to cover her newly bigger butt. Sweat was pouring down her face and sliding into her cleavage. She tried to focus on the TV screen, not the mirror, but when gaze slipped down, she couldn't help but notice her jiggling body. The beads of sweat glistened under the bright lights of the gym, showing off every curve of fat like she'd never seen before. By mile 2 she had slowed the pace again. She walked the last quarter-mile in.

Three miles never felt so hard.

Allison took a swig of water from her bottle and headed to the free weights to do some squats. Wouldn't it be nice to save some of this booty? She figured her weight training had suffered as much as her cardio. But she was pleasantly surprised when she did her normal squats routine — and then some.

And was it just Allison, or were there more guys looking at her while she did her squats? A few guys had started working out near her, including Tony.

"Hey, I don't wanna be rude, but I think your squats would be a little more effective — and a little safer — if you moved your back like this," Tony said, demonstrating.

"Huh, lemme try that," Allison said. "Wow, I do feel a lot more of a burn. You're Tony, right?"

"That's me," he said, smiling. "You know I love working out and I'm always looking for new people to work out with. Good motivation, right? You should hit me up if you ever wanna do sets of squats."

"Really?" Allison said. Tony was cute, but, more importantly, he seemed nice and really knowledgeable. "Yeah, that would be great. I've never really worked out with a partner before. Sounds fun."

"Great," Tony said. "I can give you my number, and just hit me up if you're coming to the gym. Chances are I'm already here."

Allison handed him her phone, and Tony punched in his digits. Then there was a burbling noise.

"Oh my gosh," Allison said, turning red. "That's just my stomach. I guess I'm a little hungry..."

Her stomach growled again, this time louder. Tony could feel an erection coming on. This girl was definitely on her way to thickness — and maybe more. He needed to get out of there.

"I gotta go work on my bench press," Tony said. "I'll see you around?"

"Definitely," Allison said. "Bye!"

Allison grabbed her bag and headed to her car. That wasn't weird, was it? People made friends all the time, especially at the gym. Tony seemed harmless. He probably works out with tons of women, and he had never hit on her before. But then a thought stopped Allison in her tracks. Should she tell Jeremy about getting another man's number at the gym?

It just didn't sound right. Especially with her fiancé halfway across the country. Maybe she would keep this to herself. Either way, she had to get going. It was practically lunchtime, and Allison had missed breakfast.

Allison was starving.