Chapter 5 - rumblings

Mike sounded grumpy and impatient as Laura hung out around the lounge a few weekends later. She could see them both in the kitchen area as Marie fried some breakfast up for them. “Just go and change your shirt,” Mike complained in a whiney, irritating voice. “It looks stupid!”

Marie smiled and turned to her boyfriend to give him a kiss, as if he had said the sweetest thing to her. Her shirt was tight and very short-sleeved, showing off her awesome chest. Now, however, it stretched unflatteringly against her permanently boated stomach and emphasised the new bulk in her upper arms. A few weeks ago, Laura hadn’t even noticed that Marie had gained a few pounds, now it was all she could see.

“This is my favourite shirt,” Marie replied sweetly into her boyfriend’s ear, while rubbing the tight stretch around her midsection. Once again, her fingers seemed to move as if they had a mind of their own.

Mike huffed, giving up, and seeming to know that any further discussion about it would be futile. The shirt was far too tight to be worn outside. For once, Laura could see that Mike actually had a point - even if he was failing to get it across in any constructive way. “What do you want to do today then?” the fat man asked.

“I was thinking we could go to that buffet place by the old cinema,” Marie said playfully; leaving her frying food to feel up her enormous boyfriend; speaking as if her words were meant to turn him on. “We could pick up a huge box of those massive doughnuts, come back here and lie in bed together, watching a movie with a couple of enormous tubs of ice cream…”

Mike huffed again, shaking his head with mild disapproval, or maybe just impatience at the lack of Marie’s imagination. What she had suggested seemed no different to any other day the pair of them had together. “You’re paying then,” he grumbled, recoiling as Marie kissed him sweetly on his forehead; pulling a face like she disgusted him.

Laura could already see that he was plotting something. Mike had whipped out his cell phone as soon as Marie’s back was turned, busily punching in a wealth of replies to people. All the while, Marie simply cooked up a storm, ignorant of what was going on only three feet away from her.