chapter 3

Chloe woke up hungry, an experience that was becoming all too familiar for her. The smell of cooking bacon drifting up from the kitchen helped her to stir. Excited at the prospect of fried food, Chloe threw off her duvet, opened her wardrobe and grabbed a pyjama set that she'd left behind when she packed for Uni. She threw on the clothes, her greed drawing her out of her room before she had a chance to notice just how close-fitting the pyjama top was around her widening midriff, or to appreciate how closely the thin material of the bottoms was hugging her round bum.

She made her way downstairs, finally noticing the tightness of her top as she felt her nascent belly jiggle along with her boobs with each step down. She instantly regretted her choice of clothes, but she was already going down the stairs and Max had heard her, who had come bolting out of the open kitchen door to spin in excited circles at the bottom of the stairs, yapping incessantly as any small terrier would. He'd only stop when she made it to the bottom of the stairs and he could jump all over her, getting all the love and attention he knew he would get from her – if she went back up he would just yap louder and she'd draw more attention to herself, so she clenched her jaw and carried on going, but this time slowing her pace and trying to step a little lighter in an effort to keep everything a bit more... static, in case anyone saw her walking down the stairs.

“Oh, morning honey, it's early for you isn't it?” her mother commented as Chloe walked into the kitchen and put the kettle on.

“Morning” Chloe said as she smiled at her mother, shrugging off the teasing comment. “It's your fault for cooking that with the door open, students have a special sense for free food don't you know” Chloe replied with a cheeky tone in her voice.

“Oh is that what you call it” her mother retorted, as she turned her attention back to the stove top. “Would you like some then? It's not a problem, I just assumed you wouldn't want any, it's not like you to have an appetite in the morning”. It was a statement, not a question, and it was true. There had been a time when Chloe and her mother had fought battles over breakfast, the slender teenager insisting she had no appetite early in the morning, preferring just a cup of tea or coffee instead. But that time was over, and Chloe's appetite had come a long way since then. Chloe decided to cover with a half-truth.

“I think I've gotten used to it from having breakfast at Halls, they only serve it early so you've got to get up and eat if you want your moneys' worth!” Chloe had been making an effort to eat breakfast at her catered Halls of Residence, but not out of any concern about value for money – she was far more interested in the caloric value. “Would you like tea?” she asked her mother as the kettle came to boil.

“Yes please darling”.

“Good morning good morning” Chloe's father said in a jovial tone as he entered the kitchen, stepping over to his wife and pecking her on the puckered lips offered to him.

“Tea Dad?”

“Oh, why not?” he replied, rubbing the palms of his hands together. “What's got you out of bed so early then?” The second comment about her morning habits in as many minutes was too much to bear.

“Come on, I'm not that bad! You two make out like I'm never up before midday! You exaggerate all the time!” Chloe whined. Her father laughed.

“Too easy” he chuckled.

“Like fish in a barrel”, her mother piped up.

“Hey, less chatting, more cooking from you please!” Chloe teased her mother.

“Oh, university has changed you hasn't it, first you're after my bacon and now you're demanding I cook for you!” her mother teased in return. Chloe knew there was no hidden meaning intended behind her mothers words, but she couldn't help dwell on the implication as out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw her father glance at her plump middle in response to her mother's comment. Chloe nervously laughed it off and turned round to focus on making the tea.

“How many eggs would you like?” Chloe's mother asked no one in particular.

“Two please darling” her father said as he laid the table.

“I'll have two as well please” Chloe chipped in as she took the tea bags out of the mugs and added them to the used pile. She stirred some sugar into her and her mother's mugs and brought them over to the table, placing them out at the settings her father had laid out before settling down on one of the bench seats on the long sides of the kitchen table. Chloe looked at her phone while her father peered at a story on the folded page of a newspaper, but soon had to set it aside as her mother came over to the table with a plate in each hand.

“I hope you're hungry!” her mother said as she laid a plate laden with food in front of her. Chloe's belly grumbled in response and she instantly started salivating as she took in the sight in front of her. The two fried eggs she had asked for rested on the edge of the plate, beside a pile of baked beans sat on a slice of fried bread. Chloe wished her mother had asked how many slices of fried bread she wanted too because she definitely would've asked for more. There were two sausages and three rashers of bacon in the middle of the plate, alongside two halves of a fried tomato. The plate was finished off with a large pile of mushrooms, glistening with the butter they were cooked in.

“Thanks Mum” Chloe said, already reaching for the ketchup to add a large dollop of the sugary condiment to her greasy plate.

“No sign of Ben then?” Chloe's father asked. Her mother shook her head as she lowered herself into a chair at the head of the table. Chloe ate quickly, forgetting herself a little bit as she enjoyed the fry up her mother had prepared. As soon as she finished, she glugged down the rest of her just-warm team and then slouched down on the backless seat with a sigh.

“That was delicious Mum”

“Aww, you're welcome hun, I'm glad you enjoyed it!” Chloe picked her phone up again as her father cleared the table. “Did I tell you about Sandra's son?” her mother asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Anyone for more tea?” her father asked. Chloe and her mother both said 'yes', before Chloe's mother launched into a long and only occasionally interesting story about a guy that Chloe had never even met. “You don't have sugar do you Chloe?” her father asked.

“Er, yes, one please” Chloe replied quickly. That was another recent change – in fact, Chloe had started adding two sugars to her tea but she was too embarrassed to ask her father for both. Eventually he brought the fresh round of tea to the table and saved Chloe from the rambling story by changing the topic. Chloe chatted with her parents as they all drank their tea and digested their breakfasts, enjoying each others' company and feeling the festive mood of the season. The entrance of Chloe's little brother shattered the peace.

“What's up bitches?” he called out loudly as he entered the room.

“Ben...” their father grumbled darkly.

“Ben, stop being silly. Now sit down and have some breakfast. I still have some sausage and bacon keeping warm under the grill.” Chloe's mother was always too soft on her 'baby'. Ben took a glass from a cupboard and then filled it with orange juice from a carton in the fridge, before sitting down on the bench next to Chloe, making a funny face at her.

“Hey sis” he said obnoxiously, acting younger than his age.

“Hey” she replied curtly.

“How many rashers of bacon would you like honey?” their mother asked.

“How many are there?” Ben replied, rocking backwards and forwards on the bench. He couldn't even sit still he was that annoying. He was still looking at Chloe but not saying anything, so she looked away hoping he'd get bored if she didn't give him attention. She unlocked her phone and started scrolling but was aware that her brother was still looking at her from his end of the bench.

“Four”.

“Four?” Ben replied incredulously, as if his mother had just said something preposterous. “Well I'll have two. And two sausages.”

“Of course, because I've got three sausages left haven't I!” their mother grumbled. “Does anyone else want some more? Chloe? Tom?” Chloe's father looked up from the newspaper he'd been reading since his son had entered the room and raised his hand palm outward in a gesture that said 'no thanks'. “Chloe?” her mother asked again. Chloe definitely wanted it, but felt cautious about making too much of a pig of herself in front of her family. On the other hand, her mother was offering, and Chloe knew she hated waste.

“Two rashers and a sausage? Sure, if no one else is going to eat them” Chloe finally responded.

“That's my girl” her mother said approvingly as she stood back up and stepped in front of the oven. Chloe thought she noticed her father raise his eyebrows slightly and glance up at her mother, but he may have just been reacting to a story he was reading in the paper.

“Would you like fried egg and bread?”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes please” Ben stressed the 'please' as if saying the word was a chore.

“How many?”

“Just one of each please.”

“Just one?” their mother sighed, indicating that the small number wasn't worth the effort. “Chloe, would you like more bread or egg?” she asked hopefully. Chloe had got her chance at more fried bread and this time she didn't pause to think if she was being too greedy in front of her family.

“Yes please, I'll have one of each too” Chloe said, and Ben snorted in response.

“Of course” he muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Chloe pointedly asked her brother.

“Nothing, nothing!” Ben protested and Chloe rolled her eyes. Their mother finished frying the second round and laid two more plates on the table in front of her children. She picked up a large saucepan from the hob and walked round behind the bench her children were sat on.

“Beans?” the question prompted two positive responses and she emptied the remains of the pot on to their plates, dividing it equally. She picked up a second pot from the hob and asked “mushrooms?” Ben quickly shook his head and covered his plate with his hand.

“Eww, no, give them all to Chloe, she'll definitely eat them” he gave Chloe a cheeky sidelong glance with the latter sentiment.

“And what's that supposed to mean?” Chloe twisted in her seat to look directly at her brother.

“Calm down you two!” their mother said impatiently as she followed Ben's suggestion and emptied the rest of the buttery mushrooms onto Chloe's plate. Chloe was too busy glaring at her brother to notice her father looking up at her second breakfast before shooting his wife a disapproving look. When Chloe did look at her plate, and her brother's plate, she realised that even though he had an extra sausage, with all the mushrooms her mother had given her, her second serving of breakfast was actually bigger than the serving that would be her little brother's entire breakfast. That thought pleased her and she ate with gusto, enjoying the food so much that she forgot herself a little again while eating it, too focused on the food rather than where she was and who she was with, and she finished her second breakfast at the same time her brother finished his first. She placed her cutlery on the empty plate and let out her second contented sigh of the morning. It had been delicious and she couldn't believe she'd managed to eat so much for breakfast, and with her parent's apparent blessing, but the truth was, she could've had that serving again, and she wished she did so she could feel truly stuffed. Her contented thoughts were again shattered by her little brother.

“So uni is already making you fat then” he said, casually. Chloe's face instantly turned scarlet with embarrassment and rage, and she whipped her head round to look at her brother.

“BEN MARTIN” their mother yelled, making everyone at the table jump. “How dare you speak to your sister like that, apologise to her right now!” It was unusual for their mother to take Chloe's side against Ben's, especially so quickly, but the weight-based jab must have struck a nerve with their mother. Ben was clearly surprised at this turn of events and tried to obfuscate.

“Oh my god, I was only joking, I didn't mean it! But you know, you've seen her, come on.” Chloe glanced down and saw how the fabric of her top stretched over the soft bulge of her belly fat. Exaggerated by her slouching position, you could tell where her bellybutton was, nestled in the soft fat she'd added to her abdomen, as it was the only place the stretched fabric was flat and loose. Chloe sat up straighter on the bench seat.

“Do you have to be a rude little prick your entire life?” Chloe spat.

“Ben! Chloe! I said that's enough!” their mother's voice was raised.

“Me?” Chloe asked incredulously. “That was clearly all him!”

“Ben, apologise to your sister. You need to learn to show respect young man” their father intervened.

“Sorry Chloe” Ben dragged the words out in a sing-song tone that betrayed their insincerity.

“And Chloe, do you really think insulting him is going to help the situation?”

“But he deserved it, he was being rude” Chloe protested.

“You're a young adult now Chloe and your brother's still a child. Apologise for insulting him.” Chloe sighed, and not out of pleasure this time.

“Sorry Ben.” Ben just glared at their father, resentful for being dismissed as a child. Considering the matter settled, their father changed the topic.

“I'm taking Max out for a walk soon, do you want to come Chloe?” Chloe wasn't sure why the question was directed at her and not at both of them, and the timing of the question following her brother's comments made her paranoid brain feel defensive.

“No, I'm meeting up with Jo and Rach later so I need to get ready.” Her father looked disappointed.

“Oh, that'll be nice” her mother crooned as she cleared the table again. “How have they been?”

“I don't think Jo's been having a good time actually. She said she doesn't really get on with her flatmates and the place is so small it's hard to meet anyone new.”

“Oh that's a shame” her mother responded absent-mindedly whilst cleaning up.

“Ben then, want to come?” Chloe's father asked hopefully.

“Fine, I'll bring my boots though in case Felix is out”. Chloe knew Felix as one of the local kids who Ben played football with. Chloe made her excuses and got up from the table, heading upstairs to get ready to meet up with her friends. She crossed the hallway, avoiding Max as he repeatedly ran underneath her feet in an attempt to receive attention. Chloe enjoyed the feeling of fullness in her belly as she made her way back up the staircase to get ready.