Chapter 10 - Nicole

For a few weeks, Nicole was engaged in an email battle with her college facilities director regarding the campus's shotty dryers. A repairman was sent, and a repairman left, yet the damage was already done. There had been some backup outfits that Nicole had kept aside when she started noticing her clothes had been shrinking. So Nicole found herself in her old freshman communal laundry room, no longer trusting her washing/drying units. As some outfits spun, Nicole sat back, texting her boyfriend, eating a health bar Kate had gotten her.

Nicole scrolled over her contacts and selected Jess, biting her lip. She started to type in the word "Hey" but erased it. It felt weird not talking to Jess, and Nicole dearly missed her. However, Nicole was starting to get a little annoyed with Jess. It had been almost two weeks since Jess had texted Nicole anything. For Nicole, she felt like the ball was in Jess's court to initiate talking again. Not wanting to linger on the awkwardness that was now Nicole and Jess's friendship, Nicole returned to texting Carl about the movie they were going to watch that evening. He wanted to watch a dumb movie called "Blade Runner," while Nicole wanted to watch one of her favorites, "Legally Blonde." Smirking to herself, Nicole knew she'd get her way if she wanted it. Carl was a masterful debater, yet all Nicole had to do was pull down his pants and suck. There was never any debate after that.

The buzzing from the dryer indicated the load was done. Nicole had just run an air fluff cycle with some fabric scents so that they would smell nice and pretty. Putting the empty health bar wrapper on top of the dryer, Nicole went to retrieve her clothes. Up first was a pair of track pants from her cheerleading days. The material was starting to strain once she got to her upper thighs. The primary struggle happened when she got to her ass. Pulling & tugging, huffing & puffing, Nicole got it up over the broadening globes. Almost. Half of the right waistband was hanging off her hip. Nicole jerked upwards, but it didn't budge. Even for track pants, the material was taut against Nicole's skin, making her feel somewhat uncomfortable in them. Not knowing whether to cry or scream, Nicole kicked the dryer, stubbing her toe in the process. Not only had this dryer fucked up the last of her clothes, but it had also injured her. The facilities director would indeed be getting another scathing email.

Upset and defeated, Nicole tried as much as she could to make her wardrobe fit her as it did before. Nothing ended up feeling right. Nicole unwrapped another health bar and nervously ate while she thought about what to do. Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing? If anything, she'd be able to show off more skin, which everyone wanted to see anyway. That was all well and good for her cute clothes since Nicole was used to wearing uncomfortable clothes to look good. However, she needed comfy clothes to lounge around the house. Nicole pushed all the thoughts to the back of her mind as she nibbled away at her health bar. There was nothing she could do now, so it was time to pack up and go.

Limping slightly from her stubbed toe, Nicole left the laundry room with her outfits. At the top of her mind was finding the closest thing she could to deal with her stress. Carl was too far, Kate's cooking was on the complete other side of campus, so Nicole settled for the last option. The bakery Nicole had been frequenting a few times a week was called "Dream Puffs," which was on the way back to her dorm. Unfortunately, the cute guy behind the counter still treated her only like any other customer. This wasn't as upsetting now that Nicole was supposed to only be sleeping with her boyfriend. Being exclusive was a relatively new concept for Nicole, but she had hardly gotten bored of Carl. The elusive baker boy with dark eyes and black hair had to be batting for the other team. His being into men was the only rationale Nicole could understand.

By the time she got to the bakery, Nicole was starving. Nicole doubled her usual order and got a four-pack of cupcakes. Nicole batted her eyelashes at baker boy just for good measure and got nothing back from him, as expected. While she munched on her cupcakes, Nicole stood outside the bakery and ordered an Uber for the few remaining blocks home, not wanting to deal with walking on her injured toe.