Chapter 2

Lis smiled at me as she stepped down off the stairs. There were those blue eyes and her sleepy grin. Her hair was a pale lavender now, but otherwise it wasn’t so different from how it looked at the beginning of the summer. Bangs a little shaggier, maybe.

Then she yawned and stretched, slow and luxurious, like a cat waking up from a nap in the sun.

Yawning transformed her face, the plumpness under her chin bunching and cheeks puffing, dragging a big yellow highlighter over the softening she’d gone through that summer and fall. Finishing her yawn, she tugged down the tight black Rolling Stones t-shirt where it rode up over her belly.

“Morning, Claire bear.” She smiled at me again and walked over to the breakfast counter.

I poured her a cup of coffee and passed it to her, then watched as she took one, two, three, four, five scoops of brown sugar and stirred it into her coffee, topping it off with one, two, three, four, five glugs of half and half. She shook the tall, skinny carton. It sounded nearly empty. “Do we have more of this?” She nodded in the direction of the fridge.

“I think so.” I opened the fridge door. In the back was more half and half as well as a pint of cream. “Yup, we do.”

I was hungry and grabbed the two slices of pizza left over from last night. As I turned around, I caught Lis drinking the last of the half and half out of the carton. “Gross!” I said with a laugh.

She blushed, wiping cream from her mouth with the back of her hand. “What? It’s no different from drinking it in coffee.” She put the carton down.

“I mean, it’s a little different. People drink cream in coffee. They don’t drink cream in cream.” I walked around the breakfast counter and stood on the same side as her as she took her first sip of coffee. “Besides–” I poked her belly on the warm, smooth, strip of exposed flesh between her t-shirt hem and pajama pants. “–do you really think that you of all people should be drinking straight cream?”

Lis nearly spit out her coffee but managed to put the cup down and laugh. She looked me straight in the eye and said, matter-of-factly, “First, Claire. This is half-and-half, not cream. If I’m not mistaken, that means it’s only half cream.” We were both trying to keep straight faces but it was about to fall apart. “Secondly, Claire, are you really poking my tummy-tum-tum first thing in the morning?”

At that we both broke, laughing until tears streamed down my face. After all the sadness and guilt and drowning in emotion, laughing felt incredible. I think she knew, too. I saw a sparkle.

“Seriously, though, Claire. Is there something about my belly you want to talk about?” Lis folded her pizza and took a big bite, practically funneling the dressing into her mouth.

“No! You look amazing! You know I think that. It’s just–” I sipped my coffee, not sure of what to say.

“What is it? That I’ve gained weight? I kinda know that don’t you think? Covid pounds and all–” She seemed so happy eating that slice of pizza. I was almost sad that she was going to finish it at some point.

“No, no– it’s not that,” I said, feeling unsure about where this conversation was going. “It’s just that I weighed myself the other day. I hadn’t done that in a while.”

“And? You’ve gained a little weight, like, this fall, right? Not a lot. But it’s nothing to be upset about, right?” She wiped up the last of the dressing with the crust and went back to her coffee.

I grabbed the last slice, fairly certain that it would disappear if I turned my back on it. “Yeah, I have. I was just thinking that—" I took my first bite. Cold pizza heaven.

“That you look amazing? Hey, we look amazing. How about that? Your ass looks hot though. What do we have for breakfast?” She opened up the cupboard, giving me a view of her own behind. If I gained weight like she did I’d never ever diet. She had clearly passed my size, though. And then some.

“Meh, there’s nothing here I want.” She closed the cabinet and turned around; arms crossed in near mystical ponderance.

“Do you want pancakes? We have bacon too,” I said.

Her eyes lit up and she nodded enthusiastically while taking a sip of coffee. After her sip she gave a breathless, “Yes please!”

I walked back around into the kitchen and for the second time this morning, put my hand on her tummy tum tum. “Okay, I’ll make pancakes for you, but this will be, like, a going away party. One big breakfast and then we can get in shape together.”

She smiled and shrugged, her eyes underwater dark, “Okay, we’ll see.”