Alice

Chapter 1

‘You do know that if we’re going to do this you are going to get fat?’
She looked me in the eye, put her hands on her already quite soft hips and looked quizzically at me.
‘But I’m already fat’
‘Honey, you have no idea!’

And that was that, the start of our relationship.

We’d known each other for years, through school and beyond. For more than twenty years we would drift apart, reconnect and then drift apart again. I’d moved away for work and hadn’t seen her for a few years, just the occasional email and, stupidly flirtatious, drunken text. I came back to the home town periodically and we always said we should meet up but circumstances always got in the way. It was during one of my occasional visits that I bumped in to her at a coffee shop.

‘Alice?’ I touched her lightly on the shoulder and she turned to face me.
‘Oh wow! Hey! What a surprise!’

Her eyes lit up as she realised who it was and put her arms around me to give me a hug. I returned the hug but my hands gravitated to her sides which had the unmistakable feeling of soft, pudgy fat. She’d never been the skinny type, always a bit on the curvy side but never really fat. Of course, as she got older that had changed. Since I’d last seen her Alice had put on a fair amount of weight and found it easier and more comfortable to wear loose-fitting clothes. This, of course, disguised from her, and the world around her, just how much bigger she’d become.

‘A really pleasant surprise for me too! You’re the last person I expected to see! You’re looking well.’
‘Don’t lie, I’m looking fat.’
‘Hey, you know me, the two aren’t mutually exclusive!’

And it was true, she did know me. She’d seen me with many women down the years and twigged on fairly early what my ‘type’ was. From the first teenage fumblings with girls who were curvy through to the very fat women that I had dated since. Alice had been cool with that and approached it with a ‘Live and let live’ attitude.

‘Oh god! Does that mean I’m you’re type now?’ She asked me with a twinkle in her eye.
‘Well…you are a bit on the skinny side!’ I winked at her and she playfully hit me.
‘Nobody has thought of me as being skinny for a while now!’

We got our coffees and found a table. Over the next hour we sat and chatted and caught up with what we had been doing recently. The danish pastry that she had bought to go with her coffee soon disappeared and she looked distracted.

‘I’m just going to get another one of these,’ she said. ‘That one was so yummy! I don’t think I can resist! Guess you can see why I’m such a heifer!’

I wish I could lie and say I didn’t admire the way her arse wobbled as she walked to the counter, but of course I did, and she caught me.

‘Perv!’ She accused me jokingly when she returned!
‘Good arse!’ I replied and she giggled at the in-joke from our school days.
‘Yeah, well, you can see why I’ve got this arse now. Too many of these things,’ indicating the pastry. ‘And no willpower either.’

It was really nice to catch up with Alice but time was pressing and we both had to get on to more mundane things. As we got up to go she asked if I wanted to go for dinner some time. I’d enjoyed being with her so readily agreed and we planned to meet up the next day. As I had no idea where was good to eat anymore, I asked her to book a table and let me know when and where to be. We had a hug, I tried not to get a feel of her flabby belly, and we went our separate ways until the next day. Later on that evening I got a text from her with the location and time for dinner. After a quick ‘Sounds great, looking forward to it’-type reply, she responded with:
‘So, you like it when a woman tells you what to do?😉’ She thought she was teasing me, but I didn’t let on to her that she was closer to the truth than she realised!

The next day passed without much happening, I was too distracted by the thought of the forthcoming meal with Alice. I was curious to see just how much she would let herself eat in public and also as to what she would wear. She couldn’t turn up in the same baggy clothes that she’d been in, could she? Only time would tell, and that time passed so very slowly.

We’d arranged to meet up for a drink at an old favourite pub before dinner and as was typical for me, I turned up early. I found a table and sat there with my drink, but I didn’t have long to wait. The door opened and Alice walked in, she didn’t disappoint. Her long, strawberry blonde hair, that she had worn tied back the day before was down, perfectly framing her rounded face.The jeans she was wearing were all but sprayed on and obviously way too tight. She displayed the bulge of fat below the, very strained button, that I’ve always found alluring and I tried hard to not to stare too much. Her top looked equally tight and love-handles spilled over the waist of her jeans. She looked uncomfortable to say the least. After a quick peck on the cheek and the usual casual greetings she sat down and I went to get her a drink.

‘Thanks! I need this, it’s been a long day.’ I agreed with her and told her that she looked nice.
‘Yeah, well, you wouldn’t believe the trouble I had getting ready!’

She kept tugging at her top, trying to pull it down; it was obviously a bit too small.

‘I know you’ll find it hard to believe, but I don’t get taken out for dinner very often.’ I did find it hard to believe, but then I’m biased and she knows it. ‘If I do go out to eat it’s usually a bit more casual than this and I can get away with my comfy clothes. Tonight though, I thought I’d make the effort for you. What you see tonight is basically everything in my wardrobe that even remotely fits me and is even half-way decent.’

We continued to chat about our respective days and how boring they had otherwise been. The table was booked for 7:30 so we went across the road to the restaurant. It was something of a struggle for her to sit in the booth we were given but with a bit of moving of the furniture she was well and truly wedged in place. The menu looked fairly extensive and could cater for most tastes and as we discussed this she said:

‘Obviously, being the fatty that I am, I know the best places to eat! My arse isn’t the size of Belgium through eating salads!’

Her choice of venue didn’t disappoint and the food was indeed very good. Two courses were more than enough for me but Alice wanted a dessert to finish things off. I sat there with a coffee whilst she all but inhaled some chocolate concoction that looked as if it contained enough calories to sustain a normal person for a couple of days.

‘Wow! That was so good but I’m not sure I can move now.’

And with that, her expression changed. She looked a little coy and more than a little embarrassed.

‘I need a favour. When we leave, can I borrow your coat, please? I’ve just had a little wardrobe malfunction.’

She pointed down and it became apparent that the button on her jeans had completely given up and the creamy white, doughy flesh of her belly was very apparent. As I got up to pay the bill I passed her my coat and she slipped it on before beginning to disengage herself from the table. Lots of huffing and puffing later and we were outside in the cool night air. She slipped her arm through mine and nuzzled her head into my shoulder as we walked through the town. We stopped on a bridge across a small stream and she lent on the railing watching the water flow by. She turned to look at me and it was then that I realised that she wanted more from me than just dinner and a chat.

‘I just wanted to say ‘Thank you’ for a really lovely evening,’ she said. ‘It seems a shame that it has to end.’
‘Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve got to head back tomorrow but I’ll be back in a couple of weeks and this time it’ll be for good.’
‘For good?’
‘I’m moving back to the old stomping grounds. I work from home most of the time so I’m pretty free to move where I want. Which is lucky as my folks aren’t getting any younger and they’ve both had some health scares recently. I want to be nearer so I can help out if things go wrong.’
‘That’s a really kind thing for you to do. Does that mean we can do this again?’
‘I’d like that, tonight has been a lot of fun and I’d forgotten what it’s like to be with you.’
‘Would you like to make it as something more than just friends?’

She took my hand and placed it on her waist, I couldn’t resist a little squeeze and she let out a little gasp. I pulled her in close and we kissed. I held her tightly as we kissed again, a bit more passionately and both my hands traced her bulging curves.

‘You do know that if we’re going to do this you are going to get fat?’