Chapter 1

There she was, across the hall. Looking dejected and basically empty-handed. I notice her little belly peaked over her shrinking leggings that she had been wearing under her belly lately in stead of over. They used to leave quite the red mark from where she used to wear them around her plump belly button This also meant they were now a little big on her hips since her stomach had stretched them out as it grew. She tugged them back up for the third time since stopping to fiddle with her keys.

This was my favorite time of the week. The day she would waddle all the way down the stairs and to the garbage to take out her trash and across the parking lot to the closet pharmacy she could find for her growing list of prescription medicines.

I would wait for her all day as she was quite the procrastinator. The pharmacy closed at 6:00pm The latest she would ever leave was around 5:15pm and it was around then she normally did leave.

She would huff and puff down our shared hallway toward the stairs. Every once in a while I would actually open my door and peep out at her at her frame with the garbage in her hands. She took up most of the hallway and kind of waddled back and forth with the weights of both the recycling and the garbage of fast food wrappers that she had been carting in all week. I could probably tell you what wrappers were in there just based off of the influx of fast food she had consumed the prior week. Her apartment door was directly adjacent mine and I got a notification every time she opened her door which granted wasn't very often as she worked from home.

You see i had installed a doorbell camera despite being in an apartment building. It was discreet and less doorbell more camera. I had two views one from the floor on the baseboard and one from above which captures her beautiful sweaty face. My favorite was the bottom view as it also made her seem like a giant. Although she really was getting close to that in real life too.

Sometimes she would come back with food and grin or a little more belly than last time and I would know that she had eaten well. But on nights like tonight where it looks like she had a hard day at work and was significantly more out of breath this week than last, I would treat her little extra special.

As she finally made her way inside with her prescriptions and I knew she was safely inside, I switched apps on my phone from the camera app to Uber eats... She had noticed this "glitch" a couple of months after moving in next door.

I had set up a very official looking Uber eats page to send her a welcome email with a fresh $30 off promo code with no minimum purchase. It was supposed to me extremely intermittent and random however more than twice a week she would get this promo code that allowed her to get $30 worth of food for pennies.

Another way I had been "helping" my neighbor when she was sad or hungry or neither was the once or twice a week that doordash would "accidentally" send her someone else's meal. The first time she had sent it back with the driver, so now I get them to leave it at the apartment door and not message her until they're safely back in their cars. The delighted look of confusion and excitement that crosses her face as it just so happens to be some of her favorite foods sometimes with the odd tomato or vegetable thrown on that she would probably pick off considering her palate.

This coupled with her winning "free" delivery of groceries from "Walmart" for the past year... had her looking rounder than ever.
She got weekly shipments of a family size amount of ready made and frozen meals As long as "they" got to pick the specific foods. Most of them were not nutritious by any means and it really showed on her double chin.

The Uber eats finally arrived and out she comes to grab the food from her front door. She bends to grab them when she gets to a certain point and can't reach any further toward the ground. The past few days had done wonders on her belly especially and it seems it was in the way of her bending down to grab the free food.

I realized it was now my turn to do more than say hi as our eyes crossed in the hall way. And then squeezing past her wide frame feeling myself rub past her hips. Over the year we've been neighbours I had been getting into the habit of asking for certain groceries I knew were on her Walmart shipment and telling her I'd make it up to her. About once every month or two I would bring her over a "sample" of what I had made with her helpful ingredients. These samples were often a double batch and all I had made but this growing neighbour didnt have to know about that.

I had told myself when I started that I would step in once we were both more comfortable with her body. Now that she was having mobility issues I knew I needed to help her as I could only imagine the poor girl was having living on her own.

I grab a spritz of cologne and open the door to hear the unforgettable sound of her wheezing slightly and her perfect blue eyes look up at me embarrassed as she stands up straight. I told her I had heard the commotion and wanted to help. To my surprised she invited me in. I easily bent down to grab the heavy meal of dumplings and noodles and other favorites and followed her in....

The apartment was dark, save for the dim blue flicker of the television. An empty can of soda sat sideways on the coffee table, casting a shadow on the sofa behind it. One side of the sofa looked lower than the other. It was indented, assuredly, by 14 hours of constant compression every day for the last 6 months. I smile remembering the day she stopped doing work at her desk.

It was 10:00 on a Wednesday morning. Getting into the Webcam wasn't hard. As soon as she clicked on my web page I was in. I had watched her shuffle to her rolling computer chair, visibly fatigued from the pint-and-a-half of ice cream she guzzled the previous night then plopped down in front of her laptop and set down a paper plate holding two frozen breakfast burritos, a light meal, intending not to fan her sugar-induced hangover.

There I watched her eat. Though I'm sure she often felt guilty for the overindulgence and embarrassed by the weight pilling on, food was what gave her solace. She chomped down on the steamy tortilla with elated concentration, escaping with each bite from her boring job, the lonely routine. The moment she swallowed the last of her meal, she got a text. "Your UberEats Delivery is Complete! Delivered at 10:16am"

Sliding away from her desk, she wheeled the chair to the door, only standing up to open the door and retrieve the bag from outside. The order wasn't placed by her of course. It was another one of their "mistakes," which she was now more than willing to take advantage of considering their frequency and the companies seeming inability to correct it based on the help phone number listed.

Today it was McDonalds breakfast. It was likely for 4 or 5 people, as that was the number sandwiches inside, along with a breakfast pastry to go along with each. She scooted back to the computer and began the main course. Eating again with abandon, neglecting even to log into work before continuing her feast, and only taking a pause with one last sandwich and two cinnamon rolls left. She scooted to the edge of the living room, where a lip forming the border of the kitchen makes rolling impossible.

It was there she attempted to stand. I watched as she shifted her weight forward, transferring the load to her feet as she tried to stand up. Her lovehandles however were held in place, clutched firmly by the arms of her chair, now cutting uncomfortably into the fleshy sides. Genuinely taken aback, she tried a few more times to heave herself up before finally pushing free.

Out of breath, and with a puzzled look she retrieved a large bottle of Gatorade from the fridge and took her time walking back to the desk. There, she picked up her laptop and waddled to the couch, where she would thereafter spent every moment of her day, at work at leisure, from then onward.

She brings us over to the infamous spot on the couch and I sat down next to her, placing one hand on her knee. The joint had become so soft and swollen that I wouldn't even be sure where it was if not for the dimple above the kneecap that had creaked on its way down to meet the chair.

As she sat I saw a view I wasn't as accustomed to. Her belly had started to hang between her legs as she spread them to accomodate it. I couldn't help myself and decided to grab the food with my free hand. If not for giving that hand an even more important job, it would have unquestionably been fondling the little bit of flesh poking out from under the shirt and toward the floor.

I tell her she looks hungry while taking the lid off the delivery of dumplings. She blushes and jokingly pokes her belly then my flat stomach and said "you look hungrier"

I skillfully take the chopsticks and feed her whole dumplings at once. Rhythmically she chews and swallows and my hand twitches watching her bloated frame swell up. Sitting, she looks like a mound of flesh, her head sitting atop the fleshy neck then breasts and wide arms uncovered and showing a roll appearing where her bicep would show if not covered in doughy fat.

Between bites she takes big gulps of the provided pepsi, until one gulp as she was about to put it down I held it up for a little longer. About 3 or 5 more seconds. I let the bottle down and she sputtered a bit and let out a massive belch. Eyes questioning, I feed her another dumpling, as if I hadn't, my lips would have filled the space between her lips instead.

At this point she is getting full so I switch foods. I pick up the noodle dish and spiral a bunch around the chopsticks and lay her back to receive the bunches in her mouth one at a time. It was also for her own comfort as her belly really did look tight. Her head rested on my lap feeling the warmth beneath surely, she smiles after each bite looking though slightly pained now and gasping for air. As she would catch her breath enough to say no I would shove more food in. As she was on her back, she basically couldn't not swallow. Once the noodles were basically done. I take the 2l Pepsi that had about half left and placed it in her mouth. She gulped and gulped and I could see the belly getting taller and bloating more. Her eyes searched mine as I pierced her gaze with my desire. She understood in that moment and saw her life playing out according to my desires. The last few seconds of her drinking the Pepsi was almost hard to watch as you could see her visible pain, which was quickly abated by the unprecedented belch she let out seconds after finishing.

She was basically passed out from the sugar as the poor girl was already diabetic. She was used to these blood sugar levels though and it would likely not kill her. As she lay on my lap gasping for air, the weight of her chest and her circumstances finally hit her. She felt an impending weight that this was only the beginning of our relationship together. And it was going to absolutely blossom her frame. She smiled weakly as I finally kneaded her bloated belly belly causing a few exchanges of air in either direction. She started to come back to and with conviction lifted her heavy head to see around her breasts to the dumplings resting on her belly. With her pudgy fingers she popped it in her mouth and after concentrating a bit, managed to swallow even that too.
Yes it was only our beginning.