A Hometown Weight Gain Reveal

Chapter 1

“Goddamn, David,” Tom called across the noisy bar, bringing far more attention to David’s entrances than he would’ve preferred.

David immediately felt his cheeks flush crimson, tugging at the front of his shirt out of nervous habit as if the fabric would cling any less tightly to the rounded, over-exaggerated potbelly his too-tight garments were doing little to hide.

“David, no way that's you,” Tom hollered drunkenly as he stood up and made his way unsteadily through the crowd, teetering precariously and nearly spilling the lime-adorned drink in his hand. “Dude, you got fat!”

David’s blush deepened as Tom's less-than-tactful words drew even more attention, the women standing in a cluster near the bar giggling amongst themselves and sneaking looks at David. Tom was right. He had gotten fat. His slow but steady accumulation of weight since he’d graduated high school was something that he tried to ignore the majority of the time, but in instances like this, David was reminded just how much he’d changed, was forced to see himself through the eyes of others who were acutely aware of just how bad his little eating problem had become.

“Dude,” Tom slurred, finally reaching him and examining him from head to toe with an unsteady, hazy gaze that David recognized well from their many beer-soaked team afterparties.

The judgemental scrutiny made David try to suck in but he immediately gave up, his weakened ab muscles nowhere near a match for the perpetually bloated, swollen ball of fat protruding from his middle. Examining himself in his childhood bedroom’s mirror that night before going out was almost enough to make him cancel, but the humiliation of Tom seeing the same image David had seen made him deeply wish he had.

David’s outfit, undersized in every possible regard, only emphasized every pound of the weight he’d gained, leaving little (if anything) to the imagination. His entire frame was wider, a fact he was forced to acknowledge when he bumped into things with his now rounded hips, and he’d had to take a large step back to take himself in in the rectangular mirror, something that was never necessary in the trim years of his youth.

His hulking new frame was only the beginning of his shame however, and his XL shirt, already two sizes up from where he began and yet still two sizes too small, was like a second skin for his bouncing gut and fleshy, growing pecs. The beginnings of man boobs were evident and the shirt cut deeply into his fatty arms, making the entire top look painfully, uncomfortably tight. It had been a struggle to force himself into it but it was the biggest size he had, his refusal to admit how large he was growing preventing him from investing in clothing that actually fit. His pants fared no better, and the straining button that he’d needed to lie on his back to force closed was hidden by the beginnings of a belly hang peeking out of the bottom of his t-shirt.

He was always stuffed, in fact he’d eaten a second Thanksgivings meal worth of leftovers before arriving at the local bar, and although his flabby belly was tight from the amount of food he’d packed into it, it still bounced and wobbled freely, its lower portion unconfirmed by the stretched t-shirt fabric that was squashing the rest of his overfilled middle. He’d barely been able to force the khakis over his thighs and even now he felt almost itchy with just how tightly the confining fabric was affixed to his meaty, toneless legs and wobbling, widening ass.

“You really let yourself go,” Tom marveled in disbelief. “I mean, dude if you hadn’t texted me that you just got here I would've been like who’s that *** that just walked in the door? I barely even recognized you dude, that’s so fucking crazy.”

“Well, I-” David stammered.

“No, like you’re actually huge dude,” Tom went on loudly, eliciting even more giggles from the gaggle of ladies at the bar.

He reached out and prodded David's belly with a less than gentle prob, laughing when he saw how far his finger sunk into the former athlete's flab.

“Dude you gotta hit the gym,” Tom continued at the same, clearly intoxicated volume, giving David's tubby pudge of a belly two sharp smacks that left him wobbling as his face turned an even darker shade of red. “Shit, you could be a mall Santa dude, it looks like you’re wearing a fucking fatsuit. What happened to you?”

“Uh,” David stuttered again, wishing he could down the drink Tom was holding for a little liquid courage. “Uh. I mean, I don’t-”

“In high school you were like the fastest on the team dude, like for real, what the fuck happened to you? You have a double fucking chin,” Tom slurred, throwing his arm around David’s now rounded shoulders and leading him towards the back table Tom had approached from. “Don’t worry dude, don’t worry, there's like hella chicks here. I mean, you clearly gotta get laid, when was the last time you even saw your dick?” he asked with a laugh.

“I’m kidding, I'm kidding,” he cried when Tom balked slightly. “Dude, take a joke, c’mon. Stella from 4th-period math is here, you had like the biggest crush on her, remember? Carter’s here, Tiff is here, Brent and Jeff are here, everybody's here,” Tom went on, taking a slug from his drink. “Get something and meet me back there, shots are only like two bucks.”

Finally released from Tom's grip and free to alter his own state, David sighed in relief as he turned and leaned heavily against the bar, still full enough to be slightly out of breath from the short waddle.

“Hey,” he greeted the bored-looking bartender, a dark-haired girl with double eyebrow piercings David had never seen before. “Can I get two shots of the well vodka and a Budweiser? You can leave the tab open.”

The woman nodded without speaking and turned to fix his drink, David already sliding his card across the bar and looking around, his nerves still high.

“David?” he heard from behind him, and he felt his heart sink. He’d recognize that voice anywhere, and a dive bar like this was the last place he expected his bubbly, sugary sweet former friend Courtney to be.

He grimaced then turned slowly, already expecting the personable woman’s shriek of delight upon seeing him that tradeTomed their interactions. Instead, the short blond was clearly aghast, her face drained of color and her eyes widened in shock.

“David?” she repeated again more quietly. “I didn't think it was really you, I saw you talking to Tom and I-” she stopped, looking up at him with her big eyes that were teeming with emotions, her heightened sense of empathy always on display. “Are you…” she began again. “Are you ok? What, um-” she paused for a second time, biting her lip and clearly seeking to choose her words carefully. “How have you been?” she finally settled on.

“Uh- I’ve been ok,” David responded, his tone revealing more than he meant it to. “I’m good,” he corrected. “I’m good, how are you?”

“I’m doing pretty good,” Courtney answered cautiously. “I actually got a job here in town to be close to my mom. I’m buying the Ratowinski family's old house, you remember Eric.”

“Oh yea,” David recalled. “Yea, he played soccer. His parents moved?”

“To Florida,” Courtney confirmed with a nod. “They gave me a great deal.”

She paused, then continued in a lowered volume.

“I missed you. I couldn't understand why every time we talked you ghosted me when I suggested we get together but- well,” she sighed. “Are you taking care of yourself, David? It seems like-”

She blushed and began again.

“It kinda seems like you’ve put on a few pounds.”

They stared at each other for a beat before the bartender set down the two shots and David's beer, sliding his card back towards him and officially ending the interaction without a single word.

“Oh,” he said, grabbing the first shot glass as a welcome distraction. “Sorry, one sec.”

He downed the first, feeling the burn spread through his chest, then quickly followed it up with the second, shaking his head quickly as soon as it was swallowed as if it would rid his mouth of the taste.

“You want a drink?” He offered Courtney.

“No, no it's ok David,” she said quickly placing a hard on his chunky arm fighting to be free of the confining sleeve. “I just-” she stopped again, studying him hard. “I just don't want you to avoid me anymore ok? And I just want…I just want you to be healthy. Promise we’ll hang out soon?”

David, mortified at her gentle assertions about his new size, nodded quickly and picked up his already open bottle of beer.

“I gotta,” he said with a point. “I gotta meet Tom. I’ll see you around.”

Courtney nodded earnestly, flashed him a brilliant smile, and disappeared back into the crowd of women by the bar, her voice intermingling with theirs until David could no longer distinguish it.

He bumped his way towards the back of the bar, apologizing as he tried and failed to squeeze through the crowd unnoticed, when he got a notification on his cell phone. Eager for any distraction and already feeling the slight effects of the back-to-back shots he'd taken, he pulled it from his tight pants pocket with effort and tilted his head in confusion.

It was a text from Britney, a girl he’d flirted with in high school but never saw fit to date, and he vaguely remembered the drama of his junior year prom when Britney thought he would ask her but he’d instead asked Trina, the captain of the gymnastics team. She’d held quite a grudge and he hadn't heard from her since their graduation day, in fact, he hardly even remembered that he had her number saved in the first place. He clicked the notification to reveal a voice memo, and his confusion and curiosity grew.

He looked around for Tom and, unable to instantly spot him, made his way back towards the door to step outside into the cool, quiet night air, his bewilderment about the possible contents of Britney's voice memo growing by the minute.

He adjusted his volume, held the phone up to his ear, and pressed play, Britney's somewhat familiar voice coming back to him all in a rush as she began her message.

“Ok, what the actual fuck is wrong with you?” the message began, his former classmate clearly several drinks deep and her voice sounding tinny through the speakers. “Is this like a joke, is this some kind of fucking prank? I need another shot. Tom told me to come out tonight cause you were gonna be here and like, yea, yea I wanted to fuck you, I’ve always wanted to fuck you, but there is no way I’d ever even touch you now, you’re the size of a fucking house, you’re so fucking fat,” she rushed out in one long run-on sentence.

“Like I’m across the bar and I can basically feel the room fucking shake whenever you waddle,” she whined. “You used to be so hot, like that’s so annoying. What?” she cried, the volume receding as she clearly turned her face from the mic. “I’m not! I’m not being mean, I’m just telling him I wanted to fuck him when he was hot, not a whale. It’s not mean!”

“Anyways,” she went on, her volume restored as she brought the phone's microphone back towards her face. “I just feel really bad for you actually,” she slurred. “Like, yea you were a dick to me in high school but now your whole life is an episode of the biggest loser, like, it's fucking pathetic. And I went out of my way to get all cute and come here tonight and you literally ate yourself into a fucking blob of fat, you probably couldn’t fuck me even if I wanted you to.”

“Britney!” a voice drunkenly chided in the background.

“What?” Britney retorted loudly. “I’m just being honest.”

The voice note clicked, ended, and David was left in the silence with the knowledge that the entire humiliating ordeal had taken place just a few feet away from him, only moments before. He sighed, felt his stomach rumble, and turned back towards his car, the slight buzz he’d been riding from the two shots entirely gone.

His open tab be damned. This dive bar didn't have a kitchen, and despite his earlier feasts, David was suddenly very, very hungry.




*I hope you enjoyed! This was a commission of a true story which meant I had to change all the names, and it's silly but I was soooo attached to the names I wrote it with that I almost feel like changing them worsened the realism (but I hope I'm just making that up lmao). I usually write stories that are either gender neutral or centered around women, so this was definitely a fun little challenge! I'm still not sure if people prefer gender neutral, more masculine characters, or more feminine characters, so this should help me see if people have a preference! Thanks so much for reading!*