chapter 2

Mia suppressed a gasp. She was horrible at designing clothes for plus size women. She spent the rest of the class in a daze, trying to figure out how she was going to pass this semester. When class ended, Grace struck up a conversation with her and they ended up going out to a local coffee shop.
"This place is great. I've never been here before," said Mia.
"Yeah, the food is cheap and delicious. And the coffee here is amazing," beamed Grace. She'd ordered a massive ammount of pastries, donuts, and quiches. Mia watched in amazement as she quickly devoured all of it, easily swallowing it down her gullet and washing it all down with an extra large peppermint mocha.

Finally, Grace finished by letting out a large burp.
"Wow, excuse me. Anyways, what do you think about this semester's 'theme' ?"
"To be honest, I'm really nervous about it. I'm horrible at designing outfits for plus size women. I just can't get the shape right or get it to compliment their body type," said Mia, staring down at the table. To her surprise, Grace just laughed.
"Well, it's pretty easy for me. I just try on the clothes myself," she said, looking down at her massive belly and smiling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mia looked down at the dozen-or-so crumpled up sheets of paper on her mahogany desk. Exasperated, she fished her phone out of her purse and texted Mike.
'Hey baby, I've had a pretty hard day. Things aren't going my way. Can you come over?'
'You're probably just over-reacting. Daddy's not buying all your problems away?'
Mike drove her crazy but he could be really sweet when he wanted to, and the sex was amazing. Her phone buzzed again.
'Okay, seriously. What's wrong?'
She ignored him and went back to work. Twenty minutes later there was a knock on her office door, and Mike slipped in. Mia jumped.
"Jesus, you scared me. I keep forgetting I gave you the key to my house."
"It's not a house, it's a f*cking mansion," he exclaimed, walking over to her desk. "What's wrong? And what's all this?" He said, gesturing to the crumpled papers littering her desk.
"We're doing plus size fashion this semester. And I'm so stressed out because I'm the worst at it and I can never get the body shape right and..." Mike cut her off by starting to kiss her, his fingers lowering down to unbutton her blouse.
"Mike, I'm serious.." He unhooked her bra and began playing with her. "Mike. Stop it! This is important to me!" She shrieked, pushing him off her. He stared at her. "Look, babe, I'm sorry that school isn't going well. Isn't there someone you can talk to to help you?"
"I think so...And I also think you should go. I have some work to do."
"Aw, sweetie, but your soft little nipples are out, and they're calling my name."
"You're a pig," she said, smiling. She buttoned up her shirt and kissed him one more time before turning away from him. She pulled out her phone again and found the number that Grace had given her.
'Hey, Grace, It's Mia. I need some advice."
'Hey man, what's up?"
'What should I do about all this plus-size stuff?'
'Well, okay. This is just a suggestion, but have you thought about maybe gaining some weight? It might help you see from a better perspective and help you better understand different body shapes."
'Wow, maybe you're right. I'll think about it. Thanks!'
Mia sat in the now-empty room and pondered over Grace's idea. Yes, she decided, this seemed like a good plan. She hoped it would work.