Chapter 4 - the realization

Now Beth was making me two meals a day, I started giving her some grocery money at least to help out. The food was so good, my lunches were the envy of my co-workers. In fact, I overheard them talk about them while I sitting in the restroom stall.

"What do you have for lunch today?" asked a woman from purchasing.

"A salad, I wish I had something like that girl Emmy has," said her annoying friend.

"Yeah, but you see what it is doing to Emmy's waistline. Eating like that is making her blow up," said the woman from purchasing.

At home, I asked Beth if she thought I was looking fat.

"No, you look great," she said, "Probably just water retention from work. Do you want another beer?"

She was not a good liar.

"I'm getting so round," I said, "Ugh."

"What's wrong?" asked Beth.

"It's just people at work at terrible. I'm there so much and I can't stand any of them," I said, "No one there is my friend and that's really hard at a place I spend most of my waking hours at.

Beth came up to me and hugged me.

"Hey, you are wonderful. If they think you are cool and fun and smart, they are just terrible people. Trust me, I know you are the second coolest," said Beth.

"Who is the coolest?" I asked.

"That's obvious," said Beth, "You are doing great, a new job and moving are stressful.

Beth grabbed my hand and I felt butterflies in my stomach. Was I getting feelings for my roommate?

August brought a major heat wave. With our lackluster AC, I got sweaty fast. While I had made sure to stay clothed around Beth in the past, I was finally too hot to care. I started walking around the apartment wearing only a sports bra and panties. The sports bra hadn't been worn in a while, I had a roll of fat around the side.

"It's too hot to cook so I ordered pizza!" said Beth.

The pizzas arrived and I immediately sat down with Beth and started stuffing my face. Only a few months ago, I would have taken my time with a few slices, now I was inhaling them. There I was. Sitting in a sports bra with my new spare tire resting on my lap. Stuffing my face on my sixth slice of pizza. Beth's bad habits had wiped off on me.

"Look at how fat I've gotten. Damn, I've become a slob," I said.

"No, you look beautiful," said Beth as she moved closer.

"How did I let myself go like this, I'm a pig," I said, "Look at my belly."

Beth moved closer still and started to rub my stuffed and flabby belly.

"Aw, it's just a tummyache," she said.

This belly rub was more than just friendly, it felt sensual. My weight gain didn't happen by accident, Beth was fattening me up every step of the way.

"You want me to be fat don't you?" I asked.

"No! I just like... You like the food," she stammered looking for her answer.

"You want me to be a big fat hog so you won't be alone in being a pathetic slob," I said. I felt so used, I wanted to hurt her.

"I'm so sorry," said Beth with tears welling up, "I don't want to mess up our friendship, you have to believe that."

"We were never friends."

I got on some tennis shoes and left the apartment. I was going for a run, I needed to get out of there. My form was terrible, it had been weeks since I went running. It didn't help that I could barely see from the tears in my own eyes. I started running down a steep hill when I lost my footing and started tumbling. Mid tumble, I heard a snap. I passed out from the pain shortly there after.

I woke up in the hospital.