Chapter 1 - the sneaky potbelly

Isabella had the place to herself every day, with nothing to do but watch tv, surf the net, or read books, and she loved it. The rent was paid on the townhouse through next year, and she was 3 months into a much-deserved 6 month vacation. She had developed quite a taste for the delicious baked goods produced by the bakery next door, which she could smell baking whenever she stepped outside her door. That was the problem. This morning, when she pulled on her usual attire of sweat pants and T-shirt, she noticed that she had begun to tie the draw-strings of her pants well below where she usually did, and her T-shirt didn't quite cover her now-prominent potbelly. "Well, I'm bound to gain a few with nothing to do but sit on my butt and eat donuts all day--I'll just start working it off walking around the neighborhood."
And so, after fortifying herself with a couple donuts out of the 2 dozen baked goods she bought next door, she began to walk around the streets of her neighborhood. The donuts had made her thirsty, so she decided to stop in at a bar she happened to be passing and order a drink. "Do you really think you should be drinking beer, in your condition?" the pretty female bartender asked her with a frown when she asked for a Michelob Ultra. "My cond--? Oh." She glanced down and noticed that her shirt had ridden up quite a bit and her round belly was exposed and even pressing up against the bar as she sat on the stool. "I guess I've gained more than just a few," she thought ruefully to herself. Slapping her belly and pushing it out a bit more, she replied, "No baby in here, just a couple months worth of gorging on donuts and éclairs."
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to..."
"Don't worry about it, Angela," she said, looking at the girl's nametag. "I'm the one getting so fat I look pregnant. It just kind of creeped up on me--I've been on vacation."
"Say no more. I took a week off last month and stopped in at Josie's Bakery down the street every day, and it took a bit of a toll on my waistline, too," she said, lifting up her shirt to reveal too-tight jeans cutting cruelly into a somewhat smaller version of Isabella's big belly.
"Josie's? Hey, that's where I go--it's right next door to my townhouse!"
"Don't they have the most delicious cake and éclairs?" Angela said with a dreamy smile.
"Oh yeah. In fact, I've got some right here. Have one," Isabella said as she plopped the box on the counter and opened it.
"Ooooh, I've been trying to stay away from Josie's devilishly tasty treats--I suppose one can't hurt though," Angela said as she snatched up the biggest pastry in the box.
Since it was the slowest part of the day, Angela had nothing better to do than sit and chat with her new friend, and before they knew it, Isabella and Angela had polished off the whole box.
"I can't believe we ate the whole box! I usually take a week to go through that much!" Isabella lied (She usually went through one box in a day, easy).
"Ohh, I know," groaned Angela. I'm going to have trouble getting into my outfit tonight, I bet."
"Where are you going tonight? Got a hot date?" asked Isabella.
"I'm supposed to go out on the town with a couple of high-school girlfriends--I haven't seen them in years. You should come!"

And so it was that Isabella found herself digging through her closet that night, searching for something to wear out on the town. The first pair of pants she pulled out she had to struggle with to get up over her now bigger hips and ass, but she finally managed--only to find that it was impossible to button them. Her fat belly bulged out so far she couldn't see the buttons anyway. Every pair of jeans or slacks was the same. Finally she came across a pair of dressy stretch pants with an elastic waistband. She got those on ok, but couldn't decide whether to pull them up all the way over her belly or leave them under the great dome. She left them under and picked out her biggest blouse which just barely covered her stomach and strained the buttons just a little bit.
In front of the full-length mirror, she raised her arms and saw that her shirt lifted to expose her belly quite a bit when she did that. "Nothing wrong with showing a little skin," she giggled.
She sat down to a large plate of pasta then, so she wouldn't be drinking on an empty stomach, and had seconds just for good measure.
Feeling full and happy, she noticed as she passed the mirror on the way out the door that her belly was sticking out quite a bit more from her full meal--the bottom of the round swell exposed under her blouse.
With a final futile tug, she walked out her door--and almost knocked over someone walking toward her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, then noticed that the person looked familiar. It was one of her friend from her days working as a cocktail waitress, Joanna.
"Isabella, I was coming to see you. How have you been?" Joanna asked as she looked Isabella over from head to belly. "I see you've put on a little weight," she teased as she patted her belly gently, making it jiggle slightly, to Joanna's delight.
"Yeah, more than a little, I guess," Isabella said, looking down at Joanna's belly play and trying to suck it in as much as possible--which wasn't much.
"Oh, you don't have to suck it in for me, girl--we're old friends," Joanna purred.
Isabella let her breath back out and her belly swelled outwards, causing her blouse's buttons to strain.
"Whoa, you look like you're pregnant! Joanna said, staring at Isabella's gut in all its glory.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, someone did mistake me for being pregnant today," Isabella replied with a slight blush and a shy smile.
"I'm not surprised," Joanna said with renewed belly rubbing. "I mean, just look at the size of this tummy! What have you been eating?"
"Some of everything, I guess you could say. But I was on my way out the door. Maybe we could--"
"Nonsense," Joanna interrupted. "I'll just be a minute," she said as she pushed Isabella back through her door. " I want to see something."
"What?" Isabella said as she plopped down on her couch and nibbled at the chocolates in the coffee table dish.
Watching her eat with a small smile, Joanna asked, "When was the last time you weighed yourself?"
"Oh, I don't know, I had a physical last fall I think and I was 135--a bit less than usual. I'm usually at 140 or 145. I bet I'm in the 150's now..." she said with another glance at her belly, which was straining her blouse's buttons quite hard now that she was sitting down.
"Let's see how much you weigh now," Joanna said with a devilish look in her eye. She was looking trimmer than ever in a skin-tight crop-top and a short skirt.
"Uh, ok, I guess. Then I have to be going," Isabella said, following Joanna into her bathroom.
The scale was in her bathroom cupboard. She brought it out and laid it on the floor. "Here 'goes," she said as she hopped on.
The scale seemed to Isabella to groan with her weight, and she watched in dismay and the needle sped right past 140, 150, and finally came to rest on 167.
"Wow, you've gained 32 pounds since last fall. No wonder your clothes are so tight!" Joanna said with another poke to her belly.
Looking at their reflections in the mirror, Isabella couldn't help but notice the contrast the two women made. Her big round full belly stuck out several inches farther than her breasts--and she always had big boobs. When did I let myself get so fat, she wondered.
"You need to go on a diet, porky," Joanna said, giving her old friend a hug. "Even though it is kind of fun playing with your Buddha belly," she laughed as she struggled to fit her arms around Isabella's girth.
"Yeah, you do seem to be enjoying this, Jo. You like my potbelly, don't you? Admit it," Isabella said with a smile. She pushed out her belly as far as it would go, and as she did, one of her blouse's buttons popped off with a "Snap!"
"Hey, you could've taken my eye out!" Joanna complained as she looked at Isabella's magnificent gut. "Wow, you sure have let yourself go. Look at the size of it," she said, patting Isabella's belly and making it jiggle again.
"I know," Isabella giggled. "And you keep making my belly jiggle when you do that."
"C'mon, let's find you another shirt to wear, that is, if you can fit through the door, fatty," Joanna teased as she led Isabella out of the bathroom.
As Isabella bent over one of her dresser drawers, she heard a small "rip."
"Looks like you could use another pair of pants, too," Joanna laughed.
"I guess these stretch pants weren't quite stretchy enough," Isabella said with an embarrassed smile.
"Nope. You've definitely gained most of your weight in that belly of yours, but your butt has gotten fatter, too," Joanna said as she rubbed Isabella's oversized fanny.
"I know. I could barely pull any of my pants over it. But the thing is, none of my pants will even come close to buttoning any more," Isabella opined.
"Really? Well what about these?" Joanna asked, holding up a pair of shorts that looked fairly big in the waist.
"Those? Those shorts are my sister's, from when she was pregnant. She was as big as a house. It's maternity wear. I don't think I've gotten THAT fat...have I?" Isabella looked doubtful.
"I think you need to take another look in the mirror, Porky. You HAVE gotten that fat," Joanna said, giving Isabella's belly another playful poke. "Here, try them on."
The shorts were a little snug over her butt and hips, and when she tried to button them, she found that they fit, even a bit tight, she discovered as she struggle a bit to zip them.
Joanna threw back her head and laughed. "See? I told you. Nine months pregnant with donuts," she giggled.
"Wow, I really do need to go on a diet..." Isabella thought.
(To be continued)