Lessons in Humility

Chapter 1 - The reality of a wasted year

So it's come to this, eating my misery away. I am a huge disappointment to my parents and I know they care more about their reputation in society than me. I come from a long line of successful men, my dad would say, I was the next generation to inherit the family business he said. I have to be ready to face the world and continue making money for the family. Anyone of importance who saw me looking like this now would create a huge scandal on the family name, I was getting too fat and I was an embarrassment for failing my courses. I thought I was doing fine, I got into the same fraternity as every male in my family had before and I even had a gorgeous girl but I should have known she was never going to stay with me looking like this but I desperately wanted to believe she was the one to end my loneliness, it was not to be. I looked sadly at the pile of empty plates in front of me and I had pigged out on six heaping plates this time, three more than last time. The wine made me sluggish and oddly hungrier, it was red and they say that red wine is supposed to be good for you and well I guess the only thing that's good about it is that it makes me hungry. I hit three hundred and forty pounds in only a short time of living on my own, I didn't even care anymore I just wanted to eat. I let out a burp and struggled to my feet to waddle back home and probably pop a cold one or something. The waitress nodded as I left and smiled at the size of the tip I left for her, I cradled my full, overstuffed belly and struggled up the stairs to my apartment above the restaurant. Living above an Italian restaurant is why I've been getting so fat lately and they give me the leftovers after the day. I wasn't about to turn down free food, the old me would have of course, the old me was all about keeping in shape and trying to get laid by all the hottest chicks I could get. My frat brothers were the same way, competitive and we each had what we called the Bang-Her poll. We were supposed to keep track of the number of chicks we got in a week and for a while I was ahead, I mean I was hot what can I say? The chicks practically fell over themselves to get my attention. When I wasn't boozing it up with the guys, I was banging chicks and because of that my grades started to slip. The college called me on it and I had to shape up or ship out, and for a while I did shape up. I got my grades back up and started doing well again although it didn't last long. I got distracted by a new fling and she was truly addicting, she was a wild cat in the sack and I actually found myself falling for her wit and charms.

She was refreshing to my boring routine of classes and lectures and I found my ability to concentrate on school was beginning to slip again, the college wasn't so nice this time they put me on academic probation and I lost my place in the frat house. The house charter said that anyone who ended up on academic probation would be expelled from the fraternity and I had to take a job at the same Italian restaurant I was living above just to make ends meet. My parents cut me off financially and I was truly on my own for the first time. I found out later that the girl I thought I was falling for was a plant by some of her cruel friends to make me look like a moron. It was a revenge plot because apparently one of the girls in my Bang-Her poll was someone's little sister. I finally got upstairs after huffing and puffing my way up the two flights and saw someone standing outside my door; I totally forgot that Raya was coming over for tutoring tonight. It was a last ditch attempt to recover my grades before I was expelled from the college all together. I struggled to pull my shirt down over my bulging, stuffed gut to greet her but she turned and saw me.

"Ahem. I was about to leave Dale. I have my own work to do too you know." Raya said.

"I know and I'm so sorry I lost track of time. My shift ran long and I couldn't get away." I said.

Raya was slightly shorter than me, five foot nine to my six foot three with red shoulder length hair and blue eyes. She was in the same class that I was failing and the professor had suggested that she tutor me. I would have never looked twice at her since she was the quietest girl in the class and usually kept to herself. She was what the frat guys used call a Pity ***, a girl who would never get a hot guy on her own I never liked that term though, it just felt cruel. She stepped aside as I fumbled with the keys, I could see the irritation in her face and I actually felt bad for lying about what I was doing. I couldn't say I was downstairs pigging out instead of trying to get my work done for class, she would think even less of me than she already does. Raya looked around at the state of my place, it was a sty. I could practically see the judgement in her movements and it only made me feel worse. I shoved some empty pizza boxes off my coffee table and brushed off some chip crumbs. She looked around and not-so-subtly dusted off my couch cushion before sitting down and getting her books and laptop out.

"I'm sorry about the mess I didn't have time to clean up..." I said, trying to break the silence.

"Let's just get to work I know how much of a pig you former frat boys are." She replied.

"Right...work." I said.

I sat down and heard a rip, I flushed bright red and I knew I had just ripped my pants open at the back. Raya glanced at me and then turned back to the laptop screen.

"Shouldn't you go change?" Raya said.

"Umm, right...be back in a jiffy." I said as I tried to back out of the living room without turning around.

I found my sweatpants and quickly changed into them. If she didn't already think I was a complete idiot before, she will now. I couldn't believe that happened, it's like one of those things you only read about happening to other people and you'd never think it would happen to you, you laugh at the other people but it's really not that funny. For some reason, I really didn't want Raya to think I was just another dumb frat boy and that surprised me that I would care so much about what she thought of me. I came back and sat down slowly, fearing I'd rip another pair of pants if I was too quick. Raya passed me the textbook and showed me the section we needed to read for the test next week. I didn't understand a word and it made no sense to me. I still don't know why we need to learn how to understand body languages for a course in information technology.

"Why do we need to know this for an IT course anyway? I thought we were only supposed to learn about computers and stuff." I asked.

"It's not for the IT course itself, it's Business Practices. If you graduate and decide to run your own business then you need to learn how to read the people you deal with. It's part of the program." Raya replied.

"So how you would you read me then?" I asked.

She looked at me; and put the text book down on the table.

"I would read you as someone who cares little for how he appears to others. Judging from the way you keep twitching whenever I show you something in the book it tells me you're uncomfortable and bored. If I saw that in a potential candidate for a job I would not be calling that person back for a second interview. You appear to be disinterested in the reason you came here, and it doesn't tell me you want the job." Raya replied.