chapter 1 coming home

Twyford Crossing was a quaint little English town: a few thousand residents, a few shops and not much else to offer other than the beauty of the town itself, and it was a very beautiful town; Twyford Cross had won the Village of the Year award for the last two years. The fact that it had outgrown its village status hadn't even made a difference to the judges. The businesses there were just as successful. The Bakery, whilst simply titled, offered simply the most delicious goods, and had itself won Bakery of the Year last year. King's Family Butcher's was pipped in the final in its respective field, but still had acquired three of the last five years' awards. In short, there was nothing less than brilliant to say about this township.

That reason alone was why a few building projects were popping up all over the town. At first, the town was against them, fearing that these new estates would not be in keeping with the rest of the place. Their fears were unjust though, as the project manager was one of their own - Mr Michaels - as it turned out and had absolutely no intention of spoiling Twyford Crossing and just as spring was coming to a close, the first of the new developments was completed. Twenty five brand new houses, not the biggest project undertaken by mankind, granted, but a difficult one for all twenty five residences had to meet the quality of the rest of the town. At the official ribbon cutting ceremony, which wasn't really the norm when it came to housing estates, but as this was Twyford Crossing, it felt right to make a big deal out of the moment, the near hundred crowd murmured positive things to each other and congratulated Mr Michaels on his remarkable achievement, that they were glad that he was in charge for he done a 'bang up job' as one resident put it...



Gareth Locksley was excited to be coming back home. He and his best friend had taken a year out following University, touring the States, only stopping off briefly in Ireland to visit Paddy's relatives that he had there. Paddy would Patrick O'Donaghan, the best friend in question... and yes, Patrick was fully aware that his name was just that bit too stereotypical Irish to escape the witty comments from strangers and friends alike that they liked to share. Still, Patrick didn't care that much any more, he had gotten used to it by now. Gareth or Gaz, as he was to Paddy sometimes, to even the sides just that little bit, was your slightly more than average guy. Standing just above average height at 5'11 exactly, it made him that bit shorter than the Irish giant, Patrick, who had a good few inches on him. Remarkably, neither had lost their athletic bodies to the what was essentially nearly a year long holiday to the US. Gaz and Paddy went back a long way, all the way to secondary school, in fact. The two of them had attended St. Andrew's Grammar School in Twyford Crossing itself, meeting on the very first day as they were forced together in registration. Gareth and Patrick from then on, had never ended up in different forms at any point at Grammar School and the first time they didn't share a class together was at the start of the first GCSE year, when Gareth chose history as an option and Patrick hadn't, choosing geography instead. They would take those subjects through A levels, all the way to a University degree. They'd even ended up at the same University, of course that was mostly by choice, but it had happened to be both their favourites. Perhaps a testament to their compatibility as best mates.

It was late afternoon when the taxi they'd taken from the airport dropped them off outside the newly opened Haven Estate.

"It's good to be back," Gareth said.



At the same time, a several hundred miles west and over a thousand higher, Kelly Lennox was already getting annoyed by the kid she had been forced to sit next to. Can't her mother control him for just one minute so I can read my book in peace?! She looked to her right, with a face screaming exasperation at the young woman sitting across the aisle, her red hair seeming even more fiery than usual. The young woman just shrugged and mouthed word "sorry!" at her. It was possible for mouthing words to include an exclamation point, she managed it. It should be made clear at this point, that the girl across the aisle wasn't a random stranger, but Kelly's best friend and until recently, sorority sister, Tara Reynolds and the only reason why they weren't sat together, was due to a monumental cock-up when booking the flight. The girls had gone to University together in the great state of California, their first meeting was during pledges week, but it wasn't until a little later that a bond was forged. They'd both gotten into Phi Alpha Tau, not the most prestigious, perhaps, but they agreed that it was the nicest. It had also turned out to be the most relaxed house on campus too, which meant that Phi Alpha Tau had the highest hit rate for the Freshman 15 of any sorority, by a fair margin too. Kelly and Tara were no exceptions.

Kelly, at 5'8", had been positively rakish when she'd joined, at only 118lbs, which actually had put her just in the underweight category. There we no such worries any more, as currently on that plane headed for England, she weighed in at 177lbs, smack in the middle of the overweight band to those who cared for the body mass index. Kelly certainly didn't. When she'd first noticed her gain, back after returning from her first winter break having already put on the Freshman 15 she'd gone into panic mode, and started a crazy diet and exercise regime that made her miserable. It had been Tara that realized that Kelly wasn't looking her chipper self and being kind, wonderful Tara she had come over one night as Kelly prodded a salad in disdain to ask her what was wrong. For some reason, despite not knowing this girl, Kelly poured all her worries and woes out to Tara. That was the night she gained a best friend. Tara told her that night that she was stunning, and when Kelly looked into the mirror upon returning to her room, she agreed. Kelly never worried about her weight after that. She embraced her curves... and what great curves they were. The majority of her gain had settled in her lower half. University had given her a degree in Philosphy, a best friend and a delectable rear end and hips that swayed on every step, sending her substantial bubble butt, and thighs, jiggling. Her breasts had taken their fair share of the added plush too, growing from mere tennis balls to ripe grapefruits during her time in California. She did gain her midsection too, sitting as she was, her little pot belly just tackled the rim of her jeans, pushing the fabric of her shirt that tiny amount that gave away that she no longer had flat stomach, but it was perfectly happy to sit there and not mount a full offensive on the shirt containing it and with her ass and breast combination, it took a lot of effort for anyone to really notice her relatively small belly.

Tara's on the other hand, wasn't so subtle when it came to that area, for she could only be described as an apple. Tara hadn't exactly been a skinny chick when she met Kelly either, and her four years at University had only added to the number on the scales. Weighing in at 198lbs, the dirty blonde was the heavier of the two. She was a bit taller too though, at 5'10", but even accounting for their height difference, she was still the fatter of the two. Tara sported a full blown spare tire that teased the bottom of her t-shirt, making it want to run away and expose her milky white flesh beneath, were it not for Tara subconsciously and constantly pulling her shirt down. Her t-shirt also exposed her plump upper arms, which fought the sleeves ever so slightly, but so much that the shirt was digging in. Despite being the lighter of the two, Kelly still possessed the larger of the two rumps, but Tara's wasn't exactly small either. Standing, it would jut out a couple of inches, and her thighs would casually brush past one another as she walked, hardly impeding the other's journey as they made slight contact. Her breasts were perhaps just a smidge smaller than Kelly's too. All the extra weight Tara carried seemed to be deposited in her respectable gut.

Just when all seemed calm, the kid suddenly sprang back into life again, and smacked his drink... all over Kelly and her book, which on Kelly's reflex action jumped out of her hands and landed in the aisle. The kid's mother was profusely apologising, but Kelly wasn't listening, but instead was watching as the liquid slowly spread across her white shirt, slowly turning the fabric translucent, slowly allowing onlookers to note that her midriff was a bit soft and pudgy underneath. Tara meanwhile was trying not to laugh out loud at her friend's misfortune. Whilst successful in not letting her face wear any more than a slight smile, her large muffin top gave her away, jiggling raucously, her vocal chords allowing her belly to do the laughing for them...