When the Right Girl Comes Along

Chapter 1

Rosa tied her shoe and stood up from the edge of the bed. Her hair was pulled back in a pony tail, and she was getting impatient. She had her running clothes on and was eager to get out on the track before the grandmas and grandpas got out there for their daily strolls. She was serious about their morning runs and always had been. One of her favorite things to do was run the track with Billie. She sighed at Billie, who was making no progress in getting ready and said, "Will you get dressed?"

Billie grinned and burrowed into the blankets. "No, I hate jogging, and I don't want to anymore."

Rosa looked genuinely pissed, which startled Billie into sitting up. Her lush mahogany hair cascaded down across her chest and tickled her nipples. The blankets fell away to reveal a tiny roll of soft flesh that had appeared in the last week under Billie's navel. She was a stunning woman, but Rosa wasn't looking at the big picture.

"See?" Rosa brutally pointed towards the barely perceptible roll of fat and continued, "You are getting fat. You're gaining weight."

Billie was shocked. "Gaining weight? Jesus I might have gained two pounds. Who cares? Who cares if I gain twenty?"

It was Rosa's turn to be shocked. "What? I care. You're going to go to flab and fall out of your clothes and bust out of your flannels like some butch dyke who long since gave up caring, and I am not attracted to that, and that is not you. You're my lithe, tall jungle woman. Get up and run that crap off. Can you even run any kind of far like that, with that stomach hanging on you?"

Billie's eyes got very dark as she set her chin and carefully enunciated every word of her response. "Go fuck yourself. You're gonna have to because I'm not fucking you anymore. If you don't love me with some fat on me, you don't love me at all, and I sure as hell can run far enough to get clear of you."

Rosa stormed out of the room, through the living room, and out the door of their apartment. Billie could feel the tears coming as she left. They both knew this was the end. She pulled herself out of bed and went into the kitchen and began to empty the house of food by eating whatever she could. She'd never binged or stuffed before, and was in agony very soon after from eating too much, too fast, and downing soda in the process. Rosa came in hours later to find Billie naked on the kitchen floor covered in food, gripping her swollen tight gut, howling with pain or laughter or both. She walked right past Billie and began packing. Four hours later, she drove away, and Billie never saw her again.