Chapter 1

Karen Gordosky had never thought of herself as "the fat girl." Even now, standing under the dim rented lights of the old VFW hall during her ten-year reunion, she still didn't fully believe it. She had always been the pretty one. The blonde softball player with thick thighs, broad hips, and a bright smile that made boys forgive an extra twenty pounds before they even noticed it.

Back in high school Karen had been strong more than thin. At 165 pounds she had carried herself like an athlete, because she was one. Softball practice, weight training, long summer games under the heat of Friday night lights - her body had been powerful, sturdy, and alive. The boys loved her curves then. Coaches praised her strength. Karen herself barely thought about calories because she never had to.

College changed things slowly.

At first it barely registered. A late pizza after practice. Beer on weekends. Huge cafeteria breakfasts before class. By sophomore year she hovered near 180 pounds, but she still moved like an athlete and still had enough muscle to carry the extra softness beautifully. By graduation, at 190 pounds, Karen had become undeniably thick, yet still incredibly attractive. Men stared at her constantly. Her hips widened, her chest filled out, and her stomach developed a faint softness that she secretly liked touching when she lay in bed at night.

Then adulthood arrived all at once.

The workouts disappeared first.

Karen found herself sitting behind a desk for ten hours a day as an office manager at a small insurance company. There were donuts every Friday, fast food lunches three times a week, vending machine runs during stressful afternoons, and giant takeout dinners eaten exhausted on the couch while binge-watching television.

The strange thing was that Karen never actually changed how she ate.

She simply stopped moving.

And the weight came.

By twenty-five, her body had become lush and heavy. Her thighs rubbed constantly beneath her skirts. Her once firm backside spread wider each year into office chairs. Her belly softened outward into a plush curve that pushed visibly against fitted blouses.

At 210 pounds, Karen still managed to convince herself she was simply "curvy."

People certainly reinforced it.

Men flirted with her constantly. Coworkers complimented her figure. Even strangers smiled warmly at her in bars. Karen learned quickly that softness suited her face. Her cheeks rounded beautifully. Her blonde hair framed her fuller features perfectly. And though she privately noticed the thickening rolls forming along her sides or the way her stomach pressed into her lap while sitting, she rarely let herself dwell on it.

Then came her twenty-eighth birthday.

And with it, the reunion.

Karen had spent nearly an hour dressing that night. Three different outfits ended up discarded across her bed before she finally settled on a black dress that hugged her enormous hips and stretched tightly over her soft stomach. Looking at herself in the mirror, she had felt a strange mix of confidence and shame.

She looked... big.

Not pleasantly curvy anymore.

Fat.

Her belly bulged prominently beneath the dress, round and yielding. Her arms had grown thick and soft. Even her face now carried a fullness impossible to ignore. When she stepped onto the scale earlier that week and saw 230 pounds staring back at her, Karen had nearly cried.

Now, standing in the reunion hall, she realized everyone else had noticed too.

"Oh my God, Karen! You've gotten... comfortable!"

"Girl, you used to be tiny!"

"Looks like office life hit you hard!"

The thinner women laughed with wine-filled cruelty disguised as joking nostalgia. Several of the former popular girls - themselves maybe fifteen or twenty pounds heavier than high school - seemed almost delighted by Karen's size. Standing beside them, Karen suddenly felt enormous.

Humiliated.

She crossed her arms over her belly instinctively, feeling the softness compress beneath her hands. Her face burned. For the first time in her life, Karen genuinely felt ugly.

The room blurred slightly as tears threatened to form.

Then a deep male voice interrupted behind her.

"Hey Karen?"

She turned slowly.

Standing there was one of the fattest men she had ever seen in person.

He had to weigh at least 350 pounds. Maybe more.

His enormous stomach pushed outward beneath a blue button-up shirt strained nearly to failure. Thick moobs hung heavily against his chest, stretching the fabric tight while his massive hips spread outward beneath pleated slacks. His face was incredibly round, buried beneath layers of soft cheeks and multiple chins, yet his expression radiated warmth.

Karen blinked in confusion.

"Yeah???"

The huge man smiled wider.

Karen searched desperately for a name tag but couldn't find one anywhere on his broad body. Her eyes traveled helplessly over him instead - over the gigantic belly, the thick arms, the soft chest. She felt heat bloom unexpectedly deep between her thighs.

God.

He was huge.

And somehow... beautiful.

Karen had always secretly liked fat men. Even in high school she'd felt drawn toward softness, warmth, and size, though she never admitted it aloud. She'd buried those feelings for years beneath safer relationships with athletic boyfriends and conventionally attractive men.

But looking at this massive stranger now, something inside her awakened immediately.

The fat man looked at her with unmistakable affection.

"Karen, Karen Gordosky! It's me. Kevin. Kevin Williams."

Karen's breath caught.

Kevin?

Shy, husky Kevin from high school?

Her best friend.

The boy she used to spend hours talking to after softball games. The sweet, funny guy she secretly adored but never dated because she cared too much about fitting in.

She stared openly now.

Back then Kevin had been chunky.

This was something else entirely.

His body looked unbelievably soft, almost decadent in its size. Karen found herself imagining how warm his belly must feel beneath her hands. She suddenly remembered all the times teenage Kevin had looked at her with quiet devotion while she chased after lean football players who barely remembered her name afterward.

And worst of all?

She hadn't even recognized him.

Kevin's smile softened nervously as he opened his enormous arms toward her.

"Kevin, of course," she said, reaching out for his blubber-filled embrace.

She hugged his fat body tight, maybe too tight as she wanted nothing more than to dig her fingers into his soft flesh.