Chapter 1 - stupid questions

It was early afternoon and he was sleeping heavily on the living room couch when he awoke with a start. His girlfriend stormed into the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Adrenaline pumped through his body as he tried to remember what it was that he was in trouble for. She stood over him, fury emblazoned on her features, and it began to come back to him bit by bit.

"What's all this, Ray?" she snarled as she snatched one of three empty pizza boxes off the coffee table and shook it in his face.

"Um. What are you doing... home from work... so early, honey?" he asked slowly, hoping to buy a bit of time. He tried to sit up on the couch, but found that he had grown so fat, and his stomach so swollen, that he couldn't get the leverage. Stuffed crust pizza, he remembered. I'm stuffed with stuffed crust pizza. He stifled a burp.

"Where did the pizza go, Ray?" she demanded. "Did you have a party? Who have you been feeding?"

"Nobody," he answered with a bit of relief. Was she just upset thinking he'd had guests over? Maybe this wasn't so bad. Over her shoulder he watched the ceiling fan spin and hum, and he realized that he felt its breeze on his bare belly. He reached down and tried to tug the hem of his tight t-shirt down to cover his distended gut, but it rolled right back up again. "I'm sorry, honey, I was just really, really hungry this afternoon, so--"

"This afternoon and every afternoon for three months!" she cried, angrily tossing the empty box towards the kitchen trash can. "I found the credit card charges, Ray. Eighteen hundred dollars. Eighteen HUNDRED dollars worth of Pizza Hut!"

At that moment, the bottom dropped out of his world. But it was also a sort of relief. For over three months he'd been ordering pizzas on her credit card, every day while she was at work -- in secret. Tearing up the empty boxes into pieces, hiding them in the bottom of the trash can, paying just the minimum balance on the credit card bills and hiding those too. He didn't like to do it, but he couldn't help it. His appetite had grown, and grown, and was out of control. At first two pizzas had filled him up, but over the last few weeks he'd grown to need three. He needed to eat.

"Eighteen hundred dollars," she repeated stupidly. "You are literally eating me out of house and home. Just -- why?"

"You know why. Because I'm so hungry. All the time," he answered, gently cradling his overfed belly.

Her gaze dropped from his eyes to his bloated, exposed midriff, and disgust crossed her face like a passing shadow. "My god, Ray. When did you get so fucking fat?"

That's two stupid questions in a row, he thought. Will you go for three? But he said nothing, just lay there like a beached whale, thinking that the last time they made love he'd been under three-fifty. That was before he'd gotten his hands on the credit card. All he knew was he'd gone over four hundred pounds now, possibly well over four hundred pounds. Their scale didn't go any higher.

She remained fixated on his belly and the expression of disgust returned, deepened into revulsion. He realized she was thinking about sex too... that he had grown so obese she couldn't bear to f**k him anymore. He had crossed some limit in her mind, from merely fat to unacceptably obese. Inexplicably, under his heavy apron of belly fat, his cock throbbed to attention. Fine, he thought. Better than fine. I don't want to f**k her either. I just want to eat.

"Ugh. Why don't you wear something that fits, Ray, something that covers your big fat arse?"

There's my dull-witted darling, he thought; three for three. Third time's the charm.

What he said, patiently, was "I've got nothing that fits any better than this."

She sighed deeply. "Did you ever stop and think you oughtn't eat three pizzas every day?"

Maybe that last question wasn't so stupid, but he wasn't listening anymore. This conflict was just too much for his gentle soul to bear. Being too full to get up off the couch and retreat, he closed his eyes and escaped. Breathing deeply -- well, as deeply as possible considering his full stomach -- and relaxing each muscle in his body one by one, he simply left the scene.

When he opened his eyes sometime later, she was gone. And the hunger had returned.