Tricia's choice

Chapter 1

Description: Tricia works as a nurse in a busy hospital by day and is attending advanced online training to become a certified nurse practitioner by night. Her life is upended when she falls for two attractive men simultaneously. Torn between her two lovers, she must choose just one of these polar opposites. Or both?

Chapter 1:

Thunder rumbled outside her apartment and rain lashed at the windows as Tricia rolled in her bedsheets.

She was having that dream again. The one she always had when she was stressed. This week was no exception.

In her dream, she was aboard a train. It was old fashioned, and everything was black and white. The train was going at breakneck speed along a single track. Tricia never knew where the train was heading, but she always felt anxious as the terrain outside her window kept changing. Sometimes the train went under water. Other times, she was on top of the world, mountains below her like tiny little stalagmites.

She awoke with a start, like she always did. Right before the train went into the tunnel and everything faded to black. Sitting bolt upright, she took in the familiar sight of her room. The small bed, the tiny dresser drawer near the door. The tacky artwork on the wall of a nature scene she’d liked and picked up at a garage sale.

Her attention was drawn to the storm that was brewing outside. Glancing at her alarm clock, which read 2:12am, she sighed and knew it was no use going back to sleep. But she had to try. The small apartment bedroom felt stuffy, and Tricia untangled herself from her bedsheets, which were wrapped around her legs and torso. She uncoiled herself and noted they were damp with her sweat.

Her nightshirt clung to her body, and she peeled it away and cast it aside, not caring at the moment where it landed. Tomorrow, er today, was laundry day anyway.

She twisted her body and felt her feet on the cheap carpet. She wiggled her toes and lifted herself out of bed. Her back twinged and she put a hand to it, kneading the aching muscles that had been overworked these past few days.

She took a few steps and felt the heaviness of her body, which matched her energy level. She had put on weight. About twenty pounds within the last few months. She had been careful, oh so careful though. The stress of her day job as an OR nurse in a prestigious hospital by day, combined with her online classes at night to help advance her career were taking their toll.

She needed the extra money and so no overnight shift was passed up. Eight hour shifts were like break to her now, compared to the 16 hour shifts she was primarily working. The vending machines and delivery services became her new friends now. E4 for a Snickers. B3 for a bag of Lays potato chips.

Her back easing, Tricia ran a hand surreptitiously across her belly to scratch an itch. She looked down and noted the teardrop of a Bhudda belly and a deepening navel. Her love handles had grown, creasing at the sides of her waist and now spilt over pajama bottoms that were a little constrictive. She rolled them down an inch and noted little red synch marks where the cotton-polyester blend bit into her soft flesh. She reached a hand across her backside and felt that it, too, had expanded. She made a mental note to buy the next size up with her next online order.

Tricia took a sip of water from the cup next to her alarm clock. It read 2:22 now.

Still noting the stuffiness of the room, she approached the window and noted the silhouette of the skyline that was small town Manhattan. The rain and stormy clouds made the horizon look derelict, dirty. Tricia bent low to open the window, feeling the weight of her belly and breasts shift as she struggled to open it.

Finally, after a moment and a few choice words, the window was eased up and Tricia felt that cool, damp air mixed with a breeze play across her belly and rush into the room. She crouched down on her knees, feeling the joints click with mild discomfort and put her forearms on the windowsill and peered out at the never-sleeping cityscape. The reds and white of the evening cars and a smattering of little black circles that were umbrellas peppered the streets and sidewalks below.

Tricia shivered as a gust of wind hit the side of her building, forcing its way into her room. Like the hands of a lover, she felt the wind envelop her and she inhaled sharply as she felt the two pinpricks that were nipples blossom and harden with desire. She glanced down at her softer chest and brought a hand to each breast and cupped them, feeling their heaviness and noting she’d need a larger bra size to match her widening waistline.

She stared out the window once again, seeing and yet not seeing. Her hands continued to hold her breasts and she found herself rolling her nipples between thumb and forefinger like one who is trying to find the right radio station for a jazz program.

The effect was a calming one and Tricia yawned. The trick had worked. It usually did. She slid the window down so that now it was only open a crack and she crawled back into bed. She moved herself to the other side of the twin mattress where she had not soiled the sheets with her perspiration. She noted the clock on her cheap and battered bedside table it read 2:43am. She closed her eyes and was instantly back asleep.