Autumn (Chapter 21) (Patreon)

Steven Murrell drove a rented Dodge Caravan across Lake Washington on the 520 floating bridge. His wife Julia was at his side, and their two kids, Noah, now 5, and Lily, now 7, were seated behind them.

“Mommy?” Lilly called from the back.

Julia turned around. “Yes sweetie?”

“Is Auntie Autumn fat?”

Julia’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “Umm…remember it’s not polite to call anyone fat.”

The child scrunched her nose. “But she is fat isn’t she.”

“She’s a grownup dear, and she’s your Auntie and we’re going to be guests in her house so you need to be polite okay?”

Lily gave a look of confusion. “But she didn’t used to be fat, like when I was little.”

“Sometimes people change,” Julia said. “But we are not going to use that word tonight, some people really don’t like it and they could get hurt feelings.”

Lily shrugged and lifted her hands to her sides with her palms facing up. “But Bana always said that Auntie Autumn was pretty.”

Julia smirked and rolled her eyes at the same time. “Well yes, Auntie Autumn is pretty.”

Now Lily looked really confused. “You can be fat, annnd pretty?”

Julia sighed, defeated. “Put your headphones back on honey, we’ll be there soon.”

Julia faced forward and sat in silence for a moment, savoring the peaceful quietness of the drive with both her children once again comfortably glued to their tablets. She peered out the window at the serene fall landscape; the rolling hills of evergreens dotted with the orange gold of half barren maples and jagged snow capped mountains in the distance, signaling the coming winter.

Goddess it was pretty here.

Pretty.

It seemed everybody always had to make comments about how beautiful Julia’s sister-in-law was, even her own daughter.

She turned the heater up a few notches then looked at her husband. “Do you think Autumn had some work done?”

With one hand on the wheel, Steven gave her a quick glance. “How do you mean?”

“Fat and pretty?” Julia said, repeating her daughter’s words.  “I don’t know like on her face.”

Steven adjusted his Tom Ford spectacles. “Uhh…she’s too young for botox right?”

“No like lipo. I mean come on, you were just as shocked as I was at the wedding, you saw how big she was. How can you be that big and still have a face that looks like that, and still have, you know, like a figure.”

He shook his head. “I doubt my sister would do that, she’s not the type.”

“She’s changed, like a lot.”

“I think covid changed everyone.”

Julia looked at him like he was crazy. “Oh please, we didn’t all gain 100 pounds.”

“Now you're just exaggerating.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Am I? I thought I was being conservative. What do you think she is 250, 270, maybe even more than that?”

“No way.” Steven slowed the vehicle, exiting the freeway. “I’m sure she’ll lose it soon enough. She told me she quit smoking, people gain weight when they quit.”

“I didn’t know she smoked.”

“She was more rebellious than I was,” Steven said.

Julia got quiet for a moment, then smirked. “Maybe I should give her some diet tips.”

“She’s not stupid. She’s probably lost some weight already. She’s always been pretty good at keeping herself in shape.”

“Maybe when she was 24, or I guess even pre-pandemic.”

Steven stopped at a red light and adjusted his glasses again. “See, told you covid changed everyone.”

Mike opened the solid mahogany front door of his house. He watched as Steven, Julia, and the kids came across the wet leaf covered lawn and up to the short concrete steps that led to the porch. He smiled. “Hello hello, welcome. Watch your step.”

With a casserole dish in her hands, Julia admired the lush quaint surroundings. “Oh my gosh, I forgot how beautiful it is here, love your house!”

Mike looked down at her. She was significantly slimmer than she was when he first met her 3 years ago, and based on her knee-high boots and form fitting sweater dress, she was eager to show off.  “Thank you,” he said, “ and thanks so much for making the trip up. Where’s Bana and Boppa?”

“They were right behind us,” Steven said as he entered the house, followed by his family. “Your parents aren't coming Mike?”

Mike closed the door to shield away the cold then took the dish from Julia and walked it towards the kitchen. “Nah, they’re all at my sister’s with my brother in law's family. We’ll see them for Christmas, although we’ve been saying that for the last two years and it still hasn’t happened.”

Steven chuckled. “I know right. Fingers crossed.”

Mike took a quick peek in the oven then looked at Steven. “How’s the Air B and B?”

Steven shimmied out of his puffy Patagonia jacket and hung it on the coat rack behind the front door. “It’s good, Jules loves Seattle, and it’s been fun for the kids to spend so much time with my mom and dad. It’s big enough we could've had Thanksgiving there.”

Mike smiled. “No way, we wanna show off the house.”

“I know I know,” Steven said.

Mike’s smile faded as he drifted off in thought.

Show off the house or show off what COVID had done to his wife, Steven’s sister, Gary and Patty’s daughter?

All of a sudden he felt nervous about the whole thing, much like he did before the wedding.

He looked out the window at the driveway as a BMW X3 pulled in behind the Caravan. “Here they are,” he said.

He turned to Steven and then to Julia who was in the living room with the kids. “Get warm and make yourselves at home, plenty of snacks to hold you over, I'll see if they need a hand. We got Disney Plus and stuff in the spare room if the kids wanna watch something.”

“Where's Autumn?” Julia said.

Mike made his way towards the door. “Probably in the bathroom, I’m sure she’ll be out in a sec.”

After helping Patty with a foil covered plate of sweet potato pie, and getting everyone situated inside, Mike closed the front door again as the sky quickly darkened.

“Wow this is so lovely,” Patty said. “It smells delicious in here.”

There was a vegetable platter with ranch dip on the coffee table along with a plate of Brie, crackers and castelvetrano olives. On an end table in the corner, one of Autumn’s laptops softly played a Harry Connick Junior song from one of her playlists.

Julia examined the living room. “I love what you’ve done with this bookcase, oh and the fireplace.”

Gary eyed the TV showing the Patriots and Vikings football game on mute, then looked at Mike. “Where’s pumpkin?”

The scent of sweet perfume preceded her, but on cue, with a slow click-clack of heels Autumn emerged from the hallway.

She looked stupid hot.

Her dress was designed to be comfortable and casual, but with the extreme generosity of her space-eating hourglass figure, it looked lavish and extravagant.

With eighty percent of her weight, surely well over 300 girly pounds on the balls of her feet, her walk was wobbly, wiggly and sultry to say the least, yet at the same time it was not clumsy, but rather elegant and polished, in spite of her size or perhaps because of it.

The heels changed her posture and altered her shape. They arched her spine, thrusting her boobs forward and shoulders back, effectively cinching in her waist and making her already shelf-like butt stick out even further. With her feet close together and a glass of red wine in her right hand, she smiled. “Hello everyone.”

There was a faint gasp throughout the room, as everyone stared in shock at her appearance. Whatever tricks she had been up to in the bathroom had somehow rendered her more beautiful than Mike thought possible and his nervousness about her family’s reaction to her weight faded as he became overwhelmed with lust.

She had thrown on her brand new black cashmere cardigan which covered her pillowy arms and matched her dress like a shawl, but with only one button fastened over her buxom chest, it did almost nothing to hide the inches of cleavage displayed between her tits. The cardigan was skin-tight and it seemed she had already outgrown it, or perhaps it was the wrong size to begin with.

After a brief silence, Steven said, “Jeez sis, you make us all look a bit underdressed, as usual.”

Julia looked perplexed, like she couldn’t process what she was seeing. Autumn had gotten fat, far beyond chunky and chubby, but for reasons she couldn’t explain, Julia still envied her beauty, her curves, her style. The dress and heels may have cinched her up and sucked her in certain places, but they could not disguise how flat out big she had become, specifically in her hips and booty.  “Umm, did you change your hair or something?”

Autumn shifted her weight to one hip and brought her free hand to the ends of her feathery auburn tresses. “I got it done yesterday. (pant) You like it?”

“Looks amazing,” Julia said.

Autumn turned toward Gary. “Hi daddy.” She stepped forward and gave him a warm and very squishy hug. “So (pant) glad you could make it.”

Gary grinned and held his daughter but he looked surprised by how much of her there was to hold. “Me too.”

Autumn then looked at Patty. “Hi mom.”

Patty peered down, then slowly up again. It was clear to her that Autumn had gained even more weight since the wedding. A lot more by her estimation, and the wedding was only 5 months ago.  She forced a smile, although her eyes were still large with amazement. “Oh, umm, hi dear. Happy Thanksgiving.”

They hugged, then Lily quickly toddled out of the spare room. “Bana and Boppa!” She squealed as if she hadn’t seen them less than an hour before. After a quick pat on the back from her grandpa, Lily turned toward Autumn with squinting eyes. “Who are you?”

Autumn, visibly surprised, bent down towards her. “Oh (pant) don’t be silly I’m your Aunt.”

Lily scrunched her nose. “Wait, yooou’re my Auntie Autumn?”

Autumn gave Lily’s shoulder a loving squeeze. “Yes of course, (pant) don’t you remember when you were in Hawaii? Did you find Mr. Samson the friendly kitty cat yet?”

Sensing the potential awkwardness of the situation, Mike tried to direct attention elsewhere. “Please sit, get comfortable, help yourselves to hors d’oeuvres, turkey will be done in a few minutes. Can I get you a glass of wine Patty?”

Autumn stood up straight with some effort and caught her breath. She smiled. “Mike (gasp) sort of turned into Julia Child over the pandemic.”

Patty looked at her daughter again, then turned to her newly christened son-in-law. “Sure Mike, I think I would like a glass.”

Mike had been up early, working hard all day on preparing a spread worthy of impressing his in-laws. There were all the usual Thanksgiving staples, but he also baked homemade butterflake rolls, cornbread with honey, bacon wrapped sausages, along with pumpkin and cherry pies for dessert.

Gary finished chewing and wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin. “Mike I have to say, the turkey was done perfectly.”

Mike, seated next to his wife, smiled. “It was just six hours in the oven, and a whole lot of basting, injected it with homemade garlic butter too.”

Patty looked at her daughter from across the table. “Autumn, did you do any of the cooking?”

“No, (pant) it’s all this guy,” Autumn said as she nudged her husband with her elbow. “ I just get to be the (gasp) taste tester.”

Mike reached his left hand under the table and gave her thigh a squeeze while maintaining eye contact with Patty. “She’s too busy working all the time,” he said, this is a much needed four day weekend for her.”

“These are the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had,” Steven said.

“I second that, but oh my goodness, so many calories,” Julia said. “That’s why we only have them once a year.”

“Mike makes me (pant) mashed potatoes all the time,” Autumn said as she spread a heap of butter over a flaky roll.  “Anytime I ask him.”

Mike smiled and savored the feeling of Autumn’s cushy hip gently pressing into his side. She wasn’t sitting especially close, but her butt had become so wide that it expanded beyond the limits of normally spaced chairs. He noticed the way her belly filled up her lap and was brushing against the table with the slightest movement forward, which was quite frequent as she was constantly leaning in to shove another fork-full of rich gravy drenched food into her eagerly awaiting mouth.

Her appetite amazed him.

When he had first been called back to work over a year ago he remembered being so fearful that Autumn wouldn’t eat much throughout her days without him there continually presenting her with a steady stream of fattening treats and never ending take-out orders; but looking at her now, already working of her second helping of stuffing and potatoes, her breathing labored and her skin warm and flush, it was clear, (not only from her girth but also from her unrelenting desire and preoccupation with food) that his fears were in vain.

Only 20 minutes into dinner and Autumn was stuffed to the gills, simple movements were cumbersome and strenuous, she was already too big for her seat, her dress squeezed painfully into her inflated feminine bulges, ample folds of fat smothered her overworked organs and still, despite all that, she continued cramming calories down her pie hole with no signs of slowing down, nor self-conscious or even awareness of how much she was eating.

Mike had wondered if she would eat less in front of her family, given the surprise of the fact that she had continued to gain even more weight, but based on the way she was stuffing her face it seemed her hunger was something she could no longer control, unless of course she was trying to prove some perverse point to her parents.

“I’m so glad you all came,” Mike said. “Nice to be able to travel again without masks on all the time yeah?”

“Well Gary and I still wear them when we can, just as a precaution,” Patty said.

Steven looked at her surprised. “Really? Are there still cases in Oregon?”

“You do hear about people testing positive sometimes, but it’s more just our age, and Gary is still a bit in the danger zone, can’t be too careful,” Patty said.

Steven pressed his glasses tight to the bridge of his nose. “It’s so stupid. It’s all the non-vaxers that ruin it for everyone.”

Julia drained her wine and rolled her eyes. “I don’t think age is much of a factor. It’s more just people that are very inactive or obese, those are only people that are actually dying from this thing.”

“Smokers too,” Gary said after he finished chewing.

A lump formed in Mike’s throat.

Smokers?

People that are inactive or obese?

He placed his hand on his wife’s thigh again, apprehensive as to how she might react, and curious about what she must be thinking, offended, concerned or indifferent. So far she looked unphased and more interested in getting butterflake rolls into her belly than listening to the conversation.

“That’s why I started doing the flexitarian diet,” Julia said.

Gary put his fork down. “What the hell is that?”

“Gary, watch your language,” Patty said.

Julia smiled. “It’s plant based, with whole grains only.” She pointed her fork towards her plate which was still mostly full of food. “This will be my cheat day.”

Autumn took a heaping bite of stuffing. “Mmm…(chew)seems like (chew) every month they come up (pant) with a new diet.”

Julia raised her eyebrows. “Have you tried it?”

Autumn arched her back and adjusted her hips in her chair. Her eyelashes fluttered as she looked at Julia, expressionless. “No. (gasp) I’m actually starting to get more and more like, anti-diet culture.”

Julia leaned forward. “What do you mean?”

“I think it’s all propaganda,” Autumn said. “It’s marketing, the whole thing. Society is always trying to tell us that we’re not skinny enough, we need to be stick thin in order to be healthy and they make billions of dollars by exploiting people’s insecurities, especially women.”

“Well, I don’t see what’s wrong with it,” Julia said. “I know I have a lot more energy since I’ve lost the weight.”

Autumn shoveled more food between her luscious shimmering lips. “I’m (chew, munch) not saying I haven't fallen victim to it, (chew, chew) I was constantly on whatever the latest diet was in my early twenties,” she said, “but now I just don’t have time and I think life’s too short to worry about (gasp) something as shallow as a (hiccup, wheeze) number on a scale.”

Julia glared at her. “Try having two kids and see how much time you have.”

Autumn stared back then downed the rest of her wine with a haughty look on her face, arching her back and pressing her boobs forward.

Patty cleared her throat. “Diets have certainly changed a lot since I was young. I remember when every magazine had to have an article about how to lose inches in your hips, now it seems that everyone wants bigger hips, I just don’t understand it.”

“I know right,” Julia said, “And then there’s the whole body positivity, love yourself at any size movement.”

“I think it’s just because Americans are fatter than ever now,” Steven said, either forgetting that his sister was in the room, or forgetting she was now a fat person herself.  “If everyone’s butt is getting bigger, then just say that big butts are hot and it's okay. If exercise is too hard for you, just accept yourself and keep ordering doordash.”

Autumn leaned back in her chair and brought her hand to her mouth so she could let out a burp as discreetly as possible. “Better to (gasp) love yourself than to be constantly striving to (pant) meet some unobtainable standard of beauty generated by a bunch of women competing against themselves.”

Steven gazed across the table, suddenly feeling embarrassed for Autumn and ashamed of his last remark.

There was a brief yet awkward silence then Mike held up the bottle of Pinot Noir. “More wine anyone?”

“Yes please,” Autumn said as she stared at Julia blankly. “Pass the mashed potatoes (pant) too.”

After dinner and when she was finally finished eating Autumn wearily staggered into the living room and collapsed on the sofa with a heavy thud. Her mother Patty sat down next to her after Gary went off to mingle with the grandkids.

“Are you okay dear? You seem winded,” Patty said.

Autumn leaned back into the cushion and sprawled out lazily with her knees apart, looking like she wasn’t going to move again anytime soon. She turned her head towards her mother, slow and lethargic. “What? (pant) I’m not winded mom (gasp) I’m just breathing.”

Patty watched as her daughter’s grossly obese and overstuffed belly moved up and down with each slow and labored breath. She had taken her cardigan off and her figure was now on full display in that dress.

Standing up Autumn could still look the part of an ultra-curvy, ultra-thick hourglass shaped vixen, but once sealed, every fold, roll, bulge, crease and dimpled mass of spreading flab was completely visible, whether beneath the fabric of her dress or not.

Patty was stunned and appalled by just how much bigger Autumn’s body was than it used to be, especially up close. So much bigger everywhere it was like she had become a different person.

Patty leaned over and put her hand on Autumn’s forehead.  “You’re not getting sick are you, you feel a little warm.”

“Mom, (pant) seriously, I’m fine. I just need to (gasp) sit and relax for a second.” Autumn tilted her head toward Mike who was in the kitchen with Steven. “Baby (gasp) can you grab another glass of wine?”

“Red or white?” Mike said.

Autumn sat up a little so her voice would carry across the room. “Let me (pant) try the chard.”

Patty raised her eyebrows and looked at Autumn. “Wow I guess chivalry is alive and well. Nice to see a man that knows his way around a kitchen.” She turned toward Mike and watched him grab a bottle of Sonoma county reserve then she looked back at her daughter, knowing this would likely be her third or fourth glass. “Does he always wait on you like this? You didn’t re-aggravate your knee did you?”

Autumn sighed and sank back into the couch, letting her arms hang limp at her sides as if they were too heavy to lift. She had eaten way too much again, way too quickly and she felt uncomfortably full and bloated. Her inner thighs rubbed together with budding perspiration, her belly was getting squeezed by the added tightness in her dress and her bra dug annoyingly into her back fat and upper love handles and yet somehow all of these things added up to her feeling wickedly sexy and sinfully intoxicated by her own deliciousness, boob sweat, gassiness, heartburn and all.  She turned to her mother. “No, (huff) my knee is fine, why?”

“You just don’t seem very light on your feet these days.”

Autumn rolled her eyes. “(gasp) I’m wearing heels and my hips are killing me from sitting so long in those hard dining room chairs.”

“Hey, that was a wedding gift.”

“They’re too small (huff) and not very comfy.”

Patty’s eyes danced from Autumn’s flush cheeks and double chin, to her dimpled and pillowy white arms to her doughy and bloated buddha belly; to her hips which were so wide they nearly took up the entire couch cushion. “Are you getting enough exercise, what about your weight honey?”

The two women paused for a moment as Mike showed up with a wine glass filled two thirds full. “Here you go babe,” he said, handing it to Autumn. “Can I get you something Patty?”

Patty peered up at him and gave a fake smile that wouldn’t fool a soul. “No thank you I’m fine.”

Mike nodded and looked at Patty and Autumn curiously. He could tell they were in the middle of something and it seemed best for him not to interfere. He gave his wife a quick look of encouragement before rejoining his brother-in-law in the kitchen.

Autumn took a big sip of her chardonnay then glared at Patty. “What about my weight mom?”

“I know the pandemic was difficult for all of us,” Patty said.

“What are you (pant) trying to say?”

Patty shifted her knees so she could face Autumn more directly. “Well I mean your body has obviously changed a lot in the last couple years, are you working towards trying to shed some of the corona weight? Are you getting any exercise?”

Autumn took a deep breath and gave Patty a heavy eye roll. “Oh my god mom, (gasp) why is this even an issue for you? (huff, pant) Why do you always need to make a comment about someone’s weight everytime I see you?”

“I’m just concerned that’s all, you know that there’s nothing more important than your health.”

Autumn tried to wiggle her hips into a more comfortable position but she found it difficult to move. “Oh really?” she said sarcastically.  (pant) Health is important? (huff) Thank you for the information I had no idea.”

Patty’s eyebrows slanted with sympathy. “I’ve just never known you to be such a big eater. Are you unhappy, are you stressed?”

“Mom please (pant) I’m a 31 year old woman. I can take care of myself. But I am happy, very happy.”

“I’m just not used to seeing you like this,” Patty said.

“Like what?”

“Seeing you so, so much…bigger.”

Autumn brought her wine to her lips and subtracted another inch from her glass. “Stop it. (huff, gasp) I know I gained weight but I’m not that big. Not that it matters anyway. How much I weigh is none of your business.”

“Mom and Autumn?” Steven said from across the room.

Patty froze for a second then turned toward her son. “Yes?”

“Wanna go see if Boppa and the kids are ready for pie?”

“Pie already? I’m still so full from dinner,” Patty said.

Autumn, eager to get away from her mom, looked at her husband, then at her brother. “Dessert sounds good, (huff) I’ll go get them.” She put her wine on the end table then spread her legs apart more and rocked herself forward in an attempt to get up. Patty noticed the way she needed to put both hands on her knees to help lift herself into a standing position.

The effort notwithstanding, Autumn took a deep breath and with an arched back, lurched upwards, only to find herself sinking back into the sofa a second later.

Mike could see from the kitchen that she was too full and heavy and tired and just too much of a princess to go through the strain of getting up under her own power, and he was by her side in an instant, relishing moments like this.

“Whoah whoa whoa, hang on honey let me me help you,” he said, and with both hands he got her to her feet. “You shouldn’t try and exert yourself like that right after dinner.”

Autumn stared into his eyes and let her belly and breasts press gently against his pelvis and stomach. “(gasp)Thank you (huff) baby.”

Patty glared at them, somewhat disgusted. “Are you sure you didn’t re-aggravate your knee?”

Autumn turned her head away from her husband and looked down at her. “Please mom, (huff) stop.”

Hours later, right after all the family had left and gone back to their rented place in North Seattle, Autumn sat down on the wicker stool in their spacious master bathroom.

“Oh (huff, pant) my god,” she said between gasps. “feet…(gasp)killing me.” She was still slightly stoned and somewhere between drunk and tipsy. She was holding her phone, scrolling through some of the photos her mom had sent her, taken during the course of the evening. “Uhhh, (gasp) god I look fucking gigantic in these pictures! (huff) These angles are terrible. (hiccup, burb)Am I really that much (pant) bigger than fucking Julia?”

Mike put his hands on her shoulders, leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “You are stunning. You were wonderful tonight.”

Autumn put her phone down on the edge of the bathtub then placed both hands on her belly. “Oooh, (pant) I’m sooo (hiccup) stuffed. I should not have had..oooh..(gasp) that last piece of pie, (pant) and you gave me way too much ice cream.”

Mike walked behind her and continued massaging her shoulders and neck from the back. He looked down and smiled as he felt her body react to his touch.  “You ate a lot tonight.”

“Mmm…you noticed?”

“Of course I did.”

She leaned forward in her seat so she could unbuckle her heels, and while doing so she gave her husband a spectacular view of her ass and hips. “Enhh, (gasp) ehh, (huff) little help?”

Mike came around to the front of her stool again and kneeled at her feet. He clasped her foot and shapely calf with both hands, then slowly proceeded to unfasten the strap around the exposed soft skin of her delicate, yet slightly swollen ankle.

She moaned with delight. “Ooohh…It’s just so hard (gasp, pant) with my belly and boobs (huff) always in the way you know?”

Mike smiled up at her and after pulling the second shoe off he tossed it to the side next to the other. “I’ll bet that feels better.”

“(gasp)Mmhmm.” She gestured toward the pack of cigarettes on the counter. “Can (pant) you just reach my…”

He sprang to his feet, grabbed her a smoke, placed it between her eager lips and lit it for her.

“Phewww! (gasp, huff) Thank you baby,” she said, filling the room with smoke. “ God I thought (cough) they’d never leave.”

Mike turned on the fan, leaned against the counter and shrugged. “I thought it went well didn’t you?”

She took another long drag, making it look deliciously satisfying. “It was fine, (cough) family is family I suppose.”

“Was your mom giving you a hard time about something?”

She pointed her smoldering cigarette toward the cupboards. “Can you load up the thing, (pant) I really need to decompress.”

He nodded. “Yeah sure.”

“My mom (huff) thinks I’m too fat.”

Mike bent down and took out the paraphernalia. “Why do you think that?”

“I can just tell, (gasp, huff) I know how (hiccup) she is, so old-fashioned.” She grimaced, adjusted her bra strap and put her hand on her gut. “Oooff, (pant) I’m so full baby, I need you to help me get this off so (huff) I can breathe.”

“Yeah, yeah of course.” He put the bong down and came to her aid.

After the clumsy, breathy, sweaty and cumbersome ordeal of peeling the dress off, Autumn, now sitting naked on the wicker stool said, “Do you think (pant) I’m too fat?”

Mike stared like a dead fish, still awestruck by her nakedness. “Do you really need to ask me that?” He took a step toward her. “I think you’re perfect, and I can prove it.” He turned his body to the side, displaying his rock hard manhood currently pitching a huge tent in his pants.

She puffed on her smoke and smiled, then took her hand away from her belly. “Like what (pant) you see huh?” She curled her toes around the wooden frame of her stool, arched her back and pushed her tummy out in front of her. “You know baby (gasp) that this is by far the biggest I have ever been.”

Mike gulped. “Umm, bigger than you were last year?”

She lowered her voice to slow and sultry purr, her speech still slightly altered from the wine. “I think so baby. (pant) I know you haven't said anything recently, but I’ve gained some weight since the wedding.” She made a pouty face with her lips and stared at him for a long moment. “Ooopsi.”

“How do you know?”

“I can just tell. (gasp) I can tell by how much my ass jiggles when I walk, (huff, pant) and by how heavy it feels. My boobs have gotten a lot bigger too, don’t pretend you haven't noticed.”

Mike swallowed as his heart rate accelerated. He felt emboldened by her drunkenness, and he wanted to take advantage of it the best he could.  “I guess we better see exactly how much you’ve gained.” He looked into her eyes and smiled. “Or do you really think life’s too short to worry about something as shallow as a number on a scale.”

She smiled back, then took another long and provocative drag off her cigarette. “Maybe I am shallow, (huff) and I want to find out.”

Mike quickly went into the cupboards beneath and between the two bathroom sinks, pulled out the scale and placed it on the floor. He reached his hand toward her. “Help the lady to her feet?”

She looked at him blank faced for a second, then rolled her eyes and giggled quietly. “Wow, someone is getting a little excited.”

The cheap scale sounded like it might break when she stepped on, and Mike kneeled down to get a reading.

“Shit,” he said.

Autumn placed her hands on her hips and struggled to peer over her belly and breasts. “What?”

“It just says error.”

“Oh my god. (gasp, huff) How high does this scale go up to?”

“350.”

Autumn’s hands shot to her head. “Oh my god! (huff) Fuck me!”

Mike stood up and smiled. He grabbed by the waist and pulled her close. “Fuck you is right,” he whispered.

She fell into him, pressing him into the counter. She kissed him on the lips, then gazed into his eyes. “Holy shit (gasp, wheeze) I’ve gotten so fucking fat baby. She put one hand on her belly as she let it squish against his belt. “(huff, gasp) I honestly can’t believe this is really my body sometimes, but then the actual reality hits me (pant) and I get really horny for you.”

He put his chin on her shoulder and held her close and tight, one hand on her ass and the other groping her love handles. “My poor baby has gotten too big for her scale.”

She nodded meekly. “Yeah, (pant) you’ll have to get me a new one. Or maybe it’s just a sign that I really need to (gasp) lose some weight.”

“No no baby, I’ll get a new scale tomorrow morning, first thing.”

She pursed her lips in thought for a moment, then said, “After you (pant) make me breakfast.”

He smiled and let his shoulders relax. “Okay second thing.”

“Get one that (pant) goes up to 400, no 500!” She tilted her head back so she could see his face. “Or do you think that’s too much?”

He looked into her eyes. “Baby, even if you weigh 700 pounds I’m still going to be madly in love with you and chasing you all around the house until the day I die.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Not going to be much of a chase (pant) if I let myself get that big.”

He put his hands on her shoulders then started squeezing and massaging her upper arms. He looked her up and down and sighed. “Did it piss you off, when they were talking about the corona stuff, saying that it's the obese smokers that die and stuff?”

She rolled her eyes. “It pisses me off that companies like Pfizer and Moderna have instilled so much fear into people to make money, (pant, huff) and everyone just rolls over and goes with it.” She brushed some hair away from her face and looked up at him.  She smirked. “But honestly (gasp) a lot of that obesity talk and stuff turned me on, and it…oooohh…made me really want a cigarette.”

He pulled her close again. “You’re turning into such a bad girl, and I love you for it.”

“Mmmm…you need to stop (pant) getting side-tracked and finish getting the thingy ready for me.”

“I’m sorry baby you’re just so fucking distracting.”

He turned, managing to pry his eyes away from the mesmerizing naked goddess of beauty that she was. He finished loading the bong then looked at her again, still standing before him in all her glory. “Okay, you need to sit down?”

She nodded emphatically and fanned herself with her hand. “Yeah.” She turned around, wiggled to the toilet and sat down. “Ooohhh, (gasp) it’s getting a little tight in here, god my hips…ehh, (huff) always in the way.”

He handed her the bong. “Maybe I’ll get us a new toilet, and widen this area out a little.”

“Yeah, (pant) I need more room.”

She brought the mouthpiece to her lips and Mike lit the stem with the cigar torch. She inhaled deeply, then coughed.

Mike looked down at her. It was still weird for him, seeing his wife develop such a taste for Amsterdam’s finest over the past year, but he supposed it was all his fault buying her edibles in the first place. He glanced at the bong, clutched tightly in her manicured fingers, he then looked at the smoldering cherry, still half green. “Let me try some of that.”

Her eyes shot into his. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

She handed it to him and he blazed up as memories of his college days came flooding back.

Autumn watched him cough and his eyes water. She smiled and held out her hand. “Now take me (pant) to bed Spicoli.”