Queen of Hearts: Part 4 (Patreon)

In the months that followed Mia’s meetup with Trinh the two had stayed in constant contact about their dating exploits. Sure, they would hang out and have girl’s nights and such, but every time they communicated over text, on the phone, or in person Mia could FEEL a palpable tension between them like they were both waiting for someone to break the barrier and start talking about boys so they could gush about it. But while Trinh had been having date after date with varying levels of enjoyment, Mia had had a bit more trouble staying interested in the guys that were interested in her.

“Well that’s probably because you only date black guys.” Trinh would say, always with either a mischievous grin or a knowing shake of the head. “I’m telling you, it’s better on the other side. White guys are just…..I dunno. Better.”

The advice would usually come right after their shared gym sessions. Working out together had yielded impressive results over the last few months with Trinh becoming more fit while weight dropped off of Mia like shed skin. The two of them had become a pair of manhunters after bonding over their shared time at Aura Inc. and in doing so became closer than ever before. She felt bad even thinking about it, but the reason wasn’t even entirely because she and Trinh were friends. The main thing that spurred her motivation to get up and hang out with the increasingly pretty Asian girl was that it simply felt right to spend time with another Aura girl. Still, despite their newfound closeness, it bothered her how much Trinh was insisting on telling her who to date.

…

No matter how much the thought made her pulse race.

“Well…Maybe I’ll give it a shot sometime. It’s not my thing, but I won’t say no if it comes up.” Mia said, taking a swig of water from her thermos.

(1)

“Girl, trust me. It’ll be worth it.” Trinh beamed.

Mia scrolled through OkCupid, ignoring the inbox notification from a white man named Darren. It wasn’t that he looked bad or that she especially hated white men but Mia had never even thought about dating outside of her preferential tall-black-athlete archetype and didn’t want to change her standards just because her friend from college told her to. Darren sent a DM, and she wasn’t interested. That should have been the end of it, she thought, but still the idea burned in her mind. Several times she thought back to her previous statement about not arbitrarily saying no to someone actually wanting to date her, but something about it still bothered her in a way she had a hard time putting her finger on.

She was just about to open the message when another popped up in the cue. This one was from a dashing looking black man named Roger who just so happened to largely fit Mia’s go-to build for attraction. He was tall, with a lean build and just the right amount of scruff on his face to look rugged and cute at the same time. His message was brief and to the point, but that wasn’t too bad, even if he needed to work on his spelling.

Mia felt strange as her finger hovered over the send button after she’d typed up her reply. She didn’t even feel excited to go out with Roger despite years of hoping that exactly this kind of man would take some kind of romantic interest in her. It felt more like a convenient excuse to not have to respond to or even look at the message from Darren. Even so, she hit send and hurried off to Aura for her next appointment.

On the day of her date, Mia had dressed far more provocatively than she had in years, absolutely giddy at the confidence she’d gained through her time at Aura Inc. Even though she was still a bit chubby she didn’t feel any shame in heading out to meet a man with her pudgy belly exposed and her tits on display. If anything, she felt sexier for doing so. She teased her tight curls into longer, thicker coils and sauntered up to the meeting place with a sensual certainty she’d never known before.

When Roger saw her, he immediately moved to put his hands on her exposed skin, causing her to reflexively move backwards and extend her hand for a handshake instead.

“Hi. I’m Mia.” She said, proud of herself for setting a boundary with a man she just met and already a little put off by the fact that Roger was so forward.

“Roger.” He said, shaking her hand. She could tell he was a little annoyed himself.

The rest of the date followed that same awkward track. Roger wasn’t mean or rude, but everything he did just sort of irritated Mia from the way he spoke to the way he walked to the way he ate his food. He spoke mostly about himself, which gave Mia the impression that he was trying to convince her that he was cooler and more interesting than he actually was; a tactic that she herself had used many times to similarly poor effect when she was more lacking in confidence. He stared at her awkwardly as they ate, as Mia found herself not only picking at the gourmet dinner of chicken and waffles that he had insisted were great at his “favorite restaurant,” but nitpicking his choice of venue as well. She used a fork to pull apart the overcooked meat of the chicken and used her napkin to avoid the extra fatty, syrup soaked calories of the rest of the food as Roger stared at her as if she were insane.

“Damn, girl. You on a diet or somethin?” He asked with a half-joking chuckle that she read as scrutiny played off as a joke.

“Actually I am. I lost 60 pounds this year and I’m trying to keep it off. This kinda food ain’t helping.” She said, perhaps meaner than she’d meant to. Normally chicken and waffles was a favorite of hers, but at this stage in her transformation she didn’t want to go back to eating ghetto fat girl food and blow back up.

“Oh damn, that’s impressive.” Roger said, using the response as an in to finally talk to his date in earnest. “I honestly don’t mind thicker women myself. You ain’t gotta diet around me.”

She knew he’d meant it to be nice, but all his statement did was remind her of the fetishy creeps on feabie demanding she turn into an immobile lardball for their pleasure.

“Chubby chaser, huh?” She said unenthusiastically.

“Well…I mean…I just mean I wouldn’t mind a bbw at all. Big girls need love too.” He said, chuckling uncomfortable.

“Nah. Big girls don’t get no love. I know cuz I was one. You weren’t there when I was fat, so I’m not interested in you making me that way.” Mia said cattily, already certain that the date was a fiasco.

“That’s not what I meant. And I’m sorry I didn’t see you before. I’m sure you were beautiful. You got any pictures of when you were bigger?” Roger asked, clearly doing his best to salvage the situation.

This too made Mia angry.

“Why? So you can fetishize the body I literally worked my ass off to get rid of?”

“Nooo…I just wanted to see and tell you that I like you both ways.” Roger defended. His voice was growing more tense as his obvious frustration mounted.

“Well it sounds like you already knew what you were gonna say anyways, so we can skip that part. I don’t know why you gotta see me at my worst when I’m all dressed up and looking my best for you right here.” Mia said, now sighing as she typed to Trinh that her date was trying to make her fat again.

-Black guy?

*Yep

-Yep. They always do that shit. That’s why I’m saying you gotta find a white boy.

*It’s not about the weight. I want him to like me for how I am now

-W h i t e. You gotta dump that darkie and get yourself someone with class. Black dudes always go for fat chicks. If you stay with him you're gonna end up fatter than ever and twice as miserable.

Mia sighed. As much as Trinh’s verbiage annoyed her, she was making sense. In her unwillingness to try something new she’d ended up at a ghetto ass Waffle House eating slop with a smarmy fuccboi trying to convince her to show him her fat pictures instead of paying attention to her.

“Hey. Look. This doesn’t seem to be working out, so tell you what: Why don’t we split the check, call it a night, and go our separate ways? It was nice meeting you, but we just aren’t compatible with each other. Fair?” Roger asked politely.

He was right, Mia realized guiltily. Even if she was being more scrutinizing than usual it wasn’t like he never got a chance with her. From the moment he’d messaged her Mia got a weird vibe telling her not to go out with him, but she still did it anyways. Still, she felt no obligation to PAY for the garbage dinner he’d dragged her out to, especially since they were only an hour into their “date” and he was already asking to see older pictures of her fatter body. She shook her head, hot anger rising in her neck the more she thought about it.

“You know what? I’m just gonna go. Maybe you can find some fatass hoochie outside to feed that shit to since I’m not big enough for you to have a decent conversation with. I’m out. Bye.” Mia snapped, grabbing her purse and storming out of the restaurant, her pumps clicking on the cheap tile as she left.

“……What the fuck was HER problem?” Asked an incredulous waiter.

“I have no fuckin idea. That bitch crazy.” Roger said, shaking his head in astonishment.

Days later, Mia sauntered down the street glowing with excitement. Something, everything about the day felt right. Her hair was on point, her outfit was perfect, the weather was gorgeous, and she radiated such joy that even the guy at the gas station told her she was looking good. She strode up the street, her perfectly styled hair bouncing along with the spring in her step.

(3)

Mia walked into a nice, brightly decorated teahouse and beamed uncontrollably at the sight of her date recognizing her and standing up to greet her. Instantly, she ran over and gave him a giant hug, discreetly enjoying the warmth of his hands on the exposed skin of her back. She felt energetic and subtly aroused. It took at least a small amount of willpower to stop herself from burying her face in his chest.

“Hey there! Darren, right?” She said, smiling eagerly.