Corporate Chubbies 8 - Office in Motion - by Samster (~BBW (mult), Eating, Romance)

[Observer]

~BBW (multiple), Eating, Romance, Realistic, ~SWG - Julie visits Hays Richman and precipitates a storm

Corporate Chubbies 8 – An office in Motion
by Samster & Observer

[Editor's Note: a synopsis of prior chapters of this novella is located here. (http://www.dimensionsmagazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34412") )

[For prior chapter click here (http://www.dimensionsmagazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34407)]

8:00 am Wednesday Determined to start early and be awake Sally arrived at the office early, grabbing a Venti Caramel latte along with her now customary double chocolate muffin enroute. To her surprise Claire was already there, finishing homework from her night class on the word processor.

“Hey there early bird” welcomed Sally as she walked over to her desk, heels click clacking on the floor as she took a drink of her latte. She had rested her plump behind down on her chair before Claire looked up from her work and said.

“Sally, its not like you to be in this early. What got you out of bed so soon?”

“Um…nothing major,” returned Sally choosing not to mention that she’d been fretting over Matt and Reggie most of the night, or that she had the NatWest meeting in the afternoon. “What time did you get in?”

“I’ve been in since seven thirty working on the assignment for my REC Certificate. I’ve got a test later today.”

“Ooo sounds boring,” dismissed Sally. Qualifications and extra curricular study had never been high on her list. She was more of a personality than an academic type. Going out and having fun had always won the day.

“It is boring” agreed Claire, “but I don’t want to be doing this job forever”

Not really listening Sally took a bite of her muffin and excitedly exclaimed.
“Guess what happened yesterday?”

Claire looked up again from her assignment and said “I don’t know…”

“Reggie asked me out on a date! He’s taking me to Elland Road to watch the FA Cup game and he is sooo cute isn’t he?”

An irritated Claire nodded and tried to return to her assignment. It was a difficult test that was necessary if she was to gain the HR qualifications she so desperately wanted and at that point she just didn’t want to hear the details of Sally Turner’s love life. What’s more she couldn’t help feeling a little jealous – Reggie was seriously cute and Sally got all the attention.

Oblivious Sally continued on, “I’ve told Matt because it would be bad if he found out by accident or something but Reggie doesn’t know anything about Matt and he is hot and…”

“Sally” groaned an exasperated Claire “I really have got to work on this assignment. The test is later today”

“Oh…um…sorry”

The two sat in silence as Sally fired up her computer and continued to demolish her chocolate muffin. After the gym last night she was still a little sore and ravenously hungry. Absently she clicked on the Outlook icon and checked out her emails. Her tenseness about Matt relaxed a little upon reading from a joke email sent by him late the night before. “Obviously he was thinking about me!”. With it was a reminder that he was looking forward to the Indian restaurant dinner they’d scheduled that weekend.

“Matt sent me an email!” she exclaimed.

“Sally…I have to work”

“Sorry sweetie I forgot! But he’s reminding me about our date this weekend and…”

“Sally please!”

At that Sally did shut up and leave her colleague to her work.

“Well, at least he’s apparently not getting ready to dump me for accepting a date with Reggie,” she thought. “And Claire should loosen up. How come she takes her job all so seriously?”

Then she clicked on some new candidate details whilst finishing off her coffee and muffin.

It was a busy morning for the pudgy recruitment consultant. With Claire away on her exams Sally had double her normal workload. She found herself glued to her desk with a barrage of emails and telephone calls. That didn’t stop her snacking with her new buddy Steph and as she walked into her monthly review meeting she was pleasantly full.

“Take a seat Sally” said the ever business like Will. It was his task to handle the consultant’s review meetings. The objective of the meetings was to go over progress in the previous month and discuss potential ways to develop their careers.

“Thanks”

Will couldn’t stop himself from checking out Sally’s latest outfit.

“Somehow,” reflected Will, “she seems to successfully tread the fine line between the “sexy office” look and “office tart” look.”

Today’s outfit ran dangerously close to the second category. Her grey skirt was knee length but clung like a merciless second skin with a long slit running down the front. The slit created a definite wow effect but Will also speculated it was 100% necessary if Sally was to successfully wiggle her way around the office – the skirt was just too tight without it. The effect was Will got a more than generous view of the sexy office girl’s tanned, and somewhat plump, legs as she sat down in front of him. He gulped and continued.

“Good to see you Sally, now onto the details…”

The first ten minutes was filled with a review of the previous months placements. It had been an average month for Sally where she’d just managed to hit her targets but on the basis of a number of storming months before Will chose not to give her a hard time. The drop could largely be explained by a run of bad luck so there was no need to worry. He also knew the carrot was a far better method than the stick to pull a salesperson out of a slump.

“Now, you may or may not know this Sally but we plan on promoting Tasha up to an overall Office Manager role. She has excellent experience and some of the other teams are lagging behind performance wise and we want her to whip them into shape.”

Sally nodded. She liked where this was going.

“That in turn creates a team leader vacancy for the administration and legal team. In terms of your team I think Steph is doing a great job and has experience, but she needs to get her feet under the table before we think about promotion and Regina’s work is far too specialized to support a move into management.”

Will paused for effect. “This leaves us with Claire and yourself. Now to be honest you both do an excellent job and our priority is to keep the overall team on track so you are both very much under consideration.”
Sally re-crossed her legs and flashed a smile.

“Well I’d be very interested and I think I could do a great job. As you know I got my degree in management and all my customer service reviews are excellent. I’m also working hard on the NatWest deal…”

“Absolutely” returned Will “but Claire is also studying for her MREC qualification and has asked about promotion more than once…so I hope you understand both of you are very much in the running.”

Sally nodded. The promotion brought with it a big rise in basic salary and was a definite step up the career ladder. “Landing NatWest should give me that job…”

“I understand and I love Claire to pieces and I hope she does well in her tests.”

“I’m sure she will…”

With the meeting concluded Will couldn’t help checking out her employees butt as she wiggled away.

“Man you’ve grown a fat bottom” he thought to himself, “but I guess it does have some appeal.”

Will shook his head and focused on the next meeting. He wasn’t a fan of the fuller figured lady and whilst his partner Matt loved watching the consultants plump up he cringed as he watched the cuties sat on their spreading behinds all day snacking and losing their figures. Originally he’d fought Matt’s idea of free snacks hard – from both a cost and figure softening perspective. But grudgingly he’d had to accept the sales figures and concluded his sales force worked better on a full stomach. “Just a shame they all get so damn chubby – Sally’s bottom must jut a full half-foot outwards now.”

Will wasn’t the only one noticing the same thing. Sitting in his spacious office Matthew Hodgson had a view of the open plan Hays Richmond office and his eyes were glued to the corporate chubby’s hip swaying, booty jiggling wiggle.

“Oh what a sexy bum,” he said to himself “it’s so well…big…must stick out at least half a foot now.”

He tried to pull his eyes away and back to work with limited success. His eyes followed Sally until the point she sat back down at her desk.

Then his mind flicked back to the email he’d received yesterday and the object of his desires upcoming date with Reggie Cornwell. Now that was some real competition! Matt remembered the night he’d stopped over at her apartment and wanted more – “I could really settle down with her…could she be the one?”

Matt pondered over this for a moment. The answer was “yes”. Not only was she hotter than any girl he could ever remember but she was also so fun loving and easy going. For the ever work focused Matt he couldn’t help feeling relaxed when he was around Sally.

“I can’t lose her to Reggie,” he decided.

Then his mind turned to their weekend date. “If I want to win the girl a trip to an Indian restaurant alone probably ain’t gonna cut it…I want to blow her mind with this one. But what kind of thing will wow a girly girl like Sally?”

Then he smiled – he had the ultimate date solution!

He quickly grabbed hold of his phone and punched the numbers in. Now he knew exactly where he and Sally were heading.

[Observer]

2:00 PM Wednesday Sitting in the Hays Richmond reception area in early afternoon Julie was like a kid in a candy store. It was just after 2:00 pm and she’d watched one chubby office babe after another come in from their lunch break and walk through the double doors into what she assumed was the main office. Julie smiled as the receptionist re-appeared with her coffee and set it down next to her.

The girl had long brown hair with blonde streaks and a truly beautiful face. She looked to be in her early twenties and was showing the early signs of getting fat. Julie fantasized that the sweet but somewhat vacant looking receptionist passing the time of day snacking of chocolate, sweets or whatever was available. Almost on cue the girl reached into her desk drawer and took out a Fruit Pastel. The sweet disappeared between the pretty receptionist’s lips and Julie couldn’t stop the fantasy from rolling along.

“I could whisk you out of this boring going nowhere job and treat you like a real princess.” fantasized Julie. “You could be a kept women, just stuffing your pretty face with all the sweets your heart desired and you’d get fatter, and fatter until you…”

“I’m sorry but Sally is expecting you but she’s running a bit late from lunch,” said the receptionist, whose name Julie suspected from the deskplate was Michelle.

Julie blinked. She had been lost deep in fantasy land.

“What…um…excuse me?”

The girl smiled sweetly again.

“I was just saying Sally is expecting you but she’s running a little late from lunch. I think she had her nails done and…”

Then the reception phone rang and the girl smiled apologetically before clicking a button her computer screen.

“Welcome to Hays Richmond,” she said in a chirpy sing song voice. “Michelle speaking. How may I help?”

Julie noted confirmation of the name – Michelle. She was a hottie no doubt and had some real potential to gain. She had the sort of curvy figure that was bound to turn to fat if she kept snacking and Julie had to conclude that she was in the right office for that.

“How many plumpers actually work here?” she wondered.

That thought was broken as the reception door burst open and Sally Turner crashed in. She was gasping for breath after having tried to run back to make her appointment.

“Oh rats,” she exclaimed to herself. “Julie’s been waiting here!”

“I am so sorry I’m late,” she gasped breathlessly. “My appointment overran and then the lift was out of order…”

“No worries” returned Julie. “You should have let me know and we could have met in the Starbucks. I can’t imagine what the stairs were like in that skirt and those heels.”

“Hard work,” gasped Sally. “Anyway, come on through and I’ll introduce you to the team. I’m confident we can help you at all levels of recruitment so I’ve invited Regina and Stephanie to attend too. Regina looks after basic level admin workers through government funded training schemes and Steph looks after the legal side.”

Julie wasn’t really listening as she followed Sally through reception and towards the main office. She flashed a friendly smile at the girl on reception, noting with satisfaction that she’d already devoured another Fruit Pastel. Then Julie stepped into chubby chaser heaven.

She estimated there were about thirty people working in the Hays Richmond office and about three quarters were female. Most of those females were sporting at least one extra layer of padding – from the well established middle aged office fattys to the younger girls just starting to pork out. All were represented within this one open plan office. Once again Julie’s imagination took over.

By some strange twist of events the office fire sprinkler burst into life only instead of raining water the office porkers were being showered with chocolate buttons.

The greedy girls looked confused for a moment, the plump blonde bimbo ahead shouted:

“Ooo its chocolate!”

Slowly the fact that they were being rained on by chocolate dawned on a whole office full of hungry chubsters and their mouths began to water. The blonde bimbo was squealing with delight as she shoveled bite after bite of the chocolate buttons into her over indulged mouth. The others followed her lead. It was like hungry hippos as each girl dug in, their bellies getting fuller and fuller then…

“Hey Julie,” said Sally louder this time “this is Stephanie Ashman and she looks after our legal recruitment”

Julie pulled herself back into reality and focused on the blonde. Steph stepped forward and shook her hand.

“Hi I’m Steph, pleased to meet you.”

Julie smiled at Stephanie Ashman.

“The one looks like her blonde bombshell figure is simply turning to blubber from too many nights snacking in front of the telly. She’s bigger than Sally.” observed Julie.”

Then almost out of habit Julie glanced at Steph’s hands – the first thing she noticed was the long pink colored finger nails and then the wedding ring.

“Ah married but you are a good counterpart to Sally,” mused Julie as she focused on Stephanie’s pumped up, vain, glossy lips and then the half eaten packet of biscuits on her desk “No wonder you’re tubbier than she is. Maybe I’ll have fun with both you two piggies one day.”

The second consultant she was introduced to created a far less positive impression. Regina was tall, model slim and of no interest whatsoever to the Sally and Steph focused chubby chaser.

Julie was walked over to one of the office’s six interview rooms. Michelle re-appeared from reception and fixed them up some coffee and a stack of biscuits were placed in the middle of the table.

Sally had already contacted the two candidates Julie had emailed her about and wanted to background Julie on them. She fully expected them both to be hired. What she didn’t realize was Julie’s limited actual hiring authority. When Sally was finished Steph moved on to explaining the high level of service they offered and the type of candidates they could send through. Julie eagerly expressed an interest, which was true but primarily from the viewpoint of being keen to build her relationship with both chubbies.

Finally it became the turn of Regina, whom Julie disdainfully regarded as a skinny pole with no potential. She endured her presentation about her lesser echelon candidates and started a dialogue with an eye to what Sally and Steph were doing. Their attention had waned and turned to the biscuit tray in the centre of the table.

“Why bother with those losers? I would think you’d want to focus on management level people?” said Julie incredulously, “I mean you must only get a tiny fee.”

“They’re not losers, really. Over 70% of jobs today require post secondary school education, and soon it will be 90%, but there’s more than one way to get it. We provide these people with opportunities and you get high quality, hard working staff at a fraction of the standard recruitment cost.”

“Well, they sound like losers to me.”

As an increasingly agitated Regina diplomatically parried with the pretentious Julie. Julie let her discussion with Regina wind down as the sweet snacks systematically disappeared between the lips of Regina’s associates.

She waited until all the biscuits were gone before saying;

“That’s all very interesting Miss – Regina, was it?

“Regina, Regina Farnum.”

“Yes. Well, I’ll keep it in mind . . . by the way,…do you have any biscuits?”

Guiltily Sally and Steph eyed the empty plate while Julie’s eyes rested on their cute belly rolls. Regina followed her gaze – a curious look forming as she noticed Julie’s focus on her two colleagues’ pudgy middles.

“I’ll go fetch some more,” said Regina, rising from her chair and heading over to the coffee room.

“Could this pretentious tart really be getting off on Sally and Steph?” she thought perceptively to herself. “Julie could be a lesbo chubby chaser.”

The meeting concluded after consumption of a few more biscuits with Julie expressing a definite interest in what the two chubbies Sally and Steph could offer whilst showing no interest in the lanky Regina’s product. With smiles across their faces Sally and Steph showed her to the door and returned triumphantly to their desks. All added, up NatWest was a huge account and both could picture generous commission payments coming their way.

“That went so well,” gushed Sally.

“I love Julie!” returned Steph, “she’s just so nice and she even commented on my necklace. You know Josh bought it me just last week and she noticed it.”

Sally paused to glance at her colleague’s Gucci necklace.

“It is nice Steph.”

“Thanks…it was his present for our second anniversary.”

“Aw that’s so sweet.”

So the conversation switched to Steph’s wedding anniversary as the two office babes walked back to their desks. Both noticed the glances they were getting from the male employees and both were still glowing from the NatWest success.

Meanwhile Michelle was still stationed at the reception desk and smiled sweetly as Julie headed for the door.

“Good to meet you Miss Lindley,” said Michelle in her sing song Yorkshire accent. “The door code is 2901. Could I also take you name badge back?”

Julie paused and looked back at the cute receptionist. After the thrill of watching Sally and Steph snack on biscuits Julie was in chubby chaser heaven and she saw real potential in the beautiful receptionist. Julie stood by the door and watched as the girl rose from her chair, walked round the desk and headed over towards the door to retrieve the name tag.

The first thing Julie noticed was those first few sexy signs of weight gain. A little beginner belly wobbled under the receptionists snug fitting blouse and her bright smile showed the very beginnings of a double chin. Her face looked to have filled out and was softening nicely. Without doubt Michelle would eventually be sporting a very sexy chubby bun.

“Thanks” said Michelle as she took the name tag. “I sometimes forget to ask for them.”

Julie watched as the girl turned back towards her desk. Her suit trousers showed off a plump butt that looked as if it was a little larger than when she’d fitted for them. It wobbled slightly with each step. Things got a little too hot for Julie as the receptionist absently grabbed at the bowl of M&M’s on the reception coffee table as she passed. “Ooo you are going to be such a little porker in no time at all….”
Collecting herself Julie reached into her purse.

“Hey Michelle,” she said “this is my business card if ever you want to get in touch.”

“Thanks,” returned a puzzled Michelle as she took the card.

She watched as Julie walked back out of the door and settled her admittedly plump behind back on her chair and glanced at the business card. Michelle wasn’t much of a thinker so she pushed the card away and began devouring the M&M’s she’d taken from the coffee table. All added up she loved working for Hays Richmond.

“I’ve never eaten so much sweets and chocolate in my whole life as I nhavwe since beginning here! And its all free!” she giggled to herself.

Then the phone rang again.

“Welcome to Hays Richmond,” she chirped. “Michelle speaking. How may I help?”

[Observer]

3:00 pm Wednesday “Well she was certainly strange!” exclaimed Regina as her two colleagues made it back to their desks.

“Who?” asked Sally.

“That women from NatWest, Julie.”

“I thought she was lovely,” returned Steph “and she’s going to be great for business. All those vacancies are unbelievable.”

“I’ve got about ten candidates I could send over tomorrow” added Sally. “And I know she’d want to interview all of them.”

Regina frowned. Both Sally and Steph seemed to have bought into the whole Julie performance but she had other ideas. All through the meeting Julie hadn’t taken her eyes off the two plumpers and had positively drooled as they devoured the second helping of biscuits. Something was going off here and Regina had a feeling it had very little to do with recruitment. That thought then led to a comment Regina would later regret: “I think she was actually more into you two than recruitment.”

“What?” exclaimed Steph.

“You think Julie fancies me?” puzzled Sally.

Recalling Julie’s call of the previous night Sally realized it might be true. “It seems like everybody else does at the moment so why not Julie too?”

“Yeah, I mean you’ve both heard of chubby chasers…” Regina paused and realized what she’d said “um…I meant…that…Julie is possibly a lesbian and…”

The “chubby chaser” comment hit home like a torpedo striking a ship. Sally instinctively ran her hands down her packed to bursting skirt – noting the slight muffin tops over her waistband and the taut material around her expanded hips. She knew she’d put on some weight, even having purchased some clothes that were up two sizes from what she was wearing when she started her employment at Hays Richmond. But that was for to know privately. She also knew she was still attractive – but she didn’t like to think of her admirers as chubby chasers.

“Did you say chubby chaser?” snapped Sally.

“Um…I did but I didn’t mean it badly…”

“Are you calling me fat?” Sally was glaring now. One freshly manicured finger tapping on the table and an expression across her face that just dared the skinny Regina to continue.

“I think Julie finds girls will a little meat on them attractive.” returned Regina “I don’t mean to…”

“So you are calling me fat,” hissed Sally. “And I thought you were a friend! I’ll have you know I’m competing in my club’s tennis tourney later his month and I could kick your ass any day.”

“Sally you are a friend…”

Steph, meanwhile, was biting her lip and holding back the tears. She’d hardly slept the night before after her daughter had cried through the night and she was emotional anyway. After the experience of her previous employer the last thing a plumped up Steph needed was this model like figure commenting on her weight.

“I once had a skinny figure too,” she whined to herself “but I don’t think I’m ever going to lose this baby weight…but I’m not fat! Josh says I look great and all the guys love me…its just Regina being jealous because she’s a crappy salesperson…”

“Just cos Julie was interested in what we had to say,” fired Steph. “Your candidates didn’t interest her and now you think she’s only bothered about us too because we’re…um…”

Steph bit her lip and puzzled on a phrase that didn’t include the word chubby “…because we’re…”

Sally helped her out.

“Because me and Steph are much better salespeople than you!”

Regina gulped. This had gone horribly wrong. Sally looked like she was fixing for a fight, the competitive tennis champion shining through, and Steph really did look like she was holding back tears.

“Look girls…”

“We’re supposed to be a team,” continued Sally. “And just because me and Steph land a big client you want to claim its because of some freaky lesbian fetish thing…well screw you Regina!”

“Sally wait…”

With that Sally rose from her chair and stormed off across the office, her hefty bubble butt tensing and straining the material of her skirt as she departed. Steph was still biting her glossy lip and trying not to cry. Suddenly her suit felt a size smaller than it was and every excess curve on her body seemed to be mocking her.

“Look Steph I’m sorry about the chubby…”

That was too much for Steph.

“Just shut up will you! Don’t take it out on me just cos you can’t sell anything…and I’m NOT big enough to be called chubby!”

That comment was loud enough to draw glances round the office as she too rose from her chair and headed off after Sally…the last thing she wanted was to hear more chubby comments. Before she reached the coffee room tears had begun to roll down the young mum’s cheeks…

”I’m not fat!” she told herself. “Maybe I’ve put on some weight but…”

So Regina sat alone her head spinning. From the looks she was getting in an office full of plump women the sympathy was definitely with Steph. Jenna, the increasingly well rounded brunette in the commercial recruitment team across from her, was positively glaring and Katie shook her head whilst running a hand over her own rotund curves as she stood by the photocopier. Even Michelle glanced self consciously down at her own plump beginner belly, her cute face reddening slightly as she noticed her belly roll.

“How did I manage to screw that up so much?” groaned Regina quietly. “Now everybody is looking at me.”

Karen, sitting across the office, said loudly, “well, real men prefer curves anyway.”

“Definitely,” snapped Jenna with authority.

Within ten minutes the coffee room had six hot if slightly chubby office girls sitting together drinking tea and snacking on free cookies. Steph and Sally had been assured many times that they were not in fact fat and their bruised ego’s were slowly being repaired. Her mouth half full with chocolate chip cookie Katie declared:

“Its not as if that Regina can talk, if you ask me she could do with growing more of what men like…”

“Like hips and boobs,” added another office hottie.

“Yeah, hips and boobs,” agreed Katie. “My boyfriend says I look so much better since I…um…”

Katie blushed. She didn’t want to mention her own expanding figure. “…um…ooooo, wwell you knowww. . . . Can I have another cookie?”

Sally pushed another cookie across. The conversation switched away from weight as one of the girls asked.

“Steph, what’s your little girl called again?”

“Madison.” said the proud mum, a smile across her face, “although we call her Maddy”

“Aw that’s such a cute name.”

“My sister just had a baby,” chipped in Karen, “She’s calling him Jack.”

“I love Jack too” gushed Steph. “If Maddy was a boy we’d have called her Jack or maybe Shayne after Shayne on X-Factor. Although my friend just had a boy and called him Romeo after Posh and Beck’s little boy.”

That brought a collection of furrowed brows around the coffee room. Wacky baby names had been the craze for years but for the professional office girls of Hays Richmond it just seemed a bit too tacky.

“Ouch that’s cruel,” giggled Sally. “He is so going to get bullied at school”
“…my brother’s wife called her kid Orlando.”

That brought another bout of catty giggles and the conversation switched safely to baby names and away from the uncomfortable discussion of weight gain. Before long the cookie stack was much depleted and the corporate chubbies returned to their desks. Their bruised egos repaired some and their soft tummies were fuller. Regina watched the girls return and knew she was the cause of the disturbance.

She felt dreadful. Not so much because she’d made her comment – in her opinion Sally and Steph had massively overreacted, but rather because she wanted to fit in. Regina had always been tall and skinny and had been made fun of by the other girls all through school and university.

Within the Hays Richman office Regina, with her alternate identity and never-mentioned MBA, didn’t quite fit into the clique of office girls as it was. Her different appearance and idealistic different focus in recruitment added to the awkwardness. She always felt she was on the outside, although they didn’t (and couldn’t) know it,

Regina was envious of the shorter and more womanly Sally and Steph.

“At least they fit in…” she thought. “I can imagine they were both little hotties at school making life miserable for the brainy girls like me.” The spat led to a closing of ranks against Regina, even though no one except the three principals knew what the discussion was really about. . In a three quarters female office where denial about weight issues was the norm the battle lines were drawn and the lanky outsider felt herself being pushed to the outside. There was more than one suppressed snicker and catty remark pointed her way. It was, increasingly, just like a day at school from years before for Regina.

After Nicola, the plump blonde and usually PR girl, blatantly ignored her in the coffee room Regina knew things had gone too far. Desperately she typed up an email to Tasha Preston explaining the situation.

“It’s just a shame Tasha doesn’t get back until tomorrow…” she thought.

7:00 pm Wednesday Things moved a little quicker than Regina anticipated. Tasha checked her Blackberry for email when she returned home at 7pm and called immediately. Sorting out office spats before they became serious was one of her key duties within the offices of Hays Richmond. Indeed, in a company that employed three quarters women she was used to settling such issues.

After hearing the story in full Tasha, who realized that Regina’s observation about Julie was actually on target but not something she could discuss over the phone, remarked.

“Well, I suppose I can see how they both got upset.”

“Oh come off it,” retorted Regina “I hardly said anything and that’s enough for them to get the whole office ganging up on me?”

“Both Sally and Steph have put on some weight…”

“Oh please! Sally’s got more men chasing her right now than I’ve ever had in my life and Steph looks like something out of Hello magazine. So I hardly see how they reacted like they did.”

“Clearly you’ve never gained a little,” laughed the genuinely stout and middle aged Tasha. “Trust me those two will be jealous of you my dear. You’ve still got the figure they think they once had.”

“Hardly! I’m too tall and too skinny…”

“Don’t worry. It’s the way of the world, everybody always wants what the others have,” returned Tasha philosophically. “The best you can do is not mention the word chubby around those two again and play nice with them.”

“How do I do that after today? Nobody even spoke to me all afternoon.”

Tasha paused. “If I know the girls of our office well, and believe me I do, the best way to their hearts is through their stomachs. There’s a reason they all got chubby you know. So how about bringing in some of those amazing desserts you fix up? Believe me when Sally and Steph dig into those they’ll forget all about today.”

Regina thought, “I do have some cakes in the freezer…”

“Then bring them on in! You’ll be the office favorite before close of play”

“But what if it doesn’t work?”

“It will, trust me. If it doesn’t I’ll have to hold a team meeting and sort it out, but as it is I’d rather not make a big deal out of it. Much better if it all just gets sorted by you.”

Tasha knew there was some other sorting she had to do as well. Julie was becoming an issue, not just a prospect.

Wednesday evening 7:30 Sally, meanwhile, had quickly forgotten Regina’s observations. After another painful trip to the gym she’d crashed out on the sofa and was watching another re-run of Sex in the City. It was Wednesday night. She was drinking a banana fruit smoothie waiting for Matt to show up with a promised Chinese take-away supper. Her mind wandered as she watched the TV; “I am sooo going to get my ass kicked at the club tourney…”

Then there was a knock on the door.

With a groan Sally hauled her plump buns up from the sofa and padded across her apartment to the door. It was a small but smart apartment in one of Leeds’ more expensive suburbs and Sally loved it. True, it wasn’t Matt’s expansive bachelor pad but Sally adored the paintings and furniture she’d acquired for the place.

Opening the door she smiled brightly

“Oh Matt, that smell’s gorgeous!” she gushed, grabbing hold of the bag and heading back into the living room “I love Chinese!”

Stepping into the living room Matt looked with disdain at the image on the TV.

“What kind of program is it on the TV?”

“Sex in the City” replied Sally as she began to fish out the Chinese cartons.

“One of my girlie shows,” she shouted as she headed over to the kitchen to bring across plates. No way was her brand new cream leather sofa going to be ruined by Chinese food. “Sarah Jessica Parker is so gorgeous and stunning in it and I love her so much. And Mr. Big is just the sexiest guy ever…”.

“Can I turn it off?”

“No.” pouted Sally as she re-appeared. “It’s funny and we can watch it together”

“Is that what couples do?” asked Matt as he took hold of a plate of egg rise rice drenched in sweet & sour pork.

Sally raised and eyebrow and smiled quizzically, “Matt, I didn’t know we were a couple?”

He shrugged as he sat down. “Neither did I, but then I suppose if this is what couples do then I suppose we’re a couple.”

The two exchanged sweet smiles and Matt felt satisfied as his girl curled herself up next to him and dug into her Chinese. In her teeny gym outfit she was showing off all her stacked curves and her hair was pulled back into a simple pony tail. Far from her glamorous professional look but Matt liked it either way. Slowly he ran one arm around her shoulder and pulled her in closer.

“Oooo Matt. this chicken is to die for!” She reached over with a chop stick and placed it between his lips “it’s amazing!”

He reciprocated with a taste of sweet and sour pork.

“Of course, I can do even better with a little time,” she teased. “Want me to try Friday night?”

Matt brightened. Apparently Reggie wasn’t ahead on points quite yet.

“You’re on!” he replied.

So the two sat together through an entire episode of Sex in the City followed by the latest Lost episode. With that concluded Sally switched across to watch the beginning of Nip Tuck and that’s when it became too much for Matt. He was very much a man’s man and the prospect of another hour of watching plastic surgeons having affairs was too much. In a sudden movement he snatched the TV remote from his lady’s hand and took control.

“Seeing as we’re a couple,” he said with authority. “We’re going to start acting like one. Cops Uncut 3 is on Bravo and I’m not missing it.”

“Wha…” laughed Sally as the channel flicked to a car chase somewhere in rural Alabama “no way! You watch this junk?”

“Absolutely.”

“I’m disappointed in you! I thought you had more brains than that. The same thing happens every time,” she laughed. “Some dumb American gets pulled over for something, he runs off and then crashes his car into something. I’ve seen it loads!”

“…and that’s coming from the girl who just wasted two hours on Sex in the City and Lost,”

Sally didn’t argue; she was too tired and besides liked the fact that Matt wasn’t a wimp or afraid to stand his ground. The raven haired hottie dug her head down into his check and closed her eyes. In the background the presenter told of wild car chases and drunken accidents where the exact plot she’d described happened again, but Sally heard none of it. She was rapidly drifting off into the land of slumber.

Matt watched her fall asleep and when an hour of Cops Uncut 3 was up he fetched a blanket from the bedroom and gently covered her with it.

Before he showed himself out Matt glanced around the apartment – the remnants of their Chinese food fest were still strewn around the living room. Remembering his girl’s tidiness fetish he scooped the fast food cartons up and dumped them in the bin.

“It’s the kind of thing she’ll notice in the morning,” he correctly figured.

Driving home Matthew Hodgson made himself a promise – “no way am I going to lose Sally Turner to Reggie Cornwall!”

(click here (http://www.dimensionsmagazine.com/forums/showthread.php?p=721022) for the next installment)