~BHM, Romance, SWG - Girl meets boy, now if he would just wake up and realize ...
Part One
“Did you see those looks poor Patrick Rice was giving you last night?” Renae asked, looking over her shoulder.
Chelsea sat on her bed, attempting some long-overdue studying for her Economics test the next day. She looked up at her roommate, who was straightening her hair in front of their shared mirror.
“Yeah, I noticed him,” Chelsea said absently, trying to focus.
Patrick Rice was a shy but good looking senior at their school. Or at least Chelsea thought he was good looking. Renae just thought he was fat.
“You should have gone for it,” Renae said, her eyes on her own reflection now.
Chelsea looked up again. That wasn’t the sort of statement she expected from Renae.
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. Can you imagine? You would have made the kid’s night. Probably his year. He‘d be buying you drinks for life,” Renae said with a grin.
Chelsea rolled her eyes.
“People like you are probably the reason he’s so freaking shy. The only reason anyone talks to him is to get something out of him,” she said, her upbeat tone masking her genuine annoyance.
“Pssssh. It’s not my fault if he’s awkward and fat and can’t get laid,” Renae said flippantly.
“Speaking of getting laid, what’s up with you and Jonny? You guys were all over each other last night, but I thought he was still with Alyssa?” Chelsea asked, trying to change the subject.
She didn’t actually have any particular interest in Patrick Rice, but she never liked it when fat guys got picked on.
“Like that makes a difference,” Renae laughed, acquiescing to the conversation's new direction.
Chelsea couldn’t condemn her on that, since she’d hooked up with guys with girlfriends in the past as well.
“Besides, Alyssa’s a total hag,” Renae continued, “Poor Jonny can’t help it if he wants to be with someone moderately attractive every once in a while. And did you see that dress she was wearing the other day?”
“Little House on the Prairie,” Chelsea snickered, having abandoned studying for now. They both laughed.
Renae and Chelsea had been best friends pretty much from day one of college, and Chelsea was sure that if talking about people were a sport, they could have both gone pro.
Chelsea never did talk badly about the overweight boys she knew, though. She generally thought they were better looking than thin boys, but as far as she could tell, she was the only one with that preference.
Parker was in the Epsilon Mu dining room, his Economics notes spread out on one of the tables. He should have started studying days ago, but had only started the night before. Now procrastination was taking its toll.
Luckily, he’d had the foresight to go into the kitchen and make himself a sandwich with potato chips and a can of soda. He couldn’t be expected to study on an empty stomach.
Mark, one of his pledge brothers, came bursting in the room shortly thereafter. Parker suspected he was probably still drunk, although it was almost two in the afternoon.
“What’re you doing? Nerding it up?” Mark asked in a voice a few decibels louder than necessary.
“Trying to study for Econ. I have a huge test tomorrow,” Parker answered, not looking up from his book.
“Me too, in Poli Sci,” Mark said with a laugh that turned into a groan. “I’m failing that one for sure.”
Mark leaned over and grabbed a handful of chips.
“It’s not like you need these, Porker,” he said to Parker with a wink.
Most people at school called him Porker, ever since some brilliant soul his freshman year realized the words were similar, and even had the presence of mind to notice that Parker was quite a bit on the heavy side. Parker had long since let it stop bothering him.
“Whatever, take them,” Parker said disinterestedly. He liked Mark a lot, but right now he was hoping he would leave him in peace.
Mark seemed to have different ideas. He went into the kitchen briefly and returned with the whole bag of potato chips, and sat down in the seat directly across from Parker.
“You shoulda been there last night. It was insane!” Mark said enthusiastically through a mouthful of chips.
“I heard,” Parker said with a smile. It was all anyone had talked about for the past few hours.
“Yeah, and a bunch of those Kappa Nu Lambda girls were there too, and they’re pretty crazy, you know. That one you like was there, looking pretty hot. What’s her name? Little blonde one, always with Renae?” Mark looked at Parker blankly.
“Chelsea,” Parker said quickly, raising his book slightly so Mark wouldn’t notice he was blushing.
“Yeah, Chelsea. Shoulda been there last night, big guy. You could’ve made a move,” Mark continued, shoving more chips in his mouth.
Parker laughed.
“Next time,” he said. Although he doubted that there was any time Chelsea would be interested. He always saw her around with guys who looked like fitness models, and his own soft physique was far from that.
Chelsea sat down in her Economics class, trying to get her teeth to stop chattering. Did they really need to turn on the air conditioning? It was only March! She would have bet money that it was even colder inside than the frosty outside.
There were only a few people in the classroom so far, and she watched people come through the door. At least ten people had come through, in various states of panic, before she saw who she had been waiting for.
Parker Keystone walked in, looking as perfect as ever. In Chelsea’s opinion, he was easily the best looking guy in her junior class, and probably the whole school. Already she felt the room getting a little warmer.
She caught his eye and smiled. He smiled back and sat down next to her. She felt a little tingly as she noticed a roll of fat hanging over the side of his jeans, and wrapping around to where his belly rested heavily in his lap. She bit her lip and willed herself not to stare.
“Where were you on Saturday? I was looking for you,” she said, giving Parker her playful sad eyes.
Parker tried to keep it cool. She had been looking for him? Chelsea Russell, his crush since freshman year, was disappointed he hadn’t attended a party.
“I had to study. You know, for this,” he said, gesturing around the classroom.
“Yeah, I think I might have waited too long to start studying. I didn’t really start until yesterday afternoon. I just kept getting distracted,” Chelsea told him.
Parker didn’t think it was going to be much of an issue for her. She seemed to have a gift for Economics, and could get away with not studying.
“Yeah, I understand. It’s hard to buckle down when everyone else is still in weekend mode,” he replied sympathetically.
Chelsea smiled. This was why she loved Parker. He understood people so well. She always half-suspected he knew how she felt about him, which made it all the more disappointing that he never acted on anything.
Her musings were cut short by the professor’s arrival. The tests were handed out, and Chelsea mouthed ‘Good luck’ at Parker as they began. It wasn’t nearly as hard as she had expected, and Chelsea was pleasantly surprised to discover that her halfhearted attempts at studying the day before weren’t going to ruin her chances at a good grade.
She found herself glancing over at Parker. The angle at which he bent over his test accentuated the fullness of his stomach, and she nearly giggled aloud with excitement when she saw his adorable double chin in side profile.
When she was double checking her answers, she looked briefly over at Parker’s test to check in on his progress. He was almost done. She triple checked her answers, and outlined her name a few times until he was finished. She wanted them to get out at the same time.
When Chelsea noticed he was getting ready to stand up, she hopped up first and placed her test face down on the professor’s desk. Parker followed her to the desk and out the door.
“So how’d you think it went?” Chelsea asked as they pulled on their jackets in the hall.
“That was murder!” Parker exclaimed.
“Really? I didn’t think it was that bad,” Chelsea said with a shrug.
“Yeah, but you’re the Econ wunderkind,” Parker joked.
Chelsea laughed.
“Do you want to do something to celebrate getting that over with? This was my only class today,” she asked.
She tried to keep her voice light, but she felt nervous waiting for him to respond.
To her relief, Parker nodded.
“Sure, but I have a Physics class at three, so we can’t be too long,” he said with a smile.
Parker started up his truck, rubbing his hands together furiously to try and warm them. It was a cold, miserable kind of day, and he could clearly see both his and Chelsea’s breath even inside the truck. He hoped the heating would start up soon - this was as close to a date with Chelsea as he’d had in three years, and the last thing he wanted was for her to freeze to death in the passenger seat.
He was sure he’d failed his Economics test, but his disappointment about that lifted slightly when he realized he and Chelsea were done at the exact same time. The universe had a way of evening things out, he decided. His mood had improved even more when Chelsea suggested they go into town to grab a celebratory lunch, which was how she came to be sitting in the seat next to him, looking a bit bluish from the cold.
“Here, I have a sweatshirt you can wear,” Parker said, pulling a black sweatshirt with the school’s logo from the back.
Although Chelsea was wearing a brightly colored peacoat over a Kappa Nu Lambda sweatshirt, she still looked quite chilly. She took the sweatshirt with one of her broad smiles that always made Parker feel a little unbalanced.
“Thanks, Parker! That’s so sweet!” she exclaimed as she pulled it on.
Parker was a little surprised at just how big his sweatshirt was on her, even over her bulky layers. But he supposed that was to be expected - he was a fairly big guy by anyone’s standards, at six feet and just under three hundred pounds, and she was fairly small, just over five foot two and not looking like she weighed much at all, although Parker had no idea how much girls typically weighed.
“It’s kinda big, even on me,” he commented as they pulled out into the road.
Although it wasn’t exactly the truth, he didn’t want her to be repulsed that something that big actually fit him.
“It’s better that way,” Chelsea said airily, “Plus it smells like you,” she said, pulling the extra fabric around herself.
Parker wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but she apparently seemed pleased.
Chelsea forced herself to stare out the window as they made the short drive into town. What she really wanted to be staring at was Parker, but she didn’t want to give him the impression that she was some kind of staring creep. The landscape was all the same - dull looking cornfields with bleak grey trees encroaching on the edges. She made a face.
“Something wrong?” Parker asked.
He really did notice everything, Chelsea decided. All the better that she kept herself from tasteless ogling.
“Everything’s so freaking depressing here,” she said, meeting Parker’s eyes for a second before turning towards the window again.
“Not everything,” Parker said, and when Chelsea glanced over at him again, he was looking at her with an amused smile. She felt her face get hot.
They pulled in at a popular and cheap burger joint. They got out of the truck, and Chelsea wrapped Parker’s sweatshirt even tighter around herself when she stepped into the chilly wind. She smiled to herself as she realized that the other patrons of the restaurant would probably assume they were dating.
Parker held the door for her as they walked in, and they chose a table by the window. Chelsea enjoyed people-watching, and a window table provided the perfect opportunity to do so.
They both ordered burgers and fries, and split a chocolate milkshake.
“Awww, look we’re so cute,” Chelsea said with a sarcastic squeal as they both took a sip from their straws on either end of the milkshake glass.
Parker rolled his eyes.
“I know, I think we’re pretty much 1950’s status,” he said in an equally sarcastic tone, although he didn’t find the idea entirely unpleasant.
That was the hard thing about Chelsea, he was never quite sure when she was joking and when she was serious. She looked pretty cute, though, even wrapped up inside his gigantic sweatshirt. If people didn’t know better, Parker thought, they might mistake her for his girlfriend. He didn’t find that idea entirely unpleasant, either.
“Are you still seeing Anthony?” he asked suddenly, his train of thought having given rise to the question.
“Why, worried he’ll come beat you up?” Chelsea asked wryly, raising an eyebrow.
“No, just wondering,” Parker said with a laugh. “I could take him anyway.”
Chelsea looked him over. “Yeah, probably,” she grinned.
Apparently she thought that was the end of the conversation, as she returned to her fries without actually answering Parker’s question. Feeling like an idiot, Parker asked again.
“So, are you still seeing him?”
“I wasn’t seeing him to begin with,” she said, sounding amused. “Hooking up with him, yeah, but that’s different. He’s not my type anyway.” And with that peculiar pronouncement, her attention once again returned to lunch.
Parker stared at her. Anthony LeBrun was not her type? He looked pretty much like every guy he had seen Chelsea with, tall and muscled, with a handsome face to match his calendar boy body. Anthony was the heartthrob of nearly every girl in school, and he wasn’t Chelsea’s type?
“What is your type then?” Parker asked out of genuine curiosity. He’d assumed a guy like Anthony would be to any girl’s taste, especially a girl like Chelsea.
Chelsea looked at Parker. ‘You’ would have been the correct answer, but she wasn’t in a mood to humiliate herself in public. Parker had been her friend for a couple years now, and had never really seemed to want to move beyond that stage.
She looked around once to see if anyone was listening. When she satisfied herself that no one was, she leaned in closer to Parker. She had never told anyone, not even Renae, about the kinds of guys she liked, but she had the feeling Parker wouldn’t laugh at her.
“Well,” she started uncertainly, “Anthony’s a nice guy and all, there’s nothing wrong with him, and he’s got a cute face but…he’s just too…well, I’ve never really been into the hard body look…I‘ve always liked guys who were kinda…um…chubby,” Chelsea had been staring at her plate, but now she looked up at Parker.
She felt sick when she realized he was trying to suppress laughter. Great. He thought she was a freak.
Parker had nearly choked on a French fry when she told him that. Especially since her wording, right down to the being a nice guy and having a cute face part, was what he usually heard from girls who turned him down. Except that his hard-bodiedness was not what was driving them away.
“Don’t laugh,” Chelsea said to him, and her dark brown eyes looked sad.
“I’m sorry,” Parker said quickly, realizing that she had just confided in him, “It’s just that…well, I’ve never even seen you with a bigger guy…except me, of course,” he finished with a smile.
“Yeah, well, the guys I’m into usually aren’t the kinds that are interested in me. For some reason I’m like a magnet for the skinny party boys,” she said, looking a little less like she wanted to melt into the floor.
Parker knew how she felt about having the people she was interested in not interested back. Although he was starting to feel much more optimistic about his lady in question, now that he knew she had some previously undisclosed attraction to chubby boys. But he couldn’t be sure. ‘Chubby’ could mean two hundred pounds, not three hundred. He might still be too big for her, even if Anthony LeBrun was too small.
Instead of venting any of these thoughts aloud, he put one of his hands on one of Chelsea’s and said, “Well, I hope you find the chubby boy of your dreams,” although he couldn’t keep a note of irony out of his voice.
Chelsea felt like telling Parker she already had, but instead settled on telling him to drink the rest of their milkshake.
Story continued in post 5 of this thread
Yes
By Starling
Part One
“Did you see those looks poor Patrick Rice was giving you last night?” Renae asked, looking over her shoulder.
Chelsea sat on her bed, attempting some long-overdue studying for her Economics test the next day. She looked up at her roommate, who was straightening her hair in front of their shared mirror.
“Yeah, I noticed him,” Chelsea said absently, trying to focus.
Patrick Rice was a shy but good looking senior at their school. Or at least Chelsea thought he was good looking. Renae just thought he was fat.
“You should have gone for it,” Renae said, her eyes on her own reflection now.
Chelsea looked up again. That wasn’t the sort of statement she expected from Renae.
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. Can you imagine? You would have made the kid’s night. Probably his year. He‘d be buying you drinks for life,” Renae said with a grin.
Chelsea rolled her eyes.
“People like you are probably the reason he’s so freaking shy. The only reason anyone talks to him is to get something out of him,” she said, her upbeat tone masking her genuine annoyance.
“Pssssh. It’s not my fault if he’s awkward and fat and can’t get laid,” Renae said flippantly.
“Speaking of getting laid, what’s up with you and Jonny? You guys were all over each other last night, but I thought he was still with Alyssa?” Chelsea asked, trying to change the subject.
She didn’t actually have any particular interest in Patrick Rice, but she never liked it when fat guys got picked on.
“Like that makes a difference,” Renae laughed, acquiescing to the conversation's new direction.
Chelsea couldn’t condemn her on that, since she’d hooked up with guys with girlfriends in the past as well.
“Besides, Alyssa’s a total hag,” Renae continued, “Poor Jonny can’t help it if he wants to be with someone moderately attractive every once in a while. And did you see that dress she was wearing the other day?”
“Little House on the Prairie,” Chelsea snickered, having abandoned studying for now. They both laughed.
Renae and Chelsea had been best friends pretty much from day one of college, and Chelsea was sure that if talking about people were a sport, they could have both gone pro.
Chelsea never did talk badly about the overweight boys she knew, though. She generally thought they were better looking than thin boys, but as far as she could tell, she was the only one with that preference.
***
Parker was in the Epsilon Mu dining room, his Economics notes spread out on one of the tables. He should have started studying days ago, but had only started the night before. Now procrastination was taking its toll.
Luckily, he’d had the foresight to go into the kitchen and make himself a sandwich with potato chips and a can of soda. He couldn’t be expected to study on an empty stomach.
Mark, one of his pledge brothers, came bursting in the room shortly thereafter. Parker suspected he was probably still drunk, although it was almost two in the afternoon.
“What’re you doing? Nerding it up?” Mark asked in a voice a few decibels louder than necessary.
“Trying to study for Econ. I have a huge test tomorrow,” Parker answered, not looking up from his book.
“Me too, in Poli Sci,” Mark said with a laugh that turned into a groan. “I’m failing that one for sure.”
Mark leaned over and grabbed a handful of chips.
“It’s not like you need these, Porker,” he said to Parker with a wink.
Most people at school called him Porker, ever since some brilliant soul his freshman year realized the words were similar, and even had the presence of mind to notice that Parker was quite a bit on the heavy side. Parker had long since let it stop bothering him.
“Whatever, take them,” Parker said disinterestedly. He liked Mark a lot, but right now he was hoping he would leave him in peace.
Mark seemed to have different ideas. He went into the kitchen briefly and returned with the whole bag of potato chips, and sat down in the seat directly across from Parker.
“You shoulda been there last night. It was insane!” Mark said enthusiastically through a mouthful of chips.
“I heard,” Parker said with a smile. It was all anyone had talked about for the past few hours.
“Yeah, and a bunch of those Kappa Nu Lambda girls were there too, and they’re pretty crazy, you know. That one you like was there, looking pretty hot. What’s her name? Little blonde one, always with Renae?” Mark looked at Parker blankly.
“Chelsea,” Parker said quickly, raising his book slightly so Mark wouldn’t notice he was blushing.
“Yeah, Chelsea. Shoulda been there last night, big guy. You could’ve made a move,” Mark continued, shoving more chips in his mouth.
Parker laughed.
“Next time,” he said. Although he doubted that there was any time Chelsea would be interested. He always saw her around with guys who looked like fitness models, and his own soft physique was far from that.
***
Chelsea sat down in her Economics class, trying to get her teeth to stop chattering. Did they really need to turn on the air conditioning? It was only March! She would have bet money that it was even colder inside than the frosty outside.
There were only a few people in the classroom so far, and she watched people come through the door. At least ten people had come through, in various states of panic, before she saw who she had been waiting for.
Parker Keystone walked in, looking as perfect as ever. In Chelsea’s opinion, he was easily the best looking guy in her junior class, and probably the whole school. Already she felt the room getting a little warmer.
She caught his eye and smiled. He smiled back and sat down next to her. She felt a little tingly as she noticed a roll of fat hanging over the side of his jeans, and wrapping around to where his belly rested heavily in his lap. She bit her lip and willed herself not to stare.
“Where were you on Saturday? I was looking for you,” she said, giving Parker her playful sad eyes.
Parker tried to keep it cool. She had been looking for him? Chelsea Russell, his crush since freshman year, was disappointed he hadn’t attended a party.
“I had to study. You know, for this,” he said, gesturing around the classroom.
“Yeah, I think I might have waited too long to start studying. I didn’t really start until yesterday afternoon. I just kept getting distracted,” Chelsea told him.
Parker didn’t think it was going to be much of an issue for her. She seemed to have a gift for Economics, and could get away with not studying.
“Yeah, I understand. It’s hard to buckle down when everyone else is still in weekend mode,” he replied sympathetically.
Chelsea smiled. This was why she loved Parker. He understood people so well. She always half-suspected he knew how she felt about him, which made it all the more disappointing that he never acted on anything.
Her musings were cut short by the professor’s arrival. The tests were handed out, and Chelsea mouthed ‘Good luck’ at Parker as they began. It wasn’t nearly as hard as she had expected, and Chelsea was pleasantly surprised to discover that her halfhearted attempts at studying the day before weren’t going to ruin her chances at a good grade.
She found herself glancing over at Parker. The angle at which he bent over his test accentuated the fullness of his stomach, and she nearly giggled aloud with excitement when she saw his adorable double chin in side profile.
When she was double checking her answers, she looked briefly over at Parker’s test to check in on his progress. He was almost done. She triple checked her answers, and outlined her name a few times until he was finished. She wanted them to get out at the same time.
When Chelsea noticed he was getting ready to stand up, she hopped up first and placed her test face down on the professor’s desk. Parker followed her to the desk and out the door.
“So how’d you think it went?” Chelsea asked as they pulled on their jackets in the hall.
“That was murder!” Parker exclaimed.
“Really? I didn’t think it was that bad,” Chelsea said with a shrug.
“Yeah, but you’re the Econ wunderkind,” Parker joked.
Chelsea laughed.
“Do you want to do something to celebrate getting that over with? This was my only class today,” she asked.
She tried to keep her voice light, but she felt nervous waiting for him to respond.
To her relief, Parker nodded.
“Sure, but I have a Physics class at three, so we can’t be too long,” he said with a smile.
***
Parker started up his truck, rubbing his hands together furiously to try and warm them. It was a cold, miserable kind of day, and he could clearly see both his and Chelsea’s breath even inside the truck. He hoped the heating would start up soon - this was as close to a date with Chelsea as he’d had in three years, and the last thing he wanted was for her to freeze to death in the passenger seat.
He was sure he’d failed his Economics test, but his disappointment about that lifted slightly when he realized he and Chelsea were done at the exact same time. The universe had a way of evening things out, he decided. His mood had improved even more when Chelsea suggested they go into town to grab a celebratory lunch, which was how she came to be sitting in the seat next to him, looking a bit bluish from the cold.
“Here, I have a sweatshirt you can wear,” Parker said, pulling a black sweatshirt with the school’s logo from the back.
Although Chelsea was wearing a brightly colored peacoat over a Kappa Nu Lambda sweatshirt, she still looked quite chilly. She took the sweatshirt with one of her broad smiles that always made Parker feel a little unbalanced.
“Thanks, Parker! That’s so sweet!” she exclaimed as she pulled it on.
Parker was a little surprised at just how big his sweatshirt was on her, even over her bulky layers. But he supposed that was to be expected - he was a fairly big guy by anyone’s standards, at six feet and just under three hundred pounds, and she was fairly small, just over five foot two and not looking like she weighed much at all, although Parker had no idea how much girls typically weighed.
“It’s kinda big, even on me,” he commented as they pulled out into the road.
Although it wasn’t exactly the truth, he didn’t want her to be repulsed that something that big actually fit him.
“It’s better that way,” Chelsea said airily, “Plus it smells like you,” she said, pulling the extra fabric around herself.
Parker wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but she apparently seemed pleased.
Chelsea forced herself to stare out the window as they made the short drive into town. What she really wanted to be staring at was Parker, but she didn’t want to give him the impression that she was some kind of staring creep. The landscape was all the same - dull looking cornfields with bleak grey trees encroaching on the edges. She made a face.
“Something wrong?” Parker asked.
He really did notice everything, Chelsea decided. All the better that she kept herself from tasteless ogling.
“Everything’s so freaking depressing here,” she said, meeting Parker’s eyes for a second before turning towards the window again.
“Not everything,” Parker said, and when Chelsea glanced over at him again, he was looking at her with an amused smile. She felt her face get hot.
They pulled in at a popular and cheap burger joint. They got out of the truck, and Chelsea wrapped Parker’s sweatshirt even tighter around herself when she stepped into the chilly wind. She smiled to herself as she realized that the other patrons of the restaurant would probably assume they were dating.
Parker held the door for her as they walked in, and they chose a table by the window. Chelsea enjoyed people-watching, and a window table provided the perfect opportunity to do so.
They both ordered burgers and fries, and split a chocolate milkshake.
“Awww, look we’re so cute,” Chelsea said with a sarcastic squeal as they both took a sip from their straws on either end of the milkshake glass.
Parker rolled his eyes.
“I know, I think we’re pretty much 1950’s status,” he said in an equally sarcastic tone, although he didn’t find the idea entirely unpleasant.
That was the hard thing about Chelsea, he was never quite sure when she was joking and when she was serious. She looked pretty cute, though, even wrapped up inside his gigantic sweatshirt. If people didn’t know better, Parker thought, they might mistake her for his girlfriend. He didn’t find that idea entirely unpleasant, either.
“Are you still seeing Anthony?” he asked suddenly, his train of thought having given rise to the question.
“Why, worried he’ll come beat you up?” Chelsea asked wryly, raising an eyebrow.
“No, just wondering,” Parker said with a laugh. “I could take him anyway.”
Chelsea looked him over. “Yeah, probably,” she grinned.
Apparently she thought that was the end of the conversation, as she returned to her fries without actually answering Parker’s question. Feeling like an idiot, Parker asked again.
“So, are you still seeing him?”
“I wasn’t seeing him to begin with,” she said, sounding amused. “Hooking up with him, yeah, but that’s different. He’s not my type anyway.” And with that peculiar pronouncement, her attention once again returned to lunch.
Parker stared at her. Anthony LeBrun was not her type? He looked pretty much like every guy he had seen Chelsea with, tall and muscled, with a handsome face to match his calendar boy body. Anthony was the heartthrob of nearly every girl in school, and he wasn’t Chelsea’s type?
“What is your type then?” Parker asked out of genuine curiosity. He’d assumed a guy like Anthony would be to any girl’s taste, especially a girl like Chelsea.
Chelsea looked at Parker. ‘You’ would have been the correct answer, but she wasn’t in a mood to humiliate herself in public. Parker had been her friend for a couple years now, and had never really seemed to want to move beyond that stage.
She looked around once to see if anyone was listening. When she satisfied herself that no one was, she leaned in closer to Parker. She had never told anyone, not even Renae, about the kinds of guys she liked, but she had the feeling Parker wouldn’t laugh at her.
“Well,” she started uncertainly, “Anthony’s a nice guy and all, there’s nothing wrong with him, and he’s got a cute face but…he’s just too…well, I’ve never really been into the hard body look…I‘ve always liked guys who were kinda…um…chubby,” Chelsea had been staring at her plate, but now she looked up at Parker.
She felt sick when she realized he was trying to suppress laughter. Great. He thought she was a freak.
Parker had nearly choked on a French fry when she told him that. Especially since her wording, right down to the being a nice guy and having a cute face part, was what he usually heard from girls who turned him down. Except that his hard-bodiedness was not what was driving them away.
“Don’t laugh,” Chelsea said to him, and her dark brown eyes looked sad.
“I’m sorry,” Parker said quickly, realizing that she had just confided in him, “It’s just that…well, I’ve never even seen you with a bigger guy…except me, of course,” he finished with a smile.
“Yeah, well, the guys I’m into usually aren’t the kinds that are interested in me. For some reason I’m like a magnet for the skinny party boys,” she said, looking a little less like she wanted to melt into the floor.
Parker knew how she felt about having the people she was interested in not interested back. Although he was starting to feel much more optimistic about his lady in question, now that he knew she had some previously undisclosed attraction to chubby boys. But he couldn’t be sure. ‘Chubby’ could mean two hundred pounds, not three hundred. He might still be too big for her, even if Anthony LeBrun was too small.
Instead of venting any of these thoughts aloud, he put one of his hands on one of Chelsea’s and said, “Well, I hope you find the chubby boy of your dreams,” although he couldn’t keep a note of irony out of his voice.
Chelsea felt like telling Parker she already had, but instead settled on telling him to drink the rest of their milkshake.
Story continued in post 5 of this thread
