“I would be seen with you anytime,” he said truthfully and somewhat a little fiercely. “Don’t bring this up again. Please. We have spent most of our conversation so far talking about weight in one form or another. It isn’t a problem for me and it never will be. So I’m not going to bring it up if you don’t. Got that?”
She smiled, her eyes shining, and nodded. He didn’t know it then, but that was the moment a bond was forged between the two of them.
A bond he didn’t realize would be so potent and destructive until later.
DREAM GUY
Kyle was everything Jessica had dreamt of and more.
She had never honestly met anyone who was so easy to talk to, Lyla included. With Lyla, she had to skirt over some issues sometimes because Lyla got so worked up about everything. But Kyle was the type of person she felt immediately at ease with.
To borrow an old cliché, there was an instant chemistry between them.
So she had gotten the elephant in the room out of the way. He didn’t care about the way she looked. Of course, he doesn’t! He met you on a BBW dating website, didn’t he? And he was every bit as gorgeous as his photo was. Even more so, because the person himself glowed with a vitality which could not be captured by pixels alone.
When he laughed, his eyes crinkled. He smiled often, and it was heavenly to see. His eyes were so blue that she couldn’t stop catching her breath over them. Can he be real? He’s so gorgeous! And he’s here with me.
ME!
She had to keep pinching herself to assure this wasn’t a dream.
As the evening wore on, she told him more and more about herself and her family. He was genuinely interested in everything she had to say. She told him about Lyla.
“She was always the one who defended me in school. I don’t know what I could have done without her.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’d do pretty well,” he said. “Humans have a coping mechanism to get them through life. You would have adapted in one way or another.”
“How do you know so much about humans?”
“I minored in Psychology. It was the subject I loved best, but my father wanted me to go into something related to real estate.” He shrugged.
“Did you resent that?”
“No. It was my – ” he hesitated “ – wish to honor my father’s wishes.” He composed his features again and she sensed that he had instinctively wanted to use another word. “It’s OK, really. Architecture would have been my second choice.”
Again, she sensed the wistfulness in his voice, as though he didn’t really have a choice in what he wanted to do in life.
“Are you the eldest son?” she asked.
“Yes. Fortunately and unfortunately.” He laughed. “But enough about me. I want to know more about you. Any boyfriends?”
She blushed. “If I did, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Obviously.” His eyes twinkled. “I meant before this.”
“No.”
“Seriously? Not even one?”
She shook her head.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, right? Who did you go to the prom with?”
“Myself. I went to a public school where the girls were always in one clique or another. Lyla and I didn’t quite fit, but at least she fit better than I did. She was always so smart and pretty, and so she got a date to the prom. When I didn’t, she asked me to tag along, much to her date’s chagrin. Lyla spent equal time with me and her date even though I told her I’d be OK. Needless to say, her date didn’t ask her out again.”
Jessica was actually mortified by the whole incident, even though Lyla assured her that not dating basketball Bradley ‘I want to get into every girl’s panties before graduation’ Turner was no loss.
Kyle grinned. “That’s some best friend.”
“I know.” She cocked her head. “You have a best friend like that?”
“I did. Once. But he left to go to college and he never came home. He’s marrying a girl back east. So it’s only me again.”
“Girlfriends?”
“A few. But no one who lasted, and certainly no one I’d like to hook up with again.”
“Why?”
“I guess I was too young. I didn’t know what I wanted.”
“You’re still young. Maybe you still don’t know what you want.” A wistfulness stung her voice. Maybe you think you want a big, beautiful woman, but it’s just a phase you’re going through.
“Oh trust me. I do know what I want.”
He looked right into her eyes when he said this and she felt goose bumps.
Dinner ended with chocolate pavlova and passion fruit ice cream. It was the best meal Jessica had ever tasted, and it was certainly the best date she ever had. Dates were something to be dreaded for most part because they would inevitably lead to disaster and a no call back. But she was enjoying herself so much that she didn’t even register the passing of time until she realized that all the tables around them were empty and the waiters were giving them politely significant glances.