Jenna walked into her room and threw her bags onto her bed. Even now the embarrassment still burned her cheeks. In filling out her swimsuit order form she’d had to admit to another human being (other than her mother) that she’d gained weight, and a considerable amount at that. The fact that it had been a guy—even if it was one that she had absolutely no interest in like Coach—added an extra sting. In a way it had forced Jenna to come face to face with the 152 pounds that greeted her on the scale the other day in harsh terms.

Even though Jenna’s embarrassment had been private (it wasn’t like she’d had to tell the entire team that she was taking a size 12 this season, though right now it felt like everyone could tell that just by looking at her), the weight of it crushed Jenna. She turned to one of the few sure-fire ways she knew to handle such a situation: she went shopping.

Her jaunt to the local mall served for more than one purpose. Not only did Jenna hope to engage in a very healthy dose of retail therapy, but she also admitted in her decision she really did need to get new clothes. Comparing her size 12 in a swimsuit and a size 10 in jeans made her realize that it was time she go up a size for the sake of comfort. It was a bittersweet sort of therapy, but there was no sense in being frivolous about such things. Besides, if Jenna was replacing her lower half’s wardrobe, it meant she could legitimately do more shopping. Though she wasn’t thrilled with this added reason for the expedition, she approved of the fact she’d be buying new clothes.

To facilitate trying things on, Jenna had worn a pair of relatively trendy sweatpants that would be easily to slide on and off. She was wearing a t-shirt underneath her track jacket to complete the casual look. The sweatpants were definitely more comfortable than her jeans right now, but now that she was in them Jenna felt fat. There were times, like after water polo practice, that Jenna was thrilled to wear her comfy sweatpants, but today Jenna felt frumpy in them, like a washed-up ex-popular girl who had let herself go and no longer washed her hair. Jenna was, of course, better than that, but today she just didn’t feel hot in sweatpants. Perhaps it was just the thought that fat people wore sweatpants, but Jenna desperately wanted to get into some jeans, even if they were size 12. She was considering changing into the first pair of jeans she bought at a restroom just so she could get out of her sweats.

Jenna had already learned when getting her size 10s that Hollister was now out of the question. The largest thing they carried was a size 9, and when she vainly tried on a pair of their jeans the last time she’d gotten new clothing, her circulation had been cut off. In fact, the jeans might as well have been a size 8 that was only a smidge bigger. So much for shopping there for pants. Instead, she headed for American Eagle. At least some place trendy still had her size. They even went up to size 16. However, Jenna had no intention of ever getting that big, and indeed her growth had slowed down as of late.

The blonde waltzed, albeit with a bounce in her frame, into the store and headed for the jeans. She picked a few out that she liked and got a couple styles of jeans in size 10 in the vain hope that maybe her jeans had just shrunk in the wash. Having just taken her measurements the other day, Jenna knew that wasn’t true. But vanity made its demands and Jenna all too willingly followed.

She went with her selections to the dressing room and closed the door behind her. Jenna slipped her sandals off before sliding her sweatpants down and hanging them up. She took a moment to observe herself, almost half naked in a literal sense of the phrase, in the mirror. Even after all of her growth, it was still an odd experience for Jenna to look in the mirror and see a part of her body other than her bust that was large. Without pants on, Jenna’s tan legs (Thank God I’ve still got that going for me, Jenna thought) looked larger, her soft thighs squashed together as she stood in front of the mirror. Her panties covered her hips, which bulged outwards in all directions, and Jenna turned around to examine her ass. The silky fabric was stretched tight across her rump, her cheeks creating a small valley between them. At the bottom of her underwear a tiny bit of her butt stuck out. Not a whole lot, but enough. Well, I guess new jeans aren’t the only thing I’m getting today, Jenna thought to herself and mentally added another stop to her list.

Jenna tried the size 10 jeans briefly to start with doubtful optimism that turned out to be well founded. The jeans met the same resistance around the top of her thighs that she encountered in all her other jeans. Jenna didn’t even try to force them up past her hips. She simply got out of the jeans and moved straight to the size 12s with a soft sigh. This was what she expected for the afternoon anyways. The size 12s actually fit pretty well. They weren’t too loose (though Jenna wouldn’t have minded if they had been) and they certainly weren’t too snug. They fit just about perfectly. Let’s hope it stays that way, Jenna thought to herself.

Jenna examined her butt in the mirror again now that it had some more covering to it. She approved of the fact that the denim curved around her hips and ass smoothly and beautifully. Her thighs filled out the legs of the jeans, but at least they didn’t seem as fat when in pants. Thank God for the genius of Levi Strauss.

The jeans were keepers all around. Jenna still felt reasonably good about the fact she was still wearing trendy clothing made by American Eagle, enough so that she temporarily forgot the fact she was wearing trendy clothing that was size 12. Swinging her bag, Jenna next headed for the Gap. It wasn’t a favorite of Jenna’s, but she needed something other than just jeans like some khaki pants and some shorts, and Gap had plenty of khaki if nothing else. They also went well past size 12, all the way up to 20 (if you ordered online, in store they only had through size 16 like most places). The thought of ever fitting a size 20 horrified Jenna proportionally more than the thought that American Eagle carried up to a size 16.

Jenna took a couple of pairs of jeans, three different khaki pant styles, and a couple pairs of khaki shorts with her to the changing room. Despite the fact she didn’t like her sweatpants, they were easy to take on and off, so she decided that she might as well just keep them on for the duration of the trip. For some reason the annoying alliterative “form follows function” rang through her head, the dregs of a memory of AP European History.

She found the khaki to fit well (perhaps making her hips look a bit larger than the jeans since the material wasn’t as stiff), and she thought that the tan colors worked well with her skin tones and hair. She decided on two of the pairs and one of the jeans, and then saw she had the khaki shorts left. Jenna grimaced, but took a deep breath to prepare herself and tried them on. The shorts certainly felt short, leaving plenty of her large legs in view. The seat of the shorts also emphasized her ass more than Jenna would have liked. Looking at her luscious rear in the mirror, Jenna couldn’t decide if it was larger with or without shorts on. However, the shorts felt all right and there were still some warm days ahead even though they were transitioning into winter. Jenna surveyed her appearance in the mirror once more. She supposed she didn’t look all that bad in them, and it would suck not to have any shorts. The shorts were duly added to her purchases.

Now Jenna went through the outdoor mall with a bag in each hand. She headed for Forever 21 where she thought she might get some capri pants for when it was warm but not too warm. She grabbed a pair in gray and noticed that their sizes ran from extra small to large. She held up a pair of mediums to see if there was any chance she’d fit in them. It took only a cursory glance to figure out that wasn’t going to happen. Therefore she took a large with her to the dressing room, but only begrudgingly. Size 12 sounded more innocent than size large. At least you could pretend that the former was better than the latter, even though they were the same.

As Jenna put the capris on, she found that they weren’t the same. Her thighs gave fierce resistance against the capris. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jenna muttered and gave another tug. There was little movement if any at all. "Come on thunder thighs. Fit you little..." Jenna strained, pulling with all her might. The capris slowly inched up and around her hips, but not without making the blonde red in the face. Huffing, she pulled the zipper up and found it would only go halfway no matter how much Jenna sucked her belly in or how hard she jolted the zipper. Trying to pull the flaps together to button was just as impossible. "Damn it!" Jenna said to herself, probably slightly louder than she should have. She just hoped no one was in the next stall to hear her frustration. She unhappily tugged the capris off, disgusted at the fact she was too big for large pants. The very statement was a blow to her ego. She despondently left the capris on the rack by the dressing room and filed out of the store.

Even though she knew she was going to have to go shopping for new underwear, Jenna was hardly in the mood to do so. Not fitting into pants labeled as large (Jenna didn’t stop to think that perhaps Forever 21 had a very narrow mind when it came to sizing and what was considered “large”) had deflated Jenna’s spirits. To Jenna, the trip wasn’t feeling much like retail therapy anymore, but more like being kicked when you were down. It was only with great effort—and some trepidation at what she might find—that Jenna dragged herself into Victoria's Secret, hoping she wasn’t going to find that she’d outgrown the wardrobe of yet another store.

Jenna’s recent modest weight gain had not resulted in any growth in her ever-gorgeous melons, the one place Jenna might have been happy about it. Therefore, for this trip she steered clear of the bras and headed straight for the intimates intended for one’s lower regions. Victoria’s Secret surprisingly carried sizes all the way up to a size 20 and Jenna even found that size 12 was classified as a medium, which made the buxom blonde a bit happier. She grabbed several different types of underwear before proceeding to the changing rooms.

The first selection Jenna tried on were a pair of bikini briefs in white and light blue. Immediately Jenna felt the difference between sizes. Her old underwear seemed constricting and way too tight by comparison. Though the briefs did little to make her expanding ass look any smaller, they were certainly more comfortable. Jenna sighed and accepted the fact that size 12 was just going to be standard in all respects from now on. She set a few pairs of briefs aside for purchase.

Having warmed up a bit to the task, Jenna tried on a few thongs. Like the briefs, they fit much better, especially around Jenna’s waist where the waistband didn’t dig in like her size 10s did. A horizontally striped triangle covered Jenna’s pussy, which bulged forward more than it had months before. Jenna turned around to look at her butt in the mirror behind her. With bare floss between her cheeks, Jenna’s rear looked absolutely huge as it hung free. Jenna jumped a little bit and watched as her ass jiggled and swayed long after she stopped moving. The dual globes were smooth and soft, and Jenna herself couldn’t resist reaching behind and giving one of her butt cheeks a quick little squeeze. Her ass yielded to the slightest touch, Jenna’s fingers delving into the soft flesh. Her rump was quite a sight to behold no matter which way you sliced it.

Christ, my ass is huge, Jenna thought, I must put the fat in fat ass. I could sell tickets to see this thing. Jenna was very glad that her rear end wasn’t on public display as its size shocked her like never before. However, the thong felt good, so she bought it and several others anyways. After all, nobody was going to see it, so what did it matter how her ass looked in it as long as she could stand to look at it in the mirror? Jenna was also a tiny bit proud that she still could wear a thong and feel relatively sexy in it. After all, many girls when they porked up would just give it up and move to full panties, but not Jenna. That thought sealed Jenna’s purchase.

She tried on a few other styles of underwear like v-strings, hip huggers, and Brazilian cut panties and wound up buying most of them so she had a good stock of underwear on hand…but I’ll leave all that to your imagination. When Jenna checked out, she’d put a rather major dent in her funds, but she figured she could get the money out of her mother with little trouble.

However, she didn’t like the smirk that the cashier, a scrawny little thing, had on her face when she rung Jenna up. Jenna could almost read the waif’s mind as clearly as if she’d been talking out loud. She must be thinking about this blonde hippo in front of her who mistakenly thought she had the body to buy anything at all from Victoria’s Secret, regardless of whether it was intimates or sweatpants. The cashier also undoubtedly was thinking about how men would flock to her and ignore the shopper in front of her if the two of them were ever placed next to one another—as if she’d hang out with a tumble tub like her. All of this was written all over her face, and just thinking about it actually made Jenna mad. She considered spitting out some stinging remark at the smug cashier, but thought the better of it and just left.

Once Jenna’s ire faded, she found that she felt no better than when she started. The trip had only really served the purpose of providing her with a larger sized wardrobe. Her mind had not been soothed by the pleasure of shopping. She sighed. If shopping couldn’t make her happy, what could?

Jenna got a whiff of the answer the moment she posed the question to herself. Cinnabon. The smell of cinnamon was intoxicating and Jenna was drawn to the pastry eatery automatically, without thinking. Jenna could almost taste the sugary delight in her mouth as she stood in line to eagerly buy one of the gigantic cinnamon rolls. When she got one, she eagerly devoured it at one of the store’s tables. The sweet icing with the cinnamon spice blended so perfectly. Nothing could have satisfied Jenna at that moment in time more than that cinnamon roll. When it was gone, it was as if Jenna had awoken from a dream and suddenly realized everything that had just happened. As she looked at the empty sticky container in front of her, Jenna felt like a pig. Here I am feeling sorry for myself about going up a size and what do I do? I scarf down a cinnamon roll that’s got to have more calories in it than my lunch that’s only going to go right to my waist with the way my luck has gone. Jenna was disgusted with her lack of control. She knew what she must look like to passers by: a fat girl stuffing her face with food as if it was the only thing important in the world. She was ashamed of herself. Had her life really devolved into this? The cinnamon bun had been a true pleasure, but a guilty one after the fact. But there was a little voice in the back of her head that reminded her how good that cinnamon roll had been. The voice was quickly ignored as Jenna sullenly gathered her shopping bags and trudged back to her car, acutely feeling all of her 152 pounds.

And so we come to Jenna throwing her bags onto her bed as she returned home from shopping, feeling little better than she had when she started. She looked despairingly at her reflection in the mirror. Her face looked like it was becoming a bit rounder. Her cheeks looked a bit chubbier than she remembered. She sighed in despair. It seemed like there was very little about her that hadn’t gotten fat.

Today had not been a good day at all.

***

For Tom Stevenson, today had not been much of a good day as well. The brush off he received from Jenna was almost like a slap in the face when compared with the month of cordiality that preceded it. And yet Tom couldn’t believe that it had really happened.

Why was she nice to me for the last month only to give me the cold shoulder all of a sudden? Tom thought on the drive home from school, I certainly didn’t do anything to warrant that. Something doesn’t feel right about this.

Though Tom didn’t know the details about Jenna and her life, he’d always thought she was a good person, even when she had been bad to him. During those times he’d felt her dislike for him acutely and it had torn him apart. Tom felt like he was cursed to love someone who couldn’t love him in return. But Tom’s infatuation with Jenna was so strong that he couldn’t give it up. He honestly had tried, too. Tom had quietly tried dating girls that he knew casually went to other high schools (which was why everyone at RFK High thought that Tom had only ever been devoted to Jenna), but he could never really get into other girls. He just didn’t feel for anyone else like he did for Jenna. So Tom soldiered on, even though there was little hope that he would ever get the opportunity to realize his dreams.

The last month had changed all this. You already know what that month had been like for Tom, so you can probably imagine what Tom felt when all of it seemed to come to an abrupt and jarring halt. He felt as if he’d been shot through the heart. The event was so depressing, Tom almost felt like he was falling ill. And yet, through all of the hurt, there was a flicker of a thought that kept Tom from wallowing in complete despair.

Something’s not right, Tom thought, There’s something more to this and it’s wrong. Jenna wouldn’t have just ignored me for no reason. She wouldn’t just do that.

When he thought back on the morning, it seemed as he thought during that brief exchange that Jenna hadn’t been all that authoritative about it. When Jenna used to give Tom the cold shoulder—which she had done frequently—she would have almost rubbed it in his face (though she would half-heartedly apologize a couple days later), but she didn’t do so this time. The more Tom thought about it, the more Tom thought that Jenna still liked him, but for some reason she thought she had to stop the familiarity growing between them. If that was true, then all was not lost.

Something is wrong about this situation, and I’ve got to fix it.

Tom’s mind ran through everything he could think of. He needed to do something. He wasn’t just going to let Jenna slip away from him after he’d finally gotten his foot in the door. Of course, without knowing why Jenna had brushed him off all of a sudden, he didn’t know precisely what to do.

When Tom got home (thankfully he’d kept his mind largely on the road and not on the day’s event), he sat down and thought hard about what he was going to do. He’d tried other gestures of affection before, but they’d all been rebuffed. However, that was a different Jenna, one who hadn’t taken the time to talk with him. Tom was convinced that if he did the right thing he’d succeed where he’d failed in the past. He thought about the situation over and over. It couldn’t be anything too big. That could scare Jenna off. And yet he didn’t want to do something so small it wouldn’t even be noticed. It had to seem natural, yet also make an impression…but what?

By the end of the night, Tom had an idea. Not a very good one, but it was the best he had and he prayed to God it was going to work.

***

The next time Biology rolled around, Jenna braced herself for the inevitable meeting with Tom and the obligatory terse hello. She took a deep breath, which caused her already large chest to swell, before she walked in the door.

And Tom wasn’t there.

Jenna looked around the room in surprise. He wasn’t there. He was always there. Where was he?

Well, that’s one less thing I have to worry about, Jenna thought as she headed to her seat. Naturally Emily was already seated there and they exchanged greetings.

As Jenna got her things out for class she once again surveyed the room. There was Lynn Phan. She looked a bit out of sorts today. What could be going on with her? Lynn wasn’t the sort of person to get flustered easily. Was everything okay? Before she could ponder the question any further, Jenna suddenly found her thoughts interrupted.

“Hi Jenna,” Tom said.

Jenna’s head suddenly snapped around to look at Tom Stevenson standing right there. So much for things being easy. Now Tom had actually approached her. She couldn’t just walk away, she was at her seat already, and she had a feeling Tom wasn’t going to go away without being told to. And yet Jenna didn’t want to hurt Tom any more than she had to, so she couldn’t just shoo him away. So how was she supposed to carry on a conversation with Tom without making it seem like she was too interested? At the same time, Jenna was acutely aware of Emily at her left. She didn’t want to be subjected to another tirade after class. Jenna had a feeling of dread that she tried her best to hide.

“Uh, hi,” Jenna said, since she couldn’t think of anything else.

“How are you?” Tom asked.

Panicking, but otherwise rather awful right now, thanks for asking, Jenna thought. “Okay,” Jenna said.

“I brought you a muffin,” Tom said and he put it down in front of Jenna.

Jenna looked at the muffin in front of her, and then at Tom. “A muffin?” Jenna echoed.

“It’s blueberry,” Tom said, “I thought you might like it.”

Oh God, what should I do? If I take the muffin he’ll think that I’m still being nice to him, or worse. But if I don’t take the muffin he’ll be hurt. And it’s a blueberry muffin! Blueberry muffins are so good! But I can’t take it! Jenna thought. “Thanks, that’s really nice of you,” Jenna said, taking the muffin with a bit of a smile, “I like blueberry muffins a lot.”

Tom smiled back. “Glad you like it. Well, class is about to start, so I’ll be going now. Bye Jenna.”

You are such an idiot Shcherbatsky. You are such an idiot! Why’d you take the damn muffin? Thank goodness he didn’t bring you chocolate or you might have given him a hug or something. Are you now thinking completely with your stomach? You’re an idiot, Jenna thought. “Bye Tom,” Jenna said.

Tom walked away and headed to his seat near the front of the room as Jenna picked up the muffin. She was acutely aware of Emily’s eyes upon her. The gaze wasn’t searing like she expected, but Jenna picked up the undercurrent of annoyance in Emily’s manner.

“Just don’t say anything, okay?” Jenna said by way of preemption, “Don’t say a single word.”

“Fine,” Emily said, “I hope you’re happy.”

You have no idea how happy I am. God, this blueberry muffin is incredible, Jenna thought to herself as she took a bite off the top of the muffin. She said nothing.

***

Things weren’t quite so simple when Jenna got home that afternoon when she thought back on the morning. She wasn’t sure why she’d taken that muffin from Tom. She didn’t want to encourage him, but she couldn’t just hurt him like that. It would have broken his heart if she had turned him down. Furthermore, she’d been kicking herself over indulging herself in that Cinnabon and now she ate a whole muffin (it wasn’t a very small one either) after she’d already had breakfast. What was she doing? Jenna didn’t even know anymore.

Jenna went to her room and lay on her back, trying to sort everything out. Her gut jutted into the air as she thought. It was all too confusing. She didn’t want to lead Tom on, but it seemed that Jenna couldn’t just be mean to him and if she wasn’t mean to him then he wouldn’t stop trying to win her affections. Why can’t Tom just be a jerk so then I could be mean to him and he’d stop paying attention to me? Jenna thought in frustration, Why does he have to be so nice>

All of a sudden Jenna stopped everything. Tom was nice. She’d been saying it all along, but never really thought about it. Did she actually…

The blonde got under her comforter and curled up into a ball. The thought was somewhat frightening, but she couldn’t get it out of her head. The longer she thought about it, the more certain it seemed, and the more frightened Jenna was. It was impossible, but all the same it was true. Did she like Tom Stevenson? As in really like him?

The thought that Jenna might actually have feelings for Tom turned her world upside down. Tom was like a dog—he followed you around loyally and sat there and panted as he looked at Jenna. Dogs could be fun to have around, but you didn’t really take them seriously. Then again, dogs could be sort of cute…

Jenna pushed the thought out of her mind. The last thing I need is to indulge this…this…craziness! I can’t just date Tom! It’s just…well…why can’t I date Tom? Everyone else who’s asked me out lately hasn’t been all that great. And Tom is really nice to me. I don’t think anyone’s ever been that nice to me, especially considering how badly I’ve treated him. But this is Tom we’re talking about here! Can I really just date him? And yet it felt good when he gave me that muffin. It felt like I counted to somebody, that I wasn’t just some has-been fat girl. I felt…special. It’s almost as if Tom doesn’t care about all the weight I’ve put on. And yet this still doesn’t feel right.

Our heroine couldn’t find a reason that prevented her from dating Tom. He was a nice guy, and she knew that he was head over heels for her. Most girls would have melted if a guy was as devoted as Tom was to her. The strongest objection Jenna could think up to not dating Tom was that he didn’t run in the same circles that she did. As much as Jenna for some reason wanted to cling to any reason she could think of for not dating Tom, she still had to admit that was a pretty weak reason to not date Tom. In fact, it was probably even a good thing considering how shallow and harsh many of the guys who traveled in the in crowd could be at times. But Jenna still felt uneasy about the situation.

Maybe it’s because you like him because he’s nice, not because he’s popular and hot, a tiny voice in Jenna’s head suggested.

She shrunk back at the suggestion. I’m not like that! I’m not that shallow!

So why did you date Craig? the voice challenged.

He was nice! Jenna defended.

That relationship consisted of sex and nothing else. If you call that fulfilling, then you’re nothing more than a tart, the voice stated. The suggestion stung Jenna with its truth.

So then why am I so scared? Jenna asked.

Because you’re falling in love and you’ve never done that before. It’s a scary thing when you actually trust someone enough to love them, the voice said.

And Jenna knew that the voice was right without having to think twice. She realized that she liked Tom and that was why it was so hard for her to try and brush him off. Emily was right and wrong at the same time: right in that Jenna knew that she shouldn’t keep going on with Tom like she was, wrong in thinking that meant Jenna had to cut things off. There was another option, and it was better. For right now though, she was going to have to wait until tomorrow to do anything about it. That meant that Jenna was going to have an entire night to panic, which was precisely what happened.

***

The next day Jenna did not have Biology, which was probably a good thing. It would be better this way. However, Jenna’s heart was thumping hard. The last time this had happened to Jenna at the mere thought of talking to a boy was back in junior high when Jenna was still learning about what happened when a boy liked a girl. Though she’d faced her fair share of uncertainties as of late regarding dating and her own appearance as of late, but this was new territory.

Jenna nervously bided her time until lunch. When the bell rang, she quickly got out of class and headed down the halls in search of Tom. She was hoping to catch him alone, which meant that she’d have to get to him after he got out of class but before he fell in with his usual group of friends to eat lunch. If only she could find—

And there Tom was coming down the hall. He saw Jenna immediately and smiled and made a beeline for her, just as Jenna hoped. Jenna drew off to one side of the hall, which was quickly draining of people. It looked like things just might work out as she’d hoped.

“Jenna, how are you?” Tom asked as he came up to Jenna. By now they had relative privacy.

“Good,” Jenna said with a smile. She’d thought out what she was going to say before, but all of a sudden she’d forgotten it all. Think! Say something! her mind was yelling. “Ummm…I liked the muffin you gave me,” Jenna said, somewhat sheepishly. She could feel she was blushing. She couldn’t believe herself right now. Jenna knew what she must look like right now.

“Oh good. I didn’t know if you liked blueberries or not,” Tom said.

And then there was a moment of silence between them. Each wanted to say something, but their minds stalled. It was Jenna who recovered first.

“Look, Tom, I…I’m sorry about the other day. It’s been a rough week and I sort of was mean to you when I shouldn’t have been. You didn’t deserve that…so, yeah. Sorry,” Jenna apologized.

“It’s all right Jenna. We all have bad days,” Tom said.

Oh he is always so nice! I could shoot him in the shoulder and say I was sorry and he’d still forgive me, Jenna thought. “Yeah, well…” Jenna froze again. Come on! Do it! “Do you want to have dinner with me?” Jenna blurted. Oh God. Could you be any more graceless than that?

The question visibly surprised Tom. “Really? I mean, of course! That’d be great!”

Even though Jenna never doubted that Tom was going to accept, she still was relieved. She’d never asked a guy out before, and she found it was surprisingly hard. If she’d felt this way about anyone else, she would have played the dating game a bit more, but Jenna knew that it would have taken months for Tom to ask Jenna out after their history together, and she couldn’t wait months. The flood of relief was like cool water on a warm day. “Great!” Jenna said, enthused beyond what she expected. All of a sudden she felt peppy. “So, what are you doing Friday?”

“Nothing,” Tom said. In reality, he was going to have to cancel some other plans, but he would have skipped his mother’s funeral for the chance to finally have dinner with Jenna. “Let me pick where to go. I’ll pick you up at six and then we’ll go right there.”

“Oh sure!” Jenna said, bubbling over with enthusiasm and feeling as giddy as the proverbial schoolgirl, “That sounds good. I’ll see you then, okay?”

“Okay. See you then,” Tom said with a smile.

The pair parted and Jenna felt so alive and excited she couldn’t describe it. Was this how Tom felt about her all the time? It was wonderful! She’d never experienced anything like this. Jenna was so exuberant.

Then she thought of something. For some reason in her nervousness she’d asked Tom to dinner and now she realized that might have been a bad idea. Considering how she’d been with food lately, that could have been the worst thing that she could have done. For all Jenna knew she was going to act like a pig in front of Tom and completely embarrass herself in front of him.

Suddenly Jenna was nervous all over again.