Despite the fact that Tara and I were now like two peas in a pod, we didn’t see each other Sunday, though we did talk a bit on the phone. Even though we both loved one another dearly, we both were the type of people who actually did their schoolwork, so we got that out of the way on Sunday. During our phone conversation, Tara and I had resolved to meet at lunch on Monday. While we were both looking forward to seeing one another, I was probably more excited as it was another opportunity to watch Tara eat, even though I didn’t think it’d be at the same level as our previous meals.
Monday came and on my way to lunch Tara met up with me on her way out of her last class. She was wearing a brown t-shirt that hugged her round figure beautifully and a pair of khaki pants that were just the right size, and perhaps a little smaller. Her shirt had sleeves that reached her elbows on account of the cool winter days, but was tight enough that the outline of her bra was discernable against her back.
“How are you?” I asked Tara.
“Fine,” she replied with a smile, “How ‘bout you?”
“Better now that you’re here again.”
“You dastardly flatterer! I shouldn’t listen to a word you say.”
“Only because it’s all true,” I said.
Tara took my hand and squeezed it tenderly. “I know, I know,” she said, “Where do you want to eat?”
Because our school was open-air, there were plenty of places that one could sit during lunch, including more than enough discreet areas for couples to find the intimacy they desired. However, I figured there was plenty of time for that type of stuff.
“I don’t really care,” I said, “You pick.”
“You want to sit with the team?” Tara asked.
“As in the water polo team?” I asked. Though I happened to have this thing for water polo players (which had made Tara all the more attractive to me), I didn’t hold the highest opinion of them. I generally thought they were all a little stuck-up and had a tendency to be more than a little mean.
“Yeah,” Tara said, “You okay with that? I know you’ve never exactly been very close with any of them, but I think they just have to warm up to you a little bit and discover that charming Irish sense of humor you have.”
“They’ll think I’m perfectly dreadful because I save all of my jokes for you,” I replied.
“Well maybe some will leak out accidentally. Really, Liam, I think that they’ll really like you. Besides, all the other girls bring their boyfriends over most of the time.”
So maybe I wasn’t thrilled with shaking up my social circles this late in high school, but I’d do anything for Tara, and so I complied. We headed over into the corner that the water polo team had staked out for itself. They were all lined up, sitting along a planter bed and tittering away at one another. Kristin was the first to notice Tara and I approaching, and this sent the entire lot whispering. Obviously Christy had wasted absolutely no time in spreading the word about Tara and me and whatever Christy had said was probably being validated now.
“Hi guys!” Tara said and was greeted with a chorus of welcomes from the team, “In case you don’t already know, Liam and I are seeing each other and I thought it’d be okay to bring him over here.”
“Just as long as you guys don’t gross us out, okay?” Nina responded.
“Please, we do have a sense of decorum you know,” Tara said and we soon joined them there.
Since I was the new kid on the block, the discussion happened to revolve around me, involving Tara doing some bragging about this or that with responses of “How cute!” or “That’s so sweet!”. I could tell Tara enjoyed showing me off. I was vaguely interested in my predicament, figuring that I had rarely heard of a trophy boyfriend before, but if there was such a thing, this was undoubtedly what it felt like.
After a while, Tara had to go to the restroom and left me there alone with the team. As soon as she was around the corner, the entire team crowded around me. While I initial thought they were going to mug me, they all started asking me questions at once, none of which I could understand in the slightest.
“Whoa! Let’s give me a little breathing room, all right ladies?” I said, “And one at a time.”
They all took a step back and then Tina asked, “So, it really is true that you and Tara are an item?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“And you’re really…you know…in love with her?” Lynn asked.
“God yes! She’s one of the nicest, smartest, happiest people I know! I just can’t believe my luck, to be honest.”
They all murmured amongst themselves for a moment before Chelsea said, “Sorry for the interrogation, but you won’t believe how shook up Tara was when she got dumped by Ian last time.”
“Yeah, even though she didn’t say anything to any of us, she was really hurt by that, and since she’s always been there for us, we want to make sure she doesn’t get hurt again,” Jenna replied.
“Trust me, that’s the last thing that I want to see happen,” I replied.
“Yeah, because we thought during practice that she was going to kill us with the way she was passing the ball,” Katherine, one of the thin girls, said, “We also want to make sure you don’t get hurt as well.”
We all laughed a bit, but I didn’t doubt it in the slightest.
“And, uh, one more thing, Liam…” Kristin stammered, “We, uh, all thought we should let you know that we think you’re not a bad guy and that we, ummm, think it’s great that we’ll able to get to know you better.”
Needless to say I hadn’t the slightest idea I was going to get such a reception, which only got more and more surprising as it went on. I had hardly expected the rigid social circles of high school to so easily bend for me. Somehow I sensed that Tara’s and my romance was going beyond us and might not be stirring up the entire social fabric that we lived in. But, that couldn’t be. I mean, could two people really change things like that?
When Tara came back about half a minute later, all the girls were back where they were sitting and there was no hint of our conversation. Tara and I had a wonderful lunch, and maybe it was just me, but the other girls seemed to be just slightly warmer now than they had before.
Must be my imagination, I thought.
***
Throughout the week I continued meeting Tara with the other girls for lunch. I wasn’t alone by any means as there were the other guys there too, and we generally got talking with one another. In a certain respect there was a small club of the boyfriends of water polo girls that existed, and sometimes there was extremely interesting conversation that went on there. However, I quickly found out that only about a quarter of the girls on the varsity team were currently seeing someone. I was very surprised at this new intelligence, as I thought they were all prime catches personally—even the thin ones.
Tara and I continued deepening our relationship, although it was only be little hops and skips rather than the leaps and bounds we’d taken over the past couple of weeks. I’d noticed on Monday that Tara had what I deemed to be an insufficient lunch. After plenty of badgering, Tara reluctantly divulged that was 100 Grand was her favorite candy, so I made it a point to buy an entire box of them to give to her at lunch. On Tuesday it took a little bit of encouragement from me that, yes, it was okay to eat it. On Wednesday Tara hesitated when I handed her another one, but I didn’t have to push her any. On Thursday Tara simply smiled and said, “Oh you shouldn’t have brought me another one! That’s real sweet of you Liam.”
And if you’ve been keeping track, you’ll realize that Thursday was the day of the match against Central High School, that invincible powerhouse in high school ladies’ water polo. When I showed up on Thursday, the entire team, including Tara, was looking glum. I could tell that they had already lost the game in their minds.
“Oh come on, you haven’t lost yet!” I said to them, standing in front of them as they all sat dejected on the planter.
“Yes we have,” Christy said in her typical cynical voice.
“You’re not going to win if you think like that,” I replied.
“We’re not going to win even if we dropped an atomic bomb on Central,” Nina replied, “I’ve been playing for three years and we’ve never beat them.”
“And this year they’re supposed to be the best team that they’ve fielded in at least four years,” Tina said dejectedly.
“Oh yeah? Well let me tell you something, ladies; this is the best water polo team this school has ever had,” I said.
“Look, Liam, it’s really nice of you to say that, and we really appreciate your support, but it’s just a waste of breath,” Tara said.
“When was the last time we won the first two games of the season?” I asked.
They all looked at one another. “Uh, I don’t think we ever have,” Chelsea said.
“That’s right! You’ve already done that! Look, you’ve got absolutely nothing to lose. Everyone is expecting you to get absolutely trounced today. So why not at least give them a run for it? If you lose, you lose. But at least make them work for it. Don’t just give it to them. Make them beat you!” I said.
When I was finished, I realized they were all staring at me. I suddenly realized precisely how caught up I’d gotten in my motivational speech and was about to tell them to forget it, but then Lynn said, “Have you ever considered becoming a coach?”
They all giggled and Allie, a tall, rail-thin senior stood up and said, “Girls, he’s right. Why not give it everything we got? I mean, maybe we can have some fun and worst come to worst we’ll know they beat us in the pool and not in our minds.”
“Yeah!” Morgan, another one of the thin girls said, “Let’s go give it to them!”
Soon they were all on their feet and pumped up. I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d just done, but soon Tara was next to me and said, “I think this is the most excited we’ve ever gotten for a game against Central. You just keep surprising me every day!”
With that she gave me another one of her giant hugs, and I said, “Now you just go out there and surprise me by winning today, all right?”
“We’re going to give them everything we’ve got,” Tara said, “I think I won’t have any trouble promising you that.”
***
They still lost. I hadn’t called Tara after the match, and she hadn’t called me with any excited reports, so I figured it’d been a dismal failure. I was fully prepared for the bad news that day at lunch when I found the entire team so excited that they were nearly jumping up and down.
When Tara saw me she ran up to me and said, “We lost by two points!” Tara grabbed me in a hug with so much force I nearly fell over from the impact (fat girls do get a lot of momentum going, you know).
“Get out!” I said, absolutely stunned. I’d been doing some research last night on all the web pages for high school water polo and found a reference to Central not having won a match by less than four points within the last six years. This was absolutely huge for them and it was understandable how they were all ebullient after their near-victory.
“Liam, you really got us going there yesterday. I don’t think we could have played that way without your help,” Christy said, “We’d all like to thank you for bringing out the best in us.” The entire team echoed her thoughts.
“We’re going to try and get coach today to make you an honorary assistant coach,” Tara giggled.
“Now that’s really unnecessary—” I started.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to do it anyway!” Lynn said.
***
This all provided a background for Tara and I to continue strengthening our relationship together (you didn’t think I was going to forget that, did you?). On Friday afternoon, after Tara’s water polo practice, I went over to Tara’s house under the pretense of studying. I met Mrs. Kelley when I arrived who was a very nice woman that seemed wistful when she saw her daughter in love. She was a typical Irish woman, not too tall, pale, flaxen haired, and pronounced her daughter’s name “Tar-uh” rather than the American “Tair-uh”.
“Now you two just make sure you get at least some studying in, all right?” she admonished, “I don’t want either of your grades, because Tara tells me you’re smarter than she is, and I just can’t imagine that, but I’ll have to take her word for it, to go down. But you’re both young, responsible adults who aught to know how to balance their time. And next time, Tara, no need to put up any more pretexts, all right? I had many a cute boy, though none nearly as cute, sweet, or nice as Liam here, over for a ‘study date’ back in my day. My mother nearly went up the wall with me dragging them in all the time! Ah! You’ve got lives to live, which are best spent not listening to me ramble, so go right ahead and make yourself at home and maybe I’ll bring you up some snacks just so I can make a pretense of not checking up on you.”
“Mom’s always been a little long winded,” Tara said quietly with a smile as we eagerly bolted up the stairs to her room.
“What Irish mother isn’t?” I said in reply.
Tara and I sat on her bed and went over a little bit of Biology together. We were sitting together like two spoons, Tara in front, allowing me wrap my arms around her tummy. As it shouldn’t be surprising, our talk gradually turned onto matters other than biology. I found myself unconsciously gently rubbing the front of Tara’s belly as we talked, and Tara seemed not to notice either. Her t-shirt reached just as far as her waistband, but it was a stretch. I wasn’t sure, but it seemed as if Tara’s clothes were getting a little bit smaller. Not much, mind you, but just enough so that it was starting to show up.
“Hey Tara, can you grab my backpack?” I asked, remembering something.
It was luckily within arm’s reach for her on the ground, but she had to bend forward from her sitting position to get it, causing her belly rolls to bunch up around her midsection. Her t-shirt also rode up, affording me a look at the vast, pure white skin of the small of her back. I could also see in that separation between her waist and her jeans, the tag to her jeans, as well as the top of her pink panties. A quick look told me that Tara was still in size 16, but it didn’t look like she had a lot of room left in them, a fact that I found rather pleasing.
“Would you like a surprise?” I asked Tara, who had now returned to her reclining position up against my chest and between my legs.
“Uh huh!” Tara eagerly said and covered her eyes.
I rummaged through my backpack and pulled out two 100 Grand bars, which I then placed in her lap. Tara uncovered her eyes and looked down at the two treats.
“Liam, you shouldn’t have!” Tara said, twisting her head back to look at me.
“Well how could I let you accomplishment yesterday go unnoticed, especially after you didn’t call me to let me know how things went,” I said, gently reprimanding Tara.
“I completely forgot until first period today,” Tara said apologetically, “We all went out to dinner we were so excited that we’d only lost by two points. I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings too badly.”
I messed with Tara’s wet, chlorine-soaked hair playfully. “Of course not. It’d take a lot more than that to get me angry at such a cutie like you,” I said.
Like usual, Tara blushed and got incredibly embarrassed when I said that. “You’re too sweet, Liam. Thanks,” Tara said and gave me a kiss on my chin as best she could.
“You always get so embarrassed when I compliment you, you know,” I said, “It’s so fun to see you get all rosy and even cuter.”
“Well, it’s…” Tara started but then stopped, “Nah, never mind.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, if you say so. But you should eat your candy before it melts,” I said.
“I hardly think it’s in danger of melting,” Tara retorted.
“I think you’re wrong. You’re so hot that I think there’s a grave danger of it becoming a pool of chocolate sauce soon,” I said, once again giving Tara another compliment.
“All right, Liam, that’s it!” Tara said, rolling over so as to face me.
“What’d I do?” I asked, perplexed.
“I think you’ve just gone over your allotment of compliments for today, so do you know what that means?” Tara asked.
“No…” I said.
Suddenly before I could stop her, Tara started tickling me. Now, I happen to be a very ticklish person for some unknown reason, most likely a genetic defect or something like that. So once Tara started there was really no stopping her because I was absolutely helpless. It wasn’t long before in all my jerking and convulsions that the two of us rolled right off the bed in one giant heap together. We proceeded to continue on the carpet with Tara holding me completely within her control, the two of us laughing uncontrollably. My attempts at rolling away from Tara were frustrated by the fact she was pinning me down to the floor.
During the process, we’d both become twisted up in one another and our clothes had gotten all out of place. Most notably Tara’s t-shirt had now ridden up well above her belly button, exposing her grand gut that was violently shaking and jiggling as Tara ruthlessly persecuted me. Unfortunately, I was so involved in trying to escape that I didn’t notice until Mrs. Kelly interrupted us.
“What in the name of all that’s good and holy are you two doing up here?” Tara’s mother asked as she poked her head into the room.
Tara stopped her tickling spree of me and blushed a deep red. She realized that our current position was cause for some eyebrow raising. “Oh, hi, Mom. Uh…Liam and I were…”
“I don’t even want to know, dear,” Mrs. Kelly said, and then looked at me as I was still laughing, “Liam, are you okay?”
“Yeah—hahahahaha—I’m fine,” I said as soon as I had enough breath. It was about here when I noticed how Tara’s belly was hanging out of her shirt, which wasn’t helping me recover my breath at all.
“Well don’t let my Tara beat you up, Liam, you’re much too nice a boy for her to go and do that to you. I decided that the two of you’d probably be hungry, especially you Tara after practice, so I made the two of you some popcorn with plenty of butter,” Mrs. Kelly said as she left a large bowl brimming with popcorn on Tara’s bed, “Would either of you like anything to drink?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that Mom, I’ll get it,” Tara said as she struggled to her feet and tugged her t-shirt back down, much to my chagrin, “Is a Coke all right with you Liam?” I nodded in response as I finally sat upright.
Tara and her mother left me alone there as I finally regained my breath for the most part. I found that we during our tussle we had avoided crushing the two 100 Grands, so I picked them up and put them on Tara’s bed, which I now sat up against, grabbing handfuls of popcorn from above my head. It was very good popcorn, and it was indeed liberally buttered as Mrs. Kelly had promised, making it excellent food for adding a couple more pounds to Tara’s frame.
Tara came in with two cans of Coca-Cola and saw me eating the popcorn. “No fair! You didn’t even wait for me!”
As she said this, Tara plopped down next to me on the floor, her body jiggling sexily next to me for a couple seconds. She handed me one of the Cokes, which I opened.
“You want to say I’m not being fair after what you just did?” I replied.
“Awww, was that okay Liam? I’m sorry if you felt I offended you,” Tara replied, “Here, a hug should make it all better.”
As Tara enveloped me as she was so wont to do, I returned the embrace and said, “You just make everything feel better Tara.”
“Hey, I think that was another compliment…”
“Wait! Your mother will be furious if I spill Coke on the carpet! You’d better not,” I warned.
“You’re probably right,” Tara said, “Oh! I almost forgot about your 100 Grands!” She eagerly looked up on the bed and found the dual bars. “I’m not about to just forget about your sweet gift to me just because Mom brought some popcorn.”
When Tara said that, I felt like Tara must have when I complimented her because there was a really warm spot in my chest that I couldn’t shake and I felt I was blushing.
Tara noticed me and said, “Awww…now you’re blushing! Thanks for being so considerate, Liam. You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”
“Thanks, Tara. You too,” I said as I put my arm around Tara as she munched on the 100 Grand.
The rest of the evening was spent in a variety of ways. As we talked, we listened to some music, which resulted in an interesting clash between my classic rock and Tara’s pop music. Luckily the situation didn’t become a huge argument as we both agreed to respect one another’s opinions in what was “good” music. Once we’d finished off the popcorn and our sodas, we finally got down to making out, which was just as good, if not better, as the first time.
Afterwards we just sort of sat there with one another saying nothing. Instead of those early awkward silences between us, this was a contented, loving silence we now had where our entire world was made up of each other.
“You know what Tara?” I asked.
“Mmmmmm?” Tara said softly with her head nestled against my chest.
“I think I’m going to pronounce your name like your mother from now on. It sounds much more Irish,” I said.
“Say it to me. Maybe it’ll sound better coming from you rather than my mother,” Tara said.
“Tara,” I said softly, softening the first a.
“You make it sound so beautiful,” Tara said, “like something out of a romance story.”
“I’d rather we weren’t. All the great romances fail. Lancelot and Guinevere, Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Iseult, Deidre and—”
“Okay, point taken smarty pants,” Tara said, “Maybe I aught to start kissing you again just so I can shut you up.”
“Don’t give me an incentive,” I said smiling back, and then suddenly realized I’d been meaning to ask Tara something. “When’s your next game?”
“Tuesday,” Tara replied, “It’s at home.”
“Wonderful, I’ll be there. And I’ll even make it on time this time,” I promised.
“You better be so I can get a good luck kiss,” Tara said.
“And make all the other girls jealous? Maybe we’d better save it for a victory kiss.”
“I intend to get one of those too.”
“I’ll bet you do,” I said.
There was a soft rapping on the door before Mrs. Kelly poked her head in again. “How are you two?”
“She’s playing nice now Mrs. Kelly,” I said, “I think I have to thank you for that.”
“Well she can never say no to her mother, that’s for sure,” Mrs. Kelly said, “Would you like to stay for dinner Liam?”
Dinner! I looked at my watch and it was almost six. “Oh wow, guess we lost track of time! Studying, that is. We were so busy studying that we lost track of time,” I said as Tara and I grinned sheepishly, “Really, I’d love to stay, but unfortunately I promised my mom I’d be home at six.”
“Really?” Tara said, “You have to leave?”
“Unfortunately,” I said as we got to our feet, “maybe we can get together again this weekend.”
“Any time, Liam, you’re such a nice boy that it’s a pleasure to have you over here,” Mrs. Kelley said.
I gathered my stuff together and Tara and I went downstairs to her front door where Mrs. Kelly left us alone to say our good byes.
“Thanks for studying with me, Liam. I think it really helped,” Tara said with a wink.
“My pleasure,” I replied as I opened the door and said, “Talk to you tomorrow. And maybe this time you won’t call me at such an ungodly hour like 9:40 in the morning.”
“Don’t count on it. I might just get so excited that I can’t restrain myself,” Tara said.
“Take care,” I said, and then Tara and I kissed each other briefly. When I finished, I impulsively gave Tara’s belly flab a gentle little squeeze. I was immediately sorry that I’d done it, because I still wasn’t sure how Tara felt about her weight. But I figured that I’d best not mention it. I headed off to my car as Tara stood in the doorway and watched me go as I thought to myself, Why did I do that? I only hoped that I’d be able to muster the courage to tell Tara how I really felt about her soon, before I got myself in deeper trouble.