Forever Bound

Bloated

"Sure," she shrugs, "we can call and order for pick up. That way we'll be back in time."

That's what we do. Char calls and places two separate orders and we walk and talk on our way there.

"I'm just so exhausted, it's like work never stops," she groaned.

"What?" I say comically. "I haven't been out in months. And on weekends I'm too tired to go anywhere."

"Jason wants to go out to dinner, but I want to do something wild like the old days," she huffs.

"Do both," I advise, "nothing wrong with dinner then a night in the town."

She just shrugs. "When are you going to give yourself away?"

"When I find someone who can handle me," I say half joking. It's true I want a man to test my dominance, but honestly I'm not looking for anything in particular right now. My career is going so well right now, and that's where my attention is.

"Well, shit, we're going to be here a while."

I playfully shove her shoulder and we both laugh.

~

"Dad?" I call for him when I walk through the door.

I think it's dad, but it's really Anthony. He holds his fingers to his lips to shush me. "Is he sleeping?" I whisper.

"Yeah, just helped him clean up," he tells me back.

"Is she awake?" I peek around on his shoulder at my niece. The silly little three month old giggles and greets me with her soft babbling.

I gasp then poke my fingers at her belly. "Oh, goodness she is awake," I take her into my arms and she continues to talk to me in her own language.

"How did he do?" I rub small circles in Aria's back.

"It was a good distraction, he played with Aria and we held conversation, cracked some jokes," he crosses his arms and shrugs.

"That's good," I smile at Aria and make a face when she does. "Were you two spending the night here?"

"Yeah, dad has a meeting in the morning, and I told him I'd come," Anthony and I go into the living room, "it's too late to be driving with this one anyway."

"Sierra is home?" I hold Aria so she is standing on the back of the couch, her little feet push against it.

"Yep, she has a shift really early tomorrow."

I let out a heavy yawn and go where Anthony is sitting to put Aria in his lap. "I better get home then, I'm ready for the day to be over with."

"Text me when you get home, okay?" He let's Aria play with his hands. "Call tomorrow and tell me about the meeting today when you get the chance, too. I didn't forget."

I smile weakly at him. "Will do."

I listen to soft jams on my way home and hum along to them to keep me up. Tonight, I do not even think I will eat. I look at my stomach, thinking I should skip a few meals anyway. I've been feeling a little bloated lately. Then I think I should get back to my evening/night walks, but work has been kicking my ass.

I park in my reserved parking spot and take the elevator to the ninth floor. My keys are already in my hand, ready to be useful.

My apartment is nothing special. The place is a reasonable size, not small, but it's not big and spacious either. It's still nice and cozy.

The floor is covered in a soft, furry grey carpet except for the kitchen and the bathrooms, they are tile.

The kitchen is open to the living room, separated by a counter that I kind of turned into a little bar by putting stool along it. I got a reasonable priced living room set giving me a black velvet couch, love seat and recliner. In the middle is a glass coffee table. A tv hangs on the wall with a wall shelf under it.

I go down the hall, passing the extra room that I've made into an office space and the guest bathroom, and go to my room- the master bedroom.

My backpack drops at the foot of my bed and I kick off my heels. To get set noise into the silent house I turned on my tv.

I take off my clothes as I go to my closet and by the time I see myself in the full length mirror.

"Oh, goodness," I say when I see how bloated I really am. I was never skinny, but I played sports in high school and college, my body was in some kind of good shape.

Looking away, I put my clothes in the laundry basket and then go to the bathroom and run my shower.

Steam fills my bathroom, and I'm no longer able to seek myself in the mirror about my sink and counter.

I wash today's events off my body and go to bed with a clear mind.