My Plus-size Love

Chapter 3

What am I supposed to say to that? It is even more intense than the cute comment. If he wanted to shock me into silence he has succeeded. I clicked the lock button and threw my phone to the side. This is so frustrating; I swear men just like to make the lives of women so much harder than they must be.

“Ting”

Again, with the messages, I swear. I guess Mr. Derek does not like to have his messages being ignored. I tentatively grab my phone and stare at it. My curiosity got the better of me, so I opened the message.

D- It’s okay you don’t have to respond to it, just know that it’s true and I believe it down to my core. It is getting late, and I have an early day tomorrow. I will be busy but if I get the chance, I would love to message you when I have some free time. Can I get your number?

C- I don’t like giving out my personal phone number until we can get to know each other but I do have the texting app Connections if you want to add me then we can chat there?

D- Yes, I would love that, this app can be slow and is harder to use when I only have a few minutes to spare. Goodnight I hope you have a wonderful night and I hope to hear from you tomorrow.

C- Okay my username is clair_2992 for Connections so just add me when you can. Goodnight, Derek, I have really enjoyed our talk tonight and am looking forward to hearing from you tomorrow too.

I squealed and reached over to pet Leo while he was still successfully ignoring my childishness. I can’t believe I have had such a great conversation tonight. I can’t remember the last time I had a thrill like this from a conversation. He is such a fine man and I love the way he talks with me. We have a lot in common and I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow.

I looked over at the clock on the stove and smacked my forehead. It was already 12:35 am, no wonder he had to let me go. I wasn’t even paying attention to the time, and I must be up in four and a half hours. It is going to be a pain to have to wake up in the morning.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off on my phone. I only really got three hours of sleep because I couldn’t stop looking at our conversation and looking at the pictures that he has on his profile. I will have to be sure to get his last name next time that we talk so I can stalk his social media accounts and find out more about him. Call me a stalker I don’t care, I want to see more pictures like the ones he put on curvy mates, so I can keep looking at his handsome face.

I got up begrudgingly and started getting ready for work. The only good thing about going to work is that I get to see my best friend and coworker Angela. She is going to freak out that I found someone who I am interested in, and they are interested in me too. Angela has always been my biggest cheerleader and has a bad habit of trying to hook me up with people she knows or friends of friends. I only accepted the offer once and it was one of the worst dates I have ever been on. I don’t think anyone told him that I was obese because he looked disgusted that he had to sit through a dinner with me. It’s a good thing I didn’t find anything about him attractive, looks, and personality, otherwise I might have been hurt.

Dang, if I don’t leave now, I will be late for work. My hair is a mess, and my clothes are still a little wrinkly since I didn’t put them away last night after pulling them out of the dryer, I am the worst about putting my clothes away. It’s a good thing I never put any effort in with my looks because then people come to accept that every day is me looking awful so I don’t have to feel bad on days like today. It would probably be more shocking if I came in looking halfway decent.

I start my car and hope that I have a hiccup-free morning. Today I have no time for anything to go wrong or I am going to be late for work. That is one fallback to living in the city is that I have the worst commute to work. When I lived at home it would only take 20 minutes to get from one side of town to the other. Here, it takes me 30 minutes to get to work when it is only 4 miles away. People are just horrible drivers, so it makes my journey harder than it really must be.

I got to work with only 3 minutes to spare. I rushed over to my desk and waved at my boss who was standing outside his office door and watching me sit down. He motioned to his watch and gave me that disappointing scowl that I have been so accustomed to seeing. I am always showing up with only moments to spare, most of the time it is because I am stopping to get breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, I hear my stomach growl. I had no time to eat at home and absolutely no time to stop and get anything to eat. I opened my left bottom drawer so that I could look at my snack stash. Of course, I am running low and only have a can of mixed nuts, the glass container that I keep to warm food up, my two cans of ravioli, and a cup of noodle soup. This is all I must eat today unless I go out to lunch. I sigh and get up so I can at least make myself a cup of coffee. First, I must stop by Angela’s desk so I can tell her all about my night. At least her desk is on the way to the break room and the boss man can only see it if he steps out of the office, I can see him before he can see me.

“Good morning my bestie in the whole entire world!” I said to her with the peppiest voice I could muster. I wanted my voice to be oozing with excitement. I know this will make her ask me why I am so happy.

“Good morning, you seem much happier this morning, did you find those buffalo chips that you have been searching for these past two months? It is crazy to me that you are so obsessed with those chips. I mean they are good but not that good.”

“First of all, yes they are that good, but no I did not find them,” I said with disappointment. Those chips are honestly the best and I dream about them. I got careless when they came back in stock and only grabbed three bags. Next time I find them I’m going to grab everything they have in stock. I usually try to be nice and only take a small amount so I can leave some for anyone else but because I have waited two months for those I don’t care anymore.

“Don’t distract me with the thought of food I am starving because I stayed up way too late last night and only got three hours of sleep, so I had no time to eat or pick anything up.” She looked at me with a somewhat sympathetic look. She is used to my antics.

“Well good thing you have a friend like me because I ordered a second sandwich. Something was telling me you were going to be late again this morning.” Man, I have the best friend in the whole world. What would I do without her? I greedily took the sandwich from her hand.

“This is why you are my best friend; you know me so well.” She laughed out loud at my comment.

“So why did you stay up so late last night?”

“You are not going to believe it, I met someone” It took everything I had not to open this sandwich and devour it right now. I had to wait though because I want to talk all about Derek to Angela.

“Where at?”

“That dating website I downloaded, curvy mates” I know she hates that app. She wouldn’t understand, she is drop-dead gorgeous. Not only that but she is just about the sweetest person you will ever meet in your life. She will do anything for the people she cares most about in this world, but if you cross her once she cuts herself from you. She is not a very forgiving person but has so much love to give to the people who deserve it. I am lucky that she even wants me to be a part of her life. I honestly love her like a sister.

“Girl not that awful app. I thought you said it was just full of creeps who want to sleep with you.”

“Yeah, but that is only like 90 percent of them. There are some good guys on there. Remember I went on those dates with those 2 guys?”

“You mean the ones who you had literally nothing in common with? Oh yeah, because that sounds like the kind of dating app, I would want to put myself out there for.” She said with the ultimate amount of sarcasm. I rolled my eyes at her.

“Whatever I actually met someone who is super nice, handsome, and we share some things in common!” I pulled out my phone to show her a picture of Derek.

“Well, he isn’t half bad, much better looking than the other two guys you went out with.”

“Right!? His name is Derek. We didn’t get to talk too much last night, but he said he would message me again today.” I noticed the door to the boss’s office swing open and I straightened my posture and started backing away. Angela peeped over her cubical and saw him starting to emerge from his office.

“I’ll talk to you later, want to meet up and grab lunch?” I whispered to her as I was walking away. She gave me a thumbs up and got back to the work she had open on her computer. I wish I could have stayed and talked to her a little bit longer. I barely got to tell her his name before the boss man came out of his office. He is the worst, not a bad guy, just has the worst timing. I opened the door to the coffee room and grabbed myself a strong cup with as much cream and sugar as I could stomach. This is just going to have to get me by until I can stop and get an energy drink at the gas station right next to the intersection to the road that leads to my office building.

When I got to my desk, I checked my phone and saw that I had a new message on Connections. My stomach flipped again; it’s got to be Derek.