Fat Chances

by J. S. Wilsoncroft

  “Here you go, Hun. The doctor wanted me to give you some pain pills,” she said, handing me a cup of water and another cup that contained two small white pills. I nearly choked on the water when she pulled the white sheet off my body then pulled the gown up to my waist so that she could look at my swollen knee. My fat, white, hairy legs were now exposed for Cory to see.

  GOD, KILL ME NOW! I begged silently as I closed my eyes. Mom, who was watching me the whole time, took the cups from my hand and threw them in the garbage. I leaned back, covering my face with my arm, praying that Cory wasn’t staring at my thunder thighs.

  “AHHH!” I gasped when the nurse pushed and pulled at my knee cap. “Yes, there is definitely fluid building under your knee. The doctor is going to have to drain it.” She informed my mother. I glanced over at Cory to see him staring at me, as his forehead crinkled and his eyebrows were scrunched together. He looked pissed about something or maybe disgusted at my gross legs.

  The nurse quickly pulled the sheet back over my legs and informed us that the doctor would be in shortly. But I knew that was a load of crap. “Shortly” meant at least another half an hour, if not longer. I glanced up at the clock and sighed. It was already going on six o’clock.

  “Cory, I appreciate you stopping by, but you don’t have to stay. I’m sure that I’ll be leaving here soon,” I said, finally working up the nerve to break the silence between the three of us.

  “That’s okay. I don’t mind,” he replied, smiling, then stood up to take off his leather jacket. I hadn’t noticed before, but his jacket and dark wavy hair were dripping wet. Mom must have noticed it, too.

  “Is it still freezing raining outside?” Mom asked Cory, looking up at him with concern.

  “Yes ma’am, it is. The roads are getting slick,” he informed my mother.

  “Really? Hmpf!” Mom sighed. She looked at me with concern in her eyes. I knew what she was thinking. Mom was afraid to drive in bad weather. Let me rephrase that. She was deathly afraid to drive in bad weather.

  “Annie dear, do you mind if ...” she pointed at Cory, not remembering his name.

  “It’s Cory, ma’am,” he chuckled.

  “Cory, do you mind bringing Annie home when she’s finished? I’m going to have to head home before the roads get too bad. You know how I am about driving in bad weather,” she reminded me, turning to face me. I held my breath, staring angrily at her. Why do Mothers feel that they have to torment their daughters? Doesn’t she know how embarrassing this is? Doesn’t she care that I’m lying here in a hospital bed wearing the most God awful ugliest piece of clothing known to man, and the most gorgeous guy on the planet is sitting here, watching me? And to top it all off, the damned gown doesn’t even fit my fat ass.

  “No problem, Mrs. Powers. I’ll bring Annie home as soon as they release her,” Cory replied, standing up, then politely shook my Mom’s hand. I stared at both of them in disgust. She turned to kiss my forehead then winked at me before turning to walk through the curtains, leaving me all alone with Cory. I shook my head in disbelief as he sat down in a chair beside the hospital gurney, smiling.

  There has to be something wrong with his brain. Maybe his mother dropped him on his head one too many times when he was a baby, or maybe he was in a bad car accident and suffered a brain injury. I don’t know, but either way, I still didn’t understand why he was interested in me.

  We both sat in silence, neither of us saying a word. The only thing that could be heard was the clock above my head, ticking away and once in a while the gentleman in the next curtain would go into a coughing fit. Cory gave me a crooked smile every time the guy sounded like he had hacked up a lung. As the minutes ticked by, I slowly started to feel woozy. “Are you feeling okay?” He stood up, covering his warm hand over mine, sending shock waves up my arm.

  “No … I feel …queasy,” I mumbled. The room began to spin in circles making me more nauseous. I looked over and saw a waste basket on the floor beside a small counter and pointed at it vigorously. Cory quickly grabbed the small garbage can and handed it to me just in the nick of time. I heaved miserably, puking until there was nothing left in my stomach. After a few more minutes of spitting up foamy bile, Cory came and stood beside me, but his head was turned toward the curtains. His tan face was white as the sheet on the bed.

  “I’m sorry,” I mumbled when I finally leaned back onto the pillow, exhausted. The room reeked of vomit.

  “You don’t need to be sorry. You’re having a reaction to the pain pills. I’ll let the nurse know when she comes back in,” he said, standing up, then took the garbage can from my hands. I heard him gag a few times as he quickly set it on the floor, far away from us.

  “Well, well … what do we have here?” said an older gentleman in a white coat as he entered. His name tag read Dr. Arnold Sears. He shook Cory hand then mine as he proceeded to look at my medical chart. He grabbed the black and white x-ray pictures and held them toward the light on the ceiling.

  “Hmm … I don’t see any broken bones or fractures, but I do see a lot of fluid,” he said, smiling, then layed the x-rays at the foot of my bed.

  “What am I going to do with you, Little Missy, is to inject a needle into your knee cap and suck out the fluid. You will start to feel relief instantly. Just like that!” he said, snapping his fingers, chuckling.

  “Thanks,” I replied, smiling crookedly, and Cory chuckled too. I wasn’t sure if he was laughing at me or the doctor, but either way, he had the cutest laugh and most gorgeous smile as he sat in the chair talking to the doctor like they were the best of friends.

  The doctor left, promising to be back in a minute.

  “Do you want me to leave while he sticks a needle in your leg?” Cory asked. Another wave of heat rushed through my body when I glanced up at him. God, he was beautiful. Cory was still wearing the navy blue sweater from this afternoon that fit snug against his hard chest and muscular arms.

  “If you don’t mind,” I replied, not wanting him to stay with me, but I didn’t want to take another chance of him seeing my fat, hairy legs again. I was almost certain that he got an eyeful when the nurse had pulled back the sheet. Having him see them twice ... I couldn’t handle that kind of humiliation again. Just then the doctor and a young nurse came in. The nurse was carrying a blue basket filled with syringes, gauzes and other medical paraphernalia.

  “Cory! How have you been?” The young nurse squealed. She set the basket down by my feet then quickly turned around to hug him.

  “Beth! You look great! How have you been?” Cory said, his eyes lighting up when he saw her. I ground my teeth together when I saw how tightly he was hugging her.

  “Oh, my gosh! You look great! What are you doing here?” She squealed again, as she leaned back to get a good look at him from head to toe.

  “Oh, I took a job as a fitness instructor down at the Civic Center. I didn’t want to move back to Florida. I wanted to try living in a small town for once.”

  I stared at them dumbfounded, wondering how the two of them had met.

  Just then the doctor re-entered the tiny cubical. Clearing his throat, he hinted for the nurse’s attention.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Let me finish with this patient first then we can chat for a bit,” she said, quickly grabbing the basket and handed the doctor a piece of gauze saturated with rubbing alcohol. Before Cory had a chance to leave the room, Dr. Sears threw back the white sheet then pulled my gown up to my belly button exposing both of my fat legs, my pink cotton underwear and worse ... my fat rolls. I was mortified. I closed my eyes and lay back against the pillow while the tears trickled down my cheeks. Please kill me now, I thought to myself.

  A few pinches and five vials of fluid removed from my knee later, I instantly began to feel relief. My knee was no longer throbbing or burning. I opened my eyes to see that some of the swelling had already gone down.

  “See, I told you. Now with all the swelling that you had, the muscles and tendons are going to be sore for a few da
ys, so I want you to take it easy for a while. But soon, you’re going to be as good as new,” Dr. Sears said. Then he shook my hand and left the room, leaving me with Beth, the nurse. I studied the girl carefully as she gathered up the used gauzes and puss filled vials and threw them into a separate garbage can marked ‘Hazardous.’ Then she opened a few bandages and gently placed them on my knee where the needle had punctured my skin. She was beautiful with long auburn hair that was pulled back into a neat ponytail. Her eyes were aqua blue like the waters of Aruba and her body … well, let’s just say that my stomach tightened when I saw how perfect her body was. It would have taken ten of her to make up one of me.

  “How do you feel, Annie?” Her voice was sweet when she spoke.

  “Okay, I guess.” I was feeling queasy again, but it wasn’t from the medication. It was more because I was disgusted with myself and with her. I hated her perfect body!

  “Do you need more pain pills?” she asked as concern filled her eyes.

  “NO!” Cory said when he came in through the curtain. “She had a bad reaction from them earlier. I forgot to tell the doctor.”

  “Oh, I thought I smelled something in here. I’ll make sure to write that down in her file,” she said, standing up, holding her blue basket, her face inches from Cory’s.

  “Thank you,” he said, smiling, showing his dimples. The way he was looking at her made me want to cry. Cory didn’t look at me like that, not even before he kissed me … three times.

  I heard them laughing and talking in the hallway as I got dressed. My knee was still sore when I bent it to put on my sweatpants, but it wasn’t throbbing like before. All I could think about was getting home and going to bed. It was going to be another long night of endless tears. I could feel it.

  When I walked into the hallway carrying my flowers, I saw Cory and Beth hugging each other … again. “Don’t forget to call me, okay?” Beth said as she handed him a small piece of paper.

  “I won’t,” Cory chuckled then turned to look at me. His face was beaming with pride as he walked toward me.

  “Would you like to walk or do you want ride in a wheelchair?” A male gentleman asked. He was wearing a volunteer tag on his blue winter coat.

  “I’ll walk, thank you,” I told the man. Cory, who was standing beside me now, held out his hand for me to take, but I brushed him off and walked toward the doors.

  The ride home was quiet. I sighed in relief when Cory pulled his Mustang into my driveway. I started to unbuckle my seatbelt when I felt his hand touch my arm.

  “Annie, what’s wrong?” He spoke so soft and low that I barely heard him.

  Tears instantly sprang to my eyes as I turned to face him. “Do you really have to ask?” My voice quivered.

  “Yes, I do. In case you don’t know, men can be clueless sometimes,” he answered, chuckling lightly. I huffed at his tasteless, but insanely true joke.

  “Gee ... let’s see ... well ... it started with the first kiss ... then the second kiss, then the third kiss. Oh! And the fact that my sister is in love with you and now she thinks I am a two-timing whore for stealing you away from her. Oh ... and these flowers,” I held them up then threw them at him. “These flowers are not going to win my heart. I know what you’re doing and it’s not going to work with me.” I was sobbing now.

  His dark eyes grew wide with shock as he slowly gathered up the flowers that were scattered all over his lap. “What am I doing to you that’s so bad?”

  “I know the little games you like to play on fat girls with low self-esteem. You think you can kiss me and make me fall in love you then dump me like a piece of trash when someone better comes along,” I screamed, then turned around to open the door to get out, but I couldn’t. The door was locked. I tried to feel around for the lock, but I couldn’t find it in the dark.

  “Damn it! Unlock this damned door!” I screamed, barely able to see through the tears clouding my eyes.

  “No ... not until we talk,” he spoke through clenched teeth.

  “Talk? Talk? I already told you what the deal is and now you’re mad because I caught on to your little game,” I responded sarcastically.

  He grabbed the steering wheel and quietly banged his head while muttering under his breath. I continued to feel around the door, looking for the lock.

  “Annie,” He sighed heavily. “What am I going to do with you? How can I convince you that from the moment I saw you, I wanted to get to know you, to be with you? This is not a game. These flowers are not a ploy to get you to fall in love with me or to get you to have sex with me. These flowers came from my heart. They’re beautiful, just like you.” He sighed again.

  “Beautiful? You call this beautiful?” I asked, pointing at my stomach. “Why don’t you give them to Beth? I’m sure she’ll appreciate them more, or better yet, Molly. She’s the one who’s in love with you.” My body was shaking now as I continued to sob. I couldn’t tell if I was shaking more out of fear or because I was so upset with myself. This conversation was certainly not going the way I had hoped. I thought for sure that once I accused him of his little game that he would let me go, but he didn’t. His reaction was confusing me more.

  “Beth? Is she the real reason why you’re so angry?” Cory’s voice perked up as he looked at me.

  GAH! I was appalled. Are men really this stupid? Do they not believe anything that you tell them? Why does it always have to be about another woman? Even though I was a bit jealous of Beth, but it wasn’t the point.

  “NO! It’s about the fact that I’m fat and you’re … well … PERFECT! Why would someone like you fall for a girl … like … me? Look at me! I’m hideous!” I turned around so that my back faced him and grabbed the door handle one more time. If I had to break the damned door to get out, I was going to do it. Just as I pulled back, I heard the door unlock. I quickly lifted the handle and crawled out. And I could barely see the ground as I ran to the front porch.

  “Annie,” he said softly, standing behind me.

  I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the door. “What?”

  “When I saw you at the Zumba class the other night, something inside me clicked. I don’t know what it was, but all I knew was that I couldn’t keep my eyes off you. I couldn’t get you out of my mind. I don’t know what you see in yourself, but I see a sweet, loving girl ... a girl who drives me wild when she kisses me. I don’t want to cause any problems between you and your sister, and I certainly don’t want to cause you any grief. But if you don’t want to be with me then I understand. I won’t bother you again.” My chest ached as I listened to him talk. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re a very beautiful girl. I wish you could see that, too.” I opened my eyes and looked down when I felt something brush against my foot. It was the bouquet of flowers.

  When I turned around, he was gone. Cory was already in his Mustang pulling out of the driveway.

  I opened my mouth to yell his name, but nothing came out. I had lost my voice, probably from screaming at him. There was nothing I could do but watch him go.

  Chapter 5

  A week went by and I was feeling more miserable now than when I was lying in the hospital bed half naked with my knee the size of a cantaloupe. Even though my knee felt better, my heart didn’t. It was breaking. Actually, more like shattering. Each day that went by that I didn’t hear from Cory felt like tiny pieces of my shattered heart was stabbing me inside my chest. It was my fault that he had left and I didn’t blame him. But part of me was wishing, no, hoping that he would come back and tell me that he was not taking no for an answer.

  Every day after school, I would lay in my bed and listen for the soft purr of his Mustang pulling into the driveway. But each day he didn’t. Every time the phone rang, my heart would stopped as I listened and waited for someone to call my name, telling me that it was Cory on the phone, but no one did.

  I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t care about anything and I didn’t want to do anything except stay in my room and cry.
Even Mom and Dad gave up trying to talk me into coming downstairs to eat dinner or to watch a movie with them.

  Molly tried a few feeble attempts to talk to me, but I sensed that she was still pissed. She only did it so Mom would quit bugging her.

  “Annie, will you please tell me what’s wrong?” Natalee begged as I stood in front of my locker, throwing my math and science book in it without a care. It was lunch time and the thought of food still made me ill. All I could think about was Cory and how badly I treated him and the look in his eyes when I accused him of playing mind games with me.

  I turned around to face Natalee. I had been avoiding her all week, as well. She knew that I was upset about something and, being my best friend and all, she knew to give me some space and that I would eventually tell her what was bothering me. But it had been a week and I think her patience had run its course.

  “Well?” She leaned against the locker, glaring at me with her big blue eyes. Her long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, exposing her perfect, high cheek bones.

  I blew out a jagged sigh. “Let’s go find a table first,” I suggested, then turned towards the cafeteria. She quietly followed behind me. We found an empty table on the far left corner and sat down. I watched her as she opened up her lunch bag. The brown bag was old and wrinkled from many uses. She pulled out an apple, two bottles of orange juice, and two sandwiches.

  She pulled one of the sandwiches out of the plastic bag then peeled the top bread off to inspect it.

  “UGH! Is that peanut butter and pickles?” I could taste the bile in the back of my throat as I started to gag. She quickly placed the bread back onto the sandwich, then took a huge bite.

  “Hmmmmm … yep,” she moaned in satisfaction as she quickly chewed the bite, then swallowed it. I could feel my stomach doing flip flops as I watched her take another huge bite of the nasty sandwich and swallow it after only two chews.