Chapter 7

Bam took one last bite before he tossed the wrapper into the trash can. He took out another candy bar that he had stashed his third one in the past five minutes. He had just finished talking on the phone to Crystal and was trying to hide it from Jenn.

Everyone else had noticed his change in eating habits, as well as the weight he had put on. They would ask him if something was bothering him, but he would usually answer them with a quick "no" or give them a look that made them realize not to bug him about it any more. Other than his eating, Bam's personality pretty much remained the same, but that was until he had gained a couple more unwanted pounds.

Bam crumpled up the wrapper and put it into the trash can with the others, and then he walked over to his closet to pick out some clothes to wear for the day. He pulled out a blue button down dress shirt and a pair of black slacks. The shirt buttoned up just fine, but he had a bit of trouble with his slacks. He sucked in and tried to button the top of his slacks, but had no luck. Jenn walked into the room behind him and tried to stifle a giggle.

"What?" He asked, irked

"Bam you know those don't fit, so why bother trying to wear them?"

"I didn't know that they weren't going to fit until I put them on."

He shook his head and looked down at himself, realizing how stupid that sounded. He looked back up at Jenn to see the smirk on her face.

"Don't laugh; I'm not in the mood for it."

"I'm not laughing!"

"You were going to."

She went up to him and looked him up and down, before reaching into the closet.

"Don't wear that shirt Bam."

"Why not?"

"Because," She poked him in the stomach "it shows off that tummy of yours. Here put this on, it'll look better."

Bam groaned.

"Fine."

"If you really want to wear those pants I can let them out for
you."

"No it's all right. I'll find something else." He said as he unbuttoned his shirt

"Oh by the way, Bam, Who's Crystal?"

Bam froze in the middle of pulling his arm out of the sleeve.

"Crystal? Why?"

"Just curious. I heard you talking to someone on the phone, sounded like you said Crystal."

What should I tell her? Oh shit what exactly did she hear?

"Oh she… she's this girl I met in California. She thought she could beat me at a skating contest. It was stupid; you would have laughed your ass off if you saw us."

"Did you like her?" She teased

"Well, she was cool to hang out with. You might like her if you met… but we probably won't be seeing her any time soon."

"Ok. Sounds like you made a little friend then."

More than you realize.

"Yeah I guess. It's not like I'd fly to California just to see her or anything." He chuckled.

'If I did that I'd be in big trouble.'

Bam finished changing his clothes and went into the bathroom. He sighed in relief when he looked into the mirror, feeling like Jenn bought his story. He had no idea how much longer he could go on lying to her.

He glanced down towards where the scale sat, and then down at his stomach. It had been a while since he last weighed himself, and he knew he wasn't going to like the results of his next weigh-in. He walked over to where the scale was and stepped onto it. His eyes were closed for a second, but he slowly opened them to read the numbers on the scale.

160 lbs

"What's the damage?" Asked Jenn, while standing behind him

He jumped and stepped off of the scale.

"Damn it! Why don't you ever make any noise when you walk?"

"I'm sorry." She laughed.

"So tell me, Chubs, how much did you gain?"

"Fifteen fucking pounds." He grumbled

Bam frowned as he placed a hand over what once was firm abs. He looked up into the mirror and rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"I'm so fucking out of shape." He looked at Jenn who was reaching for her toothbrush.

"Don't forget to mention overweight, Bam." She poked Bam's forming gut with her index finger.

"Look at that belly you've got going there. You better watch yourself, Bam, before you get as fat as Phil."

He moved away from her.

"Shut up. I only gained fifteen pounds not 150."

"Jeeze testy."

"Jenn you know this is a sensitive subject for me."

"I know Bam. I'm sorry." She leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, but he moved away from her.

"Just leave me alone." He said, leaving the room.

"What? I said I was sorry! I won't talk about it any more!"

Bam closed the bedroom door and walked over to the bed to lie down. There were a few things on his mind but the majority of it had to do with the weight he had gained.

He hated himself for allowing him to gain the weight in the first place. Normally he made sure that he stayed in shape, but then he remembered what caused him to ruin his well-toned physique.

He closed his eye, shook his head, and reminded himself not to think about that one thing that drastically changed his life that got him in the poor shape he was in now, the thing that still hadn't told Jenn about, the thing that he didn't want to tell Jenn about.

'There's no way that I can tell her the truth about Crystal. But the longer I keep it to myself, the more weight I'll wind up gaining. What am I going to do?'