Gaining for You

Thursday

There's a light knock on her office door and without looking up from her laptop, Genesis tells the person to come in.

The week has been pretty busy but the face waiting at the door reminds her what day of the week it is. Thursday. Carter is holding two bags full of takeout that smell really good.

"Oh hey!" There's a bit too much surprise in Genesis' voice.

"Did you forget?" Carter responds playfully.

"No! I– no. I just. Okay yeah, maybe." Genesis smiles meagerly. She surprises herself when she pushes her hair behind her ear and tilts her head towards her desk. She's acting like a school girl. She readjusts her posture and invites Carter to come all the way in.

He closes the door behind him and drags a rolly chair over to the opposite side of her desk. Genesis closes her laptop and shuffles the things on her desk to make space for the bags.

She watches curiously as Carter pulls each item out of the bag.

He crumples the bags up and tosses them in the garbage leaving Genesis looking over a feast of Vietnamese foods and a box of donuts.

Her appetite gets the better of her and before Carter even has a chance to turn back around or say anything Genesis has already helped herself to a takeout box. The flavours of the first bite are heavenly and she realizes just how hungry she actually is. It takes a massive amount of self control for her to keep from shovelling the food into her mouth. She figures that if she starts talking, it will distract her enough to start eating slower.

"So how's your day going?"

"Honestly, it's been pretty crazy today. The third floor just replaced their wifi router and certain departments are in the beginning stages of swapping over to newer software programs so the phones have been ringing off the hook. You'd think they'd want to avoid the middle of the work day to schedule an internet outage..."

"Wow, all that chaos and you still made time to have lunch with me." Genesis smirks.

"I mean, when you make plans with the prettiest woman in the office you don't stand her up now do you?"

"No, no you don't." Genesis smirks and holds Carters gaze; he's the one who looks down now.

"Thank you." Genesis says, "For buying lunch. This is really sweet of you."

"Hey, no problem."

They finish their meal in a comfortable silence.

Carter catches Genesis eyeing up the box of donuts. He grabs the box and puts it on his lap, opening it to face her. He pushes away from the desk and turns the back of his chair before sliding himself around to the other side of the desk; in front of Genesis.

"Which one would you like?" He asks the question as if they're sharing them, when in reality, he knows he brought them all for her.

Genesis pans over them. Her eyes rest on a baby pink one with golden star sprinkles.

Before he has a chance to think, Carter picks up the donut she's looking at and holds it up to her face. To his surprise she leans forward to take a bite. Genesis giggles and sits back in her chair, holding her hands up to her mouth. Carter becomes awkward as the realization of his actions sink in. He just hand fed his chubby coworker a donut. The HR meeting they had last month didn't really specify whether this situation was work place appropriate or not, there wasn't really a slide that said, "Don't hand feed donuts to your coworkers", but something about it felt like crossing a boundary all the same. Then again, Genesis didn't seem to react poorly to his advance...

Regardless, he still decides to let her feed herself.

"Here." Carter holds out the box of donuts to her bashfully; expecting her to take it from his hands.

"What, so you're not going to feed me the rest?"

Carter's disposition changes. Whatever apprehension he was feeling previously completely evaporates from his body and he regains his confidence.

Leaning forward, careful not to squish the box, he reaches in between Genesis' legs and grabs the base part of the chair. He slowly rolls her closer to himself, stopping when she's stradling one of his knees. He can tell Genesis is staring at him while he reaches for the pink donut again. When he looks up, she's already holding his gaze. He raises it up to her lips and watches as she takes another bite.

They sit in a comfortable silence as the neon pink donut slowly starts to disappear. There's an inherant understanding between the two of them that saves the silence from being awkward.

Once the one in his hand is gone he picks up another, and then another.

They're half way through the box when Carter begins to notice how much her stomach is straining against the waistband of the skirt she's wearing. She looks full, but she's not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon.

He's dying to ask, but he hesitates. He needs to work up the courage first.

Carter holds up a fresh donut with brown glaze and caramel drizzle on top. He waits until the bite is halfway into her mouth before pulling it away, teasing her. Her eyes shift from the pastry up to him and the corners of her mouth turn up slightly. When she goes for it again he repeats the motion and Genesis whines his name in protest.

She puts a hand on her stomach and leans back in her chair. He realizes it probably wasn't the nicest thing to do to her considering how bloated she currently is. It probably hurt to lean forward that far.

His time is running out. They're making their way through the second last donut and when she finishes the final one the moment is going to be over.

A couple minutes pass and the box is completely empty. Genesis is working over the last bite in her mouth. It's now or never.

'I just hand fed her a box of donuts in her office,' Carter reasons with himself, 'There's no way my question can be more forward than that.'

Genesis fiddles with the waist line of her skirt, hoping that more room appears magically. He knows her efforts are pointless but it's entertaining watching her try.

"Gen– Genesis." He corrects himself.

She looks up at him.

'Just finish the damn sentence' he wills himself. He knows what he wants to say but doesn't know how to say it in a way that's not offensive. You're not supposed to comment on a woman's weight, it was like an unspoken rule.

"You look really good," He starts, "I've seen you around the building for years but it seems like just recently you've started to... put on weight. What changed?"