My name is Theresa but most people call me Reese for short. I am about 5' 8" tall. I have shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes. I am 35 years old. Those are the basics of me. I've been told I am beautiful, so why is it so hard for me to find love? My answer to that? I'm overweight. I am only about 50 pounds over my ideal weight, but that seems to be enough to turn off most men. I will admit, I am far from being "supermodel" skinny. I've struggled with my weight most of my life, but I've never let it hold me back from the things I've wanted to do.
I work at a telecommunications company in Michigan. My job isn't all that glamorous, just data entry, but it pays the bills. I've worked there for the last five years and I share a cubicle with a guy named Michael who has only been with the company for about two years. On his first day, Michael had told me that he'd never done this kind of work before and he was nervous about his new venture. I helped him get through some tough spots, now he's better at this job than I am.
We became friends quickly and he stuck to me like glue his first few days, wanting to learn all he could, as quick as he could. We eat lunch together everyday and we've even gone out a few times, just as friends. He tells me about the troubles he has with his girlfriend, I tell him about the troubles I have even getting boyfriends because of my appearance. We've actually gotten to know each other pretty well, right down to how we like our coffee, our favorite foods, even favorite movies.
I had already started falling for him about a year ago when he came over one night after he had caught his girlfriend cheating on him. We just watched movies, ate popcorn and talked, I loved being close to him. I convinced him to work things out with his girlfriend and he convinced me to try harder to get men to notice me. When he left, we hugged good-bye as we always did, but this hug felt different. It was a slow, lingering hug. He held me tight, his arms around my waist, his hands very low on my back. I had my hands under his jacket, feeling his muscular back flexing as his hands gently caressed my back.
It sent shivers through my entire body and I forced myself to break our embrace. He said good night, turned to smile at me, then headed down the hall and out the door. I closed the door and just leaned against it wondering what had just happened between us. After that night, our hugs were back to the platonic "I just want to be friends" type of hugs.
After the bump in the road with his girlfriend, our friendship seemed to have diminished, limited to working together and eating lunch together. I had fallen hard for him. Every morning I'd look forward to seeing him and hearing about what he did the night before. My heart would race as soon as I saw him get off the elevator and I sometimes wondered if other people could hear how loud my heart was beating.
Michael is 36, has short, sandy blond hair and the deepest, darkest brown eyes I've ever seen in my life. He stands about 6' 3". Oh yeah, he looks damn good in a suit and tie, too. He smiled at me this morning as he approached our cubicle and began removing his leather jacket to hang it up.
"G'morning, Reese, how was your weekend?"
"Not bad, Michael. How was yours?"
"Quiet. Sandy decided to go visit her sister so I stayed home and watched movies all weekend," he said as he pulled his chair out from his desk and sat down.
"Really? What did you watch?"
"While You Were Sleeping, Tango & Cash, and Underworld."
"Nice mix, looks like you got all the major genres covered!" I told him, chuckling softly. "While You Were Sleeping, huh? I don't recall you liking that movie."
"Yeah well, I remembered watching it with you and you told me it was one of your favorites, so I thought, what the heck, I'll watch it again," he said as he turned on his computer and searched for his coffee cup.
