BIRTH OF A FETISH
I can pinpoint the start of my pregnancy fetish to the day.
I was 18 and it was a formative late morning of multiple firsts in my life, and it all happened on my penultimate day of high school. Senioritis having long since thoroughly set in, I was leaving mid-third period for a totally unnecessary college visit I'd scheduled at the last minute. When I left the calculus classroom, though, I saw a fellow senior attempting to clean out her locker.
Her name was Larissa and she was very, very pregnant. I'd gone to school with her for as long as I could remember, and she'd been in most of my honors and AP courses through sophomore year, when she seemed to turn into something of a "bad girl." We'd been on friendly terms when we had classes together, but I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that, like most of my classmates, I'd sort of lost track of her (and/or been intimidated by her) when her personality seemed to change mid-high school. Once she'd become visibly pregnant halfway through senior year, there seemed to be some unspoken agreement amongst the student body that she should be shunned. I was certainly guilty myself of ignoring her in my discomfort at her condition. We'd wave to each other in the hallway and say "Hi," but that was pretty much the extent of our relationship at this point.
There she was in the otherwise deserted hallway, 8 1/2 month bump pressed against the locker adjacent to hers as she attempted to bend down and access her belongings. She groaned loudly as she managed to grab a few loose pieces of paper, which she proceeded to drop into the trash bin she'd dragged to the locker. It was a pathetic sight and an opportunity to do something nice for someone who really seemed like she could use a kindness.
She was wearing black flip flops, pink leggings that only reached the bottom edge of her swollen midsection, and a thin white tank top that showed substantial cleavage up top and her bare belly up to her navel at the bottom. She was in violation of any number of dress code statutes, but I supposed those in charge of enforcing the code were probably as uncomfortable around the pregnant teen as everyone else was. I couldn't imagine Larissa gave much of a shit about her attire, what with the pregnancy unavoidably drawing all the attention. My eyes went to the bare skin of her baby bump instantly and wanted to stay there, for reasons I found perplexing at the moment and see as inevitable now.
Larissa groaned at the effort of straightening her back once she'd gotten her hands on two or three papers. "H-hey, Larissa," I began haltingly. She turned and looked at me, smiling slightly. "Can I give you a hand with that?"
Her smile widened. "Hey. That obvious I'm flailing over here, huh? Thanks, Jake. Could you help with all this crap I can't reach on the bottom?" I got to my knees next to her, my eyes precisely level with her partially-bared belly, the sight of which left me momentarily frozen and speechless.
I finally regained my faculties, at least enough to speak. "All going in the trash?" She nodded. It was mostly crumbled papers, beat-up folders and a few articles of gym clothes down there.
"Lockers are really not designed for pregnant girls," she mused. "Just like every desk in the school. Or every table in the cafeteria. Or high school society in general." She chuckled, cradling her belly in both arms as I tossed items into the garbage. "Sorry, I don't mean to complain. It's just...challenging, you know? Everyone both ignores and can't keep their eyes off me. I can just about feel the shame in the air around me. All the fucking time..."
She sort of trailed off, and I felt the need to apologize for any part I may have played in her shaming. "I'm so sorry you've been treated that way. And that I haven't been friendlier lately. You deserve a lot better. High school sucks."