The beginning-of-the-year freshman dance was just a few days away, but for Jason, the days themselves seemed to crawl by. The reason why was because he wasn't really doing much of anything. Even though he and Eve had parted on nominally good terms after their most recent strange (and brief) sexual encounter, Jason began to helplessly play Eve's impassioned and vicious words back to himself, over and over, in his head:
"Just shut the fuck up and lie there like a little bitch!"
Her words kept looping and looping around his brain, as with each loop, the anxiety and pressure built from within. He deserved it -- he knew he deserved it. He had cum far too quickly...what other kind of a reaction was he expecting from his girlfriend?! Lately, it just seemed like he couldn't fuck to save his life...or his relationship, more specifically. Jason didn't know what it was -- maybe it was the extra weigh that Eve had put on. Maybe that was it...her hips and ass had thickened noticeably, and her legs were bigger and stronger from her increased appetite and exercise. Even her arms, just...looked great. Maybe that's all there was to it; Jason just needed to get used to Eve being even hotter than he was accustomed to dealing with, and then...well, and then he would be ok.
But even though he tried to convince himself of this simple explanation and easy fix, Jason knew that it wasn't the whole story. There were other things going on: more mental and emotional than physical. Eve just wasn't growing bigger physically, she was expanding mentally and emotionally as well. Very clearly, she was no longer content with the same old routine that they had in the bedroom. Personally, Jason didn't see anything wrong with the kind of sex they'd been having -- aside from the fact that he kept cumming far too soon, he thought it was great. But Eve obviously wanted more. She wanted him to...to dominate her, and not just in a light way like he was used to doing. A little smack on the ass wasn't going to cut it anymore.
No, Eve wanted him to overpower her, to overwhelm her, with his potent, aggressive, and confident sexuality. She wanted him to hold her down, pull her hair, talk dirty to her, objectify her, and make it clear who was the alpha in the relationship...or, at least, in the bedroom. Jason didn't know what was wrong with himself -- all those things definitely sounded hot to him, and there was no question that he was physically stronger than her (although he had been surprised by her strength during their wrestling match). He could totally be a dominant-type guy -- in high school he certainly was. After all, he was the one who, sexually speaking, introduced Eve to pretty much everything. So why did the thought of Eve's increased sexual needs and appetite leave him feeling crippled by anxiety and...terrified?
Jason didn't want to think about it, but deep in his subconscious, he knew why. It was the same fear that he had been nursing ever since he and Eve had gone to college, the same thing that those guys had pointed out, snickering, a few days before -- the fear that Eve was becoming too much for him, that she was outgrowing him, that she was becoming more and more out of his league. Jason knew that all of this didn't have to be so. All he had to do was get himself back on a strict workout schedule, go to all his classes, get enough rest, and just...generally make decisions that would allow him to thrive in the college environment. He knew that if he just did all these things, he would have no problem building up the confidence to give Eve what she wanted in bed. He totally had what it took to match her -- he knew he did.
But Jason wasn't doing anything. He felt trapped...paralyzed by the speed with which everything was now moving. Just a few weeks before, he and Eve had been hanging out all the time; it had been summer, and nothing had been wrong with anything. Everything had been perfect, until they were forced to live across campus from each other. And of course Eve just had to involve herself in her stupid math club that took up so much of her time. The real truth was, Jason wasn't doing anything to rectify the situation because he had been emotionally hurt by Eve's behavior. It wasn't even her yelling at him during sex -- if Jason was being honest with himself, her enormous sexual energy and vitality was an unbelievable turn-on for him, even if it made him feel small and inadequate. Rather, it was the fact that Eve had chosen to do all these other things with her time...rather than spend it with him. In Jason's mind, Eve was the most important thing in the world; everything else, including his education, was secondary. But he couldn't help but feel that it wasn't the same for Eve. Jason was beginning to get the nasty, sickening feeling that Eve didn't value their relationship as highly as he did. Why else would she be spending all this time doing "math-this" and "math-that" and "going to hang out with Shanna and Ben to do homework" and on and on and on. He was important too!
Jason knew that he was being petty and pouty. Deep down, he didn't really think that Eve was behaving badly in any way. And that's what made it worse: there was nothing wrong with the way that she was conducting herself, so Jason couldn't even get to feel righteously angry that she was hurting his feelings. Instead, all he felt was small and sullen, despondent and childish. He just wished that Eve had the same exact approach as he did to their relationship. In high school, they didn't have nearly as much agency to decide how they were going to spend their time, and now, in college, it had become quite clear that Eve didn't want to spend as much time as Jason wanted to spend with her. It was that simple. Jason knew that she meant nothing by it, and that she still loved him and cared for him, but it was a painful thing to realize.
And so, instead of brushing the pain aside and becoming active and dynamic, Jason sat on it, brooding. He still wasn't eating well, he didn't feel like working out much, and his sleep was troubled by long periods of lying awake, full of anxiety and worry, in the middle of the night. He couldn't get Eve out of his head, and what she was becoming. In a way, even, he came to realize during these long, brooding nights that Eve's increasingly thick and curvy body were a direct reflection of her inner state. Just as her body was getting stronger, and heavier, and more vibrant, her mind, and her sense of self, were likewise expanding, flourishing, and prospering. It was the exact opposite of what was happening with him. He had lost a few pounds already, and his still-impressive muscles were starting to get a little flabby. His brain constantly felt clouded by anxiety and lack of sleep, and his appetite, both for food and for intellectual stimulation, had faltered.
Jason sighed as he rolled over in his bed a few days later. It was 4am, and he still hadn't been able to sleep. He was in the midst of his usual cyclone of worry about Eve, and he had suddenly been seized with an idea. He wanted to see how much he weighed now. He knew it was going to be less...but he wanted to see by how much less. Jason pulled the scale out from under his bed. He didn't really know why he was doing this, but he felt compelled to do it, as if pushed by some invisible hand. If he had looked further into the recesses of his mind and contemplated, he would have realized that he was going through the motions of "catastrophizing" his situation. He had worked himself up to the point where he was convinced that everything was bad, that Eve didn't actually like him anymore, and that his muscles, which she she had been so attracted to in high school, were melting away. He stepped on the scale and shined his phone on the number that came up: 164.9.
Jason felt an almost-smug sense of satisfaction, and he even snickered out loud into the darkness. He was lighter than he had been since his junior year. It was all happening...everything was crashing down around him. He didn't even weigh ten pounds more than his girlfriend now, and, at the rate that she was going, she would be the same weight -- no, heavier -- than him before long. Jason felt a dull sickness creep up into his stomach, but he continued to smile bitterly.