I was a fat fuck in High school. I mean fat--6 foot tall and I weighed like 360 my senior year. I'm only guessing, 'cause the only time I weighed myself the scale didn't go up over 350. I wasn't always that big, but I really ballooned out in Junior and Senior years. I was (am) also fairly uncoordinated, so I had no interest in sports. Gym class was the worst. My strengths, on the other hand, were math and sciences. As if that wasn't enough, I had acne. Needless to say, I was a geek. I hung out with my geek friends and dreamed of the cuties in school that I could never touch. I knew I wasn't much to look at, so I guess you could call me shy. Underneath it all, though, I was a butterball. I couldn't get mad or hold a grudge to save my life. No one really fucked with me, being over 350 they were probably afraid I'd sit on them. I wasn't much of a partier-do you have any idea how much beer it takes to get someone my size buzzed? I chose to play video games by myself or study. And so it went. I entered college a big fat geeky virgin.
College changes a man. You're at a crazy time in your life, surround by your peers also in a crazy time, and you're being introduced to all sorts of new things. Only a week into my freshman year one of the guys in the dorm went to work out, and some of us joined him. I had never worked out at all. I was too clumsy to do much more than walk. I gave the bench press a try. It was awesome. For the first time there were no teammates to jeer me, no opponent to gloat over my mistakes. It was just me and my will against gravity and some steel. I was in love. I became a gym rat, just like that. I took to it like I suppose only an 18 year old can-3 hours or more every day, mostly late at night, trying new positions, going up in weights, sometimes so exhausted I had trouble getting my T-shirt off afterwards. I was enthralled with it all. Occasionally, I could hear the boisterous laughter of other college kids on their way to parties. At the window between sets, I could sometimes see them-small groups moving along the sidewalks. Some people chose to party. I chose to lift. I didn't even care about the way my body was changing, I pretty much went to class, ate, lifted and slept. My favorites were triceps extensions, calf raises and, of course my first love, bench.
As a fat guy, I had snickered the outrageous claims that you should listen to your body, it will tell you what it needs to eat. Now it seemed true. I found myself passing up the dessert bars for meat. Unfortunately, most of the meat in the college dining hall was soy, but my body told me what it craved. I started spending much of my disposable income on weekly steak dinners. Looking back on it, I am amazed how far I came so quickly-less than a month to benching 250. I was squatting six plates in two months. Steroids got nothing on the 18 year old body.
It was cold by late September, and the warm, bulky clothes everyone wore covered up the changes underneath. My clothes started to hang on me. My coat hung loosely off my shoulders. I didn't have the money to buy new clothes, so I just cinched up the drawstrings and pressed on. I was still a geek, an engineering student, still staring at the ground.
During finals week I was studying 16 hours a day. You'll do strange things when you study that much. I got so bored I checked myself out in my roommates' mirror. The change was dramatic. I wasn't ripped by any stretch of the imagination, but I was built like a football lineman. My biceps were getting massive! I still had fat on my lower half, but it was dramatically reduced. I looked like a different man. I wondered if my parents would recognize me. I decided to shave my armpits. You do strange things when you study too much.
Perhaps it was maturity, perhaps it was my new diet, but my acne cleared up also. Following finals but before I caught my flight home, I went to the barber and told him to give me a different look. He gave me one of those floppy boy band cuts. I hated it, but what the heck. When I went home, I had the taxi drop me off next door. I took off my jacket and knocked on my door, wondering if my family would recognize me. The door opened. It took mom a few seconds to figure out it was me-the change was that dramatic. We both laughed over it. Then I went to the gym.
Christmas was fun. A cousin of mine was at the family shindig, and he had been big into lifting in his younger days. He hooked me up with some of his stuff, and we talked for hours about what worked and what didn't. He bought me a big package of supplements for Christmas, stuff he swore by. I took it back to college with me when I returned for Winter session. I also got a 'better' hair cut. Now it looked like a Baldwin. I guess one could say it was better.
Back on the bench, staring up at 305 pounds of Mr. Steel, and old man gravity staring back at me. Another rep. Old man gravity was ready, ready to jump on me. If I lost focus for even a second, he and his buddy Mr. Steel wouldn't hesitate to sit on my chest like a big fat lady sitting on a park bench in August. I remember the first time I thought of that analogy, I actually laughed and dropped the weight on my chest. Fortunately, I was only warming up, and I could recover. I wondered what kind of a person I had changed into. Then I did another set.
Winter session was easy since I was only taking two electives. This allowed me even more time in the gym. I started an aerobic routine of stairstepper, bike and Nordic Track to go with my near fanatical lifting. I was so damn klutzy that I had difficulty staying on the treadmill. Fortunately, they got a longer one, and I started using that also. I rationalized that the reason I hated working out in gym class in high school was the heat-the cold made exertion so much easier. I also discovered that once you shave your armpits, you can't go back.
I turned 19 and celebrated by easily benching 325. I wasn't satisfied. If anyone else was working out, I couldn't do my upper sets of squats due to lack of Mr. Steel. I weighed myself at under 280. My biceps measured over 20".
Spring semester started with eight inches of snow on the ground. The students moved around with their thick overcoats. I started hitting the books more than the gym, but I kept my nightly dates with Mr. Steel and old man gravity.
Just like that, a warm front hit in mid March. As luck would have it, it happened on a weekend. Temperatures soared. I hit the gym Saturday night late, as I usually did. The gym was empty, plenty of Mr. Steel for me to abuse. I was feeling great, and I foolishly attempted three plates and two dimes (355 for those of you keeping score at home) for the first time and without a spotter. It was a goal that I had been working towards for weeks. I was so focused I slammed it up with stunning ease. I was pumped! I practically danced out of the gym. The air felt warm, even at midnight. I took off my sweatshirt and stashed it in my bag, enjoying the feel of the night air on my bare arms from my sleeveless t-shirt, the first time they had been bared in months. My biceps had grown immensely over the previous months, and I felt good. My thighs were enormous. My waist was so slim my shorts bunched up when I pulled the drawstring tight, even though I had bought them only two months ago. I thrust out my chest and raised my arms and let out a war-whoop at the moon. No one answered, and I walked alone into the silent night.
Going down the walkway to my dorm, I spotted two coeds coming towards me. One was clearly drunk. College can be a crazy time, but I chose to lift steel rather than party. As they got closer I started to hear them. The drunk one was quite rambunctious, leaning on the other girl and raving.
"An' I want lotsa whipped cream and some mint chocolate chip and some butter pecan..." She seemed to be rambling about an ice cream sundae she wanted.
"We'll get you every flavor you want," the other girl, now within earshot, said.
We were about 15 feet apart, and the drunk girl stopped and looked at me. She pointed right at me and said, quite loudly, "I want that flavor." Thank God I was smart enough to stop.
"Kelly!" the other said reproachfully, and pulled her along.
Kelly, apparently the drunk girls name, yanked her arm away from her friend, straightened up, and walked over to me.
"I want this flavor now!" She stood in front of me, swaying slightly, pointing right at my chest.
"Kelly," the other girl implored, still standing where she had been left. Looking back on it now, I still can't believe I was smart enough to respond.
"I'm right here," I said, dropping my bag and holding my hands out in front of my sides with palms up. She knew what she wanted. She grabbed the front of my t-shirt, tugged me down to her and kissed me. No messing around, her tongue went right out and split my lips. My first kiss. I had seen movies, so I had a vague idea of what to do, but mostly Kelly was driving, and I was along for the ride. I could taste the beer in her as her tongue battled mine. Stunned, my hands stayed out by my sides. As I recall, I was so shocked I didn't even poppa chubby. The moment had to end. She pulled away and let me straighten up. We were both swaying now. I, at least, was seeing stars.
"Kelly!" the other girl snapped, "Get over here!"
Kelly took a half step towards her friend. "Why? He's good. Give him a try."
"Kelly!" she snapped again, her eyes bugging out in embarrassment.
"It's OK," she said, "He won't bite."
"Yeah," I echoed numbly, "I won't bite."
"Yeah," Kelly chirped, wiping her mouth, "He won't bite, it's only a kiss."
"It's just a kiss," I repeated. Just a kiss, HAH! I was asking to share the second kiss of my life with a second girl all in about 30 seconds
The other girl stepped towards us, but only close enough to grab Kelly's hand. She kept Kelly between us, almost like a shield.
"No, I don't kiss strange guys."
"What about Jen's party?" Kelly mocked, pulling the other girl a little closer. Even in the poor lamp lighting I could see her blush.
She was standing next to Kelly now, and she snuck a furtive glance at me.
"I was drunk then, Kel," she said in a lowered voice.
"Yah," Kelly continued, nudging her to me, "So you couldn't enjoy it. Kiss him! It's only a kiss!"
She snuck another look a me, biting her lower lip. She looked at Kelly, who nudged her again. She looked at me, and I shrugged my hands in a subtle invitation. The other girl peered around me and then checked behind to see if anyone else was around. She took a deep breath. Kelly nudged her again, and the other girl shushed her. She turned and raised her eyes to mine. She was actually kinda cute, I thought. Dark, shoulder length hair framing an attractive face. She stood maybe 5' 4", a little shorter than Kelly and looked to be a little smaller in stature.
"OK, its only a kiss," she said, stepping close to me.
