Nature Taking Its Course
Several years passed. Everyone kept getting older, as is the nature of life. Barb and Tara could see 40 in their immediate futures.
They remained living together in Tara’s family home. Fattening had been gradual, not seeming like much at any given moment but really adding up over time, especially for Tara since Barb’s body had already been so huge when they first got together.
“What’s it like to now fully fill an 8 foot couch with me, and be seated higher on your own 3-bun butt fat?” Barb smiled, as they sat together eating tacos.
Tara’s expression was inscrutable. “I’ve become such a mountain of fat living with you.”
“And? What do you think of it?”
She set down her plate, then claimed Barb’s to do the same with it, thereafter pulling Barb into a tight hug with passionate make-out kisses.
Things hadn’t been like this for awhile: passions between Barb and Tara had been cooling over the years. They still slept together and lived much of their lives together as a couple, though over time they seemed to be growing apart, or at least more frequently reverting to the independence of when they’d each lived alone, operating more like housemates than lovers.
More typical was this interaction, from a few days later:
Barb set the laundry basket full of freshly-dried clothes down on the bed near the dresser, speaking to Tara, “I’m going to be over at Paul’s for a couple of days.”
Tara set down her hairbrush and poked her head out of the bathroom doorway, “Aren’t we going shopping tomorrow?”
“Nah. It can wait, or I’ll leave you some cash if you want to go.”
“Alright. Whatevs” she replied, ducking back into the bathroom.
There wasn’t anything wrong with Tara and Barb’s IIR, other than the natural cooling of passions over time. They felt comfortable with one another and loved one another, but the freshness had faded. In the polyfidelity group there hadn’t been many new members, so even that exciting, open group fell into patterns, or at least so Tara and Barb perceived. They discussed this with the Licks, the four of them agreeing they ought to each look into ways to change things up and keep things fresh. Problem was, as with the protagonist in New Kind of Kick, they’d each tried so many things there was precious little new to try, other than new people.
{I’m too young for this to be happening} Tara thought to herself during a wistful solitary moment. Her mind evaluated options, including asking Barb to move out, which instantly made her heart hurt. She still loved Barb and their warm nightly cuddles, even if the thrill had left the building.
Life went on and everyone made the best of it. Each of them amongst the polyfidelity group had a whole lot for which to be grateful: health, financial stability, safe homes in good repair, more lovers currently in the group than most people have in a lifetime, security, reliable transportation—and much more.
Out in the greater world, there continued to be political and social turmoil, with animosity and hate at high levels. Even the metropolitan area in which all of the polyfidelity group members lived there was corruption in local government, dragging down everyone’s hopes. At least the Entitlement Maimer, a subhuman cretin who attacked women and shot them in the genitals because he couldn’t get any woman to have sex with him had been captured, tried by a jury, convicted, and was on his way to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.
Barb arrived home from work, finding Tara staring out the window. She set down the two bags of groceries she was carrying and came over, finding Tara lost in thought, and not looking very happy. Tara hadn’t even acknowledged her presence since she arrived. Very gently, she touched Tara’s arm, “I care about you, you know. Please talk to me.”
“Things aren’t good at work” she replied, still staring out the window, without making any eye contact.
“Still?”
“Yes.”
“What now?”
“Same thing: business is down, people have to be laid off or are quitting of their own accord, and Mr. Mercer isn’t taking it well.”
“He is…?”
Now she turned to face Barb, “The man in the office behind mine. The owner and president of the company, and up until a few months ago, an active collaborator with his fellow employees, on many projects.”
“Time to make a move to something else?”
“What else?!” Tara snapped, shouting.
She took a deep breath to settle herself down, looking away and continuing in a calm speaking voice, “Even places who may not discriminate against a very fat 3-legged woman who’s on the front doorstep of middle age aren’t likely to consider installing a special 2-butt toilet!”
“You have workarounds and you know well how to use them. You’re also amply qualified to work from home, the way you used to before you got this job which is now giving you grief.”
“Yeah, I guess” she sighed. “It hurts to see something which has been so great and into which I’ve invested so much start to fall apart.”
“So get out before it falls apart any more! It’s not your company.”
Her gaze fell to the floor, somehow looking sadder. “No it’s not.”
“I better go get dinner started.”
“None for me, thanks.”
“Why not?”
“No appetite.”
“Not even for chili lime chicken tacos with shimmer salsa with fresh organic farmers’ market veggies?”
Tara’s mouth watered. Rainbow colors and sunlight filled her being. “Alright. Lemme wash up and I’ll be right there to help.”
Life went on and things got a little better, especially at the all-group orgy where Dante introduced everyone to the Sepulveda Sexipede, a multi-way sex act involving and exciting everyone.