COLLEEN

 

Part 2:

The Argument

 

by "Jim"

 

 

College Life

 

High school graduation was over, and summer was almost gone!  It was late August, and time to leave for college!

 

Colleen and her boyfriend Jim had both been accepted at a state university center some 200 miles from home.  Another girl in their class, Sue, had also been accepted.

 

Colleen and Sue hadn't really been close friends in high school.  Colleen lived in town, whereas Sue had grown up on one of the surrounding farms.  But when everyone and everything is strange and new, anything resembling a familiar, friendly face is more than welcome, and Colleen and Sue had arranged to room together in the dorm.

 

---

 

Colleen's competitive spirit thrived in the atmosphere of the university.  Some of the members of the freshman class had been better prepared, coming from private schools, or from public schools in wealthy districts.  Others, such as Colleen, Jim, and Sue, came from schools in less well-off districts, and they found they had a little catching up to do.  But they all worked hard, and in the end, they all did well.

 

Sue's outlook was somewhat different from Colleen's, though.  For Colleen, competition was personal; not only did she have to be good, she had to be better than all the others.  For Sue, however, it was more absolute, less relative; she simply wanted to be satisfied with her own performance, without worrying about how everyone else was doing.

 

---

 

Colleen and Jim continued dating all through their first three years at the university.  Part of the magic of their relationship was that Jim understood Colleen's competitive nature, and continually worked around it.  Nobody can be "on" all the time, and Jim gave Colleen a much-needed opportunity to turn herself "off" and just relax, with no sense of being challenged.

 

---

 

When Jim and Colleen would play tennis, he took it easy on her, partly to preserve their relationship, and partly because he knew that if he made her work too hard, she'd get hiccups.  He couldn't deny that it turned him on when she got them; but he cared deeply for her, and knew how much they irritated her, so he never really wanted her to get them, and would certainly never try to make it happen.

 

It happened often enough, anyway, all by itself; many times, he could hear Colleen hiccupping violently clear across the court.  But she'd never quit playing until she'd finished the game, or even the set; she was determined to give it everything she had, no matter what.  Colleen was pretty good at tennis, but she never suspected how good Jim was, too; and since she usually played against Jim, she rarely had a serious opponent.

 

---

 

The Feud

 

Nothing lasts forever, though, and one day, in early September of their senior year, Jim had had enough.  He and Colleen disagreed about whether the ball was "in" or "out".  Jim felt that he'd been taking it pretty easy on Colleen, and he wasn't prepared to give her this, too.  But losing the point would have cost her the game, and she wouldn't concede.  Not everybody would jeopardize a relationship over a simple "fun" game of tennis, but Colleen wasn't everybody.

 

Like many arguments, it started over tennis, but it quickly involved lots of other things; and soon they weren't speaking, they wouldn't see each other, and each was determined not to be the one to apologize.

 

Colleen told herself, she certainly didn't need him; she could have anybody she wanted!  She'd always been one of the sexiest girls in high school, and she was holding her own in college, too.

 

No, she didn't need him at all.  She just had to keep telling herself that.  She couldn't afford to weaken.

 

---

 

Colleen's Weighty Issues

 

Colleen, at 5-foot-6, had started college at about 150 pounds, which had given her a curvaciously sensuous figure; and she'd held her weight at that, until her breakup with Jim.  But she was terribly unhappy without him, and turned to food for solace.  Everything Colleen did, she did aggressively; so perhaps it was no surprise that by the beginning of October, she found that she'd gained 20 pounds, going up to 170.

 

The extra weight gave her more on top than ever.  But it gave her a nice inch-thick roll of fullness on her midriff, too.  Many of the guys found it a major turn-on, but Colleen herself found it a major annoyance; it seemed that her developing body had given her a set of dynamite curves, and right away she'd filled them back in again with 20 pounds of fat!  It had got away from her a little, she thought, 'cause she hadn't expected it; she hadn't paid attention.

 

"Phooey," she thought as she looked in the mirror, "look at that!  Another blouse that doesn't fit right!"  She sighed.  She'd always liked her clothes sexy and tight, and there just wasn't room in them for 20 more pounds.  A lot of the extra weight had wound up on her chest, and now the critical button just wouldn't stay buttoned; her enormous boobs were putting 'way too much pressure on it.  The blouse wasn't supposed to be a bare midriff, but it was now; her boobs were using up a lot of material.  And even if that hadn't been the case, the blouse was already tight around her stomach; she'd never get it over her fat, bulging midriff anymore!

 

Maybe she couldn't lose the weight, she thought, or maybe she just didn't want to; maybe some of the guys would leave her in peace for once!  But she could certainly maintain her weight, and she was determined, as only she could be, that there were would be no more!  It was all part of the package now, and as far as she was concerned, the guys could take it or leave it.  And she could mostly take or leave them.

 

---

 

Sue Has Issues Too

 

Sue, at 6 feet (or, as she preferred to say, "5-foot-12"), was much the stereotypical farm girl.  She had started college at 220 pounds, but it was weight that she'd needed for farm work.  The farm was anything but a modern agri-business; her father taught at the school in town, and ran the farm only as a side line.  The place had been a family affair, without a lot of expensive new equipment, and the work had involved a good deal of lifting, pushing, and pulling.  Sue had worked hard, right alongside her brothers, so a lot of Sue's weight was muscle.

 

Sue had needed for her body to achieve a certain level of mass, as well, to allow her to perform various chores; she could not, for example, raise a heavy object to the hayloft, using a simple rope and pulley, if she didn't outweigh it, or she'd simply wind up climbing the rope, no matter how strong she was.  So about 40 pounds of Sue's weight was indeed fat, but it was not too much for her, and it was arrayed sensuously on her well-toned body.  She was an incredibly beautiful girl, with long blonde hair that she sometimes wore in a single braid, and sometimes wore loose; she liked the way her body looked, and didn't mind showing it off.

 

---

 

But in college, Sue had never adjusted her eating habits to compensate for her decreased level of activity, and by senior year she was getting a little heavy.

 

She was sitting in math class one day when she began to suspect that she was developing a problem.

 

She was wearing a sleeveless blouse; her upper arms were sensuously full, and she often had trouble finding blouses with sleeves that fit.  Her voluptuous thighs spread out as she sat, straining the seams on her jeans; her cute little tummy bulged out the sweetest bit; and the delicious fullness of her bare midriff seductively overflowed her waistline.  Lots of guys thought she looked majorly hot, and she liked the way she looked herself; so she wasn't worried about her weight, and didn't even think about it.

 

In the next chair was a rather petite girl, just five feet tall, about 100 pounds, and also wearing jeans.  Sue looked at the girl's thin, trim little thighs, and realized that her own were a good four times the size of that girl's!

 

Something about that thought made Sue uncomfortable, and when she got back to her room, she got on the scale:  260 pounds!  Actually, the dial was marked only to 259; then it wrapped around to 0.  Sue didn't know if there was a mechanical reason why the scale couldn't go higher, or whether the manufacturer had simply not believed it necessary for the average person.  Anyway, she took the hint.

 

Sue had, of course, continued working on the farm at home during the summer, so she'd remained strong and fit.  But three months of activity in the summer didn't make up for nine months of relative inactivity during the rest of the year, and she knew in her heart that the extra 40 pounds was all fat.

 

---

 

A Disastrous Invitation

 

So both Sue and Colleen felt they needed to do something.  Since Colleen had lost her tennis partner, she tried to interest Sue in the game.

 

Colleen had no idea how disasterously this simple invitation would affect her life.

 

Sue liked the way she looked in a cute, short little tennis skirt.  She enjoyed showing off her legs, but it was getting hard to find shorts that weren't too tight around her voluptuously full, strong thighs; when she went shopping and tried on a pair of shorts that would fit her waist, half the time she found that she couldn't even get them up over her thighs anymore!

 

It didn't take Sue very long to master the game.  It didn't take her long to master Colleen, either.  Sue played with enormous power, and Colleen just wasn't used to seeing the ball approach her at 120 miles an hour.  But Sue was not, perhaps, as light on her feet as she could have been, and Colleen fought back the only way she could; she kept Sue moving from one side of the court to the other, making her go after the ball.

 

So each girl worked the other hard, trying to help her burn off the extra weight.  But Sue didn't understand the extent of Colleen's "problem," and she often gave Colleen the workout of her life -- and hiccups.

 

---

 

The Queen of the Weight Room

 

Colleen knew that if she was ever going to beat Sue, she needed to start working out again.  Her increasingly overdeveloped anatomy had long made it difficult and uncomfortable to do certain exercises, such as jogging and jumping rope; but she found that by wearing a very tight bra, and then a regular one over it, she was able to achieve enough control to at least avoid re-creating a scene from a Russ Myers movie.  It was, after all, important to avoid causing a riot.

 

She tried to monitor her pulse and breathing while she was working out, but, all too often, the hiccups would come anyway.  She'd never found a dependable way of stopping them (at least, not without Jim); and if she wanted to get anywhere with her workout routine, she was often obliged to just keep going with hiccups.

 

Jogging, jumping rope, and other such exercises helped Colleen to tone up her muscles and to increase her endurance level; but in the end, she knew that she was going to have to return to the weight room.

 

So there she was, pumping iron.  She'd be wearing a short, tight T-shirt, or a sports bra, which accentuated her luscious developments.  She always wore short shorts, so she couldn't bust the seams when she flexed, no matter how improbable that might actually be.  She'd be working her quads on the machine, pumping her thighs ever stronger and fuller; or she'd be lifting free weights, her magnificent breasts impossibly in the way.  The sweat would be trickling off the sweet, sexual fullness overflowing her delicious midriff, and she'd start breathing harder and harder.

 

And then the first HIC! would rip through her body, and all the soft fullness on her chest would bounce deliciously.  She knew there would be more -- it was always a full-blown case, never a teaser -- but she wouldn't stop working out 'til she'd completed her reps, no matter what.  She never knew how many guys nearly came watching her.

 

---

 

The Queen Is Deposed

 

It wasn't long before Sue found out what Colleen was up to.  Farm work had given Sue more than enough muscular development; she'd never had the need for a weight room, and the concept of organized, measured development was somewhat foreign to her.

 

Still, one day she showed up in an outfit which rivaled Colleen's in every way.  Sue was even bigger on top than Colleen, but because she was larger overall, her breasts appeared to be more in proportion.  Still, she turned the guys' heads right away -- and she turned them away from Colleen!

 

In no time at all, Sue was lifting twice as much weight, and doing twice as many reps, as Colleen ever could.  Colleen knew in her heart that she was so far behind Sue, it was pointless to think of ever trying to catch up.

 

Not only was Sue a major turn-on for the guys in the weight room, she astonished them, and they virtually worshiped her.  She found that weight lifting soon opened up a whole new world of popularity, satisfaction, and fun.

 

She did embarrass the guys a bit, though.  After she'd finished with a piece of equipment, no guy wanted to be the next to use it, since most would have to reduce the amount of weight, and nobody wanted to be shown up by a girl.  So it was necessary to leave it idle for a few minutes, until everyone could pretend they didn't remember who'd used it last.  But Sue competed only against herself, and never worried much about how others were doing in comparison, so it never occurred to her.

 

Day after day, Sue burned fat and built muscle.  The guys found it astoundingly sensuous, watching this big, beautiful girl pumping enormous amounts of iron on and on, her luscious biceps and quads growing ever larger, stronger, and better defined.  Working out had a sexual component for Sue, as well, and as she continued to build her delicious body, she would whisper to herself, in a contented moan, "Oh, yes... oh, please, yes... I want more...".

 

Poor Colleen pushed herself as hard as she could, trying desperately to keep up with Sue; but she just couldn't push that hard without giving herself hiccups again and again.  Now she could stand to work out with hiccups for only so long; then, almost in tears, she'd fling her towel down disgustedly and head for the showers.  It seemed that every day, she got hiccups a little sooner in her workout, and could stand them for a little less time before she quit.

 

---

 

Then, one day in early December, Colleen knew that she was doomed.  She was still depressed about Jim, and she was still eating too much, still slowly gaining more weight.  She had no hope of burning it off; when Sue was in the weight room, Colleen's stress level rose, and her motivation and perseverance fell, and it seemed like the minute she started working out, now, she got hiccups and had to stop.  Oh, she supposed she could sneak over to the weight room without Sue; but somehow, it just wasn't much fun anymore.

 

Sue, on the other hand, had lost a lot of weight.  She was down to 210 pounds, where she wanted to be, and even more of that was muscle than before.  She'd lost a lot of the fat from her thighs, and her quads and glutes were more powerful than ever.  That day in December, she was wearing shorts that weren't real short, but very tight to her well-developed thighs.  She bet one of the guys that she could flex her muscles and pop the seams on her shorts -- and she did.

 

Colleen knew that she would never beat Sue on the tennis court now; she was 50 pounds lighter, and a major powerhouse!

 

Colleen gave up visiting the weight room, and never dared play tennis with Sue again.

 

---

 

Problems in the Morning

 

Not long after that, Colleen began to experience hiccups every morning.

 

At first, it was always during breakfast.  That wasn't particularly strange; from time to time in the past, she'd got hiccups while eating, though it had never before been a daily occurrence.

 

Colleen tried adjusting the content of the meal, trying to find the thing that was causing it.  First, she changed her beverage from soda to juice (which was a good idea anyway).  It didn't help.  Next she tried eliminating bread products.  That didn't do any good either.  Finally she tried limiting herself to very moist, bland food.  Still no luck.

 

She concluded that she was simply eating too fast, and tried eating very slowly and deliberately.  Breakfast, she thought to herself, isn't supposed to be a trip through a freakin' minefield!  Still, here she was:  "Let's see, first a bite of this... OK, that went down alright, now a little of that... still fine, now some of this... you're doing good, now a swallow of this... so far so (HIC!)."  And that was the end of that meal.

 

Since she was trying to get her weight back down anyway (or at least, to maintain it), she stopped eating breakfast altogether, and for a couple days, she was OK.

 

But then, one morning, she came back into her and Sue's room from the shower, a towel around her, holding her stomach, a look of distress on her face.  Sue saw her body jump, and she told Sue, a note of distress in her voice, "I got 'em again!"

 

After that, hiccups in the shower became a daily occurrence, every single morning.  After a few days of that, Colleen started showering at night, instead; and again, for a couple days, she was OK.

 

Then, one morning, just before it was time to get up, both girls were awakened by a loud HIC!  Sue was pretty sure it wasn't her.  Colleen hiccupped loudly a couple more times, moaned, and turned over, burying her face in her pillow.  Whether she was trying to stifle the noise, hold her breath, or commit suicide, Sue couldn't tell, but across the room she could see Colleen's body continue to bounce.  Still half asleep, Sue groggily asked the obvious, "Hiccups?"  Colleen just lifted her head from the pillow, hiccupped in reply, and buried her face in her pillow again, hiccupping and moaning.

 

Colleen tried setting her alarm earlier and earlier each day so she could wake up before her body woke her up with hiccups, but her body continually adjusted to it.  She tried everything she could to outsmart her body, determined, as only she could be, that her enemy would not defeat her; but she was working against herself, and it seemed that somehow, some way, her body would sentence her to at least an hour of hiccups every single morning!  And the morning case was getting longer every day.

 

---

 

Friday morning came.

 

Getting ready for her first class, Colleen watched herself hiccupping in the mirror.  She'd already squeezed into her jeans, but she struggled in vain to button her blouse.  She'd finally had to admit that she wasn't going to lose the weight, and she'd bought larger, more comfortable bras that fit her increasingly voluptuous anatomy.  But her new bras had, of course, allowed her enormous breasts more room to expand; she couldn't button many of her blouses over them anymore at all, and she couldn't afford to replace all her blouses, either.  Now her hands pressed against the soft fullness of her bosoms, as she tried to pull the blouse closed so she could button it; but she had to admit, there was just no way.

 

She selected another newer, larger blouse, and tried again.  The soft fat on her deliciously full chest bounced and shook with every hic, but at least she was able to get this blouse buttoned over it.  Her stomach was another matter, though.  With every hiccup, it pooched out quite a bit, and the blouse was tight over it to begin with; that made it difficult to get it buttoned, but she managed it.  Finally she was down to her overflowing midriff, and she groaned; even this blouse wouldn't button over it anymore, and she was obliged to leave the last couple buttons undone, the soft, luscious fullness spilling out over her waistline.

 

There was only one word to describe her body now, she thought:  Pfhttt.  Just three months ago, she'd definitely been "all that".  Now she was just... all fat.  She held her midriff, leaned against the opposite wall, hiccupped and moaned.  Why, oh why, she thought, was this happening to her?  Didn't she have enough trouble?  She and her boyfriend were still on the outs, maybe forever; she couldn't stop gaining weight; she was a washout at tennis and in the weight room; finals were coming up; and now she just had to get these stupid hiccups every single freakin' morning!  She just didn't understand it!

 

Maybe Colleen didn't understand it, but Sue did.  Colleen was so "type A"; her personality and drive always caused her to be under significant stress, especially now, with finals coming.  Sue was positive that Colleen's hiccups every morning were a manifestation of stress.

 

Because Sue was interested only in improving her own performance, not in competing against others, she never did realize that, by stealing Colleen's circle of admirers in the weight room, and taking from Colleen any hope of beating her at tennis, she had contributed to Colleen's stress level as well.  Sue really did want to be a good friend to Colleen, but the two girls were on such different wavelengths, it was difficult for Sue to continually see herself from Colleen's competitive perspective.

 

Sue did understand well enough that, whatever the source of Colleen's stress, Jim had provided her with a safety valve, a way to get rid of it, a way to get some relief from it.  Now he was gone, and there was no such relief; the breakup itself was probably causing Colleen even more stress, on top of what she normally had; and the hiccups, which resulted from the stress, caused more still.  Colleen was getting into a downward spiral, and Sue felt that she just had to find a way to get her to relax a bit.

 

---

 

Sue's Own Memorable Cases

 

Sue greatly sympathized with Colleen.  Sue herself would get hiccups only about twice a year, so Colleen had never observed Sue with a case.

 

But if Colleen thought her own hiccups were loud, wrenching, and acutely embarrassing, she had no idea what Sue's were like!  Everything about Sue was larger and more powerful than Colleen, so perhaps it was no surprise that Sue's hiccups were much worse than anything Colleen had ever encountered in herself!

 

---

 

It was rare, but once in a while, Sue's body was considerate, even accommodating.

 

One memorable Spring day, the year she graduated from high school, she'd just finished lunch and was getting ready for an afternoon of plowing.  She actually liked running heavy farm equipment in a distant field, far from everyone else.  She enjoyed the solitude; it gave her a chance to think.

 

But that day, it gave her body a chance for something very different.  No sooner did she get out to the field and begin plowing, than she started to hiccup.  She repeatedly tried holding her breath, and drinking from her water bottle, but the hiccups kept right on coming.

 

After a while, she gave up trying to stop.  She figured that she hadn't had a case for at least six months, and her body just probably wanted a good hiccup.  At least, it had thoughtfully waited 'til she was as far from everyone else as humanly possible, so she didn't have to be embarrassed!

 

So she kept on plowing and hiccupping, and eventually she just relaxed and let her body have what it wanted.  She sang and hiccupped.  She yodeled and hiccupped.  And after a while, she was going pretty good, and she figured, "What the hey, I got 'em anyhow, might as well go for personal best!"  The tomboy in her emerged, and she hiccupped full-volume with delicious abandon; she couldn't actually measure the loudness very accurately, but some of them were surely contenders!

 

She actually found herself getting a little turned on; maybe it was the loss of control, coupled with the sense of freedom, but she was majorly enjoying herself, just lettin' 'em rip as forcefully as she could!  Her hiccups were incredibly powerful, even violent, but she didn't care if it hurt; this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to cut loose, and she loved it!

 

She hiccupped for four solid hours, all the while she was plowing.  But, as soon as she returned to the barn, her body thoughtfully shut them down, and nobody ever knew!

 

---

 

But occasions such as those were the great exception.  Sue had long known there was little about her that anyone would think of as "dainty" or "frilly," but still, she had a girl's sensitivity, and her occasional attacks of killer hiccups had caused her acute embarrassment on numerous occasions in her life.

 

---

 

Sue had always been a big girl.  She remembered the time she'd gone to her first party where there'd be dancing with boys!  She'd been incredibly nervous, and with good reason; she'd already been taller and heavier than most of the boys, and none of them had wanted to dance with her.

 

And then, all of a sudden, it looked as though one might be interested!  It was the oldest of the Miller boys from down the road; he, too, was big for his age, and he might be coming over to her!  She smiled coyly, and tried desperately to fold her body up as small as possible.

 

He indeed came over to her, and brought her a cup of soda.  She giggled, thanked him and drank it.  And then she started to hiccup as only she could, and that was the end of that!

 

The other girls had beautiful memories of dancing with a special boy, and maybe of him stealing a kiss.  She had a memory of being in the kitchen, her girlfriend's mom giving her honey and sugar and peanut butter and God knows what else.  And then, a memory of them putting a paper bag over her head, and her hearing the Miller boy come into the kitchen to see how she was, while she was standing there looking as ridiculous as possible, with a bag on her head, and her getting even more embarrassed than ever, and her hiccups just getting worse and worse!  And finally, a memory of her mom coming to take her home early.

 

---

 

She remembered another time, the summer before 9th grade; she had just turned 14, and she was already 5-foot-11.  She was over 180 pounds then, which, for that height, was not terribly excessive.  But still, she was big, and she knew it; and at 14, she was less than comfortable with her body image, less than secure in her looks.

 

She was shopping for school clothes in the store in town with her mom, trying to find something attractive in her size.  Clothes for girls as tall as she was, were few and far between, and those the store did have were mostly for very thin girls.

 

As the fruitless search continued, her mom got increasingly frustrated, and kept grumbling about how a 14 year-old girl didn't need to be over 180 pounds, and how this would be a lot easier if she'd just lose some weight.  Sue didn't feel that she should have to change her body for the store's convenience, and grumbled that it wasn't up to the store to tell everybody in town what they should look like!

 

Her mom countered that they stocked clothes in the most popular sizes, and it was Sue that was out of step.  Sue countered that maybe these weren't the most popular sizes; maybe they were sold out of all of those, and these were left because they didn't fit anybody!

 

Her mom informed her that the store had been there for fifty years, and they certainly ought to know what kind of clothes to stock.  Sue, becoming increasingly upset, informed her mom that this store was part of a chain, and for all she knew, the chain had stores in New York City too, and they probably stocked them all the same, and she knew she wasn't some skinny little secretary from New York City, but darn it, she was a farm girl, and she couldn't help it, and why did they have to live on that stupid farm anyway, and she hated her body and her life and everybody and everything!

 

Sue burst into tears of frustration.  And then, oh, did she get hiccups!  They were so powerful, she just couldn't keep her mouth closed, 'cause it just killed her ears; and if she opened her mouth, you could hear her all over the store!  She was so humiliated, all she wanted to do was just disappear, and at her size, that was the one thing she just couldn't do; all she could do was just stand there and hiccup -- and hiccup -- and hiccup -- 'til everybody in the store was staring at her, and finally even her mom got embarrassed and took her out!

 

---

 

Folks used to say, only half jokingly, that girls out her way got all their education in three places:  The school, the church, and the barn.  Of course, that wasn't true; her mom taught her all about running a household, too!  But the barn had indeed been the site of her first smoke, her first drink, and her first time.

 

She could almost laugh about her first time, now; it had nearly been her last!  She was dating the oldest Miller boy, the same boy who'd brought her the soda at the party; by the time they were both 18, he'd grown to a strapping youth, 6-foot-2.  He'd always liked her, and as a couple, they "fit" well, with her being only a couple inches shorter.

 

They were saying their goodbyes just before she left for college.  He was afraid that college would change her; maybe she wouldn't want to come back, and even if she did, maybe she'd be so different, she wouldn't care about him anymore.

 

She had every intention of coming back, she told him.  She was going to try to do what her father had done:  Get her teaching degree, but also take courses that would help her run the farm, really make something out of it.  Her own parents' farm was adjacent to the Miller farm, so, although they both had brothers, and the future was far from certain, there were many possibilities.

 

They decided to seal their love, and headed into the hayloft.  They were about halfway done when she heard her father come into the barn unexpectedly.  Everything was cool; they just had to stay perfectly quiet and still until he left.  But she already was breathing hard, and now, with fear piled on top of excitement, she was breathing harder than ever.

 

You can guess what happened next.  It couldn't be a cute little "heek" or "hup", or even a louder "hic" or "huck"; no, it just had to be one of her trademark two-syllable "specials," a full-volume, wrenching "HIC-CUP!" that tore through her chest with so much force, it actually hurt!  She was very glad that one was a teaser!

 

Of course her father heard it; hell, it had scared the horses!  "Sue?" he called, looking toward the hayloft.  "You up there?"

 

She could no more deny it than she could fly; all she could hope to do was to delay.  There was no earthly reason for her to be up there, especially with the Miller boy!  She knew what it would look like; it would look like she was -- well, doing what she was doing!  As she and the Miller boy frantically disengaged and got dressed, she nervously called back down, "Yeah, pa, just saying goodbye to everything..."

 

Right, he thought, his daughter was up in the hayloft, saying goodbye to the hay!  To him, it sounded like an awfully noisy goodbye, and he quietly began ascending the ladder.  She, hearing no response, kept talking to him as she got dressed, calling nervously, "I-- I'm just being silly and sentimental, pa... I'll be down in a minute..."

 

The two lovers just managed to make themselves presentable before her father arrived in the hayloft.  The Miller boy had briefly entertained the possibility of hiding behind the bales of hay, but it was too late now!  Still, they'd not been caught in the act, so her father just gave them a fishy-eyed look and said, "And I suppose he's one of the 'things' you're up here saying goodbye to?"

 

That, needless to say, was the end of that rendezvous!

 

---

 

So Sue was profoundly sympathetic to anyone else who was troubled with hiccups.  She would have been horrified to realize how many of Colleen's attacks she had actually caused!

 

But Colleen and Sue could not have been more different.  Colleen couldn't help but compete, while Sue was just content to do well.  Colleen hated the little town they came from, and would probably stay in the city after college, while Sue couldn't wait to return home.  Hiccups had caused both girls acute embarrassment at various times in their lives; but even so, the day while Sue was plowing all alone and couldn't stop, she'd eventually accepted it and even had fun with it, while Colleen would have just got all hyper and nervous and tense.

 

So as good a friend to Colleen as Sue tried to be, she just didn't understand her, and she couldn't help but step on Colleen's toes at every opportunity; and everything she tried, and everything she did, just made Colleen's problems worse and worse.

 

---

 

Problems at the Club

 

Friday night came.  Sue and several of the other girls from their floor were going club-hopping, and Sue persuaded Colleen to join them.  Colleen, a luscious 180 pounds, wore a black, low-cut bare-midriff blouse which really showed off her generously curvacious form, and black, very short shorts; maybe, she figured, she'd meet somebody new.

 

After everybody had had a few beers, they were all pretty happy and silly, and everybody was having a great time drinking and dancing, even Colleen.  But Sue's plan to get Colleen to relax soon backfired.  You just knew that with drinking beer quickly and laughing a lot, somebody was going to get hiccups, and wouldn't you know it, it would have to be Colleen.  She developed a stubborn case about 9 PM.  Usually she'd get real up-tight about it right away, but she already had a pleasant buzz on, and so she didn't much care.

 

As the evening went on, and the girls visited one club after another, up and down the strip, Colleen became aware that her hiccups weren't stopping.  She soon realized that it was 10 PM and she'd had them for an hour already.  By then all the girls were pleasantly blotto, and everything seemed funny.  Their attempts to get Colleen to stop just got everybody laughing harder than ever, and only made matters worse.

 

Out on the dance floor about midnight, Sue noticed that Colleen was missing.  She found her, back at their table.  Colleen was exhausted; she had folded her arms on the table in front of her, and put her head down, but Sue could still see her body shaking with every hic.  Colleen was increasingly not having a good time; the beer was wearing off, and these hiccups were really starting to bother her now.  Finally she decided she'd had enough, and she headed back to the dorm to take care of herself.

 

---

 

Colleen Can't Stop

 

The bars closed at 2 AM, and the other girls headed back to the dorm themselves, a little the worse for wear.  Sue entered the room she shared with Colleen, and found Colleen sitting in the easy chair in the corner, looking frustrated and miserable, still hiccupping away.  Sue had actually had a little less to drink than the others, and was in pretty good shape herself.  She was dismayed to find Colleen still having trouble, and she was sorry she'd let her go off alone.

 

"Oh, honey," she said, "you still got hiccups?  I'm so sorry, I woulda come back with you if I'd known it was that bad..."

 

Sue tried everything she could think of to help Colleen to stop, but Colleen herself had already tried many of the same cures with no success.

 

---

 

The dorm rooms were arranged in pairs, separated by a shared bathroom containing sinks, an enclosed lavatory, and a shower.  Sue heard the girls in the adjoining room come into the bathroom, and realized that they were just getting in themselves.  The main part of the bathroom, containing the sinks, was common ground at all times, so Sue went in, told them about Colleen's problem, and asked if they knew any good cures.

 

The girls were Kim and Nina, and they had become good friends to Colleen and Sue.  It almost seemed as though the girls had been paired up wrong.  Sue and Nina were large girls, laid-back and quiet, whereas Colleen and Kim were closer to average height, and more aggressive; so it was no surprise that Sue had bonded well with Nina, and Colleen with Kim.

 

Nina herself was no stranger to hiccups, (Nina's own recent experiences with hiccups are recorded in the story "Nina") and Kim and Nina came right in and helped Colleen try all the cures they knew.  But about 3:30, with no success, they had to give up.  They wished Colleen good luck and went back to their room.

 

---

 

"(hic!)  It's no use," Colleen told Sue, sounding very upset and depressed, "I can't stop.  I'm (hic!) just gonna sit in the common area (hic!) so you can get some sleep!"

 

Sue hated that idea, but Colleen stood firm; she grabbed a blanket, and out the door she went.  At least, she thought, she could curl up in one of the easy chairs in the common area, and she wouldn't bother anybody.  Colleen was proud, and didn't want Sue to resent her presence in the room.

 

---

 

About 4 AM, Sue came out to see how Colleen was doing; even though Colleen hadn't returned to the room, Sue hoped that maybe Colleen had just fallen asleep, and her hiccups maybe had stopped.  No such luck!  Sue found Colleen curled up in an easy chair, looking out the window; her hiccups were as bad as ever!

 

"C'mon back in the room, pleeease?" Sue asked her.  "I can't sleep knowing you're out here.  Maybe we can try some more remedies in the room.  You can't do anything for yourself out here!"

 

"(hic!)  Jim knows how to cure my hiccups," Colleen replied, "(hic!)  He's done it before."

 

"Well, why can't I do what Jim does?" Sue wanted to know.

 

"Tr(hic!)ust me," replied Colleen, sounding miserable, "you can't!  I'll give myself an(hic!)other hour, then I'll just have to go and (hic!) eat crow."

 

Sue understood.  To lose her hiccups, Colleen needed to come, and she'd never mastered the art of bringing herself.  Maybe she was too intense, too up-tight.  She needed real, honest-to-goodness sex.  She needed Jim.

 

---

 

Sue at least got Colleen to come back into the room and lie down, but an hour later, she was still no better, and at 5 AM, Sue heard Colleen get up again.  "You goin'?" asked Sue.

 

"(hic!)  Yeah," replied Colleen, sounding awfully discouraged, "I just gotta get rid of (hic!) these hiccups somehow!"  Then she quipped sarcastically, "After all, it's almost (hic!) time for my morning case, and I'd (hic!) hate to miss it!"

 

And so, at 5 AM, Colleen left the dorm and made her way over to Jim's.

 

---

 

Reunion

 

Jim had a studio apartment not far from the campus.  It was as tiny as possible, no bigger than the dorm room Colleen shared with Sue, but at least it was all his, and right now, that was important to Colleen!

 

The building was old and decrepit, and the system for entering was primitive.  Anybody could enter the foyer, but then you needed a key to enter the building proper, or you had to ring a tenant's bell and have them come down and let you in.  There was no intercom, nor was there any way the tenant could "buzz" you in.

 

Colleen really didn't want to ring the bell at this hour; she didn't know if Jim would come down at this time of the morning if he wasn't expecting anyone.  Besides, she knew how obscenely loud the bell was up in the apartment.  The first time she'd ever come there, it had been because she'd got hiccups on a date with him, and they'd needed to get rid of them their favorite way; but before they'd had a chance to get started, someone had rung the bell, she'd jumped a foot in the air, and it had scared the hiccups out of her!  She'd been glad to lose them, though it hadn't been the cure she'd been looking forward to.

 

So today, Colleen didn't ring the bell.  She just waited on the sidewalk for a few minutes, looking through the glass of the door, until she saw a man approaching from the other end of the hall.  Then she timed her walk up the path so that she arrived at the door just as he did, seemingly by pure coincidence.

 

Of course he held the door for a lady; he might be a working stiff, he thought, but he was certainly no ignorant slob!  Besides, the poor kid looked like her day was already off to a bad start -- or, since she was probably coming home at 5 AM with hiccups, a bad end.

 

---

 

Jim heard a gentle tapping on his door.  Imagine his surprise when he opened it and found Colleen standing there, some 30 pounds heavier than he remembered, hiccupping away, her hand over her mouth to keep as much of the noise down as possible.  She motioned that she wanted to come in.

 

Colleen was proud, but she was also desperate, and she crafted an appeal that she figured he just couldn't refuse.  She started, in a small voice, "(hic!)  Honey, I've had the hiccups for eight (hic!) hours now, and I just can't stop!  (hic!)  We tried everything else, and there's just (hic!) one thing left.  Would you help me?  (hic!)  I'd really appreciate it!"

 

Colleen was even willing to apologize, if she had to.  She waited to see if that was necessary; if it wasn't, she thought, there was no point in giving anything away for no good reason.  Her stupid hiccups may have defeated her once again, and delivered her into Jim's hands, but she would try to salvage whatever pride, and whatever advantage, she still could.  As much as Jim had meant to her over the last four years, he wasn't her lover now, but, since their argument, her opponent.  She just had to keep telling herself that; she couldn't afford to weaken.

 

Jim wasn't nearly as "devoted" to their argument as Colleen was.  He didn't want to go crawling back to her, but he was willing to let their disagreements pass and move on.  He was glad to see her again under any circumstances, and she was really turning him on now.  Her low-cut blouse exposed her enormous breasts, the sweet softness bouncing with every hic.  There was some nice action on her voluptuous midriff as well; the sensuous fullness overflowed the tops of her short, tight shorts, and he enjoyed touching it again as they embraced, his hands slowly massaging every luscious bit of it.

 

Colleen needed Jim to get turned on if he was going to help her, so if he enjoyed caressing her fat midriff, she guessed that was fine with her.  Oh, she thought, it had felt so good when he'd held her before!  But today it was just something she had to put up with.  She had to keep telling herself that; she couldn't afford to weaken.

 

Jim knew that, for his part, he'd certainly have no trouble giving Colleen what she needed, but he wondered about Colleen herself.  He could see that she was already exhausted and upset, and he wondered if she could even come now.

 

But that was the funny thing about Colleen.  On the surface, she often seemed to be the unpleasant Ice Queen, but lurking just below the surface was a volcano of sexual passion.  Maybe it was just another manifestation of the intensity that Colleen brought to everything she did.  There was nothing easy-going about her; she worked hard, she played hard, she even hiccupped hard, and when she came, she came hard.

 

They began making love.  Her breathing was accelerating.  Oh, she thought, she'd always enjoyed this so much before!  But today it was just a hiccup cure.  She had to keep telling herself that; she couldn't afford to weaken.

 

He was being far too gentle, she thought.  He always was, with her, wasn't he?  He really did love her so much, didn't he?  And maybe it was silly to throw all this away?  Oh, why did he have to be so obstinate?  Why couldn't he just admit he was wrong, and apologize?  She certainly wasn't going to, if that's what he thought!  She had to find a way to get around his stubbornness and get back together!

 

They were still making love.  He was still being far too gentle.  She needed to get done before she ran out of energy; she needed to light a fire under him in a way she never had before.  She sensed that the extra weight she'd gained really did turn him on, and she had an idea:

 

"(hic!)  C'mon, big boy, get me (hic!) up there!  I'll make you (hic!) a deal:  You like my (hic!) fat midriff?  You like my (hic!) fat boobs?  I'll put on (hic!) ten more pounds for you!"

 

It was working like a carrot on a stick!  She continued, breathing and hiccupping faster, pushing him harder, "(hic!)  Oh, yes, just (hic!) think of it, (hic!) ten more pounds (hic!) of luscious fat (hic!) overflowing my midriff, (hic!) ten more pounds (hic!) of delicious fat (hic!) bouncing my boobs!  (hic!)  My fat thighs (hic!) will even pop (hic!) the seams on (hic!) my shorts, if (hic!) that's what you want!  (hic!)  C'mon, big boy, (hic!) just do it, (hic!) and you can have it!  (hic!)  It's all yours!"

 

Soon she was breathing even faster, getting hotter and hotter, and her hiccups were accelerating even more.  She started talking dirty to him now; it was a "power" thing, and she was doing it more to get herself worked up to climax, than to get more out of him.

 

It wasn't long before she was in the midst of a mind-blowing orgasm, screaming curses and profanities and hiccupping at full volume.  Jim grinned and bore it.  At least the neighbors would know he was getting some.  But who would ever have believed that all this racket could be coming from the Ice Queen?

 

She came, with a volley of powerful hiccups that shook her body violently, and then she was done.  Her orgasm had had the desired effect, and her hiccups had finally stopped.  She really was exhausted now, and she just murmured "Thanks..." before drifting off to sleep.  Jim soon fell asleep beside her.

 

---

 

When Jim woke up, he found that she was gone.  He sighed; no note, nothing.  Well, if she was going to put on ten pounds for him, he guessed that meant they were back together.  Maybe Colleen hadn't intended that to happen -- not consciously, at least.  But even Colleen could get only so much milage out of their argument, and some part of her must have been looking for a way to get things back to normal.  Besides, in her own mind, she really had "won" this round, so maybe they were "even" now; she'd proposed a deal, he'd accepted, and she'd got what she wanted on her terms.

 

Well, anyway, Colleen had made an agreement, and he knew she'd go through with it; she might be eating ten ice cream sundaes right now!  She was a determined girl, and if she said she'd do something, she'd do it!  She'd never admit it, but even though the terms were hers, she'd made a major concession; he knew how much she must have hated the weight she'd already gained, and now she was adding ten more pounds, just because she'd promised she would!  She'd known he couldn't refuse that!

 

Jim saw that her solution was really ingenious:  She'd got what she needed, given him what he wanted, and got them back together, without having to settle their argument at all!  He smiled.  Sometimes it wasn't easy dating the Ice Queen, but he guessed he was used to it; it was all part of the package.

 

---

 

Epilogue

 

Colleen did gain the extra ten pounds that she'd promised Jim, and she and he did get back together.

 

But Colleen remained competitive, driven, and intense, and her lifelong problem remained in evidence.  The final semester was starting, and with it there would be career decisions, interviews, and more stress than ever!

 

It is said that some people greet each new day with a song in their heart; Colleen's overstressed body greeted each new day with a case of hiccups.

 

She was tired of hiccupping for hours every morning, and soon found herself paying regular early-morning visits to Jim's, for one of his special cures.  She soon grew weary of trekking all the way over to Jim's every morning, too; and for the final semester, she left the dorm and moved in with him.

 

They were both 21 now, and really were so very much in love; this was a dream come true for both of them.  But it had been a big step; they hadn't had the courage to take it, until Colleen's problem had pushed them into it.

 

It was funny, Jim thought, how Colleen's hiccups had been the cause of each of the major developments in their relationship.  Her hiccups in English class had caused him to ask her out on their first date; hiccups at the drive-in had given them their "first time"; hiccups had brought them back together again after their fight; and now, hiccups had once again helped to bring their relationship to the next level.

 

---

 

They'd fall asleep at night in each other's arms, their bodies close together, his athletically taut, hers sweetly voluptuous.  Sometimes he would wake up first, and in the soft light of early morning he would look at her as she lay sleeping, a gentle smile on her face, as though she were having a pleasant dream.  How he wished this moment could last forever, his Colleen enjoying a welcome respite, with no tension, no stress, no hiccups.

 

But then, all too soon, the hiccups would come, and she'd frown a bit, eyes still closed, and she'd gently moan.  Her hiccups would relentlessly coax her awake, and as she came to herself, she'd open her eyes, and she'd only then seem to remember where she was, and who she was with.

 

She'd smile, a gentle smile, and they'd kiss, a gentle kiss; and as she snuggled close to him, her soft, full abdomen would press into his body, and he would delight to feel the pulses passing through it as it pooched slightly with every hic.  It was a strange contradiction he could never fully understand:  He did so love this woman, and hated the fact that her hiccups made her so unhappy; and yet, when she'd hic, there was something so sensuous about it, he couldn't help but get aroused.  After a couple of minutes, she'd smile gently, and murmur something like, "(hic!)  Well, you gonna do something about this, (hic!) or what?"  Jim was invariably ready to help, and he had Colleen feeling better very soon.

 

It didn't always have to be a screaming orgasm; she didn't even always have to get up to one hic per second.  Many times it was just a gentle, yet passionate, expression of their love, and she came quickly and spontaneously from the sheer joy of sharing with this man she loved so much.

 

Colleen had always been self-reliant, and hated dependency of any kind.  But in the end, she knew that she had to depend on Jim for this one thing every morning; and as she became used to it, she softened a bit, and became more open to other kinds of giving and sharing, more open to other kinds of give-and-take, more open to the thousand daily compromises, adjustments, and changes in course that make a relationship work over the long run.  Her hiccups had helped her to learn a greater lesson than she'd ever learned in school.

 

She never lost her drive to succeed, but as her attitude softened, she learned how to become more flexible in all things, how to bend instead of breaking; her stress level diminished, and her hiccups lessened, too.

 

---

 

So graduation came, and with it, a proposal.  There was little doubt that almost any man who married Colleen would be getting the better part of the deal:  She was smart, sexy, accomplished, and certainly everything Jim could ever have wanted.  And to tell the truth, Colleen could have done a lot worse than marry Jim, too.

 

Colleen accepted his proposal -- but she was still a negotiator, and it came with a condition.  She had held her weight at 190 ever since they'd got back together, since that was the agreement she'd made, and nobody ever accused Colleen of not doing what she'd promised!  But now, the previous deal was off; if Jim wanted her, he'd have to take her 40 pounds lighter, at her original weight of 150.  She had no intention of getting married at 190 pounds!

 

So Jim "let" Colleen lose the 30 pounds she'd gained while they were apart, plus the ten she'd promised when they got back together; and he had to admit, as much as he had liked her "big," the Colleen that emerged was more seductively sensuous than ever, and she made the most beautiful bride anyone could remember.

 

So Colleen and Jim lived in peace and contentment 'til the end of their days, and the warmth of their love melted the Ice Queen forever.

 

---

 

jimandgina3@juno.com