Autumn (comic 49)

“How’d you get a table so fast?”

The corners of her lips turned upward seductively. “I have my ways.”

“Right.” He knew exactly what she meant. He had forgotten that doors open up a little quicker and tables become miraculously available when in the presence of a gorgeous woman.

She ordered fish tacos and clam chowder with a glass of New Zealand sauvignon blanc, and Mike got the fish and chips and a cup of coffee. He watched as she so expertly crushed oyster crackers into her bowl and listened to the way she analyzed and judged her tacos like a professional critic. Despite her denunciations, she was hungry and finished off her entire meal well before he did.

“I hate it when I eat everything and the other person still has lots of food on their plate,” she said. “I need to get better at slowing down and savoring each bite.”

“You can have some of my fries if you want.”

She smiled. “No, that’s my problem. Everything tastes so good I want it all at once and I end up eating too much.”

Mike set his coffee down. “I like that you’re not afraid to eat.”

As he finished speaking, a grossly overweight woman squeezed her massive body directly behind his chair, then carefully navigated herself toward her table in front of him. Autumn couldn’t help but notice the way his gaze drew toward the woman’s massive hips and billowing breasts.

Autumn locked eyes with Mike, then gestured toward the woman. She leaned forward and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Can you imagine being that big?”

Mike was taken aback, as he knew she had caught his wandering eye in mid wander and he was anticipating a scolding. He was unsure how to respond. “Um, no, but I’m not a woman.”

Autumn took a few fries from his plate. “I mean like (munch, chew) what do you see when you see someone like that?”

Mike looked at her curiously. “I see a woman, who clearly enjoys food.”

Autumn smiled, much to Mike’s surprise. “Yeah, me too.” She leaned in closer, still whispering. “I know it sounds terrible, but when I see someone who’s really hugely fat like that, I don’t think…like, oh, that’s too bad...” She bit her lower lip as if deep in thought before she continued. “I think more like, how…delicious, it must have been, to get there.”

Mike’s face erupted in an ear to ear grin, as the words she was saying conjured up a million thoughts in his brain. “I like the way you think.”

She shrugged sheepishly before stealing a few more fries. “I don’t know, (chew, munch) food is definitely my biggest weakness. I eat when I’m depressed, I eat when I’m happy, I eat when I’m bored.”

Mike chuckled. “That’s better than being the type of person that’s always on a diet, treating their body like it’s some sort of enemy.”

“I guess so.” She took a sip of her wine. “You don’t mind that I drink, do you?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. Just because I don’t drink anymore doesn't mean I can’t enjoy it through you.”

He stared into her eyes. Her hat was off and her beautifully layered hair was tied back in a messy ponytail that was somehow both chic and wildly sexy. If his relationship with Autumn was budding before, now it was blooming and becoming solidified. He met her friends, she had ridden on the back of his motorcycle, and he had yet to find anything about her that he didn’t like. He never met a woman who could be so casual and unassuming, yet so severely fememine and elegant at the same time.  He had a feeling that the face staring back at him was a face that he’d be seeing again and again, for a long time.

Autumn ended up finishing the rest of Mike’s fries and after he got the check, they rode back to her place in the magic hour of the setting sun.

- Autumn (chapter 5)