Brittany's Belly - Part 20

Alright everyone, back to the normal cadence after posting all of Midnight Bakery. Here with another chapter of Brittany. Also, have been getting more and more patrons slowly, so excited by everyone that is new here. I don't want to jinx it, but we are getting a bit closer to my first milestone of commissioning art each month. Hoping that my consistent posting on DA an Patron will get us there. Anyways, enjoy!

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Britt used to look forward to weekends. No class, tons of parties, endless boys trying to get with her. After being home for just one week though, weekends were her least favorite thing to look forward to. Two straight days without the relief of snacks at Mrs. Cox, two straight days of tedious, boring, sweat inducing exercise, and worse of all, two straight days of being trapped at home with her mother. She had been forced to give her car to her sister when she left for college, so with no wheels that meant she wasn’t going anywhere. Not that Britt was a very good driver to begin with, it was probably safer that she wasn’t on the road. Plus with her belly bumping into the wheel she’d only have even more difficulty. She didn’t like having Steph drive her around, but when opportunities showed it was better than being home with mom.

Sadly today was not one of those days. After their pizza binge yesterday, Steph was laying low, and Britt had a date with some tennis shoes. After pre-gaming with a whole can of soda, Britt bopped downstairs to get this over with, the approach she took to all of her workout sessions. Britt’s three pound gain was hardly noticeable, but with the extra weight, and after so much delicious pizza yesterday, Britt was in no mood to work out, yet she knew there was no getting around it with her mom. Britt and her belly front and center, went through all the paces warming up, stretching and all of that, driving towards the multi mile run to cap off the exercise routine. Her mom stared disgustingly at her belly, even going to make some snide remarks under her breath. “How does she even stand up straight with that thing?” Was just one of the comments Britt overheard.

Although the words grinded Britt’s gears, she tried her best to let them roll off her back. In doing so her warm up was finished before she knew it and she was padding away from the house, and the evil mother that lived inside. Just like the other day, her pace slowed to a crawl as soon as she was out of view. Britt thanked the heavens it was overcast, so the sun wasn’t beating down on her as she walked. She knew walking was no way to beat her mom’s stopwatch, but that seemed like future Britt’s problem, current Britt wanted no part of running. Current Britt was happier thinking about all the pizza she ate yesterday, or the lunch Mrs. Cox had treated her to on Friday. She’d be back at Mrs. Cox’s house tomorrow, probably able to order whatever takeout she wanted for lunch again. It didn’t hurt to start daydreaming and planning now, Britt thought as she licked her lips.

Despite day dreaming, Britt still had a run to complete, and five minutes of slow walking, she had not made it too far away from her house. She was just about to take a right on to a new street when she noticed a space between a few bushes off to the left. Her curiosity getting the better of her, decided to take a look. Britt figured she could chalk the extra time up to helping a poor wounded bird find its way back into a tree. Looking through the bushes Britt saw a small dirt path.

Diane had made sure this circle had no shortcuts or side streets Britt could use to shave some distance off on the course, yet Britt wasn’t opposed to one if she found it. There were no clear markings where this little trail went, but if Britt’s internal compass was anything to lean on, it headed in the direction of the end of her running loop. She was already way behind on the time she needed to complete this course to please her mother, so she figured she had nothing to lose scoping out this path. If anything she added an extra element to her workout, how could her mom not be pleased about that.

Soon Britt discovered though that she would not be mentioning this path to her mom. After about 10 minutes of walking in the woods, Britt popped out of a bush right about where she figured she would, just down the block from her house on the opposite side of her mother course! ‘Holy crap, I cut off like 80% of the run this way.’ Britt gushed in her head. She couldn’t get back to the house too quickly, that would be way too suspicious, plus her mom wanted to see gradual improvement in her run each day. With this shortcut she could milk shaving a minute or so off her time each day with ease, and not be under any extra duress for about 40 days. That would take her practically to the end of summer.

Britt hung back under the cover of the trees, finding a decent spot to plop down her bubble butt, throwing rocks at stumps to pass the time. With about five minutes to go she headed back out to the gray day and finished off her run. “Wow, impressive time.” Her mom said, as her and her belly bobbed up the driveway.

“See I’m not a complete disappointment, huh mom?” Britt pretended to huff as she spat out the snarky comment. With her workout over for the day, she headed straight to her room, grabbing a can of soda from Steph’s on the way. Britt held it together in front of her mom, but was over the moon giddy about the shortcut she had just found. Today wasn’t all that hot, but when it was, god this was going to be a life saver.