At 270 Pounds, He Called Me “Just a Friend.” Then I Married My Childhood Sweetheart.

We're playing truth or dare at the company party. Everybody takes a turn drawing a card and doing whatever it says. Mine says: Who here would you most want to marry? I stare at it way too long. Then I write one name. Grant Calloway. I hold up my card. For one second, everyone stares at what I wrote. Then the room loses it. "Two-seventy and she's got her eye on Grant?" "Does she even own a mirror?" The jokes keep coming. Grant turns to me like nothing's wrong. "Relax, Tessa. It's a game. Everybody's just messing around. Don't make it weird." My nails dig into my palms. None of them know we've been together for three years. I thought tonight might finally be the night we told everyone. Then I watch him act like none of this has anything to do with him, and I lose my nerve. Next round, Grant and his rival, Paige Mercer, draw matching dare cards: Fake-date someone of the opposite sex at this party for a week. Grant and Paige both scowl. They both swear they have nobody in mind. Then they flip their cards over. Grant's card says Paige. Paige's says Grant. The room erupts in cheers. That night, Grant texts me. [Rules are rules. I can't back out. We'll stay apart for a week. After that, we'll talk about the wedding.] I read it for a long time. Then I type one word. [Okay.] He has no idea there won't be an "after." My wedding is next week. Just not with him. —————— A few hours earlier, everyone at the party is still going wild. Everyone points at Grant and Paige's cards, talking over each other. "You wrote each other down and you're telling us there's nothing there?" "Come on, Paige. You two are way too in sync." Paige actually blushes. Now that's a first. She rolls her eyes. "It's a game. One week, then we go back to hating each other. Nobody's clinging to anybody." "One week is plenty to catch feelings!" "Poor Tessa. She literally just said she wants to marry him." "Like Grant would ever marry her." Every head swings toward me. Grant looks over, too. "Tessa and I are just friends." Just friend. Great. "So she was just fooling herself." somebody says, snorting. "Looking like that? She'd need a custom wedding dress just to fit into it." I look down at my loose dress. I know exactly what they're laughing at. My body is the punchline. Everyone at work knows I'm crazy about Grant. I bring him breakfast, file his paperwork, memorize every little habit, and he never accepts a thing from me. He won't even ride the elevator with me if we're alone. At home, though, he's completely different. He pulls me into his arms, kisses me, and murmurs, "Ignore them. You're the most beautiful woman I know." I used to believe him. Now he's told the whole room I'm just a friend. I grab a slice of cream cake and shove it in. One bite, then another. It's so sweet it makes me sick, but I swallow it anyway. My phone buzzes. Grant. [Stop eating. Your stomach can't take it.] He knows exactly what I do when I'm upset. For one stupid second, I feel hope. Then I look up. Paige reaches for the cake, but Grant moves the plate out of her reach. "You hate buttercream. Remember?" He waves over a server. "Can we get her a fruit plate?" "Who asked you to remember that?" Paige says. Grant shrugs. "If we're pretending to date for a week, I should know what you like." Whistles all around. Paige sneezes. "God, it's freezing in here." Grant's eyes land on my shoulders. "Tessa, give Paige your wrap." I look down at the cashmere around my shoulders. It was the wrap he'd given me for our third anniversary. Before I can react, he yanks the wrap off my shoulders. The pin holding it at my chest is still fastened. Its sharp point slices across my skin. I suck in a sharp breath. A thin line of bright red quickly appears along my collarbone. His hands stop for half a second. Then he drapes it over Paige anyway. The cashmere swallows her whole. "This is Tessa's," she says. "Isn't it weird if I wear it?" "It's fine." Grant looks at me like it's the most natural thing in the world. "She doesn't get cold. You're too skinny, and if you get sick, it's everybody's problem." A beat of silence. Then the place cracks up again. "She'll be fine. Tessa's got built-in insulation!" I say nothing. I can't even feel the cut anymore. Right before the party started, Grant wrapped that same cashmere wrap around my shoulders and told me not to catch a cold. Now my body is his excuse to give it to someone else. The party finally winds down after one a.m. My rideshare is already waiting by the curb. I reach for the door, and Grant gets there first. He holds it open for Paige. "She's not feeling well. Let your ride take her home. Just call another one." Paige gives me a wincing little smile. "Sorry, Tessa. I'll Venmo you for the ride tomorrow." Grant gets in after her before I can get a word out. The door hasn't even shut when I hear Paige snap, "Nobody invited you." "Relax. I'm not here for you." He gives a cold laugh. "I just don't want people blaming me if you get yourself into trouble on the way home." Paige scoffs. "It's a fake relationship, Grant. One week. Don't let it go to your head." Grant smirks. "Don't flatter yourself." Paige rolls her eyes. "Don't worry. Seven days from now, I'm dumping you first." The car pulls away. As they turn the corner, Paige's head starts to droop toward the window. Grant reaches over and gently pulls her against him, letting her rest on his shoulder. Everyone else starts leaving. Not one of them asks if I need a ride. I check the app again. No cars available. Forty-minute wait at best. Grant knows exactly what everyone at the office thinks of me. He knows nobody would offer me a ride. And he still took the car I was counting on. My throat locks up. My eyes burn. Then my phone lights up again, a different name this time. Wesley. [Tess, if you've changed your mind, we can call off the wedding.] I wipe my face and type back. [Don't call it off. Move it up if you can.]

Two hours later, I finally limp through my front door. On foot. Both heels have chewed my ankles raw, and my legs feel like wet cement. I've barely hit the couch when my phone starts going off. Someone has dropped a video from the party into the group chat. There's Paige, wearing my cashmere wrap, standing next to Grant while everyone whistles and teases them. "Okay, knock it off," Grant says, deadpan. "You're scaring my girlfriend." The chat blows up. [Grant said it himself!!] [Perfect couple, no notes.] [So THAT'S why they fought all the time. Enemies to lovers, baby.] It doesn't take long for someone to bring me up. [Tessa's probably sobbing into a cheesecake right now lol.] [Didn't she just say she wanted to marry him?] Then a photo. Me, bent over with an armload of files, my work dress stretched over everything I wish it wouldn't, my face looking huge from the angle. The caption:Two-seventy pounds and still chasing Grant. Where does she get the nerve? A wall of laughing emojis. My tears hit the screen, and the picture goes blurry. Grant is the golden boy of the office. And I'm the punchline standing next to him. But none of them know he was the one who chased me in college. Back then, I was the girl everyone wanted to date. Guys lined up for me, and Grant was just one of them. He was also the most persistent. He came from money and had never been told no in his life. I was the only one who wasn't afraid to say it. I turned him down every time, and the more I refused, the harder he tried. If I so much as mentioned a bag or a necklace, it showed up at my door. When that didn't work, he started waiting outside my dorm. Every single day. Eventually, he wore me down. He took my hand and said, "Tess, when we graduate, we're getting jobs at the same company. I don't ever want to be apart from you." And just like that, I said yes. Then my parents died in a car accident. I fell apart. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, could barely function. The medication they put me on packed on weight fast, and half my clothes stopped fitting. I quit looking in mirrors. I started avoiding Grant, because I couldn't stand the thought of him seeing me like that. He stayed anyway. He held me and swore he didn't care what I weighed. We took jobs at the same company and started planning a wedding. Then he told me going public would hurt his career. He said the company had a strict policy about workplace relationships, so we'd keep it quiet for now. For three years, I stayed hidden. Because I loved him. Then Paige showed up: young, gorgeous, impossible to ignore. Within a month, she'd taken over the project Grant had been running. At first they couldn't stand each other. They fought every time they were in the same room, and neither ever backed down. Somewhere along the way, that changed. When Paige worked late, Grant stayed. When her stomach acted up, he brought her medicine and made sure she rested. And on our last business trip, a landslide hit and Paige got trapped. Grant was the first one out looking for her. He forgot I was trapped there too. I called him a dozen times. He never picked up. The rescue team found me and carried me out unconscious. When I woke up, Grant was sitting by my bed. The second my eyes opened, the worry in his face finally let go. "Tess, does anything still hurt? I missed your calls last night. I'm sorry." He looked so scared that I made excuses for him. He'd just gotten caught up. It was temporary. Give him a little more time and he'd come back to me. Now I get it. Every time he had to choose, I mattered a little less. Until I didn't matter at all. I finally come back to myself, staring at the screen through the tears still clouding my vision. The chat goes silent the moment Grant's message appears. [Delete the photo. Don't take it that far.] [You're right, Grant.] The poster replies.Then the photo vanishes. A few seconds later, he messages me privately. [Tess, you home? Don't let what they said get to you.] [I know I neglected you tonight. It's the weekend tomorrow. Let me take you out. I'll make it up to you.] I stare at that last line. [I'll make it up to you.] Any other night, one sweet word from him and I'd forgive almost anything. Not tonight. My eyes land on the date circled on my calendar. I don't answer. I close the chat and submit my resignation to HR.

When I wake up, Grant is already home, standing over the bed with a scowl. "Why didn't you answer my texts last night?" "I fell asleep." He studies me for a few seconds, then lets it go. "Get dressed. I'm taking you to the amusement park." I start to say no. He's already grabbed one of my jackets and is steering me toward the door. I don't realize Paige is coming until I open the car door. She's sitting in the passenger seat, the one Grant always saved for me. She looks surprised to see me. "Tessa? You're coming too? I get carsick, so Grant let me sit up front." That used to be my seat. Grant once swore nobody else would ever sit there. "Paige wanted to go to the amusement park," he says. "It's just a day out. The more the merrier." His voice is easy, but his eyes stay locked on my face, waiting for me to blow up. He's already working out how to smooth it over. I give him nothing. I open the back door and slide in. Grant stands there, thrown. The whole drive, he complains about what a pain Paige is, while everything he does says otherwise. "The sun's too bright," Paige mutters, just once. Grant flips down the sun visor. "It's freezing in here." He bumps the temperature up without a word. At the park, he comes back with three drinks. Paige takes the iced tea and stares at him. "You remembered I like this?" "You mentioned it once. If I'm your fake boyfriend, I should know the basics." The corner of her mouth twitches up. Grant holds out the third drink to me. Peach iced tea. I don't take it. He frowns. "Tess? Isn't this your favorite?" It used to be. Then I got sick and ended up with a serious peach allergy. The last time I had some by accident, I broke out in hives from head to toe, and Grant was the one who raced me to the ER, white as a sheet. Now he doesn't even remember. "Not thirsty. You two enjoy." Grant shoves it into my hand anyway. "You'll get thirsty sooner or later. Just take it." They drag me to the roller coaster next. A ride attendant beams at Paige and Grant. "You two a couple? Couples can do the challenge and win a souvenir pin!" "Who said we're a couple?" Paige snaps. She eyes the roller coaster. "Then again... that actually sounds kind of fun." Grant turns to me and lowers his voice. "We won't be long. Wait here, okay? Don't wander off." The attendant waves them into the couples' line, and they walk off together. I set the peach iced tea on a bench, turn around, and head for the park gate. I'm barely past the gate when my phone starts buzzing. [I told you to wait. Why did you leave?] [Stop being dramatic. Send me your location, I'll come get you.] I don't answer. Back at the apartment, I start packing. That evening, a new post from Paige pops up. Grant crouched in front of her, tying her shoelace. Matching souvenir headbands. Fireworks going off behind them. The caption: Plot twist: he doesn't want our fake dating to end. I stare at it. A few minutes later I refresh, and it's gone. That's when the front door unlocks. Grant walks in, already annoyed. "Why'd you bail? I texted you. You didn't answer." I don't bother explaining. I keep folding clothes. "Paige's place is getting renovated this week," he goes on. "She needs somewhere to stay for a few days, and I told her she could crash here. She'll take the guest room. It's not going to affect you." I zip the suitcase. "Fine." His face shifts. He steps in front of me. "I just said she's in the guest room. So why are you packing?" I look up at him. "She's your girlfriend. And you're not exactly dying to break up with her, are you?" He goes still. "You saw that post?" "Yeah." "Paige was joking. I made her delete it." His frown deepens. "We're pretending. That's it. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" Making a big deal out of it. He acted like I was nobody in front of everyone. He handed her my cashmere wrap. He left me standing on the curb at midnight. And today he forgot I'm allergic to peaches. Apparently I'm the one making a big deal. "Grant." I look him dead in the eye. "You can stop loving me because I got sick. You can be embarrassed by me because I put on weight. You can even decide the 270-pound me isn't what you want anymore." "But you don't get to hurt me and then expect me to smile and act like nothing happened!" His jaw tightens. "When did I stop loving you? Seriously, Tess? You're going to throw away three years over a few bad days?" I slap him. The sound echoes through the living room. His head snaps sideways, and for once he has nothing to say. "This isn't a tantrum." I pick up my suitcase and meet his eyes. "We're done." He whips his head around. "What?" Grant opens his mouth to say more. I don't wait to hear it. I walk out. The door slams behind me. Three years. Over just like that.