"Adam! I'm coming!" I cried out.

Adam kept pounding away at the door to our apartment. Ugh! I didn't want to keep him waiting but I was just starting to feel the burn. That was getting rarer now. I had gone through all the At Home Aerobics DVDs, and had spent the last week or so just replaying the last few sessions. But even those were getting to be too easy.

Adam banged on the door again.

"I said I'm coming!" I yelled again, "I just want to finish this set!"

"Come on, dude! My hands are full!" he yelled back.

I did a few final squat jumps, feeling my thighs burn and my breasts strain against my sports bra, then hit pause on the DVD and jogged to the door. Adam was standing outside with both arms laden with department store bags, looking sheepish. I hopped up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey sweet prince," I said, "You were gone longer than I thought you'd be!"

"Haha, yeah," Adam said, quickly shuffling inside and putting the bags down by the futon, "I, um, I actually ended up buying some extra stuff."

"Oh, that's great!" I said.

After I got that phone call from work last night, I had followed through on my plan to measure myself for a proper bra. Luckily Adam had a tape measure (he used it to measure his biceps... of course) and I had found a form online that told me how to take proper measurements for women's sizes. I was kind of enjoying getting actual numbers to show my progress. My waist was actually getting so slim, although my butt and my bust definitely still had a lot to lose. I ended up filling out the whole form, and gave it to Adam so he could find me a bra that fit.

I was glad that Adam had taken the opportunity to do some shopping for himself, too. I still felt bad about making him miss his friend's bar opening, and I would have felt more guilty if he had been out on a Saturday morning purely running errands for me.

"So, which bag has my stuff in it?" I asked.

Adam winced, "Um.... all of them."

I tilted my head, and felt my long ponytail sway over my shoulder, "Excuse me?"

Adam bit his lip, "All of them... have your stuff in them."

I turned to the bags. There were at least five. I turned back to Adam. I put my hands on my hips, like Michelle Champion when she got super serious.

"Adam," I said, very calmly, "I asked you to buy me a couple of bras and some normal panties to wear on the very few occasions that I go outside. How the fuck did you end up with five bags?"

Adam covered his face and sank into the futon, "The lady at the department store was really convincing..."

"Adam, are you talking about the same lady? Ashanti? Last time I went, she left to take a smoke break!" I laughed in disbelief. I squatted down and started looking through one of the bags. Well, this one had some bras at least. I pulled out a plain white bra and held it up against my body to check the fit. Hard to tell with my sports bra on.

"I don't know, dude! I guess she was tired yesterday, because today she was super pushy," Adam groaned, "And I got kind of flustered, and she was making really good points, and... she was pretty..."

"What?" I laughed, as I pulled my sports bra over my head. My breasts bounced free and jiggled as I tried to fasten on my new, normal bra, "Adam, she's like fifty years old!"

Adam stared at me, "No way, dude. She's like, our age. Ashanti, right? Black girl? Talks really fast?"

Wait.

That girl at the department store had said something about nametags, hadn't she? There must have been a mix-up. Which meant Adam didn't talk to the burnt out Ellen lady. He talked to the other girl. If he'd even managed to get a word in!

"Oh god," I groaned, finally pulling my bra into place. I took a break from giving Adam shit to pose. It fit! My breasts felt really nice and secure, although they were kinda showing off some major cleavage. A few more months and that shouldn't be a problem.

"You look good," he said weakly, "So I kind of did a good job?"

"Uh-huh," I said, "How much did she convince you to spend?"

Adam mumbled something. I dug around in the bag I got my bra from until I found the receipt.

"Oh my god, Adam! That's so much!" I gasped, scanning over the receipt, "Dude, you bought shirts? You bought shoes?"

"She had really good reasons!" Adam protested, "Look, I felt weird just walking into the women's underwear section, then I saw this girl who worked there, so I asked for help buying a bra. And she asked who I was buying it for, and I panicked and said my girlfriend."

"Okay, that makes sense," I said, folding my arms, "Good cover."

"Yeah, well, I thought so," he said, "But then she was saying if it was a gift, I should get you something really special--"

"You mean, get your girlfriend something really special," I corrected.

"Except my "girlfriend" is you, bro, and I didn't want to buy you, like, lingerie!" Adam said.

"Well, thanks bro," I smirked, "So you just bought everything else in the store?"

"No, dude, I told her I wasn't trying to get anything special," Adam sighed, "I just told her, like, kind of the truth? I said that you, I mean, my girlfriend was trying to get in shape, and she lost a bunch of weight and now her underwear doesn't fit. So I just need to buy, like, functional bras and panties."

"And then you did, and you came home and gave them to me, and we didn't have this conversation," I said drolly.

"Dude..." Adam groaned, "She was really convincing. She was saying, like, part of getting in shape is confidence, which is TRUE, by the way, and she said that to be confident you can't just hide your body under baggy clothes, you need the right, like, the right gear! She was talking about clothes like how I talk about weight machines, you know? Like, there are different things for your legs, and your abs..."

"What the fuck?" I laughed, "Like you bought me a pair of panties that are gonna give me a six pack?"

"Well, no, but..." Adam started, but I was already digging through the other bags. I mean, the confidence thing was kinda true. I had felt way more psyched about working out once I could look in the mirror and see myself looking actually kinda good in a sports bra and leggings. But that was no reason to buy...

"What is this thing?" I asked, pulling out a piece of clothing that I had thought was just a dark blue tank top, except the bottom looked like a pair of shorts.

"It's a romper," Adam said, "It's meant to be kinda loose, so it'll still look good as you lose more weight, and its a halter top so you can tighten the straps, and there's a belt so you can show off your waist, and--"

"Oh my god, stop, you sound like her," I groaned. I reached into another bag, "Adam! This is a skirt!"

"She said that A-line skirts would be really good for your body shape!" Adam protested, "They're tight at the hips, and then flare out, so you can show off your legs, but it won't look baggy if you get slimmer, like a pencil skirt would."

"How about PANTS, Adam?" I said.

"I told her you already have leggings and yoga pants and stuff and she said that was really good, and you could pair them, with, like, an oversized top with a belt, or a dress--"

"Adam! I just needed bras, not a bunch of women's clothes!" I laughed. I shook the skirt at him, "I'm not paying you back for this! You need to return it!"

"I can't! How would I explain that to her!" Adam said desperately, "Couldn't you wear it around the apartment? Like, it's basically a kilt, right? Guys wear kilts!"

"Adam," I laughed. I dropped the skirt and went over to straddle him on the futon. He sighed and leaned back as I rested my arms around his neck. "Face facts, buddy. You just spent a shitload of money buying women's clothes for your straight, male roommate."

Adam cringed, "It seemed like a good idea at the time..."

"Uh-huh," I smirked. I had an idea what had actually happened, "She really just used pure logic to convince you to buy a bunch of rompers and skirts and shoes, dude?"

"Well, I guess I kind of liked talking to her," Adam admitted, blushing, "She was really smart and, I dunno, like, kind of intimidating. But she seemed really interested in what I had to say, and..." he smiled, a kind of bashful, hopeful smile, "She didn't seem like she was just interested in, y'know, having sex? And most girls I talk to always end up hitting on me, and I really liked just talking to someone with no expectations, and I wanted to keep it going. Is that crazy?"

"Oh, Adam," I sighed ruefully. I leaned forward and kissed him mockingly on the forehead. "My poor..." I kissed him on the cheek, "Sweet..." kissed him on the other cheek, "*Dumb little prince." I kissed him on the lips and giggled, "Of course she wasn't trying to have sex with you, dude. You know how I know that?"

"How?" he asked.

"For one thing, she probably just wanted you to buy a bunch of stuff so she'd get paid more," I said, "But more importantly... your entire excuse for being there is that you already have a girlfriend."

Adam's face dropped.

"Holy shit," he whispered, "I'm an idiot."

"Sweet little idiot," I giggled. I leaned forward and kissed him on the lips again. He kissed back for revenge and I squealed and slapped him on the shoulder. We broke apart, laughing. "At least you didn't end up buying lingerie!"

Adam winced.

"Oh my god! Adam!" I yelled.

"She said that it was the most important thing for confidence!" he said, "She said that when she was feeling bad, she always put on, like, really sexy lingerie, and then she showed me this set on a mannequin, and I started picturing--" his face turned bright red and he slapped a hand over his mouth.

"You perv!" I laughed, "You were totally picturing her in lingerie, weren't you?"

Adam bit his lip and looked away. "I actually wasn't..." he mumbled.

"You so were," I laughed. I hopped off him and gathered up the bags. "Well, if you're not gonna return these, I guess I'll have to do it myself. I'll pay you back for the bras and anything else I can use, but the rest, you're gonna have to wait until Ashanti's not working and I can get a refund from the other lady. You doofus."

Adam sighed, "This has been a really embarrassing morning, dude. I think I'm gonna head to the gym."

"Oh, you have a client?" I called as I took the bags of clothes to my bedroom.

"No, I had a couple people call in sick," Adam called back, "I'm gonna go work out solo."

I looked around my room for a place to dump the bags, then decided to just put them in my wardrobe for now. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Maybe it was the new bra, but I kind of looked... really good today. I still had pretty chubby arms, and a fat tummy (although it wasn't looking THAT bad this morning), but my bra was holding my boobs nice and firm. Okay, maybe I was a little pear-shaped. I still had really wide hips, but I thought that my thick thighs and my round, bouncy ass looked pretty strong, like Adam had said. Yeah, and my hair looked really nice, and my skin was so smooth and clear. I looked great!

"Hey, do you mind if I come with you?" I called out to Adam. For a second he didn't say anything, then I heard running footsteps. Adam burst through the door, then reflexively covered his eyes.

"It's okay, I'm clothed this time," I laughed. I reached up and moved his hand away then pulled myself in for a hug. He wrapped his muscly arms around me like coiled pythons and I sighed happily. I had really come to like our hugs! Just pure, platonic physical contact felt so nice, like I was safe in his strong hands.

"Did you actually say you want to come to the gym?" Adam asked, squeezing my hips like he was trying to check if I was real. I giggled and squeezed his shoulders in return.

"Why not?" I said, "I mean, I think I've outgrown Michelle Champion at this point. No offence to her. But I'm ready to take things to the next level."

"Even weights?" Adam gasped.

"Well..." I smiled, "Maybe I'll try some of the machines."

"Fuck yes!" Adam shouted. He jumped in the air, bringing me with him. I squealed as we bounced up and down together.

"Adam!" I laughed, "My boobs are gonna pop out!"

"Shit, sorry bro," he laughed. He stopped bouncing, then squeezed me tight, "This is gonna be so sick! We can actually work out together! You're gonna be the best gym buddy ever, I can feel it."

"Hmm, I dunno bro," I smiled coyly, "I feel like I might outgrow you pretty soon too."

He laughed and hugged me even tighter, "You are such a beautiful princess, dude!" He leaned down and kissed me hard on the lips. I kissed him back, letting my soft body mold against his firm, hard muscles. God, even his lips felt so strong. I would never tell him this, but I actually kind of enjoyed our kisses too. Even though I knew he was just making fun of me right now, the sensation felt really nice.

We pulled apart and he grinned at me, then ran off to grab his gym stuff. I smiled to myself and started picking out an outfit for my long-delayed return to working out in public.