Letter 'P' from The A, B, C's of being Soft. Read the others here.
It was no secret Kinsey had multiple social media accounts. Facebook, Instagram, tumblr, Twitter (she refuses to call it X), TikTok just to name a few.
Finn only had Facebook and used it to keep up with a few groups he was a member of and to stay in touch with extended family.
So it was a bit of a surprise when all of a sudden he was bombarded with messages from people he had not heard from in years. And it was all because of a photo Kinsey shared on social media. Correction: many photos she shared.
A little over a week after they officially declared themselves dating, Kinsey asked if she could tag Finn in some pictures she wanted to post.
“I don't care. It's not like I'm even online much anymore.”
He never really thought anything of it when Kinsey wanted to take selfies of herself when they went out. She liked to take pictures of their meals, scenery, that sort of thing. But then she started taking selfies of them together. He was never one to take pictures of himself, but Kinsey had a knack for capturing them at their best. He even started getting used to it and really liked how he looked with her.
He looked happy. And fat.
Many of them were close-ups of their faces; her kissing his chubby cheek, and some of him kissing her. There was one she absolutely loved of the two of them where Finn took up most of the frame. She liked it because it highlighted their size contrast. He liked it because it was them. No filters, no hiding his size (or hers); it was just them.
He was at work when his notifications started going off. Text notifications. Facebook notifications. And then his mother called. She hadn't spoken to him in over six months. He let the call go to voicemail because he was about to go into a meeting.
When he entered the conference room, his friends from the accounting department approached him.
“Damn, Finn! Your girlfriend is smokin’ hot! How come you never told us about her?” Rob asked, patting him on the back.
“What are you guys talking about?” Derek held his phone up to Finn. He held the phone back to bring it into focus, and there they were, with the caption: Dinner with my big, beautiful boyfriend! 😍
Finn scanned the screen and noticed over 200 likes and over 100 comments.
“Yep. That's Kinsey.” Finn handed the phone back to Derek and took a seat in the back. He pulled out his phone and opened the Facebook app. It had been so long since he used it, he had to reset his password.
Kinsey posted over 20 photos of the two of them. He had over 30 people private message him, including his mother. He took a deep breath and did his best to concentrate on the quarterly sales meeting.
When he got home, Kinsey was sitting on the front steps.
“I didn't want to bother you at work. I figured you probably had enough messages without me adding to them,” she said looking down. “Are you upset?”
“What? No! Why would I be upset? Come on inside.” Kinsey stood up and let Finn walk past her.
“Give me a minute to change, and then we can talk.”
“Okay. Are you hungry? I can make us a snack?”
“Sure. Make yourself at home.”
By the time Finn joined Kinsey in the living room, she made up a platter of nachos, complete with lots of melted cheeses.
“So. I guess we are official? Official, official?” Finn winked as he pulled out a portion of tortilla chips and took a bite.
“We are. Have you had time to read any of the comments?” Finn shook his head.
“I responded to a few texts and messages on my lunch. I'll call my mom after dinner.”
“I'm sorry about the negative ones. I just delete them when I see them. Those people are stupid and don't know-”
“Kinsey? I really don't care. Are you regretting posting?” Finn asked quietly.
“No! Absolutely not! All my friends and family are quite aware of the type of person I'm attracted to. I just wish people weren't so fat-phobic is all.”
“I can almost guarantee you anything that was said today will not be anything like what I went through in school. And, I'm like a grown-up now. The only person I care about who thinks anything about me is you, okay? And I have a suspicion you like me the way I am, right?” Finn leaned in and kissed Kinsey. She moved closer into his space and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him harder.
“I absolutely like you the way you are very, very much.”
“Good, because I like you very, very much, too.”
“I'm not gonna stop posting just to make people more comfortable, just so you're aware,” she whispered into his ear.
Finn rested his hand on his big belly. “Oh, I’m aware. And I would never ask you to stop. In fact, let’s take one now.” Kinsey smiled wide and took her phone out.
