Aleksi's story - Chapter 1

Aleksi woke up hearing his phone ringing. It was the alarm clock - a sound which normally annoyed him. Today this wasn't the case. Aleksi had been waiting for this day for a long time; today would be the day for him to start his own life in his own apartment as he would finally move out of home. He was twenty-years-old and he would be starting his studies in the university of Helsinki. He could have studied from his parent's house (in fact his mom had wanted him to do so) but he was fed up with his parents controlling his life from eating to going out and playing video games. "They are controlling me, like I was a 13-year-old," he often thought.

After getting up from bed, Aleksi went to the bathroom to get a shower. Taking a shower in the morning always woke him up and made him feel better. When he was drying himself up, he checked his reflection in the bathroom's mirror, as usual. He liked what he saw. Years of playing ice hockey, and the year which he had spent in the military forces had shaped his body to perfection, as he thought. His biceps were clearly visible even when he wasn't flexing them. His pecs were perfectly shaped and moved when he tensed his chest muscles. His six pack abs was perfectly visible and felt rock hard when he moved his hand on the lines of his abdomen. Still, his best feature were his legs, which were stronger than ever after the rough year in army. Aleksi's short brown hair, brown eyes and handsome features got him quite a lot of attention from women, but he politely ignored all of it as he was more into men himself.  He had never told anyone about this, though, since he thought his ice hockey mates wouldn't have found it proper.

Usually Aleksi wasn't in this good shape at this time of the year. The ice hockey season ended in April, and he was on off-season until September. Of course he had ice hockey training during the off season, but the months of June and July were always his holiday months - and he could see that in the beginning of August when he usually had developed a soft layer of flab on top of his abs. It was small enough to go unnoticed as long as he kept his shirt on, but it never went unnoticed by his friends on the beach. The teasing felt both good and bad to Aleksi, even though he couldn't figure out what was good about it. After all the flab was a sign of him getting out of shape due to the barbecues and drinking beer in the summer - a sign of weakness in his opinion. However, since it had only been two weeks since he got home from the army and he had been doing ice hockey training for a week already, he was in better shape than ever. "I'll just need to keep up with the training next summer as well! It feels awesome to be in shape in the beginning of the season," he thought. While the weight that he usually gained in summertime was always less than five kilograms (less than 11lbs), it did slow him down a little and he was always at his best in the end of the hockey season rather than in the beginning. 

After Aleksi put his clothes on, he went to the kitchen to have breakfast. As usual, his mother had prepared it for him, which annoyed him greatly. He knew that his mother just wanted to be nice to him, but Aleksi felt that it just added up to the control that his parents had over him. 

"Here you are, honey," his mother said handing over two slices of toast along with some cucumber, cheese and slices of tomato.

"Thanks," Aleksi said and sighed. 

His mother ignored the sigh and smiled to him. "Are you sure that you want to move out? I'm sure it would be much easier for you to study here since you wouldn't have to do so much household chores."

"We've already had this discussion, Kaisa. Our boy wants to live on his own and we shouldn't stop him," Aleksi's dad, who was reading a newspaper in the dining table, said.

"I know, I know... It is just that - never mind," Aleksi's mother said. 

Aleksi's parents started talking about some article on the newspaper and gave Aleksi time to eat. He understood his mother's feelings since he was the only child but he thought that he would become crazy if he stayed home. He wanted to have more time for himself. 

When Aleksi had finished his breakfast, it was time to do the final packing. It only took him about half an hour as he had already packed most of the things that he would want to take with him the day before. After packing, he took his stuff to his dad's van and the two of them left for Aleksi's new apartment.

Aleksi had inherited the apartment from his grandfather, whom had had many apartments and given one as inheritance for all of his grandchildren. Thus the apartment was already furnished -  and Aleksi had chosen the furniture himself a few years ago when his grandfather was still alive - and the unpacking didn't take much time. After they were done, Aleksi's father left leaving him alone. Aleksi sat on the sofa and smiled. He was finally on his own. He started playing some video games on his Xbox. 

The hours went by without Aleksi noticing. The first thing that got him to thinking of doing something else was his stomach rumbling. Aleksi was torn between ordering pizza or going to McDonald's to get a big mac. In the end he decided to do both. Having the big mac, french fries and a family sized pizza with tuna, ham, olives and double cheese, he felt a little bit guilty. "It'll be just this once," he told himself and tuck into the food. It was delicious. After eating he was shocked how quickly he had actually eaten the food. He had thought of going for a jog after eating, but now that he was very full, he thought it would be better to wait a couple of hours. Thus he just went back to play some video games.

It didn't take long until Aleksi's phone rang. It was his friend Tuomas, who invited him to eat pizza with him.

"I just ate, perhaps some other day?" Aleksi replied.

"Oh, come on. You told me yourself that you're in a better shape than ever. How could one pizza hurt you? Besides, it's free. I'll pay for it like I promised last time," Tuomas answered. He also played in Aleksi's ice hockey team. 

Aleksi reluctantly agreed with him and he headed for the pizzeria where they were to meet. Putting on his leather jacket, he noticed that his belly was a little bloated and he was about to call Tuomas to cancel the meet up. Then he lifted his shirt and as he could still see his abs, he thought that one more pizza couldn't really hurt that much. 

When Aleksi arrived to the pizzeria, Tuomas was already waiting in one of the tables.

"I already ordered for you, if you don't mind," he said. "It's the kebab, ham and pepperoni pizza which you always order".

Aleksi had thought of ordering something small, but he just nodded and sat on the opposite of the table. 

After all Aleksi didn't regret coming. Tuomas was always a cheery person to chat with and he was on good mood himself. After eating and leaving the pizzeria, Aleksi noticed that his belt was far too tight for him and he had to unbuckle it. His pants were a bit tight as well, but he could live with that.

"You really did eat before this, I suppose," Tuomas said with a knowing smile.

Aleksi just smiled back and poked at Tuomas' belly, which was a little soft after the summer. 

"If you continue like this, it won't take long for you to get to the same point," Tuomas laughed.

"Hey, it was you who invited me!" Aleksi laughed back.

The two of them parted and Aleksi headed for his apartment to get some sleep. He felt heavy and bloated, but he thought sleeping would help him to feel normal again. He would have ice hockey training the next day and he figured he'd burn the calories there.