Paige O’Bannon whispered a prayer as she tried to pull up the zipper of her blue knee-length dress. She was about to be late for church and from the sound of the horn outside her best friend, Tiffany was ready to go. The two never missed a service but the size 22 dress was giving her more trouble than usual. She was plus sized and noticed that lately she had more clothes that didn’t fit than she had that did. She attributed her current bout of overeating to the loss of her grandmother, Deidre Marshall. Paige was always closest with her grandmother and in the six months that she had been gone, she was finding comfort in her grieving at the bottom of bags of Cheetos and filling the love she missed with the soul food that she would have gotten from her grandmother.

Tiffany leaned on the horn again as she looked at the door of her best friend’s apartment. It was almost ten and if they wanted to get a good pew they needed to hurry. She was sure that someone was lying in bed cussing her out for starting their day with the sounds of her horn but she didn’t have any other choice. She would have called her but she decided that it would be better to leave her phone at home and respect the house of the Lord. Plus, last Sunday she’d brought it and was beyond embarrassed as her phone chimed in the middle of Pastor Williams’ sermon. Now she wished she has it. Tiffany leaned on the horn again before her worry got the best of her. What if Paige was hurt? Or worse? Dead. Her weight had always worried her but now between the extra pounds and the loss of her grandmother, anything could have happened. Tiffany got out of the car and approached Paige’s door, hoping today wouldn’t be the day she found her best friend dead.

“Paige?” Tiffany called out as she put the spare key back in it’s hiding place.

When she didn’t hear anything, she ventured further. Paige’s apartment looked the same so she knew that no masked man had come for her friend in the middle of the night. When she rounded the corner and saw the bedroom door open she could finally hear Paige.

"Paige,” Tiffany slipped in. “Are you all right?”

Sitting in the corner with her knees to her chest was her best friend, sobbing uncontrollably.

“I can’t…I can’t…” Paige managed to get out.

“Can’t what, sis?” Tiffany sat down beside her and threw an arm her.

“I can’t get in this dress. I just can’t. My fat ass broke the zipper. Now it’s ruined…”

Tiffany hated the despair that had her best friend. She always tried to encourage her as much as possible but she never thought anything was getting through.

“Paige, we can find you something else to wear. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay,” Paige yelled. “I love this dress. It was the dress my grandma gave me. It’s the last thing she…,” it all seemed to hit her hard and she didn’t know what to do.

“Okay. I’m sorry. Listen, let’s find you something else to wear and head to church, Maybe…hearing the word will help.”

Paige sat back and thought about how she must have looked like a fool. She wiped her tears and stood.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Paige turned to her closet.

“Don’t be. I get it,” Tiffany helped by pulling out a navy A-line skirt while Paige looked for a top. “Tomorrow we’ll look into getting the dress fixed. Cool?”

“Yeah, girl. That’s fine.”