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[14 Feb 2010|09:52pm] |
No, you're not fat, Ashley. You're just big boned. It was something he'd heard for a good portion of his life. From ages nine to sixteen, Ashley Michael Holcombe was not only big boned, he was fat. Yes, he'd said the word. Fat. He hated when people sugar coated things. He wanted the flat out truth. Even if it hurt. And it did. Now, in the grand scheme of things, seven years isn't much. But, it was a life time to a child.
To say that growing up overweight was hell would be an understatement. Ashley wouldn't have wished it on his worst enemy, and he had plenty of them. Kids should have thanked their lucky stars that he had been pissed enough to go nuclear on them like so many others had that landed in the news. No, Ashley wouldn't do that. He was too busy pleasing his mother, Maria, and himself by playing the piano for shows and competitions. He was taken out of school every now and then to travel to the shows, and he loved. Often, Ash would beg his mother to just home school him, but she refused. "No, in order for a child to grow up into a well rounded adult, he must interact with people his age as he grows." Yeah, right.
At a very young age, Ashley taught himself to play the piano. He'd watched his mother play after dinner every night and wanted to do the same. His parents actually worried that Ashley had some sort of disability because he "ignored" most of what they had to say and never said a word. It wasn't until he became amazed by the piano that he chose to finally speak. "Play," being his first word. From that moment on, Ash sat by his mother's side as she played, watching her intently to pick it up. It wasn't until Maria had heard him playing from her place in the living room that she had known that her son wasn't disabled. He was gifted.
Perhaps that was why Ashley had been given all the snacks he ever wanted? Because Maria felt he deserved them? Because she wanted him to know he was special? The world may never know. "Maria," his father, Michael, would sigh, "he's never going to lose weight if you keep baking him cookies." And, duh, it was the truth. But, Ashley would just eat them, and Michael would just sigh again, "It's that girly name you made us give him." Um, okay. Thumbs up, Dad.
Ashley hated the teasing, hated his love for double chocolate chip cookies dunked in chocolate milk with a slice of cheese cake on the side, hated the-okay, he loved the sweets. He had dreams of cupcakes and brownies chasing after him, begging him to eat them. He had to fix this problem and he knew it. The summer of his junior year, Ashley decided to go to a "fat camp" to try and lose the weight. Once the junk food was eliminated from his diet, it became easy to stay away from it. By the time August rolled around, there was a new Ashley Holcombe in town. Ash was so sure things would start looking up. Even his two friends didn't recognize him! This was excellent. Holy shit, a cheerleader noticed him? Ashley wanted to die and go to heaven. But, only hell was in his near future. The boys who had picked on him for being fat, hated him even more for taking their women from them. So the chubby teasing soon turned into piano teasing. Greetings went from, "Hey tubby! You wanna do the truffle shuffle for me?" to, "Hey, fag! Wanna suck my dick?" Yeah, no.
As soon as graduation day came, Ash hauled ass out of town to go to college. He ended up coming back when he found that most of the bullies in his graduating class had chosen that exact college as well. What the fuck? He ended up going to a local college, determined to keep his piano playing skills a secret so no one would think he was a loser. And, for the most part, it worked.
Ashley now has a job playing piano for shows and musicals, where he stays hidden from the crowd. Only his close friends and family knows of it. So what if there's a piano in the house he shares with his girlfriend? Visitors rarely know that he actually plays and it's not just for decoration? "Oh, that's..I dunno what that is, actually. A piano? Huh, ya don't say..." Oh yeah, he's the Clark Kent of pianists. He can dig it.
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