The Road Trip

Chapter 37
The Road Trip, Part 37

Part 37

The twins didn’t press for details. Thank God. 

It was simple enough for them to find a pharmacy on the way home that was a quick turn off the main road. Another wave of relief came when our cousins said they were happy to wait in the car. I wasn’t sure what Kate had planned, but surely it would be more manageable without the other two around. Trying on outfits and playing mini golf had been stressful enough with the thought of my secret being exposed; the last thing I needed was yet another situation where I had to keep up the tween act. 

The moment we entered the store and lost sight of the car, I turned towards my sister. “Kate.” For the first time in over an hour, I dropped the youthful act. “I-”

“Careful, little sis,” Kate said, “You’ve been such a good girl. If you want a change, then behave. Now, how old are you?” She held out her hand with a falsely innocent smile.

I did want a change. NEEDED a change. Thanks to my sister and my own poor decisions, I had been stuck in the messy pull-ups for over two hours. Maybe longer. Not only was it humiliating and uncomfortable, but it also wasn’t the most hygienic. “I’m twelve years old,” I replied. It was surprisingly easy to push the girly smile right back onto my face. Placing my hand in hers for good measure, I giggled, “Want to, like, lead the way?”

“Much better, Annie. Let’s go.”

Kate tugged me along, and we walked up and down the aisles of the pharmacy together for a few minutes as she looked for all the things we needed. Instead of pull-ups, she grabbed a pack of cloth diapers and pins, stating that they were better for the environment. On a nearby shelf, she found baby powder and some kind of cream before telling me to head to the check out area while she went to grab one or two other things from a different area. 

I didn’t question her in the slightest, as I was motivated to do as I was told. Not only because I wanted to be in clean underwear as quickly as possible, but also because I didn’t want the twins to come in looking for us when I had an armful of babyish things. It was more efficient to split up, plus it meant a minute or two of not acting like an overly energetic girl. 

Maybe my luck was finally turning around. There was a self-checkout area; that was my preference anyway, but especially when it came to ringing up all the things I was holding. It only took a minute to scan everything, leaving me anxiously tapping my foot while I waited for my sister. I didn’t have my phone or my credit card to text her or to pay, and the last thing I needed was for an employee to notice that I was just standing around when I didn’t actually need help. 

Kate arrived later than I would have liked, just after I scanned a pack of mints to keep the machine from talking to me. “Go wait by the bathrooms,” Kate said. Not a question. “Oh, and you’ll pay me back for this stuff, right?”

Awkwardly smiling a beat too late, I couldn’t help but fiddle with one of the pigtails, “Umm, like, yeah,” I nodded. Technically this stuff was for me, even if this had started with Kate’s dare. “I will.” Once again, in the name of saving time, I didn’t ask any questions. Leaving the register and my sister right away, I circled the edges of the pharmacy until I found the restrooms in the corner. 

It didn’t take long for Kate to join me again, with everything double bagged. While I appreciated the fact that she was being discreet, a part of me was well aware that it served her purposes, too. As long as our cousins were in the dark about all of this, I would behave. And, instead of ripping off the band-aid and coming clean, I allowed my brat of a younger sister to keep the leverage she had. 

Just like when this whole thing began, she followed me into the private bathroom and closed the door behind us. “Okay, sis. Get out of those adorable clothes and let’s get started.” She walked over to the changing table tucked into the wall and made short work of taking it out for us to use. 

“Umm . . . ” I blushed. Was she serious? I was small, but I wasn’t that small. And, while the implication that Kate would be ‘helping’ had been looming over my head for the last few minutes, it felt a lot more real now that we were in here together. Instead of taking a shower and sorting myself out, I was going to let my eighteen year old sister clean me up like I was a child she was babysitting. 

“Go on, Annie. Strip.” It was such a casual command. Kate didn’t even bother looking at me while she said it. Instead, she simply walked over to the bathroom sink and set the bags down on the surrounding counter space. The diapers and pins were familiar as she pulled them out, and the pack of wipes must have been one of the items she grabbed when we split up. 

As close as I was to getting out of the mortifying mess, I found myself stalling the very thing I had been desperate for until now. “Kate, hold on,” I began. While I very badly wanted to be done with the sagging pull-ups, the sight of my sister taking the cloth diapers out of their packaging made me come to my senses enough to push back on what was clearly the plan for after I was clean. “I, umm . . . like, I don’t need diapers.” We were literally on the way back to the house. I wasn’t a huge fan of going commando, but I could certainly handle it for a few minutes and then get something from my duffel bag once we were back. 

Kate just sighed. “You promised me, Annie,” she said. Setting the things in her hands down, she turned to me and placed a hand on her hip. “All weekend, remember?”

’Under duress,’ I wanted to add. But a promise was a promise in our family. Still, technically I had specified something else. If Kate could play those games, then so could I. It felt childish to nitpick, but if it would save me from the fate my sister had in store for me . . . “No, I promised to wear my pull-ups all weekend,” I reminded her, “Like, not diapers.”

Without missing a beat, she said, “Then let’s return these. If you didn’t want a change, you should have said so.”

“NO.” The exclamation left my lips before I could stop it. I could feel the blush darkening as my voice echoed off the bathroom walls, and I followed up the borderline immature protest with an attempt at being quiet and calm in contrast. “Look, whatever. Diapers are fine.” At the end of the day, being clean was the highest priority, and I was not about to let her snatch away that opportunity. 

“You really are something, Annie,” Kate said. With an eye roll and a little shake of her head, she once again instructed me to strip. This time, I reluctantly listened, and she got to work laying out one of the cloth diapers on the changing table. With the shortalls off and draped over one of my arms to partially cover my exposed thighs and the embarrassing sag of the pink pull-ups without the outfit to support the bulky underwear, I tried my very hardest to pretend that none of this was bothering me. Kate just smirked. “Hop up, little sis. Don’t worry, I’ll help.”

Timidly stepping forward, feeling more and more exposed as the cool bathroom air created goosebumps on my bare legs, I approached the plastic table. The hesitation clearly didn’t match the false indifference I hoped was visible on my face, but I couldn’t will myself to go any faster. If I went through with this, Kate would forever have the upper hand in our relationship. But if I didn’t, I’d be stuck in used pull-ups all night and risk being discovered by our relatives who would no doubt spread the word throughout our whole family. Right now, I only had to worry about one girl . . .

And she knew what my choice would be. “Here, I can take these,” she said, gently pulling the shortalls away. Then, after reaching out to flick one of my braids, she said, “Now, tell me your name, tell me your age, and promise to wear your diapers all weekend.”

“But-”

“No buts. Now you have to promise to wear them for a week. Go on, little sis.”

I froze. 

A week?! I couldn’t promise that! But once again, I felt like I was stuck between two evils . . .