The girl began to set her jaw, ready to tell her mom that all she was asking for was a minute of privacy. But she could tell that this wasn’t the best time to get into an argument with her mother, even if she were to ignore the fact that she had a wet diaper on under her hastily thrown on jeans.
“All right, fine,” she conceded, giving her T-shirt one more tug before glancing down to make sure the bulge wasn’t obvious. She opened her door the rest of the way and stepped out of her room, wincing slightly at the seemingly thunderous crinkling that produced.
“Thank you, honey,” her mom smiled, kissing her on the forehead. The girl followed her to the living room, taking careful steps, half expecting her mom to turn around at any second to see if Camelia had somehow gotten behind her. But she was in the living room, where she received her own kiss goodbye.
“Play!” Camelia demanded, once their mother had driven off.
“I will,” the girl promised, kneeling down next to her little sister. “I just have to go take care of something first, okay?”
But Camelia had her hand clamped around the hem of the girl’s T-shirt. “It’ll just be a minute,” the girl tried to reassure her, prying her little fingers free, but she just grabbed hold with the other hand, shaking her head. “Okay, okay,” the girl rolled her eyes. “I guess it can wait.”
Camelia let go, beaming, then shoved what looked like it might have been supposed to be a stuffed leprechaun into her hands. The girl sat down, diaper squishing damply beneath her, reminding her that her sister’s was probably in the same condition. She set the leprechaun down and grabbed Camelia instead, tickling her tummy for a few seconds before gently tugging down her pants, only to find the diaper beneath was in much better shape than her own.
She could feel herself blushing at that thought, at least until Camelia started to tickle her in return. She wasn’t particularly skilled at it, but the girl found herself laughing anyway, and once she had started, it was difficult to stop.
And that was what was going on when she noticed her sister standing across the room, watching. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Oh… uh…” the girl mumbled, pulling free of Camelia’s grasp and sitting up, once more pulling at the hem of her T-shirt. “Just playing. I thought mom said you were…”
“I’m doing homework,” her sister said, giving her a strange look. “I just came to get some water.”
“Well, there isn’t any in here,” the girl snarked. Her sister stared at her and Camelia for several long moments, then finally turned around and left.