T_T_T

You sit on the loo far long that you really need to, unable to face Bow Kid after your almost accident.

Crazy replays of the situation run through your mind. Some see you be a big girl that doesn’t need help, the visit to the toilet being like any other. Others see you mess your nappy as Bow Kid struggles to get your zipper down, before she turns her nose up at you in disgust. For a fleeting moment, another sees you go in your nappy in the lounge, neither of you having any care in the world.

As you wonder what Bow Kid would think of you for having a messy accident, there’s a knock at the door and it opens slightly. Nobody peeks in.

“Um — do you need some help?” Bow Kid asks unsurely.

You realise she’s talking about the zipper.

“J-just a second,” you reply.

You’ve got to wipe your bottom, you realise, standing up. As you do so, you realise you also need to put the wet nappy somewhere other than on top of your PJs. Gingerly, your grab the font and back of the nappy by the plastic and place it next to the loo, unsure what to do with it, and then wipe your bottom.

After pulling the PJs up and threading your arms through the holes, you realise that maybe you should have wiped your other bits down before putting the PJs back on, but it’s too late now. With fear of a thousand different ways Bow Kid could hate you for being like this going through your mind, you walk to the bathroom door with trepidation.

What greets you is a worried face; Bow Kid’s eyes clearly wet. She nervously takes your upper arms and direct you to turn for her, before she pulls the zipper up for you. Then there’s a nervous moment before she turns you back around and pulls you into a hug. A hiccupy-sob escapes you as you hug her back.

“Are you — are you okay?” she asks worriedly, her face streaked with tears.

You nod your own tear-streaked face, the hug having evaporated your worries about Bow Kid hating you for this, but still feeling embarrassed by it.

“You shouldn’t be embarrassed,” she tells you quietly. “After everything you’ve done for me, I couldn’t…” she trails off.

But you get her meaning, giving her a wet, thankful smile, sniffling slightly as you do so. Bow Kid hugs you again.

T_T_T

Sensing your need, you’d returned to the lounge and cuddled on the couch together, using the cartoons to distract yourself from what had happened.

“Have you ever… done that in your nappy?” you ask, your voice strained.

Bow Kid nods, nervously swallowing as she did, clearly embarrassed by the admission.

“Before I outgrew my old jammies,” she said. “It was like my cat-ear jammies —” the ones you wore now “— and after I got some normal jammies.” You were curious how she ended up with this type again, though. Sensing your question, Bow Kid continued. “I got the cat-ears for the sleepover.” Bow Kid seems to fidget against you. “I was more worried about it being seen than having a messy accident.”

That made sense.

“Was it bad?” you cautiously ask. “The accident, I mean.”

Bow Kid chews her lip as she thinks.

“It was embarrassing.”

That you understood. You wished it weren’t embarrassing, that your friend never worried, but you knew that she had probably been as terrified as you had been. You cuddled into your friend some more, hoping to convey the reassurance you wanted to give her.

You found yourself wondering if the rest was bad though. It was no-doubt embarrassing, but was being messy otherwise bad? Smelly, probably, but… You’re not sure where you are going with that. Maybe if it weren’t embarrassing, you’d try it and see what it was like. But it seems a bit silly, something no one should want to try, right?

But still, you’re curious. Slowly, you muster up the courage to ask.

“Was the rest of it bad?” you ask, unable to look her in the eyes as you did.

When you finally look up, Bow Kid seems nervous. She fidgets slightly.

“N-not really. It was smelly and I didn’t want to wake mummy, so I went back to bed.” Bow Kid seemed to be in deep thought. She looked sad, renewed worry on her face. You gave her a worried smile back.

“Promise me, if I-I have a messy accident… that it will be okay?” she asks, her voice tinged with quiet desperation.

Of course. How could that ever be in doubt?

But you worried the same thing, didn’t you? That Bow Kid would think of you as a little baby who pooped a nappy like a baby, that she wouldn’t want to be friends with a baby. You can feel your eyes wet again as you give her a small smile.

“I promise,” you tell her.

A silly thought occurs to you, causing you to give something that sounds like a sob and a giggle mixed together.

“I promise, you could mess your nappy on purpose and I’d still be your friend.”

Bow Kid blinks at your response for a moment before blushing. Suddenly, she yawns. The giggles return.

“I promise as well.”

 

T_T_T

After a shower each and some food for mum, she decides that today you’d be going to the beach. It was supposed to be hot today, so the idea was to play at the beach until lunch, and then spend the hottest part of the day at the shops before going home.

Bow Kid only brought normal clothes and PJs, so she borrows some bathers from you. Like the bathers you are wearing, Bow Kid’s are in purple (the coolest colour), but hers are a bit ruffly around the waist. You didn’t like wearing them so much, but —

“It’s cute,” you tell Bow Kid.

She brightens at your compliment. It always feels good putting a smile on your friend’s face.

You’re wearing you bathers in the car because you’re going straight to the beach, but mum has packed a dress and some undies for both of you to wear afterwards (neither of you thought of that). You had thought Bow Kid should always wear a bow, but mum pointed out that it might fade in the salt-water, so that’s with the dresses.

Remembering yesterday, you don’t do up your buckle, happily talking with Bow Kid about how you were going to build the biggest sandcastle ever, before mum does it for you. She gives you a smile and pats you on the cheek before doing Bow Kid’s up as well. It felt nice for mum to look after you.

T_T_T

“Look at this!” exclaimed Bow Kid.

It was a huge shell, the biggest you’d ever just seen on a beach before. There were bigger in shops and stuff, but despite hoping too, you’d never found one, and now Bow Kid has found one.

“Cool!” you exclaim back, looking at the big spiral shell in her hands.

It’s got dark stripes on the outside, but on the inside it’s purple, which is really cool. Bow Kid lets you hold it and you try to see if there’s anything inside it. You can’t see anything though.

“Do you want it?” she asks.

Well, it would be cool to have, but…

“It should be yours, you found it.”

Bow Kid takes the shell up to where you had started building a sandcastle. It’s near water, so you’d put rocks at the front so the waves don’t get it. There’s a pool with some seaweed in it, along with a moat and some towers. Bow Kid puts the seashell in the middle of the castle you are building up and starts helping.

Shortly after, mum appears with a bottle of sunscreen in hand.

“Better safe than sorry,” she says lightly, squirting some onto her hands.

She starts with Bow Kid who patiently sits there as mum applies sunscreen onto her neck and shoulders.

Spotting a bit where mum hasn’t rubbed it in properly, you reach out and wipe it up with a finger. Bow Kid stares at you finger with confusion for just a moment, before you place the dollop of her nose.

“Bloop.”

She giggles as mum moves onto her arms. You’re sure she’s looking for an opportunity to enact her revenge, which she does when mum moves to the next arm, scooping some up just as she squirts it out of the bottle. She smears it on your forehead.

“Simba.”

As Bow Kid beams widely at you, it takes a second to realise what she meant, her façade cracking as realisation crosses your face.

“Rub it in properly, sweetie,” says mum as she squirts some more in Bow Kid’s hands so she can do her face.