“Actually, I think I’ll keep them,” she told her mother. She knew this decision wouldn’t sit well with her, but now that she knew she could handle night shifts, she saw no reason not to. Besides, she wanted to be around to witness some of the things Dario talked about.
Nancy sighed. “I was afraid that you’d say that. Don’t be surprised if your father or I check up on you.”
“Fine, mom.”
Despite having been up late the night before, Megan made the most of her day. She went for a long walk, hung out with Des and Pedro and had a finger-painting session that proved to be quite therapeutic. She also procured for herself a new journal, as her old one had gotten full. The one thing she did not do was call Ron. She knew she owed him a call, but it seemed like every time they spoke she got her hopes up and disaster struck. She wasn’t feeling ready to be crushed yet again.
To compensate for what could be a long and boring night at work, Megan decided she was going to have some fun…at Dario’s expense. She wore a skirt over her diaper, a shirt that was somewhat tight and short and no panties. The idea was to give Dario ample opportunities to look at her (eg: she would drop something and bend over) and then to see if she could catch him looking. It would be a game, she thought. A harmless game.
Bledsoe’s remained a haven from the hot July heat. When she showed up for her shift, Megan was informed that they were doing good business on bags of ice and pints of ice cream. The freezer was nearly cleaned out. However, they would be restocking soon. Megan vowed to make sure that she would be around when she did: she’d be able to help herself to a pint or two of ice cream if Vern wasn’t looking.
Despite the intimacy of the night before, Megan and Dario had little to offer each other in the way of conversation. Once they got past “hello”, they really didn’t have much to talk about. Megan found herself missing Ron…. or even Ted. She could ALWAYS talk to them. My guys, she thought ruefully.
“Gonna be about 95 tomorrow,” Dario noted as he organized the candy racks.
“Yeah,” a disinterested Megan replied. She decided it was time to let the games begin.
Before she could begin distracting him, however, they had a customer.
“’scuse me,” said the thin, white-haired black man. “But do y’all have any ice cream? My grandkids love it.”
Me too, Megan thought.
“Nope,” Dario informed him. “Sorry, we’re all out.”
“Damn. What about children’s videos?”
“Try the Blockbuster.”
“Don’t you have anything for kids to do? They won’t sleep and they are drivin me and my wife crazy!”
Megan giggled, much to her customer’s consternation. “Umm….we have coloring books,” she quickly suggested. “And a few toys. They are right in that aisle.”
“Thank you.”
“You shouldn’t laugh at customers,” Dario advised once he had departed.
Megan shrugged. “I wasn’t doing it to be mean,” she answered.
Things quickly flattened out and Megan found herself bored once more. She selected a display near the front of the store and went about ‘reorganizing it’ (even though it was organized to begin with). In doing so, she knelt down and gave Dario a good view of her from where he stood behind the counter. She was fairly sure that her shirt had ridden up and her diaper was peaking over the top of her skirt. She peered ever so slightly over her shoulder to see if he was looking. It was very hard to tell, but it appeared that he was. Megan smiled and gave her butt a little shake. This was going to be fun.
The fun, however, wore out quickly for Dario. He had been watching Megan bend over and lean down and expose her diaper to him. He knew what she was doing and he found it to be quite annoying.
“All right, that’s enough!” he snapped.
“Enough of what?” she answered naively.
“I know what you’re doing, Megan.”
She smiled. “Oh yeah? What am I doing?”
“Exposing yourself and then trying to see if I notice.”
She feigned shock. “Exposing myself? Why whatever do you mean?”
“Your diaper,” he told her, his annoyance increasing.
Megan shrugged. “Oh. That. Well…I don’t see anything wrong with it, so nyuh!”
“Well I do,” he replied. “And I’m going to write a complaint to Vern if you don’t cut it out.”
Her eyes momentarily went wide. “Shit…OK…I was just fooling around. You wouldn’t really do that, would you?”
He shook his head. “No, but….”
She would have to wait to hear the rest of his thought. They had another customer. Make that two customers, although only one seemed to be in a position to buy anything.
The chime above the door went off and a red-haired woman of about thirty-five entered. She was fundamentally good-looking, but was dressed slovenly: her cutoff shorts showed too much of her chunky legs and it was clear from her tight-fitting tank top that she wore no bra. Her hair was a mess and it looked like she had just been dragged out of bed.
Attached firmly to the woman’s arm and being dragged in against his will was a young boy, probably about 8 and certainly no older than 11. His hair was blonde, but there were enough similarities between him and the woman to conclude that they were probably related. The boy was screaming in protest, and with good reason. He was dressed in a pair of dinosaur-print pajamas that displayed, much to his obvious discomfort and embarrassment, a large wet spot around the crotch.
“Danmit, Ricky!” the woman scolded. “I told you what’d happen if you wet the bed again. I told you!”
“Noooo,” Ricky whined as she dragged him towards the diaper aisle. “Please!”
“Don’t make a scene!”
Megan was aghast. She looked to Dario, who only nodded and shrugged. The message was clear: don’t get involved.
A moment or two later, the woman approached the counter. One hand was wrapped firmly around Ricky’s wrist in a death grip. In the other, she held a package of baby diapers.
Megan knew better than to say anything, but she felt bad about what was happening. The poor kid must be feeling really embarrassed. She could empathize. If her parents had tried to force diapers upon her, she’d have probably felt the same way.
“You know,” she said, trying to remain polite. “We do sell GoodNites.”
“I know,” the woman answered curtly. It was clear she wanted diapers. Perhaps she sought to punish the kid by humiliating him as well as putting an end to the bedwetting.
Megan rang up her purchase and handed her her change and receipt. She watched in disgust as she hauled the kid out the door, cautioning him that he’d ‘get it’ once they were home if he didn’t be quiet.
“That,” she declared. “Is sad.”
“Tell me about it,” Dario answered.
“What were you going to say to me before they came in?”
He shrugged.
“You said you wouldn’t write me up, but you would do something. What is it?”
“Forget it.”
“Aw, come on.”
“I was going to say that if you didn’t cut it out, I’d spank you. It was a stupid thought.”
Megan giggled and watched as his face reddened. “You want to spank me?”
“No, but…”
“What if I had kept on annoying you?” she asked. “Would you have done it?”
He sighed. “Maybe. But not for real and only to get you to stop.”
“Stop doing what?” she asked as she lifted up her skirt. “This?”
“Cut it out.”
“See my diaper,” she said amusedly. “It’s so soft. It’s not wet right now, but…”
“All right, that’s it!” he declared with sudden authority.
Megan froze. Maybe she SHOULD stop messing around. Or was it too late.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’ll stop.”
He nodded and went back to ignoring her.
“Well?” she asked. “Aren’t you going to do what you said you would?”
“No.”
“I know this is a place of business and all and that I’ve been totally off the wall tonight, but Dario, you really need to lighten up. You’re worse than Josh!”
He seemed genuinely shocked. “Worse than Josh? I’ll show you worse than Josh…”
He instructed her to lean over the counter and remain still. Megan did so, although somewhat hesitantly. She had absolutely no idea of what he would or would not really do.
She found out relatively quickly. Dario lifted up her skirt and gave her a few light smacks over her diaper. Megan could barely even feel it, but she decided not to let him know that. Let the fun continue.
“Oww!” she whined. “That really hurt.”
“It did?” he asked, surprised.
Megan smiled. “No.”
She expected him to reprimand her, but he smiled instead. “Would you like some ice cream?” he asked.
“I thought we were all out.”
“Vern has a few pints stashed here and there. We can close for a little while and I’ll split one with you if you promise not to tell.”
“Cool. That would be great.”
And so, Megan and Dario sat in the back splitting a pint of vanilla ice cream. Megan had, by a mixture of charm, guile and utter perseverance, convinced Dario to spoon-feed her. She sat on his lap while she did, feeling secure and content in both herself and her happiness.
There was nothing sexual about their interaction nor was there anything to suggest that they would take things further or ever do anything like it again. In fact, they said nothing while they ate. But to Megan, it was somewhat special just the same. Being babied like that, by someone not in her family, was unlike anything she’d experienced before. She found herself unable to explain or define or ponder how or why it happened. She just let it be.
With their ice cream break over, Megan and Dario went back to work. They had two more customers and were able to help one of them. Megan’s shift ended the same time it did the night before, and Dario walked her to her car just as he did then.
“Josh should be back soon,” he commented. “Well…see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
She found herself now utterly and thoroughly confused. To make matters worse, Ron had called while she was working and had her phone off. Thankfully, her parents had forgotten about checking up on her. That would have been all that she needed!
Ron’s message was brief, but to the point: I love you, I miss you, I want you, I want to see you again. Up until tonight, Megan shared that sentiment entirely. But what had happened made her feel differently. While Ron seemed like he could go a long way towards satisfying her needs as a woman, the little girl side of her would be totally unfulfilled. Also, she felt slightly guilty about what she had allowed (and, in fact, encouraged) to happen between her and Dario. Technically, nothing had happened and yet it felt like it had. She knew especially that if she tried to explain it, it would seem like she got tired of waiting for him.
Megan sighed and considered her courses of action. There was a chance, albeit a slim one, that she could talk Dario into babying her. Maybe they could make it a regular thing. And then maybe they could introduce more adult elements into the equation. Megan wasn’t particularly attracted to him, but she knew an attraction could develop over time. Besides, he was non-violent, responsible, stable and probably also understanding as well. If (and it was a big if), she could make that happen, it would fulfill all of her needs at once. Then again, that would mean breaking things off with Ron.
Ron, on the other hand, was a conundrum in his own right. She felt attracted to him, they had much in common and they had the ability to satisfy one another. However, her every attempt to further things between them ended in disaster. Additionally, there was a part of him that remained a mystery and a part of her that she wasn’t sure he’d fully understand. Then again, he was the closest she’d come all summer and it’d be a shame to let that go to waste.
Or, Megan thought, I can stall and do nothing. However, she knew this was a short-term measure at best.
A.)Megan decided to call Ron back the next day and see about making arrangements. This time, she figured, things could not go wrong. And if they did, she’d be ready for that.
B.)Megan decided to call Ron back the next day and tell him that things weren’t working and wouldn’t work. She’d be honest and sincere with him, but also let him down easy and hope that they could still remain friends.
C.)Megan decided to wait a few days and see what happened. Maybe things would change of their own volition and she wouldn’t be faced with making such a difficult decision.