By mid afternoon, Hailey could feel her colon was becoming full. She could certainly wait a few more hours before going — in fact, she was reasonably certain she could get by with waiting overnight if she had to — but she knew that she was capable of having a satisfying bowel movement now, and she didn’t know how much longer Erin would be sick.
She hoped it wouldn’t be long. As nice as this opportunity was for her, she really didn’t like seeing Erin suffer like this. She grabbed a cup from the kitchen cabinet and filled it with some Sprite from the fridge; her mother had always given her the citrus soda when she had an upset stomach, and Erin was probably thirsty by now.
Other than a brief interruption for lunch that Sue had brought in, Erin had been somewhere between asleep and awake for most of the day. She couldn’t get comfortable enough to sleep properly, as she had to constantly pull up and down her covers to compensate for the temperature differences that kept sweeping over her body.
The soup and crackers that had made up her lunch lay on her nightstand, mostly uneaten, but the glass that had accompanied the meal was empty. As much as she didn’t feel like eating, her throat had been dry all day. She had wanted more to drink, but not quite badly enough that it was worth getting out of bed, and she’d remembered hoping her aunt and cousin would come in and give her a refill.
She felt mildly confused, though, as she realized she couldn’t remember what she’d been thinking for the last few minutes. She glanced over at the clock, and determined she’d lost an hour and a half.
I guess I actually did manage to fall asleep, she thought. But then…
She instinctively checked her diaper and realized that she was a little bit damp. Great, I got to wake up wet twice in one day.
Looking up, she determined what had awakened her: a silhouette, whose size betrayed its owner as Hailey, was standing in the doorway. “How are you doing?” her cousin asked.
Erin sat upright slowly, testing how she felt. “Still tired, still sweaty, but at least I don’t feel like I’m in imminent danger of throwing up anymore. But I’m a little wet,” she admitted.
“Would you like some help changing?”
More than anything at that moment, Erin knew she wanted Hailey to assist her, and she wasn’t feeling well enough to insist on doing it herself. “I guess so,” she admitted, a slight twinge of embarrassment in her voice.
Hailey turned around and immediately began removing the covers and Erin’s clothes as necessary to get to the girl’s diaper. “Don’t be ashamed,” she reassured her cousin. “I’m sure you won’t mind another diaper?”
Erin nodded her approval. She’d already used the last two she’d been wearing, and she still felt worn out, even after her nap. If she did actually manage to fall asleep again this afternoon, she’d certainly want to be sure to be wearing one.
As Hailey wiped Erin down, she decided to pose her question. “I have a favor to ask of you as well.”
Erin nodded again; she had no plans to disagree — not that she was in a position right now to disagree if she’d wanted to. Of course, she’d do what Hailey needed, but she hoped it would be something that wouldn’t be too much trouble for her in her current state of sickness. “What do you need?”
“Well… I need to poop, and you’ve already had a messy accident today, so my parents would be expecting it…”
Erin immediately saw where Hailey was going. “So you want to use your diaper, and you think she’ll believe it was me if she finds it after you throw it away.”
Hailey blushed. “Only with your permission, of course. I don’t want her thinking you had another accident if that’s not what you want.”
“No,” said Erin, “That’s fine.” She shifted her weight slightly to make it easier for Hailey to put a fresh garment on her and put her nightclothes back into place. “I’ll say it was me if it comes down to that.”
Hailey gave Erin a hug, careful not to touch any of Erin’s bare skin with the hands she’d just used to change a diaper. “Thanks. I can, um, do that now, then?”
“Yes,” said Erin. “Go ahead.”
Hailey put Erin’s wet diaper in the pail and washed her hands with a second wipe. She retrieved another diaper from their stash, putting it on and pulling her pants on over it. She then squatted down beside her bed as Erin watched with mild interest. It didn’t take much effort for Hailey to get started, and her body quickly finished, stretching the diaper tight with what felt to Hailey like a reasonably large amount of mostly solid waste.
“Did you finish?” asked Erin, watching Hailey stand up.
“Yes,” Hailey said. “It feels great… thanks for letting me do this.”
It really did feel great to her, too. There was just something very comforting to her about feeling that warmth filling her diaper. She sat down on the edge of her bed, feeling it flatten under her, and had to bite her lip to keep from gasping.
“How long do you think you’ll wait before changing?” asked Erin, her voice croaking.
“Probably a couple more minutes,” admitted Hailey. “Unless the smell’s bothering you? I can change now.”
“No, no, it’s okay,” assured Erin. Certainly, the smell wasn’t something she’d actively seek out, but it was tolerable, and she couldn’t cut Hailey’s fun short, especially after all Hailey had done for her today.
They heard a knock on the door, and Hailey froze.
There was only one person that knock could be, Hailey realized. Her mother was the only other person home, and she wanted to come in the room where her daughter was wearing a messy diaper. There was no way she wouldn’t notice the smell, but would she know which girl it was coming from? Realistically, her mother would have more reason to assume that it was Erin’s diaper, given her previous accident earlier. But if her mother insisted on cleaning Erin up, and found out that Erin was clean, it would be pretty obvious who was actually the source of the odor.
Well, she’d just have to make sure to absolutely insist that she was the one to change Erin. She still didn’t like the risks, though. At least she’d put her pants back on over the diaper, but she’d never worn a diaper under these pants before, and wasn’t certain that her diaper would be hidden. She wasn’t supposed to be wearing a diaper right now! Her mother was probably going to find out…
“Don’t come in,” she heard Erin say. “I… had another accident, and Hailey’s changing me.”
“Okay,” they heard from the other side of the door. “I’ll come back in a few minutes, then?”
“Yes, that’s fine,” announced Erin.
Hailey was both relieved and impressed. Erin had found a way to keep her aunt out of the room, and she’d managed to lace her voice with just the right amount of guilt to successfully feign embarrassment. Apparently Sue was convinced, at least.
She looked Erin in the eye and mouthed a quick thank you. She quickly went to work on cleaning herself up.
Sue returned to the bedroom door just in time to see her daughter come out, holding a trash bag full of diapers that she’d apparently just taken out of the diaper pail. A familiar aroma wafted from it, indicating that one of the diapers was holding more than urine.
“Thanks for cleaning your cousin up,” said Sue. “You’ve been a great help today.”
Hailey nodded. “I’d better go take this outside before it stinks up the house, though,” she said, not trusting herself to speak much longer without somehow slipping up and giving away what she’d done. Sue nodded, allowing her daughter to continue towards the stairs as she went into the bedroom to comfort Erin.
“I know you must not be feeling that great, but I just wanted to reiterate that you shouldn’t worry about your accidents. You’re sick, and I know that having a mess like that must feel bad, but we’re here to take care of you.” She leaned over and gave Erin a hug.
Erin leaned into her aunt; she couldn’t deny that the physical contact felt good. But she felt a bit guilty that lying to her aunt led to being rewarded, even if the lie was to help Hailey out.
Well, it wasn’t a complete lie… she had just had an accident; it just wasn’t messy like she’d implied. And Hailey had been changing her, just not at the instant she’d responded. So she’d more bent the truth than outright lied.
Still, it had been necessary to help Hailey out. She’d promised Hailey earlier that she’d take the fall for accidents if required, and her cousin had even asked her in advance this time. Lying wasn’t desirable, but if it was necessary to keep her word with the best person she’d ever met, then she really had no choice. To her, Hailey was more important than anything else.