Erin carefully shut the bedroom door.
She had awakened before Hailey, which seemed to be happening more and more recently. Perhaps she just needed less sleep than her cousin, although it seemed odd for that to be the case. They were both very close in age, and they were related, so they should be very similar physically, right?
Well, it really wasn’t that much of a sleep difference. Hailey would generally be awake within a half hour of Erin, and she was such a light sleeper that she would wake up anyway if Erin wasn’t extremely careful about leaving the room quietly.
This morning, though, she knew the reason why she was awake earlier: her bladder was furiously informing her that release was imminent. She made her way to the bathroom.
Really, this need to pee was a good thing; needing to go this badly when she woke up could only happen if her bladder hadn’t emptied during the night. Indeed, the garment that she was now pulling down her legs along with her pajama pants was still dry.
She stared at the garment as a faint trickling sound gradually increased in volume. If only it could be like this every morning: dry diaper and using the toilet.
Well, that was a minor fallacy. If she was dry every morning, she wouldn’t be wearing the diaper.
Or would she? She certainly wouldn’t need to, but she’d also be denying her cousin access to the diapers that Hailey so completely enjoyed getting a chance to use.
Erin was torn. On one hand, it seemed really wasteful to be wearing a diaper each night if she didn’t need to. She wasn’t so young that she didn’t know that diapers weren’t free, and she did feel bad that she was bringing an additional expense upon her aunt and uncle when they were certainly already paying quite a lot to feed, house, and clothe her.
On the other hand, she knew how much Hailey was enjoying the opportunity that Erin’s use of diapers was giving her. Hailey had basically gotten to a situation where she could wear diapers at night or in public with her parents’ full blessing, as long as Erin was wearing them as well. Hailey still couldn’t be caught using the diaper, but finding a way to use a diaper she was already allowed to wear was a much easier obstacle to overcome than finding a way to wear a diaper in the first place.
Well, not that it particularly mattered. Her nightmares were becoming slightly less frequent, but she was still waking up wet often enough even without bad dreams. As much as she wished it weren’t so, she did need the diapers, and she was thankful that her aunt and uncle were at least willing to provide her a solution to her accidents that afforded her a little dignity.
Finished with the toilet, Erin wiped up and flushed. Her diaper was still dry, so there was no real need to change out of it immediately; she certainly could go back to her room and put on some panties, but there was really no reason to do so. It would be better to wait till she took a shower, like usual, so she could simply change all of her clothes at once. She pulled the diaper back up and reseated it properly, following it up by pulling up the thin summer pajama pants which did nothing to hide what she was wearing under them. It didn’t bother her, though; there was nobody in this household she needed to hide the diaper from.
Going back to change into panties now would have been imprudent in any case. Hailey was still sleeping, and though Erin had managed to change in the past without waking her, it was a difficult task and one at which she couldn’t guarantee her success.
She was momentarily jealous of Hailey, not only for not having to worry about bedwetting, but for actually finding joy in using the diapers on purpose. Heck, Hailey even did more than wet, just as she’d done yesterday afternoon, and enjoyed that too.
As quickly as the feeling came, though, it faded. Jealousy was unfair. Hailey couldn’t help that she found such an odd activity fun. In fact, Hailey must have been quite frustrated before Erin came, since she hadn’t really had a lot of chances to have accidents before she weaseled her parents into letting her wear Erin’s diapers.
And really, she had to admit that she enjoyed being useful to Hailey like that. She certainly hadn’t expected her little bathroom problems to prove beneficial, but if they indirectly helped make Hailey happy, it made them a little more tolerable.
Taking a more active role in Hailey’s fun was interesting as well. Hailey usually changed herself, but the few occasions where she helped Hailey out, though slightly awkward, made her happy. It was a really special feeling to be trusted by Hailey so much that Hailey allowed her to assist like that. She didn’t even really mind cleaning up the mess. As she’d told Hailey, she hated the feeling against her own skin, but for some reason, it didn’t really bother her as much when the mess was on someone else, even if all that was between her and the mess was a thin, disposable wipe. That fraction of an inch of fabric was enough.
Still, it was better to let Hailey clean herself up the majority of the time, just as she was for the most part responsible for her own diaper. She’d been at school long enough to know how weird people would find it if anybody found out they changed each other. Not that anybody would find out, as she had no reason to tell anybody, and she was certain Hailey wouldn’t say anything about it. Still, both of them intuitively understood that it should only be a ‘sometimes’ activity.
With Hailey asleep and her uncle at work, the only person she’d have for company this morning would be her aunt. She tramped down the stairs.
A quick search revealed her aunt to be sitting at the dining room table, sipping from a cup of coffee, a laptop computer and a number of sheets of paper spread out in front of her. “Good morning, Aunt Sue,” said Erin.
“Good morning, Erin.” She glanced back at her computer, and then looked up at her niece quickly, as if she’d remembered something important. “Oh, yeah, before you get breakfast, I need to ask you something.”
Erin walked around to her aunt’s side of the table. “What is it?”
“Well, this morning, I was taking out the trash, and I noticed a grocery bag with a diaper and some wipes in it… and it was, um, dirty. I know this is kind of embarrassing to ask, but did you, uh…?” She let her question trail off, assuming that Erin would know what she was talking about.
Erin’s throat went dry and her heart began to race. It was Hailey’s diaper that her aunt had found, but she’d been the one to put it in the outside garbage bin, just as Hailey had told her to do.
But she hadn’t buried it! The realization that she’d made a huge mistake came to her. She’d let Hailey down; Hailey was going to look bad in front of her parents, and Erin knew it was her fault.
Actually, that doesn’t have to happen, she realized. Aunt Sue had assumed the diaper belonged to her niece, not her daughter. If she went along with that, well, it would save Hailey. It was Erin’s own fault anyway; she was the one who hadn’t made sure the messy diaper was properly hidden.
And my aunt already expects me to be having accidents. Maybe not messy ones, but it’s not really that much of a stretch. I’ve had a messy diaper before, after all.
She didn’t think she’d be in trouble, but she really hated to lie to her Aunt. She had promised Hailey, though, that she would claim that she’d been using extra diapers if Hailey’s parents noticed the slight increase in the speed at which they went through a pack. This situation was a logical extension of that; she’d keep Hailey’s secret safe, and all she had to do was pretend that the accident was hers. Hailey meant a lot to her; she was worth lying for.
“Yes, I kind of had an accident yesterday and… I’m sorry…” said Erin. She hoped she sounded convincing.
Sue’s face softened, and she pulled her niece into a hug. “Shhh, shhh, it’s okay. I’m not mad at you. I just want to know if you’re okay.”
Erin picked up from the tone of her aunt’s voice that Sue wasn’t sure whether to be concerned about the accident. “I’m fine,” she assured her aunt. “It was just an accident… I kind of waited too long to go, and before I knew it, it was too late.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re doing well. You know I love you, and I don’t want you to worry about your accident, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Now go get some breakfast.” She gave Erin one final squeeze and released her.
Erin went to the kitchen, pulled out a cereal bar from a box in the cupboard, and began to eat in silence.
By the time Erin returned to her bedroom, Hailey was awake.
Specifically, Hailey was sitting on the edge of her bed, staring off into space, and she looked extremely startled as the door opened. Erin knew exactly what her cousin had to be doing.
“You shouldn’t jump like that, it just makes you look guilty,” noted Erin, as she shut the door behind her. “You’re peeing, I assume?”
“Yeah,” said Hailey. “I just thought my mom might be coming in or something.”
“Well, first, she never comes in without knocking. And second, she’s not going to know what you’re doing just by glancing at you; you’re more likely to be caught if you act suspicious than if you just sit there naturally.”
Hailey shrugged. “I know that, but it’s really hard not to startle when you know you’re doing something wrong. Anyway, are you going to take a shower first, or should I?”
“You can go first,” said Erin.
Hailey nodded and began to pull off her pajama bottoms. With the bottoms on, it had been obvious that she was wearing a diaper; with them pulled down, it was obvious her diaper was wet.
Erin wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell Hailey about her mistake. Hailey was in the clear; she didn’t really need to know; but Erin felt guilty about keeping it a secret from her.
There was so much she was hiding, really, that she didn’t want to trouble Hailey with. Although it would be nice to have someone to talk to about it, her problems were her own. But her mistake was a concern of Hailey. Even if Hailey didn’t need to know about her other problems, Erin needed to at least tell her this one.
She watched Erin put her pajama bottoms back on, this time with nothing underneath them, before working up the courage to speak. “Hailey… I screwed up yesterday.”
Hailey looked up. “What do you mean?”
“When I threw away your messy diaper yesterday… I forgot to bury it, and your mom found it.”
Hailey suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach. She’d been caught? How was she going to explain a messy diaper to her parents? She was only supposed to be wearing them to help Erin; she certainly wasn’t supposed to be using them.
Well, this was just great. Her parents would be so disappointed in her; she wasn’t going to be treated like a grown-up any more. All for one lousy mistake. She’d had it good, able to indulge in her secret while still appearing responsible, and she’d thrown it away.
She couldn’t even blame Erin for this one. It was her diaper, she should have thrown it away on her own, rather than letting her cousin do it for her. Why hadn’t she been more careful?
Erin had a pretty good idea what Hailey was thinking; even if she hadn’t been living with Hailey for nearly two months, it would have been obvious from her body language how nervous she was. “Relax, Hailey. I told her it was mine.”
Hailey looked up in surprise. “You… did?”
“Hailey, it could have been either of us as far as she knew, and she’s expecting me to be having accidents. Letting her think I had one more isn’t a problem. I know how much it means to you to keep this secret from your parents.”
Hailey didn’t know what to say. Her cousin had done that for her? She was glad, but that took some guts on Erin’s part. She lied to my mother and told her that she pooped her pants, just so I wouldn’t be caught. She pulled Erin into a tight hug, which Erin gladly accepted.
“Don’t worry about it, sis. I’m sorry, it was my fault, and I promise I’ll be more careful next time.”
Hailey wanted to tell Erin that she wasn’t mad at her, that it wasn’t really Erin’s fault because it wasn’t her responsibility to clean up after her, but she still couldn’t say anything. She nodded slowly and continued to hug Erin, thankful for her cousin’s sacrifice.