Jessica awoke the next morning to the familiar feeling of cold, damp pyjamas and sheets. She was about to jump out of bed and get cleaned up when she remembered that Kevin was lying in the bed next to her. Her skin prickled crimson, she hadn’t meant to fall asleep, she had planned to lie in bed for a while until she thought Kevin’s sleep was deep enough that her getting up wouldn’t wake him, but she must have drifted off. She looked over at Kevin; at least he still seemed to be asleep. She climbed out of bed quietly and made her way to the bathroom for a shower.

Once showered Jessica wrapped a towel around herself and made her way back to her bedroom, she glanced over at Kevin. He still appeared to be asleep; she hoped he wouldn’t wake whilst she changed her sheets. She got dressed quickly, and then Jessica stripped her bed and took the wet sheets into the bathroom, where she picked up her wet pyjamas and took the damp bundle downstairs to the washing machine. With her sheets and pyjamas spinning inside the machine Jessica went back upstairs, and opened the door to the airing cupboard on the landing, where she took out a clean sheet. She went back to the bathroom and filled a bucket with warm soapy water. She picked up a sponge and an old-looking towel and went back into her bedroom.

She dipped the sponge into the water, and wiped down her waterproof sheet. She dried it off with the towel before putting the clean sheet on top of it. She made the bed, and thought that perhaps Kevin would think she hadn’t wet the bed at all. However, when she turned around to take the bucket of water out of her bedroom she caught him watching her. She quickly left the room to conceal her embarrassment, and waited a few moments before shyly going back into her room to face Kevin.

“Come here,” Kevin gestured to the bed, and waited for Jessica to climb in with him, “Thank you, for going to sleep last night. I know you didn’t want to, and I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to, but… I want you to know that bedwetting doesn’t bother me, and that you don’t have to be worried about me seeing it. And… I guess I just appreciate the fact that you kept your promise, and went to sleep, I didn’t know if you would. I thought maybe you wouldn’t trust me, but you did, so thanks for that.” And with that Kevin showed his gratitude with a long, slow kiss.

The following Thursday Jessica was at Kevin’s house, he lived just a five minute walk from their sixth-form college, and so Jessica would often spend her free-periods there, and frequently spent the evenings there after college. Kevin, who had passed his driving test just a couple of months after his seventeenth birthday, would then give Jessica, who lived over 5 miles out of town, a lift home in his car.

“There’s a gig on at The Marble tomorrow night,” Kevin told Jessica, The Marble was a local club which often held small gigs, where three or four local bands could play for their peers, “Charlie and Jason’s band is playing, I was thinking maybe we could go watch them. I’d like to see them play”

“Oh, I don’t know if I can. My Dad’s going to some leaving do with people from work, he wouldn’t be able to take me home, and you know there aren’t any buses back to mine.”

“That’s okay, you can stay at mine.” Kevin suggested, “In fact I won’t take no for an answer, you’ve said before you’d like to see their band play.”

“But… you know why I can’t stay with you.”

“And I’ve told you before, there are no reasons why you can’t stay with me. You can’t sleep on your own for your whole life, I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to, I’ve said that before.”

Jessica didn’t sleep well on Thursday night; she couldn’t stop worrying about spending the following night at Kevin’s. She could hardly concentrate at all through college on Friday. Even at The Marble, fuelled with alcohol and watching her friends’ band, Dirty Pigeon Strokers, Jessica couldn’t quite relax. The knot in her stomach was getting tighter and tighter as the end of the night grew closer and closer.

As they walked back to Kevin’s house from The Marble Kevin could sense that something was wrong, “Are you okay? Are you cold, do you want my jacket?”

“No, I’m fine, just a bit tired, and drunk.”

Kevin laughed, “I noticed you couldn’t walk straight. It’s not far now though, we’ll have you tucked up in bed in no time.”

Jessica didn’t like to say that that was the problem. Although she knew that she could stay awake all night, she also knew that if she didn’t she’d wake up in Kevin’s bed. Not only would she humiliate herself by wetting the bed, she would also ruin his mattress, and wet on him as well. She didn’t think he’d be so understanding after that.

Back at Kevin’s house the couple crept into the house, careful not to wake his parents or younger brother, They went up to Kevin’s room, “Do you need to go to the bathroom or anything?”

Jessica nodded, and fetched her toothbrush from the bag she’d left at Kevin’s earlier in the day. When she returned from the bathroom Kevin was already in his large double bed.

“I guess I ought to go and clean my teeth too,” he jumped out of bed, “You won’t want to kiss me if I stink of beer. You make yourself comfortable.”

Jessica got into his bed, and she was surprised to hear the familiar crinkle of a waterproof sheet, she knew it had never been on his bed before. Had he bought one for her benefit? Was he expecting her to sleep, and wet, with him in the bed next to her? Maybe he was planning on sleeping on the floor, but when he returned from the bathroom he climbed into bed next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and they snuggled down over the duvets, her head resting on his chest.

“Goodnight Jess, sleep well, okay.”

“Night Kev,” Jessica knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep that night. She would have to keep herself awake.

Jessica squirmed again in the bed, the pressure was building on her bladder, the alcohol she had drunk earlier in the evening had worked it’s way through her system, and was desperate to escape her body. Kevin, fast asleep and snoring gently, still had his arms around her; it would be impossible for her to move without disturbing him. She didn’t want to wake him, but she knew she didn’t have much choice. She moved a hand down to her crotch, and squeezed in-between her legs, clenching her muscles again. She would have to get up soon before she peed in his bed; barely acceptable when she was asleep she knew it certainly wasn’t acceptable if she was awake.

Jessica took a deep breath, and quickly got out of Kevin’s bed, he groaned as she moved him, disturbing his sleep, but she didn’t stop to see if he had awoken. She rushed to the toilet, and only just made it in time, a few droplets or urine dampening her underwear.

Jessica figured that Kevin would have rolled over and gone back into a deep sleep, and so instead of going back to bed and disturbing him again she crept downstairs. It felt strange tiptoeing around Kevin’s house so late at night, alone, with his family all asleep upstairs. She went into the kitchen, flicking on the lights and blinking several times. When her eyes had to adjusted to the brightness Jessica looked at the clock on the wall, 4:35. It was only two hours since she’d gotten to Kevin’s house after the gig, why did time always appear to stop when she was the only one awake?

“Jessica, why did you get up? Come back to bed.”

Jessica jumped when she heard Kevin’s voice behind her, “I, I just got up to go to the toilet. I didn’t mean to wake you, sorry.”

“That’s okay, come on, you’ll be tired all day tomorrow if you don’t get enough sleep.” He turned and started walking back to his room, gesturing for Jessica to follow

Jessica didn’t get up again in the night, she lay in bed, Kevin asleep beside her, but she didn’t let herself sleep. She was pleased that the sun started to rise just after 5am, and as light shone through Kevin’s thin curtains she was able to busy her mind examining the various posters adorning his walls.