Babysat by the neighbor

Wilma opened the door to her apartment as she ushered Lauren in, the little woman stepping through the door as fast as she could.

“Now,” Wilma said as she ruffled Lauren’s hair, “let’s get you introduced to your new friends for today.”

Lauren said nothing as she was led into the living room by the old woman. Lauren looked up to see an eighteen-year-old teenager watching TV, who obviously must have been Tammy. Looking towards the couch, Lauren blushed as she saw a nerdy looking eighteen-year old boy playing a hand held video game. This was worrying to Lauren; she had assumed that Jackson and Tammy were little kids, but two eighteen-year old?! Lauren brought her arms over her chest as her cheeks turned crimson.

“Tammy, Jackson,” Wilma said sweetly, “this is Sally. She’s going to be staying with us for a little bit until either her good for nothing sister, Lauren, or her sweet and caring sister, Vanessa, gets back.”

Lauren wanted to laugh at that, but decided to stay quiet. Tammy looked up and cooed as she flashed a big toothy grin to Lauren as she waved happily, saying, “Hi, Sally!”

“Um…Hello…” Lauren squeaked in response, wiggling her fingers in a shy wave.

“Hey.” Jackson muttered, not looking up from his game.

“Jackson!” Wilma scolded. “You are being very rude to our guest! Actually look at Sally when you say hello!”

Lauren silently prayed that Jackson would ignore his grandmother, but the universe was not on her side today. With a groan, Jackson paused his game and looked up…only for him to get a good look at the newest arrival.

Jackson arched an eyebrow in confusion as he stared at Lauren. The teenager felt very conflicted about what he was seeing. Lauren’s face was burning a bright crimson as she smiled sheepishly, waving shyly at him as she covered her chest with one arm. This seemed more akin to how a girl around his age would most likely act. Of course, no girl he knew would be caught dead wearing a diaper, so that raised further questions.

“Jackson…” Wilma sternly warned, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, um…Hi…” Jackson said uneasily as he waved back before going back to his video game.

“Well, now that we know each other,” Wilma began, pushing down on Lauren’s shoulder until she sat on the floor next to Tammy, “why don’t you play with Tammy while I go and make some cookies for everyone? Play nice, girls.”

As Wilma walked away, Lauren let out a sigh as she sat next to Tammy on the couch. While she was doing this, she could feel Jackson looking at her periodically in confusion. Lauren could only pray that he wouldn’t figure it out! And if he did figure it out, she prayed that Jackson would keep it to himself!

That was when Tammy began staring at Lauren with a quizzical look. “How old are you?” Tammy asked innocently.

“Oh, I’m…um…” Lauren stammered, trying to think of how to answer this simple question. She couldn’t tell them her actual age! They were both eighteen-year-olds, for Pete’s sake! Not only that, but if Tammy told Wilma, then the old woman would put two and two together and there was no telling what she would do after that! Thinking quickly, she responded with, “I’m four. I’m just really big for my age.”

“Oh…” Tammy said in response. She blinked a few times before asking innocently, “Why are you wearing diapers?”

Lauren paled as Tammy asked the question she was dreading. She racked her brain to come up with an excuse of some kind. Anything that wasn’t Vanessa’s excuse! After several seconds, Lauren whimpered as she realized that she had nothing. With a pained sigh, she decided to go with Vanessa’s excuse.

“I’m…” she stammered, cheeks going red in humiliation as her lip quivered, “I’m still in potty-training. I’m afraid of the potty.”