Eager Beaver

Chapter Thirteen - Lights Out

The toilets were dank and dingy, the cold feeling of the tiles on my bare feet making me shiver all over. I flicked off my headlamp as I approached, spying a murky yellow light illuminating the wall above the furthest stall - the extractor fan humming softly through the echoey chamber. My nose wrinkled at the pungent smell, and I briefly considered going back for my shoes, but a tug in my bladder dissuaded me; propelling me forward towards the second-to-last stall.

Flipping up the seat, I turned around and pulled my cuddly blue fleece pajama bottoms down to my ankles - the feel of the chilly air stinging my bare thighs. I frowned, once again glimpsing the infantile image of the fuzzy ducklings parading across my pull up, but I tugged those down too and shuffled backwards to perch awkwardly atop the toilet. I was too little for my feet to reach the ground, so instead I swung my legs casually back and forth - the absorbent underwear clinging to my lower leg making me feel every bit a baby. I didn't regret making Laurie feel better, but the quasi-diaper was really starting to get to me. I was eleven years old! What kind of eleven-year-old wore pull-ups? I would have felt a little better if I was confident that they were strictly bedwetting pants, but I was pretty sure these were the same type made for potty training toddlers! It was downright humiliating!

Figuring that Laurie would be none the wiser, I was just wondering if I should rip them off and throw them in the trash, when I heard an unexpected sound from the stall next door. I gave a start of fright, the tiny tinkling of a stream of pee on ceramic accompanying the release of my bladder, but I soon recovered - identifying the noise as the pitiful sniffling sobs of a crying boy! Indisposed, I stayed glued to the toilet seat as I peered down through the gap at the bottom of the stall, seeing a familiar pair of worn out brown sneakers.

"Hello?" I asked hesitantly, knocking softly on the divider "Are you okay in there?"

"Huh?" the boy replied, letting out a few more sniffs before he managed to compose himself.

"Yeah - I'm good! Just...nothing!"

"Zach?" I asked. "Are you crying?"

"N...no!" Zach shouted back, a little more hostile. "Cooper?"

"Yeah." I confirmed. "It's okay if you were..."

"I wasn't crying!" he insisted angrily, his voice echoing around the ceramic tiles. I didn't really know what to say - just letting the silence hang for a moment - before I heard Zach's voice again, more curious than outraged this time "Are you...wearing a pull up?"

I let out a horrified squeak at the accusation. If I could see Zach's shoes, then of course he could just as easily see my bare feet - and the pull up nestled around my ankles! I wanted desperately to pull them up again, but I hadn't quite finished peeing, instead simply grunting in frustration as I willed my bladder to empty out faster. After what seemed like an age, I was done - jumping to my feet and tugging up both pull ups and pajama bottoms in one hurried motion. I hadn't had time to shake, and a little wetness escaped onto the absorbent front, making me shiver in embarrassment.

"Coop?" Zach insisted.

Now it was my turn to issue a frenzied denial. "No! I'm not!" I squeeked, hands shaking as I unlocked the stall and stumbled out into the bathroom proper - planning to sprint right back to the cabin.

Zach was already there however, standing sentinel below the flickering yellow light. I looked up at him, mortified, but he looked just as shaken as I was - his usual sullen expression deepened to a terror-struck glower and his eyes still glistening with tears. "It's okay if you are." he echoed, extending a single shaking finger forward to indicate where the waistband of my pull up was sticking obviously out the top of my pajamas.