Ashton

Chapter 3

As soon as Ella saw her brother come out of the bathroom her eyes bugged out and her hand went to her mouth in an attempt to stifle a scream. "Oh my God Ashton, you look so cute," she said.

"Please don't antagonize your brother," Lori said as she ushered her children out of the security area. She recognized her sister Jennie in the lobby and they rushed together and had a big hug. It had been over a year since they had seen Jennie, but she hadn't really changed, she was 4 years older then Lori, with similar reddish brown hair, but much longer and more loosely styled. She was wearing a mid length dress made from natural fabrics and lace that gave off a hippie vibe.

"It's so good to see you all," Jennie said as she stepped back from her hug and looked at the two kids, "Ella you've grown so tall, and Ash? You're... so cute!" She turned to her sister with a look of confusion. "Is there something we need to talk about?" Lori explained the accident on the plane and the lost bag while Ashton stood there blushing and looking around, so far no one seemed to be paying him any attention. After the story Jennie walked over and kneeled down to look at Ashton at eye level. "I'm sorry this happened to you kiddo," she said and gave him a little kiss on the cheek."

"I'm sure you're all starving, I was going to take you out to Mellow Mushroom for pizza...but?" Jennie asked.

Lori pulled out her phone and started looking at the map, "There is a wal-mart but its 10 miles the other direction," She said.

"Yeah it's already late, I don't think we can make it in time if we go to buy clothes first," Jennie said.

"It's fine, let's just go eat," Ashton said.

"Oh honey, are you sure?" Lori asked. Ashton already felt like a jerk for his accident on the plane and he didn't want to be the reason that they didn't get to eat out, he loved Mellow Mushroom, plus he was growing a bit more comfortable in his sister's clothes.

"It's fine Mom, everyone thinks I'm a girl anyway," Ashton said.

"Well if it's any consolation to you, you do make a very cute girl, cuter than your Sister even," Jennie said.

"You can't keep my clothes," Ella said and everyone chuckled. They made a short drive to the restaurant and soon were ordering.

"What can I get you ladies tonight?" The waiter said and Ella laughed, and was kicked under the table by her Aunt. Everyone was ordering their own small pizza so they could try different things and when it was Ashton's turn the waiter smiled big and asked, "And for the youngest lady?"

Ashton hesitated for a moment and when he thought he saw his Mom start to ask him what he wanted he said, "I'll have the Pacific Rim."

"Excellent choice miss," the waitress said.

When the waiter was out of earshot Ashtone said, "People are never this nice to me when I look like a boy." A contagious laughter broke out at the table and Ashton felt light hearted for the first time in as long as he could remember. Ella and him got up and explored the restaurant, there was a small game room with a few other kids playing, a girl there complimented Ashton on his shortalls. It seemed to take forever for the pizzas, but they were well worth the wait. They ate, talked and had a wonderful time, and it was close to closing when they were done.

Back in Jennie's car everyone was yawning and sleepy, it was over an hour drive from the airport back to Jennie's house and past 11PM by the time she pulled into her driveway. When she looked around she saw everyone was asleep. Lori ended up carrying her son into the house. Jennie's wife Elizabeth was watching TV, and their oldest daughter Sable came down from her small room in the attic to greet them. "Where's Ashton?" she asked and then Lori gave a condensed version of the story explaining how her 11 year old son ended up wearing his sister's clothes. Lori didn't seem to realize how embarrassing it would be for her to openly discuss Ashton's bedwetting, messy accident on the plane, and just how everyone thought he was so cute in his sister's clothes. If he'd been awake then he would have been mortified.

Everyone was already half asleep so the bedroom situation was quickly worked out. Jennie and Elizabeth had a spare bedroom with a single full size bed, this would be Lori's room, their middle daughter Trish had bunk beds so Ella could bunk with her, that left Ashton. Sable had already declared she wasn't sharing her room, but her attic bedroom was the smallest room in the house anyway. It was decided that Ashton would sleep in their youngest daughter, Lisa's room, which was actually a nursery, but one of the largest rooms in the house since it also where all the toys and games were kept and doubled as a play room.

"Do you need another Goodnite?" Lori quietly asked Ella after sleeping arrangements were made,

"No Mom," Ella whined, looking like she could die.

"Jennie already put a mattress cover on your bed, Trish is sleeping so try not to wake her," Lori explained and her daughter left the room trying to hide her embarrassment. "Now for you little sleepyhead," Lori said to her 11 year old son who was sleeping on the couch. Jennie brought in a T-shirt for him to wear and Lori stripped him down, his Goodnite was wet so she went ahead and put a new one on him. Ashton was so tired he was drifting in and out of sleep as she tended to him. She picked up the small boy and carried him to the nursery and giggled when she saw what was to be his bed, it was a pink toddler bed with high bared sides. "Really?" Lori asked with a laugh.

"I know, it's not really suitable, we just bought this a few months ago and assembled it, but Lisa likes her crib and doesn't want to sleep in a bed yet," Jennie explained as Lori laid down Ashton's 34 pound, 53 inch frame in the bed. An average sized 11 year old boy would barely fit in a toddler bed, but Ashton had room to spare.

"Look it's so kind of you to let us stay here, I'm not complaining," Lori said, but she was concerned that her son was assigned to sleep in a toddler bed in a nursery, then there was the fact that soon the bed would become Lisa's.

Lori was tired but stayed up for a bit to talk to her sister and her sister's wife Elizabeth. While Jennie was soft and feminine, Elizabeth was shaper, with short brown hair, a heavyset frame and no nonsense attitude. Eventually Elizabeth asked, "Have you seen anyone about the bedwetting?"

"No, I mean I'm sure it's something to do with stress, especially now they are both doing it, and I'm hoping once they settle down here it will stop," Jennie answered.

"Yeah, more than likely, its not that uncommon for bedwetting to occur even in teenagers when there are major changes in the family," but it usually doesn't last long," Elizabeth said. Truth be told Lori found her Sister's wife to be somewhat off putting. It had nothing to do with being a lesbian, it's just her attitude. Elizabeth was very smart, she worked in computers with a big firm. Her attitude was that she just knew things that everyone else didn't in pretty much every subject matter, and apparently that included bedwetting as well.

Lori primary concern about moving here was that this is Elizabeth's house, Jennie works part time as florist, Elizabeth is the one who pays the bills, and while she was very happy to allow her to stay, Lori knew that she needed to get a job and get her own place as soon as possible.