LilGirlLya

Jen continued watching the movie but her attention was always on the question of 'should I get up to help?' Jen felt obligated but with each trip Lizzie made, she didn't ask for a hand or even to lift heavy boxes. She just took care of everything. Jen felt obligated but Lizzie didn't and Jen just...let her sister take care of her. It felt weird but the guilt mingled with a weird sense of satisfaction that someone was helping her. When Jen heard the fridge open she paused the movie and got off the couch. Jen slinked into the kitchen and loitered in the doorway, leaning gently on the door frame. "Hey, so...are you all done? You don't need my help, do you?"

Jen didn't realize that her sister wasn't planning on joining her and was planning on continuing to haul her stuff into the shed. It made Jen feel more than a bit awkward. Just sitting in the living room to watch a movie all while someone else was doing her own heavy lifting for her. But Lizzie was out the door now and Jen was alone in the house. She didn't know what to do. She thought about helping but, honestly, she was exhausted from the move and her sister had excused her. After standing in the room for a while thinking she decided that she'd just do as she was told. She went over to the shelf and began browsing. The collection was fairly diverse but Jen ultimately found a horror movie that looked at least half decent and at worst funny. A comedy or some summer blockbuster might be a distraction, but she wondered if build up and release of tension from a horror movie might help her work out some of the discomfort she felt about her situation.

Jen's exploration was broken by her sister speaking up and immediately she felt self conscious of how awestruck she had been of the giant playground. "Oh, um, I guess we can unwind with a movie if you'd like. I'm done unpacking for the day." Jen walked back over to Lizzy and went to join her going back into the house, sneaking one more peak over her shoulder at the playground set. "What sort of movie are you in the mood for?"

Luna rolled her eyes at the baby bottle but decided this wasn't a battle worth fighting. She accepted the bottle but didn't begin to drink it. "Moment of truth now" Luna thought, seeing if Rei was going to be put in the crib or the toddler bed.

Luna wasn't thrilled at the idea that she might have to go to daycare with Rei but her mind kept coming back to how people already perceived her. She was worried about being seen like a little kid at the airport but rather than people staring at her or laughing at her, she just blended in because she was being treated like how she looked. Luna wondered if the same might be true if she did find herself tagging along with Rei to daycare.

"Daycare?" Luna asked, looking up from her coloring, "you go to daycare? Like, every day?" Luna felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. If Rei went to daycare did that mean she would have to as well? Sure, her size meant her parents still hadn't let her stay on her own yet, they always called a sitter if they needed to go out but the sitter knew she was 13 and it was mostly about Luna just being too short if an emergency came up. As much as the idea of going to daycare with Rei scared her, she couldn't help but be just a little curious about it.

"Yeah..." Luna frowned. "People stare at me all the time, first because of just how short I am, but other reasons too." She had to admit that it was certainly different to get positive attention from strangers rather than confused stares that came with being a preschool sized teenager. "So, do we get pull-ups during the day then? I don't want to go shopping in just a diaper and my shorts should fit over pull-ups since they fit over my Goodnites."

"Yeah," Luna admitted, "they are kind of comfy. I think they're softer than my Goodnites. They don't feel as yucky as I thought they would when I had to, you know..." she said with the faintest hint of a blush. Luna shifted positions, going from sitting on her bottom to laying belly first on the floor, propping herself up on her elbows as she colored, her feet in the air behind her. "So, at the airport, they people who saw us, does it bother you that they thought we were babies and not big kids?"

Jen followed her big sister around, familiarizing herself with the layout of just where exactly everything was. It was nice to be back in a house with a lot of room rather than trying to fit everything into a one bed, one bath, one living room apartment like she had been. Just having that additional space and the neatness that her big sister maintained in it felt calming in a way the clutter of her apartment didn't. Jen followed Lizzy outside and her eyes went wide on seeing the playground. Not a slide or a playset, but a full on playground. When she was a kid she would have killed for something like this in her backyard and as an adult she couldn't help but wander through the set up, taking a look at the swings and slides and little playhouse built into the bottom. The wildest part was, she wouldn't even have to crouch down that much to get inside it. The whole thing was huge and obviously well constructed.

"Oh, uh, yeah sure." Luna sat down on the flood as Rei brought out the coloring books and crayons. She did raise an eyebrow though, even though she hadn't really colored in a while, she could tell that Rei's crayons were bigger than normal crayons. 'baby crayons' Luna thought. She sighed, there was nothing she could actually do about it right now. There probably weren't other crayons and not wanting to use Rei's baby stuff would probably make her feel bad. Luna took some crayons and got to work with the My Little Pony book and set to work coloring her namesake pony. "Hey Rei, do you like wearing diapers?"

Jen nodded along with each rule, punctuating each new one with a dutiful 'yes'. At first it almost felt a tad condescending to sit there and get a list of rules from her big sister but as Lizzy went on it felt...well still condescending but also strangely comforting. Exciting? Jen wasn't sure that was the right word either. "I don't really have any friends who would come visit, at least not that would come all the way out of the city. As far as mom and dad, yeah, I haven't talked to them since graduating university either. I really don't want to right now. Not until...well, not until things are better,"

Once again, even though Luna knew Rei had the same diaper on beneath her sleeper, it made her feel self conscious about the fact Rei at least also got to wear something on her lower half were as Luna was expected to go around in just her tee shirt and one of her cousin's diapers. Luna followed Rei to the toy chest, with each step announced by the little crinkles of the fresh diaper. She had been too embarrassed to really consider it before but the diaper wasn't terrible beside for the fact that it was clearly for babies. It was essentially just a big, softer, more comfortable version of the Goodnites she'd become accustomed too. Luna did hope though that away from bullies she wouldn't need any nighttime protection soon enough, especially since Akiza mentioned buying her diapers of her own for bed instead of more Goodnites. At least she could take off Goodnites and pull them back up. "What are you getting?" Luna asked, peering over Rei's shoulder and into her overflowing toy chest.

Luna quietly pouted about being forced to go to bed so early, she wanted to argue further but today had shown that her aunt was pretty implacable when she made a decision. The diaper around her waist was a testament to that. She would do as she was told tonight but tomorrow she'd see if she could reach out to her parents. Maybe they could overrule Aunt Akiza on bed time? Or at least get her to offer a compromise. 7:30 was so early even with the timezone change. There was at least still some time before she'd be made to go to bed. It give her a chance to get to know Rei better. From the two beds (well, one bed and crib) it looked like Aunt Akiza expected them to be spending plenty of time together in the same room.

"OK," Jen conceded, it wasn't like she had any coworkers to go clubing with or extra money anyway. "OK, I can live with that."

Jen melted into the hug, it just felt so good to be held and supported. "I don't know, a couple of drinks a few times a week. I usually get cocktails at the club but do a juice and vodka at home."

"Oh..." Jen replied and paused, she was ashamed of how she must have come across on the phone and was hoping it could just be in the past. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I, umm...I got into money trouble. You know how I am, I just laser focus in on somethings and I don't even notice others. I started going out to the clubs with my coworkers and it did help me open up a little. But then I started drinking at home too. I started missing work, my performance went down, and then a few weeks ago I forgot to pay the rent. I asked if there was some arrangement we could make but they'd already started the eviction process. So yeah, I was really sad and upset and I opened up some vodka and made some cocktails. Next thing I know I'm calling you on the phone crying my eyes out asking for a place to stay." She paused, "I'm not proud of any of that. I really, really messed up. It's not fair they wouldn't agree to late payments though, or that work wouldn't let me work remote. It's just, it's just a bad situation. I'm lucky to have you to help me." Jen could feel her eyes getting misty, her voice almost breaking as she finished.

"That sounds nice, thanks." Jen grabbed some of her clothes from the dresser and headed for the bathroom. She turned the shower on to hot and sat down to use the toilet while waiting for it to warm up. Sitting down with her pants between her ankles, Jen noticed something, "the hell?" she mused. There in the seat of her underwear was a small circle 2-3 inches in diameter where the inside of her underwear had gained a slight, yellowed stain that hadn't been there this morning. "Did I?" Jen didn't complete the thought. She'd had to toss out some undies after long nights of hitting the bottle but it was disturbing to see this after being sober. Jen shuffled out of her panties and jeans and got in the shower. The hot water and steamy air calmed her nerves and loosened her tense muscles. She washed her hair and her body before getting out and toweling off. She blow dried her hair and got dressed in some new clothes, a loose pink tee and some grey lounge pants. Some anxiety did build up in her stomach though as she made her way to the living room. "Hey Lizzie, you said you wanted to talk?

After a moment of reflection, Jen got to work. The boxes weren't going to unpack themselves after all. Jen got her clothes mostly transferred into the closet and her computer set up at her desk and was beginning work on the books when Lizzy entered the guest room. "Hey sis, I'm just getting my bedroom stuff unpacked. Thank you again, I wouldn't mind help though if you're offering, especially with the stuff downstairs."

Lizzy's house was cute looked cozy from the outside and the inside didn't disappoint either. All the appliances and furniture looked either newer or well taken care of. She couldn't help but feel a bit jealous contrasting where her sister was professionally with where she was. She quickly shook off that thought, her sister was kind enough to let her stay here, it wasn't appropriate to be envious of her things, especially since for the time being this was Jen's house as well. Jen's room was about the size of her bedroom at her old apartment and at the moment, was packed with stacks of boxes. She did have some of her furniture though. Just a desk and one of her bookshelves. She'd lost her king sized, massaging, adjustable bed among everything else, the mattress store had repossessed it after she'd fallen behind on her payments. About a week or two back though she'd been forced to get a second hand twin bed off Facebook marketplace just to avoid sleeping on an air mattress. Frustratingly the "like new twin mattress and bed frame" she'd purchased were in anything but like new condition. The frame was white with rose gold accents and while she'd been able to scrub off the crayon with soap and elbow grease, she extremely upset that the 'like new' mattress had a good number of yellowish stains. DMing the seller resulted in no response and so she was stuck with it, at this point more frustrated with herself for not opening up the box and checking than she was with the mom who'd sold it to her. Jen plopped down on the mattress and contemplated where her life was. True, she'd just suffered a setback she had no idea how she'd recover from, but the worst was past. All of what she'd worried about had already happened. As much as circumstances sucked, and they did, there was nothing left to worry about.

Jen's tiredness and the gentle hum of the cars engine coaxed her into a deep sleep. Jen dreamed she was back at the old house with Lizzy, Jen thought Lizzy looked about 12 or 13, around the age that Mom and Dad had started letting her babysit Jen, but Jen was her adult self.. Lizzy was brushing her hair and she was telling Lizzy all her troubles like she did as a small child, except this time Jen was letting her know all about how hard the past year had been, all while her sister hummed gently and offered the occasionally encouraging word as she switched from brushing and went to braiding Jen's hair. The dream gave Jen a warm, comforting feeling and she smiled in her sleep. Jen started to rouse when the car downshifted gears, exiting the highway and getting back onto the surface streets that meant they were close to her sister's place. "Good afternoon," she yawned and stretched, "how long was I out for?"

"Yeah, I probably could use some rest," Jen admitted, hoping the dark circles under her eyes weren't too obvious. It had been a while since she'd gotten eight hours of sleep, even longer if you factor in sleep that wasn't caused by having a bit too much to drink. Then of course the eviction had been a stressful mess all it's own. Jen did as her big sister suggested, leaning the seat back and trying to get comfortable. Fortunately, her big sister did have a nice car. Jen rested her eyes but was out completely in a few minutes.

"That sounds good, I'm really hungry." Jen didn't let her big sister know that she'd been cutting back on how much she was eating after losing her job. Every time she got take out or went to the grocery store, she did it knowing that her checking account balance was getting smaller and smaller. Jen ate her chicken sandwich in the car on the drive home, fortunately her big sister was willing to foot the bill for her. It was funny, a memory triggered for her as she gave Lizzie her order and had it relayed back to the driver thru speaker of a time when she had been younger, must have been 12 or 13, and Lizzie had her license for about a year. Long enough for mom and dad to trust her to drive Jen. Nights going out to pick up food or to meet up with friends with picking up food to be a perfect cover story. Jenny was always happy to cover for her big sister though if she got dinner out of it. Jen watched out the window as they got off the surface streets and hit the highway. "You know, I've never been over to your place, how much further is it?"

"7:30!?" Luna was astounded at how early that was. "Mom and Dad usually let me stay up until 10. You aren't going to make me go to bed at the same time, are you?"

"But I have Goodnites for bed!" Luna pouted as the diaper was taped shut, her aunt not being swayed from her predetermined course of diapering up Luna for bed. She couldn't deny the diaper was softer than the Goodnites but she'd still prefer to wear something intended for slightly older girls as opposed to another Baby Dry. "Aunt Akiza, I think Rei's diapers are too small for me. They fit really tight." Despite any pouts or protests, she soon found herself off the table as her aunt picked her up and put her back on the floor, before changing Rei. "It's not that late though, what time does Rei go to bed?"

Jen hugged back, her face about level with Lizzie's chest. She was rarely more self conscious about her than she was when she was hugging someone. At five foot in heels, she always felt very much the little sister when hugging Liz. It didn't help that in addition to her height, Jen still had the same willowy, petite build she'd always had. She took after the women on her father's side of the family where as Lizzie resembled her mother and grandmother more strongly. Jen's slight frame, wavy brown hair, and freckles routinely caused people to assume she was anything but a 21 year old. "Hey sis," Jen squeezed back, enveloped by her big sister's embrace. "I missed you."