Done Adulting Vol. 2 Ch. 27

Jamie was doing what he always did when he was uneasy: clinging to Amanda. She was trying to be sympathetic, but it was just too hot to be holding a little.

“Jamie …”

“What do you think she’s talking about today,” he interrupted her.

“I don’t know, buddy.” Whenever Ella was at Dr. Mary’s, Jamie would get like this, nervous, like he was expecting her to show up the next day with terrible news or be terribly unhappy. Amanda and Becky both knew what was weighing on him, and it was the same thing weighing on Stacy: would he lose Ella? There was no way to know, and Becky and Amanda did their best to keep his morale up.

She sighed. They were at Jane’s solstice barbecue, a welcome distraction for them both. “You wanna meet some new people,” she asked.

“Yeah, sure.”

Amanda looked down at him and grimaced. “If you don’t cheer up, I’m gonna tell on you.”

Jamie picked his head up, and looked indignant. “Tell who?”

“The whole party, and you’ll have forty bigs trying to cheer you up.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me. I’ll tell them we’re not serving the barbecue until someone gets you to smile. Who knows what they’ll do next.”

“Big meanie.”

“That’s right.”

Jamie eyed Rochelle from across the lawn. He for sure had no desire to talk to her. He’d still not spoken to her since the first time he’d met her, not that he saw her much, just at Jane’s Christmas and solstice parties. She never paid him any mind either.

“May I just go wander around?”

“Of course. Here,” Manda said as she set him down. She held on to his shoes for him. It was impossible to keep Jamie’s shoes on this time of year when the grass was thick and green. She was glad to not be holding him anymore. It was just too hot to have another body on her.

Jamie set off to go find Rosie, and he knew where to look first: her sand box. She was seated in the corner with a big hole in front of her and a big pile next to the hole.

“Hey, Jamie. Grab a shovel.”

“Hi,” Jamie said as he sat down. “Building anything special?”

“Hole. This is Reggie.” Rosie indicated the little in the opposite corner.

“Hi, Reggie.”

“Reggie doesn’t talk,” Rosie explained.

“Oh. Does he understand me,” he whispered to Rosie.

“Not really. Well, kinda like a one-year-old. Okay, Reggie,” Rosie said, “In the hole.”

“Rosie!”

She started laughing. “I’m just teasing. I saw you hanging on Manda. Everything alright?”

“Yeah. Ella couldn’t come today.” They hadn’t clued Rosie in on what had been going on; he didn’t think it would be fair to dump such a complicated and unhappy problem on her given she was slightly regressed.

“Sorry,” she said, “But at least you got me, so we should do something.”

“Like what?”

Rosie shrugged. “Ruin our appetite? Go find a game? We can sit in my wading pool.”

“I don’t have a bathing suit.”

“So?” She had a point there. None of the bigs would care, most likely; they’d probably find it cute. As for being naked around Rosie, they’d been changed around each other plenty of times. In any case, she was regressed, albeit only a little, and didn’t seem to have those kinds of thoughts anymore, and Jamie didn’t think of her that way. “C’mon,” she said.

Her wading pool was behind her swing set, and Jane hadn’t set up any tables over there. Jamie was confused and thought she’d meant to go inside to get her bathing suit, but before he could ask she stepped right over the side and sat down into water that came up to her chest.

“Rosie,” Jamie laughed, “I think you …” Before he finished the sentence, Rosie reached out, took his wrist, and pulled hard, making him fulcrum over the edge of the pool and fall in with a splash.

“What’d you do that for,” he sputtered when he came up.

Rosie answered by smiling. “Hehe. You’re all wet now.”

“So are you.”

“I know.” Jamie took his shirt off and threw it over the side, then leaned against the wall next to Rosie. The pool was twice his length stretched out, and the water came to mid-thigh on him.

“I think we’re gonna have a problem when we try to get out,” Jamie observed as he he felt his diaper expand to three times its normal size under his shorts.

“Not our problem,” Rosie observed. “Though we do have a problem.”

“What?”

“We didn’t bring any snacks.”

It wasn’t long before Becky found them that way. Jamie was gratified Rosie had been right and she found it amusing. “I can’t keep you away from water,” she said as she stood over him, blocking out the sun.

“I’m not a hundred percent to blame this time.”

“Food is ready. You wanna dry off and eat something?”

“Yeah, but I can see that leading to an instant and catastrophic wardrobe malfunction.” Rosie was laughing. Jamie had long noted Rosie’s ability to disappear into her regression when even a chance of trouble came along.

“I’ll bring you both something,” Becky said. She moved Jamie’s shirt to a sunny spot and laid it out flat to dry, tut-tutting while she did.

“We should count ourselves lucky we have patient bigs,” Jamie said when Becky was gone.

“And so long as we do we should take advantage of the fact. Jane still thinks it’s cute when I draw on the wall.”

“You what?”

“Sometimes.”

“Why?”

“Bigger canvas. It washes off. Sometimes I have to do the washing, but it’s big!”

Jamie chuckled. He still didn’t fully grasp how Rosie had given up her inhibitions and learned to live like a truly regressed little without actually being all that regressed. She got up and picked up a toy torpedo, zipping it to him under the water. He caught it and sent it back.

Becky and Amanda both came back with food and drink, and when they were done, Becky insisted he get out as it would be his nap time soon. She held out a hand for him, and as Jamie took it and stood up, water poured from his shorts. Becky waited for him to drain some before lifting him under the armpits over the side. Amanda had Jamie’s bag and turned to Rosie.

“In or out?”

“Out, I guess.”

“I’ll go get her something to wear, Mom.” Amanda trotted off.

Before Becky could stop her, Rosie started to climb out on her own, and that was more stress than her diaper could take. It disintegrated, making a mess in her romper as she pivoted out of the pool. “Eeeew! This feels weird.”

“Oh, honey,” Becky said. “Just … well, I guess it’s too late now. Go ahead and sit down.” Turning her attention back to Jamie’s shorts, she slid them down along with his diaper. She got out her phone and texted Manda to bring trash bags and towels when she came back.

“Okay, Jamester, come lie down over here.” Keeping the pool between himself and the party, Jamie laid back on dry grass. Becky fished around in the bag. “Uh oh …”

“What?”

“Not a big deal. I don’t have a clean outfit for you.”

“Oh.”

“But your shirt’s dry. That’s better than nothing.”

Amanda came back, and he was soon in a dry diaper with his tee shirt back on while Amanda got Rosie taken care of, which involved dipping her back in the pool to get the diaper particles off her. Becky carefully put the destroyed diapers in one trash bag and their clothes in two others.

“You can be a lot of work sometimes, Baby Bear, but I love you,” Becky said.

“Are you sure there’s not a change of clothes in the other pocket or something,” he asked hopefully. Sporting just a diaper around a bunch of strangers was not something he’d choose to do.

“Let’s see,” Becky said as she took another look. “Nope … Well, we have a diaper cover. It’s got one of the green guys on it.”

“It’s a ninja turtle,” Rosie corrected her as though everybody knew that or should.

“Are they still teenagers, do ya think,” Jamie asked.

“Definitely. Turtles live a long time. They’re like, fourteen in turtle years.”

“Well, I know you like them, Jamie, but I wish they would play with nice toys.” Becky tolerated their ninja weapons and was glad Jamie didn’t want to play with such violent toys. Becky and Manda soon each had a dry and mostly dressed little.

“We should go hand you back to your mommy,” Manda said as Becky and Jamie picked up their wet things and trash. Becky put Jamie’s clothes in their car while he carried Rosie’s and the trash inside, leaving the former by the laundry room and the latter in the kitchen trash can. His bare legs felt conspicuous. Amanda found him on her way back outside.

“What are you doin’ in here,” she asked him.

“Throwing away the trash.”

“Are you sure? Are you sure you’re not hunting for little extract,” she asked as she she got down on her knees and poked him in the belly.

“Hehe. Yes … Why? Is there any?”

“Do we need to check you into rehab,” she asked as she swept his feet from under him, trapping him tummy up across her arms.

“No!”

“No rehab, or no, don’t eat your tummy.”

“No rehab.”

“So, yes eat your tummy? You got it! Nom nom nom nom nom!”

“Hehehehehe! Manda! Hehehehe stop!”

“Pbbbbbbbt!!!”

“Hahahahaha!”

“Pbbbbbt!!”

“You silly bear,” Manda said as she tossed him over her shoulder and carried him back outside. Jamie wiped tears out of his eyes. He loved tummy raspberries. Amanda stopped the first person she came to. “Have you seen Jamie?”

“I’m back here,” Jamie replied.

“No,” said the guest.

“Oh, Jane,” Manda asked, “have you seen Jamie?”

“He’s behind you,” Jane said with Rosie on her hip.

Amanda turned around and then turned back to Jane. “Where?”

“I’m back here!”

“My mistake,” Jane said, “I thought I heard him.”

Rosie looked at Jamie and said, “Can you believe these people?”

“Who are you talking to,” Manda asked.

“I couldn’t at first,” Jamie replied to Rosie.

“Who said that?”

“Is it cake time yet,” Jamie asked. Manda swung Jamie back around to her front.

“What do you say, Jane, too early to get some cake into this little fella?”

“Perfect timing for both of them,” Jane said. “We can time their nap for the sugar crash.”

Jane and Manda left Rosie and Jamie at a table, and Jane thanked Manda for cleaning Rosie up. “She’s no trouble,” Manda said.

“Except when she’s causing diaper explosions. I’m gonna have to skim that stuff off the pool or else just dump it in the grass.”

“I hear it’s good fill for potted plants because it holds moisture.”

“Hmm.”

Becky was sitting with Jamie and Rosie when Jane and Manda got back. Jamie immediately saw that Manda had brought back a big fork, which meant for sure she intended to feed him. “I would like it noted,” Jamie said, “that the amount of cake that gets on my face is not my fault, no matter what the pictures say later.”

“What pictures,” Becky asked.

“You always take cake pictures. We have a record of every cake we’ve had in our house since I got here.”

“We have a record of you, Baby Bear, because every cake with you is an adventure in messy eating,” Becky teased him as she moved him into her lap. Over time, Jamie had stopped asking for a fork with his cake when he realized Becky and Amanda weren’t forgetting it. They just liked watching him eat cake with his hands or else feeding it to him, as all bigs seemed to find it cute, and as Jamie had gotten pretty good at eating cake with his hands, he didn’t especially mind, not if it made them happy. Becky exercised her prerogative as Mom and took responsibility for feeding him. Rosie dispensed with the need for a fork at all and used her hands and face. She was only a little messier about it that Becky.

“You guys can take a nap together,” Jane suggested when they were done. “In fact, Beck, if you go get his things I’ll toss them in the dryer with Rosie’s.”

“Good idea,” Becky said as she handed Jamie over to Manda.

“I need some water before a nap,” Jamie said.

“Let’s get you hooked up.” She headed toward the cooler with him on her hip. “Sorry we forgot your shorts.”

“No worries. I was gonna strip and then Rosie yanked me in.”

“She’s more of a troublemaker then she lets on.” She was glad Rosie had distracted him from thoughts of Ella.

“She’s fun. I have fun with her.”

“You were just gonna strip nude in front of all these people?”

“Why not? Is it really any worse than having a dirty diaper in front of all these people?”

“When? Oh.”