Neighbors, Part 20 (Patreon)

Twenty.

Somewhere between our twenties and thirties, party culture changes. The music gets lower. The beer gets a little more expensive. There’s more trash in the trash cans than there is on the ground. The food is better. More people show up earlier than later. It was a good thing, and I was happy to have reached the age where parties felt more mature.

Regardless of whether or not I had just had my diaper changed downstairs.

“Well well well.” Had Veronica been keeping one eye on the door the entire time? Or had she just so happened to be looking at the door as we walked in? She was suddenly in front of us, still wearing a stained apron, clearly still in the midst of making food.

“Lucy,” I said, smiling nervously, “I’d like you to meet my wife, er, Veronica. Veronica, this is Lucy.”

I expected them to shake hands politely. They hugged.

“Oh my goodness,” Veronica said. “You’re gorgeous.”

“Oh stop,” Lucy said. Was she...blushing? “You look incredible. Jaime? How come you didn’t tell me that your wife is a hottie?”

“I guess it...slipped my mind,” I said, scratching my head.

“He can’t help it,” Veronica said. “I’m sure you know how he is - baby-brained and all.”

Lucy laughed and playfully swatted my bottom. There was a tell-tale sound emanating from my pants, but it was hard to tell if anyone else could hear it, let alone identify it.

“I know all about it,” she replied.

“Well, look,” Veronica said, “why don’t you two get something to eat and drink. Mingle a little. I’m sure we’ll see more of each other soon enough.”

And with that, she disappeared back into the kitchen again, almost as quickly as she had appeared.

“So that was Veronica?” Lucy asked with a smile.

My heart raced. I felt like we had just witnessed a great white shark swim by our boat - we were so close to death, yet it felt like nothing had happened at all.

“That was her,” I said.

“She seems nice.”

“She makes a good first impression, I’ll give her that.”

“Oh, stop,” Lucy said, playfully slapping my bottom again. “She’s not the devil.”

I laughed and shrugged it off. Lucy was right, but I didn’t want to have spend too much time praising Veronica right now.

“And so where is the other one?” Lucy asked. “Ashley?”

That was a good question. I panned the apartment looking for her, but I didn’t see her. There weren’t too many people here just yet - maybe 8 or 9 others, but Ashley definitely wasn’t among them.

I both did and didn’t want to see her. I missed her. But, if it was going to be awkward and tense, it was probably going to be an uncomfortable night.

“Maybe she’s in the kitchen?” I asked. “Or maybe…”

“You’re finally here,” a voice from behind us said.

It was Ashley. She had a giant smile on her face as she approached us. She was wearing exactly what she had warned me about: A short and cute dress. I hadn’t, in her words, ‘creamed my diaper,’ but it certainly had me stiffening up.

It was just barely a dress. Maybe a romper, or a glorified onesie, it had a ring of tulle running around her hip, almost like a classic ballerina tutu. Her diaper - or where I imagined her diaper might have been - was just barely covered by the tulle and a flap of cloth. If she didn’t look like a baby, she looked like a toddler who had just started dressing themselves.

“A-Ashley,” I said, smiling uncontrollably. “I want you to meet…”

“Lucy?” Ashley asked. “Is this the Lucy?”

“I don’t know,” Lucy said with a laugh. “That depends on what you’ve heard.”

“Only that you’re an amazing Mom…” her voice trailed off a little as she realized that she might be saying certain words a little too loudly. “...an amazing woman.”

Lucy smiled warmly and the two embraced.

To my shock and astonishment, I watched as Lucy’s hands slid down Ashley’s back and gave her bottom a quick squeeze - just as she had done for me before we went to the bar earlier. I fully expected Ashley to react negatively to this, or to pull away, but instead she just giggled bashfully.

“I’m sorry,” Lucy said. “I suppose it’s just a little habit I’ve picked up while I’m hugging babies.”

“I...uhm...I don’t mind,” Ashley said, blushing. She looked a little flustered, but not at all upset about this.

“If it’ll make you feel any better,” Lucy said to her, “you’re not the only one at this party wearing a diaper. Do you think you can guess who the other baby is?”

Ashley laughed and looked at me. She was still blushing - I was blushing too - and our eyes met. I wished I could’ve read her mind, but I could at least take a little solace in the fact that she genuinely looked happy to see me. Maybe things weren’t as broken as I thought they were.

“He’s a good boy,” Ashley said. She might have been talking to Lucy. She might have just needed me to hear that.

“I know he is,” Lucy said, wrapping her arm around my shoulders and pulling me in close to her. “I’m quite lucky.”

“Can I get you a drink?” Ashley asked. “We have beer. And there’s a bunch of liquor over there. And Vee made a punch. I didn’t ask what’s in it, but...it’s a little strong.”

“Take it easy on the punch,” Lucy said softly. I wondered if her maternal voice was supposed to come through or not, but she sounded like a mommy. “Unless you want to give Veronica something to change later.”

“I...well..” Ashley blushed again and laughed. “Oh gosh, you’re good at that.”

Lucy just smiled. She really was a natural mother.

“We’ll get some drinks,” I said.

Behind us, the door was opening again and another woman was joining the party.

“I should greet her. But I’m so happy that you’re both here now. Go! Drink! Eat! I promise, I’ll see you again soon.”

Lucy and I walked to the table where all the bottles of liquor had been set up. I had begun reaching for the bottle of Jameson, but decided to take my chances on the lime green punch - as Lucy had opted for as well.

“She’s cute,” Lucy said.

“Yeah, I guess…”

“She’s not just...cute,” Lucy continued. “She’s like...adorable in the way that a kitten or a puppy is. She’s so cute that you feel like you need to smother her to death with hugs and kisses.”

“Are you...threatening to kill her?”

“With hugs and kisses, yes,” she said with a laugh. “But...everything makes sense to me now.”

I didn’t ask her to elaborate. Maybe I should’ve, but I was happy just getting past those two encounters with everyone still feeling happy and elated to be at the same place at the same time.

“Do you know anyone here?” Lucy said, looking around the room.

“Some of them,” I said. “Over there, by the window, that’s Lewis. I think he’s our neighbor too. I didn’t know that Ashley knew him. But maybe Veronica invited him? And them, over there by the stereo? That’s Lily and Henry. They’re friends of Veronica and I. Nice people.”

“He looks like he could rock a diaper,” Lucy said, staring at Henry.

“Really? I doubt that he’d ever go for something like that. But, that’s it, I think. Everyone else looks to be people that either Veronica or Ashley know.”

“Whose party is it?” she asked.

I shrugged. “It belongs to both of them. But...maybe it’s more Veronica’s?”

“Veronica is certainly the host,” Lucy said. “And Ashley is…”

We watched as Ashley danced her way across the room, doing a little spin for Lily and Henry before breaking down into giggles in front of them.

“...a little tipsy already?”

“Maybe,” I said with a smile. “But...she’s also just kind of like that sometimes.” Childlike. Free. I didn’t say those words out loud, but those ones were just for me.

Lucy took a sip of the punch. She laughed and nodded. “Okay, well, if she had a glass of this punch already, then she’s tipsy.”

The punch was strong. “Veronica strong” was a little saying that our small group of friends used to use when Veronica was acting as bartender. It was never clear whether she wanted everyone to be shitfaced within the hour, or if she just had no concept of how much alcohol was too much.

All things considered, maybe a good stiff drink or two would be rather helpful tonight.

“When I check your diaper,” Lucy asked, sidling up to me and whispering in my ear, “should we do it out here in the middle of the party?”

“Uh…” I felt my face turn red. I quickly faced her, and found her laughing.

“I’m teasing. Though… We should have brought your diaper bag.”

“It’s my bookbag,” I said, glancing around to make sure nobody heard us. And it’s downstairs, so...it’s not very far away. Not that we’ll need it.”

“Are you sure? I can check your diaper right now.”

“N-no, I’m good,” I said.

She laughed again, clearly enjoying getting a rise out of me.

“I want to get some food,” she said. “Do you want any?”

“I should eat...” I said, thinking out loud. “You go on ahead. I’ll catch up in a moment.”

I had wanted a moment to myself without Lucy’s naughty comments being whispered in my ear - as much as I enjoyed them.

Lucy had taken a plate and was putting some food on it, when I noticed Veronica swooping in next to her. They had begun talking. And laughing. And talking some more. It made me a little uncomfortable. Given their body language, the conversation didn’t seem to be going bad. In fact...they seemed to be getting along quite well. It was worrying, for reasons I hadn’t decided on yet.

“They look nice and chummy,” Ashley said, putting some more punch in her cup.

“Uh, careful,” I said to her. “That stuff seems pretty strong.”

“I can handle my punch,” she said. She giggled and shook her head. “Actually, I’m lying. I’m already feeling it.”

Lucy had called that…

“Hey…” I said. This was probably not the time, and definitely not the place, to do this. But if she was going to saunter up to me at a party while a little tipsy, maybe this was exactly the time to try and have this conversation.

“Yeah?”

“About yesterday, in your apartment?”

She sighed and looked up at me. She was smiling. She reached up and touched the side of my face.

“That was awkward, huh?” she asked.

“A little bit.”

“Bad timing on Vee’s part, prolly.”

“And mine,” I said. I wasn’t sure if that was true, but I could rarely pass up the chance to soak up blame that I didn’t have to.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It...it really meant a lot to me that you opened up to me like that. I wish I had a chance to respond then...but Vee had just gotten there and…”

“Yeah,” I said. “I get it.”

“We’re not done with that conversation,” she said. “Okay?”

I nodded. “Anytime you want to, we can finish it.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” she said with a smile. She leaned forward, kissing me on the cheek.

“What do you think they’re talking about,” I said, nodding towards Lucy and Veronica.

“Us,” Ashley said without missing a beat.

“Probably. Does it make you nervous?”

“It shouldn’t,” she said. “But it does.”

“It’s like they’re comparing notes,” I said.

“Giving each other ideas,” she quickly responded.

“Do you think it’s one of those things where they act all nice and friendly with each other while they’re talking to each other - but later on, when they’re alone with us, they’ll let it slip that they actually disliked the other?”

She laughed. “Ooh, that would be juicy. But I don’t think so. You probably know Veronica better than I do, but I get the feeling that she wouldn’t talk to someone she didn’t like more than she had to.”

“This is true,” I said.

We stared at the two of them talking until they noticed us, at which point we quickly looked back to each other, as if we had just been chatting all along.

“I should mingle,” Ashley said with a sigh.

“This is your party,” I said with a laugh. “Don’t sound so disappointed that you have to enjoy it.”

“Oh...it’s not that,” she said.

“What is it, then?”

“I just...I dunno. I guess I’d rather…” She sighed again. “I’m going to mingle. You go do the same. Do you know Andy?” she asked, motioning towards a bearded man who was getting himself a drink.

“Can’t say that I do,” I said.

“Andy,” she said, getting his attention, “this is Jaime, a dear friend of mine. Jaime? This is Andy - he’s another designer at my company.” Then, she quickly darted off, leaving us two strangers to carry on the conversation from there.

“Nice to meet ya,” Andy said, offering a hand to me.

I shook his hand, though I was already more interested in where Ashley was. Or what Lucy and Veronica were still talking about. “Likewise,” I finally said to him, trying to focus on him now. “She said that you work with her?”

“Ah, yeah,” he said. “We’re both graphic designers.”

“Do you like it?”

“Well, it’s alright. The pay could be better. And I guess the benefits could be better. And the hours…”

“Sounds like a job,” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah, pretty much. But...I do get to work with Ashley.”

Oh no…

“She, uh, said that you were a good friend?” he added.

“I...yeah. We’re good friends. Neighbors.”

“Is she...seeing anyone?”

I glanced across the room to Ashley, currently chatting up a young woman near where the food was. Her eyes caught mine and she smiled.

“I’m not completely sure,” I said. “I think...maybe? Yeah, I think she might be.”

“Ah damn,” he said with a shrug. “That’s too bad. She is so frickin’ cute, right?”

I was trying to stay engaged with Andy, but my eyes couldn’t budge from Ashley. “Yeah, you’re not wrong about that.”

“What the hell is she even wearing?” he asked. “She looks like a little princess. I swear, nobody else could pull that off. But she looks…” He had paused as he searched for the right word.

“Perfect?”

“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “That’s about right.”

A gentle tap on my shoulder served as the distraction I needed to get away from Andy and his pining for Ashley.

“Hello, stranger,” Lucy said as she wrapped an arm around my waist.

“I saw that you and Veronica were talking for a bit.”

“She insisted that I call her Vee,” Lucy said with a smile.

“So...that conversation went well?”

She nodded. “Swimmingly.”

“Really?”

“Is that so hard to believe?”

“No, I don’t think so.” I laughed and shook my head. I had been so nervous about Veronica and Lucy not getting along that I had failed to think of how I would feel if it had been just the opposite.

“She cares about you very much,” she said. “I think she genuinely wants to see you happy.”

I wasn’t sure how to react to that. Veronica had said as much to me as well, over breakfast that one morning not too long ago. I wondered if she had said those words to Lucy as well, or if it was just something Lucy picked up on in the course of their conversation.

“I’m happy the two of you seem to get along,” I said, smiling.

Her voice lowered a little: “How’s your diaper holding up?”

“I…” I took a deep breath and glanced around nervously. “I’m still dry.”

“A shame,” she said. “You should work on fixing that when you can.”

“You think? I should just wet myself? Here?”

“I bet your little friend has,” she said, grinning.

“Ashley? You think so?”

“I bet.”

We were both staring at Ashley now, probably both imagining her with a wet diaper under her little dress.

“Do you think that she would be a party pooper?” Lucy asked.

“You mean...like...mess her diaper? Here?”

Lucy nodded.

“I...I don’t think so?”

“I’d like to see that,” she said. “I think you’d like to, too.”

I was blushing. My face felt like it was on fire. I lifted my hand to conceal my face, but she saw everything she needed to in an instance.

“You like her,” she said.

“Well…”

“I’m not mad. But you did leave out that little detail.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“I’m not mad,” she repeated.

I wished to say something - anything - but I was coming up empty. I looked at her, and I could see some disappointment in her eyes. I wondered what she was thinking. Did she see me looking at Ashley in a way that she had wished I looked at her?

“Wet your diapers,” she said. It was an order.

I nodded. I had half-expected her to watch me, but she returned to the party, introducing herself to a cluster of folks sitting on the couch.

Maybe I was too far into my own head, but I felt like I had to accomplish this task. As if, somehow, pissing myself would be a sign to Lucy that I still appreciated and respected her.

Was that even what she wanted?

My bladder wasn’t cooperating. I felt that I could go, but I just seemed to lack the ability to initiate. I drank a little more punch. I paced around a corner of the living room for a few moments until I got sucked into a conversation about whitewater rafting with Mitch and Danielle.

About two minutes into that conversation I began wetting myself. It wasn’t entirely purposeful, but when I felt a little pressure on my bladder, I just leaned into it and let it happen. Maybe it was Danielle’s talk of the fierce rapids caused by the seasonal flooding that helped inspire me, but once it started, it was pure pleasure and satisfaction that prevented me from stopping it.

I was a naughty baby, flooding my diaper while pretending to be an adult. And nobody was the wiser.

“In need of a diaper change?” Veronica asked, moments after I had stepped away from the conversation.

I felt the color drain from my face and my heart drop. How did she know? Could she tell? Was it obvious? Had I leaked?

“Calm down,” she said, reading my face. “I’m just teasing.”

“Oh…”

“Unless...you actually did piss yourself?”

“I just, uhm…”

“Oh my god,” she said, giggling behind her hand. “You did, didn’t you?”

I sighed and nodded.

“Such a little baby. At least you’re not the only one.” She glanced around the room until her eyes landed on Ashley, still buzzing around like a bubbly princess. “There’s another little girl with a soggy bottom running around here right now.”

“She...she’s wet too?”

Veronica nodded. “I’ll deal with her soon enough. But how about we return you to your mommy?”

“You don’t have to do that. I can just go and…”

“Nonsense. Come with me.”

I would’ve followed her, but she grabbed my wrist and towed me behind her anyways. It was a little embarrassing, being dragged across the party by my wrist like I was a toddler. But...given what I had just done, maybe this was very fitting.

I had to hand it to Veronica - despite never feeling like she was an especially maternal person, she sure knew how to make me feel small. I could see what Ashley liked.

“Lucy?”

Lucy turned around to face Veronica. I had bashfully hidden myself behind my wife’s back.

“Why hello,” Lucy said with a smile. “Everything okay?”

“Your baby may need a change soon,” Veronica said.

“H-hey,” I interjected. “Not so loud.”

“Oh?” Lucy asked. “Did he have a little accident?”

“I doubt it was an accident,” Veronica said.

Both women laughed, and it only further embarrassed me.

“If you’ll excuse us, then, I’ll be taking him back to your apartment for a change.”

“Of course,” Veronica said, adding: “As soon as I can capture my little bouncing baby, I should probably get her into something fresher too…”

“Well,” Lucy said, glancing at me with a wide grin on her face, “someone needs to be the hostess. You send her down to me when you can. I’ll take care of her just as I’ll take care of him.”