Chapter 37: Family Gathering

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Jack and his parents arrived at his Aunt Helen's house and greeted the rest of the family. "Where's Ryan?" Jack asked. "He's upstairs, he'll be down in a moment" said Uncle Paul.

After a while Jack went upstairs to check on Ryan. Ryan was Jack's cousin and today was his 12th birthday. He had recently joined Jack's high school in year 7. After knocking on his cousins door and hearing no answer he decided to go inside. He saw Ryan laying down on his bed with a forlorn expression. "Everyone's waiting for you downstairs man. What's wrong?" he asked. "I invited some people from school but no one wanted to come. I don't have any friends." said Ryan. Ryan had mild autism, and had a hard time making friends at school. Jack sat next to him and put his arm around him. "I know how you feel man. I got bullied in year 7 because I was bad at sports. They all called me gay because of it and I had no friends for a while" he said. "How does being bad at sports make you gay?" Ryan laughed. "I don't know. You know the most sporty person in my whole year group is gay" said Jack, referring to his boyfriend James. He thought about coming out to his cousin but didn't in case other people in his family ended up finding out as a result. "Anyway, if anyone bothers you, just come to me, my friends will deal with them" he added. "like beat them up?" Ryan asked. "No! Just like scare them or something" Jack said, laughing. Ryan felt much better and decided to go downstairs with Jack. As they left his room, Jack noticed a pack of drynites on a table. Ryan must wet the bed like Jack.

When they got downstairs everyone started giving gifts to Ryan. Jack went out into the garden where all of the men in his family were having a heated debate about football while drinking beer. "Jack, you want a beer?" asked Uncle Paul. "Sure" he said before being handed a can of Heineken. "So who do you think will win the league?" asked his uncle. "I don't know. I don't really follow football that much. Maybe Arsenal?" he said making everyone else laugh. Most of Jack's family were Arsenal supporters, however they didn't have much faith in their team. "Nah. No chance. City or Liverpool will win. City literally have Haaland now. It's game over." said Uncle Paul. "Haaland isn't that good mate" said Jack's dad, sparking another debate. Jack pretended to be interested in the conversation - all of his football knowledge was exclusively from playing FIFA. Suddenly his mum came outside "Jack, who said you could have beer?" she asked, concerned because the doctor had said to avoid it. "It's only one can of beer Mandy, he won't get drunk from that" said Jack's grandad. "Although he did say Arsenal will win the league" Jack's dad joked. "Mate you said Haaland will flop in the premier league, you're clearly drunk yourself" said uncle Paul. Jack's mum gave up and walked back inside, shaking her head in disapproval.

After a while Jack needed the toilet. Just like every other time he drank beer, the need to pee came suddenly and urgently. He went inside and went to the bathroom upstairs. After turning the handle he found it was locked. "Sorry I'll be in here for a while, I'm afraid" said his Aunt Carol. Jack started to panic. He was on the brink of having an accident in front of his whole family. Then he remembered the pull ups in Ryan's room. He cringed even at the thought of it, but he was so desperate to go that he had no other choice. It was the pull up or wet his pants in front of everyone. He quickly made his way to Ryan's room and closed the door behind him. He took off his trousers while doing a potty dance (which made it more difficult). Once he got his boxers off he slid the pull up on and released. He let out a sigh of relief as he could hear his pee splashing against the inside of his pull up as it expanded to soak it all up. "Jack?" he heard Ryan calling from the corridor. He quickly put his trousers on and kicked his boxers under the bed before the door opened. "Why are you in my room?" he asked. "I was erm... looking for you" said Jack. Ryan then saw the pack of pull ups on the table next to where Jack was standing. "I wet the bed sometimes. I know it's weird" he said shamefully. "It's not weird" said Jack. Little did Ryan know that his older cousin was wearing a soaked pull up  under his trousers at this very moment. "Did you ever wet the bed?" he asked. "Yeah when I was your age" Jack replied, leaving out the part about how he still does it on a daily basis. He then followed Ryan out of his room. As they walked past the bathroom, Aunt Carol walked out from it. Jack then went inside and took off the pull up, throwing it in the bin, which conveniently also contained a couple of used pull ups inside which must be from Ryan's bedwetting accidents. He then cleaned himself up then put his trousers on. Before he could go back to Ryan's room to collect his boxers, his mum called him downstairs to eat.

After eating food they sang happy birthday to Ryan before eating cake. The men went back outside for another discussion about football. Jack decided to see what was going on in the front room. When he stood behind the door he heard his mum talking with his grandma and Aunt Helen. "He got through this week without any accidents so it seems to be getting better, but he still wears nappies to bed and to school he wears those drynites just in case he doesn't make it to the toilet in time" he heard her say. Jack couldn't believe she would tell everyone about this. He went back out into the garden and sat quietly until it was time to go home. 

They were about to leave when Jack remembered his boxers were still under Ryan's bed. If he forgot and they found it there he would have some serious explaining to do. He quickly snuck upstairs and grabbed it before putting it in his pocket and going home.


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