Strong Enough (An Older Brother Story)

Almost Thirteen (Sophia's Birthday Part 1)

Clayton's POV:

Things have calmed down a lot over the last few weeks. Sophia is going to therapy mostly willingly, even if she is not thrilled about it, and it seems to be helping a lot. Everything feels more or less normal, although I am still being pretty vigilant about looking out for symptoms. She only has a few more weeks of 8th grade left, something I don't think that I have fully come to terms with yet. There are a lot of big milestones coming up: end of the year dance, 8th grade field trip, graduation, etc... Speaking of milestones and things I haven't come to terms with yet, tomorrow is her thirteenth birthday. It feels completely unbelievable that my baby sister is going to be a teenager. I'm about to go tell her goodnight, and then Amelia and I will be up for a few hours decorating the house to surprise her in the morning. Luckily, her birthday falls on a Saturday. But first, I have to finish cleaning up the kitchen. I think that Sophia and Amelia are trying on outfits or something (and have been for the last hour since we finished dinner), so I would much rather do dishes than endure that.

Amelia's POV:

I am sitting with my legs crossed on Sophia's bed while she pulls things out of her closet to try and decide on an outfit for tomorrow. There is a huge pile of "no" clothes on her desk now, which are going to take forever to put away, but  that is a post birthday problem. She collapses on the bed dramatically with jeans (which she has decided will work for tomorrow) and her pajama shirt on. She sighs and says "I have no clothes!" I roll my eyes, that giant pile on the desk would beg to differ. I ask "Do you want to wear something of mine?" She jumps up and says "Yes! Let's go!" and grabs my arm and  basically drags me to Clay's room. I still haven't fully moved in, but I am here almost everyday, so a lot of my clothes are in his closet now. Sophia grabs an oversized tie-dyed shirt that I usually wear to sleep and ask "Can I borrow this?" I ask "Are you sure? That's going to be huge on you." She rolls her eyes and says "That's the style Amelia..." I sigh and say "Okay, if you say so, I'm sure Clay will be just fine with that." Then she ask "Did you talk to him about if I can wear makeup tomorrow?" I respond "Not yet, but I will tonight." she smiles and says "Thank you!" and hugs me. I add "He might say no." but she just responds "He is not going to say no to YOU." Then she ask "Do you think he is going to cry tomorrow?" I respond "Oh yeah, for sure, sob like a baby..." and we both laugh. She ask "Will you make sure he doesn't do it in front of my friends?" It's my turn to roll my eyes at her, but I say "I will try my best." She says "Thanks, I love Clay, but sometimes he can be embarrassing..." I joke, "What makes you think I am not going to be the one embarrassing you?" She just whines "Amelia..." and I continue mockingly "So, you're saying you don't want your birthday spanking during your party?" She looks at me mortified and says "You better not Amelia!" I respond "I guess that means you want it now then." and make a motion toward her, giving her enough time to run out of the room. I run after her into the living room, where Clayton looks at us like we are insane as I chase her around the furniture, both of us having a hard time catching our breath from all of the laughing. Eventually I say "Fine! I give up! I am too old for this!" and collapse on the coach. She smirks and says "Ha, I won!" and plops down next to me. I roll my eyes at her and say "I LET you win because it is about to be your birthday. Speaking of which, you need to get to bed soon, we have a big day tomorrow!" She says "Don't you think that an almost 13 year old should get to stay up later than 10 on a Saturday?" and makes a pouting face at me and Clayton. I say "I think MAYBE we can talk about if a 13 year old gets to stay up later than that, but I don't see any 13 year olds in this room, only a little 12 year old who is already up past her bedtime." She sighs and says "Fine, but this conversation is not over!" and leans over to hug me and says "Goodnight Amelia, love you." I squeeze her back extra tight and say "Goodnight, love you too kiddo." Clay says "Go ahead and get ready for bed, and I'll come tuck you in." She says "That's not the tradition!" and he responds "It is not technically your birthday yet." She complains "Clay... you know it starts the night before!"And he says "Fine... go get ready for bed first though." She says "That's what I thought!" and sticks her tongue out at him and almost runs down the hallway to her room. I look at him and ask "What's that about?" He rolls his eyes and explains "When Sophia was 3 she started this thing where she declared herself the birthday princess and makes me carry her around all day on her birthday and to bed the night before. It used to be on my shoulders, but she got too big for that a few years ago, so now it is just a piggy back ride." I give him a look and say "Stop pretending like you are annoyed, you know you love it, plus this might be the last birthday she does it." He says, looking like he is fighting back tears "Yeah, you're right. I have to pretend though, that's part of the fun." I just smile at him. He is such a good big brother, it makes me happy because I know he is going to be a great dad too.

Sophia's POV:

After I finish getting ready, I run back out to the living room and look at Clay impatiently. He walks over to the couch so I can hop on his back easier. Once I do, he pretends to almost collapse and says "You know, I think you might be getting too big for this." He always complains, but I know he isn't really annoyed. I respond teasingly "Oh I'm sorry, I guess I just thought you were strong... didn't realize you had gotten so weak in your old age..." he says "I'll show you..." and before I know what happened he is dangling me upside down by my ankles. I laugh and says "Clay, I'm too big for this!" he responds sarcastically "Apparently not, since I can still do it..." I sigh and say "Okay, okay, you're strong! Put me down!" He says expectantly "And..." I roll my eyes and say "And you're not old..." he says "Thank you." and puts me down so I can get back on his back. I say "To my room!" trying hard not to laugh at how absurd this tradition has gotten. I know I am a little old for it, but it is too fun to give up just yet, maybe next year.

Clayton's POV:

I carry Sophia to her room and then toss her on the bed. She gets under the blankets and I sit down on the edge of the bed next to her. She says jokingly "You know Clay, I really am going to be a teenager now, you don't need to still tuck me in every night." I say "Okay, if you say so." and get up, pretending like I am going to leave. She whines "Bubby! Not really! You aren't supposed to agree!" I smirk and walk back over to her. When I sit down she hugs my arm tightly and furrows her eyebrows at me and says "Don't do that again." with a pout. I hug her and then ask sarcastically "I thought you were a teenager now?" She says "I am, but I still love you!" and hugs me tighter. I can feel the tears in my eyes, but try to blink them away. Sophia noticed and says "Hey! No crying!" I laugh and say "I am not making any promises." and she just rolls her eyes. I say seriously "I am just so proud of you Soph. You are such an amazing young lady. I'm so impressed with the person you are becoming. You are so strong and smart and beautiful. Mom and Dad would be really proud too." She smiles, clearly fighting the tears in her own eyes, and says "Thanks Clay, I love you." I say "I love you too..." and then add "...little baby twelve year old." She sticks her tongue out at me and then says "Goodnight Clay! I think it is time for you to go..." and almost pushes me off the bed. I lean down and kiss the top of her head, then I say "Okay, okay, I get it, little 12 year olds need a lot of sleep. Goodnight!" I barely dodge the pillow that she throws at me as I leave.

When I get back out to the kitchen Amelia has already started making Sophia's cake. I can't help but smile; I really appreciate not having to do everything by myself. I don't think I realized how desperately I needed help until I got some, now I can't contemplate how I managed without her. I walk up and hug her from behind and say "I'm so thankful for you." She spins around to kiss me and says smirking "I know." and then adds "Now, get to blowing up those balloons" and she points to the pile of balloons sitting on the table. This is going to take a while. We could probably just buy one of those small helium tanks, but when my parents first died we didn't have a lot of extra money, so on Sophia's birthday I just blew up a pack of balloons from the dollar store and taped them to the ceiling with pieces of masking tape so it looked like they had helium in them. I don't think she knew the difference though. Now it is just what I do out of habit. I sit down an look at the pile, wow this is is a lot. I ask Amelia, trying not to laugh at her excessiveness, "Are you planning on covering the entire ceiling with balloons?" She says, in a matter of fact way, "Not in the whole house, just above the table. Now, less talking, more balloon blowing." I sigh, giving in to my fate, and say "Yes ma'am!" giving her a military salute. She just rolls her eyes at me. Well, this is going to take a while. Pretty soon my mind starts to wander to Sophia's past birthdays...