Strong Enough (An Older Brother Story)

Family First (Sophia's Birthday Part 4)

Sophia's POV:

I wake up to Amelia shaking me gently and saying "Come on sleepy head, you're going to miss your whole birthday!" I looked over at my alarm and see that it is only 9 a.m. so I pull the blankets back over my head in mostly mock annoyance. Amelia starts to poke at me and gently tries to pull the covers down, I try my best to scoot away while keeping the blanket over my head to block out the light, and I whine jokingly "Come on sissy, let me sleep!" There is a moment of awkward silence. I don't really know where that nickname came from. Here in the south it is pretty common for everyone to refer to their older siblings as bubba/bubby and sissy and I guess that is really what Amelia feels like now, so it kinda just came out subconsciously. I slowly lower the covers and look at Amelia shyly to gauge her reaction. She looks a little surprised, but in a good way. I say quickly "Sorry if that was weird." and she brushes it off and says "Not weird at all Soph, you're welcome to call me that if you want." Then she adds "You do have to get out of bed though!" and practically drags me out of bed. I give up and decide to stand up when she had pulled me to the end of the bed, rather than just flopping limply on the floor. She smiles in triumph when I finally get up and then says "I know Clay was in here at midnight last night, but this is the first time I have seen you since you became a teenager, how does it feel?" I say, with fake sass, "It feels annoying because SOMEONE woke me up too early!" and stick my tongue out at her. She says in a joking stern voice "You know, it's not too late for that birthday spanking." I back away and throw my hand up in surrender and say "Okay, okay, I'll lose the attitude... And it feels weird, but only because it feels less weird than I thought. I guess I thought I would feel more different, but I don't really." She nods and says "Yeah, a lot of times birthdays are like that." then she continues "Do you want to get ready before breakfast or after? Clay is on standby with the pancake mix." I smile and say "I'll get ready first." and then ask hopefully "Did you talk to Clay about the makeup?" She says "I did. And he said it is okay, but only for today, and only if it is not too much." Yes!! It may not seem like much to most people, but it is a start at least. Clay has been pretty strict about no makeup for all of middle school, except for plays and mascara and lip gloss for school dances. I hug Amelia and say "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" It has been pretty helpful having a grownup around to advocate on my side of these things. She says "You're welcome. If you want to shower and get dressed, I'll help you with your makeup afterward. We should probably leave the hair to Clay, he is better at it than me." I nod and say "Sounds good to me." and head off to start getting ready.

Amelia's POV:

After Sophia is finished getting dressed she comes into Clayton's bathroom so I can help her with her makeup, since that is where all of my makeup is and she doesn't really have any of her own. Her clothes all look too big and baggy and I think it looks kind of silly, but she assures me that it is the style nowadays. I much prefer it over the skin tight clothes that were popular when I was in high school. We chat while I do her makeup and then we get to the eyeshadow. I reach for something pretty neutral, but she sees the sparkly eyeshadow and begs me to use that instead. I hesitate and say "I don't know Soph; I told Clay I wouldn't go overboard. She makes a pouting face and whines "Please sissy..." batting her eyelashes at me. I've got to admit, I'm pretty honored by her choosing to call me that, but I have no doubt that she is going to use it to try and get her way with things like this. I cave and say "Alright, but remember that Clay has veto power, and I don't want you getting yourself in trouble by giving him an attitude if he says it is too much." She rolls her eyes and says "Fine."
I give her a look and she corrects herself quickly and says "Sorry, yes ma'am." I respond "Thank you." and move on to doing the eyeshadow. I'm an only child and I've always wished that I had a little sister to do things like this with, things have really been getting a lot better with Soph over the past several months, but especially recently I have been feeling like we are forming our own bond completely separate from Clayton, which has been nice. We call Clay into the bathroom to do Soph's hair and when he first sees her face he looks like he is about to cry. She asks nervously "Do you like it bubby?" And he responds "It's a little bit more than I was expecting..." he stops here to give me an only partly joking dirty look, but then continues "...but I think you look really beautiful and grown up Soph." she looks relieved and smiles at his praise. Then he asks her how she wants her hair done and she says in two French braids. I can tell he is relived to do a style that makes her look a little younger to balance out the makeup.