“Johhhhhhny!”
	It was a faint, whiny noise. John’s ears perked up, but relaxed a few moments later.
	I guess I’m just hearing things. He thought. Kinda sounded like Natalie, tho-
	“-Johhhhnnnnnyyy!”
	The noise rang out again. This time louder, whiner than before. He turned his head toward the staircase, his eyebrows furled. “Uh, Natalie? He called back.
	“Johnny, could you come’ere?”
	“...If you need something, come down here.” He called back again, frowning. “Don’t make me come up to you!”
	There was a pause, and then she responded: “John, I can’t. Could you just come up here?” 
	He made a face and furled his eyebrows harder, but relaxed a moment later. The forced-casual vibe told him little, and the extra whininess hardly told him anymore.
	“...Why?” He called back, tentatively. 
	“Because.” She answered. “It’s… hard to explain, just come up here.”
	He made another face, both curious and annoyed. Is ‘it’s hard to explain’ really the best she can give me…?
	“...And come alone, please.” She said a moment later.
	Come alone…? John stared at the stairs, confused. Who the hell else is gonna join me?
	“Um, yeah, whatever.” He said, tossing his controller on the couch. “I’m coming up.”
	“Kay,” she answered.
	What the hell could be the problem? It can’t be anything super serious, otherwise I would have heard it in her voice... . Then what is it? Did she break something? Or… maybe she… um.... What else could she have done? He walked up the stairs, feeling skeptical about the ‘breaking something’ possibility, but at a loss for what else could have happened.
	When he reached the top, he saw the bathroom door cracked open and his sister’s head peeking out. 
	What the hell…? She’s in the bathroom?
	He approached her, an eyebrow cocked. “What?” He asked. “Run out of toilet paper while taking a shit or something?”
	She pursed her lips in response. “No. I was not ‘taking a shit.’”
	He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to go on. She avoided his eyes, and while watching her, he noticed that her cheeks were slightly reddened.
	“Then what is it?” He pressed. “What could possibly be so important that you needed me to come all the way up here?”
	She looked up at him for a moment, and then away again. “I need you to grab me some pants. Like, from the laundry room.”
	He glanced down, noting that her lower body was hidden behind the door. “ Um, why? If you’re about to shower, why don’t you just put on your old pants and go get them yourself? Instead of calling me to do it for you?”
	“Because I can’t.” She answered. “Can you just do this for me? Just go down to the laundry room and grab any pair and bring them up to me. That’s it.”
	“...Seriously? I’m not doing that unless you’ve got a damn good reason. It’s sounds like you called me up here just because you’re lazy.”
	“It's not that.” She answered. “I seriously can't put my pants back on. I'd have to go down there naked, or... I'd...” She sighed in exasperation. “Look, can't you just do this for me? Please?”
	John studied her, still unsure of what to make of her red cheeks and extra whiny way of speaking. “Why can't you put your pants back on? What's wrong with them?”
	She avoided his eyes and pursed her lips. Her cheeks reddened a bit more. “Because they're wet.”
	“They're... wet?” He pressed.
	“Yes,” she looked up into his eyes. “As in... I wet them. Now will you please just go?”
	He squinted, the meaning of her words slowly setting in. 	“Wait.... Are you telling me you... you pissed yourself?” He asked the question with appall, expecting to be corrected, expecting to be chastised for even considering it.
	Her cheeks immediately darkened. “I didn't piss myself.” she replied petulantly, looking like a child as she swallowed, looked away shyly, and then looked back toward him with reluctance. “I m-mean, I... I did kinda. --But only a little! A tiny, tiny bit!”
	John looked back at her blushing face, feeling mystified, amazed, confused, and after letting this information process for a few moments, thoroughly amused. “How...?” He asked, a smile forming on his lips.
	“What do you mean how? I ran for the toilet, but I didn't make it and... you know...” Her blush darkened again and she looked away. “A... few drops came out.”
	“A few drops came out?” He joked. “It must have been a little more than that if you wet your pants to the point you can't wear them out of the bathroom.”
	“I didn't bring pants.” She responded, her cheeks aflame. “I was kinda in a hurry so I ran out in my underwear.”
	“Ahh,” John nodded. “I guess that makes a little more sense, but this is an awful odd situation....
	She pursed her lips again, helplessly. “Johnny....” She whined.
	 “If only a few drops came out then why don't you just put on the underwear? You've leaked before and you weren't this shy about it.”
	She looked in his eyes, and then away. “Maybe it... was a little more than a few drops.”
	John's lips spread into an amused smile.
	“-It wasn't that much, though! It... doesn't take much to mess up a pair of panties. If I put them back on they're gonna be all warm and clammy.... Or even worse they're gonna be cold and sticky and-”
	“-Alright, alright, no need for the detail. I get the picture.”
	“ Good. Now if you get the picture are you gonna grab me the pants? Or maybe I should hand you my panties first? You know, so you can feel and make sure this isn't some elaborate ploy to be 'lazy?'”
	“I don't think you'd tell me you pissed yourself if this was a ploy to be lazy. Though, you were lazy enough to hold off on using the toilet so long you went and pissed yourself like a baby, so I guess anything's possible.” He smirked. 
	She blushed a bit harder and frowned. “Asshole....”
	“But what I don't get is why you called me up here at all. You're up here alone. Why didn't you just dash to your room without any clothes on?”
	“Because I don't have any clean pants in my room!” She replied, annoyed at the interrogation. “They're all dirty, and I was going to do laundry, but I got caught up in a game... and... well....”
	John smiled. “Judging by your face just now, this is the same game that you got so 'caught up in' that you went and pissed your panties.”
	Her eyes darted in his direction, in surprise, but looked down at the carpet a few moments later.
	“Ha ha ha! It's true!” John said, laughing mercilessly. “You actually pissed yourself playing a video game too long. Wow!” He laughed a bit more. “I think I almost did that once. When I was like, two.”
	She looked back up at him and frowned. “Would you shut up? It could happen to anybody, alright? It just... snuck up on me, is all.”
	“Natalie, we're at home. You were playing a game. It couldn't have 'snuck' up on you. You could have gone at literally any point.”
	She rolled her eyes with the deliberate intensity of a peeved sister. “Fine. I peed myself. I had an accident. A complete and total accident―the exact sort a little kid would have cause they were having too much fun to 'go.' And now that you've made this whole ordeal a million-billion times worse, would you mind going and getting the pants now?”
	“Yeah, fine, I'll get your pants.” He said, wiping a tear from his eye. “I have to say I'm surprised, though. Why go through all this trouble? You could have just ran for the laundry room from the start. Sure, you would have been naked, but god, it would have been easier than this.”
	“I would have,” she said, annoyance slipping into her tone again. “But I didn't want your friend to see me.”
	John looked back at her, a slight curve in his brow now.
	“I don't exactly like the idea of showing Corey my vagina, and I know if he saw me running like that he would ask questions and might figure out what happened. I'd very much like to keep this... um... in the family?”
	“You wanna keep it in the family, huh?” John asked, amused.
	“Yes.” She said, half-stern, half-begging. “You're not gonna tell, are you?”
	“There's nobody to tell.” He laughed. “Corey left like half an hour ago.”
	She looked back at him, her shock steadily growing “Wh...What?”
	“Yeah,” John said, laughing all over. “Corey left awhile ago. Like, probably long before you had your little accident. You could have ran down there at any point and nobody would have said a word.”
	“So... all of this was... basically for nothing?”
	John shrugged, a smile still on his face. “Yeah, looks like it.”
	She sighed and closed her eyes. A moment later she opened the bathroom door, revealing her legs, which were bare up past her vagina, all the way to the edge of her shirt, which barely covered her belly button. She moved past John, starting at a brisk walk, but moving up to a steady jog about five step into it. Her butt bounced with each hurried step down the staircase, and she disappeared from sight.
	John shook his head, still smiling. “Unbelievable,” he said to himself. “She never ceases to amaze me.” 
	He turned toward the staircase, intending on returning to his game, but paused and turned curiously toward the bathroom. He peeked inside and glanced down at the sodden pair of panties on the floor, hoping to discover what 'a few drops' really meant.
“Damn,” he said, his eyebrows raising up in surprise. “Did she even take the things off? I wouldn't be surprised if I found a trail of piss leading to her room....”
	He chuckled again and headed for the stairs. “A few drops, huh?” He snorted. “You wish.”