✅ Potty Genius [NaNoWriMo 2022]

Forty-Five

¿Did you have to drink?

> 𝙳𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙺 𝚆𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚁 <

I walked through to the kitchen, and quickly poured out a glass of filtered water from the jug in the fridge. I allowed myself a little ice, though I knew that I wasn't going to take that long drinking. The app had told me to drink, so I needed to drink.

I had enough presence of mind to pick a small glass, given that I knew I wouldn't be allowed a bathroom break for three hours now. And maybe adding ice to the glass meant that the volume of water was a little less; but I couldn't bring myself to add more ice than I would normally on a hot day. I had to drink a glass of water, not try to avoid the rules.

It took me two minutes to swallow all the water, and it felt about as refreshing as a glass of water ever could. It didn't take long, and I hoped that Dad wouldn't notice how much time I was taking when I'd just said I was going out.

Finally, I put the glass down on the counter and started walking towards the front door. I had just slipped my phone into my pocket when it bleeped again. I pulled it out, wondering who wanted my attention this time. I shouldn't have been surprised, really.

> 𝙳𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙺 𝙹𝚄𝙸𝙲𝙴 <

I returned to the kitchen, and poured out apple juice into the same glass I had just used. The ice was still there, so my drink was still chilled, and it was hard to drink it too fast. I took little sips until the whole glass was gone, and this time washed it out before heading for the front door. With every step I was expecting to hear another alert from my phone, but there was no more sound. I went outside, turned left, and then tried to decide where I should go.

¿Did you go anywhere interesting?

I wandered aimlessly for a few minutes, before I found myself on Lairon Way and wondered if I should call in to visit Sandy. It had been a while since I had seen her, and with less than a week before I was due to leave town, I was starting to feel that no matter how many times I visited all my friends it wouldn't be enough. But before I even got to her house, I realised that I was wearing a diaper, and I wouldn't be allowed to use the bathroom if I wanted to complete this challenge. Now, that might not have been such a big problem. But if I found myself squirming at all as those two drinks rushed through my system, I was sure that Sandy would wonder why I didn't ask to go. If she saw me squirm, asked if I needed the bathroom, and I said no... That could only make her suspicious.

I thought about it again, and wondered how many people knew now that I had been buying diapers. It was quite possible someone had seen me in Santa's the first time, even if I hadn't noticed them. And even if my parents were pretending it was all normal, I had no doubt that Mum would have sought advice from a bunch of her friends and colleagues before deciding whether to yell at me or not. Even if I hadn't heard it, I knew that all the gossip must be out there. And I didn't want to give any of my friends an excuse to ask the right questions.

I sighed, and looked at my phone again. Glancing at the time reminded me that I should have checked it when I went out. I needed to be out for two hours, that was what the challenge had said. And I didn't know how accurate it could be when deciding if I was out or not, so I decided to err on the side of caution. I set an alarm for two hours, starting now. No matter what happened, I promised myself that I wouldn't go close to home until that alarm sounded. Maybe within five minutes walk; so the whole estate was off limits.

I walked around a little more, and then decided that the best thing to do was to be as far from home as I could get. I hopped on a bus, trying to guess how far I would have to travel before it would be a ninety minute walk back. Could I go to Mazzar's? I didn't know, but I knew that was a bad idea anyhow. It had all the drawbacks of visiting a friend, and would probably result in me spending money I didn't really have as well. Not to mention that I would be desperate to pee by the time I got out of there; and the walk back would probably be two hours on its own.