The Flower Girl

My First Day A Girl

Leaving me to adjust, Jess left me to it. I was quite happy watching trash TV and folding the paper cranes. It really took my mind off the fact that between my legs, I’d lost my lifelong companion. Every so often hair would fall in front of my eyes, but other than that, I’d almost forgotten I’m now a nine-year-old girl.

As the front door opens and thuds closed, my attention was soon brought back to Jess and Kevin.

“I’ve got some stuff,” Kevin shouts out, as he struggles to enter the living room clutching a few plastic bags.

I watch him place the bags onto the floor then look up at me with a dubious expression.

“Steven,” he says awkwardly, rubbing his arm. “I’m sorry mate, you probably aren’t going to like what I was able to buy you.”

“She’s going by Emily now,” Jess says, marching into the room.

As Jess rustles the bags and checks the items inside, Kevin looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Emily….?” He questions, placing a finger onto his chin. “Isn’t that your mom's name?”

With my new voice being so high-pitched and awful, I decide not to answer. I just nod and smile.

Tilting his head to the side, Kevin’s face becomes one of confusion.

“How…..is your mom?” he asks.

Even if I was still myself and I didn’t have this whiney girly voice, I still wouldn’t have wanted to that question.

“These are so cute!” Jess cries out, interrupting. “Emily look at these!”

With pure delight written across her face, Jess holds up a frilly pink nighty. With the picture of unicorn blazen across the middle, it couldn’t have been anymore cliché.

Almost stumbling over to me, she holds the nighty against my tiny body.

“Awwww,” Jess coos. “You wanna wear this tonight to bed?”

With Jess desperate for me to answer, all I could muster was a shrug. Was she expecting a grown man to want to wear something like that?

“Sorry Steven,” Kevin says, as he scratches his head. “It’s all I could find.”

Glaring at Kevin, I could see he was feeling pretty awkward about it all.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he whines. “It’s not like the supermarket as a ‘just transformed’ section! They don’t do men's clothing for little girls!”

With Jess still holding the nighty against me, She turns to face Kevin and chuckles at his comments.

“You dope!” she laughs. “You could have just brought him boy’s clothing.”

“Yeah, you jerk,” I blurt out in my girly chipmunk voice. “Would you wanna wear this unicorn thingy to bed?”

Almost stunned by my comments, Jess turns to me with a face full of disappointment.

“Emily!” she groans. “Don’t use words like that!”

So taken back by Jess’s scolding, I didn’t know what to say back in return. Flashbacks of being told off as a child blaze to the forefront of my mind.

“This is better though,” Jess then comments, placing the nighty down next to me. “It’s not long until the wedding now and I guess it would be much better for you to get used to wearing girl's clothing.”

As I watch Kevin’s face turn into a smug grin, I knew he’d got the really girly stuff on purpose. The only reason I could think why he’d want to do that to me, was to make Jess happy. See, one of the big reasons why the flower girl is so important to their wedding is that Jess is unable to have children.

When I first heard that news, I was gutted for them both. Being such a lovely couple, you couldn’t help but feel for them. You could tell Jess was always putting a brave face on it, but from what Kevin’s told me, it’s cut her deep.

Personally, I’d never really wanted children myself. No way could I deal with the hassle, late nights, and tantrums. In fact, it’s kinda ironic. I hate kids so much it broke up my marriage. Now I’m sitting here as a female child. Funny how life is sometimes.

“OMG Kevin,” Jess screams, holding up a small yellow dress. “How cute is this!”

“Yes yes,” Kevin replies, kissing Jess gently on the forehead. “Should we maybe do this tomorrow? It’s well past eleven and Steven’s new body probably needs sleep.”

Folding the dress and shoving it back in the bag, Jess turns to me and smiles.

“I suppose it is kinda late,” she admits looking at the clock on the wall. “You wanna come with me Emily and I will show you to your room?”

Knowing I didn’t really have a choice, I just shrug. Shuffling off the edge of the sofa, my tiny feet finally reach the floor. Still wearing Jess’s unfitting t-shirt, I pull it down tight to hide my body.

As I look up at them both, It really dawned on me how much height I’d lost. I’d never had to look up at Kevin in my life. Now he towers over me!”

“Come on sweety,” Jess chirps, holding out a hand for me to hold.

I don’t take hold of her hand, I just look up at her with a sour expression.

“Oh, sorry,” she comments. “You don’t need my help, do you.”

In response, I give her a single shake of my head.

Not saying anymore, Jess grabs the pink nighty and leads the way upstairs. Following right behind her, I find the steps a much harder proposition. With this body, they seemed much much larger.

As she shepherds me into their spare room, Jess quickly nips in and turns the bedside light on. As I follow behind her, Jess turns and gets to her knees. Looking me in the eye, I could tell she wants to help me get into my nighty.

“Take off that shirt,” she commands. “Let's get you into this nighty. Pretty girls like us need our beauty sleep.”

Reluctantly allowing her to help me remove the t-shirt, I instantly cover my naked body with my arms.

“Emily,” Jess giggled, reaching for a pair of white girly briefs. “I’ve seen a girl's body before, you don’t need to hide it.”

Putting the briefs by my feet, she wants me to step into them. I couldn’t have felt more emasculated if she’s been trying to make me feel like a little girl.

“Step in please sweety,” she insists, taking hold of one foot.

Not finding my big boy voice, I let her take my foot and glide it into the briefs. Then seconds later she does the same with the other foot and glides the briefs up my legs.

“There you go,” she smiles. “Is that better to have it hidden away?”

“I suppose so,” I mutter back. “I still feel like it’s down there.”

“You do?” Jess asks, almost giggling at my comment.

With her grabbing the unicorn nighty, she raises my arms and pulls it over my head.

“It’s not gone forever,” Jess comments, as she pulls out my hair from under the nighty.

With Jess gathering all of my loose hair, she parts it down the middle and styles my hair into pigtails.

“Speaking of it,” Jess says, putting hair tie’s into my hair. “Do you want me to talk through how to go to the toilet?”

“I’m sure I can work it out,” I reply, with a small huff.

“It might not be that easy,” she chuckles, patting me gently on the head. “Just make sure you sit down when you use the toilet. You won’t be able to aim it anymore!”

Blushing like a ripe tomato, I look away and try to think of something else.

“Oh don’t be shy!” Jess giggles. “At least you aren’t at the age to have periods!”

With that comment, I pout and fold my arms.

“Damit you're so cute!” Jess coos. “Look at that pretty little face! Honestly, wasn’t expecting you to transform into such a pretty little girl. I can kinda still see your family resemblance though.

“You’re enjoying this too much,” I whine in reply.

“Maybe,” Jess shrugs. “Anyways, let's get you into bed.

With Jess flapping out the sheets of the double bed, I climb in and get comfortable. With her tucking me in, she flicks off the bedside lamp.

“I know it’s going to be hard to sleep tonight, with your transformation and everything,” Jess says, standing in the doorway. “Please try not to worry. I’m going to help you every step of the way. You’ll have such a new appreciation for women once this experience is over. Should help you find someone.”

“Go away Jess,” I huff. “I’m pretty tired now.”

“Nighty sweety!” she playfully jokes. “See you in the morning!”

With that, Jess closes the door and the bedroom goes dark. Shuffling around in the bed, which feels absolutely massive to me, I find myself yawning.

With my eyes growing heavy, I slowly fall to sleep.

The next morning, I wake to a gentle tapping at the door. Opening my eyes wide, the morning sunshine streams in through the blinds and I sit up in the bed.

“Ah poo,” I gripe, looking down at the unicorn nighty. “It wasn’t a dream!”

“Emily,” Jess’s voice says gently through the door. “Hunny, are you awake?”

“Yeah,” I call out, sounding so very feminine.

With Jess letting herself into the room, she gives me a big smile.

“How’d you sleep?” she asks and immediately starts rustling through the bags of clothes brought for me yesterday.

“Ok, I guess,” I reply back, fighting to get my long hair out of my mouth and eyes.

“Good,” Jess says, holding up a small yellow summer dress. “Go get washed up. Once you’re dressed and had your juice and cereal, we’ve gotta head to the mall.”

“Juice?” I complain, rather narked off. “I need my coffee, Jess!”

Pushing out one hip, Jess gives me a sour look.

“You don’t need coffee,” She scolds. “You’re not thirty anymore. That nine-year-old body will have energy enough.”

“Oh sure,” I scoff, letting out a raspberry. “Take that pleasure away from me too!”

Slowly climbing out of the bed, Jess smirks and points at the bathroom.

“Just go get washed, missy,” she sternly commands

With a big yawn and a rub of my eyes, I walk past Jess and into the en-suite. Closing the door behind me, I look up at the sink and the mirror. I could barely reach the taps. I had to stand on my tiptoes.

“Baby, Jess says through the door. “Don’t wash your whatsit with soap….ok.”

As the sink bowl fills, I look at the girly face looking back at me in the mirror.

“I ain't touching that thing,” I mutter under my breath, gritting my teeth.

With a splash of water on my face, I decide that’s enough. I wasn’t yet prepared to take my nighty off and look at my transformed body in all its glory. If I ignored the emptiness below, I could almost pretend I was just a skinny boy.

“Done,” I say, as I open the door and come back into the bedroom.

“Sit on the bed Emily,” Jess orders, not looking at me. “We need to brush your hair and get your dressed.”

Climbing back onto the bed, I allow my feet to just dangle off the side. Then without warning, Jess gets on the bed and straddles me from behind.  With her legs around my entire body, she starts gently playing with my hair.

“Jess….?” I cry, with my face going bright red. “What are you doing!? Kevins downstairs, he wouldn’t want you so close to me like this!”

“Don’t be silly,” she giggles, releasing my hair from the pigtails. “This is what my mom used to do with me. I used to love it.”

“Not so sure,” I huff and fold my arms tight.

Jess wasn’t put off, she ran a brush through my hair, catching knots as she went.

“You’ve got such lovely glossy hair,” Jess comments, brushing away.

As Jess continued to brush my hair, she clearly was enjoying herself. I did sit as still as possible. I guess a part of me was enjoying the attention.

With a few more minutes passing, she gathered up all my hair and tied it into a ponytail. It was odd to feel all that weight on the back of my head, but it was super nice not to have hair in my face.

With me wafting my ponytail from side to side, enjoying the tickling sensations on my back, Jess gets up and stands in front of me. Helping me up onto my feet, she grabs the bottom of the nighty and pulls it swiftly above my head.

With the cold tingling my naked body, I bashfully try to cover myself with my arms.

“You can wear those say briefs today,” Jess comments, reaching for a bright yellow dress. “Arms up!”

The dress looked pretty simple, with a rounded neckline and a puffed-out skirt. Something you’d expect a little girl to wear. I didn’t fancy being seen in it, but at least it wasn’t a short skirt or something.

Doing as I was told, Jess soon as the yellow dress over my head and pulled down to my knees. With Jess zipping me into it, I look down at myself and sway the skirt from side to side.

“That’s so funny!” Jess laughs, looking at me with a huge smile. “I used to sway my dresses like that when I was your age.”

“It’s kinda fun,” I reply, giving her a smile. “It’s so airy down there,”

“Just make sure you cross your legs when you sit down,” Jess comments, giving me a wink. “Otherwise you’re panties will be on show for the world.

Pointing for me to get back up onto the bed, I climb back up and allow my feet to dangle once more.

“Hold your legs out,” Jess asks, as she bundles a pair of thin-looking white tights. “Gotta keep those young legs warm!”

“How tight to these needs to be.” I moan as she runs them up under my skirt.

With Jess giving me a wink, she steps back and allows me to jump off the bed. As I do, my dress puffs up and air rushes up between my legs. Not something I was used to. Why couldn’t I wear some jeans or something? Does it have to be a dress? I feel ridiculous.

“Could you make me look any more girly?” I ask with a stamp of my foot.

With a big smile, Jess reaches for some black Marie Janes shoes. Sliding them onto my small feet, she fastens the buckle tight. Getting to her feet, she looks down at me and gushes.

“Look at you, baby,” she says, brushing loose strands of my hair from my eyes. “You’ll get used to dresses and I promise it’s worth it. You look so adorable!”

Looking up at her, I sigh.

“Thanks,” I reply with a sour tone. “I don’t feel it. I feel weird.”

With that, we both head downstairs. I could hear Kevin watching the TV. With Jess going into the kitchen, I bashfully make my way into the living room.

I wondered what Kevin would make of me wearing a dress like this.

“Hey Steven,” Kevin awkwardly greets me with a fleeting look.

“Hi,” I answer, knowing that the both of us were a little uncomfortable.

Climbing onto the sofa. Next to him, I brush down my ridding upskirt. Kevin looks down at me again and quickly looks away. I look at the TV and try to act natural.

“Can you look at the soccer scores?” I ask, pointing at the TV “ My team played yesterday and I never found out the result.

“Soccer?” Kevin gripes, picking up the remote. “You still like that? Why can’t you like a real sport?”

“Just do it,” I order, punching him in the leg. “You know I’ve liked soccer since I was young.”

With Kevin laughing at my feeble punch, he flicks over the channel.

“You punch like a girl,” He chuckles.

“I am a girl,” I sarcastically reply back. “What's your excuse!”

Kevin chuckles a little more before going silent. As we watch the highlights of my team losing by two goals, I grumble.”

“Useless berks” I groan, “I could have done better!”

“Oh yeah,” Kevin laughs. “If it wasn’t for the old sports injury… right?”

Looking up at Kevin’s smug face, I give him a sour look.

“You know I was good enough,” I reply. “Not my fault my knee gave in.”

Continuing to pull faces at each other, Jess interrupts us both.

“Emily,” she calls. “Come eat your choccy cereal.”

“Yeah, Steve,” Kevin says sarcastically “Go eat your cereal.”

With Jess pulling out a dining chair, I amble over and sit up at the table. looking at the breakfast she’s laid out in front of me, I see no coffee. It was a bummer.

As I tuck in, Jess goes over to Kevin and starts nagging.

“Don’t you need to leave for work,” she moans.

Without saying another word,  Kevin flicks off the TV.

“See you guys later then,” he says, kissing Jess gently on the cheek. “Don’t get into trouble Steven, ok. That’s my fiancé you’re with, don’t get any ideas!”

With a mouth full of cereal, I give him a dopey look. As if I would even think of doing something like that to my best friend!

As he leaves and the front door clicks closed, Jess wonders over to me.

“Yeah like we’d do anything like that,” she giggles, sitting next to me on the dining table. “You don’t even have the right equipment anymore!”

“Don’t remind me,” I groan with a mouth full of food.

“Emily!” Jess scoffs, wagging her finger. “Don’t talk with your mouth full!”

Sticking my tongue out at her in response, she gets up from the table.

“Silly girl,” she mumbles, as she puts on her leather jacket. “Once you’ve finished we need to head out. My hair appointment is in an hour.”

“I think I’m done already,” I tell her, throwing my spoon into the bowl. “Do I get a cool leather jacket like that too?”

Jess stops and gives me a big smile.

“It is a nice jacket right?” she happily replies. “Nah, I think Kevin got you a denim one. Go put your dishes in the kitchen and I will go fetch it.”

Nodding, I get down from the table and take my stuff into the kitchen. Not scrapping it, I leave it on the counter. Jess then enters with the denim jacket in hand. Helping me into it, I look down at the flowers embroidered on the front.

“It’s a bit small,” I comment, trying to pull it down further than my waist.

“That’s what girl's clothing is like Kido,” Jess says quickly grabbing her car keys. “No come on, let’s go!”

With her holding her hand out for me to grab. I felt a little annoyed. I’m really not a child. I don’t need to be hand help to the car.

“Please don’t hold you’re hand out like that Jess,” I moan. “I’m capable of walking to the car myself.”

Still holding her hand out, she gives me a dirty look.

“I need this to be real,” she tells me. “If I treat you like normal, I will only see you coming down the aisle and that will be awkward. Have you noticed how I don’t call you anything but Emily?”

“Kevin keeps calling me my real name,” I reply, looking down and flapping at my skirt.

“Yeah…,” Jess says, grabbing my hand and gently pulling me. “I need to have a word with him about that.”

Within minutes, we have left the house. Walking to her car, I look over at my car with sadness, knowing that I can’t drive it for the next seven days. I doubted my girly body good even reach the peddles.

“Emily…..,” Jess complains as I open the passenger side door of her car. “Do children ride up front?”

“Fine,” I huff and slam the car door.

Reluctantly climbing into the back, I do up my seat belt and give Jess a sarcastic smile.

“Better?” I mock.

“Much better sweety,” she smirks

Leaning into the back of the car, Jess places a hand on my knee.

“Although,” she says, pushing my legs closed. “You don’t need to splay your legs out like that anymore. Remember you’re wearing a dress. You don’t want people looking up trying to catch a glimpse of your underwear!”

“Argh,” I complain, shutting my legs tight.

With Jess starting the car and pulling out of the drive, I start staring idly out the window. Something had been bothering me all morning and it wasn’t the fact I’m a girl or wearing a dress. She’s a witch and can do this to people. What's that about?

With us driving down Main Street, I knew this was my opportunity to ask about it.

“So, can I ask you a question?” I say, breaking the silence.

“Sure sweety,” Jess replies, giving me a smile through the rearview mirror.

“Tell me more about your being a witch,” I continue, itching the back of my hand as I talk.

“There’s not much to say,” Jess responds, concentrating on the road. “It’s a gift passed down to all girls in my family. My mom got it from her mom and so on and so on.”

“Do you have magic powers!?” I childishly ask her.

“No!” she answers with a chuckle. “It’s more knowledge on how to brew potions and stuff.

“Like the one you gave me?” I say, looking at my girly small hands. “Pretty powerful stuff if you ask me. Could you not make a fortune from it?”

Stopping at some traffic lights, Jess quickly looks back at me and shakes her head.

“It’s not as easy as that,” she says, giving me a serious look. “The Witch council would expel my family if I was to profit from it.”

“Well, that’s crap.” I huff.

“Yeah…,” Jess replies, turning back to concentrate on the road. “It’s a dying art form in my family.”

“Why’s that?” I ask curiously.

“I can’t have a daughter…,” Jess replies, her voice almost cracking with pain.

“Oh yeah,” I say softly back. “Sorry, I shouldn’t pry.”

Pulling the car into a car parking space, I look out my window to see we’ve parked outside the shopping mall. Thinking about entering the place dressed like this was making my head hurt.

“We’re here!” Jess says, turning off the engine and looking back at me. “Also, I guess you have the right to ask me about my witchcraft. Let's just forget it for now and go and get our hair done!”

“I’m getting my hair done?” I question, undoing my belt and climbing out of the car.

With the gentle breeze and chill of the autumn weather hitting me, my hair wafts, and my skirt ruffles. I could feel the breeze running up my dress once more.

My tiny frame really wasn’t doing much to hold back the cold either, being mostly skin and bones. Good thing I didn’t have anything dangling between my legs. I think they’d have probably shriveled up by now.

“Jeez,” I groan, as Jess comes around the car and holds out her hand to me. “It’s cold today!”

“Good thing we put tights on you,” Jess comments, waving her hand out for me to grab.

“I’m not taking your hand Jess,” I scoff. “I told you, I’m not a child!”

“Emily,” she growls, giving me a stern look. “Do you want to make a scene?”

“No….,” I admit and reluctantly take her hand. “I guess not.”

With her pulling and gripping my hand tight, Jess leads the way into the mall. I couldn’t believe how strong she was. I felt like she was going to rip my arm straight out of the socket.

As we enter the mall, everything just seemed massive compared to me. I couldn’t help but feel anxious and nervous as we walked towards the salon. I couldn’t help but feel everyone was gawking at me in this dress. Staring at the guy who’s now a girl.

Entering the Salon, I look around at all the women working at the client's chatting. I would have felt out of place here as a man. I felt really out of place now.

As Jess greets the receptionist, I find myself hiding behind her legs. I knew this made me look like such a nervous little child, but I really was feeling anxious. I mean, how are you supposed to react in public when you’ve been transformed into a little girl.

“Right this way Miss Brown,” the receptionist says, leading us further into the shop.

As I walked just behind Jess, still trying my best to hide and not be seen, the receptionist looks down and smiles.

“Hello sweety,” she says beaming a smile.

Hiding my face behind Jess’s leg, I felt like such an idiot. Here’s me moaning I’m not a child, then the next minute hiding myself away.

“I didn’t know you had a daughter,” the receptionist says to Jess. “She’s a bit shy.”

“Oh,” Jess replies nervously. “Daughter….yeah…..,”

With us stopping next to two empty hairdressing chairs, the receptionist bends down and looks into my eyes.

“We’ve got you booked in too!” she tells me with a big smile. “You wanna sit next to mommy?”

Shaking my head, Jess picks me up and places me in the chair. Kneeling down in front of me, she pulls out my bunched-up dress. Giving me a comforting smile, she pushes my legs together and winks.

“Hiya!” A woman greets us both from behind. “How’re the nerves Jess?” she asks

Turning to face the woman, she’s clearly a hairdresser. She’s got a funky-colored hairstyle.

“I’m getting a little nervous,” Jess admits, sitting in the chair. “How're things with you Holly?”

“I’m good my lovely,” Holly Replies, running her fingers through Jess’s long brown hair. “And who’s this lovely young sweetheart?”

With Holly smiling at me through the reflection of the large mirrors in front of us, I slouch in my seat.

“Oh don’t be shy sweety,” she says.

“This is Emily,” Jess interrupts, turning to give me a comforting smile. “She’s getting her hair done too.”

“Is she your daughter!?” Holly questions with surprise in her eyes.

“Nooo,” Jess replies, desperately wanting people to stop asking that. “It’s complicated. I’m just looking after her at the moment.”

“Nice to meet you, Emily,” Holly says. Ushering another hairdresser. she turns her attention back to me. “I’ve got my assistant doing your hair sweetheart. Be a good girl for her, ok!”

Seconds later. Holly’s sister appears behind me and she removes the tie from my hair. Allowing my hair to cascade down my shoulders, she runs her things through my long locks and turns to Holly.

“I know what you’re after Jess,” Holly says. “What about Emily, What do we need to do to her hair?”

“Cut it all off?” I bashfully whisper.

“Whats that sweety?” Holly’s assistant asks, leaning in closer.

“I heard her,” Jess gripes, giving me a sour look. “She’s just being silly. I was thinking if you part her down the middle. Keep her bangs long and layer it?”

“Sure,” the assistant chirps, lifting strands of my hair into the air. “Lucky you’ve got really healthy hair. Should be a nice easy cut. Should look super cute!”

Feeling pretty annoyed that Jess was making the decisions for me, I huff and fold my arms.

“I suppose my opinion doesn’t matter,” I whine, Not thinking about how Jess would react.

“Emily….,” Jess says softly, trying not to appear annoyed in front of everyone. “Pleased be good and do as your told.”

Swallowing my pride once more, I lean back into my chair and sigh.

With all the ladies incessantly chatting away, both myself and Jess had our hair done. Every so often the hairdressers would ask me questions. Jess, would more often than not, answer for me. I was getting a little bit irritated.

That aside, it was kinda nice having my hair done. Getting it washed and having some of the weight cut out. It was super nice getting it all blown dry. I actually found it pretty funny as my hair wildly danced around in the jets of warm wind.

Once the assistant had straightened it and styled it, I could really apricate the style I was given. On a real little girl, it would be super cute! On my head, not so sure.

Once Jess’s hair was done, she looked stunning. I had to give Kevin props. his wife is a real beauty. She’s slumming it with him, for sure!

I dunno if it was the dress, my female body, or the whole experience, but I was starting to feel pretty comfortable around Jess and envious of her. With her hair looking so curly and lovely, I almost wanted to ask for my hair to be curled too

Privately shaking my head at those silly girly thoughts, I say nothing

With us, both finished and Jess extremely pleased with the results, we pay up and leave. I almost want to shout out that I’d survived!

With Jess in a really good mood, she brought me lunch. Annoyingly, she didn’t get me the slice of meat lovers pizza I wanted. I got a chicken nugget happy meal. I ate it all, but I knew she’d done that on purpose.

She was really trying to remind me that I’m a kid and should act like one.

With us about to leave the Mall, Jess pulls me in the direction of a small beauty Kiosk. Signaling for the Lady to serve us, I wonder what she’s planning.

“Hi there,” Jess greets the lady. “I’d like to get my daughter's ears pierced please.”

“No way,” I whine, pulling my hand from hers. “I’m not doing that!”

With Jess holding me tight, I pull even harder. I don’t like needles! I don’t want them to shove one in my ear!

“Emily!” Jess says, “I’ve brought your earrings for the wedding. I need you to have your ears pierced.”

With the woman readying her needle gun, she gives me a worried look.

“Miss,” she says concerned. “Are you and you’re daughter ready?”

“One second,” she replies and kneels down in front of me.

“Look,” she whispers into my ear sternly. “Please don’t cause a scene. Honestly, It doesn’t hurt!”

“I dunno,” I say, looking away from her serious-looking expression.

“Please Emily,” Jess says, “Do this for me, just this once.”

“Why?” I groan, turning to look at Jess’s face. “wasn't getting my hair done enough?”

That’s when I see the tears welling in her eyes. I really couldn’t understand why she was getting upset. It wasn’t like before in the salon. She was getting annoyed at my attitude. This was something else.

“I’ve had such a lovely day with you,” she says, with a single tear rolling down her cheek. “I’ve always dreamt of doing things like this with my own daughter. Please just let me enjoy these moments while I can.”

“You won’t,” I say, wiping the tear from her face. “get to do this for real…. will you?”

“No Emily,” she sobs. “Please just indulge me. Going to the mall to get my ears pierced with my mom was a big moment for me. Let me give that moment to you… please.”

“Fine,” I huff, throwing my arms around her neck to comfort her. “I don’t like it, but I’m doing this for you both!”

Giving me a hug in return, she gets up and pats me gently on the head.

“My daughters ready now,” says, helping me into the chair.

With my heart rate raising, I could feel the panic consuming me. I hate needles!

“Sweety,” Emily says, gripping my hand super tight and looking deep into my eyes. “You’re the best. I hope you know that!” 

“Ok,” I reply, breathing heavy. “Can I at least choose my earrings?

“No sweety,” Jess answers, tilting her head to one side. “I know best.”

Annoyed by her again, I wanted to say something, however, I was more scared of the needle. I wanted her to keep holding my hand.

“Ok,” the needle lady says, sitting to my side. “Big brave girl now, ok!”