Size Matters - Chapter One

After a long ride up the side of the mountain Willy’s Dad finally pulled into the ski resort their family are going to be spending the holiday weekend at, this had been an annual trip for the four of them and something they looked forward to every year. Willy was relieved to finally be arriving at their destination, he was perched atop a booster seat with his legs dangling below him. His back was sore from his booster seat forcing him to sit with good posture.

“It’s about time!” Dylan, Willy’s twin brother said.

Willy looked over to his twin brother, he had hit a growth spurt this year and now there was no mistake they weren’t identical twins, he was over a foot taller than him and his parent’s had removed his booster seat months ago. Dylan looked downright comfortable with the seat leaned back, it wasn’t fair since Dylan was technically his younger brother, at least by a few minutes.

Their dad parked the car and everyone started to get out, Willy was used to waiting for their parents to let the twins out of the booster seats but since Dylan had grown he had taken the job of unclipping the seatbelt for him. The car doors opened and their dad pulled two large suitcases out of the trunk, he took one and handed the other to Dylan. Willy took hold of several garment bags that held their ski outfits for the weekend.

They shuffled through the familiar hall of the draughty ski chalet, Mom checked them in and gave each of them a key for their room. The family made their way to their rooms, two adjoining rooms. “We are going to head down and meet some friends, why don’t you two go swimming in the pool?” Their mom suggested.

“Sure, that sounds good.” Dylan said as he unlocked the door and pushed the suitcase inside.

The room looked like a cozy cabin with wooden walls, a big window with a view of the mountain and a large bed in the centre of the room. To the right was their own bathroom.

“Only one bed?” Willy asked his brother.

Dylan just shrugged. “I guess we’ll have to share.”

Willy just sighed, at least his parents hadn’t completely forgotten they were twins but it only ever seemed to come up when they could save a few dollars.

“Let’s just get changed then.” Dylan suggested and heaved the suitcase on top of the dresser. He unzipped it and started digging through it. “Which bathing suit did you pack?”

“I don’t know, Mom packed my things.” Willy told him slightly embarrassed that he had forgotten to pack his own clothes.

“Here it is.” Dylan said, holding it out to him. Dangling in front of him was one of their one piece swimming outfits with a back zipper. Willy took it from him and held it out, it was a dinosaur themed outfit with a green stegosaurus on the front. “Why don’t you change in the bathroom and I’ll change out here.”

Willy was still staring at the outfit annoyed, he had a plain blue swimsuit he would have preferred over the dinosaur one. After another moment of lamenting over it he decided there was nothing to be done about it now. “Yeah, I’ll be right back.” He told his taller twin brother.

Willy shuffled into the bathroom and took off his sweater, khakis, underwear and socks. He unzipped the back of the onepiece swimsuit, stepped inside, pulled it up and put his arms through the sleeves. Just a couple years ago he wouldn’t have cared what his swimwear looked like but ever since Dylan grew over the last few months he had been left with all the ‘twin’ clothes while Dylan slowly got his own wardrobe, it had been the first time the two had their own clearly defined wardrobes.

Willy tried to zip up this suit and had forgotten this particular swimsuit had a teeny tiny zipper on the back of it, normally the two would zip each other up so he called for his brother. “Dilly, can you get my zipper?” Willy called to him.

His brother stepped into the bathroom and zipped up the swimsuit from behind him. Willy looked at himself in the mirror with the happy stegosaurus staring at him, he frowned at himself in the childish swimwear. He looked at his brother's reflection and saw that he was wearing plain red swim trunks and a black T-Shirt, he almost looked like a lifeguard.

“Mom bought you swim trunks!” Willy gasped, their Mom had given them countless excuses why she preferred the swimming sun suits that he was wearing.

“Yeah, those aren’t popular in my size and this was on sale.” Dylan told his brother. “She said it would be fine since it’s an indoor pool anyway.”

“That’s not fair, I have to wear this little kid stuff.” Willy complained to his brother.

“It’s not so bad! I kind of wish this came with a top too, I don’t really feel comfortable going shirtless.” Dylan took a turn to complain to his older brother.

The two brothers stared at each other in the mirror both wishing they were wearing the other’s outfit, a long silence shared between them.

“Should we head down?” Dylan suggested and handed Willy a towel.

Willy left the bathroom and picked up his hotel key. “Hey Dilly, are you bringing a key?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’ll bring one.” Dylan agreed, noticing that Willy’s suit didn’t have any pockets. The two stepped out of the room and Dylan locked the door and went down the elevator.

Willy and Dylan crossed the hall and made it to the pool, the smell of chlorine and the sound of other kids splashing around rang in their ears. The pool had a large slide and diving board at the deep end, it was one of the highlights of the ski resort. Dylan and Willy learned over the years that they were too tired after skiing to go swimming so now want to go first thing.

A life guard greeted them and told them about all the rules of the pool, no running or rough housing and to play nice.

“Do we need to do that swim test for the deep end of the pool?” Willy asked looking up at the lifeguard, he just noticed that Dylan was slightly taller than even the guard on duty.

The lifeguard looked at the two of them and shrugged. “As long as you stick with your big brother it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Okay!” Both of them said in unison, which caused them to look at each other with a confused look. Willy was used to being called the little brother over the months and eagerly took the chance to skip the test, Dylan on the other hand didn’t catch on that his height was the reason they could skip the test. Willy knew his brother was about to explain that they were in fact twins, since he would tell anyone who would listen so he grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the lifeguard.

“What was that about?” Dylan asked. “You’re the big brother I was going to tell him we are twins.”

“Who cares about that, it's like a ten minute difference.” Willy dismissed him.

“You used to rub it in my face all the time!” Dylan told him.

“It doesn’t matter now, look at us!” Willy gestured to their swimsuits. “Who’s going to believe we are twins now!”

“I like being twins!” Dylan told him. “Remember, we are Willy and Dilly!”

Willy wasn’t sure if it was the change in environment or the chlorine in the air, he couldn’t understand why his brother couldn’t see the difference between them now. “I’m the only one who still calls you Dilly.” He told him.

“Yeah I know.” Dylan said sullenly. Once their height difference was pronounced enough to warrant a new wardrobe it seemed like the world started calling him exclusively Dylan. “I liked Dilly.”

The two twins shared awkward glances at each other, Willy had tried to get his parents to change to Will or William but they would still only call him Willy. “Let’s just go swimming… Dilly.” Willy broke the silence.

“Yeah, okay Will!” Dylan agreed and started smiling again hearing his nickname. The two found some lounge chairs to store their towels. Dylan hesitated before finally deciding to leave the black T-Shirt with the towels. “It’s still weird not having a swim shirt.” He complained.

“If you could fit into this suit I would gladly trade!” Willy told him finally, causing the both of them to laugh as they took a leap into the deep end of the pool.

The two ended up having fun splashing around the pool, challenging each other in diving for rings, Dylan was easily able to outpace Willy much to the smaller twin’s annoyance. “This isn’t really a fair game anymore.” Willy complained.

“It’s perfectly fair, we are the same age!” Dylan argued. “You’re just upset you lost!”

“Let’s just go on the slide for a bit.” Willy offered his brother, changing the subject.

“Think we are tall enough for the big slide?” Dylan asked him.

“You probably are!” Willy spat. “I’ll probably have to ride all the little ones again.”

The two rushed over to the staircase leading up to the slide, beside each set of stairs was a sign with rules about how they worked. Willy stood there reading the sign while Dylan measured himself against the clearly shorter height marker. Willy read the rules over again and noticed the line ‘Height restriction for unaccompanied minors’.

“See I knew you would be able to ride it.” Willy complained knowing he was still too short. “Let’s just go up and see what the attendant says.” Willy thought he might be able to get away with it if he was with his brother.

They climbed the high steps, much further than they were used to, this is the first time either of them had such a good view of the pool area. “It’s a little high up.” Dylan said softly.

“That’s what makes it exciting!” Willy spoke with glee, he turned around and noticed that Dylan had stopped climbing. “We are almost there!”

“I don’t know about this.” Dylan whined. “I’ll meet you at the bottom.”

“Wait!” Willy said and clambered down a few steps, he looked face to face with Dylan since he was a few steps higher. “Don’t be scared! Just hold my hand.” He reached his hand out to his taller twin brother, which he quickly took. “I need you to come, Dilly.” Willy’s cheeks grew pink; he didn't want to explain that without his brother they wouldn’t let him go on the slide.

Dylan looked at his hand holding his brother’s and then up to his brother. “Okay, I’ll come with you.” Dylan whispered.

The two slowly made their way to the top hand in hand to be greeted by a teenager in a red bathing suit and a whistle around his neck, he smiled at them.

“Hey are you two ready for the slide?” He asked the two. “You’re going together.”

“Yeah. That works I suppose.” Dylan stammered, still a little nervous.

“Do we have to go together?” Willy asked, thinking he could go down by himself.

“Let’s go together!” Dylan announced squeezing Willy’s hand a little harder.

“Your brother is worried about you, you should go with him.” The teenager said. “Sit right here.”

Dylan sat on the slide first and then the teenager guided Willy in between his legs. “Hold on to your brother.” He instructed.

Dylan wrapped his arms around Willy and pulled him in tightly. “Who is going to hold onto me!” Dylan shrieked.

Willy scoffed at his terrified brother and grabbed one of his brother’s hands that was holding onto his chest. “There, feel better?” He asked.

“You two ready?” The teenager asked, both the boys nodded.

Water rushed out through the slide and carried the boys into the tube. Dylan shrieked and screeched as the two rocked back and forth. Willy laughed and whooped as they slid through the tube. Dylan pulled Willy tighter as they made it to the end and they crashed into the pool at the bottom. Eventually Dylan let go and the two swam to the surface and caught their breath.

“That was awful!” Dylan whined.

“It was amazing!” Willy cheered.

The boys threw water at each other and spent the rest of the time going up and down the smaller slides. Eventually the boys headed out of the pool and back to their towels, they knew they needed to get ready for dinner with their parents.

Willy wrapped his towel around him while Dylan tried to dry off, his sun suit dried fast and soon he was just standing there waiting for Dylan.

“These trunks don’t really dry off, I wish I had a bathing suit like yours.” Dylan complained again about the trunks, which WIlly would have preferred to be wearing.

“I look like I’m seven in this thing, why would you want to wear it?” Willy finally confronted him.

“Well then we would be matching again.” Dylan stated, he wrapped his towel around him and put his shirt back on.

Willy rolled his eyes at his brother and the two headed back to the elevator. His brother was shivering in the cold air of the ski resort as the elevator headed up.

“Your towel looks like a blanket wrapped around you.” Dylan whined through his shivers, clutching the towel wrapped around his shoulders.

“I’m not that little!” Willy complained to his brother even though he knew he was only whining because he was cold.

The two made it back to the room, Willy had to wait while Dylan fumbled for the key in his wet trunks.

“We should get ready for dinner with Mom and Dad.” Willy told his brother who was already collecting clothes from the suitcase.

“Okay, I left your clothes on top, I’m going to change out of this cold bathing suit.” Dylan told him as he rushed into the bathroom.

Willy felt annoyed that he left him so quickly. “Hey I need you to unzip me!” Willy shouted through the door.

“Just let me change first.” Dylan yelled back.

Now Willy had to wait for his brother to be let out of his swim suit. He looked at the small pile of clothes and groaned when he saw them.