Riley the Page Boy - Chapter 1

Riley knocked tersely on the hotel room door, cringing as he heard Freddy’s high pitched giggles from within. His mother had sent him down to pick up his outfit for Aunt Lucy’s wedding that afternoon. His younger cousins Bradley and Freddy were also in the wedding party - and all three of them were supposed to get changed before they headed downstairs for the ceremony. He had been avoiding them for the whole day and had even asked his mother to go down and pick up the outfit for him just so he wouldn’t have to talk to them at all  - but she’d flat out rejected the idea, telling him it would do some good to spend some quality time with his cousins.

Although Freddy could be a bother, he was only six years old. Riley was much more concerned about Bradley. Although at fourteen Riley had a solid two years on Bradley’s twelve, the boy was a relentless bully who never failed to find something to torment him with whenever the two were together - usually targeting him with some stupid prank designed to draw attention to his diminutive height. Riley didn’t know why the larger boy wouldn’t just leave him alone! Afterall, it wasn’t like he had ever done anything to him. He was just small for his age - and what could he do about that?

He just hoped that Bradley wasn’t planning to humiliate him too badly at the wedding. He wasn’t bold enough to hope that he might get off entirely scott free, afterall Bradley had had some scheme planned to embarrass him at every family event for the last five years, but he would have settled in a heart beat for a simple wedgie - jeez, he would have even taken a pantsing. At least then it would be over, and he wouldn’t have to tiptoe around on eggshells wondering if every little thing was part of some elaborate plot to demean him.

The worst pranks were the one’s where Bradley enlisted all of his other cousins in whatever fiendish scheme he had cooked up. Last year, at Uncle Rob’s 40th birthday up in Vermont, he’d told everyone that Riley had pooped his pants! It had only been a bit of mud, but somehow all of the other boys seemed to believe the ridiculous story, or at least pretended that they did - and there wasn’t anything Riley could say to convince them otherwise. He was supposed to be the oldest, but with Bradley around he always felt just as little as he looked.

The door opened to reveal Bradley, already dressed in a navy blue suit with an accompanying pale pinkish tie. They were both supposed to be ushers, so Riley supposed he could expect to be wearing something similar - if a lot smaller.

“Took you long enough.” the larger boy commented, just a hint of excitement at the corners of his broad smirk. Riley followed him cautiously into the hotel room. Surely he couldn’t be planning to get him in here? No one was even watching. And where would be the fun in that?

Freddy, also dressed up for the wedding, was standing just by the door and looking over himself cautiously in the mirror. He was meant to be one the two page boys along with their cousin Davey and was wearing what appeared to be a kind of sailor suit - consisting of a billowy white cotton shirt, a pair of seersucker powder blue shorts, and a matching collar tied around his neck. The boy didn’t seem overly thrilled with the outfit, examining it sceptically from various different angles. As Riley filed past, he noticed to his frustration that the six year old had just barely overtaken him in height since they had last been together - but luckily the younger boy didn’t comment on the difference, being too preoccupied with interrogating his appearance in the mirror.

Bradley led him over to a large wardrobe, searching through its contents before pulling out an outfit on a hanger.  To Riley’s confusion, it looked remarkably similar to the one Freddy was wearing.

“That’s not mine.” Riley said simply, alarm bells starting to go off in his head “I’m meant to be an usher…”

“Didn’t your mom tell you? Uncle Rob and Aunt Jackie's plane got delayed and they're gonna miss the ceremony. Someone’s gotta fill in for Davey as the other page boy.”

Riley gave a withering stare. Was this what Bradley had planned? But no. He couldn’t have. The boy was certainly an accomplished prankster, but it wasn’t like he controlled Vermont plane schedules.

“No way - I’m not doing it!” he insisted.

“You're the only one who’ll fit in the outfit.” Bradley smirked. “Besides. We’ve got enough ushers to shake a stick at.”

Apparently the development was news to Freddy as well, who interrupted from across the room.

“I don’t wanna do it with the baby.” he complained.

The baby? His six year old cousin was calling him a baby? He clenched his teeth in annoyance - he remembered when that little tyke was a newborn!

“I’m not a baby!” he interjected loudly, trying to sound authoritative, but ending up coming across more like a stroppy toddler. He grimaced at the sound of his own voice. Why had that come out so whiny?

“You were fine doing it with Davey.” Bradley coaxed, addressing his brother “And he’s only four.”

“Davey doesn’t poop his pants.” the younger boy quipped, shooting Riley a disdainful side-eyes glance.

Despite his outrage, Riley felt himself shrink back in embarrassment at the taunt. Were all his cousins still buying that stupid old story? It had been a year!

“That’s true.” Bradley conceded “But I’ll bet everyone will think you're really grown up showing your baby cousin Riley how to be a proper page boy.”

“Stop calling me a baby!” Riley insisted, jumping up to pull uselessly at Bradley's arm in an effort to get back his attention.

Bradley just shushed him “Hush up, Ry-Ry.” he commanded, “Big boys are talking.”

Riley growled, but there wasn’t much he could do as Bradley placed an authoritative hand on his head and continued to converse over his grumbles of protest.

“People will think I’m a baby too.” Freddy objected, crossing his arms obstinately.

“No, they won’t. Everyone will just see one big grown up page boy, and one little baby page boy. I promise.”

“But we’ll be wearing the same thing!”

“Not quite.” Bradley retorted, letting go of Riley and heading back towards the closet. He soon pulled out a pastelle green package featuring a blond haired toddler beaming on the front in nothing but a crinkly white diaper. Riley froze. They were diapers. Bradley was holding up a packet of babies’ diapers. He felt as if his heart had momentarily stopped beating.

“Everyone will think you’re such a good helper, looking after the baby.” Bradley beamed, still talking as if Riley weren’t even present. The smaller boy turned on his heels - trying to make a dash to the door, but it was locked! Where was the keycard? His logic didn’t progress any further as Bradley’s hands fell heavily on his shoulders, twisting him around and practically dragging him back into the room.

“Noooo.” Riley cried, kicking and punching wildly about as Bradley heaved him onto one of the beds. He pushed him back so that he was lying down, and although Riley instantly tried to get up again, Bradley had already gotten to work stripping off his shoes and socks and was now making a grab for his loose fitting jeans.

“Aww, you’ve got your little cartoon undies on.” he commented as he pulled the material down around his ankles. As he removed them completely, he tickled at the soles of the smaller boy’s feet - transforming Riley viscous attempts at resistance into feeble squirms, and sending him collapsing down once again on the bed. “Is your mommy finally trying to get you potty trained, Ry-Ry?”

“I..am..potty..trained!” Riley insisted breathlessly, struggling desperately to get up again as Bradley continued to tickle at his feet and up around his legs.

“Well.” Bradley continued “You’re going to have to go back to your diapees for the wedding. We wouldn’t want you going pee-pee or poo-poo in your undies during the ceremony, would we?”

“Stop!” Riley squealed in horror as Bradley pulled down his underpants - but it was already too late. He quickly changed tactics, covering himself up bashfully with his hands.

“I’ll tell you what.” Bradley went on “If you can go through the ceremony and the whole reception without having an accident, maybe we’ll even see about going back to pull-ups tomorrow.”

“Get off me you weirdo!”

Bradley ignored him, instead simply pinning him back on the bed with one hand.

“Freddy.” he called “Do you want to help me get the baby ready?”

The younger boy seemed already to have cheered up about his outfit, nodding enthusiastically as he bounded his way over to the other side of the bed - eager to prove his maturity in comparison to his fellow page boy.

“Just hold his arms back like that” Bradley instructed, forcing Riley’s hands away from their protective position  “There we go - and just pull his t-shirt over his head like that. Great!”

There was nothing Riley could do but wriggle restlessly as Bradley tickled at his bare belly, leaving him totally exposed as the last piece of his outfit was stripped away.

“Such a sweet little baby.” Bradley commented, unfolding the diaper. “Up goes your bum-bum!” he cooed. Riley was almost grateful as the crinkly, papery material was secured around his waist, finally covering him up again.

After that the procedure was reasonably straightforward, with Riley allowed to sit up to have his arms forced into the loose cotton shirt before Bradley did his buttons up for him. Then, it was time to lie down on his back again as the baby blue seersucker shorts were negotiated up his legs and secured over the bulky diaper. Finally, he was helped back to his feet - Bradley leaning down to secure two large buttons on the bottom of his shirt that seemed to attach to a matching pair of holes on the front of his shorts.

Riley looked down at them with disdain, uncomfortable with how they with how they turned the two easily discarded articles into a single impregnable outfit.

 “Why doesn’t Freddy have these stupid buttons.” he complained, immediately making an effort to undo the fiddly things.

“It’s called a Buster Suit.” Bradley explained, getting to his feet again “They only really do them for the baby sizes, so Freddy’ll just have to make do with regular shorts.”

As his efforts with the buttons amounted to nothing, Riley quickly came to the conclusion that he would definitely need some help getting out of the ridiculous thing. He moaned, realising that he already had a little pressure building in his bladder.

“And there’s your bib!” Bradley enthused, draping the striped blue and white collar over his neck.

“It’s a collar. Not a bib.” Riley corrected bitterly.

“Nu-uh, baby. Freddy’s wearing a collar. You’re wearing a bib.”

“They’re the same.”

“Sure, but the boy’s aren’t the same are they? One’s a big boy, and one’s a baby. Big boy’s have collars, babies’ have bibs.”

Riley went to say something derisive, but the larger boy didn’t wait for his retort - instead looking over at Freddy who had been sitting patiently on the bed while Bradley finished up helping the baby get ready.

“Ready to go?” he said cheerfully.

The younger boy nodded his assent, jumping to his feet as Bradley took Riley forcefully by the hand and started to march him towards the hotel door. Riley stamped his feet in frustration, trying to slow the larger boy down - but it was no use. This had to be the worst trick Bradley had ever pulled.

"I don't have any shoes." he blurted out, hoping that any delay might let him think of a way out of this mess - but Bradley didn't seem phased.

"That's alright for babies." he reassured "I'm sure you'll be fine on just your little tootsies."

Riley looked down at Freddy's feet, somehow feeling a pang of jealousy at his navy blue socks and canvas plimsols. With nothing else to delay the inevitable, he decided he had no choice but to threaten to tattle.

“I’m gonna tell my mom.” he pouted morosely.

“Go ahead if you want.” Bradley shrugged “But the ceremonies starting in 10 minutes. By the time we get down there, there won’t be any time to come back up and change - and there’s no way we could leave Aunt Lucy without her special baby page boy.”

The smaller boy let out a little sob, realising he was probably right. Even if he could find his mom before the ceremony began, he’d likely be walking down the aisle in diapers.

“Aww, there's no need to be so glum. I won’t tell if you don’t, and nor will Freddy.  Just hope that cute little diaper bum isn’t too obvious in the wedding photos!”

Riley felt as if he might throw up, stumbling unhappily behind his two cousins as they led him down the hallway, through the hotel, and out towards the gardens. The ceremony was just about to get started.