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The Legal Stuff: Bears Know Best  © 2012 By Tiffany Shar
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright  © 2012 By Tiffany Shar. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Preface
 
 
Like the first three books I posted here on BigCloset, I will be posting a full copy here on BigCloset. I will be posting it up in 28 installments, but that may change if I feel like a posting needs more. The book has a total of 35 chapters and a short epilogue. The full version should be completely posted by September. For those that cannot wait however, I have an e-book version of the full book available from Lulu.com as of today. You may find it at My Store. My assumption is that the majority of my readers would be more interested in this edition of the book rather than a hardback or paperback. There are two types of eBooks available depending on how you wish to read it. One is the ePub format that you should be able to load on any e-reader (you may need an additional app, but I believe all will read it), and the other is a standard PDF formatted file. I believe the PDF is the best way to read it on a computer screen personally. If you enjoy this work perhaps you will consider supporting me by purchasing it ($8.95 for the eBook formatted files).

Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy reading Bears Know Best!

 

Chapter 21: First Birthday

 
THE NEXT MORNING I wasn’t sure whether I was really fourteen, or one… the decorations Mom had put up overnight in the kitchen were confusing! I blushed as I took a seat at the kitchen table, still in my pajamas, and looked at her. She looked to be catching up on more work, but she sat her laptop to the side and said, “Happy Birthday!” and came over to hug me.

“Thanks… I think,” I told her.

“Oh come on, I had to have a little bit of fun with this being your first birthday as a girl,” she told me with a wink. “I promise it’ll come down before your friends come over tonight.”

“Friends come over tonight?” I asked.

“I guess you have been a little out of it the last week… Alyssa, Danielle, and Breanna are coming over for dinner, along with Alyssa’s parents, and then if you want they can spend the night.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked. I was excited that my birthday was actually going to be sort of a party. I didn’t really expect anything after the last week.

“Well… I just was worried about whether you were up to it or not?” She suggested.

I shook my head, “I don’t care if I am or not, I’ve been cooped up in that stupid hospital room for a week after just finally making some friends for the first time… They’ll stay over!” I assured her.

“Okay,” she told me. “They’re supposed to come over at five… why don’t you take care of stuff now, and then again about three so you don’t have to worry about it again tonight while they’re here?” she suggested. I wished I didn’t understand what ‘stuff’ was, but I did.

“Okay…” I said. A part of me wanted to cry about all of this still, but it wouldn’t do any good.

I stood back up and went upstairs to take care of ‘stuff’ after I got a glass of water. When I finished up I grabbed a cute skirt, a matching top, and headed towards the bathroom across the hallway. Mom was walking by right then and gave me a hug, “Your Dad is going to pick you up to take you to lunch in about an hour.”

I nodded. It seemed fair to give him some alone time with me since he was going home the next morning. I could feel my eyes start to mist up a bit about that, but I forced the tear glands to behave and said, “Okay.”

“Let me know if you need any help in the bathroom,” Mom told me.

I sighed, “I’ve been able to shower by myself the last few days just fine,” I told her a little exasperated.

“It’s my job to worry sweetie,” she told me.

“Alright Mommy,” I told her.

I gave her a hug and went into the bathroom. It was my first shower back in my bathroom and I was looking forward to it. Almost as much as being able to take a bath again in a couple months… I used my body soap for the first time since entering the hospital and was so grateful for it! I took time to really wash my hair, and just stood there with the water rushing over me for too long.

I could feel the water starting to cool a bit from the hot water heater running low, ‘Maybe I should get out…’ I admitted to myself. I patted myself dry and stared at my reflection in the tall mirror that hung on the door. As much of a pain as everything had been, and still would be, I was grateful I looked like a ‘normal’ girl now… I still had some swelling, and bruising was very much still there, but it seemed like it was fading quickly enough. ‘Hopefully by the time band camp starts I’ll look okay,’ I thought as I pulled up a pair of panties.

I got dressed and opened the door. Mom was standing next to the staircase like she had just walked upstairs. “Out finally?” She teased.

I nodded. “It felt so nice to have a shower in my own bathroom…” My mouth moved to make a large grin.

Mom returned my smile, “I can understand! You want me to do your hair?”

I thought for a second, “It’s my birthday, you definitely should!”

She laughed at me. “Okay, come on! Let’s get Princess Taylor’s hair done.”

I giggled at her overwhelming silliness, and we walked together to my dresser. She had me sit with my back to the mirror, and said, “I’ll be right back, hold on just a sec.”

She was gone for just a moment and came back with a box that she kept behind me, out of my sight. Mom plugged in my two curling irons and I became curious as to what she was going to do with my hair. I sat there patiently while Mom brushed my hair out, and began twisting parts of my hair with the curling iron, pulling on bits of my hair, using pins, and it all reminded me of my last visit to the salon to have my hair done before the show we went to.

I bit my tongue the whole time though. I didn’t want to deprive her of the fun of doing my hair in any way. I could tell she was having fun just because she couldn’t stop smiling… ‘that or she is making me look like a clown,’ I thought nervously. ‘My mother wouldn’t do that to me on my birthday though!’ I reassured myself.

Just when I thought she was done with my hair she started fumbling behind me for something else, and I could feel forks of some weird type of clip dig into my hair and head a little bit. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but I could definitely tell whatever was there was going to stay there. I thought that was the cadence of what she was doing, but she turned around one more time and began doing my makeup for me.

“Mommy I can do my own makeup,” I told her with a smile.

“I know,” she said with a cute smile of her own that I suddenly realized looked like mine, “but I really want to finish off your face before you see what I did with your hair.” She smiled. “Please?” She pled.

“Oh, alright!” I told her with mock exasperation.

She laughed and I felt a tingle go up and down my spine and goosebumps on my arms as she did my makeup for me. It was different than when the ladies at the salon did it, or Alyssa did it… She was my mommy… as weird as it was to think of her like that when I’d been attempting to grow up a boy, it seemed natural now. It really seemed so unfair that I hadn’t been able to grow up as a little girl and have moments like this all the way through my childhood.

‘Of course she still went and left me…’ I thought, though my anger was much more muted than it had been in the past.

“Okay, all done!” she said.

I stood up and looked at my reflection in my mirror, bringing up a hand to my mouth to cover my shock and giggles.

“So I really am a princess!” I said.

“Well, at least for today!” Mom said as she put her hands on my shoulders behind me.

She had done my hair much like it had been done the last time in the salon, but she had styled everything to go around a pretty glass tiara that she had put in my hair. It looked really cute, and I felt like a princess from a fairytale in that moment. The moment I had chosen to come live with her seemed like a distant memory, and I did the only thing I could to repay her… I turned around and hugged her as big as I’d ever hugged her.

“Thank you Mom,” I told her. I didn’t want to ruin my makeup, so I tried to force back the tears, “I love you so much,” I told her.

“I love you too,” she told me.

Before we could have a big crazy mother/daughter tearfest the doorbell downstairs rang.

“That’s probably your Dad,” she told me.

I looked down at the clock on my iPhone and gasped, “It’s already ten-thirty?”

Mom laughed at me, “You stayed in the shower forrrreeeever!”

“Do I look too silly like this?” I asked her, suddenly self-conscious about how I was going to look in public with the fairly obvious tiara.

“Why yes you do Princess, but it’s your birthday!” She smiled at me. “Now why don’t you find some shoes so you can go with your Dad, and we’ll do presents later with everyone at dinner.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Good girl,” Mom told me with a smile as she went downstairs to let Dad in. I found a pair of flats and went downstairs to meet him.

“Hi Daddy!” I said as I came up from behind him as he talked to Mom in the kitchen.

“Wow, I didn’t know I was dining with royalty today!” He kidded with me as he gave me a big hug. “Happy birthday Princess!”

“Thanks,” I told him.

“So where do you want to go for lunch?”

I shrugged, “I don’t care, maybe Mom knows of somewhere I haven’t been yet.”

She looked thoughtful for a second, before giving us the name of a restaurant in Erie that she thought we would enjoy. It was a long drive, but I could nap on the way there and back, and that actually seemed like a good idea. I’d also have my dad’s credit card with me for shopping, win/win!

“So how are you feeling today?” Dad asked as he began driving down the road to make our way to the freeway.

I shrugged, “Mostly okay I guess. This all kind of sucks to deal with Dad,” I told him.

He glanced over at me, “I’m sorry, if I could do anything to help you I would.”

“I know,” I said. “But, I don’t think there’s anything you can do… My body just has to heal at this point.”

He gave my hand a squeeze, and I smiled at him.

“So fourteen, huh?” He asked me with exaggeration. “It seems like just yesterday you were born…” he said.

I sighed, “Daddy, it was fourteen years ago, definitely not just yesterday!” I told him.

He laughed. “It feels like it to me.”

I smiled at him.

“So we’ve never really talked about what you wanted for your birthday…?” He suggested to me.

I shrugged, “My bike can count, can’t it?”

“I suppose, are you sure there’s nothing else you want?” He asked me, seriously.

I thought for a minute, “I don’t know, why don’t you surprise me with something?” I suggested.

He laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“I had this discussion with your mom, and she said that’s what you would say… and I agreed. Gift shopping for you would be so much easier if you would just act like the stuck up spoiled rich brats that most of my teammates have for kids…” He shook his head.

“Well,” I exaggerated, “I’m sure I can start acting like a spoiled little rich princess if you really want.” He laughed, “I think I want a pony, and then umm… lots of Barbies…” I racked my brain for something funny, “and…” I paused, “a puppy!”

He laughed more and shook his head. It was so nice to be back in the same place as him, I loved him so much. It was sad that I hated Rachel enough that I couldn’t put up with her to enjoy being with him. “Okay already, I did buy something already, to surprise you.” He said, “But, if you see anything else you want today let me know!”

I smiled back at him, “Okay.”

Dad and I talked animatedly all the way to Erie. Yeah, I’d been stuck with him in the hospital room for a week, but I hadn’t really been in the mood to have fun — or be fun. It had been mostly miserable for me there. Dad followed the directions I gave him through the GPS app I had for my iPhone, and we found the restaurant without any problems.

The waitress laughed at my tiara, “Birthday?” she asked.

I nodded, “My mom got it for me,” I told her with a smile.

“That’s cute, I have a collection of them at home too,” she told me. “Happy Birthday,” she said, “what would you like to drink?” she took our order and Dad and I began looking through the menu. It was mainly an Italian menu, and I ended up choosing a light ravioli dish to eat. I knew my appetite still was off, so there was no point in ordering anything larger. At the end of the meal the waitress came out with some of the other staff members and did the embarrassing pseudo-happy birthday type song. One of my teachers had once explained to me the ludicrous nature of it being illegal to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ because it was still copyrighted. That didn’t really matter to me at that moment though, because I was so red with embarrassment.

Dad and I left there and decided to go to the mall for a half-hour before heading back home. We’d never had a daddy/daughter date before, and that’s what the afternoon ended up being. I tried not to force him to go into too many clothing stores, but I saw a dress at one point I had to try on. He bought it for me without me even talking him into it. As we walked by Victoria’s Secret he shook his head, “I don’t ever want to know when you shop there…”

I laughed, “Okay, I won’t make you go bra shopping with me,” I held onto his hand as we walked through the mall. We eventually headed back out to his rental car and drove back to Conneaut. I felt no shame at taking a nap then though, I was feeling drained again already. I had definitely over done it with the mall!

Dad shook me awake when we got to my house, and I walked in. It was almost four already, and Mom reminded me that I needed to take care of stuff again before everything got started. I sighed, but went upstairs to get it taken care of. ‘I can’t imagine what this must be like for transgendered patients…’ I thought as I did the necessary deed to keep my opening from closing. It was time consuming, but I managed to think ahead enough to have my iPad and iPhone next to me. When I was finished I cleaned myself up and put on my new dress.

“Is that the new one?” Mom asked as I came downstairs.

“Uh-huh,” I said as I twirled around for her, “what do you think?”

“It’s cute!” She told me. True to her word, while I was out she had taken down the signs that made it seem like it was my first birthday as a girl.

My friends that were coming and Alyssa’s parents knew about me at this point, so that wouldn’t have been a big deal… but I appreciated Mom not rubbing it in everyone’s faces. “Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked her.

“Just sit down and let me take care of things,” she told me with a smile.

I shrugged and sat down on the couch next to Dad. I wasn’t sitting long though before the doorbell rang and I got up to let in Alyssa and her parents. “How are you feeling Taylor?” her mom asked as she gave me a hug.

“Better every day,” I answered with a smile.

“Happy Birthday!” Alyssa said as she handed me a wrapped box.

“Thanks Alyssa,” I told her with a smile. I led them all back down to the kitchen and was amused at the sudden appearance of a pile of presents on the breakfast bar counter top. I placed Alyssa’s gift next to the pile.

“Are you trying to be sneaky?” I asked Mom.

She just smirked at me before turning back to stir a pot. It smelled like she was cooking a roast and doing mashed potatoes with it. Mom had Alyssa and her parents sit down at the table and Dad joined them. I was just about to sit down myself when I heard the doorbell ring again. Breanna and Danielle both stood outside. Each had an overnight bag and a present in their hands.

“Happy Birthday Taylor!” Breanna told me, and Danielle echoed it as she came in. I led them down the hallway to the kitchen.

“Hi girls,” Mom told them. “Taylor, why don’t you show them the basement room, I figured it would be a good place for you guys to use for your sleepover.”

“Umm… okay,” I told her. I hadn’t really thought that through, but I would have thought we’d use my bedroom or the living room. Alyssa grabbed her bag too, and we opened the doorway to go downstairs.

Halfway down the stairs I noticed something didn’t seem quite right…

I gasped.

“Wow!” I exclaimed! The girls giggled behind me, and Mom and Dad both appeared behind me as well.

“Happy Birthday sweetheart,” Mom said.

“Thank you!” I told them.

While I was in the hospital the room had been completely painted, and redone. It took up the majority of the space beneath the house, so there was plenty of space down there to spread out. At one end there was now a large flat-screen TV and sound system, with a couple couches and some awesome looking beanbag chairs to sit in. The main area had my music stand setup, and filing cabinets for music along the wall. The coolest thing by far was all of the artwork that had been put up along the now multicolored walls. One wall was purple, another wall was orange, and the other two were a medium blue.

Without seeing it in person the colors would have sounded hideous, but with the ceiling still white it worked somehow. The orange in particular would have been overwhelming if I’d pictured it out of context! There were a variety of musical decorations along the walls, from famous horn players, to famous jazz musicians. They’d also framed some old music that was very beautifully ornamented, and hung it up on one wall. There was even a computer there that I figured Dad had hooked up for me to use while practicing like I had done back in Atlanta. That wasn’t all though; there was even a little snack bar area with a small refrigerator, a microwave, and a popcorn maker. It was officially the greatest place ever for a slumber party!

I gave them each another hug after I walked the walls, amazed at all they had done. “Thank you so much!” I told them.

“You’re welcome Taylor,” Mom said, “I’m surprised you didn’t come down here before now though,” she told me with a grin.

“I’m not allowed to play horn still for a few more days… I didn’t want to be reminded of that,” I said. Even then I looked longingly at my horn case that was sitting by the wall.

She squeezed me and said, “It’ll be soon, for now I need to go upstairs and get dinner onto the table!”

I smiled, “Thanks.”

Dad and my friends hung out with me downstairs for the next few minutes as we all looked over the walls, at the TV setup, and set their stuff down. It really was amazing, and I gave Dad another hug as we went back upstairs. I figured Mom had come up with the idea, but it seemed like something he would have been called in to do the grunt work on for me. “Alyssa’s dad helped out quite a bit too,” he told me as we parted to have a seat at the table.

I smiled at him, and went up to her dad, “I heard you helped downstairs?” I smiled brightly at him.

“A little,” he admitted.

With that I gave him a big hug and said, “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome Taylor.”

Dinner was fun with my friends able to be with me and hang out. I tried not to neglect Dad too much, but I think he understood. We had a great time talking about all sorts of things, and it felt like the week I’d been gone hadn’t existed at all. Really, it was hard to believe I’d only been friends with all of these girls for just a few short weeks. They were already better friends than any I’d ever had before. Once we’d cleared the dinner plates to the sink, and Alyssa’s mom and Breanna insisted they would clean them against my mom’s arguing, we sat down again for me to open my pile of presents.

I started with one from Mom that she pushed towards me first. “I’ve missed out,” she told me with a smile as I opened up the paper and discovered a Barbie Doll.

I laughed, “Okay, I guess I have missed out on this one,” I told her with a smile.

Thankfully the rest of my gifts were more age appropriate, so I didn’t feel an overwhelming need to crawl under a rock. Danielle gave me several small bottles of shower gel from Bath and Body Works, “I’d have gotten you bubble bath, but I know you’re stuck with showers for a while,” she told me sympathetically.

I hugged her and said, “Thank you!”

Breanna gave me four bottles of nail polish and a couple packets of nail art ‘stickers.’ “Those will be fun,” she assured me. “They won’t look as good as your nail lady does, but they’ll still be really cool.”

“Thank you Breanna,” I told her. “We’ll have to try them out tonight!”

She smiled at me.

Alyssa gave me a stuffed animal and a gift certificate to Justice. “I know it’s mostly really young for you, but you have to admit you find more there to wear than anywhere else.”

I blushed and smiled, “Thanks.”

Alyssa’s parents surprised me by giving me a package with an ‘IOU’ in it for a cycling trip in September. “We’re going to be doing a few races here and there in the next month, but we know it’s not something you’ll be able to do for a while. Hopefully by then you’ll be able to ride for this trip.” They explained it was a tour where we’d cycle sixty miles or so a day to different towns for five days. It sounded like a lot of fun! It was supposed to work out with one of the school breaks, so I wouldn’t have to worry about missing school. Not that I cared!

“Thanks!” I told them and gave them both a hug.

That brought me to the rest of my parent’s gifts. Dad gave me several gift cards that I had to assume were inspired by Rachel. They seemed more her taste than Mom’s. His biggest gift though, was a beautiful white gold pendant that had a ruby in it, and a pretty white gold chain to hold it.“Thank you Daddy,” I told him and gave him a hug.

“You’re welcome Taylor,” he said, and I noticed his eyes looked a little bit moist.

“Aren’t you going to put it on her?” Mom suggested with a smile.

I handed the box to him and turned around, smiling. He fumbled with the necklace for a moment and then I saw his hands move in front of me. I pulled my hair up off my neck to make it to where he could clasp it. “There,” he said.

I gave him another hug and sat down to open the rest of my presents. There were three boxes left for me to open. The first one I opened had more nail polish in it than I thought I would ever be able to use. They said they were from Sephora on them, and I loved the variety of colors that she had given me. All told there were ten bottles in there, and some weird looking metal tools in there. “They’re nail art brushes,” Mom told me.

“They don’t look like brushes…” I commented. “I remember her using them at the salon though,” I added. “Thank you,” I said with a smile.

The next box contained a cute top and another gift card to Justice. Alyssa, Breanna, and Danielle were all amused that I was stuck with Justice gift cards, but I just stuck my tongue out at them. “Their clothes fit me, unlike all the other stores…” I told them, blushing.

Alyssa stood up and gave me a hug, “We’re just giving you a hard time Taylor. You’re short enough you really don’t have a lot of options.”

“Gee, thanks for making me feel better,” I told her, but I did grin a little bit to let her know I wasn’t mad at them.

That left one smaller box from Mom for me to open. It was a square box that was about five inches by five inches, and not very tall. Inside I found a bracelet with wide links and three little bits attached to it. “It’s a charm bracelet,” Mom explained to me.

I looked at the charms that were attached to it smiled. One was a French horn which I fingered and looked at in amazement. It was pretty, and accurate too with all of the wraps in the right spots — it was even a ‘double horn’ like I owned. There was a treble clef charm with a small ruby in the middle of the tail, and finally a heart charm that was engraved. I read the engraving, To my beautiful daughter Taylor, I love you very much, Mom. The inscription brought tears to my eyes and I gave her a tearful hug, followed by a hug for everyone else that was present.

“Thank you all,” I told them.

“You’re welcome Taylor,” was the general response.

“Everyone ready for cake?” Mom asked. As everyone nodded to the affirmative she began slicing up an ice cream cake she had bought from Dairy Queen and passing out slices.

I just had a very thin slice, and wasn’t even able to finish it. “I hate my appetite right now,” I told my friends sitting next to me.

“It’s not a bad thing!” Breanna told me with a smile.

“Except you’re probably already too skinny?” Danielle asked.

I nodded, “I was sixty-three pounds before I went into the hospital. I was down to sixty when they weighed me the other day.”

“Geeze, I wish I was as skinny as you are,” Breanna told me.

“Not at the height you are,” I mentioned.

“True.”

The four of us continued to talk and nearly ignored the parental units until Dad and Alyssa’s parents decided it was time to leave. “Are you going to come by before you go to the airport tomorrow?” I asked him.

He smiled at me. “I’ll be by to have breakfast with you here before I leave,” he assured me.

I gave him a really big hug, “I love you so much, thank you for everything.”

“I love you too Taylor, and nothing can or will ever change that.”

As he left I was already missing him. The girls distracted me quickly though, dragging me downstairs to begin our sleepover. We spent the first part of the evening dancing to some CDs they brought over, well about ten minutes for me before I was too tired. I watched the others dance for a while longer and sang along to the songs; before we put on pajamas and settled down to watch some movies. Alyssa had brought over Breaking Dawn Part 1, I hadn’t seen it yet, and I was curious to see if it was any better than the first three movies.

“You know, other than the guys being sort of hot, the first three movies sucked,” I told them.

“I know, I mean Jacob is cute and all, but the movies were nowhere near as good as the books on the first three movies.” Breanna said.

We all nodded. “This one is better,” Alyssa assured me.

“I’m kind of sick of movies, I hope this one is good!” I said as we watched the credits roll. In the end I did enjoy it much more than the first three. This movie followed the books a bit better, and the parts that didn’t seemed to actually add stuff. What I did find happening though at the end of the movie was that I was getting tired.

“You look like you’re about to fall asleep birthday girl!” Danielle told me.

I nodded, “I hate this whole last week! It has been awful…I hurt, I haven’t felt good, and I’m always feeling like sleeping!”

They nodded at me.

“Do you want to call it a night?” Breanna asked, concerned.

I sighed, “Why don’t we put another movie on after we was our faces and stuff?” I suggested. “You three are welcome to stay up and talk, I have a feeling I’ll be out here soon though,” I admitted reluctantly.

In the end all four of us got ready for bed and climbed into our sleeping bags. “No funny business when I pass out!” I said with a smile.

“This’ll be the one exempt time!” Danielle admitted to me.

“I’ll take it.” I said with a tired smile. “Thank you all for coming and being my friends,” I told them. The movie they put in was something I couldn’t even remember the next day because I was out in the first five minutes. About the only thing I remembered was the whispers that continued long past when I closed my eyes and gave up my battle to stay awake.

 
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