The weekend camping trip has finally arrived, and Carl is heading out to the summer house where his long time friend is staying. Of course, his little sister decides to tag along. This turns out to be a very good thing, since it provides a chance for him to better understand what it means to love and accept someone for who they are.

Brianna's Big Brother - Chapter 2
Copyright 2007 by Heather Rose Brown
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As my sneakers crunched the gravel underfoot, I breathed in the sharp scent of pine sap brought by the gentle breeze whispering through the scrubby pine trees crowding the overgrown path I'd been following. The morning had already started getting hot back at the campground, but it was still cool in the shade of the surrounding trees where only little beams of sunlight were allowed to peek through the dense cover overhead.

When I heard the slap of flip-flops coming up behind me, I stopped and turned to see my sister running to catch up. Watching her pigtails bouncing made me smile. Seeing her hair up like that when I crawled out of my tent this morning had taken me by surprise. It made her look like such a ... girl. Not that she wasn't one, but I was still struggling with the idea that she wasn't my brother any more.

When she finally reached me and caught her breath she asked, "Why didn't you wait up for me?"

I rolled my eyes, but grinned to let her know I really wasn't annoyed. "Because every five seconds you're stopping to look at some rock or twig or something."

"But there was a really good reason I'd stopped this time." It was then I realized she was holding a hand behind her back.

"What are you up to?"

"Tadah!" She pulled her hand from behind her back and held out a tiny bouquet of daisies and little purple flowers.

I was both touched and feeling a little confused as I accepted the gift. "Wow ... thanks Bri. Nobody ever gave me flowers before. What do I do with them?"

"Well, you could smell 'em." My little sister smirked. "That's whatcha usually do with flowers."

I held them up to my nose and sniffed at the light, sweet scent. "Hmmm ... they do smell nice."

"You could also give 'em to your girlfriend." Her smirk turned into a lopsided grin.

"What girlfriend?" Even as I asked, I had a sneaking feeling I knew who she was talking about.

"You know." She held a hand to her mouth and stood on her toes to whisper in my ear. "T-e-r-r-i."

I was really tempted to chew Brianna out. I was already jittery about meeting my old friend and the teasing wasn't helping. Instead, I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Listen ... Terri isn't my girlfriend. She's just a friend."

My sister didn't look convinced, but she nodded anyway. "Okay. Maybe ya could like give 'em to her just as a friend?"

"Maybe, but she's never really been much into flowers."

"Oh, I'd forgot 'bout that." She hung her head, looking totally dejected.

Feeling bad for knocking all her ideas, I tried for one of my own. "You know, another thing you can do with flowers is put them in your hair."

Her face lit up at the idea. "Oh wow, I'd like that! Could ya put 'em in for me?"

I had originally expected her to put them in herself, but I didn't want to ruin the mood and agreed. After finding a sturdy stump, I got comfortable on it and had her sit in front of me. Ten minutes or so later, there was a ring of flowers around both of her pigtails.

I had been sitting there for a little while, trying to figure out where to fit in the last flower, when she turned around and looked up at me. "You all done?"

"Almost. I'm still trying to trying to figure out where to put this daisy."

Brianna grinned as she stood up and plucked the flower from my fingertips. Before I could say or do anything, she slipped it behind my right ear. "There ya go. Problem solved."

"Wait a minute. Guys can't wear flowers." As I said that, something in the back of my mind asked what that meant when I had just put flowers in my former brothers hair.

"Sure they can. Boys do it all the time in Hawaii."

"They do?" I vaguely remembered something about flowers and Hawaii, but nothing about guys wearing flowers.

"Sure they do." She adjusted the flower so it fit more snugly behind my ear. "So, ya ready to meet your ... ummm ... I mean ya ready to go see Terri now?"

I could tell she was trying hard not to tease me again and I really appreciated it. I seemed to surprise her as much as I did myself when I leaned forward and hugged her. It only took a moment for her to recover and wrap her arms around my neck. As I held her tight, I realized it didn't feel all that different from the times I'd hugged her thinking she was my brother. It was that moment I realized something pretty important. I hadn't lost a brother. I just never realized she was my sister.

It was something I was determined to never forget again.