“Do you think they can hear us?” Xander whispered pulling his stubby thumb from his mouth and grabbing a lock of hair.

“Nope.” Harper began in a matter of fact tone. “When I had my slumber party with Peyton and Zion last weekend we were pretty loud and they slept through it all.”

Xander had been worried when he first decided to climb into bed with his big sister to have such an important conversation. Her bedroom was right next to their parents and he didn’t want to risk them hearing his worries about the new baby. He feared sounding like a baby himself to Harper, but he would’ve been simply mortified to have them hear his selfish talk too.

“It’s just that when I came home from school yesterday with my spelling bee trophy Dad barely said anything. I mean I know Tuck was crying but we normally go for ice cream when I win.”

“Xander, It’s freezing cold out and mom wasn’t home. Dad was NOT taking Tuck out in the cold to get ice cream.” She said it like duh.

“Well he didn’t even say we’d go later”. he retorted louder than he’d wanted. She had this way of making him feel silly. Even though he knew this about her he had no one else to confide in and she sometimes said a few things that made him feel better. Besides, his best friend Max was visiting his grandparents for the weekend and he wasn’t gonna see his favorite cousin Taj for weeks. He had no where else to turn.

“Maybe he didn’t hear you, Xander.”

“He did.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yesssssssssssssaaaa he said something lame like way to go Champ you win every year.”

“Well you do!”

“Yea I know, and we GET ICE CREAM EVERY YEAR!”

“Well this year you couldn’t go for ice cream, no big deal. We’ve got ice cream in the freezer.” She sounded bored with the conversation and he was beginning to regret saying anything at all. He knew she wouldn’t understand. They always had ice cream in the freezer, but Dad still always took him when he won. It was tradition.

He crossed his arms, turned his back to Harper and faced the wall. He couldn’t bare the walk of shame back to his own bedroom so he laid there under her unicorn blanket trying to think of a way to make her see what a big deal it was. But would she even understand? She was still the big sister when Tucker arrived and still the only girl. But he was now not only NOT the only boy, BUT HE WAS NO LONGER THE BABY. He was now just this kid that they’d had second. What is that even?

Xander closed his eyes tight to stop the stinging and the welling of tears. Suddenly, realizing how hurt her little brother was Harper turned to her side and wrapped her arm around his waist.

“Tuck cried a lot today,” she began. “Before you got home. He was crying when I got in. Dad barely spoke to me either. It’s been hard on them since they brought him home. With mom gone for work and Dad working from home with the baby and besides Dad thinks Tuck has a cold…” she trailed off some. “I’m just saying it’s been busy for them.”

She paused to see if her words were making an impact. Xander wasn’t sure yet. He knew they’d been busy too and he didn’t mean to be insensitive. He just missed them. Especially Dad. He felt like all the time he spent with him got passed on to Tuck.. and it had barely been a few months. How could he survive all the years left?

“Before Mom came home last night Dad was on the phone with her at the airport.” she started again. “He said you’ve been a real help with Tucker and he was grateful.” Xander still didn’t feel better. He had tried to help out a bit, but only to get a little time with his preoccupied father- which clearly wasn’t working.

She said nothing for a while. Then…

“Ya know, when you came home, I felt like Mom didn’t have time for me either. I honestly wanted them to take you back for the first 3 months.”

Xander abruptly flipped over to face his sister.

“Really, no way!”

“Oh yea! And if you think Tuck cries a lot.. he’s a cake walk compared to the way you hollered.”

Xander grabbed Harper’s arm as their heads fell together in laughter.

“That ain’t true!” He finally managed.

“Definitely is. Ask Taj! You were wayyy worse.”

She shifted some and put her chin on top of his head. “But things calmed down, and Mom needed me to be patient and help out with you. So I did and she was real grateful and it actually made me like you. You were kinda cute. And you LOOVVEEDD when I sang the wheels on the bus.”

Xander chuckled again. He had always been close to Harper. She took care of him. She definitely teased him and got on his nerves but she always made sure he was ok. He’d made the right decision to sneak in with her tonight.

“Yea maybe Tuck’s not so bad.” he whispered. Maybe he was over reacting. I mean, Dad DID still come in to say GoodNight most nights and still rubbed his head most times when he walked by. Maybe Tucker wouldn’t change things as much as he thought. After all, his parents still loved Harper after he debuted and he was the best baby EVER.

“Dad’s proud of you punk.” Harper gave him a noogie on his head and then a little squeeze. “And so am I. And since he can’t take you to get ice cream, I’ll bring celebratory sundaes home after school tomorrow. Deal?”

“Even though there’s ice cream in the freezer?”

He could feel her smile. “Why not.”

“Do you have dance tomorrow” Xander needed to know if these were afternoon or evening sundaes. “No dance. I’ll be home after my last class.”

Now he did feel better. Because his big sister was pretty cool and things would be ok with Dad he was sure of it. And afternoon sundaes, not evening helped too.

The moon glowed through his sister’s window and the conversation turned to the weird new kid that moved in down the street. Harper knew Xander felt better as they both took turns yawning. The glow of the moon dimmed and sleep soon found them as final whispers wandered away without care.