My little cousin isn't so little anymore. The little bugger is bigger than me these days and, I daresay, becoming quite the teenager. I did his hair into a Mohawk earlier this summer, which was just my way of showing the baseball playing mini-jock that sometimes being like his 'weird' cousin can be cool, too.

The point is, the kid's been through a lot. Everything I've been through with this family since I was twelve, he's been through since he was two. He's got a mother who loves him to pieces and dotes like you wouldn't believe. But when you're thirteen, sometimes you start to look for something else. That's why when he started to get upset in the hospital room last night, I did what any decent, cool-as-fuck older cousin would do: I pinched his ass.

Well, I didn't just pinch his ass. I shoved him a little first and when he shoved me back, I pinched his ass.

"Caleb, stop squirming. We're in a hospital."

Shocked face. I reach over where no one can see and pinch him again.

"Caleb Dean, I'm serious! Quit horsing around. This is the Intensive Care Unit for God's sake...."

Pinch.

"Aunt Kelly, would you tell your son to behave himself? The nurses can see him goofing around over here and it's embarrassing."

He then proceeded to tell me that he's actually taller than me now, but it's okay because I'm still pretty tall............ for a girl.

Little bastard. He's lucky I love him.