Smiley and Sunshine

14.

5:35 am.

Good news, her innate alarm clock was not broken by any means. In fact, it was working a little too well, waking her up 10 minutes earlier than usual for a school day.

Bad news, Hayes only managed a solid 4 and 1/2 hours of sleep so she was feeling a little crabby. At least she was a morning person, so her ray of sunshine personality would kick in any moment now.

As she laid in bed, she could hear Glen starting to teeter around in his bedroom next door. When they were back in Live Oak, Glen used to get up before her and hog the bathroom first. She never minded since that gave her a couple extra moments of peace and quiet. Soon the Bear would arrive home and it was a toss up on what kind of mood he was in after work. Majority of the time, he was the silent type and just let the kids do what they had to do to get ready for school. But those once in a blue moon moments were enough to keep them on their toes.

When one more minute suddenly turned into five, Hayes tossed the comfort to the side and rolled out of bed, letting her feet softly hit the floor before slowly standing up. Besides the two of them, it didn't seem like anyone was up. The bathroom in the hallway was open so she quietly went in to use the toilet and brush her teeth. She briefly glanced at her reflection in the mirror as she free-handed her hair into a loose ponytail using one of the hair ties laying around. Why take the time to brush it now when she'll only have to brush it again after getting changed.

Hayes slowly descended the stairs, stopping on the second to last step when the sound of the front door unlocking hit her ears. Keeping silent, she was basically a ghost in the darkness of the house to the unsuspecting visitor.

The door opened and Austin walked in. She watched him remove his earbuds and wipe his face using the bottom of his T-shirt as he tried to quietly close the door behind him. Colton's bedroom was right across from the front door and Austin did not want to wake him up any earlier than necessary. His brother was up just as late as he was last night.

"You run?" Unable to help herself, she spoke up, revealing her hiding spot.

"Jesus fuck, Mary, and Joseph." Austin startled at her voice. His head swiveled to the staircase to where she was standing. "Shit, I think I just lost 10 years off my life." He rested his hands on top of his head, taking deep breaths to slow his racing heart.

Hayes kept quiet, unsure whether he was mad at her or not for spooking him. If she hadn't been so worried about his reaction, she would have been laughing. She scared him real good.

After a few tense seconds for Hayes, Austin dropped his hands and approached her. Since she was standing on the steps, they were almost at eye level. Almost. "To answer your question, yes, I run every morning." He cocked his head to the side. "Why are you up?"

"School?" she questioned him back, tilting her head in the same direction.

"And you're already up?" She could tell he was impressed by the way his eyebrows rose. "Is Glen up, too?" Hayes nodded. "Wow maybe some of these morning vibes will rub off on Francis." He chuckled to himself, shaking his head. "When pigs fly."

Austin's eyes twinkled in amusement as they stared at each other. Hayes was fascinated by the pretty replica of her blue eyes looking back at her. She was glad they had their dad's genes because their mom had green eyes that only meant trouble.

Then she sneezed.

"Bless you," Austin laughed, poking the little girl in the side.

"Sorry," Hayes mumbled, wiping her nose with the sweatshirt sleeve. She suffered from the morning sneezes. Thankfully it was not seasonal allergies though because living in Florida would have been brutal during the spring.