rebel | leah clearwater

10

"I'm so bad at this!"

Arlo laughs as he looks up to watch Leah paint the dye on his bleached hair. "You're alright, I promise."

"We should have got my mom to help." She shakes her head giggling, setting the pot down. "There. A pink streak, a blue streak and a purple one."

He pulls her close and kisses her as she sits on him. "Thank you. You aright?"

"I'm good. Promise. I don't really remember the whole thing." She shrugs small, playing with the black, dry parts of his hair. "It's all a blur."

"Its only been a week. I don't care if you're superhuman with weird healing powers, you're gonna take it easy." He says.

She salutes playfully. "Yes sir."

He rolls his eyes. "Your mum would say the same."

"I'm sure she-hi chief Swan!" Leah leaps off his lap as Charlie heads into the kitchen.

He smiles warmly having not caught the previous moment. "Hey Leah... Pink? Arlo, you're 18 years old dude, really?"

"18 in... 6 hours actually." He smirks as he looks at his watch. "And what do you mean by that?"

"Didn't you do that when you were 12? And 14? And 15?" Charlie says. "Pretty sure I got the pictures somewhere."

Leah laughs. "Oh show me!"

"Yeah, and?" Arlo rolls his eyes. "You forgot the blue and purple, I wanna be a rainbow." He sasses.

Charlie chuckles. "Bella's bringing pizza home, you staying Leah?"

"Yes please chief, mom's outta Town for a couple days and Seth is staying with the Blacks. Mind if I crash here?" She asks.

"Not at all. I'm gonna shower quick." Charlie taps the counter before he leaves.

Leah sinks back into Arlo's lap. "So are we gonna tell your dad?"

"Tomorrow. Then I'll be 18 and free to do what I want." He says. "I don't think Charlie would care but still." He shrugs.

Leah nods. "Okay. Time to wash it off, Mr I want to be a Rainbow."

He grins and moves to the sink, leaning over as Leah runs the water and uses a cup to wash his hair off. He tries to annoy her by poking her as she works but she slaps his thigh and he groans/laughs and stops. She rubs his hair dry and pushes it back from his face, smiling. "Handsome."

"Fanks." He grins goofily.

Leah leans in to kiss him but the door opens and she moves away. "I got pizza!" Bella calls as she comes in. "Oh damn, look at your hair!"

"You like?" Leah smiles, washing the remaining dye away. "Took me 5 hours."

"5!?" Bella laughs. "Damn, you have patience of a Saint. Wanna eat in there?" She motions to the living room.

Arlo shrugs. "Sure... Where's your shadow?"

"I told him to fuck off for the night." Bella shrugs. "And for tomorrow. Its your birthday, it'll be just us - and Leah."

Arlo pushes his damp hair back. "Ah cool..."

Leah nudges him. "It'll be fun."

"Fun." He nods, heading to the livingroom.

Leah gives Bella a small smile. "Thank you." She whispers, Bella smiling back.

They all sit in the livingroom, Charlie joining, and dig in to the pepperoni pizzas. Leah and Arlo end up fighting over the last few slices, Bella and Charlie laughing. "You're both animals." He says.