Smiley and Sunshine

22.

Hayes' forehead leaned against the cool window so she could lazily gaze out as the neighborhoods passed by. Tiredness was slowly setting in from a draining day. How could one day range from the lowest of the lows to the highest of the highs? What happened to just a mediocre Monday? If tomorrow could be the boringest day on earth, she'd appreciate it very much so.

In a rare change of events, she won 'shot gun' today. The rare part being that her brothers allowed her to remain in the seat and not toss her into the back row like a rag doll.

Maybe they were finally maturing into the young men Austin empowered them to be.

Or maybe, just maybe, Francis pitied her because of the doctor's appointment. When he saw her at school, he immediately made a face at the sight of her band-aid. Apparently he wasn't a fan of needles either.

Anyhow, she didn't want to think about that anymore.

It was probably the latter choice for why she remained in the front, good ole pity for the baby siblings. Hayes didn't like pity. Made her feel more weak than she already felt on her own.

How was she suppose to thrive when no one even believed she would survive?

Hayes let out a tiny sigh, her breath creating condensation on the window. The AC was running cold, which felt incredible after a taxing practice. Honestly, she could take a nap right now.

Mutterings from the back row reached her ears. If she tilted her head at just the perfect angle, she could see her brothers' reflection from behind her. Glen didn't look happy. He hadn't looked happy all day, to be fair. Not even Abe nor Theo could cheer the boy up, and they were as much a clown as Francis was.

"Stop it."

"I'm not doing anything."

"You're freaking touching me. Stop." A slap sounded as Glen smacked Francis' hand away from his body.

"Knock it off, we're almost home." Colton eyed the boys in the rear view mirror while Hayes turned around in her seat to watch this play out. Free entertainment and she wasn't the one who'd be in trouble.

What really caught her attention was Glen speaking. He hadn't said much to her the whole day. To be fair, he did ask her about how her first practice with the team went, but Hayes wanted to save it for dinner so she only had to talk once. Really though, she just wanted someone to actually be excited to talk to her. Obviously Glen was not that, as he simply dropped the subject.

As she looked at him now, he seemed sad and tired. The sadness scared her.

"Baby bro, there's this thing called space and look, it's right there."

"Don't touch me," Glen grumbled pushing Francis' hand away again.

"I'm not touching you,

"I'm not touching you,

"I'm not touching you,

"I'm not touching you," Francis sounded like a broken parrot. Now she wanted to slap him, too.

"Jesus Francis, leave me the hell alone!" Glen's patience had run dry.

Hayes' lips twisted to the side. Was Glen broken?

"Francis," Colton glared at him through the mirror.

"I didn't do anything," Francis denied, "Smiley is just grumpy." He was only trying to cheer his little brother up.

"So fucking annoying," Glen huffed under his breath.

Francis gasped at Glen as Colton pulled into the driveway. "Baby brother, we don't speak that way."