Smiley and Sunshine

26.

Hayes' eyes twinkled at the sight of her eldest brother, perched against the car door with his arms crossed in his naturally intimidating pose. Well, intimidating to anyone who wasn't his adorable little sister, of course.

He seemed to be in the midst of a conversation with another one of her favorite siblings. Hehe, who was she kidding, they were all her favorite.

Both still in their respective work attire, probably just as eager as she was to get home and begin the weekend. Austin must have picked up Dakota somewhere along his way to the school to get her. Fridays were special because Coach Colton and his boys' basketball team didn't have practice so Austin was on pick-up duty.

It was certainly weird for Hayes to be somewhere without stupid Glennard by her side.

She missed him for these two hours they had been apart, even though these past two days they have been getting on each others nerves. Then again, what else did everyone expect when there were two hyperactive kids who had no outlet for their energy because they were grounded.

Which meant that this weekend would be interesting, because technically, she and Glen were grounded until Monday. But at least she could serve her punishment from the comfort of her bed rather than the stiff desks at school.

Hayes had big plans to sleep the hours away.

Although there was one teensy tiny obstacle remaining before that could happen.

Need a hint?

Lotte.

"Bye Hayes! Try not to get in trouble this weekend so you can actually play in the games, will ya?" Rosie jokingly glared at Hayes as they reached the end of the sidewalk. Rosie's car was parked on the other side of the lot from where Hayes' brothers waited.

"Don't worry, I learned my lesson," Hayes reassured her, shooting her a thumbs up. Yesterday was absolutely pure torture having to sit on the bench for the entire basketball game.

Yep, that's right! Thursday had been the opening games of the basketball season and Glen and Hayes were not allowed to play. Austin was sure to enforce this by making sure they remained in their school uniforms, not even letting them dress out in the sports uniform. It definitely was a tease, they for sure saw what they were missing out on.

But at least both the girls' and boys' teams won. Coach Colton was pumped and treated his siblings to a late-night ice cream celebration.

The girls waved goodbye to each other before going their separate ways.

As she crossed the parking lot, Hayes caught Austin's attention almost immediately. It sure made her feel loved when a smile broke out on his face just at the sight of his little sister.

Hayes found herself with a little skip in her step as she got closer. Now, this was the life worth living.

"I hate being grounded," Hayes whined aloud, causing Dakota to spin around at the sound of her voice. A smirk made its way onto his face at her annoyance.

"That's sort of the point," Austin laughed, dropping his crossed arms to envelope her into a hug. "I missed you, Sunshine."

Hayes felt his lips kiss the top of her head, her lips twitching up in her own smile.

"Missed you more," she mumbled against his shirt. The fabric felt cool against her forehead, making her sigh as she rubbed her head back and forth.

"What are you doing, little weirdo?" Austin chuckled, running his hand over her messy ponytail.

Hayes grinned up at him, ignoring his question, "are we getting pizza? I'm starving!" She began to bounce on the balls of her feet, full of excitement. She had a lot of energy stored in her petite body. Austin placed his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down.