Smiley and Sunshine

52.

Whenever life gets you down
Keeps you wearing a frown
And the gravy train has left you behind
And when you're all out of hope
Down at the end of your rope
And nobody's there to throw you a line...
~~

"Dibs on the shower first."

"Actually, I think Austin wanted to talk to you first." Colton interjected before the daily argument could break out amongst the boys. As if there weren't two showers available, they both had to fight for the master bathroom.

Hayes never took part as she was never in a hurry to take a shower.

Francis frowned as he picked his head up from where it was previously buried in his phone to look at Colton. "Me? Why?"

"Not just you. All three of you." Colton corrected.

"Womp, womp, womp," Glen provided the necessary sound effects for how the three teens felt about that.

He, especially, was worn out after Coach Colton made his basketball team have a conditioning day which meant his legs felt like jello. Conditioning and a therapy session in one as many of the players had hypothetical what-ifs about school shooters for Colton to answer.

Safe to say, all the teens would be hugging their parents a bit tighter and longer tonight.

All in all, the boy was more than looking forward to a hot shower, a hot meal, and a cold bed to sleep in.

"And the answer to my second question is..."

"I didn't realize we needed any particular reason to talk to you?" Colton retorted, his eyebrows rising towards his hairline.

"That's not what I meant." Francis clicked his phone off and dropped it on his lap.

"It's not what you said but how you said it," Glen sung underneath his breath, his pointer finger swaying in the air with the little tune.

Colton's eyes flickered to the rear view mirror. "That's enough, Smiley, thank you."

Not wanting to attract Colton's attention next, Hayes attempted to hold in her laugh, her puffed out cheeks turning red with the effort. Glen's filter, meaning lack of, was on its A-game during this car ride.

With Glen on a roll with his witticisms, Hayes crossed her fingers for flying under the radar, hopefully able to escape her eldest brother's chat. The post-practice hunger was real and so she only had food on her mind.

Ice cream.

And dogs. Not to eat though.

Mhmmm and chocolate. Definitely for eating.

Francis squinted as he stared out the front window, spying their house on the dead-end street. His 20/20 vision coming in clutch. "He didn't go to work?" One could hear the suspicion in his voice.

"Who didn't go to work?" That made Curious Glen straighten up in his seat. He would have benefited from wearing his glasses like he was suppose to.

Hayes leaned over as far as she could before her seatbelt stopped her movement, the two of them peering out his window together.

Francis briefly glanced sideways at Colton as the brother pulled into their driveway. Colton sent the back of Francis' head a questioning look in return, wondering how he knew that.

Colton was privy to that information already, but the three kids weren't told. Reason being, that whenever the routine was altered from the normal day-to-day, it threw the younger bunch into a frenzy. Therefore, Austin staying home from work qualified as a change in schedule.