fast car | STEVE HARRINGTON [2]

4. bald patch

"OH, THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE WEARING," Julia commented when her daughter re-emerged into the kitchen, carefully eyeing the dress Ringo had slipped into for the upcoming lunch date. It was soft pink in colour, with white flowers for its design. It was very girly, and the single mother didn't doubt she probably borrowed it from Nancy, but it wasn't anything she had seen the blonde wear before. Ringo herself even looked uncomfortable in it.

"What's wrong with this?" she groaned in frustration, flicking her long hair back over her shoulders and nervously checking the full length mirror in the hallway once more. Ringo had spent near an hour picking out the perfect outfit in Nancy's house the night before, but judging by the looks her mother gave her efforts were futile.

"Oh, it's lovely," Julia spoke, forcing a smile all the while. "If you were a twelve year old going to her bat-mitzvah." Sunny let out a grunt of amusement while her mouth wrapped around the spoonful of cereal, causing her foster mother to grin in success. Slowly but surely, the girl was opening up to their small family. Just yesterday, Sunny even set the forks and knives out on the table for dinner without anyone asking her to. And she has stopped clogging the toilet with an excess amount of toilet paper - leading Julia to believe maybe she had been doing it on purpose before.

"Mom!" Ringo whined like a child, expression twisting with panic as she eyed the clock on the wall. "He's going to be here any minute! And it was the nicest dress Nancy had, Mrs Harrington is taking us to the poshest frickin' place in town."

"Language!" she scolded, sending an obvious glance towards the youngest girl seated at the table. Sunny looked up from her bowl of Frosted Flakes with a quizzical reaction.

"Fuck, don't stop on my account," she shrugged, a comment Ringo would have laughed at if she wasn't as tightly wound as a string on a violin. Her chest had fluttered with nerves all day, and to make matters worse - she would have to work at the store just after the lunch date.

"I don't see why you're trying to impress her, you're not dating her you're with her son," Julia sighed, teetering around the kitchen and tidying as she went. It was the first Saturday she had been given off work since starting, and she wanted to bring the two girls to Indianapolis for a day of bonding.

"Well she already doesn't like me, I need to try and impress the stuck-up, old bit- excited! So excited!" she suddenly exclaimed, changing her tone and remark halfway through when a knock at the door interrupted her. The walls of their apartment were notoriously thin, God only knew if Steve had already heard her ranting about his mother.

"He's not allowed past the threshold," Julia warned with a careful look in her eye, "I don't want him to try and sex you up in the bathroom."

"Mom," Ringo hissed lowly in warning as she bounded for the front door, "he can probably hear you!"

"I know."

"Sex is a swear word too, you know," Sunny casually commented as she lifted her bowl and took it towards the sink, leaving her guardian grimacing at her mistake. Meanwhile, Ringo was slapping her best grin across her cheeks the second she opened the door enough to get a view of her boyfriend, who looked positively immaculate in a sweater and jeans. Sex in the bathroom didn't sound too off the cards, after seeing him.