It was a Saturday morning, and Riley had gotten almost no sleep because she had helped close the café the night before only to get home and stay up later than she would normally. She was worried, the SAT's were coming up, she was filling out applications for colleges, she had homework, and now on this Saturday morning when she could normally sleep in she was woken up by her mother. Auggie and Ava had to work on a school project, her mother had a work emergency, and her father had to go to some teacher's convention. So it was up to Riley to watch Auggie and Ava, and she knew that falling asleep on the couch had been a bad idea, but it had happened anyway. She had been lulled to sleep by the quiet work the two kids were doing, while Artemis laid at her feet.
It had been a mistake to fall asleep. When Riley woke up her hair was glued to the back of the couch and Auggie and Ava were desperately attempting to free it without ruining her hair or the couch. The couch had already been replaced once, after the fire the year before but this was something else.
"Auggie," Riley said which only made the ten-year-old start crying.
"I'm sorry Riley," he sobbed, she could be angry but it was her fault for falling asleep.
"It's my fault," Ava said quietly. "We were just playing and it got a little out of control."
"Come over here you two so you can explain," she said unable to move her head to look at them. She knew she had to be calm, there was no way around this and she was to stuck to do anything else.
The two of them walked around to the other end of the couch far enough away that she couldn't reach them but close enough to see them. Riley sighed as she saw the looks of sadness in their eyes because she knew they were sorry for what had happened.
"Speak now," she said watching them.
"We were working on the project, and Ava spilled the glitter by accident," Auggie said.
"I said we could use it for something, and I threw a little into his hair because he's adorable when he sparkles," Ava said squeezing his hand.
'Gosh they're cute' Riley thought as she watched them.
"Well I said let's get the extra glue and try to use it on the project, and we were playing around a bit with the glitter and Ava had some confetti and she threw some, so without thinking I threw the first thing I had in my hand... which..." tears started coming down his face.
"He threw the glue because he had grabbed it without thinking, and Riley we're so sorry, your hair is so pretty and we... and we," Ava started crying as well.
Riley sighed, she knew that there was a huge mess behind her, especially since they were playing with art supplies. "Come here you two," she said gesturing for them to sit down next to her.
When they moved, Auggie had put his arm around Ava as they moved together towards the couch. Once they were next to her she pulled them close and gave them a hug.
"It was my fault for falling asleep, so much has been going on that I haven't slept a lot but that doesn't excuse the fact that I should have stayed awake," she said to them. "This doesn't mean that you're not in trouble, but for now go grab the scissors so we can free me from the couch."
"Riley we can't cut your hair," Auggie said knowing what she was going to do.
"Augs, I don't see another way out of this, glue is like gum once it's in there it's really in there."
"But it's your hair," he said making her sigh.
"We're only cutting off enough that I would get free and then once we finish cleaning everything up we'll go to the hair salon down the street and get it fixed," she said smiling at her brother. "Hair grows back don't worry, plus it was getting a little long and Artemis sometimes likes to grab it to play with it so a cut wouldn't be that bad."
Ava was the one who stood up and went to get the scissors while her brother just stared. "I'm just going to cut right above where the glue is," Ava said quietly.
"Okay," Riley said as she heard the scissors snipping her hair off. She was going to get it cut eventually so why not now.
"Done," Ava said as Riley rubbed her shoulders free from the couch for the first time.
"Now let's clean all of this up before mom gets back," she said grabbing a scrunchie and pulling the ruins of her hair onto a messy bun.
The three of them worked together cleaning up the glitter, which was nearly impossible since the stuff got everywhere and stuck like an evil little dust monster. Once they were done they worked to get Riley's hair off the couch without ruining it so that her parent's wouldn't wonder what had happened. She sent the two kids off to shower so that they could get the glitter off their own body before they went off to the salon. Riley looked at their project and thought that it looked like some abstract representation of her life, sparkly and crazy at the same time... she loved it.
"I'm ready," Ava said coming in through the door dressed in a pink and black dress with ugg boots on, looking like a little princess. It made Riley smile.
"I'm going to change into some jeans and I'll be down in a minute, so don't make a mess," she said before going to her room and changing as fast as she could fearing another disaster before she could get back downstairs.
They were sitting on the couch with Artemis when she got back downstairs, "Okay," Auggie said standing up. "Let's go."
The three of them walked down the block hand in hand to the nearby salon, there were a few in the neighborhood but this was the one they've been going to since they were kids. Auggie and Ava settled into the seats by the front while Riley set up a walk in appointment, explaining what had happened. The woman at the counter looked at her with a small smile like she understood what had happened. Riley also set up a trim for her brother, and for Ava to get her nails done, since they had been good with the clean up as well as for trying their best. Plus, she felt bad that she had fallen asleep on them. Once the stylist was done Riley had short hair, cut all the way to her shoulders. It was a shock to her but she liked it and it felt freeing in a way, she loved long hair, she loved styling it, but this was different and new and it meant that she didn't have to spend as much time on it in the mornings.
"Looking good little brother," she said as she saw Auggie. He had trimmed it enough that it wouldn't cover his eyes, but it was still long enough that his curls were visible.
"My man is adorable," Ava said hugging Auggie, her nails were all a different color.
"Not as good as my girl," he said.
"Let's take a picture to commemorate this moment," Riley said pulling out her phone and quickly snapping a photo to remember the day.
When they got home her mother was looking around the room smiling at them. "Can you tell me why there's glitter on the floor?" she asked before turning back and seeing Riley's hair and how short it was. "Riley sweetie you cut your hair."
"Yeah," she said smiling at her mother.
"There was an accident," Ava blurted out.
"What kind of accident?" her mother said looking between the three of them.
"We cleaned it up so it's no big deal," Riley answered.
She looked at them waiting for an explanation until her eyes landed on Auggie and he burst into tears for the second time that day. Riley pulled him into her arms and started rubbing his back.
"Well I fell asleep when I should have been watching them and Auggie accidentally dropped some glue on my hair, but it's fine we worked it all out and we cleaned it up, no harm no fowl," Riley said trying to get her brother to stop crying.
"But Riley, sweetie your hair," her mother said.
"It's fine, I've wanted to cut it for a while now but I've been so busy, and its just hair it'll grow back."
"Fine, as long as everyone is alright, but you two," her mother said pointing at Auggie and Ava. "You're going to help Riley with her chores so that she's not overwhelmed."
"Okay," they said at the same time.
"And Riley, if you're taking on too much it's okay to step back for a little bit you know," she said looking at Riley.
"I know, it's just the SAT's they're a little stressful."
"I know, but you have to take breaks," her mother said as she hugged her. "Now go and get some sleep because I know you closed last night."
"I'm okay now," she said shrugging. "How about we just hang out and watch a movie?"
"Okay, I don't feel like cooking anyway, and your father won't be back until tomorrow. So pizza for dinner," her mother said smiling. "And what happened today didn't happen, your father doesn't have to know."
"Yay," Auggie yelled out and Riley smiled.
"Riley invite everyone over and we'll make it a little party, well at least one where your father won't chase Lucas out of the house," her mother smiled.
Her father had actually gotten better at letting them date since the she told them about her knowing about the whole spying incident. But he still had issues with them being alone in the house because he always ran into her room whenever Lucas was studying at her house. It was funny to her because the last time she was on the bed and Lucas was on the floor, with Zay and Cassie on the bay window and her father started his freak out before he had even opened the door. She knew he would never really change but at least he had slowed down on the amount of time he spent freaking out.
Riley sent a quick message to her friends before putting the order for the pizza as well as a mountain of wings. Maya sent a message to her that she was bringing pie and other stuff from the café, Lucas and Zay were bringing wings and Josh was bringing his stomach because college made people poor. Cassie was the first to show up while Riley and Auggie were on the couch, soon after everyone else piled into the apartment and made themselves comfortable around the television. Lucas was the last to show up, only to stop when he saw Riley's new haircut. His ears turned red and she knew he liked it.
"You look cute," he said and she felt her face heat up.
"Thanks," she said kissing him on the cheek.
"Get a room," Maya yelled out from next to Josh and Riley jumped away from Lucas.
"Don't tease them, we're still in trouble for doing what my brother said to do and you know spy on them," Josh stuttered.
"Yeah well not my fault," Maya said and Riley looked at her best friend and laughed. She had too many overprotective friends.
"Alright kids, we're watching what I pick because if Maya picks well she'll traumatize Auggie," her mother said.
"Well at least it's not Riley picking or else we'd have to live through some sappy movie about bunnies," Maya said and Josh just looked at her.
"Not true," Zay said smiling. "Last time we went to see a movie and Riley picked we watched a Marvel movie."
"Oh I remember that day," Cassie said smiling. "It was Spiderman... by the way I'm still mad you two went to see Thor without me."
"We were on a date," Riley said looking at Cassie.
"Yeah well I don't care you know I love Hemsworth and you left me behind," she said before looking at Zay's shocked face. "You already knew this about me Zay so don't look so shocked, I know about your obsession Zoe Saldana, it's the reason we saw Guardians four times when it came out."
"Uh... yeah," Zay said in defeat. "I guess I'm seeing Thor four times to make up for it."
"No we're only seeing it once because we're high school students and we're all poor," she said back at him making Riley smile.
Farkle and Smackle both looked like they were taking notes in their minds, Riley knew they wanted so normal moments but she just smiled at them.
"I love you both as you are so don't try to be like anyone else," she said to them before settling down next to Lucas on the floor.
They ended up watching Wonder Woman because hermother hadn't seen it yet, and by the end they had popped in another movieuntil everyone had to leave for the night. When Riley had fallen asleep thatnight she was relaxed for the first time that week and it made her happy.