"Damn it," Sylar muttered. Not for first time that morning. Or the second, or the third, or the fourth. The number was more than likely near fifteen, but no one really knew for sure.
"Gabriel, what the hel- ck," Elle finished lamely. She sometimes forgot they had a kid with them now.
"My hair! It won't stay beautiful like it's supposed to!" Gabriel whined. His whining was worse than Elle's and Luke's combined. And that was saying something.
"That's why you should go to the hair dresser. Get it cut or something." She was not purposely leaving out said hairdresser's special ability. Not at all. At all. (Which wasn't secret code, in Elle world, for "the hairdresser has a super-cool ability that I think you should take.")
"No," he huffed. "It. Does. Not. Need. To. Be. Cut." Although he'd said same that same sentence hundreds of times, Gabriel still felt the need to punctuate every word.
Meanwhile, Luke, the intelligent boy that he was, was playing Pac Man on Elle's cell phone.
"Come on, Pac-y. You can do it," he encouraged. Suddenly, Elle's phone vibrated. Scared for his life, Luke dropped the phone to the floor, and jumped up on the couch.
Realising it was only a text, he got down from the couch, embarrassment written clearly on his face, and picked it up. Luke glanced into the doorway that led into... Gabriel?... Sylar?... Gablar. He glanced through the doorway that led into Gablar and Elle's room. Seeing that they were occupied (Elle was chasing him around the room with a pair of scissors), Luke felt it safe enough to check Elle's message.
He flipped open the phone, wishing he had his iPhone that his great-Aunt had given him for his birthday, and looked at the message. It read: "I'm ready when the three of you are". The number was anonymous.
Thoroughly confused, the teenager decided to venture into the war-zone.
"Um, Elle?" Luke questioned, knocking lightly on their open door. Startled, she dropped her scissors on the bed and looked to the doorway.
"Yeah?" She questioned. However, that was the only thing she managed to get out before Gabriel tackled her. "Gabriel!" she said, smacking him lightly. When he didn't let up, she tried again. "Gabriel Gray!" Annoyed, she sparked him lightly. Gabriel sat up, grabbing his arm where her spark had hit. "Shut up. The kid's got something to say. Yes, Luke?"
Luke shook his head. These two were just too weird. "Um, you got a text message. It's anonymous."
Elle's eyes widened, and she dashed to her phone, scanning over the text message quickly. "Shit," she mumbled, before taking off into the laundry room.
The boys looked at one another, one eyebrow raised on each face. They shrugged and followed after her.
Elle was hurriedly rushing through the clean clothes that were hanging, trying to decide the best shirt. She was already wearing her favorite pair of dark skinny jeans, but she couldn't decide whether to wear the electric blue tank-top with the navy blue sweater, or the purple tank-top with the black half-sweater. She chose the former.
"Well?" Elle asked, turning to Gabriel and Luke. "Why aren't you getting ready?"
Gabriel patted his clothes down, and Luke ran a hand through his hair. "Ready!" they said, in unison.
Elle huffed and grabbed the keys from Gabriel's pants pocket. "Let's go."
They were only in the car for ten minutes when they arrived at their destination. Gabriel and Luke were both wearing blindfolds. Gabriel, because it was a surprise for him. And Luke, because he was a little snitch. She watched as they attempted to pull the cloth from their head.
"No. Bad. Luke, I swear to God, if you take off that blindfold, I will ground you from your video games, and the computer, and... whatever else it is you like - yeah, that's right, I said I'd ground you, and, yes, in case you were wondering, it does feel wonderful - and Gabriel, if you take off your blindfold, you will have a seriously dull nightlife." The aforementioned parties gulped.
"Yes, Elle," they said dejectedly. Elle grinned, then got out of the car to lead the boys in.
"Riccardo!" She called, setting Luke and Gabriel into chairs. Was that a hair dryer they heard?
"Thank goodness you're here, Mrs. Elle. I've only got one more customer before the place is closed, then we can start on... Er, what did you say his name was?"
"I didn't. He doesn't want you to know. And you're working on someone else first. That boy over there," Elle pointed to Luke, "you're fixing him first. He's our... son. You can start with him now, but know that he is, under no circumstance, allowed to remove the blindfold. Until you're done cutting, that is."
"Sure thing, Mrs. Elle," Riccardo said, scurrying over to a stand. Oh, this was going to be good.
"Luke, dear!" Elle said, helping the boy to stand. She led him over to Riccardo, whispering to him all the while. "You are going to hear some noises. Ignore them. When you are finished, you are not to tell Gabriel what has happened. And, if you so much as touch that blindfold, you will regret it. Because, except for food, your room, and the bathroom, you will be cut-off from everything. And, trust me, I've been there. It's not fun. Do you understand?" She was liking this "parent" thing.
"Yes, Ma'am," Luke said. Damn. He wanted that blindfold off sooooo badly.
While Riccardo worked on Luke, Elle and Gabriel sat next to each other in silence. The last costumer had already left, and Elle had discreetly locked the door behind her. She'd closed the blinds too, in case things got ugly. In fact, Elle was hoping they did.
"Gabriel," she whispered to him, watching Luke carefully.
"Elle? Where in the hell are we? If we're at a hair salon, Elle, I-"
"We are. But we're not here for hair. While, we are, but not in the way you think."
Had the blindfold been off, Gabriel would have given her an innocent look. "Hair sex?"
Elle sighed, rolling her eyes simultaneously."We're not here to get your hair cut," she clarified. "Hair sex? Really?"
He only shrugged in response.
"We are here because this man has an ability, and I think you're gonna like it."
Gabriel smiled. "And what might that be?"
"Gel hands."
Gabriel looked at her, confused. "Gel hands?"
"Yeah. Like, he rubs his hands together or something, and bam! Hair gel appears."
"You lie." He was dumbfounded.
"So do you," Elle countered.
"So... so, he just rubs.. and bam?" Gabriel questioned semi-coherently.
"Mhm."
Gabriel grinned like a cheshire cat. "Sweeeeeeet!" he shouted, causing both the blindfolded Luke and the only partially blind Riccardo to look his way. "Sorry," he murmured, settling down.
"I'll assume that's why it's dark in here?"
"Mhm!" Giddily, Elle clapped her hands together.
"Ah, here we go... Done!" Riccardo said.
Luke's hair actually looked presentable. It was almost a shame to kill Riccardo. But for Gabriel's hair to be perfectly gelled, all the time, without having to buy a bottle of hair gel a day? Totally worth the loss.
"Go ahead, pull the blindfold off, Luke," Elle said, walking over to him. "I suppose you can too Gabriel."
"What do you think?" she asked, putting her hands on Luke's shoulders.
"Um, it's okay, I guess. My hair's never really been this short." He ran a hand through it.
"Well, it's Gabriel's turn, now. Why don't we get some ice cream from the place next door, and let Gabriel have his turn?"
"Sure," Luke shrugged. He walked outside and stood, waiting for Elle. "Have fun. I'm excited for this one," Elle said to Gabriel, as she left the building.
When she met up with Luke, he was already in line for his ice cream.
"I really think I like this haircut. Thanks, Elle," he said.
Elle smiled, happy that he was happy. "Good, I'm glad. I like it too."
They ordered three ice cream cones - one vanilla, for Luke, one triple chocolate fudge waffle cone with extra rainbow sprinkles and two cherries on top, for Elle, and one peach, for Gabriel - then walked back down to the front of the hair salon.
They sat down on the windowsill of the building, waiting.
Luke leaned forward suddenly. He swore he could hear screaming. Sylar must be killing the hair dresser. He looked over to Elle, who didn't seem to hear anything, the leaned back against the windowsill. More yelling. Was that a chainsaw? No, a hair dryer. Now a chainsaw. Boiling water? Laughing. A hammer hitting metal. A horse? What the hell was going on in there?
Elle still ignored the commotion from the store. Well, whatever. Luke didn't care if Sylar the hairdresser. Riccardo's hands were too rough anyway.
Ten minutes and two and a half ice creams later - Luke and Elle had both finished theirs, and Elle had eaten half of Gabriel's - Gablar emerged from the store. Not only were his new clothes spotless, his hair was perfectly gelled.
Elle and Luke stood there in awe. Luke didn't even feel worthy of being in the presence of such fantastic hair.
"Um, wh-.. wow," Elle managed to stammer out.
"Elle, Luke," Gabriel said, placing his arms around their shoulders. He grabbed his ice cream from Elle. "Today is a good day."
They nodded.
"We need to celebrate. Let's go somewhere."
"Like Hawaii?" Luke asked. He'd always wanted to go there. Elle nodded enthusiastically.
Gabriel looked back and forth from Elle to Luke.
"Okay, then. Hawaii it is. But my hair and I get to pick the hotel," Gabriel said with a smile.
"Deal!" Elle and Luke giggled.
"First one to the van gets to pick the first activity!" Gabriel called. Elle and Luke dashed to the car. Elle's company training came in handy, and she beat the boy by a landslide. As she hopped in the passenger seat, she grinned triumphantly.
Yes, this definitely was a good day for the Gray-Bishop-Campbell clan.