Chapter 36 - Trips, Tangles, and Trouble
Adventures of the Melee
Nolan 17, Lissa 17, Ryder 13, Olivia 10
Annabelle 5, Victoria 5, Lucas 3½
Minutes after Chapter 35, mid-June
After slinking quietly into his bedroom to change into a pair of gym shorts, Owen took Anna in the shower with him and tried Amelia's dish soap trick. Amazed with the results after three rounds of dish soap and a round of conditioner, he turned off the shower. He wrapped Anna's hair up in a towel and told her the headpiece made her a genie. Next, he wrapped a large towel around her tiny body twice and tucked in the end. The towel's edge fell below her feet and she shuffled toward her room. Feeling as if he had calmed the storm, Owen took a deep breath and headed to Anna's bedroom.
"What color are you going to wear today, Anna-girl?" Owen inquired.
Anna put her finger on her cheek and considered her options. "Orange."
Gathering his brows toward the bridge of his nose, Owen wondered, "Do you have any orange clothes?"
Shrugging and grinning, Anna admitted she wasn't sure. Gazing toward the hallway, Anna became distracted as she spotted Lucas zooming toward the bathroom.
Having waited to hop out of bed until the last possible moment, Lucas came racing out of his bedroom and stormed into the bathroom to pee. Rather than making it to his destination, he slipped on some hair product still on the floor. Hurt cries emerged from the bathroom, so Owen set Anna down and told her to wait for him.
Lucas was not weeping, he was howling. Bursting out with the distinct sounds of an "I'm hurt" cry, Lucas screamed and blubbered undiscernible words through his tears.
As he stepped into the bathroom, Owen attempted to reassure his youngest, "Buddy…hey, you're ok." Seeing blood on the floor, Owen called out for Amelia.
"I heard him, what's going on?" Amelia yawned with simultaneous panic.
Softly, Owen shared, "I'm not exactly sure yet." He grabbed a towel and began to survey Lucas' body. After checking, he instructed, "Mia, take a nice, slow deep breath."
"Why?" Amelia asked.
"It's not major," Owen tried to soften the news, "but he's bleeding from the back of his head."
Swooping down in an instant, Amelia pulled Lucas' eyelids open and caused him to scream even more. She attempted to have Lucas follow her finger, but he was crying too much to listen.
"Ryder!" Owen called out.
With a snarky tone, Ryder quipped, "What?!"
"Come here, please," Owen requested.
Dragging himself to the bathroom with the brewing anger that had started when Olivia punched him, Ryder sneered but quickly changed his expression when he saw his little brother, "What happened?"
"Use my phone to call the ER and let them know I'll be late. Then call Nolan and tell him we need him at home," Owen instructed.
"It's just a small lac, right?" Amelia wondered with worry.
"I haven't gotten a solid look at it yet," Owen admitted with straight lips and a wrinkled brow. "Here…sit against the wall and I'll put him in your arms. Put some pressure on it and then I can take a peek," Owen figured as he relocated a still screaming Lucas who was crying out over and over, "I bweeding! I bweeding! I bweeding! I bweeding!"
Amelia held a washcloth to Lucas' head and used another washcloth to attempt to clean up the blood and hair gel throughout his little hurting body. With all the frenzy, nobody noticed Anna, now wearing an orange shirt and pink skirt. Her unbrushed, dripping hair had already soaked through her frilly shirt. She was standing in the hallway taking in the chaos with concern.
"I left Nolan a voicemail – he didn't answer," Ryder reported. "I sent a text to Lissa, too."
"Good job, Ry," Owen affirmed as Anna began to whimper and Lucas continued to scream. "Can you take care of Anna, please?"
"And brush her hair," Amelia inserted.
Barely able to hear his wife, Owen wrinkled his eyes and nose, attempting to confirm her words, "What about Mer?"
Grasping a pinch of her own hair, Amelia repeated, "Her hair. Ryder needs to brush it while it's still wet."
Ten minutes later, Nolan and Lissa arrived home and heard Lucas' screams. Spotting his sister sitting in the dining room, Nolan questioned, "Olivia, what's going on?"
"I dunno. Dad sent me down here and told me I'd better stay down here," she responded as she bit into a slice of toast.
Nolan took the stairs two at a time and saw the unusual chaos cluttering the normally pristine hallway. Following the screams, he found Owen, Amelia and Lucas. "Hey…" Nolan offered as he bent down, rubbed Lucas' back, and caught Amelia's eye. "Luke…what happened, buddy?"
Looking at his brother, Lucas put his hand on the back of his head and continued crying. Lissa, a few steps behind Nolan, proceeded to fetch Luke's puppy blankie.
"What happened? We can't leave you guys here alone without everything falling apart, huh?" Nolan teased his parents.
With a slight chuckled, Owen responded, "That must be it."
Lissa offered to hold Lucas so Amelia could clean up the last of the bathroom mess. Swaying slowly back and forth and shh-ing, she was able to slow Lucas' screams to whimpering. She walked him up and down the hall with the abilities of a practiced mom.
"I sipped and I bweeding," Lucas pouted and sniffled as he buried his head in Lissa's shoulder.
Resting her cheek on the side of his head, Lissa whispered, "I know, Lukie. I know."
In the bathroom, Owen wet a washcloth and cleaned Amelia's face with a tender smile, "You've got a mix of blood and hair goop on you." He held her chin in his hand and chuckled, "What a morning, huh?"
"Is it morning? I'm so tired, I don't know which way is up," Amelia grinned playfully.
Grinning, Owen agreed, "I hear you." His eyes, filled with love, locked on his exhausted wife's face.
"Owen, do you want to sneak a peek at the cut or shall I?" Amelia questioned.
Owen agreed to survey the damage. Slowly, he approached Lucas and Lissa and gently whispered that he needed to look at the owie. He promised he wouldn't touch it, but explained that he needed to touch around it. "Mia…I think a visit to our workplace might be worthwhile. It's over 25 mm and jagged. Can't get a handle on the depth," Owen emphasized in code.
Running her hand over her face, Amelia requested, "Give me a second to change." Amelia shuffled sleepily to her bedroom, yawning with each step.
Looking at Nolan, Owen requested, "Can you and Lissa manage the fort while we head out with Luke?"
"Sure, Dad. No problem," Nolan affirmed.
Owen took in a deep breath and summarized what he needed Nolan to do, "You get to be bad guy, Nole. Here's the scoop: Anna experimented with Olivia's hair products, poured them all over her hair and the bathroom, but doesn't understand why what she did was problematic. She was just trying to look like her sister. Olivia reacted dramatically with name calling. Later, Ryder blocked her exit so she punched your brother where it counts. If she hadn't reacted so emotionally and dramatically, Livs would be free and clear. Ryder's been a mixture of amazingly helpful and challenging. He couldn't resist intimidating Liv and cussing beyond a word or two…your call, set the tone, be in charge. I only have so much brain power left and I need it for work."
Shortly after Owen's overview, Owen and Amelia left with a whimpering Lucas. Nolan and Lissa looked at each other and shrugged. "Ok, Blondie, where do we start?"
"I'll talk to the girls finish and will deal with Anna's hair," Lissa claimed. "You speak with Ryder then I'll let you handle Olivia's efforts at bodily harm."
Ten minutes later, Lissa was sitting on Anna's bed and explained, "Munchkin, I know you just wanted to look pretty, but you need to be a little older before you style your hair alone. There was just way too much goo everywhere and way too much in your hair. Why the giant mess?"
With a pouty lip, Anna mumbled, "I was playing with it. I'm sorry, Lissa."
"You need to tell Olivia that you're sorry. You knew these were her bottles, didn't you?" Lissa pointed out.
Anna sadly nodded. Holding Lissa's hand, she walked over to Olivia's room and opened her arms for a hug.
As if repulsed, Olivia put her hands in the air to hold Anna back and groaned, "I don't want a hug from you, thief. I'm furious with you."
Beginning to cry, Anna whimpered, "I'm sorry, Livie. I am. I wanted my hair to be like yours."
"No matter what you did to your hair, it wouldn't look like mine, Annabelle," Olivia snapped. "My hair is curly and yours is straight. Stealing my serum won't make your hair curly."
Gently, Lissa intervened, "Olivia… there might be a better way to accept Anna's apology."
"I'm still mad. I'm not saying I forgive her, because I don't. My hair is all frizzly and I can't brush it or I'll look like a clown," Olivia argued.
"I said sorry," Anna mumbled as she looked at the floor in devastation.
"Olivia, enough with the sass," Lissa warned. "What's behind the attitude?"
"I'm mad. She took my stuff and wasted it all," Olivia insisted.
Lissa shrugged and suggested, "Tell Anna that without sass. Tell her how you feel. No name calling."
Olivia stubbornly folded her arms and sharply offered, "Annabelle. I feel really angry. You used my stuff without asking and that's stealing. I'm mad."
"Sorry," Anna mumbled quietly. "I'll ask next time. I promise."
Lissa looked at both girls and explained, "Annabelle, you need to go get your Anna Banana doll. I'm keeping her until tomorrow night. Livs, no TV until you can go 24 hours without being sassy." Feeling empowered and mature, Lissa wanted to pat herself on the back. She'd handled the situation calmly and enforced consequences. Then, the feedback emerged.
"I hate you," Olivia sneered before she slammed her door.
Anna returned with her beloved doll and whimpered, "Anna Banana is my baby."
"I know," Lissa agreed flatly. "Now you'll understand how it feels when someone takes something that is important to you." With quiet crocodile tears flowing down her cheeks, Anna reluctantly handed the doll to Lissa.
"Thanks, Annabelle. Now let's deal with your hair," Lissa insisted. Lissa managed to make some progress on Anna's personal version of Medusa. After brushing Anna's tangled hair, Lissa braided a French braid on either side and merged them in the back into one braid that flowed onto Anna's back. Gloomy and miserable, Anna wanted to play in her room alone. Left with nothing to do, Lissa went to check on Nolan and Ryder.
As she approached Ryder's room, she overheard Nolan calmly summarizing, "Dude, what she did was completely out of line. Don't worry. I'm on that. What we're talking about now is how you reacted. You know Mom and Dad don't tolerate cussing and it's really uncool that you physically intimidated Livs. Even if she was being a pill – even if any girl is ever being annoying – don't use your body to scare or trap them. That's completely abusive."
"You know how ridiculous Olivia can be, Nole," Ryder attempted to reason.
"Nothing – I don't care what it is – ever makes it ok to trap someone. That's especially true with a girl. Blocking her exit… completely not ok, Ry. Here's the scoop: you're grounded for 24 hours, no screens. If you can't speak kindly, you don't need to listen to people speak on TV or on the phone. Also, tomorrow, you need to do something nice for Olivia to balance out the aggressive way you treated her," Nolan mandated firmly. "We'll figure out what that will be later."
Knowing without a doubt that Nolan would pile on consequences if his decisions were questioned, Ryder calmly requested, "Could you leave my room now, please?" Nolan nodded and walked into the hallway.
Seeing Lissa leaning against the wall, Nolan put a hand on the wall on either side of her and pushed toward her to kiss her. Resting his forehead on hers, he wondered, "Are you as hated and mean as me?"
"He stayed really calm, Nolan. You gotta give him that," Lissa pointed out. "Olivia clearly declared that she hates me and Anna's sulking in her bedroom."
"Great, because now I get to go deal with the ballbuster. You've already revved her up for me," Nolan joked.
"What are you telling her? I took away TV until she can hold in the sass for 24 hours," Lissa boasted.
Nolan whistled, "Wow… you are mean. I'm going to make her do something nice for Ryder to balance out the abuse. Ryder got the same deal."
"Nice," Lissa affirmed with a nodding head. "Good luck."
"Olivia? Can I come in?" Nolan inquired as he knocked.
Snapping, a frustrated Olivia yelled, "Whatever."
"Let's talk," Nolan began as he sat on Olivia's desk chair.
She was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling and her arms were folded over her chest. Nolan blinked repeatedly as he noticed Olivia's deep resemblance to their bio mom, Kayla. The revelation caused him to wonder what she would say if she was handling the situation.
"Why?" Olivia sneered in response to Nolan's statement, drawing him back into the moment.
With a huff, Nolan responded, "Because you really hurt Ryder."
"He was blocking me," Olivia stated without emotion. "Besides, Lissa already dealt with me."
"Livs, Lissa handled how you treated Anna and how you spoke to Lissa. I'm dealing with what you did to Ryder," Nolan explained.
"That's not fair. It's like being sentenced twice. That's got to be illegal," Olivia reasoned.
Nolan chuckled, "If you commit more than one crime, you usually receive more than one consequence. Now, enough with the back and forth. Here's the deal: tomorrow, you're going to do something really nice for Ryder to balance out what your fist did to his…" Nolan stopped himself, realizing his creative phrasing was ending poorly. "You know what I'm saying."
"Whatever," Olivia quipped, attempting to be unaffected by her brother and his consequences. She was not about to let Nolan see her react.
Nolan knew Olivia's game and was not at all surprised by her non-reaction. He concluded, "We'll figure out later what you'll do for him. He'll be doing something nice for you to make up for blocking you in your room. You'll both be busy tomorrow."
Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia glared at Nolan with a stare. She took a deep breath and returned her gaze to the ceiling.
"Ok, then," Nolan attempted to conclude as he stood up and walked toward the hallway.
Lissa was sitting on the top stair gazing at the lake through the large floor-to-ceiling windows at the end of the dining room and great room. Approaching her from behind, Nolan cleared his throat slightly to alert her that he was there. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he sat down and joined her, Nolan grinned with a sly expression, "Do you suppose Mom and Dad asked us to help in an effort to persuade us that we aren't ready to have our own kids?"
Lissa giggled and shared, "The problem with that theory is that we're pretty awesome at it."