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It was a hot summer day and Haley had spent the afternoon at the beach to catch some sun.
“Ouch- be careful!” Haley winced as Alex tried to brute force the gum out of her hair.
“It’s stuck…” he grumbled, only pressing the gum harder into the blonde strands.
“No shit!" She crossed her arms, visibly upset as she sat on her scrunched up towel while Alex tried- and failed- to fidget the gum out of her hair.
Haley’s mood was already ruined. It was meant to be a nice day in the sun, instead the clouds were constantly blocking it and when she got up for a moment the towel slipped, and not only did she get sand all over her back- but some chewing gum got stuck in her hair. WHO SPITS THEIR GUM OUT AT THE BEACH ANYWAY?!
And so she dragged herself home, leaving Alex alone at the beach. The poor guy didn’t know how to help and just apologized like it was his fault.
“Emily…” Haley sniffled as she entered their home, her feet dragging sand in that she didn’t bother knocking off her sandals.
Emily looked over at the door from the kitchen, wiping her hands dry on a dishtowel. “Hey, what’s wro- oh, come on! I just cleaned.” she complained, noting the sand on the floor before her gaze fell on her sister's distressed face.
“Oh! Haley, what’s wrong?” Emily said in a more concerned voice as she tossed the towel and walked up to her sister- her hands finding her shoulders in an attempt to calm her.
Her eyes widened when she noted the hair sticking out to the side as Haley turned her head.
“...oh.”
Emily’s hand moved through her sister's hair, trying to separate the sticky strands. She grimaced. The gum had clearly been spread throughout during the first attempt to remove it.
“Don’t worry! Sis can fix this,” she said in a reassuring tone before adding a whisper, “I hope...”
Emily guided Haley to sit at the kitchen table- mumbling to herself as she turned to the pantry. “Oil or ice…” Haley intervened with “Oil! That’ll be good for my hair~” she chimed.
“It's worth a try.” Emily shrugged, grabbing the oil from the cupboard.
Haley seemed more relaxed while Emily massaged the oil into the sticky strands. “I think we’ll let it sit for a bit and then I can pick it out.” she explained.
“Hmmhmm.”
After a while, as Emily worked the gum out of her hair, Haley started dozing off, her head tipping forward.
“Hey! Don’t pass out on me.” Emily huffed, but Haley just laughed.
“But you’re so good at this! Wash my hair next~” she replied happily.
“Haley! This isn’t a spa treatment!” Emily retorted, and they both started laughing.