Under your spell again
I can't say no to you
Today is her third birthday. I get to supervise the party crawling with three-and-four year old girls. With any other little girl, I would probably be pretty pissed off, and definitely unwilling, but not with Claire.
"Qwil's heaw! Qwil's heaw!" yells Claire as she toddles over to hug my legs.
"Hiya, Claire-bear!" I exclaim, lifting her high into the air and spinning her around. When I set her down, I plant a kiss on her forehead. "How's my favorite birthday girl?"
"Good!" Claire smiles adorably, then grabs my hand. I let her tow me to the living room of Emily's cute little house.
Emily looks relieved. "Thank God you're here, Quil. Claire was kicking up a major tantrum. There would have been tears and wailing if you hadn't shown." I laugh. Typical Claire. "Well, I'm off," Emily continues, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I'll be back in a couple hours. The girls should be all picked up by then." She looks at me apologetically. "Sorry for leaving you here with these little monsters, Quil."
"No worries," I assure her. "I'm almost positive I can handle it." Emily chuckles under her breath, and leaves with one last grin.
The doorbell rings literally right after Emily steps out. "My friends aw heaw!" Claire cries, running for the door. I follow after her and hold her back as I pull it open. "Hi, Bwittany!" Claire says to the little red-haired girl on the porch.
"Hi, Claire," Brittany says with perfect clarity. I gape at the child's articulation before realizing that there's an adult at the door. I stand up straighter to face Brittany's mom. The mother ignores me.
"Brittany, baby, Mommy will be back soon." Ugh, the dreaded third person syndrome. I turn around and watch Claire and Brittany play.
Seven more giggling toddlers arrive, and I can't keep their names straight, let alone keep track of them. Suddenly, Claire claps her pudgy hands together. "It's pwesent time!" she decides, and the other girls cheer. Claire runs to me. "Help me with pwesents, Qwil?"
"Of course," I agree automatically. "What do you need me to do?
"You give me pwesents, I open them," she instructs.
"Yes, ma'am," I laugh. I go over to the pile of presents and pull of the top. I read the card out loud to Claire and the girls: "To Claire, from Nikki." I hand a bouncing Claire the present, and she eagerly tears through the paper. She gasps as she pulls it out.
"A cwown!" she gasps. It's a shiny silver plastic tiara with a pink rhinestone heart in it. Claire is elated. "Oh, wow!" She turns to me suddenly. "Put cwown on Qwil!" she decides.
"Me?" I ask cautiously. Claire thrusts the crown at me in response. Sighing, I place the plastic crown on my head. Claire applauds enthusiastically, and the others follow her lead.
As Claire rips, shreds, and tears her way through eight gifts, I end up looking more girl than guy. Claire insists I put on her pink tutu skirt, and she and her over-sugared friends apply makeup to my face in all the wrong places.
"Cake time!" someone screams just as a tiny girl with insanely cold hands puts lip gloss on my nose. The all rush to the kitchen, completely sidetracked by the thought of more sugar. I stand up and follow them.
"Qwil, Qwil, cake, cake!" Claire chants.
"I'm working on it, Claire-bear," I reassure her. Claire's round chocolate cake is sitting delicately on a glass cake plate. I try to take the cake and leave the plate, but it sticks. I try to gently pull it off, but it suddenly falls off and rolls onto the hardwood floors. Nine little girls scream as it shatters. "Shit," I grumble unthinkingly. Then I remember I'm surrounded by toddlers, who will probably pick that up and never let their children play with Claire again.
"What does 'shit' mean?" the little girl with the perfect articulation asks innocently.
"I said 'shoot'," I explain hastily. "What you said is a bad word. No one should ever say that. And don't go repeating that, okay?" The child nods solemnly, buying it. "I need everyone out of the kitchen! Go play with Claire's makeup, and I'll call you in when it's ready, okay?" Claire leads the horde of children into the living room.
I use my elbows to open Emily's cabinets and dig for a new plate for the cake. I find one, and the cake is saved. I lick the chocolate icing off my fingers as I rummage around for a broom. I pick up the big pieces with my fingers and throw them away, and use the broom to sweep the small shards into a dustpan. When the kitchen seems clean, I cut the cake into ten pieces. One piece is significantly larger than the others, and I eye it hungrily.
"Come on in," I invite the girls, and the come in as a stampede. "Since Claire's the birthday girl, she gets the first and biggest piece." Second-biggest, I amend in my head as I hand Claire the cake on a paper plate and stick a plastic fork in it. One by one, surprisingly orderly for hyper three-year-olds, they take their pieces and sit down around the table.
"Wait!" one of the girls complains. "We nevaw put candles in it and sing 'Happy Birthday' to Cwaire!" Dammit. One of the reasons I shouldn't be here.
"Well, then, let's put candles in Claire's piece and we can sing 'Happy Birthday then," I suggest. The other girls, and Claire, seem to like this. I find three candles and a lighter and jab them into Claire's cake. Then we all join in an off-key chorus of "Happy Birthday."
I watch, proud of myself for saving the day on multiple occasions, as the girls eat contentedly—and messily. As they chow into their cake, Emily bursts in the back door. "Auntie Em, Auntie Em!" Claire cheers.
"Hey, Claire. Hi, Quil," Emily greets us. "The house seems to still be in one piece."
"Ha-ha," I say sarcastically. "You're back early."
"Yeah. Got done early. I figured you might want to be relieved of your nanny duties."
I look at the girls, their cake, and of course, Claire. Frustrating as it is, I sort of like it. "Nah," I decide. "I'll stay here."
i love this song ("Good Enough" by Evanescence, if you don't read summaries) and i thought it applied well to Quil and Claire. plus, i'd never written anything about them. so here it is! i'm doing one chapter for each year of Claire's life, up to age sixteen. if you want the full lyrics for "Good Enough," either Google it or PM me. (i like being PMed, hint hint.) so, go vote in my sexiest Twilight man poll, enter my Silence fanfic contest, look at the stories in my community, read my other stories, read "Want" by my lovely sister willowgrace511, and bask in my general awesomeness! lovelovelove, m
