Melissa's 8th Birthday Party

Long strands of ebony, twisted into a tight spiral, floated along with the cool autumn breeze as the little girl held her arm out, letting the long strand of purple crepe paper fly out behind her. The strand of purple played with her black curls and the dark eyes of her mother watched as the purple intermingled with the ebony in a sharp contrast of color and pure darkness. The almond shaped brown eyes, set in a pair of olive-toned cheeks, dark eyelashes forming black crescents against her high-set cheekbones. Her light pink summer dress twirled around her legs and her white shoes were smeared with grass stains and mud. Melissa Brielle-Renae Wu was eight today and the 'Little Mermaid' cake sitting on the kitchen table with a piece of light pink wax shaped into a '8' with a wick was evidence of that. Hearing a knock on the front door, Sandy opened the glass patio door and called her little girl in.

"Melissa! Cody's here."

With a scream of delight, the twisted crepe paper was allowed to float to the grass as Melissa dashed into the house to greet her best friend. Sandy laughed as she chased after her daughter and found her waiting impatiently at the door. She knew she wasn't allowed to open it without her Mom around. Sandy reached around her daughter to open the door and smiled when her two best friends greeted her from the other side.

"Happy Birthday, Lissa!" Cody's toothy eight-year-old grin made them all laugh as he proudly held up a Little Mermaid gift bag with a picture of Ariel. "I got you somethin'!"

"Cool!" Melissa giggled, as she took the bag and set it on the table, where her other gifts were. "Wanna see my cake?"

Cody nodded enthusiastically and ran off with Melissa to look at her cake, while Sandy turned back to her best friend. The giggles of the two children could be heard followed closely by Evan's laugh as he warned the children not to touch it.

"She's been waiting for him all morning." Sandy told her best friend, "All she's talked about was how she couldn't wait for him to get here."

"He's done nothing but talk about her since I took him out of school early to get her birthday present." Cindy laughed, as she walked into the house, her husband close behind. "Johnny had to wear him out to get him to sleep last night."

Sandy laughed as she led them out into the backyard. Pink and purple Disney Princess decorations covered the backyard along with tables and chairs. They looked down as Cody and Melissa came blasting through, laughing and chasing each other.

"Lissa!" Cody laughed as they both tripped and fell down onto the green grass.

Johnny laughed as he weaved through the tables and helped both children up, brushing leaves from their clothes before ruffling their hair and sending them on their way. Sandy excused herself and went to let the other guests in.

xxx

"Melissa, come blow out your candles, sweetheart!"

Evan laughed as he tugged one of his daughter's jet black curls as she ran up to blow out the candles, Cody not far behind her. Melissa sighed happily as Johnny settled her in a chair so she could reach her cake. A little blonde girl with seafoam green eyes, followed closely by a blonde guy with the same bright baby blue eyes as Cody, came running up the table along with a little girl with darker blue eyes and frizzy red curls and brown-eyed boy with a dark afro. Cody was standing next to her chair, smiling a wide toothy grin for the camera that Cindy was holding up.

"Make a wish, honey." Johnny smiled as he helped Melissa pull her long curls back while Evan video-taped it, upon Sandy's request.

Melissa smiled as she made her wish and blew on the candles. Once the candle had been blown out and set aside so the cake could be eaten, Cindy cut the first piece before putting it on a plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a fork before handing it to Melissa.

"Here you go, Birthday Girl." Cindy smiled as Melissa took her cake and moved to sit down in the green grass to eat, waiting until Cody had his piece and was settled on the grass with her before eating.

"Eating cake is boring." Cody grinned as he scooped up a thick glob of icing and casually flicked it at Melissa.

"Cody!" Melissa shrieked as she broke off a piece of cake and tossed it at his head.

"Lissa!" Cody laughed.

Their pieces of the Princess Ariel birthday cake were completely destroyed and not one bite had been eaten by the time they were done. Their parents were watching in amusement while the other parents watched in horror as the two children threw birthday cake at each other.

"Sandra, how could you let them do that?" Patricia Hagan asked her, horrified at the idea of her children ever doing something so improper and God-forbid fun.

"Oh Patricia, they're kids!" Sandy waved her off with a shrug, "I'll let them have their fun and worry about the rest later. They're bound to have a few food fights. It's only a few pieces of birthday cake on a concrete patio, something that's easily cleaned up."

"I'll come out here later with the water hose and spray it right off," Evan shrugged it off, happily watching the two children play on the concrete patio.

"Come here, Taylor. We're leaving!" Patricia called to her blonde daughter, "Eric, come on, your mother would not be happy if I let you stay here."

"Happy Birthday, Melissa." Taylor sighed as she got up to follow her mother along with her friend, Eric.

"Happy Birthday, Melissa." Eric sighed as he followed Taylor's mother.

The Marin's soon followed along with McHugh's as Cody and Melissa continued playing in the mess of white and multi-colored frosting. Cindy shook her head as she walked over to the kids and kneeled down.

"Okay, guys, let's get cleaned up so Lissa can open her presents." Cindy laughed as she helped both of them up and led them into the house with Sandy following close behind. A wet wash cloth for each parent and two kids who couldn't stop laughing made more of a mess than the food fight had but they managed to get the frosting from their faces and the globs of it combed out of their hair with little fuss.

"Here," Sandy laughed as she kneeled down to wipe a missed spot of frosting from her daughter's leg. "Bathes will be necessary later."

"And yes, Cody, that includes you." Cindy laughed as she scrubbed some stubborn blue frosting from her son's cheek. "Now, next time you're given food, please eat it!"

"Yes!" Sandy agreed enthusiastically as she scrubbed some orange frosting from her daughter's ear. "Food is to be eaten, not played with although that moment is forever captured on video and was hilarious. Let's eat the food next time."

"Sandy, I'm afraid we're going to have to give them both a bath, now." Cindy grumbled as she tried to scrub green frosting from her son's clothes.

"Why don't we just change them into play clothes and give 'em a bath after they've worn themselves out? I don't know about you but I really don't want to fight them twice just to clean 'em up." Sandy laughed as she reached for the bag that Cindy had brought into the bathroom. "Plus, you carry spare clothes with you."

"Alright," Cindy agreed, "Let's just change 'em, I'll fight him later."

Sandy laughed as she pulled Cody's jeans and t-shirt out of the bag and reached the jeans and t-shirt that she always kept in the bathroom for Melissa.

"Here," Sandy smiled handing Melissa her clothes, "Change yourself, big girl!"

"C'mon big guy, you can change in Melissa's room." Cindy laughed, tugging her son out of the room and gently nudging him with her hand. "Go change."

While their children changed, they talked and laughed. Melissa emerged from the bathroom in a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, holding a brush and a hair-tie. Cindy laughed as Melissa looked between her and her mother before finally deciding to let her do it.

"Aunt Cindy, will you do it?" Melissa held up the brush and hair-tie.

"Sure, babe." Cindy laughed as she took the brush and hair-tie before gently turning her around. "Cody, let's go! Girls go faster than this."

She brushed out Melissa's long black curls before pulling them back into a pony-tail. Cody emerged from Melissa's bedroom in a blue t-shirt and jeans. Before either mom could say anything, he had grabbed Melissa's hand and proceeded to drag her to the back-yard.

"They are nothing but trouble!" Cindy grumbled as she followed her son and his best friend.

"Trust me, I know." Sandy laughed in agreement as she followed her best friend.

Both mothers groaned inwardly when they saw their children run and slide in the wet mud. It was easier than trying to clean off the frosting stains, they supposed, but Cindy dreaded having to deal with her muddy son and dragging him home to have a nice hot, bubble bath would be something of a pain. When it came to bathes, Sandy had the easy one. By the time Melissa slinked into the house after school or after a day outside, she was too tired to protest her mother plopping her in a tub of warm, soapy water.

xxx

"Cody, wake up, buddy."

While Melissa was happily playing in the mess of wrapping paper, toys, books and clothes, Cody had crashed on the tile floor, his head lolling off of his arms, which he had folded beneath him. Johnny gently shook him to wake him up and make him easier to pick up. Once he was awake and vaguely aware of his surroundings, his heavy blue eyes found his best friend and a sleepy smile pulled at his lips. Johnny helped him stand up and turn toward Melissa.

"Wish her a happy birthday before we go, buddy." Johnny nudged him slightly, ruffling his unruly curls now stiff and caked with mud.

"Happy Birthday, Lissie!"

His sleepy mumble made everyone laugh. A chorus of aww's filled the room when Melissa walked over to him and held his arm as she kissed his cheek. Johnny laughed as he ruffled her hair before scooping up his half-asleep son and turning to his wife, who smiled as she stood up and walked over to Melissa.

"Happy Birthday, Mellie." Cindy smiled, pressing a kiss into the top of her head. "Bye Sweetheart."

"Bye Aunt Cindy. Bye Uncle Johnny." Melissa waved happily, her brown eyes heavy and drooping.

"Bye kiddo, Happy Birthday." Johnny smiled softly at her.

Sandy smiled as she walked them to the door and talked quietly with Cindy while Johnny carried Cody to the car. Cindy bid her goodnight and made her way to the car where her husband and sleeping son were waiting. Sandy closed the door and locked it before heading back into the living room to carry her daughter to bed. She found Evan scooping up Melissa to carry her to her Princess bed. She pressed a soft kiss into her daughter's hair and let her husband take her to her room.

"Those two," Sandy laughed as she balled up the first of many wads of Little Mermaid wrapping paper of the night. "Those two are a world of trouble."


Hey Guys! Chapter Three! I know I'm doing this at weird increments but I don't want to spend too much time on their childhood because I'm trying to get it to a point when I can really get into them growing up and dealing with life-kind of like I'm doing right now :)

Let me know what you think :)

Love ya Dolls,

RobertDowneyJrLove

P.S. Yes, I call everyone doll.