Thank you to all my amazing reviewers, midnightfire321, datia, and KathyMesser! You rock!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of The Little Mermaid characters or songs, or the Bimbette triplets.
Author's note: While it isn't canon, there is some speculation that Alex from The Little Mermaid II is the son of Gabriella and Urchin from the TV series. I definitely think he looks like a combination of the two! Check out the fan theory sometime.
Melody, Eric, and Ariel were enjoying Atlantica again that Saturday. It was early in the morning, and Melody was still eating breakfast. A loud doorbell that sounded like a ship's horn shook the whole palace.
"I wonder who that could be?" Triton mused, putting his "dinglehopper" down.
Harold came flying into the dining room and announced, "For you, Your Majesty! It's Urchin and Gabriella and Ollie."
"Urchin and Gabriella?" Ariel echoed.
"And Ollie!" Harold repeated, still sounding frenzied.
"Ah, yes!" Triton stood up and glided out casually after the orange seahorse. Ariel rapidly departed from the table after him.
"Who are Urchin, Gabriella, and Ollie?" Melody asked her dad. "Why did Mom look so excited?"
Eric smiled. "Those are old friends of your mother's. Why, I don't think I've seen them since our wedding! Mom must be so happy to see them."
One of the triplets entered the dining room suddenly and made a beeline for Eric. Caspian, maybe?
"Uncle Eric!" he cried.
"Boreal!" Eric returned, shaking the young man's hand.
Melody raised an eyebrow. Apparently, she was the only person in the entire ocean who could not tell Arista's sons apart.
Boreal and Eric were suddenly deep in conversation. Alicia and Aquamarina weren't around, unfortunately. No one else was in the dining room, so she decided to go find her mother. Maybe Ariel's friends were gone by now.
Who names their kid Urchin anyway? Melody mused as she swam towards the palace's grand foyer.
But when Melody arrived at the foyer's front door, she could not believe her eyes. Her mother was talking to the two grown-ups with whom Alex had been when Melody saw him in town the other day! The man, presumably Urchin, had blond hair, and a green tail, just like Alex. Melody felt herself blushing, even though they couldn't see her. He was pretty handsome. The woman, apparently Gabriella, had darker skin and a pink tail and top. She was repeatedly gesturing with her hands. A blue octopus floated next to Gabriella.
Melody ducked behind a sea fan plant in the hallway outside Grandfather's foyer so she could listen. These had to be Alex's parents!
"We heard you were back in Atlantica," Urchin gushed. "Gabriella and I would love to meet your daughter sometime…"
Gabriella made more hand gestures.
"Tell Gabriella that Eric is here too," Ariel chuckled. "Fitting right in with the merfolk. My nephews, Boreal, Caspian, and Marino worship him."
Everyone laughed, or so Melody thought. Gabriella smiled, but Melody didn't hear any laughter from her.
"We'd love for you to meet our son Alex sometime," Urchin said. "He's just about Melody's age, I believe."
"That would be lovely!" Ariel exclaimed. "Our Melody is quite shy. She could use a friend her own age."
The woman made more hand signs, and it suddenly dawned on Melody that Gabriella must not be able to hear or speak. Amazingly, Ariel made a few signs back.
Mom knows sign language?
"Tomorrow it is then!" Urchin boomed. "We'd love to have dinner. Alex would kill us if we made him miss the carnival tonight. He has talked about nothing else for days. We'll see you right here tomorrow evening, 5:00 sharp."
They chatted for a few more minutes, but Melody didn't even hear them. Alex and his parents were coming to dinner at the palace tomorrow evening. This was way more nerve-racking than trying to find him at the carnival that evening! What if her parents could tell she liked him? What if he didn't like her? What if-
"Melody, child! What are you doin' behind dis sea fan?" Sebastian asked loudly. "I thought that you would be with Boreal in de udder room or-"
"Sebastian, be quiet!" Melody hissed, pulling the crab behind her plant. Sebastian didn't look pleased at her demand, and she quickly went on, "I am just, uh, waiting for Alicia and Aquamarina to show up. But I-I didn't want to wait by the door and...interrupt Mom's conversation with Urch-uh, with those grown-ups."
"Oh." Sebastian nodded, seeming to accept this. "Well, we can always go say hello. Those are your mudder's friends after all-"
"No, no!" Melody cried, not ready to face her crush's parents yet. "Boreal is probably waiting for me in the dining room. Let's go in there instead."
Naturally, Boreal was not in an overprotective mood, for once. He and Eric were still talking away and didn't even notice Melody or Sebastian. Melody let Sebastian nibble on her leftovers from breakfast.
Ariel reappeared in the dining room a few minutes later. "Urchin, Gabriella, their son, and Ollie are coming over for dinner tomorrow night!"
"Their son?" Boreal suddenly snapped to attention. "I think he is just Melody's age…"
Melody could practically see all the negative connotations of a boy her own age working through Boreal's mind. This was not good at all. She needed to change the subject, fast.
"That's great, Mom!" she chirped. "As long as Aquamarina, Alicia, and I can still go to the carnival tonight, right?"
"Sure, sweetie." Melody gently tugged her daughter's long ponytail. "The triplets are looking forward to spending the evening with you girls."
Melody seriously doubted that, particularly when she saw the dark look on her cousin's face. He was obviously still thinking about Gabriella and Urchin's (obviously horrible) son.
It was going to be a long night.
"What we need is a distraction," Alicia announced that evening.
Melody, Alicia, Aquamarina, and the triplets were all walking around the carnival together. They had just arrived, but the elder trio had already scared off two boys who had tried talking to Melody. This did not bode well for the rest of the evening.
"A distraction?" Melody repeated. She and the other two mergirls were walking several feet in front of the triplets.
"Yes." Alicia nodded firmly. "You are never going to be able to see Alex with the boys around."
That was for sure. But Melody didn't really want to deceive Caspian, Boreal, or Marino. She barely knew them. Plus, the three girls would probably be in trouble if they tried anything.
"Well, let's play a game or something while we think," Melody suggested nervously. "We don't want to waste the carnival."
A nearby game booth caught the girls' attention. The object was to fish the "pearl" out of the clam before it closed its mouth. It seemed simple enough.
"We're going to play the pearl game," Aquamarina told the boys.
The brothers did a quick scan of the game booth for any scoundrels, also known as preteen boys who would want to talk to Melody. Coming up empty, they silently nodded their permission that she, Aquamarina, and Alicia could play the game alone.
"Finally," Alicia muttered dramatically.
Only two people could play at once, so Aquamarina told her cousins to go ahead.
The game was harder than it looked. Melody couldn't get her fishing pole (a rather morbid game piece, such as it was) into the clam in time, but she kept trying. Aquamarina suddenly gripped her arm.
"Aqua," Melody groaned. "How am I supposed to win if-" She trailed off.
A few yards away, three triplet mermaids floated through the crowd. They were all blonde, one with a red tail and top, one yellow, and one green. They were beautiful.
"I think we can ditch the boys now," Aquamarina uttered. "We have our distraction."
The three young women were coming closer. Melody could just make out what they were saying.
"Just think of all the handsome mermen we will meet," the one in green urged her identical sisters. "Who needs Gaston?"
"Yeah," the one in yellow agreed. "Good thing there was some magic leftover in the Beast's castle to change us into mermaids."
"I don't think we'll ever find a guy like Gaston though," the red one sniffled.
The girls were about to float past, when Aquamarina planted herself in their path.
"Ladies," she began dramatically. "Allow me to make you forget all about this Gaston boy."
"He was not a boy," the red one protested. "He was a man."
Aquamarina didn't reply. She let her male cousins' presence speak for itself.
Boreal, Caspian, and Marino were almost at the game booth, but stopped short when they saw the three beauties. Melody could tell even from her vantage point by the game that the girls were as impressed by the boys as the boys were by the girls.
"Hi," the mermaid in green cooed. Caspian took her arm.
"Hi," the mermaid in yellow giggled. She linked her arm through Marino's.
"Hi," the red mermaid squealed. Boreal linked up with her.
The two sets of triplets glided off towards the food stands a few yards away, turning the head of every merman and mermaid as they swam.
Alicia dropped her fishing pole and grabbed Melody. "Now we can go find Alex."
The three preteen mermaids giggled all the way to the sand cone stand. It was crowded with merpeople of all ages, but no Alex.
Undaunted, the girls planted themselves on a nearby bench. This proved to be a difficult place to sit.
"Hey." A boy with an orange tail swam up to the trio. He smiled at Melody. "Want to share a sand cone?"
"No, she's busy," Alicia barked.
The boy started to reply, but Alicia and Aquamarina were quick to shoo him away. After this happened three more times, Melody found herself missing the triplets. She could still see them. The triplet girls were surrounded by an improbable amount of game prizes, simpering at Marino, Caspian, and Boreal. Apparently, Gaston was no longer a contender.
Aquamarina and Alicia were frustrated by Melody's would-be suitors too, and pulled her behind the stand. They could still watch for Alex here, but no one could see them.
Finally, after a half hour of ducking out of sight when people got too suspicious, Alex appeared. He was closely followed by the friends Melody had seen upon their first meeting. Alicia and Aquamarina all but shoved Melody out of their hiding spot, directly into Alex's path.
"Oh, hi!" Alex exclaimed, a faint blush spreading across his too-cute face. "Melody!"
"Alex!"
Alex gestured vaguely at the other two merkids with him. "These are my friends, um...uh…"
The boy smirked and held out his hand. "I'm Cory, and this is Serena."
"Nice to meet you." Melody forced herself to look at Serena and Cory instead of at Alex for a couple of seconds.
"So." Alex cleared his throat. "Do you want to-we could...I mean, if you wanted-"
"We'll see you later," Serena cut in, not even bothering to hide her giggles. "Have fun!" She and Cory swam off.
"Would you like to get a sand cone?" Alex blurted out.
"Yes, I'd love to!" Melody cried.
"Great! Let's go!"
As they approached the front of the stand, she caught sight of Alicia and Aquamarina behind it. They giggled and waved. Melody waved back.
Melody got a sand cone with vanilla syrup, and Alex got strawberry. They sat on the bench in comfortable silence, every now and then sneaking a peak at each other.
"We could walk around, if you wanted," Alex suggested nervously. "There's a Ferris wheel…"
"Excuse me for one second." Melody swam off the bench frantically, and reunited with Aquamarina and Alicia. She explained what Alex had just said.
"Go!" Alicia practically screamed before Melody was even through talking. "Go! He wants to spend time with you! We will cover for you if we see the boys."
That was all the permission Melody needed. She and Alex joined the Ferris wheel line. He asked her a lot of questions about herself-her favorite food and her favorite animal-but she still felt pretty shy. Soon, they were on the ride.
"I've never been on the Ferris wheel before," Melody admitted. She hated how nervous she sounded.
"That's okay," Alex told her earnestly. "I've been on it lots of times. It's fun. I promise. You'll love it!" Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he grabbed her hand.
Melody suddenly felt lightheaded. He was holding her hand!
The Ferris wheel made the first and then second rotation before she started to enjoy herself. Of course, Alex may let go of her hand if she was no longer scared…
"Wow, you really can see everything from up here!" Alex called. "Hey, I see the triplets!"
The fear returned. Maybe he meant other triplets besides her cousins or their matching girlfriends. But no. The boys were standing near the Ferris wheel, and one of them-she didn't know which one, naturally-was staring straight at her!
Alex misinterpreted her panic as illness resulting from the ride. He turned to look at her, concern etched on his face. "Are you okay?"
"Yes-I mean, no!" Melody sputtered. "I'm going to find Alicia and Aquamarina as soon as the ride is over because...I'm not feeling well. But I had so much fun with you! The Ferris wheel was great."
"I'm surprised you like it when it makes you sick," Alex commented.
Melody couldn't even respond. When the ride finally stopped, she tore herself away from Alex with a quick goodbye and hid behind the ride for a second to get her bearings. She could hear her cousins covering for her...sort of.
"For the hundredth time, Caspian," Alicia huffed, "that was not Melody on the Ferris wheel with a boy!"
"Yes it was!" one of the triplets argued. "You think we don't know what she looks like?"
"You must not," Aquamarina chimed in, sounding a lot smoother than Alicia. "She's talking to Flounder near the sandcastle stand."
What? Melody thought in a panic. She knew about her mother's oldest friend Flounder, of course, but they had never actually met. This was it. She would be caught thanks to her cousins' valiant but ultimately terrible excuses, and she probably would never be allowed to come to Atlantica ever again. She emerged from her hiding spot miserably.
But when the boys spotted her, their usual masks of suspicion lifted. Maybe the fact that she was not with a boy helped. Then again, Flounder was nowhere in sight either…
"Hi, guys," Melody greeted the boys as casually as she could. She never addressed them individually, since she couldn't tell them apart.
"How was the Ferris wheel?" one of the triplets asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Ferris wheel?" Melody repeated. "Who was on the Ferris wheel?"
Alicia and Aquamarina were holding their breath along with Melody as their chaperones debated her response.
"Where were you guys, anyway?" Melody blurted out. "Did you meet some mermaids?"
One of the boys grimaced. "Yeah. They called themselves the Bimbettes. But they all kept talking about a merman named Gaston or something…"
"I bet we're twice as big as that guy," another triplet chimed in. They all puffed out their chests with pride, and Melody almost laughed.
"We better get you girls home," Marino (possibly?) added. "It's pretty dark."
No one argued. It looks like they had actually gotten away with their scheme.
As the six mer-royals exited the carnival, Melody looked back at the Ferris wheel for a moment. Alex was back there still, and he had reunited with Cory and Serena at some point. They all waved at her, and Alex blushed.
Melody smiled. Now, all they had to do was get through dinner tomorrow...