Disclaimer: I do not own The Little Mermaid.
"Melody?"
Melody's heart was no longer racing from the swoon-worthy kiss she had just received. Now it was revving because she recognized that voice. Sort of. She certainly could not tell the triplets' voices apart, but it didn't matter. Once she dared to turn around, there they were: Boreal, Caspian, and Marino. And they didn't look happy.
"Um, hello," Alex said politely. His own heart was pounding. These older boys looked like they ate great whites for breakfast.
"Who are you?" a triplet demanded, scowling down at Alex.
"And what are you doing sniffing around our little cousin?" the one in the middle snapped.
Melody jumped up from the bench. Surely the boys wouldn't hurt Alex. Would they? She didn't know them all that well…
"Melody, go in the house," the last triplet ordered calmly.
"No!" Melody yelled, surprising all four of the boys in her presence. "I'm not-"
"It's okay, Melody," Alex whispered. He was blushing and trying to sound calm, but Melody could tell he was scared of her cousins. "I'll talk to them. Okay? It'll be fine."
She stared from the three brothers to Alex and back again. Maybe, she reasoned, the triplets just felt extra protective around her because she was half-human and didn't know the seven seas like they did. That was probably it. Plus, it was just a little kiss. A heart-stopping, joyful, perfect kiss. Caspian, Marino, and Boreal wouldn't beat up Alex in their grandfather's garden. Would they?
The four boys were still staring at her. Melody suddenly heard her mother's voice calling her. Relief washed over her. Alex would be fine. She started swimming out of the gardens. It was only a moment later when she turned to Alex to exclaim over his good luck of avoiding her cousins' wrath that she realized he wasn't there.
"Where's Alex?" Urchin asked when Melody swam up alone.
"He's, uh...cleaning up the game," Melody answered. "He's coming."
Several more minutes went by and Alex still didn't appear. The adults fell back into conversation before long. Suddenly, Alex swam up. He looked exactly the same as he had during their (bone-melting, belly-fluttering, wonderful) kiss. At least he hadn't been beaten up by Marino, Caspian, and Boreal. But he wouldn't meet Melody's eyes.
Gabriella signed something to him.
Alex signed something back and then turned to Melody, Eric, and Ariel. "Uh, well, I had a really great time eating with you. Thank you for inviting us for dinner." He kept his eyes down.
Ollie smiled. "We should have dinner again!" He turned to Gabriella and signed something. "Maybe next week?"
"That sounds wonderful!" Eric exclaimed.
The words repeated themselves in Melody's head. Dinner with Alex's family again? Next week? When he wouldn't even look at her?
What did the triplets do?
"Okay, tell us again," Alicia urged the next morning. She, Anastasia, and Melody were all sitting in Grandfather's parlor. "Don't leave anything out. He said you're pretty and then…?"
"Then he kissed me," Melody finished flatly for the 4th or 5th time. "And now he is ignoring me. Remember?" She buried her face in frustration. She had said the words many times but still couldn't believe them.
"It's just so romantic," Alicia squealed.
Aquamarina threw a pillow at her cousin's head. "Wake up, Alicia! We have a bigger problem! The triplets ruined everything. We need to win Alex back for Melody. We need a plan!"
As devastated as Melody was by yesterday's turn of events, she enjoyed the warm feeling she felt in her heart from Aqua's words. Never before had she had close girlfriends who could be her confidantes. But if anyone could fix this, it was Alicia and Aqua. Her cousins. Her friends. Her best friends. The memories of her horrible birthday party didn't even bother her anymore. Everything had changed since coming under the sea. She couldn't lose Alex now.
"I know. I know." Alicia rested a reassuring hand on Melody's shoulder. "We're going to kick the triplets' tails for this! But I've never kissed a boy before. I just want to know what it's like…"
"Wait." Melody shook off Alicia's hand and turned to face her. "You've never kissed a boy?"
Looking embarrassed, Alicia shook her head.
"Neither have I," Aquamarina chimed in.
"You mean I'm the first one?!"
Aquamarina and Alicia eagerly nodded their heads.
For the first time since yesterday, Melody's mind wandered away from the triplets. She, Melody, was the first out of her new little group to kiss a boy! Princess Shyness, as she was called at home by some of her schoolmates, had kissed a boy before Alicia and Aquamarina?! But she didn't allow herself to gloat. Her cousins had been nothing but kind to her, and she could use a little kindness. Instead, she exclaimed, "Wow. You're both so beautiful and friendly. I just thought…"
"Nope." Aquamarina gave her a little smile. "And hey, don't sell yourself short! You're beautiful. And smart. And pretty amazing. Alex is lucky to be able to kiss you!"
Hearing her crush's name brought Melody back to reality. "I don't think he wants to kiss me anymore! He wouldn't even look at me last night after the boys talked to him."
"But what did they say?" Alicia pressed.
"I don't know!" Melody threw up her hands in frustration.
Always the voice of reason, Aquamarina forced her way in between the other two girls. "Okay. Look. Uncle Eric took the boys to a fencing show in the kingdom of Pacifica, right?"
Melody and Alicia nodded.
"And it's far away, right?" Aquamarina continued. "So they'll be gone all day, right?"
Another nod.
"Okay." Aqua jumped up. "With the triplets out of our way, we hunt down Alex and demand an explanation. Simple. He's probably at the park or something right now. We'll go find him, and he will tell us everything without those nosy triplets around."
"Didn't Aunt Aquata want us to help her with something?" Alicia asked, wrinkling her nose.
Melody shrugged. "I guess we'll have to sneak out then."
Aquamarina and Alicia looked at Melody with a twinkle of admiration in their eyes. Then, they attacked her in a three-way hug.
"We're so glad that you found your way under the sea," Alicia told her.
"Me too," Aquamarina agreed. "And don't worry. We're going to help you win Alex back!"
Melody was so overwhelmed with gratitude that she could have cried. But she refrained. She wiped her eyes and yelled, "Alright, let's go find him!" She leapt off the couch and led her two cousins out of the parlor and out the back door of the palace.
The back door landed them in the gardens. Melody felt a wave of sadness when she saw where she and Alex had kissed less than one day earlier. But she soldered on. They had to fix things!
Despite the large presence of servants and relatives on the palace grounds, the cousins managed to escape pretty quickly. They made their way to the park.
It took a long time to cover any ground. They kept getting stopped by boys wanting to talk to Melody. But she didn't care. She wanted to talk to only one boy, and that was Alex! Where was he?
Finally, just as they were going to give up and get a sand cone, they spotted him about ten feet away. He was alone and miserably looking off into the distance.
"There he is!" Alicia suddenly screeched. She held out both arms wide to make sure Melody and Aquamarina didn't miss him. "He's on the bench!"
The girls gawked for far too long, which led to Alex noticing them. Face beat red, he suddenly swam straight past them at top speed.
Alicia and Aqua stared at the retreating merboy for a second before turning to Melody. She looked absolutely crestfallen and near tears.
"But...but what...why-?" she stammered.
Alicia gathered Melody up in a hug. "I am going to strangle those identical killjoys," she muttered, half to herself and half to Aquamarina.
"Same," Aqua mumbled back, hugging Melody as well.
The two mergirls led their half-human cousin to Alex's vacated bench and let her cry out her frustrations.
A half hour later, Alex poked his head out from behind his hiding spot of a large sea fan and watched Melody dejectedly leave the park, Aqua and Alicia on either side of her.
Alex sank down into the sand, his heart pounding. That was close. He had seen her, but they hadn't spoken. Those terrifying triplets couldn't turn their uncle's sword collection on him if he didn't actually speak to her, right? So he was keeping his promise, technically.
But as Alex watched this beautiful human/mergirl hybrid slump out of the park, he knew he had to find a way to see her without the older boys noticing. There had to be some way to do that.
Alex barely said a word to his family the rest of the night. He was too busy plotting to hang out with Melody.
"Come on, Alex," Ollie urged. "Our kick-the-clam team might win the championship tonight! We can't miss that!"
Alex felt a stab of regret. Ollie had been like an older brother to him all these years and they hung out frequently. Watching their favorite team, the Seven SeaHawks, win the championship would've been a dream any other night. But not tonight.
"I'm not really feeling up to it tonight, Ol," Alex explained to his tentacled friend. "I'm sorry."
"Ohhhh, I know what it is," Ollie teased the merboy playfully. "I bet that you like that pretty merprincess we had dinner with last night! Triton's granddaughter….what's her name again?"
"Melody," Alex supplied, flushing. Just saying her name sent both a wave of fear and a wave of mushy feelings through him.
"That's it! Melody!" Ollie cried. He reached over and tickled Alex's sides, easily pinning him to the sofa with his numerous appendages. "Alex and the princess!"
Alex laughed hysterically and tried to wiggle away from the octopus. "Ollie! St-hahaha-op!"
Ollie ignored him until Urchin and Gabriella stuck their heads in the doorway.
"Good news!" Urchin cried cheerfully, ignoring the scene before him. "We are on for dinner at the palace again next Friday!"
"Ooh, dinner at the palace again." Ollie wiggled his eyebrows at Alex. "Bet you're excited!" With one final poke to Alex's chest, Ollie swam out of the room, leaving Alex alone with his racing thoughts.
Next Friday! Alex thought in a panic. That's only a week away! I have to get her to forgive me by then! And I have to do it without her cousins noticing!
Alex silently resolved to win Melody back by next week's dinner, triplet or no triplets. There was no other option.
Author's note: Poor Melody and Alex! What did the triplets say to him, anyway? You'll soon find out! Please read and review.