Melody's nanny chapter 6

The sun rays flew in the windowsill as Eric groggily rose from his bed. He groaned, stretched and rubbed his eyes.
Today was Sunday which was another good 日 for Eric because he had off.
He wouldn't have to worry about driving Melody to school, being late to work, and being late to pick her up. The only thing he wanted to focus on right now was cleaning his house a bit since Ariel was coming over.
Eric got dressed in a white shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes. He combed his hair, brushed his teeth and went downstairs.
Melody was already up. She was eating Lucky Charms cereal in the living room while watching television.
He rolled his eyes as he noticed that Melody was watching some baby show, called "Rainbow Monkeys."
He walked over to the 厨房 and pulled out the almost empty Lucky Charms cereal. He ate the rest of it knowing he and Melody were going to go grocery shopping later.

"Melody, when 你 are finished eating, I want 你 to clean your room," 说 Eric.

"No, I don't want to clean my room!" 说 Melody.

Eric sighed.
'Why won't this kid give me a break?'

"Melody, 你 have to clean your room today. Do 你 remember Miss Ariel Benson from yesterday? She is coming over to 晚餐 tonight remember?"
Hearing the name "Ariel" Melody's face brightened and she immediately went to tidy up her room.
Eric took care of his dish, and Melody's dish. Then, he cleaned up the living room and vacuumed it.
When Melody finished cleaning her room, the two went grocery shopping hoping to find 食物 that was suitable for dinner.

"My, that was such a wonderful service. Don't 你 think?" Aquata asked as she and the family walked outside of the church.

"Yes, it was great," Andrina agreed.

The family walked 首页 and rested for a bit in their apartment in their living room.
The only exception was Ariel who was in the bedroom looking in the closet for a dress.
After searching, Ariel gritted her teeth and groaned as she slapped her forehead. She had forgotten that she did not own any nice dresses because she sold them for money to save her mother on her first 日 in America!
She ran to the living room hoping that her sisters could help.

"Guys, do 你 have a dress that I could borrow?" Ariel asked. 'Please let them have something!' She thought desperately.

"Why? Where are 你 going?" Aquata asked.

"She has a 晚餐 日期 with her boyfriend!" 比目鱼 smirked. The girls began to giggle.

"He is not my boyfriend!" Ariel cried, blushing.

"Children calm down," 说 Triton. "Ariel is too young to have a boyfriend."

"You've been saying that since she was fourteen," 说 Arista.

"What do 你 need help with, Ariel?" Alana asked. Ariel repeated her 问题 and the girls went searching through the closet trying to find the perfect dress for her.

Meanwhile over at the Barnes' house, Eric warmed up the 《冰雪奇缘》 食物 in the microwave.
After that, he put the 食物 on nice dishes, making it as if the 食物 were homemade. Then, he and Melody put the dishes on the 表 which was already covered with a nice tablecloth.
Eric looked at the grandfather clock that was standing between the two paintings of sailing ships. It was a quarter till seven.

"Is she here yet?" Melody asked as she looked outside of her window. She was wearing a cute yellow dress with an 橙子, 橙色 sash around it.

"She'll be here," 说 Eric.
Eric was dressed up in his fine black suit. He fidgeted a little and had trouble fighting the 蝴蝶 that were flying around in his stomach. 问题 swarmed in his head: When will Ariel come? Will Ariel accept his job offer? Will she treat Melody right? Does she like him? Will she 吻乐队（Kiss） him-what?
Eric shook his head wondering where the heck he got the idea of anything romantic between him and Ariel.
Whenever an image of Ariel came to his mind, his 心 would skip a beat. His train of thoughts was interrupted when Melody screamed, "SHE'S HERE!" very excitedly.
Eric jumped a little 由 Melody's scream and opened the door.
When he did, he saw the most beautiful vision ever.
Ariel was standing in the doorway wearing a long dark green dress with long sleeves and pearl earrings.
She smiled and blushed like a schoolgirl since Eric was staring at her in a dreamy way.

"Hey! What are 你 waiting for? Let her in!" Melody impatiently, stomped her foot hoping to get their attention.
Eric snapped out of his dreamy gaze.

"Uh? Oh! Right!" He let her in and took Ariel's coat.
Eric and Melody showed Ariel around their house starting with the living room which contained the big plasma.
Then they went to Melody's bedroom.
It was 粉, 粉色 full of toys and stuffed animals. Melody showed Ariel every single of her toy from her 芭比娃娃 doll to her spongebob plushie. Then, Eric showed Ariel his bedroom which contained a king-size bed, a gray dresser with a big mirror, and a clothes closet.
After the tour around the house, the two adults and child went down for dinner.
After dinner, Ariel offered to help Eric with the dishes.

"So, now that 你 are out of college, what 你 doing now?" Eric asked, as he rinsed his dish.

"Well, nothing interesting, really. Except looking for a summer job," Ariel answered, hesitantly. She could feel her face turning red with embarrassment.

"Well, do 你 know what job 你 are looking for?" He inquired.

"Something to do with babysitting 或者 helping out a 日 care center," 说 Ariel. Melody, upon hearing this, grabbed the newspaper from the 长椅, 沙发 and gave it to Ariel.

"Maybe this newspaper will help you," she said.
Luckily, Ariel was done with putting the last dirty dish in the washing machine and took the newspaper from Melody.

"Thank you, honey," she said, sweetly.
She flipped to the page that had job advertisements. She skimmed over a few job advertisements until she found the right one.

"Ah, this looks like a fun job," She replied. She read the entire Advertisement:

WANTED
Nanny for a five-year-old girl
Must: 爱情 children, be kind, sweet, and responsible
Age: must be 17 and above
Information: I need a nanny who can take care of my daughter on Mondays-Saturdays
At 7am-9pm. Feed her, take her to school daily, play with her, read stories to her, and tuck her in 床, 床上 at nine PM sharp. Please call Mr. Banes: (847)777-999.

"Wait a minute!" Ariel said, surprised. She turned to Eric and Melody. "Is this you?" she asked.

"Yeah..," 说 Eric, with a lopsided grin and hand behind his back.

Melody giggled.
Ariel still looked confused, so Eric had to explain.

"You see, I've been working a lot at the Red Rabbit Inc. lately, which makes it hard for me to watch over Melody. So, I decided to hire a nanny to watch over her whenever I'm not here. I put the ad in the newspaper, held interviews, but couldn't find one. Of course, I was about to give up hope until I found you. Do 你 understand?" he finished.

"Yes, but why me?" Ariel responded.

"Well, when Melody told me about the rescue and how kind 你 were to her, I figured that 你 were a better candidate," Eric explained.

Ariel went into deep thought. This job offer sounds awesome! Why not take it? It's something better to do over the summer other than lay around the house all day.

"Sure, I'll take it, " Ariel decided, happily.

"Great!" 说 Eric, as he grabbed her hand to shake it.
The moment their hands touched, electricity went through their veins. 蝴蝶 flew inside their stomachs as they stared at each other.
"Um..You are hired," 说 Eric, his face reddening. He quickly released her hand, although he wanted to hold it longer.

"T-thank you," 说 Ariel, whose face was also blushing.

Melody looked at Eric, then at Ariel.

'What's going on? Why are Daddy and Ariel being so weird? She wanted to know why.
But she decided to bring up the subject matter tomorrow since Ariel was about to leave for the day.

"So, what time do 你 want me to be here tomorrow?" Ariel asked, as she was about to head out.

"I'd say at five thirty in the afternoon. That way, we'll have a lot of free time to help 你 移动 in," 说 Eric.

"Five thirty sounds good," Ariel agreed.

"Aww, do 你 have to go?" Melody pouted. Eric chuckled; it was so rare to see Melody whine and pout.

"Don't worry, Melody. I'll be back here before 你 know it," Ariel smiled. "Thank 你 so much for the dinner, I had a great time. And the 食物 was so yummy, too!"

"Aw, it's nothing," 说 Eric.
Ariel hugged Melody who hugged her back tight. Then Ariel hugged Eric who blushed deeply red.
When Ariel left waving goodbye from Andrina's jeep, Eric and Melody waved back and did not go back inside the house until she and Andrina drove away.
Melody went to 床, 床上 with a smile on her face.
Eric on the other hand was having another train of thought.
'What's going on? Why is it that every time Ariel hugs me 或者 shakes my hand, I get all nervous around her? Well, let's hope I act 更多 civilized around her 由 tomorrow.

With that, he did a final check of the house to make sure all the doors were locked before checking on Melody one last time and climbing into 床, 床上 for the night.