The Good Life

The Next Day

“Good Morning, Princess!” I said as Alex and I went into Izzy’s room to wake her up. Her party started at one pm today so we had a few hours to get everything prepared which was more than enough time.

“Happy early Birthday!” Alex said, but Izzy closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

“Maybe we should let her sleep for another hour.” I chuckled. “We can go help my mom with more decorations.”

“Oh I have to go to the bakery for the cake at ten.” Alex said reminding me of that and the balloons.

“Let’s go get the balloons and then we can swing by to pick up the cake.” I told him and he agreed. We went down stairs to where my mother was. “Mom, can you look out for Izzy while we’re go pick up some more stuff.” I asked her.

“Put up this ‘happy birthday’ banner first and then you can go.” She demanded and I laughed, but did what I was told.

When Alex and I got back home with the balloons and cake Izzy was up with her ducky towel wrapped around her body, my mom must have given her a bath. She was also walking around the house holding a pancake in her hand.

“Izzy, what are you doing?” I asked her as I sat her cake on the counter.

“Balloons!” She exclaimed ignoring me.

“Pancakes!” Alex said imitating Izzy. Izzy stuck the pancake up to Alex offering him some and he bent down and took a bite. “Mmm” he said.

“You’re such a good sharer!” I complemented her.

“Ha no she’s not. She didn’t share any of her candy with me yesterday.” Alex pouted, but I just rolled my eyes at him.

“I made pancakes.” My mom shouted from the kitchen.

“We know. Your granddaughter is walking around with one in her hand.” I chucked as we walked into the kitchen.

“I tried to make her sit down and eat, but she didn’t want to sit still.” She said.

“We’ll let it slide since it’s your birthday.” Alex told Izzy and she giggled.

“I also ordered the Pizzas for today. They said they’ll deliver them around two pm.” Mom said.

“Oh thank you! Now the only thing to worry about is getting Izzy dressed and doing her hair.” I said.

“What is she going to be?” My mom asked.

“A pirate!” I answered. “The costume was so cute. It’s all red and black. It has a cute skirt and cute shirt and she has a small sword and bandana. It’s perfect for her.”

“Do you need help, Joyce?” Alex asked her as she placed fake spiders all over the counter tops and tables.

“Piders!!!” Izzy yelled before my mom could answer. Izzy ran over to me and jumped up and down making me pick her up.

“Izzy these are fake piders.” Alex laughed making fun of the way she said spider. I glared at him causing my mom to laugh.

“Honey, look.” I picked one up but she screamed so I quickly dropped it.

My mom started to pick up all the spiders and said, “Okay so I guess we won’t have any piders.”

***

The doorbell rang with the first guest being Vicki, Mike, and Vic. Mike and Vic were dressed up and they were each holding a present for Izzy. “They couldn’t decide on which present, so we got both.” Vicki chuckled.

“Izzy won’t mind.” I laughed. “And what are you two supposed to be.” I asked Vic and Mike.

“I’m Hulk Hogan!” Mike said.

“And I’m superman!” Vic told me.

“Aw I love both of your costumes.” I told them and they thanked me.

I talked to Vicki for a little while and she told me Emilio had to work today. We would have talked for a little bit long but the doorbell rang again and I went to go answer it. It was Cass and Rian, which automatically made things weird.

“Hey um how are you two doing?” I asked.

“We’re great!” Rian answered and Cass nodded along with him. “Where’s the birthday girl?”

“In the kitchen with Alex.” I pointed and left. Cass looked at me as if to say thank you and she walked off behind him. I let out a deep breath and followed them into the kitchen. Alex interacted with Rian as he normally would, but I could tell this was strange for him.

The next people to show up were Tay and Kellin. Kellin look so cute dressed up as a little cowboy. “Hey guys.” Tay said as she walked into the kitchen where we all were. I introduced her and Kellin to everyone there. I brought Izzy to them to say hi and Tay told Kellin to hug her. I didn’t think he would, but he went over and hugged her and she hugged him back. The kitchen was immediately filled with loud Awe’s.

Things got a little weird when May got there because our friends hadn’t seen her in a long time, but after some hellos and small conversations the feeling quickly blew over. She said hi to Cass, Rian, and Alex like old times then came over to me so I could introduce her to Izzy.

“May this is Izzy.” I said gesturing down to Izzy who was playing with her fingers. “And Izzy this is your Aunt May.”

“Hi Izzy!” May said and picked Izzy up.

“Hi.” Izzy said shyly. She’ll warm up to May after a while like she usually does with people she’s just met.

“Jack she’s so beautiful!” May exclaimed and I nodded. “Look I bought you a present.” May said as she held a neatly wrapped gift for Izzy.

“That’s mine?” Izzy asked, smiling.

“Yep!” May answered, “But you have to wait to open it.”

Oli and Hannah arrived the same time as the pizza. I could feel the tension in the room, but tried to ignore it so I could enjoy Izzy’s party. I usually wouldn’t mind holding secrets for people this was more of a burden. Cass and Oli didn’t seem as bothered with the situation as Alex and I were so maybe we were just overreacting, I mean it was just a kiss it’s not like they slept together or anything.

We let the kids play a few games for prizes and we ate before it was time to sing happy birthday to Izzy. Alex sat Izzy at the table and I went to get her cake. I placed a candle with the number two on it and lit it. We all gathered around and sang happy birthday to her. When we finished I told her to blow out the candle and she did on the first try.

I let Izzy down from the table so I could cut the cake and not so soon after I heard her scream. “Pider.” She jump for the person closest to her which happened to be Oli.

He picked her up confused, “Uhh Spider?” He asked trying to understand what she meant.

“I think I forgot one.” My mom chuckled as she went over and grabbed the plastic spider off the counter. Realization hit everyone and they started to laugh.

“It was fake, Izzy.” Oli laughed.

“I tried that already, but she didn’t believe me.” I told him.

“How about you open your presents.” Alex said trying to make Izzy feel better. She nodded her head and held her hands out so Alex could take her over to her presents.

She received all kinds of toys, but thankfully none of them made annoying noise like last year. Vic and Mike both bought her an Elsa and Ana doll from Frozen. They couldn’t decide on which one she would like better, but she liked them both. Kellin, but really Tay, bought Izzy a fake dog that she could walk, feed, and play with. I liked it because we could see how Izzy interacted with it to gage how she would be with a real dog. All her ‘relatives’ gave her Princess beauty sets, Barbie play houses, money, and clothes.

She opened Alex and I’s gift last since it was the largest. We tried to let her open the paper on her own, but after watching her struggle we helped. She jumped up and down once she saw it was a play hair salon set. It had a vanity with and lights that surrounded it, a blow dryer, curlers, and other hair accessories that were all fake.

“Can I make an appointment, Izzy?” Cass asked jokingly. All the adults laughed, and Izzy stood there admiring the box.

“Daddy Open!!” She told Alex.

“We’ll open it later, baby. It’s going to take a while for me to put it together.” He said, and of course Izzy wasn’t going take no for an answer.

“Open!!” She yelled.

“Hey watch your tone.” Alex scolded at her. Izzy crossed her arms over her chest, dramatically and stomped away from him.

“You upset the birthday girl.” Rian with false anger and Alex turned to glare at him.
“She yelled at me.” Alex complained.

“It’s her birthday she can yell at whoever she wants.” Cass laughed.

“Fine. Izzy we can open it now.” Alex said and Izzy came running back.

She uncrossed her arms as she was running back and hit her hand on the wall. I expected to hear crying not what I actually heard.

“Ow shit!” She yelled as she rubbed her hand. I’m pretty sure my eyes flew out of my head the second it came out of her mouth. The whole house was dead silent until Oli, Rian, and Tay started laughing.

“What did you say?” I asked her hoping that we had all heard wrong.

“Ow shit!” She repeated, looking at me innocently, confirming what I thought and making them laugh harder. I turned to Alex who looked guiltier than ever.

“Are you responsible for this?” I asked him.

“I-It was an accident.” He said quietly and let his head down.

“We’ll talk about this later.” I said.

“Oooo you’re in trouble.” Oli said causing me to laugh. But he was right Alex was in big trouble.

***

Izzy was asleep and my mom and May were upstairs getting ready for bed. I asked May to spend the night so we could spend all day tomorrow with Mom since tomorrow was her last day here.

“It was an accident, I burned my hand on the stove and it just came out. I didn’t think she was listening hard enough to understand what I said.” Alex tried to explain.

“Oh it was an accident.” I repeated as I handed him a pillow and blanket. Not really caring about his explanation.

“Yes I swear…Wait why do I have to sleep on the couch when we have guest rooms?” He asked.

“Because you won’t learn you’re lesson if you don’t wake up with your back hurting.” I giggled. “And if you sneak up to one of the guest rooms you’ll be sleeping alone until Izzy goes to college.” I added.

“Jack, I promise it’ll never-“Alex kept talking, but I closed the door. I wasn’t really angry at him, I just wanted to make sure he would think twice before cursing in front of Izzy again.

Notes

Next chapter Rian and Alex are going to get there suits fitted so hopefully Alex won't accidentally tell him about a certain event!!