Babysitting the Bad Boy

Chapter 4

"Ariel are you done painting? I wanna see it!" Clara exclaimed impatiently from her spot on the couch next to Lucas, who smirked wickedly from behind his little sister.

"Yeah, Ariel. Show us." He said.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes as I put the brush down, finally done with what I had been working on for the last three hours, "Okay." I said.

I took a breath and turned it around. There were two very different reactions when the siblings saw my finished product.

Clara's eyes lit up  and she started squealing when she saw it, and Lucas' eyes went wide, his jaw went slack and he just stared with a kind of awed expression at it.

"Oh my gosh it's me! It's me! Sebby she made me look like a princess!" Clara yelled, making me smile.

I had painted Clara with the same hairdo that I had given her earlier in the day, standing in a field of flowers with a mountain view, wearing the simple blue dress that Belle wore at the beginning of 'Beauty and the Beast', since Clara had said that Belle was her favorite princess(but not her favorite princess movie, that was 'The Little Mermaid', of course).

"I'm Belle! I'm princess Belle!" Clara squealed and I smiled as she ran over.

"Be careful, the paint is still a little wet so you don't want to smudge it." I said and she made sure not to touch it.

"It's so pretty! You are so good!" She said and I smiled.

"Thank you very much. This is for you. You can keep it." I said and her eyes widened before she threw her arms around my neck, careful not to touch the painting.

When she pulled away she ran off to her bedroom to find the Belle costume she had that matched the one in the painting.

I was smiling to myself, setting the painting on the sheet to dry, when a voice rang out behind me, "Not bad, new girl."

I turned to look at Lucas, knowing for a fact that he'd said that but not believing it for a second, "Um, thanks. I used to do it as a stress-reliever and just got pretty good, I guess." I said with a shrug as I grabbed the brushes and stood up straight, headed towards the kitchen sink to clean them.

Lucas followed, "I know we aren't each other's favorite people, but even I can't deny the fact that you're better than 'pretty good' at painting. That's amazing. And my sister loves it. Which, means that she will love you forever." She said and I smiled.

"She's a sweet kid," I said, before speaking again, "which is the reason why I want to propose something to you." I said.

He quirked an eyebrow, saying nothing as he gestured for me to go on, "I want to call a truce." I said, but continued to speak before he could interrupt, "I mean, when we're here. When I'm watching Clara, if you happen to be home, we do our best to be civilized for her. I'm not going to leave this job just because you're here.

"So. We play nice in this house, but when we're at school, we can go straight back to the glares and clenched jaws when we pass in the hallways." I said and he smirked.

"Alright. I'm in. But I swear, if you mention one word about 'Sebby' to anyone i'll-" I cut him off.

"Don't worry about it, I won't say anything. And what's up with that anyways?" I asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "I probably shouldn't be telling you this because you will definitely blackmail me with it, but you know 'The Little Mermaid' is Clara's favorite movie, right? Which, by the way, is another reason she absolutely adores you." he said.

I smiled and nodded as he kept talking, "Well, when Clara was like two, she would make me sing 'Under the Sea' and 'Kiss the Girl', because I did a funny Sebastian voice, so she tried calling me 'Sebastian' but couldn't fully pronounce it, so she decided on 'Sebby' and it stuck." He said with a shrug.