Princess for Hire

2

When Crystal arrived to her sister's house that next day with the cake and ice cream, she was met by Daya struggling to get the balloon arch attached to the gate to their backyard and her niece already super hyper.

"Auntie Crys!" Luna shouted for her, running towards her in her princess dress and grabbing onto her leg. "I'm having a birthday party!"

"Are you now?" Crystal smiled a little, struggling to walk with her holding onto her leg but not having the heart to tell her to let go. "And here I was thinking it was supposed to be a surprise."

"It was. But Bosco couldn't keep her contained in her room." Daya taped one end of the arch onto the fence only for the other side to fly up again. "...Can you help me?"

Crystal tried not to laugh at her sister's struggles, but failed. "Yeah I'll help. Just let me put the cake down."

She managed to walk into the house even with her niece clinging to her leg. She soon let go of her to go running out the back door, just barely dodging Bosco who looked exhausted.

"Slow down, hun. And don't go peeking at your presents." She called out to Luna before grabbing a stack of Frozen themed paper plates from the kitchen counter. "We woke up late so we couldn't start decorating as early as we wanted to and it was impossible to keep Luna from seeing everything and well...here we are."

Crystal set the cake down on the counter and placed the ice cream into the freezer. "I'll help however I can. When are all the kids supposed to get here?"

"...In like thirty minutes." Bosco laughed nervously, rushing out the back door with the plates in her hands.

Crystal shook her head. Her sister and sister-in-law were perfectionists when it came to anything that would make Luna happy. Even if they ended up stressing themselves out way too much.

Crystal went back out to help Daya. She took the other end of the balloon arch, tying it securely around one end of the fence instead of taping it like her sister was.

Daya watched her before sighing. "I guess that would've been a good idea..."

"You think?" Crystal laughed, nudging her out of the way and finishing the other side herself. "You should go help your wife. I think she's struggling to set up the tables."

"Not surprising." Daya went to head to the back. "Can you keep an eye on Luna while we finish setting up?"

"Of course." Crystal agreed and followed her to the backyard. She found her niece already in the castle shaped bounce house, watching in amusement as the young girl jumped with one of her stuffed animals.

Luna rushed to the netting of the bounce house when she saw her aunt coming. "Aunt Crys!" She called out for her, making the stuffed animal wave to her. "Jeffrey wants you to come jump with us!"

Crystal could never say no to her niece. And at least it would keep her entertained while Daya and Bosco finished setting everything up. So she pulled herself into the bounce house with her, smiling when Luna giggled and jumped into her lap.

"Guess how old I am today!" She said excitedly, looking up at her aunt with sparkling eyes. "Guess!"

"Hm..." Crystal pretended to think about it. "You're turning four, right?"

"No Aunt Crys." Luna giggled, leaning against her chest and hugging her stuffed animal. "I'm turning six!"

"Six? Dang, you're getting old." Crystal laughed a bit, helping her stand back up so she could continue jumping.

"But not old like you and mama and mommy." Luna started jumping again. "You guys are old old."

Crystal raised a brow, but had to laugh again. "Gee, thanks for the reminder, Lu."