Today was the day.
The day Evie had been dreading on the inside, but had been happily preparing for on the outside.
Mal and Ben's wedding day.
Evie had spent weeks making the bridesmaids dresses (which was for Lonnie and Jane), her own maid of honor dress, and the suits for the best men (Jay, Carlos, and Doug), and the best man suit for Bens father.
With every single stitch Evie made, every move under the sewing machine, every poke of a needle, her heart hurt. She had been hopelessly in love with Mal since she had first known her, but it was a lost cause to try and tell Mal that back on the Isle.
And once they had come to Auradon, Mal instantly fell for Ben, and Evie had no chance. She was just a lonely princess wannabe, how could she ever compete with a proper, kind king like Ben?
She couldn't, that's how.
And she was never going to be okay.
So here she sat, brushing a stroke of eyeshadow across her best friends eyes.
"Aren't you so excited Mal?" Evie asked, making her voice sound just purely excited.
"So excited," Mal said, her voice weak and stressed. Evie looked at her best friend, putting her hand down and softening her facial expressions.
"Mal, are you alright?" she said, letting her hand fall on her best friends leg, which was covered with bright white fabric.
Mal straightened up, changing her expression and smiling st Evie, "Yeah I'm fine, I guess I'm just a little stressed about the day, I want everything to go perfect you know?" she said, tilting her head. Evie noticed the way Mals fingers played with her pink hair, an obvious tik that she was lying. Evie bit her lip.
"Are you sure?" Evie said, rubbing Mal's arm comfortingly. Mal nodded her head, picking up Evie's hand that was holding the brush and moving it up to her eyes, forcing Evie out of the conversation.
"Evie, you're really going to let this happen?"
"Jay, what am I suppose to do?"
"Evie you're in love with her!"
"I know, I know. I love her so much that I have to let her go and be happy, even if it's not with me."
Here we go. Evie had come down the Isle linked with Bens father. He really was the perfect father in law for Mal, he even treated Evie like the daughter he never got to have.
She stood in her place, and watched Lonnie come down linked with Jay, and Jane with Carlos. Then came Ben, and Evie felt her heart start to break. Here was the guy that got to call Mal his wife. Forever. Forever.
Then. Then came Mal. And Evie couldn't stop the tears welling in her eyes. Her best friend of years. Her pink hair pulled tightly up into curls on her head, her makeup done perfectly. And her long flowing white dress, tight around her center, a sliver of her skin showing.
When Mal got to the alter, the first thing she did was look at Evie. She squeezed her hand, and Evie gave her her best smile. Then she turned to Ben, and Evie felt her heart fully break. In that moment, that Mal turned to Ben, Evie was broken.
The ceremony went on, words after words coming from the preacher, Mal and Ben's mouths. Then came a moment Evie wished she could open her mouth.
The preacher looked out into the crowd.
"If anyone has an objection to make for the couple to be married, please speak now, or forever hold your peace."
Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever
The words rang in Evie heads over and over, pounding like a headache against her thoughts.
"I object," a voice broke the silence.
Evie eyes ripped from the floor, looking into the audience. I swear, if that was Jay I will kill- Evies thoughts were cut off by Ben, his voice sounding so broken, more then Evie had ever heard it.
"Mal?"
Evie turned to her best friend standing in front of her who stood shocked, her mouth hanging open, her eyes wide with fear.
"Mal, y-you object?" The pastor spoke, clearly in just as much shock as everyone else. Mal looked around frantically, her breathing becoming rapid and her eyes glazed over, her cheeks flushed.
And then, she was gone, the only sound left was her heels hitting the concrete floor.
"Mal! Mal please open up!" Evie pleaded, banging on the door underneath the church.
She had run after Mal in a heart beat, but the fairy was too fast. She had disappeared down some hallways and through some doors until she found one with a lock. Evie had been listening to her cries for what felt like hours, which was only just a few minuets.
Then she heard a click, and she walked in without hesitation, seeing Mal on the floor, crouched down into the corner. Her dress was long gone on the floor, so she was just left in her nude bra and black underwear. Evie felt her heart tug at the sight, Mal looked so small and fragile, almost childlike.
"Oh Mal," Evie said, falling to the floor and wrapping her arms around the smaller girl. Evie fell into her embrace, crying harder. Evie soothingly rubbed her back and played with Mals hair, which had also been ripped out of the ponytail. Once Mals breathing wasn't so haphazard, she pulled back and looked at Evie, her makeup smeared beyond belief.
"Mal, why?" was all Evie had to say, looking back and forth between Mals green eyes, which now looked dull and held an expression that Evie couldn't read.
"Evie, I just- when Ben proposed last year, I thought that's what you did. You date for a year, propose, and get married," she said, and Evie's expression grew confused, shaking her head slightly to communicate that she didn't understand.
Mal continued, pushing back onto her knees and looking into Evies eyes.
"I thought that's what you did Eves. I went along blindly, feeling like my whole life was planned out. Oh Evie I don't even know if I'm in love with Ben. I love him with my whole heart, and he taught me what love was really like. But I'm not in love with him. I don't get butterflies when I'm with him, I don't feel my stomach turn when we kiss, I can't picture our life together, Evie I don't even want a life together," she said.
She was starting to get worked up again as she talked, and Evie slipped her hand into Mal's, her other hand running her fingers along Mal's shoulder.
"And I just let myself be pulled along, because I didn't even know that I wasn't in love. Because I thought love and in love were the same thing, but they're not Evie, they're not. And I always thought they were, until I heard some girls talking about being in love. Then, I realized what being in love was really like, because I realized I was in love with someone else," she said, a sadness in her eyes that Evie had never seen.
"Mal, why didn't you tell Ben?" Evie said, not noticing the way her heart tugged at the thought of Mal loving, yet again, someone that wasn't her.
"Evie, he's treated me like a princess. He gave me a home when I had nothing, he gave me food when I had nothing to eat, he was nice to me no matter what I did, he treated my friends like gold, he loved me, and had this whole life planned out, how could I crush all that for him?" She said, moving away from Evie.
"Then what made you stop it today?"
"Because, I realized that I only have one life Evie, and as much as I want Ben to get everything he deserves, I have to live for myself," she said, wiping away the tears streaming down her pale face.
Evie hugged her smaller friend, holding her tight against her chest.
"You do Mal, and you deserve to be happy and live for what you want just as much as Ben does," Evie assured, pulling back and smiling softly at her friend. "But Mal, who is it that you're in love with?" She said, tilting her head and forcing the lump in her throat down.
Mal huffed, a sad and bitter noise.
"Someone I'll never have. But if I'm going to stop lying and letting myself be dragged along, even if it hurts me, I might as well say it right?" Mal sighed, before continuing, "The person I realized I'm acrually, truly in love with, is a blue haired princess that I've wanted to be with ever since she was a little brat and didn't invite me to her birthday party."
Evie took a moment to process her words.
Mal was in love with her.
She didn't waste another second in doing what she had been wanting to for years.
She pressed her lips to Mal's, almost feeling sick by the butterflies and fireworks going off in her chest as she kissed the pink haired girl.
Maybe she would be okay.