Still coming down from her victory against Uma, Mal strode confidently across the wooden bridge, a horde of students behind her all laughing and cheering. At her flanks were Ben and Evie, the king and the princess, carrying a speaker and a cooler rattling with bottles. Behind them, Carlos and Jay already had half empty bottles in their hands, hyping up the crowd who was growing more eager to let loose with every whoop and holler.
"Sneaking alcohol from your perfect parents," Mal said with a smirk, "Maybe you Auradon kids really do know a thing or two about being wicked."
Ben could only run his fingers through his hair and laugh. "I think we're slowly making progress!"
Glancing over her shoulder, she watched as Lonnie, Doug, and Jane cautiously sipped on their bottles, and she almost laughed as Lonnie made a cringing face before taking another sip. Chad was hanging off of Jay and Carlos's shoulders, taking alarming swigs of who knows what from a silver flask.
"Somehow I feel like Chad might be making too much progress."
As they reached the clearing, Mal had to admit it was…underwhelming. What had been beautiful during the day was dim and unimpressive by night. Not even the dim light of a single firefly lit the area. How…boring. Before she could muse any further on the shortcomings of their selected party venue, she felt the warmth of a familiar hand fit into hers and lead her away from the crowd.
Evie, still without a single blue hair out of place, was pouting, a sight Mal couldn't help but chuckle at.
"Did you really have to give up your mother's spellbook?" Evie lamented. She gestured around at everyone slowly setting up torches and fumbling around in the dark, "I mean I know I encouraged it but do you think I would have given up my magic mirror if I didn't have to? These people need some help, I don't think they've thrown a party in their lives that didn't involve bouncy castles and ice cream cake."
"It is rather sad to watch isn't," chimed Mal. Ben waved at her from atop one of the many tumbled stones as he started passing out drinks to the mass of students. She winked at him before she turned to grab Evie's other hand firmly in hers. "But you don't really think I'd give up my mother's spell book because I wanted it to be 'kept safe,' do you?"
Evie's eyes narrowed as she gave a half smile. "Mal Bertha, what are you implying?"
"I'm the one with the magic," she responded, feigning innocence, "not some old book. I'm not technically giving up magic if I'm the one in control. As I see it, I gave them some old book that means nothing if I'm not the one holding it!"
"Still rotten," Evie mock chastised.
"To the core. Now," Mal turned, addressing the rest of the group that had gathered in the dim light and raising her voice to get their attention, "Who else is ready to try out this whole "being bad" thing?"
Met with cheers of approval, Mal raised her arms dramatically over her head, green shimmering magic enveloping the area. The lake shimmered in response and glowed with a gentle blue light. Torches became floating lanterns of fire, illuminating the area. The ice chest graduated into becoming a fully stocked bar, the ruins fitted with a dancefloor, and as a final personal touch of flair, a tub of bubbling green alcohol with floating apples came into being a few paces in front of her.
She strut forward, claiming an apple victoriously and winked. "Ta da!"
If Mal thought she had gotten a lot of cheers after she saved Auradon, it was nothing compared to the vigorous applause from tipsy teenagers bestowed with the party of a lifetime.
"Better?" Mal turned back to her best friend, who had retrieved herself an apple as well and found it laden with alcohol.
"Much. Cheers!"
They each took a large bite of their apples and sauntered back to where their friends were waiting for them.
Evie, drunk off booze soaked apples and high off of a good time, was dancing in a not very princess-like manner with Doug, Mal, and really anyone else in the general vicinity. Including Ben. And while their flirtation on the Isle while retrieving Mal was short-lived, Evie still felt a twinge of guilt about it, as she did at that moment dancing between her best friend and boyfriend. Doug was only one more of a handful of other problem she was running away from at the moment, and while he had been nothing but kind and loyal to her, her feelings didn't extend past what she felt for her other friends.
But that was a problem for the morning. And right now, dancing with her best friend was the most important use of her time. However, the sight of Ben grabbing at Mal's waist still left her with a bad taste in her mouth. She took more than a few sips from her drink, not tasting them.
One more problem, one more drink
Mal stuck close to her side, tipsy but not drunk enough to lose control. For her, losing control could mean too many things that she wasn't willing to risk. So while everyone else partied the night away, Mal remained on the more cautious side. She did however love to dance, and she couldn't deny that her best friend's enthusiasm was contagious to say the least, or deny the way Ben looked at her as they did.
Their brief moment of dancing that would have made even the most depraved inhabitant of the Isle blush was interrupted by Jay scaling the pillar of the ruins and doing a dramatic dive fully clothed into the enchanted lake. Following their teammate's lead, the majority of athletes jumped in after him, including Lonnie.
Ben promised to be back in a moment before, in a very un-kingly manner, leaping in after them, leaving Mal and Evie to take a break from the dance floor and stumble their way up the rocks to find more to drink.
"Betcha I can catch an apple before you can," Evie teased.
Mal, unable to resist a challenge, was already tying her hair back. "What do I get if I win?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I won't call you by your middle name for an entire month."
"Deal."
Mal wrapped her arm around Evie's petite waist (I hope she's been eating enough) and lead her drunk friend to the side of the bubbling apple tub. Evie rested her head on her shoulder as she walked. Mal could tell she had reached her limit and would be needing to get back soon.
Right after I win this bet.
Steadying her friend at the edge and holding her hand until she felt good enough to stand on her own, Mal looked at her friend's flushed smiling face as they counted down together.
"3…2…1...go!"
Purple and blue topped heads lowered into the bucket seeking the crunch of an apple in their mouths but getting only sour apple alcohol instead. Evie came up for air a few moments later and licked the bitter substance from her lips, watching Mal getting dangerously close to an apple floating in the space between the two. Her devilishly perfect pink lips grazed the red skin of the apple.
I've really gotta ask what lipstick she uses, her lips still look so…soft and perfect
Evie dove back in after realizing she had been staring for a while, now at risk of losing, and felt the satisfying crunch of the apple, and victory, between her teeth. As she pulled it out and opened her eyes she realized she was staring into the glittering green eyes of her best friend, her own teeth sunk into the opposite side and those perfect pink lips slowly spreading into a smile.
Damn
Mind hazy, Evie took a clumsy step forward, realizing only a half a second after she had done it that she was suddenly pressing her own lips to Mal's as the apple tumbled to the ground.
I was right…very soft
Mal pulled away first, shocked. They had never been shy about affection but this was new. She couldn't deny though that her cheeks were flushing and the resident butterflies in her stomach were set aflutter. She stood there studying her drunken friend in front of her. Evie did the same, pushing a lock of Mal's purple hair behind her ear. She watched as Evie's gentle brown eyes, glassy and half-lidded from the weight of the alcohol, shifted from looking into her own eyes and lingering on her...
Wait is she looking at my lips? Wait…why am I-
"Well now don't just stop on my account."
Shit.
Mal jumped and spun around to see Ben walking over with some new green bubbling drink, stopping the apple with his foot.
"Now that's what I call one very lucky apple," Ben teased.
"We were just-"
"Hey no need to explain!" Ben interrupted, clearly also feeling looser than usual with more than one drink in his system. His crown sat askew on his mussed hair and he adjusted it as he continued. "I was just enjoying the view."
Evie blushed and looked down at her feet, embarrassed, and Mal couldn't help but feel slightly irked at the statement. He knew she had dated girls before and didn't take jokes about it lightly. Her poker face was still impeccable though, and she managed retain a taut smile as she responded.
"You know what, I think it's time I take Evie home. She's had a bit too much and I don't want her traipsing off alone."
Evie's head shot up at that and was about to protest when she received a sobering stare from Mal and resealed her lips. Before Ben really had the chance to say anything, or really to stick his other foot in his mouth, Mal had wrapped a slim arm around Evie's waist once more and was leading her back the way they came.
"What, you're gonna leave without me?"
Aaaand there's the other foot.
"Don't worry! You guys still have an hour before the bippidy boppidy boo wears off and you're all struggling to find where you put your shoe. Enjoy it, Cinderella," Mal quipped right back over her shoulder.
Ben looked around at the party with wide eyes.
"Just messin with ya Benny-Boo! Don't worry we won't have too much fun without you."
Mal knew that his remarks came from the alcohol and tried to dismiss them, but the look on his face as she sauntered away was revenge enough.
Evie leaned heavily into Mal as they walked back to campus, removing her arm from around her waist and running it down her arm to lace her own fingers with Mal's as they often do.
"Mal Bertha," Evie said after a few moments walking in silence, "might I say you have some very soft lips."
"You said you wouldn't call me that."
"I said if you won. And from where I stood, it looked a lot like we tied."
Mal rolled her eyes but smiled. "Fine!"
They reached where Mal's purple scooter was sitting as a comfortable comfortable silence fell between the two. Refusing to risk the chance of hurting them both, Mal enchanted her ride once more to take them safely home.
"It's no white horse, I suppose, but is still very effective for transporting princesses to safety" Mal mused as Evie settled onto the seat behind her and wrapped her arms snugly around her waist.
So warm, cozy…
As they slowed to a stop at the dorms, Evie tightened her hold slightly. Hypnotized by the monotonous hum of the motor and the balmy breeze that had kissed her face as they rode, she had almost dozed off leaning into Mal's warmth.
As she less than gracefully dismounted their purple steed, both sleepy and drunk, she stopped Mal once more, pressing her forehead against hers as she purred, "I very much liked the view from where I stood."
"Alright," Mal blushed but still rolled her eyes, mentally stabbing every butterfly in her stomach that thought about so much as twitching a wing as she pulled her stumbling friend back to their room, "now I know you're drunk. Come on Princess, time for bed."
Evie didn't bother undressing before plopping onto her bed, asleep almost before her head hit the pillow. A steady drone of snores assured Mal that she was most certainly out for the night.
As for Mal, she locked herself in their bathroom, finishing off an apple she had tucked in her pocket while she sat against the tub on the tile floor and tried to make sense of the things running around inside her head. But her head had other plans and began to slowly throb in pain.
Tomorrow is gonna be a long day