Mal and Evie's Birthday's - Part 2
Mal looked at her reflection on her closet mirror, checking to make sure that the sundress she was wearing looked alright. It was black with the print of purple roses all over it. If it wasn't for the color, it would actually look like something that had come out of Jane's closet more than hers. But Fairy Godmother had gotten it for her to wear to tonight's birthday dinner, so she figured it should get some use. Too bad it's too hot to wear my leather jacket with it, she thought.
"Mal, you almost ready, Sweetie?" she heard Fairy Godmother call out from the hallway.
"Yeah," she answered back. With a deep breath she mustered her resolve and went to join Fairy Godmother and Jane.
She met them in the living room where they'd been waiting for her, Jane in a white peasant top and matching blue skirt that Evie had sent her, and Fairy Godmother in a lavender dress. Upon seeing her, Fairy Godmother's eyes lit up. "I knew you would look beautiful in that dress," she smiled.
"Yeah, you clean up nice," Jane added.
"Thank you," Mal said sheepishly.
Fairy Godmother rose from the couch and walked up to Mal. She took the now seventeen year-old girl's face in her hands and looked her in the eyes. Mal was smiling, but one look into those green eyes and Fairy Godmother could tell that Mal's smile was just her trying not to look upset for her and Jane's sake. The sadness over not being able to be with Ben was clearly still affecting her and it almost broke Fairy Godmother's heart.
It'll all be worth it in a little while, she thought.
"I'm sorry you couldn't spend this day the way you wanted, but I promise you're going to love tonight," Fairy Godmother told her.
"I know," Mal said, hoping Fairy Godmother was right.
Minutes later the three of them had piled into Fairy Godmother's minivan and they were off to dinner. "Mal, could reach into the glove box and grab what's in there, please?" Fairy Godmother asked after a few minutes. Mal did as asked, but became confused when she pulled out a black scarf. She held it up while looking at a Fairy Godmother questioningly. "It's a blindfold, and I need you to put in on."
"Say what now?" Mal asked.
"Me and mom have a small surprise planned. But we don't want you to see it till we get to the restaurant," Jane explained.
"Are you serious?" Mal asked, clearly not totally on board.
"Completely," Fairy Godmother answered her. "I told you you'd love tonight, and I meant it, but I need you to do this. Please, Sweetie?" Fairy Godmother implored.
Mal rolled her eyes, but did as asked and put on the blindfold and tied it behind her head. Fairy Godmother looked back and forth between Mal and the road and then waved her hand in front of Mal's face for certainty. Confident that Mal was unable to see she shot a quick look over to Jane who understood that it was meant to say one thing: seatbelt on.
Fairy Godmother gripped the wheel a little tighter and began to mentally say a spell. Jane watched as the minivan became engulfed in a bright white light. Soon, Jane found it hard to take the luminosity coming from the glow and couldn't even look in its direction, let alone outside the car. Just before she covered her eyes and looked down toward the floor, she snuck a look toward her mother and was surprised to see her not even flinching in the face of the light's brightness. How does that light not bother her, she thought.
Seconds later, Jane felt a slight tapping on her knee. She looked up, half uncovering her eyes and peeked at her surroundings. The minivan was no longer on the road, but parked in front of the palace. She grabbed her phone from her purse and immediately began texting Evie and Snow.
"Alright Mal, we're here," Fairy Godmother said cheerfully.
"Does that mean I can take off the blindfold?"
"Not yet. Jane, help her out."
Jane got out and opened Mal's door and helped her out. She looped Mal's arm into hers and started leading her inside. Once inside, they led her through the palace halls until they were outside the doors to the Grand Ballroom.
"We've stopped," Mal said. "Are we finally here? Can I take this thing off?" she asked as she grabbed at the blindfold.
"In a few more seconds," Jane answered as she slapped Mal's hands away from her blindfold. Mal groaned in frustration. "Oh quit your whining you big baby."
"I'm gonna remember that," Mal told her.
Fairy Godmother rolled her eyes and smiled at the way her girls interacted. Yes, they might be sniping at each other, but she knew that beneath that, they really did care about each other. However, before they could continue, she moved to open the doors and carefully led Mal inside.
"Okay, now you can take the blindfold off," she told Mal.
"Finally," she said as yanked the blindfold off. Immediately she noticed something just a little bit weird. "Why are the lights off?"
Almost immediately the light came on, temporarily blinding her and forcing her to cover her eyes. As she shook off the shock to her vision, she suddenly heard a loud exclamation.
"Surprise!"
Her eyes shot open and she was confronted with a ballroom full of people. She looked from face to face seeing one friend after another standing in front of the crowd; Evie, Carlos, and Jay. Doug and Lonnie. Even Audrey, and most surprising of all, Chad were there. But by far, the best sight for her was seeing Ben there, smiling at her, his eyes shining at the sight of her, like she was the only one in the room.
"Oh my God," she gasped, her hands covering her mouth. "What the…?" she asked as she turned toward Jane and Fairy Godmother.
"Happy Birthday, Mal," Fairy Godmother said, an almost too bright smile on her face.
"You mean…? Is this for me?" Mal asked. Fairy Godmother nodded while a few of the guests laughed in appreciation. Fairy Godmother then pointed in the direction of the back of the ballroom and Mal gaped again as she saw a huge green banner with purple lettering that read, "Happy 17th Birthday Mal!", surrounded by an image of the same dragon formed heart on her leather jacket. "We're you in on this too?" she asked Jane.
Jane nodded. "Me, Mom, Snow, and Evie."
Mal felt herself tearing up and threw her arms around Jane, giving her a tight hug. "Thank you, Janey." Next she turned to Fairy Godmother and gave her a big hug as well. "Thank you, Mom," she whispered into Fairy Godmother's ear.
"You're welcome, Honey," Fairy Godmother whispered back.
After she let go of the hug, Mal immediately went over to Evie and hugged her, but before she let go Mal opened up the hug and waved Snow White into it. She didn't notice, but several people, especially Fairy Godmother and Jane, began taking pictures of the hug knowing what a rare occurrence it was for the purple-hair half-fairy to show such emotion.
"Now that you're done being all sappy, can we party now?" came voice from the crowd.
"Really Chad?" Belle chastised him. He raised his hands in surrender.
"And actually, we're not done yet," Snow said as she pulled herself away from the hug.
"There's more?" Mal asked.
Snow nodded. She brought Mal and Evie back to where Mal had originally been standing and faced them toward the back wall. She stood between both girls, one arm around each of their shoulders. "You see, Mal, all of this was Evie's idea. She wanted you to know what it was like to finally have a big birthday. Even if it meant she gave up hers."
"Gave up…Evie no," Mal said.
"Yes," Evie told her. "You deserve one happy memory about your birthday."
"And you deserve another one," Snow cut in. "Especially after this. So someone here decided to make sure you had one by making this day about both of you."
Both teenage girls looked at Snow. She shook her head. They then looked back at Fairy Godmother.
"Don't look at me, I'm just as confused as you two."
"Janey, now," Snow said.
Everyone watched as Jane stepped forward and closed her eyes. She took in a deep breath and shook her head to loosen up. Everyone watched as she twisted at the waist until she was almost turned backwards, both her hands by her right hip. She silently started to recite a spell in her head that she researched from her mother's spell book and then turned, pointing her hands at the banner. The whole room watched as beams of white light blasted from her hands and hit the banner. Seconds later, the banner began to glow and was then surrounded by bright white and baby blue colored orbs. Finally after a few seconds, the lights disappeared and the banner had changed. It was now split in half, one side still green, but now the other was dark blue. The message on it now read, "Happy 17th Birthday Mal & Evie!"
The letters on Mal's side were still purple, but the letters on Evie's side were bright red. Mal's side still had her dragon heart behind her name, but Evie's side was adorned with a glittery tiara over her name. Almost immediately, the decorations in the room began splitting down the middle. Half the tables, balloons, streamers and table declarations were green and purple, the other half, red and dark blue.
"Did it work?" Jane asked as she opened her eyes. The room started applauding and yelled surprise again, this time for Evie.
Evie couldn't speak because she was crying too much. She turned and threw her arms around Snow, repeating thank you over her sobs.
"Oh, you're welcome, Sis, but I only knew about this. The person who did all this for you was her," Snow admitted while pointing at Jane.
Jane felt herself immediately become wrapped in a hug from both Mal and Jane. They were now thanking her and calling her the best little sister ever!
After all the tears and thanks, and the retouching of makeup, the party began and went well into the night, with both of birthday girls having the best birthday either of them had ever remembered.
Eventually, Mal and Ben found themselves outside on the balcony alone. Mal was leaning onto the balcony, Ben behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist, his chin on her shoulder.
"I should be mad that you lied to me," Mal mock pouted.
"Yeah, but when Fairy Godmother called me and told me about this, I figured you'd forgive me," he replied cheerfully, kissing her on the cheek. Mal giggled and turned and then they kissed on the lips. After a moment of making out, they finally came up for air. "So, am I forgiven?"
Mal kissed him quickly on the lips and nodded.
"Happy Birthday," he wished her.