Hey guys I know the first chapter was a sad one; it broke my heart to write it but I needed to for this story. Don't worry Bal are still my favourite couple. Much love RSD xoxoxoxo.
Me and Sam had slowly made our way through security and waited for our bags to arrive on the conveyer belt and when we pulled our bags through arrivals I heard a familiar scream.
"Mal!" I heard and then the next thing I knew I had Evie squeezing me in a bear tight hug.
"Hi Evie" I muttered as I struggled to breathe. I heard Sam chuckle and I looked at him and smiled at him.
"I don't like you going away for three and six months at a time" she said sadly as she pulled away from me.
"Me neither" I agreed as I smiled at her.
"Only three more times though" she said excitedly as she turned to look at Jay and Carlos. Both me and Sam threw a nervous look at each other and looked back at Evie as Jay and Carlos walked up to us.
"Hi Creep" Jay said as he walked up to me.
"Hi Knucklehead" I said as I pulled him into a hug. It felt so reassuring to be back with my family; I couldn't wait to see everyone else. My stomach fluttered as I thought of Ben; fingers crossed he would speak to me. However this was still based on whether I was going to be able to see him; I kinda needed to.
"E is right you shouldn't stay away so long" he said sadly.
"Well if I had my way I wouldn't" I said as I pulled away from him.
"Come here you" I said as I pulled Carlos into a tight hug.
"Good to have you back Mal" Carlos said happily into my hair.
"Glad to be back" I answered back as I pulled away.
"So you must be Sam?" I heard Evie ask. I turned to look at them and saw that Sam had suddenly turned nervous. It was probably due to all the stories that I had told him about Evie.
"E play nice" I warned.
"I am playing nice" she stated as she looked Sam up and down. I knew what she was doing; she was trying to figure Sam out as she was very surprised when I told her that this time I wasn't coming home alone. I know she was trying to put two and two together and I knew she was going to get it wrong. But in the middle an airport wasn't the right place to have this conversation.
"Yeah" I laughed.
"Sam, you've met Evie" I said as Evie smiled at Sam. Sam smiled and pulled her into an awkward hug; I wanted to laugh but I knew that this would unnerve Sam. I waited until Sam had pulled away from Evie before speaking again.
"This is Jay" I said pointing to Jay.
"And this is Carlos" I said pointing to Carlos.
"Nice to meet you both" Sam said shaking both of their hands.
"You know when Evie told me that Mal was bring Sam with her I thought you were a girl" Jay admitted. I then saw him quickly purse his lips together as I knew that he was now mentally kicking himself as he knew he shouldn't have said that.
"Jay!" I exclaimed. I heard Sam chuckle as he turned to look at me.
"Sorry" Jay said nervously as he rocked on the balls of his feet.
"But it's the truth" Jay stated.
"It's ok. I get that a lot" Sam joked which made Evie giggle.
"Really?" Carlos asked.
"No, not really" Sam said nervously.
"I was kidding" he added slowly as he looked at me. Just let the ground eat me up now I told myself.
"Let's get you two kids to your hotel" Carlos said nervously as he turned to walk away.
"Yeah" Jay said as he awkwardly followed him.
"That went very well didn't it?" Evie asked as she linked my arm.
"Yeah" I answered and I let her lead me out of the airport, with Sam following me. Maybe this trip was going to be a lot different to what I first expected I told myself.
"What music do you like Sam?" Carlos asked as he turned the radio on.
"Erm anything really; something with a good beat for you to dance to" he answered back.
"I see" Carlos said. I saw him throw a look at Jay and Jay threw him another look as he started the car. I knew what Evie, Jay and Carlos were trying to do. They were all trying to figure out why I had brought Sam with me; they all seemed surprised when I said I wasn't returning this time alone. And I knew that they all thought that there was something more going on.
"Are you into sports?" Jay asked.
"No not really" Sam replied.
"So you're in Mal's class?" Jay asked after a long pause of awkward silence.
"Yeah" Sam answered.
"So you want to be an artist as well?" Carlos asked.
"Yes" Sam confirmed and this led into another awkward silence. I had to do something about this; I couldn't deal with an awkward silence the whole way to our hotel.
"So how is Tourney going Jay?" I asked Jay. I watched as a large grin spread across Jay's face in the rear view mirror; I knew that Jay loved to talk about Tourney.
"Really good we won the last four games" he answered proudly.
"That's brilliant. I wish I was there to see it" I replied sadly as I started to remember how much of my friends lives that I was missing.
"Me too. You need to start coming to my games M" he mock scolded me.
"I know I'm sorry" I said sadly.
"I'll try to get to one soon" I added. I saw Sam nervously look at Evie out of the corner of his eye and I smiled at him. I knew that it was Evie that he was most nervous of meeting; as I had told him that she would want to know everything about him. I did warn Sam that Evie would question him and in all honesty I was quite surprised that it hadn't started yet. I watched as Sam took a deep breath before speaking.
"So Mal tells me you like designing clothes Evie" Sam said. Evie glanced at me before turning to look at Sam.
"Yeah I've designed quite a few of Mal's" she answered politely.
"I know they are amazing you really have a talent for it" he said with a smile.
"Thank you" Evie said as I saw her cheeks start to flush a slight shade of pink.
"Mal do we still have some time for some shopping when your back?" She asked turning to look at me.
"Should do" I said nodding. I knew that I was only back for a week but I knew that some of that time would be shopping time with Evie.
"You can come as well Sam if you would like" Evie offered.
"Yeah that shouldn't be a problem. I've been looking forward to come to Auradon City; I've never been here before" Sam answered excitedly.
"Yeah it's an amazing city" Carlos said joining in in the conversation.
"Yeah Mal has told me all about it" Sam stated happily.
"And you guys" He was quick to add. I pursed my lips and quickly looked out of the window; I knew there was nothing to be embarrassed for but I couldn't help the heat rising to my cheeks.
"I hope she has only told you good things" I heard Jay say as I looked back towards Evie and Sam.
"Yeah she has" Sam said as I looked back at Evie.
"Good" Evie replied and she threw me a look.
"What was that look for?" I muttered.
"What look?" She questioned.
"You know what look" I muttered.
"I honestly don't" Evie said playing stupid to it even though I knew she knew what I meant. I heard Sam chuckle and I looked back at him and he winked at me. I smiled and winked back at him; I saw that Evie's brow burrowed together as she watched this exchange.
"What's so funny?" Evie asked as she turned to look at Sam.
"Sorry for laughing Evie. But you are just like how I imagined you after all the stories Mal has told me" he informed her.
"Stories?" Evie said as she turned to me and threw me a 'just you wait till we are alone' look. I knew that what Sam had just said had just opened me up to a questioning from Evie but I didn't mind. I had nothing to hide - well nothing apart from my secret. That she would know very soon anyway.
"Yeah" Sam said.
"Sorry have I said something wrong?" He asked her as he started to panic.
"No" Evie stated.
"Not at all" she added as she threw me another look that told me that she wanted to speak to me. I nodded quickly at her and looked out of the window and started to enjoy watching Auradon fly past me.
"Mal can I have a word?" I heard Sam say as we were walking down the hotel corridor with Evie. Both Jay and Carlos had to leave as they had both had to return to work. They both hugged me whole heartedly and shook Sam's hand again and told us that they couldn't wait for tomorrow night to see us again. I laughed at the pair of them as they walked away and started to playfully shove each other. Some things never change I thought to myself.
"Yeah" I said as I stood still and looked up at Sam.
"E just go into my room for a min. I need to speak to Sam" I told her.
"Ok" she said nodding as she opened my hotel room and closed the door quietly behind her.
"Mal is everything ok? You've been really quiet since we landed" Sam asked as concern started to drop into his tone of voice.
"Yeah, I'm just nervous" I admitted.
"Mal everything will be ok" he said trying to reassure me.
"I'm here for you" he said with a smile as he stepped towards me.
"Like always" he said as he placed his suitcase down and slowly pulled me into a hug.
"I know you are" I said into his chest.
"Like I am for you" I said looking up at him.
"Always" he said smiling.
"Always" I repeated back with a smile.
