I'm sorry.

Begrudgingly, Mal stuck to her word. She'd made a compromise with Carlos, and she herself was pretty curious about the scene she'd witnessed earlier that day.

But she was admittedly a little bit worried about confronting her roommate. Sure, Evie had had the entire day to cool off and she seemed more than a tiny bit playful with Jay, but Mal couldn't be so sure she'd be in a good mood. After all, she had lost her mother's magic mirror remnant. That thing had helped them out a lot, and even she was pissed off about the loss.

Even so, there wasn't anything she could do about it now except apologize and try to move on. If Evie didn't want to, then that was her fault. The only thing Mal would lose was the person who came closest to being her sister, whom she shared most of her feelings with and actually liked to confide in.

Okay, maybe she was more than a little worried.

Mal had been sitting in the center of her bed, legs crossed and fingers tapping her spell book, when the door made the lightest noise as it was pushed open. Her eyes flicked upward and caught Evie's as she entered the room and closed the door.

The blue-haired female didn't utter a word as she made her way over to her dresser and extracted a pair of pajama pants and a flattering top with the words 'Born to Sleep' stitched across the top. Mal went back to pretending to read spells as she heard fabric being removed and replaced, running through her apology quickly in her mind. She didn't have a way with words, and the apology was nothing special, but she wanted to work in how truly sorry she was with just the tone. Maybe the words themselves were simple, but the feeling behind it would really push her point.

The sound of clothing dropping into a laundry bin prompted Mal to tilt her head up and shut her spell book. "Hey, E," she started tentatively, knowing she was treading rough waters.

Evie looked at her as if she wasn't expecting the use of her nickname. "Hey," she answered, eyebrows slightly raised but not in an annoyed way.

Mal slowly got to her feet and hesitated by her bed's leg. "You know that I'm not one for, well, sentimental crap but, uh…" She glanced down and could feel Evie's eyes upon her. She mentally cursed herself and looked back up. "I'm really sorry about your mirror. I didn't mean to lose it."

Evie's eyes softened and a small smile showed on her face. "It's okay, Mal. Thanks for apologizing."

A weight she didn't know she was carrying was immediately lifted off of Mal's shoulders. Oh thank goodness. She allowed herself to lack some subtly and asked, "So where'd you go today?"

Evie crossed the floor, the socks she wore making a small sound as they rubbed against the carpet. "Well I started to get a headache on my way back, so I went to the library to cool down."

Mal nodded as her friend reached her nightstand and began to rummage through the drawer, pulling out a single makeup wipe. "Read anything interesting?"

If Evie was curious about Mal's sudden interest in literature she didn't show it. "Nah, I didn't end up reading too much."

The purple-haired vixen snorted, sure even if she didn't know what went down in the library earlier that day she'd react the same way. "Then what'd you do?" Her voice showed her amusement, but she wasn't conveying how alert she was. Any way Evie phrased her response could be helpful in the situation.

There was a small pause and Mal thought Evie deliberately wiped off her lip gloss in the moment to give herself time. Once her mouth lost its shine, Evie glanced at Mal in the small mirror she had purchased specifically for vanity purposes. "Why are you so intrigued?"

Mal raised her eyebrows slightly and lifted a hand in a nonchalant way, casually moving around their shared dormitory. "I'm not." She saw the disbelief in the look Evie shot her. "Small talk."

Evie slowly nodded, not bothering to hide her skepticism. "Uh-huh." A beat passed before either said anything. "So what'd you do today?"

Mal shrugged but her mind was yelling, This is it! You can turn the conversation in your direction! "Studied my spell book by the lake. Carlos and Dude got lost and we walked back together."

Evie made a noise to acknowledge she heard the statement but didn't respond, wiping her eyelids clean of any primer, eye shadow, and/or mascara.

Mal furrowed her eyebrows, feigning curiosity. "Where was Jay today?"

Evie caught her eye in the mirror and said slowly, "He was in the library, too."

Mal's expression smoothed out. "Oh, okay. Is that why you didn't read much?"

"Yes, Mal, it is." Her tone was no longer light and was instead leaning toward irritated. "We were both in the library; so what?"

Mal grinned and shrugged. "You tell me what. I was just wondering, because if you weren't reading then you must have been talking, and you two don't get to talk too much, right?"

Evie averted her gaze and focused on rubbing on her filled-in eyebrows. "We have other things to do, Mal, who cares? Not me."

"What'd you guys talk about?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business."

"See, I do because I saw you flirting."

Evie turned around and stared at her friend. "What?"

Mal just looked back at her. "I saw."

"I thought you said you were at the lake."

Mal tilted her head and said, "I was," crossing her arms. "But I tested out a spell and it showed me your little…conversation."

Evie stayed silent for a moment before spinning around, continuing to wipe her face. "We were just joking around, like we usually are."

"Yeah, but the word 'usually' implies there are times when you're not joking," Mal pointed out, smirking at the slip-up.

Evie cleared her throat. "We were having fun and that's all."

"Really?"

"Go take a shower, Mal; you must be all gross and sweaty."

"Answer my question first."

"Yes! There's nothing going on, okay?" Evie turned to look at her best friend. "I appreciate your concern, although it is a little bit of an intrusion." She gave her a pointed look. "Now go wash up."

Mal made a face but slipped off her shoes and left the room. It wasn't that she was mad at Evie for flirting with a friend when her boyfriend was gone. She couldn't truthfully say she was happy about it either, she just wanted her to be able to confide in her. They always discussed things like feelings and junk. She just wondered when Evie started thinking that she couldn't do that with her anymore.

Jay had been lying awake, for a long time before Carlos actually pulled aside the curtains and rays of sun actually hit the former thief. As he started to stir under the covers, actually ready to get up for once, he thought of the tape in the drawer beside him and wondered if the word 'former' would always be a little bit untrue.

He must have grumbled or something because in the next second he heard Carlos mutter incredulously, "You slept for over ten hours and you're still tired?"

Jay sat up and chucked a pillow at his friend before his eyes really adjusted to the sudden light-filled room. When they did, Carlos was holding the pillow and coaxing Dude out of his bed with it. "Hey, don't ruin my pillow!" he protested, feeling his feet touch the floor as he stood.

"Then don't throw it at me!" Carlos countered as the furry dog hopped onto the floor as well. Tail wagging, he nipped at the pillow too close to him. Despite his words, Carlos lifted it higher and tossed it back onto his roommate's bed. He was getting better at the talk, but wasn't entirely sure he'd ever master the walk.

His source of entertainment having been taken from him, Dude began to wander. Jay didn't realize he was following him with his eyes until the animal was underneath the table, nose lifting up towards his hiding spot. And he panicked.

"Hey! Get! Get out from under there!" Jay yelled, clapping his hands together as he ran at the dog, shooing him away from the table as quickly as possible. Sure, Carlos wouldn't just randomly check underneath their table for anything out of the ordinary, but if the campus mutt was sniffing at it like a slab of meat was there, then he might.

"Whoa, calm down!" Carlos said, walking over to his friend with a hand out. "What was that about?"

Jay let out of relieved, cleansing breath before looking at the blond boy next to him. "Nothing, nothing just…nothing. That dog snoops too much."

Carlos raised an eyebrow. He already knew something was off about Jay as of lately – actually, ever since summer break had started – but right now it really hit how much. He looked at the son of Jafar for a moment before cautiously asking, "Jay, is everything alright?" He took extra care in forming his words, hoping Jay could tell he wasn't trying to patronize him by speaking slowly and rather realize he was truly worried.

For about a split second, Jay wished he and Carlos could talk like Evie and Mal did. Maybe not to the extent were they gushed about feelings, and romantic girly things – just talking. He had felt a bit better knowing he wasn't alone (after all, having Evie behind you was about as good as it could get), but sometimes he just wanted a guy to share his thoughts with.

The thought quickly vanished and he squinted his eyes at his friend, keeping up his emotionless façade. "I'm hungry for candy."

Carlos blinked. "You're…you're what?"

Jay cleared his throat and went for the door, grasping the handle and pulling it open. "I'm eating candy for breakfast."

Eventually, Carlos nodded. Eventually, he said, "Okay, sure." Eventually the two were walking in the direction of the girls' dorm.

Eventually, his friend wouldn't look at him like he knew something was wrong; that it pained him to know he couldn't help.

I went camping all last week, so…sort of an excuse for my absence? Either way, I hope you enjoyed this update. The next is kind of a filler, nothing too special, but I'd like to believe it's nice.

QOTC: Favorite moment?

AOTC: To be honest the entire movie is great, but I really love when Jay bumps shoulders with Chad and then Chad clutches his shoulder and says "ow." XD

Review please!