Woohoo! Chapter 10! Wow!
Sorry for the very long break! It's well into summer now, so I hope I'll have more time to write! Who's excited about Descendants 2? I Know I am!
Please enjoy!
Ben had been on the Isle for nearly a week and he has seen a lot. The four friends had compiled a list of all the places he should see during his time on the Isle, and he had been to nearly every place in the past handful of days. To keep him safe, Evie had put together a disguise of sorts so it would be harder to tell he was, in fact, the son of the man who had doomed every Isle resident's future. Carlos had helped her and he had also went along with Ben as he visited each place with Jay.
Evie stayed back with Mal and Melanie each time. Melanie wasn't exactly feeling well and Mal had been having a string of nightmares that terrfied her and the last thing she wanted was to be alone. The blue-haired girl had no qualms about stying back to look after both of them. Jay was extra cautious about either of the girls being dark anyway. He never let Evie walk home alone and often hovered near Bargain Castle for at least half an hour when he took Mal home. If he took Mal home. Not once since Ben had arrived did Mal ever go home. She and Melanie stayed at the litle shack. Ben was staying there too. And Jay did as well.
"No offense, princey boy, but I'm not leaving my girls alone overnight with some guy we hardly know. Even if you are trying to help us." Jay had told him the first night after returning from making sure both Evie and Carlos made it home alright. "And don't you dare try anything funny. If you try to make a run for it, you'll be done for out there alone. That is if I don't kill you first." He said, fingering a knife in his pocket, He had said it with such a serious tone, King Triton would've been worried for his life. Ben didn't say a word. He had just nodded. Good guy or not, Ben was certain Jay had a reason to be weary of him. Strange guys and pretty girls didn't always mix well in Auradon either.
A small part of Ben couldn't get over how Jay had called Melanie and Mal 'my girls'. Perhaps that was another reason Jay didn't like him being around Mal by himself. Jay and Mal were a couple and Melanie was their daughter. It seemed far fetched considering the only affection Mal ever gave was to her little girl and she seemed rather timid even around Jay. But out of the other three young adults, Jay seemed the most attentive to Melanie and the most physically protective of Mal. By Auradon standards, they weren't a couple. They couldn't be. But things were different on the Isle. So maybe they were. Ben wasn't quite so sure why he was so concerned with the realtionship status of these people he had just recently met, but he was. The fact that his hypothesis was neither confirmed or denied in 6 days was driving him crazy, but coming right out and asking was rude.
On their way back from Ursula's shop where Ben had the unfortunate pleasures of meeting the villan's daughter Uma and starting to reek like fish, Ben decided to ask Jay a question.
"Jay?"
"Yeah?" Jay asked him, casually. Jay had only ever sounded so serious with Ben that one time. Every other time they had spoken, Jay had been light, friendly, and funny.
Carlos was on Ben's other side. He was headed home. Jay never walked him to his doorstep like he did with the girl's. Carlos turned down a street and Jay hesistaed at the turn for a little until Carlos' figure had disappeared into the darkness down before Cruella's house. Carlos wasn't supposed to know about that. His turn wasn't for a bit farther along yet, so he was still with Jay and Ben.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah,"
"Why do you walk the Evie home?" Ben was genuinely curious. "She's lived here all her life. Don't you think she can make it home by herself?"
"Yeah. I'm sure she could. She might be kind of on the small side, but she's tough. Tougher than most guys that were in our grade I'm sure."
"Yeah," Carlos agreed, chuckiling. "You don't want to get on her bad side."
"But I'm going to keep doing it anyway."
"Then why walk her home?" Ben pressed again. "Isn't that going out of your way?"
Jay tensed. He hadn't thought Ben would be so curious about. "After what happened, I'm not taking chances." He said in a dark tone.
"What happened? Did someone hurt Evie before?"
Jay stopped in his tracks and pointed a finger at Ben's chest, startiling the young king. Carlos stepped back, out of Jay's wrath. "Listen Ben. You're a nice guy but you ask way too many questions some times. Fact of the matter is, I walk Evie home. What happened and why is none of your goddamn business. I guess walking girls home at night isn't done back in Auradon, but it is here. By me. You don't get to hear everything just because you're taking notes to bring back home to Mommy and Daddy, okay?"
Ben was sure his eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "S-sorry," he stammered out, face bright red. It wasn't the first time his curious nature got him chewed out by someone, but that didn't mean it was any less frightening.
Jay nodded, eyes narrow. "And don't you go asking the girls."
"I-I won't." Ben promised him.
Jay started walking forward abruptly. Carlos followed. After a second, so did Ben.
By the time they returned back to the little shack, Carlos had gone home. Melanie was asleep on a pile of blankets on the floor. Mal was drawing with a broken pencil in an old sketchbook, both from Auradon trash boats. Evie was sewing something that, at the moment, resembled a green pillow case. The sound of the door opening brought Evie and Mal's attention to the boys.
"Ready, Evie?"
"Mm? Yeah gimmie a sec." She replied, quickly finishing her stich and tying it off. She tucked her work into a basket she kept on a shelf. "Melanie's a good girl, but she is only four." Evie had explained to Ben the previous night.
She tugged her jacket on and knelt down next to Melanie, kissing her forehead. She looked to Mal, "Are you sure you don't want me to stay? I can. If there's one person I'd tell my mom to stick it for, you know it's you."
"I'm sure." Mal replied, with an uneasy smile. "Go home. I'm okay."
Evie reached out and squeeed Mal's arm. "See you tomorrow, M."
"Bye," Mal replied.
Evie rose to her full height. "Goodnight Ben," she said with a kind smile as she passed.
"Goodnight Evie."
"I'll be right back," Jay told Mal, who nodded in reply and then returned to her work.
Jay sent Ben a very pointed look before he shut the door behind himself and Evie.
It was quiet, save for the light scratching sounds Mal's pencil made on the paper.
Ben had never seen her draw before. He approached her slowly, from in front of her. He stopped a foot or two away from her and knelt down. "What are you drawing?"
She looked up at him, pencil poised over the paper. She looked a little shy and her voice was quiet. "...you,"
"Me?" he asked, amazed. "Why?"
"You're... nice to us." She said, as if it explained the phenomenon.
"May I see it?"
She bit her lip and looked down. After a second of hesitation, she turned the sketchbook around. "I'm sorry. It's not very good..."
"What are you talking about? This is... wow..." Ben was speechless. It was one of the most detailed, beautiful sketches he had ever seen. "Did you teach yourself how to do this?"
She nodded.
"It's incredible."
"You like it?"
"Yeah, I do." It was impressive for anyone, but especially a self-taught artist.
Mal smiled. A real smile.
"I'm going to have to get some good art supplied for you at some point. You can't continue drawing like this on someone else's garbage."
"It was barely used before I found it." she said.
He shook his head and rolled is eyes. "My people waste so much. Well, I'll get you new stuff any how." Do you have more in here?"
"Mhm," she agreed.
"Do you mind if I look?"
"You can,"
He flipped through her sketches slowly, admiring each one. There were drawings of the house, her house, Evie, Jay, Carlos, and many of Melanie. "These are... fantastic, Mal. You're really talented."
She looked down and her face looked like it was tinged pink. "Thank you,"
"You're welcome." He flipped back to the page she was working on and slid it back to her. She smiled again and returned to her work. He want back to the corner he had set up in and opened a book.
Jay came back a few minutes later, and Mal seemed to take this as time to get ready for bed. Before she settled in next to Melanie, she came over to Ben and handed him a small piece of paper. "Goodnight, Ben," she said softly.
"Good night, Mal." he replied with a smile.
Mal went back to Melanie's side and lay down.
Jay sent a look Ben's way before laying down himself.
Ben looked down at the piece of paper Mal had handed him. She had drawn his family crest as it appeared on his jacket. He smiled and tucked it carefully between pages of his book before setting it down for the night.
Ben had never met a single person like Mal in his life.
A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! What do you think is going to happen now? Do you think Ben will ever find out if Jay and Mal are a couple? How will he find out if he does? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for reading!