"What's the emergency?" Doug rushed into Evie's room. "I just got your text. I ran as fast as I could."
"It's Ben," Evie said, getting up from her bed. "I can't find him anywhere. He got the idea of winning back Mal and ran out of his office. I tried following him but his beast senses kicked in and I lost him. He's surprisingly fast."
"That's what this is about?" Doug said incredulously. "I thought something was actually wrong."
Eve is playfully smacked him. "This serious Doug. What if Ben does something stupid and ends up embarrassing himself and doesn't get Mal back? There goes our OTP."
Doug tried to calm her down. "I doubt Mal wouldn't take him back for him doing something stupid. Are we gonna forget the tourney game where he serenaded her?"
Evie laughed."Oh god, who can forget?"
"And Mal still liked him. So we shouldn't worry about them."
"But-."
"No buts Evie. We need to let our friends work out for themselves. It worked for Chad and Lonnie."
"But what about Bal and Jaudrey and Jarlos!" Evie whined.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Those are their ship names," Evie said matter of factly.
"You sound crazy right now," Doug chuckled.
"I want my friends to be as unbelievably happy as we are," Evie said, grabbing Doug's hand. "Wouldn't it be nice for all of us to finally be with that special someone?"
"Evie, I love you, but you have to let everyone deal with it themselves," Doug said, wrapping his arms around her waist. Evie pecked his lips.
"I don't want to," she pouted. Doug scoffed and dipped her. He started leaning in..
"Oh am I interrupting something?" Ben said, eyes wide.
His sudden appearance startled Doug, who let go of Evie. Evie fell to the ground with a loud thud. Ben and Doug both raced over to help her up. Evie stood up and fixed her dress and hair.
"Yeah, Ben, you kind of did," she scowled.
Ben reddened at ruining an intimate moment. "I'm sorry, but I wanted to ask for your help. Both of you."
"With what?" Doug and Evie said simultaneously.
"It's about Mal."
"Ooh! Do you need help with your grand gesture?" Evie squealed.
"Yeah. No one knows Mal better than you do."
"Oh this is amazing! I have so many ideas!" Evie took Ben's hand and dragged him out of the room, chattering away about her whole plan. Doug quickly followed suit.
"This is going to be interesting."
Audrey woke up groggily after her operation. She looked around to see she was in a stark white room. Her hospital room.
"Oh good, you're up," Jay said from across the room. He was sitting in a chair watching a sports game in the tv. He was eating a pudding. "Hey I hope you don't mind; I kind of ate your pudding."
"Where am I?" Audrey asked, still adjusting. "I feel like I've slept for days."
"Maybe not days, but definitely a long time."
"What time is it?"
"Like 3."
"Wow, I've slept well over 24 hours."
"Yep,"Jay replied, finishing up his pudding. "The doctor said the operation was success and they put screws in your ankle. I personally think that sounds painful and gross."
Audrey rolled her eyes. "I guess that explains the hospital and subtle throbbing in my ankle. What are you doing here?"
"I'm your official caretaker until your parents arrive. They should be here soon. Their plane landed an hour ago and they finally returned Fairy Godmothers calls." Jay explained. "Fairy Godmother was so busy, I offered to help."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Thank you, I guess," Audrey said awkwardly. She felt awful about the way he treated him and he was still being nice to her. "Listen, Jay."
"No." He interrupted her. "No more talking about you know what. It's in the past. Let's just focus on you getting better and move on with our lives."
"I was just gonna ask if you could get me some more pudding."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Sure," Jay said, springing up from his seat and heading out the door. "What kind?"
"Any kind will do."
"You should have not said that," Jay smirked. He winked at her and shut the door.
Jane felt a wave of relief knowing the truth and forgiving her mother. She didn't think their relationship would ever be the same, but at least she knew now that her mother always had her best interests at heart.
She was currently in her room. She pulled out a measuring tape from under her mattress. She was about to measure herself, when she heard a knock at the door.
She threw the tape to hide it and scurried to open the door. There stood Carlos with a picnic basket.
"Hi," she said, slightly out of breath. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought maybe you and I could go on a picnic," Carlos said, turning red.
"As in a date?" Jane asked, half hoping.
Carlos flushed. "Um, no as friends."
Jane tried hiding her disappointment. "Yeah I know. I was joking."
Carlos chuckled nervously. "Everyone is super busy and I thought it'd be nice for us to catch up; enjoy the rest of the summer."
Jane smiled and grabbed her purse. "Well then, let's go."
Audrey waited for Jay to come back with her pudding when a nurse walked in with her parents.
"Oh my baby," Aurora ran up to her and hugged her tightly. Her father followed suit. "I was so worried about you."
"How are you doing sweetheart?" Her father asked.
"I'm doing fine," Audrey replied. "I'm just glad you're here."
"Oh honey, we would've been here sooner," her mother apologized. "But we didn't have reception and when Fairy Godmother finally reached our hotel, we still had a long flight and a long drive here."
"Well what's important now is that you heal," Phillip said.
Everyone jumped as the door swung open. Jay walked in, arms full of pudding.
"So you didn't say any specific kind, so I brought all I could find. You got your classic vanilla and chocolate, butterscotch, heck even tapioca-," Jay stopped in his tracks at seeing Audrey had visitors. "Oh. Hello."
"And you are?" Phillip asked, staring Jay down.
"Um, mom, dad, this is Jay," Audrey explained.
Jay messily put down the pudding and extended his hand out. "How do you do?"
Phillip begrudgingly shook his hand after looks from Aurora and Audrey.
Jay tried to ignore Phillip glaring at him and turned to Audrey. "Well it looks like your folks are here so I'm just gonna go. I'll let Fairy Godmother know."
He grabbed his things of the chair and headed out.
"Jay," Audrey called after him.
Jay stuck his head through the door. "Yeah?"
"Thank you."
Jay smiled and saluted. "My pleasure."
Audrey giggled and looked back at her parents. Her mother had a mischievous look in her eyes and her dad frowned.
"So who was that young man?" Her mother casually asked.
"That was Jay, mother. He's a friend from school. He's a VK. But he's nice." Audrey said. "He was helping keep me company until you arrived."
"Are you two a couple?" Her mother smirked.
Audrey stared, shocked at her mother. "Mom! What? No! We are not a couple! How could you say that?"
"Well it's good you're not dating him," her father said. Audrey frowned.
"Why is that?"
"I don't like him. Messy hair, dark clothes, carefree attitude. You need to find yourself a respectable gentleman."
"He seemed like a gentleman to me. And he was very respectful," Aurora countered. "He seems like a polite young man."
"Well it doesn't matter anyway," Phillip said. "Audrey's not dating him anyway. I'm going to go for a coffee. Would you like anything dear?"
"No thank you," Aurora said. She waited for Phillip to leave before speaking again. "Ok, now that your father is gone, you can tell me. Are you and Jay a couple?"
"Mother, I already said no."
"Why not?"
"Mother."
"He seems to be smitten by you."
"Mom."
"And you seem to enjoy his company."
"Mom. Stop. Please!" Audrey blurted our, crimson with embarrassment. "I don't want to talk about it. It's complicated."
"So you do like him?" Her mother smirked. "I knew it."
"Maybe a little, but father can never find out," Audrey said. "You know how father and my grandmother are about keeping things traditional. Father wants me to wed someone of my own kind."
"Yes, well your father is very old fashioned," Aurora said. "And to contradict him is very serious. He'd never allow it or give his blessing. But don't worry darling, your secret is safe with me."
"Thanks mom," Audrey hugged her mother.
"Now let's talk about your crush on this Jay."
"Mom!"