In the city of Auradon, in a castle-turned school, a young girl of about eighteen peered out of her window. Across the bright blue sky flew an incredibly large flock of birds. It seemed almost as though the flock would never stop flying by. When it finally did, the girl sighed in gentle wonder. The idea of being a bird felt so freeing and wonderful. To be able to take flight across the large expanse above whenever you pleased seemed like a dream come true. But that was all it was. A dream.
The girl sighed again, this time in disappointment and turned back to twisting her long, black hair into a braid that would sit over her shoulder. She knew she'd never feel as free as those birds. She especially didn't feel like it at the moment. She felt trapped, wallowing in her own misery and anger. And it was a boy, of all things, that caused her to feel like this. A boy. When she was younger, she promised herself that she would never let a boy make her feel unhappy but being in a relationship was more complicated than her younger-self realised. After all, it was those closest to you who could hurt you most. These thoughts made her feel even worse as she slid some hair slides into her hair. Just as she did that, her door opened and her room-mate came in.
"Hey Lonnie, you make up with Jay yet?" The room-mate asked, shutting the door behind her and heading over to her side of the room.
Lonnie rolled her eyes and turned back to the mirror to readjust her hair slides, "Leave me alone, Olivia."
"So you're still moping. Great." Olivia rolled her eyes and turned her attention to her bedside drawer, searching for something she'd put in there.
Lonnie huffed in frustration and turned to face Olivia. "I'm not moping!"
"Yeah, sure you're not," the brunette deadpanned.
"I don't get why you're so interested in my love life anyway," Lonnie exclaimed, getting up and locating her bag that had her homework in it.
"Because I care about you?" Olivia replied, "What I don't get, is why you two didn't talk when we locked you together in our room?"
Lonnie huffed, "Because he's apparently to blind to see that 'I forgot' is not an acceptable answer when I reminded him at least twice that day."
"Okay, the rule of Plan B is that you two either make up or break up," Olivia reminded, "We locked you in here for well over an hour and nothing. Nada. Zilch. No closer to making up or breaking up."
Lonnie glared at her, "We'll be fine when he gives me a real reason as to why he missed it so all it will take is him getting his head out of his butt and apologising properly. But he refused to do that in that hour so no, we haven't made up yet."
"Why does him forgetting bother you so much?" Olivia finally asked still trying to understand the reason behind this massive fight.
"It's not him forgetting that bothers me," Lonnie argued, "It's the fact that he's lying." She slid her bag over her shoulder, "I don't want to talk about this any more," she added, as she walked out of the room.
As Lonnie walked down the corridor towards her locker, she wondered how this spat had escalated so far as to her and Jay not talking for a couple of weeks. It had begun when Jay didn't turn up to a dinner they had planned with her parents even though Lonnie had reminded him twice that day and he'd said that he'd be there. Then, when she'd asked him about it, he lied and said he forgot. But she knew there was no way that he forgot because she reminded him an hour before she'd left to go meet with her parents. Not to mention, she knew when he was lying to her. He wasn't as good at it as he thought. But when she pushed him, asking him not to lie to her, he lied again, claiming he had just forgotten. That had led to them having a full-blown argument, as Lonnie was already angry and being lied to made it worse, whereas Jay was not happy being called a liar. Things were said and they parted ways, both wondering why they hadn't broken it off there and then and both knowing that they cared about the other too much, no matter how angry they were, to ever break it off. Weeks had gone by and they refused to talk to each other. When they got locked in Lonnie's dorm together, they'd just sat on opposite ends of the dorm, with Lonnie reading a book and Jay playing on his phone. It had been one of the longest hours of Lonnie's life and the silence was tense, ready to snap at any moment. When the others finally unlocked the door, Jay almost ran out and Lonnie just ignored Olivia and Carlos for a day or so.
When she turned a corner what she saw made Lonnie roll her eyes and yet feel the anger rising up in her again. Jay was very blatantly and purposefully flirting with another girl, who seemed to be lapping up the attention. Jay had been doing that since they were locked in the room together like he was baiting her into another argument. She was not going to give him the satisfaction though and just kept walking.
"Hey babes," someone said behind her almost as soon as she finished sorting her books for the day, causing her to jump.
"Goodness sake, Cheng!" Lonnie exclaimed, turning around, "You scared the crap out of me."
Cheng put his hands up in apology, "Sorry. I was going to ask how you are but judging by the stormy look on your face and the fact that you just snapped at me, I'm guessing you're still primarily pissed at Jay more than anything else."
"Sorry," Lonnie apologised with a sigh as she shut her locker door. "He just...ugh."
"He's flirting with another girl to get to you again?" Cheng asked, translating her thought.
Lonnie cracked a small smile, "You read minds or something?"
"Or something," Cheng replied, "He's not exactly subtle." He moved aside slightly so that Lonnie could see Jay flirting with yet another girl. The worst part was that this girl was a friend of Lonnie's. Luckily though, she didn't seem interested and just walked away from Jay and towards Lonnie.
"Are you two arguing?" The girl, Lucy, asked as she approached Lonnie.
Lonnie nodded, "Yeah, we're…not exactly seeing eye-to-eye at the moment."
Lucy rolled her eyes, "Well, your boyfriend seems to think that because he's fighting with you, that gives him the right to flirt with other girls to get to you."
"Didn't you used to have a crush on him?" Lonnie asked, "I mean before me and him got together, you used to flirt back."
Lucy shrugged, "Got over it once he got with you. And I don't appreciate being used, no matter how cute the guy is."
"Reject his advances, did you?" Cheng asked, raising an eyebrow.
"And put him in his place," she said, giving a smirk of victory, "Told him that flirting with others doesn't just hurt Lonnie but hurts the girls whose hearts are broken when they find out he had no actual interest in them at all."
Cheng gave a low whistle of appreciation and held his hand up, "Up top, girl. That was bad-ass."
Lucy complied and gave him a high-five before briefly hugging Lonnie, who smiled her appreciation and thanks.
"You're awesome, you know?" Lonnie said, pulling away from the hug.
"Hey, we may not be close but I will always stand by my friends when they need me."
Lonnie smiled again, "Thank you."
"Of course. Hopefully, he listens to me and then maybe you'll feel a little less angry therefore making it easier to make up with him."
The conversation was cut short by the sound of the bell.
"Oh, gotta get to class. See you later, Lonnie."
"Bye, Lucy," she replied.
Cheng put his arm around Lonnie's shoulders, "You know, if you want to get back at him, you could always spend extra time with me. We both know how much he hates me."
"He doesn't hate you," Lonnie replied as they walked to class, "He just struggles. The first time he met you, he thought that I was cheating on him with you and that's not something that's easily forgotten."
"I still don't get why he didn't trust you," Cheng replied, "I mean, come on. Of all people, you being a cheater? Nah."
Lonnie shook her head, "It's not because he doesn't trust me," Lonnie replied, "He just expects to get hurt. So while he believes that I wouldn't cheat on him, there is a little part of him that's waiting for it to happen anyway, for me to betray him the way he's been betrayed by many people."
"This is way too deep of a conversation to be having just before we get to biology," Cheng said, removing his arm from her shoulders as they entered the class.
"You brought it up," she reminded him then took her seat. That was the end of the conversation and everyone got ready for class.
The school day was soon over and everyone was rushing back to their dorms to get ready for the tourney game. Olivia was dressed in a bright yellow top and blue jeans with her yellow trainers on her feet when Lonnie walked in.
"So..." she began, "Am I getting the sign out?"
Lonnie sighed at the mention of the tacky sign she made not long after she and Jay first started going out. It was a piece of cardboard that she'd painted yellow and written 'I LOVE NO.8' in large blue letters, with a bright red heart around the word 'LOVE'. She'd originally done it because Jay had won some kind of dare and her forfeit was to be as over the top as possible at his next tourney game. She'd gone all out, wearing his varsity jacket, holding the sign, painting eights on her cheeks, cheering as loudly as possible whenever he had the ball and practically screaming when he scored a goal. He'd been impressed that she'd actually done it and a few days later, he confessed that seeing the sign and seeing her wear his jacket had been more encouraging than he'd expected to be, having thought that it was just something that'd make him laugh. So, since then, she'd bring the sign and hold it up whenever he scored and she'd make sure to wear his varsity jacket to every game. Except when it was too hot. If it was hot, she'd tie it around her waist.
Pulling out of her thoughts as she did so, Lonnie shook her head. "Nope."
"Come on, Lonnie. Not seeing the sign could upset him enough to throw him off of his game."
"And seeing the sign may cause him to think he's forgiven when he isn't. He lied to me and that's not okay. If the Fighting Knights need to suffer a loss for him to realise that, that's on him."
Olivia rolled her eyes but didn't say any more about it. Lonnie got changed into a blue blouse and yellow skirt then slipped on her yellow flats. Once she was ready, she went to go meet Mal, Evie and Jordan to go find good seats together. When she saw them, she smiled at the sight of Mal proudly wearing Ben's varsity jacket, meaning the king was finally able to play after so long of not finding the time. Evie seemed to have convinced her to wear a yellow dress.
"No comments about the colour," Mal warned, as soon as she saw Lonnie's confused look. "Ben hasn't been able to play in months so I'm just trying to be extra supportive."
Lonnie gave a good-natured laugh and the two of them waited for the others to turn up. Once they were all there, they headed up to the stadium and got themselves some decent seats, where they'd have a good view of the game. Upon arriving, Lonnie realised how she felt almost naked, being at a tourney game without the jacket she'd grown so accustomed to, but she shook the feeling away and concentrated on returning Jane's smile and wave. It was cut short though, by a snap of Audrey's fingers in front of Jane's face, reminding her to concentrate as the game was about to start.
Lonnie felt as though she wasn't really at the game, because once it started, it felt like she was only there physically. She remembered what happened in the game and everything (Fighting Knights just managed to snatch a win) but at the same time, she felt like they were someone else's memories. Her being upset with Jay must've been messing with her mind more than she realised.
As soon as the game was over, whilst everyone else was cheering loudly, Lonnie slipped away and headed back to her room, where she got ready. She changed into a short, teal dress with a V-shaped-neckline and black lace along the hem. She also located her black kitten heels and put a teal, sparkly headband in her hair. She found her black leather jacket that ended just above her stomach and, as soon as she finished her make-up, she headed to Cheng's room, as they'd decided to go to the dance together.
Cheng opened the door with a smile and ushered her in. "You're early," he commented.
Lonnie shrugged, "I left the game as soon as it was over. Wanted to make sure I had enough time."
Cheng hummed disbelievingly, "Well, my room-mate has chosen to forgo this dance in favour of studying in the library so make yourself at home whilst I finish shaving."
Lonnie laughed, "I thought you were supposed to be the biggest nerd in school," she commented as he headed into the bathroom.
"You're hilarious, babes," Cheng responded, causing Lonnie to laugh again. After a few seconds, she removed her jacket and dumped it on Cheng's bed after noting how warm it was in his room.
"Hurry up!" she yelled after a minute or so, "I'd rather not miss this dance."
"Oh, because there will never be another one like it," Cheng commented as he walked out of the bathroom, grabbing a blazer and shrugging it on.
"Shut up," she laughed. She got up and the two of them left Cheng's room and went to the sports hall that was being used for the dance.
The dance itself was great. She chatted with friends, ate some delicious snacks, shared a few dances with people and had an overall good time. Well, until she noticed Jay flirting with some other girl. She felt herself get angry when she saw that but tried to ignore it, not wanting to let him have the satisfaction of ruining her evening. Luckily, she didn't have to endure it for too long because as she was watching, Aziz grabbed Jay's shoulder and pulled him away from the girl, with an apologetic look to her. His girlfriend, Annie, shook her head at Jay in disgust and looked over at Lonnie sympathetically as soon as she saw that Lonnie was watching. She looked as though she was going to come over but her attention was captured by one of her friends. Lonnie waved off her apologetic look and turned her attention back to Aziz and Jay who were both looking mad. Jay ended up just stomping away from Aziz, leaving him looking completely confused. Lonnie saw Annie point towards her. Aziz made eye contact with Lonnie and quickly made her way over to her.
"I'm so sorry about Jay," he said before Lonnie even had a chance to greet him, "I tried to talk to him but he just wasn't having it."
Lonnie shrugged, "We're kinda fighting at the moment and he's just trying to get to me."
"I know and I told him that it was immature but he didn't seem to care."
"It's fine, Aziz," she replied with a smile, "Thank you for trying but you don't have to look out for me. I can handle him."
"I have no doubt about that," the son of Aladdin replied, "But I'll always look out for you. You're one of my closest friends."
Lonnie hugged Aziz close, "Thank you."
"Always," he replied, then pulled out of the hug.
Suddenly, Cheng appeared by their side. "Okay, I just saw what Jay was doing and now I'm getting sick of it, so we're getting out of here."
"Cheng, it's fine. I'm not letting him get to me."
Both Aziz and Cheng gave her a disbelieving look. "Lonnie," Aziz said, "I get that you want to show him that he's not getting to you but I can also see that it's making feel like crap. You shouldn't have to endure that just to prove something to him. Go."
Lonnie hesitated for a moment but then nodded, "Yeah, you're right. He's kinda ruined my good mood and I don't want to bring anyone else down. You stay, though," she said to the boys.
Cheng shook his head, "Nah, I'm coming. Seeing him do stuff to make you feel like crap puts me in a pretty bad mood too." Lonnie knew that it wasn't the only reason but she was thankful for the support. Aziz clasped her shoulder briefly before heading back to Annie, who was beckoning him over for a dance.
With Cheng's gentle hand on her back, Lonnie let herself be led out of the dance. The moment she got out though, the tears she did not realise she'd been holding back began falling from her eyes. She sniffed and wiped them away.
"Sorry. Guess I was more upset by him than I realised."
"Don't apologise, babes. It's fine. Come on." He gently pulled her to the ground and they sat on the carpeted floor with their backs against the walls as Lonnie let the tears fall.
"This is getting too much," she confessed, "I'm just so mad at him and he seems to think he's done nothing wrong. I know it's escalated too far but I just hate being lied to. It's like he thinks I'm dumb enough to believe what he's telling me. Surely by this point, whatever the truth was, he'd realise that this wouldn't have been bad if he'd just told me the truth? You're a guy. Surely you have some idea of what's going on in his brain?"
"Babes, I may be guy, but I'm not Jay," he reminded her, "I don't know why he lied to you and I think the only person who can answer that question is Jay himself. You know how insecure he gets, even if he doesn't like to admit it. Maybe you just need to talk to him to find out why he didn't show up."
Lonnie sighed, "Honestly, I don't even care about the fact that he didn't show up. I mean, yeah, it was kinda an insult to me and my family but at this point, all I care about is why he lied. I know he didn't forget. He doesn't forget about things like that because they're important to me and I always make sure to remind him."
"He'll come around," Cheng told her, "He always does. He cares about you and no matter how stubborn he is, he always comes back to you."
Lonnie smiled and nodded as she wiped her eyes. "Yeah. But I should talk to him. I'm not going to wait for it to just happen," she smiled, "I need to take action and do something about it myself." She pulled Cheng in for a hug. "Thanks for always being there for me. I love you, you know?"
"I love you too, babes," he replied.
Lonnie suddenly pulled from the hug. "Did you hear that?"
Cheng looked confused, "Hear what?"
"It sounded like footsteps and possibly someone crying?"
"It's Auradon, Lonnie. If someone's upset, they'll have a whole crowd of friends right behind them. You don't have to be so concerned."
Lonnie nodded, "Yeah, yeah. You're right." She suddenly shivered, "I left my jacket in your room, she realised. "You go and enjoy the dance. I'm just going to fetch my jacket and head back to my room. If anyone asks, I've got a bit of a headache."
"You sure you're going to be okay?" Cheng asked, concerned.
Lonnie nodded. "I'll be fine. I'm just going to sleep and talk to Jay in the morning. Hopefully, we'll get everything sorted out."
With a nod, Cheng stood up and offered Lonnie a hand up, which she took gratefully. She carefully removed her heels, leaning on Cheng as she did so, then parted ways with him. Cheng headed back to the dance, whereas Lonnie headed to Cheng's room.
When she walked in, she saw her jacket on Cheng's bed and picked it up, apologising to his roommate who was studying quietly. When she left though, she heard something that she missed on the way in. It sounded like...someone crying? She turned to see Jay and Carlos's room slightly open like someone was in such a rush to get into the room that they forgot to close the door behind them.
She slowly approached the room and peaked her head in, her heart shattering at the sight. Jay sat on his bed, one hand covering his face as he sobbed into it. She could hear him muttering under his breath, probably telling himself off for crying, and knew that whatever had happened had broken him almost completely. Crying was not something he did often. In fact, she'd only seen him cry once and that was because she'd messed up so badly that he felt unable to do anything else.
"Oh, Jay," she whispered causing his head to shoot up with a slight hiccup and a sniff as he tried to wipe his tears away, "Jay, babe, what's wrong?" The anger that she'd harboured against him for the past couple of weeks just left her completely and she practically ran to his side, sitting next to him on the bed and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Hey, talk to me."
Jay shook his head, "Lonnie, please."
She shook her head in confusion, "Please, what? Are you hurt?" She began moving her arm away from his shoulders in fear that she was causing him pain.
"Please don't drag this out longer than it needs to," he managed to say, as he tried to stop the tears.
"Oh, Jay, I'm so sorry. I was going to talk to you in the morning. I didn't realise how much our fight was hurting you. I should've come to my senses earlier." She put her arm around him again, "Hey, it's okay. We'll get through it. We always do."
"Just stop!" He exclaimed pulling away from her. Lonnie sat back, hurt and confused.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I just..." Her voice returned to its normal volume. "I thought you wanted to make this right."
"Of course I do," he murmured, tears finally slowing down, "But how can I?" He turned to look at her with the most broken look she'd ever seen him have, "How can I ask you to make things right with me when you love someone else?" The tears that he'd fought so hard to stop came back with a vengeance and he turned his head away from her as sobs began to escape his throat, coming out choked as he tried to stop them.
"Love someone else?" Lonnie was really confused, "Jay, why would you ever think that I love someone else?"
"Lonnie, please," he sobbed, "Please don't pretend. It's already difficult." He gulped down some air as he tried to stopped crying, "I heard you tell Cheng that you love him." He took a shaky breath, "And I'm not going to stop you from being with the person you actually love."
"Jay, the person I actually love is you," she said, "Look at me, please." Jay turned further away from her. "Jay," she said firmly, "Look at me." Jay took another shaky breath and turned to look her in the eye. "Babe, I know you heard me tell Cheng that I love him, but it's not what you're thinking." He looked at her confused, "I love him platonically, Jay. Like a friend." The confusion didn't clear. "Look, I know that being on the Isle meant you weren't exposed to how many different forms of love there were. And I've just realised that whilst you love Mal, Evie and Carlos, you have a brotherly love towards them. But love is more than just romantic or family. It comes in so many different forms. And the way I love Cheng is so different from the way I love you. Because whilst I love him, I'm in love with you." Jay's tears began to slow down and so Lonnie took his hand, "Here," placed it gently over her heart, "Do you feel how fast that's beating? That's because of you, Jay. Any time I'm near you, my heart goes absolutely wild just because I'm that in love with you." She takes his other hand and kisses it gently, keeping the one on her heart where it was.
Jay closed his eyes as the tears kept streaming down, "I...I'm sorry, Lon," he choked out, "I know I lied to you, I just..."
Lonnie hushed him gently, "Hey, don't cry." She kissed his hand gently again, "Don't cry. You don't have to explain right now. We can talk later." She moved closer to him and kissed his shoulder, entwining her fingers with the hand she'd been kissing.
Jay shook his head, "I need to explain. Please."
Lonnie nodded, "Okay. Okay, you can explain." She kissed his shoulder again and began tracing patterns on the hand she held over his heart.
"I..." he took a deep breath, trying to slow the tears down, "I was scared. I know I've met them before but I was scared to see your parents because I don't want to do something that causes them to think that I'm not good enough for you because I know I'm not good enough for you but I'm scared that if you hear it from them, you'll leave me and...I can't lose you. I just can't."
"Oh, Jay, babe," she placed a gentle kiss on his neck, "You're not going to lose me. I'm not going to leave you just because my parents may disapprove. And for the record, they don't. They're a little offended that you didn't show up but if you apologise to them properly, they'll get over it.
"Listen, Jay, it's going to be okay. We're going to be fine." She kissed his cheek, softly, "I forgive you and I'm so sorry that I got so mad."
"I'm sorry I lied," Jay replied, pulling his hand away from Lonnie's heart to wipe his tears away with the heel of it, "I shouldn't have done that. And I won't, I promise."
"And I promise that I don't love Cheng like I love you. I don't love anyone the way I love you," she said, pouring her heart into the statement.
The tears in Jay's eyes finally began to clear away and he nodded, "I love you too." Lonnie's already rapid pulse increased at the words. When they were so rarely said in such an emotional way, she cherished each one she heard, knowing that these moments were only when he was feeling the most vulnerable. "I love you so much."
Wiping away some of the tears on his face with her own hand, Lonnie cupped his cheek gently and kissed him on the lips, softly and sweetly. When she pulled away, Jay's lips followed hers and captured them in another tender kiss. One became more and each kiss was more gentle than the last. Lonnie shifted even closer to him and Jay placed his hands under her legs, before lifting her to set her in his lap. Lonnie's hands moved from his face to go around his neck and the two of them just sat there, exchanging light kisses that tasted of salt from Jay's tears as well as the few of Lonnie's own that neither had noticed. Eventually, they parted, foreheads resting against one another, eyes closed in bliss and holding each other like lifelines. It was true that love came in many forms, but the love shared between those two people in that moment, made it feel like it was the only love that would ever matter.
Here you go Randomn! I personally loved writing this one so I hope it lived up to your expectations.
Request Count Down: 48
Response to Reviews:
Grace: Yeah, I liked the first part too. Btw, I know I've already said it several times but HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLIE!
Ishy555: Yasss. Dizzy is amazing.
Fangirl5323: Wait, who's the BroTP? Because there are several possibilities in that oneshot.
Moon-Princess-Serena1993: Same! So glad you liked it!
DragonEmperor999: Yep. She's a good friend.
kbear100: Aww, thank you!
Randomn: Yay, I'm so so happy you loved it! And I think I did pretty good on this one.
Thu: You have no idea how much that comment means to me because I always worry about characterisation. And yep. He has many sides to him that I love writing about.
EvieCarson: Yes, she really is. And thank you!
Guest: (1) I had to ask a friend to translate your review which was quite fun. And don't worry, there is some coming up.
Guest: (15) Don't worry, I always respond! And awww, I'm so pleased that you're enjoying them. It means so much to me!
Love you guys! SparkyGurl
P.S. Please don't be afraid to leave constructive criticism. It helps me.