Get Out

(Friday Evening, August 9th)

"Dinner is served," Evie grins, before she places the bowl in front of him.

Ben glances at it, before he looks back at his phone, "What's in it?"

"Chicken, chickpea noodles, and alfredo sauce."

He frowns, "No cheese?"

"Ben," she reminds him, "you heard the doctor."

"Everything tastes better with cheese."

"Saturated fat," Evie reminds him. "It was either cheese or the sauce."

He continues to type on his phone, "It's fine. My temperature is at a hundred and two now. Once it's down to a hundred, I can go home and eat as much cheese as I want."

"Ben." Evie encourages, "The meat."

"Did you cook the chicken?"

"Chicken doesn't have blood," Evie stresses, before she moves to his other side and sits down. "Eat it, please. I special-made it for you."

"I will," Ben promises. "In a minute."

"In a minute," the nurse repeats, as she walks into the room. "I hope you know phones aren't allowed in the eating disorder unit."

"It's a good thing I'm not there, then," Ben counters, before the nurse snatches the phone from him. "Hey."

"You can have it back after you eat," she reassures.

"Don't touch the… the face of the phone," Ben concerns.

"Screen," Evie informs, but Ben continues to observe the nurse.

She examines the phone, "Who's Beth Fleur?"

"Um." Ben glances from Evie to the nurse, "My boyfriend's father is being a royal ass. He's not allowed to talk to guys right now."

"Boyfriend?" the nurse asks.

"I might have accidently led him on," Ben's eyes lower.

"Yes. I imagine that can happen when you pretend to be a girl." She hands the phone to Evie, "Don't give it back, until he eats."

"Of course," Evie agrees.

She turns to Ben, "You have thirty-five minutes to complete the meal."

Ben's eyes widen, "That's insane."

"That's how much time you would have if you were in the ED unit," she explains, "and as a nurse, I don't have all day."

Ben glances from the food to her, "And if don't?"

"Then I tell your parents," she threatens, before she leaves the room.

Evie watches Ben stare at the bowl, "Would your parents care if you ate it?"

"More than I can stand." Ben picks up the spoon, "How am I supposed to stab my food?"

"Forks aren't allowed," Evie explains. "You have to scoop it."

Ben groans, before he digs into the dish and takes a bite. He grimaces, as he chews the firm noodles. "It's hard."

"I tried overcooking them," Evie mentions, "but they dissolved. This is the softest you're going to get it."

"Why chick peas?" he complains.

"Chickpea noodles," she corrects. "Less carbs. Carnivore and all." She grins, "And it's higher in protein."

"I don't like them," he says again.

"Then eat them," she teases. "They deserve it." Ben glares at her, and she widens her eyes, "Okay, but you're not getting your phone back." She taps the phone screen, "So, boyfriend. Does that mean you're dating Chad now?"

Ben sighs, "I just wanted to be allowed to talk to him."

"So, you're not dating him?" she slowly asks.

His brows furrow, "I can't break up with him when he's this unhappy."

"So, you are dating," she interprets.

"I don't know," Ben backlashes. "What does it matter?"

"I just want to know what to tell Mal."

He raises his eyebrows at her, "You're not telling Mal anything, and she's definitely not finding out about Beth." He outstretches his hand, "Give me my phone."

"Oh. I'm sorry," she giggles. "I didn't realize you'd eaten, yet." He facepalms, and she reminds him, "I'm not allowed to give it back until you eat."

Ben gestures to the bowl, "I ate it."

"All of it," Evie frowns. "I haven't even given you your midnight snack, yet."

He eyes over her, "Midnight snack."

"Well, you're awake at night," Evie evaluates, "so I got permission to make something that can be left out for you. The nurse has it. She'll bring it in at the end of her shift."

"What is it?"

"Oh." Evie thinks, "Um, cookies."

He narrows his eyes, "Why don't I believe you?"

She smiles, "Well, I might have stolen a little of your protein powder to replace the flour. You know, low carbs."

"Higher protein," Ben finishes. "That's fine. I got tired of the under flavor, anyway."

She takes a moment, "Your English isn't a lot better, is it?"

"No," he asserts.

"Are you going to try to get it better?"

"No," Ben affirms.

"How are you doing with your French?" Evie inquires.

"I barely passed," Mal murmurs, before she takes a hot cookie from the baking sheet. "Class's over. What's there to it?"

Evie squirms, "Uh. I made those for Ben."

Mal shakes her head, "So?"

Evie divulges, "It has blood in it."

"So?" Mal questions, as she finishes it and steals another. "You can make more, right?"

"Not if I run out of the protein powder," she solemnly replies. "This stuff's expensive. You know Ben's broke right now."

Mal nods, as she quiets, "These are good, Eves."

Evie hesitates, "You should think about studying French again. You know, for this school year. You need to pass two years of one language."

"That's a lie," she seriously responds. "I could just as easily take Ancient Greek this year, easy-peasy. It'd still count as two years."

"If you're looking for hieroglyphics, you should try Arabic. Or Mandarin," she suggests. "It's a lot more common. You'd actually use it."

Mal's jaw drops, "Those are written languages, E."

"I still don't think pictures are a language." Evie grins, "Hey. There's an idea. You and Ben can communicate through drawing. It will only take an hour to get your point across."

Mal snorts, "Ben knows English, Evie. It's fine."

"Not as fine as you might think." Her expression slips, and she rests her hands on the island counter. "Ben's tired of English. He said it was hard enough to learn the first time."

Mal bites through the cookie, it drops onto the counter, and she brings a hand to her mouth, "What?"

"Ben's tired of English," Evie repeats. "He's not going to crash course it. He wants it to just happen as it happens and not stress over it."

Mal lifts a hand, as she swallows the remnants of the cookie in her mouth, "What in Hades' Hell is he thinking?"

"He probably thinks you can learn French," Evie instigates.

"I tried," Mal emphasizes. "It just doesn't click. Okay?"

"Do you think English clicks for Ben?" Evie places her hands on her hips, "He wants to have a relationship with you. He's just tired of doing all the work."

"All the work," she disbelieves. "He barely even talks to me."

Evie looks at the cookies, "Get out of my kitchen."

"What?"

Evie widens her eyes at her, "I said 'get out'."

"Fine." Mal takes the empty plate and piles the cookies on top of it.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting something out of my relationships," she counters, before she strides out of the room. She eats the cookies on her way to the West Wing; however, when she makes it to her bedroom door, Belle steps in front of her. "Mal. Something wrong?"

"Not at all," she grins. "I just stole some cookies. Evie made them."

"If she gave them to you, it's not stealing," Belle negates, before she takes a cookie from the large plate.

"Oh. Um." Mal's mouth hangs open, as Belle takes a bite and cringes.

"It's rather—It tastes like…" Mal carefully observes, as Belle brings the back of her hand to her mouth. "Is there dark chocolate in this?"

Mal breathes in relief, "You know, probably." and she grins.

Belle sets the rest of the cookie on the edge of the plate, "Sorry. I can't."

"It's fine," she dismisses. "I can just give it to Carlos. He's a good, little scavenger. Amazing, really."

"And in Agrabah," Belle cautiously reminds her.

"Right," Mal whispers.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah." Mal eyes away, "I have to go." before she hides in her room and closes the door. She walks through the room, lays the plate onto the bed, and strolls into the bathroom. She remembers the loft on the Isle, how they kept each other safe. They were there for each other, but now everyone's gone. She left everything she ever knew to come to a land of confusing rules and social constructs, and she's not even going to be able to stay with the guy she stayed for. He believed she could be good, but she's not. She's not good, she's not perfect, and she's definitely not good at speaking perfect French. She takes the blades out. The way he calls her beautiful and is obsessed with her hair, it was unsettling but nice. She turns on the hot water for the bath and takes off her clothes, before she feels the warm breath on her neck and places her hand to it. Purple. Yer so, so pretty. She grabs the blade and sits on the edge of the bathtub. She shouldn't be comparing Ben to Hook. She slides the blade over her thigh, and she shakily breathes. Ben doesn't know who she is, though, and he's been trying to change her. She makes two more slashes. Hook would never try to change her. She slashes even harder. He raped her. He backed her into a corner. His lips were on her neck, and she cut him across the cheek with her nails.

Mal drops the blade, rests her elbow on her knee, and places her hand to her temple and forehead, "Ben's a good guy. Ben's a good guy. Ben's a good guy." She sighs. "Such a good guy that I can't even learn his language." She picks up the blade; however, when her hand moves back, it hits the water. She turns, hurrying to shut off the water, before she listens to the sound of it echoing through the upper drain.

"Mal," Jay knocks on the door. "Are you in there?"

"I'm taking a bath," she calls out.

"Should I get Evie?"

"I'm naked," Mal informs.

"She's your girlfriend."

"So," Mal retorts. "Do you let your girlfriend in when you're in the bathroom?"

"Ruby and I aren't having sex," he discounts. "Evie's seen you naked. It's different."

"I don't care," Mal shouts. "What are you doing here?"

"Belle wanted to talk to you," he reasons. "When she saw you were still in the bathroom, she asked if it was normal for you to be in there that long."

"I'm fine, Jay. Get out of here."

"Fine," he agrees.

"And shut the door," she yells, before she hears him walk away and listens for the bedroom door to shut.