Hey all and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Sorry for the long wait! I was a dummy and stepped on my laptop in the middle of the night and cracked the screen, so I had to wait FOREVER for my new screen to get in.
BUT here is another LONG chapter (24,000 words)
Amethystragon14: Leah will be getting hit with a truck full of karma soon, but we will have to be patient.
danifan3000: TYPICAL Karen! She is WAY worse that Frollo
Creator of Magic: I think the ultimate punishment is humiliation. I will be adding more Mal and Hadie banter in my chapters. I love the brother sister relationship.
SlytherinAvengerPrincess: Partner!! Thank you! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! I absolutly LOVE Hades!! He'll be a big DADDY in my next chapter.
brimason0201: Answers should be answered and, in advance... I'M SORRY
As always...
*I DO NOT OWN DESCENDANTS*
WARNING FOR SWEARING!
LEMONS AND SMUT!!!!!
ENJOY!!
(Monday, October 25th)
(BEN'S POV)
After Lady Leah's, not so heartfelt, public apology things were starting to turn around. The holidays were coming up and it would be my first ones with Mal. I was so excited for Halloween on Sunday. Halloween is my second favorite holiday after Christmas. Auradon Prep always has a Halloween party and I was so excited to show the VK's how much fun Halloween is. I woke up and was eager to talk to them. I quickly got ready and rushed downstairs to meet everyone for breakfast. I walked into the cafeteria and quickly spotted my purple haired girlfriend and smiled brightly at her. She was wearing the exact same outfit that she wore when she first got here and I could help but notice the purple lace bra strap on her shoulder. I slowly walked up behind her and kissed her on the cheek.
"Hello, Lady Mal," I said, taking the seat next to her.
"Why hello, King Bubsy," she said, laughing.
"Can you guys stop being cute?" Jordan asked, laughing and shaking her head.
Mal laughed. "I mean we could…" she started and then grabbed my face with her hand and squeezed my cheeks. "But have you seen this face?" She said, squeezing my cheeks harder.
"Yeah. Yeah. I'm cute, but can you let go of my face, babe?" I asked.
"Sorry," she said letting go of my face.
"It's okay," I said. "So, do you guys know about Halloween?" I asked.
"Yeah. You guys dress up and go around asking for candy," Jay said.
"Yeah, but that's when you are little. Here, at Auradon Prep, we have a Halloween dance and a contest for best costume," Lonnie explained.
"Who won last year?" Evie asked excitedly.
"Jane, Jordan and I won. We went as Charlie's Angels. It took Jane so much convincing," Lonnie said cheerfully.
"Hey!" Jane said while getting red in the face.
"Audrey was not happy that we won and not her," Jordan said with a laugh.
"Why?" Mal asked.
I put my arm over her shoulder, pulling her close to me. "She wanted me to dress in a couples costume, which I didn't mind, but she wanted to go as Barbie and Ken," I told her.
"What's so wrong with that?" She asked.
"She wanted to go as beach Barbie and Ken," I said, crushing my eyes closed remembering the fight I had with her. "Have you ever seen a beach Ken doll?" I asked.
"Ben. I'm from the Isle," she said, smirking. "Of course not!" She exclaimed, making me laugh.
I pulled out my phone and looked up what a beach Ken doll looked like. I showed her my phone and she laughed.
"So she just wanted you to wear a pair of swim trunks, a whistle, and a pair of sunglasses?" She asked.
I nodded my head as she continued to laugh.
"Yeah. Yeah. Go on and laugh. I had to deal with her being mad at me until Christmas," I said.
"You didn't do it?" She asked, trying to control her laughter.
"Zeus no! I was not going to parade around shirtless for the entire school to see," I said.
"You paraded around the enchanted lake shirtless on our date," she countered.
"Yes, but you are my girlfriend," I said, pointing out facts.
"Audrey was your girlfriend," she said, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Okay. Fair point, but she wasn't my soulmate," I stated. "Plus it was October! Who would wear a bathing suit in October?" I stated.
"Ben. I literally just said that you paraded around in swim trunks. Two weeks ago. In October," she stated.
I squinted my eyes at her, making her laugh. I was going to make another statement when Jay called my name.
"Bro. Just give up. Mal will always win the argument," he said shaking his head and smiling.
"Not every argument," I said, looking at him.
"Yes, I will," she said teasingly.
"We'll just see about that," I said, kissing the top of her head. "So, did you want to do a couple costume?" I asked
"Umm…" she said, thinking. "I don't care. We can or we don't have to. It's up to you," she said.
"We'll talk about it late," I said smiling at her.
She nodded her head and then rested her head on my shoulder.
After breakfast I walked Mal to her Remedial Goodness class, before heading to my class. I gave her a kiss then ran to my first class before I was late. Ever since I saw Mal and Trevor talking in the quad that first time, I hated going to Auradon Government and Economics. It was, thankfully, the only class that I had with Trevor and ever since I punched him in the face I made sure to sit as far away from him as I could. Mal made it a little habit to wait for me after my class because FG would always let them out a little bit early, and we would walk to the library together. I always left out of the door in the back of the room. Whenever I would try to kiss Mal or if we were walking down the hallway holding hands Trevor would come out of the room and would "accidentally" run into us. Mal could tell that I got more annoyed the more he did it and she said that she would talk to him, but I didn't want her to do that. I just told her that he would get over it because we weren't going to break up so he'll have to get used to it.
The rest of the day went great. For the past week we had a routine. We would go to class together, then the girls would watch us at R.O.A.R practice, then I would walk Mal to art class, making sure to kiss her when I see Trevor. After her art class, I picked her up and we would go to my room and do homework or just hangout, before heading to dinner.
"So did you want to do a couple costume? Or did you want to do separate," I asked as I closed my dorm room door.
"We can do couple costumes if you want. I'm not bothered by either choice," she said as she put her bag on the armchair in the corner of the room.
"Well, I, personally, would like to do couple costumes," I told her with a smile.
She nodded her head. "Okay. So what do you want to go as?" she asked.
"I'm not sure. Do you have any ideas?" I asked her.
"What if we go as your parents? I could ask Evie to make me a yellow dress and you could dress as your dad in his beast form?" She suggested.
"Nah! Too cheesy," I said making her laugh.
"What about Morticia and Gomez Adams? The girls stayed in Evie and I's dorm on Saturday and Lonnie wanted to watch that movie," she said.
"I like it, but no," I said shaking my head.
"Why?"
"You want my honest answer?" I asked.
She nodded her head.
"Morticia wears a REALLY tight dress and I don't want people ogling you," I told her.
"What?" She asked laughing.
"Do you not notice when people look at you?" I asked.
She flopped down on my bed and looked at me.
"No. I tend to ignore people looking at me," she said.
"Mal. Guys look at you all of the time," I told her. "You have half the guys at school looking at you, when you walk by. You have no clue how many times in the past week I have wanted to claw guys faces off. You're fucking hot! Trevor is the only one with the balls to actually talk to you and compliment you like that!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air.
She looked at me with wide eyes and then smiled at me, while climbing off my bed and walked toward me.
"So…" She said, flirtatiously. "You think I'm hot?" she said as she walked two of her fingers up my chest, and locked eyes with me.
I could feel my cheek heat up and it made her smile even bigger. I wrapped my arms around her waist, leaning forward and resting my forehead against hers.
"Yes, I do," I sighed. "I find you very attractive. If you want me to be honest, I was checking out your butt…" I said, looking up at the ceiling pretending to think. "about 5 minutes after you got here. Give or take a minute or two," I said, looking back down at her.
She stared at me with a gape in her mouth. "Benjamin Florian Anderson," She said in a fake shocked tone. "I am shocked that a pince of Auradon would do such a thing when he already had a girlfriend at the time," she finished, teasingly. "But, I will forgive you because I did the same."
I raised my eyebrow at her. "When?" I asked, puffing my chest out a little.
She laughed and then rested her forehead on my chest.
"Well…" She looked up at me and then started to count on her fingers. "First there was when we made cookies. Then on my birthday. Then there were tourney practices. Then when we were sparing. Then when you walked into my room shirtless. Our first date. Our first night we spent together. Your corona…"
I cut her off, grabbing her face and kissing her. Her words were turning me on so much and I couldn't take it anymore. I wrapped one of my arms around her waist pulling her as close as I could. She wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me close and deepening the kiss. I moved my hands down to her butt and behind her legs. I bent down and lifted her off the ground, not taking my lips off of hers. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I walked us closer to my bed. When we reached my bed I slowly laid both of us down, trying not to crush Mal too hard with my body weight.
The kiss was getting heated and I could feel my pants getting tighter. I would love for this to go further, but I didn't want her to think that I was implying. I slowly eased the intensity of the kiss and pushed myself up to look at her. Her eyes looked like they were slightly glowing. I pushed myself a little more, but she pulled me back down reigniting our heated kiss. I pressed her body further into the bed, grasping her hips tightly. She held onto the front of my shirt, undoing the third button. Wait! Is she? She let go on the shirt, snaking her hands just under the open part of my shirt and around my neck. Her touch made a shiver run down my spine. I did want to push her, so I didn't further our actions. No matter how much I wanted to.
After a couple of minutes, she was the one to move away from my lips and moved toward my neck. I let out a small groan and flipped her so that she was laying on top of me. I sat up, so that she was sitting on my lap. I connected back to her lips and let out another small groan as she shifted on my lap. She tangled her fingers in my hair, yanking it. I grasped her hips, moving them up to the top hem of her pants, touching her skin. She moved her hand back down from my hair and back to my shirt. She undone another button before I pulled away.
"Mal. I really REALLY want to do this, but I don't want to rush this or make you feel rushed," I told her.
I leaned my head against hers and sighed.
"Ben…"
"Mal. You told me about Anthony and I don't want to make you think that is all I want from you," I told her.
"Ben. I know that is not the only thing you want from me. I know for a fact that I love you, you love me and that you would never do anything like that," she said as she took my face and gave me another small kiss.
"I do love you, Mal. So much," I said, kissing her deeply.
She tangled her fingers back in my hair as we fell back into our heated kiss. I moved my arms back around her waist and under her shirt. Her skin was so soft against my hands. I held her close and squeezed her tightly against my body.
"Here," she said, pulling away slightly. "Let me help with this," she said as she pulled her sweater over her head leaving her in nothing but her purple lace bra.
I sat there with a gape in my mouth. She looked like a goddess. Pun not intended, but she is perfect.
"Like what you see?" She asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.
I smiled at her. "Yeah. Yeah I do," I said before I brought her face to mine and kissed her.
We fell into another heated make out session. Mal had managed to undo the rest of the buttons on my shirt, but before we could continue there was a loud pounding on my door.
"Ben! It's us! Open up!" We heard Aziz and Ryder yell from the other side of the door.
We both groaned.
"Biggest cock blocks ever!" I said.
Mal got off my lap and I pushed myself off the bed and walked to the door. I turned back to Mal before I opened the door.
"Put your sweater back on. I don't want them to see you like that, because in all honesty. I am the only one who gets to see you like that," I said, pointing at her.
She nodded her head and then saluted me. I button my shirt as fast as I could then I shook my head and then opened the door.
"Yes?" I asked.
They looked at me and squinted their eyes.
Ryder then pointed at me. "Why are your buttons on your shift wrong?" He asked.
I looked down at my shift and noticed that I missed a button. I looked back up at them and didn't know what to say. Aziz then took a couple of steps toward me and pulled my collar away from my neck.
He huffed a laugh. "And when did you start wearing lipstick on your neck?" He asked and then they looked at each other with shocked expressions.
"You were about to get jiggy!" Ryder exclaimed loudly.
I pulled them into my room and slammed the door.
"What the fuck? Why would you yell that out in the hall?" I exclaimed.
"Ben. Calm down," Mal said as she walked up to me.
"Yeah, Benny. Plus, no one comes up here besides the 7 people that live on this floor, FG, your parents, Jane, Lonnie, Jordan, Doug and the two best people in the world," Ryder said crossing his arms over his chest.
I rested my knuckles under my chin and nodded my head.
"Okay and who are three of those people who shouldn't know?" I asked.
"You parents and FG," Aziz said, looking down at the floor.
"And what would happen if they heard you?" I asked.
"They would give you and Mal the birds and the bees talk," Ryder answered.
"And?"
"FG would move Mal and Evie to a different dorm," Aziz said.
"And?" Mal asked.
"You will rain down on us with your godly and fae magic," they said in unison.
She walked up to them and patted them on the head, before walking to pick up her bag and kissing me on the cheek.
"I'll see you at dinner," she said before walking passed Aziz and Ryder and left.
They turned back to me and I shook my head at them.
"Yeah. Thanks a lot."
After telling Ryder and Aziz that they were cock blockers after Mal left, they told me why they came to my room. They wanted to know if I wanted to be one of the three musketeers with them. I told them no because I was going to dress up with Mal. They asked what we were going to dress up as but I told them that we didn't know becasue they intruded on our conversation. They stayed for about an hour before I told them I had homework to do.
"I'll see you guys at dinner. I have homework to do and then I have to go and find my girlfriend," I said as I shooed them out.
"Yeah. Okay. But make sure to fix your shirt and wipe the lipstick off your neck before dinner," Ryder said before I slammed the door in their faces.
I heard them laughing on the other side of the door making me shake my head and laugh at them. I sat and did my homework just to realize that I didn't have much to do. I quickly finished my calculus homework and checked my calendar. I have a council meeting tomorrow after Swords and Shields practice and then nothing until Friday. I put my stuff away and then walked down the hall to Mal's room. I knocked and Mal opened the door with a smile on her face.
"Why hello. And what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?" She asked.
"I was just coming to look for my insanely beautiful girlfriend," I said as I gave her a small kiss.
I saw Evie sitting at her desk working on some sketches. I gave her a small wave before looking back at Mal.
"Oh! Well I think she could spare some of her time," she said as she closed the door behind me. "Plus, I thought of a couple costume!"
"Oh yeah? And what would that be?" I asked
"Danny and Sandy from Grease," she said smiling up at me.
"Danny and Sandy?" I asked.
I smiled down at her.
"I like it," I told her. "You want to go as summer nights Danny and Sandy?" I asked.
She nodded her head and laughed.
"E said she is going to make our costumes," she said nudging her head toward Evie.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yep. I just finished the sketches. Now come here so I can start on your measurements," she told me.
I walked over and stood on the small platform she had. I really should buy her some good seamstress appliances, if she is going to be doing all of my, and others, wardrobes.
"Wait. What if I said no to Danny and Sandy?" I asked, turning to look at Mal.
"I thought you wouldn't say no to this one," she told me with a shrug.
"I see. So, what are you and Doug going with couple costumes?" I asked Evie.
She nodded her head. "Yeah. Doug wants to go as Columbia and Eddie from Rocky Horror Picture Show," she said.
"Wait!" Mal exclaimed as she jumped on her bed. "We should go as Frank N. Furter and Rocky!"
"No! That is worse than beach Ken!" I shouted, making her laugh.
"I was kidding. I just wanted to see how you would react," she said as she picked up a book and started to read.
I shook my head and left Evie measure me. When she was done it was time to meet the rest of the others for dinner. We picked up Jay and Carlos on our way and enjoyed the rest of our night.
(Sunday October 31st)
It was not Halloween and I was getting ready for the Halloween party. Evie did a great job on my costume. I was wearing a pair of black jeans, black converse, a black leather belt, a black t-shirt that was tucked into my pants, and a black leather jacket. Evie did a great job on the jacket. It looked identical to Danny's T Birds in grease. The only bad part about the finished look was my hair. It wasn't long enough to go do his hairstyle, because if I greased it I would end up looking like a guy from the mafia. I took one final look in the mirror before leaving my room to get Mal. I knocked on the door and was greeted by Evie. She was wearing an identical Columbia costume. From the gold glittery jacket and hat, to the rainbow shorts, pink bow around her neck, and blue socks.
"Wow Evie. You look great!" I told her.
"Thank you," she said, pulling in the lapels of her jacket.
"Is Mal ready?" I asked.
"No. She is having trouble with her bangs," she said laughing.
"E! Is that Ben?" She called from the bathroom.
"Yeah, babe. It's me," I shouted.
"I'm not ready! Can I meet you downstairs?" She asked.
"Umm… yeah. Sure."
"Thank you! E! I need help!"
Evie rolled her eyes.
"I'll be right there," she yelled.
"Okay. I'll see you guys down there," I said before turning around and walking away.
I walked into the cafeteria and was quickly greeted by Ryder and Aziz, who were dressed as Mario and Luigi.
"Wow, guys. You look…" I started.
"Amazing?"
"Like snacks?"
They went on and I now needed to crush their spirits.
"Like idiots," I said.
They looked at me with straight faces.
"What?" they exclaimed loudly.
"I'm just kidding. You guys look great!" I exclaimed.
We walked around to look for the rest of our friends. The music was loud and there were a lot of good costumes. Jane and Carlos came as a cat and a dog. Jay and Lonnie came as Bonnie and Clyde. Chad and Jordan came as Shaggy and Velma. Doug's Eddie costume was really good, he even had the fake cut on his forehead. I looked around to see other people's costumes. Alister was dressed at Marty McFly. Emma was dressed as a female Pennywise, Audrey was dressed as Cher from Clueless, and there were so many different costumes. I was so lost looking around the room I didn't notice people staring at the entrance. Aziz shoved my shoulder, making me turn toward the entrance and I stood there in shock. Standing in the entrance was Mal. She was wearing a pair of black high waisted leather pants, a short black off the shoulder crop shirt with a cap sleeve, her hair was curled and teased, and instead of red peep toe shoes she was wearing purple ones. She looked at me with a flirtatious flirt. She had he black leather jacket over her shoulder, the inside was purple, and she was sucking on a lollipop.
I took a step forward. "Mal?"
"Tell me about it, stud," she said, closing the distance between us.
I looked her up and down, standing there in a gape in my mouth. She laughed and then put her lollipop in my mouth, making my mouth close.
"What? Surprised?" she asked.
I nodded my head.
"You like?" she asked, spinning around slowly.
I took her hand, pulling her as close as I could. "Oh, baby. You're giving me chills that are definitely multiplying," I said before taking the lollipop out of my mouth and giving her a small kiss.
We pulled apart and smiled at each other. "Well, we better settle down before we lose control," she said, taking my hand, pulling me to join the rest of our friends.
The night went on and I couldn't help but get the weird feeling that we were being watched. I would look over my shoulder, but no one would be there. I mean someone wearing a mask could be watching, but I wouldn't want to make a scene of things. I let the feeling go and enjoyed the rest of my night. Mal and I actually won best couple costume. We danced and had fun. It was close to midnight before we headed to bed. I held Mal, who was half asleep, in my arms up to our floor, with Dough doing the same with Evie. When we reached our floor I walked past my room only to have Mal pull herself closer to me.
"Can I stay with you?" She asked.
I looked at her as she nuzzled into my chest and nodded my head.
"Hey. Mal is going to stay with me tonight," I said.
Doug turned around, letting Evie look at me. She nodded her head before laying it back down on Doug's chest. I turned around and walked back to my door and I managed to unlock and open it without setting Mal down. I kicked the door closed and walked her to my bed.
"Do you want to use some of my clothes?" I asked.
She nodded her head before climbing out of my arms and onto the bed. I walked to my closet and pulled out a tshirt and a pair of my boxers. I walked out, gave her the clothes and let her use the bathroom. I changed while she was in there and when she came out her hair wasn't poofy anymore and she took off her makeup. I gave her a kiss on her head before walking into the bathroom. When I was done I walked out to find Mal asleep on my bed. I went to the other side, pulling back the covers and moving her underneath. I slid in and pulled her close. She curled up into my side and laid her head in my chest. I rubbed my hand through her hair until I fell asleep. The last thing I remember was the fun night we all had and I couldn't wait to spend the rest of the holidays with Mal and her friends.
(November 25th Thanksgiving)
(BEN'S POV)
I jumped out of bed before my alarm. Today was Thanksgiving. I took a shower and got ready. I dressed in dark washed jeans and a light blue dress shirt. We keep the castle warm during November through January so I didn't need to be wearing a sweater. I walked next door to Mal's room and quietly opened the door. When I walked in I saw that her bed had been made and she was nowhere in sight. I checked her bathroom and she wasn't in there either. I found her phone plugged into its charger and placed it in my pocket. I walked out of Mal's room and walked down the hall to Evie's. I knocked and Evie answered a couple of seconds later with messy hair and half shut eyes.
"Hey. Sorry to wake you, but is Mal here by chance?" I asked.
"No. She should still be asleep," she said yawning. "I would be surprised if she was awake before me."
"Well, she's not in her room. I'll go look for her," I said before walking down the hallway.
I didn't even bother checking Jay and Carlos' rooms because waking those two up is like waking the dead.
I made my way downstairs and ran into my parents.
"Woah, Ben. What's the rush?" My dad asked.
"I was looking for Mal. I went to wake her up this morning, but she wasn't in her room," I said.
"I think I know where she might be," My mom said with a smirk on her face.
"Where?"
"Well, who is someone she has bonded with since they got her on Friday night?" she said. I smiled then started to run toward the kitchen.
When Mal first came to the castle Mrs. Potts loved her. She thought Mal was an angel, which she is. Whenever I couldn't find Mal around the castle I would always find her in the kitchen with Mrs. Potts. When I walked through the kitchen door I saw Mal standing next to Mrs. Potts. They were laughing and cutting vegetables. I took a couple more steps and Mrs. Potts was the first to notice that we were there.
"Good morning, your majesties," Mrs. Potts greeted.
Mal looked up and smiled when she saw us. Her hair was up in a high ponytail and she was wearing a pair of yoga pants and a crop top t-shirt.
"Good morning," she said and then looked back down at her cutting board.
I looked at my parents and they looked shocked. I shrugged and then went to sit at one of the barstools in front of the counter. My parents followed my actions and sat down next to me.
"Are you hungry?" She asked.
"Umm… yeah," my dad said.
She smiled and then walked to the oven and pulled out a tray of giant cinnamon rolls. She placed them on the counter in front of her and put 3 on plates.
"Coffee? Tea? Juice?" She asked.
"Oh Mal. I can get that. Why don't you let them try them," Mrs. Potts said, heading toward the fridge.
Mal walked around the huge counter carrying two plates and the third was balanced on her arm. She placed one in front of me and then my parents.
"Hold on! Don't touch them yet! I have to put the icing on," she said running back around the counter and grabbing the icing.
She ran back and layered icing on all of our cinnamon rolls. My mom was the first to dig in.
"Oh. My. Zeus! Mal. Mrs. Potts. These are delicious!" She said, taking another bite.
"Mal. Made them all by herself," Mrs. Potts told us.
I looked up at Mal, who was spreading icing on my cinnamon roll. She gave me a shrug and I dug in with my fork. It was so warm and soft. The best cinnamon roll ever.
"This is amazing," I said.
"Thank you." She said, smiling. "What does it taste like?"
I turned in my seat and stared at her with wide eyes.
"What?" she asked as she put the bowl of I cling down.
"You made these and you haven't even tried them?" I asked.
She shook her head and started to walk away.
"No no no no no," I said, pulling her by her waist.
I pulled her onto my lap and put a piece in her mouth. Her eyes widened and she let out a groan.
"These are so good!" She exclaimed, taking my fork from my hand.
She took another bite off my plate and groaned again.
"I think these are better than my cookies," she said.
"Speaking of," Mrs. Potts said. "Those should be ready to be taken out of the oven, dear," she said pointing to the oven.
"Oh!" Mal exclaimed before jumping off my lap and running to the oven.
She put on her oven mitts and pulled a big tray of walnut chocolate chip cookies. The smell of those cookies filled the room and made me think of the times Mal and I made cookies at school. She took them off the plate and placed them on a cookie sheet to let them cool, but quickly took one, making her look at me.
"What?" I said with a shrug. "I love your cookies! I don't know what you do to make them this good, but I could live off of them if I could," I told her, putting the warm cookie in my mouth.
"I just follow the recipe, like I tell you I do all of the time."
I shook my head. "There is no way that this is JUST the recipe. I have never had a cookie, and now cinnamon roll, that is this good."
"Just the recipe," she said as she placed the last of the cookies on the sheet.
I reached and grabbed two more. "Mom. Dad. Tell me that these aren't going to be the best cookies you ever hand," I said, placing a cookie on each of their plates.
They both took a bite and their eyes widened.
"Mal. Ben is right! These are amazing!" my mom exclaimed.
"Can you make me a cookie cake for my birthday?" my dad asked, taking another bite of the cookie.
Mal chuckled. "I will gladly make you one," she said. "After I find out what a cookie cake is."
Mrs. Potts laughed. "It's just a giant cookie, dear, and Adam here has been asking me to make him one for years, but cake is a tradition."
"Well, if things were always done in a traditional way. I wouldn't be here. So, I will happily make you a cookie cake for your birthday in… January? Right?" Mal asked.
"Yes. How did you know?" my dad asked.
"Ben told me all of your birthdays. Your January 10th. Belle is April 6th. Mrs. Potts is June 1st. Lumier is February 23rd. Cogsworth is June 5th. Chip is August 3rd. FG is November 12th. Chad is March 24th. Jordan is July 7th. Jane is September 30th. Doug is on February 2nd. Lonnie is December 3rd. I don't even want to believe that it's possible, but Aziz and Ryder are on April 1st, the day of fools. And Obviously Ben is on October 15th," she said, making us laugh.
"Wow. I am impressed that you remember everyone's by heart," my mom said.
"Yeah, I have a good memory, which is why I only have four classes instead of seven. Well, with the exception of my art class, which is a fifth," she said.
"Well, you're brilliant!" I exclaimed.
"I wouldn't say that," she said laughing.
"I would. I would say others too, but I'm hungry right now," I said jokingly as I continued to eat my cinnamon roll.
All four of them laughed and then my mom spoke.
"I know we celebrated your birthday, Mal, but when are Evie, Jay, and Carlos'?" She asked.
"Evie's birthday is on August 9th. Carlos is May 4th. And Jay will kill me if I tell anyone," she said as she went back to chopping vegetables.
I squinted my eyes. "Maaal?" I questioned, getting up from my seat.
She peeked up at me and then quickly looked back down.
"Why do I get the feeling that you are hiding something from me?" I asked, walking up to her.
"Hmm," she said looking up at me. "I have no idea what you are talking about," she said shaking her head.
I know Mal was really good at lying and hiding things, but she couldn't from me. I don't know how, but I could always tell when she was hiding something. I slowly walked up behind her and placed my hands on her sides. She stopped chopping and placed the knife down as I moved close to her ear.
"Babe? When is Jay's birthday?" I asked.
"My lips are sealed," she stated.
"Hmm. I see," I said as I rubbed my hands against her sides. "Well, I guess I will just have to tickle it out of you," I told her as I started to tickle her sides, making her shriek.
She squirmed to the floor and was now laying on her back. I was kneeling over her, both my knees on either side of her and she was laughing so hard.
"Be… Ben… please… I can't… I can't breathe," she said through her laughter.
"Are you going to tell me?" I asked.
"No," she said.
"Fine, have it your way," I said before I began to tickle her again.
This went on for a couple of minutes. I noticed my parents coming around the counter, laughing at us and I am pretty sure that my mom even took pictures of us.
"Fi… FINE!" She yelled breathless. "His birthday is today," she grumbled, sitting up.
"What?!" We all exclaimed.
"Cookie cake for dessert!" My dad exclaimed happily.
"Jay is going to kill me," Mal said as I helped her up from the ground.
"Good morning all!" Jay exclaimed, walking into the kitchen with Evie and Carlos behind him.
"Good morning… birthday boy," I said with a smirk.
He looked at me with wide eyes and then shot to Mal. She looked at him with a sorry look. He squinted his eyes, walking toward her. Evie and Carlos took seats at the counter and Mrs. Potts passed them plates with cinnamon rolls on them. I looked back at Jay who was still stalking toward Mal. She turned to face him and gave him a small 'sorry' smile. He grabbed one of her hands and swatted her hand.
"Bad, Mal," he said as he flicked at her nose.
"I'm sorry," she said looking down at the ground. "Ben tickled it out of me," she said pointing at me.
"And that is why I'm not mad. I know you wouldn't tell anyone unless you were being tortured," he said, giving her a hug.
"Oh thank Zeus!" She sighed. "Anyway… HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STREET RAT!" She exclaimed, squeezing him.
"Thank you," he told her.
"Jay," Mrs. Potts said, making him turn toward her.
She was holding a cinnamon roll with icing and a birthday candle on top. He smiled at her, took the plate from her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Happy birthday, dear," she said before turning to go back to cooking.
"Thank you," he said.
"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Jay. Happy birthday to you," my mom sang.
"From good friends and true," Mal sang.
"From old friends and new," Carlos continued.
"May good luck go with you," Evie added.
"And happiness too," the three of them finished.
"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Jay. Happy birthday to you," we all sang to him.
"Thanks, guys," he said.
My mom walked up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek before taking my dad's hand and walking out of the kitchen.
We all sat around eating our cinnamon rolls before Mrs. Potts AND Mal kicked us out of the kitchen.
"Now scoot. Mrs. Potts and I have work to do," Mal said as she opened the kitchen door.
We got up and walked toward the door. We all took a cookie as we left and Evie gave Mal a lecture on how she better be in her room to get ready before dinner. Mal rolled her eyes and nodded her head. I gave her a kiss and smiled at her before leaving.
The rest of the day went on. Jay, Carlos, and I wanted the game. My mom and dad were off doing who knows what. Evie was in her room talking to Doug on the phone and working on some clothing sketches. I snuck into the kitchen a couple of times to see Mal and everytime I went in she smiled at me. She looked so happy when she was cooking. She and Mrs. Potts were cooking up a storm, and typically, Mrs. Potts doesn't want the help and insists on doing everything herself, but she and Mal were like a well oiled machine. I walked into the kitchen just as mal was putting Jay's cookie cake into the oven. I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, startling her.
"You look so cute," I told her. "Are you almost done?"
"I think so," she said, turning around in my arms.
She smiled up at me and I noticed she had flour on her cheek.
"You have flour on your face," I told her, wiping her cheek.
"Oh. Thank you," she said and gave me a small kiss.
"Mal, dear. Gone on and get ready. We finished everything and the only thing left is the turkey in the oven, and I'll take the cookie out when it is done" Mrs. Potts said.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"Yes. Go on. You have plenty of time before dinner to get ready and I bet my little prince has been wanting to spend time with you."
Mal nodded before taking my hand and pulling me out of the kitchen.
"I need to shower before I get ready. Do you mind waiting?" She asked.
"No. Not at all. I'll be in my…"
"No. You can wait in my room. I don't take that long to get ready," she said.
"Umm… okay."
We walked up to Mal's room and she closed the door. My mom had the walls painted a light lilac with gold borders. Her bed was king sized made of steel and moldcasted ornaments of floral motif with acorn finials, and it was finished in hand-brushed antique gold. Her bed coverings were the lilac, and had a smooth edge design. She has a small chair and table that sit on the balcony of her room. I was really surprised that my parents put Mal into the room right next to mine, but I wasn't about to complain. Her closet was bigger than mine and was already almost half filled with dresses and gowns that Evie made.
"I'm just going to shower and I'll be out soon," she said before walking into the bathroom.
I sat down on her bed and laid back. I rested my head on her pillow and I could smell her on them. It smelled like eucalyptus and blossoms. I heard a thunk on the floor, I sat up and found her scratch book on the floor. I stood, picked it up off the floor and found a drawing of Mal and I on the page it opened on. She drew a picture of us from my coronation. Our heads were leaning on each other and we were smiling. I don't know how long I was standing there looking at the picture, but I was startled to feel a hand on my shoulder, making me jump.
"Woah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Mal said.
"It's okay. Your book fell and I saw the drawing you drew. I hope you don't mind," I said, holding her book up.
She shook her head. "No. You can look at it," she said as she stood up. "But not my brown leather one. That is my song book," she said, turning to look back at me.
I then saw that she was in just a towel. I let my eyes roam over her. Her hair was wet and parts were clinging to her shoulders and her forehead. Her feet were bare and her toes were painted dark green.
"You okay?" she asked.
I shook my head. "Yeah. I'm good," I told her.
"Okay," she said as she walked to her closet. "So, do I have to get really dressed up for dinner or just something a bit fancier?" She asked.
I walked toward her closet and stood outside the door.
"You don't have to dress fancy fancy just something nice," I said.
"Okay. I'm really excited for today. I haven't had a thanksgiving dinner before," she said.
"Well, you helped make it so I hope you like it," I said laughing.
"I hope so too. Hey can you come in here? I need your opinion," she said.
"Umm, yeah," I said.
I walked into her closet and saw she was wearing a dark blue pair of satin and lace underwear and matching bra, with black stockings.
"You're comfortable, aren't you?" I asked leaning against the door frame.
"Well, you have seen me in a bathing suit and this is basically the same thing," she said with a shrug.
I pushed myself off the door frame and slowly walked toward her.
"I will tell you right now…" I said, closing the space between us. "This…" I said putting my index finger under her bra strap. "Has a bigger effect than a bathing suit," I finished.
I leaned in to kiss her but she put a finger over my lips.
"I don't think E would like to see you fondle me," she whispered and then pointed over my shoulder.
I turned to see Evie standing in the doorway with raised eyebrows. I turned back to Mal, leaning my head on her's.
"Every time," I whispered, making her laugh. "I'll go so you girls can get ready," I said, pulling away from her.
"Okay."
I turned and walked toward the door. Evie had moved to the side letting me walk out. I was walking toward Mal's bedroom door when I heard them giggling. I smiled and shook my head before leaving and closing the door behind me.
I was in my office looking over some paperwork for my next council meeting. I feel that the council meetings have gone a lot smoother since Leah wasn't a part of them now. After The council meeting after my coronation, Mal started to sit in on the council meetings with me so that she could get acquainted better as Lady of the Court. The next meeting ended up with the other council members asking Mal questions about herself and the Isle. When she started to talk about the Isle everyone was shocked to hear about the living conditions of the Isle.
No one. Not even my parents knew the conditions of the Isle. Everyone was in shock and in that exact same meeting we had all voted to have Mal's dad be the representation for the Isle of the Lost.
After the meeting Mal ran out of the room. I stopped her when I finally caught up to her. She told me that she didn't have time to talk, and continued to run out of the castle and all the way back to her dorm room, which was very impressive, though I chased after her on my bike and picked up her shoes on the side of the road. I ran to her dorm and opened her door to see her talking to her dad. I laughed, remembering the jokingly lecture I got from Hades about making his daughter run to her dorm.
I was broken out of my thoughts by Carlos and Jay knocking on the door frame.
"Hey. Your mom and dad sent us up here to get you," Jay told me.
"Yeah. We went to get the girls, but they aren't ready yet," Carlos said.
"Okay. Let's head down," I said, putting my papers away.
I got up and headed toward the door when I saw that Carlos and Jay were dressed really nice. They were both wearing black jeans, but Carlos was wearing a white shirt and Jay was wearing a red shirt.
We walked down to the grand dining hall. Lumier and Cogsworth loved decorating the castle for the holidays, no matter how much they complained or fought. Everyone knew the holidays were a big deal to everyone around the castle. They decorated the hall with candles and stringed fall leaves. Mrs. Potts was setting the table with plates and silverware.
Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, Lumier, Plumet, Jane, FG and Chip are family and would always join us for dinner, though Jane and FG would alternate going to Cinderellasburg. This year they would be with Chad and his family, which Jane was sad about, but knew she would upset Chad if she didn't show.
My mom and dad walked in with Chip, who ran and jumped on me when he saw me.
"Ben!" He yelled.
"Chip! You are 26 years old and weigh more than me," I said trying to not lose my footing.
"Oh, little prince brother," he teased as he climbed off me. "You're a strong boy made of muscle. You can handle my weight" he said, punching me in the arm.
"And you, my bigger brother, are still too slow," I said as I pulled him down and we started to wrestle.
We started wrestling and I had the upper hand and was on top of Chip, and then I heard the sound of heels, making me look at the doorway. I saw Mal and Evie standing there and laughing. Evie was wearing a simple blue dress with a red belt. Her shoes were gold and bedazzled. Her hair was in a sleek bun and a small ruby tiara was sat on her head. And Mal. Mal, was always a vision of beauty, as usual. She was standing there in a black skirt and a purple blouse. Her hair was curled and hanging over her shoulders. And she was wearing a pair of black heels that wrapped around her ankle with a bow. Chip flipped me onto my back, while I was distracted, making my head slam on the floor and then he looked at the girls.
"Woah. Who are the hotties?" He asked, staring at Mal and Evie.
He got up and walked toward them, and to my luck, walked right up to Mal.
"Hey. What's your name?" He asked, leaning on the door frame, taking her hand, and kissing the back of it.
Evie gave me a weird look before walking over to Jay and Carlos. I stood up, straightening my shirt and walked over to them. Mal gave me a weird smile before I took her other hand.
"Her name is my girlfriend," I said, pulling her away from Chip.
"I think he wants my name, Ben," she said, looking up at me.
I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Her name is Mal. Mal this is Mrs. Potts' son, Chip," I said, introducing them.
"Mal!" He exclaimed. "I am so sorry! Ben has told me so much about you! It is so good to finally meet you!" He said, pulling her in for a hug.
"It's good to meet you too. He has told me a bunch about you too" she said over his shoulder. "And he did mention to me that you were a little bit of a flirt," she said laughing as he let her go.
"Guilty," he said, putting his hands up.
"But he is also one of the best people I know," I said smiling at him.
"Ben. Mal. Chip," my mom called.
We looked over to see everyone taking their seats as Mrs. Potts walked in with two dishes.
"That's actually my que to help your mother, Chip," Mal said as she scurried off to the kitchen.
We walked to our seats. Typically my dad would be sitting at the head of the table, but now that I was King I would be sitting at the head of the table… and Mal would sit by my side… in the Queens seat… My parents sat on my right side Mal was going to sit on my left with Evie sitting next to her. Jay and Carlos sat next to Evie. Chip sat next to my mom, saving a seat for Mrs. Potts on his other side. Plumette (or Fifi) sat next to Jay and Lumier, and Cogsworth sat on the other side of Mrs. Potts' seat. I smiled around at everyone and I couldn't be more thankful for everyone in this room.
I was broken out of my thoughts when I smelled something delicious. I turned to see Mal walking in with a huge turkey on a thick silver platter. My dad stood, taking the turkey out of Mal's hand and placing it on the table. Mal turned to me and smiled. I stood up and pulled out her seat for her and Chip did the same for Mrs. Potts.
"Well, today is your first Thanksgiving," my dad said, gesturing to Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos. "Typically, people go around the table and say what they are thankful for, but here we say what family means to you," he said. "I'll start. Thanksgiving is more than just festivities. It gives you time to ponder upon what lessons we have learned and how we can spread happiness around, to look back at all the great memories and good people who come into our lives. I am thankful for my family and the new members joining us today," he said as he raised his glass.
"Okay," I said sitting up straight. "Family means you are part of something very wonderful. It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life," I said as I took Mal's hand under the table. She gave me a small smile. "No matter what. There are so many things that I am thankful for this year, but at the very top of that list is you," I said squeezing her hand under that table. "All of you," I finished.
"Family are people in your life who are close to your heart. Why bring out the best in you. Who laugh, celebrate, and dream with you. Who love you infinitely," she said as she rubbed her thumb on the back of my hand. "Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you to be in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what," she finished.
I smiled at her. I didn't even hear what everyone else was saying because I was too busy smiling at the beautiful purple haired girl sitting next to me. I still couldn't believe that I was blessed to have this perfect human in my life. She looked back at me and gave me a small smile.
We all enjoyed our thanksgiving dinner. After we had finished, Mal and Mrs. Potts went into the kitchen. I helped everyone clear the table and when we were done Mrs. Potts came out of the kitchen with plates, spoons and a gallon of vanilla bean ice cream. I noticed that my mom walked around the corner out of the dining hall and came back with two big gifts bags. I smiled and realized what she and my dad were doing before dinner.
I walked to pull Jay away from my dad. "Let's all sit down," I said.
I rubbed Jay's shoulders and moved him past his seat and toward mine.
"You get this one time," I told him as I pointed to my seat.
He smiled and then sat down. "I am king," he said as he sat up straight and puffed his chest out.
I sat down. In Mal's seat and that was when Mrs. Potts dimmed the lights and Mal came out of the kitchen with a cookie cake with nineteen candles on it. She placed the dessert in front of him and took a step back. I pulled her onto my lap and we all started to sing.
"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Jay. Happy birthday to you," we all started to sing.
"From good friends and true," Mal sang.
"From old friends and new," Carlos continued.
"May good luck go with you," Evie added.
"And happiness too," the three of them finished.
"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Jay. Happy birthday to you," we all finished.
Jay blew out the candles on his cookie cake. My mom put the presents in front of him and he smiled brightly at her. He didn't even open them before he scooped her up in a bear hug.
My parents got him a tourney helmet engraved with his name and number on it, a very expensive looking matte black watch, a new black and red leather wallet, a laptop and some more tourney stuff. After opening his gifts he gave my mom another hug, and reached his hand out to my dad, but my dad is a huge teddy bear and pulled Jay into a hug.
When we were all done with our dessert, Mrs. Potts was clearing the table and Mal insisted on helping her. I didn't want to leave to go upstairs without Mal, but I knew she was going to be helping Mrs. Potts for a while.
It was close to 10 by the time I went to sleep and I woke up when I felt someone curling up into my side. I opened my eyes to see that Mal had snuck into my room and was resting her head on my chest.
"Hello, to you too," I said wrapping my arm around her.
"Hey. I hope you don't mind. I just didn't get to spend any time with you today," she said.
"No. Not at all," I said, leaning down and giving her a kiss. "In fact you can sneak into my room any time you want," I told her as I buried my nose in her hair.
"I may take you up on that," she said, giggling.
I kissed the top of her head and closed my eyes. I couldn't wait for the rest of the holidays to come. I was so thankful for everything that had been happening. My family. My friends. Mal. I couldn't imagine anyone better to spend my holidays with.
(Sunday, December 19th)
(MAL'S POV)
"E, come on! Ben will be here with the limo in like 30 minutes!" I shouted toward the bathroom. "And if you're not done by the time he gets here he's going to have Carlos and Jay carry you out of here."
Evie opened the door to the bathroom and her hands were full of things she 'says' she needs.
"M. We are going to be attending the annual Auradon Christmas Eve ball. I cannot forget anything that might make us not prepared," she said running to her suitcase.
"E. Everything will be fine. You finished our dresses and took them to the castle, you made sure that you brought everything you needed about a bazillion times, and you even made sure that you had double of everything in your room at the castle," I told her.
"I know, M, but I just want to make sure that everything is perfect. Especially for you," she said packing up the last bit of stuff she brought out from the bathroom.
"Why me?"
"Mal this will be your first ball as Lady of the Court. You are going to be on Ben's arm. All eyes are going to be on you. I just want to make sure that you look perfect because I already know you can handle everything else," she said.
"Thank you, E," I told her. "But Ben hasn't asked me to the ball," I told her.
"Mal, you are his Lady of the Court. Itself implied that you guys are going together," she said, looking at me.
"Doug asked you and you guys are dating," I told her looking back at her.
I know that Ben and I are dating and that I am his Lady of the Court, but it seemed very unlike Ben to just skip out on asking me.
"Well, maybe he is," she told me.
She turned away from me trying to hide the smile forming on her face.
"E?" I started, but was interrupted by my laptop pinging. "You're lucky my parents are calling," I told her, pointing at her.
I walked over to my desk and answered the call.
"Hi, Dad! Hi, mom!" I said as they appeared on the screen.
"Hey! What about me?" Hadie said.
"I mean I saw you too, but you know… you are you," I said, jokingly.
Hadie put his fist up to his heart like he had been stabbed. "You wound me, big sis," he said, closing his eyes.
Evie came over my shoulder and smiled. "Hey, everyone!" she exclaimed and waved.
They all waved back and smiled at my best friend.
"Did Seph give you all the gifts from us?" she asked.
"YES! I love them!" Hadie exclaimed, making Evie and I squint at him.
"Hadie. You weren't supposed to open those until Christmas," she said putting a hand on her hip.
My parents slowly looked at Hadie who gave them a sheepish smile.
"It opened on accident?" he said, holding his hands out.
"We wrapped them in paper," I told him.
"I'm a VK what do you expect!" he said, throwing his hands up in defeat.
We all laughed and then mom started to talk.
"Evie. I gave the presents you, Jay and Carlos had to your parents and they didn't bother waiting either. You should have seen their faces when they saw what you gave them. They were so happy," she told Evie.
When Ben told us about Christmas and how you give presents on Christmas, we started to panic. Evie and I ran to our dorm and started to make a list of all the people that we had to buy presents for. It only took us about an hour or so, but we made our list; Jay, Carlos, each other, Ben, Chad, Jordan, Lonnie, Doug, Jane, Ryder, Aziz, Belle, Adam, Mrs. Potts. Lumier, Cogsworth, FG, Fifi, Chip, and our Isle family.
It wasn't as hard as we thought, buying presents. Evie had bought a bunch of different fabrics and made new outfits for everyone. I painted a portrait of Belle, Adam and Ben for Belle and Adam's present, and got them each a couple of things for both of them. I got Jay a gift card to the sporting goods store he fell in love with at the mall a couple of weeks ago, a pair of leather gloves, a new beanie and some candies. I got Carlos a bunch of laptop stuff, because Ben said that he was buying Evie and Carlos laptops since Jay and I already had ones, and I bought him some candies. I had got Evie a new sketchbook for her designs, a new sewing kit, fancy color sketching pencils and a whole new makeup set. I got Chad, Aziz and Ryder all gift cards to the same sporting goods store that I had gotten Jay's and I also got them matching helmets like Jay got for his birthday. I got Lonnie, Jordan, Jane and FG gift certificates to the spa for a full package of relaxation, not to mention that I got Evie, Belle and my mom ones too. I had no idea what to get Doug, until Evie told me that he wanted a new guitar, thankfully Ben was able to tell me what kind of guitar that he wanted and helped me order it. I got Mrs. Potts a new apron that was embroidered with her name, a small necklace with Chip's birthstone on it and as a little funny addition, I bought her a white tea cup with a purple rim and the rim had a chip on it. I bought Lumier and Cogworth both pocket watches and I added pictures on the inside. In Lumier's I put a copy of a picture of him and Fifi that I saw sitting on the mantel in the dining hall and next to that one was a picture of FG, Cogsworth and a 2 year old Jane. Chip was a little harder for me. Ben always talked about him and I knew he liked to take pictures. I ended up asking Ben for help on that one too and he helped me pick out a really good camera for Chip. I got my dad a new electric guitar when I had Ben order Doug's guitar. I got a necklace for mom with mine and Hadie's birthstones on it. I got Hadie a new pair of drumsticks, a new leather jacket and a bath set. And Ben. I had to make sure that my gift for Ben was perfect, because I knew that he was going to try and make our first Christmas in Auradon as perfect as he could. I got him a pair of custom made gold cufflinks that resembled his signet ring, a tourney helmet with his name and number on it, a new watch that was engraved on the back, and he wanted me to paint a picture on him and I, so I painted a small painting of us from my birthday.
"So, Mally. When is that boyfriend of yours coming to pick you guys up?" my dad asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"He should be…" and then there was a knock at the door. "Speak and he shall appear," I said with a smile before getting up.
I walked to the door with a smile on my face. It has been three days since I saw Ben. He had been busy getting things ready at the castle and finishing up with some of the last minute council stuff and I was so excited to see him.
"Eh bien, bonjour, t'es mignon…" (well, good morning you cute…) I said opening the door, but stopped when I saw that it wasn't Ben. It was Trevor. "Oh! Hi, Trevor. I thought you were Ben," I said, slightly hiding behind the door.
"Nope. No King. Just a me," he said as he rocked back and forth on his heels.
It was then I noticed that he had a small purple gift bag on his hands. Oh, gosh. I hope he didn't really just bring me a gift.
I heard Evie whispering, but I couldn't hear what she was saying.
"So, did you need something?" I asked.
"Yeah. First I brought you this," he said, handing me the present.
"Oh… umm… thank you, but I didn't get you anything," I said, messing with the tissue paper in the back.
"It's okay. I wasn't expecting anything, but why don't you open it," he said, putting me on the spot.
I looked back at Evie who just shrugged and shook her head. "Umm… yeah… okay," I said as I turned back to Trevor.
I slowly pulled the paper out of the bag, letting the paper fall to the floor and saw a small box in the bag. I looked up at Trevor and he gave me a small smile. I took the box out of the bag and opened it to see a small gold bay scallop shell necklace with my name engraved into it.
"Oh. Wow, Trevor," I said looking up at him. "It's pretty," I said, giving him a tight smile.
I didn't know how to react to this. Why would he give me a present? I get that he likes me, but he knows Ben and I are together and that we are soulmates. Why wouldn't he just stop?
"There is a pearl inside of it too. My aunt Aquata has a vast selection of them and I asked if I could have a purple one for you," he said, smiling down at me.
"Oh," I said. "Thank you. Is that all?"
"And… I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Christmas Eve ball with me?" He asked.
"Trevor. I'm going with Ben. Remember I'm his lady of the Court," I said.
"Yeah. I know. I just… I never saw or heard that he asked you," he told me.
"It's kind of implied," I told him.
"Well…" he started.
"I would stop there if I were you," someone said. Trevor turned around, moving to show a very annoyed Ben standing there. "I thought that we talked about this, Trevor," Ben said, taking a couple more steps in our direction.
"As I remember it, your majesty, it wasn't a talk. You punched me in the face and ran off," Trevor said, looking up at Ben slightly.
"What?" I asked.
"No, I told you to stop talking to her because you make her feel uncomfortable. Did you not realize it when you put your arm around her during family day?" Ben said, crossing his arms over his chest.
They were at a standoff just looking at each other. Ben didn't say anything else and neither did Trevor.
"I'll see you later, Mal," Trevor told me, but didn't take his eyes off Ben.
He walked past Ben and pushed him with his shoulder. He walked down the hall, not turning back to look at either of us, and disappeared around the corner.
Ben stood in the hall, glaring where Trevor had disappeared. I slowly walked up to him and heard him breathing heavy and I could swear he was growling.
"Ben. Babe. Looking at me," I said putting my hands on the side of his face. He didn't take his eyes away from where he was looking. "Ben. I need you to look at me. Please?" I asked.
His eyes looked at me and they immediately softened.
"I'm sorry," he said, putting his head down.
"Hey. Hey," I said, pulling him into a hug. "It's okay."
He held me tightly. Like he was going to lose me.
"Are you okay?" I asked, pulling away.
He nodded his head. "Yeah. I'm okay. I'm sorry for getting mad like that," he said.
"It's okay. I know you don't like him," I told him.
"Yeah… I really don't," he said. "What did he give you?" He asked, pointing to the bag.
"Mally!" I heard my dad call.
"I'll show you later. I was talking to my parents and Hadie before Trevor came by," I said, pulling him into my room.
I closed the door behind us and put the purple bag down on my bed before walking back to my desk.
"Sorry, guys," I said, sitting down in my chair.
"Yeah. Yeah. Who was the prick?" Hadie asked.
"Hadie! That's rude," I said.
"Well, judging by, Bennyboy's face" my dad said, nudging his head. "He agrees."
I turned to look up and Ben and saw him shaking his head.
"So, why don't you tell me what the prick did on family day before I ask Bennyboy, because I know he won't dare lie to me," my dad said.
I signed and nodded my head. "Okay," I said.
I told them what happened between Trevor and I. From the first time he introduced himself, to the night before family day, what he said outside of the dorms, to him wrapping his arm around me at family day, and today.
"Okay, Ben. Your turn," my dad said.
"Umm… okay," he said as he looked at Evie and I. "Well, first was the day of the championship game, he didn't do anything bad, per say, but I did get jealous when he was talking to Mal. Which led to Mal and I having an argument. Then on that Saturday a couple of my tourney teammates came up to me on my way back from breakfast and told me that they were surprised Mal and I were together and that Trevor liked her. Then the day before family day. I was on my way to the gym when I heard Trevor say that Mal and I have nothing in common and that he was going to keep flirting with her even though she wouldn't be 'up for grabs' until we break up or I make her my Queen. Then there was actual family day when I bumped into him and he wanted to talk to Mal and invited her to go to Atlantica for the weekend. I told him Mal couldn't swim and that he should know that Mal is my girlfriend and I told him that he needed to stop flirting with her. He said he wasn't and that Mal and I were never going to last. He said that I'm not good enough for her and that soulmates can end up being just friends and that I would never make her happy. Jay Carlos and the rest of my friends came and stopped me from punching him in the face. He said I wouldn't make her happy again. I punched him in the face and left. And then today," Ben said.
"I didn't know about all of that," I said to him.
"I'm sorry. I know I said I would tell you but I didn't want you to hear all of the crap he said about us," he said kneeling down and taking my hands in him. "I guess I was just scared that you would think about what he said and actually break up with me," he said looking at the ground.
"Hey. Look at me," I said pulling his chin up with my fingers. "I love you. I am not going to leave you. I told you this," I said.
"I know. I just don't like that he doesn't get the hint," he told me.
"Well, he will have to, because I'm with you for the long haul," I said, giving a small kiss.
"Well, not that I'm not happy to see my daughter happy, but come on," my dad whined, crushing his eyes closed.
"I would say sorry, dad, but I'm not," I said smiling at Ben.
"Yeah. Yeah, I hope that kid gets it through his thick head that you aren't available," my dad said, shaking his head. "He seems pretty confident in himself and damn, he almost reminds me of…" but he didn't finish his sentence.
"Of who dad?" I asked.
He shook his head and smiled at me. "No. Nothing," he said. "So when are you guys leaving?" He asked.
"I actually just came to help the girls with their bags," Ben said as he stood up. "But I have a small present for Mal," he added, pulling a small black velvet box, with a purple bow on top, out of his pocket.
"You better not be proposing!" My dad yelled.
"No. No I'm not," Ben replied with a chuckle.
"Okay. Good. Because you don't have my blessing… yet," my dad said, making Ben, Evie and I laugh.
"But first I want to see what Trevor bought you," Ben said.
I walked to my bed and grabbed the purple bag. I reached for the black box and showed Ben the shell necklace that Trevor gave me.
"It looks just like his sisters," he said. "Well, except for the pearl. When you open Melody's, a bubble appears with Atlantica inside and plays a song," he said, putting the necklace back in the box.
"Which fish is his parent?" Hadie asked.
"He is the son of Ariel and Eric, but he's adopted," I told them.
"Huh…" my dad said.
"I see your gears turning, dad. What are you thinking about?" I asked.
"Nothing. Nothing," he said. "Open your present from Beastie JR." he said.
"I don't know," Ben said, making me look back at him. "Mal got a pretty sweet gift from her admirer. I don't think she would want this," he said jokingly, holding the black box up in the air.
"Shut up and gimme!" I said, holding my hands out.
He laughed and then placed the box in my hand. I slowly took the purple bow off and opened the box to see a silver rose pendant necklace with a beautiful amethyst in the center. It was so beautiful and I couldn't believe that he bought me such a beautiful present.
"Ben. It's beautiful," I said looking up at him. "Can you put it on me?" I asked.
He nodded his head and took the necklace out of the box and placed it around my neck.
"And I hate for me to ask you the same way trevor did, but I was going to do this a little different before," he said. "Will you do me the honor of being my date for the Annual Christmas Ball?"
I smiled brightly at him. "Yes you goof," I said before hugging him.
We broke a part and turned back to my parents.
"That's a really pretty gift, Mally," my mom said.
I looked up at Ben and smiled. "Yeah. it really is."
"So, Mally. I was wondering if your mother and I could open our presents from you?" my dad asked.
"I mean… they are supposed to be open on Christmas, but… I guess that would be okay," I said, smiling at the screen.
Evie, Ben and I watched as my family opened their presents. My mom loved her necklace and spa certificate. I heard hadie in the background playing his drums and my dad beamed when he opened his new lead electric guitar. Ben and I had it custom made and it was electric blue. We even sent him extra strings and a jar of guitar picks. Evie made both Hadie and my dad leather vest, leather jackets, new pants and black t-shirts. She made my mom a beautiful floor length oil green dress with gold trimmings.
"Thank you, guys!" My mom said.
"Yeah. Thank you, Mally, Princess, and Beastie Jr.!" My dad said.
"Mally. Quick question," my mom said, making me look at her. "I opened accounts for you and your friends and gave you an allowance on it," she said.
"Yes?" I said confused.
"How did you buy all of these presents on that allowance and still have some for yourself?"
Oh! I see where she is going with this.
"Oh! Well, Ben never closed our accounts after we told him that you had opened accounts for us. He said that we could keep the accounts and use the money if we ever needed it and that he would still continue to add into it," I explained. "We actually never touched it until we started buying Christmas gifts," I said at Ben from the corner of my eye.
"I see. So, Ben was thinking ahead?" she asked, looking toward Ben.
"I guess you could say that," Ben said coyly.
"Well, thank you for taking care of my girls," my dad said.
I couldn't help but notice the smile Evie grew on her face after hearing my dad call her his girl. Evie has been a sister to me since we were 10 and her and my dad had always gotten along great. I looked back at the screen and saw my dad smiling.
"Dad? Do you like Ben?" I said, raising my eyebrow at him. "The guy who is dating your daughter and who stole her heart?"
He scoffed. "No," he said leaning back in his chair.
I saw something hanging on the wall that wasn't there before and when I looked closer I saw that it was a picture of Ben and I at his coronation.
"Oh really?" I said, looking up at Ben who smiled because he saw the picture too. "Is that a picture of Ben and I on the cave wall?" I asked pointing to the picture on the wall.
His eyes widened and Hadie put his face close to his face.
"She got you, dad," Hadie said, keeping his nose pressed against my dad's face.
"She got you good," my mom said, pressing her nose on the other side of his face and laughed.
"Okay. Okay. I would love to stay and talk to my daughter all day if I could, but she has places to be," my dad said as he sat up.
"Alright dad. I'll talk to you later," I said waving at the screen.
"Bye, Mally!" Hadie yelled.
"Bye, Hadie," I waved. "Bye, mom!"
"Bye, Mally! Bye, Evie! Bye, Ben" she said, blowing a kiss to me.
"Bye, Seph! Bye, Hades!" Evie said.
"Bye, Princess. Bye, baby girl. Bye, Beastie Jr." my dad said, smiling at us.
"Bye, Lord Drakos," Ben said, waving at the screen.
"Bye, daddy," I told him before the screen went black.
"Well, he likes you," I said, turning in my seat toward Ben.
"Well, good, because I don't know what I would do if he hated me," he said as he picked up both Evie and I's big luggage bags and walked toward the door. "But we better hurry. I stopped by the guys' dorm and they should be waiting for us downstairs. Plus, Mrs. Potts was very eager to show you how to make gingerbread houses and my mom wants to know how you wrapped your presents, and I quote, so cute."
"Cool, I'll show her when we get there," I said, closing, and locking the door behind me before I looped my arm through Evie's. "But, one question before we head out," I said walking behind him. "What is a gingerbread house?" I asked.
Ben stopped and turned to stare at both of us. "My gosh! I have so much to teach you!" He exclaimed and walked down the hall.
Evie and I laughed and followed him out to the limo to enjoy our first Christmas in Auradon.
When we got here on Sunday Belle was jumping up and down at the foot of the stairs. She quickly pulled the boys into hugs and pulled Evie and I upstairs to our , with the boys following with our bags. Belle had gone all out for us. She had bought us our own Christmas trees for our rooms. She told us that she ordered our Christmas trees that day after we said that we would join them for Christmas and that they arrived yesterday. My tree had purple and blue lights, Evie's had blue and red, Carlos' had white and red, and Jay's had yellow and red. She had ornaments up on them and stars on top. She went on to tell how she had stockings made for us and that she had bought us matching pajamas, but we couldn't have them until Christmas Eve. After that Mrs. Potts came into my room and whisked me away to show me what a gingerbread house was. I was really excited to make these and it looked like a lot of fun. Belle and Adam held a contest for who decorated the best house, and with me being the artistic person that I am, I won. It wasn't even that much of a competition to be honest. Jay and Carlos ate half their hours by the time we were done, Evie and Ben were a mess, and I did mine in about 20 minutes. When Belle and Adam said that I won, making Ben lean over and take a bite out of my roof. He then proceeded to tell me that I did a good job at marking them and took another piece of mine.
The next day Ben woke me up so early. He walked me out to my balcony, wrapped a blanket around us and pointed to the sky. I didn't see anything at first and then I felt something cold hit my cheek. Little spots of white were falling from the sky. That was the first time I had ever seen snow before and it was so beautiful and then Ben turned me around to face him. He smiled down at me before he leaned in and gave me a kiss. It was warm and soft, not like other times he had kissed me. He had given me a lot of first and I loved every single one, but this is one that I would remember for years. My first snowfall kiss. That same day after Ben and I had gone back to sleep, Belle came into my room and wanted me to show her how I wrapped my presents. I didn't know how to wrap my gifts until Doug came and showed me how I could look up different ways to wrap them on the internet. When Belle took us out shopping for the boys Evie and I ended up buying all different types of wrapping so that you could tell whose is from who. Evie picked out a red wrapping paper with white polka dots and bought a green ribbon to wrap around it. We bought Jay wrapping paper with snowmen on it. We got Carlos wrapping paper with dogs in christmas sweaters on it. And I bought plain brown wrapping paper and blue and purple twine to wrap around it. I wrapped my presents, making them look like, what the video called, brown christmas parcel wrapping.
On Tuesday, Ben had an emergency council meeting and I was so thankful that I didn't have to be in attendance. Evie had finished my last fitting for my dress and I was in the kitchen making cookies while Mrs. Potts was making lunch for Ben and the council members. I knew Ben was going to be in there almost all day, so I placed the cookies on a plate and placed them on the cart Lumier was going to take to the council room. By the time Ben was out of the meeting we were all sitting down to dinner. He walked in and looked so tired that he almost fell asleep at the table. After dinner I walked Ben back to his room, because if I didn't I was afraid I was going to find him passed out on the staircase. I opened the door to his room and walked him to his bed, but before I could lay him down he grabbed me and pulled onto the bed with him. He asked me if I would stay and watch a movie with him because he hasn't seen me all day. I told him that he needed to get his sleep because we were going to the Christmas festival in Auradon square tomorrow. He pleaded with me to stay and I couldn't say no to him. As quickly as he could he moved up the bed and I crawled up next to him. He put on his favorite Christmas movie, the Grinch, and I loved it. The movie was over and when I looked up at Ben he was asleep. I got up and helped him out of his tie and shirt, but stopped when I got to his pants. I lightly shook him and told him that he needed to take his pants off so that he could go to bed, making him groan. He reluctantly got up and stretched. I gave him a quick kiss before leaving him to sleep for the rest of the night.
Wednesday was the start of the Christmas festival in Auradon square. Everyone in the castle was going and was so excited to see Ben light up Auradon square for Christmas. It was around 1 in the afternoon when we were all gathering to leave. Belle had bought my friends and I new coats to keep us warm. I was dressed in a pair of black jeans, a pair of purple retro comfy chunky-heel lace-up boots, a black long-sleeved shirt, my new purple coat, and a black scarf around my neck. The jacket was so soft on the inside. It had fur on the inside that it would make Cruella jealous. Evie had the same one except that her's was cherry red. Jay and Carlos had ones that looked like Ben and Adam's, though Jay's was burgundy and Carlos' was black. We all climbed into the limo once it pulled up. The ride there was full of conversation. Ben was so excited to show us around the festival. Once we got there Ben pulled me out of the limo and pulled us into the hot chocolate line. We met up with the rest of our friends and they showed all around. Watching Ben and how excited he was to show us Christmas in Auradon. He looked like a little kid and it was so cute. After about 3 hours of fooling around Belle and Adam called us to meet them for dinner. We all enjoyed a lovely dinner at one of Tiana's restaurants. By the time we made it back to Auradon square it was time for Ben to make a speech.
"Hello, citizens of Auradon. I am so excited to welcome all of you to this year's Christmas festival. As all of you know, this will be my first Christmas as King of Auradon and I couldn't be more happier to be here tonight with all of you and light up the night with Christmas cheer. I don't want to keep you from the festivities, so let's get this show on the road, shall we?" Ben said as he pressed a giant red button, lighting up the streets and the big tree in the middle of the square.
Everything was beautiful. The colorful lights dancing around the sky. The huge Christmas decorated in white lights. It was breathtaking. A pair of arms startled me.
"Pretty great isn't it?" Ben asked in my ear.
"More than great," I said looking up at the lights.
"I hope your first Christmas in Auradon is one you'll remember forever," he told me.
I turned in his arms. "I will remember every Christmas I have in Auradon, because I will be spending each one with you," I told him, making him smile at me and leaned down and gave me a long slow kiss.
Thursday, Belle called all of us to her library. When we got there she had 7 small gift boxes sitting on the table in the middle of the room. We all sat around the table. Ben and I sat on the love seat, Evie, Jay and Carlos sat on the sofa, and Belle and Adam were sitting in chairs on either side of the table.
"Okay. In our family we have a tradition where we have an ornament personalized every year. Adam and I didn't know whether to put your first Christmas in Auradon, just your names, or all of your names on them, but then I remembered something special that has happened to all of you since you came to Auradon," she said with a smile.
"What is thatBelle?" Evie asked.
"You all found your soulmates," she said. "I know it is cheesy, but I thought that it would be something sweet. But anyway go on and open them."
We all opened our small gift and I couldn't help but smile at the ornament in my hand. Belle and Adam had a circular porcelain picture of Ben and I, it was actually the same picture that was hanging on my dad's cave wall, and if you turned it over Ben and I's name were on it and the year. It was a really cute ornament and I didn't care if anyone thought that it was cheesy, because I loved it. I looked at Ben's and saw that he had the exact same one. Evie, Carlos and Jay smiled at their ornaments.
"I hope that you like them. As I said I know it's cheesy…"
"We love them!" Jay exclaimed, standing up, walking over to her and giving her a big hug. "Thank you."
"Oh. Your welcome, sweetheart," she said, returning the hug.
Adam then tapped Belle on the shoulder and held up her present to her. She opened it and it was a porcelain heart and it had all of our names on it and in all of our colors. On the back it said 'The Year Four Became Seven.'
Belle told us that we could put our ornaments on the trees in our rooms or we could put them on the tree in the grand ballroom. We all decided to put our ornaments on the tree in the grand ballroom. The tree was full of beautiful ornaments, blue and yellow glass balls, multiple ornaments counting the years, ornaments made by Ben when he was little, and so many more that I couldn't even describe them all. We placed all of our ornaments on the tree, making sure that Ben and mine were farther apart because they were the same.
The rest of the day was spent sitting around the castle. We listened to Belle and Adam as they told us stories about their Christmases and Ben's baby Christmases.
It was now Christmas Eve and everyone was going crazy around the castle. Mrs. Potts was going mad in the kitchen. I offered to help but she put her foot down, telling me that I needed to get ready for the ball. Belle and Adam were in verbal debates with Lumier and Cogsworth about decorations, and were losing those debates. Jay and Carlos were off with Ben working out in the castle gym. And I was trying to hide from Evie. I was currently hiding in Ben's room because Evie already checked here when I was hiding from her under his bed. I was currently laying on Ben's bed and I was so lost in my drawing I didn't hear someone walk in.
"Evie is going to kill you when she finds you," Ben said as he closed the door behind him.
"Not if you don't tell her where I am," I teased.
"Are you excited for tonight?" He asked me as he sat on his bed.
I crawled over to where he was. "In all honesty, I'm getting kind of nervous," I admitted.
"Babe. Everything is going to be fine. It is literally just a party," he told me.
"Yes. A party full of Kings and Queens, princesses and Princes. I'm just a girl from the Isle," I told him with a shrug.
He stood up and looked down at me. "You," he said, holding his hand out to me. I gave him my hand and he pulled me up off the bed and into his arms. "Are much more than a girl from the Isle. You are beautiful, perfect, creative, the best person in the world, someone I know I can never live without, and someone I cannot wait to show off," he said as he leaned down to give me a kiss.
"What if I trip and fall?" I asked.
"I would be there to catch you before you hit the ground."
"What if I rip my dress?"
"I would whisk you away so that you could change before anyone even noticed."
"What Leah is there and she makes me so mad that I turn into a dragon?" I asked, squinting at him.
"I would ask you for a ride," he said with a chuckle. "And I would hope that you would give me one."
I laughed at him. "Yes. I would give you a ride if I turned into a dragon," I said, pushing up onto my toes to press my lips against his.
"I better go," I whispered, putting my forehead on his. "Evie will actually kill me if I'm not in my room soon," I said as I started to pull away.
"No," he said before he pulled me back, crushing his lips to mine.
He pulled me closing any space that was between us. He knotted his fingers into my hair, deepening the kiss. I wrapped my arms around him. Our kiss started to get heated. I know I told Ben that I wanted to take things slow, but we are soulmates. I know that he would never do anything to hurt me and knowing that about him made me trust him with every fiber of my being. I mean… I think he knows that too. For Zeus' sake, he's seen me in my underwear!
"Ben!" We both heard Evie yell from behind the door. "Do you know where Mal is? I can't find her anywhere!" She said.
"I really should go. It's almost 3 and she is going to be doing the works on me," I said.
"I don't want you to go though," he said, moving his hold to my waist.
"Yes, I know. But the ball started at 5 and if I don't go now I'm going to be dancing in my underwear," I said, making him look at me with wide eyes.
He bent down, picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder.
"Yeah. No. That's not going to happen," he said as he walked toward the door.
He stopped at the door and opened it shocking Evie. "Here you go," he said as he placed me back on the floor next to Evie. "Make sure she's ready in time," he said with a wink before he turned and closed the door to his room. I laughed before Evie pulled me to my room and started to make me into a Lady of the Court.
After my shower Evie sat me down at the vanity that Belle had bought for me. I was glad to see that Evie had done her hair while I was in the shower. She had her hair up on a slick sleek bun and had a new hairpin that Belle had bought her tucked into the rim of her bun. Belle had bought her a ruby poinsettia hairpin and Evie almost cried when Belle gave it to her. She did my hair in my favorite ponytail. She braided the sides of my hair, left my bangs over my forehead, pulled the rest of my hair up high and curled what was in the ponytail. Instead of wearing the crown that Belle gave me I decided to wear the custom handmade crystal headband hair accessory she bought me. I had told her multiple times that she didn't need to buy me anything but she insisted. It was really beautiful though. Belle said it was made of crystals and she had thrown a few amethyst and sapphires on there. It was long too. Evie laid it on my head, intertwined it through my braids and pinned it into my ponytail so that it fell down with the rest of my hair.
For my makeup Evie went a little bit more than what she would normally do. She did a black and gold combination on my eyes which looked so pretty, making my green eyes pop. To finish the look off, she added the same gold eyeshadow to my water line and used a white cream to the corner of your eyes to stand out. She made my cheeks rosy and added highlighter to make my cheekbones shimmer. And finally she finished me off with a dusty rose matte lipstick.
I went to my closet to change into my undergarments so that Evie could finish her makeup. I pulled my dress off the rack in my closet and walked out to see Evie putting her ruby red lipstick on.
"E," I said,making her turn to me. "Can you help me?"
She nodded and then walked over and helped me into my dress. She made me a beautiful long emerald green ball gown. It was off the shoulder cap sleeve, a sweetheart neckline, it has sparkles trailing from the top to the bottom, a corset back and a chapel train.
"Evie. I know I tell you this all of the time, but you have out done yourself," I told her as she tightened the last part of my corset.
"Thank you, Mal, but every dress isn't complete without the perfect pair of shoes," she told me as she held up a pair of green velvet peep toe chunky heels with cross straps.
"Evie! They are beautiful!" I said, taking the shoes from her.
"Again," I heard from behind us. I turned to see Ben standing in my doorway in a dark royal blue tuxedo jacket with a golden beast crest down into the lapel, a matching bow tie, black dress pants and a yellow handkerchief in his breast pocket. "Nothing is as beautiful as you," he said walking up to me.
"You look very handsome," I told him as he closed the space between us.
He leaned down and gave me a kiss before Evie cleared her throat, making us break apart.
"Do not ruin her lipstick, Benjamin!" She said, pointing at him.
"I make no promises," he said, giving me another kiss.
"You are so lucky I have 10 minutes before I have to be downstairs and I have to change into my dress or else I would give you an ear full," she said, walking toward the door.
"See you down there, E," I called.
"Yeah. Yeah," she said, waving her hand and closing the door after she left.
"So back to where we were," Ben said, putting two fingers under my chin bringing his lips close to mine.
"Well, I was about to put on my shoes because we have to be down there soon," I said, sitting down on my bed.
"That's no fun," he said, kicking the rug on the floor.
"Oh," I said, pretending to pout. "Is Benny sad because he's not getting any kisses?"
He nodded his head and pouted.
I strapped on my shoes and walked up to him. I gave him a small kiss before, looking up at him.
"Well, we don't have time for kisses right now, but I will give you as many as you want later," I said straightening out his bow tie.
"Je te tiendrai à l'idée," (I will be holding you to that,) he said, making me laugh.
"Je ne doute pas que pendant une minute," (I don't doubt that for one minute,) I said. "Now let's go before people come looking for us."
Ben and I stood at the top of the stairs to be announced. I was starting to get nervous and I was fiddling with my necklace.
"Mal. Calm down," Ben said, taking my hand in his.
"That's easy for you to say. You grew up around this," I said pointing to the giant door in front of us.
"Yes. But remember," he said looking down at me. "I will catch you if you fall, whisk you away if you rip your dress, and ask for a ride if you turn into a dragon," he said with a wink.
I laughed at him. "I love you," I said, giving him a small kiss.
"I love you too."
Then we heard the trumpets, letting us know that we were about to be introduced.
"Now presenting King Benjamin Anderson of Auradon and his lady Mallory Drakos of Auradon," we heard Lumier announce.
The double doors opened and Ben looped my arm through his. We walked to the foot of the stairs and looked down at the giant crowd of royals, but two caught my eye that might try to ruin tonight for Ben and I. Trevor and Leah. I knew Trevor was going to be here, but I was hoping that Leah wouldn't be. I took a deep breath and pushed all my worried feelings down. Ben escorted me down the steps and at the foot of the stairs were his parents and my friends.
Once we got to the bottom of the staircase Belle pulled me into a hug. She was wearing a simple yellow satin ball gown, with a sweetheart neckline and an open back.
"Mal. You look beautiful as always," she said over my shoulder.
"Nothing compares to you," I told her.
We pulled apart and Adam took my hand. "You look, lovely, Mal," he told me.
"Thank you. You look very dashing," I said. "Like father like son," I said with a smile.
He chuckled at me and then I walked to my friends. Evie was wearing a royal blue sleeveless beaded and lace v-neck ball gown. Jay and Carlos were both wearing velvet jackets with back dress pants. Jay's was a burgundy jacket, a black dress shirt, with a mustard yellow bow tie, matching handkerchief in his breast pocket, and his hair was pulled into a sleek bun. Carlos was wearing a black jacket, a red dress shirt, with a black bow tie, matching handkerchief in his breast pocket.
"Well, don't you boys clean up nice," I said walking up to them.
"Well, our friend is the King so we have to dress the part," Jay said, puffing up his chest.
"May I steal my date? It's time for the first dance," Ben said, coming up behind me and placing a hand on my lower back.
"You can borrow her," Carlos said jokingly.
"And you may borrow Jane," Ben joked back, making Carlos go into shock.
We laughed and then Ben led me to the dance floor. We stood in the middle of the dance floor and then the music started and Ben guided me around the dance floor.
"We're dancing to your parents' song," I noted, smiling up at him.
He nodded his head. "Yeah. I was going to choose once upon a dream, but I didn't want Leah to give you any reason to dragon out tonight," he said, twirling me around.
"Dragon out?" I asked.
"Yeah, because you're my dragon," he said.
"I know that is in relation to my birth mother, but that is really cute," I said chuckling.
"I aim to please."
We danced to the song and people were watching, but I didn't care. All I cared about was the person smiling down at me. Ben.
After Ben and I did the opening dance everyone else joined in on the dance floor. Jay and Lonnie were dancing together. Lonnie was wearing a dusty gray sheath column floral off the shoulder dress. It had short sleeves, a court chain, a tulle sash and a ribbon overskirt. I looked to the side and then found Carlos and Jane talking to FG and Cogsworth. Jane was wearing a baby blue strapless v-neck ball gown made up of all sorts of layers of tulle and lace. And then my eyes found Jordan and Chad. Jordan was wearing a dusky peach embroidered anarkali suit with a front slit. It was embroidered with gold designs and beads. It was finished off with a matching peach dupatta with gold embroidery and beads.
After a couple of dances Lumier announced that dinner would be served in the grand dining hall. We all made our way over and everyone loved the decor Lumier and Cogsworth had done. People gathered around the tree to look at all of the lights and the ornaments and then I remembered our additions to the tree. I stood next to Ben as we watched people look at the tree and I started to feel my stomach tighten. I watched as Trevor and his family walked up to the tree and looked at all of the ornaments. Trevor hadn't noticed Ben and my ornament and I was kind of thankful because I did not want him and Ben to have another standoff. I then saw Snow White and Evie walk up to the tree and Evie showed her, her and Doug's ornament, making Trevor look at the tree in more detail until he found Ben and my ornament. He stared at it and a scowl formed on his face.
"Hey," Ben whispered in my ear. "Don't worry. He wouldn't do anything with his parents around," he said, trying to reassure me.
I smiled up at him. "I'm more worried about you beasting out," he told him with a laugh.
He pointed at me. "I see what you did there," he said with a smile. "Are you ready to sit down? I think Lumier is starting to get impatient," he said, pointing to Lumier.
"Yeah," I nodded.
After dinner we all went back into the grand ballroom and started to mingle around. It was almost half past nine and I was almost dead on my feet. I have danced so much and with so many royals. I was cruelty dancing with my uncle, Zeus, and Ben was dancing with Hera. The song had just ended and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Trevor standing in front of me.
"Can I have a dance?" he asked.
I looked to see Ben glaring at us, but was asked to dance by Trevor's sister Melody.
"Umm… sure," I said.
He put his arm around my waist and it sent a shiver up my spine.
"So, are you enjoying your first Christmas in Auradon?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's great. Adam and Belle have done so much for us," I said.
"Yeah. I can tell. Nice necklace by the way," he said, nudging his head toward my neck.
"Oh. Yeah, Ben gave it to me," I told him.
"Pretty special then."
"Well, yeah. Any gift from Ben is special to me," I said.
I looked to see where Ben was and saw that he was across the dance floor dancing with Melody.
"I guess with you being soulmates and all, I get it. But, besides him being King, I still don't know what you see in him," he said.
I snapped my head in his direction.
"What?"
"I don't know what you see in him," he repeated.
"Well, he's amazing, let's start off there. He is like no other person in this world, he makes me happy, he means the world to me, and I love him," I said.
I really wanted to walk away from him right now, but I know it wouldn't look good if I ran from the middle of the dance floor.
"Well, I could be all of those things and more if you would just see that I was better for you. If you would just look and listen I think you would see it too," he said,
"Trevor. I don't see you as anything other than a friend. You need to stop flirting and the standoffs with Ben, because I am not going to leave him for you," I told him, firmly.
"I think you'll come around. After all we have much more in common than you know," he said and then started to lean in.
I started to panic. I didn't want to kiss anyone besides Ben. I leaned back trying to further myself away from him and then someone placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Mal?" I heard and turned to see Audrey standing behind me and I have never been so happy to see her. "My gammy left and my mom wants to see you," she said with a smile. "She also said that she was sorry for not coming to see you sooner, she just didn't want to leave grammy to wander unsupervised," she finished.
I sighed in relief. Thank the gods! I looped my arm through hers and walked off the dance floor. Once Trevor was out of sight I turned to Audrey.
"Where is your mother?" I asked.
"She is actually on her way home. Grammy was acting rude toward Belle and Adam, so my parents and grandparents left. Flora, Fauna and Merryweather said that they would take me home when the ball is over." she said. "I just saw and heard what Trevor was saying to you and I felt the need to step in and get you out of there," she said.
"Thank you," I said, pulling her into a hug.
"I actually should be the one telling you that," she said, pulling away. "I never thanked you for jumping in front of me at Ben's coronation or for being the one to offer my grammy another punishment," she said looking down at her dress.
She was wearing a long pale pink a-line strapless tulle ball gown with gold lace designs on it.
I took her hands in mine. "Listen. I know that our families had our differences, but we don't have to. I know you and Ben were in a relationship and it was your dream to be Queen and I am sorry for coming in the middle of that," I told her.
"No. You are perfect for him. You make him happy. I have never seen him be so relaxed and carefree," she said, taking a seat at one of the empty tables. "I was never a good girlfriend to him. I was rude, selfish and ungrateful. I know I said some awful things to you and you have every right to hate me, I just hope that both of you can forgive me and we can be friends."
"I would love to be friends," I said, making her look at me with wide eyes. "But, I should apologize too. I am sorry for singing that song during the halftime show," I apologized.
"No! That was such a great song! Relatable, catchy! I really liked it," she said with a laugh.
"It was a great song. Wasn't it?" Ben said as he walked up to us.
"It is not polite to eavesdrop, your majesty," I said, making both Audrey and him laugh.
"Well, I came over here to thank Audrey from pulling you away from Trevor. I was starting to scare Melody, because I started growling when he started to lean into you," he said, sitting down and pulling me into his lap.
"Oh," I said with a pout. "Did Benny almost go beast?" I asked, pushing his crown making it tilt on his head.
"Well, lets see… some douchebag I don't like tried to kiss my girlfriend. So, yes I almost went beast," he said, kissing my cheek.
"And, may I ask, what has you so calm now?" I asked.
"Well, after Audrey pulled you away, Melody's parents came and said that they were leaving. When I came to find you I saw Ariel and Eric lecturing Trevor on the way out," he said with a smug grin.
"And now you are hoping that they transfer him to a different school?" I asked.
He pointed at me. "I didn't say that."
"You didn't deny it either," Audrey said, laughing.
By the time it was 11 almost everyone was gone and I was ready to pass out.
"Are you ready to head to bed?" Ben asked, walking up to me.
I nodded my head and slowly stood up and saw Jay picking up a sleeping Evie, who was laying on a bed of chairs.
"Can you help me to my room? I will probably fall asleep at the foot of the stairs. Even if I make it that far," I said.
"I'll do you one better," he said and before I could even question him he picked me up in a bridal hold and started to walk out of the room.
"Ben, you don't have to carry me," I said.
"But, I want to. It makes me feel closer to you," He said as he headed up the stairs. "Plus there is one more Christmas tradition that I would like to show you. If that's okay?" He asked.
"Okay. Fine. I don't think I have a choice either because I am incapable of using my legs at the moment," I said, making him laugh.
"True. I have you captured now," he said.
He walked up the stairs and turned toward his office. I didn't know the castle that well yet so I wasn't sure exactly where we were going, but I got even more confused when he stopped in front of his office.
"What are we doing at your office?"
He set me down on his feet and pulled his key, unlocking the door, and opened it.
I walked in and felt cold. I looked to my left and saw that the balcony was open. Ben took my hand and led me to the open balcony door. The stone floor was layered in a coat of soft white snow.
"So, what was this Christmas tradition you wanted to show me?" I asked.
He smiled down at me and then pointed up to the top of the door frame. I looked up and saw a green plant with red berries hanging by a red ribbon.
"What is that?"
"That is mistletoe. The tradition is when someone stands under it they are supposed to be given a kiss by the one that loves them or the one they love," he explained. "but, the original custom was that a berry was picked from the spring of mistletoe before the person could be kissed and when all the berries had gone, there could be no more kissing."
"So, when all of those little berries are picked off," I started, meeting his eyes. "There will be no more kissing between you and I?" I asked.
"And that is why I placed it high," he said, wrapping his arms around my waist. "So you can't take ANY of the berries off," he finished and then pressed his lips to mine.
Our kiss got heated fast, making my body warm. He wrapped his arms around me, one on my waist and one on the bare skin of my back. I snaked my arms around his neck and up into his hair. He guided us away from the open balcony until my butt hit the side of his desk. I lifted his crown off his head and placed it on the desk behind me, and moved my hands to the front of his jacket. I slowly undid the bottoms of his jacket, letting it open. He let go of my waist, shrugging it off and threw it on his desk chair.
"I really need to take my shoes off," I said against his lips.
He lifted me up onto the desk and he took my shoes off. He stood up and threw them to the side before he hungrily claimed my lips again. I lifted my hands up and untied his bowtie, while he slowly undid my hair, carefully taking the head piece out and off my head. I felt my hair fall down my back. Ben pushed his body as close as he could with me having my dress on.
"Mal… I uhh…" he said between kisses.
I knew what he meant and I was all for it.
I nodded my head eagerly. "Okay," I said.
He pulled away and looked down at me. He caressed the side of my face and rubbed my cheek with his thumb.
"Are you sure?"
I nodded again. "Yeah."
"Okay, lets go," he said, taking my hand and walking toward the door.
"Here," I said, making him turn to me after he locked the door to his office.
I took his hand and jumped teleporting Ben and I into his room. Once we were in his room he pinned me to the door and locked it. My hands quickly found his hair and his hand held my hips tightly. I undid Ben's vest and then his shirt. He shrugged both off, then wrapped his hands around me again and found the zipper of my dress. He slowly pulled it down and my dress fell to the floor, leaving me standing in a pool of velvet and my bra and underwear. Ben picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist, and kicked my dress to the side. He walked us to his bed and he set me on my feet. He took my face into his hands and continued to kiss me deeply. I snaked my arms around his neck, making him travel down my jaw and to my neck. I let out a soft moan, arching my back from the touch of his stubble moving against my skin. He put one of his hands on the small of my back and laid me gently on the bed.
His hands roamed over my body and his touch gave me goosebumps. I moved my hand to his strong biceps. He smelled so good like sandalwood, oak, and cedar wood. Ben moved lower to my chest and cupped one of my breasts. I let out another moan at the touch. He pulled back to look down at me.
"Are you really sure?" He asked again.
I sat up and looked up at him.
"I'm sure," I told him.
"Mal, I love you so much and I really want to do this, but after what you told me. I want you to be sure that you want to do this," he said.
"Ben. I love you too and I want this. I trust you with my entire being. I know you would never do anything to hurt me," I said, taking his hand. "I want you. Please?"
He smiled at me and then gave me a small kiss. He kicked off his shoes and socks, then grabbed the front of his belt unbuckling it and then moved to his pants. He let them fall to the floor and left him in just his boxers. He moved to the head of the bed and pulled the covers back, and gestured for me to go under first. He followed after and then we started another heated makeout session. Ben rolled on top of me pressing my body into the mattress. I could feel him digging into my thigh and I was yearning to touch him. He moved my legs apart and laid between them. I could feel him pressed against my sex, making me want him even more.
"Ben. Please," I moaned.
He didn't answer. I felt him hook his finger under the thin waistband of my underwear and ripped it off.
"Okay. That was a little aggressive and I'm sorry, but I'll take my boxers off if you do your bra, because I'm all honesty… I don't know how you take that thing on and off," he said.
I laughed and then sat up a bit to unclasp my bra while he took his boxers off. We both threw the rest of our clothes to the floor. He climbed back on top of me and stared down at me. He leaned in and gave me a kiss, moving his hand from my bust down to the bottom of my butt. We let our hands roam over each other's bodies until I had enough courage to take his member into my hand. The slightest touch made him groan against my lips. I started to slowly stroke him up and down his very impressive long length while he kneaded one of my breasts. He let his fingers travel from my breasts, down to my navel, until he reached my heated area. He, ever so slowly, circle my clit with his middle and ring finger, making my breath hitch. I arched my back pushing my stomach to his and then he pulled his hand back to look at me.
"Are you… ummm… are…" he mumbled.
"Yeah," I nodded, pushed myself up, pulling my legs up.
"It's going to hurt," he said.
"I know, but only for a little bit," I said.
He slowly guided himself to my entrance and slowly entered me. He let out a loud growl as he pushed further. I groaned from the pain, making him stop.
"We can stop," he said as he started to slowly pull out.
"No," I stated, pulling him closer. "I'm fine. Remember it will only hurt for a bit," I said.
He nodded his head and then pushed back into me, further and deeper, until his full, girthie length was completely inside of me.
"Let me know when you're ready," he told me.
"Okay," I said, trying to catch my breath.
I took a couple of breaths before I nodded telling him to go. He slowly pulled out and then pushed back in. The pain started to ease and turn into pleasure, making me moan.
"Oh, Ben," I moaned into his neck. "Faster, please."
He started to thrust in and out of me faster.
"Oh gods, Mal," he groaned as he started to thrust harder and faster.Going deeper and deeper inside of me.
I brought his face to mine and kissed him. He brought one of his hands to my waist and the other was holding himself up on his elbow.
"Fuck," I moaned agaisnt his lips.
We kept the same rhythm and I started to feel my stomach tighten.
"Ben, I think…" I started. "Oh, zeus!" I said as Ben hit the sensitive stop deep inside of me. "I think I'm close," I managed to get out.
"I am too, baby," he said as he picked up his speed.
He thrusted deeper and harder. My stomach was starting to get tighter, until I fell over the edge. I screwed my eyes shut and saw an explosion of white.
"Shit," Ben groaned as he thrusted a couple of more times before he thrusted into me one more time filling me with himself.
He rolled over and pulled me to his chest.
"Holly shit," he painted.
I rolled onto my front, resting my chin on his chest and smiled at him.
"Yeah. I know," I said.
"Merry Christmas, Mal," he said kissing the top of my head.
"Merry Christmas, Ben."
I laid my head down on his chest as he trailed his fingers up and down my arm. I closed my eyes and smiled thinking about the step Ben and I took tonight. I know it was a big and fast step but it was one I was happy to be taking with him.
(BEN'S POV)
There was a knock at the door waking Mal and I.
"Ben? Are you awake?" we heard my mom ask from behind the door.
Mal and I jumped out of bed as fast as we could. Mal grabbed her dress, her bra, the rest of my clothes and ran into my bathroom, closing the door behind her. I quickly pulled on my boxers and opened the door. My mom was standing there in her new satin yellow Christmas pajamas. I was glad this year we wouldn't be completely matching. She told me that she had ordered pajamas for all of us, but they were all going to be different colors.
"Hey, mom. Merry Christmas," I told her.
"Merry Christmas, Bubsy," she said, walking into my room and holding two pairs of pajamas in her hand. "I came to bring you your Christmas pajamas," she said.
"Oh, thank you. Are those Mal's?" I asked.
"Yeah. I gave Evie and the boys their already and all I needed was you and Mal," she said, placing the blue and purple pajamas on my bed.
"Okay. I'll give them to her after I change," I told her.
"Oh that won't be necessary," she said, turning to look at me.
"Why?" I asked in confusion.
She smiled at me. "Mal, sweetheart! You can come out of the bathroom now," she called, making my eyes widen.
My bathroom door slowly opened to reveal Mal standing there wearing my dress shirt as a dress.
"How did you know?" She asked my mom.
Mom laughed. "Well, first I wasn't born yesterday. And second," she said, bending down and grabbing something from under my bed. "I would hope Ben doesn't wear thongs," she said holding up Mal's ripped underwear.
Mal turned bright red. "I am so sorry," she said walking up to my mom.
"Mal, honey. You have nothing to me sorry for," she said, taking Mal's hands in hers. "Both of you are consenting adults and you are soulmates," she said. "The only thing I ask is that you be safe. As much as I love babies I don't want to be a grandma too soon," she said with a chuckle.
"Okay. Okay, mom," I said, taking her arm and walking her to the door. "We promise to be safe, but now we are going to get ready and we will be downstairs in 20 minutes," I told her as I opened the door.
"Okay, and one more thing before I go," she said before I closed the door. "Let's not tell either of your fathers. Adam may have a heart attack and Hades may take Ben to the underworld sooner than any of us want," she finished.
"Yes. Thank you, mom," I said as I closed the door.
I turned and saw Mal, trying to hide a laugh behind her hand.
"Well, at least she's not mad," she said before grabbing her pajamas and teleporting away.
After changing I walked downstairs to find everyone, including Mal, in my mom's library. They were all in their pajamas and had mugs in their hands. My mom was wearing her yellow pajamas, my dad was wearing blue, same as me, Jay was wearing a mustard yellow pair, Carlos' was black, Evie's was cherry red, and Mal's was a light lavender.
"Merry Christmas, Ben!" Jay and Carlos exclaimed as they ran up to me and passed me a mug.
"Merry Christmas. I see you liked the pajamas my mom bought you," I said taking a sink out of the mug.
"Are you kidding?!" Jay exclaimed. "I feel like the King in these," he said, puffing his chest out.
I laughed. "The feeling of King is better than the responsibility," I said, clasping him on the shoulder.
I walked over and took a seat on the couch next to Mal.
"Well, not that his royal lateness is finally here," my dad said looking at me. "Shall we open presents?"
"Yeah!" we all exclaimed.
We all opened presents and I was very nervous to give Mal hers. I had gotten her a smart watch, a purple rose that was preserved in gold and one more thing, but I couldn't give it to her until later. She had gotten me a set of gold beast cufflinks, a tourney helmet with my name and number on it, a new watch that was engraved. She had it engraved saying; 'Always and forever, Love, Mal.' I gave her a small lecture, telling her that she had spent way too much money, but she countered holding up her watch and rose in my face, making me be quiet.Everyone was so excited after opening their gift and loved everything that they had gotten. Carlos was helping Evie set up her computer. My dad was sword playing with Jay and my mom and Mal were picking up the wrapping paper scattered around the room.
"Belle. Adam," Mal said, gaining everyone's attention. "I have a present for you," she said as she snapped her fingers, making a big wrapped present appear on the couch.
"Oh!" My mom said in surprise. "Mal, you gave us gifts already. What is this?"
"Open it," she said holding her hands over her chest.
My parents tore the paper away to reveal a painting of my parents and I.
"Oh, Mal! It's amazing!" my mom said, looking at her.
"You like it?" she asked nervously.
"We love it," my dad said, walking up to her and hugging her. "Thank you."
"Your welcome. I'm glad you like it," she said, turning to pick up more wrapping.
I walked over and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey. I have one more thing for you, but I have to take you to it," I said.
"Oh. okay," she said, putting the bag of trash down. "Lead the way ma lord."
I took her hand and led her out of the room and up the stairs. I pulled her down the same hallway where my office was and stopped at a door at the end of the hall.
"Did you really have something for me or did you just want more alone time?" she asked flirtatiously.
I leaned down and gave her a kiss. "I would love to have more alone time with you, but I actually do have something for you," I said, holding a key up to her.
"What is this for?" she asked, taking the key out of my hand.
"Your gift is behind this door," I told her pointing to the door next to us.
She gave me a weird look then opened the door.
"Ben. It's dark in here," she said, walking into the room. "And I can't find the lightswitch."
I walked into the room and found the lightswitch and flicked it on and Mal gasped.
"Ben. What is this place?" she asked, looking around the room.
"This is your personal art and music room."
She turned to look at me with a surprised expression. I had the room painted lavender and filled with art supplies for her, and I ordered her a keyboard and a guitar so that she could work on her music.
"What?"
"Your art and music room," I repeated. "I know you like writing in your little meadow in the woods, but I would prefer to find you asleep in a room and not in the forest," I joked making her laugh.
"You only found me twice," she said, pointing at me. "Ben. I don't know what to say," she said, looking around the room.
"That I am the most amazing boyfriend ever," I said, walking up to her.
She turned to me and smiled. "You already know that," she said before she jumped into my arms and wrapped herself around me. "Thank you. I love it. Just as much as I love you," she said and then kissed me.
"I'm glad you like it and you can spend as much time as you want in here later, but right now we have to go and get things ready before Mrs. Potts and the others get here," I said as I started to carry her out of the room.
I started to walk down the hall with Mal still wrapped around my waist, but she jumped out of my hold.
"I have to close the door," she said running back and closing the door behind her.
She ran back to me, taking my hand so that we can enjoy the rest of our Christmas.
(New Years Eve Friday December, 31st)
(MAL'S POV)
"Chip! I get that you love your camera, but if you blind me with the flash again I'm going to break it," Ben yelled walking into the grand ballroom.
"Well, my new favorite person, who bought it for me, wouldn't like that," Chip said, taking another picture of Ben with the flash on.
I was sitting talking with Evie, Jordan, Jane, Lonnie and Audrey.
"Mal. I love your dress," Audrey said.
"Thank you. It is another Evie original," I said, standing up to show off the dress.
It was a short eggplant purple velvet bodycon dress with front twist and side ruched detailing.
"Evie? I know I haven't been the kindest person to, well, any of you, but would you maybe make me a dress? I would pay you!" Aurdey said.
"If Mal can forgive you, I can too," Evie said with a laugh. "And, yes, I would love to make you a dress. It gives me a little bit more business to get my business started."
"Alright, ladies. It's almost midnight," Aziz said, walking up to us. "Who will have the pleasure of being my new years kiss," he said, puckering his lips.
"Well, seeing that our boyfriends are right behind you," Jordan said pointing to Chad and the rest of the guys. "I'm going to say none."
We all stood up and walked out our significant others, leaving Aziz, Ryder and Audrey sitting on the couch.
"Well, what do you say, princess? Me, you, kissy kissy at the stroke of midnight?" Aziz asked, putting his arm over Audrey's shoulder.
"Sorry," she said, moving his arm back into his lap. "I'm waiting till marriage," she said and then walked away, making all of us laugh.
"Okay, guys. It's almost midnight," Ben said. "Let's all head out to the balcony to watch the fireworks."
We all walked out onto the balcony and it was cold, too cold for a dress this short.
"Here," Ben said as he slid his jacket over my shoulder, and pulled me close. "You look too hot and it's too cold."
"So, which is it? Am I too hot ? Or am I cold?" I said, smiling up at him.
"Shush you, it's almost midnight."
"And what if I don't?" I asked.
"I won't kiss you," he said, turning his head away from me.
Two can play at that game. "Alors je ne ferai pas ce dont on a parlé tout à l'heure," (Well, then I won't do what we talked about earlier,) I whispered in his ear.
He turned back, looking at me with wide eyes.
"Not a chance," he hissed in my ear, making me smirk.
"Alight! 10!" Ryder shouted.
"9!"
"8!"
"7!"
"6!"
"5!"
"4!"
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"Happy new year!" we all cheered.
Ben pulled on the lapels of his jacket, crushing his lips to mine. Every kiss with Ben set explosions off in my chest. Like no one else in the world was around or mattered. It was just Ben and I. I saw a flash of light through my eyelids and then a loud boom. We broke apart just in time to see the beautiful explosions of color cascade of the night sky. I turned in Ben's arms placing my back against his stomach.
"Happy new year, Mal," he whispered in my ear.
I turned my head to look at him. "Happy new year, Ben."
(January 30th)
(MALS POV)
"Ben. You have to be more reasonable," I told him as I was fixing my bra.
We had literally just finished having sex when my phone pinged and Ben saw a message from Trevor. Wow. Our first fight. I knew we were bound to have one sooner or later, but I didn't want our first fight to be about Trevor. The message wasn't as bad as I thought. It just said; 'Hey;) the club is meeting tomorrow night if you want to join! Hope you can make it! I miss seeing you all the time;p,' but it was enough to set Ben off. When we came back to school Trevor came looking for me. Luckily, Aziz and Ryder told him that I was busy with FG, but that didn't stop him from trying to talk and flirt with me in art class and during art club. I tried everything to stay away from him, but he still pushes his luck.
"Be reasonable?" he asked. "Mal, this guy isn't getting it through his fucking skull that you aren't interested and you expect me to just let him keep doing what he is doing?" he asked in an aggravated tone.
"What do you want me to do? I can't kick him out of art class and the art club," I said, standing up and crossing my arms. "I sit far away from him in class, I am never alone with him for him to do anything, and you always meet me after both of those things. What else am I supposed to do?"
He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "You could drop the class and quit the club," he said.
What?! Is he seriously suggesting for me to drop my favorite class and quit the art club?
"What?" I asked in shock.
"You could quit," he repeated. "It's not like you need the class anyway, you're only taking it for fun," he said like it was just a simple fix.
"So, you want me to just drop the class because I don't need it?" I asked, making him nod his head. "So, I shouldn't stay in it for the fact that I enjoy the class, have friends that enjoy art in the class, it's one of my favorite hobbies or that it's my favorite class?" I asked.
"Well, I don't like that he's there. I would hope that you would understand that," he stated firmly. "I thought that you loved me enough to do that for me to, at the very least, make me feel better."
What they fuck did he just say?
"What did you say?" I asked.
He looked at me and I knew he realised he fucked up. He started to take a couple of steps toward me.
"Mal. I'm so…"
I held my hand up to him, stopping him from coming closer.
"I can see that you are only thinking about yourself right now. Maybe if I give you time to think you'll understand that I am doing all I can and maybe you'll regret what said to me," I said, putting my shirt on.
"Mal, Please," He said as I grabbed my bag.
"No. I need space," I said walking to the door. I reached for the handle and then turned to look at him. "I never thought you would question how much I love you," I said and then opened the door, closing it behind me.
I ran to my room and locked the door behind me. Luckily Evie was on a date with Doug and wasn't here. I threw my bags on my floor, kicked my shoes off, and threw myself on my bed. I couldn't believe that Ben would want me to give up something that makes me happy and that he would question how much I love him.
I heard a knock on my door. "Mal! Babe! Are you there?" I heard Ben call from the other side.
I couldn't talk to him right now. Maybe later. I got off my bed and walked to my bathroom. I needed to take a hot shower to clear my head. I don't know how long I was in the shower for, but when I got out I felt refreshed. I wrapped a towel around myself and left the bathroom. I quickly changed into a pair of leggings and a crop sweater.
I was on my bed sketching in my book when I saw an envelope slide under my door. I placed my sketch book down and picked up the paper.
Please meet me in your meadow in an hour. I really want to talk to you.
I'll be waiting.
Always yours.
Wow. Ben still wanted to talk. Maybe he wants to apologise. It will take me twenty minutes to get there walking and I know I could use the fresh air before Ben and I talk. I went to my bathroom to quickly dry and fix my hair. I went to put in my converse and walked out of my room. I put the note in the waistband of my legging and locked the door behind me. I walked through the halls thinking about what Ben said and I knew he had his reasons for feeling the way he does, but it hurt hearing that I didn't love him enough.
"Hey, Mal!" I heard.
I turned and saw Audrey walking toward me in gym clothes.
"Hey, Audrey. You going to the gym?" I asked as I continued to walk.
"Yeah. Since cheer is over, I go to the gym more frequently," she said. "Where are you off to?"
"I'm going to meet Ben. We had a fight and he slid a note under my door telling me he wants to meet me in the meadow I sketch in," I told her.
"Oh. I'm sorry you guys had a fight, but I hope everything is fine between you," she said sympathetically.
"Thanks. I should be off. Knowing him he's probably already there waiting," I said.
"Probably, but don't stay out too long. It's getting dark," she told me.
I looked outside and saw that it was getting dark. The skies were purple and pink.
"Yeah. I better hurry. I'll see you later. Okay?"
"Okay. Good luck, but I know you won't need it," she said before walking off in the direction of the gym.
Instead of walking all the way to the meadow, I teleported there. I jumped and appeared in the middle of the meadow. This was my favorite place to be and I always felt calm here, and Ben knew that. Knowing that he wanted to meet here in my favorite spot made me forget about all of the mad feelings I felt toward him.
"Ben!" I called. "Ben! Are you here?"
There was no answer. Maybe I got here first. I looked toward the trail that leads to here, but I didn't see anyone coming. I heard a snap coming from behind me. I turned quickly.
"Ben?"
I was hit on the head by something hard, making me fall to the floor.
"No. No King," was all I heard before everything went black.
(AUDREY'S POV)
I felt bad for Mal. I really hope that she and Ben would fix their problems. I know I was horrible to them, but anyone with eyes could see that they were meant to be together.
I walked into the gym and stopped in my tracks when I saw Ben throwing a barbell on the floor.
"Ben?" I asked, walking up to him. He turned to look at me, taking out one of his headphones. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm taking my anger out on these weights," he said, wiping his forehead with his arm.
"Aren't you going to go and talk to Mal?" I asked.
He shook his head. "I wanted to give her her space. We had a fight and I said some things that hurt her."
"Well, why didn't you text her before? She's on her way to meet you right now!"
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"Mal." I said slowly. "Your girlfriend. Is on her way. To meet you. In the meadow. Where your note told her to meet you."
He looked at me like I was crazy.
"I didn't give Mal a note, telling her to meet me in the meadow," he said.
"Well, if you didn't, who did?" I asked.
His eyes widened and he stiffened. "FUCK!" he shouted.
He took my hand pulling me out of the gym. "Come on! We have to find her! We can't let him get to her!" he yelled and then sprinted through campus.
I ran after him. "Who…" and then it hit me. "Shit!"
I started to run faster, catching up to Ben and hoping that we would get to Mal in time.
Heeeeeeeeey... soooooooooo... sorry? for the cliffhanger...
I will try to publish the next chapter ASAP!!
PLEASE let me know what you think!!
Until next time my lovies xoxo GM
