"Hey, everything Carlos said is true. You have to give Ben a chance to love you for you. And if he doesn't then who needs him. I think you've spent this whole time being afraid to show him you and shoving yourself into a cramped corner," Evie was putting Mal together for Cotillion and finishing their girl talk from earlier. Carlos had actually been super helpful and had a lot of amazing and insightful things to say.
"I know Evie, but I was just so scared. What if he doesn't love the real me? I'm mischievous. I'm wild. I'm strange. I'm not good for Auradon. I can't be that person he needs." Mal started crying.
"You're lucky I haven't started your makeup yet and I'm still putting you in the dress or id kill you for crying off what will be my most impeccable work. Now listen to me. What Ben needs is your honesty. He needs a partner who is going to be true to herself and be honest with him. You have to stop running away from your issues it only makes them worse. You need to woman up and start communicating your feelings or you're always going to feel this way. Always! Like a bottle of tears just waiting for the lid to burst off. Trust me. Trust jay and Carlos. We're your family and we will take care of you. We always have and that won't stop now. And give Ben the chance to earn the trust to take care of you as well. Then maybe the world won't feel so heavy. Stop trying to be what you're not and be what you are. So what if it isn't what people need, it's what you need."
Mal took a deep breath and let Evie do her makeup. She was actually starting to feel the weight lift from her chest. She was terrified to let go but maybe Evie was right. Maybe that's what she had truly needed all along. Mal was strong. At the very least she had to try to be vulnerable for Evie.
"Now I'm going to get myself ready over at Doug's. I will be back in one hour and we'll go over to the boat together. Let's go to Carlos's room so you don't have to wait it out alone."
Ben stood at the edge of the pier looking at the lit up boat. It looked magical and beautiful. He instantly wished Mal was by his side and was struck with pain again.
"Ben," He heard a timid voice and spun around to see Evie all done up in her ballgown. "Belle told me I'd find you here."
"Just taking some time with my thoughts before tonight." Ben explained unsure as to why Evie was here.
"Ben I think you have Mal all wrong." Evie started.
"What do you mean," Ben was confused. Did Mal send Evie to talk to him? Did she want to get back together? Ben wasn't sure what he thought of that after everything but his heart yearned for her still.
"I know I shouldn't be getting involved. Mal would kill me if she knew I was here. But I feel so guilty. I've been so wrapped up in my own life I completely missed what was going on. The advice I've given her today is something I should have said to her a long time ago. Then maybe we could have avoided all of this."
"Mal is capable of being responsible for her own actions Evie. This isn't your fault."
"I don't think either of us realized until it was too late the enormity of Mal's identity crisis and how much pain and confusion she was holding inside all alone."
"Damnit Evie I was there! I tried to help her but she wouldn't let me in," Ben slammed his fists down on the bar and leaned his head down trying not to cry.
Evie placed her hand rubbing Ben's back. She sympathized with how hard this was for him as well. "As someone who has helped Mal deal with her feelings for years I'm going to leave you with a piece of advice. If you and Mal want to work this out you can. But what Mal needs is for you to not baby her. She needs you to be assertive, to not let her run away. Your confidence will transfer over to her. Mal is proud and Mal tries to be strong all the time. If you put your foot down then she won't have room to be embarrassed about opening up to you. You can't tip toe around her feelings and play the nice guy all the time. That doesn't work. Not with Mal. She needs tough love and a kick in the butt sometimes."
Ben was digesting what Evie had told him and a lot of things were starting to click for him.
"I sincerely hope I didn't make a mistake in trusting you with this. But for what it's worth I truly believed what you and Mal had was true love. It's not too late to fix this if you both want to." Evie gave Ben a hug before walking off and leaving him with his thoughts.
Ben leaned back down over the ledge replaying everything that had happened with a little bit of a clearer head. Evie's words had helped him take his emotions out of the situation and really think on what went wrong. Unfortunately Ben didn't have a lot of time to think as faint entrancing singing started out low and a warm glow made its way towards him.