Author's note: The last few chapters have had some pretty heavy drama. I think it's time for our loveable patchwork siblings to finally have some fun.
This chapter was supposed to be a lot longer, but I decided to split it since I wanted to spend a little more time on the parts concerning what happens at the party, but felt that this chapter was whole enough to stand alone without the scenes at the party. Oh, and by the way, if anyone is wondering, Evie will be at the party, which means she will finally be making an appearance in the next chapter.
Thanks for all the love up to now, and please enjoy…
"Boy's, hurry it up, you're going to be late," Coach shouted up the stairs to Carlos and Jay. "I thought only girls took this long to get ready," he said to his wife who was watching from the couch.
Liz just smiled and nodded.
A minute later, the two of them came down the stairs, definitely dressed to impress. Jay had on a pair of dark pants, and his blue and yellow sleeveless vest over a black shirt. Carlos had on his dressier black short pants matched with a white long-sleeved shirt. Instead of his favorite red, black, and white fur-lined leather jacket, he opted for a red and black leather vest and threw on his favorite combat boots.
"Not bad, boys," Coach said.
"You two clean up nice," Liz said from the couch.
"Although, and I'm just asking," Coach started with a wink to Liz, "I get why he's shined up," he continued pointing to Jay. "But I thought your girlfriend couldn't go to this party?" he asked with a smile on his face.
Jay started to laugh and Carlos just rolled his eyes.
"For like the hundredth time, Jane is not my girlfriend."
"Which is why you're wearing the vest she got you after you got out of the hospital?" Jay asked though his laughter.
Carlos opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Jay and Coach started laughing together when they saw Carlos begin to blush.
"Leave the poor boy alone," Liz told them, though she too was laughing just a little bit. "He just wants to look nice. You think she'll find a way to be there to see you wearing it, sweetie?" she asked, causing Coach and Jay to laugh harder.
"I hate both of you right now, I really do," he said toward Jay and Coach as he moved away from the bottom of the steps and made his way toward the door. "Can we please just go?"
Coach nodded and pulled his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Jay. "I don't need to tell you be careful do I?" Jay shook his head coolly. "Jay," Coach chastised. "Be careful. Watch the speed limit, and no joyriding."
"If you want traffic laws followed to the letter, give the keys to him," Jay said, pointing in Carlos' direction."
"Carlos is fourteen."
"And he's been driving sine he was eleven."
Coach looked at Carlos skeptically. "My mom would make me drive the car to have it detailed. So yeah, I can drive."
Coach looked back and forth between the boys, actually considering giving the keys to Carlos. "He's still too young," Liz said from the couch.
I suppose she's right, he thought as he decided to leave the keys with Jay. "Be careful boys," he told them one more time.
"We will, it's not like we're going that far anyway," Jay said as he and Carlos finally made their way out of the house.
"Remember boys, midnight," Liz shouted after them.
Jane was in the kitchen making herself a snack, trying to decide how to pass the time when she heard footsteps enter the kitchen from behind her. She turned and saw Mal leaning against the doorframe. She took in the outfit Mal was wearing; a studded, purple leather jacket over a lace one shoulder blouse and matching black leather skirt.
"Why aren't you dressed?" Mal asked Jane as she looked Jane over.
"Because I'm not going to Ben's party," she told her as she poured her cereal into a bowl. "And neither are you, we're grounded – again – remember? Because of you, I've been grounded more times this summer than I have in my entire life."
"But you've had some fun though, right?"
"Fun? You turned me into a bunny!" she shouted at Mal.
"And you were adorable, I still have the pictures. And besides, you gave me that God-awful haircut first," Mal reminded.
"Well, what about the time before that with…"
"Trying to levitate the entire backyard before we were ready was your idea. And it was both our faults that all those pumpkin, and apples, and oranges blew up."
Jane nodded her head in agreement. "Okay, what about the salt incident?"
"That one was all you, I was the victim there," Mal smiled.
"You know, when you got here and assumed the role of older…," Jane stopped herself from almost calling Mal the older sister. No need to give her that kind of ammunition, she thought. Her ego would go crazy with it. "Of older child, I expected you'd be more responsible."
"Have you met me? Hi, I'm Mal, I'm originally from the Isle of the Lost."
Both girls began giggling at that, the tension lessened for a moment.
"So, if we're even caught, we'll just be getting into a little bit more trouble anyway, so…again: why aren't you dressed?"
"Again, we're grounded remember?"
Mal waved her hand nonchalantly in the air. "A small setback, especially since your Mom's gonna be with Belle and Beast most of the night, we can go, have fun, and be back before she knows. And besides, what we did wasn't that bad."
"Wasn't that bad?" Jane asked as she grabbed the milk out of the refrigerator. "Mal, we used the teleportation spell Mom taught us to go visit Evie over at Snow White's without permission."
"Exactly, we just went to see a friend."
"Snow White's palace is like a three-hour drive from here and we used a spell to do it in three seconds. Mom was furious."
"I didn't hear you trying to talk me out of talking you into it when it happened. And I certainly didn't hear you worry about her being furious during the shopping trip Snow White treated us to," Mal argues with a tug on her new jacket for emphasis.
Jane thought back to the hours her, Mal, and Evie spent shopping, all with Snow White's promise to buy them anything they wanted, no matter the price. She smiled as she thought about the blue floral sundress she'd bought. She thought it would look nice on a date with…
She shook her head to stop herself. Getting off topic, she thought.
"Jay told me Carlos loved the vest you got him that day. Oddly enough, I remember you being pretty adamant that it should match that dress you bought," Mal teased.
"I don't want to wear that dress until I'm ungrounded," she lamented. "Which is why I have nothing to wear to that party anyway," she told Mal. She watched as Mal got a very mischievous look on her face and then slowly sauntered into the kitchen. As she closed the distance she began to leisurely circle her, looking her up and down. "What?"
"You're my height, about the same weight, almost the same figure…"
"Mal," Jane said, somewhat afraid.
She watched as Mal smiled even bigger, and the next thing she knew, Mal was dragging her by the hand back towards her bedroom.
Ben had walked into the ballroom he was using for tonight's party. He's had the tables and most of the formal decorations swapped out for comfortable lounge furniture that was more comfortable. He also brought the usual table after table of food as well as a DJ rather than a band. He made sure to pick a ballroom that opened out into the grounds so people could wander outside if they wanted.
He wanted to make sure his friends could come over and relax, and just have fun. In his case, he just wanted to see them again since he'd been gone for most of the summer attending to his duties as kings. Now, he was home and frankly, exhausted. He'd been adamant that once he got back he wanted a few days with no obligations so that he could enjoy some time with his friends.
And while it went unsaid, everyone knew he wanted some time with Mal. He'd missed her while he was gone. He wanted to bring her with him, but was told that she needed to stay to undergo training with the Fairy Godmother's wand. While he wasn't pleased with being separated from her, he understood.
"So is everything ready for tonight?" he heard his mother ask as she came in.
"Yeah, it looks great," he said as he snuck a piece of food from one of the tables.
Belle smiled at her son and walked over to him. she gently held his face and then kissed him on the cheek. She laughed when she saw him blush. He might be king, but he's still my little boy, she thought. "Have fun tonight, but please make sure things don't get too out of hand." Ben nodded. "Your father and I will be out late, but don't think that means this can go on all night, okay?"
"No problem, Mom," he answered as his mother left the room. Once she was gone, he checked his phone that was in his pocket. It was on vibrate because he was waiting on a text from Mal and he didn't want to attract his mother's attention since she knew that Mal wasn't allowed to come tonight.
Mal: FG gone. Jane on board. All set for tonite. See u ltr.
He smiled as he snuck another piece of food from the table. Now tonight was going to fun.
Mal was sitting on Jane's bed, waiting impatiently for Jane to finish getting ready. When Jane took a few more minutes to than she liked, Mal fell back on the bed. She decided to speed things along when she realized she was entertaining the idea of redoing her nails. Great, now I'm turning into Evie, she thought.
"Jane, hurry it up, it's only a dress, not a –"
"I'm coming!" Jane shouted before Mal could finish.
Seconds later, Jane came out from her closet where she'd been changing. Mal sat up and immediately gave a nod of approval.
"I knew my dress would fit you," she said as she looked Jane over. She had given Jane the dress she'd worn on her first date with Ben. As she smoothed out a few small wrinkles she walked Jane over to the full length mirror. "How do you feel?"
"Well…," Jane let out slowly, not sure how to answer. "It's nice."
"Nice? I think you look great."
"Thanks," Jane said, a little unsure.
"Then what's wrong?"
"It's your dress. People are gonna think I needed you to…"
"The only people who've seen me in this are Ben and Evie."
"Still your dress."
Mal rolled her eyes and almost groaned in frustration, until she suddenly she had an idea. "I will be right back."
"Mal," Jane called after her after seeing Mal get the same smile she had in the kitchen. "Mal, don't do anything drastic."
Less than a minute later, Mal was running back into Jane's bedroom – wand in hand.
"What do you think you're doing?" Jane gasped.
"This," she said as she raised her hand.
Before she could speak, Jane grabbed Mal's wrist. "We can't go to a party if you're sick in bed."
Mal smiled at Jane, appreciating the concern. "I haven't been that sick or winded in over a week; and this is not like my training, it's not gonna take three hours. One spell in just a few seconds."
Jane looked at Mal, and after a few seconds of thought, relented. "Okay, but if you end up a drooling mess on the floor, I'm calling Mom."
"Totally."
Mal re-raised her arm, and with a few flowing swipes, excitedly uttered:
"Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo."
In swirling flash of golden light, that was tinged with just a few purple sparkles, the dress changed from its normal dark purple to a light blue.
Jane looked herself, her face brightening with her smile, not just at the dress, but with a small bit of pride at Mal's first real use of the wand.
"Like it now?" Mal asked. Jane nodded quickly, twirling in the mirror to see the dress from every angle. Mal giggled as she watched the younger girl admire how pretty she looked. "Now, it's your dress, and now, you look beautiful. Carlos isn't gonna know what hit him."
Jane squealed in glee and threw her arms around Mal, and for once, she didn't feel Mal tense up at the embrace. "Thank you, thank you so much," she said before letting Mal go. "Oh my God, you're not a drooling mess on the floor."
Mal laughed and nodded. "Told you I could handle it now. I'm gonna go put this back in Mom's room while you pick some shoes to go with that."
Jane nodded, still looking herself over in the mirror. Mal giggle as she watched and then left the room.
