One of you asked for a chapter showing Chad and Evie interacting together. I hope this is satisfactory. :)

"Audrey looked beautiful, didn't she? She and Jay make such a cute couple." Evie smiled at she spoke. She plucked a cheese cube from her plate and popped it into her mouth. The food in Auradon was so amazing. She thought she would never get tired of all the sweet and savory flavors that, previously deprived of, she now had at her fingertips.

"They do," Chad agreed. He nudged his his own food around his small plate, his eyes flitting between the strawberries, cheese, and crackers. "Too bad that they'll never get together."

Evie finished her cheese cube and set her plate beside her on the bedspread. She and Chad had ducked away from the party for a few minutes. Here, in an unused guest bedroom, they could actually talk without having to yell over the music. They had brought a few plates of snacks from the party to enjoy in the quiet before diving back into the fray. They wouldn't be missed for a while yet, and Evie craved the time alone with Chad. "Why not? I mean...Jay might've mentioned something about Audrey still having issues with us VKs, but...the way they danced...they couldn't take their eyes off of each other. Are you sure she hasn't changed her mind?"

"Yeah," Chad said, and he sighed. "I honestly don't know what her problem is. She thinks people will look down on her or something for even associating herself with Jay."

"But, no one has a problem with Ben being with Mal. Or with Jane being with Carlos." Evie tucked a stray piece of blue hair behind her ear. "Even if they previously did, everything's changed since the coronation. Hasn't it?"

Chad shrugged a shoulder. "It seems so. But not for Audrey. She's...honestly, sometimes she's just too stubborn for her own good."

Evie nodded. "I know Jay just wants to be happy. I hate to see him so disappointed all the time." She paused and reached for Chad's unoccupied hand, entwining their fingers. "Does anyone have a problem with us?"

Chad set his plate down and brought his hand to rest on top of their joined ones. "No. Dad's surprised how quickly we got together though. Mom thinks we're cute. Ben and the rest of the tourney team keeps teasing me. All in good fun, of course."

"Even Jay and Carlos?" Evie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They're the worst of the lot!" Chad laughed.

Evie smiled and darted in to plant a small kiss on his cheek. "It's what they do best, you know."

Chad nodded, and they fell silent for a few seconds. Evie worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

"What is it?" Chad asked, shifting slightly closer.

She looked up at him. "I just...Auradon is everything I've ever dreamed it would be. And I've found my prince." She smiled and gave his hand a light squeeze at this. "We're all finding our happy endings, or at least, a happier life than we had. But, I can't help but feel sorry for Jay. Audrey's toying with him. I mean, maybe not on purpose, but going back and forth on wanting to be with him and then not...it has to be hurting him."

"I know." Chad rubbed his thumb over the back of Evie's hand in small circles. "Sometimes, after tourney practice, he'll still be in the showers after everyone else has left or is walking out. He seems distracted...less lively. We'll have team pizza nights, and he'll sit in silence until we make him talk."

"You think all of that has to do with Audrey?" Evie asked.

"I think love makes us all a little distracted. And when that same love is hurting you, it can be disastrous. It takes up all of your thought process. Don't you think?"

Evie smiled and nodded. "Doug gets frustrated with me all the time when we're doing homework. I'll doodle your name in the margins. Or my name with your last name, and yeah, Doug says I'm distracted all the time." A blush had nestled itself into Evie's cheeks at her confession. But she couldn't bring herself to care. Chad brought out her most vulnerable self and made her feel safe divulging even the darkest parts of herself. She didn't know any firm definition of love, but if she had to explain it, she would have said something akin to that.

Chad laughed and leaned forward, his mouth a mere centimeter from hers. "Why do you blush when you say stuff like that? It's adorable."

"It's embarrassing," Evie countered, but she was now hyper-aware of Chad's mouth being so close to hers. Every time he exhaled, his breath tickled her lips.

"It's love. Who says you won't be Mrs. Charming someday?" With that, he pressed his mouth to hers, blending his warmth with hers in a delicate dance of mouth and tongue, kiss and touch. His hands moved to her waist, and he pulled her swiftly into his lap.

Just outside the door of a bedroom they always keep made up for guests, Audrey hovered with her dress still clutched firmly in her hands. She had run out of the ballroom, needing an escape from her confused emotions about Jay. She needed to get away. She needed to think.

But around the bend of a corridor on the way to her room, she had stopped. A sliver of light underneath a door of a room that should have been dark had stopped her. And the voices, unmistakably Chad's and Evie's, had kept her there, listening.

Now, she felt sick. They had said she was hurting Jay, and what was worse was that everyone seemed to know it. She needed to tell Jay what she wanted and stick to a decision. Either be with him or put herself as far from him as possible. But, it didn't feel that simple. All of her life, she had assumed, given her status and Auradon's density of royals in one place, that she would marry a prince. So, even if she wanted to be with Jay, wouldn't it be wrong to date him if she didn't want to try having a future with him? Wasn't that the point of dating - to find someone you wanted to spend the rest of your life with? Otherwise, it would just be a game in which everyone lost in the end. How could she begin a relationship with Jay while assuming it would end for her to one day marry a prince?

It was twisted. And torturous. Her own assumptions were choking her. Killing her. Could she see herself wanting to marry Jay? Wanting to try a future with him? Her mind seemed to shut that thought down every time she tried to probe the idea of such a future.

Tears burned at the corners of her eyes. An invisible rope closed around her throat, also burning as she swallowed the urge to burst into sobs.

Beyond the door, there was a giggle and the creak of the mattress.

Audrey instantly fled down the hall in the direction of her room. She didn't know whether Chad and Evie were leaving the room or simply getting more comfortable in the guest room. But she didn't want to find out. She had her own emotions to deal with.

Thoughts on this chapter? Dear Audrey is still having issues. I love hearing your views on this in reviews. Remember to fave and follow. :)

Foarrin