Eternal Beauty

𝑬𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏

We got back to Auradon, and all seven of us, including Dude, walked along the grass. A couple of people wondered why Ben and I were wearing leather, especially since we were royalty, but never questioned us about it.

"I'll get these back to the gym." Lonnie told Jay. He nodded, thanking her as she left. "Ben, Carlos, there you are. Cotillion's tonight." Jane exclaimed.

The two boys looked at each other before going towards Jane. I stood by Mal. "Do you want to cancel?" Ben asked Mal who was clearly more focused on what Mal felt over cotillion, and I didn't blame him. Carlos stood beside me.

"Um, you know what? I can come back." Jane piped up. "Uh, but, like, really, really soon." "No, no, no. No, no, no. Now's fine. Um..." Ben looked at whatever was on Jane's tablet.

Carlos and Ben looked at each other before Ben spoke, "Do whatever you need to do. Both of you." Mal and I nodded.

Evie grabbed both Mal and my arm. They included me in their girl talks, which despite me saying it was their thing, they insisted and Evie was scary when she wanted to be.

"We need to talk." She whispered. "Yeah." Mal agreed.

As we started walking, Carlos spoke up. "No." The three of us turned around to see him and Jay stood there, Dude in Carlos' arms.

"No?" Evie questioned. "You guys are always going off in a huddle, whispering your girl talk stuff or whatever, and Jay and I are tired of it." Carlos voiced. "I'm not." Jay held his hand up.

Carlos gave him a look, and Jay gave one back before Carlos turned to us. "We're your family, too." he whispered. "We've been through a lot together. We're not stopping that now, okay?"

"Everyone sit." He ordered, and sat on the grass, crossing his legs. Dude huffed. "Come on." "I feel like I should go." I told Carlos, feeling like this was personal. "You too." He pulled me down next to him.

It was quiet for a second before Carlos spoke. "I don't know how to start girl talk." He claimed, causing us to laugh slightly. "Um, well- I'm a mess. I'm such a mess." Mal started.

Her voice broke as she continued. "I mean, six months ago, I was, you know, stealing candy from babies, and now everybody wants me to be this Lady of the Court. And I have no idea how to keep up the act." I bit my lip.

"Then don't." Carlos told her. "See. This was dumb." Jay interjected, going to stand up. "Jay. Sit." I ordered. "Maybe it wasn't dumb."

"Bailey's right. We're always gonna be the kids from the Isle. I tried to forget it. I really tried, but those are our roots. And we all did what we had to do to survive. But it made us who we are. And we're never gonna be like anybody else here. And that's okay. That's okay."

"And we can't fake it." Carlos spoke. "No." Evie whispered. "Yeah. I mean, especially without my spell book." I looked at her. She'd been using her spell book?

"Mal, if Ben doesn't love the real you, then he's not the one." I told her. But my brother didn't just love anyone. I mean, he only dated Aubrey as well for the public instead of love.

"I like that." Evie whispered. "Give him a chance." Carlos smiled at her. She smiled back.

Evie turned to Mal. "I'm gonna make some changes to your dress. And if you're up for it. Only if you're up for it. It will be waiting for you, okay?" Mal nodded. Evie hugged her, and mouthed a 'Thankyou' to Carlos.

We stood up and left.

"Can we talk?" I asked Carlos. "Uh, sure." He answered, and we went into my office which now had a different lock as I had it changed since Chad broke it. Of course I didn't tell anyone, the guy was harmless.

Scary, but harmless.

I removed the leather jacket and gloves before placing them on my desk and leaning against it. "Either you're mad at me, or you're going to say something that's crazy." He spoke.

"Carlos, I- I haven't exactly been considerate. I've put my work over everything else. Including you. I just wanted to see how you were. With everything." I looked at him.

He looked at me. "Honestly? I survive everyday knowing that I have you and Dude." He looked at the talking mutt, who was in his bed, sleeping off the events from a few hours previous.

I looked at him. "But you told Mal to not to keep up the act. And yet I've told you that faking smiles is the way to go because that's how I was taught. I never thought-"

He cut me off by kissing me. My hands went around his neck, his on my waist. We pulled away.

"You talk too much, you know that?" He sat on one of the chairs opposite my desk and pulled me down onto his lap. "I did do the fake smiles thing and first. But then I stopped. Instead, I just looked at you and my smiles no longer became fake. They were real. Because of you."

His words created butterflies in my stomach. "So, Bailey Beast, shut up and stop blaming yourself." He grabbed my hands as he spoke. "When did you become so commanding?" I questioned. "Since I realised that you blame yourself if anything goes wrong. C'mere." He hugged me, and I hugged him back.

"Thankyou." I whispered. "Anything for you, mi corazón."

The way he spoke Spanish made my heart flutter.

"When did you-" "You had resources." He held up one of my books. "Seriously?" I questioned. He smirked and kissed me once more.