We Could Stay Young Forever: Book two

Picnic planning and bad dates (Mel's Pov)

I wake up to harsh whispering. "Benjamin, sleeping together is not proper until marriage." "Nothing happened dad, we both have our clothes, and I'm not even under the blanket." He argues. "Queen leah would have a fit if she found you two like that. You know how old fashioned she is." I tense up at the mention of queen leah. "Queen leah has no say in what mel does." Ben fires back protectively. "You're lucky that it's just me and not your mother." Ben's father concedes before shutting the door. "You can sit up now rosie." Ben says with a laugh. "Was it that obvious?" I ask. "No I just knew. You tensed up after dad mentioned leah." He answers. "Let's go back to sleep." I groan tiredly. "Alright." Ben agrees.

"Cherie, up and at 'em. You have a big day ahead of you." Lumiere wakes me. "I have a date with ben today and I wanted to make all the foods you made for bell when she first met you." I tell lumiere. "Say no more, Mrs. Potts and I will come to your school and help you prepare the dishes." Lumiere replies with a smile. "Rosie we've got to go." Ben says coming into the room. "Alright benji, I'll be there in just a moment love." I reply and kiss him on the cheek. Lumiere drives us back to school, ben goes to work on his kingly duties. "Meet me in the kitchens after second period. I'll talk to FG about letting ben and I have the day off." I instruct and lumiere gives a deep bow. "Mrs. Potts and I will be there cherie." He replies.

I manage to get FG to agree to a day off for ben's health, then I meet lumiere and Mrs. Potts in the kitchens. "All done, thanks so much you guys. I wouldn't have been able to do this on my own." I thank Mrs. Potts and lumiere. "It was no trouble dearie, now I must be going, there's much to do at home." Mrs. Potts tells me and gives me a big warm hug. When she leaves lumiere turns to me and says, "It was no trouble helping you cherie, you are the best girl ben has brought home with him. Of course audrey was the only other girl, she doesn't come close to you. But cherie, you are so very good to him." I smile and give him a hug. He returns it and then leaves because he had to go and help ben's dad with something.

I call mal and ask her to bring her picnic basket. She helps me pack up the food in the basket as we carry on light conversation. "How've you been feeling mels?" She asks. "I'm feeling happy, ben and I are doing great, he treats me like a true princess." I say with a grin. "What else is happening with you, I haven't gotten to see my little sis much since you've gotten busier with all the events you have to go to." "Well, Leah showed up and practically demanded that I forget what she did and be a part of her family so she could boss me around." I say bitterly. "I can make queen leah back off the old fashioned isle way if you want." Mal says and I smile up at her. "No mal, I don't need you to get in trouble because of her or for me. Besides I basically told her to piss off if she thought I would be told what to do by her." I reply and hug her. "Hey have your powers been on the fritz lately?" Mal asks suddenly. I nod and tell her how they've just been surging at random times. "I wonder what's causing it? I mean I haven't used my powers all but once." I muse. "I'll try and figure it out, in the meantime you just keep doing all that you're doing cause it's important to you." Mal tells me.

"Alright everything is packed up. Did you wanna help me find ben?" I ask and she nods. We go and bump into the vks, my friends, jane and lonnie on the way. "So mel are you ready to become lady of the court at cotillion?" Lonnie asks and I nod. "This year's cotillion is gonna be so beautiful, I can't wait to see what the wedding will look like." Jane comments. "Yeah- wait what?" Mal asks. "Yeah, you didn't know? Becoming lady of the court is like becoming engaged to get engaged." Trin explains and the girls squeal excitedly behind her. "What, no I didn't. Is my sister's life just planned- Oh hey ben." I turn my head to see ben walking towards us. "Hey mal, Rosie there you are." He says hugging me from behind. "Benji, love. I've been looking for you." I reply, kissing his cheek. "Hi ben." The girls greet in chorus. He nods at them with a smile. "Ok, I've got a fitting in for right now. Who wants it?" Evie asks and lonnie throws her hand up. Evie and lonnie leave and nate turns to jane and asks, "Did you want me to fit you in some time today? I am making dresses for the group, and already know their sizes. I'd only need to measure you and ask what color scheme and style you'd want." She smiles. "Thanks, I'd like that." She answers.

Jane then asks ben about something for cotillion and mal pulls me aside. "You're fine with everything that's happening right? If you're not I will help you any way I possibly can." She says and I hug her. "Mal calm down, I am absolutely fine with becoming a lady of the court. Ben and I have talked through our plans for the future and both agree that we would hope to be with each other for a very long time." I assure her. "Alright, if you change your mind promise me I'll be the first to know." "I promise mal." "Good, now I should go catch up with jay." She tells me and then goes to find jay. "So mel, I'm here waiting for merryweather to grab something from her class and I want to warn you about grandma." I hear and turn to find audrey standing behind me. "She wants to give you another chance at joining the family or she'll get you sent back to the isle. I wanted to warn you now so that you could do something to stop it. I know we've not started off on the best of terms, and I'm sorry for that. I want to fix that by helping you" She continues. "Thank you for the warning. I appreciate you telling me and I don't blame you for how you acted when you first met me. You didn't know any better." I tell her and she nods. "I have to go back to merryweather now, good luck." She says and turns and walks away.

I go to my locker to get my purse and a pair of hands cover my eyes. "Guess who?" Ben's voice calls out. "Hmm, let me guess, mal is that you?" I joke and he laughs and pecks me on the lips. "I have a surprise for you." He tells me and then leads me a few steps down the hallway. He takes his hands off my eyes and at the end of the lockers sits a black scooter with lilac purple details. "Aww benji, thank you love. Now, I've been looking for you to tell you that I've got everything ready for our date. And FG gave us the rest of the day off for it." I tell him. "Wow how'd you do that?" He asks and I smirk. "When I convince her you are so frazzled that you put salt in your coffee at breakfast and I was worried you were gonna overwork yourself." I answer and he chuckles. "Cunning rosie, very cunning." He teases and I shrug. He follows me to the kitchen where I grab the still warm picnic basket. "Mal let me borrow this basket, she helped me pack it as well. And thank goodness for Mrs. Potts and Lumiere, they helped me with the food." I tell him as we walk to the entrance.

I take him to a gorgeous wooden gazebo a little ways past our first date spot, it overlooks the lake as well. I set up a table with a nice tablecloth and chairs. I set the basket on the little table next to ours and pull out the food. "Mmm, is that beef ragu?" ben asks as I set the plate final plate down. "Cheese souffle too." I point out. "Amazing you made everything that Mrs. Potts made for my mom." He muses and I smile. "I couldn't have done it without her and lumiere's help." I tell him again. He bites into a cheese souffle. "Love you've got a little something right there." I point out at the crumbs on his cheek after he sets the souffle down. "Can't take me anywhere huh?" He jokes and then gestures to the basket. "Did you pack napkins?" He questions. "Yeah they should be in there s-" I stop when he pulls out the spell book.

"What's this?" "Mal must have left that in there by accident when she brought the basket to me." I tell him. He starts to flip through the spell book. "Blonde hair spell, speed reading spell, fitting in spell. Mel we were supposed to do this together!" Ben shouts. "Yeah and that why I'm getting help with everything from my friends parents. I barely get to see you and in case you haven't noticed, my hair is the way it always has been. I haven't used my powers for anything at all!" I shout back. "I've been really busy you know that. And while you're running away from your problems by using spells, I'm running a kingdom!" He snaps and I glare at him. "Benjamin Florean Beast, how dare you-" I double over before I can continue, eyes flashing dangerously green. Once I stand myself upright again, I stand tall and stern. "You know what, I just found out that leah wanted to get me sent back to the isle. Maybe I should spare her the trouble and actually run away from my problems like you say I am." I tell him icily and then grab mal's book from him and turn and storm away.