pecan pie [descendants]

step thirteen

For once, Ben wasn't working during lunch, and so he and Jo sat with their friends.

Since Ben had left Jo known that morning that he was free for lunch, she'd made food for everyone. Their table consisted of Imogen, Amaris, Scarlett, Evie, Mal, Carlos, Jay, and Jo and Ben, obviously. Lonnie usually sat with them as well, but she was busy retaking a quiz. Jo had asked for Ben's help carrying all the food and so the two arrived together. At this, Imogen made a strange face that Jo had no idea how to interpret.

"Holy shit," Amaris gasped once she caught sight of them. "Jo, have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"Not even once," Jo replied. She set her basket down on the table and started handing out food. She'd made grilled chicken paninis with pesto aioli, provolone cheese, arugula, and thin slices of tomatoes. She'd wrapped them in parchment paper. Along with the paninis, she'd prepared fruit salad and homemade potato chips. Ben held the cooler with the fruit salad and the jugs of lemonade (one regular lemonade, one strawberry lemonade), a stack of disposable cups balancing on top of the cooler. 

It'd been a bit of a pain in the ass getting it all together, but it was fun too. Jo hadn't made a meal as big as this since she left the Isle. She couldn't help but miss Jo's Kitchen. She missed feeding people en masse, missed seeing their faces when they saw the food coming. There was no feeling quite like it, seeing a plate clean of the food you'd made that once sat upon it. Especially because now, she actually had the resources to feed a bunch of people, unlike on the Isle. 

On the Isle, she had to make everything stretch. On Auradon, there was almost too much.

From her spot beside Evie, Scarlett crinkled her nose. "Oh, Jo, those look great but-"

"And a vegetarian panini for you, Scarlett," Jo cut in, passing the veggie panini down the table.

Carlos and Jay were already almost done with their food by the time Jo and Ben sat down. Amaris had scarfed hers down in an ungodly short period of time, but that was probably the wolf in her. Jo put together Ben and her's plates: a panini for each, chips for Ben, a handful of chips for Jo, and a large helping of fruit salad.

Imogen raised her eyebrows in disbelief as Jo handed Ben a stack of napkins and a glass of strawberry lemonade. "How much food did you make?"

"Too much," Jo said brightly. "There's three spare sandwiches and two more batches of potato chips." She bit into her panini and her eyes widened. Wow. That was way better than she was expecting. The sandwiches weren't as hot and crispy because of the travel time and it was too wet -- the combination of the juicy chicken, aioli, and tomatoes was sogging up the ciabatta. Next time, she'd have to use thinner slices of chicken. Otherwise, it was good.

She couldn't help it. She wiggled in her seat, smiling around a mouthful of panini and making her weird happy noises. Harry always used to make fun of her when she did her 'good food' dance, but she couldn't keep the joy contained.

"Yes, the Jolie Beaumont good food dance!" Carlos crowed, clapping his hands. "Oh, it's been way too long since I've seen that."

Her face turned bright red and she ducked her head as she swallowed her bite. "Shut up."

Ben lifted her head up, his index finger under her chin, and handed her a napkin, suppressing his laughter. "You have aioli on your nose." It was then Jo realized that Ben was sitting next to her. Not Mal, his pretend-girlfriend. Her. Jo.

Those two really weren't good at pretending to be in a relationship.

Jo cleaned her face and glanced at Mal, who didn't even seem to notice. She was too busy competing with Jay as to who could catch more fruit chunks with their mouths. Jo exchanged looks with Imogen. Did the fake-couple breakup or did they just not care anymore?

They weren't the only ones wondering, because Audrey strolled over with a forced confused expression. "Ben and Mal at different tables. Trouble in paradise?" Jo panicked and shoved a spoonful of fruit salad in her mouth so she didn't have to talk. Her eyes darted between the three (Ben, Mal, and Audrey), wondering how the king and his supposed engaged-to-be-engaged-to-be-engaged girlfriend were going to talk their way out of this.

In the time Jo had been in Auradon, she'd taken special care to avoid Audrey. It wasn't exactly a secret that Aurora and Phillip's daughter wasn't a fan of the VKs. Considering Jo had trouble fighting her own battles, she figured it wouldn't be a good idea to strike up a conversation with Audrey. Imogen had a different approach. Jo had seen them talking every now and then and she knew the two studied together. Apparently Audrey's distaste for VKs didn't extend to Imogen.

But Jo and Audrey, despite never having had a conversation before, were equally as shocked when Mal shrugged and said, "Ben and I broke up like a week ago."

Jo choked on the piece of melon she was trying to swallow. She buried her face in her napkin and coughed to clear her throat while Imogen patted her back supportingly. Jo managed to successfully swallow the melon chunk. She removed her face, now a deep shade of red, from her napkin and narrowed her eyes at Mal. "You didn't tell me you guys broke up!"

"I thought Ben told you," Mal said. Jo looked accusatorily at Ben.

Ben raised his hands in surrender. "I thought Mal told you!"

"So, you guys just broke up?" Audrey asked. From what she knew of Audrey, the princess should've been overjoyed by now, or maybe relieved, or angry. But Audrey just looked tired. Her shoulders slumped like they were finally free of the weight she'd been carrying. Her tone wasn't sharp or thinly concealed enthusiasm. It was tentative. Unsure.

Mal was incredibly nonchalant. "Yeah. We just realized we weren't right for each other so we broke up." Audrey began to shake ever so slightly. Most people wouldn't have noticed it, but Jo did because she'd been there. She knew all about the weakness in your legs and the hurricane in your bones and the tears building up in your eyes just waiting to flow down your cheeks and expose just how awful you feel to the entire world.

Jo's face softened and she stood up. "Audrey, would you like to have lunch with us?" This time, it was Mal who choked, on her strawberry lemonade. She shot Jo a look like, What the fuck?

Audrey was so shocked she forgot she was about to start crying. "What?" Jo glanced at Imogen. Imogen nodded, her lips twisting into a smile.

"I made extra paninis," Jo explained. She wasted no time in building Audrey a plate. "They have chicken and provolone and arugula and tomatoes and pesto aioli, and I made potato chips and fruit salad, and we also have lemonade. Regular and strawberry." She shoved the plate of food into Audrey's hands.

Audrey's eyes widened. "What?" Her resistance was crumbling, and Jo knew just what to do in order to knock that wall down.

"It would mean a lot to me if you would join us," Jo said. And then she whipped out the iconic Jolie Beaumont puppy dog eyes and a shy smile. There were very few people in the world who could resist Jo's puppy dog eyes and she had a feeling Audrey was not one of them.

She was right.

"Well, if it means that much to you," Audrey sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes. She took the seat across from Imogen, who passed her some strawberry lemonade. Audrey and Imogen shared a look. Audrey smiled, giggled, and looked away. Imogen's smile grew. Jo smirked. Oh, she was so going to interrogate her about that later.

Audrey bit into her panini and her demeanor shifted. She chewed slowly, then met Jo's eyes. "You made this?"

Jo felt a bit queasy. "Yeah."

"It's amazing!" Audrey gushed. "And you bake too, right?"

Jo beamed and launched into the story of Jo's Kitchen, telling Audrey all about how she fed the people of the Isle in exchange for favors and whatnot, completely unaware of the king's eyes on her.

Down the table, Mal nudged Evie and discreetly gestured to Jo and Ben. "I told you so."

*

another update bc i'm hopelessly in love with jolie beaumont

this was a big chapter plot-wise. b*l is now officially dead, audrey has made her first appearance, love seems to be in the air...this is where it all kicks off, folks