Charlotte Charming x Carlos

Chapter 5 Final Preparations

As soon as they got back to Auradon Charlotte found she still had so much to organise before Cotillion.

"Cotillion's tonight" Charlotte said panicked. She pulled Ben aside quickly "Come here." she ushered "Look, this is the stained glass window for Mal. Isn't it beautiful?" Charlotte asked.

"She's gonna love it." Ben assured.

"Do you want to cancel?" Charlotte asked confused "Um, you know what? I can come back. Uh, but, like,really, really soon."

"No, no, no.No, no, no. Now's fine. Um...Do whatever you need to do." Ben told her.

"We need to talk." Evie said to Mal.

Mal agreed "Yeah."

"No." Carlos Sadi making Mal and Evie stop in their tracks.

"No?" They asked.

"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 explained.

"I'm not." Jay said putting his hands up in defence.

"We're your family, too." Carlos reminded them "We've been through a lot together. We're not stopping that now, okay? Everyone sit. Come on. You too. I don't know how to start girl talk."

"What up?" Jay started.

"Um, well... I'm a mess. I'm such a mess. 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." Mal said slowly.

"Then don't." Jay advised.

"See? This was dumb." Mal said.

"Maybe it wasn't. 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." Evie explained with a small smile. "That's okay. And we can't fake it."

"No." The boys said agreeing with Evie.

"Yeah. I mean, especially without my spell book." Mal added.

"Mal, if Ben doesn't love the real you, then he's not the one." Evie assured her.

"I like that." Mal said.

"Give him a chance. 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?" Evie told her.

"Come on, buddy. Come to Cotillion tonight, all right? If Ben isn't smart enough to love you and you can't stand another day, I'll drive you back tomorrow myself." Carlos promised.

"Okay?" Mal said.

Carlos smiled and punched the air "Girl talk."Crushed it."

"Yeah, except when it comes to asking Charlotte out." Jay teased.

Carlos looked down embarrassed "Yeah then I'm a total chicken." he admitted.

Mal smiled "I'm gonna paraphrase one of the bravest boys I know. If she does not like you, then she is not the one for you."

"You really are a man's best friend." Carlos said with a smile "Come on, let's go"

"Let's bring it in, boys." Evie said "Let's bring it in." and they all hugged.