Never Alone

Ben Finds Out/The Date Pt. 1

Two weeks later:

Ben walked with his hands at his sides to his girlfriend's dorm. He reached the right door, and knocked three times. Evie came to the door and answered it. "Hello Evie. How are you?" He asked. "I'm fine, thanks. How are you?" She asked him. "I'm great. Actually, I was looking for Mal." Ben said. "She's not here." Evie answered before she could stop herself. Ben's face registered in shock. "What do you mean she's not here?" He looked into the room, and saw most of the room empty. "She doesn't live here anymore Ben. She stays with Carlos and Jay now." Evie said, her face turning red as a tomato. "Evie, please come with me." Ben said and he shut the door after Evie was outside her room. 

Ben started walking in the direction of Carlos and Jay's dorm room, and Evie was forced to walk beside him down the hall. Ben knocked on the door, and Carlos answered it. Mal was sitting with Jay on his bed with her combat boots off. "Jay, he won't get you. I promise you, he won't get you." Mal said brushing her thumb over Jay's cheekbone. "I promise you on my life he won't get you." Mal said leaning over and kissing his forehead just as Ben came in. "Mal!" Ben exclaimed and Jay stiffened at the sound of Ben's voice. Jay started shaking and Mal said, "It's just Ben and Evie. I swear he's not here." Jay tried to calm down, but it wasn't working. His fear was building inside of him and it was growing stronger by the second. "Lay on your stomach." Mal whispered to him. Jay met her eyes and her lips found his ear again, "You won't see anyone." Mal watched Jay flip over onto his stomach, pull the blanket over himself, and scoot to the far edge of his bed. 

"Mal, why don't you live in your room anymore?" Ben asked her. Mal shrugged and said, "I'm needed here more." "Why?" "It's not really my place to say that Ben." Mal said looking at Ben. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Ben said eyeing each of the four Vks. Ben stared at Mal, and he realized her body was angled towards Jay, and everything suddenly clicked into place. "It's because you're cheating on me with Jay isn't it?" Ben asked Mal with anger in his voice. "Of course not! Why would you think that!" She exclaimed. Everyone in the room heard Jay mumble something, and Mal and Carlos shot towards him. Carlos looked at Evie and she nodded. Evie took Ben's hand, and he noticed how warm it was. "Come on Ben." She said and started pulling him out the door. As they went out the door, Ben saw Mal and Carlos surrounding Jay, and Mal had her arms wrapped around Jay. He heard her say, "Jay, look at me. Jay, Jay, look at me!" She got him to stop thrashing. "He won't hurt you Jay. If he comes near you, I'll hurt him. I won't let him hurt you anymore." Jay rested his head on Mal's shoulder, and she kissed his forehead before pulling him closer to her. 

The next day, Evie told Mal about the date Ben had wanted to ask Mal on. Mal shook her head, "I'm not going unless it's during the day. I'm not going to leave Jay, because he'll start screaming. You're lucky you haven't heard it before. It's one of the worst things you can hear, and it'll draw unneeded attention that he won't want to him. I can't bear to see him pain again." Mal said lacing up her combat boots and leaving the room. Later, Evie ran into Ben, "What did Mal say?" Ben asked Evie. "She said she'll only go during the day." Evie told him. 

The two got to breakfast, to spot Mal sitting inbetween Carlos and Jay. Carlos said something to Mal, that made her spit her orange juice out all over the table, which cracked Jay and Carlos up. Ben and Evie sat down as Mal was cleaning up her juice with a napkin. Carlos elbowed her in the ribs and she looked at him. "What?" She asked. "Did you answer Ben's date call?" He asked her. "I said I'd go during the day." "When did he want to go?" "Tomorrow night." "Mal, what do you say, do you want to go out with me tomorrow night?" Ben asked. "Tomorrow during the day, sure, but not at night." Mal said. "Excuse me, but I need to speak to Mal and Evie for a moment." Carlos said to Ben. "Mal, you should go on that date. This is your chance to be happy. Evie and I can take care of Jay. We'll give him sleeping pills." Carlos said. Mal shook her head. 

"That will give him the dreams. He needs something to focus on phsyically to not have the dreams." "Then we'll give him a potion to not have dreams." Evie said. It took almost an hour of reassuring and convincing, for Mal to finally relent, and go on the date with Ben. Mal had her phone turned on, and she told Carlos and Evie to call her if something happened. After Mal left, Evie gave Jay the potion mixed with water. Jay was determined to stay awake, so Mal wouldn't worry about him and enjoy her date. It seemed like hours later that his body started to fail him. He found himself nodding off, and he pinched himself to stay awake, but soon enough, he found his eyes closing, and himself drifting into deep slumber. 

Mal was with Ben in the hallway, when they, along with other Auradon Prep students, heard the screaming. Carlos was out in the hallway and he saw Mal. "Mal!" He yelled and she gasped, dropping everything that Ben had given her onto the floor and running to Carlos, leaving Ben in the hallway, with a pained expression on his face.