Mal POV
I was sitting in the back of the royal limo. Ben had invited me to spend the summer at his house because one, his castle was close to the school so it wouldn't be very far for me to move, and two, he's my boyfriend and he wanted to spend more time with me. Though I'm sure the second reason was why he really invited me. I had been to his home before, but I had never stayed longer than a few hours, so this was a first.
Ben had sent a car to pick me up, because he was to busy with king stuff that day to do it himself. As we approached the castle the driver pulled up to the door, parking the car he got out and opened the car door for me. As I got out of the car I was a little surprised to see he was the same driver that had picked up Jay, Carlos, Evie and I when we first came to Auradon. He still had that air of not really caring, but I didn't mind, I wasn't really a person who liked to talk just to talk.
He got my bag out of the trunk and led me to the door. As he placed it down I asked.
"Hey" he looked at me, even with the sunglasses I could still tell he didn't want to talk, but I continued anyway. "What's your name?" He looked confused at my question.
"Why do you want to know?" He retorted "Are you going to ask the king to make sure not to send me to pick you up ever again?"
"No" I answered "I actually like the fact that you're not nosey, it's refreshing." He seemed taken aback at my kind words, frankly I was a little too. His demeanor changed a little, he seemed less tense.
"Thank you" he replied. "The name's Josh" I nodded in acknowledgement before taking my bag inside.
"I guess Auradon has changed me more than I thought."
As I walked in I was met with a young man, he looked to be about twenty eight years old.
"Hello, lady Mal." he greeted me. He was wearing a white dress shirt, a khaki vest with gold trim, khaki paints and black dress shoes.
"Hey Chip." I replied with my usual casual attitude. "I told you, please just call me Mal." He took the bag from me saying.
"Of course, I'm sorry." he apologized "It's a habit to call guests by they're titles."
"No worries." I assured him. I started to walk past him asking "Do you know where Ben is?"
"He's in his office." he answered.
"Thanks" I replied as I started to head in that direction. I hadn't seen Ben for a while, we both had had a lot of exams at the end of the semester and he had an influx of work, so I was happy to be able to spend time with him.
"Ma'am" Chip called out, I stopped and turned towards him. "He's in a meeting right now." at his words the happy feeling that had been growing in me the whole car ride over deflated, Ben's work always seemed to get in the way, but this is why he had invited me over, so we could spend more time together. I gave a sigh asking
"Did he say when he'll be done?"
"Yes" he replied "He told me to tell you he'll be done around four o'clock." I glanced down at my watch, which Ben had gotten me for our one year anniversary, it read two thirty. I gave a sigh, he must have just gotten back to work when I had arrived. Chip walked over to me and said "I can show you to your room if you like?"
"Yeah" I replied, trying to hide my disappointment "That would be great."
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Chip had lead me up some stairs and into a hall way with a little loft at the front on the left side and doors down either side with a window at the end. he lead me down to the end of the hall and walked up to the door on the left. he set my bag down and opened the door saying
"Your room ma'am" I walked in and saw a full bed on the left wall with purple sheets, a dark wood stained dresser on the back wall, along the same wall was the door to the bathroom, on the right wall was big floor to roof window.
"I'll just leave your bag here" Chip said, setting my bag down to the left of the door on the inside. After he left I got a better look at the inside of the room, and I noticed that there was gift on the bed, it was wrapped in yellow paper with red ribbon tied in a bow around it. There was a card wedged under the ribbon, I took it out, opened it and read it. it said
Dear Mal,
I know I wasn't able to greet you when you arrived, and I'm sorry. I know this won't make up for my absence, but I hope It makes you feel a little better.
love Ben.
I untied the ribbon and opened the box to find a bouquet of chocolate covered strawberries. Yeah he was busy with work but he also knew how to make me happy. I grabbed one and took a bite, relishing in the sweetness of the chocolate covered fruit. Then I heard something I hadn't expected, a meow.
I turned toward the door to find a white Persian cat, it's hair was cut so it resembled a lion. it looked at me with ice blue eyes. I didn't know how to feel, The only other cat I had met was Carlos's Beelzebub who was still on the Isle. It was standing in the door, just staring at me.
"What?" I asked "Really? did i just ask a cat a question? it's not like it can understand me." to my surprise it meowed again, as if answering my question. I walked toward it and it walked out of my way into the hall. I shrugged it off as a coincidence and started down towards the end of the hall. I walked into the loft, which had a grey couch, some book shelves with books and games on them, and a TV across from the couch. If there was one thing that I had gained from my relationship with Ben was an appreciation for fictional novels. I walked over to the shelves and perused the options, I settled on one, sat on the couch and started to read.
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I was sitting near the edge of the couch still reading, leaning on the arm of the couch, with my legs bent and next to me when I felt the couch shake. I looked over to the other side of the couch and saw the cat sitting there looking at me. I don't know what it was about the cat, but I felt like it was following me.
"Shoo!" I said trying to get it to leave by flicking my hand at it. but again it just meowed back at me. I rolled my eyes then looked at my watch, and to my delight it read three fifty eight. I marked my spot in the book and set it down. I got up and walked down stairs and over to Ben's office. I knocked on the door, after a few moments it opened and I was met with the sight of my boyfriend. He smiled when he saw me, and I smiled back.
"Hey" he said.
"Hey" I replied, enjoying actually being able to see his face "Are you almost done?" I asked, hoping the answer was yes. He smiled at me and said
"Actually" I cocked an eyebrow at him "I was just about to come get you." he said putting his hands on my waist.
"Really?" I asked as I placed my hand on his neck. He leaned closer to me so that our faces were inches apart. "What for?" he pulled me in and kissed me.
"So I could do that." He replied after pulling away. I smiled, I couldn't help but smile whenever he did that. A small part of me wished I had let him do that earlier in our relationship.
"Was that all you wanted to see me for?" I teased. he laughed
"I was going to ask if you wanted some dinner."
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We had finished dinner and were watching a movie in the loft. We were sitting on the couch, Ben was half laying on the couch half sitting, he was leaning his back against the arm and I was practically laying with my back on him. He had one arm around me and the other resting on the back of the couch. The movie had just finished and the credits started to roll. I looked up at Ben, he was looking at me, he looked as content as I felt, and I felt like I could stay like that forever. Our moment of peace was interrupted by the cat walking into the room and over to Ben meowing. When it reached the couch he reached down and pet it's head saying
"Hey girl." The cat purred as he scratched under her chin.
"I was meaning to ask you" I said looking at the cat. "Who's this?"
"Oh" Ben said, I could feel him shifting a little under me. "This is snuffles, my cat."
"How come I've never seen her before?" I asked turning over so I could see him.
"She doesn't like to go downstairs." he replied, taking his hand off of the cat and wrapping both of his arms around me "but you know you have all my love." I laughed
"I never doubted it." I replied leaning into him. He looked at his watch and gave a sigh. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"I have an early meeting tomorrow" he replied "If I don't go to bed soon, I won't be awake enough to pay attention" he tried to get up but I held him down. "Mal" he said, I could hear a note of sadness in his voice. "I want to spend more time with you too, but I have to go to sleep." I frowned up at him, then I had idea.
"Why don't I just sleep with you?" I asked, hoping his answer would be yes. I let him let go of me and stand up, I stood up too.
"I would love that." He replied, but his face told another story. "But" I was really beginning to dislike that word. "I don't think I would be able to sleep." I gave a sigh, giving in. He walked me over to my room and we said goodnight. He started to walk away
"Ben" I called. He turn to face me.
"Yeah?"
"I love you"
"I know." He replied, a mischievous smile on his face. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"I guess I'm rubbing off on you."
"A little" he replied walking back over to me. He kissed me goodnight and added "I love you too."
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I woke up the next morning, cozy and warm underneath the soft purple covers with the sun coming through the window. I rolled over to find snuffles, the cat, sitting on the bed, staring at me. I looked at the cat, a groggy confused look on my face.
"What do you want?" I asked, squinting at her. She meowed and blinked at me.
"I can't understand you, you know that?" She meowed again and reached a paw out towards me, her pads spread apart. She pulled on the covers near my hand.
"Maybe she wants me to do that thing that Ben was last night?" I thought. I reached my hand towards her head but she ducked away.
"You are so confusing." I said. As I got out of bed she jumped off and sat on the floor as I got ready for the day. I walked towards the stairs and she followed me all the way to the top step. As I started to walk down I heard her meow at me. I turned around
"Why don't you just come downstairs?" I asked, but as usual I only got a meow as response. I continued down the stairs and into the kitchen.
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I had a nice breakfast with Belle, then headed up to my room to get my art supplies, I was feeling creative. As I walked into my room I saw the cat sitting on the bed, like it was waiting for me. It meowed at me, but I ignored it this time, hoping it would get her to leave me alone. I grabbed my sketchbook, a fiew pencils, and the book I was reading then headed back out. I walked down the hall and toward the other side of the upstairs.
I found a room with rather big windows with beanbag chairs underneath them. I sat in one and opened my sketchbook. I looked around the room for something to draw and my eyes fell on the cat. She had decided to follow me again and sat on the other beanbag. I decided that she was the most interesting thing in that room to draw, and I couldn't think of anything else. So I drew her.
After I was finished drawing I looked at the time, it was around eleven thirty. So I decided to read some more. The cat must have sensed that I was done drawing her for she came over to me and jumped up next to me. I looked away from the book in my hands to See her sitting next to me. I had almost had enough of this cat. I got up and walked back over to the loft and sat on the couch. I made sure she hadn't followed me then continued to read. After a few minutes I felt the couch shake, I looked up to see that, once again, the cat was sitting next to me. Frustrated I yelled.
"Just leave me alone, will you?" I didn't know why, but I didn't like this cat following me around.
"Are you okay?" I looked up to see Ben standing at the top of the stairs, looking at me bewildered.
"Ben" I said surprised "I thought you still had work?" He shrugged
"I needed a break, and plus I wanted to see you" He replied walking over to me. "And it seems like I came just in time." He finished looking from the cat and over to me, a curious look on his face.
"She keeps following me around." I said gesturing to the white feline.
"I think that means she likes you." He said sitting down next to me on the couch.
"Why would she like me?" I asked, still not sure why I was frustrated.
"Because you're a good person." He replied matter-o-fatctly. I looked over at him, confused.
"If that were true, how would she know that?" He looked at me, I could see a little humor in his eyes but also understanding. He took my hand
"Mal, you are a good person, I knew that from the moment I met you." He said looking into my eyes. "And clearly she does too." He added looking back at the cat.
"But how does she know?" I asked again. Thankful for his kind words. He looked back at me.
"Animals just have a way of knowing who to trust." He said smiling "when Audrey first met her, snuffles ran away and hid the whole time she was over." I laughed a little
"And we both know how she is." I added and he laughed at my remark.
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The rest of the day was lovely, we had lunch before Ben had to resume his work, and I decided to explore the castle, with snuffles in tow whenever I was upstairs. When it reached time for us to turn in for the night. Ben invited me to sleep in his room. I gladly obliged, got into my pajamas and snuggled down under the covers of his bed. He joined me shortly after, his hair still wet from his shower. He placed his arm around me while I had my back to him. For one of the fiew times in my life, everything was fine, I didn't have to worry about living up to my mother's expectations or having to be a perfect pink princess. Ben loved me the way I was and was with me. I was almost asleep when I felt the bed shake ever so slightly. I opened my eyes to see snuffles laying down and cozying up to me on the bed, and for once I didn't mind it. I felt at home.
A/N- Hey all of my lovely readers, I hope you enjoyed that little Bal story, 2826 words, that's a new record for me. I'll be writing in here whenever inspiration strikes, but if you have any ideas feel free to leave a comment, I might just make a chapter out of it. Well, Thanks for reading and have a lovely rest of your day.