COOKIES AND LOVE SPELLS
jane and lonnie had left not too long after they impulsively ripped their skirts. eventually carlos joined the girls, carrying a laptop and dude in his arms, laying against mal's bed.
iduna puts her earphones into her ears, listening to music on an ipod – what ben had called it when he gave it to her earlier that day. she hums the tune of the song, drawing some new dress designs in evie's sketchbook.
carlos looks over at her as she sits on the table with the sun beaming down, casting a light over her face, bringing out her blue eyes. carlos swallows, lost in his gaze. it was the most obvious thing in the world, yet iduna had no clue the feelings carlos felt towards her. over the years he convinced himself that someone like her would never like someone like him. but, since they arrived in auradon, his feeling for her were only getting stronger.
"oh yeah!" jay bursts through the door, wearing his new tourney jersey. carlos snaps his head towards his friend, clueless to the giggle evie let out as she caught him staring.
iduna pulls out her earphones, "nice, jay." as carlos gives a whistle.
"did your plan work with jane?" jay asks, leaning against mal's bedpost frame, "are you going over to see the wand?"
"do you think that i would be going through every single spell in this book if i hadn't completely struck out?" mal hisses, giving him a glare.
"someone's in a bad mood," carlos sighs.
"my mom's counting on me! i can't let her down!" mal flicks him in the head.
"we can do this..." jay raises his voice, "if we stick together."
iduna stares up at him, biting her cheek.
mal adds, "and we won't go back until we do. because we're rotten..."
"to the core." the other four reply. iduna stands from her spot at the table, closing evie's sketchbook softly.
"oh, yeah, i found out that fairy godmother blesses ben with the wand at coronation and we all get to go," evie says quickly, "i have nothing to wear, of course."
everyone stares at her in disbelief that she was only mentioning this now.
a knock on the door causes iduna to quickly walk towards it, "hold that thought." swinging the door open, ben is revealed.
"hey-"
"mal, it's for you," iduna interrupts with a gleam in her eyes. ben furrows his eyebrows in question.
mal stands next to iduna, the others not too far behind them. "i didn't see you guys today," ben says, "i was just wondering if you had any questions or anything that you needed."
mal shrugs, "not that i know of."
ben looks disappointed, "well, if you need anything, just..."
"oh wait! is it true that we all get to go to your coronation?" mal asks, gesturing towards her and the others.
ben nods, "yeah, the whole school goes."
"wow, that is beyond exciting." mal says, "do you think that it's a possibility that the five of us could stand in the front row next to the fairy godmother just so we could, soak up all that goodness?"
"i wish you could. up front it's just me, my folks and my girlfriend," ben tells her.
"and your girlfriend?" mal repeats.
"yeah, i'm sorry," ben apologises.
"okay, thanks, bye!" mal slams the door in his face, turning to her friends, "i think it's time that benny-boo got himself a new girlfriend. and i need a love spell."
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"alright, it says that we still need one tear, and i never cry," mal says, mixing the cookie mixture.
it was dark now, and the vk's hung in the kitchen as mal made the love spell for ben. iduna sits next to carlos, dude on the other side of him in a fruit bowl.
"let's just chop up some onions," carlos suggests.
"no! it says that we need one year of human sadness. and this love potion gets the best reviews so we have to follow it exactly."
jay rolls his eyes, "a tear is a tear."
evie shakes her head, "that's not true jay. they both have antibodies and enzymes, but, an emotional tear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex tear."
"listen to you!" iduna sings, smiling.
jay scoffs, "yeah, i knew that."
carlos rolls his eyes. "did not." he hits his arm.
"uh, yeah i did."
"there you are, mal! i was looking for you," lonnie bursts through the kitchen doors, wearing her pyjamas. mal quickly covers the spell book with a napkin. "you know, all the girls want you to do their hair!"
lonnie looks down at the mixing bowl, "midnight snack, huh? whatcha guys making?"
mal shrugs, "nothing special. just cookies,"
"no!" iduna and the others call as lonnie dips her finger in the bowl.
lonnie stares at them, "what? i'm not gonna double dip."
"feel, anything?" evie asks.
"yeah, like maybe it might be missing something?" mal adds.
jay smirks, strutting over to lonnie, "hey there." lonnie stares at him blankly, "could use some chips."
"chips?" iduna mutters.
"and those are..?"
"chocolate chips. just the most important food group," she tells them, taking out a small bowl of little chocolates.
"wait, didn't your moms ever make you guys, like chocolate chip cookies? like, when you're feeling sad, and they're fresh from the oven, with a big old glass of milk and she just makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective and..."
iduna's eyes glaze over as she stares at the floor with frown.
"why are you all looking at me like that?" lonnie asks.
iduna looks up, eyes watery, "it's just, very different where we come from," she shrugs.
"yeah, i know. i just, you know, i thought, even villains love their kids," lonnie looks at them. she pauses at iduna, realising, "oh... how awful."
a tear falls from her eye, to which mal quickly swipes, snapping everybody out of their thoughts.
"oh yeah well, bummer! thank you so much for coming by. really really have a good night," she ushers lonnie out, "see you tomorrow, evil dreams!"
iduna blinks quickly, jumping down from the bench and looking up to rid her eyes of any sign of sadness. she was meant to be evil and mean, not weak.
"okay, boys, cookie sheet," she points to jay and carlos, "evie oven," she looks to iduna, 'd, you start washing up."
iduna scrunches up her nose, "why do i get the lame job?" jay looks at her, "because you're lame."
"really funny, jay," she scoffs.
iduna begins to wash up, wiping the bench and stacking all the dishes into the dishwasher. as the others are occupied, carlos walks over to her quietly. she looks over her shoulder as she sees his shadow, giving him a smile.
"you finish helping jay already?"
carlos shrugs, "he kinda took over. he said i was doing it wrong, but like, so was he." iduna chuckles.
carlos stares at the side of her face, "are you... okay?" iduna looks at him, "yeah why wouldn't i be?"
"you seemed pretty upset before, when lonnie was talking about, uh, mothers," he says, stepping closer, "you know, you can talk to m-"
"carlos, i'm fine, i swear," she steps back, shrugging her shoulders, "please, just, let's talk about something else, okay?"
carlos nods, feeling defeated. evie beacons iduna over, leaving carlos standing alone. he sighs, biting the inside of his cheek in thought.
iduna had built invisible walls of ice around her from the day she landed on the isle. carlos could see they were beginning to crack, and soon they would come breaking down into an avalanche.
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EDITED: 14/07/2022