Choosing Love

Chapter Twenty One

Ben sighed softly as he led the way to his dorm room, accompanied by Mal, Uma and Lady Persephone. In all honesty, Ben had no idea what was going to happen but he knew he needed to have a talk with his girlfriend.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Uma break off and head in the direction of the room she shared with Evie and Mal.

She's either going to get Harry and Jay or she's going to get the newspapers she talked about, he thought with an inward nod of his head. Hopefully it's the later. As much as I know Mal loves her friends, she won't want too big of an audience for the talk we're going to have. Something tells me it'll be an emotional one and Mal's not big on showing her feelings.

Thankfully his room was just as spotless as it had been when he left this morning. He didn't know why he expected anything different but then again, considering who he had as friends, anything was possible.

"Lady Persephone, would you like the chair?" Ben offered as he held open the door for his girlfriend and his girlfriend's mother to walk through. His desk chair was probably the most uncomfortable chair ever made but it was the best thing in his dorm room he could offer that wasn't the bed.

Ironic considering he was the King but he spent more time in his office than he did his dorm anyway.

"No, thank you King Ben," Persephone shook her head. "I'd like to stay with my daughter if possible."

"Of course. I just...I thought you might prefer...the chair might have been more comfortable—."

"Ben, mom's not going to smite you for offering the bed as a place to sit," Mal said softly and Ben couldn't help but smile slightly. At least she was talking, that was a good start. "But...mom, as much as I love the fact that you're here, aren't you going to get in trouble with Old Lightning Butt?"

"Zeus can worry about the agreement when he wants to actually provide a good agreement for a mother of two who has a daughter who needs her," Persephone stated as she sat down on the edge of the bed, holding Mal close to her. "King Ben was kind enough to provide a car and Zeus can't really get upset if I came at behest of the King now can he?"

"You've been around dad too much if you can list a loophole that quickly," Mal told her but didn't put up any resistance to her mom's embrace.

"When you become a parent, Mali, you'll learn that you'll do whatever it takes to make sure your kids know you're there for them," Persephone said gently, softly brushing a bit of hair out of Mal's face. Ben tilted his head slightly as he took in Mal's eyes...did they seem a bit brighter than usual?

He didn't mean brighter because of the tears in her eyes, but the shade of green in her eyes. He didn't know how he hadn't noticed before but it was like they were back to the shade of green he loved so much.

It was almost as if a tiny bit of his Mal was breaking through.

"Mal...what's going on?" Ben asked, his voice soft.

"It's nothing Ben," Mal shook her head as Uma slipped into the room, unnoticed by all but Ben. His second assumption had turned out to be the correct one as she had her arms loaded with newspapers. Or at least what passed for newspapers considering they were all The Gazelle.

Everyone at Auradon Prep knew that the only thing The Gazelle was good for was a fire starter or as something for a dog to use the bathroom on if they went inside. Well, anyone with any sense that is—and Ben would never give Estelle a copy of that trash to do his business on.

"Yeah okay," Uma scoffed, setting the newspapers down on Ben's desk. "That's why you haven't done any spray painting or worn anything with dragons on it for months now. Because what, you just felt like it?"