happy ever after ☆ mevie

out in the open

Mal -

We reach our dorm and both flop onto my bed. "Well, that was a busy morning," I say, laughing.

Evie turns to face me, and I sense that she's worried about something. "M..." she starts. "I... didn't tell Doug that it's you I'm in love with."

At first I feel upset, and then I realize I don't really care what Doug thinks, as long as I have Evie. "Oh, ok. Uh... why?" I stumble.

"I didn't really know why when I was in there, but..." she pauses. "Well, uh... I guess, y'know, this wasn't totally the kind of love that I... that my mother expected for me."

"Oh..." I mumble. Evie sits up, and so do I.

"I mean, this," she takes my hands. "This is exactly what I want. You. Us. I see that now. But... I guess it's just taking me some time to adjust to other people knowing." I nod. "I just... I guess I'm not as out of my mom's mindset as I thought I was," she says, looking down.

"I get it," I say. "I mean, I don't totally, because my mom was more like 'no love at all,' not like, specific that I had to marry a prince or whatever," I pause and tighten my grip on her hand. "But I get the whole 'mom-mindset' thing. And it's okay." She looks up at me with a grateful smile. "We can take it slow. All that matters is you and us." I put my arm around her and she leans on my shoulder.

"Thank you, M," she whispers. We hold each other for a while, but then my phone rings in my pocket. Evie leaves my embrace and I pull my phone out.

"It's Ben," I say, showing Evie the phone. She nods and goes to the other side of the room to sew, so I can have some privacy. I take a deep breath and press 'Accept Call.'

"Hey," I say, not wanting to talk to him right now.

"Hi, Mal. Uh, so cotillion is on tomorrow. Is it okay if I announce that we, uh..." he stumbles over his words.

"Broke up?"

"Yeah," he mumbles.

"Uh, that's okay with me. Can I talk to, uh, Evie about it first?"

"Evie? Oh uh, yeah. Just let me know by tonight," he says.

"'Kay." I quickly hang up and exhale. Evie comes back to the bed and sits next to me.

"What was it?" she asks.

"He wants to tell everyone that we broke up at cotillion tomorrow. I told him I'd talk to you first. Um... what do you think?"

"Oh... uh, I guess that's okay." She fiddles with her hair, and I can tell she's leaving something unsaid.

"You want me to make sure he won't talk about us being together?" I guess. Evie bites her lip and slowly nods. "E, that's totally okay."

She sighs and says "Thanks." I pull out my phone and send Ben a quick text. I look back up at Evie, who I realize now has her head in her hands.

"E, what's wrong?"

"I..." her voice is muffled by her hands. "I'm sorry I'm having so much trouble... getting used to this. I don't why I am so scared for others to know..." She pauses and looks up. "You deserve the best and I don't know why I can't-"

"E, it's ok. It hasn't even been a day since we became us," I interrupt her and wrap her in a hug. "It completely makes sense that it takes a bit to adjust to a mindset change like this."

Evie sighs and looks up at me. "You're amazing."

I grin and cup her face in my hands. "You're incredible." We sit like that for a few moments, gazing at each other. Suddenly, someone knocks on the door and it opens to Jay and Carlos.

Evie -

Mal and I automatically spring apart. "Uh, hi, boys," Mal says, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Sorry, uh, are we interrupting something?" Carlos mumbles.

"No, no it's fine," I say. The boys take seats at the small table across from the beds.

"So, uh, eventful night last night, huh?" Jay says. I look up, accidentally making eye contact with him. He grins and winks. I take a deep breath. I can talk to them. They'll understand.

"Yeah..." I mumble. Mal looks at me and mouths 'can I tell them?' I nod with a small smile.

"So, uh..." I start.

"Evie and I..." Mal starts. She looks at me and I take her hands. "We're together now."

"Ayyyy! Cool! Congrats, guys," Carlos says, walking over. My eyes sting with happy tears; it feels so good to have them know and love us anyway.

"Wait, that sounded like a prepared speech, Carlos," I say, giggling a little. "Did you  already know?"

"Well, uh..." Carlos mumbles, messing with his hair.

"I talked to him about it last night," Mal says, smiling wide. "When I... 'realized' that I love you."

Carlos squeals a little. "You guys are so cute together." I laugh loudly and Mal hugs me. Jay comes over too and gives me a fist bump. 

"Congrats, guys," he says, smiling. Mal raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, I talked to Jay about it last night too. When I... uh, 'realized,'" I explain with a chuckle. 

"Guys! Your couple name is the best — Mevie! Almost as good as Jarlos," Carlos says excitedly.

"Uh, what's Jarlos?" I ask with a grin.

"Oh! I, um, asked Jane out this morning. She said yes!"

"Yay! Good job, Carlos," Mal says, high-fiving him.

"Congrats!" I say. 

We're all quiet for a bit, but then Carlos asks "Is cotillion still on tomorrow? Even though Mal isn't, uh..."

"Queen-to-be?" Mal says blatantly, though she's smiling. "Yeah, it's still on."

"Cool," Carlos says. 

"Well, I gotta get to tourney practice," Jay says, checking his watch. "But congrats, really. I'm happy for you guys," he says, giving me a high-five. We wave goodbye to the boys as they leave our room.

I'm filled with a warm and fuzzy feeling; Carlos and Jay are happy for us. Mal is my true love. Everything's starting to make sense.