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Evie came bursting through the front door, slamming it behind her. It startled Doug and he peaked around the corner, sighing in relief upon seeing Evie’s familiar midnight blue locks from behind.
Finally. She was supposed to be here an hour ago. Not that he minded, it was just unlike her to be late and he had started to become anxious of her whereabouts.
“Evie?” Doug called.
She didn’t respond, instead she continued to walk down the hallway. This was unlike her. She would usually greet him with her usual enthusiasm (sometimes he never got a word in) and she would always tell him any little exciting things about her day. Especially since she had never been to one of Auradon’s market places before.
They were staying at Doug's family's place over the weekend. They had only arrived the night before and Doug’s mum had insisted on taking her out this morning without him being there. Apparently she wanted a little “girl time” with Evie. That didn’t surprise him at all. Despite what both Doug and Evie thought, his family had accepted her with open arms. His mum had always been a kind and gentle lady and she knew that Evie made him happy.
Doug ran after her, calling her name. “Evie?”
She must have heard him, but chose to ignore him. She picked up her pace, walking faster to get away from him. Her head was down, which was never a good sign. Evie being Evie, was always confident, strutting her stuff; which always included having her head held high. She was confident and there was nothing wrong with that. To see her acting otherwise, was awful.
Something was very wrong.
“Evie!” Although she was fast, not being in heels was an advantage for Doug.
He caught her arm from behind, gently pulling her to a stop. She didn’t try to escape him.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
She didn’t say anything or turn around to face him.
This was completely unusual for her, even on her bad days. She stayed eerily still and silent and if she continued this way he needed to consider calling for help. His mind was going a million miles an hour, and he could feel the panic slowly creeping in.
“Evie?”
“Chad…” She whispered after a moment.
He was almost relieved when she finally spoke.
“Chad?” He asked. “What do you mean?”
“He… He…”
She still wouldn’t face him, and he had to restrain himself from physically turning her towards him. He knew he would never do something like that, but in this particular situation she was really scaring him. She had never refused to look at him before and his mind was going to the most awful explanations, especially after mentioning Chad.
“He was at the market place.” She murmured.
He could now hear the pain in her voice. She had been crying, maybe she still was. Evie was so strong and resilient, she never let anyone - especially Chad - affect her emotions. She prided herself in that, so what could he have done to leave her so shaken and upset?
“What did he do?” Doug asked, his voice shaking.
She just shook her head and her shoulders started to shake; she was crying.
“Hey, hey.” Doug murmured, stepping closer towards her.
He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his head against her shoulder. He didn't know what else to do. He would let her decide when she wanted to turn around, until then, all he could do was wait.
She stiffened up under his touch and turned her head away from his. She didn’t want Doug to see her face. Did Chad… Physically hurt her? It almost broke his heart to think like that; to think of Evie being hurt in that way. But although Chad was a dick, Doug knew he wouldn’t do anything like that. This was Auradon after all.
“What happened?” Doug asked again, getting more worried by her continuous silence.
She removed his arms from around her and turned around to face him. Her eyes were glassy and swollen and mascara had run down her face, all smudged around her eyes. Her gaze wouldn’t meet his, instead being directed at his chest. He couldn’t describe how awful it was to see her like this, all because of something Chad had done. The guy just couldn’t put his stupid, pathetic grudge behind him. Couldn’t he ignore her, like she did with him? Why continue this immaturity?
Doug was sick of it.
“He kissed me Doug.” She whispered.
Doug suddenly felt like he’d been punched in the gut. A lump formed in his throat and he choked on whatever words he had planned on saying to try to calm her down. Out of everything he thought Chad had done, kissing Evie wasn’t even on the list. Why would he kiss Evie? Did he like her in that way? Was it a shot at Doug? What the hell was going on in that douche bag’s head? He had his chance at being with her and instead of treating her right, or even liking her in the first place, he used her and lost her forever.
“W-What?” He stuttered.
Ok, here was the plan: Doug was gonna storm right back down to that market place, find Chad and lay into him until someone stops him or Chad loses consciousness. The anger had suddenly come out of nowhere, it was like a huge slap to the face. Doug knew Evie didn’t like Chad in that way. She practically despised him.
He tried to tell himself that he needed to comfort Evie. He should. He had to. He definitely needed to do that first…
He will… right after Chad gets what has always been coming to him. Kissing Evie and leaving her this upset… That had crossed the line.
“Where is this market place?” Doug demanded, going back to the living room to find his jacket.
“No! Doug!” Evie called after him.
He couldn’t focus on what she was saying. He was too infuriated. He quickly threw on his jacket and made his way to the front door.
But she beat him. She now stood in front of it; looking beautiful and sad at the same time. It broke his heart all over again and he quickly had to look away.
“Evie, move.”
He was fuming at this point and needed to hit Chad. She didn’t deserve to be treated like this, why won’t she let Doug hit him!?
“We’re in Auradon remember?” She said quietly. “You can’t hit people.”
“Watch me.” He said through his teeth.
“Please don’t.” Evie pleaded. “Stay with me.”
She reached out and took his hands in hers. Although he tried to hold onto it, he could feel the anger slowly melting away. He still wouldn’t meet her gaze. Her beautiful eyes would snap him out of it instantly and melt him into a puddle at her feet.
He shook his head. “You don’t understand how much I want to hit him.”
“’I don’t understand’?” She demanded. “Chad humiliates me every day. If we were on the Isle... Let's just say he would've gone "missing" long before today. But we're not and I'm not that person anymore either. I'm trying here... I’m trying to be the bigger person. But it's hard. I don't know what he wants. He's mean and awful but then today he wants to kiss me? That behavior's something I would expect on the Isle... Something I, myself, have experienced there before and I guess I don't expect those things to happen here. I thought I was safe from...”
She slid down the door and to the ground, resting her head on her knees and started sobbing again. He wanted to smash Chad’s head in even more now. It broke his heart to think that she couldn't even feel safe in Auradon, of all places. That she had to experience the same awful behaviors directed at her repeatedly in a (supposedly) safer place.
He couldn’t leave now, not when she needed him.
He sunk down right beside her.
“I'm sorry baby…” Doug said quietly. “I'm so sorry.”
He stretched an arm around her small frame and she leaned into him almost immediately.
“Doug.” She sobbed. “I love you. I don’t love him, I swear I didn’t-”
“I know, I know. It’s ok.” He said. “I love you too.”
He planted a kiss on the top of her head and she wrapped her arms around him tighter.
…………………………………………………………………..
They stayed in that position for what seemed like hours in silence. She had calmed down a lot, but remained silent, wanting to sort things through in her head. Doug had calmed down too and was now thinking that hitting Chad wouldn’t be the greatest idea. He didn’t know what the punishment would be if he did, because no one had ever done such a thing in this place. He would talk to Evie first and, if she approved, they would tell Ben about the incident and see what he could do. A professional approach might be best.
“I’m gonna go to bed.” Evie sighed, pulling Doug from his thoughts. “We have that hike tomorrow and, you know, we need to rest.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” He said unwrapping his arm from around her.
He stood up, took her hands in his and lifted her up.
"Are you ok? Did you need me to-?"
“I'm better now, I promise. I don't wanna talk about it anymore, maybe tomrrow." Evie said.
"Ok." He nodded.
"Thanks." Evie said, giving him a small smile. "Goodnight."
“Goodnight.” He said gently.
She gave his hand a small squeeze and walked towards their bedroom.
Doug didn’t move. He wasn’t tired, maybe it was from all that adrenaline pumping through his veins earlier. He leaned against the door, deciding that he’d stay awake for a little longer. He zoned out, thinking of ways he could make Evie feel better in the morning. It was gonna be just the two of them for the whole day. He would take her out somewhere nice, after that hike Evie had insisted on going on (a full thirteen kilometers, Doug was going to be dead by the end of it.) A proper date was long overdue.
“Doug?”
The voice startled him. He looked up to see Evie approaching him from down the hallway. He hadn’t moved from where he was in front of the door. Why? He just couldn’t. He felt drained and alert all at the same time and it had frozen him in place.
As she got closer, he could see her face was makeup free, with the smudged mascara now just a memory. She would hardly let him see her without makeup (insisting that she looked "plain" and "worse" without it, which he disagreed with wholeheartedly.) Of course she was absolutely stunning with it on, but he loved the few freckles he could see spotted over her cheeks and nose. He could see all of the “imperfections” across her face, but to him, she was always beautiful.
She had changed into a loose fitting t-shirt with ‘Fairest’ written across it. Her mini skirt and dark blue tights were gone too, now swapped for blue polka dot shorts. Shorts that came just below the middle of her thighs, exposing her beautiful long legs. The longer he looked, the more he thought he might drool.
“Hey.” His voice croaked a bit and he cleared his throat. “I thought you were going to bed?”
She didn’t answer him, instead, after a moment’s hesitation, Evie came closer. He almost lost himself in the slow movement of her hips and quickly shook his head. He needed to stop thinking like this. She stopped when they were toe to toe and raised a hand to cup his cheek.
“Thanks for waiting up for me.” She whispered. “I don’t know how I would have handled it if you hadn’t been here.”
He wanted to say something, but words escaped him.
She must have known, because after a second she leaned towards him and pressed her lips to his. It was only meant to be something small, and he knew that. But when she kissed him, he couldn’t get enough. He kissed her whole heartedly, because he hadn’t had a chance to all day. It was selfish of him, but his brain hadn’t quite managed to think that far ahead yet.
She didn’t pull back, much to his surprise. She kissed him back and wrapped her arms around his neck. Out of habit, he wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her closer than she already was. They hadn’t had a proper moment alone like this for almost the whole time they had been here, and it had been killing him. Of course his timing, as usual, was perfect. Just after Chad had assaulted her, Doug chose to make out with her.
Great job Doug, real thoughtful.
He pressed his lips softly against hers once more and reluctantly pulled away.
“I’m sorry, that was a real selfish thing to do.” He said. “After what happened.”
“It’s ok.” She said quietly.
He unravelled his arms from around her waist, expecting her to step away. She didn’t move, instead she stayed exactly where she was, with her arms still looped around his neck. She rested her forehead against his. He couldn’t breathe or even concentrate with her this close. She needed to move back, or he was going to kiss her again.
“Breathe Doug.” She laughed quietly.
She was quite aware of her effect on him. Only because of that one time (their first kiss) he had forgotten to breathe and feinted. What do you expect? The most beautiful girl he had ever laid his eyes on had kissed him. From then on, whenever they got into situations like this, she made sure to keep reminding him to breathe.
“I can’t.” He joked breathlessly, wrapping his shaky hands around her.
“We need to work on that.”
“We?”
“Mhmm.” She murmured. “Practice makes perfect, right?”
He liked the sound of that.
She brought his lips down to hers again. But that control she had before was gone, it was no longer just a good night kiss. She kissed him over and over; he just couldn’t keep up. His head was still spinning from before, now he was truly damned. She was a great kisser and by now, she knew exactly how to stir up Doug. There were certain things she did that just knocked the breath out of him, or worse, buckled his knees. That happened once. His knees literally gave out on him, which resulted in him falling to the floor, in front of her, after an intense make out session in the library.
Now that was embarrassing.
She bit his lip ever so softly and he couldn’t help but moan. Like that for example, she just knew how to get him riled up. He blushed (being totally embarrassed that that moan had escaped.) His hands had now come up to tangle through her hair. Ok, so maybe they both were a bit out of control, but Doug’s parents weren’t due back for another couple of hours, and besides, they had a lot of catching up to do.
She gently pushed him against the wall and slid her chest against his. If he thought he couldn’t breathe before, now was something else. There was no way she was getting away with that.
He quickly wrapped his arms back around her waist and spun her around, with her back now against the wall. She chuckled into the kiss and gripped onto the collar of his shirt. Doug didn’t know why, but something about having her in this particular position, just made him want her more.
She tugged at his jacket and he happily obliged with her want to have it removed. He might have thought it through a bit more if he could manage to string thoughts together at all, but at this point in time, his brain had turned to complete moosh.
She broke away suddenly and chuckled. “Doug, breathe!”
“I just need a moment…” He said breathlessly.
Why had this beautiful girl picked him? Out of everyone she could have, (which wasn’t a short list by the way) why him? What had he ever done to deserve her?
He was happy that, for now, what happened wasn’t all Evie was thinking about. After hearing her talk about it and the past experiences too, he wouldn't be surprised if she's not ok for a while and needs time to heal. All he could do was be there. He would never stop making sure she was ok.
His legs felt weak, and his head was truly spinning at this stage. He cursed at himself, while he felt his cheeks start to heat up again. The things she did to him.
“I think we’ll leave it at that.” She chuckled. “Wanna come tuck me in?”
She took off down the hall, throwing a quick smirk over her shoulder at him. It took him a second to process what she said.
He quickly ran after her, closing the bedroom door behind him.