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“Can we be alone?” Evie’s heart was pounding in her ears as she watched Mal and Uma walk towards the door. She had steadily avoided kissing Doug since the beginning of their... relationship, at least that’s what other people were calling it. From what she understood, her and Doug had a good enough friendship, so when he asked her out, she agreed. She thought it would be the same as before, studying together and having fun, but it turned into more than she was able to handle.
Evie thought this was what she wanted, she was always taught to want a prince, that she needed a prince. Still, she could never bring herself to feel anything when she was with Doug, though they’d only gone as far as holding hands and a nice hug. She knew Doug wanted more; she just couldn’t bring herself to give it to him. The thought alone made her nauseous.
“E,” Mal’s soft voice shook her out of her thoughts as she pulled her eyes away from Doug’s sleeping body back up to Mal’s green eyes. Evie felt her heart skip a beat as she forced her mouth to shut, waiting for the purple haired girl’s next words. “We don’t have that much time. Could you speed it up?” Evie looked back down for a moment.
“Please?” Mal added, not wanting to rush the obviously nervous girl. Evie’s mouth opened and shut before she just nodded and watched the girl who made her heart race walk out the door.
“D-don’t freak out, it’s okay. You’re okay!” Evie paced around as she tried to talk herself into doing this. “I mean, true love’s kiss. It could save the day, no big deal or anything.” She laughed to keep herself from fully freaking out, but it only made her more stressed about the ticking clock. She figured the more she stalled, the less time she’d have to do this, and maybe Mal would pull her out before then. “Does he even love me? Does he love me not? Oh, where’s a flower to pluck petals from when you need it?”
With a groan, Evie sat herself down and flung her head in her hands, visibly distressed. “Do I love him?” She made a face with her eyebrows furrowed together and a deep frown settled into her features. She stood up suddenly, hurling her body forward to stand over his sleeping body. The irony was not lost over her that this looked like something straight out of Snow White, with the roles reversed.
“One kiss... It all comes down to this.” Evie whispered, lowering herself until she was eye level with his lips, squinting her eyes at them. “EVIE!” She jumped up at the sound of Uma yelling her name, blinking in surprise. “No, and I was JUST about to do it.” She huffed out, and if she sounded unconvincing, Uma didn’t pick up on it or show it.
“Evie, if you’re gonna do it, then do it already. We have got to get moving.” Uma sounded exhausted, if not annoyed. Mal appeared behind her, giving her a warning look before speaking. “E, we don’t mean to rush you, but--” Evie cut her off with a shake of her head and a roll of her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, if I’m gonna do it, then do it.”
Evie crouched back down to her position and the other two watched on. “What is she--” Uma started with a confused look, being shushed by Mal dismissively. “Let her do her thing.” Mal brushed it off and leaned back against the door, looking anywhere but at Evie and Doug. Mal wouldn’t admit it, but she would rather have turned to stone before seeing Evie kiss Doug. She would rather have been the one asleep. Uma rolled her eyes with a dramatic toss of her head back, an overexaggerated groan coming from her while Mal sucked her teeth, letting out a soft yet annoyed tsk.
Once again, Evie prepared herself, slowly inching down until she was almost face to face with Doug. She glanced back at the pair near the door and turned back when they waved their hands hurriedly at her to get on with it. She sucked in a breath and squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her lips to his and...
Nothing.
Evie sat back on her heels with a puzzled look on her face, looking up to the other two girls who matched her expression. “Aren’t there supposed to be fireworks or glitter or, you know, at least wake him up? Isn’t that what you “good” people are all about?” Uma scoffed, not being able to help but laugh. Evie looked back down at Doug, expecting a late reaction or something.
“He’s not her true love.” Mal mumbled softly, fighting to keep the smile off her face that Uma picked up on with a raise of her eyebrow. Evie’s heart soared after hearing Mal’s words; she was right! But that didn’t mean that Evie’s true love was who she wanted it to be, either. “Oh, I get it.” Uma laughed and looked between the two, Mal’s eyes flashed green as she shook her head in warning. Uma got the hint and suppressed her smile, holding her hands up in defeat.
Mal wasn’t paying attention to Uma anymore though, she realized the room had grown too quiet and her eyes darted over to where Evie had been sat, now spread out on the floor. Asleep. “No!” The shorter girl ran to where Evie was splayed out, looking just like Snow White once did in her glass coffin. Mal looked up with tears in her eyes, searching for words to say as Uma dropped to her knees on the other side of Evie in panic. “Don’t you have a spell or something to get rid of this, wake her up or something?” Uma was stumbling over her words; she had grown to like the blue haired girl and all her perkiness. Mal shook her head, covering her mouth with her palm to muffle the sobs coming out before she could start to speak. “The curse of the scepter, remember? I’m not powerful enough for this.” Mal’s vision blurred as she hastily wiped away the tears streaming down her face. “Well, maybe if we try together, we can--”
“No! It won’t work, Uma. No spell can break this curse.” Mal heard her voice crack and break with almost every word, but she couldn’t help it and she knew how serious this was when even Uma was willing to help her. Suddenly, it came to Uma and she grabbed Mal’s arms, a smile breaking across her face. “True love’s kiss!”
“What?” Mal screeched, scoffing immediately after and making a face while she tried to come up with her next totally convincing lie. “I’m not... She’s not... WE’RE not...”
“Girl, save it, I’ve seen you two through the years. Anyone alone with you two for five minutes could see there’s something there.” Uma pointed out as Mal continued to try to deny it. “But, Ben--”
“Is a great guy! Just not for you.” Uma finished for her, quick to cut her off before she could speak again. “Don’t worry, not for me either.” She laughed and even got a small smile from the purple pixie. “There’s not harm in trying and you know it. But nothing is gonna come from us just sitting here, so... get it moving, I cannot have you take as long as this one did to kiss her not-true love.” Mal let out a soft laugh as her tears pooled in her eyes and Uma squeezed her hand tightly. “I’m right here with you, if anything happens. We will fix this. For our girl. For your girl.”
Mal nodded, leaning near Evie before sighing and stopping again. “What if I’m not her true love? What if I fall asleep just like she did?” The thought made her heart ache and scared her, what if Audrey won? “Then I'll kiss you and we’ll all take a well-deserved nap together.” Uma joked with a deadpanned tone. “Now, get on with it, you never know until you try.”
“Okay, here goes nothing.” Mal breathed out shakily, her face twitching between a smile and worried. She hesitantly reached out her hands, unsure of where to put them, then she cupped Evie’s face. Mal leaned over and looked at the sleeping girl, she had to take a moment to admire her. “Hello, Princess, TODAY.”
Mal shut her eyes and locked their lips, scared to let go of her or pull away in case this didn’t work. She was even more scared to let go in case it did work, she wasn’t sure how to explain to her best friend that she was her true love. Slowly, Mal pulled away with her eyes still shut and sat for a moment before she felt a hand caress her cheek.
“M.” That voice, so soft, so sweet, made Mal’s eyes well up with tears and she let out a quiet sob. “Hi...” She spoke quietly, opening her eyes and seeing that Uma had backed up to give them a moment alone. “I didn’t know if that would work or not, but Uma said--” Evie kissed her again until Uma cleared her throat.
“Hey, uh guys... This is great and all, but we do have the world to save so if you could just realize you’re in love later, that’d be great.” The pair blushed immediately after hearing Uma’s words and Mal dropped her hands from her face, but Evie left hers in Mal’s hair to twist and play with it. “Right! We need to... We need. To... E,” Mal stumbled through her words, her eyes settling on Evie. “Yeah?”
“I can’t think with you doing that.” Evie’s hand dropped from her hair with a slight pout and Mal nudged her chin with her knuckles and they both smiled at each other, not breaking the other’s gaze.
“True love’s kiss...” Uma sighed. “Works every time!”