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“How do I look?” Evie asked, turning to Mal from her mirror. Mal sat on her bed, studying the spellbook in her hands. It was just about the only thing she read these days, and she wasn't even supposed to have it anymore. Evie wasn't sure why she wanted to keep her spellbook, it's not like they could use magic freely anymore. She thought they were adjusting to life in Auradon quite well, and she was happy to donate what was left of her Magic Mirror to the Museum of Cultural History.
“You always look great, E,” Mal stated, rolling her eyes. “Aren’t you just going to study?”
Evie paused. “Yes, but I can’t look anything less than fabulous when studying, obviously.”
Mal smirked, “And why’s that?” It was more of a rhetorical question that Evie didn’t need to answer because Mal already knew.
Evie ignored her smirk and continued to look in the mirror, trying to figure out what she needed as the final touch to perfect her look. It wasn't like she was putting in extra effort or anything, at least that's what she was telling herself. She was a little on edge because she had recently begun to reconsider rejecting Doug that one day under the bleachers and today was the day she was finally going to address it.
It really wasn't even a full rejection, she supposed, considering she didn't even respond. It was laughable to her at the time, but then they had become friends, and she accepted his invitation to dance at Ben's Coronation celebration. They didn't speak much of that after it happened, and just sort of went back to being friends who studied together a lot- like, even when they didn't have anything to study.
“He’s gonna say yes, you know.”
“How can you be so sure?” Evie asked, this time walking away from her mirror to put her makeup brushes away.
“Well, for starters, he already asked you out,” Mal expressed, though her friend was less than eager to listen. Pretty much everyone at Auradon Prep had caught on that Evie and Doug liked each other. Well, it was already evident that Doug liked Evie from the very beginning, but as they spent more time together as friends, Evie started to like him back. She just hoped it wasn’t too late.
“That was months ago,” Evie dismissed, finding her favorite lipstick.
Mal rolled her eyes again. “I don’t know why you’re so worried. Boys love you.”
Evie shook her head, putting her lipstick down and finally looking at Mal. “This is different. It’s not like it was... before. You know how things were on the Isle..."
Mal nodded, Evie was right, relationships were different on the isle. She had called it "gang activity" when trying to explain it to Ben, but there really wasn't a great way to describe it. It's not like Mal knew much about dating on the Isle, anyway. People were too scared of her to ever try anything, and she liked it that way. Evie, however, had a much different experience. Her mom raised her to be the fairest, well second fairest, and everybody wanted to be with her. Mal imagined it must've been exhausting.
"It'll be fine, E," Mal encouraged as she watched her friend put her makeup away and grab her bookbag.
"I hope so," Evie huffed, heading towards the door. "And if you say anything to Jay and Carlos about this, I'll tell Ben you still have your spellbook," she threatened, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she left the room. She wouldn't actually do that to Mal, but she didn't need to know that. Evie didn't need Jay or Carlos teasing her about this either, having Mal to tease her was bad enough already.
Evie found herself doodling on the sides of the chemistry worksheet in front of her, the margins of the paper filling up quickly. She was usually much more focused when she did her homework in Doug’s room. She sighed and rested her chin on her hand, tapping her pencil on the table and zoning out even more.
“You alright?” Doug asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.
“Yeah,” Evie said quickly, not wanting him to know what was really on her mind yet. “It’s just... can you help me with this problem?”
Evie zoned out again while Doug explained the problem to her, but luckily she already knew how to do it. Old habits die hard.
She didn’t know why she was so torn up about this, I mean Mal was right- she constantly had to turn down the boys at Auradon Prep, and even back on the Isle. She had just wanted to focus on school here, now that she found subjects that were interesting and that she was good at. Pining over princes just didn’t seem as important as it used to be.
But here she was, months later, excelling in school while also working to start her own fashion line. It wasn’t that she needed a boyfriend or anything, it was just that she and Doug had become so close recently, and he’s been really supportive, and she’s started to notice how he looks kind of cute in his glasses, especially when he smiles, and-
“Evie?” Doug called, noticing that she wasn’t listening. “We can stop for the day if there’s something else on your mind...”
“Maybe that’s for the best...” Evie trailed, giggling slightly. “I’m a little preoccupied today.”
Doug smiled flatly and began to close his books. He felt bad that he was boring her. He loved it when they did homework together, but maybe they’d been doing it so much that she didn’t want to anymore. He sure hoped that wasn’t the case.
“Doug,” Evie began, bringing him out of his thoughts, “can I ask you something?”
He nodded and stopped putting his things away to give her his full attention. He wasn’t quite sure what was going to come next.
“Do you remember that one time... when you asked me out under the bleachers....” Evie started, continuing when she received a weak nod from Doug.
He looked more and more mortified with every word she spoke. Of course, he remembered, but he was hoping she had forgotten. After all, she made it pretty clear that she wasn’t interested in being more than friends.
“Yeah, I remember,” he grimaced, unsure of where she was going with this. It was bad enough to get rejected once.
“What would you say if... maybe... I’ve changed my mind?”
Doug looked dumbfounded, a grin slowly growing on his face. He hoped he was hearing her correctly, and that it wasn’t a dream though it so closely resembled one.
Evie smiled herself, sitting up straight and tapping his hand excitedly. “Ask me again,” she commanded.
His goofy grin was much larger now. “Um... Do you want to go out with me? Like, on a date?”
“Yes!” Evie agreed excitedly, “Saturday at 7?”
Doug nodded. “Okay, yeah. Saturday at 7.”
“Great!” Evie exclaimed, gathering her books and putting them in her bag. “I’ll see you then.”
“Ta-da!” Doug shyly exclaimed when they arrived at their destination. “I thought you would like visiting Auradon’s planetarium. It’s really amazing, and they have this observatory at the top where you can see the stars! I know you said the isle was always cloudy, so I figured you’d never really got a good look at them....” He found himself rambling.
Luckily, she expressed her excitement as they walked inside. She looked like a kid in a candy store, eyes darting all over the place, wanting to savor every moment and tugging Doug along with her. She studied every exhibit carefully, eagerly soaking up the knowledge each had to offer.
Doug had been to Auradon’s Planetarium many times since he was younger, but being there with Evie was a completely different experience. His previous visits were always rushed, nobody wanting to spend as much time indulged in the exhibits as he did. With Evie, however, he was positive they found exhibits he didn’t even know existed before.
It wasn’t just reading the plaques in dreary silence either, it was sharing thoughts about the planets and the stars and making bad puns to see who would laugh the hardest in the dim light of the room.
Evie was quite enjoying herself, as she usually does when she hangs out with Doug. It was nice to have lighthearted conversations, free of any thoughts of the Isle of the Lost. Occasionally, she would notice Doug blush when their hands brushed together as they navigated the exhibits. She thought it was cute, and her stomach fluttered whenever they caught each other's glance.
They eventually climbed a large spiral staircase, leading to the large observatory, where the ceiling was magnified for optimal stargazing. Unfortunately, it appeared to be closed for the night.
“Guess we spent so much time at the other exhibits that we missed our shot to see the stars up here,” Doug stated.
“I’m sorry,” Evie admitted a little bummed, “This looks so cool.”
Doug shook his head, “Don’t worry, the best view is out here anyway.” He lead her through the doors to the outdoor balcony that wrapped the entire building, scattered with benches and telescopes for stargazing.
He motioned up to the sky while looking over at her beside him. “See?”
Her eyes grew wide and glimmered in the reflection of the stars. She turned to him, her jaw dropping. “This is amazing!” She squealed, grabbing his arm and leading him to an empty bench in front of a telescope.
It was unlike anything she’d ever seen. Yes, she had seen the stars before when walking on Auradon Prep’s campus as night, but it was nothing like this. They were up above the trees, and you could see the entire cloudless sky. Though she knew there were miles between her and the stars, it felt like there was nothing separating them, like she was just one among them.
They sat for a while, taking turns looking through the telescope to identify any constellations they recognized, and naming the ones they didn’t.
Doug leaned back on the bench after a while, staring back up at the sky through only his glasses.
“I almost like this view better,” he admitted. “The sky looks endless, and you can see how the stars light up the whole world.”
Evie nodded, leaning back as well. “Yeah, It’s like we don’t even need any lights... it’s beautiful.”
Doug moved his gaze from the stars to Evie, seeing the stars reflecting in her eyes again, lighting up her face as she took in the view, lips slightly curled into a smile. She was absolutely breathtaking, even more so than the stars, Doug was sure of it.
It would be so easy to lean closer and kiss the moonlight on her cheeks, but he was worried it would ruin the moment.
“They remind me of you, you know...” he started slowly. “Some scientists say we are made up of stardust. It’s a cool thing to think about, but it never really made sense to me until I met you.”
He meant every word he said, really. The stars reminded him of Evie and all her friends, as stars are formed from turbulence in space, and well, Evie and her friends had come from a life of turbulence. He had learned about the stardust theory a few years ago, too, but he never truly saw stardust in another person until Evie came to Auradon. In fact, it was the very reason he decided to take Evie here on their first date.
Evie’s head turned quickly at Doug’s words, searching his face for emotion. It was then that she realized how different this date had been than what she was used to. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if she had even been on a date in Auradon terms, let alone made it this far into one without letting someone take advantage of her beauty.
Doug studied her face as well. Did he say too much? She looked... confused.
“I- I just meant that... I like the way you light up a room,” he admitted, hoping she wasn’t upset with him.
Luckily, there it was, her bright smile spreading across her face. “Thanks,” she chuckled at his nervousness, it was cute. She reached over and took his hand into hers. “You’re sweet.”
It was in moments like these where Doug wished his cheeks didn’t flush red so easily, but he knew they already matched the shade of Evie's rosy lipstick. He didn’t want to think about how sweaty his palms were either, but he wasn’t going to move away from her touch.
They both chuckled in the awkwardness before looking back up at the sky.
It wasn’t long until they had to leave to make it back to the dorms before curfew. They walked across town, making small talk, hand in hand, all the way up to her and Mal’s bedroom dorm.
“Thanks for taking me there,” Evie began, “I had a really great time.”
Doug smiled. “Of course...” He paused, now was his moment. He took a deep breath before leaning forward to press a kiss to her cheek, still steadily holding onto her hand. He was glad, too, because he was pretty sure he would’ve fainted or something if she didn't have a grip on him.
Evie laughed silently to herself. A kiss on the cheek was nice, but it wasn’t what she was expecting. Her gaze fluttered across his face, searching for emotion, but she decided not to give it too much thought. She leaned forward and lightly brushed her lips across his, backing away just as quickly. Short and sweet- just what she was going for.
Doug could’ve sworn the hall disappeared for a moment, and it was just the two of them amongst the stars. His eyes slowly opened back up, though he didn’t remember closing them, and he looked back at her with a grin on his face.
“Goodnight, Doug,” she beamed, opening the door to her room before vanishing from his sight, leaving him dazed in the hallway.