Work Text:
It wasn’t easy being the king’s ex-girlfriend.
Even though Audrey and Ben had broken up years ago, there were still whispers that trailed her every move. The Auradon media blitz still liked to pinpoint her as a potential thorn between Ben and his queen-to-be, Mal – especially when it was a slow news day. She tried to ignore it, but it was only so long that even a nice princess could deal with the pressure.
And seeing Ben – well, that was its own sharp thorn.
As Audrey sat getting a pedicure, she eyed the stacks of magazines that bore any and all traces of royal news. Ben’s face stared up at her from a teen magazine, touting his crown as Auradon’s Sexiest Man. She might have snorted if she had been alone, but all she could do was stare at the picture of him smiling coyly for the photo shoot.
Damn him for being so photogenic, she thought. She wanted to rip apart that perfect picture or deface it with a marker. But no, she had to keep composure. She was still in the limelight; who knew who might take out a phone and start recording if she went on a rampage against magazines of all things. She already had “former villainess” tied to her name, and she didn’t need “crazy, angry ex” added on top of the list. Auradon would love that, especially since the villain kids had been on their best behavior – meaning there was no news except the upcoming nuptials between King Ben and his ex-VK girlfriend, Mal.
It also didn’t help that Audrey could close her eyes at any moment and imagine Ben still sitting beside her, still looking at her in that adoring way he directed to only a select few. Ben may have had no enemies, but that didn’t mean he was warm to everyone. He had been groomed at a young age to become king, and that meant boundaries. Even with Audrey, who had been his friend since infancy, he had begun to hold her at an arm’s length.
If she were honest, there had always been hints of problems after they started dating. Ben had rolled his eyes behind her back too often, and for Audrey’s part she had flirted with other boys just to see if he would ever break the princely façade and get jealous.
But Ben hadn’t seemed to care. Maybe even then he had been tuned out of their relationship. Maybe she had never had a chance in the first place.
Audrey cleared her throat, and the pedicurist looked up from her nail polish application. “Do you mind if I take this?” she asked, holding up the magazine with Ben’s face across the front, and the woman just nodded. “Thanks so much.”
A smile tugged at Audrey’s lips. At least she could deface Ben’s face in the privacy of her own home.
*
That afternoon, Audrey arrived home to find her mother Aurora sitting in the kitchen. She frowned; her mother was usually busy with council business from morning till night. Her mother wasn’t the type to just relax, so seeing her at home midday was . . . unusual, to say the least.
“What are you doing home so early?” Audrey asked as she took a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. She watched as her mother sighed and slid over an envelope that had been sitting in front of her on the island. Audrey picked it up and saw the royal crest’s seal on the envelope, which was embossed with gold swirls. Her hand began to shake as she saw her own name emblazoned on the front with purple ink.
It was a wedding invitation.
A heartbeat later, Aurora said, “Audrey, I know this will be difficult—”
“At least he had the courtesy to invite me,” Audrey said, her voice lacking any proper inflection. It was beyond her right now to even react in some strong way to this blow.
Aurora met her gaze and shook her head. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” her mother said. “No one’s going to force you to do anything.”
A hollow laugh slipped out of Audrey’s mouth. “I don’t really have a choice, do I? If I don’t go, then the rumors will only get more hateful. And Ben – he doesn’t deserve that. It’s his big day – his and Mal’s big day.”
Her mother just stared at her. “This – isn’t exactly the reaction I was expecting,” she said.
“What? Did you think I’d go grab the scepter again?” Audrey didn’t even care how her mother flinched at the mention of Maleficent’s prime weapon of choice. “That’s in the past. I don’t need to be queen to be happy.” Because Ben wouldn’t be happy with me, no matter if I’m a gushing princess or an evil sorceress.
“Audrey—”
“Just leave it, Mother,” Audrey snapped. “It’ll be fine. I just have to show my face and do my duties as a princess of the court.”
Before another word could be exchanged, Audrey walked out of the room, the wedding invitation still clutched in her hand.
*
When Audrey was safe in her room, she pulled out a box hidden underneath her bed. The wood was carved with roses, vines, and thorns. It had been a family heirloom, gifted back in the days when fairies had granted royalty their blessings. Audrey had once thought how she would hand down the box to the child she had with Ben – but that dream had been dead a long time.
She opened the lid to see what lay inside: all fragments of memories from the days she had spent with Ben. Movie ticket stubs, a pressed rose from the first date she had with Ben, pictures of days when they had looked at each other with adoring eyes. Theirs hadn’t been a true love, but it had felt like one at the time.
“Oh, Ben,” she murmured with a sigh. “Where did it all go wrong?”
It wasn’t even a matter of how she had gone wrong in their relationship. They both had blame to share. But it had been so easy to imagine sharing a life with her best friend, as king and queen over the kingdom that loved them. Now – well, now she was just the ex-girlfriend who hadn’t been the One.
Audrey wondered if Ben shared his secrets as easily with Mal as he had once done with Audrey underneath the stars. Did he kiss Mal soft and slow, as if he were trying to savor the sweet moments that would matter so much more than the bad ones did? Did he look for excuses to slip his hand into Mal’s?
But those were poisonous thoughts. Audrey’s eyes fell on the magazine she had brought from the nail salon. In one movement, she ripped off the cover with Ben’s face on it and stared down at it. She pressed her fingertips to her lips before touching the photo of Ben looking like a true king. The magazine cover then found its place among the trinkets and mementos from her time with Ben.
One day, Audrey would throw away the contents of the box. But not today. Today, she had to mourn the relationship she had lost.
Tomorrow, she would try to forget. Tomorrow, she would not imagine the face of the king that had almost been hers.
Tomorrow would be easier than today.
That was Audrey’s last thought before she closed the keepsake box and held it to her chest.