Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sunday morning I posted a picture on my InstaRoyal about me connecting with my birth family, and it went viral, as I expected. I didn’t want to keep my family a secret, but I didn’t want my boyfriend to be upset with me for doing so. I did what I felt was right.
After posting the picture, I replied to all the lovely comments; I fell asleep because I had gotten home late the night before and was still tired. I saw Doug was texting me non-stop, so I turned my phone off for the next three hours as I slumbered, but when I woke up, it was worse than what I expected. Over ten missed calls and a bunch of text messages.

“I told you not to find him!”

“Delete that picture. Right now.”

“You don’t need him. You have me.”

“EVIE!”

“TEXT. ME. BACK. NOW.”

I don’t want to talk to him at all. Doug has always been so possessive of me, but he’s doing too much right now. I may not want to speak to him, but I need to do so. I don’t want him to be upset with me, so I’ll try to resolve it.

“Meet me in the student activities center in an hour.”

Rushing to get ready, I want to get this conversation over with as soon as possible. I showered and put on my little black dress and heels, my go-to last-minute outfits. I grabbed my room key, purse, and phone and quickly left my dorm as I walked to the next building over.
Let’s go, Evie. You can handle this.
When I went there a few minutes later, Doug was already there, waiting to talk to me. “Why didn’t you answer? I was worried about you!” he exclaimed. “I’m sorry! I got back late, and I slept in because I was tired,” I said, trying to keep my voice down because I noticed the kids playing video games in the room next door was being nosey. “Did they drug you? Could that be a reason why you’re out of it?” he said, stepping closer to me as I backed away. “What? No, they’re nice people. You should meet them,” I said, trying to get him to calm down, but it wasn’t working.
“Evie. I saw they gave you a car. You need to give it back and stop talking to those people completely,” he said. “Doug, please lower your voice; people are staring,” I said because it was getting embarrassing as more people were looking at us. “No. I’m doing this because I love you. It’s for your own good-”
“No, why are you acting like you’re my dad? I already have one, and I don’t need another,” I said because he was being ridiculous. “That man is not your dad. And those people are not your family. You already have me,” he said. I can’t believe he just said that to me; then again, I can because he’s highly possessive, remember? “I’ll talk to you when you’ve calmed down. Goodbye,” I said and walked off, and he continued to shout my name as I disregarded him.
As soon as I got outside, I broke down crying. I couldn’t make it back to my dorm because I was such an emotional mess. I went to the other side of the building, sat on the ground, and cried my eyes out. It hasn’t even been a week, and we have already had our second fight. Doug is my first real boyfriend, and I don’t want to lose him, but if he’s going to continue to be an asshole about my new family and not listen to what I say, I might have to let him go. Mother always told me that I have to hold down a man no matter what, and I feel like I’m failing her because I don’t want to listen to him.
Mother’s horrible, remember? Ignore everything she says.
As I had my knees pulled up to my chest, and hear someone’s footsteps walk toward me. “Go away!” I shouted as I continued to look down.
“Evie? Is that you?”
It’s Ben.
I look up and wipe my snotty-nosed face, a bit ashamed that I’m talking to a boy while looking like this. He was holding a basket with fruits and vegetables inside of it. “Is everything ok?” he said and bent his knees to get closer to my level. “We, we had a fight,” I said as he nodded. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, looking into my teary eyes. “I, I don’t know, actually,” I said and continued to wipe my face with my forearm.
“Well, I can’t leave you out here. Come with me. I’m about to feed the school’s farm animals,” Ben said with a slight grin. “Um, I don’t know,” I said, as I’m not too keen on living things that aren’t human. I’m already half-witch; I don’t want to deal with anything else. “It’s fun, trust me,” he said and held out his hand. I stared at him for a few seconds; then, he helped me get off the ground.
“The animals are nice; it’s going to be ok,” he said as we began to walk. “Thank you,” I said as we continued.
“Anytime, Evie. Anytime.”

Chapter Text

“They don’t bite, trust me,” Ben said as he tried to convince me to feed the cows. I just watched him do it because I was too scared. “No, I just, I’m afraid,” I said. “I know this is new to you, so I understand,” he let out his hand. “I’ll do it with you.”
“I grabbed a handful of blueberries out of the basket, and Ben grabbed my hand gently. We went to the smallest calf we could find. “On the count of three. One, two, three.”
Ben put his hand underneath mine as the baby cow ate from my palm. “It tickles,” I said and giggled, making him chuckle a bit. “See, I told you it would be ok,” he said and removed his hand from mine when the calf ate all that was there. We continued to feed the cows the fruits in the basket before I was ready to talk.
“Do you ever feel like no one is listening to you? Like no one is trying to understand how you feel?” I asked him and walked over to the goats to pet them, as I wanted to get comfortable with all the animals on the school farm. Ben followed behind me and pulled out a strawberry to feed it. “And by no one, you mean one specific person? Then yes,” he answered. “It’s like what I say goes in one ear and out the other with her sometimes. It’s been a year, and nothing has really changed.”
I felt a bit better knowing I wasn’t alone, but also worse because he revealed that it wasn’t just me that Mal was giving him a hard time. She has with me too, but I’m just used to it at this point. “Hey, you’ve grown up with Doug. Has he always been extremely overprotective of every girlfriend he’s had?” I asked him. “Well, Doug is a strange case. He’s dated girls in the past, but they were nothing like you. Evie, you’re amazing, but you’re also out of his league,” he said and guided me to the other side of the goat pin. “And why do you say that?” I questioned and followed him. “Well, how do I say this in the nicest way possible? Doug is basically like family to me because our parents are friends, but he has a problem with objectifying the opposite sex, and I strongly dislike it,” he said and passed me a banana to peel open. I grabbed it and began to pull back the skin. “I’ve tried and tried to get through to him about his sexist ways, but I see he’s not getting it. Evie, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s ok. I’m gonna give it a day before I talk to him about it all,” I said and broke the banana in half, giving the other piece to him to feed the other animal next to him. “So……what was Mal like back on the isle?” Ben queried. I was a bit surprised he asked me that; he usually shrugs everything off and avoids conflict at all costs with Mal. Well, he is the king's son; he has to most of the time. “Meaner,” I bluntly began. “I gave her a pass because it’s what she was taught and didn’t know any better, but so many other kids were taught their parents’ horrible views but realized they were wrong and fixed it. Mal doesn’t like playing nice. She thinks being kind is the same as being weak, and I’m tired of it.”
It’s like I couldn’t stop myself. That was the first time ever I said out loud how I genuinely felt about Mal; Ben could tell too, as he just stood in shock.
“Could you not tell her what I said, please?” I questioned him. “As long as you don’t tell him what I said,” he responded.”
I really should have gotten with this guy when I had the chance to.