Evie was usually fast asleep on her back or on her side peacefully through the whole night, but this particular night she couldn’t stop tossing and turning trying to get comfortable. She sighed as she flopped down on her back one last time and tried to force herself to fall asleep.
She desperately told herself to think happy thoughts, make up a story, anything, just to fall asleep.
She settled for trying to listen to the calming sounds in the room. She could hear the wind blowing very softly outside through the half open window, moving the curtains ever so slightly. She could hear the rustling of leaves, and… quick breaths, fabric stirring, tiny whimpers.
The sudden not-so-peaceful array of sounds came from the bed next to her. Evie gave up on trying to fall asleep and sat up to see what the problem was. Her eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness of the room.
“M?” she asked, almost a whisper, as she moved a few strands of blue out of her face. No response, but her roommate kept moving around under the covers almost sounding to be in pain. Evie swiftly got out of bed and walked over to Mal, now she could clearly hear her mumbling and whining in her sleep.
“Mal. Come on, wake up,” she tried, raising her voice to slightly more than a whisper this time. When that didn’t help she leaned over, placed one knee on the bed and reached out to her. She gently shook Mal’s arm, saying her name a few more times just a bit louder. She was sleeping on her side facing away from her, so she couldn’t read her facial expressions or be notified if she were to open her eyes.
She awoke with a loud gasp that startled Evie and made her retract her arm and step back. Mal rolled over to her back and then hurriedly pushed herself into an upright position, her breathing hitched and irregular. It wasn’t hard to notice that her eyes were glowing green, they were practically lighting up the room. She made eye contact with Evie and quickly identified the shadow over her bed as a friendly face.
“Woah, calm down, it’s ok.” Evie knew better than to reach out to her until she had calmed down a little, so she stood by the bed patiently. Mal would never hurt her on purpose but she figured waking up from a bad dream confused about where she was could make her do anything irrational if she felt threatened. Mal blinked a few times and her eyes turned back to normal. Her eyes darted across the room as if she was awaiting an attacker to pounce from the shadows, Evie had never seen her look so scared.
“Hey,” Evie climbed onto the bed and sat down in front of Mal, reaching out to hold her arm reassuringly. “You’re safe, you’re with me, it was just a dream,” she tried her best to make her voice sound as soft as possible, not that she needed to try very hard to do that.
Mal didn’t waste any more time getting used to her surroundings before leaping forward to hug Evie tightly. She inhaled in an erratic way, revealing that she was on the verge of crying. Her body was warm and her heartbeat heavy and fast against Evie’s chest. “Sshhh, it’s gonna be ok. You’re with me now, everything is fine.”
But for Mal everything was far from fine. The worst parts of the vivid dreams were still replaying in her head, though she tried her best to block them out. The first tear made its way down her cheek and she pressed herself even more into Evie’s embrace, burying her face into the side of her neck where she could smell her perfume still lingering from the day before. It was sweet like lilac and tinged with something fruity that Mal couldn’t place.
Evie let Mal put her entire weight on her, she felt physically weaker than ever before and was almost laying on Evie at this point. She had been completely drained of all energy, she wished she could fall into the embrace and stay there forever.
They were no strangers to physical contact, the majority of the time they spent together there was either a reassuring hand on the other’s shoulder or they were sitting so close to each other that they started to attract attention from the people around them. And they would always share a quick hug when saying hello or goodbye, no matter how short the timeframe would be that they would spend apart.
But there had always been something so special about the way they interacted when either of them was upset about something. Like the only way they could make each other feel better was to be intertwined in any way possible while speaking softly about the matter. Mal needed those moments more than anything. She wasn’t physically affectionate at all with any of her other friends.
“Everything is going to be ok,” Evie was going to continue to whisper it to her until Mal calmed down.
They stayed in this position until Mal got her breathing under control, and she started to feel safe again. Listening to Evie’s voice, pure as honey and the most calming thing she knew, combined with the physical touch was the best remedy for any issue.
She reluctantly pulled away and looked up at Evie’s beautiful eyes in the darkness, even if there wasn’t much light to help, she still got comfort from eye contact with her.
What Evie saw in front of her was a heartbreaking sight. As with all her emotions, Mal wore her sadness so obviously plastered on her face.
“Do you feel a little better?” she asked as she grabbed Mal’s hand and held it with both of hers. Mal’s expression was a mixture of sadness, fright, but now also love.
“Yes, sort of,” she managed to say, her shaky voice breaking Evie’s heart even further.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
She shook her head frantically in response. “No. No, I- I want to think about something else, anything else.”
Evie wanted to come up with something to talk about to take her mind off of the dreams but her mind went blank. She thought to herself for a few quick seconds while holding onto Mal’s hand ever so gently.
She leaned in closer and quite unexpectedly her left hand was on Mal’s cheek and their lips were connected for a split second, but even a split second seemed to do the trick. When she pulled away Mal’s expression had shifted completely, a perfect distraction.
She couldn’t help herself. Mal looked so sad but still beautiful, she needed to do whatever she could to make her feel better. She was impressed with herself for actually gathering up the courage to do that.
“…Woah,” was all Mal could make herself say. Partly because she had been rendered quite speechless by the very sudden surprise, but also because she decided it wasn’t enough. She gently grasped the back of Evie’s neck and joined them together once more. She could feel Evie smiling faintly through the kiss and the memories of her dreams were getting foggy.
It had been a long time since Mal had felt that cliche feeling of butterflies in your stomach, but that was definitely the correct way to describe how she was feeling right now. She broke the kiss with a timid laugh, and wiped her cheeks dry with her hand, there would be no more crying tonight, she decided.
She had never kissed Evie before, but she had entertained the idea. Safe to say the reality of it was far more impactful than the daydreams.
“Thank you, E. I think I needed that,” a lie, she knew she needed that.
“Anything for you,” she smiled softly. Evie looked a little nervous, as if she thought she had overstepped some boundary and was now regretting it. “We should both go back to sleep, it’s the middle of the night” Evie sighed and started to move away, but Mal grabbed her arm making her turn her head back.
“Stay with me. Please,” she turned her head like a puppy begging for a treat when she said the last word. Mal was surprised by how desperate she sounded, but she actually didn’t mind coming off as desperate just now.
Evie exhaled, relieved that Mal didn’t think she had been too forward and wanted her to stay with her. “Of course.”
Mal was now convinced that the safest place in Auradon had to be in Evie’s arms, with her head resting on her chest and their legs intertwined. This was so much more comfortable than sleeping alone, it was like Evie’s body was custom made to fit perfectly with hers.
“Can I tell you something?” she whispered while tracing patterns on Evie’s shirt, hoping she wasn’t asleep yet.
“Mhm,” she hummed lazily, clearly dozing off.
“I want to lay like this every night. With you. I think it would help me, you know, to get better sleep. And I need that now more than ever with exams coming up and everything.”
Evie giggled, she could tell she made a clear sarcastic attempt to backtrack hoping Evie would catch the hint and maybe get a laugh out of it too. Well, mission accomplished.
She pulled Mal in closer and gave her a quick peck on the forehead. “I think I can manage that.”
Mal smiled and nuzzled into Evie, drifting off into a peaceful sleep completely void of nightmares.
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