▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 ━︎━︎ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 with Doug, watching with a small frown as Mal got bombarded by paparazzi. "That poor girl," Ilaria sighed. "If Ben doesn't save her soon, I fear I'll have to step in."

     "And we wouldn't want that." Doug claimed.

     Ilaria chuckled. "No, no we wouldn't."

     "Ria! There you are." Ilaria turned and spotted Evie who quickly made her way towards the redhead. Ilaria smiled at her and Evie greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. "You have to come with me so I can make your dress for the Cotillion."

     "Evie," Ilaria groaned.

      "Don't Evie me." Evie said, grabbing her hand and giving Doug a smile before dragging her away. "You haven't done the measurements and you haven't told me what you want."

     "Evie, I hate wearing dresses."

     "It's only for one night." Evie said.

     Ilaria sighed. "Fine. But, I really don't care what the dress looks like. As long as you are by my side that's all that matters."

     Evie smiled at her before spotting Mal. She grabbed Ilaria's hand and dragged her towards Ben and Mal, letting go of Ilaria only to grab Mal's arm who let out a breath of surprise. "If we don't do a fitting for your gown right this minute, you'll be dancing in your bathrobe, okay?" She looked at Ben and said a quick, "Hi," before turning to Mal. "Let's go. Let's go."

     "Bye Ben," Mal said before Evie dragged her away.

     "I'm meeting you for our date tonight, right?" Ilaria called as the two friends got further away. Evie smiled at her in response. Ilaria let out a breath before turning to Ben. "She's so excited."

     "She is." Ben chuckled. He began walking and Ilaria joined him. "Has she made you do that yet?"

     "She's been trying for weeks." Ilaria answered with a soft chuckle. "However, I'm stubborn and haven't given in yet. She's going to do it on our date, I can feel it."

     Ben let out a small laugh. "She's very persistent."

     "Indeed." She blew a hair from her face. "How has being King been going for you?"

     Ben sighed. "I'm afraid you were right."

     Ilaria nodded. "I'm always right. But, what am I right about?"

     "Last year you said I was going to be constantly busy and have so much on my shoulders, that I would never get to see anyone. It's starting to become true."

     "I told you it would." Ilaria stopped, gently grabbing his hand. "But, if it makes you feel any better we're not mad at you nor do we blame you for anything. We understand that you are a busy person and from what I can tell you've been making time for Mal and that's the important part."

     Ben nodded. "I'm trying." He glanced at his watch. "Listen, I have to go, but I promise we'll talk later."

     Ilaria gave him a small smile. "Certainly. Have fun." Ben rolled his eyes and Ilaria let out a small chuckle. She gave a slight mocking bow. "My King."

     "Princess," Ben returned. Ilaria scoffed and Ben smiled at her before turning and walking away.

Ilaria pursed her lips, looking around for a moment before going in search of Doug again. When she couldn't find him a sigh left her lips. She decided to make her way to where Evie worked, opening the door and frowning when she found it empty. She took a seat on the desk, swinging her legs back and forth as she patiently waited. When a knock came on the door she glanced up to see Jane standing there.

     "Ilaria," Jane breathed. "I'm so glad I found you."

     Ilaria rose a brow. "You are?"

     Jane entered further into the room. "Well, usually when I can find you, Evie's not too far behind." She looked around the room and frowned. "Where is she?"

     Ilaria shrugged. "No clue. Check outside maybe. Actually, I'll come with you." She hopped off the desk and followed Jane outside. "So, have you decided who you're going to Cotillion with?"

     Jane shook her head. "No. Some of the girls and I were going to ride together. No one's really asked me."

     "Seriously?" Ilaria asked, surprised. "Not even Carlos?"

     Jane frowned. "Why would Carlos ask me?"

     Ilaria chuckled and shook her head. "Nevermind." They made their way outside, spotting Evie, Mal, Carlos, and Jay. Instantly, Jane walked forwards and made a beeline for Mal.

     Evie looked between Jane and Lonnie and asked, "I have an opening for a fitting at 3:00, who wants it?"

     "Me!" Lonnie instantly said before looking at Jane. "Sorry."

      "Perfect. I'll take you later." Evie pulled Lonnie to the side and began discussing dresses while Ilaria walked up to her. Evie smiled. "Hey, I've been looking for you."

     "We must have just missed each other then." Ilaria said.

     Lonnie walked over to Mal and Jane who were discussing decorations. Evie grabbed Ilaria's hand, interlacing their fingers as they followed. "I can hardly wait to see what your wedding looks like." Lonnie said with a wide smile.

     Mal gave a small smile. "Me too." Her eyes widened in realization as she quickly shouted, "Wait, what?"

     "The Royal Cotillion is like getting engaged to being engaged to be engaged." Jane explained.

     "I knew it!" Evie sighed dreamily.

     "Everyone knows it." Lonnie smiled.

     "I didn't know it!" Mal replied. Panic covered her face. "How come nobody told me that? Is my entire life just planned out in front of me?"

     "Hi, Mal." Ben, who had appeared behind her, interrupted her rant.

     Lonnie, Jane, and Evie all said, "Hi, Ben." Big smiles were on all of their faces and Ilaria rose a brow of amusement.

     "Oh, oh, quick moment." Jane quickly said, pulling Ben to the side.

     As Evie and Lonnie went back to discussing, Ilaria took a stand beside Mal. "Are you alright?"

     Mal shook her head. "I don't know, Ria."

     Ilaria placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Well, if you want to talk about it, don't hesitate to come and find me. You know how I am, I don't really care about all this stuff."

     Mal forced a small smile. "I think I'll have to take you up on that."

     Ilaria gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze before walking over to Evie. "Evie, darling, we must be going."

     Evie turned to look at her. "Right." She looked at Lonnie. "I'll see you later." She walked over to Ilaria and grabbed her hand. They walked down the stairs. "Now, where are we going?"

     "It's just a simple set up really." Ilaria explained. She walked over to one of the motorbikes, taking a seat and putting on a helmet. She handed on to Evie who took it and sat on the vehicle. "Hold on." Evie wrapped her arms around Ilaria's waist and she took off. They made it to the enchanted lake and Evie climbed off first followed by Ilaria. They sat their helmets on the bike before interlacing their hands and walking down to the gazebo.

     Evie looked around and a smile pulled on her lips. There was a small set up on the gazebo. A blanket was spread out along with different assortments of food. Fairy lights hung from the ceiling and Evie smiled in awe. "Ria, it's beautiful."

     "I wanted to take you here at night, but seeing as you're so busy I decided it might just be easy to do it like this instead." Nervously, she began messing with her hands. "Is this alright?"

     Evie looked at her and noticed her fidgeting. She instantly grabbed her hands. "It's perfect." They walked down to the gazebo, sitting down on the blanket as they began eating.

     They kept up casual conversation, Evie talked about all of the dresses she'd designed. "I was hoping you'd be willing to help me give them out."

     Ilaria nodded. "Anything for you." She scratched the back of her neck. "I actually needed to ask you something." Evie, who had taken a bite of a sandwich Ilaria had made, covered her mouth and nodded for her to continue. Ilaria took a calming breath. "Listen, Evie, I like you a lot. I really really do. And I was hoping you felt the same way because, well, I wanted to ask if you would be my girlfriend."

     Evie paused, shock taking over her. She sat down her food and felt her heartbeat pick up. A wide smile bloomed on her face. "You're asking me out?" Nervously, Ilaria nodded. Evie had never seen her so nervous before, quite frankly it almost made her uncomfortable. Ilaria was the most confident person she knew and seeing her this nervous made her stomach swarm with butterflies. She reached forwards and grabbed Ilaria's hands. "Of course I'll be your girlfriend."

     Ilaria smiled. "Really?"

     Evie chuckled and nodded. "Yes, really. I like you a lot too. I've just been waiting for you to ask me."

     A breath of relief left her lips. "Well, that's a relief." Evie chuckled. The new couple stared at one another for a moment before Ilaria carefully pulled herself closer to Evie. Evie met her halfway and then suddenly their lips met. It was a soft kiss, but it was one that both of them had been waiting for. Everything felt just right in that moment. Everything felt perfect. Ilaria wished they could stay here forever, but she knew they couldn't. She just didn't realize that within the next few hours trouble would be coming for her. Because in the next few hours, she wasn't going to be with Evie anymore. She was going to be in the Isle of the Lost.