Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this story - I just wanted a slight break from the Happily Ever After series that I am doing. Yes this story is not linked to it anyway but of course it is Mal and Ben ordinated. Much love RSD xoxoxoxo

As the wheels of the plane touched down onto the rough tarmac my stomach started to backflip; I was home. After two and a half years of studying in The Schwarzwald College of Art it was nice to see the familiar city of Auradon.

"Nervous?" I heard a voice say. I turned my head to look at Sam and was greeted by his warm brown eyes.

"A little" I admitted.

"I'm sure that you have nothing to worry about" he said reassuringly as he took my hand in his and he gave it a reassuring squeeze. I'm glad that Sam had come with me. In all honesty he didn't need to but he said that he wanted to meet all of my friends that I was always talking about. I had promised him that he could meet my friends at some point. As our year started to come to an end I started to make plans to come back to Auradon and Sam asked whether he could come with me. I saw no problems with this; me and Sam had grown close over the last couple of years, especially over the last year.

"Yeah" I answered nervously.

"I can't wait to meet everyone" he said as he let go of my hand.

"I can't wait to see everyone" I said as I let my mind wander onto my friends: Evie, Carlos, Jay, Doug, Jane, Lonnie and finally onto Ben. I guessed that it was going to be awkward with Ben more than anyone else. A year and a half into my college scholarship both me and Ben were struggling with keeping our relationship long distance; I knew that. However what I didn't expect was for Ben to break up with me as he didn't think it was fair on either of us. I turned my face fully away from Sam as I started to let the memory of our break up fill my mind.

*Flashback*

"Mal we need to talk" Ben said as we were sitting cuddling at the enchanted lake.

"I agree" I stated. I knew what he wanted to talk about; we both knew that we were struggling with the separation of only seeing each other once every three month. It was harder than both of us ever imagined; yes we were always ringing, texting and face timing each other but it was getting to the point where it didn't seem enough anymore.

"You do?" He asked.

"Yes" I said looking up at him.

"You're about to say how much your struggling with me being in Schwarzwald aren't you?" I asked nervously as part of me wanted him to tell me that I was wrong. Part of me wanted to believe that me and Ben were going to be able to get through this; but the longer we were away from each other the more I was starting to worry about it.

"You can always read me like a book" he said as he looked down and started to fidget with a button on his blazer.

"Yeah; that and I am feeling the same" I admitted sadly.

"You are?" He asked as he looked back up at me.

"Yes Ben. I hate being away from you. Yes I am enjoying the course and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity but there are times when I just wish I was home. I miss you and everyone else here" I said sadly as tears started to form in my eyes.

"And we miss you Mal; especially me" he admitted as he tightened his arms around me.

"I hate being away from you" he muttered into my hair.

"It hurts a lot more than I ever thought it would" he added as he pulled me into a tight hug. I snuggled into the crook of Ben's neck and I tightened my arms around his waist.

"I don't know what to do" I said as tears started to roll down my face and started to stain Ben's blazer. I knew that we only had two choices; I had to decide what to give up - Ben or my scholarship.

"I might do; but I don't think either one of us are going to like it" he stated sadly which made me look up. I felt my stomach start to burn as I realised that Ben was making the decision for me.

"What are you trying to say Ben?" I asked even though I knew he was going to say what I didn't want him to.

"Maybe we should go on a break or even break up" he suggested.

"What?" I stupidly asked as my chest started to burn even more.

"Mal I feel like I am holding you back" he said as tears started to fill his eyes.

"You're not" I said as my voice broke.

"Do you really want to do this? I quickly asked.

"No" he said shaking his head as he wiped his tears away.

"You are the best thing that ever happened to me" he said as he stared into my tear filled eyes.

"But being apart from you is too much to bare" he admitted.

"I know" I said as I looked down as my body started to go numb with the realisation that I had just lost Ben.

"I know I probably shouldn't ask" he said after a few minutes of us sitting in silence.

"Right" I asked slowly as I wiped my eyes again to rid the tears that were starting to form again.

"I know you have at least another year to go" he said as he started to bit down on his bottom lip.

"Ok" I said as I looked back up at him.

"You don't have to stick to this" he said sternly.

"Ben what are you trying to say?" I pressed as I was eager to hear what he wanted to suggest.

"We break up; but if we both are single when you get back and we still love each other we could get back together?" he suggested nervously. I now knew what he was trying to do; Ben loved me so much that he was willing to let me go so I could be happy even if this was to be without him.

"You really want to do that?" I asked.

"I'd rather have a hope of getting back together with you than a greater chance of our relationship being completely destroyed' he admitted. So was Ben telling me that he would wait for me; but he knew there was a chance that I might meet someone else. I knew that this was going to be very hard for Ben to do. I started to feel guilty as I should have been the one to suggest it; I should have tried to make it easier for Ben; so I didn't end up hurting him too much.

"Ben I could just give my scholarship up" I stated.

"No you won't Mal. You've worked so hard for this" he said sternly.

"Like I said Mal there's a chance that we will get back together" he said as he tried to smile to reassure me but it didn't look right as I knew that his heart was breaking - just like mine.

"Yeah" I answered as I hoped that this would be the case.

"I love you Ben" I said. I had to make sure that he knew this; I didn't want him to think that I never stopped loving him.

"I love you too Mal and that is why I have to let you go" he said sadly as he wiped his eyes.

"So promise if we are both single we get back together when you come back?" He said as he stared into my eyes.

"Promise" I agreed.

"Mal if you find someone else please don't feel bad" he said.

"Same to you, but I'll always secretly hope it never happens" I admitted.

"Same" he said sadly.

"Come here Mal" he said as he pulled me into another tight hug.

"You understand why I am doing this don't you?" He said into my hair.

"Yes but it doesn't make it any easier" I muttered into his chest.

"I know baby" he said.

"I know"

"Mal are you ok?" I heard Sam ask. I wiped away the tears that were now rolling down my cheeks. I hadn't seen Ben since our break up but I knew that if by some miracle I did see him I knew that it was going to be awkward as neither of us knew what to say to each other. What also made it a bit strange is because this time I was coming back home with a secret and I only hoped that everyone would be happy about it. I also hoped that this time Ben wasn't busy with a meeting and he was able to come to the night out tomorrow night. It would be nice to see him as I had missed him; yes he was not my boyfriend anymore but that didn't mean I didn't care any less about him.

"Yeah" I said as I smiled at him.

"Are you sure? You're crying" he muttered as a member of our cabin crew was walking past.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just remembering something that's all" I answered.

"Ok, well if you need to talk about it you know where I am" he answered happily.

"Thank you" I answered as the plane started to move slowly as it was getting dragged to the gate so we could depart.

"Who did you say was waiting for us in arrivals?" Sam asked obviously trying to take my mind of things.

"Evie, Jay and Carlos" I said as I patted under my eyes to make sure that my make up hadn't smuggled to much.

"Is my makeup ok? If I walk up to Evie looking like I have being crying she will start to ask questions" I said as I looked at him. He quickly inspected my face and smiled.

'You look beautiful like always" he said with a smile.

"Evie won't know a thing" he said as we heard the pilot wish us well on our visit to Auradon.

"Here goes Mal" Sam said excitedly as we were instructed that we were able to stand up to get our baggage from the overheard lockers as the plane came to a stop.

"Yeah" I answered. Here goes I told myself.