t w o
January 24, 2013
The sled ride was surprisingly a lot more fun than Elsie had imagined. She thought she would scream her lungs out and fall off somewhere along the path. Instead, she clung onto the front while the gushes of wind whipped the loose strands of hair around her face, sometimes getting caught in her mouth while she was squealing and laughing and, most of all, telling Jack Frost to make the sled go faster.
She wasn't the only one enjoying themselves, though. Jack was laughing and having too much fun for his position of the ride. Flying by the giggling and screaming Elsie seemed to be a normal thing he'd do with Jamie, but he had to admit: she seemed a lot different than the shy girl he had seen minutes before. Now, El looked outgoing and rebellious, wanting to live in the fast lane as she let a hand go or begged him to speed it up. Jack also noticed that she did indeed resemble Jamie and his expressions. When the 10-year old was excited, he too laughed and grinned a mile wide. When he got happy, his eyes sparkled and widened, just like hers. When the brown-headed boy ever got cold, his cheeks and cute button-nose would turn a shade of red, just like hers would. Jack noticed these things, yes, but in a different way. Instead of finding it natural like he did for Jamie, the pale guardian found it fairly attractive on Elsie.
Not like he let that get to him, though. People everywhere are attractive- so what if she is, too?
Now, as they come close to Jamie's house, El was more exhilarated then she'd ever been. In fact, the adrenaline rush in her heart is pumping and ready for a new adventure, one with possibly more sled rides and perhaps a quick dash towards the front door. She wasn't really ready to get off, but her numb body limbs said otherwise. Jack slowed it down a bit, edging off the ice so the wooden transportation would halt in the fluffy white snow. He, too, was a little disappointed that they couldn't go for longer, but the two have already been 6 rounds through Jamie's neighborhood.
As the ice was getting thinner by the second, Elsie took the chance to stand up onto the wood with her boots slick with melted snow. She struggled to balance, at first, but soon got the hang of sliding when she put her arms out beside her. The wind's speed was slowing, but she didn't care. She let one last giggle escape her lips before the sled came to a stop, crashing into the snow harshly. Yes, her expression changed, and yes, she ended up tumbling into the pile of frozen particles, but once again, she didn't honestly care.
Elsie surfaced and let out a short laugh, glancing over to Jack who, at the moment, felt the need to laugh along. So he did.
"So, was that fun or what?" Jack grinned, leaning on his staff as he watched her climb out of the snow bundle.
She let out a puff of air, swirls of white in front of her lips from the cold. Her arms instinctively wrapped themselves around her, chilled to the bone, but the corners of her lips lifted upward into a matching grin. Sure, her bun was now sagging on the back of her head, and yeah, her face felt frozen, but her excitement still hasn't worn off enough to let her realize that.
"Are you kidding me?!" She laughed, the few steps towards the spirit of winter crunching beneath her feet, "That was awesome! I don't think I've had that much fun since-"
Jack's smile faltered just a little at the gap in the sentence, being filled with her fallen face and the fake smile.
"Well, it doesn't matter," she stifles a laugh, rubbing her hands together before flickering her eyes back to his. He wasn't one for details, but he saw the obvious sadness that encircled the deep color of an inevitable brown. Anyone could. She was just trying to hide it for some reason. "Race you?" Elsie suggests, glancing towards the welcoming red house. Jack, deep in thought, managed to catch that before replying with a smirk.
El sprinted for the front door, and as much as he wanted to, Jack didn't cheat and fly over. He ran right with her. He still won, though.
"It's not fair!" She exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest, "Immortals can obviously run faster."
"Then I guess you shouldn't have suggested a race then, huh?" He raised his brows, leaning on the outside wall of the house.
Elsie found it so cliché and stupid to be having one of those "I felt like I knew him my whole life" type of moments, but that's exactly how she felt. In the end, at least. She was a bit nervous (a bit is an understatement) when she first saw him, because he is someone only some people see, but since he flew her over confused children in a yard, she saw he liked to have fun. She does, too, but it never seemed right to enjoy herself while her parents lay in coffins dressed in possibly the worst set of clothes they had.
"Your grandmother got that for us on our anniversary one year," Elsie's mom recalled once, sliding her pig-tailed daughter a mug of chocolate milk, "But we both agreed to never wear those outfits as long as we lived."
And now that the girl, who no longer has pig-tails, thinks about it, that statement couldn't have been more true.
They stepped inside and from the aunt's point of view, the door opened by itself and her niece smiled at the air. From Elsie's point of view, Jack had politely opened the door for her and she walked in, throwing him a thankful half-smile before making her way towards the hallway.
"Oh, dear, could you please tell Jamie to clean his room? I told him this morning but he didn't seem to have listened!" Her aunt called after the retreating 17-year old, an 'Okay!' coming in return.
The two walked the hallway in silence until they entered Jamie's room, El's eyes immediately darting to the boy playing with his homemade ninja clay models. He looked up to see his favorite two people standing side by side wearing almost exactly the same expression: happiness. This, of course, overjoyed Jamie to the point of jumping to his feet.
"Did you have fun, Elsie?" He asked, scrambling to get off his bed, ending up right in front of his cousin.
She took in the way he was acting, and how he's been acting for the past month or so, adding it all up to the realization to what Jamie was trying to do. He's seen her wallowing in sadness and he's noticed how much she's changed. Before, Elsie would get up earlier than the rest- she usually couldn't sleep because of all the adrenaline pouring into her system. She would be ready for a new day, a new adventure, and most certainly a new memory to treasure for years to come. She never thought about the outcome. She was as rebellious as Jack, if you could believe it. El wasn't a typical loner, because she had some friends, but they were all too mellow for her. That's why the two cousins got along so well- they liked to try new things and do fun-filled activities. A risk was another step, Elsie believed, towards the thing that makes you the happiest.
That belief, along with many, washed away. What stayed were the only ones that mattered to her. The guardians and Jamie.
She bent down and leaned into his ear, whispering, "I probably would've had more fun if you were there, but don't tell him that."
A laugh left Jamie's lips and he pretended to seal his lips, taking hold of her cold hand afterwards. "You mean it? You had fun?" He asked again, this time looking much more serious as he stared up at her. His pupils are dilated, as always, but it's the same way for Elsie. It gives both of them another pleasant attractive factor.
With a glance towards Jack, who looked sincerely interested in what his friend meant, she finally locked eyes with the most important person in her life right now.
"I mean it, Jamie. I really do."
Hours later, it was just Jamie, Elsie, and Sophie building snowmen and having snow ball fights. Jack had to go, even though he wanted to stay, to make it snow in other parts of the world, too. He didn't have to do much, to be honest. He just couldn't dare stay and intrude on the bonding that was meant to take place. When Elsie said she had fun, he believed it. But when she looked back up to meet Jack's eyes, she was silently telling him something. Just with eye contact. And he has yet to figure out what that longing gaze meant.
It was now weeks later instead of hours, and Jack hasn't visited since that snow day. Jamie went back to school, his mom went back to work, and Elsie was left to baby-sit her little cousin Sophie until 3 every afternoon. When that time rolled around, Jamie would depart the bus either feeling tired, stressed, or glad. Tired from sitting in school all day, stressed from something new he learned, or glad to be home. Elsie and Sophie would always have a good day, whether it was spent inside playing princess and fairy all day or taking the short walk to the park and playing on the playground. The thing is, with the growing 17-year old girl living with the Bennett's, her aunt didn't have to take care of Soph all day long anymore. She got a better job that pays more and that she actually enjoys. With that in mind, El knows that if she left the family, their lives would return to debts and microwavable dinners again.
So she doesn't plan on leaving anytime soon.
Now it's February 11, a bright and chilly morning in Burgess, and quite a noisy one in the Bennett's house.
"I'll get you, my pretty!" Elsie cackled evilly, bounding down the hallway after Sophie who is still dressed in the fairy wings she demanded not to take off the night before. El woke up earlier so she could possibly scare the 2-year old, hiding in the hallway closet and peeking through the cracks to know when to come out. Around 9 o'clock did Sophie come through, calling her cousin's name. When the time was right, Elsie jumped out and cuddled up the little girl's body, tickling her sides while saying that she was the evil witch out to get the young fairy. Now, the two are playing chase throughout the small house, Sophie giggling and squealing every time her hiding spot is found. It's simple morning fun, but it's enough to get both girls wide awake.
Sophie's strings of blonde hair bounced as she circled Elsie, chanting, "No evil! Good!" over and over. The 'witch' gasped, quickly pulling her hair back into a bun. "You did it fairy queen! I'm good again!"
The 2-year old giggled with excitement, clapping her hands before latching onto El's. "Hungry!"
Elsie nodded, making their way to the kitchen. It was warm to her, even though all she was wearing was plaid pajama pants and a tank, so once she sat the fairy queen in one of the dining chairs, she did the liberty of cracking open the window to let in some fresh air. It's not like it was snowing anymore; just quite cold.
She messed around for awhile, relearning her way around the cabinets, trying to muster up an idea for a good breakfast. For the past few weeks they've just eaten cereal and pop tarts, but today El was inspired to reactivate her cooking skills.
"Does grits and bacon sound good to you, fairy queen?" She asked over her shoulder, peering into the fridge to check if they have any strips of bacon. Hopefully her aunt wasn't going on another diet plan where she can only eat the turkey kind.
"I'm no fairy queen, but that does sound pretty good."
Elsie's thoughts twisted around for a second or two, coming to the conclusion who the voice belonged to. How many times is he going to do that? She thought, moving over to the stove.
"Y'know, Jack, I would like it if you didn't pop up randomly all the time," El mused, getting on her toes to reach the unreachable. Why did it have to be in the very high cabinet?
"What are you talking about, Elsie- this is only the second time," Jack chuckled, suddenly appearing beside her so he could outstretch his arm. The pan was pulled out of the cabinet easily, his touch making frost to appear, but nevertheless, she was glad she didn't have to use a chair. "I haven't seen you in weeks," he continued on, watching her ignore his presence as the pan was placed on the lit eye of the stove. The frost melted away quickly, so she started back over to the fridge. Except, someone was in the way.
"Are you going to acknowledge that I'm standing here or..?" Jack drawls out, trying to make eye contact, but her eyelashes create a perfect shield.
"What are you talking about, Jack- I already have," Elsie mocks, walking around him to yank open the fridge door. Sophie just sat and watched, confused to why the (now) good witch was talking to air. She had yet to believe in the spirit of winter, but only because Jamie failed to mention it. Somehow. Elsie never knew until this past summer, and she never had the chance to tell the tale to the fairy lover.
"I come for a visit and this is what I get, huh?" He quirks a dark brow, leaning on his staff. It's true that he expected maybe that giddy version of Jamie's relative, but at the same time he didn't want to get his hopes up. Something told him not to. Getting a break from helping Tooth and spying on Pitch was a gigantic relief for the guardian, since neither of the situations was very fun. Sure, collecting teeth would be fun if the teeth weren't already gone by the time he got to the child. And spying on Pitch- he volunteered because he thought it'd be interesting to see what he's brewing so they'd be a step ahead, but nothing was going on. Inside, he saw the giant empty cages and the metal globe, and Pitch sometimes. It was kind of weird seeing the guy moping around his lair when he could be planning something new.
Yeh, it was horrible to want Pitch planning something, but Jack was bored of the same old same old. He wanted excitement and helping the other guardians isn't exhilarating.
"Sorry to break the news, bud, but Jamie is at school," Elsie informed Jack (even though he already knew), getting the ingredients and pot and pan ready on the counter. Her head finally turned his way, just to give him a sorry smile. He saw her eyes and said to himself, what is she hiding? She saw his eyes and asked herself, does he see it yet? Will he ever?
She thought she could at least tell someone how she feels, because Jack is a stranger and he has no right to judge, but he didn't seem to get the point. She didn't want to tell him out loud because she couldn't even form words around the feelings she keeps locked inside, so she hoped eye contact would work. From El's observations, though, Jack doesn't get it.
She began to fix up breakfast, Jack proceeding to sit across from the oblivious 2-year old. He got horribly bored watching Sophie run around the kitchen pretending to fly, so his gaze adjusted on someone else. For some reason, his eyes followed Elsie and how she moved, how she swayed her hips when she got into the music she was humming, and certainly how she radiated great warmth. It wasn't temperature wise, oh no. It was something bright and hard to miss, anyone would want to share it with her. Jack kept thinking how plenty of people must be attracted to her, wishing to have her all to themselves. She seemed like that type of person to the immortal boy, someone you can always count on for good memories and great hugs.
Great hugs? Jack rolled his eyes at his own thoughts, not having a clue where that one came from.
"Hey, Elsie?" He sat with his fingers tracing the lines and crevasses in his trusty wooden staff, bored out of his mind but still swimming in his own thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"How about a special snow day for just the three of us?"
The occupied red-head turned her body slightly, raising a brow curiously at his offer. She didn't know what he was up to, but it's not like a guy who plays with children all day long would kidnap the two girls.
"Y'know Sophie can't see you, right?"
Jack nodded his head, watching the little fairy queen pretend that the dining chair was her thrown.
Elsie stopped what she was doing, wiping her hands on the rag hanging by the stove. She turned around completely, folding her arms across her chest. Her body was leaning on the counter in a relaxed manner, but inside her nerves were telling her not to say the next words that were to leave her lips. "Can you make her believe?"
Jack tilted his head so he could give the attractive girl a mere few feet away from him a ghost of a smile. "You can."