32.
Just as Elsa predicted, once they both arrived to Elsa's house, Anna was already waiting for them looking through one of the windows. Obviously she hid as 'discreetly' as she could once they both saw her.
"Prepare yourself for her endless questions" Elsa said chuckling.
"Is it really gonna be that bad?" Jack asked.
"You don't have any idea, I bet she started counting the seconds from the moment we got out" Elsa said.
"So you told her?" Jack asked, not in a bad tone, but in a curious one.
"Well... She kinda figured it out at breakfast, so when she called me to-"
"Make more hot chocolate" Jack asked smirking
"Yes" Elsa said and chuckled. "She wouldn't let me go without me telling her so... I just told her the necessary, didn't get into details" Elsa said as they walked to the house entrance.
"So, you think she's gonna asks us right away?" Jack asked.
"Oh no, she's gonna try to be 'discreet' about it and... Well you'll see" Elsa said, and finally opened the door.
Once Jack and Elsa entered the house, they walked down to the main living room, where Anna was 'casually' reading a business magazine... upside down. Jack held back a chuckle.
Elsa slightly tugged Jack's arm, and gestured him with her head to watch Anna. Elsa cleared her throat, and Anna looked up with a pretty awkward and even scary smile, pretending to act normal.
"Oh, HI! Jack and Elsa! What brings you here!" Anna said, dropping the business magazine down, and standing up, with a nearly robotic voice.
"We're staying here for Holidays, Anna. Remember?" Elsa asked with a funny face. Jack was really struggling to held his laughter. Anna paled a bit, but the awkward smile returned in a millisecond.
"Oh, of course! Silly me he he... So, how are you feeling in this wintery day?" Anna asked again, same robotic voice. Jack couldn't help it anymore and let out a quite chuckle, Elsa elbowing him instantly.
"You don't have to pretend to be casual anymore, Anna" Elsa reassured after he narrowed her eyes at Jack. Anna let out the breath she was holding.
"Oh thank fucking god..." Anna said relieved as her body clearly relaxed from her previous robotic form. "I think I'm not very good at acting" Anna said in an almost breathlessly way, like she just have been running a marathon.
"No kidding-" Jack said but he was quickly elbowed by Elsa again. Anna didn't say anything to him, and that was pretty weird since she always came back to people. She instead looked with a mixture of curiosity and concern between Jack and Elsa.
"So..." Anna said and there was a bit of an awkward silence for like what seemed lot longer than it actually was. "Are you... Uh- Okay?" Anna asked. She really didn't know how-or what- to ask. She didn't know if they were back to being friends, or acquaintances or...more.
Elsa tried to fight the smile that was trying hard to grow from the corners of her mouth. She knew they were okay, she knew they were friends, and even something more but, they haven't talk about tags or were exactly they stood now. She knew that they were together... in some way. But how explain it? She didn't want to answer with something like 'Hell yeah! We're okay and we are together now! Or something in between' That would be awkward, in a billion ways.
"We're fine, Anna" Elsa said with a smile, a truthful one. She knew Anna wanted to know more than 'just fine' because it could still mean a lot of things. Elsa was actually planning on tell her after, since she still didn't know for sure where they were standing, past the friend zone for sure, but still she didn't know how deep they were in the 'more than friends' zone. So she was just going to tell her later.
What she was definitely not expecting was feeling how a large hand gently grabbed hers, interlacing fingers with hers, sending instantly shivers from her hand to her whole body. Elsa didn't know how she held back a gasp that was clearly in her throat. She snapped her head to her hand, and after confirming that a male hand was actually grabbing hers, her eyes traveled up to Jack's, and a blush instantly burned through her whole face and neck after watching his eyes looking straight to her with a knowing smirk in his face.
Opposite to Elsa, Anna didn't hold back her gasp.
Anna gasped at Jack's actions- nearly screamed- and she covered her mouth with both hands, looking at the intertwined hands like it was some kind of illusion.
"Oh my gosh" Anna said whispering, with eyes big as plates. "Oh. My. Gosh!" She screamed this time, and pointing with a finger to the intertwined hands. Elsa giggled, but was instantly pulled to to a hug, Jack included. Anna was hugging both of them while squealing incomprehensible things and jumping up and down.
But Anna quickly broke the hug, and punched Jack in the chest a bit harshly. Jack let out a groan, but before he could even touch the place he was hit, Anna pulled him down from his ear, bringing him close to her face.
"You better treat her damn well! And don't you dare going back to your previous jerk self!" Anna said warningly. "You heard me?" Anna asked.
"Ouch- Wouldn't dream of it" Jack said slightly groaning in pain.
"Good" Anna said with a satisfied smile and she let him go. Jack looked down to her with a frown and rubbed his attacked ear. "Now, down to business" Anna said and took out her phone from her pocket.
"Who are you-" Elsa tried to ask, but Anna was already with the phone pressed on her ear, and she immediately squealed.
"PUNZIE! THEY JUST GOT BACK AND YOU WONT BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED!" Anna screamed in the phone. "YES THEY JUST GOT BACK AND I WAS TOTALLY PLAYING TO BE CASUAL AND THEN I ASKED" Anna said "YEAH! AND THEN JACK HELD HER HAND!" Elsa literally face palmed herself.
"OH MY GOSH!" could be heard from the other side of the phone. Anna finally shrugged and put the call on speaker.
"Hell YES! Tell your boyfriend he owe us 50 bucks!" Anna said.
"Give me the phone!" A second voice said, followed by a 'Hey!' protest from Rapunzel"NO WAY WINTERS! YOU'RE LYING!" Flynn's voice was heard.
"Come and see it with your own eyes then, loser" Anna said with a smug face.
"Oh gosh! That's a great idea!" Rappel's voice said again, obviously taking the phone from Flynn "We'll take a flight to New York tomorrow!" She said excitedly.
"Really?" Anna asked excited as well.
"Really?" Flynn's voice was heard.
"Yeah of course! I already miss them and you still haven't seen your parents!" Rapunzel said. "Plus you live right next door, we can stay there till classes!"
"That would be awesome! Plus, Kristoff's coming as well! We could totally triple-date!" Anna said grinning.
"ANNA" Elsa hissed.
"We're gonna have so much fun! We'll see each other tomorrow then! Love you all!" Punzie said.
"See you! Love you too!" Anna said and hung up. She finally turned to Jack and Elsa and her smile dropped when she saw their faces. "What?" She asked them confusedly.
"You told them?" Elsa asked not quite angry but not happy either. Jack just stood behind Elsa not exactly knowing what to do.
"Well-" Anna started sheepishly.
"Anna!" Elsa scolded, and Anna sighted.
"Oh, come on Elsa!" Anna said in a whining voice. "They would've known anyway... sooner or later" Anna said with a nervous smile. Elsa frowned at her sister. "Okaaaay... I'm sorry" Anna said truthfully. "Now can you please smile? I know you miss them too. After all, it was the first Holiday that Flynn didn't spend at his house" Elsa stood quiet for a moment, gazing at her sister, but then she sighted in defeat.
"Fine" She said and Anna grinned.
"Great! Now, you both tell me how your little chat went" Anna said excitedly. Elsa smiled at her sister sarcastically and then she grabbed Jack's arm and scurried out from the room, hearing Anna's whines from behind.
Her little sister would never change.
x
Two days have been since Jack and Elsa finally told each other what they felt and accepted it.
Flynn and Rapunzel arrived yesterday at night, they took the last plane from Corona to New York, since they needed to pack for college as well, not just for the rest of Winter vacations. They were too tired to come and say hi, so they agreed on do something once Kristoff arrived the next day.
The 'relationship' of Jack and Elsa was a bit strange the next day, they didn't know quite well how to act, mostly because they were just friends when they arrived here, and that's what the 'adults' still believed.
The morning had been difficult. One of the reasons was because they didn't talk about what they will do in front of everyone, or how they will act. None of them wanted to ask the other in fear of offending them in someway. So they just got up and decided to hope for the best.
Once Elsa got out of her room that day, she met Jack in the halls. He instantly gave her a soft kiss on the lips and greeted her good morning. Even though if they were okay now, Elsa still was taken aback. Not in a bad way, not at all. It was maybe just that she was still a bit scared after what happened before. Maybe she thought that he would still change his mind, or leave her without a word like the last time.
But when he kissed her that morning, it was like she was realizing or double checking that this was not a dream. She felt like flying, she felt light headed and she felt like exploding every time he kissed her.
That kiss assured her that it was going to be a good day, no matter what.
x
When they had breakfast that day, things got just a bit complicated.
Since Jack didn't tell her anything, Elsa just decided for the most obvious option: They still hadn't talk about where they stand, so she would act like nothing changed in front of her family and Mr. North. Elsa was a great pretender. Heck, she pretended to like the 'perfect daughter life' for almost her entire existence, pretending to still be just friends with Jack was no big deal for her; for Jack... it was quite the opposite.
Jack had never been good at hiding emotions, in the past, he always shown what he felt, no matter what people thought about it. After the accident, he stayed the same. Most people would said that he was 'hiding' all his sadness, all the sorrow... but he wasn't. His sadness and pain just turned to anger, mostly anger at himself, and he did not hide it, not one bit. Hell, everyone could tell that.
So now, he was having a hard time on trying to pretend everything was like before. He realized that Elsa was doing that, and he was not offended by it or against it. It was actually the best option. If they decided to act like... whatever they were now, it was obvious that everyone- except Anna- would look at them like they were crazy; or worst, Elsa's parents would call her out and maybe even ask for an explanation.
So yeah, he decided to pretend everything was just like before. At least until Elsa told him what to do.
But... he couldn't. He was trying, really, but it was near to impossible.
He couldn't keep hie eyes off her. He wouldn't stop grinning like an idiot every time she spoke. He couldn't stop thinking on how her lips felt, he couldn't stop thinking about how her soft, silky skin felt on his fingers.
He wanted to touch her, to kiss her, to hug her, anything.
His attention drifted helplessly to her every time, and he didn't even realized. He was having such a hard time that he didn't even heard when Nic called him ten times, or even Elsa and Anna's parents.
He was such a lost cause on this that Elsa even face palmed herself once.
After that, and because of Jack's poor 'pretending' Elsa could not escape her mother. Just before everyone got up while sending confused glances towards Jack- before she could escape- her mother called her out in front of everyone, and with a smile, she asked Elsa to accompany her to the garden.
Idun instantly asked her daughter what happened, and Elsa just blushed and sighed. There was no point on lying, her mother just knew her too well. Plus, she knew about her- at that moment- crush on Jack.
So, she told her what happened, skipping the part were he left her in the balcony and the part of Central Park. She really didn't want to share that much Jack's life with people, not because she didn't trust her family, just because it was Jack's life and she knew that she was in no place of sharing anything that wasn't about her.
Her mother had probably the same reaction as Anna, which was a bit surreal, since Idun Winters was the elegancy, good manners and perfect behaved lady made human. Usually when she was very excited, she just giggled behind her hand, with a timid smile, but this time she nearly called Anna and Rapunzel so the three of them could fangirl together.
Elsa felt so much relieved and calm once she told her mom, even more when Idun told her that her father would be content with the news as well. Obviously, as a good over protective father he was, he was not over excited about her daughter having a boyfriend. Maybe even most people would consider Adgar Winters crazy if they saw that his daughter's boyfriend was practically a young tattooed bicker, but Idun reassured Elsa that his dad did not cared about looks at all, she even told Elsa that if his dad did not have the company, maybe he would have the same amount of tattoos that Jack has. Elsa was really surprised at the revelation of her mother, but she was beyond happy after all.
Thankfully, Idun told Elsa that she would tell or at least hint Adgar herself, she really didn't want Elsa to stress over it right at the moment, she suggested to talk Adgar about it once she and Jack were an 'stable' couple. Elsa immediately agreed.
After that, they didn't do much that day. It practically consisted in Anna being freaking out about the fact that Kristoff was going to arrive the next day. She was overreacting so much, that even though if the house staff was already back, she practically cleaned the whole house herself, she took out all the pictures were she looked ugly or ridiculous, and she spent like an hour arranging Kristoff's -and Sven's- room.
x
So, now they were waiting in the living room. Jack and Elsa were seating in one couch as they gazed at how Anna was sweating uncontrollably. Kristoff insisted that he and Sven were just going to take a cab from the airport, so Anna forced Jack and Elsa to wait with her in the living room about two hours ago.
"Oh fuck! I think he's outside!" Anna screamed for a billionth time, while drying the sweat from her head with a napkin.
"Anna, relax, okay? You know Kai's gonna tell us" Elsa reassured for a billionth time as well.
"Okay" She said inhaling and exhaling. "You're right"
Before Anna could manage to relax, Kai entered the room.
"Miss Anna, your guest has arrived. Do you want to open the door yourself, like you asked?" Kai asked calmly.
"OH MY GOD! Oh my god, Elsa" Anna said screaming. "What if- What if he doesn't like me anymore?! What if he changed his mind after this days?! What if he met another girl back there?! What if-"
"Okay Anna, breathe" Elsa said trying to calm down her sister as Jack watched in complete shock the scene. "You know non of that is true okay? Now, you're gonna go to let him in or you're gonna keep him waiting?"
Elsa didn't have to say anything else. As soon as Anna realized she in fact was make him wait, she rushed towards the main door without another word.
"She really likes him, huh?" Jack said getting up of the couch.
"She's been in love with Kristoff since she laid eyes on him" Elsa said giggling. "C'mon, lets go say hi" Elsa said, and grabbed Jack's hand to walk towards the main door.
Once they got there, Anna was hugging Kristoff tightly and showering him with kisses while Sven was happily jumping at the two. The scene was simply adorable.
"I missed you" Anna said, giving him one last kiss to the kneel down to Sven. "Aw! I missed you too, Sven" She said petting the big dog while Sven licked her face.
"Hello, Kristoff" Elsa said and gave him a quick greeting hug.
"Hey, man" Jack said and patted his back. He was actually very glad to see him, after all, he was probably the only male friend that he had in college.
"Hey, Elsa. Hey, Jack" Kristoff said while greeting both. "I hope we're not intruding" Kristoff said chuckling.
"Of course not" Elsa said smiling.
"Hey, don't you notice something different?" Anna said wiggling her eyebrows at Kristoff. Kristoff looked at her confused. "Their hands, Kris" Anna whispered and gestures to the intertwined hands of Jack and Elsa. Kristoff gazed at them again, and turned to Anna, and shrugged his shoulders. Anna huffed. "They're together" She finally said, pointing at the two of them.
"Uh..." Kristoff said, adverting his eyes from a minute. "I know" Kristoff said, trying to not offend her. Anna looked at him puzzled, and Jack and Elsa were dumbfounded.
"What do you mean 'you know'?" Anna asked.
"Well... I know. I mean, they've been together for a while now, right?" Kristoff said.
Jack started coughing furiously, and Elsa just stood there blushing while she helplessly patted Jack's back in attempts of making his cough stop.
"Wha- No?" Anna said completely confused "They just got together like... two days ago!"
"What? But they were together back in campus" Kristoff said, frowning in confusion. Elsa 'discreetly' cleared her throat in a denial way. Kristoff looked at both in disbelief. "Wha- Really?" Kristoff asked. No one said anything, but he didn't need an answer. "Wow. Anyone with two eyes would think you were" He commented.
"What do you mean?" Anna asked.
"Well, it was pretty obvious that both of them were in love. Plus, they were always together and Jack was always buying her coffee and stuff" Jack started to choke again. Elsa was about to say something but the doorbell rang.
"I-uh, I'll take it" Anna said, and shook her head slightly, to the turn to the door.
Once she opened it, there stood an excitedly looking Rapunzel, and a clearly pouting Flynn.
"Anna!" Punzie exclaimed and hugged her. "Oh, I missed you so much!"
"Hey guys!" Anna exclaimed happily. "I've missed you too! C'mon in!" Anna said, and let them through.
"Oh, hey Kristoff!" Punzie said, and hugged the tall blonde for a moment. "It's really nice to see you here!" Punzie said.
"It's really nice to see you too" Kristoff said
"Hey, dude" Flynn said, frown still not leaving his face as Kristoff greeted him.
"Hey, man" Kristoff said back.
"Oh my gosh!" Punzie suddenly squealed, and without a warning she jumped to hug Jack and Elsa. " Anna wasn't lying! This is so cute!" She said while hugging them, and they just stood still with awkward smiles on their faces.
Flynn just grunted, while sending daggers towards Jack.
Elsa giggled at this. Maybe he appeared to dislike Jack now, but she knew that someday they would be pretty good friends. She knew both of them pretty well.
It was just going to take a bit of time.
A.N.: Hey guys! Oh my gosh it feels like an eternity I swear!
Okay, I have two things to say today (to important at least) and I really want you to read them, please. (at least the first two)
#1 Okay, in case you didn't know and in case you didn't check my profile, my great uncle got really sick a few days ago, reason why I couldn't post, because I was the one in charge of him and obviously I was pretty worried. I just couldn't bring myself to write, and I hope you understand.
My uncle got out from the hospital yesterday, but we still stayed with him, just in case. Thankfully, he's doing really, really well know. So I'll like to thank you all for your amazing good wishes and preyers, you have no idea how much they helped me.
#2 Okay, so at first I thought it was not necessary to clarify this, but now I think it is, I think this is going to clear some doubts from a lot of readers.
So, this fan fiction was repeatedly compared to one called 'Cold to the Touch' by Furiyan. There was a lot of reviewers that told me that both were really similar, not necessarily in any bad way. I've received a review while we were on our brief hiatus, telling me that if this story was inspired by that fanfic, I should give credit to the author.
I'm gonna be completely honest with you here, I consider myself a very honest person, and mostly I hate, deeply, being copied.
I started reading (because I know it's a very popular story here in fanfictionnet and I probably read or tried to read all Jelsa fan fictions here) Cold to the Touch, but I stopped maybe when I finish chapter 5 at most. I don't intend here to downgrade this fic in any way, but I need to explain the reason why I stopped reading it. I'm just not into medication, panic attacks, suicidal though involving the main characters, too much depression, self harm, etc, etc... I even told you that in one of the A.N.
So, as soon I realized that fic involved that. As soon that it says that Jack need medication I stopped abruptly, just like I stop at every fan fiction involving this. I can take murder, violence, cheating, etc, etc but this no.
I consider it a very sensitive subject and mostly because I seriously not understand how all those stuff goes. I just think is incredibly sad and depressing, I myself suffer reading those kind of fics were too much pain is involved. Yes, Jack in my fic is in pain and isolated, but I never went to deep in that did I? I wanted Jack to have a reason to be a bad boy, a real one not just a fuck boy dressing as a biker.
The only thing that you could tell I was 'aware' was the Impala. I even remembered -at that time- a certain fic had Dean Winchester's impala as Jack car. At first I even thought it would just be better to give (my) Jack another car, but I thought 'screw it' I'm a supernatural fan, I can use the car I want, and I want baby for my Jack. So I did it.
Then, North being Jack's godfather (as the review says) is pretty normal, in most fics. North is a very fatherly figure, so instead of an OC I just decided to place him. Having a Toy Company? In every fic North's owner of a toy company because well... North Pole? Their meeting? Uh... I don't really know what to say, I'll even admit that is a very cliché form of meeting. Girl meets boy for a project... everyone herd of that. And I don't how they met in the other fic. Yoga Pants? Sorry, but I don't have any idea, I didn't read that far. Pitch and a knife? Sorry, but I don't have any idea, I didn't read that far.
Even Furiyan reviewed me, he/she simply said that this all was 'very familiar' I considered PM Furiyan at first, because of all the comparisons people reviewed, but then I thought 'Why?' I didn't copy anything, and since I only read like 5 chapters I though the review was just because of Jack's car. I didn't have to tell this person anything, plus if he/she really had any inconvenient, I think the proper way to contact me is through PM. So, in case Furiyan is reading this, is you have any problem, I would totally reply a DM, and I'll be really happy to clarify any possible doubts.
And, if any fic actually inspired me to make this one, those would be 'Ice Skates and Guitar Strings' by ReyZel616 that I consider a flawless work, probably my favorite Jelsa fan fiction; also 'Welcome to Leprechaun Academy' by In Need of a New Name, since I loved her way of high school AU; and surprisingly even if Jelsa is a very slow burn she/he always manages to make me want more and enjoy each chapter.
So, again, I didn't read Cold to the Touch, I'm really sorry, and I know that lots of you love it and its great, just please know that I have no idea of what are you talking about when you say that this fan fiction is similar.
And please, don't take this in the offensive way or anything, I just want to clarify:)
#3 This chapter was pretty un eventful, mostly because next is gonna be pretty different.
#4 I hope you like my new cover! I made it YAY ;)
#5 I'll update daily again :D
#6 In case you're also reading (and waiting for an update) my other fan fiction 'When It's All Over'. I'll continued writing it after I finish this one and I'm SUPER EXCITED ABOUT IT!! I'll probably update it in two weeks at most, I hope you can wait for me!
#7 I missed you so much! REALLY!
REVIEWS ARE DEEPLY APPRECIATED AND WELCOMED! IF THIS CHAPTER/UPDATE MADE YOU SMILE I HOPE YOU CAN MAKE ME SMILE BY LEAVING YOUR OPINIONS ABOUT IT! THANK YOU!
Till tomorrow :)
Silvana.