"Excuse me, do you know where the flight to Vancouver, Canada is?" The man pointed to gate number 8 and Elsa thanked him politely. She arrived at the gate with 30 minutes to spare, but soon realized she had to go to the bathroom. Glancing around she saw a young man with white hair seated in the corner.
"Excuse me," she said, "could you watch over my suitcase?" The young man looked up.
"Sure, but you know, I could just steal your stuff and walk away." He replied jokingly, his blue eyes sparkling mischievously.
"On second thought, I'll just ask someone else to watch my luggage." Elsa said, grabbing her suitcase. The man laughed.
"I was just joking. I'll keep a careful eye on it." His eyes sparkled again when they met hers. Elsa normally would have been sketchy about leaving her luggage with someone who just joked about stealing it, but there was an aura around this man which reminded her of home. She deemed him trustworthy of watching her things.
"I won't take long." Elsa hurried through the crowds and disappeared.
"Thank you again, for watching my things." Elsa said when she returned.
"No problem." The man said. Elsa turned to go when she stopped.
"There must be something I can do to repay your kindness."
"Don't worry about it. Just do me a favor and return this act of kindness to someone else." He smiled at her.
"Now boarding flight 317 bound for Vancouver." The PA announced.
"Well, I'd better get to my flight." He gave her a small wave and walked away.
After boarding the plane, Elsa sat in her seat. She glanced out the window, wondering what the view was like in Vancouver.
"Nervous?" Elsa turned to see the young man from earlier.
"No, not at all. I love to travel. I don't believe I caught your name. What is it?"
"Jack, Jack Frost." Elsa shook his hand.
"I'm Elsa, Elsa Snow."
"Excuse me, but that's my seat." Elsa glanced up to see an older man, most likely in his sixties. He looked at them and his face changed. "Oh, I see. Stay there, I'll sit here. Can't go around separating young love now, can we?" Elsa started to protest.
"We're not together..." Jack laughed as he watched Elsa try to explain to the man. The man smiled.
"It's no problem switching seats." He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
"What was that? Why didn't you say something?" Jack laughed again as Elsa began to question him.
"Let him think what he wants to think. After all, it's likely we will never see him again."
"True." Elsa said.
"Do you know a wonderful way to pass the time?"
"No..."
"We could play a game. The way it works is one person starts and they say a word. Apple, for example. Then, the second person would say a would related to it such as pie, or orange."
"Sounds a bit childish." Elsa said.
"True, but it's quite amusing to play. Here, I'll start. Pig."
"Panda."
"China."
"Rome."
"Nachos?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Elsa said laughing.
"I don't know. Let's try again."
Elsa was better at the game. It was clear at the end when Jack finally gave in.
"Please fasten your seat belts. The flight is landing."
Elsa brought out a book from her bag and quickly flipped through it before fastening her seat belt.
"What book is that?" Jack asked. Elsa blushed.
"A novel about traveling the world." Elsa was about to finish talking when her phone started to ring. "Oh, you're waiting already?" She said when she answered. "Okay, I'll be there soon." She tucked her phone in her pocket. The plane landed and she quickly grabbed her bags. "Well, it was nice meeting you Jack." She waved and left.
Jack waved and slowly gathered his own belonging when he noticed Elsa's book on her seat.
"This book belongs to Elsa Snow." Jack flipped through the book, looking for any signs of contact information. He sighed. There was no way to contact the captivating girl. Jack shoved the book in his bag, checked to see if he'd left anything behind, and got off the plane.
Jack sighed. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get Elsa out of his mind. He tried to focus on his work by continuously taking pictures, but his mind always wandered off. Sitting on a bench, he carefully put down his camera before pulling out Elsa's novel again. Upon a more careful inspection, he found certain words circled with numbers beside them. There was Paris, with a 20 beside it, Rome and Florence with a 13 and 14. Jack opened the back cover to find a list of locations, numbered 1 to 20, neatly printed. Dates were printed next to each one, but he noticed the first few locations were quite vague. China, Japan, all quite unclear as to where she specifically intended to go. 1 to 10 had neat checks next to them, but the rest remained unchecked. He noted that number 11 was Vancouver, where he was currently at.
"Perhaps, I could catch her in..." He glanced at the list. She was traveling all the way to Sydney next. There was no way a photographer like him could go chasing after a girl he hardly knew all the way to Sydney, Australia. He would just have to keep the book with him, in hopes maybe he would see her again one day.
"Oh no!"
"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked.
"I lost my book!" Elsa cried.
"So? Just buy a new one." Stephanie didn't see how important one copy of a book could be.
"I can't buy a new one. That one was my copy."
"I don't get it."
"My copy had all my notes in it."
"You write in your books?"
"No, just that one. It was the one with all my locations I wanted to visit."
"Ah, I see." Stephanie understood how important it was to her. As a child, Elsa never went out much, and now it was her dream to travel the world. "Where'd you leave it?"
"Well I brought it out on the plane ride here but I must have been distracted by Jack and left it on my seat..."
"Ooooo, who's Jack?" Stephanie eyes lit up with curiosity. 'C'mon Elsa, spill!"
"Just some guy." Elsa waved it off.
"What if he has your book? This is just like those dramas I always watch. The boy tries to hunt down the girl to give her back her lost possession, but they always miss each other. Then, at the end, they fall in love and he returns her possession in the end and it's romantic... Oh Elsa, this could be a love story!" Elsa rolled her eyes.
"I highly doubt that Jack will bring my book all the way to Sydney."
"But what if he does? Then he professes his love to you and you live happily ever after!"
"Oh honestly Stephanie, I just met the guy."
"Even better, love at first sight!" Elsa gave up.
"You are such a romantic Steph."
"If that's what ends up happening, I totally called it. Now, what is this guy's favourite colour? I want to buy you a dress."
"Stephanie!"
Jack's work took him to Brussels, Belgium, three months later. He was taking pictures when his accidently crashed into someone while stepping backwards. "I'm so sorry!" He apologized when he saw a face he recognized. "Have we met before?" The girl's face flickered with recognition too. "Elsa right? Elsa Snow? I have your book!"
"Wow, you still have it after all this time?" Elsa asked, shocked.
"Actually yes. It's in my suitcase back at the hotel I'm staying at. I can give it back to you later. Are you free for lunch? I can give it to you then." Elsa smiled and nodded and Jack gave her the address of the restaurant that was just outside of his hotel. "Don't be late!" Jack called after her. She turned and smiled at him, letting him know she wouldn't miss it for the world.
The two of them had a great time, sharing stories and just enjoying each other's company.
"My sister sounds so much like yours." Jack said after Elsa described her sister, Anna, to him.
"I believe she was born to embarrass me." Elsa said, laughing.
"Younger siblings... That's what they're for right?"
Slowly, their lunch together came to a close. Elsa felt a touch sad that their time together was limited. She had enjoyed his presence.
"Thank you so much for lunch." Elsa said shyly. "It wasn't too much trouble bringing back the book?"
"Not at all. I needed pictures for work anyways." He smiled at her. "Perhaps we could keep in touch?" She nodded.
"Can I borrow your cell phone?" Jack nodded and she quickly called her own number. "Now I know you won't give me a fake one."
"Why would I ever do that?" They both laughed and said their goodbyes. Jack was about to leave when he spotted something on the table.
"She forgot her book again."
3:30 pm To: Elsa
You forgot your book!
3;31pm To: Jack
Oh my gosh, did I really?
3:33pm To: Elsa
I'm boarding a plane soon. When will we see each other next?
3:34pm To Jack:
In London, perhaps?
3:36pm To: Elsa
I don't know. My work takes me everywhere, so maybe.
Jack turned off his phone. "The silly girl." He thought. "Although a break in London does sound nice..."
There second meeting in London happened a little over a month later. They had been constantly texting each other, planning out the date and location of their meeting two weeks ahead of time.
"How was Manchester?" Jack asked, when they finally met up.
"It was wonderful! I just love Europe." Elsa said enthusiastically.
"Do you want to..." Jack was cut off by his phone. "Hello? You forgot? Are you serious Ben? Okay, fine. I get it. Bye." He hung up and turned to Elsa. "Sorry, something just came up. I'll catch up with you later?" Elsa nodded.
"Bye, Jack." He sprinted off in a hurry when Elsa realized something.
"The idiot still has my book."
3 missed calls from Elsa
7 new messages
1 voicemail
Jack frowned. He'd forgotten to charge his phone after running around London. Ben really owed him now. Jack had never really liked meetings, and to make things worse, Ben had forgotten to attach the photos to the email he'd sent him. After 3 days of stressful meetings about photos and future photo shoots, Jack finally sat down to relax.
"Hey Jack. You forgot to return my book again. I'm flying to Paris soon, so give me a call. You know the number."
Jack opened Elsa's book to find that she'd flown out to Paris already. It was 3 pm, nearly 4, but he could catch a late flight to Paris. He grabbed his belongings and headed for the airport.
Elsa sighed. Visiting the city of love was nice and all, but recently, as she had started to talk to Jack more and more often over the phone and through their abundant text messages, she felt a sense of absence. He wasn't replying to her calls, and she was starting to wonder if he'd grown tired of trying to return her book.
8:32pm To: Elsa
Where are you?
Quickly hitting a few keys, she sent a reply.
8:33pm To: Jack
The Eiffel Tower
Some 10 minutes later and Jack was at the top of the Eiffel Tower, with Elsa's book in hand.
"Here you go." He said, handing her the book.
"Thank you. Did you just get here?" Elsa asked, eying his suitcase.
"What can I say? There's a crazy girl who keeps forgetting her book." Elsa laughed.
"I knew I'd find you eventually." Jack brushed a stray hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. Elsa blushed.
"We've been through quite the journey, haven't we?"
"I suppose you can say that. I prefer to call it fate." Jack leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. He pulled her closer to him and whispered something in her ear.
"As a photographer, I used to think that I loved to travel, but now I've finally found a reason to stay. You."
