Stuck Here With You
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Please read and review!!
The painted-on star that once decorated the main floor button had long since faded off, as did all of the other 23 buttons in the ancient apartment's elevator system. The people, who did not live in the apartment in west London, were baffled by the wall of unidentified buttons that laid before them. The panic button, situated at the top right corner of the button grid, rang quite frequently. The doors located on the floors themselves were opened when they were meant to be closed. People went up instead of down. The apartment soon started to hand out sheets of paper with all the buttons labeled, but that still didn't stop confusion. But all the apartment's residents knew the elevator inside out. They learned and they practiced, day after day, month after month, year after year, how to work the elevator. Every single resident considered their knowledge of the elevator one of those useless talents that people have never learned to appreciate. Will Turner anxiously pressed the main floor button, which by now, he knew, was located at the bottom left corner.
Will let out a large sigh as he entered the elevator. He wanted to get out of his small apartment, and have some time to think. His pack of cigarettes and his lighter were in one of his coat's many pockets. Will rarely did smoke. He had bought that pack three weeks prior, and only five of the twenty one cigarettes had been smoked. Will smoked only when his nerves got the best of him. Will was actually suprised that in the recent spur of events, he had not been so stressed out. He was going to be married in less than two week's time, for one. Just of thought of getting married still scared Will. His fiancée, Elizabeth, was the love of his life, and Will knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Still marriage seemed like such a big commitment it was such a huge step up from being engaged. Will sighed. He wanted to get married. But as he stood in the elevator, second thoughts and doubt filled his head. Doubt that Will had not even thought was possible until last night. The previous night, Will witnessed first hand, the sum of all of his fears. A fear, which is best described as unfaithfulness.
Unfaithful. Will cringed. Elizabeth was being unfaithful to him. Recalling what he had seen, Will could still not grasp the concept of Why Elizabeth was being unfaithful to him. It was that thought, and Elizabeth's answer that Will feared the most.
Last night had been Will and Elizabeth's rehearsal wedding. Why had he agreed to host a rehearsal wedding? He still did not know. Will didn't even know there were such things before Elizabeth had arranged it. Elizabeth had told Will of the rehearsal two days earlier. She had named various reasons for having a rehearsal: so they could run through the wedding, fix out any details that might have not gone according to plan, to make sure that the bridesmaids and ring bearer would not mess up, to make sure the seating arrangements were all right, and finally to run through Wil and Elizabeth's vows, to make sure they got them right. In Will's opinion, it was more like a waste of time, energy, and money. It also meant that he had to write his vows two weeks earlier.
"It takes away from the actual wedding," Will would complain, "It will be like déjà-vu! Not to mention, isn't it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?"
"No, it won't, and no it's not," Elizabeth would protest, "Besides, my mum is organizing most of this. The rehearsal was her idea. Just go along with it, alright?"
Will had gone along with it. He had done everything his fiancée told him to do. He had written out his vows, and he had put on his tuxedo, and he drove his sorry ass to the hotel where the rehearsal was held. Will was a nervous wreck as it was. As Will arrived at his wedding rehearsal, which was being hosted in the same banquet hall as his real wedding was planned to be, he was suprised to see so many people already there. Will hadn't realized there'd be guests as well as the wedding party. He knew that his immediate family, at the most, would attend, but all of his friends and colleagues as well? Will didn't know whether he should pity them, or respect them to get all done up twice for his wedding. Will forced a smile as he greeted other guests.
Where was Elizabeth? That was all Will could think about. He knew that she wouldn't be hidden until the ceremony was starting. This was only a rehearsal. Knowing Elizabeth, she would be scrutinizing over the tiniest details of the wedding with her mother. Will knew it would be easy to find his fiancée. After all, according to Will, she was the most beautiful person there.
Elizabeth would be wearing white. At least this is what Will assumed. He had never seen Elizabeth's wedding gown, but he knew that it would be white. Lord knows how much Elizabeth's parents would have scolded her should her dress be any other colour. Will looked around the impeccably decorated room. "Goddamit," he thought, "Elizabeth had to have a white-themed wedding.." Every which way he looked, Will saw yet another young blonde dressed in white. It was as if carbon copies of Elizabeth were the only ones attending the wedding. At least the men were wearing black.
"Will!" a voice called from behind him. Will turned around, and found Elizabeth's mother smiling at him.
"Good evening, Mrs. Swann." Will returned a smile.
"Good evening, Will!" her excitement was obvious, "Do you like what we've done with the decorations?"
"Of course!" Will nodded, "You've really gone out of your way for just a rehearsal, I must say."
"Well, of course the actual wedding will be mush more furnished," Mrs Swann began, "Elizabeth has always dreamed of having a white wedding!"
Will forced a smile. He really wanted to find Elizabeth's whereabouts.
"Well it looks fantastic, Mrs. Swann. I really appreciate all the work you've done."
Elizabeth's mother smiled. However, there was a look of uncertainty on her face. "Will," she began, "Is that..what you're wearring to the actual ceremony?"
Will looked down at his tuxedo. Elizabeth had picked it out for him. She probably figrued that Will couldn't pick out a proper tuxedo.
"Yes, of course," Will answered, "..Is there a problem?"
"No, no! Of course there's not a problem!" Elizabeth's mother started, "It's just that ..you generally don't wear the same clothes to both the wedding rehearsal and the wedding."
Will bit his lip. Nobody had told him to wear anything different tonight. Will had always tried so hard to impress Elizabeth's parents. Even though he had done far worse things in the past which the Swanns had frowned upon, showing up to the rehearsal wedding in the wrong attire would hurt Elizabeth's mother the most. Mrs. Swann pursed her lips.
"Oh my Lord, I am so sorry!" Will sighed, "I.. I can go home quickly and change if you want."
"Oh no, Will! It's fine!" Mrs. Swann assured him, "You're here, and that's what matters most."
Will frowned. As he looked around at the rest of the guests, they all seemed to be in costume. Every single woman was dressed in white, and all the men were in black. Will looked back at Mrs. Swann.
"So," Will began, "Everyone is wearing different attire to my wedding?"
"Yes." Elizabeth's mother answered, "However, we still asked everyone to come tonight in proper colours. I wanted this to be as close to the wedding as possible."
Will stood in silence for a moment, "So, I don't get to see Liz's gown tonight?"
Mrs. Swann laughed. "Sorry, Will. You'll have to wait for that." She hugged her soon-to-be son-in-law. "You have fun tonight, alright?"
"That, I will." Will smiled, and turned away.
Will was still trying to find Elizebth, while avoiding his guests, when he heard a laugh from across the room. Immediately, he knew whom it belonged to. Will hurried over to the source of the voice, until he was stopped dead in his tracks. Will's eyes grew wide, as he saw Elizabeth, getting intimate as Will recalls it, with another man. Everything surrounding Will went blank. He felt numb. He didn't think. At that moment, all there was in this world was himself, Elizabeth, and her mystery lover, who had now brought her into a more passionate embrace. The man's hand covered Elizabeth's face. At least, Will could not see the expression on his fiancée's face. She was no doubt enjoying herself. As quickly as the revolting act took place, it was all over. Will did not take his eyes off of the man, who had now turned around. Will found himself staring at one of his closest friends; one of his only friends, for that matter. Will Turner found himself face to face with a man known as Jack Sparrow.
For the rest of the rehearsal wedding, Will was overwhelmed with thoughts. Had anyone else seen the two kiss? If so, why didn't anyone say anything? For God's sake, Elizabeth was kissing another man at her own wedding rehearsal. Had Will imagined it? Surely he couldn't have. He knew what he saw. His eyes never did deceive him.
Will struggled through his vows. He stuttered frequently, as well as his tone of voice changed from what he had originally planned. In other words, the vows were a disaster. Fury had engulfed Will, but he had managed, somewhat, to keep it under control during the rehearsal. Everyone thought that nerves had gotten the best of Mr. Turner. But what had baffled Will, was that Elizabeth, his cheating fiancée, as Will had now dubbed her, had successfully managed to recite her vows perfectly. Will began to question her sanity. Who, in this world, has the ability to freely cheat on their husband, at their rehearsal wedding, and then read their vows that were extraordinarily romantic, while their emotion was evident? Elizabeth must have practiced countless times. Still, things weren't adding up in Will's mind.
That night, once he and Elizabeth were back home, Will did not know how to react to the night's spur of events. As he laid in bed, mind racing, Elizabeth crawled up beside him. She did not seem to be acting different. From what Will saw, Elizabeth acted as though she had not been aware that Will had seen her kiss Jack. She stretched out her body beside Will's, and let out a loud sigh.
"Only two more weeks, Will." Elizabeth grimaced at her future husband, who had his back to her, "Fourteen nights of torture, if you ask me!"
Will didn't answer her. He closed his eyes and pretended to be sound asleep. Moments later, he felt Elizabeth trying to roll his body towards her.
"Aww, Will! Did tonight wear you out or something?"
Again, Will remained silent.
"Well, good night then. I guess I should go to sleep too.."
That was how Will's night had ended. This morning, he had tried his best to get up without waking up Elizabeth. Will had began to avoid the presence to his fiancée. He couldn't help it. Elizabeth was cheating on him, and Will wanted to hear as little of it as possible. Being away from Elizabeth, he thought, would be the easiest way to avoid his predicament.
Will still stood in the elevator. Another down side to living in a very old apartment, with what seemed like an even older elevator system, was waiting for the actual elevator to start moving after you've pressed a button. During this tedious thirty seconds, anyone could come into the elevator. To prevent any other people to enter the elevator, most people nowadays resort to pressing the button that closes the doors. However, in Will's ancient elevator, there are no buttons that close doors. There aren't any doors in the elevator itself, for that matter. The elevator has a manual metal barrier, which must be opened and closed by its passengers. It was during those long thirty seconds that Elizabeth hurried into the elevator with Will.
"Where were you this morning?" Elizabeth asked Will, "I was looking all over for you!"
"Damn it," thought Will, "She made it into the elevator.." Will looked at Elizabeth and smiled, "Oh," he answered, "I was just going to step out for a little while."
"And you didn't bother to tell me?" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Well," Will began, "You..you looked so peaceful in bed. I didn't want to bother you."
"Fair enough." Elizabeth replied with a sweet smile.
Will could feel the tension bubbling up inside him. He knew that he would have to talk to Elizabeth at some time, but not now. He had to have time to think before that. Will couldn't stand being in the elevator. He pressed the main floor button several times again subconsciously hoping to speed up the elevator's descent.
"Damn it, Will!" Elizabeth groaned, "You know you don't press a button more than once." Elizabeth sighed, "Great. Now we're stuck here for a while."
"Sorry.." Will mumbled. Usually Will was good with not pressing the elevator's buttons more than once. The old machine didn't comprehend the commands coming at such a rapid rate. The elevator would, then, freeze up for a good ten minutes. If Will had been thinking straight, he would have known to grin and bear it through the ride down to he main floor. But he wasn't thinking straight. Will hadn't been thinking straight since the wedding rehearsal.
The silence was too much for Will. Here he was, with his fiancée, and yet not even she was talking. Will wanted to talk to Elizabeth, but he was at a loss words. What was he going to say? He was far too scared to tell her about what he had seen last night. Yet that was all Will had to say at that moment. He looked over at Elizabeth, who smiled back at Will.
Will sighed. Who was he kidding? Of course he had to talk to Elizabeth. He had to tell her sooner or later that he knew about Jack. Will couldn't not tell her, especially if they went through with the wedding. Will then realized that now would be the perfect time. He had her all my herself in a stalled elevator. There was no escape, how perfect is that?
Will drew in a deep breath. "You know, Liz," he began, "We don't have to go through with the wedding if you don't want to.."
"What?!" exclaimed Elizabeth, clearly exasperated, "Why the Hell would you say such a thing?"
Will smirked. He had to admit, Elizabeth was an amazing pretender. "I know about you and Jack." he whispered.
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at Will and opened her mouth as if to speak. She said nothing for a moment. "What," she started, "What gave you that idea?"
"Don't play coy, Liz." Will snapped back, "You and Jack last night..You didn't think I saw you?"
"What..Jack..Wait, what?" Elizabeth stuttered, "Will I don't follow. What are you trying to say?"
"Elizabeth!" Will was getting annoyed, "Do I have to spell it out for you?" Will looked at Elizabeth, who was still staring blatantly back at him. Will rolled his eyes. "I saw you and Jack kissing at the wedding rehearsal.."
"Excuse me?!" now Elizabeth was getting annoyed herself, " I have never kissed Jack Sparrow! Unless you count the two kisses on the cheek I gave him, as well as every other guest at our rehearsal."
"Oh, you kissed more than on the cheek." Will laughed, "Much more."
"Oh, we did, did we?" Elizabeth's voice began to shrill, "Did we kiss like this?" Elizabeth kissed Will lightly on the lips, only to be pushed back by Will.
"You know you went farther than that." Will barked.
"No we didn't!" Elizabeth protested.
"Liz! Please stop with the lies. It's fine," Will sighed, "I know what I saw, and you know it too. Now, if you want to call off the marriage -"
"Goddamnit William!" Elizabeth yelled, "I did no such things with Jack! We're getting married!" Elizabeth shot Will a look of absolute anger, and managed to say through gritted teeth, "Because. I. Love. You."
Will rolled his eyes. "Oh come on now, Elizabeth. If you want to go with Jack, then go." The anger had come and passed through Will. A felling of absolute sadness soon overwhelmed him. Tears were stinging his eyes. "If you're happy, whether it be with Jack or with me, then I'm happy for you."
Elizabeth stared back at her fiancée, at a loss of words. Why did he feel like this? Why had he accused her of such a drastic act? Elizabeth was now lost in thought, when she felt the elevator begin to descend again. She looked over at Will, who was, as she expected, trying his best not to look back at her. Elizabeth felt the tears well up in her eyes now. Why should she feel guilty? She hadn't kissed Jack - Had she?
Elizabeth and Will did not say a word while the elevator continued in descent. The elevator had stopped on the eighth floor. Elizabeth and Will were holding their breaths. They knew who lived on the eighth floor, and they knew that each other knew as well. As both Will and Elizabeth took a deep breath, and braced themselves, Jack Sparrow entered the elevator.
"Good morning, lovebirds!" Jack chimed to the unhappy engaged couple. They looked back at Jack without any emotion on their faces.
"Not morning people, I see?" Jack chuckled. Still, he didn't get an answer. "all right then," Jack sighed, "We'll all be quiet this morning.."
He pushed the fourth floor button several times. "I'm taking Ana out for breakfast.." Jack explained. Elizabeth sighed, and Will groaned at Jack's actions. Jack looked confused, before realizing that he had pushed one too many buttons, both with the passengers and the elevator.
Will's anger came back, and was bubbling up violently. It was one thing to talk about Jack, but now, seeing him face to face, it enraged Will. And to top it all off, he would be stuck with a dysfunctional love triangle, in an elevator shaft, for at least ten minutes. Will thought that was a good reason to get mad, or at the very least frustrated.
The three stood in the elevator again without saying a word. Glances were exchanged between the three of them. Jack would smile at Elizabeth, Elizabeth would smile back at Jack, and Will would frown at the both of them. Could there be a more awkward situation? When Jack had his back turned to Will and Elizabeth, the sound of vibration rang throughout the elevator. It had come from Elizabeth's pocket. Elizabeth pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, and flipped it open. She had received a text message, reading:
"Will vs Jack"
Elizabeth looked up at Will and Jack, and then back down at her phone. Exactly who had texted her? As she ferociously pushed the tiny buttons on her phone, she saw the recipient's number. A number she knew by heart. Will's. Elizabeth looked up at Will, who was smiling at her, and then began to compose a text message back to Will.
She wrote: "WTF?"
After Elizabeth had pushed the "Send" button, a loud ringtone began to play from one of Will's many coat pockets. Elizabeth could have sworn it was a Britney Spears song. Will read the text, looked at Elizabeth, then pointed his finger at Jack, then at himself, then at Jack, and finally at himself once again. When Elizabeth's phone vibrated yet again, she had the phone in her hand this time. She had received a second text from Will, saying this time:
"..the choice is obvious..isn't it?"
Will grimaced and shrugged at his finance, while Elizabeth rolled her eyes. She had had enough of this.
"Come on now, Will!" Elizabeth whined, "If you want to talk about this, then at least say it to my face!"
Will was about to answer Elizabeth, when Jack cut him off suddenly.
"What's all this about?" Jack asked.
"Will here," Elizabeth explained, "thinks that he saw us making out at the rehearsal last night."
"What?!" Jack exclaimed, startled, "I didn't make out with, Liz, Will. " Now all eyes were on Will.
"Yes!" Will protested, "I saw you two! And you two were definitely kissing!"
"If you count the two kisses on the cheek, then yes we were kissing." Jack smiled.
"But it wasn't on the cheek!" Will continued, "I know what I saw, and it wasn't friendly cheek kissing!"
"Yes it was!" Jack and Elizabeth protested in unison, "Honest to God, Will," Jack began, "I would never kiss Elizabeth..When she's engaged to you."
Will didn't answer. Maybe they were, in fact, telling him the truth. But Will still had doubts. He had seen them. Will had seen Jack and Elizabeth kissing. He still couldn't deny that. Perhaps, it was all planned. Maybe Jack and Elizabeth had seen Will during their romancing, and maybe, just maybe, they had planned all of this. But, it still bothered Will. Never in his life had he doubted Elizabeth so much. Will knew that he might seem overprotective of Elizabeth, but he didn't care. All of this..fighting, Will was doing, was all in the name of love. The vibration of the elevator, which was finally moving, felt like relief to all three of them.
The elevator had decided to stop on the fourth floor this time. Will opened the elevator's metal screen for courtesy. When Will saw who was waiting for the elevator, he couldn't help but laugh. Jack's on and off girlfriend, Ana, was looking extremely impatient once the elevator had stopped. Jack and Ana were the most interesting couple Will or Elizabeth had ever seen. They fought very frequently, both sober or under the influence, yet still claimed to be each other's soul mate. The longest time they had been together, without breaking up, had been only seventeen days. Jack and Ana were on and off so frequently that Will had lost track. Were they, dating at the moment? Will turned to Elizabeth, who had mouthed the word "On." back to him. Unfortunately, on and off, when mouthed, looked exactly the same.
"Who was having fun with the buttons?" accused Ana as she entered the elevator, "I've been waiting here for ages!"
"That, would be Jack." Will answered. Ana glared at Jack.
"Sorry, love.." Jack mumbled.
Silence seemed to be the new trend in elevator shafts. Once again, nobody said a word during the descent. Will really wanted to push the buttons. He wanted to have time to talk with all four people right now. After all, he had Jack's girlfriend present. She would, hopefully, take Will's side.
Jack broke the silence with a forced cough. "Will," he began, "Have you seen an eye doctor recently?"
"What?" Will answered.
"Well, if you think that you saw me and Elizabeth making out -"
A slap by Ana cut him off. "Which we didn't." Jack finished, glaring at his supposed girlfriend.
"You made out with Elizabeth?" Ana exclaimed.
"I thought we were off again!" were Jack's words of defense.
"I thought we were on again!" protested Ana.
"I thought we broke it up two nights ago. At the concert, remember?"
"That?!" Ana laughed, "No! I thought we were through with that. I forgave you the next morning!"
"You did?" Jack was confused, "I didn't realize packing up your things and moving out was derived as forgiveness!"
"I'm moving back in, Jack!" Ana laughed. Will, Elizabeth, and Jack began to laugh as well.
"Wait," Jack began, "Are we off, or on?"
Ana had a look of absolute confusion on her face. "I..I don't know.." she mumbled.
"How about," Elizabeth suggested, "You flip a coin? Heads for off, tails for on?"
Ana and Jack at one another, and nodded. "That seems fair." the couple answered.
Elizabeth produced a coin from her purse. As she flipped it in the air, and the coin landed on her hand, she called out, "Tails!"
Jack and Ana smiled at each other. "Guess we're together now, then" Jack laughed.
The slow moving elevator still hadn't made it down the shaft yet. Will stood in the corner, thinking. What had Jack meant when he said "I thought we were off again!" Was that a confession? Or had that slipped out inadvertently? Will furrowed his brow. So Jack had kissed Elizabeth. He had said so. But, was he the only one who had picked up on it? Of course he was. He was also the only one to see the pair kissing at his wedding rehearsal. He had been the only one to witness the beautiful blonde in white being whisked away by Jack Sparrow's romancing. Wait. Will's eyes grew wide, as he had realized what had actually happened.
Finally, the elevator, after at least a half hour, had finally made it down to the main floor. Will had a smile on his face. He now realized, that every other young lady at the wedding rehearsal had been instructed to wear a white dress. Will now realized, that the majority of the young ladies in white were blonde. The fair gene, he figured, was very strong in Elizabeth's family. Will had also realized, that he had never seen Elizabeth's face while Jack was kissing her. Jack's hand had covered the lady's face. Jack and Elizabeth had been telling the truth all along. Jack had kissed another woman, thinking he was no longer with Ana, but it wasn't Elizabeth.
"Ladies first." Will said with a smile on his face as he escorted Elizabeth and Ana out of the elevator shaft. As Jack tried to disembark the claustrophobic room, Will closed the metal screen. He looked Jack straight in the eye, and smiled.
"So if it wasn't Elizabeth you kissed, who was it I saw?"
Jack grinned. "You never told me Elizabeth had a younger cousin!"
Will laughed, as he realized whom Jack had romanced. "Elizabeth is the youngest in her family. Jenna is my cousin, Jack!" Jack shrugged, and Will added, "She's only sixteen."
"No!" exclaimed Jack, "She can't be!" Will laughed and nodded. "Well, I guess I'll have to seduce an older relative of yours and, well, soon to be Elizabeth's."
Will couldn't help but laugh. Knowing Jack and Ana's relationship, Jack could very much be single come he day of the wedding. As they exited the elevator, Will pulled out his cigarettes and lighter. He had no use for them any more.
"Hey Jack," Will began, showing him the cigarettes, "You want these?"
"Nah, I'm good." Jack answered.
Will looked at what he held in his hand, and threw the cigarettes and light into the garbage can. He wouldn't need them for quite a while. Relief rushed through his body. There wasn't a single angry or jealous bone in his body. He now knew that he had some explaining to do to Elizabeth. But now he was reassured that Elizabeth loved him, and only him. Will now agreed with Elizabeth. These next thirteen nights will be pure torture.
This was a challenge by the amazing willabeth0906.. So a huge kudos out to you for the idea as well as being my beta yet again!! I had so much fun writing this! I hope you all enjoy it! Reviews would be so nice!