So I recently finally got around to watching Rise of the Guardians, and lemme tell ya - I finally understand what all of the fangirling is about. Naturally, I decided to mess around and came up with this. It's pretty much the first thing I've posted that isn't my main story, but it's also the first thing I've finished and been satisfied with enough to post.
Anyway, this isn't a self-insert, so don't worry about that. I'm not totally sure how I feel about it, but I'll definitely continue it if people like it. Hopefully it isn't brutal or cheesy or embarrassing or anything, heh.
Enjoy! :)
"Ugh, why does winter have to be so cold?" I grumble irritably as I trudge through the front door of my apartment. I have trouble even lifting my arm to turn the doorknob, as I'm currently bundled up in a long-sleeved shirt, hoodie and heavy winter jacket, topped off with a thick pair of wool mittens.
If it isn't obvious at this point, let me just make it crystal clear – I hate winter. I simply cannot handle the cold and the snow and the frigid wind. Just one step outside makes me long for the warm breeze of summer, where all I need to venture outside is a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
I begin the long process of removing layers from my ensemble. First the long scarf and mittens, allowing me to be able to work the pesky zipper on my jacket. I let the thing fall to the floor and lean down to unzip my knee-highs, into which I've crammed my double-socked feet. Finally, off comes the thick pullover and thermal shirt, leaving me in just a tank top and jeans. I know well enough to keep my apartment warm enough that this doesn't present a problem.
I hum to myself as I begin preparing a cup of hot cocoa. This has been my daily ritual since winter crept its way into town – I come home from classes, peel off my protective layer, and warm myself up with delicious, chocolaty goodness. Now that it's the last day of classes before Christmas, I'm in particularly high spirits. Now, if I feel like it, I don't have to leave my apartment until Christmas, meaning I don't need to face that nasty cold.
While the water boils, I frown to myself. As fun as that plan sounds, my troublesome friends will probably find a way to drag me out of my lair. They always manage to sucker me into going skating or sledding or something equally dreadful. I mean, things are probably fun for them when they have the warmth of alcohol keeping the chill away, but no amount of the stuff can keep me from complaining about the temperature.
Grabbing the steaming mug, I head over to my armchair by the window to gaze out over town. I wasn't always so sensitive to the cold. When I was younger, you couldn't get me to come inside unless you dragged me by my feet. I was the first one to rejoice over snow days, the best at making snowmen, and the deadliest warrior you'd ever have the ill luck to face in a snowball fight. But as time went on, the cold seemed to turn on me and with each year that passed I became less and less tolerant to it.
"Oh, it looks like Jack Frost has a thing for you!" I mumble, rolling my eyes and quoting one of my mother's stupid jokes. That's her brilliant logic behind my aversion to the cold, and it doesn't help that my friend Jamie always agrees with her. The two of them alone are enough to drive me crazy. To me, it seems more like "Jack Frost" gets a kick out of making me miserable.
I sit there for several minutes, draining every last drop of my drink. It isn't long before I feel a rumble in my belly that reminds me it's close to 7 already and I haven't eaten since lunchtime. I hop up and head over to the fridge. Guess it's supper time then.
However, my jaw drops as I open the fridge and examine its contents, which are close to empty. Let's see…half a jar of strawberry jam, one stick of celery, two slices of cheese, leftover Chinese food from four nights ago, and a carton of milk that is…
I take it out and give it a shake. Empty. Great. As always, I've forgotten to buy groceries. While I can try my luck with the Chinese food, something tells me that the foul smell assaulting my nose is probably coming from that general direction.
Taking a glance at the clock, I realize with a sudden panic that the grocery store is going to close soon. With my luck, if I don't go tonight then tomorrow I'll probably get snowed in and starve to death. I have to be quick if I'm going to walk. Which means I don't have time to put on four layers of clothing.
I sigh and pull on my jacket, wincing as the still-cold material touches my bare arms. I quickly put on my boots, scarf and toque and, grabbing my wallet and shoving it in my pocket, dart out the door.
I'm still cursing myself as I cut through the park. Under normal circumstances, I would pause to admire how beautiful the park looks during the winter. Old fashioned streetlamps flicker along the pathways, and the large pond in the center is lined with pine trees. Each tree is strung with twinkling lights of every color, and the thick sheet of ice covering the pond reflects them dully, as though through a fogged mirror. This is the wretched place my friends always drag me to for skating and snowball fights, so I know it well.
SMACK!
I let out a startled cry as something hard strikes me in the back. Of course, my overactive imagination begins spewing out ridiculous possibilities as to what it was, the silliest being that I've just been shot. Once the shock wears away, however, I realize it was simply a snowball.
Not that that's anymore reassuring. Now I'm scowling at the darkness, trying to pick out the idiot who threw the damn thing.
"Who's there?" I call out, but my voice is trembling from the cold so it's not all that intimidating.
I'm met by silence. I glance above to see the skeletal branches of an oak tree swaying slightly. Perhaps a heap of snow just fell on me? But that didn't make sense. It was hard enough to make me stumble. It didn't hurt or anything, but someone definitely threw it.
While I'm pondering, I'm hit yet again, this time in the back of the head. The impact causes my hat to slip off my head and the cold air is immediately nipping at my face.
"This isn't funny!" I snap. I tug my scarf up over my face to shield it from the cold and begin searching for my hat. Conveniently, it's nowhere to be seen. At this rate, the grocery store is going to close before I even make it there. "Who is it?!"
Almost in response, an icy breeze swirls around me. I pull my jacket tighter around me, shivering, and take another look around the park. Alright, where is the little punk?
A rustle in the bushes. I whirl around to see what it is, but my feet suddenly become unaware of the thin layer of ice beneath them and I slip and fall, landing hard on my butt.
"Oww…" I groan. The fall knocked the wind out of me, so now I'm just laying here making a wheezing sound and trying to breathe. When I find the little brat that's doing this, his head is going in a snow bank.
The sound of barely suppressed snickering causes a fresh bout of anger to bubble up in my gut. "You think this is funny, huh?!" I shout irritably, but my voice still sounds like it belongs to an old lady so I remain laying on the ground, focusing my gaze on the distant stars.
The perpetrator doesn't respond. Instead, my vision is blocked out by none other than my hat, dangling in front of my face from the end of a hooked, wooden staff. I reach out to snatch it back but it's gone from my vision and the snickers resume, this time louder.
I do my best to draw in one, huge gulp of air. Next, I pull myself into a sitting position and look around. Gone. How the hell did that person manage to disappear so quickly? They were hanging my hat over my face like a cat toy just a few seconds ago, and now they're nowhere to be seen.
"Good, hide!" I warn the unseen person. "It's for your own good, because you really don't wanna be close to me right now!"
Silence. I begin to shiver; sitting on the cold ground in a pair of jeans doesn't really do much to protect you from getting a chill, and now my butt's going numb.
"Great," I mutter. "Only I would get frostbite on my ass of all places." I think of my mother and Jamie's stupid jokes and start getting even more annoyed.
"Jack Frost, now really isn't the time for you to be nipping at my…ugh, forget it." At this point, I'm just angrily letting words spill out of my mouth, and the person watching me is probably having an even greater laugh hearing me talk. In fact, I can hear that incessant giggling not too far away. They're probably hiding in a bush or something, getting my meltdown on film.
"Nipping at your what?"
My body tenses at finally hearing the person speak, but it isn't a squeaky, prepubescent voice like I'd assumed. The voice is deeper, like that of a young man's, and has a teasing, playful tone to it. I know the voice came from behind me, but I refuse to turn around and look because I know I'll probably try to beat the crap out of him. If it's someone my age, they really should know better, shouldn't they?
"Go ahead, laugh," I huff, crossing my arms across my chest. "I wouldn't have fallen in the first place if it wasn't for you."
The prankster slowly strolls into my vision, a look of wonder on his face. I'm not sure what he's so surprised about, because he's the one who looks so strange. I have to stop my jaw from hanging open at the sight of him.
His skin is pale – the palest I've ever seen. It almost has a silvery tint to it. In fact, a lot about him is pale. He has silvery-white hair, a color almost identical to the layers of snow that coat the earth around us. He's barefoot, wearing a dark blue hoodie that's shoulders are coated in what appears to be a web of frost. In his hand he holds that same, hooked staff, my hat dangling from the end of it.
"You…heard me?" His words come out in an awestruck breath. The way he's looking at me, it's like he's never seen another human being before.
I quickly recover from the almost magical look of him and scowl. I pull myself to my feet, brushing off snow from my coat.
"Of course I did!" I tell him angrily. "In fact, I also heard your constant snickering while you were throwing snowballs at me and stealing my hat. Which I want back, by the way!" I lunge forward to grab it off of his strange staff, but he's faster than me and holds it high out of my reach, using the several inches he has on me as an advantage. While I continue to struggle and leap up at him, he holds it away from me and continues to give me that amazed look.
"I can't believe…you can see me?" He leans in closer to my face, using his free hand to poke me right in the forehead.
"Stop that!" I slap his hand away, but he just does it again, moving on to poke my nose, my cheek, my lips–
"I said stop." I step away, giving him a wary look. What is this guy's problem?
He complies, but now his look of wonder has grown. I find myself staring back at him, captivated by those strange eyes of his. They're the deepest, iciest blue I've ever seen, like staring into the depths of the Arctic Ocean. His lips break into a smile, and I absently note that it's the most dazzling smile I've ever – gah! No. Focus. This guy is a jerk. He just threw snowballs at me! Now isn't the time to be getting all hormonal.
"You really can see me!" he exclaims happily, and now he's full-on grinning this big, idiotic grin. At least, that's what I have to tell myself it is, because I'll otherwise just be standing here lost in that smile like the moronic teenage girl that I am.
"Yes, I can," I say impatiently. I give a very pointed look to his weird walking stick. "Now, can I please have my hat back?"
"How old are you?" he asks, completely ignoring my request. He closes the space between us and grips my arm excitedly.
"18," I reply, probably against my better judgment. For all I know, this guy is some kind of predator who…uh, I don't know. Throws snowballs at unsuspecting girls and steals their hats. Sure.
He doesn't say anything, but his smile grows. He lets out an almost giddy laugh and steps away, doing a series of leaps and twirls with his staff. I watch the whole spectacle with an amazed look on my face. Is this guy for real? What is even happening right now?
"What are you doing?" I ask helplessly. At this point, I'm struggling just to keep up with the guy. "Why the hell were you throwing snowballs at me, huh?"
He stops in his…dancing? Whatever he's doing, he stops and rushes back over to me. His hand gently grips the side of my face as he stares down in amazement. I shiver, realizing his hand is freezing cold. That's another thing – what is he doing out in this weather in a hoodie and no shoes on?
"I was just having a bit of fun. I didn't think you could actually see me! So, you know who I am, then. Right?"
I give him a blank look. "No. Please, enlighten me, mysterious prankster."
He looks surprised for a moment, but this look soon gives way to a mischievous grin and he raises an eyebrow at me. "Are you sure you don't know? You were making some pretty serious accusations against me a few moments ago." To emphasize his point, I guess, he taps me in the butt with the bottom part of his staff.
"H-Hey! What are you doing?!" I yelp. My face turns a deep shade of red.
He chuckles, watching my expression with a deep amusement while he waits for me to grasp his words. After several moments of staring, I finally clue in to his words and I look at him like he has two heads.
"J-Jack Frost?" I'm still blushing, but I manage to bring my eyes up to meet his, which are filled with playful mischief. "What are you trying to pull? You're crazy!"
"Am I?" He leans in close to my face and rests a hand against the sleeve of my coat. I start to protest, but stop when I see the tendrils of frost begin snaking up my arm. My eyes remain locked to the sight in complete shock, but I'm absently aware of the fact that his eyes remain on my face, watching my reaction with an amused smile.
"W-What…" I trail into silence, unable to even voice what I'm seeing. This guy has to be crazy. He has to be. But…but how is he creating frost from nothing on my sleeve like that? Why does the name explain his strange appearance, and the chill I feel from his touch?
I glance up at him, jumping when I realize how close he's gotten.
He laughs loudly. "Ha! Do you believe me now, Mia?"
I jump again, my breath catching in my throat. I tear my arm away from him, now feeling a sense of fear deep in my gut.
"W-What? How do you know my name?"
He isn't put off by my fear. After slowly approaching me again, his hand gently regains its spot on my cheek. He tilts my head up to look at him.
"Calm down. We're old friends at this point! Why do you think you get so cold during the winter?"
I gape up at him. For a moment, I decide to suspend disbelief and just pretend I actually believe he's "Jack Frost". After all, the truth of the matter is I probably actually cracked my head on the ice when I fell, and now I'm just having a weird dream.
"That…that was you?" I think of all the winter outings I've suffered in the past. No matter who I was with, I always seemed to be the one most bothered by the cold, no matter how much I bundled up. If what he's saying is true, then that means it was because he was always hanging around me.
He winks. "Sure was. It's fun watching you get all worked up. I hope there are no hard feelings."
"Are you kidding me?!" I fume, letting my anger get the better of me. I step away from his hand and point an accusing finger at him. "You mean to tell me this whole time, the reason I've always been so sensitive to the cold is because you–!" I cut off, remembering my mom's annoying jokes once more. I duck my head as the blush creeps back into my cheeks.
"Hm?" Naturally, my blush doesn't go unnoticed. The grin doesn't leave his face as he attempts to get a better look at it. "What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing," I say, but it comes out muffled as I'm now attempting to shield my face from him with my scarf. Stupid Mom. Not to mention stupid Jamie for always going along with her jokes like he knows for a fact they're true. At the moment all I want is to retrieve my hat and head home before I embarrass myself further. "A-Anyway, I don't appreciate it. Why me?"
He shrugs, kicking his bare foot at a pile of snow. "You always loved winter when you were younger. Whenever I would initiate a snow war, or grace you all with a snow day, you were always the most excited. I guess that caught my attention, and I just stuck around because of how funny it was when you got mad." He speaks with a wistful tone, and it makes me feel almost guilty. He probably has all of these fond memories of messing with me, and this is the first time I've ever even seen him.
"Well now I can't stand winter," I inform him accusingly. I'm not about to get all sentimental over someone I don't even know. "It's so cold, all the time! What is it you do to make me so cold?"
He flinches a bit at my angry tone, but my question causes the playful smirk to reappear on his lips. "Not much really. Just stuff like this –" He almost seems to disappear in a cloud of ice before reappearing behind me and blowing on my neck. His breath is freezing and sends a huge shiver down my spine.
I jump at the sudden feeling, my feet once again losing purchase on the icy ground. Fortunately, Jack is standing right behind me this time, and he wraps an arm around my waist before I can go tumbling to the ground.
"See?" he whispers in my ear, his breath cold on my neck. "I would never let anything bad happen to you. It's all in good fun."
I focus my gaze on a random spot on the ground. His hand still hasn't left my waist, and even through my jacket I can feel the cold seeping from his fingers. Still, for some odd reason, it isn't bothering me as much as it normally would. Whether it's the embarrassment or the shock over meeting Jack freaking Frost keeping me warm, I feel warmer than usual all the same.
"I could never actually touch you like this before," he says a bit awkwardly. "It's a bit weird to finally be able to. I guess those little breezes and chills were my way of letting you know I was there." He starts to wrap his other arm around me in a sort of embrace and I think my lungs stop working right about then.
I clear my throat and step away from him. "S-So what, you're saying you've tried?"
He laughs at my awkwardness, suddenly jumping down in front of me. I stumble backwards but, once again, he reaches out to grab my arm and steady me. Once he's sure I'm not going to take a tumble, he then reaches up to my hair and twirls a brown curl around his fingers.
"You've got such pretty hair," he casually comments. "Can you really blame me for trying?"
I scowl in an attempt to cover up the blush that's taken permanent residence on my face. "Do you mind? I'm not a toy."
"Of course not," he laughs, letting the hair drop. For a few seconds, he just looks at me with a thoughtful smile on his face. "You're just as irritable as I imagined you'd be. It's funny."
"Can you blame me?" I mutter, rolling my eyes at him. "First you throw snowballs at me and make me late for the grocery store, and then you tell me it's actually you whose been tormenting me all these years."
He ignores pretty much everything I said, his eyes suddenly widening. He almost looks…worried.
"The grocery store?"
I nod. "Yep. I was on the way to get something to eat, and then you decided to throw a couple of snowballs at me and now here we are." I spread my arms wide out. "It's probably closed by now, actually, so thanks."
"I'm sorry," he says, and it's the most genuine apology I've ever heard. "Let me make it up to you?"
"And how are you going to do that?" I scoff, but secretly I feel bad because he does really seem sorry.
He grins, and I immediately feel uneasy. I really don't trust that devilish smile of his. He's definitely planning something he knows I'm not going to like.
Before I have a chance to say so, he loops his arm around my waist and suddenly takes off into the air, letting out an excited holler as he does.
"What the hell?!" I shriek, clinging to him for dear life. I squeeze my eyes shut and bury my face into his chest. "Jack, put me down!"
"Just relax!" he shouts. His grip on me tightens. "I'm taking you to get some food! You're hungry, right?"
"Are you crazy?! We're flying!" I must have been in some kind of state of shock before, because now the reality of the situation is sinking in. The frost up my arm was one thing, but this is completely impossible! I'm flying through the air right now with Jack Frost. The Spirit of Winter, Bringer of Snow – not only that, but I just found out that he's pretty much been around my whole life and is the reason why I'm always so cold. It's because he's always hanging around me, breathing down my neck and chilling my skin.
And now he's doing something as mundane as taking me to get food. I can't believe this is actually happening right now.
I lose track of the minutes, refusing to look down from such a height. Jack continues to try and coax me out of hiding, giving me encouraging squeezes on my waist. But I'm not falling for it. No sir, there's no way I'm gonna look to see just how high up we are.
Eventually, I feel his breath rustle my hair as he lets out a sigh. Moments after, I feel my feet touch solid ground, but I'm not about to open my eyes yet. It could easily be a trick.
"You can let go now," he assures me. "We've landed."
Hesitantly, I detach myself from him and force my eyes open. We're standing outside a convenience store, and Jack is giving me an apologetic look.
"It might not be real food, but hey. Better than nothing, right?"
I just stare at him for a minute. Okay, now I feel a bit bad for being so mean to him. He obviously enjoys my company; otherwise he wouldn't hang around so much. Now he's just trying to make up for disturbing my walk. I guess I can spare being a little bit nice to him, despite how slightly freaked out I am.
Keeping that in mind, I give him a small smile. "T-Thanks, Jack. I'll be right out."
His eyes light up, fixed on my smile. "Right. I'll be waiting."
I head into the store and buy a large bag of Doritos and a bottle of root beer. It might not be "real food", but it's enough to keep me full until tomorrow. I head back outside to find Jack leaning against the store window. A few people are walking past, but none of them acknowledge his presence. It's like…he's invisible to them.
"Why can't they see you?" I ask him quietly, motioning to the people around us.
"Because they don't believe in me," he replies on almost a sad note. I frown as I watch his eyes linger on the passing group for a few more seconds before looking back up at me. He smiles once more. "Ready to go?"
I don't say anything. I simply nod and, making sure I'm holding my bag securely, allow him to wrap his arm around me once more. When we take to the sky this time, I keep my eyes open. Seeing that brief moment of sadness in him seems to have stirred up some emotion in me, and I feel that I can trust him more easily this time around. After all, he did deliver me safely to the store.
I gaze out in wonder over the town. We're so high up! At this height, all of the streetlights look like fireflies scattered across the landscape. I feel like I'm looking at a second sky beneath me, and the sight of it leaves me speechless.
Jack grins down at me. "See? I told you it wasn't so bad,"
"It's…beautiful…" I breathe. I look up at him excitedly, letting out a gasp as I see the real sky – crisp, clear and cloudless. The moon shines over us, almost as if it's watching. "Wow!"
His expression softens. "There. You look much better with a smile."
"Oh, come on," I mutter, ducking my head to hide that stupid blush of mine.
"Spoke too soon." He starts laughing, and I can feel it rumbling in his chest.
After a few more minutes we land back in the park. I try to establish myself on the solid ground immediately, but of course this works out about as well as I'd expected – I immediately slip on the ice. Jack abandons his staff, using one arm to snake around my waste and keep me from reaching the ground and the other to safely set my bag of food down.
"T-Thanks…" I manage, cursing my stupidity. This is what, the third time he's had to catch me from falling?
"Be more careful," he teases, using his now free arm to wrap that one around me too. He then pulls me closer to him so I'm not awkwardly bent over backwards, but now I'm left with my face buried in his chest and oh God he smells like pine trees and winter and –
I cut off my inner ramblings before they become too incoherent. I attempt to crane my head back to get a good look at him. He was resting his chin on the top of my head, looking thoughtful, but now offers me a grin once he sees me looking up with what's probably an uncomfortable expression.
"Sorry," he laughs. "Is this weird? It's probably weird."
I'm unable to do anything more than shake my head.
Still, he releases me and takes a step back. He crouches to the ground to retrieve his staff, the hooked end of which my toque still rests upon. As I stare at the strange staff, a million questions run through my mind, none of which I've been able to form into words. I kind of just accepted this all as a crazy dream, but I realize now that this is real. I'm standing here with Jack freaking Frost, and all I can do is continue to get embarrassed. So, I muster up the courage to ask him the one, single most important question.
"Jack," I whisper, lifting my eyes to meet his. "What are you?"
He chuckles. "I'm the Spirit of Winter. A Guardian. I thought you'd have figured that out by now."
"Well…what else can you do?"
He seems happy my tone's taken a curious turn. He waves his staff in the air and, despite there not being a cloud in the sky, it begins to snow. I gaze around in wonder. It's not just regular snow – Jack knows that wouldn't impress me. No, this is different. It's like someone shattered a diamond above us and it's now raining down on us, clinging briefly to my jacket before melting away to nothing.
"It's really you," I whisper again, fighting back a smile. One of the crystals falls on my nose, and as soon as it melts I'm filled with an inexplicable sense of glee.
He's just standing there, smiling at me. "The one and only. Hey, what are you doing?"
This last part is added because I'm now crouched down, gathering the snow at my feet into a ball. Before the smile can even drop from Jack's lips it becomes hidden from sight as I launch the snowball and it explodes against his face.
"Did you just –?!" He wipes the snow from his face and sends me a look of mock anger. However, there's no hiding the smirk tugging at his lips.
I giggle. "Maybe."
His eyes grow mischievous and he blows a stream of icy air into his hand. It quickly solidifies into a ball and he aims it at me with lightning speed. I fall to the ground in an attempt to avoid it and instantly attempt to scrape together another snowball before he reaches me, because he's now calmly walking towards me with a dangerous look in his eye.
"Stay back!" I jump to my feet and toss the snowball.
He easily avoids it and closes the distance between us with lightning speed to tackle me into the snow bank. I let out a laughter-filled scream and attempt to fight him off, but he's surprisingly strong and succeeds in pinning me down and doing the unthinkable – dumping a handful of snow down the front of my shirt.
I fall still, my mouth hanging open in shock at what he just did. The snow clings to my bare skin, and while I know it's just snow, all I can think of is his frigid hands caressing the side of my face and I flush.
He freezes (no pun intended) and I watch his eyes grow wide. He sits on my stomach, looking down at me with a horrified expression. Still, I can see the corners of his lips twitch as he tries his hardest not to laugh.
"That was an accident," he manages, but his voice is trembling with suppressed laughter. "I'm…uh…sorry?"
I give him a fierce glare before throwing him off of me. He tries to scramble away but I jump on his back and, yanking back the collar of his hoodie, drop a handful of snow down his back. I wait for him to squeal like a pig and start dancing around like I would have done, but that's when I realize…
"I'm the Spirit of Winter," he says triumphantly, breaking into laughter. "That doesn't really bother me too much."
"Oh…right." Deflated, I let myself drop from his back and fall into the snow behind him. I ignore the feeling of snow soaking through my jacket and freezing my back and just stare up at the sky. The moon continues to shine down on us like some kind of watchful guardian.
Jack flops down beside me and follows my gaze. I hear him release a contented sigh.
"Are there others like you?" I ask quietly.
He doesn't question my sudden shift in mood. "Sure. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy…" He trails off and he looks over at me expectantly.
Naturally, I whip my head over and gape at him, which draws a laugh out of him. "Seriously?! Wow…" I look back up at the sky, attempting to wrap my head around all of this. All of these mythical people that only children believe in…I can't believe they're all real. Now I decide that I must be dreaming, because this is all so surreal.
But then I can feel Jack's gaze still on me, wearing that same amused smile. I caution a glance over at him and meet his eyes. They travel across my face, and while the sudden scrutiny makes my stomach flutter, I can't force myself to look away. He lifts a hand to gently trail his fingers across my cheek and I watch as that same look of wonder seeps back into his eyes.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask, feeling extremely self-conscious. No guy has ever looked at me that way before, let alone a freaking Winter Spirit. I should be the one giving him fascinated looks. He's the one who just flew me through the air and made snow from nothing.
"Because you can finally look back," he replies with a smile. "I don't know why, but you can. My hand doesn't just pass right through you anymore." His hand moves to grip my neck and his fingers trail through my hair. There's that wistful tone again.
Okay, this is getting really embarrassing. I abruptly sit up and roll of the bank onto the path. I get to my feet, making sure not to fall this time around.
"I, uh, should probably get home," I say, awkwardly clearing my throat. "My, um…my cat's probably worried."
He isn't offended I suddenly pulled away. In fact, he looks pretty pleased at the color resurfacing on my cheeks. He jumps in the air, landing gracefully in front of me. He then does a dramatic bow.
"I apologize for the inconvenience, ma'am."
I roll my eyes. "It's quite alright."
He straightens, grinning at me. "Excellent. Now then, you really should get home to your cat."
I nod, but find myself unable to say anything else. What do I say? "Goodbye"? This could easily be our one and only meeting. It was probably a fluke that I saw him in the first place, so what if I never see him again? Do I even want to see him again? My mind is such a tumbling mess of thoughts at the moment that I'm just standing there like an idiot.
"Well…bye," I say brilliantly. I turn and begin to walk away, but there's this hollow feeling in my gut. It's not like he'll care that I'm going home. I don't even really know him, plus he's the Spirit of Winter. He probably has more important things to do than hang out with some girl. Although, he has been hanging around me for quite a while without my knowledge, so maybe he doesn't…gah, why do I even care? This idiot is the reason I'm so miserable for a quarter of the year. Good riddance! Maybe this will teach him a lesson!
"One more thing before you go."
His voice stops me. I don't want to turn around, but I do anyway. I feel I owe him that much. Except when I do turn around, I find he's nowhere to be seen. Is this another prank? Am I about to get snow dumped down my shirt again?
"Jack…?" I call out hesitantly.
Frowning, I turn back around, only to be met by a cold pair of lips pressing against mine.
"J-Jack!" I exclaim against his lips. I'm completely in shock at the moment, unable to even muster the strength to push him away.
I feel his lips pull into a grin. His staff falls to the ground with a clatter as wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me close to him. His lips are so cold they almost seem to burn me, bringing feeling back to lips that had long since turned numb in the winter air. Once again I'm breathing in his scent of pine needles and winter air, and with his frigid breath comes a pleasant, minty taste. I gasp at the feeling of his tongue against mine as it's so cold, so pleasantly different from anything I've experienced before.
The kiss dissolves into smaller, fleeting ones, and it feels like snowflakes melting against my lips. As much as I want to feel irritated with him at the moment, it's hard to hold on to that feeling when this pretty much tops any kiss I've ever had.
Just when I think I'm about to pass out, he pulls away. His scorching blue eyes stare down at me, flickering with mischief.
I stare back, trying to use my mouth for something useful like forming words, but it just continues to hang open and all that come out are these dumb, incoherent sounds.
"Your mother was right," he whispers with a playful smirk.
If the kiss wasn't enough to catch me off guard, this comment does the trick. My eyes grow even wider and before I can even think of a reply he's suddenly gone. I stare at the empty space that used to be him, trying to gather my thoughts.
Jack Frost just kissed me. He just grabbed me by the waist and kissed me and then…and then he vanished. I run a hand through my hair and try to steady my breathing. Who the hell does that? Just kisses a girl and then disappears into thin air? I mean, most guys aren't physically capable of it, but still!
"So that's your last prank, huh?" I finally manage to say, although there's obviously no one around to hear it. "Kiss me and then leave? You probably think that's pretty funny, huh?"
A cold gust of wind suddenly whips at my face. I hold a hand against the top of my head to keep my hat from flying off, and that's when I realize it.
I'm not wearing a hat. Jack never gave it back to me.
A ghostly laugh echoes through the deserted park and I feel my blood begin to boil. So I guess it wasn't his last prank. That jerk actually stole my hat!
"Grr, Jack! You idiot!" I exclaim angrily, but there's no response. Honestly, I don't think I expected one anyway. This is probably all a part of the joke, and he's nearby, unseen and watching me get angry with glee. Like he's done for a long time, I now know.
I sigh and retrieve the bag I dropped when Jack kissed me. So much for never seeing him again. Something tells me this isn't the last I've seen of Jack Frost, and as much as I want to tell myself this fact deeply annoys me, there's a tiny flutter of excitement deep in my gut that's fighting for recognition.
I mentally curb stomp that excitement down and start on my way home.
Sooo there! As I said, I left it open to continue, so I very well might.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to review and let me know what you think! :)