"Shit, shit, shit, shit" was all Jack could repeat as he pulled shirts and trousers out of his hold-all. He had been through every pocket of every piece of clothing, but still he couldn't find it. He had been in the shower when he had remembered he needed to have it wrapped. He'd tied a towel around himself and gone in search, only to realise the bracelet he'd bought Rapunzel was nowhere to be found.
"Gordon!" Jack called out, he heard footsteps hurry to his room and began speaking before the door opened fully. "Gordon, have you seen the bracelet I bought for Miss Rapunzel?"
"I am afraid I have not sir, however I do remember seeing it on your dresser before we left in the car"
"Shit, I've probably left it at home" Jack muttered to himself tying to think what to do.
"Shall I order another for Miss Rapunzel?"
"No! no… the gift has… sentimental value" he said slowly, trying to relax his panicked voice. "Bring the car around, we still have 2 hours until the event begins, we can make it there and back with 15 minutes to spare"
"Yes sir" Gordon nodded, blatantly unconvinced, He walked out leaving Jack to put his suit on in less than 60 seconds.
An hour and a half later Jack was only 10 minutes away from returning to the venue and Eugene and Rapunzel hadn't suspected a thing. His phone buzzed with a message and he unlocked it to find it was from Toothiana:
Hey hun, missing you, wish you'd gotten a plus one so I could come but no worries. I'll see you tomorrow xx.
Jack groaned at the message and sent a quick conclusive reply
Have a good night :)
Jack knew he sounded like a jerk, he was blatantly blowing her off when she was looking for so much more but when he had first met Tooth he thought of her only as an escape from his cruel world in which he would never be able to have Rapunzel. She was only supposed to be a bit of fun and she was, until she wound up at his door confessing she wanted more. Jack has simply said no, telling the truth even if it meant being harsh. She had left that night but returned a few days after claiming it was a moment of weakness and that all her feelings were behind her, Jack was still sceptical.
His phone buzzed again
I might come over tonight if that's alright with you? Xxx
It was a warning, Jack wasn't allowed to bring another girl home, and although Tooth didn't scare him he was afraid of what she'd do to herself and maybe even the hypothetical girl Jack would bring back to his place.
Maybe not tonight, I'm staying with Eugene and Rapunzel
He typed and sent, she was instant to reply:
You have a nice time babe, can't wait to meet your friends xxx
Jack eyed the text dubiously, he needed to get this psycho girl out of his life.
"How much longer left Gordon?" he called to his multi-talented butler.
"Around 5 more miles until we each the desired destination sir" Jack sat back in his seat taking the small black velvet pouch from his inside pocket and untying the silk straps which closed it. Inside was a small silver bangle which had belonged to his mother, it was a simple design, a thin band with a tiny diamond encrusted snowflake. Jack's father had gifted it to his mother when he had received his first pay check for Frost Companies, it was important to him and he was planning to give it to Rapunzel during the ball. He was too afraid to tell her but somehow he knew when she saw the bracelet she would understand.
When they were younger Jack always spoke of giving his mother's bracelet to the girl he loved, and today would be the day, he decided. He put the bracelet back into the pouch and slipped it back into the pocket out of view trying to settle the nerves in his stomach.
Then the car swerved throwing Jack, who had no seatbelt on, across the backseat and into the left window as the car screeched to a stop. Everything was silent for a moment until Gordon called out.
"Sir? Are you alright?"
Jack held his head which had smacked against the cool glass, the seats were frozen beneath his fingertips, spreading out in concentric circles until they touched the headliner.
"Sir?" Gordon called out again, worry fraying his words.
"I'm fine Gordon, what was that?"
"It appears to be a young lady"
"What?"
"Yes sir, a woman, I slipped on some black ice and managed to avoid her" Jack looked out the window, massaging his tender head. His vision was bleary but against the white snow of winter he could see a slender woman dressed in silver. She was facing them, seemingly in shock as she wasn't moving and her hands where stretched over her mouth. Jack waited for his vision to clear but every time he blinked he was even more blinded. He opened the car door and stepped out into the comforting cold, he had grown accustomed to the cold, and it made him feel like he belonged which was hard in a world where he had no family.
The young woman came bounding over toward him, repeating the same sentence "I am so sorry, so, so, so, sorry" she said, panicking. Jack looked toward the bright grey sky attempting to clear his vision one last time.
"It's alright, you aren't hurt are you?"
"No, no. but your car doesn't look so great" she admitted. Jack heard Gordon open and close the driver's door. Jack looked over and saw Gordon grimace. The front of the car had collided with a small snow mound which had impacted the bonnet and the sudden momentum of the steering had caused the alloy to bend like a paperclip. It was drivable, but only enough to make the distance back.
His vision having cleared a little, Jack looked back to the frazzled woman, and found her not to be frazzled at all. Her ashen blonde hair was pinned behind one ear and hung like a pale waterfall over her shoulder. Her dress was a collection of silver like scales which had a high neck in front and dipped dangerously low in the back. She had her royal blue heels in her hand and was walking across the side of the road barefoot making Jack's eyebrow raise. He looked into her large cyan coloured eyes and found himself at a loss for words until she smiled and suddenly his thought became very clear.
"Not cold?" he asked, feeling slightly stupid for asking. She looked down at her feet and wriggled her toes, looking back up, she gave a smirk.
"I like the cold" was all she said catching Jack a little by surprise, her voice was soft but firm. He began buttoning up his suit and cleared his throat.
"Where are you off too?" she was wearing a dress like she was going to a…ball…
"My way home"
"And where is that?"
"Arundel City"
"Ah, I heard it's expensive to live there"
"It is, the rich keep getting richer, and you know how it is" she said, flushing slightly as she re-examined both her words and Jack. This made Jack smile, almost laugh, he hadn't done that in a while.
"You look dressed for a ball" he said, glancing over to Gordon who was reversing the car slowly out of the snow mound.
"That's because I was, but I decided not to go" she confessed, making a face as if she regretted it.
"It didn't happen to be this Ball?" he said, taking the invite for Eugene and Rapunzel's charity ball from his blazer pocket. The young woman gave it one look and looked straight at him.
"Well fancy that" she shook her head, smiling.
"Why aren't you going?" he asked, surely something must have happened for her to decide last minute. She looked a little in edge, taking a deep breath before speaking again.
"I'm avoiding some people, they aren't very pleased with me"
"Right, well look, I don't want to push you but it's a 20 mile walk back to Arundel and you have no shoes and no coat, come with me to the ball, I promise we won't stay there that long, then I'll have Gordon drive you home" Jack said trying to persuade her. She looked at him sheepishly so he decided to sweeten the deal "You can even stay in the car if you want to avoid these 'people', but I can't leave you like this"
The woman looked at him for a long moment, then at the car, then back at him again, finally throwing her hands in the air in defeat.
"Fine, but we are staying there one hour tops"
"On hour it is" he smiled, opening the car door for her as she slid in. Before he shut the door he held out his hand,
"Jack" he said inviting her to shake his hand, she looked straight into his eyes again, sending shivers down his spine, and said
"Anna" and she took his hands in her cold ones and gave a firm handshake never leaving his eyes.
