WARNING: NIGHTMARES ARE PROHIBITED FROM READING THIS FANFICTION
The tapping on my window woke me in the middle of the night. The sleep was heavy against my eyes as I sat up in bed. I knew it was Jack before I was fully awake; it's weird, by the ice necklace just told me so. Along my floor ambled piles of clothes (dirty or clean, I would never know) but I still managed to find and pull on my favorite Star Wars hoodie before standing and throwing back the curtain.
The window flew open and an icy, biting wind blasted me across my room. I was pulling my blanket from my head, Jack fell through the window, his hair in disarray and his staff glowing with energy. His face was alight with a childlike happiness. He grabbed my hand and pulled me upright.
"We're going ice-skating. Now."
We flew out the window before I could say another word.
By ice skating, I thought he meant that we were going to break into the rink. You know, shatter the glass and be the bad couple that everybody's jealous of. The alternative was not bad at all though.
Jack pulled me to the top of a hill in Central Park. It wasn't very big, but high enough to create a steep slope. While trying to ignore the fact that Jack still had not let go of my hand, I looked out over the still, silent park. It was amazing how different things tended to be at night, when there was hardly anyone around. Where children threw Frisbees and people picnicked had turned into this quiet, beautiful gray field. I caught Jack staring at me from the corner of my eyes, and he quickly looked away.
"Wanna see something cool?" Releasing my hand, he brought it to his lips and turned towards the open park. He took one deep breath, then blew. Crystalized air flew away from the tips of his fingers, misting together to form giant snowflakes, each shimmering in the moonlight. White clouds gathered around and swept across the park before us. Jack touched the crook of his staff to the ground. The grass froze over and spread out across the park, smoothing everything with a fine layer of ice. Tendrils of frost covered the park benches and the trunks of the trees, turning everything into a bright, magical wonderland.
I turned in a circle, watching as the ice covered the ground, the trees. When I looked back, Jack held his hand out to me. Smiling, I took it, and he pulled my down the slope of the hill.
"Whoa!" I fell against him as my bunny-slipped feet slid out from under me. Jack caught me, and didn't let go. Instead, he guided me, and set a hand at my hip and lifting my other one into the air, clasping his. We danced, though I struggled to keep my balance and could only look at my feet. Jack led me around the ice covered park, gliding around the trees and benches, and once lifting my into the air in a moderate spin. When I landed, I almost tripped, but he pulled me closer.
"This… all this is…" I got lost in everything that surrounded me. In everything that stood in front of me, holding me against him. "You're amazing," Did I say that? Jack smiled, his blue eyes twinkling. A warm feeling spread through me from my chest. Yea, I said that.
"You have no idea how good it is to hear that," he said quietly, leading me around a park bench.
I swallowed hard. It wasn't normal for me to be so bold, but I said, "Well, you are. This," we paused, just for a second, behind a fountain whose water is frozen mid-stream. "This is amazing."
He chuckled. "Glad you think so. I…" his eyes glanced around nervously before looking back into my eyes. "I did it for you."
"Me?" He did this for me? "I thought, you know, since it's winter, you needed to just freeze everything and get it over with."
We spun around the fountain, slowly, his arms guiding me. "Well, that's a factor to this, but," he shrugged. "It's the thought that counts, right?"
I bit my lip. "What do you think of me, Jack?"
Slowly, as not to off-balance me, Jack spun to a stop. He didn't pull away, only dropped my hand and set his at my waist. He held me steady, and his gaze didn't move from mine.
"I think you're amazing, too."
Blushing, I couldn't help but look over to the fountain. I shrugged and pulled away. Jack's arms were still, one hand holding my elbow, almost reluctant to let go.
"You are, Mimzy. The way you light up about this. About books. About anything that you think is beautiful." Jack skated around to face me, but I felt like I couldn't look up at him. How could someone like him think me, a friendless, hopeless girl, special? It felt unreal.
Jack lifted my chin, making me face him. In his eyes, I could see something hopeful. In his eyes were the beauty and generosity of a child that would never grow old. At the same time, they were the weary eyes of someone who knew so much wisdom and had lived through so much anger and fear and pain but still continued to bring joy to anyone who was willing to accept it. They were the eyes that looked at me with so much emotion that I thought I would cry.
"Mimzy?" He held my face, stroking my jawline as one tear escaped. "Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry," I sniffed, wiping the tear away. "Outside of my Mom, no one's ever…" God, I was actually choking up. The tears welled in the back of my throat, and I pressed my hands against my eyes. Jack pulled me against him, and his chest jumped with laughter.
"It's okay, it's okay." He stroked my back in circles. "You know what?"
I tried to sniff up what was dribbling out of my nose (yeck) before answering. "What?"
"I like you, Mimzy Bird," his cold breath tickled the top of my head and we took up our steady, rhythmic spin. "You're different. You make me feel…warm." He laughed at himself. "At least, I think this is what warm feels like."
Maybe he could feel my heart beating against his chest. Maybe it was the chilly air, the way we skated…Whatever it was, it gave me the guts to say, "I like you, too."
Jack smiled into my hair. "That's–"
"That," the hoarse voice shouted from the darkness, "was too precious."