Jack sighed. Stepping out of the shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist. His eyes glanced to the small clock that sat on the bathroom cabinet and he snorted. Somehow, he had managed to spend close to thirty minutes in the shower. Only half of that time had been spent on actual grooming and the last of it had been spent in a daze.
Despite having had a few hours to get used to the idea, he still could not believe the events that had transpired. He still found it hard to believe that Elsa had not only sought him out, but she'd held his hand while she had led him away and had then agreed to meet with him alone.
Opening the door, he padded across the hallway and into his bedroom. Although it wasn't a date, he couldn't help wanting to look nice for her. Searching through his wardrobe, he pulled out a pair of cargo pants, a white shirt and a black jacket to wear. Hastily, he pulled the outfit on and paired it with a pair of black sneakers. Stealing a glance in the mirror, he quickly ran a brush through his hair and spritzed some cologne on.
A small part of him couldn't help feeling worried that Elsa would stand him up and that he would be left sitting alone at the cafe looking like a loser. However, the logical side of him knew that she would be there. After all, a threat had been made against her and her sister, Anna. If there was one thing he knew about Elsa, it was that she was fiercely protective of her sister. If Hans had simply threatened her, she may have let it go. However, he hadn't he had extended that threat to Anna and in doing so he had awakened Elsa's protective nature.
Hans. Just the thought of the guy daring to threaten Elsa and her sister was enough to get his blood boiling. It had been bad enough what he had done to Anna, but having seen him when he had tried to attack Elsa on Thursday had made Jack furious. He had hoped that their fight on Saturday would have been enough to warn the guy off, but apparently it wasn't and now he had made things worse.
Shaking his head, he grabbed his wallet, phone and keys and slipped them in his pocket. He stole one last look in the mirror before exiting his room.
Elsa had nervously paced around her bedroom while she tried to psych herself up. She could hardly believe that she had agreed to do it in the first place. Leaving the house on a school night was risky at the best of times. Leaving to meet Jack was an even riskier move. If someone from work saw her, or if one of her Dad's business friends saw her and reported back to him, she would be in big trouble. However, she had been left with little choice. She had to know what had happened between Jack and Hans over the weekend. She had to protect Anna.
She'd let out a loud sigh as she resigned herself to the situation she was in. Leaning in, she had glanced at her appearance. She had opted to change out of the outfit that she had worn earlier. She had dressed casually and had paired her jeans with a white t-shirt and a light pink cardigan. Her long hair had been styled in a ponytail and she had applied some light make up before she'd left her room.
Racing down the stairs, she had found her mother with her head in a book. She had given the excuse that she was meeting with a fellow student to exchange notes. Fortunately, her mum hadn't cared. She had been far too engrossed in the novel that she was reading to be concerned. Instead, she had waved her off and had agreed to let her father know when he bothered to leave his study.
Slipping behind the wheel of her car, she couldn't help feeling nervous. Reaching down, she slipped her favourite CD into the stereo and adjusted the volume as she pulled the car out of the driveway. Her thoughts travelled back to the events of the day. Blushing, she remembered how she had grabbed for Jack's hand. She hadn't even realised she had done so until he had mentioned it. Then there was the way he had reacted to Hans threat and how angry he had been.
The sound of the computerised voice on her GPS system broke her from her thoughts. Shaking her head, she realised that she had reached her destination. She pulled her car into a small park and got out.
Glancing around, she couldn't help feeling surprised at the location that Jack had chosen. She had assumed that he would choose a glamorous, flashy cafe in a trendy area. However, looking around she could see no high end boutiques, no thumping nightclubs. Instead, he had settled for a cafe on a peaceful looking tree-lined street with only a few houses and a children's playground to set it apart from any other quiet suburban street.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and entered the small cafe. It appeared to be almost empty with only a few lone diners scattered around the table. Her eyes flicked towards a booth in the back of the room where Jack was sitting. Suddenly, she was struck with the realisation that they would be alone. It was highly likely that the other diners may assume them to be on a date. Blushing, she pushed the thought from her mind and made her way towards him.
The sound of her footsteps seemed to have alerted him to her presence and his head jerked up. She watched as he let go of the menu he had been reading and jumped to his feet to greet her. His blue eyes sparkled slightly as he met her gaze.
"Elsa, hi," he greeted.
"Hi," she smiled, reaching to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ears before sitting down. "Have you been here long?"
He shook his head. "No. I only got here a few minutes before you," he explained. "I've not ordered yet. I wanted to wait for you to arrive."
She gave him a small smile as she reached for the spare menu. Her eyes skimmed the selection on offer as her stomach growled. Blushing, she realised that she had barely eaten anything all day. Her mind had been too distracted with Hans threat and the meeting with Jack that she had been unable to contemplate eating.
"Hungry?" Jack asked. "I can recommend the desserts here. They also do a great burger as well."
She nodded. "A bit. I didn't eat a lot for lunch or dinner," she admitted. "I tend to forget to eat when I get stressed."
Jack smiled at her before raising his hand and signalling the waitress over. She watched as he ordered a vanilla slice and a Coke for himself before turning to look at her.
"Uh can I please have a slice of the chocolate- mint mud cake and a Sprite?" she asked, flashing the waitress a smile.
She waited for the waitress to write down their orders before turning to leave. Once they were alone, she turned to face Jack. She noticed that his lopsided grin had crept onto his face once again.
"How's your sister feeling?" she asked.
Her question seemed to take him by surprise as his mouth pulled into an 'O' shape before he recovered. "Oh uh, yeah she's fine," he chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "Turn's out my sister is quite the actress. She had a math test that she was unprepared for and so she faked illness to get out of it."
Elsa laughed. "You know, I'm pretty sure Anna did that a few times back in high school," she admitted. "I thought about it, but my dad would have killed me."
"Yeah I noticed you had a pretty good track record of attendance in school, not like me. I skipped loads of days. I was always keen for a day off," Jack laughed.
Raising her eyebrow, she looked at him. "How do you know that I had a good track record when you just claimed to have missed so many days?" she teased. "I could have been away on some of those days you missed."
Jack looked at her. He noticed the way a slight smirk had crept across her porcelain face while a stray strand of hair had escaped from her ponytail to frame her face, making her look even more endearing. Shaking his head, he resisted the urge to confess his long term crush. He had spent eight years hopelessly in love with her, he noticed these sort of things.
Sighing, he pushed the thought from his mind. He couldn't tell her, not yet anyway. She would think him to be a creep and would run. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the waitress returning to their table with their orders. Instead, he watched as she took her spoon and cut off a small piece of her cake and lifted it to her mouth. Slowly, Elsa chewed at her cake before emitting a small, satisfied moan of delight as she swallowed. Shaking his head, he directed his attention to his own food as he dug his fork in.
"Jack, can you please tell me what happened with you and Hans?" Elsa probed, crinkling her nose in disgust as she mentioned Hans' name.
Frowning, he swallowed a bite of food. He didn't really want to tell her, it would only cause her to feel even more scared for her and Anna's safety, but he had no choice. She had to know. "Well," he began. "I was on my way to meet Jamie at the lake when I saw Hans. I tried to ignore him, but he saw me and shouted something which I couldn't hear."
He paused to take a sip of his drink. He watched as Elsa nodded, biting her lip slightly as she looked at him.
"Anyway," he continued. "I went over to see what he wanted. That was when he started cussing at me, telling me that I was a pain in the ass and that I shouldn't have involved myself in his affairs. He then told me how I had apparently hurt him when I shoved him off of you," he snorted, rolling his eyes.
"Go on," Elsa urged.
Rubbing the back of his head, he looked at her. "I told Hans that he made it my business when I caught him trying to hurt you. I also called him a douche for that stupid post he made about Anna on that pathetic Facebook page."
"You saw the Facebook post?" Elsa asked softly.
Gulping, he hung his head. "Yeah, I did. I'm sorry. It was disgusting, but then Hans has always seemed like a douche to me. I'm just sorry that your sister fell for his faux nice guy act," he muttered.
Elsa frowned. "Yeah, I must admit, I sensed there was something off about him when I first heard about him. It was just Anna who seemed to think he was her Prince Charming,"
Jack rolled his eyes. "Oh he's charming alright. Just not in a good way," he muttered. "So anyway, Hans said some really awful things about you and your sister and I kind of lost it. I punched him and told him to stay the fuck away from you and Anna. I thought that was it and turned to walk away, but he attacked me when my back was turned. He kicked at the back of my knees which knocked me down and then kicked me a few more times before I got up and fought back."
Elsa gasped. "I'm so sorry, Jack. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I...I don't want anyone to ever get hurt because of me," she cried. "How are your injuries now?"
He looked at her. He could see the concern written on her face as she looked at him. He watched as she leaned in closer, her blue eyes focusing on his own eyes as she studied the fading bruise which surrounded his eye. "I'm okay, Elsa," he admitted. "Honestly, I've had worse injuries from hockey. I'm more concerned for you and your sister."
Her eyes widened as she leaned back in her seat to look at him. "Jack, what exactly did he say?" she asked.
He gulped. "I...uh, Elsa," he stammered, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. "It wasn't nice."
"Jack, I need to know. I may not want to hear it, but I do need to know. I need to protect my sister," she said, trembling slightly.
Taking a deep breath, he lowered his gaze. He couldn't look at her. He didn't want to have to look at her beautiful face as he told her the words that would only serve to scare her. "He threatened you," he mumbled. "He said that because Anna refused him and you humiliated him in front of his loser friends that he was going to make you pay, to hurt you...physically."
He heard a loud gasp. Glancing up, he watched as Elsa curled herself against the back of her chair. "He...he..wants to...h...hur -" she stammered.
"I'm not sure what exactly he meant. I mean, he was kind of vague, but yes he seems to want to physically harm you," he said softly.
He watched as her eyes widened in fear and her body began to tremble. He could see the sign of tears forming in the corner of her eyes and gulped. He felt awful for telling her. He didn't want to be the one who had to scare her, to cause her pain. Shaking his head, he reminded himself that Hans had already threatened her and she was right, she did need to know for her own safety. At least now that she was aware, she could protect herself. Besides, he reasoned that he would always be around to protect her, even if she didn't realise it.
Grabbing a clean napkin, he reached across the table to hand it to her. "Elsa, I'm sorry," he whispered. "I never wanted to scare you."
Taking the napkin, she dabbed at her eyes before sniffing. "I..it's okay, Jack, you did nothing wrong. I'm just confused and scared," she cried. "I don't know what to do. I know that we should report him, but that will only cause more trouble and he did say that if Anna and I caused any more problems that he would make sure you weren't around to protect us."
He could feel his heart breaking as he watched the girl he was crazy in love with break down in fear. It didn't feel right that Elsa, who had been so feisty with him only a few days earlier, was now left vulnerable and frightened. Instinctively, he reached out to grip her hand. He expected her to shy away from his touch or to scold him, but she didn't. Instead, he lay their entwined hands in the middle of the table and traced soft patterns on the back of her small hand.
"Elsa," I know that you hate me and to be honest I don't blame you. I always seem to be reduced to a bumbling idiot when you're around. However, I can promise you that you and Anna are always safe with me. If you ever need my help then just call and I'll be there," he vowed.
Elsa blinked. Looking down, she caught sight of her hand as it lay held in Jack's larger, masculine hand while he traced patterns over it with his thumb. Any other time and she would have jerked it away from him, but not tonight. Something about tonight felt different. She didn't know if it was the emotions from the day and the news that he had told her catching up with her, but for once he was not annoying her. In fact, he was being quite kind and gentle.
"I don't hate you, Jack," she whispered. "You confuse me and at times frustrate me. You have also angered me and annoyed me, but I don't hate you."
Blushing, she watched as he jerked his head up to meet her gaze. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed his lopsided grin had returned to his face once again. There was definitely something odd about him. She couldn't help feeling like there was something that he wasn't telling her. Suddenly, a loud beep sounded on her phone. Shaking her head, she pulled her hand from his grasp and reached into her pocket for her phone.
She tapped at her phone and smiled as she read the message from Anna.
Anna: 'Kristoff asked me out! We're going out this weekend.'
She felt her spirit lifting slightly. Kristoff was a nice guy and she had no doubt that he would be good for Anna. After all, he had already shown himself to be kind, sensible and caring. She sighed. She couldn't tell Anna about Hans. Not tonight, Anna was too happy. She couldn't run the risk of ruining her sister's mood by scaring her.
"Good news?" Jack asked as he leaned back against his chair and ran a hand through his hair.
She nodded. "Yeah it was. That was Anna, it seems that Kristoff has asked her on a date this weekend."
Jack grinned. "I know Kristoff. He's a great guy. He's quiet, but a really good guy. She's in good hands with him," he said.
She smiled and glanced at her phone. "I'm happy for her," she admitted. "I probably should head home. I told my parents that I was meeting with another student to go over notes."
She watched as Jack pressed his hands to his chest and turned to smirk at her. "Why, Miss Elsa, did you lie to your parents? You're a rebellious one."
Groaning, she stuck her tongue out at him. "I didn't lie. I just didn't bother to go into details about who the student was and what the notes entailed," she countered and winked at him.
Jack looked at her. Jumping to his feet, he grabbed the bill and ran to the counter. He turned to glance at her, smiling as she carefully bundled their empty plates and glasses into a neat pile. Smirking, he turned and slipped the waitress a $20 to cover their orders and pocketed the change.
"Jack, please tell me that you didn't just pay for me," Elsa said as she came to stand by his side.
Grinning, he turned to wink at her before heading towards the door. "Oops, my bad. Was I not meant to?"
Elsa shook her head. He noticed the smile that had formed on her face as she followed him towards the door. "I wasn't expecting it," she murmured.
Skipping ahead, he held open the door for Elsa and watched as she blushed as she passed by him. "I'll walk you to your car," he stated.
"You don't have to," she reasoned. "It's not far."
Elsa blushed as Jack fell into step beside her. "Thank you," she murmured and tightened her cardigan around her.
Silently, they made their way towards her car. She turned to glance at him and felt her cheeks heating up. He was so close to her. He seemed to be keeping one eye on their surroundings while the other remained fixed on her. She was right in her assessment. There was definitely something different about Jack.
Arriving at her car, she paused and turned to look at him. She noticed the way he stepped back as he watched her and how his hand had once again found itself to rest over the back of his head. Unlocking her car, she tossed her handbag to rest on the front passenger seat.
"Jack," she began. "I..I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I said to you before. I was wrong. I judged you and I'm starting to think that I may have been wrong about things."
Jack looked at her. He could feel his eyes widening as his hand fell from it's spot on the back of his head. He could feel the traces of a blush work its way up his neck and onto his cheeks.
"I...errr...you're welcome," he stammered. "I meant what I said. You are always safe with me and so is Anna. If you want, I'll give you my number. You can call anytime you want and for any reason. I'm always here for you."
He watched as Elsa reached into her pocket and pulled her phone out to hand to him. Grinning, he took it and punched his name and number into the contacts list. Blushing wildly, he handed the phone back to her. He waited as she scrolled through her phone and tapped it.
Chuckling, he dug into his pocket and pulled out his ringing phone. His eyes fell on the unknown number on the screen. He tapped the phone to answer the call and pressed it to his ear. "Hello," he greeted.
He grinned as he watched Elsa dissolve into a fit of giggles.
"Hi," she giggled as she held her phone to her ear.
"Elsa, hi. Can you excuse me for a minute? You see, I happen to be with someone who won't stop giggling in the background," he explained before hitting the button to end the call.
He tapped at his phone to save her number to his contacts list before lifting his head to face Elsa.
"Now I know that you didn't give me a false number," she said.
He watched as she slipped behind the wheel of her car.
"Jack?" she called.
Grinning, he moved to stand beside her opened door. "You called?"
"I did," she agreed. "I just wanted to thank you for tonight and for before."
He nodded and raised his hand to offer her a small salute before leaning down to close the door for her. He stepped to the side and watched as she gave him a small wave before starting the motor and pulling out of the park.
He waited until her car had disappeared from sight before allowing himself a small, victorious fist pump.
Elsa lay curled up under the covers of her bed. Her mind was racing as she thought back over the events of the evening.
The threat from Hans had terrified her. She couldn't help feeling frightened to know that someone wanted to hurt her and Anna. However, she couldn't help feeling that Jack had been genuine when he had vowed to help. He had already done so much in coming to her aide and then defending her and Anna over the weekend. Yet, he hadn't failed to offer his continued assistance to her.
While she couldn't deny that he was infuriating and annoying, she had also started to see a different side to Jack. She couldn't help wondering if there was more to him than she had initially thought. Another side to the cocky, frustrating, entitled rich boy that she had always viewed him as. After all, lately he had been kind, caring and a complete gentleman towards her.
Sighing, she rolled over and pulled the covers over her head. She didn't know what would happen in the future, or if Hans threats would fizzle out. However, she did know that for once she was falling asleep with a smile on her face thanks to Jack Frost.
Jack lay stretched out under the covers of his bed. He'd not been able to wipe the grin off of his face since leaving the cafe. He couldn't help but feel like he was getting somewhere with Elsa. Despite the grim topic and her obvious concern over Hans' threats, she had appeared to be more relaxed around him tonight. More importantly, he'd managed to hold a perfectly normal conversation with her which didn't end with her getting mad or frustrated with him. He'd even managed to get her phone number, something he never thought would be possible.
He sighed and closed his eyes. He could still hear the sound of her giggles in his head. He had never thought that he would ever be the one to hear her giggle, or to see the cute way in which her face lit up while she laughed. In his mind he could still feel the way her small hand felt so soft and the way it seemed to fit perfectly within his own hand. Even if they could never be anything other than friendly acquaintances, he knew that he'd at least been able to express to her that he would always have her best interests at heart.