Okay, continuation! :D Because I'm so pumped for a new chapter and excited on what's going to happen myself, I am going to continue xD
I do NOT own Tangled, Rise of the Guardians and ANY of the brands/companies I placed in this fic.
Chapter 5: Girl Problems
Jack wanted to do a face-palm. Why did he say that? Right, because Rapunzel needed help and he had to say something. His small frown turned into a stoic expression. What was he going to do? He still has to check on places around the globe!
"Ahh.. Yeah…" Rapunzel looked at Jack with a sorry expression.
He shook his head and smirked, meaning it was nothing to him. Almost, at least.
"When will you be going to our school, Jack?" Moira asked him. He looked at her, "After Christmas vacation."
"So what's your relationship with Rapunzel?" Toni asked him.
The three girls asked him questions all at once that he didn't know what to say. It was like being bombarded by grenades as fast as a machine gun could fire. He glanced at the three when they asked him. He didn't know who to answer first. It was insane! Rapunzel felt sorry for Jack. She tried to think of something to help him.
Eureka!
"Guys, calm down. You're scaring him." She told them.
Moira pouted, "Aww, I'm sorry Jack."
Toni rubbed the back of her head, "Yeah, we just got excited."
However, Duchess wasn't almost sorry. She looked at him with a high magnitude of intensity, "So? Answer us!"
Jack looked at Rapunzel then at Duchess then back at Rapunzel. He looked away, straightened himself up and looked at Duchess. "I'm Rapunzel's dad's friend's son." He said, trying to sound as confident as he could. Rapunzel stared at him. She couldn't believe he just said that! Jack continued, "I'm…18 years old. I live in Burgess but I'm staying here in Corona so it wouldn't be hard for me to…commute."
"Where in Corona?" the trio asked in unison.
Crap!
"Uh… I…" he stammered. Shit! What am I going to say!?, he panicked in his mind.
"He's staying with me." Rapunzel said. They all looked at her. She was looking at him. It was a look of sureness. He lightly nodded, understanding her. The three girls squealed so loudly that it caught most of the people's attention, "Oh my god!" they exclaimed. Toni neared her face to Rapunzel's, staring into her eyes, "You guys are living in!?" she asked her as if it was the most insane thing in the world.
Rapunzel held her hands together, "Not in that sense, Toni…" she said, looking away from her.
What sense?, Jack asked in his mind.
"But it's still the same, Punz!" Toni said then she backed a bit, sitting on their place, "Oh my god…"
"I knew it!" Duchess blurted out, "You two like each other!" she pointed accusingly at both of them. Rapunzel blushed madly and shook her hands in front of her and denied the accusation while Jack arched a brow in confusion and soon, he frowned a bit. This girl's pretty annoying, he thought while Rapunzel still denied Duchess' hunch. "No, no, no! Duchess, we don't!" she said loudly. It seemed like the raging blond wouldn't accept her answer and was going to argue with her but thankfully, the waiter came back and placed down their order on the table, confirmed if there was anything else they ordered and left after saying there was none.
Ah, thank GOD!, Rapunzel thought as she grabbed her fork and twisted some Carbonara pasta with it and ate.
The three girls just sat down and cooled themselves off. She saw this and looked at Jack who was helping himself with the Carbonara he ordered. She thought for a while and decided that she'll get her piece of the pizza and give Jack's piece to him and give the rest to the girls.
Jack was eating his Carbonara when suddenly Rapunzel placed a slice of the pizza on his plate. He looked at her. She smiled at him and took the whole plate of pizza and placed it on her friends' table and said, "You can have it." she smiled. They looked at her with a confused expression but they took it anyway. He looked at them then at Rapunzel. She's so patient with them! If he was her, he probably would've unleashed hell on earth. He continued to eat and when he finished, he looked outside. There were many things he wanted to do, so many experiences to have. Rapunzel called him, "Jack," she said. He looked at her. She was done eating. "Can we go shopping? I need clothes for our Christmas party." she said.
Clothes? Why? Doesn't she have enough?, he asked himself, wondering why the need to shop. "That's an expensive Christmas party, Goldilocks."
"I'll just buy a few yards of cloth. I'm going to make my own costume."
She could sew too!?
He stared at her. She was really full of surprises. Not to mention, a lot of skills, his mind mumbled to him. He nodded, "Alright."
She smiled and rummaged for her wallet in her really tiny bag and paid for their meal. They said their goodbye to Toni, Duchess and Moira and headed to a store. Jack doesn't exactly know what it's called but the store had huge rolls of cloth and a few designing tidbits like plastic diamonds and pearls. Rapunzel smiled at the sight and bought herself a rather slightly thick roll of cloth. Jack carried it for her. She glanced up at him, blushing madly, "I can carry that, Jack! Really!"
"Y'know," he smirked, "A thank you would be nice." he looked at her, still having that smirk.
She shrieked a bit and frowned at herself. Yeah, you should have said 'thank you' instead, Punz, her conscience told her. She argued with herself, "Thank you, Jack," she said, sounding grateful but at the same time, at war with herself. She was still scolding herself and she was quiet, staring either blankly or through the crowd in front of them and Jack noticed this. She was awfully quiet, which he thought wasn't normal. She was quiet...too quiet. He tilted his head to the side and frowned at himself as well. Maybe he shouldn't have said that, he thought. It was kinda rude too, his conscience scolded him. He frowned more. He was already irritated at himself and then his conscience adds fuel to the flame. Better cheer her up, man, his conscience said. Jack growled at himself and swallowed. He looked at Rapunzel. She was still staring aimlessly at the crowd.
He inhaled, "Hey, Goldilocks," he called, "What do you want to do next?" he asked. It wasn't exactly 'cheering up' but it might divert her attention for a while.
Rapunzel straightened up and avoided looking at him but she was still blushing, "Uh..." her eyes moved, looking for places to go. Then she had this reminder from her conscience about what she wanted to do before eating.
He looked worried at her because she went silent again. He was going to growl at himself again when suddenly her head shot up at him with big eyes and smile, "Let's go to the clothing section!" she said enthusiastically.
He sighed in relief and smiled gently at her, relieved she wasn't anymore down, "Alright! Let's go, but..." he looked at the thick roll of cloth in his arms, "Where am I going to put this? I can't carry this around all the time, right?"
She chuckled, "Oh, we'll go to the baggage counter for that." she held his hand, "Let's go!" she said happily. They headed to the baggage counter and left the huge roll of cloth there. They went to the clothing section. Jack placed his hands inside the pockets of his pants and glanced around. They were in the men's section. Why are we here? Is she going to gift someone clothes or something?, he asked himself. He was so curious, he just have to ask.
"So, what are you going to buy and who are you going to give it to, Goldilocks?" he asked her, looking at the set of clothes they were passing by.
She didn't look at him because she was too busy glancing at shirts, "I'm looking for a nice top..."
He smirked, "For your boyfriend?" he asked.
She looked at him. She was frowning, "What? I don't have a boyfriend."
He arched his brows, teasing her, "Sure..."
She scoffed, "If any guy is close to being my boyfriend, it would be..." then she remembered, she doesn't have close guy friends-just him.
He poked her cheek, "Who? Who is it?" he asked, continuing to tease her.
"No one!" she puffed her cheeks and turned to the Jag Thug jeans that were clipped on hangers. She swore she saw something good there. She shuffled through the pants. Jack went beside her, "Then what are we doing here? Is it for your dad?"
She stopped and almost laughed, "My dad? He has mom to buy his clothes!"
He shrugged and looked at the clothes hanging on the opposite side and then looked at her, "Who is it for then? Me?" he laughed.
He swore he saw her smile, "Yeah." she said, comparing two pants together. He was going to speak when she turned to her and asked him a question.
"So, what do you like? This one-" she held up a brown colored pants, "-or this one?" she held up a black colored pants with stars over the pockets at the front.
It took him a while but he chose the one with the stars. She gave it to him and pushed him to the fitting room, "Go on! Try it!"
He frowned. He wasn't used to it. He didn't really need the pants. "Goldilocks, are you sure you're going to buy this? Because I'm really fine with the tattered capris I have back at...home."
She laughed, "Don't be silly! Go on, try it!"
"But I-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Rapunzel already closed the door of the fitting room and waited outside. He sighed and just did what she told him to. Meanwhile, Rapunzel continued to scan for pants, in case she saw something better that Jack would like too. She was saving money in her bank account but she wasn't sure what to use it on. Maybe it was for this, she thought. She secretly planned to buy him a whole set as an additional gift to the works of art she gave him. The paintings aren't really useful to him so I'll give him clothes instead, she thought. She also smiled at the thought because it was a good idea. Since Jack was going to stay with her, he needed clothes. Her dad's clothes were too big for him.
She was going to grab a pair of pants when Jack suddenly called her, "Goldilocks."
She turned to him. She squealed a bit, "It looks great on you!"
He rolled his eyes, "I honestly don't get the difference of one pair of pants from another. They all look the same to me when they are worn."
She hit him on his arms lightly, "Don't be a kill joy. Don't you like it? I do!" she said, looking up and down his legs. Then she looked up at him, "It's not tight is it? Or is it too big?"
He looked down at himself, "It's perfectly fine, Goldilocks."
She smiled at him. He held his breath.
Why do I suddenly hold my breath when she smiles at me!?
"Alright. Go back and change. I'll just go to the counter and pay for it." she said.
He went back in the fitting room and changed his pants. He gave the pants over to her by throwing it in the gap above the door. She caught it and went to the cashier and paid for it. Jack was straightening his clothes as he came out. He placed his hands in his pockets again and went to her. He nudged her, "You're really serious about this." he said. She eyed him, "Of course I am!" she said then she received her change and smile at the cashier, "Thank you!" she said and walked away. He followed her. They passed by the women's section. His nervousness grew when he saw more women. He walked faster so he would be walking beside Rapunzel. He felt so tensed that he almost trembled. He knew some girls looked at him when he passed by them. Rapunzel didn't notice because she was too busy looking at a denim skirt not far from them. He also saw the denim skirt. I hope she won't go there, he gulped. Unfortunately for him, she did and she dragged him along with her.
Since he had no choice, he just stood there near her. Whenever she walked or paced back and forth on whether she should buy it or not, he stared at her so he wouldn't lose sight of the girl. He saw that she almost tore her hair apart when she couldn't decide.
"Why won't you just buy it?" he asked her.
Rapunzel bit her lip. She was troubled, alright.
"I can't yet. I'm still thinking if I have a top for it or, or shoes for it!" She said, technically panicking.
"Just leave it in your wishlist then buy it when you have everything you need."
"No! A lot of girls would like to buy this!" she said, holding the skirt up at him.
He looked at the skirt. There's nothing special about it, he thought. When he didn't speak, Rapunzel began to panic more.
"Oh man... I don't know. Should I leave it?" she said as she was going to put the skirt back but then she didn't, "No. I wanna have this." she talked to herself, "But I don't have anything that goes with this precious thing!" she cried.
Jack could only sigh. Girls, he thought again. You never can understand them.
He held his hand up to her and placed it on her shoulder, "Calm down, Goldilocks. You're like a damsel-in-distress."
She faced him, "But I am a damsel-in-distress!" she gave him a pout, "Oh, Jack... I don't know what to do..."
He almost laughed at her. That expression on her face was just too adorable.
"You know what? Just leave it there. You're going to find a better-looking skirt than that." He said and took the skirt from her and hanged it back on some random clothing rail. She still continued to pout at him and sighed when she gave up. She held his wrist, "Okay..." she said gloomily and walked away, still holding his wrist.
Poor girl, he thought. Just then, the tension came back to him. Girls almost drooled by the sight of him.
He moved his hand so he could hold hers. If he learned anything from books and televisions, it would be holding a girl friend's hand to stop other girls from staring at him. It always happens. When a handsome guy needed help from stopping his fan girls from stalking him, he would hold his girl friend's hand or even place his arm over her shoulder. Not that he was implying that he was handsome or that they were his fan girls but it was worth the shot right?
When he held hers, he immediately pulled her to him, which he didn't know why he did but he just did it. He hoped she wouldn't react or do anything too obvious or say anything loud against his actions. She didn't. She even held his hand back. He felt uncomfortable but at the same time, confident.
It was awkward but it felt nice.
End of Chapter
So, I'm going to end this here. I was going for a longer chapter but my aunt needed the pc (I still don't have my laptop, sadly). I hope you like this chapter, despite that it's.. I think, OC for the two of them.
Love you guys!
Questions, reviews, comments and the like are welcome!
