A/N: Hmm, I'm finding something wrong with this fanfiction because I can't read any of the reviews...except on my email. It's quite frustrating. Anyhow, I'm glad that your eyes caught my story. Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoy the second chapter!
Jack rummaged his fingers through his thick mass of hair. His relatives were to arrive any minute soon, but he had something else that weighed more concern in his mind.
He wondered out loud, "What is such a good idea to do that interview with Marley?"
His brown eyes scanned the cover of the newest magazine which had a separate picture of himself and another image of Elsa Menzel. On the cover, it boldly read: The Playful Bachelor and The Icy Bachelorette: Cool Couple?
When he read the caption at a market, he couldn't help, but buy the copy. The writer started with their success stories and as the introduction hooked the readers' attentions, the evening show with Marley seeped through. There were short explanations of fanfiction and how he and Elsa were nominated as one of the most favourable 'OTP' amongst the Disney movies. Next it described their current relationship status and their strings of previous romances; most of them made up.
At least his throng of names weren't his ex-girlfriends. Jack only had a few girlfriends in the past and none of them were too serious. He had decided to date those who didn't share his job occupation because he didn't want his girlfriend to suffer from the rough, hungry hands of the media. Yet he also chose to keep the relationships mellow because after a few relationships, he'd learnt that the number one reason for his breakups were because he didn't spend enough time with them due to his jobs. Therefore, his exes were those who weren't too famous; a make-up artist, a singer, and a costume designer.
He hated to admit it, yet it was true that there was another reasons why he didn't date those who shared his occupation. He could take the pinning accusations because the girls he dated didn't understand how hectic his life was. But what if he dated an actress like Elsa Menzel and she still hated him because he loved his job? He couldn't choose between his love and pride for his job or for the girl he was dating. If he dated a woman who was also a celebrity and she dumped him, it would mean that he lacked something as a man. It made him feel vulnerable in that aspect.
At the same time Jack wasn't too certain if Elsa's list were true, except for one man. Her relationship with this actor lasted for a few hours; perhaps it was three years or was it two? He was never too keen with gossips, but the famous, popular relationships between idols did reach his ears one way or another. When the actors and actresses for the film, Frozen, was chosen, there had been a spark of interest filtering through the media.
The man that played Hans, the main antagonist, throughout the film: Santino Miller. He suddenly wondered, what was it like for Elsa to work with her previous lover? Jack had heard that Santino had cheated on Elsa often and each time she endured his feeble excuses. However, she hadn't mentioned his name when Marley asked what were her three greatest issues on set. Were they made up? Yet she described her ideal man to be brunette, funny, active, adventurous, and sweet.
He compared the description to Santino Miller. He had dark, brown hair. Santino Miller managed to sweep the adoration from his fans with his good sense of humour. The man's built showed that Santino was active as he was so the actor must have a sense of adventure. Although he also played the antagonist in the Disney film, Frozen, he could show how sweet and gentle he could be with woman when he stole Anna's heart.
It had been over a week since that night show was aired onto the televisions throughout the country. Jack sighed and didn't know how he felt about the whole, new situation. He never had the chance to research or go into depth into the artificial world of Fanfiction.
Then a loud buzz intruded his thoughts and Jack quickly left the kitchen to check the intercom. Outside his metal gates, the familiar car remained parked in front of the camera. The car's window drooped down to reveal his nephew's face. Jack could still see the boy's mischievous nature lingering behind his eyes. His older sister smiled sweetly and her husband, his in-law, wave his hands. Jack smiled back and buzzed them through the gate.
Before knocks drummed against his door, he quickly locked the magazine through the cabinet. He began to plate the green salad onto the side while placing the well cooked steaks onto the plate. He wore oven mitts and brought out the glistening garlic breads. Jack finished the plating by putting two slices of garlic bread on each plate.
He pulled the apron off and hung it carefully. He brought every plate onto the broad, unmarred, wooden table. The moment he placed the last plate on top of the table, the knocks came from the door.
Jack quickly fixed his hair while walking towards the entrance and opened the door with a charming smile. His older sister, Emma, planted a kiss on his cheek and Jack firmly shook his hands with his brother-in-law, Chris. Jack groaned when his fourteen year old nephew, Ben, tackled a hug against his ribcage. He held back a groan and chuckled instead.
Jack said, "You are going to be one hell of a football star once your high school career starts."
Ben grinned from ear to ear and said, "I'm aiming to be the tight end."
Jack approved, "Good position for you."
Their short conversation stopped when the husky voice, which belonged to Chris, said, "Thanks for having us tonight, Jack. You must be very busy these days. Especially after that talk show with, what's that man's name, sweetheart?"
Emma said, "Marley."
Chris shared that impish smile like his son or was it his son sharing his father's impish smile? Either way, they were both grinning at him. Jack sighed at their teasing; he should have known that this topic would have crept through their private night alone. Still, he didn't expect to deal with it from the beginning. When Jack glanced at his sister, Emma was also laughing.
Jack shook his head and walked ahead into the living room. He would refrain from rolling his eyes tonight. Emma raised her eyes knowingly and said, "Jack, please don't sulk."
Jack snorted and curtly replied, "I'm not sulking. It's no surprise that you heard about the situation with the help of the media."
Emma entered the living room and sniffed the air. She happily said, "It's smells amazing here."
Jack smiled softly at his sister and said, "Tonight's dinner is steak, green salad, and garlic bread."
In unison, Chris and Ben exclaimed, "Awesome!"
He chuckled quietly at their reaction. He asked, "Hey, Chris? What do you want, wine or brandy?"
Chris answered, "Brandy."
Ben also said, "Brandy."
Jack snickered at his nephew and said, "You're way too young for a good cup of brandy. Once you reach 20, I'll share a bottle of brandy with you."
Now it was his nephew's turn to pout and sulk. Emma asked, "Jack, do you have a bottle of Sprite?"
Jack joked, "Emma, you think that I was so ill prepared to prepare a bottle of soda for my one and only nephew? You know me far too well. Of course I bought one."
Jack brought out the soda out of the cold fridge and passed it to Emma, who followed him into the kitchen. Jack also knowingly brought out a finely, aged bottle of red wine out of the wine cellar; a sweet, 1993. He popped open the bottle and poured the deep, rich liquid into the wine cup. The aroma was intoxicating, a beautiful piece of art.
Then he poured two cups of brandy and the distinct, caramel coloured liquid swirled in the transparent cups. Before he could leave the kitchen, his sister blocked his way.
Jack frowned and asked, "What?"
Emma spoke with concern, "Are you seriously interested in Elsa Menzel?"
Jack raised his brows at the intrusive question. She had never been interested in his love life and he seriously did not want his sister stepping into that zone of privacy. However, there had to be a reason for her to ask him this question. Still it didn't mean that he wanted to answer this question or enjoy the fact that the question presented a heavy atmosphere in the kitchen.
He evaded her question and answered with another question, "Why are you asking me this?"
His sister said, "Because I am worried."
Jack repeated the word, "Worried?"
Emma said, "Yes, I'm worried."
He couldn't help but snort as he couldn't see any reason for his older sister to be concerned. It was absolutely bizarre.
Jack idly said, "Look, I haven't had a breather since three months ago and I decided to spend time with you and your family. I invited you because I missed you, sis, but I did not invite you so that you can play twenty questions. Or so that you can pry into my love life."
Emma argued, "Yeah, and I didn't know your interest in Elsa Menzel three months ago!"
Chris called from the dining room, "Is everything alright back there?"
Emma and Jack both shouted, "Everything's fine!"
They could both hear Chris chuckle and say, "Geez, the famous Pine stubbornness."
Jack finally denied his sister's accusation and said, "I never said I was interested in Elsa. We just became friends."
Emma whispered, "And I hope it stays that way. That woman is a damaged one."
This time, Jack blocked his sister's pathway and demanded, "What do you mean by damaged?"
Emma sighed and said, "We both hate gossip and this subject fortunately didn't reach the ears of the reporters and publishers, but I heard from a friend of mine how disastrous her breakup was. Elsa was devastated when she lost her boyfriend, Santino Miller because she had hoped that he would propose to her. They dated for a while so it was obvious that marriage was the next step. Then it was revealed that Santino was cheating on Elsa. So you just know, that's a big mental blow for a woman."
Jack's mind went blank at that revelation. He knew how she had dated the man for a long time, but he never knew how deep her relationship ran. How would he? He barely knew the woman. They've recently become friends...well, the better would be acquaintances, but the word 'friends' had a better ring to it. However, when this new fact reached his ears, his blood boiled and anger pumped through his veins.
He couldn't imagine how she would have felt during those days. His sister chose the word, disastrous to describe her breakup. However, he didn't have a word for Elsa. Hell, his dates weren't so serious, but when they came and kicked him off the curb, it still hurt so much. Jack didn't understand why he felt so mad against a man he wasn't familiar with; it wasn't fair or just of him to judge a man he didn't know. Still he didn't know why his fingers were gripping against the glass so hard or make his rage evaporate.
"Jack?" Emma called.
Jack snapped back out of his thoughts and smiled reassuringly to his sister. He grabbed the plates and marched behind his sister into the dining room. He smiled warmly at his brother-in-law and his nephew and said, "Chris, yours is medium rare and for the big man, it's rare."
Emma sternly condemned Jack, "Jack, please don't feed Ben, rare steaks. It's not good for his health."
Ben whined, "But I like my steaks rare, mum."
Emma frowned at her son and Jack smiled sheepishly at Ben. Jack joked, "I can never beat your mother, Ben, and neither can your father."
Chris chuckled and drank his brandy. His brother-in-law said, "Jack, I know that you aren't married yet, but soon, you'll learn that a happy wife means a happy life."
Jack rolled his eyes and also took a sip of the golden coloured brandy; immediately the alcohol burned his throat. Secretly, he agreed his Chris's statement, but he wouldn't verbally express it.
Everyone used their individual utensils to cut through the thick slice of meat and loud crunches were heard when they chewed on the fresh, green vegetables. Jack silently watched his sister's family happily chat with each other, but their speech laid deaf on his ears. His brain was slipping into the thoughts of Elsa again. He still had her contact information, but he never contacted her after their previous rendezvous.
He didn't see a reason to call her; it would be awkward in so many ways. Texting? That was out of question. What was he supposed to text her about? Use the cliché, "How are you doing?" or "Beautiful weather isn't it?" Would she even reply back if he did text her? Probably not. Why would she? They publically called each other friends, but they weren't really friends.
Jack remembered the outfit she wore on the show when they met each other for the first time. Whoever her designer was, the costume designer was a genius, an artist. The hue of blue matched her skin tone and made her beautiful, blue eyes shine more brighter. The fabric perfectly hugged her curves and also hung fashionably.
"Uncle?"
Jack blinked and found his nephew calling for his attention. Chris chastised, "Ben has been calling your name for a while now."
He wearily noticed his sister staring at him suspiciously and Jack quickly said, "Sorry. What is it?"
He tipped the cup back and allowed the fluid to swirl into his mouth. Ben asked, "How would you react if I told you that I made a photo for you and Elsa Menzel?"
Jack choked and felt the burning sensation intensifying down his throat. His eyes grew teary from nearly choking on the beverage and he also felt the colour draining from his face. What in God's name did Benjamin just say? Why was Elsa's name being mentioned again? And what bloody photo?
Ben's mother scolded, "Don't surprise your uncle like that, Ben."
Jack tried to remain controlled and calm and asked, "What photo?"
Ben innocently explained, "Well, I watched that night show with mum. It said that you and that actress were an OTP. An item."
Clearly, the boy was growing into his obnoxious teenage years and the boy was also treading through his love life. Did he inherit that from his mother? Chris didn't seem interested in it; he was respecting his privacy as a fellow man.
Beginning to grow irritated, Jack strummed his fingers against the wooden frame of the table. He instinctively knew that his nephew did something extremely troublesome and he would have to clean up the dirty mess. The question was, how much of a mess did Ben create?
Jack put the glass aside and crossed his arms. Ben continued, "I thought I'd create a photo with a program that I downloaded a while ago."
Jack numbly repeated, "Program."
Chris intervened and said, "Ben also happens to be interested in computer programming so for the last several months, he's been learning how to code. He's quite talented in that area."
Jack silently hissed, Ben is also talented in serving a buffet of trouble.
His nephew spoke again, "So I created a photo for your fans."
Jack's heart sunk with dread like the Titanic. Fans. He loved them, but they were also a deadly force to deal with. Every celebrity knew to tread carefully through fame; always control their emotions, be polite and never infuriate their fans, and image control. How he wished to bang his head against the wall at the moment.
Jack demanded, "Show me that photo."
Ben unlocked the securities and passed his smartphone to his uncle. Jack's body froze and became rigid like the day when he fell through the frozen lake in order to transform into 'Jack Frost'. On the screen he saw a photo that could definitely capture the media's attention with the snap of his fingers. Jack could only pray to God that this photo hadn't been leaked to the public.
It was clearly photo shopped as he never posed for this shot. The background was the Broadway of New York and the fact remained that Jack didn't have the time to visit New York since a year ago. However, it looked realistic enough for the world to believe that the scene had occurred. On the screen of the electronic device, Jack had his arms coiled around Elsa Menzel's waist while Elsa had her hands wrapped over his large hands. Furthermore, Jack had his face buried against Elsa's neck, as if he was giving her a hickey. Elsa was also seductively blushing and a blissful smile was on her face.
Oh yes, Benjamin definitely had talent in computer coding, just like his talent for trouble. It was also certain that he hit the obnoxious, teenage phase. The heading on top of the photo said: It's Jelsa everybody! OTP Forever 3
Obviously, everyone would believe that his nephew was a cute, innocent boy while the press would devour this news story. They would gnaw on his bone and it them whole like a pack of hyenas. If God exists, please let it be so that this photo isn't made public. Or worse, never let Elsa Menzel see this photo.
Ben said, "I posted it on Tweeter a few hours ago."
Somebody shoot him now. Even his sister and his brother looked shell shocked at this new revelation. He couldn't imagine how his visage looked like right now.
Ben happily blabbered, "You wouldn't know how many people love this photo."
Yeah, the media would love this scoop too.
Ben continued, "Even, Elsa Menzel replied! She commented, "What an interesting photo...""
Jack's eyes widened with horror. A scream wouldn't budge out of his glued lips. In his stead, his sister screamed, "Benjamin Conner Morrison! How could you do this to your uncle?! Do you realize how much trouble you just caused for your uncle?"
Chris also joined, "Jack's reputation can also be tarnished. He'll probably be flooded with gossips now! So many paparazzi and publishers will stalk him now."
Ben finally understood how heavily burdening his action was and the boy only stammered, "It was only a joke... I never said it was real. I only told my friends that it was real, but I'm sure they know that was a lie!"
Earlier Jack's mind went blank with anger, now his mind turned white from sheer shock. Jack pulled himself out of the table and dragged his feet into his room. His sister chased after him and said, "Look, I'm so sorry Jack. I never knew this happened. I'll pull favours from the publishers I know. I'll ask them not to write about this."
Chris also called out, "Same here, Jack. We'll take responsibility over our son's careless mistake. I'll also ask for favours. I have several people owing me."
Benjamin looked as if he would cry any moment and Jack's numbness melted for a few seconds. Jack faked a smile to his nephew and said, "Don't worry, Ben. I've been famous for quite a long time. I can deal with this mess and your parents are also going to help me out."
Benjamin's shoulders shook and he said, "I'll also post on Twitter that it was a prank!"
The numbness returned and Jack barely managed to whisper, "Thank you," before closing the door behind him.
Jack plummeted his body onto the soft mattress of his bed. His groan was muffled by the pillow. Elsa Menzel wrote back to his nephew and it was all related to that scandalous photo. Now he felt the need to talk and explain the situation to Elsa so there wouldn't be a huge misunderstanding lingering between them. He had to fix it. Now.
He snapped the phone out of his pocket and searched for her number. Then he found her contact information. His fingers hesitantly rested on the dial button. He closed his eyes and pressed the call button.
He could hear the loud rings coming from his phone. Would she pick the phone up? And why did he feel the urge to fix this error? Was it because he learnt of her past tonight with the aid of his sister? For some mysterious reason, he didn't want Elsa to misunderstand him, not like the way she misunderstood her relationship with the actor, Santino Miller.
The ringing came to a halt and he heard a soft voice say, "Hello, Jack."
Jack gulped nervously as it was now the time to explain the problem which tied them together now.
I'm going to do what I always do on all of my fanfictions. Replies to all of the compiled reviews :) Thanks for your supportive reviews!
Feyfa: Ah, look. It's one of my favourite fans :D Nice to see you here too :) Just wondering are you going to be following the stories? It'll send you immediate emails whenever I update the story. Thanks for reviewing this fanfiction as well :D
gerardienea: Thanks for following and reviewing this fanfiction! Hahaha, I'm glad this made you squeal with joy. It's my job as a writer to do so. The origination of this story...hmm...somewhere in my brain. It's not chapter 3 (you're getting too ahead ;P), but it is chapter 2! I hope you enjoyed reading the second chapter! Thanks for reading.
anotherOUATwriter: Glad you like this story too. I'll also try to get my hands on the film you mentioned to me :) Hope to hear from you again!
Puteri Tina: Happy to hear that you love it. Hmm, it looks like Jack's nephew, Ben, also drew something ;) Thanks for following and reviewing my story!
softpaws007: I'm glad that you're laughing too. I'm guessing that you also like the story. Thanks for your review and for reading! :D
Until next time. Cheers.
Sincerely, IB (Itachi Black)