~Elsa~

*Two Days Later: December 23*

"Are we sure that's everything for tomorrow?" I ask my aunt, my eyes glued to the list of party things on the clipboard I was holding. "I want tomorrow to be perfect. Exactly how your parties used to be and–"

My aunt puts a hand on my shoulder and says, "Elsa, relax. Everything is going to be just fine."

Her calmness made me relax a little, but the worry was still there. "How are you not nervous? It's been six years since you've last hosted a Christmas Eve party. You're not scared at all?"

Aunt Arianna smiles. "A little nervous, yes, but not scared. It's going to be fun, so I'm excited. I try not to let my nerves get in the way of having a good time."

And of course, she was right. I need to not stress so much on it. "Okay, you're right. Thank you, by the way," I say for the millionth time, "For doing this. It was my idea that you could have easily said no to. So…thank you." I smile wide, showing my appreciation.

"Of course," Aunt Arianna then leans forward to whisper, "I've been wanting to do this for so long, but we weren't sure when to try again. Your uncle and I never knew if it was too soon. Plus, with how my brother is, I knew he didn't want to come back for a while. I refused to host one without you and your sister."

"That's good," I say, giggling at the thought of Anna being so offended at not being able to go because of dad. She would probably give him the silent treatment. "Anna would have thrown the biggest fit. She hates missing out."

"Speaking of which, have you seen her?" She turns her head left and right, trying to find my sister in the party room. "For someone who hates missing out and loves parties, I sure haven't seen her helping out much."

I chuckle. "That's probably because she's too occupied with Kristoff and his pet reindeer."

My aunt giggles and excitedly asks: "So are they dating then?"

I shake my head, remembering the conversation Anna and I had the night we came home from my birthday surprise at the ice rink. I had asked her what all had gone down during her date with Kristoff. She insisted it wasn't a date. They talked about school, their plans for the future, their past (which made me uncomfortable since I know her past was a lonely one), and lastly said she met a relative of his.

She said they were just friends.

We'll see how long that lasts.

"No, they're just friends."

My aunt frowns, unpleased. She sighs as she starts to head out of the room, with me following right beside her. "That's a shame. After Hans, I can understand why she'd be more careful, but I was really hoping all three of you would have boyfriends to dance with at the Christmas Eve ball. I don't want Anna to be saddened that you and Rapunzel have your loves and she doesn't."

"Well," I shrug, hoping my next set of words will ease her silly worry. "They've gotten pretty close, so I'm sure they'll still dance together as friends. Maybe. Kristoff is a bit hardheaded. I can't imagine him dancing in a crowd of strangers."

"Well, he did sing in front of some strangers at the Snuggly Duckling."

"Oh yeah. Huh, I guess maybe he will. We'll just have to wait and see then. I'm sure Anna will convince him."

Aunt Arianna laughs. "I agree. She's hardheaded too, after all." Her smile falls and she sighs again. "I just don't want Hans to ruin her image of love is all."

I link my arm through hers and smile reassuringly. "I've told her this before too, so don't worry. She's aware that we're afraid she'll turn love down. Everything with Hans was a learning experience. She's smarter now though. It sucks that it had to happen the way it did, but…well at least she's not naive anymore. I'm surprised she's still not crazy."

That gets another chuckle out of my aunt. "Typical Anna. She's always a surprise."

"Indeed."

"But what about Rapunzel, have you seen her today too?"

"Not since this morning," but I definitely had my suspicions, "but considering that she and Flynn are now finally official, I can only assume that she's somewhere in the house talking to him on the phone."

My aunt's eyes twinkle, giving me a knowing stare. "And I can only guess that you wish to be doing the same with Jack."

My face heats up, embarrassed. She's right, but I hate being called out for it. "Only a little bit. I really do want to help out with everything though."

Aunt Arianna waves me off. "Oh don't worry about all of that. If I need you, I'll let you know. Go take a break and call him. Invite him over. You know, he's been friends with Rapunzel since she first started school about 4 years ago, and not once did he ever come inside the house. Rapunzel thinks it's because he was afraid to break something, but now that I know who he is, I'm thinking it's because being inside would bring back memories he's not wanting to remember."

I knew exactly what she meant. "Like coming to your Christmas parties with his family. With his dad."

She nods. "It must be so hard for him to even be outside. Rapunzel says that he doesn't remember her or Olaf that night. Just you. I'm surprised he didn't connect the dots that you and Rapunzel are cousins because of the house."

"Maybe he thought I was just another rich kid that was friends with your daughter," I suggest. "There were quite a bit of kids that attended your parties, after all."

"True, and now look at you," she cups my cheek, smiling proudly. "All grown up."

I return her smile. "I have grown, haven't I?" But with me being all grown up, I now find myself not wanting to. I feel like I grew up too quickly and ever since coming here to Burgess, being with Jack and making friends, I've learned to relax more and be playful, while at the same time growing into the person I always wanted to be for Anna and Rapunzel. Someone who was simply there for them.

And now with college on its way in a few months, I'm scared I'm going to lose it all. That I will lose myself in my loneliness. After all, not all of my friends will be graduating since they're in the grades below me, and the ones that are won't be going to the same college as me. Jack won't be going to the same college as me. He's still unsure if he'll even go.

I don't even need to go to college. I'm only doing it because my parents want me to. It's only an opportunity for me to experience more of the "outside/normal" world. A distraction that will keep me busy until I turn 21 and take over my father's business. Sometimes I want to just say "screw it" and take over as soon as I graduate. Why wait? I won't need to waste time at college, and they can retire early. Win-Win, right?

But ever since Jack confronted me about it, I've been thinking deeply over my future. Is taking over my father's business really what I want? I want to make my dad proud, but at what cost?

What I decide will affect people, me included, so I must choose wisely. Being grown up means making big decisions and sacrifices. And it saddens my heart.

Because something I wish I could choose is to go back in time and to be a kid again. Be a kid with Anna and Rapunzel and Olaf. I'm never going to get that time back, but hopefully being with Jack will unleash my inner child.

Maybe he'll help heal her.

Maybe he's already been doing that.

.

.

.

At some point throughout the day, Anna and Rapunzel finally were put to work. With their extra hands we got done quicker than expected and pretty much lounged around Rapunzel's room the whole time. They talked and gushed over all the things Rapunzel wants to do with Flynn now that she is his girlfriend. Her list of "Girlfriend and Boyfriend Things To Do" was lengthy, but Anna had her beat by one suggestion.

"Going to a chocolate factory?" Rapunzel had said when she read my sister's list. "Anna, I think that's more of a you-thing than a couple."

I had laughed and covered the side of my mouth with my hand to pretend to be secretive. In a voice that Anna was obviously meant to hear, I had said: "I don't know Raps, I think Kristoff might enjoy it. He can kiss the chocolate off her mouth."

My cousin and I had burst into laughter, while my sister's face had turned, what we like to call, Merida-Red. In honor of our friend's vibrant curls. "Whatever!" Anna had practically screeched. "Kristoff and I are just friends."

"Yeah right!" I had thrown one of Rapunzel's small pillows at her. "I saw you two leaning against each other the other night."

Anna had thrown the pillow right back. "When? Cuz, I don't remember doing anything like that."

"While we all watched the lanterns Flynn brought for Rapunzel!"

"Lies."

"Are you trying to gaslight me?"

And that's pretty much how the rest of our night went. Teasing and bickering and giggling and a whole lot of blushing. At some point, however, Flynn was calling Rapunzel again, so my sister and I took that as our cue to leave. I had suggested that Anna and I watch movies in my room, but oddly she was "tired" and wanted to retreat to bed. She didn't seem tired before Flynn called our cousin, so I was under the suspicion that my sister wanted to call Kristoff.

"You don't have to lie," I said, smiling softly. "If you want to talk to Kristoff, I understand. I mean it. I'm not trying to tease you. If you like him, you have my blessing. One hundred percent. Don't hide your love like I tried to do." I chuckled, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "It might backfire on you."

My sister giggles. "Yeah, you're not wrong there, but…thanks. That means a lot."

We said goodnight after that and for the next hour I was watching Christmas movies by myself. Well, it was more like I was browsing the internet with the Christmas movies playing as background noise. I wanted to call or text Jack, but since it's the day before Christmas Eve, I knew he was busy preparing with his family. We had texted briefly this morning, but that was almost 12 hours ago, and to be honest I think I'm getting withdrawals. It's late though, so despite how badly I want to, I probably shouldn't. He's either still busy or he's sleeping. Maybe he needs space since Christmastime is a bittersweet time for him since his dad…well…yeah.

My phone suddenly goes off, the Facetime screen lighting up the little box, and it's as if Jack could sense that I was thinking about him. I hit the green button, more excited to talk to him than I'd like to admit but was shocked to see his twin siblings. Emma and Jamie's faces lit up like the 4th of July when they saw me.

"Oh my god, she actually answered!" Jamie shouts.

"Well, why wouldn't she answer Jack's call?" Emma inquires. "He's her boyfriend. Duuuhhh."

I couldn't help but laugh at the two of them. "Hi, Frosties." Jamie blushes at the nickname that's meant for him and his sister. According to Jack, it's his favorite nickname ever and he doesn't like that he shares it with Emma. "What are you doing on Jack's phone? He's going to give you a tickle attack."

"Then I'll defend myself with a karate chop to the throat!" Jamie declares, and I had to choke back a laugh, so I didn't encourage him.

"Oh my, well," the laugh finally came out, "please don't harm him too much. I want him in one piece."

The twins grin. "I make no promises," says Jamie.

"To answer your question though," Emma takes over, "Jack's currently looking for something, and we decided to take advantage of our opportunity."

"Oh?" I raise my eyebrow in question. "Is that so?"

"Uh-huh," she nods. "He left his phone on the couch. Speaking of couches though, do you want to come over? We're watching Christmas movies and there's this really old one that's like…stop-motion, I think? It's named after our brother. Jamie, press info on the remote."

I watch as Jamie picks up the remote and presses a button. Emma even turned the camera the other way so I could read the tv screen. The picture of the movie showed a blue, sprite-looking man, with big red letters above him that read "JACK FROST". How cute. Him and Rapunzel were both named after very well-known fictional characters that got turned into movies. Rapunzel's mother even got the Barbie as Rapunzel movie signed by Barbie's voice actor. It's one of Rapunzel's most prized possessions. It would be awesome if the same could have been done for Jack with this movie.

That is, if he even likes this movie. It looks cute. I'm not sure if it's Jack's type of movie, but then again, knowing Jack, he probably just loves that he shares the same name as it.

"Jack Frost ushers in winter every year," Jamie reads off the summary as I follow along, "but he is upset that he is unable to interact with humans, since they cannot see him. When he falls in love with the young peasant woman Elisa–" my eyes widen.

Elisa? Take the i away and you have my name. That's such a weird coincidence!

"-he requests to be made human and his superior, Father Winter, who agrees to make him permanently human as long as he has a house, horse, bag of gold, and a wife by the beginning of spring. When Jack arrives in town and is introduced to Elisa and her family, he learns they are oppressed by a greedy Cossack, who has eyes on the peasants' income and Elisa. And Jack must also contend with Elisa's childhood sweetheart, Sir Ravenal. Will he decide to remain human in the end? "

Emma had caught the name thing too. "Whoa! Elisa is close to your name, Elsa! That's freaky."

"It sounds boring," Jamie cringes, unbothered by the name thing. "He has such cool powers and is immortal but wants to give it all up for a girl. Laaammmeee."

Emma gently smacks his shoulder. "That's not lame! That's so sweet. He changed himself for love. He chose her. He gave up a life of routine and comfortability so he could be with his one true love–"

"Yeah, but did you not read the summary? It can be taken from him if he doesn't have a house, horse, gold, and wife by Spring. That's not fair. In real life, that must have been so hard to get."

"Well, love is hard, but it's so worth it."

"Even when there's a risk it can be taken from you?"

"Yep, even then."

I didn't have the words to speak, too stunned at their little conversation. Emma is smart beyond her years. Being a hopeless romantic can bring some wisdom about love, even if you've never been in a relationship before, and even if you're as young as her. She's around the age where boys and love and relationships are going to be a priority for her. Anna was the same way. Actually, I think Anna might have started a little earlier. Like at age 10.

"Or we can watch some other Christmas movies?" Emma suggested, taking the remote from Jamie, exiting the screen, and going to the search bar. "There's the Santa Clause 3 that also has a Jack Frost character in it. Our Jack has mixed feelings about it. He likes the character, but he also wishes they made him more handsome. Which is so rude! You can't help how you look–"

"You can if you have money," Jamie comments, and I had to bite my lip from laughing again. While Emma is definitely the wiser one, Jamie sure is the funnier one.

"Whatever," Emma retorts, and looks like she's about to say something else when suddenly I hear Jack's voice from the background, followed by her gasp, and next thing I know the screen looks like it got thrown in the air. My phone goes black, but the phone symbols are still active, so the camera must have landed on the floor.

"Was that my phone you just threw?" I hear Jack's voice say.

"No!" The twins lied.

A moment later the phone is being picked up and I'm face to face with Jack, startling him.

"Oh shit! Hey, Elsa. What are you–"

"We were trying to invite her over!" Emma interrupts. "You weren't going to do it, so we decided to take matters into our own hands."

"I've been busy all day, dum dum." His attention goes back to me. "I swear I wasn't ignoring you or anything. I've just–"

"No, no," I stopped him before he could continue apologizing, "I've been busy too. The party is tomorrow, so as much as I really missed you, it's a good thing you were occupied. I probably wouldn't have gotten anything done today. As you know, I can talk to you for hours and never get bored."

Jack chuckles. "You know you can ignore me though, right?"

"You say that like it's easy for me."

Jack grins, causing the butterflies in my stomach to act up. "You're obsessed with me."

I'm blushing now, like Jamie had done before. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"What are you doing right now, though?"

"Nothing. Why?"

"Get dressed. I want to take you somewhere. I was going to do it sometime tomorrow or on Christmas, but why not now?" I can hear Jamie and Emma's mischievous ooohhhsss in the background. Jack shushes them, rolling his eyes, and trying to suppress a smile.

"It's late though," I say, noticing the time. "A little past midnight. Speaking of, shouldn't the twins be sleeping right now?"

"We're not tired!" I hear Jamie declare.

"And it's Christmas Break, so we can stay up late." Says Emma.

"You forget though," Jack jumps in again, "That this is about us, not them. So what do you say? You want a late night adventure?"

Knowing that I wasn't tired and didn't have anything else to do (as well as curiosity), I agreed. "Hurry up then."

.

.

.

Because of it being late, there's less people on the road, therefore Jack was able to make it to my house in a shorter amount of time. That means he was probably speeding. Instead of having him pull into our circle driveway, I waited for him by the gates. Just in case my aunt and uncle woke up to his car. His car has been giving him problems for a while–since the beginning of school I think–and I feel like every time it gets fixed, it just gets louder and louder. Probably a sign that it's not getting fixed at all.

During one of our many conversations, he took a moment to be vulnerable with me and said how much he hated that he had to carpool with Kristoff to visit me at the hospital because his car was acting up. He wanted to come and go as he pleased, to not have people wait on him and for him to wait on them. He's thought about getting a job at some factory that pays a lot of money but has been pushing it back because he's not ready to work so many hours. Not because he doesn't want to work–he surprisingly really wants to–but he doesn't want to miss out on a lot of things.

"That's one of my fears," he had admitted, "Missing out. Not being there for all the important stuff, good and bad. Ever since my dad died, I realized at a young age that life and time are so precious. You think you have years and years, and for the lucky ones, they do. But for others, they're not so lucky. Before you know it, it's snatched right out of your hands, and you're left wondering…where was I?"

I both hated and loved that conversation. I hated how sad he was, but I loved that he was comfortable being vulnerable around me. It means he trusts me, and it's sad that men and boys are expected to not be "Soft". I hate that. It's bullshit. If I ever have a son, I want him to grow up knowing that it's okay to cry and "be soft". Jack is such a great role model. I know Jamie looks up to him greatly. If we have a son, I know our son will do the same.

My stomach flips at the idea of starting a family with him. I'm definitely not ready for kids right now, but just the thought of saying " Our son" or " Our daughter" or even " Our children/kids" is pretty exciting.

"I hope you weren't speeding," I say as I get inside the car. "You got here ten minutes quicker than usual."

"And I hope you weren't standing out here in the cold and dark," Jack responds, giving me a warning look. "Why weren't you inside?"

"The cold doesn't bother me, and plus there's Christmas lights everywhere so it's technically not dark. It's beautiful out here."

"You still could have waited inside though."

"Well, my aunt and uncle don't know I'm gone, and I didn't want your car to wake them up. Sooo…." I trail off so he could figure out what I'm trying to say.

Jack's jaw drops in shock when he realized. "No way! Did you sneak out?!"

I giggle. "Maybe? Rapunzel and Anna know and they're gonna keep watch in case my aunt wakes up and decides to check on us. They even made a fake body out of pillows to put under my blanket. The shape is pretty realistic, to be honest. I was quite impressed."

Jack bursts into laughter and looks at me in a way that turns the butterflies in my stomach into giant Mothmen destroying my insides. "Look at you! You little rebel. Was sneaking out part of the bucket list I made you months ago? It sounds like something I would have added."

I completely forgot about the bucket list he had made for me in the beginning of our friendship. "No, but if I remember correctly you did put 'Go on a date with Jack. Get kissed by Jack. Make Jack your boyfriend. Get married to Jack. Have children with Jack. Grow old with Jack', or something like that."

"Whoa," Jack says, impressed. "Three out of six ain't bad. Let's hope we can accomplish the other three." He winks at me. "Also, how the hell do you remember all that?"

I look away, embarrassed. "I…may or may not have read it over and over and over again to the point where I memorized the last bits by accident."

He laughs again. "Aw, you're so cute."

The compliment makes me smile (actually I haven't stopped smiling). "So I've been told."

Jack shakes his head. "No, no. This is the part where you say I'm cute too. We've been over this before!"

I gently shove him, trying not to laugh due to the pain my cheeks were feeling from smiling so much. "Yeah, yeah. So where are you taking me?"

"It's a surprise. So with that being said," he reaches over, leaning on my thighs, and opens up the glove compartment, taking out that damn blindfold. "Put this on."

I stare at him, bewildered. "Jack, this is like, what, the third time you've done this? You seriously can't just trust me enough to keep my eyes closed?"

He shakes his head. "Nope. I don't want to risk it."

"Wow," I sigh, pretending to be sad, "you must really not trust me then."

"Girl, shut up and put the blindfold on. Unless…" He wiggles his eyebrows then. "Unless you want me to put it on you? It won't be as seductive since it's just one of those you slip over your head and not the ones you tie up, but I can make it hot."

I put the blindfold on before he could move (and so it could cover some of my blushing face). "Nope," I say, seeing nothing now. "I'm good. Carry on."

I hear him chuckle. "Better luck next time then, huh?"

"How often do you plan on blindfolding me?"

There was a brief moment of silence, and I just knew he was thinking some perverted thoughts. But to be honest, I didn't mind it. It…got me thinking about some things too.

"That's for me to know, Snowflake, and for you to sit back and enjoy." He eventually says, his tone sound smug.

I would have rolled my eyes if they were compressed behind the blindfold. "Lucky me." My comment was meant to be sarcastic, but I was smiling, so he probably didn't notice the sarcasm. "I guess we should probably get going then, right?"

"Yep. And you better not fall asleep on me."

"No promises."

I don't know how long we were in the car for, but it was a while. We talked and listened to music, enjoying each other's company like we always do, except for the fact that I couldn't see him. At some point though, I did get weirded out. Why? Well, I go from being blindfolded in a car to being blindfolded in the woods. Jack was helping me walk so I didn't trip over any tree limbs or rocks, and wherever we were walking to also took a bit of time. It felt like we were walking forever.

"Jack, I hope you know that I am never letting you drag me out in the dark of the night ever again. I can't believe you brought me to the woods. I swear, if you kill me, I am coming back to haunt you and–"

"Babe, I'm not going to kill you–"

"That's what every killer says to their victim–"

"Do I look like a killer to you?"

"I can't see you."

"You know what I look like."

And back and forth we went for the next few minutes until finally we made it.

"Okay, you can take the blindfold off now." And to my surprise, he sounds nervous.

I do as I'm told, dropping the blindfold in shock.

A familiar and beautiful body of water laid in front of me, frozen and glazed over with frost that also covered the large surrounding trees. Other trees that circled around the frozen water were lit up with gold Christmas lights, giving us enough light to see each other and the nearby surroundings. The setting was wonderfully romantic, but the familiarity of the area and its history left me feeling sick to my stomach. And when my eyes notice the marks on the frozen water–similar marks that reminded me of those left by ice skates–my suspicion is confirmed. This place is exactly what I think it is.

This is where the accident happened.

This is the pond.

I'm back at the pond.