Rivals (A Jelsa Story)

Chapter 22 - Courting in the Court

A/N: Artwork is by jensa_kj

Jack's POV

After a few more games, we decided to grab lunch. Rapunzel suggested a café down the street that all the Disney kids said they liked, so we decided we'd check it out. As soon as we walked in, I suddenly felt self-conscious about North coming in behind me.

"You don't have to follow me to lunch, do you?"

He laughed humorlessly. "After everything you pulled yesterday, I'm afraid you've lost that privilege. Don't worry; I won't sit with you. But you're not leaving without me."

I rolled my eyes as he walked over to another table and sat down.

"Look on the bright side," Bunny said. "At least he's not sitting too close."

"Yeah, I guess," I sighed as I went to sit down. Elsa sat in the seat next to me.

"How much do you guys come here?" Tooth asked.

"Oh, once a month at least," Elsa replied, picking up her water glass. "It's close, not too expensive, and the food is pretty good."

"Well, I look forward to trying it," Hiccup said, opening his menu.

I skimmed the menu and picked out something I thought looked good. The place had a nice ambiance; it felt very bright and homey, with a mix of bright colors and earth tones.

A waiter came and took our orders, and a few minutes later came back with our food. I got a cappuccino and a sandwich. It was a really good sandwich.

Naturally, the dance that night came up in conversation. I gathered that Anna, Rapunzel, and Merida were also on the planning committee, the way they were talking about it with Elsa. I wasn't sure how cool a high school dance could look, but these girls all seemed to have good taste. I was starting to get excited. 

As soon as everyone was finished we headed back to the school, North in tow. Elsa and I walked behind everyone else.

"Are your parents coming to the dance tonight?" Elsa asked on the way back.

"I didn't know parents were allowed to come," I replied. "I guess not, since I never said anything about it."

"I'm pretty sure they sent out an invitation."

"Oh. Well, my mom hasn't said anything to me. Although showing up randomly to one of my school dances just to embarrass me would be her style," I muttered.

Elsa laughed. "I wouldn't be upset. Your mom seems really nice. Both my parents are coming."

"Yeah? How do you feel about that?"

She shrugged. "They come to just about everything. They want to see me give the speech at the closing ceremony. It's a little much sometimes, but I'm just glad they're so involved in our lives."

"That does sound like it would be nice." It had been a long time since I'd felt like my parents were interested in being that involved in my life.

Elsa seemed to sense the drop in my mood and changed the subject. "Do you know what you'll wear?"

I snorted. "No idea. I'm sure I'll find something in my closet. Probably just wear the same thing I wore to prom."

"I mean, that works."

"What about you?"

She smiled sheepishly. "I've had my dress picked out since we decided on a theme. I got a little too excited."

"Hey, nothing wrong with planning ahead."

"Well, it's nice to finally meet a kindred spirit! Everybody always judges me for this kind of thing, like when I started planning my eighteenth birthday party six months in advance and my whole family thought I was crazy."

"Oh, I'm not saying I do that, I just admire that about you." I gave her a lopsided grin. "I'm a very 'in the moment' type guy. I pretty much just wing everything."

"Oh, well, that works, I guess." She chuckled lightly. "I don't think I could ever do that, though."

I shrugged. "It's not for everyone, and I respect that."

We got back to the carnival, and I started to head to a pretzel stand until Hiccup grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

"Dude, what the heck?" I said, glaring at him. No one gets between me and my pretzels.

"Do you wanna go to the dance with Elsa?" he asked excitedly.

"I thought we were all going together?"

"No, I mean like with her."

I just looked at him. "That does not provide further clarification."

He rolled his eyes. "Do you like her?"

"Bro, I don't know, I've known her for like a week. I thought you guys were done with that."

"I don't know about everyone else, but I'm not. Anyway, if you wanna go with her, you should find out what color her dress is so you can get a tie and pocket square to match. Oh, and get her a corsage."

"Okay first of all, what even is a pocket square? Like what's the point? Second of all, I'm not 'going with her' so we can just drop that. And I know what tie I'm going to wear."

"Please tell me it's not that hideous one you wore to prom." I jumped as Tooth appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "That tie needs to get burned."

"What's wrong with my tie?" I asked, a little defensive.

"Sorry, but that color just does not look good on you. Or anyone, for that matter. I don't even know why they made a tie in that color."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, that's my only tie, so what do you suggest I do?"

She bounced on her toes. "We're going shopping after school!"

What did I just get myself into?