Rivals (A Jelsa Story)

Chapter 32 - Beware the Frozen Heart

A/N: Art is by Fayrine on Twitter.

Elsa's POV

The Debutantes meeting the next week was absolutely buzzing. Our annual end-of-year ball was coming up. It was the group's biggest event of the year, and everyone was always super pumped about it.

I got home from school that day and lay on my bed, thinking. We were expected to bring a date to the ball. I was pretty sure Merida and I were the only two people in the whole club who weren't already dating someone, and I had no idea who I would ask.

I'd gone with Merida the first two years, and Tadashi last year. I figured I might as well ask Merida if she wanted to go together again.

I got my phone out of her bag and called her. "What's up, girly?" she said, answering.

"Wanna go to the Debutante ball together?"

The other end was quiet for a second. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?"

"Uh, sorry lass, I thought you already had a date so I made other plans."

"Oh?" I paused. "Wait, who did you think I was going with?"

She chuckled. "You're kidding."

"What?"

"Jack, of course."

"What? Mer, I've barely talked to him since the dance. Why did you think I'd asked him?"

"Because you guys are clearly into each other. But that's not the point. Sorry, I can't go with you."

"Alright, well, that's okay. Talk to you later." I hung up and lay back down. Welp, back to square one.

I did have an option I hadn't tried yet. But I was hesitant to.

Oh, what the heck, I thought finally. I rolled over onto my stomach and picked up my phone again.

Jack's POV

I'd just gotten off the phone with Tooth when I got another call, this time from Elsa. I felt the corner of my mouth creep up. We'd barely talked since last weekend at Hiccup's, when we'd woken up curled around each other, but I couldn't stop thinking about her.

I answered. "Hey, what's up?"

"Um, hey." She sounded nervous. "I... wanted to ask you something."

"Okay."

I heard her take a breath. "Well, we – the Debutantes, I mean – we have this ball at the end of the year, and everybody's supposed to bring a date, and usually I go with Merida but I just talked to her and apparently she's taking someone else, so I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go? With me?"

Was she...asking me out?

Elsa's POV

I grimaced and almost held the phone away from my ear, dreading what he would say. The other line was quiet for way too long.

Finally, he went, "Yeah, sure. I'd love to."

* * *

"And he said yes!" Anna squealed and bounced in her seat.

"Please, for the love of everything, don't make that sound while I'm driving." I grimaced and stared at the road.

"But it's exciting! He's gonna be your date!" She sighed dramatically and fanned herself. "I can practically hear you reciting your wedding vows."

"Anna!" I groaned in frustration. "Look, I only asked him because I didn't know who else to ask."

"But you like him, right?"

"No! I mean, I – I don't know!" I sighed. "Maybe I do. But so what? We talked about it, and neither of us are ready to date right now. So it doesn't matter."

Anna was quiet for a long time. Finally, she spoke up. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think maybe you're afraid to be in a relationship again after what happened with Merida."

I bit the inside of my cheek. "Why do you say that?"

"You haven't dated anyone else since her. Tadashi and Edward asked you out, and you turned them both down."

"Okay, Tadashi and I are friends and that's the only way I see him, and Edward, I just wasn't interested."

"But do you get what I mean? You clearly like Jack, but you're afraid to do anything about it. Are you just afraid of getting hurt again? Or do you think you're unlovable or something? Because you're not, Merida was just –"

"Okay! I see your point. I don't wanna talk about this anymore." I realized I was gripping the steering wheel so tightly my arms had started hurting. "Let's just...get to school."

Anna gave me a worried look, but she didn't say anything else.

A/N: Kinda short chapter I know, I'm sorry. Couldn't come up with anything else that seemed appropriate to tack on.

Gonna be going on hiatus for a while to work on another project. I may upload on this story from time to time but they'll be slowed wayyyy down (esp. since I'm starting school again soon). Not giving up on this story, I still plan to continue it, I'm just taking a break.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Happy reading and lots of love,

Livi