Rivals (A Jelsa Story)

Chapter 35 - Dance the Night Away

A/N: Artwork is by The Arctic Scarf.

Not really relevant to the chapter, but for a couple of the characters' outfits I'm imagining them as from the Disney Designer Collection - Midnight Masquerade artwork by Steven Thompson. (If you haven't seen this art I highly recommend looking it up - they're absolutely gorgeous!)

Elsa's POV

I looked up in awe at the hall. The dance had always been held here, but its beauty never ceased to amaze me.

Two by two, we ascended the staircase up to the main doors, where we flashed our tickets to the attendants who nodded and let us through. Inside, the ceiling was high and everything was gold. We followed the stream of people down the hall and into the grand ballroom.

It was breathtaking. The ceiling was hung with dark blue drapes with stars projected onto them. Bright white fairy lights hung around the edge of the ceiling and all the banisters. Tables covered with deep blue clothes and centerpieces of white roses dotted the perimeter of the dance floor, which was in front of the stage decorated to look like the night sky.

I heard Jack inhale sharply. "Wow."

"I know," I murmured. Being here felt exhilarating.

"Hi Elsa!"

I turned and saw Snow White and Florian walking over to me. I smiled. "Hi! Oh, Jack, this is my friend Snow White and her boyfriend Florian. This is my friend Jack Frost."

"You're from DreamWorks, right?" Snow White asked.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"That's right, I knew I'd seen you somewhere." She looked over my shoulder. "Oh good, Belle's here. I need to talk to her about something." She smiled at us again. "Well, see you guys later!"

I looked around some more as they walked away. Anna and Ariel had found each other and were giggling about something. Merida was introducing Astrid to Moana and Mulan. I spotted Flynn, Aladdin, Hercules, and Naveen in the corner scarfing down those little bite-sized brownies. The band was playing light-hearted background music – it was still early, so no one was dancing yet.

"Should we find a table?" Jack asked.

"We reserved one." I glanced around at the tables. "It should be over here somewhere."

We walked through to the front. Many of the tables had stands on them with little cards saying who had booked them. I finally found one that said, "Reserved for Gold: Party of 8."

"This is us," I said, waving Jack over. "Our parents should be sitting somewhere around here too."

I saw a lot of my friends and waved to them. More people were coming in – it looked like everyone had showed up. People were starting to migrate to the dance floor.

I turned to Jack. "Wanna dance?"

* * *

I was giggling and wiping frosting off of Jack's nose when Merida and Astrid came up to us. "Mind if I steal your date for a second?" Merida asked Jack.

"No, not at all," he replied. "May I steal yours?"

She laughed. "Of course, go right ahead."

Jack stood and dramatically bowed to Astrid, who rolled her eyes but smiled and took his hand. They walked over to the dance floor.

Merida held out her arm. "May I escort you to the dance floor, m'lady?"

I laughed. "Sure."

She led me over to the other dancers and placed her hand on my waist. I put mine on her shoulder as she took my other hand in hers and started to lead me in a waltz.

"You know what happened between us had nothing to do with you, right?" she asked after a minute, looking at me seriously.

I swallowed hard. I wasn't sure I was ready to talk about that. "Where is this coming from?"

"Anna told me what happened the other day. And I want you to know, it wasn't your fault."

"Yeah you said that," I mumbled, not looking at her.

"I meant it. I love you Elsa, and it kills me to see you torture yourself like this because of something I did." She looked at something behind me. "And I don't want it to be the reason you ruin your chances with someone you really like."

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Jack laughing so hard he snorted. I couldn't help but smile.

"This time will be different," Merida said, reading my mind. "I can almost guarantee that. I've seen the way he looks at you. He's got it bad, Else. Real bad."

I wanted to believe her.

As I gazed at his goofy smile, messy hair, and perfect white teeth, I wanted to believe her so badly. I felt yearning ache all the way to my core.

So I decided I'd do something about it.

"Mind if I cut in?"

I looked up to see Mr. DunBroch smiling at me. I smiled back. "No, not at all. Go ahead." I waved to Merida. "I'll catch up with you later."

I turned around with the intention of going back to Jack, but I saw him dancing with his mother. I smiled softly, watching her glide across the floor and him stumble around a bit.

"Would you like to dance?" Papa was standing next to me, holding his hand out.

I grinned and took it.

"It's hard to believe this is your last debutante ball," he said, twirling me. "We might not get to do another one of these for a very long time."

I laughed. "Don't worry, Papa. I'll always have time for daddy-daughter dances with you."

"I'm glad," he replied, hugging me.

Once the song ended Papa left to go dance with Anna. I looked around for someone I knew to go talk to.

"Looking for someone?" a voice said in my ear.

I jumped and spun around, smacking Jack on the arm. "Don't do that!"

He was grinning like an idiot. "Sorry."

"Elsa! Hello."

I turned around. "Hi Mr. Briar! Oh –" I turned to Jack. "This is my friend Aurora's father, Steven Briar. This is my friend from DreamWorks, Jack Frost."

"Hello, nice to meet you," Jack said, holding his hand out.

Mr. Briar shook it. "You look familiar. Are you Matthew Overland's son?"

Jack cleared his throat. "Um, yes. Yes I am."

"I used to work with him." He laughed. "Well, you certainly are a chip off the old block, aren't you? You look just like him."

Jack's smile became noticeably strained.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. I hope you're having fun!"

"Thank you!" I replied. "We definitely are."

"That's good. Well, I'm off to find my wife. Have a good night!"

"You too!" I watched him walk away and then turned to Jack, who was biting his lip and staring off into space. "Are you okay?"

He just looked at me for a second. Then he said, "Let's go get some air."