Meet me halfway (Jelsa)

Chapter 17

18th June 2023

Three bouquets of dried-out red roses by her door. She should've seen this coming. She quickly kicked slightly with her feet, pushing it away from her door. She wasn't even going to touch them.

"This is your apartment?" he looked around when she opened the door and let them in.

"Is it too small, your majesty?"

"Shut up" He glared at her. "It's nice, I love small personal spaces like this"

"Where did you live before moving in with me?" She said while making a mental note to clean the house. She had been here just last week, but it still felt dusty.

"I have a place at Gold Coast" he was still looking around her apartment like he was making a mental note of everything. "I usually switched between Catherine's and my apartment"

"Why Catherine's?" He was a grown man. Why was he still at his grandma's? Elsa knew he didn't have the best relationship with his family.

"As much I hate Catherine, my mom still lives with her. I usually see her at work, but she insists on seeing me outside the work setting"

"Have been always close with your mom?"

"I had no choice" he answered, his phone ringing at that exact moment. "Sorry, I have to take this"

She nodded, watching Jack standing in her apartment. The place she used to run while wanting to escape him. Now he was here, as natural as ever. She thought about how much things had changed between them, from wanting to kill him in her sleep to inviting him into her thoughts. Walking into her room, she closed the door behind her. She needed to get out of these clothes and find something else.

Taking a quick shower, not wanting to keep him waiting for a long time, she slipped into the first blue dress she saw. It was just dinner. She checked if her dress was alright one last time in the mirror, noticing the dress was the right fit. She had gained weight.

She found him on the balcony, looking out to the city. Great, now her apartment smelled like him. Just what I fucking needed. A reminder.

She got closer to him, resisting the urge to reach out and feel his hair and trace her hand on the nape of his neck. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing" his eyes on her lingered a moment more than they should've. "Shall we leave?"

"The guy at the table next to the window" Rapunzel spoke into her glass of wine. "Don't look"

Elsa looked from the corner of her eye, at the blonde man who was seated with another brunette man, both dressed in black suits. "He looks like he talks you into marriage"

"He looks like Adrian" Astrid added, tilting her neck slightly, trying to look at him from an angle.

"Please, Astrid. Dont insult that man by comparing him to Adrian"

"His nose is a bit crooked though" Merida brushed her curls from her face. She had pinned her on top of her head in a bun, but the short escaped curls fell into her eyes.

"Right," Rapunzel looked straight at him. "That's hot"

"Oh god, he's looking at us" Anna uttered and everyone directed their attention elsewhere. "Oh you're back" She looked up at Jack, Hiccup, and Kristoff who were back at the table.

Elsa tensed when Jack pulled a chair beside her.

"What were you talking about?"

"The hot guy at the table near the window"