Snowflakes Fall and So Did I

~CHAPTER 81~

~Elsa~

*Friday, February 14*

Three weeks have passed since Jack first watched me skate since the wreck. He was very adamant about us coming every day, so I could practice and so he could have a reason to come to the rink and not lose his connection to it, even though he can't be on it.

He has two more weeks until he can take his cast off. Somewhere between February 23 through the 28th. He has to do a month of physical therapy before he can get back on the ice. So sometime in the beginning of April, if all goes well with his physical therapy, he'll be skating again. But that's only if everything goes well. And as happy as I am for him, I'm also sad. The hockey season ends in March; he won't be skating until April. It's such horrible timing.

He won't be able to get the Burgess University Hockey Scholarship he yapped to me about all those months ago. He was so looking forward to it. He'll still be able to skate once the Fall Semester begins later this year, but he'll have to go through the hassle of try-outs. The scholarship was a guaranteed ticket to the team. He'll also have to pay out of pocket for it, as well as other college stuff. Before the accident, I had told him that I didn't mind paying for all of his college. Every cent for however many years. I didn't care what the cost was; I knew it would be something I could afford.

The perks of being rich.

"I just thought, with it being Valentine's Day," Rapunzel says, breaking me from my thoughts, "that he would have gotten me flowers or chocolates or both or...something. I don't know. I would have even loved a hand-drawn picture of the two of us. I've told him before that when it came to gifts, he never had to go all out. I got him a $200 gift card. It was going to be $500, but the store was out of those."

I don't know Flynn's standards, but that's probably going all out for him. Oh geez, I hope she didn't make him feel insecure about not getting her anything.

"Well, the point of gifts isn't to receive one in return, you know." I remind her. "It's to make the person happy. It made him happy, right?"

"Yeah. His eyes nearly flew out of his sockets." She giggles, but then frowns a moment later. "But then he got upset for not getting me anything. I pretended not to care, but deep down, I did, and I think he could tell, which made him feel worse, and now I feel bad. And we couldn't talk more on it because the bell rang and classes started, and ugh!"

"Hey, don't feel bad," I tried to reassure her, "I'm sure Flynn isn't upset with you. He was probably more so upset with himself—"

"But I don't want him to be upset with himself either," she interrupts, "Even if I was disappointed. That's on me, not him."

"Well," I was struggling to find the right words to convince her. "His feelings are on him, not you. There's nothing you can really do about his emotions. You can only control your own. But whatever you do, don't conceal them. Just...talk with him."

Rapunzel is silent for a moment as she takes in my response, then sighs. "Ugh, you're so wise. I can see why you're six months older. But am I at least still valid in feeling upset, though?"

"Of course," I answer, reflecting on my own feelings from earlier this morning. "Jack didn't get me anything either, but that's because of obvious reasons. We're not dating anymore; he doesn't even remember when we were, and I know that. God, do I know that, and I'm not mad at him, but...a part of me was hoping for something too. A rose or chocolates, or a card. It would be different if he didn't know we used to date, but he does know. We've talked all about that and what we should do about it. So this morning...Ugh, it's so stupid, but I really was hoping for something. And I feel bad feeling disappointed that I didn't, especially because I didn't get him anything either. I wasn't sure if I should, and he probably felt the same. So my feelings are a bit torn. But you know what?"