The Right Guy | Jelsa/Helsa

Chapter Sixteen

Jack looked at his reflection in the mirror. It seemed like stitches were covering half of the skin on his face. His eyes were red from a mixture of sleep deprivation and crying. His hair was just a mess- but then again it usually was anyway. He looked skinnier than he normally did; weaker. However, he could not care less. He finally had the chance to speak to Elsa again.

Wheeling himself out of the bathroom, he felt his adrenaline starting to increase for the first time in days. He left a note on his bed to inform his mother where he was going, and turned to Idun with a grin.

"Let's roll."

"Pun intended, I assume?" Elsa's mother asked.

"Of course."

❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆

"Her dad and Anna have gone to the cafeteria so that you two could have some time alone. You'll be okay?"

"Yeah... thank you, Idun." He smiled up at her. She gently patted his shoulder and backed away from the door. Jack pushed it open and found himself holding his breath.

"I heard." Elsa said, the moment she saw him. Jack suddenly exhaled, feeling like he could finally breathe again. Although, he was a little confused. He wheeled over to her and- with great struggle, he heaved himself from his chair onto the side of her bed.

"Heard what?" He frowned at her.

"I heard you. When I was sedated." She smiled at him. He looked at her face and realised she looked more like herself than she had done the last time he saw her. Holding eye contact with him, Elsa slowly outreached her hand, still connected by tubes to the machines. Her fingers tapped his gently, and he realised with a delayed reaction she wanted him to hold her hand. He turned more towards her and took her delicate hand in both of his, careful not to squeeze too tight.

"Oh... that." He smiled down at their hands, and their intertwined fingers. "I just... I didn't want you to feel alone. I wanted you to know I was here, and that I was okay. And that, I wanted you to be okay too."

"I am okay." She gave his hand a weak, but reassuring squeeze. "I mean I'm better now that I'm not in a coma but-"

"Oh shut up, it wasn't a coma, the doctors were keeping you sedated on purpose." Jack laughed and Elsa laughed too, for the first time since waking up. It hurt Jack's ribs just as much as any other time he'd laughed these past three days, but all of a sudden it didn't matter. Because he was laughing with Elsa.

He looked up from their hands to her face and his joyful expression sunk. "God... I was so worried about you Elsa Arens. If anything had happened to you-"

"But- it didn't. I'm fine. We're both fine. Because of you."

Confusion washed over him. Because of him? He was the one who crashed the car, he's the reason they weren't fine.

"What are you talking about?"

"You being a hero obviously." She squeezed his hand again, but Jack let go. He placed his hands on the bed, by either side of Elsa's hips, leaning closer to her.

"I'm not a hero-"

"Jack, you got us both out of the car wreckage before the tree flattened us." All Jack could think to himself was- what the hell? Elsa recognised the confusion plastered across his face and understood that he didn't know what she was taking about.

"My mom told me you've been awake for three days, you haven't asked about the accident?"

"I guess I was too worried about you to care. What happened?"

"Well, I think we rolled off the road into a ditch and hit a tree. I was unconscious for most of it but... I came to- only for a moment, and you were carrying me away from the car. That's when the tree fell, and I blacked out again. I guess... you did too." Elsa watched Jack react to this new side of the story. He looked shocked, mainly. But also a little relieved.

"I don't remember it..." He frowned.

Elsa placed her hands over his, which still laid flat either side of her. Slowly, she sat up, expecting Jack to move backwards, but he didn't. He stayed where he was, leaning forwards. Once she was sitting up properly, their faces were merely a couple inches apart.

She raised a hand up to his face a traced the line of a sutured cut in his eyebrow. She let her hand fall away from his eyebrow and gently stroke the side of his face. That's where they stayed, for a while. Staring into each other's eyes, not speaking.

Then Elsa wrapped her hands around his neck and took him in a warm embrace. Jack hesitated before wrapping his big arms around her back. And then that was where they stayed.

Jack moved one of his hands up from her back and began stroking her hair. His ribs were starting to ache but he didn't care, he didn't want to let go of Elsa ever again. He turned his head towards Elsa's and kissed her temple, not taking notice of the hairs that were sticking to his lips. Was this a romantic gesture? He couldn't care less. He was just so overwhelmed with relief that she was okay, and that he had contributed to that factor.

He felt Elsa start to pull away but he didn't want her to. As she leaned out of the hug, he pulled her face into his, and she gasped slightly. And then they were kissing. They were kissing for all of three seconds. And then the door opened.

"Hey Els, they only had vanilla pudding so-" Jack had practically flung himself as far away from Elsa as possible and consequently was laying down on the end of her bed. Elsa just looked slightly flushed; her hair fluffed up a little, and her mouth hanging open. Anna stared at them with narrowed eyes.

"What's goin' on, guys?" She asked, incredibly suspicious.

"Nothing." They said in unison. Jack tried to sit up but when he tried, a sharp breath escaped his mouth through gritted teeth. He really needed to start caring that he'd broken two ribs.

"Are you okay?" Elsa asked, staring at him. He looked like a piece of overcooked spaghetti spread out across the end of her bed.

"Yep, I'm fantastic." He managed to hoist himself up with a small groan as opposed to a deafening scream- which was what was happening on the inside. "I uh- I need to go I have to..."

"Oh- yeah, sure. I'll see y- uh- see you around, um... buddy." Elsa pretended to adjust her pillows which were actually perfectly positioned already.

"Sure thing pal." Jack smiled, avoiding eye contact, before wheeling himself away. Anna stepped to the side to let him pass, and then stared at Elsa in disbelief.

"Okay what just happened?"