Look at Me

Progress

March, 2006

Elsa couldn't help herself and she kept her eyes locked on her phone to see if it would buzz. She'd asked Jack to let her know if he made back safe and keep her updated on what was happening. She hadn't told Anna why their date had been cut short, and the fact she was so anxiously staring at her phone with her nail in her mouth only worsened her concerns.

"Sis?" Anna said.

"Hm?"

"You're not eating. You love Chinese."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She started to make herself a plate.

"What's going on with you and Jack?"

"Nothing's going on. Something just happened in his family and he's gonna be in Allentown for the night, at least that's what he thinks."

"What kind of family stuff?"

"His grandfather's in the hospital. He said it was a stroke, but I still don't know if it's serious or not."

"Hm. He might as well stay if he needs to; spring break's only in a few days."

"He's only an hour away. Though, I imagine the drive back and forth is still a pain in the ass."

Anna began to ponder something. "You know, Hiccup told me Jack's really close with his grandfather." She got Elsa's full attention then. "Apparently after a lot of bad stuff happened to him, he started spending summers with him, things like that... What I'm saying is Jack might really need you if anything gets worse."

"Did he say what kind of bad things?"

"No? Just a lot of shit happened when they were teenagers." She stuffed more food in her mouth. "Shit happens to everyone, right?"

"Of course." She shouldn't be so nosy, but she couldn't help it. Her curiosity was both her best and worst quality. She wanted all the details of everything before she tried to put together the full picture. She'd thought once they became official, Jack would be more open with her... maybe he just needed more time. Elsa should understand that better than anyone. Being her boyfriend didn't make him obligated to spill out his life story to her, but she wished during a time like this he'd be quicker to answer her when she was worried about him.

He's probably keeping his family calm. He's mellow like that. Just relax. It wasn't personal. Elsa felt more at ease and started to eat her dinner.

The hours went by; Elsa had a shower, got some work done, emailed a few more job applications. All in all, she had a rather productive evening, but during that interim, her phone didn't ring once. She realized by the time she'd gotten done with all her goals for the day, it was past eleven p.m. Anna was dead asleep in her room, and both girls slept with their doors shut.

Elsa knew for a fact Anna couldn't hear her, since once time Anna fell asleep with her laptop playing music and Elsa slept the entire night unaware. Jack had to be awake unless the day's events left him exhausted emotionally and physically. He'd also gotten up early just to see her, so his own sleep schedule must be out of sorts.

She just had to check up on him. A five-minute talk (if he even answered) and then she'd let him be. It wasn't being clingy, was it? She was just concerned for a dear friend. Elsa held the phone to her ear and let it ring. It only rang about three times before he picked up, he sounded rather discombobulated. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Elsa."

"Hey." He sounded like he'd just ran a mile. "What's up?"

"I was just calling to check on you... Are you okay?"