Like A Dream

Three days. Almost four.

That's how long Ebony and Jack hadn't seen each other. The longest they'd been apart since they became close was two days and that was only because the boy needed to sort a small predicament consisting of a snow blizzard gone wrong. And even then, he came back after a while or so just to check up on Ebony.

This time he rarely showed up at the young woman's window. When Ebony woke up, in most morning she usually would've woken up to the sound of Jack's frustrating morning hollers or saw a beautiful frost decoration crafted on her window pane. But today her bedroom was abnormally warmer, well as warm as it could get in winter. And she knew it was because of the lacking presence of Jack.

He persuaded her that his disappearance was the doing of a busy winter spirit. He had firmly said that the otter guardians didn't think he was taking his job seriously, even after more than three centuries of experience. Distractions. He said he was too distracted by spending time with her. She thought that it was a proper reason but she couldn't help but feel for it to run deeper than that.

Ebony felt as of Jack was purposely avoiding her. Creating endless excuses as so he didn't have to be forced to stay by her side. She couldn't disagree with the fact that she had unintentionally interrupted Jack's old constant flow of wintriness but was that really the reason why he had been gone for so long?

It had to be her fault. There wasn't any other way that it couldn't have been.

She lifted her thick blue duvet off her body. Sweat stuck to her in ways that she didn't think could be possible in the cold winter air. Her head turned to the side and she eyed the heater beside her bed. Yeah, that was why she had felt so hot underneath the heavy covers. It was set at the highest temperature.

Not because she missed the one behind the beautiful winter season. The one who was unjustly forced to live a life where he'd only be able to make people feel cold when touched. Ebony didn't care for any of that though refused to accept that she missed him. He had after all, indirectly hurt her feelings by lying to her about leaving. Well, at least Ebony guessed that he had been dishonest.

She groaned inwardly. This day was supposed to be an excitement filled day. She was supposed to have fun and enjoy the company of other people whose names didn't start with a j. Today she finally stepped out of her inner circle which included herself and out of the house.

Now all she had to do was get ready. Ebony's bed creaked lightly when she stood up to head out of her room. Towards the one bathroom shared by the two people who lived there - her and her mum. Aspen had moved out years ago to the very next city with a highly thought of university, to fulfil her dream of being a veterinarian. Her dad...well their dad barely made time for the two, living on another continent and all that jazz.

The hot steamy water was turned off and almost simultaneously, cold air wrapped around Ebony's body just like the bath robe she enveloped her bare figure with. She folded her damp hair into a towel and it flopped on her head like a furry turban. She exited the bathroom after collecting her pyjamas and dirty clothes.

Both girls exclaimed at the same time as they collided. Ebony took a step back as she was the shorter one within the pair. "Oh hey you're up," Aspen exclaimed rather cheerfully at nine in the morning.

"Yeah..." Ebony said hesitantly, worried that her sister might've taken some form of euphoric substance. "Morning."

The two girls couldn't have been any more different personality wise. It was probably a result from the eight year gap. But physically, the siblings looked almost identical. Ebony looked similar to Aspen when she was seventeen; but her cheeks carried a rather youthful glow and her eyes weren't as dark as the older ones were. They were almost the same height, with an inch or two of difference.

"If you wanna help me make your breakfast good then you better hurry changing." With that, she bounded down the stairs and disappeared into the kitchen.

She watched her older sister walk away with glee. After being accepted into the school she had applied for and getting her own place, Aspen had noticeably improved from her usual bitter demeanour. Ebony thought that it might've had something to do with being the eldest child. Maybe the quote 'I love better from a distance' was true and applied very much to her.

Ebony blinked back from the daydream about her sister and walked into her bedroom which was adjacent to the bathroom. She closed the door and waited for the definite click before waltzing around her room trying to find a stylish but sensible outfit. She was never the girl to be good at fashion though she couldn't miss an opportunity to dress up.

The film wasn't on until later that night so she decided to choose a better get up later on if needed. She grabbed on a long singlet to wear under a grey pullover shirt, squeezed into leggings and slipped on leg warmers.

Ebony sighed, shoving her feet into her furry slippers, forgetting all her problems for a moment because of the tickling but nice sensation coming from the footwear. She laughed at herself, finding her own doings completely ridiculous. The giggles stopped when she found herself wishing that a certain someone else could be laughing with her - or even at her.

The once again irritated seventeen year old slowly walked down the staircase. Fluffy slippers' soles padding softly against the carpeted floor. Her nose perked up when a godly breakfast scent wafted up and nipped at her senses. She let her nose do the work as her feet easily obeyed, following the luscious smell towards the kitchen.

Even though it was only the two of them in the house at the current time, it solo surprised her to see the older sister slaving over the open stove cooking a meal. Ebony thought that maybe she could help but then she had already smelled the food and her beginning to cook might ruin the food, or worse her appetite.

Aspen turned off the stove and the crackling of what seemed to be cooking bacon slowly died down. She flipped the food on two different plates, evenly dividing each type of food so it was fair. She turned around and smiled at a drooling Ebony. She travelled around the small island kitchen bench, placing the plates in front of them.

It was hard for Ebony to imagine her sister living alone but after the beautiful coking show, she didn't have a doubt in her mind. She was glad she was able to spend some time with Aspen too since they haven't had proper time with each other in the past years. Their mother was away on a business trip for the whole weekend and Monday. Aspen was to stay in the house and be the babysitter, regardless of how many times Ebony argued that she as old enough to be left alone.

As the two indulged in their all too delicious breakfast, Aspen started up a conversation. "So how's school been?" Ebony grumbled something negative in response, her words being swallowed by the chews of her mouth. "Of course, school is school right?" She only nodded in reply.

"Um..." the older girl attempted again from a different angle. She set down her cutlery, balancing her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand. "Doing anything this weekend?"

Ebony finally smiled, swallowing a bit of scrambled egg before continuing on. "Yeah um tonight I'm gonna go to the movies with a friend. He told me that we're gonna meet at the cinemas but could yo-what’s that?”

The older girl scrunched up her eyebrows. "Oh you mean this thing?" Aspen gestured to the silver ring bound around the base of her finger, a small gem in the middle. She laughed. “It’s a promise ring."

Ebony smiled softly. "Brian gave you a promise ring? That's so sweet..." She theatrically faked being faint.

With a big roll of the eyes, Aspen fiddled with the beautiful ring on her finger. It may not have been the ticket to finally getting engaged but it was something that symbolized that Brian did want to be with her. She exhaled deeply thinking about it. "So...uh, do you wanna spend the day with me before going on that date?"

Ebony excitedly bounced her head up and down. It was a few long moments before she realized what her sister had said. She ripped her eyes away from her food to explain to her sister that she thought wrong but Aspen looked occupied, staring at the cream wall probably dreaming away about her boyfriend. Oh well, she made an honest mistake.

Without even approaching anywhere near the topic, the face of Jack Frost blurred its way through her mind. She envisioned the same expression he wore when they were arguing about the small get together with Adrian. It was one she'd never seen upon his face before and it made her wonder.

Curiosity was one of her best and worst traits so instead of shrugging the little problem off, she decided to simply figure out what in the world was wrong with him. She had thought that his disappearance had something to do with their last argument about it.

Ebony wasn't too pleased about asking others for advice about Jack (a person most of the human population didn't believe in) from her sister; but what was a despairing teenage girl to do?

Ebony shoved down all her self confidence about him. Under any other circumstance she could've easily fixed the predicament within her and Jack's circle but somehow it had been getting tougher to do that. She guessed her sister had probably passed a phase like this several times in her life.

She pretended to clear her throat, the cough snapping Aspen out of her pleasant reverie. The youngest sibling, sighed, calming herself down and gently pushed her half empty plate aside. The breakfast had gone cold but she didn't care since there were still so many things revving I'm her mind.

"What is it?"

Ebony's hazel orbs darted sideways. She couldn't look at her sister in the eye completely yet. "Um...I need your opinion and possibly advice." Her eyes snapped up to find a quiet smug looking sister. "Okay, maybe a lot of advice."

A snicker fell from Aspen's lips. "I knew it would be a matter of time before you came begging for my wisdom," she said matter-of-factly. She received a small eye roll before she took the conversation more seriously. "So what is it? Is about your date with Adrian? Cause if you're nerv-"

"It's not a date," she snapped harsher than intended. It was as if Jack's anger had rubbed off on her but it was also the strange of calling going to the movies with her friend, a date. It was enough to get her riled up. "Sorry." Her tone had softened fading back to normal. Aspen's eyes were wider than usual as she was startled by the small outburst. "Sorry," she repeated. "It's not-it isn't about that. A little but not completely."

Aspen smiled lightly at her. "Obviously you're really emotional about it. What? What is it?"

Taking slow deep breaths, it took her a moment longer to form the proper words. "Well when he asked me to the cinemas, and I said yes, someone wasn't exactly happy about it." Ebony figured that saying the person was Jack wouldn't exactly call for a good subject.

"I won't ask for the name. And was this someone a boyfriend? Or a jealous friend who likes Adrian?" she inquired, leaning forward, nearing towards her.

The youngest member of the Plummer family pursed her lips. The first question caused an unsightly blush to bloom on the apple of her cheeks; it wasn't a new sensation when something like that came up. "No, no. Just a close friend, he has no interest in me or Adrian."

"Uh...maybe besides wanting to bury him under six feet of snow?"

"Excuse me?"

Aspen scoffed confidently, as if she had ran the whole situation through her fingers and easily picked out what the commotion was about. "It's pretty obvious that you're friend here is interested in you. You wouldn't be asking me for pointers and advice if you weren't worried," she noted.

"And you wouldn't be worried unless his reaction was freaky or the fact that he reacted at all, scared you." Ebony wasn’t quite certain how she had figured that all out from a few simple sentences. She noticed her anxious stare. "I've been a teenager, passed through young adult and now an adult. You really didn't think that all those years would've rubbed off on me? Plus you're my little sister."

Ebony doubted that the latter part even had anything to do with the haste to sort this out. But that wasn't what caused the deep, etched frown above her eyes. "He's like an older brother...he couldn't. He couldn't possibly," she whispered more to herself. "No, that's why. He's like an older brother he was probably just so worried."

"C'mon E-" she stopped through the middle of the word catching the panic stricken face of the younger one.

Exhaling an obvious noise of relief, Ebony was more than glad her sister hadn't continued the conversation. Even though it was her who had begun the whole controversy. "So," she exclaimed, "when exactly did he give the promise ring?"

She'd had enough thinking about the boy whose goal was probably to frustrate her to no end by leaving. He made her feel like an utter mess, a girl without her best friend, lost. Leaving her to delve and swim in her miserable thoughts of how it was her to blame for his lack of presence.

This time she was going to be the dominant one in the friendship. Ebony had quiet enough of being a walking roller coaster of emotion and decided to teach him a lesson. She had offered for him to come to the cinemas with her and Adrian just to show Jack that he wasn't a bad guy.

But now, she didn't want to wait for him. Instead she would go ahead on the outing with the boy without Jack's consent. She was going to go against her own word and break something she had promised the winter spirit. And this time, Ebony hoped her will power was tough enough to endure the tantalizing cerulean gaze of his and not cave.

"...and just when I thought things had stopped going downhill - only because we had reached the end of the journey - he said words. Words that..." Aspen trailed off. "Are you even listening?"