Like A Dream

"How was it?" 

She yelped, forced to step back at the sudden spoken sentence. She was about to scold the boy for merely speaking up whenever he felt suited to but she knew that it would've entered one ear and simply shoot through his empty head. A person like him had no care for such petty things and, anyway, he found amusement in startling her. 

So Ebony sent him a friendly smile and said a simple, "Fine." 

The boy was sitting, cross-legged, on one corner of her mattress. Beside him leaned his always present staff. Jack was gripping a handful of her blanket in-between a fist. He usually wasn't one to fidget under any circumstance but Ebony waved it off, thinking she was just over analyzing things. 

Placing herself next to him, she laughed. "I thought you would've just followed me to her house," she joked. "Or did you? And just pretending that you actually didn't?" She thought the accusations were fairly funny and laughed at her own humour. She felt a little light-headed than usual.

Icy blue orbs caught her attention. Ebony was almost shocked at the intensity of his stare and immediately silenced herself. His glare didn't waver as he said, "Not everything's about you, Bonbon." He said the nickname with such hostility it didn't even sound like his own voice.

Fear melted itself into the knots of her stomach. She gazed at him in surprise, dread etched into the flecks of her hazel eyes. Normally she would've laughed then reply with an equally snarky comment and they both would continue to do so. But this wasn't said on a light tone and no signs of humour lagged behind the comment.

Ebony furrowed her brows together. Her orbs stayed to stare intently at the boy in front of her. Their gazes weren't connected anymore and his eyes were everywhere else but her. He seemed to be in the middle of an inner battle with himself. She allowed him a few moments for the accumulation of thoughts. She would've also said this aloud but was afraid of his next reaction. 

The winter spirit mentally slapped himself, whispering curses under his breath. He hadn't meant to scare her like that. He just didn't know how to approach her right after the thoughts that had been reeling in his mind for a while now. Apologizing sounded inviting right this moment but he knew he'd say the word sorry an awful amount of times in the upcoming conversation. 

"I was only kidding," she mumbled. Ebony knew that he understood she was merely fooling around with him but she had said it anyway, just incase he was clueless. She also knew that these scenarios were in her mind because it was the only thing she wanted to know about. 

Her eyes floated towards his face again. Their gazes collided. Not even after half a second, Jack lowered his sorrow filled orbs and angled his face away from hers. "I know." A mournful sigh escaped his parted lips.

Ebony sunk her teeth onto her bottom lip, biting away. Trying to bite away the rising nerves or, even better, wishing that she could bite away what was to come next. She needn't be Einstein to feel the heaviness of their atmosphere - and that Jack Frost wasn't one to mumble and sigh - and know that the aura he was sending away wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows.

Hazel eyes studied his expression. Something she remembered he hated; he disliked when people scrutinized him (not that there were many people to do so) as he was used to being the one who examined people, their behaviour and their tendencies. What else could you have done in the past three centuries or so?

Ebony waited patiently. She knew he was worse than her about these type of discussions. Either he prolonged the talking by running away and hiding for a ridiculous number of days or he danced around the main problem by procrastinating and mumbling unnecessary things.

She sat still, not watching him. She tried pushing down the impatience building up. If she struck out at him, he would've probably waved the whole thing off and begin fooling around. She did feel sorry for him though. He hadn't the chance to experience situations like this - he lacked emotional connections with someone. Something like this - their relationship - must've been a big step for him and Ebony could only respect that. 

"I just wanted you to know that...that," his voice trailed off. Her eyes flicked up to his face and the only word she came up with to explain his expression was pain. They both looked expectantly at each other. "I want you to know that...I-I..." He emitted a heavy sigh. 

"I love you."

Her lips parted into an 'O' shape. Ebony struggled to understand the concept and had begun to wind up her brain, wondering if she had misheard what had been said. He flashed her a small, nervous smile. She was just as nervous as him and was afraid she'd give him the wrong reaction. 

After all, how does a seventeen year old reply to an I love you from a supposedly mythical being meant only for children. They both knew that they had fallen for each other a long time ago but they've never approached the subject so straightforward as this before. The word love - shouldn't it be such a simple word? 

Well, why was she having such a difficult time trying to work out how to respond then? 

Fighting the inner battle causing chaos in her mind, Ebony did the only thing she thought to be proper. She kissed him. She had reached forward, clasping her wrists behind his neck, bringing his face in front of hers and pressing their lips together with an underlying tone of desperation.

They had only kissed a couple of times before, counting their first encounter. The couple was still uncertain with how to overcome the hesitation to go further than pecks and slight kisses. Ebony didn't crave for a heavy make out session but she was a teenager who needed to be held and kissed with passion. 

This kiss seemed so distant from the others though. Aside from the physical difference - with Jack tugging at her bottom lip and the pleads for entrance - there was something dark lurking in the lip-lock. It seemed as if Jack never planned to let her go after this. That he wanted them to remain in this position for the rest of eternity. 

His hands slid down her forearms and he began pushing her back. Ebony took this as sign that they were going further than she expected. She slid her arms out his grasps and gripped the material of his jacket between her fists. 

Their kiss became sloppy and hurried while Ebony stretched her legs out, her back inching closer and closer down to the mattress. She pulled Jack down with her - his fingers clasping around her wrists with a sort of demand. She tugged at his jacket and he made a sound in her mouth. 

"Jack," she mumbled, breathless when she eventually pulled away from the kiss. She couldn't believe her ears when he moaned. At least, that's what she thought the sound was.

He unwrapped their limbs from each other. Ebony frowned, mildly confused at the gesture. "Jack?"

"I just wanted to say I love you." 

She smiled affectionately at the boy in front of her. "I love you too." A slight warmth crept across her cheeks as she made the confession. It was harder to say you love someone  on a romantic level than it was to say to a friend. She never knew why but that was how it went. 

"No," he muttered.

"W-what?"

He sighed, reaching forward to touch the hands on her lap. Cupping his hands around hers, he began rubbing small circles on her wrists, eyes focused on their entwined fingers. This gesture reeled Ebony back to the past when confessions were made and truths surfaced. It was bittersweet but this time, something allowed her to think it was going to be mostly bitter. 

"You can't-you can't kiss me like that." She was about to defend herself but he stopped her simply with a glare. Her lips pressed into a tight line. "I love you and I want you to know it. That no matter what I'll say next...it won't change the fact that I love you," he said. "And I'm doing this because I don't want you hurt."

"Jack...what are you saying? I-"

"I'm saying that this is the last goodbye," he snapped. 

Ebony swallowed down the painful lump in her throat. That word - it always seemed to pick a nerve. Goodbye at most times weren't good at all, she just hoped this was one of those rare times. "You mean goodbye as in I'll be going then I'm coming back and I'll never have to leave again?" she inquired, her tone heavy with hope. False hope.

The winter spirit scoffed humorlessly at this. "Last goodbye means what it means. That I'm leaving and..." he strained to get the last words out. "And I'm never coming back."