Rapunzel quickly punched her answering machine, seeing she had multiple unheard calls. "Hey, it's Jackson. Raps, it must be months, huh? I can't wait to talk to you. I'm in Chicago at the Drake Hotel. I guess I'm, uh... Okay, well, call me, 4:00 in the morning, whatever. We gotta talk. Bye."

Not that message again. Okay. She just needed to call him. She just had to know what was so important. Maybe he really was going to ask her to marry him. She clicked the call back button and placed her phone to her ear. "Good evening, the Drake Hotel. " a woman answered.

"Hi. Yes, I'm calling for Jackson Frost. But seeing as it's so late, could you let me leave-"

"One moment please." The woman replied, completely ignoring Rapunzel's request. Rapunzel groaned and ran her hand through her hair. God, what was she thinking?

"Uh, hello?" Jackson answered. Rapunzel thought about how she should answer him. They hadn't talked in forever and she didn't want it to seem awkward. After all, Jackson was her best friend.

"Hello. You've been enrolled in the obscene caller of the month club." She replied in a silly accent. She heard laughter on the other end, making her smile. She still knew how to make him laugh.

"Hey, beautiful. It's so great to hear your voice. I miss you," He greeted, making her grin like a fool and twirl her hair around her finger. "I've been calling you for over a month now, you know."

"Well, I've been on a book tour." She replied, hoping that was enough for him. In all honesty, she was just ignoring him. She was afraid about what he wanted.

"I figured you were out of town." He stated.

"No... I mean, my machine eats all of my messages and-"

"Or you're just averaging 30 days to return a call." He spat, knowing it was true. Oh. That hurt a little. Just because he was right didn't mean he had to point it out. Geez, he could have been a little kinder on his words.

"Well, it's less when it's you." She softly smiled, hoping he didn't think she hated him.

"Look, I have to ask you something, something incredibly important. And if you turn me down I don't know what I'm gonna do." Oh my god. He was really going to ask her. He was going to ask her to marry him!

"You know, if I could just tell you one thing first," she interrupted, wanting to get what she wanted to say in first. She sighed. This was tougher than she thought. "Um, well this is... This is probably going to hand you the biggest laugh of your adult life, I'm sure." She started as she wandered around the room.

"But I was thinking about you, and I was remembering this, um, unbelievably insane night that we spent in Tucson, like, I don't know, 1,000 years ago. And you probably won't remember this, but-"

"Are you kidding me? I think about that night all the time." He interrupted. Wow. So she wasn't the only one to think about it. She thought that maybe she was just missing their fun times together.

"You do?" She softly asked.

"But it's not why I called."

Oh. Well. Of course it wouldn't be. Why did she think he was going to ask her to marry him? What? Was she insane? They don't think of each other like that. "It's not?"

"I called because I met someone." He answered. She sat down on her bed. Oh boy. That felt like a blow to the stomach. Oh geez, someone was moving on fast. He met someone. That's...that's just great.

"Well, that's great, that's great," she stuttered. That was all that came to her head. "'Cause y-you haven't really, um, seen anybody, have you, since dingbat Jenny Lee?" She fumbled.

Jackson laughed. That was a crazy time. "No, you don't understand. I've never felt this way about anybody. And she's all wrong for me."

Wow, why did she even call him back? Three punches to the face in less than five minutes. "Well, there's a good start." She stated as she stood up and began to pace around the room.

"No, I mean, she's a junior at the University of Chicago. She's 20," He explained. 20? Wasn't she just a little young for him? I mean, he's old enough to be her brother! "Her name's Elsa, Raps. You're gonna love her. She's beautiful."

Oh god. He really did find someone else. And he thinks that she's going to love her? Woah, nonono. Not in a million years. This was just crazy. "And her dad is this billionaire, and he owns the White Sox and some cable empire. And you know I've always been kind of uncomfortable around rich people."

"Sure." Rapunzel replied. Jackson had grown up with almost nothing. He didn't know how to react to rich people. He always felt a little intimidated by them.

"But they're not like that. They're such wonderful people, really. Salt of the earth." He stuttered, trying to show her that he actually felt welcome around them. Her face began to sag, drooping more into a frown the more he explained what was happening.

"So you've... You've met her parents." Rapunzel frowned, crossing her arm across her chest. Wow, he was farther gone than she thought. This wasn't turning out like she had planned. Nothing was going the way it should be.

"Yeah," he answered. Rapunzel hummed. Of course he had already met them. "Raps, we're getting married this Sunday." He explained. Oh. My. God. That comment made her heart stop. She searched for the bed with hand, trying to find a spot to sit down. "Uh, hello?"

"Jackson. Jackson." She fumbled as she fell to the floor, completely missing the bed. Hitting her head to the floor didn't hurt as bad as being told that he was getting married.

"Hello?"

She sat up, anger now coursing through her veins. No. They can not get married. "Jackson, it's Wednesday night. How can you possibly be getting married on Sunday?" She panted.

"Actually, it all starts tomorrow, and it's one of these four-day weddings it's all of the traditional events, and like ten million people flying in from all over the world." He laughed. The idea of so many people coming to his wedding just blew his mind.

"Okay, okay, okay, but aren't you working this weekend? I mean, is that responsible?" She questioned, hoping he would call off the wedding till after the baseball season was over.

"Well, the Sox are at home, and Sports is letting me do a profile on the Big Hurt. You know, Frank Thomas... Wait. What do you mean, 'irresponsible'? Taking off a weekend to get married?" He questioned. Now Rapunzel wasn't making any sense. He sighed. "Raps, I'm scared."

"Maybe we should talk about this." She offered.

"I need you," He quickly added. "If you can't come and hold my hand, I'll never get through this. Please come. Please." He begged.

"Well-"

"Oh, man, I can't wait for you to meet her." He smiled.

xxx

"Listen, Raps, why don't we just stop and have a drink? You can take a later flight." Eugene offered. She was leaning towards the open window on the passenger side, letting out her smoke from her cigarette.

"Nononono. I'm a busy girl," she refused, holding her cigarette out of the car. She knew Eugene hated the smell of those cancer causing sticks, but he always let her smoke in the car. "I've got exactly four days to break up a wedding, steal the bride's fella, and I haven't one clue how to do it!" She exclaimed.

"He adored me for nine goddamn years. Me!" She shouted as they walked into the airport.

"I can see why." Eugene chuckled, leading her towards her flight.

"Look, she has known him for what, like, five seconds?" She questioned, stopping them from walking. "Okay, plus she's got billions of dollars. Plus, she's apparently perfect, okay?" Rapunzel shouted as she pulled her bags onto her shoulders.

Eugene stared at her, thinking she was going crazy. "So don't go feeling all sorry for Miss Pre-Teen Illinois," she stated. She looked around, wondering how to say what she was feeling to Eugene. "I can't lose him, Eugene. I'm gonna bring him back." She rose to her tip toes and kissed Eugene goodbye. He watched her speed walk towards her flight, leaving him alone.

~~~~~~~~~~