Im workin on chap 28 of "In the Service of the Queen" but I had an idea so enjoy this oneshot.
Arendelle Flowers
"Wake up Anna!"
Anna shuffled deeper under her sheets, trying to ignore her brother' incessant pounding on her bedroom door.
"Anna, you need to get down to the shop in an hour!" She grumbled incoherently. She shoved the pillow down hover her head trying to drown out Kristoff's yelling.
"Alright, you leave me no choice." Was muffled by the door before it swung open with a bang and the light flicked on. Anna hissed.
"Go get her!" And with that the beast was unleashed upon her.
Anna screamed when the large golden brown Great Dane flew across her dark room and dove into her bed. She screeched as he wiggled and licked.
"SVEN, NO!" She laughed as the beast continued to assault her, tail near beating her to death with excitement. Kristoff leaned against the doorframe with a smirk, arms folded over his barrel chest.
Anna giggled, rubbing her face into Sven's large furry chest, loving on the dog but also avoiding the long slobbery sweeps of his tongue on her face. He plopped down on her, eliciting a grunt from the freckled red head underneath him. His tail beating happily as she scratched the sweet spot just behind his right ear. Kristoff chuckled at his squished sister and the happily panting dog.
"Well, now that your awake, get up. Breakfast is ready." He disappeared down the hall and Sven leapt up, trailing after the shaggy blonde man.
She yawned, stretching her arms up over her head and rolling over to grab her phone off the nightstand. She blinked blearily at the blinding white screen and light from her ceiling fan. It was 5am. She'd gone to bed pretty early last night, she had a couple missed text messages.
One from Merida and one from Rapunzel.
They could both wait until she had some food and coffee in her system, or at least had some clothes on.
She rolled out of bed with a grunt, walking over to grab the black jeans slung over the back of her desk chair and hopped into them, pulling a white tank top out of her dresser and over her head. She shoved her wallet and phone into her pockets as she pulled open the closet door and after a moment of debate settled on the bright green shirt with three golden triangles on the front. She grinned.
Kristoff teased her often for her vast array of geeky shirts. She was convinced he was just jealous of her collection, though he along with Merida her cousin Rapunzel and he longtime boyfriend Eugene often contributed in the form of birthdays and Christmas gifts. She grinned.
She had a closet full of bright, gaily colored shirts bearing icons and phrases from everything from Zelda and Mario to Pokémon, Dark Souls, Bleach and Soul Eater. It was good to be a geek. Way more clothing options. She didn't care if she was 23. She liked what she liked and no one could tell her otherwise.
She ran to the bathroom quickly wrestling her hair into two manageable plaits. She knew if she didn't hurry Kristoff would eat her breakfast. He'd done it before.
The large blonde man was pouring a cup of coffee when she trotted into the kitchen and plopped herself down at the table. Sven sat nearby watching them intently for anything that fell to the floor for him.
He set the cup of coffee down in front of her with a smile before sitting at the place setting across from her.
"Took you long enough, eggs are gonna get cold." He was already shoveling said eggs into his mouth. Anna sipped on the dark hot liquid in her mug.
Black was the only way she could take it when she first got up. Need the bitter liquid to kick start her brain. She hummed in reply, draining half the cup before evening looking at the food on her plate, a pile of eggs and sausage , fork stuck down in a hunk of the meat.
She dug in just as heartily. In 5 minutes both plates were spotless, after they each threw a chunk of sausage to the drooling monster starring at them from his doggy bed in the corner. The kitchen was hastily cleaned and they were both grabbing keys and heading out the door.
Kristoff slung the black messenger bag over his shoulder. He had class this morning. She jumped up to hug him in the driveway.
"I'll see you this afternoon." She squeezed her brothers neck and kissed him on the cheek before climbing into her maroon red mustang and backing out of the driveway. He waved and threw his bag into the beat up old gray pickup truck next to hers.
She drove through the nearby starbucks grabbing a latte before heading down town. She pulled up behind the shop and hopped out, grabbing her ipod out of the console before locking it. She fumbled with the keys before letting herself in through the backdoor. She slapped a hand over the main switch and the florescent light blinked to life, illuminating the shop and the vast array of brightly hued flowers that filled the back room. She locked the backdoor behind her as she walked to the front of the shop., setting her things on the counter.
Kristoff said they had come by and fixed the sign yesterday. She unlocked the front glass door and hopped into the parking lot pivoting around to look up at the neon sign.
The large crisp letters all glowing now, a bright florescent pink.
'Arendelle Flowers'
She smiled up at it despite the tugging in her heart. .
It had been 3 and a half years since her mother had opened the shop, since her lifelong dream had become a reality, even though it had only been achievable through her fathers life insurance.
For six months it did extremely well and to celebrate she'd gone on a week-long cruise, leaving the than 20 and 23 year old Bjorgman siblings to run it while she was away. A simple task, they''d been co running it with her since it opened.
It was 4 days later they learned that the ship had sunk and their mother had not survived.
Anna sighed. She and Kristoff had been running the shop for 3 years now, quite successfully she might add. With one more look at the sign she walked back inside and plugged her ipod into the jack behind the counter.(an addition she and Kristoff had made after the first year.) She clicked through her playlists before settling on 'rock you like a hurricane' It blasted through the shop as she turned on the lamps over the flower displays, grabbing her blue and white striped apron off the hook as she went.
Everything was pretty much ready. At 10 till 6 she remembered the text messages from her friend and cousin.
She slipped her phone out of her pocket, opening Merida's first.
"Hey, you better call Punz before she had a damn stroke." Anna cocked a brow before opening her cousins text.
"CALL ME!" Copper brows shot up into her hairline before hitting the call button.
It rang 6 times before a raspy voice mumbled 'hello?' into the phone.
"What's the big emergency!?" She half shouted into the receiver.
"Oh, Anna!" The voice was still raspy but sounding less sleepy with every second. "You and Merida have to meet me for lunch today! Noon at the snuggly duckling. I have to tell you guys something." Her blonde cousin was nearly squealing into the phone.
"Uh, alright. I'll see you then." The line went dead and Anna pulled back to blink at her phone, like it had the answers to her questions.
She shrugged before texting Merida asking her if She knew about lunch before sliding it back into her pocket. The other red head was dead to the world at this time in the morning.
She walked over and flipped over the open sign.
It was pretty average for a Tuesday morning. She had a few customers. It was 10 now. Kristoff would finish his class in an hour than come to man the shop while she had lunch with Punz and Merida.
The shop was totally empty. She needed to water the flowers. She ducked under the counter and set her ipod on shuffle before grabbing the hose set up inside just for this purpose.
The low strum of a guitar hummed out of the speakers as she set about watering the plants. Her head banging when the guitar exploded.
'One song, about a girl. I can't breathe when I'm around her. I'll wait here, every day, in case she'll scratch the surface." She bobbed around watering the plants but losing herself in the beat of the song, singing along. She got so caught up she music she didn't hear the bell over the door chime.
"Last night, I knew what to say, but you, weren't there to hear it. These lines so well-rehearsed, tongue tied and overloaded." She was belting lyrics now and rocking her air guitar when she caught the sound of giggling.
She whipped around tripping on the hose and falling on her butt with a grunt water from the hose drenched her apron but miraculously not her shirt. The giggling stopped.
"I'm so sorry!" came the apologetic voice from above her. A woman. Anna pulled herself to her feet, dusting off her pants and pulling off the soiled apron.
"It's okay." She smiled looking up Anna nearly gasped. Standing in front of her was possibly the most gorgeous woman that had ever lived. Ever. Anna felt her jaw unhinge.
She was taller than herself, a few inches. A pair of black flats and white jeans over wide hips lead up to dark blue blouse and more pale skin. A long braided mane of platinum blonde hung over her left shoulder. A black purse hung off the other. Full red lips were smiling at her as icy blue eyes peered into her teal ones.
"are you sure?" Anna jolted, she'd been blatantly starring at the woman in front of her. She mentally slapped herself.
'Get it together, Anna.' She chastised herself.
"Oh, yea I'm fine." She cleared her throat. "What can I do for you?" This was a customer she had to remind herself.
"I was looking to get some flowers." Anna bit her tongue. After three years it took every ounce of her will power not to reply sarcastically every time they replied with 'I need flowers' or 'can I buy some flowers.' Florist people! That was all they did.
"Alright, did you have something in mind?" She asked moving behind the counter to shut off her ipod when 'fuck you' by ceelo green started playing. The beautiful blonde looked amused before answering the question.
"A bouquet, for my mother's birthday." She supplied.
Anna scratched her chin thoughtfully.
"Well, the flower for august is Gladiolus. " She pointed to a section of flowers that ran the spectrum of the rainbow. The blonde 'oohed' at the colorful display, walking over to inspect them. Teal eyes followed.
"Gorgeous" She mumbled. The woman looked up and Anna thought her heart had stopped.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" She asked.
"Oh, uh the flowers! Gorgeous aren't they?" She grinned nervously. The blonde offered a small smile and nod.
"They are. They must be well taken care of." Anna puffed up a little.
"Thank you. It took a long time to learn to care for everything in here." The woman picked up a handful of sapphire colored gladiolus and walking back up to the counter.
"You've worked here a longtime, then?" Anna shrugged taking the flowers from her and starting to wrap them in paper. She tried very hard to ignore the tingling where their skin brushed.
"Sorta, since it opened. I'm one of the owners."
'Oh." She didn't see the blondes surprised face so occupied with keeping her eyes down. "Can I have these delivered?" She did look up at that.
"Sure." She dug under the counter and dug out a piece paper and a pen. "Just put the address here and the message if you have one." She took the pen and began to scribble and Anna set them down, telling her the price when she slid the paper back across the counter to the red head. She dug into her purse and handed over said amount and with thank you and bye she was gone. Strutting out the front door. (Anna believed it was strutting and no one was going to tell her otherwise as she watched the blondes hips)
She'd have to call Marshmallow to deliver these.(she'd never call him Marshall no matter how many times he corrected her.) She grabbed them and the paper. She glanced down at the address and noticed the message written underneath in neat looping cursive.
'Happy Birthday, Mom. Love, Elsa.'
Elsa
Anna smiled. Gorgeous name for a gorgeous woman.
Kristoff had a very good idea what had happened when he walked into the shop to find his younger sister starring dreamily into space. He snapped his fingers in front of her face and she snapped up, looking up at his smirking face. She looked away guiltily.
"What?" His smirk widened.
"Scale of 1-10?" He asked as he pulled on his own blue apron and set his messenger back down behind the counter.
"15… and a half" She mumbled. Thick blonde brows jumped up at that. Anna had never given anyone, even supermodels on tv more than a solid 8 and a half.
"Wow, a goddess came to buy flowers and I missed it." He grumbled, looking truly miffed. She nodded distractedly before remembering she had somewhere to be.
"Oh, I gotta go, I'm meeting Merida and Punz for lunch. Sounded like she had some important news to share." He gave a wave as she ran out the back and jumping into her mustang and driving the three miles to the snuggly duckling. She could see Rapunzel's canary yellow Lincoln parked next to Merida's Vespa. She parked next to them.
She walked into the dimly lit pub and immediately her cheerful blonde cousin was standing up and calling over to her.
"Hey, Anna, over here!" She waved her over. A foot from the table Rapunzel pounced her, squeezing the redhead breathless. Anna pried herself free gasping for air.
"Geez, Punz, you're in a good mood."
"You 'ave no idea." Merida intoned. Anna grinned and shared a high-five with the fellow redhead as she sat down with them.
They ordered and were halfway through their meals when Rapunzel finally exploded waiting for someone to ask.
"Eugene asked me to marry him!" She threw her left hand into their faces showing them the modest but fine cut diamond on her finger.
Anna squealed grabbing her cousin in a death grip.
'That's amazing Rapunzel!" They hoped around in each other's embrace excitedly. Merida chuckled at the two.
"Aye, congratz." She lifted her drink. Rapunzel grinned.
"I'm so excited. We already set a date."
'Wow, that was fast. When did you pick?" Anna blinked at her cousin curiously.
"November 12th" Merida spit out her drink. Both redheads turned shocked eyes on the blonde.
"Of this year?! That's three months from now!" Anna crowed. Merida nodded.
"Aye, don't that seem a lil soon?" Rapunzel shook her head.
"We want a fall wedding, but we don't want to wait over a year." She grabbed both of Anna's hands in hers. "I'm really going to need your help, Anna." She pleaded.
"Of course I'll help you Rapunzel. Anyway I can." She assured the blonde.
"'hey, you don't want my help?" The indigence was thick in the Scottish accent. Rapunzel laughed setting a hand on one of Merida's.
"Of course I do, Merida. It's just Anna's really good at organizing and stuff. I need her to be my go to girl. Do you really want that responsibility?" She asked with a small smirk.
"Ner'mind. I'll just assist, Anna." Said redhead giggled.
They all went back to the shop and informed Kristoff who swung the other blonde around in circles, grinning, congratulating her and threatening to rip Eugene's head off if he ever made her cry.
It was noon the next day when Anna ran into Elsa again. Sven needed Exercise and a large new park had opened just a few blocks from their house. It was supposed to be really nice, lots of shade, places to sit, a couple ponds and a tartan tracked running path.
"No, Sven! Heel!" She screamed as she ran through the park after her beast of a dog while he chased a squirrel through the trees, dragging her along behind him.
They rounded a corner and within the 5 feet of leash between her and Sven, Elsa appeared.
She ran into her, quite literally.
"Ow" She hissed, pushing herself up. She finally focused on the body beneath her and felt her whole bode seize.
Elsa was flat on her back rubbing her head.
"I am SO SORRY!" She jumped up and offered her hands to the downed woman. Elsa took them and was hauled to her feet in one quick moment.
"You're quite strong." She murmured. Dusting off her blue jeans.
"I'm so SO SORRY." She waved her hands around like she wanted to check the other woman for injuries.
"It's fine. No harm done." She smiled and Anna felt her heart beat speed up. "We really must stop meeting like this, though I guess this makes us even." She hiked her bag up higher on her shoulder.
"Oh, ha, yeah." She ran her hands over her clothes wiping away the imaginary dirt in order to rid her palms of the sweat building there. Elsa's hands followed the movements.
"Nice shirt." Anna glanced down at her shirt A black tee with a white outlined mushroom cloud. It read: 'Stand back! I'm going to try science!'
Her cheeks pinked. Kristoff had given it to her as a joke the day after she'd set her high school chem lab on fire her senior year.
"Thanks." She mumbled.
"If I recall you were wearing a Legend of Zelda shirt yesterday." Anna tried not to look too surprised by that.
"You're…familiar with the series?" Red lips pulled into a smirk.
"Does Ganon like to play tennis?" Anna nearly swooned. Sexy and a little nerdy? This woman was almost perfect.
"I'm sorry, I don't think we were ever properly introduced. I'm Elsa. Elsa Winters" She held out a perfectly manicured hand. Anna took it, glad she'd wiped off her clammy hands.
"Anna Bjorgman"
A loud bark jolted both of them. Anna turned toward her large furry beast.
"Sven!" She growled and the dog came slinking up to her, knowing the tone well. She grabbed his leash and he sat next to her, head hung and ears drooping.
"I'm still sorry about him, and that." She mumbled.
"Think nothing of it." Before Anna could open her Mouth again her phone began buzzing She pulled it out of her pocket to see an alarm reminder blaring at her.
"Oh shit, I'm gonna be late! Sorry, I gotta go!" She took off running down the path with Sven galloping along beside her.
She'd agreed to look at wedding venues with her cousin at 1. It was now 12:45. Her rushing subsided for one moment and she glanced over her shoulder at Elsa, who was sitting on a bench near where they had been standing, nose buried in an open book.
She spent the next three hours looking at churches parks and everything in between till they found one Rapunzel said was perfect. The ball room of the local 5 star hotel and it was available for the Friday She and Eugene wanted to get married. She forked over the deposit and they left happily.
"Well that takes care of that. Now we just have to find a caterer, a band, get the dresses and tuxes, invitations…" Anna felt herself getting more and more fatigued the longer the list went. This was going to be a long and stressful three months, she could already feel it.
Rapunzel turned to her and grabbed her hands.
"You will be my maid of honor won't you Anna?" Teal eyes widened then glazed over with unshed tears.
"Of course I will, it'd be an honor." The cousins hugged before jumping into Anna's mustang. The stressful months ahead momentarily forgotten.
Kristoff had some time off from his business classes and manned the shop every morning for a week. Everyday at noon Anna would take Sven to run in the park, and everyday Elsa was there, reading a book in the same exact spot of the same bench.
Anna wanted so badly to go up and talk to the beautiful blonde woman. She managed a couple times. Sort of. She would walk down the path that lead past the benches and if Elsa didn't notice her, her nerves wouldn't let her disturb and she would just keeping walking, cursing herself the entire time.
The few times she actually did speak to the blonde it was fairly short and always initiated by Elsa. One thing did occur every time though that week. Once she was finished walking with Sven they would get in the car and she would pound her head against her steering wheel. Muttering curses at herself for being a fucking coward.
Sven would just tilt his head and stare at her in confusion. She glanced at the dog with a huff.
'What? I'm trying!" He gave a woof in reply.
She just sighed and leaned her head against the wheel. She'd never had such a hard time talking to a woman before. Ex-girlfriends hadn't been able to get her to shut up, but getting words out around the blonde beauty was like pulling teeth.
With another sigh she started the car and drove to the shop too the shop.
He did most of the work while she talked to Rapunzel about caterers. Eugene apparently wanted absolutely nothing to do with planning the wedding. He just wanted to marry her cousin. So Punz could have the wedding of her dreams to the last detail, no input from him at all. His only request was that the cake be half chocolate. Anna would have tried her damnedest to make that happen anyway.
"So you'll be there right?" Anna laughed.
"You want me to sample cake with you and you have to ask if I'll be there? Duh" Rapunzel laughed on the other end.
"Right, stupid question, when have you ever passed up on cake, free cake at that?" Anna snorted.
"Are you calling me fat?" The woman giggled again.
"I'll see you in the morning, Anna."
"Hey, is that a yes?!" The line went dead and Anna puffed out her cheek, pouting while glaring at her phone.
"Hey, Kris." He looked up from tending the roses.
"Am I fat?" His eyes became the size of dinner plates and his mouth moved but no sound came out.
Her eyes narrowed with every second he didn't respond.
"No! Of course not. You're the best, prettiest sister a guy could have, have a rose!" He shoved one of the bright red flowers under her nose before retreating to the back room.
She rolled her eyes and twirled the plant between her fingers looking at it and then glancing around at all the vibrant plants in every color and shade. An idea sparked in her brain.
It wouldn't really get her any closer to talking to Elsa Winters but it was something.
The next morning had Anna sitting in her car a blue rose clutched nervously in her fingers. She tied a strip of paper around the stem and wrote the blondes name on it before jumping out and jogging over to the bench. A quick glance around told her no one was watching before she secured it between the benches slats, making sure it wouldn't go anywhere. It was 9 am and she had to meet Punz in a half hour to taste cakes.
With one last fidgety glance at the bench she turned and climbed back into her mustang.
2 and a half hours later Anna trudged through the doors of her house, stuffed to the gills with cake of every kind. Rapunzel had looked just as utterly miserable afterwards. Anna shuttered to think of when they had to try the caterers food. Luckily they hadn't found one just yet. Well, lucky for their stomachs.
Sven bounded through the house, greeting her at the front door. She scratched and petted him till he looked like he was going to fall over.
"You wanna go for a walk?" She could use one after all the cake she'd put away. His ears perked at the sound of the word 'walk' She ran upstairs and changed into a pair of shorts and a black tank top with big yellow words reading 'training to go super saiyan'. She mostly wore it at the gym with Kristoff to embarrass him.
She grabbed Sven's leash off the counter and he was bounding out the front door ahead of her. The whole way to the park he kept his face pressed to the passenger window. She'd have to clean away all the nose art later.
He was woofing at her when they finally parked. She clipped the leash to his collar before getting out of the car and going around to the passenger side and releasing the hounds. Sven jumped out and Anna was quick to grab the leather strap before he could get away.
He galloped across the park, Anna running alongside him. Eventually they both fell in a heap onto the ground. Sven drank out of the nearby pond while she lay panting in the grass.
"Surely that worked off some if not all of that cake." She mumbled to the dog. She closed her eyes and lay there soaking up some sun, which by tonight would become even more freckles splashed across her face.
"Good afternoon, Anna." Teal eyes blinked open to stare into a pair of arctic blue ones. She shot up into t a sitting position.
"Oh, hi, Elsa." She smiled nervously up at the taller woman. "How are you?" She smiled tenderly and it was like Anna's heart was melting. This woman had far too much effect on her for her own good.
"Really well actually." She pushed a few stray gold locks behind her ear. The movement drawing Anna attention there and much to her internal delight the blue rose she'd left that morning was tucked delicately behind the woman's ear. It took every fiber of her being to keep her face neutral and not break into a smile so large it would split her face in half.
"What's that?" An act of god kept her voice even. A red tinge swept over Elsa's cheeks, an act that pleased the freckled woman to no end.
"Someone left it here for me , a secret admirer I suppose." She pulled the flower out of her and looked at it affectionately. Anna allowed herself a small grin.
"Oh yea? Any idea who it could be?" She shook her head
"Someone who knows my favorite color was blue…though that doesn't narrow it down much at all." She admitted placing it back behind her ear.
Anna giggled.
"You do wear a lot of blue." She acquiesced That was why she had picked the color. She assumed it was the woman's favorite. She mentally cheered at her intuition.
'Score for you Anna'
"Do you mind?" She was pulled from her thought to see Elsa reach out toward Sven cautiously. She smiled.
"Go ahead. He's a big baby." Sven sniffed the foreign hand before allowing her to rub and scratch his head, tail thumping in appreciation.
She glanced over at Anna and smirked.
"You're a real nerd aren't you?" She glanced down at the tank top. Anna clasped her hand over her heart in mocking fashion, gasping.
"How dare you. Madame, I am a geek, thank you very much!" She sniffed turning away. Elsa giggled, the sound made the self-proclaimed geeks heart flutter.
"So very sorry." The grin on her face as she scratched Sven's ears told Anna she was far from sorry. "What pray tell is the difference?" Anna was prepared for that, she'd been asked that question many a time.
"Geeks like Dark Souls nerds like second life, it's a fine line." The serious tone and face she delivered these facts with had the platinum blonde woman giggling uncontrollably. She covered her mouth with both hands. Anna grinned and reached out to scratch Sven.
"I'll keep that in mind." She laughed finally bringing it back under control and grinning at her. It made Anna's stomach flip
Elsa stayed and talked with her for a while longer till she glanced at her watch and gasped standing up.
"What?" Anna blinked at the blonde as she brushed grass from her jeans.
I'm sorry Anna, I have to go." She turned and literally sprinted across the park. Despite the fact that she hated to see her go she did like watching her leave. She glanced down at her own watch and gasped. It was 10 past 3! They'd been talking for 2 hours. Anna jumped up and grabbed Sven's leash as she too ran across the park to her car. Kristoff would be wondering where she was. She was supposed to come back to the shop by 1:30.
She was close to speeding as they headed back to the house. She called him and told him she'd been delayed at the park and would be there as soon as she dropped Sven off at the house.
He grunted and told her not to hurry. She was already two hours late.
Two days later she and Merida drove to Rapunzel's. She wanted to talk about the color sceme for the wedding, thus what color the bridesmaid dresses would be.
'I'm surprised you could make it tonight, usually your loaded down with homework." Anna glanced at the fellow redhead as they pulled to a stop at a red light.
"Aye, normally. All literature to, but my professor been actin like a giddy school girl lately. She hasn't been givin us near as much. I think the ice queen found someone that tickles her fancy. She was even late the other day." The scot snickered.
"Ice Queen?" She nodded.
"That's what everyone calls Professor Winters. She'd like ice; I swear her hair is white too." Anna stomach flipped.
"Elsa Winters?" Merida turned and looked at her quizzically.
"Aye, how'd you know?" Anna grip on the steering wheel tightened.
"We've met…Can you keep a secret?" She blinked but nodded.
She explained to Merida how she'd come into the shop and she'd started seeing her at the park and that she'd been leaving Elsa a flower in the morning for the past three days. Her eyes got wider the more Anna talked till they finally pulled up outside Rapunzel's house. Once parked the Scott grabbed both of Anna's hands and stared pleadingly into her eyes.
"Anna, if you could just shag my professor I may never have homework in World Lit again." Anna's jaw fell open. "Please?"
"I…I'm going inside now…" She pulled her hands back and got out of the car. Merida followed
"Come on, like that ain't your goal?" Anna took off running into the house with the Scott hot on her heels.
"Rapunzel, tell Merida to leave me alone!" She bolted up the stairs and burst into her cousins room. Said blonde jerked up from the bridal magazines spread out across her bed as Anna jumped on her.
"Tell Merida to back off." She crawled behind the blonde. Said woman stood in the doorway, hands on her fists and scowling.
'What's going on?" She blinked between the two redheads.
"Anna's got the hots for my World Lit Professor." A blonde brow quirked and she glanced at her cousin over her shoulder.
"She wants me to sleep with her just so she might not have homework anymore!" The second brow joined the first as she eyed the curly haired woman with surprise.
"What? She the strictest one and she's been all sappy ever since Anna started leaving her flowers and all..." Rapunzel held her hands up stopping everything going on around her.
"Whoa, whoa! Start at the beginning what's going on?"
Anna flushed heatedly as Merida retold her story to her cousin. It sounded a little sappy coming from the sassy Scott
"I thought you said you could keep a secret?!" Anna snarled over Punz's shoulder.
"You don't keep secrets from her and neither do I." Anna grunted. That was true enough.
"So it's true, you have a crush on Merida's professor?" Rapunzel half turned to look at her.
"Very much so, and her name is Elsa."
'You've been leaving her flowers?" Anna blushed harder but nodded.
"Oh, Anna that's so romantic. When are you going to tell her it's you?" Anna swallowed, she probably shouldn't have mention it to either of the, Rapunzel was a die-hard romantic. She liked to get involved with other peoples romances.
Anna paled a little at that. Punz could be…forceful and she wanted to take this at her own pace.
"Soon enough. Shouldn't we be deciding on the color for the bridesmaid dresses and theme?" She tried to distract her.
"Oh, right. So, I was thinking maybe purple or pink?" She looked between the other two woman. Both had looks of displeasure on their faces.
"What? No good?" She looked questioningly at Anna. She held up her hands.
"You know I can't pull off purple Punz, I'm a redhead, but I'll wear whatever you stuff me in. So will Merida." She said pointedly.
Said woman 'humphed' but said nothing in way of protest. Rapunzel hummed.
"How about blue and white? You and Kristoff have tons of blue and white roses at that time of year too." Anna nodded.
Rapunzel had already booked a time for them and her other bridesmaids to go and be fitted for the dresses to be made in a few weeks.
It had been a little over a month since she'd started receiving the flowers and she was no closer to figuring out who it was now than she had been then, but they came every day without fail. All different kinds and colors.
It had become one of the highlight of her day. Going to the park at noon before her 3pm class to read and finding a flower with her names scribbled in someone's chicken scratch handwriting. Not that it detracted from it.
She couldn't even begin to guess. It could be one of her students. Though that would be a bit disappointing. At 26 all her 18-20 year old Lit students were a bit too young for her. She would also be a bit disappointed to find it was a man, though not surprised.
She just hoped it was a woman close to her age. All she could do was wait. In the mean time she was quite happy with her other daily highlight.
The redheaded co-owner of Arendelle Flowers.
She was at the park every day, Running or playing with the small horse that was her dog. Always wearing some geeky shirt too. Elsa wondered just how many she owned. She'd seen the same ones only a couple of times.
Today's however had to be her favorite thus far. It sparked hope in her chest as she played with the bright sunny yellow daffodil in her hands. A little nervousness suddenly flooding her senses as she watched the freckled woman run around the grass with Sven.
It was a tight, blue tee with blocky white script across the chest that read: "Yup, your gaydar is accurate"
She was almost certain that people wouldn't wear that shirt unless they were gay. Though personally She wouldn't wear it at all, Anna seemed to enjoy doing whatever she pleased including wearing her game and anime themed shirts.
They were running down the path that ran right in front of her.
She smiled and waved her fingers at the approaching woman. Anna grinned coming to a stop, having to drag her feet to get Sven to even slow his quick gait.
"Hi, Elsa." She huffed, pushing a few stray copper strands back behind her ear.
"Afternoon, Anna. Sven." She scratched behind his ear and a long tongue lolled out the side of his mouth. She smirked.
"Another one eh?" She nodded to the flower. Elsa smiled, nodding.
"Every day for the past month…" She twirled the stem between her fingers. "It's quite the romantic mystery." Anna hummed.
"What do you do with them all?" She asked curiously.
"I keep them, press them into a book. There too beautiful to just throw away." She took a whiff of the daffodils light fragrance. She glanced up at the freckled woman. "Your…shirt is interesting today." Anna glanced down at the tee out of habit before eyeing the blonde.
"Do you have a problem with my shirt?" She asked cautiously.
"No! No. I just…didn't realize you were…" She trailed off allowing Anna to confirm or deny. She smirked.
"I guess your gaydar isn't very good then." She winked and Elsa tried not to turn to obviously red. Before she could retort a loud shrill noise erupted from Anna's pocket. "Ah, sorry."
She pulled her phone out and held it to her ear.
"What is it Punz?" She paused listening. Then her face morphed into abject horror. Elsa wanted to ak her what was wrong when she screeched.
"What do you mean I'm late? How can I be late, no one told me the time for the fitting changed, yea yea no, I'm coming!" She pulled Sven taking off but stopped long enough to turn and wave goodbye." Elsa smiled returning it before watching 5the hurried woman fly across the grass toward the parking lot.
She glanced at her watch. There was no class today but she had promised to meet her brother for lunch at the café down the street. She slid her book into her bag before walking back to her car.
Olaf was waiting for her inside Wandering Oaken's Café.
"Hey El's." He wrapped her up in a tight hug when she walked up to the table and kissed his cheek.
"Hey. Did you just come from the house?" He nodded.
"Mom was going to come but got invited to some kind of ladies lunch or something." He shrugged than blinked at the bright yellow flower she'd tucked behind her ear.
"Is that from your secret admirer?" he grinned slyly. She rolled her eyes but nodded. "Still no clue who it could possibly be?" She sighed, resting her chin in her hand.
"None whatsoever. They never write anything but my name." She shrugged. The 24 year old albino sat back in his chair, scratching the near invisible white stubble on his chin thoughtfully.
"You say they're there every afternoon when you get there, so they must come sometime in the morning before you get there. Let's stake out the park!" Elsa laughed, shaking her head.
"I'm not going to sit in a parked car with you all morning, I'm not sure I even want to know. What if it's just some strange guy, or one of my students? I'd have to confront them than." Olaf hummed thoughtfully.
"Well, I'll stake out the park than, and see, I don't have anything else to do anyway." There was no way she was going to be able to persuade him not to hide around the park all morning.
"Alright Olaf. You stake out the park. He grinned, buckteeth on full display.
"You can count on me. I'll find out who's got their eye on you. Do you want me to chase 'em off if it's a guy?" He offered.
That was tempting, but she'd rather face whoever it was herself. They hadn't showed any kind of stalkerishness just leaving the flowers so there was no reason not to do it herself.
"No, thank you, Olaf. Just…let me know. Don't show yourself to them." He nodded and then there food was set down in front of them.
It was two days later on a Saturday morning when her brother showed up at her home. She let him in and offered him some coffee which he took eagerly. He sat down at the table, spooning sugar into the mug while Elsa sipper her own.
'So…I went to the park this morning." Her gaze flew to him over the rim of her cup. "I thought I was going to get arrested looking all creepy in the parking lot…" he laughed.
"Olaf…" she was already feeling impatient at the mention of the park.
He was grinning, swirling the spoon around in the dark liquid. "Sat there from 6 to 10. Almost gave up but at 10 till…she showed up."
"Not a man?' He shook his head.
"Nope. Cute girl, I'd say about my age."
"Someone I know?" He shrugged.
"Not anyone I know you know." She leaned across the table.
"Well…what did she look like?" A smile split his face.
"I can do you one better." He pulled his phone out of his pants pocket and flipped through it before turning the screen toward her.
She took it eagerly and gasped. There, photographed in the act was Anna, leaned over the bench in the process of placing the days flower between the bench slats.
"I take it by that dramatic gasp, that you know her?" She looked up at Olaf's smiling face before back down to the photo. The adorable redhead and her mysterious admirer were one in the same. She nodded.
"Yeah, she co-owns that flower shop, Arendelle flowers with her brother downtown." The man chuckled.
"Well you don't have to feel bad about her spending a fortune on flowers, she already owns them…So, what are you going to do?" She blinked up at him, handing the device back.
"I…don't know.." She admitted.
"Well…how do you feel about her?" The blush that spread across his sisters cheeks told him all he needed to know. "Well, ya know Els's, turnabout is fair play." She sat quietly looking at him before a grin spread out across her face.
"Indeed it is."
Anna sighed, hanging up the phone. The caterer was driving her insane. He'd been informed Anna was the pseudo wedding planner and been caller her like mad asking about any allergies, vegetarians, vegans and what not attending. She rubbed her temples, she could feel the migraine coming on.
Today was only the first of October but it felt like the wedding may as well be tomorrow. She had to meet Rapunzel in the morning to go meet some Dj's.
Not to mention business had really picked up. Her and Kristoff rarely got out of the shop. It had been two weeks since she'd been to the park with Sven. She did take the 5 minutes to leave her flowers for Elsa. She assumed the blonde was still getting them because they were gone the next day.
She heard the bell chime up front but stayed where she was slumped over her desk when she heard Kristoff greet whoever it was.
A scant couple minutes later the bell chimed again as Kristoff yelled thanks after them.
She was so tired. She was just glad Rapunzel hadn't wanted to get married in February. As a florist that was of course, one of their busiest times.
A few hours later Kristoff walked into the back and threw off his apron before leaning down and kissing the crown of her head.
"I'm gonna go hang out with Eugene and Eric, don't wait up." She heard his pickup roar to life and then it was quiet again.
She flicked off the light and walked out the back door, locking it behind her. She unlocked the car door and glanced up, noticing the rose trapped gently beneath her windshield wiper, a piece of paper tied around its stem.
She glanced around, the back parking lot was empty and devoid of people.
She pulled it out and unfolded the paper.
"Anna, meet me for dinner outside the North Mountain 7 o'clock" There was no name other than hers. She sat in the mustang thinking. Who could it be?
She thought about it all the way home and the majority of the next day. Rapunzel and Merida could tell she was distracted. She poked her index finger against her cousin's cheek.
"Hey, earth to, Anna." Anna scowled slapping the woman's hand away. "Are you even pretending to pay attention to these guys?" She asked in a whisper. She focused back in on the two Dj's playing awful rap.
"Uh, I'd rather not…" Merida smirked. They finished and Rapunzel tried to smile, showing them out of the house.
"We'll call you." She lied near shoving them out the door.
"I guess you didn't want to dougie down the aisle?" Merida gave a loud snort, bursting into laughter. Her cousin didn't look near as amused as the redheads.
"That's the 3rd ones today. Not that you would notice, Anna." She leveled a stare at her cousin.
"Sorry, I'm kind of distracted…I got a note on my car last night, inviting me to dinner tonight, though I don't know who it's from…" She hummed.
"Oh, You got a hot mystery date, hmm?" She nodded reluctantly already regretting telling Rapunzel
"I'm not sure I'm going to go…" She admitted. Rapunzel looked appalled.
"What? How could you not, don't you want to know whose pining after you?" She half shrugged.
"I don't wanna give someone false hope or anything, especially if it's a guy, besides..i'm…" Merida cut her off.
"Madly in love with Elsa Winters." She threw the Scott a dirty look.
"I am not in love with her…though I think I certainly could become so…" She mumbled the last part.
"Well, are you any closer on that front?" Rapunzel asked curiously, blonde brow hiked up. Anna blushed hotly.
"Not a damn bit…"She admitted. Her phone began to beep at her and she glanced at it, the alarm she had set for 5:30 screaming at her. "I have to go get ready. Might as well see who it is."
"Call me afterwards!" Rapunzel yelled after her as she walked out the front door.
"I will, I will."
Anna loitered around in front of the restaurant called 'The North Mountain. ' a very popular place, the only in the entire city that sold Scandinavian food. She and Kristoff had been there several times over the years, being Norwegian by birth, though they hadn't lived there since Anna was two, she was still technically Norwegian and liked the food.
She pulled at her green knee-length skirt, fidgeting. Her white tank-top and the black half jacket seemed like a platonic enough outfit. She didn't know who she was expecting so she tried to keep it somewhat neutral.
"I was afraid you wouldn't come." She turned to look into icy blue eyes and a smile. Anna floundered.
"Elsa?" She asked flabbergasted. "Am..am I meeting you?" She nodded, smile never slipping.
"I figured if one of us didn't ask the other out soon you were going to go out of business, giving away all your flowers to me." The red lipped smile morphed into a smirk when the florists face turned such a bright red the freckles sprinkled across her cheeks vanished.
"How did you know..." Teal eyes were looking everywhere but at Elsa.
"My brother wanted to play detective and staked out the park…"
"Oh my god, please tell me he has white hair and light blue eyes." She nodded a little curious and Anna sighed in relief. "Oh thank god, I was really worried about the albino looking guy trying to take pictures of me from his car last week." That caused the blonde to laugh.
"I'm sorry about that." She certainly didn't look sorry. "But the flowers…they were all beautiful...thank you." The red across her face didn't lessen but Anna was really looking at her now.
An ankle length ice blue dress clung to her curves in ways that made her head spin. Her neck and shoulders were bare, thin gossamer material covered her arms.
When she glanced up at the red faced blonde she realized she'd been openly checking out the older woman.
"I feel really under-dressed…" She mumbled. A cool hand reached out and grabbed hers.
"You're beautiful, though I do prefer you in your geek shirts." Anna swiped a hair back behind her ear, face hot, but a small smile wormed its way onto her face.
"Thanks." The hand around hers gave a light squeeze.
"Shall we?" The blonde asked. She nodded.
"Yeah."
Pffft….i had an idea and here it is… Hope ya like it~ Malthazar LOS
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