Story: The Slot
Genre: Drama/Romance
Pairing: Elsanna
Summary: "But the minute Anna reached out and held her hand, Elsa felt time stop and hit a pole, her heart overwhelmed with happiness, and the moment was special." Elsanna (non incest).High School AU. One Shot.
A/N- Another one shot based off a prompt I found on Tumblr. I had fun writing this one. Enjoy!
Anna inscribed her club's name on the first time slot posted on the board, her grip on the blue ink pen causing the words to come out sloppily. She took a step back to admire it, only to end up being shoved backwards as the crowd surrounding her became rambunctious. The strawberry blonde fell on the tiled high school floors, falling on her back.
The sound of mocking laughter pierced her ear drums and she didn't even have to turn her head to see who it was.
There she stood, Elsa Winters (elegant, standoffish, rude in her own right), towering over Anna. Her icy blue eyes looked down on her with mirth, the smug smirk she always wore (particularly around Anna only) further irritating the hell out of Anna. Despite the noise going on around them, they were having their own private battle.
Elsa hugged her textbooks closer towards herself and said, "Looks like someone made a fool of themselves. Again." She continued, smirking more. "How's the floor? Is it comfortable enough?"
"Shut up," Anna said in retaliation. As she stood up, Elsa stepped back to give her some space.
Elsa rolled her eyes. "Clearly you've ran out of insults to say. Otherwise, you would have said something intelligent."
Anna brushed off her clothes and gave Elsa the glare to end all glares. "Seriously? This is not the time."
"Last time I checked," she said, checking the watch on her wrist, "the time happens to be 11:45 AM, the exact time I always talk to you."
Anna could tell Elsa was just doing this to annoy her. She tried her hardest to not give in and say anything, but alas her stubbornness got the best of her. "Don't you have something better to do than bug me?"
Elsa lifted one shoulder. "I should but I don't."
"Ugh!" Anna brushed past the other girl in a huff. Unfortunately for her, Elsa had started following her, babbling nonsense while they walked the halls together.
"I find physics essential to everyday living. The same could be said for mathematics and practically anything parenting to science. That reminds me, Anna. Did you study for Oaken's test today?"
Anna halted her steps shortly after the question had been asked. Her face contorted, turquoise orbs gazing at the ceiling. She whined, "I forgot we had a test today!" Without thinking, she grabbed Elsa by the front of her sweater. "Please tell me you have the notes on you right now!"
Ignoring Anna's relative closeness, Elsa calmly said, "No."
Anna let's go of her before saying, "You're so helpful."
"Glad I could be of service to you." she replied, knowing full well that the girl was being sarcastic.
While Anna went down another hallway, in her own attempt to get away from the platinum blond with startling blue eyes, Elsa counted down the number of seconds it would take for the younger girl to realize that class was the down the hallway to the right instead of the left.
1, 2, 3...
Anna came back, her feet stomping the ground aggravatingly, and Elsa couldn't but smile at how cute she was when she got upset. Don't get her wrong; seeing Anna upset isn't laughable in the slightest possible way...unless Anna caused it herself due to the fact that she simply did something really stupid. This scenario, for instance, made Elsa contain the insult she was about to give in favor of laughing at how silly Anna was looking.
To her surprise, Anna had placed her hand inside Elsa's own, dragging her down the hallway by force towards the classroom. Elsa's breath hitched in her throat and she kept her gaze on their interlocked hands. Her pupils dilated, her knees felt like jelly, and she couldn't speak for the remainder of their walk.
Of course, Anna had been oblivious to the blonde's sudden quietness. That, however, was a good thing because a minute or so later, Elsa's stoic expression returned. There was no sign of emotion on her at all (the smirk specifically for Anna completely gone) and her eyes flickered between their hands and the other students around them.
She hadn't meant for the panic to seize her heart, making her release herself from Anna's grip.
Anna glanced behind her and they locked gazes. Then, without a word, Anna looked away and Elsa crossed her arms. They had reached their destination.
None of them mentioned the incident for the rest of the day.
'''
Now is where the lines get crossed. The lines get mixed. They blur. All in the matter of five minutes. In five minutes, Elsa had walked up to the board and whited out Anna's club that was written on the first slot. She can't say why she did it, only reason coming to mind is this mornings incident. It shouldn't bother her, really it shouldn't, but there was something about holding hands with Anna and how it made her feel. If she was being honest, it wasn't the first time the 16 year old had held her hand.
Those happened because Elsa had done so out of instinct; it was her way of showing affection. Strange, she knows. But physical contact seemed less complicated than talking and whatever words spewed from her mouth were mostly jibes at Anna's own expense. When she wasn't jibing, she was joking, and when she wasn't joking, she was insulting.
The rest of their relationship she wasn't even definite about. They weren't the best of friends, that much Elsa knew. Sometimes they acted like sisters. Sometimes they acted like best friends. Other times they acted like an old married couple. Today...well she doesn't know what today was actually. The roles were switched, she realized. Elsa was the pestering, annoying teenager that teased (teased, not insulted, but teased) the rather serious and gloomy teenager. Anna was in a bad mood, Elsa tried lightening up the mood, but failed horribly.
So, somewhere during all the hand holding, Elsa's feelings for Anna made her lose her mind. She lost her mind because Anna doesn't, under any pretense of the word, initiate physical contact. Anna's touch had already been driving her crazy for the past few months (when all this touching nonsense started).
But the minute Anna reached out and held her hand, Elsa felt time stop and hit a pole, her heart overwhelmed with happiness, and the moment was special. The obstacle that had ruined it was herself. She let the nerves get to her when Anna tried getting closer...if that's what she was trying to do in the first place.
"The female mind is utterly confusing to comprehend." Elsa complained quietly. Staring intensely at the board once more, she pulled her black ink pen out of her back jean pocket. In large letters she wrote Winter's Writers, the name she thought of to label this fake group taking Anna's reserved table.
She couldn't help but wonder how Anna would react.
In five minutes, Elsa had basically said screw it and ruined whatever chance she had at getting with Anna.
(Not that she even had a chance to begin with.)
'''
Anna sat on her bed in her room, contemplating the days events. The most weirdest thing to happen involved Elsa. Everything involved Elsa.
She broke her number one rule: Don't get too close.
Anna is the poster child for never breaking any rules. She's been the goody two shoes girl since kindergarten and, maybe once or twice, she's broken guidelines that she's set for herself. This one, the one that left her feeling guilty when Elsa wouldn't want her to be, had her reeling.
She was upset, okay? Can you blame her for acting impulsive? Anna Summers does not, under any circumstances, ever behave like that on a regular basis.
How the hell does any of this make any sense? How does holding someone's hand cause this much friction? Anna doesn't have answers to either of those questions. She wants, not wants, more like needs, some answers here, here in this jumbled web her and Elsa have created. This web has caught more prey than a spider. It includes the petty arguments, stupid accidents on Anna's part, every awkward silence, shared glances, and unspoken agreements on Elsa's behalf.
Come to think of it, this whole entire situation could have been avoided if Elsa hadn't reacted the way she did.
Anna didn't realize this until halfway through Oaken's class this afternoon. They didn't have assigned seats yet and her old seat was in the front of the teacher's desk near Elsa. Wanting to not be within a few feet of her, Anna chose the seat in the back of the classroom beside the window instead.
Worst.
Decision.
Ever.
The blinding sun kept hitting her face, students who normally didn't participate in any of the class discussions constantly talked and the teacher didn't even bat an eye at them, her current desk had been covered in marker on the inside (adding to the messiness of crumbled papers and half-finished half-assed attempts at actually completing the assignments) and to top it all off, Elsa was directly in front of her, the back of her braided platinum hair an amazing sight. How is this awful, you ask?
Well, karma had came around and made Elsa ignore Anna's presence the entire class. When it was time to take the test, packets being passed down the rows, Elsa practically threw hers over her shoulder and it hit Anna dead in the face.
Karma could be a real bitch sometimes.
But she suffered the trial and figured she could sort out whatever happened by talking to the regal and refined older girl after class. What she expected, the words I'm sorry coming out of her mouth, had came out of Elsa's instead. Barely heard unless you strained for it which she had done, but she wished she hadn't.
Elsa had done nothing wrong.
She only pried her hand away due to Anna's action coming out of nowhere—
And it's stupid of her to even think that's what Elsa was apologizing for. The test being thrown at her. That's why Elsa said it, more over she probably felt obligated to do so, seeing as they were both avoiding the real problem at hand.
Heh. Hand. Everything is due to the touching of their hands.
Never let it be said that Anna hates when Elsa touches her; shoulder bumps, arm holding, foot kicking, and the infamous hand holding. Anna's put the pieces of almost every single encounter together and what she gets is astonishing.
After all, the mere fact that touching is the only possible way for Elsa to show affection is kinda sweet.
Maybe that's why all of this, whatever this translates to, is going on. If what Anna suspects is true, that if Elsa shows affection by touching and then she goes by this logic then that would ensure Anna that, yes, the platinum blonde does indeed like her. And she means like-like.
Nothing wrong with that at all.
Because, Anna smiles gleefully into her pillow, they've been beating around the bush for a while and now there was no denying it.
Nothing wrong with that either.
'''
Both of them get to school earlier than usual the next day.
Elsa pulls up in her brand new convertible (the term new being used thin here; it's her dad's old navy blue Cadillac which she just recently started driving last week) and shuts the driver door a little too loudly. She holds the strap to her bag too tightly and nervously walks up the steps towards the school. She checks her watch again, fifth time this morning actually, and the time almost makes her trip over own two feet.
The 7:30 AM catches her off guard; she'd get to school on any normal day at exactly 8:15.
The nerves are slowly building as her pace quickens and her heart thumps in her ear so much it hurts and god—
Elsa trips.
She wasn't too far from the ground below to accidentally injure herself, but that didn't make her immune to gravity pulling her down, down, down—
The familiar scent of red roses is all she can smell. The aroma taking over her senses and somehow she calms herself and thinks, I'm alive.
Giggles. The giggles are what she hears next. They sound like bell chimes. Sweet bell chimes. Why she's so relaxed is beyond her. She should be worrying about whose arms are snaked around her waist protectively and who would save her from falling and feeling the hard cold concrete against the fabric of her clothes.
She has an idea who it is, but it only increases the nerves. And the guilt. Especially the guilt.
Elsa realizes how her eyes are glued shut and Anna gently tells her she can open them.
"Why are you here so early?" By this time, Elsa's feet have touched the ground, Anna's arms leave her waist, and she's sending (tired) ice daggers at the girl who either ignores them or simply doesn't care.
She responds lightly. "I'd like to ask you the same thing."
There's the way she's standing, kind of slouching and leaning on the back of her sneaker, yet she's able to not sound nervous or anxious or whatever vibe Elsa's getting from her. Anna is patiently waiting for an answer. Elsa's drums up one after a few silent minutes.
"Thought I've give myself some extra time for myself before class starts." There. That's a great reason.
Nope. Anna's still asking for answers. "Extra time? For what?"
Genuine curiosity is what she chalks it up as. Explain! "Reorganizing my locker and preparing for the final day of the week before it starts up again on Monday."
Anna rolling her eyes causes Elsa to chew on the inside of her cheek. "And you call me a geek? You're like the queen of organization. The geeky queen of organization."
Elsa fights back the joy she got from Anna completing that one action. She throws it to the farthest corner of her mind. She'll savior the moment. Forgetting is impossible for her to do. She asks, since Anna never answered her previous question, "Why are you here?"
Anna gives her the usual shrug of indifference. Her words, however, garner her the blushing Elsa. "Well, I came just because I felt like it. If I had known you'd be here, too, I'd say I came because you entice me."
Entice. Forget what she said before when she was insulting this girl's intelligence. Elsa nodded, her head swimming with the implications of Anna's statement. The vibe? Oh, it grew stronger every second they even stood together. Eventually, they climb the steps and venture inside the building.
They're talking continues. Once in a while, they let the comfortable silence drift between them. Mostly, Elsa notices how close they get to each other; shoulder bumps, accidental hand touching (this time it feels even more electrifying), the occasional playful manner shoving...Okay. She's liking this far more than she thought she would.
Sometimes, she'll steal quick glances at Anna.
And the younger girl looks away because she got caught staring.
Yeah. All is well.
Until they reach a familiar hallway and fuck—
Distract her! is what Elsa's brain had been trying to tell her when Anna took long strides towards the board. Her heart grew heavy each step.
Step.
I'm sorry!
Step.
This wasn't done on purpose, I swear!
Step.
I would have done this if we weren't friends.
Step.
I wish I could tell you why I did this.
Step.
Don't hate me for saying it, alright?
Step.
"I like you!"
And it's then, where she's frozen in her spot and the students begin filling the hallway and bump into her ('cause who cares about pretty platinum blondes with French braids standing awkwardly in the halls anyway?) and Anna stays rooted in her spot for a slight minute, taking that information in, that all they've been doing is finding ways to run away from their problem.
They disguise it with petty insults that lead into physical contact and could be interpreted as flirting and every word they say and touch they share is more intoxicating than the last. Truthfully speaking, they'd both had their fair doses of closeness. Since they couldn't exactly describe it, it referring to them, this relationship, the it that makes one wonder, makes them wonder if there is something to go off of starting now.
Could they try and see if they last? The sparks are there. So's the love and care and affection. They weren't average teenage girls, that's for sure. They weren't the typical stereotypical couple you'd find on T.V sitcoms either. They had their own special category, right?
Anna almost turns herself around, but she just had to see what Elsa was so fussy about. She examined the board, the different lists coming into view. The list for reserved for after school club tables is what she found. She could have sworn that she put her club's name on the li—
Oh.
"Winter's Writers." she said aloud. Everything clicks into place. "That's what she was so worried about."
When Anna gets to Elsa, she's still standing in that same spot. Her head hangs lowly and her arms are crossed. Anna laughs. It gets Elsa's attention.
"I don't see how any of this is humorous."
Anna smiles. "You overreacting is very humorous."
Elsa considers her statement for a second. Then: "You aren't mad?"
"That you whited out my club's slot and made up your own so I couldn't get it?" Anna asked. It was a rhetorical question so she didn't expect Elsa to answer her. "Not really."
Elsa sighed in relief. "I thought you'd be upset. Guess I did overreact a tiny bit."
Anna scoffed. "Tiny? You looked like you were going to have a panic attack!"
Their conversation was cut short when the bell rang, signaling the beginning of first period. It was then both of them noticed their close proximity, but they don't even know how they got there. Anna turquoise orbs stared into Elsa's icy blues. The younger girl was only a few inches shorter than her. If Elsa were to bend her head down a little more, their faces would be touching.
She tries to ignore the beating of her heart and wonders briefly if Anna could hear it too.
The need to focus on something besides Anna prompts her to ask about the club again. She knows this is probably the worst time for it. Her voice is meek as she says, "What are you—"
Elsa was cut off by the impact of Anna crushing her lips against hers. The feel of arms wrapping around her neck instantly made her put on her hands on Anna's waist. Elsa felt herself kiss back and everything seemed to slow down. It was just her and Anna, nobody else. The taste of Anna's lips was absolutely sweet and she felt like she was in heaven.
They parted, their foreheads touching. They were smiling like a pair of bumbling idiots.
Talk about a good Friday.