Notes: This was originally intended to be part of the 12 Days of Kristanna on Tumblr, but I only ended up writing one fic for that... oops. I finally finished this one today, so I thought I'd share it with all of you. Lots of fluff! Possible AU in progress, who knows!
Business was surprisingly slow for a Friday evening. Only a handful of customers had come in to browse and out of those, Anna had rung up only three purchases. She was contemplating closing up the shop early and seeing if her sister wanted to catch a movie when the chime above the door gave a cheerful little jingle. She plastered a smile on her face and finished up the decorations on her dark chocolate truffles, tossing the customer a greeting over her shoulder.
"Welcome to 'A Box of Chocolates'. We are here to feed your sweet tooth! How can I help you today?"
She managed a glance at the customer as she picked up the tray of truffles and almost dropped the chocolates on the floor. A flush crept up her cheeks, warming her skin. "K...Kristoff. What are you doing here?"
A tall blonde man stood at the counter, a sheepish look on his face and his hands stuck in his jean pockets. He was a fairly new customer. He had only been coming to the chocolate shop for the past two months, but Anna already had a fierce crush on him."I thought I would stop by and see if you had some of those milk chocolate dipped caramels you ladies are famous for," he said with a shrug.
She set the truffles down on the counter, her hands trembling so badly she was surprised he didn't notice. "I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow," she admitted. "I mean, not that I was waiting for you or anything. A person can come in on any day they want, you know. As long as we're open, I mean. We're not open on Sundays. But you knew that. I think. I mean, you come in every week but it's always on the same day, so maybe you've never tried to come in on a Sunday, but it wouldn't matter anyway because you always come in on the same day!" She hesitated for a moment. "Feel free to stop me anytime."
He rocked on his heels, his hands still stuffed in his pockets, and gave her a lopsided grin. "Nah, it was cute."
Her flush grew deeper, like little flames licking up her neck and cheeks. "So, do you want your usual box, or were you interested in trying something different?" she asked him, gesturing to the display case in front of her. The slow day had done one thing for her: she still had a full case of candy, chocolates, fudge and the brand new fruit tarts Elsa had created. Kristoff had his pick of anything they offered, which was a rarity for a Friday night.
"What's your favorite?" he asked her, his eyes intensely focused on hers.
"Um…" she looked down at the display, her mind drawing a complete blank at she stared at the collection of goodies before her.
Damn him, she hadn't prepared herself to see him! She always spent a few extra minutes on her hair and makeup on Saturday mornings, hoping that she might make an impression on him and now here he was on a Friday night, and she looked awful. Her hair was frizzy from the heat and steam she had worked with all day, and her apron was stained with chocolate and strawberry sauce. But for some reason he didn't seem to notice. His eyes didn't stray from her face.
"Is there a fudge you would recommend?" he prompted when she didn't answer right away. "They all look pretty good."
"My favorite is the Rocky Road," she suggested, tearing her eyes away from his soft brown ones and focusing on the conversation at hand. "We use cashews instead of peanuts and miniature marshmallows. It's fairly new but already very popular. Would you like to try some?"
He shook his head. "If you say it's your favorite, that's good enough for me. What else would you suggest? Is there something that goes well with fudge?"
"More fudge?" Anna said with a laugh. "We have a special sale. If you buy a pound of fudge, you get another half pound for free. It's a good deal if you think you can eat that much."
He thought about it for a moment and shook his head. "I think I'll stick with a variety. A half pound of fudge and my normal box, maybe throw in some of those caramels you're always trying to convince me to buy."
Anna tried to hide her frown as she wrapped up his fudge. She had hoped that he would want to try a few pieces of fudge, maybe prolong his visit long enough to talk for a few minutes. She had been trying to figure out who he was buying all the chocolate for (since he never tasted any samples she assumed it wasn't for him) and kept praying she wouldn't discover it was some beautiful girl he was crazy about. Their chocolate wasn't exactly cheap, and buying a fifty dollar variety box every Saturday for two months… he had to be in love. It was disheartening.
It didn't take long to put together his normal box (a variety of truffles, chocolate covered strawberries and creme filled dark chocolates) with the new addition of fudge and caramels and slip them into a bag with the shop's logo on it. "Here you go, Kristoff. I'll see you next weekend?"
He hesitated for a moment, looking down at the brown and golden embossed bag. "Maybe I'll come in tomorrow, you know, since you were expecting me," he said with a shrug.
Anna's heart fluttered against her chest, his words sending a thrill through her. "You just spent almost $75 on chocolates. Why would you need to come back in again tomorrow?"
"Maybe I like chocolate," he told her and tossed her a crooked smile. "I'll see you, Anna. Have a nice evening."
She watched as he crossed the small shop to the door and then looked down at the counter, noticing that he forgot his bag. "Kristoff, wait! Don't forget your chocolate! Your girlfriend will be disappointed when you get home!"
She hadn't meant to say that, but it had slipped out, and there was no way to bring the words back.
Kristoff turned toward her, his hand on the door handle and a soft look in his eyes. "I don't have a girlfriend," he said quietly, the corners of his mouth pulling up into a knowing smile.
"But… the chocolate," Anna pointed at the bag, unable to stop herself from asking what she wanted to know now that the words had finally escaped her, "you spend a fortune on it. Who is it for?"
"My mom, usually," he admitted, "she loves your shop. But tonight I bought them for you. See you, Anna."
Before she could stop him or ask another question, he slipped out the door and into the chilly Autumn night. Anna looked down at the bag of delicacies in front of her and felt a smile slide onto her lips.