"No."
Oh.
Bong
The forgotten grandfather clock was abrasive in its hourly chime.
Bong
Bong
Anna's heart must've been beating at least thirty times faster than that.
Bong
Bong
She looked at Elsa, who was studying the bottom of her tea cup with her knees drawn up in front of herself.
Bong
The chime was mocking her.
Bong
Yes, she felt weird about what transpired.
Bong
Yes, she wanted to apologize.
Bong
No, she couldn't say anything over that darn clock, what time was it anyway?
Bong, "I'm just trying to do my job"
Bong, "Don't yell at me"
Bong
The last note reverberated out into a painfully quiet echo throughout the library.
"Ah," Elsa looked up, her teacup examined enough. "It's nearly lunch time."
Anna tore her eyes from her newly silent clock companion to look at the other girl. "Yes", she replied simply, and accented it with two slow nods.
Elsa kept her gaze on Anna. Probably a little too intensely. Probably not intensely enough. When the clue to continue speaking wasn't taken, Elsa placed the thoroughly examined teacup on the side table with a sigh. "Right. Yes."
There should be servants coming to collect us soon, Anna thought.
Anytime soon would be great, she stared at the stitching on her sleeve.
The first servant through that door will be promoted, she willed.
The burning logs in the fireplace crackled. The rain beat against the window. Anna's breathing was heavy, thick with words she should say but couldn't figure out how to arrange them.
"Rain." Yes, that's a word. "It's still pouring." almost a sentence! Now apologize. She cleared her throat, "So, it's, uh, nearly lunch time." Ah, yes, what a heartfelt apology.
Elsa faltered, then blinked rapidly. "Yes... It's nearly... Lunch time." This fact was established three times now.
"It's just not a good idea. You know." Anna's mouth started before her brain could put in its two cents. "With you being Queen right now." Her brain clicked on. "Not that you won't be Queen sometime." Clicked off. "I mean, not that you'll be Queen forever either." Clicked on. "What I mean to say-"
"Please." The other girl said with a slight smile. "You're stretching out this rejection."
There it is. The notorious 'R' word. "No, no, n-no no, it's not rejection!" Their eyes met. She paused. Smiled. Breathed. "Okay. It's sort of rejection."
Elsa lifted the teacup from its spot and took a sip. A ghost of a sip, really, as she was suddenly assaulted by an onslaught of words.
"What I mean to say is that I'm not sure I'm ready to share a bedroom again, like, I kick in my sleep, or at least I think I do 'cause my sheets are either all over the place or gone when I wake up, and I'm pretty sure I snore," -a breath- "and we haven't had enough sleepovers to prepare you for this kind of thing so I'm not sure you're entirely ready to combine our bedrooms yet either." Anna finished with a long exhale; she'd meant to say this 5 minutes ago - albeit more cohesively-when the question was first proposed.
Elsa's eyebrows and teacup-toting hand stayed raised until the other girl uttered a pathetic, "I'm sorry" and cast her gaze toward the equally pathetic embers popping in the fireplace. Eventually, Anna covered both eyes with her left hand as the silence between them stretched out.
Then, a giggle.
"Anna," Elsa offered a soft smile when the girl finally peeked at her between still-raised fingers. "It's okay."
Anna's right hand joined her left as she blindly shook her head. "No it isn't. I want to say yes, but I also want everything to be-"
Hands covered both of Anna's and moved them away from her face.
Elsa held Anna's wrists as she kneeled before her.
"... Perfect."
"It's already perfect. I understand."
Their fingers twined together. An air of calmness finally floated by as the girls stared at each other.
"I fart myself awake sometimes." Anna remarked, a goofy grin plastered on her face. Elsa's smile grew as well.
"I wouldn't expect any less."
The door to the library opened, letting in both a refreshing draft and an announcement that lunch had been prepared. Elsa replied that they'd come shortly and once the servant left, she returned her focus to Anna.
"What I'm getting from this conversation," she stood up and tugged on their still-interlaced hands, bringing Anna to her feet as well. "... Is that we need to have more sleepovers."
Anna smirked. "I don't know, I'm pretty booked for the next few nights." Anna held up one hand, looking through an imaginary schedule. "Yeah, see, tonight I'm actually supposed to fart myself awake again." Elsa failed at suppressing a grin, and looked at Anna's 'schedule', pretending to flip a page. "Oh, but look, that's not scheduled to happen until nearly sunrise. You're available for most of the night."
"Okay, I could pencil you in. Say, 9 o'clock?"
"9 o'clock." Elsa punctuated with a squeeze to Anna's hand.
They walked out of the library together toward the dining room, a comfortable quietness settling over them. Once they'd passed the art room, Elsa spoke up.
"What about a bathroom?"
Anna whipped her head to face her sister.
"Uh, what about a bathroom?"
Elsa turned her head slightly toward Anna. "What if we shared a bathroom?"
"As in, what are you saying? Your room will be next to mine," A nod. "With only a bathroom separating us," A slower nod. "That we share?" Elsa stopped walking and turned to face Anna fully.
"Yes, Anna. That's what I'm saying. Asking. Would you want to?"
Their hands were still intertwined as Anna hugged Elsa.
It was awkward.
It kinda hurt.
It was...
"Perfect."
So... I don't write.
These two got to me.
Thank you for reading!