Elsa glanced down at her watch. 8:52am. Dammit, I'm gonna be late.
Quickly checking her mirror for any police cars, she put her foot down on the accelerator, breaking the speed limit. Not that the old rust-bucket could go all that fast, but if she didn't speed up now, she'd never make it to her lecture in time, and if she didn't make this one… well, at least there wouldn't be any more lectures for her to be late to. But she might have some explaining to do with her parents…
Flicking the volume up on the radio, she ploughed on down the road, the heavy beats of the music fueling her on.
"Oh, great!" She sarcastically shouted to herself. The lights in front turned from green to amber. I can make this! she thought, leaning forward as she put all her force into the pedal. She sped up just fast enough to catch sight of the red light as she whizzed straight past it, flying directly across the crossroads. She almost didn't actually believe she made it. She almost did make it.
With a tremendous crash like a bolt of thunder, the back of Elsa's car caved in, spinning her across the last remainder of the road and off it. The car that had hit her skidded to a halt, tyres grinding harshly across the road.
'shit shit shit shit SHIT' was all that went through the blonde's head. Now, she was going to be late for college, for the too-many-th time, and her car was completely wrecked. Great! Just great!
Making sure the danger was over, she opened her door, coughing as she got out to check the damage. Luckily, no one was in the back seats. The door was dented in entirely, her rear right lights completely obliterated, the boot cracked open permanently. shit shit shit shit shit.
"Oh my god! I am so sorry! I didn't expect you to come rushing across the road like that!" came a voice from across the road. Elsa turned to see the other driver getting out of their car - a car that was barely even scratched. The blonde didn't even want to talk to that stupid driver. She just wanted to be out of here.
"Look, buddy, I don't care! You should watch where you're going when you're-" she began, as she caught sight of the gorgeous redhead stepping out of the vehicle, perfect hair in two cute plaits, short denim shorts barely leaving anything to the imagination as black tights clung tightly to her legs. Over her top, she wore some sort of pink poncho. An… odd combination, but it worked well to emphasise all the best points of the girl's body.
"...going…" she slipped out.
"So - oh, wow that looks bad - uh, I guess this is the part where we trade insurance?" asked the girl. Elsa just stared blankly at her for a moment.
"Oh, the insurance details. Yes. Those…" the blonde drifted off, trying to remember if she'd actually remembered to bring them this time… or if they even existed… "I think I'll check if they're in my car…"
She quickly ducked back into her seat to get away from the ginger enchantress that had just wrecked her only means of transportation. What is going on with me? Snap out of this. Just tell her something and get her out of here. "I dont actually have insurance!" yeah, that'll work- no wait that'll just make me look lazy. Okay, calm down, think, just thi-
"Hello?" the girl called out, leaning into Elsa's car window. The blonde nearly jumped out of her seat. Regaining her posture and what little dignity she had left, she turned back to look at the bundle of red hair and cute face sticking round the door frame. She is not ever going to leave. Sighing, she got shuffled out of her seat and exited the car.
"Oh, Hello" she answered unsurely, standing up, "I uh… I don't have my insurance things with me"
"oh, no, don't worry about that" the girl replied, "I'm just so sorry for what I did… Really, if you didn't have any insurance I'd help you pay for anything I can…"
Elsa just looked at her, confused awe emanating from her face as she replied "uh… no, you really don't have to do that. I have insurance somewhere, just… not here…"
"Oh." the redhead said, smiling warmly as she twiddled with a plait, a silence quickly falling over the two.
"My name is Anna, by the way", Anna said, extending out a hand. Elsa shook it, saying "I'm Elsa"
"Ohh, that's such a nice name!" the redhead replied, "What's it short for?"
"huh? It's uh… it just says 'Elsa' on my birth certificate…"
"Oh." the young redhead replied. Something in her tone of voice felt like the sound could pull out her entire heart with ease. Her deepest instincts told her to fix everything she could.
"But, I hear it's short for Elizabeth…" she added, sighing at herself for giving in so easily as she looked down at the floor.
"Oh, awesome!" Anna replied, her voice trailing off as she let out a gasp of air instead of continuing her train of thought. The blonde flicked a curious eye at her, but she kept quiet.
A few minutes later, after Elsa made the phone call, a tow truck arrived to take her car away. It was completely un-drivable, as she'd found out when she noticed a gaping hole where a wheel should be. Hooking up the front of Elsa's car, it drove off, the driver shouting behind him that "a taxi should arrive in half an hour"
"oh, ouch, half an hour…" Anna repeated, laughing. She immediately stopped laughing when she caught the icy stare of her new acquaintance, instead running a hand down her neck.
"I mean uh.. thats… thats unfortunate…"
Sighing, the blonde headed over to a nearby bench to watch the traffic zoom past and hope the time could do as fast. She was held back by a hand grabbing her.
"oh, uh, sorry." Anna replied, letting go of her arm, "I uh, I was just gonna ask if you, well, if you needed to, if you wanted me to give you a lift anywhere, cos it looked like wherever you were going it was in quite a rush and-"
A sarcastically slow blink and a shift of her mouth, and Elsa managed to convey an entire book's worth of "please stop talking".
"I was on my way to uni, but I'm late now, so..."
"so I'll take you! Hop in!" the naïve young driver offered, jumping over to her own car that she'd parked just off the road.
"Look, Anna, I..." started Elsa. I can at least try and talk to Weselton. Even he might have a shred of sympathy left for a bloody car crash.
"I appreciate the lift" she corrected. Anna's face lit up once more.
"don't mention it" she smiled.
It was less than a ten minute drive, but it felt like an eternity with neither of them quite knowing how to start the conversation. Luckily, the road signs said that their destination was just off the next junction.
"Almost got you back! Just how late are we?" Anna asked, letting out an awkward half-laugh out of embarrassment. A bright "10:39" glowed on the car's dashboard.
"late enough to miss most of the lecture..."
Anna winced at the deadpan statement, but Elsa had gotten used to concealing her emotions. And at this point, she was just too tired to care.
The car eased to a halt just outside the main building.
"well, here we are!" Anna excitedly exclaimed, grinning warmly at her new friend. Elsa's hand grabbed the handle to open the door, but she froze.
"What's wrong?" asked the redhead, smile quickly dropping into a concerned look. The blonde let go of the door as she turned, mouth beginning to form the words "it's nothing", but she hesitated. Well it's not like I'm ever going to see this girl again, she reasoned with herself, so fuck it, I may as well just drop everything on her…
"Anna, I was rushing to get to here on time because… if I was late for this one… Well… That'd be it… and…" She started, voice stammering out as she tried to keep some emotions in. Anna's face dropped even more as she breathed a soft "oh", hand reaching up to pat her shoulder.
"And here we are late again…" Anna continued. Elsa nodded.
"Well that… That doesn't mean the world's ended, does it?" the younger girl tried to sympathise, but Elsa's mouth just curved downwards more.
"It feels like it. I- I don't even want to think about what my parents are gonna say…"
Anna quickly and determinately put a finger up on Elsa's lips, shushing her.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. We're not going to worry about that yet. Just you and me, we're gonna go get a drink and chat this over, okay? Then maybe we'll see about fixing this when you feel a bit better." Anna commanded. The thoroughly confused blonde was about to protest, but gave in to the offer.
"Good" Anna finished, driving off.
"Anna, I have to ask… why are you doing this for me? I'm just some stranger…" Elsa asked.
"pfft, some stranger whose car I wrecked. It's the least I could do." the girl pointedly explained with a laugh.
"And don't take this the wrong way but…" as she began, her voice dropped into a more serious tone, "but you don't feel that much of a stranger to me…"