He didn't remember what it was exactly that made him follow fact, he could hardly remember how his friend had convinced him to make one of these damn blog things. Tumblr? Who would spend their time on a website that didn't even have a real name?
But somehow his best friend had convinced him that this would be a good place to promote his woodcarving and get some extra cash. Sven was positive that it would boost sales because, as he put it, all the artsy fartsy people use this site!
So, after much resistance, Kristoff gave in and made himself a tumblr.
(Ugh… even the fake word sounded gross in his head.)
kbwoodcrafting dot tumblr dot com.
Good enough, he guessed, as Sven scrolled through the website, excitedly explaining all of the things he could do – how he could follow people and reblog and post this and that and the other thing – and it was all a little overwhelming, if he was being honest.
So at first, he only went on to post pictures - just advertisements for his shop – and Sven had been right – sales definitely went up, and he found himself making almost double his usual income from his hobby. It wasn't so bad, he would grumble to himself as he found more and more of his time being spent scrolling down this blue wasteland.
After a couple months, he got a message from her.
Hi! I hope I'm not overstepping any boundaries, but… you see, my sister and I haven't been very close in a long time but she's graduating from college in a couple months and I'm just SO PROUD of her and I wanted to get her something SUPER SPECIAL! I was wondering if you took commissions for personalized things? Thanks!
Her enthusiasm flew right off the screen, and Kristoff found himself actually leaning back in his chair in hopes of getting just a little further away from it.
Uh, yeah. I can do that. What did you have in mind?
A few days passed before he heard from her again, and he was about to lose hope in this sale… until that little red 1 flag popped up over the envelope.
GREAT! Well okay we used to play in the snow all the time and build SNOWMEN and stuff and I was just wondering if you could make a small ornament or something of THIS LITTLE GUY ! / rf2241 just take out the spaces THANKS!
When he opened the picture, he couldn't help but laugh. It was a little lopsided snowman with buck teeth and tiny little twig arms. Obviously made by children, but… sort of cute nonetheless.
All right. For a 6 inch ornament that'll be about $60 – that okay?
She replied almost immediately.
YES! that's such a good deal THANK YOU here's my email address so you can send me an invoice and i'll send you my address to send it and thaNK YOU AGAIN !
After a few e-mails back and forth, Kristoff got started. He sent her pictures as he progressed, and she was always incredibly positive and enthusiastic. Sometimes she asked him to do a few things differently, make sure this was that deep, etcetera, but it didn't bother him, for some reason.
He decided to check out her blog, and found out that she mostly posted clothing, makeup, and cute little fluffy things. It wasn't exactly his… thing…
But the first thing he saw posted on her page was a picture of her, all bright eyed and sweet and…
Before he knew it he was following her, blushing stupidly every time she posted a picture of herself.
Things only got worse for him when she started posting videos. If possible, she was even cuter in motion. Constantly moving, talking with her hands, smiling and biting her lips… He had to avoid her posts for a little while, as he found himself completely enamored with the the little redhead.
He thought back to her past emails, remembering her address… and sighing when he realized that she lived all the way across the country.
He was in Vermont.
She was in Oregon.
Nothing could happen anyway.
So he shut up and just admired her from afar, sending her the occasional anonymous message, always feeling flustered when she replied to them – but she replied to everything. It's not like he was special or anything…
After a few months, he couldn't help but notice that she had been posting less, and if she posted a picture of herself, she seemed… different. She was missing that normal sparkle that was always in her bright blue eyes.
It was crazy that he thought he knew anything about her… but it seemed that something sad had replaced her normal twinkle.
And then she posted about it.
So… turns out my fiance was cheating on me. Go figure. I should have known he was only with me for my money. What a piece of shit. What a waste of a year! Anyway… I'm doing my best to stay positive, but it's hard. At least my sister is talking to me more now. She really liked my gift for her graduation! Many, many, many thanks to kbwoodcrafting for the amazing commission! You guys should definitely all go check out his work :)
After a couple days of debating about it, Kristoff finally decided to message her.
Hey, Anna… Sorry to hear about what happened with your fiance. I'm really glad the gift went over well, though. I know it's probably not much consolation, but that guy is an idiot. Anyone who couldn't see how special you are wasn't worth keeping around anyway.
He hit send, and then immediately scrambled over his keyboard to try and get the message back, slamming his head down against his keyboard when he realized what a doofus he was. She hadn't spoken to him since the commission. Why would she want to hear from him now? Why…
The little red flag popped up pretty quickly, and he rubbed at the back of his head, dreading the worst. She was going to tell him to stop being a creep. To never message her again. Something like that, he was sure of it.
… Thank you… That's really sweet. And yeah, she absolutely loved it. It was like it made her remember how close we were as kids… we've been trying really hard to get to know one another again. Hans kind of… put a dent in that, though. But she's been here for me.
She… didn't think he was a creep?
That's really great to hear, Anna. Not about that Hans guy, but… that you and your sister are working things out. Anyway, I know I'm just a stranger on the internet… but if you ever need someone to talk to, you can message me here or email me.
And that's how it started. She absolutely took him up on his offer, and messaged him multiple times throughout the day for months. Eventually they exchanged phone numbers and started texting. Until he got a phone call in the middle of the night.
"… Hello? Anna?" He rubbed at his eyes, trying to wake up just a little. But it was three in the morning, and he was not ready to be away.
"I'm so, so, so, so – hic – sorry for calling you I know it's super late there and we've never talked on the phone and – hic – maybe I'm overstepping my boundaries here but Elsa was out of town visiting her – hic – college friends and Hans came over and shoved his way into my house and I managed to make him leave but I'm just really scared and need to at least be on the phone with someone and Elsa wasn't picking up and I'm sorry I'm so sorry."
Kristoff was absolutely awake now, sitting up in bed and running a shaking hand through his tangled blond hair. "Hey, hey…" he cooed, keeping his voice low. "It's all right. Don't worry about me, okay? I'm here for you." He could hear her lightly sobbing on the other end, and did his best to keep a soothing tone to his words. "Did he leave?"
"Y-yes," she stammered before taking a couple deep breaths. "His car is gone… but I'm just scared he might come back."
"Well I'll stay on the phone as long as you need me to, okay?"
She was quiet for a moment, before she whispered a meek "Thank you, Kristoff."
That was the first time he heard her say his name out loud, and it practically made his heart stop beating. "Anytime, Anna."
After that, she started calling him once a week, then every few days, until she was calling him daily. They had learned each others schedules, and found that they had a few times a day that lined up perfectly, and made sure to always talk – and always let the other know if something was in the way of that.
Within six months, she was calling him before he went to bed, telling him she loved him.
He wasn't sure that it was possible to really love someone you hadn't met in person, so he never said it back.
She would say, that's fine! I don't… mean it like that anyway!
The way she said that made him doubt that, though.
And the way she so hesitantly said good night made him wish he could say it back.
It was almost a year since she had first commissioned him when she called him and said she was going to be in New York for a week. It wasn't Vermont, but it was a hell of a lot closer than Oregon. He scraped together enough money for gas and tolls, and told her he would absolutely be willing to meet her in the city, even if just for few days.
She gave him the information, he kept it somewhere safe, and when the day came for him to drive down he swallowed his nerves and threw his bag in the cab of his truck, and drove all day for just a chance to meet her.
After he parked outside the hotel, he called her and waited patiently for her to come down to greet him.
Before hanging up, Anna mentioned that she had no idea what he looked like, and Kristoff suddenly felt painfully self conscious of his soft belly and stocky build and scratchy chin and shaggy hair and was about to run away when he saw her come into the lobby.
If it were possible…
He certainly knew he loved her now.
He waved awkwardly when her scanning eyes landed on him, and she ran towards him as fast as she could, throwing herself into his arms and burying her nose into his neck.
And he was sweaty and rough and smelled like a six hour drive and she was so sweet and soft and smelled like fruit and he didn't care about any of that because she was here and he was here and all he wanted to do was hold onto her for hours and hours and hours.
Little sobs bubbled up from his chest and he felt her growing just a little heavier in his arms. He didn't even have a chance to question it before her feet found the ground and she grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the elevator and began talking his ear off.
"So you totally don't look anything like I was expecting and I guess I probably should have asked you for a picture I can't believe I've never seen what you look like but like," her arms flew out to her sides as she continued rambling. "Wow! You're huge! I mean just look at your arms!"
When the elevator doors opened she paused for just long enough to step inside and grab onto his bicep. "It's like as big as my head! I guess you really do do construction, huh? Lots of lifting?"
Kristoff smiled at her and watched her cheeks grow red as she just continued rambling on, obviously unable to stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth. The ding of the elevator interrupted her, and she grabbed his hand before darting forward and over towards her room, closing the door behind them and throwing her arms out with an excited Ta daaaa!
Glancing around the room, Kristoff felt suddenly nervous. Just one, large bed was in the center of the bedroom. Was… was it just her?
"So…" Kristoff mumbled, dropping his bag by the closet. "Is… is it just you here?"
Anna started gnawing on her bottom lip, shrugging her shoulders, and Kristoff felt his stomach flip as he watched her tongue slowly soothe the now bit swollen portion of her mouth. "Yeah, um… Confession time!" Her hands started twisting together nervously in front of her chest as she took a couple steps away from him. "Truth is… I kind of just… decided to come here. New York is fun anyway, but I thought… that it'd be creepy to actually come to Vermont… And maybe… if you came down here to meet me… that… you kind of felt the same way that I did…"
"And…" He rubbed at the back of his head, avoiding her gaze. "What way is that?"
Shrugging and sitting down on the bed, Anna sighed. "I don't know…" She watched as Kristoff came to sit beside her. "I… felt like there was something special there, maybe? But we hadn't met so I couldn't be sure and I just figured maybe we should meet… for real…"
Maybe it was weird and unconventional, but Kristoff was pretty sure he knew what she meant. There was definitely something there. He could barely tolerate people on his best days… but Anna he could talk to for hours and hours and he was all she thought about when he let his mind wander.
And sitting here with her, smelling her soft, strawberry shampoo… All he wanted to do was kiss her.
Between the two of them, she was the chattier of the two, and he waited patiently for her to take a breath. "Anna."
Her eyes turned up to him, and he felt his cheeks grow hot. "I… I do feel the same. And I'm sitting here and you're talking and I'm listening to you and loving listening to you and all I want to do is kiss you and that seems so stupid, you know, because this is the first time we're actually meeting and…"
He felt her lips press against his, her arms wrap around his neck, and her whole torso lean into his, and he was a goner. Things moved quickly from there, heavy breaths and desperate, impatient, wanton hands roaming pushed clothing away from skin as he asked are you sure, are you positive, are you absolutely a million percent sure.
Anna nodded, nodded, breathed heavy agreements as she pulled him closer and raked her nails across his back, and soon he was seeing stars, curling up against her warmth and pressing lethargic kisses to her bare shoulders, falling asleep next to this unexpected woman who invaded all of his thoughts.