"Gulag - a system of labor camps maintained in the former Soviet Union from 1930 to 1955 in which many people died." Anna sighed and laid her head down on the table. "Hans, if I had known working in the library was going to be this boring, I would have never taken the job." She looked up at the boy, blowing at a strand of hair that had come between the two of them.
"Hey, you need the extra money anyways. Plus you get to learn to some new words!"
Anna rolled her eyes. "I'm literally reading the dictionary out of boredom."
Hans crossed his arms and gave an amused chuckle. "Just read out the next word."
Anna sat back up, taking her time to focus back on the dreary book. "Fine." Her finger scanned the page, looking for the next word. "Gular - a plate or scale on the throat of a reptile or fish." Her finger left the page and she glanced back to her boyfriend. "I mean, seriously. They could have at least put better computers in here. I have to wait, like, a minute before the internet even connects! I thought Wichita State was supposed to be one of those nice colleges. Sure, they have a nice basketball team –"
"Wait, that's it? Just 'nice basketball team?' We've gone undefeated this season. We're at 34 wins and no one can stop us. Is that all this starting point guard gets?" Hans interrupted.
"Oh, you know what I mean." Anna punched his arm playfully. "It doesn't help that the tuition skyrocketed after you guys started winning. Apparently everyone wants to go here now that the basketball team is actually good. How does that even make sense?"
"School spirit and all that crap." Hans answered. "It's nice to be proud of the school you're going to."
"I can't believe that people still care about that. Shouldn't all the school spirit stuff have ended in high school? I mean, college is about your career, not how well your school's basketball team does."
Hans laughed. "Anna, high school was shit. People don't choose which high school they go to. They just attend the nearest one. College, well, college is different. You can go anywhere you want as long as you're talented, like moi, or smart like you."
Anna's cheeks flared. "Oh shut up. You know my parents pay for everything anyways. The only reason I go here is because, well. Wait. Why do I go here?"
"Because if you didn't, how would the two of us have ever met?" Hans put on his best pouting face.
She gave him another playful punch. "I guess so. Now back to the topic. They really need to get better computers. Like get some Macs or something so that I don't have to deal with all the slowness and–" She turned her head to the sound of books thumping on the ground. The redhead leaned her head back and gave a loud sigh. "That's the third time this week someone messed up a shelf!"
Hans laughed again. "Soon you'll be asking for machines to pick up books every time someone drops one." The redhead glared at her boyfriend. "Whoa there, no need to shoot daggers at me. Leave that for the idiot who messed up the shelves."
Anna groaned, lifting herself from her chair and walking over to the clutter of books a few rows down. "I swear if this is that kid who's majoring in psychology again, I'll –" She stopped, looking at the blonde on the floor scrambling to pick up all the books. "Oh. Well. Hello there."
The girl look up at Anna with a sense of panic. "I–I'm sorry, I'll clean this up, I promise!"
Anna chuckled and bent down to help. "It's fine. It's my job to fix this anyways, but I appreciate the offer." She picked up a few books and organized them back into the shelves. She motioned to grab a few more books, but her face was greeted by another head. The redhead threw her head back in pain, pinching her now agonized nose. "God, that hurt!" Anna focused on her attention to the pain on her face, barely able to register the girl attempting to aid her.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Anna started to realize someone was talking to her and tried to center in on the voice.
"Yeah, no, I'm good. It just stings right now." She sat down on the ground, closing her eyes and trying to ignore the pain. She opened one eye when she felt a set of hands on her face.
"Here, let me take a look at it. Close your eyes." Anna obliged. She kept her eyes closed as the girl moved her hands across her face, sending chilling and refreshing signals to her senses. Her face cooled down and the pain numbed as the blonde girl continued massaged it.
"Where'd you learn to do this? It feels amazing."
"I picked it up from friends back home." Anna was disappointed when the massaging stopped. "You can open your eyes now."
She opened them to see the uncomfortably close face of the girl. "Oh! Huh, well, this is awkward." Anna hadn't noticed it before, but this girl was beautiful. Her platinum blonde hair that perfectly cascaded in a braid over her right shoulder, her blue eyes sparkling as the light hit them, the few faded and hardly noticeable freckles on her face, and those lips. God, those lips. A light shade of red, they perfectly arched into a warm smile.
Wait, what?
"So, do you feel better?"
Anna shook her head to refocus on her setting. "Y –yeah, of course." She shuffled back to distance herself. "Thanks."
"Thanks? I'm the one that caused all this." The girl chuckled.
Anna caught the embarrassment behind the sloppy excuse. "It's fine. I'm sure it was my fault somehow, I'm pretty clumsy anyways." Anna saw the girl relax a bit. It took her a moment, but Anna realized that the two of them had sat on a floor for some time now. "Oh God, sorry, this must be really awkward. Not that you're awkward, I'm awkward. We really should get up, shouldn't we?" Anna grabbed onto a nearby shelf and pulled herself up. She offered her hand to the girl. "By the way, you never told me your name."
"Oh. Elsa. My name is Elsa." She took Anna's hand and pulled herself up. "You?"
"Anna Arendelle."
Elsa scratched the back of her head. "Look, I'm sorry for the mess I caused."
Anna waved it off. "It's fine. Like I said, it's my job to help anyways. This happens so often that I'm starting to think the problem is with the shelves, not the students."
"Are you sure? I have to be able to help with something." Elsa's arms crossed, each hand cradling the other elbow. Her eyes were trained to the ground. Whether she was just shy or painfully embarrassed, Anna will never know.
"Meeting you was nice enough." Wait, what?! You did not just say that! God! She probably thinks you're some lesbian weirdo trying to hook up with her now! Say something! Hurry! "I–uh, so. Do you come here often?"
Elsa looked up at her with a cocked eyebrow. "Huh?"
What is wrong with you?! You're supposed to look friendly, not creepy! God, I swear you have brain damage from being hit as a child or something! No one is this socially impaired! "T–the library! I just wanted to know if you come here a lot."
Elsa relaxed. "Oh, well, I guess. I like to come here whenever I have free time. It's always quiet and I can just relax. That is when I'm not destroying furniture." The blonde let out another worried chuckle.
"That's cool. I work here every day, so I guess I'll be seeing you a lot then?" If she doesn't turn around right now and walk away, you are so lucky. I swear, no one has had this streak of stupidity come out of their mouths.
"Yeah, I guess. I've actually got a class right now, so I'll see you later then."
Anna wasn't sure if that was just an excuse or if she really did have a class, but nonetheless she felt a bit dissatisfied. "Yeah, see you." She watched as Elsa picked up her bag and walked towards the exit. As their distance widened the redhead finally got to fully see Elsa.
Literally everything is perfect about her. That hair. Those curves. That walk. Her pants are so clingy. She must run or something, because those legs and calves are toned beyond belief. And God, who knew a girl could rock flannel this well? And the way she sways her hips when she walks. It's just mesmerizing. It just sucks you in and before you know it you're staring at her ass–and what the fuck am I thinking?!
Anna tore her eyes away from Elsa, slapping her forehead. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." She walked back to Hans, not noticing the devious smirk on his face.
"So," Anna's eyes widened when she realized what was about to happen. "What was that all about?"
She twisted one of her braids on a finger, trying to dispel some of the panic that was rising inside of her. "Uh, what? No, that was just some girl. Y'know how it is. Just two girls talking. Yeah..."
Hans crossed his arms, smirk never leaving. "Oh really? Because from what I heard, it seemed like you were having a complete breakdown."
Anna slapped his arm. "Oh shut up. I was just talking to her, can we leave it at that?"
Hans waved his hands in the air. "Okay feisty-pants, I just wanted to know when your turned bi, is all."
"Wha–, who? Why would you even think that!?"
Hans shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's from the shaking legs, or the way you stared at her when she was leaving."
"I –I was not!"
Hans put his hand on Anna's shoulder. "It's fine. I can't deny that she has an amazing body."
She slapped him in his chest. "Hans!"
"What? It's true. You were obviously checking her out. Fuck, did you see those hips?"
Those delicious, juicy hips. Wait, fuck!
"Can we just drop this. Please?" She tried her best to put on a convincing pout.
"Fine." Hans sat back down.
"Thank you." Anna joined him.
She looked back at the open dictionary in front of her. She looked at it, but only one thing was in her mind. Elsa. How had she never noticed her before? She'd obviously gone to the library other times. Maybe she liked to hide in a corner. What books did she like to read? Adventure? Mystery? Horror? Historical? Maybe she liked to teach herself different subjects.
Oh God, what have I become? Did I just get the obsessed with this girl?
She tried to push the thoughts away, but they kept creeping back in. It was absolutely pointless to resist. Elsa contaminated her thoughts. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she couldn't wait for Elsa to walk through those doors again.
A/N - Before anyone questions why I chose to put the setting in Kansas (a.k.a. the state where nothing happens), I'll list a few reasons why.
1) I used to live there, so I know it pretty well which allows me to give it justice.
2) It'd be reasonable for any of the characters in the fic to move out of Kansas to a different state even if they have money problems
3) WSU has that 34-0 winning streak right now