Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: By the way...if you haven't read Lentament yet, THIS story won't make that much sense. Otherwise, Happy reading!
June.
"...5...4...3...2...1. Times up!" Big cerulean blue eyes shimmered with enough excitement to light up the night sky while I slammed my hands down on the table in defeat, mouth filled to the brim with flaky crackers.
"'oo 'er coun'n 'oo fath!" I narrowed my own eyes at the love of my life, trying to cover my mouth and hide the falling crumbs to no avail. On the other hand, Elsa seemed a little too amused for her own good and continued to giggle cutely at me.
"No way, Gattina. I told you it couldn't be done." She brought her hands up for emphasis. "Six saltines in thirty seconds? Even-"
I didn't let her finish.
Instead, I blew out a harsh breath and allowed a good chunk of partly chewed crackers accompanied by the force of flakes to come shooting out of my mouth, aiming directly at her chest. She flinched back and I was granted the satisfying view of seeing surprised disbelief flash all across her face before we ended up laughing together. That time, I did cover my mouth, but when it became too much, I spit more out and continued to chuckle like an idiot because the expressions she'd had were priceless!
"You are a disgusting animal." Elsa giggled, leaning further back to dust off her shirt, only to yelp when I threw more on her. "No!" For some reason, I laughed harder at her distress and at the same time, caused her to keep up with me too as she cleaned her shirt again. "I guess there could be an upside though." More crumbs fell that I replaced until she reached out to cover my mouth with her hand. "Considering you're in touch with your primal self." She finished with an attractive grin on her full lips.
At that, I finally managed to swallow whatever was left in my mouth down and I pulled back with residual giggles as well, brushing myself while I was at it. "Well, you know my primal self can't resist a dare." I wiped my mouth again. Elsa was back to making sure her shirt was presentable, but stopped when I swiped my finger across her cheek to rid it of stray soggy cracker crumbs. "Which is what got me grounded for a whole month one time, about an inch of my hair burned off and a scar on my hip."
"And it was all done in one day." Kristoff came to sit across from me with a big crooked grin on his lips. "She lost some of her hair and I got proof." He placed his right forearm on the table to show us the spot that refused to grow hair back since that day.
Oh man. Why'd I bring that up? I wondered when Elsa looked between the two of us like it was her first time seeing me. "Do I dare ask what happened?"
"Three different things, different times and all in one day." Kristoff held up his fingers just as Olaf came to join him on the same side.
"Oh, if y'all are playing two truths and a lie, I definitely want in." He declared, turning his Rangers baseball cap backwards as he did so.
"Nah, I'm trying to tell Mariani about the time Anna got grounded for a month." Kristoff smirked at him and we watched understanding fill the gap between them along with devious smirks. Good. Involve everyone, then.
"Oh." Olaf breathed and then removed his cap altogether. "May Mrs. Papadakis's glorious mounds rest in peace." They both stood up like dorks to salute said woman's dearly departed mounds for a short moment before sitting back down to lean in conspiratorially. I rolled my eyes and continued cleaning my mouth out with the aid of my tongue and water, wanting to hide under the table when they seemingly started to relive that horrible day all over again.
"Story time! I told you they were talking about something big." Kida nudged Sen's ribs and didn't hesitate to join the boys on their side while Sen sat next to Elsa.
"Right now?" I finally asked, looking between them all. "Our esteemed guests will be here any minute!" Trying to motion inside where we were nearly done with getting the place set up. The only reason Elsa and I had moved outside was because she'd brought the topic of trying to eat six crackers in thirty seconds up and I couldn't help but try to prove her wrong. Inside, the rest were supposed to be helping Quentin and his wife set out napkins and to hang up the few decorations that we'd gotten earlier that day.
"And we'll be ready." Sen reached over to pat my back in reassurance. "Now, what happened?" She turned back to the guys with interest beaming in her pretty eyes. I had half a mind to go back inside myself, but just as easily decided against it when I felt Elsa shift next to me in anticipation. Instead, I grabbed the crackers and slid them away from the middle of the table.
"Well, we actually all got grounded for the first story." Olaf chuckled, making Sen and Kida exchange curious glances.
"This oughta be good." Kida shot her eyes to me and I shook my head in budding embarrassment, dusting off my shirt once more to keep from looking at anyone else.
"Okay, so sophomore year we were really into soccer, right?" Kristoff began, drawing their attention once more. I took another long drink of water and heavily debated on whether to go inside or not again. That year definitely wasn't one of my best.
"Anna was actually pretty good at it. What with her being a natural and all." Olaf snickered. "We used to call her Double D because she dribbled so well."
"Cut it out!" I snapped, feeling my cheeks heat up a little more. Daunting Dribbler. My mind recalled all too smugly and I was so thankful they hadn't said anymore about it. For now, sadly. Somewhere down the line, I was sure the others would ask what it meant and I would be inclined to tell them.
"Anyway, this one day, we're practicing just outside Anna's place like we're going to be participating in the MLS finals. You know they got neighbors right there?" Kristoff bit back his own snicker when everyone nodded. I felt Elsa's hand slip into mine so she could intertwine our fingers under the table, but when I looked at her, she was focused on my best friend, hanging on his words along with the others. "We got kinda bored somewhere in between so we eventually set up cans here and there and dared each other to try to get all the cans down with the soccer ball before the timer went off."
"They were full cans." Olaf added, explaining himself next. "The day was a little breezy and empty ones just wouldn't stay still."
"O and I had done our rounds successfully but when it was Anna's turn," Kristoff made sure that no one else was around our table first and then leaned back in with his eyes twinkling in amusement. I brought my free hand up to cover my own eyes, ears burning already. "She got the easy cans out of the way with all the finesse of a professional. But that last can," He drawled out, leaving it there and I swear, everyone was on the edge of their seats.
"What happened?" Kida finally asked when the anticipation became too much.
"She kicked the ball!" Olaf answered. "As hard as she could."
Elsa glanced at me just then, curious blue eyes asking if I'd hit the can or not. "Did you hit it?" She asked anyway.
"I would have..." I grumbled, still not looking at anybody.
"If Mrs. Papadakis didn't come walking out from her backyard to the front." Kristoff delivered part of the punchline. My ears and neck now adorned the blush that started from my cheeks.
"Right into the line of fire." Olaf barely contained himself.
"You hit her?" Elsa couldn't stop the snort from leaving and covered her mouth to try to stifle the laughter that wanted to escape too.
"In the chest. Bullseye!" Kristoff chortled.
"She popped Mrs. Papadakis's boobs!" Olaf wailed with laughter, making me reach over to whack him upside the head to keep him quiet. Kida and Sen doubled over too while Elsa buried her face in my shoulder to try to not laugh as loud as the rest of them for my sake.
"It's not funny!" I protested over the guffaws. "Her husband loved her boobs and since I ruined them, dad had to pay him back for all the damage."
"St-st-stop!" Kida's voice had escaped her, but she still tried to tell me anyway.
"We all got punished for that." Olaf wheezed, clapping Kristoff on the shoulder.
"You remember what you said, Anna?" Kristoff managed to look at me with his nearly deranged eyes, making me bite my lip to keep from joining in like I wanted to right then.
"She was so embarrassed and mad that she said the first thing that came to mind when her dad yelled at her." Olaf calmed enough to tell them, much to my dismay. "Ben goes on to tell Anna just how much Mr. Papadakis loved his wife's new boob job and Anna snaps back at him and says: 'he'll get them back, there's plenty more of them at the tit store!'"
Again they all went back to roaring with laughter. On the other hand, I just wanted to run away. Run off the mortification I felt all over again like it happened just yesterday. The Papadakis's left earlier this year having collected what our parents owed, but I swear I wouldn't live that day down as long as I lived myself. Especially the 'tit' part.
It seemed like forever, but they eventually dwindled down and Elsa didn't wait to ask, "so, what about your hair and your hip?"
"Snap, there's more?" Kida wiped her eyes and set her arms back on the table.
"Okay, the incident with my hair and Kristoff's arm was when we went back to Olaf's house." I cleared my throat. "I was mad at my dad, really embarrassed too, so I told him I'd be back later and only then would I start my month-long punishment." Of course he agreed and that usually went without saying.
"And we wanted S'mores that evening." Kristoff took a big breath, letting his lasting chuckles out before starting back up again.
"Long story short: I got too close to the gas hob of O's stove and burned about an inch off of my hair. Kristoff just got in my way, so I ended up burning him too." I emphasized the left pigtail that Elsa had been playing with. The girls snorted at me, but thankfully there were no more hearty outbursts. Except from Olaf, who claimed we wasted half of the fire extinguisher on each other because we were freaking out so bad. Now that got a few more chuckles from us all because of the mental image of my wall of a friend and I practically stop, dropping and rolling around while the extinguisher went off in between and Olaf just standing there not knowing what happened or what to do once he figured it out was too delicious to pass up.
"Now, what about your hip?" Sen recovered first and then propped her head up in her hand. "Tell me and I'll tell you about the time I tried to out run the police."
"What?!" We all balked at her, but she just smiled innocently and motioned for me to go first.
"Well," I sat up a little straighter with my interest piqued. "After freaking out about my hair and then shrugging it off later, we decided to dabble in some of Marshall's secret stash." I shook my head at the memory. "There's this tree right outside Olaf's room, I don't know if you all saw it last time."
"It's the only tree by the house." Olaf clarified. By then, we all were more interested in hearing Sen's story, so I was trying to hurry mine along.
"Anyway, these imbeciles dared me- no, they bet me twenty bucks I couldn't climb the tree to get in." Sending my narrowed eyes at Kristoff and Olaf made them look elsewhere with guilty smirks on their faces. "I don't know why they didn't do it, but I guess I was stupid enough to try."
"Tell me you made it." Kida winced.
"It just wasn't my day." I chuckled disdainfully before standing up to pull the waistband of my jeans down a bit to let them see the scar on the back of my left hip. Six pairs of eyes widened while the rest of us kept our cool. Seriously, we'd already laughed over it many times. "Okay. Your turn Sen." I sat back down when they were done gawking. Elsa gave my leg a comforting rub as I did so, which got a smile out of me in return and I again held her hand.
"Okay." Sen consented, stretching her arms out before her. "Last year I was on the volleyball team and we'd just won the championships." Her eyes glazed over like she was reliving the victory too. "One night, me and a few of my teammates named Aubrey, Yomi, and Hunter all snuck into the city pool to drink."
"Of course." I snorted, running my thumb along Elsa's knuckles. It seemed dares, bets, and drinking were a surefire way to get us all in trouble.
"Yeah." Sen grinned in agreement. "So there we were, drinking and having a great time until the police show up." And then she brought her arms back, only to gesture like she was running. "The four of us bail, hauling ass like never before, make it outside and we would have made a clean getaway because we were in awesome shape." She rolled her eyes while we nodded eagerly. "Only Hunter has this brilliant idea that she's going to jump over the police cruiser instead of going around it like a normal person."
A collection of groans and expressions of awe came from each of us, but we were still as interested as the beginning of her story. Hunter must have been in excellent shape to even have considered jumping over a car! "Anyway, she vaults over the roof of the car head first," Sen shot her hand through the air for demonstration. "And she would have made it, but came up short, clipped the lights and ended up tumbling to the ground." Her hands clapped together. "The idiot knocked right into me and the next thing we knew, the police had tackled, handcuffed, and tossed the both of us in the back seat-"
"You were arrested?!" Kristoff and I barked at the same time, eyes as wide as everyone else's.
"Hey, it was allegedly." Sen waved us away nonchalantly. "The officers who caught us got pissed because it turned out that Hunter had cut herself on their light and was bleeding all over the backseat as they eventually drove us to the hospital." She chuckled at the memory. "We were lucky that Hunter's older sister was dating the Captain at the time, so she convinced them that the paper work wasn't worth taking us in."
"Who was the Captain?" I asked when the story settled and we shared our short fits of laughter. Because I failed to take note before Phoebus stepped in. And I highly doubted he would date anyone else.
"Her name was Serenity." Sen's smile dimmed a little. "She got transferred to Corona, so that's where Hunter, Yomi, and Aubrey moved to too."
"Were they related?" Kristoff asked next.
"Yeah, they were sisters." Sen nodded. "Which was also why I didn't do any sports this year. Too lonely without my girls." A chuckle left her before she wrapped her arm around Elsa and directed a smirk at me. "Luckily, I met you guys so this year wasn't all bad." A big grin captured her lips.
"You can thank me." Kida gloated. "I was the one who asked for your number first."
"But I asked her out." Kristoff puffed his chest out.
"After we had to write your text messages for the first few days after you got her number." Olaf cooed, placing his cap back on.
"Whatever." I stood up and helped Elsa up too. "Sen's here now and that's all that matters. Except for the dinner we're supposed to be setting up still!"
"Aye, aye!" Olaf jumped up from his seat, nearly blowing Kristoff and Kida over in his haste to get inside.
"So when and how did you come up with this idea?" Sen asked when she took the seat next to me. Together we watched all of our parents and Oaken mingling with one another while they got themselves plates of food, courtesy of Blackthorn's. Said owner of the restaurant was laughing up a storm with Letti and his wife while trying to involve Elsa who, diligently tried not to get embarrassed because of the attention she was getting from them.
"I just thought it would be fun to have our parentals get together and hang out with all of us since Mother's Day seemed to just float on by like another boring day." My eyes trailed from Kristoff's adoptive mother to Olaf's as they smiled at their boys when they brought drinks over. "And it wouldn't have been possible if Mr. Blackthorn hadn't agreed to cater or if Olaf's parents hadn't rented this place out." This place meaning the banquet room of the Hilton. I wasn't sure how Quentin manged to squeeze in his own menu besides the ones provided. It was just plain beyond me, but I did know that when Olaf asked his parents for something, they weren't cheap.
"This is awesome!" Sen settled back, admiring the people she'd come to know in a few short months. "Your dad's so handsome. So is Elsa's mom! I can't believe how gorgeous she is." Her arm slipped around my shoulder proudly. "We've all got good-looking parents."
"My dad looks a little out of place, though." Kida placed herself next to Sen and gestured to where said dad was sitting stoically by Oaken. The big guy was determined to get him to smile if it was the last thing he did.
"I bet you take after your mom then?" I smirked at her.
"Oh yeah." Kida smiled softly and then turned to Sen. "Be thankful you have both parents." Unlike Elsa, Kida and I who only had one parent present, we couldn't help but respect the couples that came in too.
"Well, no need to be guastafesta now." I sat up, eventually standing to my feet. "Let's go meet each other's parents." My hand came up to poke Kida in the ribs. "I'm totally going to ask your dad why you got them tattoos on your face!"
"Don't you dare, Crescent!" Kida snarled and instead lead me in a different direction so she could drop me off with Elsa. Apparently just in time for Q to include me in his next words because he wrapped an arm around Elsa and my shoulders as if he was anticipating my appearance.
"A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption," He began, turning us towards Letti and, too my pleasant surprise, my dad. "One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named Ahmal. The other goes to a family in Spain and they named him Juan." As Q went on, I couldn't help but think this was going to end with one of us face-palming. "Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal." By then, Letti was subtly biting on her lip and my dad looked a little more curious than before. "Her husband says, 'They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."
It was Elsa and I that face-palmed with stupid grins while the other three burst out in laughter at the ridiculous pun, but that didn't stop me from squeezing out from under Q's arm to grab Elsa's hand. As we backed away from them, I pointed at the older man. "There was this person who sent ten different puns to all his friends with the hope that at least one of them would make them laugh." We stopped as a cocky grin spread across my lips. "No pun in ten did." And then I opened my palm like I'd deliberately dropped the mic.
"Hey, you know how American ships' names begin with USS, which stands for United States Service? Then there are British..." Letti went on, but it was Elsa that started pulling me away that time.
"Non fai scumbari, Mami!" She hissed before tightening her hold on my hand. I managed to catch that mischievous look in those sapphic eyes just as we ran into Olaf.
"Apparently everyone's on about puns and jokes now." He whispered, making me grin and whisper to him.
"Confucius say, man with hand in his pocket feel cocky all day."
"Basta." Elsa tried to stop the giggle already coming out of her mouth and then stopped to bury her face in my shoulder again. "Wh-where on earth did you get that one?" She asked when Olaf continued to giggle like a little kid.
"I have no idea." I smirked at her before leading her away from Olaf and to a more secluded table. "How are you holding up, Snow Paw?" Came my question as I pulled out a chair for her.
"Did you know that Olaf's mother did mami's?" Elsa smiled lightly when I froze in taking my own seat.
"That's," I began haltingly, "What a small world this is." Again, I looked over to where Letti and my dad were now talking and laughing by themselves. Oaken and Q were trying to lay some more jokes on Kida's dad like the fools they were, Sen was holding Kristoff's arm as they talked to their dads and Olaf and Kida were entertaining the last four moms and Q's wife with their goofy rendition of Senior ditch day.
"I'm glad you thought to put a dinner together though." Elsa moved her chair closer so she could comfortably lay her head on my shoulder. Her hand also wrapped itself in mine too and I turned to press a kiss to her temple.
"We all came up with it." I grinned. "And what better easy to appreciate the older people in our lives by eating?" Another kiss closer to the top of her head. "I'm the more mature child, right?"
Instead of responding right away, Elsa pulled back, only to lean up to catch my lips in a kiss. It was one that made my stomach flutter because of the depth. Like she poured her soul into each and every kiss we shared and it was so easy to get lost in the honesty of her affection. Man alive, I could kiss her for minutes, hours, and even days because the longer we did, the more I felt and the more I wanted. I wanted to see how deep that feeling could go.
After another minute, I pulled away with an idiotic smile on my lips. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Definitely." Elsa whispered, placing an extra kiss to my cheek.
"Tesoro may I have a word with you?" Letti appeared out of nowhere and placed her hand on my shoulder. We glanced up at her in bewilderment, but she gave nothing away as she gently coaxed me out of the chair and further from Elsa. "Non preoccuparti, Starfire. We won't be long." Peeking over my shoulder, I gave her my best brave face before Letti blocked my view and was it me or did Elsa look nervous?
Crap. What did I do now? Was it wrong to kiss her right then and there? Is this because Elsa took me back so easily- NO! It can't be because of the other day! My eyes widened at the memory. Slap me running, she's going to knock me into next Tuesday isn't she?
("i-it doesn't have a name." Elsa managed to speak between kisses. "But the gist is that we kiss...and don't stop."
"I like this game already." I panted, nearly groaning into the heated lip-lock.
"But we can't touch each other." Elsa patted my legs so I'd move them to bracket around her and I let out a short growl when she intertwined our fingers and held our hands over my head. "You touch me, you lose."
"What if you touch me first?" I asked.
"Then I lose and the loser has to do whatever the winner wants."
"I like those stakes." I pulled back to grin at her. "Ready, then?"
"I'm always ready." Elsa breathed huskily and didn't hesitate to press her lips back to mine again after untangling our hands.)
Letti had walked in right when Elsa decided to cheat and stepped back, forcing me to yelp and then cling to her. Needless to say, Letti had seen and heard enough to know what we were up to, but didn't say anything as she retreated into her room.
"L-look, Letti." I stuttered out when we got to the outside balcony. "It- that- about the other day, I wasn't- I-I mean I did, but what you saw- I-"
"Save it." Letti held her hand up to stop my rambling.
"Mi dispiace tantissimo." I tried my hand at some Italian, but when she only furrowed her brow in amusement at me, I suddenly felt ridiculous for it.
"Your Italian needs some serious work." She grinned. "And there's no need for you to apologize like I told you Elsa's nonna was on her deathbed, Anna." She wrapped me up in a short hug and then stepped away to look out over the city below. "It feels like just yesterday I gave you permission to date my daughter." A content sigh joined the breeze as she turned to meet my eyes. "Has Ben had the talk with you yet?"
"Not until I'm thirty-five with my life figured out." I shrugged a shoulder, feeling my cheeks heat all over again. Is she serious?
"Ma, che sei grullo?" Letti threw her head back to let out her bell-like laugh that had me chuckling to myself too. I couldn't help it, considering her contagious laughter. "He's obviously forgotten what's its like to be a teenager in love."
"He does okay." I joined her and leaned against the partition. "But I'm sure there are times he wishes my mom was there to talk to me."
"Luckily, he hasn't had the pleasure of walking in on you two yet." Letti smirked. My stomach dropped along with my head into my arms, face flushing a thousand different colors too.
"I'm-"
"Nah-ah!" Letti nudged my shoulder until I looked at her. "My daughter's old enough to know when to say 'no' by now and if she hasn't with you, I'm pretty sure you're ready to be embarrassed by me with talk of sesso sicuro."
"I'm-I'm not sure what-" I rubbed my neck awkwardly. "You really don't have to- I mean, I'm sure what my dad has told me will-"
"I was a teenager once." Letti waved me away as if I hadn't let all that tumble out of my mouth. "I've experimented-"
"Letti!" I groaned in embarrassment, wondering if Elsa had gone through the same thing with her and if she did, I was pretty sure she took it in stride.
"I'm just trying to say that'll be messy."
"Please stop." I couldn't believe what she was telling me!
"It'll be clumsy and no matter how much you plan, you can't know when it'll happen." Letti went on while my face continued to burn like someone lit a fire under my skin. "Fare l'amore-"
"Okay, okay!" I threw my hands up. "I won't touch her again."
"That's impossible." She chortled like it was the most ridiculous thing I could have said. It was.
"I know." I groaned, reaching up to scrub my face with my hands. "I'll have you know that I'll- I do respect your daughter in every aspect of the word and I won't ever pressure her to do something she doesn't want to do. I love her and I want what's best for her."
"As do I." Letti pushed off the wall to stand behind me, making me turn around to face her. "Now I'm not sure who I wanted my daughter to date because she's always had her next steps planned out, but then you came along." A crooked smile stretched across her ruby lips. "Honestly, you scared the crap out of me."
"Why?" I asked curiously.
"Because you were crazy in love with her." She laughed. "First you two were running away from me and the next thing I know, you're trailing after her to meet me like a person. You were a little confusing and completely different from the people she normally brought around me and what's more? You were in our loft! Elsa hadn't brought any of her friends by and yet you came down from her room." Her hand placed itself on my shoulder. "I knew from the moment our eyes met that you were going to stick around."
Before I could say anything, she whispered, "You have my permission."
I couldn't help but frown at her. "But, I thought you already gave me permission to date Elsa?"
"No, Tesoro." Letti's beautiful eyes locked on mine as she placed her other hand on my other shoulder and gave me the most meanigful look she'd ever given. "You. Have. My. Permission."
My eyes widened in disbelief and my jaw went slack when I finally got what she was implying. "Oh." Was all I could think to say right then.
A/N: Well, well, well. Let's see where this one takes us, huh? In no way will it be anther 40+ chapters because, hey, it's Summer and summer is only two months by my count.
Thank you all for reading^^
Tootles~