"Oooh, Elsa, have you met Anna?" Olaf asked as though the woman of Anna's dirtiest fantasies had not just walked into the room.
Olaf was hugging the sexy apparition.
Boss, Anna. Boss. Not sexy apparition.
But... Damn.
"Ah..." Anna scrambled to her feet, wriggling her skirt down and stumbling over her heels. She caught herself on the edge of the desk. "Hehe... Anna Summers, your new Personal Assistant!" She held out a hand, trying to give a winning smile.
Sexy appa... Elsa Arendelle didn't take Anna's hand. She didn't even smile. Her lips were pressed tight and her eyes were wide in a sort of shell shocked expression. Anna dropped her hand.
"Well, I need to get going," Olaf said. He grabbed Anna and Elsa at the same time, pulling them into a hug. "You guys get to know each other, and I'll see you at lunch Elsa!"
He picked up his duffel bag and wandered off.
Anna was standing very, very, close to Elsa. She stepped back.
"So... this is interesting," Anna said, looking away. "Olaf was just helping me get set up on the computer. I was trying to get some stuff done, you know, to impress you – well, not that I have to impress you. I have a whole degree and lots of experience. I promise that I am a fabulous personal assistant -"
Wait, no, she was talking to Elsa. She had to look at her. Just try and keep the googly out of her eyes – yeah, that was it.
She looked back into those bright blue eyes with the impossibly long lashes and discovered that there was no way that she could stop herself from making googly eyes.
Elsa was still looking a little wide eyed, but at least she wasn't looking at Anna like she was an explosive about to go off. Anna nervously tucked a loose strand of her hair back behind her ear.
"You're a lot younger than I expected, for the big boss, I mean. Not that you're too young – you're perfectly old – wait no, I don't mean that you're old I mean that I-"
She was spared from any further consumption of her foot by the phone ringing.
She pulled out her iPhone. It was dark and silent.
"Wait – new phone," she muttered. She dug through her purse, looking for the OlafBerry. "Shit – I know I stuck it in here-"
Elsa was watching her and she could feel her neck growing warm. She dumped the contents of the purse on the desk, pushing aside gum wrappers, tampons and sugar packets.
She picked up the OlafBerry. Another ring sounded, and not from it.
With a phone in each hand and her trash strewn over her previously clean desk she looked up at Elsa in panic.
"Try your desk phone," Elsa said, slowly and clearly. She pointed.
"I have a desk phone?" She looked at the desk. Sure enough, a large complicated looking phone with too many buttons was sitting there next to the computer, its little red light flashing.
"I didn't know I had a desk phone."
"Of course you have a desk phone." Clearly she thought Anna was an idiot. Great first impression.
"Answer it. It's probably our contact at Weselton, Inc."
"Oh... hahaha." Her laugh was high and tense. She set the cell phones down on the desk, and leaned against it. "Just call me the phone lady," she said. Her hand slipped and she caught herself on the chair before she ended up on the floor again.
She grabbed the phone, trying to give Elsa a reassuring smile.
Elsa blinked once, then walked into her office.
"Dammit – I mean, Hi! This is Ms. Arendelle's office, how may I help you?"
For his credit, the person on the other side only hesitated a moment. "Hello. I'm calling from Duke Weselton's office. I was wondering if it might be possible to reschedule Mr. Weselton's appointment from three o'clock to one o'clock this afternoon."
"Let me just check the schedule," Anna said, taking a deep breath to relax. Okay, changing schedules. She was pro at this. A whole course in university was practically "how to change schedules". She logged into the computer with her new password, opened the scheduling program with her other password and waited for the navigation screen to pop up.
Except that it didn't.
What she was looking at was unlike any schedule she had ever seen. It was too complicated. She was fairly certain a screen at NASA wouldn't even look this complicated.
"Please hold for one moment." She pressed the hold button and set down the receiver.
She scurried over to Elsa's door and knocked.
"Yes?" She opened it and gulped. Elsa was giving her a death glare over the top of her laptop.
"Ah... are you free at 1 o'clock?" Anna asked nervously.
"I don't know, you tell me." Elsa raised a dainty eyebrow. It was a look that could freeze a person solid.
"Ah..." Anna backed away. "I'll just figure it out on my own."
She sat back down at the desk and looked at the program. There was no way she was going to figure this out quickly enough.
Ask Olaf, her panicked brain supplied. There was no way a guy that cheerful would tell her off. She picked up her cell phone and realised that she had never gotten the IT guy's number. Her computer had just summoned him last time. She wasn't up for breaking her computer just to get him to help her figure out the scheduling program. She frantically scanned the numerous buttons on the landline. Magically, there was one labelled "IT department."
She picked up the phone, pressed the button for the second line and then pressed the IT button. Three rings, then,
"Hello?" a deep, gruff, voice on the other end of the line answered.
"Excuse me can I talk to Mr. Mann?"
God, Mr. Mann sounded stupid when she said it out loud.
"Speaking," the person on the other end grunted. It was a low, gravelly voice with very little humour in it.
"You're not Olaf," she said without thinking. That was obvious.
"No," he answered. She waited, but there was no elaboration.
"Ah... is Olaf... there?"
"Yes."
There was an uncomfortably long silence.
"Can I speak to him?"
"Yes." There was more silence in which Anna wondered if she should have asked "may" she speak to Olaf.
"Hi!"
"Olaf! Thank god! I don't know how to work the scheduling program! Where's Elsa's schedule?"
"But it's the same program that we use in all of our offices," he said.
"This is not the same program. It is evil. It is NASA. It does not have the navigation screen!"
"Oh! Just expand the sidebar and use that." Just like he said there was a sidebar on the left side of the program. Anna felt incredibly stupid.
"Okay, thanks Olaf," she said. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She hung up and opened up the schedule.
Wait a sec – this isn't the same program.
The screen still looked like it belonged on a space ship, but now there were dates and times listed.
I have no idea how to change the schedule. Or what date it is. Oh shit oh shit oh shit.
A sharp knock on the door interrupted her panic attack. Hans, and his hans-som head of red hair stepped into the office. He couldn't have been more welcome if he had a halo and a heavenly host behind him.
"Hello Ms. Summers! How's the first day going?"
"Oh – fine..." her voice squeaked. She blinked rapidly, trying to keep tears from coming to her eyes.
Hans was over at the desk in a flash. "What's wrong, Anna? Can I help?" his voice was earnest. He took her hand, holding it to him.
"Ummmm... I'm just a little lost." She gave an airy little laugh. "All these new programs... I'm sure I'll get the hang of it." She waved her other hand at the computer, indicating the schedule. He leaned over the desk to peer at the screen.
"I... is that even English? No, I can fix this," He turned to Anna, giving her a winning smile.
"You know what the best part of being the VP of Finance is?" he asked. Anna shook her head.
"Delegation," he said, giving her a conspiratorial wink before pulling out his phone. She noticed it was an iPhone and felt like crying again. Why did he get to have an iPhone where she had to have a brand new OlafBerry to talk to her boss?
"Hi, Christian – sorry, Kristoff. Yes, yes, I know. I have a damsel in distress up here. Can you and Steven – sorry, Sven – come up for a minute. Yes – to Ms. Arendelle's office. Yes, I mean it... now."
Despite the tragedy of the current situation, she suppressed a laugh. He couldn't remember names. It was kind of cute.
"My PA and his PA will be here in a minute," he assured her, patting her hand.
"Your PA has a PA?"
"Sure. I could get you a PA if you like," Hans offered with a grin.
"Ah... no, I'm fine, thanks." She gave a weak smile. His brow furrowed in thought.
"You're having such a stressful first day on a job that I arranged. I need to make it up to you somehow," he said, then his face lit up. "How about I treat you to dinner instead. 6:30pm, pick you up in the lobby?"
"Oh... ah... sure." The door opened again, this time without a knock.
"You need to stop wandering off, and check your phone," said the large, blonde man. He looked awkward in a jacket and tie, like the clothes weren't sure they were on the right person. He would look more at home in a ski-jacket, or a printed T-shirt. His hair was a great big flop of blond. Behind him was a skinny dark-skinned man with a big smile on his face. He was carrying a large laptop bag and two coffees. He was peering around the office with interest.
"I need to get to my next meeting," Hans said, getting up from the desk. "Christopher, I leave her in your care."
"It's Kristoff."
"See you at 6:30, Anna."
She gave a little wave. He's so cute, she thought. Can't believe we're going out toni- "Wait, what?"
How did she just get a date with him?
"So what's your real name?"
She turned back to Kristoff. He had a cocky, one sided smile on his face.
"Anna?" she said, more than a little confused. Kristoff reared back and gasped, looking frightened.
"Wait – shit. That's not good." Kristoff said turning to the other man. Behind him, the other man – Sven, she assumed – was adamantly shaking his head.
"What's so bad about him remembering my name?" Anna asked.
"Oh – never mind. Maybe the world is just ending and his memory improved. Yeah, that's probably it."
Behind him, Sven raised a critical eyebrow and shook his head again.
"So, what did you need help with?" Kristoff asked, coming around to her side of the desk. She pointed helplessly at the program.
"There's NASA on my desktop."
Kristoff laughed. He pulled the mouse over towards him.
"This is just the later version – a lot of offices haven't changed over yet. We hate it too. Give me one – quick -second -" he clicked through the menu options. "And – presto!"
"Oh my god, it is the same program!" It was glorious. The NASA screen had been replaced by the familiar, simple program that she had spent weeks learning in her old position.
"So what was it you needed to change?" Kristoff asked.
She looked at the phone. The bottom dropped out of her stomach.
"Fuck! I've had him on hold forever!" She grabbed the phone up and pressed the hold button. "Hello?" there wasn't an answer. "Shitfuckdamn no I know I put him on hold how does this phone work fuckfuckfuck-"
"Did you press the line you were putting on hold before you pressed the hold button?" Kristoff asked. She looked at him, then crumpled into her chair.
"No."
He took the phone from her and pressed some buttons. "I think you hung up on him."
There had been too many times today where she had had to stop herself from crying. It was time to cry. Crying was happening.
Kristoff actually laughed at her. "It's okay. We'll find his number. Who were you talking to?"
She sniffed and wiped at her nose with her hand as big ugly tears streaked down her face. "Mr. Duke's PA, from Weselton."
"Sven! Get me the number for Weaseltown."
"Weaseltown?" she asked.
"Weselton. That's totally what I said."
Sven handed him his OlafBerry, the contact for Weselton – labled Weaseltown, she noticed – brought up on the screen.
"Here you go." He picked up the desk phone and punched in the number before handing it to her. "Stop crying. It's making you ugly."
She threw a sugar packet at him, and got back to work.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door Elsa was having a nervous breakdown.
She had kicked off her uncomfortable blue heels and was pacing in front of her large wall-to-wall window and trying desperately not to think of Anna.
Anna Summers.
But she was a complete derp. There was no other word to describe it. Klutzy and a babbler and absent minded. This was everything she had presented to Elsa.
So why was she so freaking adorable?
Elsa threw herself into her chair and jammed the power button on her laptop with unnecessary force.
She had known she was meeting a new PA. She'd been feeling queasy since two days ago and the old one – what was his name? Jason? James? – had quit suddenly. It meant a new person. Another person who she would show her complete lack of people skills to.
She had barely gotten used to the idea, but she was not prepared for Anna. Anna sprawled out on the carpet like she'd been there for her entire life. One bare leg crossed over the other and her head propped up on one arm like a pin-up model.
Elsa's first view of her PA had included a clear view of her underwear.
Panty shots were only supposed to happen in bad video games and anime. Not in the office.
And she wasn't supposed to be thinking about them anyway.
Even if they were green with grey hearts.
Fuck. Why had she even noticed that?
She pulled up the Weselton proposal and stared at it blankly for a few minutes.
Red hair, caught up in a messy but stylish bun. Freckles across a cute button nose. Big blue eyes. Each of these features kept swimming across her mind. Each time she beat them away.
She thought she'd gotten rid of thoughts like that. Had finally convinced herself that she no longer would ever think of another woman so intensely. Had finally become the woman her father had wanted her to be.
She'd had freckles on her arms and legs, too. They travelled all the way up her thighs, marking a speckled path to…
She groaned and put her head down on the desk, throwing her arms over her head protectively.
She just hadn't been prepared. Anna was attractive – as another woman, she could appreciate that empirically. Red heads could catch anyone off guard. Especially when they wore dark green, short sleeve blouses with a knee length skirt that showed of their underwear. She didn't have to over think this. She was fine.
Her OlafBerry dinged. She picked it up, read the message about the time of her Weselton meeting changing. With a smile, she straightened up and got back to work. Ms. Summers had finally figured out how to use the program.
Maybe she would turn out to be a good PA. Elsa just needed to get over this... unhealthy reaction. She could do that. She was fine. She was in control.
