A/N EDIT! sorry about a mix up in this chapter at the end doesn't like anyone using a less than sign even if you type it in HTML:(
Anna stared up at Elsa with wide eyes, the blonde smirked at this and let out a bit of a giggle. Anna's cheeks began to grow hot as the blush spread across her face. She bit her bottom lip, looked down, and grabbed the girl's hand. "I assume you're Anna?" She put her hand on her shoulder, "don't worry, before we're done you'll be just as good as anyone else here!"
Anna's stomach was doing flips, she wished she had brought a scarf to cover up how flustered she was. "T-thank you", she managed to stutter out. She then quickly went to collect her snowboard from down the way.
Elsa turned to talk to the other two people while Anna raced to pick up her board. Her heart was racing, the butterflies in her stomach felt more like Elsa spinning and twisting in there. She never felt like this before, she grabbed her board, took a deep breath, and tried to steady her nerves. Anna gave herself a quick pep talk, "okay, so the girl you thought was amazing and beautiful and awesome is your instructor. She is also totally cool and calm and pretty. You can handle this Anna." She paused for a moment, "but this is strange and new and weird. What if she thinks you're a ditz or a flake or just stupid. You're rambling Anna, stop over thinking and just let whatever is going to happen, happen." She stopped herself and turned back towards the group. The other two people finished strapping in, pushed off towards a small slope, and Elsa waved for Anna to come back. She took one more deep breath and began her trek back to the others.
Elsa folded her hands together as Anna approached, "Okay, I cleared it with the others. They are on the last lesson they need, so we're going to go to the bunny hill. We can work at the bottom, while I watch those two at the top. How does that sound?"
The lump in Anna's throat almost choked her when she tried to speak, but she managed to force out, "that sounds great".
Elsa picked up her snowboard, tucked it under her arm, and walked with Anna. "So is this your first time up here?"
Anna tried to speak, but her nerves were not making it easy. "Well, no, but yes, I mean, I used to come up here all the time when I was little. I would visit my cousin every winter, but it's been almost ten years since last time I came to see them for more than just a day visit. This winter is the first time since I was nine that I actually had time to stay." Her mind was in overdrive, the words were just coming out as soon as they popped into her head, "this is the first time I am up here, here though. Like on the ski resort. It's awesome though, I love how bright it is, and everyone's been pretty nice so far." Anna had to physically stop herself from talking. She covered her mouth with her hand, closed her eyes, and took another deep breath. When she opened her eyes, Elsa was giggling a bit. Anna blushed, "Sorry, I talk when I'm nervous."
"Don't be nervous, I'll do my best to make sure you don't get hurt", Elsa comforted her with a hand on her arm.
Anna's let out a giggle as her face curled into a gigantic grin when Elsa touched her. "I really liked your tricks before, I mean you were awesome on the slopes over there.", she motioned towards the half-pipe.
"Oh... you were watching that?" Elsa started to drag her feet a little and fell behind a step or two. "And you were watching the entire time?"
Anna let her excitement take hold of her. She turned around and walked backwards, "yeah, it was great! You were spinning around and launching off the sides like it was easy. I hope, one day, I can be half as good as you."
Elsa let her eyes stray from Anna and her head tilted slightly towards the ground, "It's nothing special, I've just had a lot of time to practice." She fidgeted with her board pulling it in front of her letting her hands fold together.
Anna gushed more, "but it was! You are probably the best person on the entire mountain!" Anna's face went red thinking about how that could be taken, then her blush darkened as she realized how she meant it.
Elsa's pale skin lit up as well, a smile crept across her face and she began to look up at Anna. Her expression changed from reserved careful happiness to a serious protective determination. She dropped her board and yelled, "watch out!" She pulled Anna back as a rogue skier just missed colliding into her.
Anna let go of her board, shut her eyes, and instinctively put her arms out as the two fell to the ground. They hit the cold icy snow fairly hard and Anna kept her eyes closed for a second. When they finally opened, she realized her face was inches away from Elsa's. Both girls enjoyed letting their eyes dance with the others, and Anna was lost in the icy blue of the beautiful winter storm of Elsa's eyes. Anna felt a rush of heat burn across her face and down her body. For a second, she worried she would melt the snow around them.
Elsa was enjoying the view just as much as Anna, but regained her voice first. Her blush spread just as rapidly as Anna's, a sheepish smile bloomed on her face, and then accidentally cooed, "Are you okay?"
She kick started Anna's mind back to a functioning state. She started to pull back and climb off the girl below her, "No, no, I mean yes! I just wasn't looking where I was going, but I'm fine, really", she sat back on her knees giving her teacher room to sit up.
"Hey", a woman's voice called from a bit away, "stop milking it and get up, you two are fine."
The calm winter storm in Elsa's eyes grew fierce, her head whipped around, "you can control your carving enough so that shouldn't have happened! Keep moving Marsh, or perhaps you can't handle your new job."
The girl just shrugged, and in a very sarcastic tone scoffs, "oh no, it was an accident, please don't get me in trouble." She then skied off snickering to herself.
"Who was that?", Anna asked as she hopped to her feet and offered a hand to Elsa.
Elsa calmed down, took her hand, and replied as Anna pulled her up, "that was Marsh. She is one of the new instructors here. She used to work down in the rental area, but recently got promoted", she finished her thought under her breath, "against better judgement."
Anna picked up Elsa's board and handed it to her, "she seems like a jerk. I'm glad I got someone like you as my teacher!"
Elsa took the board and smiled, "Alright then, I owe you a lesson, don't I?"
The two set up off to the side, near the bottom of a small slope. Elsa looked up at her other two trainee's and gave them a thumbs up. They began coming down the mountain as Anna began trying to strap in her boots. Elsa watched the others for a few moments before calling up to them about keeping their knees bent and the way they were turning their bodies. Anna, still failing at strapping in her boots, let herself fall onto the ground.
Elsa turned around, looked down at her, and giggled a bit, "before you strap in we have to find out if you are regular or goofy."
"Hey!", Anna protested with a pout.
Elsa laughed, "not like that! It only means which is your dominant foot. If you ride regular your left foot is in front, where as goofy will have your right."
"Well, I'm left-handed, does that mean anything?"
She laughed again, "if only it was that easy. There is an easy surefire way to figure it out though. Just keep looking forward", Elsa started circling, Anna looking at her out of the corner of her eye the entire time.
Anna followed her till she slipped out of her peripheral vision. She felt Elsa behind her, and after a good twenty seconds of waiting, she turned her head, "Elsa?" It was only for a second, but Anna was sure Elsa was looking at her butt. Elsa then shoved Anna forward, "Hey!"
"Look at your feet", Elsa pointed out. Anna looked down her right foot had jumped out to catch her balance. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you're goofy", she joked.
"Ha, ha", Anna retorted dryly.
"If I said you were regular, I'd be lying to you", Elsa flirted with a wink.
The double meaning was not lost to Anna, she blushed as her heart pounded in her chest. At first, she gazed into Elsa's eyes and her confidence radiated from her. The longer she looked though, they slowly showed how far out of her comfort zone Elsa had stepped. The innocence and shyness in her eyes were painfully obvious after only a minute, and Elsa began to bite the inside of her lip fearing for the worst. To break the silence, Anna chimed, "then I guess you ride goofy as well then." The edges of her mouth rising as she speaks.
That small gesture was more comforting to her than Anna knew. She tried to hide how happy this made her by looking back at the other two who were almost completely down the slope now. The way she played with her hair though was more than enough to let Anna know how nervous she was. After she recomposed herself, Elsa turned back around. "Okay, now let's get you strapped i-", she cut herself off as she stared at the board at Anna's feet.
"What's wrong?", Anna worried.
Elsa grabbed the bridge of her nose, "who gave you that board?"
"I rented it, Hans gave it to me."
She let out a sigh, "I'm gonna kill him... This board is way too big for you. Sorry it took me this long to notice, I wasn't really looking at your snowboard", Elsa's eyes widened when she reluctantly finished her sentence.
Anna shuffled nervously, trying not to get too flustered at Elsa's accidental confession. "Oh, I guess he made a mistake cause they were originally supposed to give me skis anyway", Anna rationalized trying to move the conversation along.
"Wait, skis?" Elsa questioned.
"Yea my rental was for skis but they gave me a snowboard instead", Anna answered.
Elsa swore under her breath and fumed to herself, "always trying to screw with people."
The volume of her voice was something Elsa didn't quite keep in check. "Sorry, it's just Hans is notorious for giving people the wrong boards by accident", she made finger quotes in the air with the last word of her sentence. "He can just be a handful sometimes", Elsa tried her best to not be anymore unprofessional than she had already been. "Tell you what, if you are careful, I'll let you use mine", Elsa pointed behind her at her snowboard, "it's more of a freestyle board than a freeride one, but that just means it's more for tricks and jumps than cruising down a mountain. I wouldn't worry too much though, since we are not moving too far. Today is just to get used to being on the board."
The way Anna's mouth hung open showed just how astonished she was by this offer. "I'm not sure I should, what if something happens?"
A devious smirk flashed across Elsa's face for a second as a similarly devious thought shot through her mind, "oh, I wouldn't worry about it. Nothing we are doing today is intense enough to even come close to hurting my board." Elsa scoops up her board, quickly changes the bindings on the boards, and drops it in front of Anna, "okay put your foot here and I'll show you how to strap in." Anna did as she told her to, and once she finished and stood up, she asked, "they should be tight but not too tight. How does it feel?"
Anna tried to move her feet to check her bindings and instantly fell forward into Elsa's arms, "oh, uh, hi", fell out of her mouth.
"I told you before, I'd do my best to protect you", Elsa's expression was kind and caring. They caught each others glances, and both felt their stomachs flutter.
They both were in a place they hadn't been before and were just enjoying each other. Nothing at that moment mattered to them, the rest of the world faded away as they both were swept up in the storm.
The lesson continued with Elsa showing Anna the ropes of snowboarding. Simple things like balancing and moving came quickly to Anna, but when it came to stopping and turning, she had some difficulty. The lesson continued on as the day progressed. The two others in the group felt confident enough to not need Elsa's supervision and went off with their friends, leaving Elsa and Anna alone. They had a great time, Anna told Elsa about herself, how she was visiting her cousin Kristoff for the winter, how her uncle used polka music to try to make her so bored she died on the way here, and how Kristoff and she wouldn't know how to size someone up for a snowboard to save their lives. They laughed with each other, Elsa more so than Anna since when she jerked from one side to the other too quickly in an attempt to adjust her balance, she would end up on her rear every time. Elsa listened more than she talked, but told Anna she grew up here, that she loved the winter and anything snow related, and thought it was 'cute' when Anna caught herself in a nervous ramble. They flirted here and there, Anna would pretend to have trouble strapping in and would bend over for long periods of time giving Elsa a clear view. Each time this happened, Anna would stand back up, glance at Elsa, whose head would be turned away but would be staring out of the corner of her eye.
Time passed so quickly, the girls didn't even notice. Before long, it started to get dark. It was right before twilight when Elsa finally realized just how long they had been together. "Oh no...", she threw her hand in her pocket and pulled out her phone. "Oh god, they are going to kill me."
"What's the matter?" Anna asked, practicing gliding back and forth on the snowboard.
Cupping her face in her hand, Elsa answers reluctantly, "our two-hour lesson lasted about five."
"What!", Anna shouted, quickly grabbing at her own pocket pulling out her phone. In their time together, Anna missed 5 text messages and 4 calls from Kristoff. She joined Elsa in covering her face with her hand. "Oh man, I'm so sorry. You don't think you'll get in too much trouble do you? What if they yell at you? Or worse, what if they fire you? Oh Elsa, I'm so sorry, I didn't want to get you in trouble. I just-"
"Whoa, Whoa, calm yourself down there Snowflake. They aren't going to fire me, trust me on that", Elsa looked up from her phone. Her icy blue eyes still swirled with affection and threatened to suck Anna in when ever she looked at them. She wrapped her hands around herself and stuttered softly, "I, uh, I had fun today."
Anna beamed, "I did too, you are a great teacher! When are you here again? I'd love to take another lesson with you", Anna started fumbling with her jacket zipper.
Both girls were equally confused about how they felt about one another. They had just spent the entire afternoon flirting and having fun, and it was clear neither of them wanted it to end.
Elsa opened her mouth to speak, but Anna's phone exploded into sound and cut her off. Kristoff was calling once again.
Anna thought for a second, she actually debated if one more missed call would hurt and sighed, "damn it, one second, Elsa." She accepted the call, "hello?"
"Where the hell have you been!?", Kristoff began to flip out over the phone. "Two hours after the class I came back down to wait for you and the short guy at the booth said your group wasn't back yet. I waited for 30 minutes then sent you a text to call me when you finished. I hung out with Hans and Olaf for a few more hours before I started calling and texting again. Where the hell are you? I have been to the training booth three times now and no one knows where you are. Hans left a little while ago and Olaf has helped me look all over the training area, I was damn near ready to call the police!"
"I know", Anna tried to calm her cousin down as she took the bindings off her feet, "I know, I should have texted earlier, but I was with the instructor the entire time. We just lost track of time!"
Kristoff didn't lose any momentum, "you've been here less than a day! Do you know how worried Dad would have been if I already lost you? We're ready to go, come to the lodge so we can turn back in your board or we're going to miss dinner." Kristoff jumped between relief and worry through his rant.
"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes", and Anna hung up the phone. She turned to Elsa, "I made Kristoff worry", she said with a frown.
Elsa frowned as well, "I'm sorry Anna, I should have kept better track of the time."
"It's okay, I'd still do it all over again", Anna confessed.
Impressed by her boldness, Elsa gave a lopsided smile back, "yeah, me too." Anna ran up to her and grabbed her phone, "Hey!", Elsa yelled.
Anna's hand flew across the keys on the phone. After a few seconds, Anna returned the phone, "here!" Elsa looked down and saw a new contact name in the address book, 'Anna'. "Text me tonight, if you're working tomorrow maybe we can have another lesson... one that doesn't last for six hours and gets us both in trouble", she smirked.
"And if I not?", Elsa responded hesitantly.
Anna's enormous smile didn't falter, "text me anyway and we can hang out, if you want. you can meet my cousin." Anna summoned the last of her courage to give Elsa a warm hug, "Thanks for a great day! I really hope you decide to text me."
Elsa's heart was beating so hard, Anna could have probably felt it if her's wasn't pounding away at the same speed. Anna handed Elsa her board, scooped up her's, gave a little wave and smile, and dashed off to meet Kristoff.
After a lot of explaining, apologizing, and vowing to never disappear like that again, Kristoff forgave her. Anna and her cousin raced home just in time to make it inside for dinner. Her family had a huge dining room and her uncles were phenomenal cooks, even though Uncle Oalken used these weird little fish in everything he made. After dinner, a shower, and some time with her family, Anna was feeling tired and sore from all the falling she did that day. After she crawled into bed, a few minutes later she heard her phone receive a text. She scrambled to grab and unlock her phone.
'Hey, it's Elsa'
Anna's heart skipped a beat when she read the message.
'Sorry if I'm texting too late'
'Just wanted to let you know, I am working tomorrow and if you come by for a lesson around three o'clock it will just be me and you'
'not that, that means anything'
'just figured we had so much fun today just the two of us we could do it again'
'I'm going to stop texting now, you're probably asleep'
The smile on Anna's face grew wider and wider with each message, "she is so much less graceful in text's it's kinda cute." Anna instantly blushed and bit her lip, not sure what these new feelings were inside her. She looked down at her phone, and texted Elsa back.
'Hey! Three sounds great, I can't wait!'
She hesitated, and mustered all of her confidence.
'And don't worry it's not too late, I wasn't asleep and even if I was I wouldn't mind getting a message from you when I wake up :)'
Anna felt great about everything that happened. She saved Elsa's number to her phone, typed in 'Elsa', and let the tiniest smile creep across her face. She went back into the contact, added a heart to the end of her name, smiled, and promptly fell asleep with the phone still in her hand.
