Anna slowly made her way home after leaving her note for Elsa, hoping that she would hear from her soon, but from what Kristoff said it was pretty unlikely. It was a shame she couldn't just stay at the ice cream shop all day, but she knew she had to face her parents eventually, so on she moped towards home, knowing that there was no where she could run to where her parents couldn't find her. Knowing that she had to go home did not, however, stop her from going into any and every store she had even the tiniest excuse to possibly go into along the way.
'I'm sure giving them a little extra time to cool off after that Hans jerk broke the news to them that I'm 'engaged' to Kristoff is a good idea,' she tried to rationalize with herself as she walked into the third antique store she found. She knew she wasn't going to buy anything. 'Who knows? Maybe I'll find a nice gift to give to them, or maybe a gift for Hans' father. After all, I was a little rude to him, and I'm sure his father isn't a huge lying jerk like he is. He's probably a very nice…CEO of a large company.'
Anna groaned and walked out of the store and down the last few streets to her home. It wasn't a mansion or anything, although her friends all insisted otherwise. It was just a large, three story house with a nice…security gate, enclosed swimming pool, and a garden that's a little over an acre. 'Crap, I live in a mansion, don't I? But it's not like we have servants! Well, okay, we have a chef and a doorman, and a couple of guards that run the gate, not to mention the nannies from when I was younger… Damn. My friends can never know.'
As she approached and the guard let her through the gate, she saw her father standing on the front steps, staring at her impassively. As she approached, she opened her mouth to say something but was silenced by a raising of his hand. "Inside," he commanded, his tone betraying any sense neutrality he had tried to achieve. He abruptly turned and walked inside, expecting her to follow.
Anna hesitated for a moment before she followed him, resisting the urge to just run away right now. However, she glanced at the guards and realized they probably wouldn't let her out until her parents were through with her. 'Great, now I'm a prisoner while they yell at me. That's okay, I can do this. They can't do anything to me. I'm ready. I can deal with yelling. I was BORN ready. Okay, calm yourself. Yelling is what got you into this mess in the first place.'
Her rambling thoughts were cut off by the sight of not two, but four people in her living room. Her parents were there, obviously. Her mother was sitting on one couch, hands in her lap and looking disappointed. Her father was standing across the room by the fireplace, not looking at her. Across from her mother on the other couch sat Hans, looking so innocent it made Anna want to punch his lights out. Next to him sat an older man, around her parents' age, with the same sideburns as Hans. She could only assume him to be Frederick Westergard, Hans' father.
All eyes were on her as she entered the room and took a seat in the armchair nearest to her. She looked around awkwardly, waiting for someone to speak, but after a minute the silence became too much for her. "Okay, so I may have overreacted a tiny bit, but come on you guys, this is ridiculous. Say something!"
Her father whipped around at that and nearly screamed, "You want me to say something?! Should I start with the disrespect you've shown Mr. Westergard and his son? Or maybe-"
Luckily, she was saved from his tirade when Hans stood up and said, "Mr. Delle, please. There's no need to shout. You'll only upset her." He turned to look at Anna with a smile so sweet that she almost forgot what had happened earlier that day. "And that's the last thing I would want," he finished, still smiling.
'My hero,' Anna thought dryly, wondering what the auburn-haired man could be up to this time.
Hans returned to his seat and leaned forward to gently grab Anna's hand and in that sickly sweet voice, he said, "You see, Anna, my father has somewhat of a reputation to uphold and that reputation extends to his children as well. The scene you made in the restaurant earlier has started to cause a bit of an uproar since the press figured out that it was me who-"
"Oh, I made a scene?!" she snapped, rising from her seat and snatching her hand away. She had seen quite enough of his fake charm. "Coming from the man who proposed to me the day we met, that is just rich. What did you expect me to say?"
Now her father jumped back in, still angry but had managed to bring his voice down to a reasonable level. "Well we certainly didn't expect you to shout some lies about being engaged to someone else and then storm out!"
"Those were lies, weren't they, dear?" her mother chimed in, looking just a little concerned.
Anna rolled her eyes. "Of course it was a lie, mother! Do you think I would hide an engagement from you? I just…panicked, okay? I was a little freaked out by the man I had just met proposing to me!"
Mr. Westergard stood up and sighed. "Well, it seems that she truly meant no harm, and there's nothing that can be done about it now, so I suppose that is that. In any case, I believe that your daughter is not quite the caliber of woman you claimed her to be, and it seems as though she has no interest in my son. I shall take my leave, now, I have business to attend to. Come along, Hans."
With that, he stood up and left, Hans trailing behind him. Anna wasn't sure she if she should be thrilled that they're gone or insulted that Mr. Westergard didn't believe she was worthy of Hans. "Well that went a little better than expected," she muttered to herself.
Mr. Delle cleared his throat, making Anna look up at him. "Don't think this conversation is over just because they've left, young lady. You are lucky that Mr. Westergard is so reasonable, or else this could have been seriously detrimental to our family reputation."
"What reputation?" Anna shot back, still frustrated at her parents at putting her through all his. "Being the descendants of someone who did something useful like a hundred years ago and sitting on the money ever since? People don't know who we are and, frankly, I don't think they care."
"We are known in many circles, Anna," her mother answered. "Just because we aren't in the general public's eye doesn't mean we don't have a reputation to uphold. I think it would be best if you went to hang out with your friends for the night so we can all cool off. And while you are away, you would do well to remember that while you live under this roof, there are certain expectations for you to follow. If you find them not to your liking, I remind you that you are twenty-two years old and have no obligation to stay here, nor do we have an obligation to allow you to do so. Goodnight, Anna."
Her parents walked out of the room, leaving a dumbstruck Anna to fall back onto the chair. 'Did they just threaten to kick me out?! Holy crap, I knew they would be angry, but I never thought they would…No Anna, get it together. You're fine. Just don't step a single toe out of line until this blows over. It'll be easy.'
She got up and walked towards the door, dialing her best friend's phone number as she did. "I'm leaving then, I guess," she called into the house. "Not like, for good or anything, just for the night. I'll be back tomorrow, probably, or maybe the next day. You know how Rapunzel can get those crazy ideas that keep us occupied for days. Not that I'm planning on being gone for days, just that…it can get crazy." She whispered the last part to herself, part of her knowing that nobody was listening to her, and that stung more than any amount of yelling.
She walked out the front door and pressed her phone to her ear just as her best friend, Rapunzel, picked up. "Hey, Punzie, I'm coming over for a day or two if that's okay with you. I had somewhat of a disagreement with my parents, and I don't think they wanna see me right now…"
Rapunzel laughed and shouted, "A 'disagreement with your parents?' Really, Anna, is that what you're going with? Your lunch date with whatshisname is all over the internet, including the part where you yell nonsense about being engaged already and run out of the restaurant! I can't believe your parents didn't kill you!"
Anna dropped her keys as she neared the driver's side door of her car. "Now, when you say 'all over the internet,' what are we talking here?" Her voice was shaking slightly as she bent to pick up her keys.
"Anna," Rapunzel deadpanned. "I have seen at least a dozen memes of your rambling in the last half hour. This shit is crazy."
Anna just about started crying at the sound of her being a meme, but she knew she could deal with that later. Right now she just wanted to go lament with her best friend. "Crap. I'll have to deal with that eventually, I suppose. I'll be over in like 20 minutes, alright Punzie?"
Rapunzel's voice became light-hearted once again as she responded, "Yeah, sure. Door's unlocked. You know the drill."
With that, Anna hung up and sped over to Rapunzel's apartment, stopping to buy as much chocolate as two humans could ingest along the way.
When she arrived, she walked past the living room and towards the kitchen, smelling the heavenly scent that could only come from her favorite thing in the world, 'Rapunzel's Comfort Food Pie.' It was essentially just a graham cracker pie crust filled with anything and everything that helps to dull sadness, from ice cream to cookies to brownies to just straight chocolate. Anna stared wide-eyed at it, hoping it wasn't an illusion or a hallucination.
"I figured you needed one after the day you've had," Rapunzel said as Anna walked into the kitchen. She had her back turned, standing over the stove cooking something that smelled almost as delicious as the heavenly gift sitting on the table. "Oh, and I'm cooking up some stir-fry for dinner, I know it's your favorite."
Anna looked like she was about to cry as she sat down at the table and sighed. "You are just too amazing, Rapunzel. Like, seriously, you have got to be my best friend in the entire world. Which you already knew, of course. How else would you know when I needed sadness pie and stir-fry? Or that I even like those things? You wouldn't, I guess. Oh, god, where would my life be without you, Punzie? I would be dead, I would have died of sadness without you in my life. You are a goddess and I'm going to start praising the ground you walk on."
Rapunzel just rolled her eyes at Anna calling it 'sadness pie.' "Okay I think you're getting a little carried away there, Anna. And for the last time it's called Comfort Food Pie. Get it right, or none for you."
She stuck her tongue out at Anna as the redhead glared holes into her back. Soon enough, the stir-fry was served up on two plates and she joined Anna at the table. "Seriously, though, I wouldn't withhold chocolate from you, especially after the day you had. Mostly because I fear for my safety if I were to try."
Anna laughed at that and then shrugged. "Hey, I can't help it that I had to deal with some douchebag all day. Man, that guy is a jerk. Where does he get off, proposing to me like that? And my parents. Don't even get me started on them. They were there, Punzie, like they had all planned it and they wanted to jump out and start taking pictures, which some people did. And then they tell me that I'M the one the fucked up? Like what the actual fuck? And then, to top it all off, they threatened to kick me out if I don't start 'behaving,' and that freaked me the fuck out. Where would I go, what would I do? It's not like they'd give me money or anything and I don't have a job. I'm scared, Punzie…"
Rapunzel blinked a few times, trying to catch up with the emotional twists and turns the conversation just took. She reached and pulled Anna into a tight hug. "It's okay, Anna, I'm sure they were just posturing to try to make you fall in line. I don't think they would actually kick you out with nothing. And even if they did, you know that you are always welcome here, job or no job."
After a few minutes, Anna calmed down and Rapunzel sat back in her chair. "Thanks, Punzie. I really do appreciate that and I know you'll always have my back, it was just scary to hear my mother say it…"
Anna suddenly remembered the other part of her day and perked up. "Today actually wasn't a total loss, though. I may or may not have met this really cute blonde that works in an ice cream shop across town, and I may or may not have left my number in the tip jar."
"Oooh, sounds exciting," Rapunzel said, giggling at her best friend's excitement. "Does this mystery blonde have a name?"
Anna's eyes lit up as she started thinking about Elsa again, and she nodded enthusiastically. "Her name is Elsa, and someone who claims to be her best friend is trying to set me up with her, which I am totally all for because she is HOT."
Rapunzel smiled and encouraged Anna to continue. "So how did you meet her? Weren't you, like, with Hans all day?"
Anna started fiddling with her braids and stammered, "Ah, well you see…"
She went on to fill Rapunzel in on everything that had happened at the ice cream shop, and then with her parents back home. When she was finished, Rapunzel was laying on the floor laughing hysterically. "I'm sorry, Anna, I know the thing with your parents is serious, but I cannot believe you did that to those poor ice cream shop employees! I'm surprised they didn't call the police and tell them there was a crazy person in the store. And Hans actually bought that? What a moron, I would never in a million years buy that story!"
Rapunzel's fit of laughter went on for another few minutes before Anna finally started getting annoyed and slightly embarrassed. "Alright, Punzie, enough. I know it was crazy but what choice did I have? I was kind of running away from crazy, so I figured I needed something equally crazy to get rid of him."
Rapunzel started to come down from her high, and got back into her seat. "I'm sorry, it was just so funny. And hey, it worked, and possibly got you a date, so I suppose it all worked out. Still, I'm glad you got rid of him, even though I would not believe that story coming from anyone but you."
They ate the rest of their meal, chatting about whatever had been going on since they had seen each other last week. Then they migrated to the living room to watch some shitty movies with the sadness pie in hand. It was gone within twenty minutes.
Several hours later, they were zoned out watching some bad slasher film, with Rapunzel's legs stretched out across Anna's lap on the couch. They were both about to drift off when Anna's phone started to ring. Anna groaned, trying to reach her pocket, but to no avail. "Punzie, get your legs off of me, I need to answer my phone," she said, trying to push said legs off her lap.
"Noooo," Rapunzel groaned. "Ignore your phone and let me sleep. I've been up since like four in the morning."
Anna started to extricate herself from underneath the blonde while trying to dig her phone out of her pocket, when suddenly Rapunzel leaped across the couch. She reached for the phone, and looked at the screen. "See, it's just a random number, I'm just gonna ignore it."
Anna panicked and lunged at her best friend, grabbing her phone but rolling off the couch with Rapunzel on top of her. "Wait, what if it's Elsa! You could be ignoring her call."
Rapunzel landed on top of a face down Anna and sleepily groaned, "It's not Elsa, but if it makes you feel better, answer it. I'm already awake."
Anna held the phone at an awkward angle away from her face due to her being pinned to the floor by her idiot of a best friend, but she managed to press the accept button on her screen and said, "Hello?"
Then that heavenly voice sounded near Anna's ear. "Hello, Anna? It's Elsa, from the ice cream parlor. I was wondering if you were free Tuesday evening."
Anna flung Rapunzel off of her and ignored the tired "Hey!" that was shot her way as she scrambled to check her schedule, though she would cancel almost any plans to hang out with such a hottie. She tried to be quick because she could tell Elsa was extremely nervous. 'Though, I have to admit, you work fast Mr. Bjorgman. From what you said, I didn't expect her to call me so quickly. Props.'
Finally, Anna found scheduling notebook at the bottom of her purse and opened it up. "Sorry, I had to check my schedule for the week. What's today, Saturday? So that's three days…No, I'm not busy, why?"
Suddenly, Elsa's tone changed and her voice got a little bit softer. "Anna, are you alright? I know I don't really know you, you just seem a little down. And it it's none of my business and I'm intruding on a personal matter, please just say the word and I'll leave it alone."
Anna figured she must still sound a little upset by the events at her house earlier, which she was, but it wasn't Elsa's problem. They had only just met, after all. "I'm fine," she lied. "I just got into a small fight with my parents is all. No big deal."
She could tell that Elsa didn't buy it, but luckily she didn't press the issue. "Well alright then," Elsa replied. "I was just wondering if you wanted to…hang out? I don't really know what that entails, to be quite honest. We could go…get dinner? Or is that a date? Where is the line between platonic hanging out and dating?"
Anna help but giggle at the blonde's adorable rambling. She was clearly very nervous. 'Holy crap, she rambles, too? How much more attractive can somebody get?' Anna thought to herself as she contemplated how to respond. "Why don't we get something to eat with no particular commitment to it being platonic or romantic and just see what happens?"
Elsa paused for a moment before she stammered, "Y-yes that sounds lovely. I'll meet you on Tuesday at the Gilded Lotus at…seven-thirty, then?"
Anna got a wonderful idea and decided to just go for it before she second-guessed herself. "Sure. It's a date. Can't wait babe," she said with a slight lilt in her voice.
Then she hung up, blushing as hard at her own words as she guessed Elsa probably did. She turned around to find Rapunzel smirking at her, now fully awake. "What? Don't give me that look, you heard the conversation. It totally isn't a date," Anna stated as calmly as she could.
Rapunzel raised an eyebrow at her oblivious best friend, and chuckled. "You clearly don't know the first thing about women, because that woman totally wants to go on a date with you, she's just…afraid. Of what, I'm not sure, but she only didn't want to call it a date, because it would make her too nervous to go through with it. But she is definitely into you, that much is certain, so you had better make the best of this opportunity if you like her, 'cause from what you told me, she is the skittish type."
Anna looked scared, thinking of all the ways she could scare Elsa away on their date. "What do I do, Punzie? Help me 'wow' her and keep me from scaring her away."
Rapunzel beckoned Anna towards the kitchen and the gears in her mind started turning, trying to think of ways to help her best friend out. "Well, for starters, don't try anything crazy like kissing her. It might work out for you, but there's a good chance she'll get freaked out. I'm only guessing because I don't' know anything about this girl except what you told me about your one interaction with her. Do you know if she has a profile on any social media that we can use for reconnaissance?
Anna laughed at the idea of creeping on her date's social media profiles as the blonde rummaged through her cabinets for something. "I don't even know her last name, Punzie. Just where she works. It might be hard to find her, even if she has any."
Rapunzel let out a soft hum as she thought about it further. Finally she screamed, "Aha! There you are!" She pulled several bottles of alcohol out of the back of one of her cabinets and gave Anna a devious grin. "We can work on a plan of attack tomorrow, but for now we have to celebrate!"
She started mixing drinks with a finesse Anna wasn't even sure she had, but a few minutes later she handed Anna some kind of mixed drink and held up her own in celebration. "Here's to your first date since we graduated college!"
Anna glared at the blonde. "You know, just because some of us have had a boyfriend since high school doesn't mean that you need to rub it in my face."
Rapunzel glared right back at her and deadpanned, "Just drink your alcohol, you prude."
Anna stuck her tongue out and put her cup to her lips but she couldn't resist teasing the blonde a little more so she whispered, "Whatever, slut."
And then she bolted out of the room, Rapunzel right on her heels.
Author's Note: This would have been done yesterday but I had a lot of trouble decided how I wanted the scene with Anna's parents to play out, so I rewrote it several times. Also I just want to say I am still amazed at how many followers this story has already. It's really flattering, and thank you guys for reading and I hope you enjoyed this Anna-centric chapter ^.^
