Kristoff approached the small wooden door. It was now or never. He had spent all day pumping himself up for this moment. If he didn't face Anna now, he probably wouldn't have the guts to do it ever again. He took a deep breath and pushed it open.
Anna already sat inside with her math book and tests spread out in front of her. She was doodling away on the corner of her notepad and did not even notice him enter. He quietly crept up behind her in hopes of seeing what she was so concentrated on. It seemed to be some sort of animal, though her hand covered most of it and Kristoff could not make out what exactly it was.
"What'chya drawing?" he spoke up suddenly.
Anna yelped in surprise. She spun around, wide eyed. "Kristoff! I didn't hear you come in!" she cried out.
He chuckled as she began dropping papers on the ground in an attempt to cover whatever she had been sketching in her notebook. "Clearly," he said, "You need some help there?"
"No, no! I got it!" she said, scooping up the papers in her arms.
However, with her arms full of loose papers, it conveniently left Kristoff an open opportunity to look at her notebook which was still laying open on the table. He picked it up and his eyes found her small drawing in the corner. It was a reindeer with someone standing next to it.
Anna finally stood up straight and saw Kristoff holding her notebook. She gasped and dropped all her papers again. "That's mine!" she cried, lunging towards him.
Kristoff instinctively held the notebook up out of her reach, which wasn't hard considering he was almost two heads taller than she was. "What's the big deal?" he asked as she jumped up and down, grabbing at the notebook, "It's just your drawing of a reindeer and some guy. What? Are you embarrassed by your skill as an artist? Do you not want your work to be known?"
Anna didn't say anything and merely continued to try and grab the book. She was making an awfully big deal about this. Maybe he had missed something on the picture. He looked back at it and began to scan it once more, which was rather difficult to do since Anna had begun to try and climb up his back.
Oh wait, the reindeer and the guy were saying something, there was tiny writing. Kristoff squinted to read what was in the speech bubble.
""Reindeers are better than people"?" Kristoff said, "Are you embarrassed by your bad grammar?"
"They're bold and majestic animals!" Anna said, still clinging to his back, "You said so yourself!"
"Yeah, but..." Kristoff stopped, "Did I say reindeers?"
"You always say reindeers!"
Kristoff looked at the drawing once more. Then it clicked. "Is my nose really that big?"
Anna slid off his back, head hanging slightly. "You weren't supposed to see that," she said, "I was just bored waiting for you and I was thinking about how you liked reindeer and I thought I had never drawn a reindeer before then it turned into both you and a reindeer and then you just walked in and..."
"Hey, it's OK. I like it," Kristoff said, smiling.
Anna smiled timidly. "Really?"
"Really," Kristoff said, "In fact, can I keep it? I've never had someone do a portrait of me before."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a portrait..."
Kristoff tore the page from the notebook then held it out to her. "Every art piece must have the artist's signature, you know?"
Anna giggled then quickly scribbled her name onto the paper and handed it back to him. He smiled and neatly stuck it into his backpack.
Anna tucked a bit of hair that had fallen loose from her braid behind her ear. "So, um, down to business then?"
Kristoff suddenly remembered why he had been pacing outside the door a moment ago and his good spirits instantly evaporated. Anna saw the smile drop from his face and grew concerned. "Is... everything alright?" she asked cautiously.
Kristoff looked up into her face. Why did it fall upon him to have this conversation? He felt like her father. Was it really his business? He didn't want to pry. But he did want to help. Maybe just a casual question to start?
"So... how are things going with Hans?" he asked lightly.
Anna seemed taken aback by the question, but she answered. "Fine," she answered.
"Just "fine"?" Kristoff asked, "Not "perfectly perfect! We're floating on cloud nine in the highest regions of heaven!"?"
Anna narrowed her eyes slightly. "Why are you asking?" she asked evenly.
"Well, it's just that I... that is to say Olaf, Sven, and I have noticed, er... it's come to our attention that you have seemed a little unlike yourself these past couple weeks."
"In what way?"
Kristoff cleared his throat uncomfortably. "You're just not quite as... perky? It's kind of like you're... tired all the time? ...maybe?"
Anna pursed her lips. "And you think Hans has something to do with that?"
Kristoff shrugged. "Could be."
"What about my sister?"
Kristoff rubbed the back of his neck. "We thought about that, but then..."
Anna folded her arms. "Then what?"
"Then we went to lunch the other day. And we were watching you and you seemed really uncomfortable."
Anna suddenly looked down. Ah-ha! He had her. "It's not so bad," she said, "He usually isn't that bad. You saw him on one of his worse days."
"So he does that a lot then?" Kristoff asked.
"No! I told you that was one of his worse days," Anna said.
Now it was Kristoff's turn to narrow his eyes. "But if you tell him to knock it off, he does, right?"
Anna didn't answer. Kristoff leaned closer to her. She didn't look up at him. "Right!?" Kristoff repeated firmly.
"I haven't told him to stop!" Anna finally said, exasperated.
"If it bothers you, why not?" Kristoff asked.
"You wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"He's had a lot of girlfriends before me. He knows what he's doing," Anna said, her voice cracking, "He's just my first boyfriend ever, so why should I not follow his lead?"
Kristoff nodded, understanding. "So what you're saying is... you're afraid he'll leave you if you don't bow to his wishes?"
Anna looked at her hands and nodded slightly, tears forming in her eyes. Oh no. A crying girl, Kristoff could not handle. He scooted closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, look," he said gently, "I don't know a lot about relationships and stuff, but I do know a that if someone doesn't respect you- in a relationship or not- they're not worth your time."
Anna didn't say anything. Kristoff decided to continue. "So, if I were you. Um... I would tell Hans what's up and if he doesn't respect your feelings..."
"You're right," Anna said.
Kristoff had not been expecting that. "What?"
"You're right," she said, "I should go talk to him. Tell him how I'm feeling. Stand up for myself."
"Oh. Yes, great!" Kristoff said, still slightly taken aback by her sudden acceptance.
"I'm meeting up with him tomorrow. I'll talk to him then," Anna said.
Kristoff nodded. It was then that he realized he still had his arm wrapped around her shoulder and quickly removed it since she was no longer crying.
"In fact I'll call him tonight," Anna continued, "I won't tell him over the phone though. That's just bad etiquette. I'll just tell him I have something important I want to talk to him about."
She tapped her chin for a moment. "Should I just come out and say it?" she wondered, "Or should I casually lead into it? I don't know how he'll take it. I don't want him to dump me, but..."
Kristoff just watched her as she sunk into deep thought. He suddenly felt a strange churning in his stomach as he watched her. Not exactly a sick feeling, but most definitely not pleasant. He suddenly felt very warm and his mouth went dry.
He cleared his throat. "I don't know," he said, rubbing his head, trying to erase the sudden throbbing.
"I'm sure I'll figure something out before tomorrow," Anna said, sighing. She leaned forwards and wrapped her arms tightly around his middle in a bear hug. "Thank you, Kristoff," she said, "Tell the others too."
She released him and Kristoff felt like he was going to keel over with dizziness. "Um, yeah," he said.
"Now, let's get down to business," Anna said, turning towards her math on the table.
Kristoff turned towards the table as well, but he could hardly focus. His stomach was still churning and his head was on fire. Did he have a fever? What was going on? He cleared his throat. "Um, Anna, I'm not feeling too well. Maybe we should cancel tutoring for today?" he suggested.
"Oh. Sure," Anna said, then she looked at with some concern, "Are you going to be OK?"
"Yeah, yeah," Kristoff said, standing up, "Just need to go lie down."
He stumbled towards the door. With a small wave to Anna, he shut the door behind him. He leaned against the wall for a moment. What in the world just happened in there? One minute he's perfectly fine, then all of a sudden he's feeling the heat of a thousand suns.
He began walking, taking deep breaths. The discomfort and heat began to die down a bit as he moved and he began to feel normal once more. As he continued back to his apartment, he began to wrack his brain, trying to find out what had happened to him.
What had he done? He had just been talking to Anna, that was it. Had something happened at that moment to bring it on? He thought for a moment. Right before it started... he had been watching Anna think about her problem with Hans. That was it. He hadn't even said anything or moved or anything like that. He just sat there watching her while she thought about her problem. She wasn't even doing anything remarkable. She just sort of scrunched up her face in this kind of cute way that made her eyes sparkle in a way that made them just look so thoughtful. But then, her eyes always sparkled. And she was always so thoughtful. And then the way that... And there was that churning in his stomach again!
No. Oh no. No, no, no! It couldn't be! Yes, he liked Anna, but that was it. He did not like Anna. That was just ridiculous. And also out of the question. She had a boyfriend... who knew for how much longer, but still!
He finally reached his apartment, entered, and flopped down on the sofa. Every time Anna came into his mind, the churning in his stomach and the heat returned. He did not like Anna. He did not like Anna... Did he?