Chapter 16

The days leading up to the draft had dragged on for Anna but now that it was all said and done, everything was a blur. The regional scout brought Kristoff's Giants' contract to Arendelle the next day for him to sign. That made it all official. He was going to San Jose to play in the High A league there.

And then the next day, Friday, the team was flying to Omaha to play in the World Series. That didn't give Kristoff and Anna a whole lot of time to figure out what exactly they would be doing this summer. The Giants organization would put Kristoff up in a hotel in San Jose for a week but then after that he was on his own to find a place to live. The issue with the minor leagues was a player never knew how long they were going to be there for. Most players rented apartments but if they were traded or moved to another affiliate team in a different state they would still be on the hook with the lease. Some teams had agreements with locals to be Host Families for players and then there were the few guys who chose to just stay in a hotel. Continental breakfast every morning? Maids cleaning your room every afternoon? Never having to cook or clean, seemed like the perfect bachelor pad.

"How about an AirBnb?"

"That's not a horrible idea…" Kristoff's eyes unfocused in thought.

"They even have some within walking distance to the stadium." Anna tapped on her phone and showed Kristoff a listing on the app.

Kristoff scrolled through the pictures, "Two bedroom...cottage...washer dryer….$4800 a month?!" He exclaimed.

"I can cover it." Anna said casually and then quickly added, "Look, there's a zoo! And it's only .6 miles to the stadium. We could get scooters!"

"You're not covering the rent." Kristoff said sternly.

"If it wasn't for me, you could get a roommate and some shitty apartment instead of an over priced vacation rental."

"Bay Area paychecks come with Bay Area cost of living."

"Don't want you blowing all your signing bonus big shot, we can split it."

Kristoff rolled his eyes, "Fine."

The plan was Kristoff and the team would fly to Omaha Friday morning while a moving crew packed up the minimal things in his Arendelle apartment and drove it back to his parents' house in Montana. Kristoff packed the few items he wanted to bring to California in his Omaha suitcases because after the tournament he would fly directly to San Jose. Anna would go back to Arendelle and finalize everything at The Palace with Rapunzel and Tiana. All the girls would be coming back in August for their senior years so they were just storing everything in the house over the summer. Anna had made sure the house had an extensive security system when she moved in so she wasn't worried about anyone breaking in. After that was all settled, Anna would fly out to join Kristoff in the Bay Area.

The NCAA Baseball World Series started on Saturday, June 13th and ran until the 24th. Rapunzel, Tiana and Anna agreed that an AirBnb would be much better than sharing a two bed hotel room for a week and a half. But of course they wouldn't let Anna pay for the whole thing by herself.

Some of their time was spent watching baseball but there was still a lot of downtime too. Omaha wasn't necessarily the top tourist destination in America but the World Series was a big boost for their economy so the city turned out for that. They had plenty of museums and parks and even a cool walking bridge.

Arendelle was in a bracket with Vanderbilt, Louisville and Auburn. The winner of that bracket would go on to play in the National Championship game against the winner of the other bracket.

Arendelle's first game was against Auburn University late Sunday afternoon. The girls had flown in early that morning and had checked into their house before heading to the stadium. TD Ameritrade Park was pretty impressive but with only one field for eight different teams that meant the games were spread out over multiple days. Vanderbilt played Louisville right before Arendelle's game. Vandy had only won 3-1 but they were clearly the better team. Now they would play the winner of Arendelle and Auburn on Wednesday. The days of tiring doubleheaders were over apparently now that they got two full rest days between games.

The Aggies didn't have as easy of a time with Auburn. This lefty named Milo started the game and he started...slow. His nerves were clear on the mound but thankfully the defense behind him was able to hold Auburn to a small lead. Tensions were high. This was the biggest stage in college baseball and everyone wanted to get a win right out of the gate. It wasn't until the seventh inning when John Smith hit a base clearing double and Arendelle tied it up 4-4. And then, the next inning Shang hit a sacrifice fly for Naveen to score the go ahead run to make it 5-4. The closer, David, came into pitch the ninth inning and the boys held on to get their first tournament win.

Monday and Tuesday were their "days off" but the team still had to travel to a nearby high school to get a few reps in each morning. But that left the rest of the day to do what they wanted.

"TripAdvisor says it's, and I quote, the 'world's best zoo'!" Anna exclaimed.

"What is with you and zoos?" Kristoff laughed.

Anna (and TripAdvisor) had been right. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo was phenomenal. They had so many exhibits and even an aquarium. The three couples had arrived together but had soon split off in different directions to look at different habitats.

After an hour and a half of wandering, Kristoff and Anna were sitting on a bench in front of the orangutans eating ice cream cones. Anna was distracted by her mint chocolate chip so she didn't notice Kristoff openly staring at her. Kristoff, careful of his own cone, wrapped his free arm around Anna's hips and shifted her closer to him. The angle was a little tight that her legs went over his knees or accommodate for the lack of space. Temporarily forgetting about her treat, Anna looked up to the blonde and smiled cutely. Before she could say anything, Kristoff spoke, "Hey. I love you."

"Hey. I love you too." Anna's smile turned into a toothy grin. But for some reason Kristoff's face remained more serious.

"I can't believe we're here."

"You're the one who wanted to look at the orangutans before the gorillas." Anna teased.

Kristoff rolled his eyes and tried to hide his smile, "You know what I mean. When this year started my goal was obviously to end up drafted. Making it to the World Series was an added bonus. But you?" Kristoff paused to rake his eyes all over Anna's face. "You're something I never knew I needed." Anna's chest warmed at his words and she wound her free arm around his neck. When he looked at her like that, how had she ever thought he would break up with her?

"Let's take a picture." Anna said, the smile permanent on her face now. While keeping their intertwined position, she fished out Kristoff's iPhone from his front pocket. Turning the front camera on, Anna extended her arm and tapped the button. Bringing the phone back to review the picture, Anna was surprised how perfect it actually was. They were both glowing, no filter needed, and the vibrant scenery around them only added to the flawless portrait. She showed it to Kristoff, but he only wanted to kiss her instead.

Anna tried to speak, "You know-" Kristoff kissed her again, "I would be ok with-" kiss, "you posting that online." Kristoff stopped his attack and pulled back.

"You mean, like on instagram? My instagram?" Kristoff eyed her skeptically.

"Oh my god, what? Am I going to mess up your profile's color scheme or something?" Anna was only slightly offended.

"No no, geez that came out wrong. I just want to clarify: you're ok with me posting your actual picture. People will see your whole face."

"Yeah," Anna laughed now realizing he was just looking out for her privacy, "I want all those people to see me whole face now."

"Ok. I want you to know that, since the draft, I'm up to forty-two thousand followers...and I have a blue check."

Anna rolled her eyes, "Is that supposed to impress me?"

"Wow! Stone cold! Just be ready for the baseball news accounts to do some digging. They'll know who you are and will be posting your softball pictures before the end of day."

"Ok well that's sort of intimidating...but it's fine."

"Then maaaybe you'll make your own account?" Kristoff asked slyly.

"Baby steps!" Anna untangled herself from his hold and walked off towards the gorilla exhibit finishing her ice cream.

It had taken less than two hours for Anna to be doxxed on instagram. Anna thought it would be harmless, but to the college baseball world it seemed like 'BREAKING NEWS: Kristoff Bjorgman's mystery woman finally revealed', and all her softball stats to go along with it. Thankfully that's where it stopped and no one cared enough about her to dig into her family or ex boyfriend.

Anna was a little creeped out by her pictures being posted and commented on by strangers on the internet...but the heart-eye emojis were flattering.

Tiana, Rapunzel and Anna arrived at the stadium an hour early Wednesday to watch the end of the Louisville/Auburn game. Since they were in the elimination bracket, whoever lost was going home. And that turned out to be Auburn. Nothing worse than losing your only two games and then it's over. So now, Louisville would play the loser of Arendelle versus Vanderbilt.

Flynn was starting this game. That gave the atmosphere a different feel because everyone had complete and utter faith in him. A couple of runners got on base in the first two innings but the Aggies held Vanderbilt scoreless. Arendelle scored first in the top of the second inning when Phillip walked, stole second and then Kristoff hit a double down the first baseline. The game was going great. Kristoff had made two Sportscenter worthy plays at shortstop and had even picked a runner off at second base. Flynn and Naveen were in a groove too. So all three girls were pretty hyped on the game. Then the eighth inning hit. Flynn usually only pitched until the seventh but their coach kept him in. Rapunzel didn't like that. She still worried about his arm after his surgery, but he had kept up with his stretches and routine appointments with the trainers so he should be fine. But with the added stress of this being the World Series, his fatigue was apparent on the mound. Everyone could tell he was starting to struggle. But still their coach kept him in. After one particularly bad pitch and the second walk of the inning, Naveen went out to talk to Flynn. Kristoff and the other infielders stood at the edge of the pitching mound, glove covering their mouths, listening to the couple. Naveen even chanced a look at their coach in the dugout, hoping he would relieve Flynn. When the umpire walked out to tell them their time was up, Naveen smacked Flynn on the back and Kristoff gave an encouraging word. Flynn shook out his arm, checked the runners at first and second and then threw a strong first pitch strike. But it was late in the game and on the next pitch, Flynn left a breaking ball hanging. A loud 'whack' could be heard throughout the stadium. Flynn hung his head the moment the batter made contact. The ball soared over the left field fence and now Vanderbilt was up 4-3.

Their coach pulled Flynn the next batter. Too little too late though. Vanderbilt went on to score two more runs off of the relief pitcher, leaving the final score at 6-3. That meant Arendelle would now have to play Louisville in the elimination bracket the next day. The loser of that game would go home and the winner would have to beat Vanderbilt twice on Friday to move onto the Championship series.

It was late afternoon when the game ended and the boys got back onto their charter bus. Too early for dinner, but not enough time to really explore any more of the city. The atmosphere in the Uber was somber. And the poor 35 year old man driving was just being nice but the girls were not in the mood. When they got back into their vacation rental, Rapunzel collapsed onto the sofa. Her empathic tendencies had her spiraling. Obviously they all felt bad for Flynn, but knowing Rapunzel, she just wanted to wrap him up and not let go until the next morning. And she couldn't do that. So now she suffered in silence. Tiana and Anna suffering right alongside her.

"Rapunzel?" Tiana called from the kitchen, nudging Anna.

"Hmm?" The blonde sighed.

"Can we talk about your wedding?" Anna knew what Tiana was doing so she grabbed the White Claws from the refrigerator and brought them to the couch. Rapunzel stayed in her pity party position but her eyes perked up a little at the sight of the cans. "Well...if you want to."

"What color theme are you doing again?" Anna asked. This was their thing. Tiana and Anna knew every detail that Rapunzel had planned and was going to plan for her wedding. (It was a year away but the girl was meticulous.) But Rapunzel loooved to talk about it. So whenever she was having a particularly bad day, the girls would indulge her.

"Well it's not really lavender lavender but that's the closest word to what the colors actually is." Rapunzel sat up and Anna handed her an opened can of hard seltzer. "It's like smokey-grayish-lavender. It's so beautiful. And the bouquets will actually be lavender sprigs with silver dollar eucalyptus. Ah it's going to smell so good! I'm really thinking I'm going to put some, like at the back of my hair. I don't know if I want to do a full flower crown. Doing something that's a fad seems like a bad idea. It might not age well, ya know? The guys will be in gray vests. We've talked about it? Guys just look so good with their sleeves rolled up and a vest on right?"

"So good!" Tiana agreed.

"And your dress? Have you changed your mind?" Anna asked. Rapunzel hadn't bought her wedding dress yet solely for the reason that she could not decide what she wanted.

"Ugh!" Rapunzel took a drink feigning annoyance, "I saw this beautiful one on instagram. It was long sleeved and so elegant. But do you think I will be too hot? But you know my parents, I bet they would love it if my entire body was covered up. Here let me find it." Rapunzel whipped out her phone and found the picture within seconds. The dress was gorgeous. The bodice was form fitted lace but was off the shoulders, exposing the model's decollage, with a tulle skirt that wasn't too puffy. Rapunzel did not want too puffy.

"Oh wow that's gorgeous Rapz. I think you would look great in that." Anna said genuinely. Tiana had asked her another question but Anna's phone had vibrated twice notifying her of a text message. It was from Kristoff.

What are you doing?

Trying to cheer up Rapunzel...

What's wrong with her?

You know how she gets when Flynn doesn't do well

OH

He should be ok now. We talked A LOT of shit about Coach and just blamed it on him for not pulling him earlier. Seemed to make Rider feel better

How mature of you guys Anna added an eye roll emoji and a laughing one for good measure.

Whatever works

So am I going to see you tonight?

Well if Rider is so happy now, why don't you guys come over to our airbnb and we can go get food or order in idk?

Drop a pin I'll get the boys and see you in 20

Thursday was a much happier day at the ballpark. The tension from the fear of being eliminated seemed to pump everyone up. Tadashi Hamada was the starting pitcher for Arendelle and he was good. Teams could hit him but he was what they called a 'ground ball pitcher'. Kristoff and the rest of the infield got a lot of reps that game but they managed to hold Louisville to only one run. Arendelle went on to eliminate Louisville 6-1 and would be playing Vanderbilt the next day.

The girls didn't see their significant others that night as no one wanted to mess up the good juju the team was having.

Friday would be the only day they would have to play a doubleheader. If they beat Vanderbilt the first game. Jim Hawkins was the starting pitcher today. Anna never talked to the guy. He kept to himself mostly and didn't always participate in the traditional baseball activities. He also had an interesting haircut. But Kristoff hadn't shaved since the playoffs started so who was she to judge?

Jim wasn't known for his speed. He threw 'submarine', meaning his arm slot was practically underhand. It was rare to see and therefore effective. It took the Vanderbilt line up five innings to even get a read on the ball from the unique angle. And in those five innings, Arendelle was able to score two runs. Not great, but they could work with that. Jim was a short-lived starter and he was replaced by Dash Parr. Dash, ironically, was known for his speed. He could brush 95mph but couldn't always control it. And that turned out to be a problem for the Arendelle Aggies.

Because they (potentially) had another game to play after this one they couldn't use up all their pitchers. But if they lost this game then their other pitchers wouldn't be used anyways. You can see how it can get complicated in these types of situations. But Dash was all they had at the moment. And Vandy loved him. Apparently they muh preferred hitting a fastball than one from a wonky angle. Go figure.

Anna blinked and the game was tied 2-2. She blinked again and Vanderbilt was up 4-2. Dash was yanked and Flynn was put in. Flynn was a starter, not a relief pitcher so this was a weird scenario for him. But he came to play and he wanted to redeem himself from his last appearance. He was on short rest so of course Rapunzel was biting her nails the entire time he was out there worried his elbow would explode or something. Flynn pitched the remainder of the game and Vanderbilt did not score again. However, neither did Arendelle. So at the bottom of the ninth inning, when Aladdin grounded out to the third baseman, that was it. Vanderbilt was moving onto the National Championship game and Arendelle's season was over.

And Kristoff's Arendelle career was over. Holy shit.

Tears pricked Anna's eyes at that realization. She hadn't expected them to lose, so she hadn't expected this to be his last game. Rapunzel was crying too so it wasn't so out of the ordinary that Anna was. Tiana just pulled them both into a group hug and they stood there while the boys mirrored their actions on the field.

Now that their season was over, all the team rules flew out the window. All the players called their families down to the field for pictures. Cliff and Bulda had been at every game too but they insisted Anna stay with her friends. Anna tried to hold back her tears but even Cliff was crying. So to hell with it. The team was haphazardly surrounding the seniors and Kristoff, each player taking their time to say goodbye. It didn't matter that they weren't flying home for a few more days, it was sentimental on the field like this. Flynn wasn't crying but he did look awfully melancholy. Anna lightly punched his shoulder and then hugged him, "Keep an eye on him this summer." Flynn mumbled.

"And you keep an eye on her. You'll probably have your hands full." Anna pulled back and gestured over to Rapunzel who was wrapping her arms around Tiana and Naveen who had been hugging separately.

"Just how I like it." Flynn laughed and made his way over to the three.

Anna gave Kristoff a wide berth. She had experienced saying goodbye to her teammates at her junior college but this was different. Not only did the boys have the sting of losing when they were so close, but they had to abruptly say goodbye instead of having a planned celebration. After what seemed like an eternity, the players started dispersing to clean up their gear. Cliff and Bulda both hugged Anna and told her they would see her soon. When Anna finally made her way over to Kristoff he was smiling.

"Hey," she greeted softly.

Kristoff's smile remained but his eyes started to get misty staring at her. Anna had not expected that, but opened her arms to him regardless. His thick arms enveloped her and his face hid itself in her neck. She heard him take a shaky breath, "This sucks." his voice barely broke but she still heard it. And then her tears returned.

"I know. Fuck this." Anna wasn't as good at hiding her wobbly voice.

"Yeah fuck this." Kristoff agreed. Anna squeezed him as hard as she could. She knew there wasn't anything she could do for him.

The silver lining was that Vanderbilt went on to win the National Championship four days later so if Arendelle had to lose to somebody it might as well be them.

AN: I was pulling male characters out of my ass to try and fill this baseball team.