Anna felt a strange sense of deja vu. Here she was again, in Elsa's apartment. Who would have thought that she'd be back so soon?

Stepping into the suite, Anna carefully lowered her new skates onto the ground. Elsa had insisted that she bring them up with her. Something about the trunk of the car being bad for the leather or something.

"Have a seat," Elsa said, gesturing toward the sofa. "I'll go prepare the food."

"Wait, you mean, you're going to cook?" Anna asked.

"Yeah. I thought it'd be better than ordering takeout." Elsa opened the kitchen cabinet and took out a rectangular box. "I was thinking maybe, pasta?"

She's going to cook for me? I'll take that over pizza any day!

"Ooh, that would be great!" Anna exclaimed, trying her best to contain her excitement. "Pasta's like, one of my favorite foods, right after sandwiches."

Elsa gave her a smile before picking out a few things from the fridge. "It'll probably take about 20 minutes. If you want, you can turn on the TV."

"What? Nono, let me help!" Anna said, rolling up the sleeves of her shirt. "I'm sure I can make myself useful."

"In that case, do you mind toasting the garlic bread? It's just in the freezer."

"Sure! Oh, but I should probably wash my hands first. And since you're using the sink, I'll go use the one in the bathroom. Where's it again?"

"It's the first door to your right."

"Thanks!"

A few strides later and she was standing in front of the sink. Turning on the tap, Anna washed her hands; the warm water felt nice on her skin, which surprisingly, was still cold from being at the rink.

Just as she was about to return to the kitchen, her eyes caught sight of the room across the hall. Was that Elsa's room? The door was left open so she had a pretty good view of the space. And like the rest of the apartment, it was tidy and clean. A little too clean. Aside from a fish tank, which stood against the back wall, there really weren't any furnishings at all. Wait a second...a fish tank?

Curiosity immediately grabbed hold of her. "Elsa, can I take a look at your fish tank?" Anna called out from the room.

"Sure. Go ahead," Elsa replied, her voice a bit far away.

Smiling to herself, Anna walked into the room. But it wasn't the fish tank that she checked out first. No, it was the row of medals that hung from the side wall. There were so many of them, she wouldn't be able to ignore them even if she tried.

Woah…there must be at least a dozen medals here. She spent the next couple of minutes studying each and every one of them.

"Anna?"

Oh, shoot. I got carried away.

"Umm, be right there!"

She decided to take a quick peek at the fish tank before returning to the kitchen. After all, that was what she'd come in for in the first place. What she saw in the tank, however, was not what she was expecting.

"Elsa!" Anna practically slid her way back to the kitchen. "Your fish…it has legs!"

Elsa gave a small laugh. "You mean Bruni? He's an axolotl."

"Axolotl?" Anna repeated, tilting her head.

"They're a type of salamander that live in the water. I've had him ever since I got here."

"…Ohhh. No wonder." Anna nodded to herself. "Yeah, that makes a lot more sense."

"I don't blame you for being surprised, though. They're not that common here," Elsa said. "By the way, I already got the garlic bread out of the freezer. It's over there." She pointed at a ziplock bag on the counter.

"Oh, right! Sorry, I totally got distracted," Anna admitted.

"It's okay, I'm just boiling the pasta." Elsa gestured at the large pot in front of her. "Just a couple more minutes and we'll be able to mix in the sauce."

"Sounds good!" Anna gave the bubbling pot a quick glance before grabbing the ziplock bag. "Did you want me to put this in the toaster oven?"

"That'd be great, thanks," Elsa replied.

Eager to help, Anna popped the garlic bread into the small oven; it was an appliance that she was well accustomed to, having relied on it for quick meals during her high school days. The one that Elsa had was a little fancier than what she was used to, though, with its digital display and all. But that didn't stop her from figuring out the controls.

"And the garlic bread is in!" Anna said proudly. "What should I do next?"

"Can you pass me that jar?" Elsa pointed at a container by the fridge.

"Sure." Anna took the jar with one hand and gave it to Elsa. "What is it? It looks tomato-ey."

"It's the sauce that we'll be using for the pasta," Elsa explained. "I made it with tomatoes and ground beef."

Anna widened her eyes. "You made that? That's amazing! I usually just use the premade stuff. But then again, I don't really make pasta that often."

"Yeah, I actually prepared it over the weekend," Elsa replied.

Over the weekend? So she's been planning this dinner since then? The possibility of that made her grin like an idiot.

"It won't be long now," Elsa continued. "Why don't you have a seat on the sofa?"

Realizing that there was nothing left for her to do, Anna agreed. She could feel the cushion sink underneath her weight as she plopped herself down. Leaning back, she took out her phone. And to her surprise, she had three unread messages—all from Rapunzel. Apparently, she'd wanted to meet up for dinner.

She probably just wants to know how my lesson went. Well, too late for that now. I'll just call her later.

By the time she was done fiddling with her phone, she could smell the garlic bread and pasta in the air and it made her stomach rumble.

"All done," Elsa said. She turned around to face Anna, who had stood up from the sofa.

"I'll help set the table!"

"Thanks," Elsa said. "The placemats and forks are in the drawer in front of the leftmost cabinet."

"Gotcha!"

Anna found what she was looking for and placed them on the dining table. Mission complete, she turned her attention back to Elsa, who was plating the pasta. She could see the garlic bread on the side and the sight of it all made her drool.

"Here we go." Elsa walked over to the table holding the plates in her hands.

"Wow, it looks amazing!" Anna exclaimed as she helped Elsa with the plates. "You weren't kidding when you said that you liked to cook!"

"It's spaghetti with meat sauce, I hope you like it."

"I do! I mean, well, I haven't eaten it yet but I can just tell from the smell," Anna said as she made herself comfortable in one of the chairs.

Elsa smiled. "Bon appétit."

With that, Anna began to slurp the spaghetti into her mouth. It probably wasn't the most elegant way to go about it, but hey, Elsa wouldn't mind, right?

"Yup, I was totally right. This is delicious!" Anna said with a mouth full of food. She knew better than to talk while eating but the pasta was just so good, she couldn't help it.

"I'm glad you like it." Elsa twirled the spaghetti with her fork before bringing it toward her mouth. "It's something that I make often."

"Right, I remember, you said that you like to make pasta!"

Elsa nodded. "It's easy to make and I like experimenting with different sauces."

"The garlic bread is really good too," Anna said. "I haven't had it in like, forever!" She took a bite and reveled in the taste.

"I thought you might like it."

"Yup, nothing like pasta with a little bit of garlic bread on the side!"

Fueled by hunger, Anna managed to finish her plate in less than ten minutes. In hindsight, she probably should have chewed her food a bit more but oh well—indigestion would be worth it. Looking up, she could see that Elsa was just finishing up with hers.

"Thanks again, for you know, making me dinner," she said.

"It was my pleasure. I usually eat by myself so it's nice to have some company once in a while." Elsa placed her fork down on the table and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"I'd be happy to come over anytime!" The words came out of her mouth before she knew it. "Uhh, I mean, if you'll have me, of course."

"I'd love to," Elsa said as turned her gaze toward Anna. "Oh, can you hold still for a second?"

"Hm?"

Before she knew it, Elsa had closed the distance between them. She felt a soft sensation on her cheek and for a second, she thought that her heart was going to beat out of her chest. She quickly realized, however, that the thing on her face was a napkin and not something else.

"You had some sauce on your face." Elsa showed her the red stain that was on the napkin.

"Oh." Anna paused for a second as she thought about what to say next. "T-thanks. I guess that's what I get for eating so fast," she said with a nervous laugh.

"No problem," Elsa replied.

"So, umm, how often do you feed Bruni?" Anna asked, desperate to change the topic.

Elsa seemed surprised by her question but answered nonetheless. "Not that often. I usually feed him once every two to three days."

"What? But won't he starve?"

Elsa shook her head. "They digest their food very slowly. It can actually be a problem if you feed them too often."

"Ohhh."

"Speaking of which, I was actually going to feed him after this," Elsa said. "Did you want to do it?"

"I can?" Anna's eyes sparkled. "Yeah, I'd love to!"

Leaving the empty plates behind, the two headed off to Elsa's room. More specifically, to the glass tank that sat beside the windows.

"What does he eat?" Anna asked.

"They eat worms and insects mostly."

Anna froze. She'd always been an animal lover but creepy crawlies? She was pretty sure that she had a phobia or two of them.

"Umm, actually Elsa…"

"But I usually feed Bruni axolotl pellets," Elsa continued.

Oh. Phew. Thank goodness.

"See that feeding dish in the center?" Elsa pointed at what appeared to be a small white plate in the middle of the tank. "You put the pellets there and he'll gobble them right up."

"Huh, sounds easy enough," Anna said.

"Here, use these." Elsa handed Anna a small bag of pellets and a pair of silver tongs. "You can use these to put the pellets on the dish."

So she spent the next couple of minutes doing exactly that. The pellets weren't very big but they had this distinct odor to them that reminded her of fish. Eyes glued to the tank, she watched as Bruni crawled over toward the plate. And within seconds, he had gobbled all of the food, just like Elsa said he would.

"Wow, he must have been hungry," Anna said, amazed by what she'd just witnessed.

"Their eyesight isn't the best but they can definitely smell food when it's in front of them," Elsa explained.

"Thanks for letting me feed him," Anna said as she gave Elsa back the tongs. "But wow, I would have never guessed that you had a pet salamander! Well, water salamander."

"To be honest, I wasn't actually the one who got him. The previous tenant left him in the apartment when they moved and the landlord wasn't quite sure what to do with him so they ended up leaving his tank there."

"What? I can't believe some people would do that!"

"Yeah…" Elsa said as she put away the tongs. "Anyway, did you want dessert? I made some chocolate mousse."

"You did?" Anna gasped. "Of course, I would love some!"

Anna turned on her heel and followed Elsa as she exited the room, her eyes hovering over the wall for a brief second as she walked past the medals.

"You have so many medals," she said once they were back in the kitchen.

"Hm?" Elsa was busy taking two small cups out of the fridge. "Oh, the medals? They're from various competitions over the years."

"As expected from such a great figure skater!" Anna exclaimed as she sat back down.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Elsa said as she placed the cups on the table.

Anna's eyes immediately went toward the desserts. The glass cups weren't very big, but they were filled to the brim with chocolate mousse, complete a small blob of whipping cream. And were those chocolate shavings at the top?

Unable to hold back any longer, Anna dug her spoon into the mousse. "Mmmmm…this is to die for," she said as the dessert melted in her mouth; it was soft and creamy but not too sweet with its chocolatey flavor.

Elsa gave out a small laugh. "You're exaggerating."

"No, I'm totally serious! This is so good."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Elsa said with a hint of smugness in her voice.

"Anyway, what was I talking about earlier?" Anna took the spoon out of her mouth and thought for a second before continuing. "Oh, right! The medals. I love how you have them displayed on the wall like that. They give your room a lot of character!"

"Thanks," Elsa began. "I actually brought them here with me as a way to motivate myself. They remind me why I'm training."

"But you're already so talented!"

"Now that I've moved up to the senior level, things are a little harder," Elsa explained. "Especially since I don't have a coach at the moment."

Anna thought back to the man whom they'd bumped into at the skate shop the other day. Right, that was her old figure skating coach…

"Are you going to get a new one?" Anna asked.

"I would like to, yes," Elsa replied. "But it's a bit difficult."

"Why?"

"The figure skating club that I'm part of only has a few coaches," Elsa said as she finished her dessert. "…and unfortunately, none of them are taking new skaters right now."

"Oh."

Now that she thought about it, there were a lot of other figure skaters at the rink. Did they all belong to the same club? Was Elsa the only one without a coach?

"What about your old coach? Can you work with him again?" Anna asked. It was an innocent question, but judging by the look on Elsa's face, it was probably the wrong thing to ask.

"Marshall, he…" Elsa trailed off.

"Oh, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it!" Anna said, waving her hand.

"No, Anna, it's fine," Elsa said, her eyes downcast. "It's just that, well, I was the one who fired him so…"

"But you can always re-hire him, right?"

"I suppose I could. But he probably won't want to be my coach anymore."

Now she really wanted to know. Just what happened between them? She'd decided not to ask about it before, but now, she wasn't sure if she could hold back her curiosity.

So she decided to ask.

"What…happened?"

Elsa's eyes shifted from left to right as if she was contemplating whether or not to answer the question. "It's my dream to compete internationally," she eventually said.

"Internationally?"

"Yeah," Elsa said with a nod. "To be able to compete against some of the best figure skaters in the world—that's my dream."

"You can do it," Anna said without hesitation. "Heck, I bet you could even go to the Olympics if you wanted to!"

Elsa smiled at her words. "I've always pushed myself when it comes to training. I even make a point not to talk to anyone when I'm practicing—it helps me focus."

For a second, Anna wondered what that had to do with her coach. But she figured that Elsa would explain eventually.

"My old coach, Marshall, he told me that I was pushing myself too much," Elsa continued. "And he was right. But I was so focused on trying to improve that I ignored what he said. It eventually got to a point where he refused to coach me unless I took a break. So I fired him."

Suddenly, it all made sense to Anna. Why Elsa injured herself, why she had such an iffy relationship with her former coach.

"I didn't even know anything was wrong until one day, I woke up and couldn't walk without crying out in pain." Elsa looked down at her leg. "Apparently, I had injured my calf so badly that I needed surgery. That was when I realized that I should have listened to Marshall. It was nobody's fault but my own."

"Elsa…" Anna instinctively leaned in. "No one wanted that to happen, and you already paid the price with your injury." She wanted so much to pull Elsa into her arms, to let her know that this whole thing wasn't her fault.

"I suppose so."

"And besides, you were just trying to improve!"

"Yes, but it's also true that I didn't listen to my coach. So I can't blame him for not wanting to coach me anymore," Elsa said.

"But you didn't ask him, right? I bet he'd be happy to work with you again! You just have to, you know, take the initiative. So what if you guys parted on somewhat bad terms? From what I saw at the skate shop, he obviously still cares for you as a coach!"

Elsa looked up and their eyes met for the first time since they first started to talk about what had happened. "…You think so?"

"I know so! Trust me, I've always been good with these kinds of things," Anna said with a smug expression on her face.

"Thanks, Anna."

"Of course! We're friends, after all."

The second she finished her sentence, her pocket started to vibrate. Huh? Who's calling me at this hour? It didn't take long for her to notice Rapunzel's name on the screen. Oh. Why am I not surprised?

"Go ahead, I don't mind," Elsa said, motioning toward Anna's pocket.

"Oh, it's okay." Anna took her phone out and showed Elsa the screen. "It's just Rapunzel. I can call her back once I'm home. Knowing her, it's probably nothing important." She just wants to ask about how I'm doing with you, that's all.

"Are you sure?"

Anna nodded before shoving the device back in her pocket. "Yup, it's no problem at all!"

"…I like the photo that you guys took together," Elsa said.

"Huh?"

"The picture of Rapunzel that came up on the screen when she called? I thought I saw you in it as well."

Ohh. The chameleon photo.

"It's uh, a selfie that we took last Halloween," Anna said, slightly mortified at what she'd just shown her without realizing. "She made me wear this hideous chameleon costume."

"I like it. It's cute."

Anna's heart rate went up. Did she just call me cute? Or is she referring to the costume?

"Thanks." Anna wasn't sure what else to say but then, she thought of something. "You know, if you wanted to, we could take a photo together too."

"Oh, I'm not good with selfies," Elsa said, dismissing the idea.

"It's okay, I'll hold the camera so all you'll have to do is smile!" Anna said. "It'll be to commemorate our first non-pizza dinner together."

Please say yes, please say yes.

Elsa seemed to ponder for a moment. "I suppose I can do that."

Yes!

"Alrighty then, I'll go over to your side so we can take the picture," Anna said as she slipped out of her chair. Walking around the table, she positioned herself just centimeters away from Elsa. They were so close, she could practically feel her breath on her skin.

"So…where do I look?" Elsa asked.

"Right here, this is the camera," Anna said, pointing at the small circle above the screen. "Are you ready?"

"I think so."

Bending down so that they were at the same level, Anna held out her phone. She had made sure to switch over to the front camera so that they'd be able to see themselves on the screen. "Okay, smiiileee!"

In the end, they took about a dozen photos. It was obvious to Anna that Elsa had never taken selfies before, but she didn't mind. Not at all. If anything, it made the moment that much more special—it meant that she was one of the first people to take a selfie with Elsa. And that made her happy.

"I'm going to set this one as your contact photo," Anna said, tapping on one of the thumbnails. She grinned to herself as the image popped up on the screen. It was slightly blurry but she could hardly notice it; Elsa's face was right there beside hers and they both had this awkward smile as if neither of them knew what to do with their face now that they were next to each other. It was kind of endearing.

"I like it," Elsa eventually said. "Can you send it to me?"

"Oh! Um, sure," Anna said, slightly surprised by her request. She didn't think that Elsa would be interested; she thought for sure that she just went along with it because she asked her to. But that didn't stop her from tapping her fingers on the screen. "And sent!"

"Thanks," Elsa said.

"So, did you want me to help you with the dishes?" Anna asked after putting her device away.

"Oh, it's okay. I can do it," Elsa replied. "Actually, I was thinking of driving you home. It's starting to get late."

Anna looked at the clock. Elsa was right; it was starting to get late and she had class early the next morning. What she wouldn't do to stay a little longer…

"Time went by so fast," she said with a small pout.

"I know what you mean," Elsa said. "But it was fun. Thanks for coming."

"Thanks for having me. And for making all that delicious food. And for driving me home." Anna paused for a second. "Wow, now that I think about it, I'm being completely spoiled, aren't I?"

Elsa stifled a laugh. "It's okay, please, don't worry about it."

"Well, if you say so!" Anna said with a smile.

And with that, her "dinner date" with Elsa came to an end.