Day Three Hundred and Sixty-Five: You and I
A/N: I wanted to start with the long, sappy author's note so that the ending would be left undisturbed. A year ago, I started writing this story as a coping mechanism for a bad breakup. A lot of what was written here (especially in the earlier chapters) were based on moments, thoughts, words, and emotions that I was experiencing during that time. And then, the story evolved from that. Anna and Elsa became their own people and less of the projections of my ex and I. It became a story of hope, forgiveness, and a fascinating, unbreakable love.
And through it all, you guys have been there. Every step of the way. Watching this story unfold. Maybe you just picked this up a couple of weeks ago, or maybe you've been with me since the very first chapter, regardless from the bottom of my heart thank you for being so kind and patient and supportive. I write these stories for me, sure, but I also write them for all of you. I can't believe I've been doing this fanfic shit for almost seven years now.
And here's to seven more.
Thank you, sincerely. I hope this ending was worth the wait. And whatever you're going through, may hope, forgiveness, and love find their way to you too.
Three Years Ago…
God, this pizza's hot.
Well I mean I know it has to be, but I wish my dumb ass didn't leave the carrying bag in Rapunzel's car so I didn't have to hold the box with my bare hands. I'm not the kind of person that likes to dwell on this kinda shit, but I can't believe this is my life. I'm taking an elevator up to some person's apartment, wearing gross khakis, a dorky polo, and a visor that's too big for my goddamn head, delivering a pizza that's burning my forearm, all to maybe get a $5 tip. Well, I mean I'm wearing my hair down today so hopefully it's like…$7.
I hate this job.
I hate both my jobs, but I hate this one even more. Being a pizza delivery girl is...well it wasn't what I expected to be doing after high school. But come on, what did I expect to be doing after high school? Right now, my current plan is to be at the right place and time to save a benevolent millionaire from a runaway bus. And he's so grateful, that he gives me the keys to one of his mansions and like a million dollars and a car that's interior isn't peeling off.
I shake my head when I hear the elevator bell ding, "Anna Reinhart, you are fucking insane."
Thankfully no one's around to hear that. As an esteemed member of the Pizza Planet family, I'm supposed to "conduct myself with the utmost politeness and optimism". I adjust my visor for the hundredth time and walk down the hallway. I glance at the receipt taped to the box one more time: Elsa Stark, Room 206.
That's a cute name. I bet she's like one of those sleep-deprived scientist types who's gonna save us from some catastrophic disaster in like five years.
The walk to the room is short. Which is just peachy because if I have to hold on to this pizza for any longer, I'm gonna lose my arm. She has one of those fancy doorbells with the cameras on them, and I press the button underneath, half-expecting some robotic voice asking me state my name and business. But there's nothing, at least for a few seconds until I hear the anti-climactic noise of a lock turning. The door opens and-
Holy shit, she's hot.
Elsa Stark is hot.
Hotter than this pizza. Hotter than any girl I've seen. She's like supermodel hot. I want to pinch myself to see if I'm dreaming, but that'd be really stupid because if I drop this pizza, then I'm probably fired.
But this girl...wow. She's got long, blonde- almost white- hair resting along her shoulders, stunning blue eyes I can tell she's hiding a killer body underneath her oversized shirt and pajama bottoms. Her cute, freckle-marked face scrunches up in confusion when she sees me, and she says, "Uh...hi? Can I help you?"
Fuck, she's got such a sweet and calming voice too. Like an angel. Is she an angel? Do angels wear shirts with dancing skeletons on them? Wait, why am I here again?
Oh right, the pizza.
I clear my throat, hoping that I haven't been staring at her like an idiot for too long. "Y-yeah, I've got pizza. For you. I mean, I have a sausage and cheese for Elsa Stark. Which I'm assuming must be you..I think?" Great job, dumbass.
The girl's confused look doesn't go away even after my eloquent explanation. "I'm sorry, I didn't order a pizza," she says, sounding like she's actually sorry.
Immediately, I feel my cheeks start to warm up and my mind runs through every word that I know trying to form a coherent response. With my dumb, wide-eyed expression, I go with: "Oh? Oh! Uh, I'm sorry, I guess maybe I have the wrong door. Or maybe, do you think maybe there might be another Elsa Stark in the building. Wait, that's ridiculous. Sorry for the inconvenience, I'll just go."
Well, this was great. Just great. You delivered a pizza to a cute girl who didn't even order it, and you fucked up on like every fifth word. This is why you're single, Anna Reinhart.
I'm about to walk back to my car, when I hear Elsa(?) sigh and say, "Wait. I...I think I know what's going on."
I turn around, and she's got her eyes closed and an unamused frown on her perfect lips. Gross, okay stop describing her like an amateur romance novelist. "You do?" I mutter.
"My parents probably ordered that pizza for me," she explains. "I just moved in, and they wanted to make sure I had something to eat tonight. Even though I told them I already went grocery shopping earlier."
I look at the receipt again and notice that the pizza, in fact, had already been paid for. The deviant part of my mind is disappointed, it was secretly hoping that she might not have the money for the pizza and would have to pay another way. "That makes sense," I reply, drowning out that shameful thought. "So you're really Elsa Stark, then?"
She opens her eyes and gives me an apologetic grin, "Yes. Sorry for the misunderstanding, let me just take that off your hands."
We make the handoff, and I'm grateful that nothing awkward happens in those five seconds. Except this is supposed to be when the deliverer-customer interaction ends. Which means I have no other reason to stick around. Which means no more Elsa.
And I'm already bringing myself to be okay with that, since it's not like she's "the one" or whatever. She's just another hot girl that I can't flirt with because I have to be a stupid outstanding member of the Pizza Planet family. Elsa smiles at me, even if it's a polite one it still makes my heart flip around and stuff, "Thank you, Anna."
"What?"
She circles a tiny area of her shirt with her finger. "Your nametag. Anna's your name, right?"
Oh. Right. I nod my head, "Yeah, that's right. That's my name. Actually, it's pronounced Anna."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
I wave off the apology, "It's fine. People get it wrong all the time, it's not my fault my parents decided to be different." Oof, okay how about we stop before weshove our family problems on another total stranger?
"Well in any case, uh…" Her smile looks like it grows a little bit wider, maybe she found my family-deprecating comment amusing? "Thank you, Anna." She says it right this time, more right than I've ever heard anyone say it before. And she looks down at the box and adds with a breathy chuckle, "Gosh, I don't even know how I'm supposed to eat all this pizza by myself."
Now, obviously I can tell Elsa to just save some in the fridge or invite some friends over to eat it with her. And in the Employee Handbook I skimmed through, the Pizza Planet answer would be to direct her to other deals for even more pizza she can't eat by herself. But my mouth has instead decided to go into business for itself and sabotage me. And, also, fuck Pizza Planet.
So, without thinking, I tell her instead, "I could maybe help you with it."
Elsa's eyes go wide and her answer is immediate: "What?"
I shake my head as my stupid brain catches up with my even stupider mouth keeps asking what the fuck is wrong with me. I scramble to come up with some sort of apology. "I- wow, that was really unprofessional. I am so sorry, I can't believe I said that. Could we just forget I said anything? Actually you know what, I'm just gonna leave you alone forever now. Sorry. Again. The pizza's free- ugh of course it's free, your parents paid for it. I'm gonna go."
I turn around and start walking as fast as I can without it turning into a full-on sprint to the elevator. But once again I'm stopped by the voice of someone who, for good reason, should have closed her door by now."
"When does your shift end?"
I stop mid-step- almost tripping over myself- thinking that there's no way this can be happening right now. But when I turn around, Elsa's partially out her door, holding her pizza with both hands in front of her stomach. And I'm still close enough to see that she's biting her lip.
There's no way this is happening.
I look at my watch that doesn't exist and say, "Uh...I-I think I get off in like half an hour."
Elsa nods, looking at everything else but me. I can tell that she's feeling exactly what I'm feeling: uncertain, but hoping that she's doing the right thing. "Okay, um I could probably save you some. I mean if you want to, at least after your shift is over. You know where I live, and I think I'm gonna be up for a little while longer. Again, only if you want to."
Holy shit, this is happening.
My visor's dipping a little low again, and I decide to just take it off and crumple it in my hand. Now perfectly aware of how long half an hour actually is, I speak eloquently, "Yeah, that's- I mean yeah that's cool. I can do that, totally. Absolutely. When I get back, I could honestly just clock out and- yeah, no that totally works. Totally works. I can...I'll meet you back here in half an hour. So that means yes, I'm down. To eat pizza."
All uncertainty leaves Elsa's face, and it's replaced with what could be relief. Her posture relaxes and her smile is back. And as added assurance, she says, "I'm glad. See you in half an hour, Anna."
She disappears behind her door, and I'm left looking like an idiot alone in the hallway. But at least I'm an idiot who maybe kinda just got a date for tonight. Soon, I'm going to be eating pizza with Elsa Stark, in Room 206.
And who knows? If tonight goes well, this could become a thing.
Now...
I know I don't need to knock on Elsa's door anymore, but she loves hearing the knock and I'm trying to set the right scene. After a second, she opens her door and almost laughs when she sees me. "Oh my gosh, you dork," she says with a wide grin on her face.
Trying my best to stay in character, I look at the blank piece of paper in my hand and say, "Yeah, I've got a personal-sized sausage and cheese pizza for Elsa Stark. Which I'm assuming must be you...I think?"
Elsa giggles, "You know it's me, Anna."
"Great!" I shove the tiny pizza towards her and add, "That'll be $100,000."
With a dramatic click of her tongue, Elsa replies, "Ah gee, I don't think I have that kind of money. Maybe there's…another way I could pay you?"
I shake my head, "Sorry ma'am, I only take cash."
Elsa rolls her eyes and places the pizza on top of a rolling suitcase by her door. "Just come here and kiss me," she says while pulling me forward with a hand on my hip.
I kiss her with zero shame, knowing we have nothing to hide anymore. And when Elsa takes the old, wrinkled visor off my head because it's too in the way, it's sexier than it probably should be. Maybe I should let her take the lead more often.
When she finally pulls us apart, her hand is still on my hip while the other has my finger hooked on a finger. "I still can't believe Pizza Planet let you keep this."
I scoff, "What are they gonna do? Hunt me down so they can't take it back?"
She places the visor on top of the pizza and now both of her hands are on my hips, "I also can't believe you spent the first of your prize money on a pizza."
"Not just any pizza, an Arendelle Towers pizza straight off the room service menu."
"Oh, even better," Elsa replied with a sarcastic smile.
It's fucking insane to look back on the year I've had. I vandalized a mansion that belonged to the dad of a girl who was cheating on her boyfriend with me, I broke my wrist punching an inanimate object, I got a tattoo, I got drunk off mimosas out of spite, and oh right I told my ex-girlfriend I was still in love with her and somehow that worked out. I didn't think anything else would surprise me.
And then Olaf showed up with two silver briefcases literally stacked with $100 bills, and I'm easily proven wrong. I thought they were going to be a little more low-key about the prize money, maybe write a check or have it transferred directly into our bank accounts. But no, they gave us the money like we were doing a drug deal. All that was missing was orange-tinted lighting, a couple of nondescript black SUV's, and a desert. I wanted to grab a couple of wads of cash to throw into the air, but Elsa talked me out of it by saying I'd have to clean it up.
So now here we are, two women in their mid-twenties making out in a hotel room, with more cash between us than we ever expected to have ever. Well, okay, I never expected to have this much money.
Of course we felt a little bit guilty about blatantly lying for almost half a year to get this prize, but that was in the past now. Plus, we were able to give Olaf the really expensive fruit basket we ordered for him. So, at least we did one good deed.
Whatever, you'd probably do the same thing. Shut up.
Today was move-out day for us at Arendelle Towers. Most of our stuff was already piled into the trunk and back seats of Elsa's car, all we had left was a suitcase and our two cases of money. It was going to be interesting trying to walk down the lobby without telegraphing the fact that we were loaded. But hey, I'm not sweating it that much. We made it this far, right? What's a few steps more?
"What time do we have to meet everyone at the restaurant again?" Elsa asks.
"Like four," I reply. "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll understand if we're late."
Elsa raises an eyebrow, "Why would we be late?"
"I don't know, maybe you and I lose track of time while we're unpacking at your apartment. Maybe, past a sea of suitcases and clothes, our eyes meet and...well maybe…"
"No," Elsa replies bluntly, even though she's trying hard to force a smile down.
"I was just gonna say that maybe we just so happen to...take a nap. They'd understand if we were tired from the whole moving out thing."
Elsa's generous enough to let me, her technically-homeless-girlfriend stay at her apartment. Which is great because it's so close to Arendelle University that I can just commute instead of living on campus or whatever. And then eventually we'll use our money to get our own place.
Together.
I still don't know whether to count our year apart as a clean break, or a pause. Maybe if we'd never fallen in love, maybe if we were to end this contest going our separate ways, it would be considered a clean break. But we didn't do that. Calling it a pause, though, doesn't seem right either.
What exactly did we pause? Our first try feels so much different than this second time around. Hell, we started this contest as different people already, and yet there were parts of us that were still familiar. Parts of us that held on to each other, bracing against this hope that we hadn't reached the end. If it wasn't for that hope- that love I thought I killed and the love I thought Elsa would never have- then this wouldn't be happening. Elsa and I wouldn't be holding each other, swaying with the sounds of an unheard melody, speaking wordless thoughts about what comes next.
I know for sure that I love her, and I always will. What we have, it's been made perfectly clear that nothing can tear it apart. Not even a five-foot distance between my room and hers. So, then, I guess it's pretty obvious what comes next.
And that's getting out of this hotel room.
She rests against my shoulder, and I kiss the top of her head. "Ready to go?" I whisper.
"Yeah," she whispers back. "I definitely am."
Of course that's not all that's next. I'll be doing the whole nursing school thing, which I'm actually nervous about even though I've talked about this with Iduna for weeks. And Elsa's going to start a new book soon, which means that's going to consume a lot of her free time until she finishes it. We'll probably get a goldfish or something to prove that we can care of something other than ourselves. I'm actually hoping we get a puppy, but I haven't told Elsa that yet. And then we'll both figure out how to save our money so we don't use it all up in like five months.
In terms of concrete plans, that's all I've got. But I know there's so much more in our future, stuff I can't even fathom, stuff I'm not ready to think about yet. Stuff I thought I was ready for a year ago, and now it's just...stuff I'm scared of screwing up again.
But hey, we've got time for that, right?
I've got time to work through those issues, just like Elsa and I worked through our issues this whole year. And this time, we still have each other.
Elsa steps to the side to allow me to get out of the room with my briefcase full of money (holy shit, that still sounds weird to say) and holds the door open. "Do you want to say any last words?" she asks.
I shake my head, "I've seen enough of this place for a lifetime."
Satisfied, and pointedly not saying anything either, Elsa closes the door. With the door latching shut, and our keycards still inside on the kitchen table, this officially spells the end of our stay in Room 914.
We walk side by side towards the elevator and a jolt of curiosity hits me, "Hey, did you say anything in the elevator when you were coming up here on the first day?"
She nods, "Yeah, I think it was something along the lines of 'I hope she still remembers what I look like'. What about you?"
I giggle, "Yeah, I said 'Anna Reinhart, you are fucking insane'."
Elsa laughs, and it sounds so carefree and lively. "Ah, that sounds so much like you."
"Well duh, that's why I said it."
"Do you still think you're insane?" she asks.
That's an easy question to answer. "No. I'd only be insane if I had let you slip away again."
We reach the elevators and Elsa's smiling so brightly. "I love you," she tells me, and it's like I'm hearing it again for the first time.
"I love you," I say back.
When these doors open and we step inside, this chapter of our life closes. When the doors open and we step out, the next chapter of our life begins. It's new, exciting, and full of opportunities, but it's also terrifying, unknown, and full of challenges. But at least we won't be five feet apart anymore, at least we won't have to do any more silly check-ins, at least we won't have to deal with terrible exes and lumpy mattresses. So, yeah, the future's scary and I'll never know for certain what's going to happen. But I do know that whatever we do, we do it together. Whatever we go through, we go through it together.
And right now that's more than enough.
The End
