Leaving the House Where We Grew Up

by inter-outre

Why write this? I want to transcend the taboo associated with Elsanna. The love, the innocence, the unbreakable bond...that's the magic of it. That's what we see herein as they begin a journey into adult life, enrolled in a US university, still unaware of what the fates have in store for them. NOTE: Icest, Elsanna, language, adult themes. CHECK PROFILE FOR PROGRESS UPDATES!

2. Neighbors

II

The warm aura of September was soon chased away by the stereotypical grey skies of a Seattle October. The rendezvous that once capped lengthy days were shifted into drier quarters and the constant odor of scalded charcoal briquettes was extinguished without mercy. Gutters ran rapid, trotting those initial golden leaves to their underground crypt, the first victims in the planet's timeless pitch away from the sun.

It was an inevitable leap the local populace was accustomed to. For Anna, though, it was throwing her for a loop. The thieving of daytime hours was not the issue, as the Upper Peninsula was roughly at the same longitude. Rather, it was a lack of vitamin D that was contributing to her grogginess and lethargy. The few wisps that managed to penetrate the thick marine layer overhead often never had enough fortitude to slip around the front yard maple and trickle into her south-facing window.

Rolling to her left to tag the snooze button had become such a habit, the redhead was starting to work up a hearty callous on her index finger. Her sister had foreseen the oncoming doldrums as a stumbling block for the new student and took it all in stride. Most mornings, Elsa would have to take off early for class, as her professors preferred an early start. As often as possible, though, and especially on Sunday mornings, she would brew a large pot of coffee, bring a steaming mug up to the slumbering patient, and sit by the blanket-enshrouded creature. Light chatter and simple discourse would inevitably give way to Anna sitting up, stretching towards the ceiling, and rubbing her eyes free of nighttime's glower.

Unfortunately, this was only Tuesday and the toe-head had a packed schedule until two in the afternoon. The pale glow of muted late-morning light bathed her room in a distinct shade of nothing. Anna blinked, refusing to move any other part of her body for the time being. Eventually, a yawn demanded attention, bouncing from one corner of the room to another.

'10:16', Anna read upside-down upon tilting her head back towards the digital display on a clock situated behind the bed. She made sure to place it high on the recently-allocated bookshelf, thereby forcing her to at least make an effort to shut off the buzzer and, in theory, wake her up. Even with such implementations, she had managed to sleep through three classes.

'And it's only three weeks in,' she considered while reaching over to fetch her iPhone. As expected, there was a text waiting to be read from her preferred alarm clock:

"Good morning sleepyhead :) Chris finally showed up last night. Wants to meet ya. Even brought some sign up sheets for imurals. Get that behind outta bed! :P "

The playfulness made the recipient smile, feeling a touch of life slip into the room. Anymore, she found that her days wouldn't start, so to speak, without a nudge from her sister. Perhaps, it was driven by an innate desire to make up for the years when that crucial interaction was absent. Anna knew long ago that the strength, maturity, and grace of her elder sibling was the perfect yin to her yang, evidence to the latter of which was strewn about her room: textbooks left open on the floor, chaotic piles of both washed and unlaundered clothing, and crumpled up notebook paper from multiple attempts at solving first-order derivatives.

It's not that she was a complete slob; she had excellent hygiene and wouldn't leave bits of food about for fear of attracting pests, be they rodents...

'...or roommates,' Anna thought with a bemused smirk, spotting the vacant dinner plate on her desk. She had brought up an order of nachos for supper the night prior to accompany her mathematical battle. Before Elsa got home to help, Steven tried his best crack at the task...and finished the nibbles before the tutoree could nab a morsel.

That notwithstanding, Anna took a comfort in knowing that the counterweight she had so sorely been yearning for had returned. No longer was she adrift, lost to ceaselessly rolling seas with no land in sight. Her elder sister was the harbor she could seek refuge in and, for reasons beyond the redhead's understanding, she knew the blonde felt the same for her in turn.

With the initial trappings of the academic year slipping into the rearview mirror, the slowly awakening student could look back on how she and her sister had already grown closer. They talked and joked freely, shared almost every meal together, sent texts and pictures back and forth, braided each other's hair...it was very much like the old days again. Except...

Anna chewed at a canker sore on the right side of her cheek, deep in thought.

There was an intimacy that hadn't returned. Anna knew Elsa was keeping her distance in an emotional and physical sense. The snuggling in bed remained absent; talk of love-lives (and the lack thereof) was also unaddressed. She knew the blonde counterpart was playing her cards close to that immaculate chest, but didn't want to press too hard, strong as her desires might be; a single poorly-played hand and the house of cards might come tumbling down.

'The question now is "What does she really feel right now?"'

Complex theories and sentiments provided the necessary propulsion to bring her upright and to her feet. Reaching up towards the high ivory ceilings, she yawned one final time, feeling the comparatively cool air of the room slip under her nightshirt. The temperature shift brought her nipples to attention, an unexpected surprise.

With impeccable timing, short whoops and hollers of fraternal laughter weaved their way up the hulking staircase and through her bedroom door. The merriment reminded her of the need to meet the long-promised final actor in their little game of 'house'. After a short leap over a stack of reading material for her class on nutritional chemistry, she grabbed her proudly purple University of Washington sweats and donned the ensemble post-haste. A quick look in the mirror to make sure her trademarked braids at least looked presentable, and she hopped from her domain and down the staircase.

"We've gone over this. For the thousandth time, Steven, the milk goes on the main shelf, not in the door."

Ollie's demanding tone reached Anna before she entered the kitchen. She could only 'tut-tut' and roll her eyes at the scene. It was one she had personally witnessed merely two days ago; from the sounds of that argument, it was hardly their first time either.

"Really? We're having this fight again?" Anna snapped, tongue in cheek.

"And we'll keep having it until a certain engineer understands simple thermodynamics!" Ollie hollered, cajoling the new arrival to join his righteous cause.

"Then why is the shelf so deep on the door? To put the milk there! Everyone does it!"

A solitary week into October, Anna was very much in the swing of things. There were a few days of homesickness that dogged the freshman much to her chagrin. For all the irritation and misery she experienced under that shaker roof, the vacuum it left in its place was bizarre - just as her confidant had predicted. It even drove her to phone her parents on a couple of occasions to hear their voice and listen to nothing of consequence.

Such weakness in the face of the epoch she wanted to put behind her frustrated Anna to no end; each call would open with a quivering warble and close with a self-loathing groan. Luckily, not only was there there the warm, protective embrace of a sister to seek solace in, the fact that she suddenly gained three brothers made it feel as though she had been adopted by a much larger, much funnier family.

'Now to meet the third,' she thought upon seeing a broad-shouldered gentleman sitting at the kitchen table. Before the lad was a bowl of oatmeal - seemingly topped with raisins - and a copy of the local paper's sports section.

"Christopher, I presume?" Anna piped with a strained air of sophistication, taking the chair to his left.

"Good guess," he replied with a toothy grin, laying the broadsheet down to his right, "but my first name is actually Kristoff. Either way, I prefer Chris."

She nodded promptly in confirmation, slightly embarrassed that she stumbled right out of the gate.

"I thought I'd get to meet you sooner. Els mentioned that you come by a lot," she began before falling face-first into her old habit. "I didn't mean for that to sound like you were wearing out your welcome because you're obviously not. I just moved in so I don't even know much about the place but even if I did I'd..."

Chris laughed and leaned back, stretching his arms behind the chair.

"Sheesh, Elsa has your number. She even said you would bring up that she mentioned how I'm always here and then apologize for saying it," he explained, each word turning the girl a deeper tint of crimson.

"Well, everyone I know understands that is how milk spoils! The temperature in the door is much higher than in the center of the unit."

"Okay, then, by how much? You seem to be such an expert in refrigeration-related topics!"

"Don't get snippy!"

"I'm not. Just sayin' that..."

Anna cast a humored gaze over at the quarreling duo, neither party willing to budge in the never-ending historic battle of kitchen organization. In between her location and the refrigerator, stowed away in the corner, was a stack of cardboard boxes. Anna didn't need to inspect any futher to know what they were filled with.

"I hope someone's expecting company," she said mostly to Chris, nodding in the direction of the items. Even in the midst of their heated discussion, Ollie and Steven paused long enough to peek at the object of fascination.

"Oh...yeah. That's beer and whisky and I think some kind of alcohol brewed from mercury and cyanide," Steven explained far too dryly for the naive redhead to pick up on.

"You're joking, right?" she inquired over the hushed chuckles of the mob.

"About the last one, yes. The rest is in anticipation of a most hallowed tradition," the eastern Washingtonian explained with great ostentatiousness.

"His three hillbilly brothers are visiting in two weekends. I advise you run while you have the option," Ollie cranked, tilting his head back in frustration.

"Why?" Anna asked with a nervous laugh. "Do things get crazy when they show up?"

"Yeah, that's putting it lightly," Oliver shot.

"Please, they are so frickin' well-behaved! Name me one example where they left a mess or damaged part of the house," Steven advanced, sounding almost triumphant; Ollie, however, was not flummoxed.

"You mean like two years ago where I came downstairs in the morning to find Jeff passed out on the floor with half a smashed bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand and John sleeping on my heirloom couch buck naked?"

The Brit's reply was quick, succinct, and effective. Steven merely stood frozen, maw open slightly, speedily formulating an equally stunning retort. The freshman's eyes simply grew wider, hoping there was a very good explanation.

"Okay...okay...before you go freaking poor Anna out...okay...I would...uh...like to remind the court that while, yes, there was a minor misunderstanding that night..." the sputtering interpretation began.

"God help us if they ever have an actual argument," Chris sarcastically cut in.

"...but..." Steven continued, raising an index finger, quieting the peanut gallery, "...but did they not pay in full to have the floors cleaned and the couch steam-treated?"

Ollie regretfully had to sigh and admit, "Yes."

"And were they not on their best behavior last year? In fact, I believe Hacksaw even asked for a coaster at one point." Steven finished up, appearing quite smug.

"Yeah, yeah," the landlord grumped while grabbing a glass from the cupboard.

"Did you say one of your brothers is named 'Hacksaw'?" Anna was now bordering on pale. Her freckles stood out even more than usual and her shoulders were stiff, centering on a tight bundle of fibrous muscles that contracted as Steven's overview progressed.

"Uh...yeah. Sorry. 'Hacksaw' is what we call Cody. He works in construction and loved tools as a kid. We nicknamed him that in grade school and it stuck. I assure you he isn't a psycho," Steven swore, trying to appear as laid-back and relaxed as possible.

"Okay, back up. Why are they visiting?" the stymied miss requested, only a bit less exasperated than she was a moment ago.

"My brothers - John, Jeff and Hacksaw - have been coming over to the westside annually for a regional monster truck rally they hold up near Mill Creek for about five years now..."

Oliver vocally winced, practically weeping over hearing the exploits described.

"And since I moved in here three years ago, they've crashed with me...and they each pay the man of the house $200 for the privilege, correct?" he appended, sensing an interruption on the horizon and squelching it outright.

"Yes," Ollie again regrettably conceded, swirling his water glass.

"...and they like to have a good time while they're here," Anna summarized with a look of unsureness.

"That's a polite phrasing," Chris winked, enjoying the verbal mayhem.

"Trust me, they are gentlemen. Maybe not in the snooty European sense..." Steven jibed.

"Aye! What the hell does that mean?!" The only one to field the snide remark stood miffed, mouth agape, playing the egregiously offended victim, working another laugh out of Chris.

"...but I assure you they're good fun and don't mean any harm. You are more than welcome to hang out with us while they're here and I think you'd enjoy yourself. Everyone always seems to, except maybe certain uptight landlords." He held out his hands, wishing calm upon the listening audience, especially Anna, in whose direction he motioned.

"Sir, you are lucky I didn't toss you out after that insanity. Sheer madness," and with that, the clearly ruffled, though good-natured, Briton exited and ascended the lower flight of stairs, making for his room.

The meeting now adjourned for the moment, having bided his time, the soon-to-be host made his move with Oliver out of earshot. Spinning to the left, Steven whipped open the right-door of the fridge, snatched the milk jug that had been buried in the center shelf, and slid it back into the door's generous shelf.

"That's where it goes. If it spoils, maybe you need new milk," he explained to no one in particular while bolting from the room.

"I think you can see why I'm always hanging out here," Chris joked after a short moment of rare serenity. The comment elicited an laugh from Anna, though of the much more sedate variety; she was a bit anxious about the upcoming arrival, but trusted her housemates enough to allow the events to unfold in her midst.

"I do like it here." Anna said the words softly and with great sincerity. While she had a greater affinity for the home than mere appreciation, 'like' would have to do for fear of scaring of a possible new friend.

"It beats the frat," he continued, slinking down in his chair, getting more comfortable. "That's why I haven't been over sooner. The moment I showed up in September, they steered me into setting up pledge activities and putting together sponsors for our first big dance."

"If you hate it so much, why do you help them out?"

"I'm the only one with a high enough IQ and a low enough BAC to get shit done," he snorted.

Again, Anna giggled, which made Chris reconsider his language.

"Sorry."

"It's fine. Elsa can talk a blue streak when she's feeling it," Anna gossiped.

"You might have her number, too, then," he nodded in great understanding, having heard the typically well-spoken fourth-year student belt out more than a few blue notes. He took the opportunity to slowly rise and stroll over to the stove.

The jaunt provided the strawberry-scented diner a chance to give the jock a once-over. His hulking physique, only mildly apparent while seated, was now on display for her to inspect. Biceps bulged out from his senior class t-shirt. A pair of baggy shorts did little to conceal his well-toned calves either.

'Dang,' Anna caught herself thinking. 'That is some serious definition.'

"You want some eggs?" the strapping athlete offered, catching Anna mid-gawk.

"Uhhh...sure, yeah," she stammered, causing his ego to flare up a touch, illustrated through a jauntily lifted eyebrow.

Anna quickly turned her attention to the world beyond the breakfast nook. The sky had gathered enough muster to illuminate the slow digression of summer into fall. Though it remained cloistered away in the heavens, she observed the sun wasn't rising as high considering the time of day. The grass was still growing and sorely in need of a trim, but even so didn't seem as lively as but a week ago. The setting around her seemed on the cusp of a shift into chillier weather.

"Here ya go," Chris said, forcing the pensive girl back into the present.

Anna wasn't fond of eggs to begin with; whenever her mother would make them, she would accept as small of a portion as possible and then fill up on toast. Turning down the offer, though, would have probably obliged him to finding something else for her to eat. That and she simply replied with the first acknowledgement that came to her slightly occupied mind.

"Thanks." Her reply was tepid but audible.

"No problem. I cooked more than usual since I figured the guys would want some but of course the milk argument had to come up...again." He rolled his eyes.

"So, how did you come to 'kinda' live here, if you don't mind me asking?" she asked between bites, hoping to spur conversation and divert his attention away from her piling the scrambled entree to one side of her plate.

"I met Elsa in my freshman year. Actually, it was the first week, I think," he recalled, screwing up his face in consideration. "We ended up having a few core classes together and that meant spending a lot of nights swapping notes and outright copying answers down. Granted, I did 95% of that."

"I do remember her mentioning a study partner a few times when she visited home that year," Anna added for validation.

"She mentioned me?" The gentle giant seemed impressed.

"Well, not by name, at least. It was a while back." Her backpeddling wasn't fast enough to dodge the obvious follow-up:

"But not after the first few months? We've been tight the whole time," he opined, sounding a smidgen crushed.

"To be honest, she and I didn't really talk much during her first three years here."

'Or in the years prior,' she added to herself.

"Gotcha." Chris knew he had opened up a Pandora's Box and quickly flung himself atop the lid.

"Anyway, I had a falling out with some of my brethren and ended up spending most of my time outside of class here. There's more room, the food is way better, and the company isn't terrible," he finished with a wink, one that brought a touch of redness back to Anna's cheeks.

"You probably don't get the kind of parties and girls here that must show up at the frat," Anna commented, indirectly curious what the social scene was like around campus.

"I'm not much the partier. I did plenty of that in high school and had a few scrapes with the law. Nothing serious," he was quick to add when he saw his breakfast companion freeze mid-bite, "just enough to tell me to knock it off. As for the women that show up at those parties..."

He stood up and grabbed his plate before cogently finishing the thought: "...not my type."

"Ahhh, but Els is?" Anna laughed quite proud at her wit, even if it was a bit on the nose.

"Yeah, I learned that avenue was closed by the second week." He laughed, mostly at his own misfortune.

"Trust me, you're not the first," she consoled the mockingly forlorn fellow.

"It's quite all right. As you can see, it's in the past," he vowed. "And I see you need to eat more eggs." He peered down at Anna's plate, easily deciphering her subtle plan. Before she could reply, he sauntered over to the sink and began washing up the flatware.

"You need protein, especially if you want to get as involved in the intramurals as Els has hinted at."

"Oh yeah, I've wanted to talk to you about that. How easy is it to get in?" She begrudgingly forced down another bite, wanting to put on a good face.

"Well, it's easy to tryout, but it's not that easy to get on a team, at least when it comes to the top tier. I assume that's what you're hoping for?"

"Yessir. I played varsity sports back in high school. I wasn't good enough for a scholarship but I still wanna play competitively."

"You're in luck, then. As I'm sure you've heard, these are very competitive leagues. Since you're not in a dorm, you'll have to qualify for one of the two off-campus groups when it comes to soccer. That's what you're thinking of playing, right? I think that's what she said..."

"No, you're right," Anna assured, finishing up her plate with an undetectable sigh of relief.

"I'm sure you'll have a good shot, though. You seem to take good care of yourself." For once, Anna didn't feel like the most awkward person in the room. Chris sidestepped away from the sink and ducked his head into the fridge, trying his best to make it look intentional.

The recipient, though, had few complaints. It wasn't every day she heard such flattery and the utterance made her sit up a bit straighter. On the other hand, his actions were quickly hinting at a situation she wasn't feeling too sure of.

"Should be a fun season. I'm trying out too but our group is small enough where there isn't much jostling for an spot. It'll be some guys from Phi and the houses adjacent to it." The sandy blonde emerged from the food preservation chamber sans the flushing and retook his seat.

"Good deal. So...what day are the tryouts?"

"Wednesday of next week," he specified upon seeing Anna pull out her phone to make a reminder. "7pm down at the playing fields. Know where they are?"

"Yup. Speaking of which," she segued, checking the mobile device's clock, "I need to get ready for class. Thank for the info."

Anna rose and trotted by the steel appliances on her way to the stairs when Chris worked in one final word.

"I don't know if you've had a chance yet, but if you ever want someone to show you around campus and what there is to see and what to avoid, I'd be happy to help. I just remember how it took me until my sophomore year before I got the handle on where everything was and that doesn't even take the city into consideration. No obligation, but the invite is standing."

He scanned her every element of posture to judge the reaction, holding back his breath, literally on the edge of his seat when he uttered the proposal. While Anna typically was very easy to read, it wasn't often that she was forced to play opposite a pursuer. To say it was unexpected was an understatement and she knew his play registered somewhere in the realm of 'ulterior motives'.

"Yeah, that could be fun. I'll look at my schedule and get back to you," she replied, once more replying out of necessity than desire.

'Damn, it sucks being on the receiving end of extrovertedness.' Anna cursed her cheerful consent to the proposition. Her want to be liked and blend in amongst the foliage of college life at times precluded her good judgement; this example certainly fell into that category.

"He's gonna think it's a damn date," she moaned once safely tucked inside her bathroom. Shoving the microfiber curtain to the side, Anna bent over the edge and turned the 'hot' handle to full-blast, only to then temper it with its cousin sitting alongside. A quick tripping of a metal lever beneath the downspout promptly transformed the tub into a shower. Stripping down, permitting only the overhead lamp to guide her, she paused in front of the medicine cabinet.

She poked out her pouty lower lip at the reflection, noting a chapped section that would need a bit of TLC. Her curves had filled out nicely through a combination of moderate exercise and a healthy appetite. With the back of her hand, she brushed her bangs to the side and flicked the right braid over her shoulder. Her bosom was in direct view: perky and full, jutting-out proudly, pleading to be lovingly cupped. Cascading down her chest was a never-quenched ocean of freckles, painted her glowing epidermis with splashes of rust and amber.

In front of friends and family, whenever those orange dabbles were mentioned, she would shy away and grow quite bashful. The angle she played was one of a frustrated victim, tortured by blemishes, and one who would give anything to have them removed permanently. In her heart, though, she loved them, every last patch and tangerine bloom, from neck to toe.

The pride she gained from them, however, wasn't simply through her own appreciation, but rather...

The train of thought forced her hand down, gliding outstretched fingertips across the underside of her right buttock. Anna gnawed on her side of upper lip, senses awash in memories, in emotions. Only a single soul knew about this freckle, one hidden away where only her most trusted confidant would know of its existence.

That one person.

Her Elsa.

Simply envisioning the name brought forward glimpses of an angelic face and breathtaking feminine charm to Anna's mind. She could hear her childish laughter and cooing vows that everything would be okay. There were memories of them protecting each other from monsters under the bed and building forts out of blankets that they would sleep in for days on end. When Elsa was harassed by neighborhood bullies one day after middle school let out, she selflessly ran out and threw rocks at the pursuers, shouting and yelling with a fierceness alien to a normal nine-year-old.

It was a bond that transcended love and commitment, shattering any label that could be affixed to their connection. Their parents never understood them and didn't seem to care to; for their mother and father, parenthood was a chore to be completed, not a task to be treasured. In its place, Elsa and her celebrated their youth, and built a world that no one could ever shake loose from its foundation.

As they continued to age, Anna looked on as her older sister grew and blossomed into womanhood. The affection she had always felt for her began to morph into something else. The sentiment was beyond confusing, but so was everything at that age: hitting twelve was not a cherished milestone. But that yearning...

Anna looked up into the mirror again, gazing deep into her eyes as though they were her sister's.

The time mom caught her peeking in on Elsa while she showered was mortifying. There was the pain that followed: being shouted at by her father, made to feel dirty and evil; having the threat of boarding school dangle overhead like an noose. Her parents ensured that Elsa was kept in the dark for her own good; it was a tactic even the young redhead agreed with in principle.

The fine hairs stood up on the back of her neck recalling that period. She was scared and frightened about these desires as it was, but to have her parents' shame and disgust layered on top was too much to handle. That's not even taking into account the embarrassing therapy sessions and demoralizing conversations with their priest. So many nights were spent in tears, sobbing softly under covers, hoping her older sibling wouldn't pick up the whimpers of her supposedly tougher counterpart, only to then storm in and force from her the reason.

Yet, every sleepless night - as they had on each one since they were young enough to escape the confines of their blankets - when that fragile, snow-white hand would pull back the comforter and reveal her shining guardian angel, awash in the glow of a nightlight, everything was okay again. Snuggling into Elsa's teenaged-embrace, each and every worry was decimated, never to return.

On those occasions, Elsa never demanded to know what was wrong. She knew when the time was right, her younger sister would open up, as she always had. In the interim, her mission was to protect and calm the frightened child.

Over time, the tears subsided: therapy ended, her parents erased the event from their collective memories, and Anna learned to be more careful. It wasn't a habitual event, by any means. Every now and then, though, that flame within her shape-shifting form grew too hot to temper and she needed to catch a glimpse of the only love she had ever known. Oddly enough, Anna had found a balance that worked and during Elsa's first years in high school, they were still as close and playful as always.

And then, very quickly, that foundation fell out from under them.

"It's not fair," Anna whispered to her doppelgänger.

'It's what happened. It can't be changed.'

'But I want it back! I want those years back, the years that were taken from us!'

Knuckles flared white as she gripped the washbasin in contempt over the relationship the world had stolen from her during an excruciatingly long six years. Her sister - her one need - was all she ever wanted, but during the most trying time in a young person's life, she had to learn to breathe without air.

Having finally broken through the crystalline surface, oxygen recapturing her lungs, the need for her touch had grown only stronger. The years of self-loathing and shame had done little to quell her rampaging hormones. No matter the distraction, nothing cooled the embers that burned inside her soul. Sports passed the time and her boyfriend was a nice guy, but neither could hold a candle to that painfully distant hand she used to cling to in good times and bad.

'Fuck, Elsa, I've missed you. I need you. I want you so bad.'

The tears of remorse were manifesting themselves into fuel for a more primal fire. The floral scent of Elsa's perfume, now an everyday treasure, only served to reawaken her desires. Finally able to hug her, laugh with her, confide in her, without prying eyes: it all served to break open the floodgates of a dam built too strong for its own good.

'For the quintillionth time: this is wrong and you know it.'

Steam wrapped around the edge of the curtain, drawing closer to the blissfully unaware subject poised over the sink. The thought of the blonde vixen was boosting her temperature and causing her to fidget, rubbing the sole of her right foot into the toes on her left. The room was sweltering and the fiery coed was well-aware it was due only in part to the scorching humidity. She suddenly craved, needed release.

'I don't care. I refuse to care anymore.'

'No! This isn't going to fix anything! Keep it together!'

'Ignoring it hasn't fixed anything either!' she screamed back, refusing to yield.

'You will regret it! You always do!'

'Shut up! I can't think of anything else!'

With remarkable speed and agility, Anna haphazardly hopped into the steaming cocoon and sat down on the pristine, curved-over rim of the footed bathtub. Only taking time to catch her breath, she spread open her thighs, exposing her neatly trimmed pubic region. Thinking of nothing but the feeling of Elsa's skin against her own - hands running though tresses, limbs entwined, gasps and moans, an wave of energy culled from an entire ocean - she drove two fingers into her dripping center.

"Elsa!" she yelped softly while pummeling her g-spot with one digit, then two. The angle she had to keep her wrist at was hardly comfortable, but with so many nights of practice, this certainly wasn't an impediment.

Pumping her sex furiously, sweat ran down her stomach and back, and strands of untamed, formerly-braided fire collected about every inch of her upper body. Her hips bucked savagely, grinding and kneading against her mandible. Speech was now replaced by guttural utterances and high-octave whines.

Her mind was a blur of memories and wishes, those which felt both so real and so impossible. There were first kisses as girlfriends and first Christmas mornings as wives. She dared to dream of the honeymoon night, of the passion and emotion and release. Simply the thought of being able to see her love without needing to hide or feel ashamed, and then to savor its majesty, pulsated within her spine, driven by the steady thumbing of her clitoris.

What made Anna's truest desires ultimately undeniable was knowing that it wasn't merely lust that drew her to Elsa; that was just an enticing element bundled along with the other requisites necessary for a lifelong partnership: understanding, love, support, patience, and devotion. The redhead didn't want to fuck the object of her pining; she wanted to make love to all the beautiful attributes that she had fallen in love with over so many years. It was a slow-burning, time-tested love, and the only one she ever wanted to know.

Anna understood she wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. As her muscles clenched, the bathing beauty tipped her center of gravity forward to prevent a horrifying - and, in all likelihood, embarrassing - fall back onto the bathroom floor. In the throes of an earth-shaking orgasm, she slid down the smooth surface of the tub on her back until finally coming to a rest amidst a searing rainstorm crashing down on her from high above.

Waves tore through her viscera, pushing a soothing numbness to even the most outlying stretches of her person. She moaned unintelligibly again, basking in the afterglow, caring little for if someone was strolling by the bathroom door. Her juices mixed with the water collecting around her long, sporty gams.

Watching as pool slipped away forever down the drain, she felt the endorphins follow in suit, leaving the all-too-familiar dread to fill the void. The guilt that had served as her overcoat once more draped upon her shoulders, pulling her down with its overbearing weight.

An emotional mess by this point, the tears returned with suprising alacrity. Anna could only curl up, pulling two field-calloused knees to her chest, and lose herself in the steam once more.

"Elsa...Elsa..."

"Elsa! Watch me!"

Twin pigtails trailing behind her, dodging amongst unrelenting snowflakes, Anna scorched across the sheet of glass. Freshly sharpened blades slit gorges into the canvas, carving out unending arcs. The crisp, clean sound of steel impacting the cold face of winter played in the ears of both Arendelle children.

"I'm watching, Anna," the eldest promised, fording a line almost parallel with her charge.

The sprite grinned from ear to ear as she picked up additional speed. Anna crouched slightly, preparing to spring into the dimming light of a February afternoon. Once her stance was dialed in and the velocity felt perfect, she whipped herself up and into the crisp embrace of a zero-degree vacuum.

"Woohoo!" a sixteen-year-old Elsa bellowed in celebration at seeing her little sister execute the spin in such exemplary fashion. The youngster was still trying to catch her breath when she felt a soothing, protective embrace sneak up on her from behind.

"That was amazing. You'll be pulling off doubles in no time."

"You think?" Anna replied, truly flattered.

"Sure! I remember landing my first when I was about your age. You remember? You were sitting on the bank," she ran through, pointing out the snow-covered expanse that crawled from the water's icy reach, "building something out of snow. Once I finally nailed it - after falling two thousand times - you got so excited. I came over to give you a hug and asked if you were building a snowman, and you said..."

"'Not just any snowman; it's a trophy...for you.'" Anna remembered the scene like it was yesterday. "And then you convinced mom to let you put it in the freezer."

"Absolutely! We kept that snowman together through the summer, constantly checking up on him, Dad always yelling at us for wasting the electricity and letting food spoil..." Elsa laughed.

"Like he still does?" Anna remarked semi-glumly.

"I know. Dealing with mom and dad is tough, but someday we'll both be in college together and we can stay up late and order pizza and watch movies..."

"Oh! And hot fudge sundaes?" a suddenly excited Anna perked up.

"Of course." Elsa assured.

The two statues remained in place, hugging and holding, frozen as the soil in the Michigan countryside. The house was within shouting distance, only a bit up an incline that terminated at the water's edge. Close as it was, they were in a world of their own at that moment.

The horizon was closing in on the ever-thinning line of pale gray that had served as the day's natural lighting, offering an array of charcoal and ashen hues in its place. Not a single sound could be heard, the foreboding clouds muffling the cries of anything that had survived the harshest blows that season had to offer. The faint tinge of a wood stove plying its trade at the top of a familiar hill clued the duo into the how late it had become.

"We should head in," Elsa said gently.

Feeling the comparatively scalding kiss of hot breath on her neck gave Anna a burst of energy. The child was suddenly fired up and wanting a crack at impressing her biggest fan.

"One more. I'm gonna land a double. Right now," the adventurous child said confidently.

"Anna, no. We need to go in. That could take hours and, even then, you're going to fall and break something in the dark."

"No, I'm not, Elsa. Please, one chance, and then we'll head up. I promise. Please."

The flaxen-haired beauty had never been able to refuse the entreaties of Anna and this occasion was to be no different.

"Okay. One try...and I mean it. I don't want you getting hurt. I couldn't live with myself."

"Don't be so dramatic, Els," was the sassy reply she got in return as the imp slid away from where they stood. Off into the consuming darkness, Anna skated in search of an untouched patch of ice to gather speed.

'This is going to be epic,' she thought.

A rapidly cooling spray forced Anna to lift her head, jerking her from the long-distant apparition. The hot water tank was starting to run dry and that meant the time to leave her Kingdom of Mist had arrived. She reached to the far end to grasp the knobs and extinguish the flow. Leaving the safety of porcelain ramparts took some effort, as her stiffened muscles griped loudly upon her clearing the lip.

The escape to the bathroom, usually a welcomed respite, left her rather taciturn. What was intended as a vacation from the present tense involved her running headlong in that of the past. The resolve she had arrived in the Emerald City with - to wait, to be patient - was crumbling with each passing day. A momentary jolt of panic squeezed her heart, wrenching it with fervor.

'Easy, take a breather,' she coaxed herself while wiping condensation from the glass.

'You've made it here. That was the biggest hurdle. Don't give up when you're so close.'

She inhaled the tropical air deeply, releasing it with great restraint through a freckled nose. Opening her eyes, she was placid and relaxed.

'No more of the spastic, scatter-brained, goofball Anna. I am mature and in control of my domain.'

She reached to grasp her toothbrush in her left hand. With her right, she leaned over and took hold of her phone which she left on the nearby shelf, hitting the power button to check how on-schedule she was.

"11:47! Holy shit! I have 13 fucking minutes...to...get to...what class do I have at noon again?! GAH!"

"...and this next Friday will be the exam. Everyone's favorite way to start the weekend, right?"

Professor Krupp's recital of the upcoming class schedule squeezed a resonating sigh of disapproval from each student in attendance. The concrete, bomb shelter of an auditorium concentrated every dropped pencil and ill-advised whisper to the center, giving any lecturer at the front super-charged auditory skills.

Newer students unaware of the phenomenon associated with Odessa Hall were easy targets for profs looking to leave a few of the more rowdy pupils dazed. The good doctor made no bones about this small joy of his, particularly with the blithely drunk or stoned ones; they were the most fun to freak-out.

"Finally, for anyone who cares about passing the fast-approaching midterm - HINT! HINT!" he boomed gingerly, exclamations that were promptly followed by the clicking of pens, "...next week, we will be delving deeper into the applicability of a standard tau-curve in world market scenarios, uncovering how it can both predict and deceive. Not that I'm clue you in that you should arrive Tuesday sober or anything."

He was rewarded with a congenial showering of guffaws for his dripping sarcasm; it was a welcomed closer he preferred to the groan.

"All right. Get the hell out," the young professor concluded, dismissing the assemblage with a sweep of his hand. Book-bags and backpacks were hurried together, feet scrambling up the sterile architecture to the apex.

'For people who were in need of slumber moments ago, they sure can move fast,' he thought dryly while beginning to shuffle through his papers on the lectern. The final few plodding footsteps faded away into the air, providing the opening for a special attendee to make her entrance.

"If the exam for this next Friday is the one I'm remembering..." Elsa pondered aloud as she strode towards the professor. She had snuck in halfway through the class and nabbed a seat in the stage-left corner of the cavernous room. Her final class of the day had ended a touch early, affording the ambitious senior an opportunity to take in a bit of the doctor's words before outlining her duties.

"...indeed it is..." he replied aloud to his former star pupil, packing his briefcase with a few of the extraneous sheets, knowing the approaching student was very much on the same wavelength.

"...they're going to need a lot of luck. I think that was the one exam in your class I didn't get an 'A' on."

Elsa stopped next to the table and took the initiative of straightening out the mayhem. The doctor was known far and wide for three characteristics: a stunning intellect, a charming personality, and a lack of organization. Fortunately, the final item didn't weigh down the initial pairing.

"You really are hung up on that still, aren't you?"

The prof glanced over at Elsa through the glasses perched lightly on his nose. His neatly trimmed mustache, low-maintenance haircut, and leather-patched tweed jacket belied the youthfulness of the human behind these elements. As a staff member in his late 30s, Doctor Krupp commanded the respect of his students, as well as his peers. Unfortunately, these came at a price of long hours and eternal bachelorhood.

"It was a rough test. I wasn't prepared and this was after I locked myself in Suzzallo the night before."

"I suppose that taught you an important lesson, then, hmm? Sometimes, it's wisest to relent and go have a life?" he opined, speaking from a position of knowing the other end.

Elsa continued filling away the sheets in their proper slots of a pocket folder. Needing additional funds to supplement her stock trading hobby, the ponytailed senior took a TA position for the doctor starting in the summer. It was a side project she had considered at length and when the professor personally emailed her offering the spot, she couldn't help but accept. Besides, it got her out of the house for reasons other than her own classes and might end up parlaying nicely into a possible teaching career.

"Idle hands are the Devil's workshop," was her automatic reply.

Slipping the strap of his messenger bag over a shoulder, the teacher stood back and leered about the area to ensure every document had been properly accounted for before leaving the lecture hall.

"I never took you as one to quote Bible passages." He looked at her with a surprised, but amused smirk.

"Call it the consequence of growing up in a strict Catholic household."

She swiped her hands together as a card dealer would upon vacating a station, signaling the honest completion of assigned duties. That morning, Elsa had elected to stay with her typical conservative style: long black skirt, white blouse and burgundy vest, and a casual set of pumps to grace her ten toes, with the ensemble topped off with a black headband. Friends had summarized her as dressing very much as a young lady in the 1950s; to her, it was simply a clean, simple, and understated way to present her meticulous and focused personality.

"Yeah, that's right: you aren't from Seattle. Sometimes I forget," he casually remarked before turning to his left and making for the double doors that opened into the building's main entrance hall; as was habit, she followed after to continue their witty repartee.

The professor moved quickly, needing to trudge across campus to proselytize before another vast spread of wooden chairs the history of economic law. In tandem, they forced open another set of glass doors and gamboled into the pleasantly mild October air. The expansive lawn before them was absent of the picnic blankets typical of the initial cluster of weeks, but still had a handful of hippies tossing around a frisbee.

"How is Anna enjoying freshman year so far?" he inquired, eye fixed on the path ahead.

"Seems to be adapting. There's that initial adjustment phase that I was stuck in for so long, but she's already leaving that behind. She's looking into working at the Medical Center a few days a week, getting an internship to accumulate some experience."

"Ahhh, not a bad idea," he replied, nodding in approval. "What's her major again?"

"Sports medicine, for now. Knowing her, it could change by this evening, but I see her staying in the medical field. Too much the caring and nurturing type not to."

"It's so much easier to take the cold, hard, heartless path of numbers, isn't it?" he coyly joked, earning himself a muted laugh.

"Heads up, bro!"

A errant disk whizzed a few feet in front of their heads, ditching into the ground cover to the left. Rather used to the occurrence, the pair barely broke stride and were moving on as the dreadlocked soul was digging through the vegetation, desperately searching for the frisbee.

"I'd say an internship would be ideal. In fact, I know there's a few that provide a stipend assuming she's willing to work some odd hours every now and then. Sadly, as those are quite rare and hard to come by, it's a case of not what you know, but who you know."

"How true," she concurred.

They worked their way down a gentle grade towards the campus' main 'quad'. The sun was starting its daily wind-down, casting an inviting warmth upon Elsa's back. In the distance and a hundred miles away was Mount Rainier, practically glistening like a jewel, standing tall and proud. A few faint car horns and revving motors melded into the busy chatter of campus life.

"Lucky for her, I happen to know someone who knows someone. I'll see what I can do about putting in a good word for Anna."

"Oh, Professor! Thank you! She'll be so happy!" Elsa excitedly thanked the gentleman as they approached the junction where they would offer their good-byes.

"You do know you can call me Martin? You did your time as a student; now we're simply adults, working together."

"All right," Elsa said, reining in her humbled glee, caught off-guard. "Martin it is."

The elder grinned, happy to hear them interacting in a more casual manner of conversation. Before the moment could pass, he took in the young lady's beautiful and demure appearance, feeling his chest tighten up ever so slightly. Buying a couple extra fragments of time, he fiddled with the handle of his briefcase, jostling it to redistribute the contents pointlessly.

"I'll try to get an answer back on the internship ASAP. It's no guarantee but I'd be hopeful."

"Thanks again, Martin." Elsa was careful to use the proper name, the two exchanging smiles after.

"No problem at all. Also, I made sure to email you the essays I need graded by Monday. Will you be able to go over them this weekend? Again, this is while you try to socialize and live outside your bubble?"

A light wind kicked up dried, crunchy leaves, scraping them along the cement walkway they reclined upon.

"Of course. Consider it done," she promised.

"Very good then," he concluded with a cheerful nod. "I will be on my way. Have a good weekend, Elsa."

"You too," she replied as he departed at a clipped pace.

"I mean it: take some time to be lazy!" he called out over his shoulder. Instead of belting out a reply, as her sister would have, she only crossed her arms and shook her head in entertained disbelief. However, it wasn't done solely in reaction to the professor's goofy antics.

Elsa had always had a difficult journey with respect to reading and understanding others, something that was at best touch-and-go even with a compatible, bookish-type like the doctor. Humans were complicated and unpredictable; numbers were clean and neat. Even though she may have been unable to articulate this as a child, her proclivity towards the math-driven fields were evident before she entered primary school.

Her head swiveled to the left and right upon reaching Stevens Way, careful to avoid any fellow students careening along the narrow lane. Although the speed limit was set at 25 MPH, with it being the only road weaving through the heart of campus, most ignored the regulatory signage.

'Far be it from me to judge, though,' Elsa admonished, holding back from casting inward stones.

Struggling to find a place in middle school, she found herself always at the distant end of social interaction. Rather than risk testing her awkwardness, Elsa chose to keep her head down and focused on an impressive docket of studies. Whereas her cohorts saw the joyful blooming of teenaged love and best-friends-forever, she only witnessed eventual heartbreak and betrayal.

No singular event nudged her down this cynical highway. Both children were raised by parents who were driven to uphold the facade of a perfect Christian family, regardless of the strain it would place on the home. There was little affection to be had from either of them and tear-stained arguments were the norm rather than the exception. In turn, her view of marital bliss was understandably warped; this sad fact was not lost on the blonde. The sadness of it wasn't actually found in the marriage itself, but in how Elsa gathered the way this would forever handicap her ability to trust and feel safe in another's arms.

As if this wasn't enough to carry on her dainty shoulders, it was around this time in seventh grade that she started to understand her sexuality and how it was going to make her struggle infinitely more difficult. For every boy she found cute or attractive, her eyes would inevitably be caught by a dozen striking female class members and her heart would bust into a gallop.

All she wanted was to find the right guy to shove her mind away from this 'illness'; she knew he had to be out there. As time passed, though, hope faded and morphed into its evil twin. If her heart was beholden to reach for femininity as opposed to masculinity, she was doomed to spinsterhood. Without even asking, Elsa understood if she was to bring home someone other than a well-spoken and unceasingly pious boy, it would result in more pain than it would ever be worth.

From this point on through her final year in high school, the flaxen-hair beauty would press through the endless undulations of hormones and societal expectations solo. Her parents would constantly worry and fret why their eldest daughter - whom was clearly blessed both physically and intellectually - wasn't bringing home a steady stream of acceptable suitors. On a few occasions, Elsa would arrive home with one of her long-time male acquaintances just to throw them a bone and buy her some peace of mind.

While she was forever grateful to Dan and Austin for their silence with regards to her preferences and their roles as willing accessories, they knew as well as Elsa did that their connection would never tread beyond that of platonic love. They even went as far as trying to set their lovelorn friend up with an equally fetching girlfriend, but she never accepted the offer. It was a rabbit hole she was not prepared to tumble into while living under the same roof she had since birth.

Driving this isolation was the desire to wait until she could strike out on her own, free of the tyranny and prying ways. Leaving her past to the wind, perhaps her desires could experience a renewal and, eventually, a steady, fulfilling relationship. The price she had to pay was leaving Anna behind, the being she loved more than any other.

In her mind, such a penalty was justified, as it meant that her junior would be kept safe from her impure desires and yearnings. In those last few years at home, Elsa filled her world with activities, jobs, tutoring...anything to separate her life from Anna's. She could see the toll it took on the redhead, but over and over, Elsa would remind herself, 'This is for her, this is for her...'

Once college loomed and some actual, physical distance could be placed between them, the eldest Arendelle child thought she was home free. She immediately jumped into openly dating other women around campus, savoring the freedom, the acceptance. While a few ladies certainly caught Elsa's fancy and some good times were had, her soul knew none was the right match. The pursuer always felt as though she was simply settling for something less than what she needed in an ever-lasting commitment. Perhaps, this was the best she could hope for.

Reflecting on all these memories, Elsa fidgeted with the strap of her shoulder bag. Weaving her way down a path in Ravenna Park, walking towards home, she was passed by a bicyclist, earbuds firmly lodged in his ears.

Maybe the war was so fierce because she refused to accept reality: it was only when she stopped mercilessly constricting her heart, and allowed herself to open up to the pigtailed angel, that she felt whole. For as much as she fought the feelings that she knew were wrong logically and socially, her heart always got the last word, even when she wasn't aware of it.

It was why she always spoke glowingly of Anna around friends even while she maintained the blockade of communication. It was why when she came out sophomore year - the last time she was home - she said the words while looking into Anna's eyes. It was why the antidepressants weren't working, why she was still a virgin, and why despite her every inclination to the contrary, she was beyond euphoric that her soulmate was once more living a mere fifteen feet to the south.

'It's like my efforts made no difference at all. I'm at the same crossroads, only this time nothing prevents us from stepping over that line,' Elsa considered.

'"I know I'm an adult. Are you?" What does that mean? Could she actually be testing the waters? Could she...really feel the same things I do?'

'Is this all out of my hands?'

Anna bolted down the short-cut grass. The warm undertones of late summer were still present in the soil, kicked up by a thousand footsteps upon its aging surface. Its scent rose up and enveloped the freshman, filling her with a zeal that was then transferred to her feet.

She had always been a 'summer baby', putting her at odds with her sister. Nothing filled her with endless joy and a lust for life like a bright, sunny, sizzling summers' day. There was plenty to love about the winter and seeing Elsa come alive in the falling snow was a sight to behold in and of itself. Still, the ebullient sprite would take a hot August day over a chilly February night without fail.

While it may have been October, she was determined to savor every last mild and dry evening before the area's legendary gloom rolled in and camped out for the autumn. The soccer tryouts that Wednesday afternoon provided the perfect opportunity to disregard the homework she had been dreading and seize the gorgeous weather.

The ball whisked down the grass as she dribbled it from foot to foot. Dodging between cones, she spun around, pivoting on her left foot, hoping to impress the 'recruiters'.

The onlookers with clipboards were simply the team captains from the prior year. They inherited the duty of putting together a competent, yet balanced team for the next. Often times, these were graduate students or alumni who had led a team as a senior last season. While this meant them returning to campus and taking time out of their renovated schedules, it was an honor of sorts and greatly appreciated by the intramural leadership committee.

"20.6," the timer read to Anna before jotting down the time.

Anna grabbed the ball and stowed it under her arm, walking over to the next skill test. She felt fairly satisfied with the time, even if it was a bit slower than she could have done in high school. Overall, considering the period that had passed, she was content.

Next on the circuit was the goal kick. Ten balls were lined up approximately twenty-five feet from the line. For the first run-through, the participant kicked them into the net, trying their best to show off their ability to score with unique spins and such. The second set of ten were struck with a goalie in place.

Anna knew how to psyche out a goalkeeper like no one else. She had a good kick; the sly young lady had an even better fake.

"You look way more into this than I am," a feminine voice said close by.

Anna looked to her right and down to see a petite, dark-haired girl who stood a full half-foot shorter than herself. The coed kept her hair up in a ponytail and hid her torso under an oversized teal green sweatshirt. Pinned to the front of it was the number '213', a measure smaller than Anna's similarly attached '291'.

"I tend to get intense about way too many things," was the self-deprecating reply.

"Anna," she added, introducing herself with a friendly nod.

"Penny...Penny Schwartz," the other girl replied with a cheeky grin.

"I assume 'Penny' is short for Penelope?"

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"It says your full name above the number," Anna pointed out with an amused smirk.

"I see," she said looking down, slightly embarrassed. "I've been trying to seek revenge on my parents for naming me that. I hate 'Penelope'! They seem to take pleasure in seeing me get pissed every time they use it!"

"No doubt. Parents can be a royal pain. I could go on about it, and if you hang around me, you'll find I do that about everything, but for now I'll just say that I get what you're saying." Anna took a deep breath, stemming the tide before its force became too strong to halt.

Regardless of her efforts, it still got a chuckle out of the black-haired spitfire.

"Well, it's nice to know someone who has the same problem as me," Penny responded, instantly reliving the tension bound up in Anna's shoulders.

"Yeah. You from around here?"

"Yup. Born and raised just north of here in Everett. It's far enough from home, but the tuition is reasonable. You?"

"Michigan, Upper Peninsula." Anna geographical reference got a nod.

"So, you aren't that into soccer?" Anna pressed on in reference to Penny's introductory comment.

"Not really," she responded, stepping up one place as the line shifted forward. "I prefer sports in video game format, but I also need to get out and meet people, too. Since soccer is the only sport I played in any capacity as a kid, I stuck with it."

"Makes sense," Anna replied thoughtfully.

"What about you? High school varsity, I assume?"

"Yup. Obviously not good enough to make a career out of it, but I can play."

"I think you're being modest," Penny posited with a raised eyebrow.

"No, honestly. Even in my tiny-ass home town, I was terrible compared to...oh shit!"

Anna quickly turned to her left to face Lake Washington and reached up to tuck the ends of her pigtails into her shirt. Looking like a statue - frozen and immobile - it begged inquiry from her new acquaintance.

"Something wrong?"

"See the guy with a clipboard at my six o'clock?"

"I see a lot of guys with those damn clipboards," Penny conceded, squinting hard to try and see what could possibly send Anna into such a fit.

"The one who looks like he lives in a gym?"

"Again, Anna, that's about every dude here." Penny laughed through her words, turning away as well to keep from drawing attention to their covert whispers.

"Okay! Fine! How about the tall, blonde one with a red shirt and black basketball shorts on?" a flustered Anna hissed over her right shoulder.

"Now that's helpful. Yes, I see the guy. Not bad looking."

"Is he walking away?" Anna asked pleadingly.

"No...uh...actually, now he is. I think he's going over to the sign-in tent."

Anna exhaled a sigh of relief. Throwing one more cautious look over her shoulder, she finally returned to her previous stance and gawked down the line to see how much longer she'd be out in plain view.

"Ex-boyfriend?" Penny pressed, still at a loss over the reaction.

"No, no thank you," Anna said with a bit too much color.

"He's more of a roommate who made a pass at me earlier last week," she continued. "Not really my type."

"Not your type?! He's an insane piece of ass!" Penny boomed, loud enough to attract the attention of everyone else in line.

"Like I said, 'Not my type.'" Anna placed more emphasis and irritation on the repeated clause than she wanted; it was a speech inflection the pint-size rabble-rouser noted.

"Ahhh...gotcha," she subtly stated, adding a most hinting wink at the end.

"Why are you winking?"

"Just...you know...it sounded like you really aren't 'into' guys." Penny actually added the air-quotes for effect.

"You think th-"

"Anna, it's totally cool. One of my best friends back home is lesbian. Not judging," Penny quickly interrupted her new friend before a foreseen faux-pas could be called out.

"I'm not a lesbian, Penny," Anna stated plainly and, again, a bit too loudly for comfort.

"Oh. My bad. Sorry," she apologized, waving her small hands in the tomboy's direction. "You're into guys. Noted."

"Not all the time, I mean, not all guys are...just...I mean...sometimes I don't...get...ARG!" Anna stammered, having a much harder time getting the words to sound like they very much should. Penny's eyes shifted from side to side, not exactly understanding the internal dilemma she had been unwittingly dragged into.

'What the hell is wrong with me? This is a very simple, concrete answer. Just tell her you're straight. Spit it out, dummy!'

"You okay?" Penny asked, somewhat afraid of the answer.

"Yeah. Um...I guess I don't know what I'm into right now," Anna begrudgingly admitted, the words hitting her ears before they had been processed by the brain. It felt so weird to say, especially when considering that she had always chased after guys.

'Was it because I felt obligated to?'

'"Obligated" in what sense?' Anna mentally replied.

'Maybe because you were raised to believe that being something other than straight was sinful, or maybe 'cuz the one you actually wanted was unavailable? I'm thinking both.'

'You're thinking wrong. Attraction to a gender doesn't depend on the dating status of an individual. I don't have a crush on Elsa because she's actively dating.'

'No, but maybe you're more attracted to the same gender than you're willing to admit. Wouldn't that explain a lot of the confusion you felt when you were younger? You are attracted to Elsa for more reasons than simply the fact that she's your sister. She's a beautiful, intelligent, graceful woman.'

'True, true,' I admitted to myself.

Anna took the moment to roll through a hidden-away rolodex, shoved deep in some forgotten crease of her brain. While Jake had been a sweet guy, and she found him attractive, it wasn't to say she was swept off her feet at the sight of him. It took stepping back in retrospect and the ironically wise words of the youthful prospect to realize that her ex was no more winsome than some of her former female schoolmates.

In fact, she felt subtle attraction to a handful of the girls in her graduating class right alongside those toting around a Y-chromosome. Walking down the hallways of her stoney high school, her head would jut in the direction of both halves of the societal makeup; only that one brought on regret, while the other was accepted.

Regardless, this was a moot point. When she was alone at night in her room, in need of releasing some steam, when the tension was too much to handle, Anna would think of only one face, one voice, one body. Her desires were for Elsa, an unwavering passion and loyalty that felt borne out of nature, rather than nurture.

In order to feel secure in her desires, though, it meant learning who she was on the inside, as well. In doing so, she could approach a possibly impossible situation with her chin held high, confident in the knowledge that even if the world should drop out from beneath, she had a map to guide her out of the abyss and, with any luck, back into a summer's glow.

'Bottom line: before you can hope to have a shot at a relationship with Elsa - and that's a lot of hope for now - I think you need to be honest with yourself and consider that you could very well be a bit less straight than your presumed.'

Her runaway train of thought sputtered out on the last thought and ran in an endless loop ad finitum.

"That's cool, too. Lots of people are bi or pansexual. You'll figure it out...or not. Either way, as long as everyone is safe and smart, what's the harm, right?" Penny said in a sugary-sweet, yet sincere manner, culling a smile from the embattled Anna.

"For example, all I know is that I want a piece of that...and that...and that..." she comically singled out every buff and tough brute milling around the event, wagging a stubby finger, hopping between subjects without restraint.

'She's being far too logical about this,' Anna concluded, her stubborn mannerisms finding this a bitter pill to swallow. Although, in thinking it through and analyzing her emotions, it did make sense.

"Your turn!"

A slightly irritated and impatient voice crept in from behind and settled within her ears. It yanked Anna out of the personalized psychoanalysis, forcing her to blink a few times, if only to make sure she was now focusing on the right plane of existence.

Penny was gone and number 291 was suddenly alone at the front of the line. Spread before her was a row of soccer balls, waiting for the pigtailed forward to punt them into the net. The sight instantly pushed her into the mood of a competitor. From a standstill, she lunged towards the goal and set to work on each of the stationary orbs.

The first couple were gimmies, Anna simply blasting them into the back of the net. Her cleats warmed up enough for something a touch fancier, she applied copious amounts of spin to the next handful, each soaring into the unreachable corners of the upended pocket.

She moved with lighting-speed, exhibiting a level of grace and finesse rarely seen in her day-to-day habits. From an early age, she captured the crown of 'family klutz' and wore it on her sleeve, tripping over items as insignificant as legos and shutting countless articles of clothing in car doors. The accident-prone child never even experienced the concept of balance until Elsa decided to slap a pair of ice skates on her four-year-old feet.

'She's really given me so much already. I want to be hers forever...and I won't rest until I am.'

The talk with her new acquaintance had charged Anna with a powerful mixture of understanding and excitement. The countless layers of guilt that had been stacked and pressed together over eons by way of her parents and religion were finally starting to crack. She had always known her heart was beholden to her sister and her alone; as for the reasoning behind it, Anna had traditionally steered clear of such considerations.

'The weight won't be there forever,' the spunky redhead confirmed, snapping the final ball into the bottom left corner.

"Let's do that again," the approaching goalie implored while bending over to take possession of a few balls and setting them up in a line once more. Anna nodded confidently in reply, her freckles standing out boldly in the newborn stadium lighting that had come alive in the last few minutes. She bit her lower lip softly upon connecting sharply with the first sphere.

She powered through all ten, combining accuracy with speed and a dash of trickery. The goalie was undoubtedly good, looking every bit the part of a seasoned competitor. Even he, however, couldn't counter the redhead's at-times misleading gazes and movements. As such, she was able to nudge eight past the nimble keeper.

"Well done," a slightly-built girl with curly, flowing crimson hair said; a clipboard firmly grasped in one hand, pen in the other. There was a tinge of an accent to her speech, though Anna couldn't place its origin at the moment.

"Thanks," Anna replied, stepping away from the environs of the goal.

"Yeah, you kicked ass, girl!" Penny shouted excitedly, offering a high-five which Anna happily connected on.

"Haven't seen kicking like that in a while, especially from an off-campus crew," the overseer said, clearly impressed. "I'm thinking you are team 'A' material. Both of ye."

"Thanks!" Anna and Penny replied in unison, neither feeling it the proper time to jinx the other.

"Merida. Welcome aboard," the wild-haired gal introduced herself, extending a hand.

"Anna," was one reply, paired with a strong shake.

"I'm penny!" the third said in her already trademarked overzealous way, dragging a laugh out of the other two.

"Nice to meet ye," the coordinator replied, letting slip a bit more of her patois. "I'm a senior this year, so I'll be sticking around and coaching unlike most the rest of the lot here. We did fairly well last go 'round and I'd like to build on it. I'm almost done pulling the recruits we need; when I have a final roster I'll be emailing yer both along with a schedule and the like. Expect our first practice to be in a week or so."

"Practice? How intense is this?" Penny wondered, sounding beyond surprised.

"When winning the championship means getting a nice-sized scholarship, things can turn competitive," Merida explained with a smirk.

"Wow. I didn't read that bit," Anna admitted, feeling a bit like Penny: a touch unaware of what she was diving blindly into.

"See why we practice?" Merida guffawed. "I'll be in touch. Well done tonight, ladies."

Both enrollees gave a head-dip of acknowledgment.

"Nah yer don't, Alex. I have dibs on number one-oh-six," Merida boomed, quickly striding past the two, making for another coach who was clearly trying his best to bogart a sought-after player.

Anna's eyes roamed about the fields, measuring up their rivals. Altogether, she counted approximately thirty small clusters of players, signifying a very healthy and expansive season. She recognized only a few from her classes and many gave the air of upperclass know-how. The gender proportions also looked fairly balanced, perhaps tilting in favor of the males fifty-five to forty-five.

In the next pitch over, Anna saw Chris hamming it up with some of his frat brothers. A large enough gap existed to where she felt safe in staring for a few moments, taking stock of a possible rivalry in the making.

Besides the on-off roommate, she didn't recognize anyone else in their crew. One boy, however, stood out. Even from eighty feet away, Anna could see a sneer of arrogance painted underneath drooping onyx locks. He stood with arms crossed, looking very bored and unimpressed over Chris' antics. Through the background cacophony, she swore to have even heard a scoff spat out by the self-assured bloke.

'Sheesh, he looks friendly,' Anna sarcastically opined.

Having seen enough, Anna jerked a thumb towards campus, raising an eyebrow at Penny. Understanding the gesture, the scamp finished taking in the sights and accompanied her teammate, sauntering away from the pitch and heading for their respective homes. Winding through campus, they were carried along by a gentle breeze. The invisible force was cloaked in the smells of summer packing its bags and preparing to leave town.

"That went pretty well," the smaller student quipped, merrily striding alongside Anna.

"Yeah, I'm happy. Getting on the upper-tier team was step one," she replied, feeling quite accomplished.

"What's step two?" Penny asked as they walked between a pair of buildings, their footsteps echoing amongst the masonry.

"Uh...I haven't thought that far ahead yet. I supposed making it to practice on time," Anna laughed, referencing her habitual tardiness.

"You too, huh?" Penny dryly remarked in reply.

"Here's where I turn. You live north a-ways?"

"Past the park. About a 10 minute walk from here. Nothing dramatic." Anna pointed towards what she believed to be the destination from where they stood.

"I'm to the south and west, on the other side of I-5."

"Over in Fremont? Nice area," Anna assessed thoughtfully. "We'll have to hang out again before too long. Speaking of which, my roomie's brothers are coming over this weekend. Apparently, they like to party and it should get pretty crazy. There's already cases of beer and whisky stacked up in the kitchen in preparation and our landlord is on the edge of a nervous breakdown."

"Wow. Sounds fun," Penny said in mixture of humor, awe, and terror.

"Yeah. I know. From what I can gather, they're friendly drunks, fortunately. Think you might wanna come over and watch the madness?" Anna offered.

"No can do," the childish newbie considered, starting to walk backwards in anticipation of her upcoming journey home. "I have to head down to Portland to see a friend of mine that I've been stupidly avoiding for months."

"Understood. Well, travel safe...to Oregon and to Fremont," Anna added to cover all possible bases.

"You think anyone can handle a piece of this?!" she shouted back at Anna in her most intimidating voice, which was only an octave above a dulcet squeak.

Anna smiled and waved to the quickly disappearing form as Penny slipped down a hill and out of sight. Through the gentle glow a distant streetlight, standing like a vigilant sentinel, she saw a small hand flailing back.

Anna took her time heading back to the house that Saturday evening. Most of the day had consisted of partaking in an English class study group which began at nine in the morning and a three-hour team practice thereafter. The former thoroughly jostled her brain, while the latter beat up her shins. The first game was on the following Monday and, much to her surprise, she felt as prepared for it as she was for the exam on Shakespearean prose.

Sports had been a way for her to pass the time back home. It seemed to be the one sector of her life where everyone could simply enjoy themselves without eventually turning into a huge debacle. The games and tournaments allowed the youngest daughter to escape the confines of the Arendelle home, both literally and metaphorically.

Traipsing down the cracking sidewalks of 15th, Anna thought back to those chilly evenings on the field, about this time of year: sun setting, blades of grass shivering, bleachers creaking. By the end of the fall season of soccer, her parents had stopped going; they had grown sick of the cold, preferring a warm spot in front of the television over watching their daughter play her heart out.

Thankfully, however, one person always showed up; that is until she had to depart for Seattle after Anna's freshman year at Waitsburg High. Before that, even when things were uneasy between them, even when they no longer spent every night and every waking hour together, Elsa was always in the stands.

Anna blushed at the mere memory of how, during a bone-chilling game, while taking a breather on the sidelines, she spotted her sister looking on. The distance between the two was compact enough to where Anna could see the relaxed but involved expression of the girl with - at that time - platinum blond hair.

The gentle smile and wanting eyes tugged at the striker's heart, warming her chilled viscera and driving her to unexpectedly react with a low-key wave in the attendee's direction. Not one of those goofy, exaggerated callouts that players would perform when they needed to grab the attention of a visiting family member or relative. Instead, this was a quiet, intimate handshake over the air, each knowing the other was watching, the kind of connectiveness reserved for those bound not in blood, but by love.

Anna hitched up her drooping backpack a bit more for the final two blocks. A breeze that had dance across the Sound and funneled its way through the Ship Canal snaked between her ankles, making her shiver slightly.

'So glad I grabbed a pair of sweatpants for after practice.'

She kicked an abandoned, half-eaten apple into the road.

'I really hope Steven's brothers haven't burned the place down yet.'

While in one of the library's soundproof study rooms set aside for larger groups, her phone received a text. Setting aside her pen for the moment, she read the note from Elsa that, "three burly mountain men had stormed the castle and demanded a ransom of beer and revelry". The alert made Anna laugh and was a welcomed break from the drudgery of studying for something she had no interest in.

Even so, it also made her a little reluctant to gallop home in a hurry. After all, who knew what prize would be hiding behind that door. Plodding down the well-lit, but desolate alley, the gravel crunched under her sneakers. Just as she opened the small gate in the fence running against the hedges to permit passage into the back yard, a bolt of thundering laugher managed to escape the confines of the house to welcome her home.

'Oh boy...'

Luckily, much to her surprise, upon opening the back door and quietly stepping inside the cozy boundaries of the kitchen, she saw allies posed right alongside the marauding Vandals.

"ANNA!" the three strangers shouted in loud, cheerful tones, acknowledging the arrival of a person they had never been introduced to.

"Hey there!" she smiled, her cheerful disposition coming out a bit upon seeing that the general mood was one of merrymaking as opposed to the dreariness that was foretold days ago.

The brothers Carrick weren't the only ones savoring the libations. Each of her roommates were gathered around either the island or seated at the kitchen table, with every attendee nursing a drink of their choosing. Of course, simply out of nature, she searched for and found her sister, a highball of scotch on the rocks clasped in her left hand and a grin of enjoyment on her lips.

'Oh Els. That's not your first drink, is it?' Anna thought, knowing that overly relaxed look in her eyes.

'Not that it's a bad thing...'

"Anna," Steven began, stepping forward, "these are my brothers: Jeff, John, and Henry, AKA Hacksaw."

While their gregarious assemblage was unexpected, so too was their monstrous stature, almost to the point where she suddenly wondered if Steven was adopted. Each of the guests stood at least four inches taller than him and carried an additional seventy pounds of heft. Additionally, Jeff and Hen...er...'Hacksaw' possessed beards as thick and full as a rhododendron bush and were wearing at least one article of clothing adorned with a camouflage pattern.

Out of step with the generally progressive, urban feel of Seattle? Absolutely. A small part of Anna, though, almost welcomed the backwood wanderers as they recalled a few of the folks from back home. Elsa never caught onto that vein of society in the Upper Peninsula, but Anna understood the appeal: tromping through the wilderness, maybe doing a bit of hunting, camping out, and experiencing the elements. Weird as it was to see that vibe suddenly introduced almost out of thin air, it also served to soften the mild culture shock she had been experiencing since moving in.

"Pleasure to meet you," John said politely, removing a chewed-up ball cap before shaking her hand.

"Nice to meet ya!" Hacksaw added, raising his glass in recognition.

"Now git yerself a damn drink!" Jeff added with a beaming smile from the other side of the kitchen, leaned up against the wall.

"I'm glad to see you survived the long day," Elsa said through the peppy fog of chatter that had started anew now that formal introductions had run their course.

"Tell me about it," Anna sighed, grabbing the purposefully vacant chair next to her at the table; Ollie and the artist known as Hacksaw were occupying the other half of the breakfast nook and appeared to be getting on quite famously.

"Study group go okay?"

"I guess. I can't believe Keller is making us analyze every one of those god forsaken sonnets," Anna whined, sticking her tongue out for effect. "Lucky for me, everyone else in the group seemed to at least care a bit more than me. I got done what I needed to."

"That's always a plus," Elsa chimed, taking a sip. Anna spied the glass, trying her best to see if her initial theory on beverage selection was correct.

"Want a sip of my scotch?" Elsa offered, holding the glass out, already knowing the answer.

"Yuck, no, thank you."

"Following 'yuck' up with a pleasantry is an odd juxtaposition," the urbane sibling remarked with an amused smirk.

"And it is so easy to tell when you're drunk," Anna countered with an playful smile and wink of her own.

"What? No, it's not!" Elsa scoffed instantly, already blushing and suddenly feeling the need to sit up properly, backtracking her relaxed manner.

"Yes, you get even more wordy than usual and you laugh more often and you just loosen up in general. Oh, and you get that happy, loopy look on your face...yup, that one," Anna suffixed, pointing directly at the spot above the blonde's chin.

"I deny all of those false accusations!"

"Deny all you want. I find them quite sweet," was the honest, frank reply from the freckled party at the table.

Elsa only smiled in reply, having to hold her tongue from letting loose an incriminating barb, something that would undoubtedly reveal something close to her true feelings for the endearing brat. She knew as the evening kicked up that this would be the first time she had been drunk around her kid sister; she also knew how lithe her verbiage became when hit with the right elixir.

She took the drink when offered regardless. All the work she had put into maintaining her defenses while living at home were being wiped off of her proverbial mental map, decimated with every sly grin from her junior, blown wide with every giggle, torn down in each gaze that lasted a bit longer than usual. Elsa had no idea where it would go, but something deep inside - stronger than any conscious effort she could ever muster - urged her to let the fates steer the ship. The wheel had been in her hands for so long, she forgot how nice it was to simply relax in the backseat, swapping tales and secrets with her most treasured family member.

"Here you go! Bought these just for you. Elsa was saying you wouldn't be into the hard stuff, but that you'd probably enjoy one of these hard lemonades," Jeff kindly explained, extending an icy bottle of the adult beverage in her direction.

Anna cautiously reached out and took hold of the offering. Simultaneously, she looked over to her elder for some sort of validation.

"It's okay, Anna. It's time you had your first drink," Elsa nodded, only to follow it up with, "or what I think is your first...?"

"No way! Is it really?" Jeff mugged gleefully, appearing overjoyed to witness the event.

"What's up?" Steven asked, speaking on behalf of the others gathered in the kitchen who had suddenly noticed the lull in conversation and grown curious over the cause.

"I think this is her first drink!" Jeff boomed.

"Then let the girl enjoy it, asshole," John jawed, trying to ease the pressure off the young lady and jamming an elbow in his eldest brother's ribcage.

"There's...there's more where that came from," the boozed peddler slurred as he gravitated closer to the island located centrally in the room.

"Well, is it?" Elsa asked, though much more discretely, as Anna twisted the cap from the glass beverage conveyance.

"Other than the church wine and a sip of the gasoline you drink, yeah," was the very sheepish and barely audible humorous reply, spoken low enough so that not even the pair seated across the table would notice.

"That's fine. I was the same way; how could it be any different with how mom and dad are? Didn't have my first beer until I was a few months in here. Further on than where you are now." The wizened sister comforted the clearly bashful novice as the first draw was taken.

Anna let the flavor roll around her mouth, trying to see if she could pick up on what the big fuss was all about.

"Tastes like lemonade," she assessed in great disbelief.

"Yup. Candied alcohol. That's why you have to be careful with drinks like that; before you realize it, you've had too much. Plus, with all the crap they add in, your head will be spinning the next day. That's why I drink my 'gasoline'," Elsa smirked. "I know the power the bottle wields."

"There you go again being all philosophical..." Anna chided, egging her sibling on.

The alcohol flowed freely long into the night. Eventually, libation-fueled munchies - termed within the home as a case of "drunchies" - got the best of them, and the pantry was soon scattered across countertops and tables. Fortunately, the prophesied storm front from the east never materialized and each member of the Carrick family remained civil and polite - generous helpings of cursing and loud volumes aside.

As the evening wore on, the densely packed grouping of warm bodies dispersed into the living room, the dining room, and the library. Despite the exciting jabber spurred by their guests, the sisters Arandelle continued their verbal discourse splintered away from the crowd. It was the first time in far too many years that the two had taken the time to simply relax and talk, feeling no need to follow an internally notarized list of accepted phrases. This was their time to catch up and touch upon waters thought to have passed under the bridge.

"No, haven't heard from them at all. Last time I saw either was at your graduation," Anna replied to her sister's inquiry.

"I figured that was the case. Dan and I managed to chat a bit when I settled in here, but that was really only because I was a bit homesick. I knew with him going to the University of Maryland, meeting up again would probably be impossible."

"And Austin?"

"We hugged after the graduation ceremony was through and that was it. Nothing after that," Elsa explained, carefully shaking the ice cubes floating in her fourth portion of scotch.

"Was that hard at all? Keeping up that front so mom and dad wouldn't flip?" Anna wondered, gazing up through inebriated eyes, mindlessly picking at one corner of the bottle's label.

"To be honest, at first, yes. After a while, though, you get used to the sham," Elsa admitted forlornly.

"I remember how they would go on to each other about how your 'choice' had torn apart the family, how you had turned your back on God, how they didn't think they could ever speak to you again. It took everything I had to not get into their sanctimonious faces and scream," Anna elaborated with great disdain.

"I'm glad you didn't. You had to make it out alive. Saying that stuff would have probably prevented you from moving in with me. Hell, knowing them, they probably would have sent you away to an abbey," Elsa ruminated.

The youngest Arendelle paused before responding: "Still, it didn't make anything better. It only made me miss you more. Made me feel lonlier."

"Trust me, I hated it too. I hated having to hide who I was from them and from you, too. It went against everything I felt, having to maintain that lie - not just to them, but to my desires, as well."

'Fuck. That was asking for trouble,' Elsa scolded herself after uttering the words.

"Why didn't you come talk to me about it?" Anna plodded on, doing her best to cover up her inward reaction to the previous comment.

"What was I supposed to say to you, Anna? That your older sister likes other girls? What could you have done?"

"Would it have been so wrong if I had only been there to listen? That's what we always did before." Anna reflected, trying not to sound to hurt.

The two had the den to themselves, as Ollie and Chris had stepped out for a cigar about half an hour prior. The space was only lit by lamps stationed in the short hallway that separated the room from the library. Growing up, both Anna and Elsa had preferred gentle, low-intensity lighting, something that allowed them to see the outlines, but rarely the details.

Elsa was bundled up in her homebound garb: a forest green, fluffy sweater twinned to a relaxed pair of cargo pants she had broken in over the last three years. Although it was roughly on par with Anna's definition of 'formal wear', it was certainly relaxed by the blonde's standards. It carried a level of informality that wasn't lost on the tomboy who was still in her sweatpants and grey, university hoodie.

Both had their legs drawn up, ankles tucked under posteriors. Elsa had chosen the oversized chair, upholstered in plush corduroy, that sat perpendicular to the matching couch occupied by the redhead. Wanting to hang onto every word the other presented, they leaned on their armrests, resulting in a separation of only a foot or thereabouts.

"Anna, there nothing I would have loved more than to tell you everything..."

'Easy, Els,' the flaxen girl reminded herself.

"...but even more than that I wanted to protect you. I love you more than anything, way too much to take my problems and stick them on your shoulders. I could barely walk as it was."

Anna may have been younger and less experienced in soul searching, but even she understood that the conversation was no longer centered on Elsa's attraction towards those of her own sex. A segue had commenced without recognition or fanfare. It was a weightier matter that the duo danced around now.

"If you were too weak to walk, Els, I would have carried you. Happily." Anna spoke the oath without hesitation, cutting through the fogginess her third hard lemonade had presented.

"I know, but there are...there are just some things you have no business taking on. No sister should, no matter how strong they are." Elsa's reply was weak at best, her backpedaling lost on neither.

"I think you should have given me the option to decide that," the pigtailed student shrugged.

"You can say that now because we're both in college, we're both grownups..."

"We both can say how we honestly feel about anything," Anna broke in having detected an opening and taking it brashly.

'Please, Elsa. Talk to me. Tell me everything.'

The move phased her compatriot who had nothing queued in her arsenal, other than hopelessly stalling.

"I'm here now. My ears and heart are open. What changed inside you?" Anna pled with eyes so intense and passionate, Elsa had no other recourse but to look down into her empty palms.

"What are you two hiding in here for?" Chris interrupted obliviously.

The pair of stags had concluded their late night burn on the front porch. Both reeked of overly perfumed smoke and an equally disengaging bravado. The incumbent recliners did their best to hide looks of frustration over the disturbance, something that became much more difficult once Ollie had decided to flip on the lights unilaterally.

"You two on a date or somethin'?" Chris added snottily, having no idea of the implication from such words.

'Wow,' was all Elsa could muster in her mind, roughly on par with with surge of adrenaline Anna felt in tandem.

"We're thinking of watching a movie. Chris hasn't seen Pulp Fiction. Figured it was about time. Care to join?" the normally very thoughtful cockney lad offered, to which Elsa shook her head in speaking on behalf of herself and Anna.

"No thanks. I think we're going to be heading up so we can continue our girl talk in private." Elsa maintained a pleasant disposition, silently grateful that the brutes had purchased her a few more minutes to consider a proper reply to her sister's relentless searching.

'Dammit!' Anna swore to her luck.

"Pfff! Have fun with that!" the drunk jock scoffed with more malice than intended thanks to the truth serum frolicking through his body.

The two simply ignored the callous comment and started heading upstairs to quieter environs. It was the first few steps that Anna had taken since finishing her last drink and they were remarkably more challenging than usual. The lightweight weaved unintentionally from banister to railing, catching herself from falling twice before Elsa looked behind her.

"You okay there, tipsy?" she mocked with a goofy smile.

"Shut up," was the pitiful, half-hearted reply.

Even through her severely affected vision, she melted upon seeing her sister looming on the steps above. In her semi-casual dress and eight fingers of hard alcohol in, Elsa still exuded feminine grace and sophistication. Her hourglass figure managed to appear through the loose gathers of fabric and her tried-and-true French braid ran enchantingly down her shoulder.

'Oh fuck, Elsa. You're so hot! And the booze is only making it worse!' she scolded her poor decision-making, knowing well ahead of time how drunkiness can perpetuate a spike in libido.

"Come on, my sweet drunken child," Elsa mewed, slinging Anna's right arm over her shoulders and guiding them up the staircase, a single patient step at a time.

The gimping pair eventually reached the pinnacle and maintained their pace along even ground. Anna managed to regain her ability to walk independently, though only through reliance on the banister. Fortunately, the short distance to her bedroom was covered quickly; safely inside, she flopped down on the bed, splayed out like a snow angel.

"I told you not to drink so much," Elsa chastised, as a sister should and a mother would.

"It was only three!" Anna reasoned poorly, casting her words towards the ceiling, far too comfortable to assume any other position than the prone one she remained in.

"You have to know your limits, goof," the wiser of the two doled out, taking a spot next to her sister's sprawled form and getting comfortable herself.

"Then that's my limit for now." Anna held up a left hand displaying three digits, in theory serving to prove her sterling cognition skills even in a drunken state. In practice, it only provide fuel to Elsa's laughter.

"Very good. I think that's wise."

"You know what else is wise?"

"What?" Elsa asked, already knowing the reply beforehand.

"You," Anna smiled, gently bopping her the blonde's nose with an index digit. It was a gesture neither had employed for eons and its reawakening brought them both to grins.

"I'm not that smart. I've made plenty of mistakes," was the humble counterpoint.

"We all have. Life is full of little tests and quizzes," Anna regally reflected, sounding remarkably sophisticated. "That's the great thing about relationships: you finally have a study partner to get through the exams with."

Elsa picked up on the tender reference to their late night study sessions where she would guide Anna through reams of algebraic exercises and geometric proofs. Perhaps it was her elevated BAC that permitted the complete glossing over of a reference to 'relationships' in the redhead's musings. Instead, she was caught up in the enveloping glow of the cherished sororal bond, losing herself in that familiar warmth she had let fall out of focus.

Reclined on her left elbow, snuggled close to her bedfellow, Elsa allowed her eyes to roam along every inch of the resplendent coed. Although more practiced in consuming generous doses of scotch, even she could feel her yearnings whet and an aching to advance even closer to that sun-kissed skin and those ever-shifting blue-green eyes.

'God, I want you Anna.'

Elsa transmitted the message only through unblinking eye contact, holding no expectation that Anna would have any grasp on how to decrypt its contents. However, the code was instantly cracked and replied to in kind, even if broadcast in vain:

'Then take me, Elsa.'

Time creeped by, scarcely strong enough to mill about the viscous air held within Anna's room. The ancient force could only muster enough power to march the bedside clock forward from 2:20 to 2:21 that early morning. Were it not for the slowly dying, distant laugher in the floor below, Elsa would have begun to wonder if the universe had ceased movement altogether.

'This is not a wise scenario,' her nagging conscious reared.

'I'm done running.'

'Forget running. You're not even crawling,' the mental prosecutor pressed.

'Very funny.'

'Seriously, though, let's say you completely ignore all of my advice and decide to...*sigh*...'fuck' your sister. Would you really want it to be while you are both under the influence?'

'No, of course not, but I don't know if I'll ever feel enough courage in the future to make the move. This is an opportunity I never thought would present itself and yet here I am. What if it doesn't happen again?!'

'It can't happen now.'

'Why not?!' Elsa cried out in return.

'Look down.'

Elsa cast her sight upon Anna once more and saw she had fallen fast asleep. Dozing on her right side, she remained nestled against her older sister, mouth hanging open slightly.

'...just like always,' Elsa remembered.

The pigtailed dreamer steadied her breathing and had clearly passed into a deep, content state of slumber at the drop of a hat. Elsa knew the traditional course of action would have been to gently slip away and hop into her own bed. Yet, it only took a few seconds of consideration before she resolutely reached up to switch off the lamp that was clamped onto the Anna's headboard.

After gently groping through the dark for the blanket she saw scrunched up on the other half of the bed, she unravelled its soothing expanse over them both, the act only bringing Anna to stir momentarily. Elsa tenderly wrapped her left arm around the sister and pulled her into her chest; the cradled form let out a meltingly content sigh and promptly resumed her restful journey into night.

Elsa beamed peacefully, bathing in the inviting beauty and innocent charm of her sibling. While her lust had not been quenched, it was instead quieted through renewing the long forgotten ritual they had formerly carried out on a constant basis. Falling asleep in each other's arms was an act of true love and the edifice upon which their unbreakable bond stood, gathering strength with each passing day.

The party below the snoozing babe timidly died out soon after, each of the brothers settling on a spot somewhere in the living room to lay their fully-clothed persons down for the night. Chris and Ollie didn't manage to make it halfway through the film before passing out on the couch, leaving the witty pablum of the Tarantino masterpiece to canter amongst silent passageways, unnoticed.

After staring up into the nothingness of room-borne twilight for a short period, Elsa quickly succumbed to drowsiness, as well. Feeling the weight of her sister sinking into her lithe but sound structure transported her to a distant time, where worries were something for adults to deal with and the future was so distant, it didn't dare show its face. While Anna had grown and matured during those half-dozen years, she felt exactly the same in Elsa's embrace: still needing the protection of an older sister and the unshakable knowledge that those arms would always be there to run to.