II- Beliefs
"What's the Book of Mormon about?"
Elsa cleared her throat. She had been training all her life for this question. "It's basically the story of what happened in the Americas, during the same time as the Bible. Our founder, Joseph Smith found it and translated the sacred text to English."
"Hmm," Anna nodded. "Go on."
"We believe that before we were born, we all lived with God. And part of His plan, is for us to be born here on Earth, and have a body. To live our lives and learn what we can." The blonde continued, trying her best to make Anna understand.
"So is it like, when you have children, the spirits can have a home?"
"Exactly."
Anna placed a finger on her chin, eyes narrowed. This gesture made Elsa quite nervous, bringing her back to the moments during her first time on a mission. She didn't know why she felt scared thinking, that the girl in front of her would ask a question she didn't know the answer to. In fact, with her experience, she would know all the responses to curious people.
"Tell me more about Mormon courtship and dating."
"Well," Elsa started. "We can start dating at sixteen. It has to be chaste though."
Anna took a sip of her hot chocolate. "Can y'all date people from outside your church?"
The blonde shook her head. "As much as possible, the person we're dating should be a member of the LDS church."
Without knowing, Anna's eyes fell with much disappointment. It seemed to her that Elsa was far beyond her reach. She did figure that out when they met the day before, when she identified Elsa's religion. The older girl is probably dating a guy at her church, and doesn't even want to do anything with her in the first place. She knew inviting Elsa for some hot chocolate was a bad idea.
It's been over a minute and Elsa wondered why Anna fell silent. Did she say something that offended the girl? "Anything else?"
"Have you been on a mission?" Anna came up with the best thing she could fill the silence in. Mormons are known for doing voluntary work and missions.
"I did when I was nineteen. I spent my missionary work at Nevada for eighteen months." She had to admit, doing missionary work gave her a very different view of the world. She traveled every day to far places, knocking on door to door, either getting a slam of the door in her face, or an offering of drinking water. For those eighteen months, she had converted people to join the LDS church, and she was very proud of her accomplishment. The best thing about being a Mormon had to be the missions, no doubt.
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-one."
Anna leaned back in her chair. "So you're in college?"
"Yes."
"What University do you go to?"
"Brigham Young University."
Anna guessed it from the back of her brain. That university is a place where all the Mormons went to get some higher education. Elsa impressed her; BYU is a tough school to get into, which meant she must've worked really hard in high school.
"Are you in Texas for the holidays?"
The blonde nodded. "For five weeks."
This time it was Anna's turn to widen her sky blue eyes. From the looks of it, five weeks is longer than her three week high school break. Now she really can't wait for college!
"My turn," Elsa smirked. "Are you in college as well?"
"I will be soon. I'm still a senior in high school." Anna replied casually.
"Have you applied to any schools?"
"Absolutely! I already got accepted to the school of my dreams." The redhead smiled at the memory of when she got her acceptance letter in the mail. She cried with tears of joy, and she couldn't stop squirming with glee. All the hard work she put throughout high school was worth it.
"That's great!" Elsa clapped cheerfully. "What school?"
"The University of Notre Dame."
Once again, Elsa felt like an ADT went through her chest. Notre Dame was one of the best schools in the country!
Anna just amazed her.
Not only was the girl cute and attractive, but her whole being seemed to be full of surprises.
"Elsa, did I shock you again?" Anna giggled. She noticed that whenever she said something about herself, Elsa's eyes would come out from their sockets and her jaw would drop to the ground.
It was quite adorable, to be exact.
The older girl blinked and got herself back to her composure. "You're just so enigmatic."
"I could say the same about you, Elsa."
Elsa couldn't help but smile, and that made Anna reciprocate. The blonde's grin was contagious.
The two were laughing as they exited the shop. It's only been a day, but they spent hours getting to know each other.
"We should definitely hang again, Elsa." Anna sighed in contentment. The day turned out great after all.
"Definitely! Wait, don't you have to work in the library?" She didn't want to keep Anna from her duties.
"Nah, I'm just volunteering for NHS hours." Anna explained. National Honor Society was a headache most of the time with all its character, service, scholarship, and leadership goals.
"I know how you feel, I've been through that back in high school." Elsa let out her tongue in disgust at the memory.
"Have you been to the River Walk to see the lights?"
Every year when the holiday season starts, the city of San Antonio traditionally puts up colorful lights around the River Walk to attract tourists and even the residents to the venue.
"I have, but that was a long time ago."
Anna felt a light bulb going off in her brain. "I've been planning to go for a while. Do you wanna come along?"
Elsa thought about it for a while. She met Anna yesterday, but spending the whole afternoon today with her was enjoyable. The redhead was so comfortable to talk to, and she didn't know why her stomach fluttered at the vision of hanging with Anna again.
She quickly dismissed the feeling, and leered. "Sure, when?"
"It's up to you, really." Anna tried her best to cover her excitement.
"What about the 20th?" Her only free day, since on the next days, her birthday came, and then Christmas. Her family wanted to spend the whole week together, but she figured the plans didn't include the 20th.
"Perfect." Anna winked.
At night time…
Elsa was inside her room the whole time, talking to a particular girl with red hair and freckles on the phone. Their conversations showed a lot of randomness from time to time. First, they talked about details for the 20th. Of course Anna volunteered to pick her up, and she knew she couldn't argue. Second was about school, then it just went from there. From books, to colors, to food, to favorites, to dislikes, and to birthdays. It fascinated them how their birthdays were on twenty-ones, except that Elsa had it on December, while Anna had it on June. It continued on.
"So let me get this straight, you love the cold weather?" Anna's voice echoed the cellphone.
"Mhm, it never bothered me." Anna couldn't see it, but she was grinning.
"It has certainly bothered me." Anna paused. "A lot."
Elsa chuckled. "Oh Anna, you're so cute."
Then it hit her. She certainly said that out loud, but why didn't it feel like a she gave it as a compliment? She knew that deep down, she felt something grow. And she knew darn well she shouldn't feel anything like that.
Especially towards Anna.
Anna, on the other line was quiet. Elsa just called her cute, and she couldn't help but blush. Thank goodness the phone kept her image from showing. "I think you're cute too, Elsa."
Elsa didn't expect any reply from the girl, but happiness flooded her inner being. Is this what Hans meant by being attracted to someone? Is she attracted to a woman? Questions kept coming inside her brain; it was too much to process.
"Hello, are you still there?" The younger girl noticed the sudden silence.
"Sorry, I think I drifted." Elsa said as an excuse.
"You should get some rest, Elsa. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
When they both hung up, they couldn't stop thinking about each other.
"Seriously? Wake up, Anna! Elsa won't like you back, you idiot!" Anna had a habit of speaking out her inner monologue whenever she's alone. She covered her face with a pillow, filled with frustration. She knew she had a crush on the older blonde, but it wasn't going to go anywhere. But Elsa called her cute. There must be something! Anna shook her head. Elsa was just being nice, she should be thankful for the wonderful compliment the blonde gave her. "There's nothing."
Elsa opened her Mac and searched up her church's views on homosexuality, or same gender attraction.
'These thoughts are natural as long as you
don't act upon it.'
"That doesn't make sense at all." The blonde grunted in exasperation. Growing up, her elders had taught her that only a man and a woman can join in matrimony and live in eternal life. There were no others in between, no other choices. But what if being with a woman was her calling? Surely there must be a way.
"Excommunication."
Known as the other choice, if she decided to act upon her feelings.