"Something will turn up," Elsa hummed optimistically as she carefully placed down Anna's mug of coffee in front of her.
Anna simply sighed, watching the wisps of steam from the hot drink rise up and then scatter at the touch of her breath. A soft tune played over the speakers in the cosy little coffee shop where she had come to visit her sister. Elsa put the tray away behind the counter and sat herself down across the table. Thursday mornings were always the easiest shift, and they had been pretty boring until Anna had started visiting her.
It pained her to see her sister looking so helpless. Elsa remembered when they were children growing up in the house that was far too big for her family of four. Anna had always been the little rascal of the two of them, pulling mischievous little acts when no one was looking, when she knew she would get away with it. All those years crying out for attention had surmounted to near enough nothing, causing Anna to move out of home completely to study on the other side of the country. Elsa herself had been tutored at home until she could bear it no longer, moving to the same city as Anna to be there for her when no one else was.
Anna had had a rather tough time at university. Being brought up with only a sister for a friend meant it was hard to make new ones when the situation called for it - and living in student halls was definitely a situation that called for it. As far as Anna had spoken about it, it had been close to a living hell.
But Anna rarely spoke about it.
"Maybe I could nag a little, see if they can't open up a vacancy for you here," Elsa suggested after several moments of Anna staring into her coffee.
"Is it my face?" Anna said, suddenly looking up at Elsa and staring firmly at her.
"What?" Elsa stumbled, taken aback at her sister's outburst.
"Do people just look at my face and think whoa, no, just wait a minute!"
"Anna," Elsa scolded.
"Or maybe it's just my voice," her sister continued to ramble, putting on an exaggerated nasal tone as she ranted, "maybe they just hear my voice and it's just soooo annoying, that -"
"Anna, stop it."
"- that they just can't wait to see the back of me. I bet they crumple up the paper as soon as I turn my back, and they -"
"Something bothering you?" a male voice chimed in.
Both sisters, startled, looked over to see a rugged smirking blonde at the next table. Elsa immediately stood up, rushing over to the counter to get her tray and notepad. For some reason, Anna also shot up from her seat, knocking the table with her legs, sending her coffee mug toppling over and its contents spilling out and onto the floor.
"Whoa!" the guy chuckled, picking his feet up off the floor to avoid the river of mocha that had started to trickle down beneath his work boots. "Steady there."
"Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry!" Anna cried a little too loudly. "You made me jump and I have no idea why I just did that and…" She patted down her jeans, noticing that her converse were soaked. "I'm really, really -"
"Sorry, yeah," the blonde laughed.
Elsa tutted, rolling her eyes and rushing back to get a cloth.
"It's alright, I'm dry," he continued. "Your toes, on the other hand…"
"Oh! Oh, don't worry about it, honestly. It's fine," Anna replied, drawing out her words to sound as casual as possible. Though she tried to play it off smoothly, she held back a grimace as she wriggled her toes in her soggy socks. "It's fine."
"Can't take you anywhere," Elsa murmured, amused. She finished mopping up table, wiping the cloth gracefully over the surface. Anna almost found herself jealous at how her sister could placate any awkward situation with a flick of her dainty wrist.
"I'll have two of whatever she was drinking," he called over to Elsa, who was washing the cloth under the sink next to the coffee maker.
"What? You don't have to do that, honestly," Anna turned to him, waving her hand around.
"But you hadn't even started drinking it," he shrugged casually.
"Yeah, you know what? Maybe I don't even want coffee anymore. Maybe I should just stay away from spillable substances and tables and coffee shops and -"
"I'm Kris."
Anna stopped in her tracks and stared, finally taking in the man's grey cotton t-shirt and jeans, his square jaw and broad shoulders. He had deep brown eyes and his hair was lazily ruffled.
"As in Kristoff, not Christopher," he added, a slow smile spreading across his lips.
"Christopher," Anna mumbled. "Kris, Kristoff. Yeah, Kris." Then she caught him staring right back at her and she snapped back to the present. "I'm Anna."
Elsa came over and put her tray down in the middle of the table. Kris shuffled his chair over to sit beside Anna. He picked up both of the mugs like they weren't ceramic pots holding boiling liquid, waiting for Elsa to remove the tray beneath them. Then he set one mug down in front of him and the other in the middle of the table, a playfully mocking distance away from Anna.
"Try not to spill this one then, Anna," he said.
That evening, Anna lay back on her mattress staring at the ceiling. She huddled up inside the duvet, bringing it right up to her nose, as she considered where she could hand her CV in to next. It felt like she had been to practically every business in the city.
Then she remembered walking into Westergard Publishing House earlier in the week and seeing that man in the suit actually take her CV with him before disappearing up the stairs. A spark of excitement piped up in her chest. And - hold on a second. That brunette had called him Mr. Westergard. He was… wait…
Her phone was ringing. She reached her hand up onto the sofa and groped around on the cushions for it, bringing it lazily to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is this Miss Anna Arendelle?"
"Yes, that's me," she replied, putting on her most chipper voice.
"Hello, Anna, it's Hans Westergard."
At this, Anna excitedly bolted up out of the duvet, desperately trying to hold back a squeal. Then she checked herself, making sure not to get her hopes up too much. Maybe he was calling to let her know not to expect another call from him.
"I'm just calling about your CV."
She peeled her bottom lip away from her top teeth, twirling a strand of hair with her forefinger on her free hand. "Mhm?"
"There are a few things that I would like to discuss further. Shall we settle a date?"
Anna silently punched the air.
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes," she paced quickly across the linoleum floor of the kitchen. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Elsa peek her head out from her bedroom door, one eyebrow raised in a question. Anna gave her sister a grin before going back to pacing.
"I mean, yes, I'd love to. Sure, okay. Yes." If she had worried about coming across as professional, there was reining it back in now.
She heard a breathy chuckle on the other side of the line - and felt something strange pull in her chest.
"Alright," came the strictly-business voice. Or was there something else behind that tone?
"Tomorrow, one p.m., my office."
"Yes, okay. Sounds good." Anna bit her tongue before she repeated herself any more in her excitement. "I'll be there," she added after a second.
There was a click and the line fell silent. Anna tentatively pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen. Had he just hung up on her? What? She shook her head of the thoughts, putting it down to business. It was just business. She almost rolled her eyes at herself.
"Well?" Elsa's voice came from behind her.
Anna spun round on her heels and launched herself at her sister.
"Tomorrow! The job - publishing - one p.m.!"
"An interview?" Elsa laughed at her sister's garbled words.
"Yes! Yeah. Something like that, I think."