Elsa and Anna's long-awaited meeting! Ba ba bum!

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Chapter III

Almost a week passed with no activity. Elsa's brush with the Royals was all but a memory and Kristoff had finally backed off about being so protective. She had worked two night shifts since that night, and both went by without a hitch. Granted, she didn't attempt to walk to the convenience store either time, but there was nothing in the papers the following days about another robbery either.

That's why Elsa was so surprised when she was sure she caught a glimpse of fiery red hair across the street at work one day. Pausing in cleaning a table, Elsa turned all her attention out the window and to the activity going on across the street.

Three individuals were leaning against the wall of a building. Two were smoking cigarettes and casually chatting amongst themselves while the third was holding an unlit cigarette in one hand and a lighter in the other, looking back and forth between them. Elsa squinted to try and determine if she had really seen that flash of red or if it had merely been her imagination. Sure enough, the third individual lifted its head and Elsa could clearly see the head of copper hair hanging out from underneath the hood of her sweatshirt.

She was back.

Elsa gulped and continued to stare as the girl finally stuffed the still unlit cigarette in her pocket and handed the lighter back to one of the boys. One boy said something to her that made the girl grimace and the other boy laugh. The girl then rolled her eyes and looked away from her companions.

A lump rose in Elsa's throat when she realized the girl was now looking across the street.

Directly at her.

Frozen to the spot, Elsa could only continue to stare. The girl squinted as she took in Elsa's form in the window, but then a look of familiarity crossed her face as her eyes lit up. Elsa saw a miniscule smile grace the girl's features as she waved—after making sure her companions weren't looking.

Elsa raised her eyebrows at the movement. The girl was waving to her? The girl that had a gun to her face only nights ago was waving at her as if they were friendly acquaintances? Too shocked to do anything else, Elsa simply waved back.

Suddenly realizing her friends were leaving her behind, the girl quickly looked away and began walking down the street after her friends.

But not after shooting a glance back in Elsa's direction.

XxXxX

Their next interaction happened a few days later. Elsa had parked her car in the lot next to the Starbucks like she always did and turned the corner to walk inside. There, pacing back and forth before the door, was the girl again. Elsa halted in her steps and just watched her. That black beanie was back on her head, pigtails swinging every which way with her movement. She wasn't dressed as inconspicuously as last time however, as she was donning a green button up shirt, skinny jeans and a pair of green Converse to match.

Finally, the redhead stopped her pacing as she saw Elsa standing there. Immediately, a look of terror flashed across her face and she looked like she was ready to bolt.

"Hi," Elsa said, before she even realized she had done so.

The girl averted her eyes as she shuffled her feet. After several seconds she huffed loudly and looked back up at Elsa.

"Hi," she replied. Suddenly, her nerves seemed to have left her as she launched into speech. "Okay, so I'm just gonna say all this right away. I'm not trying to follow you or anything, I swear. The other day was just an accident and the first time we ran into each other—literally," she chuckled briefly, "well, you know… But anyway, today I guess you could say wasn't an accident; I was actually waiting for you to show up. No, I'm not going to kill you; I just wanted to introduce myself and apologize for the first time. But now I'll shut up 'cause I'm sure you're confused and maybe slightly afraid, but I don't want you to be because you seem really nice and…" Glancing at Elsa again, she meekly smiled before letting out a shy, "Hi?"

Blinking and trying to retain everything this girl just threw at her, Elsa remained silent. She saw the girl bite her lip, no doubt anxiously waiting for her to say something.

Shaking her head slightly, all Elsa found herself saying was, "You don't seem like the gang type."

She knew that was rude, but it was the only thing her shocked body to could seem to get out at the present.

The girl blushed and looked at her feet again. "I know, right? It's a long story; one I'm sure you don't want me to get into right now since we don't really know each other and I've talked so much already," she said all in one breath.

Waiting a beat, she took a step closer to Elsa and held out her hand. "I'm Anna."

"Elsa," she replied, numbly taking the girl's hand.

"Sorry about the other night," Anna then said, looking away once more. "We were supposed to just shoplift some stuff but then one of the guys had the bright idea of trying to rob the place and…well, you know the rest."

"I knew you wouldn't pull the trigger," Elsa told her, managing a light smile. "You looked like you were terrified."

"I was!" Anna said back with a nervous chuckle. "I...I'm in over my head, I think."

Elsa desperately wanted to ask why she was even in a gang in the first place, but she remembered she had been on her way to work and was no doubt late now.

"Um, I have to get inside to work," Elsa said, in an attempt to excuse herself.

"Oh, right! I'm sorry; I made you late, didn't I?"

Elsa couldn't help but chuckle. "Not yet, but I will be soon."

Anna stepped aside and just smiled as Elsa walked past. Her hand was on the door handle when she looked over her shoulder at Anna.

"See you around...most likely," she quipped.

Anna laughed, rubbing her head so her beanie shifted on her head adorably. "Yeah. Apparently we seem to have a knack for running into each other."

With a smile, Elsa entered the store, leaving Anna standing on the street looking after her.

XxXxX

Kristoff doubled over in laughter. "This girl is hilarious!" he exclaimed the following day as he and Elsa talked at the park. "Are you sure she's really the same one from the other night?"

"Definitely," Elsa replied. "She apologized for it and everything."

"Did she tell you what she was doing in the Royals?"

Elsa shook her head. "She looked like she wanted to tell me, but then didn't want to at the same time."

Kristoff shrugged. "Well, I'm sure this isn't the last time you'll see her," he said nonchalantly. "With the way this girl seems to talk, I'm sure it will come out eventually."

The pair of friends fell into a comfortable silence as they watched Kristoff's German shepherd, Sven, run around the dog park. After finally meeting Anna the day prior, Elsa had gone into work like nothing had happened. When she came out from the back of the store after clocking in, she noticed—slightly disheartened, she found herself admitting now—that Anna wasn't standing outside anymore.

I mean, why would she? Elsa had berated herself. What did I expect her to do; tell me her life story while I went about my work?

Elsa was hoping that after meeting Anna, her interest—borderline obsession, she added as an afterthought—would dissipate, having finally put a name to the face. However, it only seemed to make it worse. Now they weren't merely strangers, they were acquaintances. They knew each other on a considerably deeper level now.

When Kristoff surprisingly didn't bring it up, Elsa began to think along his lines. She knew a gang member. Did that mean anything? Was that supposed to impact Anna or herself? Elsa hoped it wouldn't make any difference; after all, it wasn't like knowing Anna automatically meant Elsa was part of the Royals. There was still a clear line needing to be crossed for her to get that far.

But was the mere association enough?

"You're thinking," Kristoff piped up, having noticed the lines on Elsa's face contort.

"I do that occasionally," Elsa quipped. "You could stand to do a bit more of it yourself, honestly."

Kristoff huffed. "Har har, you clever little girl."

Before Kristoff could ask more, Sven ran up to them, dropping a tennis ball at their feet and barking. Elsa smiled before picking the ball up and chucking it away from them, Sven taking off after it with a frantic wag of his tail.

XxXxX

Anna let a few days pass before she gathered the courage to venture back to the block with the Starbucks on it again. On her way there she had considered the fact that what she was doing could be labeled as stalking, but dismissed it as, "hey, I'm in a gang and I'm awkward like that." She looked back over her shoulder briefly to make sure none of the guys had followed her before peering around the corner. Across the street was the Starbucks, shades on the windows drawn up to let the sun in and give Anna a look into the shop.

Sure enough, to her excitement, that blonde was behind the counter, chatting away with an employee. Anna smiled.

Like Elsa, ever since her run-in with the blonde, she had constantly been on her mind. Why, Anna still wasn't completely sure of. At first she had discarded it as the fact that someone saw her the night of the robbery and was sure to turn her in. After several days and nights went by and no cops came after her, Anna let relief wash over her, figuring that the girl had not turned her in.

That was one question Anna still wanted to ask her.

Elsa, she reminded herself. Elsa was her name.

Watching as Elsa left the front of the store and disappeared to the back, Anna turned back around the corner, leaning her back against the cool brick behind her. Why was this girl so enchanting to her? Anna admitted she did have this air about her that had immediately drawn Anna in, but aside from that, Anna couldn't get any more particular. She wanted to get to know this girl immensely. Hopefully in doing so, Anna could find out why she seemed so preoccupied with her.

Looking back around the corner, Anna saw Elsa had emerged again. She rifled around in her pockets, hoping to find some spare change that would allow her an excuse to go talk to the girl. With a huff, Anna found her pockets empty of money of any sort. She hadn't gotten much of the money they had rounded up the night of the robbery. She was still relatively new to the gang, so she was still receiving the brunt of everything—if anything. Anna then sighed as her affiliation with said gang could put a damper on getting to know Elsa.

Elsa had known immediately that Anna had been playing a role in the night's robbery. Even if she hadn't had a gun to her face, she knew Elsa was keen enough to have picked up on the fact regardless. Anna inwardly grimaced as she recalled her first words to her. You don't look like the gang type. Anna knew she wasn't meaning to be rude, and honestly, Anna couldn't blame her for saying what she did. She knew it was true; she didn't look like she belonged in a gang. She didn't have any piercings or any tattoos—well… Anna thought, as she unconsciously scratched her wrist—nor did she have a rough-and-tough look to her. When she had first gone to the Royals saying she wanted to become a member, she remembered with heightened clarity the round of laughter that had followed.

The Royals had never had any girl members before—or at least not for a long time. Anna supposed the fact she was allowed to finally join was simply because everyone had been so surprised she had asked in the first place. Anna knew there were girls in some of the city's lesser gangs, but the Royals? No, they were too dangerous, too intimidating for any girl.

Except her, Anna now thought with some bitterness. Sometimes she fought with herself on why she had joined. What had she gotten herself into? As much as she wanted to believe she had done the right thing, another part of her always coaxed her into feeling like she really had no idea what she was doing. She had gone to the Royals in hopes of finding some place to belong. She knew gangs could be a kind of surrogate family, or a tight-knit group of friends at least, but was this the kind of family she had really been searching for all her life?

"Yo, carrot-top!"

Anna instantly stiffened at the voice behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a brown-haired boy standing above her, smirk present on his face.

"Daniel," she acknowledged him.

"What are you doing all the way out here on your own?"

"Just…going on a walk," Anna replied, hoping he wouldn't question her further. "Stopped to collect my thoughts."

"You not thinking about robbing that convenience store again are you? 'Cause we all know how well that went last time," he said with a chuckle.

"That was not my fault!" she exclaimed.

"If you hadn't been shaking like a leaf the entire time, that shop owner probably wouldn't have thought he could scare us off with that shotgun of his."

"I was not shaking like a leaf!"

Daniel just grinned and ruffled her hair. "Keep tellin' yourself that, carrots."

He turned and walked away without another word, lighting a cigarette as he did so. Watching him go, Anna glared holes into his back before taking out the cigarette he had tried to get her to smoke a few days ago and throwing it to the ground in anger and barely suppressed embarrassment.