A.N.: Riley's emotions' favorite Frozen characters are as follows: Joy-Anna, Sadness-Elsa, Anger-Kristoff, Disgust-Hans (don't ask me why), Fear-Olaf
It must have surprised Joy a little bit, then, that Disgust was back to being her usual moody self only a few hours after the initial euphoria had worn off. Maybe it had something to do with Joy celebrating by cranking up the accordion as though she was in Jordan's band too.
"'Riley is worth melting for?'" spat the vegetable emotion. "Come on, show some creativity! There's been at least 5 other girls asked out like that. We've become the very same people that we used to despise!" No kidding! This time last year, seeing a couple holding hands-or heaven forbid, making out-by their lockers was guaranteed to send Disgust on a pilgrimage to the porcelain gods. And don't even get her started on having matching Kristoff and Anna iPhone cases. When Riley had seen a similar picture posted on Instagram, Disgust immediately wrote it off as "basic" and left all the other emotions in shock-but now, a little vindication considering who would be next to post those pictures.
"So, has Riley really picking up on this jargon in addition to all the curse words at Anger's disposal?" asked Joy quizzically.
"As long as I'm here," she scoffed, recalling the memory of Mom's pesky inquiries on going skating with Jordan for the first time, "I'll make sure Mom and Dad never try to use that kind of language in front of us."
"Hey! At least he didn't try the usual 'I know this is cheesy' getup with the discounted broccoli pizza!" beamed Joy. Any student in Riley's school district could get 25% off a pizza with the ingredients arranged in a way that signaled asking someone to a dance.
"Oh, are you talking about Yeast of Eden again?" replied the brick. "Don't remind me. A dude would have to be really desperate to ask someone out like that. But knowing that there are plenty of thirsty betas in this school-"
"And probably at least one more now that we've been claimed," interjected Disgust haughtily with a flip of her hair.
"-so now they've got to resort to that kind of crap just to not go bankrupt. They deserved it."
Joy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, broccoli pizza is a rough business to be in right now. If anything, they really could use a new cashier."
"Let's show Dad the video! Maybe this'll finally get him off Jordan's case for a while," added Fear.
"Hey, speaking of Dad, why don't we ask him to take us to the sing-along edition when it's out?" suggested Joy.
A memory suddenly gets recalled. Predictably, it's one of Elsa recreating Olaf.
All emotions voice their agreement with Joy's proposal and excitedly press corresponding buttons on console, except Anger, who stomps away with a 6-foot flame in his head, slams his bedroom door shut, and barricades it with a chair. He proceeds to phone "room service" to request a fresh supply of aspirins.
"Her sister begged and pleaded for over 13 years to build a snowman," mumbled Sadness before faceplanting on the console, "and she builds one without her. That's sad."
"Hey, Dad," Riley calls to Dad downstairs, "can we go see-"
"Yeah, sure. No problem!" Dad responded almost on autopilot. He did not have to wait for Riley to finish speaking to know what the request was, given that she was by now humming "Let It Go" in the shower, at the dinner table, and to and from school. Every single day. It was really starting to get on his nerves.
"Kill me now..." groaned his Anger.
"Bill?" Mom needed only to take one look to realize what had just happened. She could only shake her head fondly at what the fandom had done to her daughter and prayed that it would only be a phase.
The next day was another great one for Riley. She scored a hat trick that included the overtime winner, and got to watch the Wild shut out the Sharks. But even better was that Jordan showed no apparent disappointment in his team's listless performance.
"For the first time in forever, we beat you guys here! Guess I must be the lucky charm," smirked Riley.
"Oh, don't worry," retorted Jordan. "We won't be this bad at home for long." Jordan's Fear was making a list of reasons why the Sharks should be concerned about their upcoming road trip, but none of his other emotions were paying any attention. They were getting lost in the way Riley's eyes lit up and her grin widened after her teams completed the doubleheader sweep. Most other people considered rooting for a rival sports team to be a deal-breaker, but Jordan and Riley weren't most people. They enjoyed their occasional trash talk, but Jordan thought it wise to let Riley win for one night. She was exhausted, and she had certainly earned it.
The couple walked out of the arena hand in hand while several of their friends, who had thrown their hats onto the ice and gotten them back with Riley's autograph, cooed about how cute they were together. Eventually the Andersen parents tried to get in on the act. Riley turned their way and immediately did a double take.
"So...this is awkward," she whispered to Jordan, who took her hands in his. "Not that you're awkward, it's just that we're...I'm awkward. You're gorgeous. Wait, what?" Riley's parents struggled to hold back their laughter, while one of her emotions immediately pressed a button to signal disapproval and sprinted for the toilet. For all that trouble, she earned a peck on the cheek from Jordan.
Despite the wear and tear her body took, Riley simply could not fall asleep that night, even though all of her emotions save for Joy already had. That is, until a couple of mind workers down in Long-Term Memory decided to mess around again.
"You were right, Paula! Tripledent Gum is so last year!" Bobby had once again found a lyric snippet.
"You bet, Bobby! We'll keep this one forever, and this time, we mean it. I can't wait until Riley has her own daughter, by then she could be hearing this stuff 24/7!"
"Better yet," added Bobby, "I heard they'll make a sequel in four or five years. Even more material to tie HQ up in knots!"
"Oh boy, this is going to be so much fun!" they both guffawed while sending up the memory to HQ yet another time.
My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
"Shut up!" hissed Disgust, rubbing her eyes annoyedly. "We're trying to sleep here!" She started clambering out of her room, wondering why on earth was Joy sitting in front of the console in a trance.
"One more time and I'll send you spiraling into the Memory Dump..." growled Anger, who was also fiddling with the curse word stash.
"Hello, earth to Joy?" Disgust walked in front of the screen and waved her arms. "What are you doing? Dream Productions have been given tonight off. You might as well as..."
Then she noticed that Joy had made a slideshow dedicated especially to Riley and Jordan-from the day they first bumped, to their first skate replete with Mom and Dad's adorkable antics, to drying each other's tears during the climax of Frozen, and finally to the events of the past 24 hours. Many of the scenes were recognizable from the collage Riley received yesterday, which was proudly hung above her desk between two hockey posters.
"You know, Disgust," sighed Joy dreamily, "I could watch this forever."
"Even this one?" The slideshow was paused on a picture taken at the Santa Cruz boardwalk of Riley struggling to bite into a candy apple. Disgust hated that picture, especially after Jordan posted it on Facebook and got 46 likes. Riley got another 16 (one from Meg) for her comment: "F. M. L."
"Not exactly a picture of sophisticated grace, if you ask me."
BEGIN FLASHBACK
Joy: "I don't understand what you mean! Likes are good. Comments are good. That means they think we're cute!"
Disgust: "Seriously? As if it wasn't bad enough that we never look normal in our pictures, it took forever to get the gunk out of our teeth, and worst of all, Mom keeps saying THAT whenever the smallest thing goes wrong." (example when washing dishes after dinner: "Hey Riley, FML, I didn't know we owned, like, 8,000 salad plates.")
END FLASHBACK
"Sure is." Joy pulled Disgust into a bear hug. "San Francisco is a wonderful place to be, don't you think?"
"Joy-"
"We've got glorious weather, delicious food..."
"Joy-"
"...great friends, a killer hockey team..."
If Fear had heard this, he would have added something like, "We're not failing school, there hasn't been an earthquake, and we haven't seen any hippies."
"Joy-"
"...and most of all, the BEST BOYFRIEND IN THE WORLD WHO WILL NEVER SHUT US OUT NO MATTER WHAT!"
At this point, Joy accidentally triggered the memory recall again. It contained the same video footage as in the movie, but dubbed in Riley's and Jordan's voices instead.
I mean, it's crazy!
What?
We finish each other's-
Sandwiches!
That's what I was gonna say!
I've never met someone-
Who thinks so much like me!
"That's it, I'm done," grimaced Disgust as she broke herself free and went back up to her room. "Let's just let Riley go to sleep now. And lay off on the coffee and dopamine candy next time, will ya?"
But Joy just continued to stare at the screen with another deep sigh. She was on cloud nine, and didn't plan on coming down anytime soon.
"I have never been happier in my life...and that's really saying something."
"You know you're in love
when you can't fall asleep
because reality is finally
better than your dreams."
-Dr. Seuss
