Chapter 13:

As hard as Anna tried to speak to Elsa on the way home, it was futile. Elsa didn't say a word; it was just as if she had completely ignored her existence. It did make sense though; Elsa made it clear that nothing would happen between the two. The drive back home was one of the hardest things Anna had ever endured. After realizing that Elsa wouldn't give her a word, Anna was forced to look through the window for most of the ride. She gave Elsa a few glances every once in a while but she could tell that it made Elsa uncomfortable. Her face showed no emotion but Anna knew she was angry. The voices on the radio didn't make it any better.

The short drive was eternal, but they finally made it into the dorm room. Neither of them spoke about it, but they both knew that it would be hard living that way. Anna left as soon as she had entered, only after leaving her belongings on her side of the room. Giving Elsa some time to reconsider things and realize that it wasn't such a big deal might calm things down. For all she cared she could just be friend-zoned and she wouldn't mind one bit, as long as Elsa didn't shut her out.

She met up with Kristoff after convincing him not to bring Ygrette, things were bad as they were and she really needed to let it all out.

"I've been texting you the whole weekend and no word from you-" He said as soon as he spotted her. Anna was sitting at a small table, a tea in hand. "-Anna... You never drink tea, what's wrong?"

Anna didn't want to say anything until he sat, no one else needed to hear her predicament, so she took a sip until he did.

"You're worrying me. Is it Samantha again?"

Samantha.It had been a while since she thought about Samantha, that was progress but unfortunately at an expense.

"No. It's worse this time." She said quietly.

"Are you going to tell me or what?" Kristoff was impatient.

"Elsa. She- Uh. She found out."

Kristoff stared at her, not knowing what to say. "Oh, man." He got closer as he leaned in on the table. "Did she take it bad?"

"Really bad."

"Well, how did she find out?"

Anna looked down at her cup of tea as she said it. "I kissed her."

Kristoff gasped, he couldn't believe it. "Well that definitely is a way to declare your love for someone."

"Correction, declare your like for someone."

"Yeah, yeah. But what did she say? Or how did it happened? How did you decide it was time to confess?"

"I didn't, my feelings did." She took another sip and continued. "We were both spending the weekend at her dad's country house. It was all great, you know? We were having fun and we shared this connection we never had before. She was very different from the Elsa you know."

"Well, something bad must have happened." He added.

"I wouldn't say bad, but interesting to say the least. That Friday we left, Carlos called me asking me to stay away from her for some weird reason. I find it shady to be honest."

"Do- do you think Ygrette has something to do with it?"

"I didn't say that, Kristoff. But honestly, you never know. Anyway that's not where I'm getting at. I turned off my phone so he wouldn't contact me, which explains why I couldn't respond to you either. On Saturday, she got upset over some family pictures she showed me, I think there's something she's hiding. Clearly, she doesn't want everyone to know and it hurts her."

"So, maybe that's the reason she acted the way she did?"

"Maybe. But, it gets even more interesting."

"How so?"

"Well... One of the reasons we spent the weekend there was because she needed to get away from her ex... He showed up later that day, and they were both arguing. I had no idea what was going on so I approached them. Long story short, he wanted her to get back with him but Elsa refused. Except he wouldn't listen, he kept insisting and insisting so she kissed me-"

"She what?!"

Anna remained quiet, only now barely thinking of what actually happened. Elsa had kissed her first, not the other way around. Unfortunately she did it for the wrong reasons.

"She wanted to make Ian go away so she kissed me and made up some story."

"That's not fair! She has no right to be mad!"

"Well she wanted to get her point across with Ian-"

"Still, I mean you didn't go off on her when she kissed you, right? So why did she react that way?"

"I don't know, Kristoff. It's still all very confusing. I haven't even had time to rethink everything that happened and it's getting late. I probably should head back to my hell of a place."

"Well, I'd offer you to sleep over by my roommate would probably mind."

"No, it's fine. I have to deal with her sooner or later anyway, right?"

Kristoff remained silent. "Anna-" He paused, waiting for her to look at him. "When was the last time someone told you you can't do something?" And with that he stood up and left, not giving Anna a chance to respond, mainly because that only made her think.

And she was right, she thought as she walked back to her dorm. But could she force someone to like her? No. That was the bigger issue. She recalled the events from earlier that day, she felt her heart sank every time she tried to revisit the topic, but she had to. She had to understand somehow; she had to understand what she did, why she did it and most importantly, she had to understand Elsa's reaction. She stood by the door for a few minutes; her heart was split in half. She wanted to go in and see Elsa but at the same time she wanted to avoid her. The minutes passed by, could she avoid Elsa at all? She leaned against the door, sighing.

If only things could go back to normal. I don't care if she doesn't feel that way about me but at least I get to have her in my life.

It was easier said than done, like most things. She wished she could go back to Friday, or before any of this happened. Even before she liked her. But did she really want that?

No. She liked what she felt for Elsa, she liked the feeling it gave her, even if it hurt her. Her life was different because of her, her life was better.

"I'm not a stalker!" She said as someone walked by and stared at her suspiciously. Her side was leaning on the door now, her ear against the wall.

Ugh. What do I do?

She closed her eyes as if by some miracle the answer would come to her and she could solve the problem immediately. But it didn't. Instead she lost her balance as the door was opened, luckily she retained herself from falling into the floor. "Do you plan on sleeping outside?" It was Elsa. Clearly it was a rhetorical question but the way she said it made Anna feel inferior. Maybe that's the way she meant it.

The blonde turned her back and walked away, leaving the door ajar and then forgetting about Anna, or she made it seem that way. "How- how'd you know I was there?" She said it almost as a whisper and entered the room quietly.

Well this is new. Am I... Am I afraid of her?

She was indeed afraid. Not of Elsa, per se, but rather another rejection. Most of all, she was afraid of Elsa shutting her out permanently.

"So-Sorry. That's a stupid question." She walked towards her bed as she looked around nervously. She desperately wanted to know what Elsa was doing, but what if she was staring back? What if she caught Anna staring at her? She finally sat on the edge of her bed.

Make things normal. Make a conversation! Maybe she'll forget about what happened...

"So are you ready for tomorrow?" Anna chuckled nervously at the end of her question.

A few seconds passed before there was an answer. "Yes." It was a simple yes. A 'yes' to end all conversation. To anyone else it would seem like a cue to stop, but to Anna it seemed like hate, like a shard of ice aimed towards her heart. It meant Elsa didn't want to know anything more about her, she would want the smallest interaction possible. Ironic how a small word with a positive meaning could have a negative connotation. But maybe it was just all in Anna's head. Regardless, she had to change the way Elsa saw her, again. So she had to keep insisting, even if she could feel terrible after it.

"Well, I'm glad. It seems like it will be a long week. We have exams in a few days, so you know what that means? More cramming. Although for you, I doubt that's the case. You could probably take all the tests tomorrow and ace them. I, on the other hand, need a few weeks in advance. I don't understand how people do it. I don't think I'd be able to pull an all-nighter just for exams, you know? Much less memorize so much information in such a short amount of time." She was running out of breath.

Stop rambling, Anna!

"Sorry. You probably want to go to sleep now and I'm annoying you."

She finally mustered enough courage to look Elsa's way. She was already in bed, covered in her blankets, the screen of her phone reflecting on her face.

So much for talking. She's not even paying attention.

Elsa turned around and faced her wall as she felt Anna stare at her. "Night, Anna."

Welp, that was cold.

Elsa had only said two things to her ever since they got back. Anna realized she would really need to work hard to convince her that giving her the cold shoulder would be a bad idea. But she couldn't right now. She could feel her eyelids getting heavy. Maybe for the first time in a while she would finally get more than a few hours of sleep. Her body demanded it, even if all she wanted to do was think of a plan to gain Elsa's friendship back. She didn't even bother changing into something more comfortable, she turned off her lamp and headed to sleep.

"Elsa... I'm sorry." The whisper that escaped her mouth was inaudible. Silenced by Elsa's light breathing.

Anna sat up as soon as Anna regained consciousness that morning.

Crap, crap, crap. It's probably passed nine. I'm so late.

She looked around her bed for her phone. Wow, did I really tossed that much? Oh there it is.

What?! 6AM?

She gave the other side of the room a quick glance, Elsa was already gone. Of course.She put her running shoes on unconsciously.

Damn you Elsa and your habits! And your perfect looks, and your perfect thoughts and your perfect everything!

The list could go on and on.

As much as she wanted to hate her, she couldn't. It was clearly evident by the smile on her face.

What if she minds if I also go for a run?

Who cares? She's the one who got me into this in the first place!

The mornings were beginning to turn chilly. Anna regretted wearing short sleeves as she began warming up.

What if I run into her? It's bound to happen, there's no way she's running away from me!

She smirked. Anxious with anticipation and unable to remove that thought from her head, she began running slowly around the park Elsa and herself had attended every morning. Only it seemed much bigger this time, and much more lonely. Was it usually this cloudy and dark? And gloomy?

She had so much inside of her, she needed to let it out. She had tried, but she couldn't. Maybe she just didn't know how to. She couldn't find the right way to express herself. Her inability turned into anger and it began to heat up as she ran. The longer the strides, the stronger her hatred towards herself. Everything was going so well until she ruined it. Why didn't she just control herself? Why did she think giving Elsa a massage would be a good idea? Why did she even dare touch her? Didn't she think about the consequences? She ran, maybe because she needed it or because she couldn't stop, or maybe she just needed to release everything.

The paths she had come to hate as she ran unwillingly alongside Elsa in the past, turned into escapes right before her eyes. She could lose herself in them, let it all go. Her thoughts stopped flowing as she spotted Elsa running towards her a few meters away.

It was hard to tell whether she was aware of Anna's presence seeing as she gave no reaction. Anna slowed down until she eventually stopped. There she was. That's what she wanted, but now she wasn't so sure.

What do I do?

Keep running dumb ass! She's going to know if you just stand there!

The view got clearer, and so she began running again. If Elsa couldn't see her before, she was sure she could see her now. They both ran towards each other, although Anna hoped they would do it for other reasons and under different circumstances.

Anna wanted nothing more than to stop and have Elsa stop with her, she wanted to be acknowledged. Elsa's figure became closer and closer. Graceful as ever and with so much finesse, even when she wasn't trying to.

The distanced shortened and while Elsa kept running, Anna panicked. A few feet separated the two. Anna tried hard not to look at her eyes, but she had to. Who cares if she would notice?

She could see Elsa's deep, blue eyes. She could see the sweat that ran down her forehead; she probably had been running since very early in the morning. The way her bangs fell around her face, moving every which way as she took each step, made Anna completely lose herself. She saw what she wanted to see, it was worth it, she didn't regret it. Not even after she felt the concrete on her cheek and felt her hands being scraped.

Shit! Way to go, Anna. When did you forget how to run?!

Tripping was something that was no longer unexpected from Anna. What was definitely unexpected was Elsa's willing to help her up. Anna didn't even see her approach, she thought the blonde girl kept running after she hit the ground, but instead she grabbed both her arms and pulled her up. Anna looked down, afraid of what would happen if she looked up. But she did, even though it was useless. Elsa got back on track and continued running. She could say thanks, but Elsa wouldn't hear her.

Hmm. I don't recall hearing her music that loud, especially from her earphones. She must really want to avoid me.

She tried to put Elsa's indifference past her. But the more she thought about it, the more she wondered how long Elsa would keep it going for. It had been much less than twenty-four hours and she could already not handle it. She had to do something.

She turned back and now ran towards Elsa's direction. She wasn't sure if she would be able to catch up to her, but she was determined and she needed to talk to her. Enough was enough, she needed to at least release all her anger. She needed Elsa to say something to her, whatever it was, it didn't matter.

She reached her before could think of a plan, in the end it didn't matter as she was never for plans. The first thing that came to her mind was to get Elsa's attention, so she grabbed her upper arm and jerked her back. Elsa looked at her, offended almost, surprised. She pulled her earphones with her free hand, shaking her hand so Anna would let her go. Anna knew better than that, this was the only way Elsa would talk.

"Anna, let me go."

Anna shook her head. "We need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"We both know that's not true."

"Even if it is, I'm not talking to you."

"Do you really want to make a spectacle out here?"

Elsa looked around. Anna was too stubborn and knew her too well. That was the downside of letting people close to you; they got to know your weaknesses.

"Fine," she blinked slowly, not caring. "Meet me back at the dorm in thirty. You'll get what you want but I hope you don't regret it." She pulled her arm from Anna's grasped who just stood there and waited for thirty minutes to pass by.

AN: Not the most exciting chapter, next one will be better though!

Alright, there's a few things let's see.

-Oh! I wanted to know how many of you guys follow me on tumblr? I want to keep you updated if anything comes up but I don't know if you would want that or not.

-We're going to be seeing more of Ygrette and Carlos in the coming chapters, maybe even Samantha so expect that.

-Updating should go smoother as I have officially finished the spring semester! Yay!

-Thanks for all the follows, reviews and favorites! Thank you so much for deciding to stick with this story, it seriously gets me excited every time. Thank you guys!