Chapter 4 - Hockey, Ice Cream, and Blushing Faces
Kristina slid across the ice and into the barrier surrounding the hockey rink, bumping into it with her shoulder. She immediately pushed back off and skated over to the rest of her team, who were fighting to regain control of the puck. The score was tied, and there were only ten seconds left in the game.
She smiled. She loved moments like this: in the heat of the game, where at any moment you could take a fist, stick, or puck squarely in the jaw. It excited her, and made her heart pound and her adrenaline flow like a mighty river.
Suddenly, an errant hit knocked the puck out of the throng of players, and Kristina made a beeline for it, quickly gaining control of it with her stick. Finally, with only three seconds to go, she had a perfect shot lined up; only the goalie, a hulking mass of foam rubber body pads and a plastic mask, stood between her team and victory.
Time seemed to slow almost to a crawl. Kristina saw a gap between the large pads on the goalie's legs: if she could hit the puck through that gap, she'd be home free. She could hear the sound of skates coming up behind her, signalling the approach of the goalie's teammates.
Two seconds remained on the clock.
Kristina reared back with her stick and hit the puck with all of her might.
One second remained.
The puck slid between the goalie's legs and into the net, just before the goalie could drop down to block the shot. And as the puck hit the plastic rods which comprised the back of the net, a loud buzzer sounded. Time was up; the game was over.
And Kristina had just scored the winning goal for her team.
There was the sound of an air horn blaring loudly, as Kristina's teammates all gathered around her, hugging and cheering her on as the small crowd in the seats around them congratulated Kristina on her victory.
Kristina merely smirked. Winning was always so easy for her, being one of the keenest athletes of her team. She smiled and was cheered on by the rest of her friends on the hockey team.
As the team started to pack their equipment up and the crowd started to leave the stands, Kristina then noticed a familiar strawberry blonde in the crowd waving to her from afar.
She looked to her partner, a strong bulky woman named Mulan. "Hey, Mu, I've got to go and see a friend. Mind if I cut out early?"
Mulan nodded. "Anything for a champion like you, hon."
Climbing off the walls of the ice rink and quickly pulling off her skates, Kristina then made her way up to Anna beaming brightly. She was happy that Anna had been finally able to make one of her games. She grinned at her. "Hey, Feisty pants!"
Anna then threw her arms around her friend, with a big smile on her face. "That was amazing, big sis!" She remarked.
Her friend smiled. "All in a day's work for me," the burly blonde remarked. "I'm just glad you got to see me kick butt out there."
Anna had done more than watch Kristina in action. She'd been on the edge of her seat for pretty much the entire match. For most of her friendship with Kristina, Anna hadn't really paid much attention to the blonde's hockey career, but this match had changed that for her.
Never before had she been so on the edge of her seat, had her heart beating so quickly and so intensely. She had been literally biting her nails through the whole game.
But now it was all over and Anna was just glad to see that her best friend had scored the victory for her team. She hugged her tightly, kissing her on the cheek.
Blushing a little, Kristina smiled at Anna. "So... you wanna crash this place and go grab something to eat? After all that work, I'm starving."
"Sure!" Anna chirped. "It feels like it's been ages since we went out together."
Soon, the two of them sat together at Juicy Lucy's, a local burger joint famous for the cheese-stuffed burgers which shared the restaurant's name. While Kristina had opted for a chicken wrap, Anna was chowing down on a bacon cheeseburger with barbecue sauce and onion rings.
"God, this place makes the best burgers," Anna said through a mouthful of chewed food.
"You can say that, again," Kristina agreed, chewing on some fries. "So… how have you been Anna?"
By now, Anna had been staying in her new house for just over a week, and Kristina hadn't heard much from her. Perhaps she had found herself a job? She didn't know, but she did want to see how Anna was.
Anna looked a little awkward. Part of her wanted to tell Kristina about Elsa, the mysterious queen from the past who was sort of her neighbour now, but she knew better than to blab about it.
No, Elsa would be her little secret for now, until she got to know her a little bit better, that is.
"Oh, I've been getting on okay," Anna excused, sipping up some of her smoothie.
"How are you liking the new house?"
Anna sipped more of her drink before clearing her throat. "it's uhhh... very old and stuff. I like it quite a bit."
"So... no creepy ghost ladies then?" Kristina assumed, referring to Anna's previous experience.
"No, nothing like that," Anna denied.
Kristina chuckled. "You sure about that? Because a version of you from about a week ago would beg to differ."
The blonde had a point. Anna should have probably gone crazy from all the weirdness she had found in her new house, and yet, she was perfectly fine. Elsa, the time portal, everything. She knew Kristina was suspecting something, so she needed to play it down a little.
Looking into Kristina's eyes, she smiled. "I'm sure." She then went back to eating one of her nuggets. "So... when are you next going to be having a game?"
"Quite soon," Kristina remarked. "You see... I've just been signed onto a major hockey team. As in, I'm on the NHL now."
"Woah, you're up in the big leagues now!" Anna cheered. "I'm... really happy for you big sis."
"I know, right? This is huge! I could be on national TV! Or… something like that."
Anna laughed. "I hope fame doesn't go to your head too much."
"Hey, I'm not like that," Kristina protested. "I know how to stay humble."
Just then, a waitress arrived, bringing them a large chocolate sundae. It was very tall, covered in chocolate sauce and had a cherry on top.
Anna then licked her lips, preparing her spoon for her devouring of the ice cream before her. She always did love ice cream, especially ice cream with chocolate.
Kristina merely laughed in response. "I'd ask you not to eat it too fast, but then I know you don't have a habit of listening to me."
The strawberry blonde, of course, didn't listen. By the time Kristina had finished her sentence, she was halfway through the frozen treat, slurping and swallowing big creamy chunks into her mouth. Even if she would get a brain freeze when she got home, it would be totally worth it.
xXx
That evening, Anna stumbled into her house, one hand on her temple. She was vastly regretting having eaten that sundae as quickly as she did; she had the absolute worst ice cream headache.
Goddamn sugar rush, Her thoughts complained as she moved to the kitchen, getting herself a glass of water. She then gulped it down, letting the cool water cleanse her head of the pain it was now suffering.
Once the rush was out of her mind, however, Anna then perked up, her ears picking up a sound from the upstairs of her house. It seemed to be the rushing of water, rapid, flowing water.
Anna sighed. Clearly, one of the old pipes in the house was leaking and needed patching up. Just when her evening couldn't possibly get any worse.
She didn't know the first thing about plumbing, but the first thing Anna did was find herself some duct tape to hopefully plug the leaky pipe with. Would it do any good? She didn't care, just as long as the house, itself didn't fall apart overnight.
The redhead then made her way to the stairs, slumping up them very slowly to the upper floor of the house, roll of tape in hand, ready to patch up the leak.
When she made it to the upper floor, however, she found that she could more clearly make out the leaking sound. It wasn't a leaky pipe at all. Somehow, her shower had been turned on.
Not wanting to run out of any hot water, Anna made her way to the bathroom, realizing that the solution to the situation was easier than she thought it would be.
As she got closer to the bathroom, however, she heard a sound intermingled with the running water: someone humming a tune to themselves. Anna stopped, her brow furrowing in suspicion. "Wait a minute," she muttered. "I know that voice."
She quietly opened the bathroom door and stepped in, then immediately froze in her tracks. Elsa was indeed standing in the shower, washing herself with a bar of soap. But that wasn't what surprised Anna.
What surprised her was that the shower curtain hadn't been pulled shut. The queen was standing before her, completely naked.
Her face blushed bright red. "What's she doing here?" She whispered.
Suddenly, Elsa turned her face around, having noticed Anna there. Her eyes widened and she quickly covered up her naked body with the shower curtain, blushing in embarrassment.
But the thought of Elsa in the nude hadn't left Anna's mind. Her perfect curves, her sweetly sized breasts. They were in her mind now and Anna was utterly captivated.
Elsa hid her face from Anna, her cheeks bright red. "Anna... what are you doing here?"
"I uhhhh..." Anna could feel the muscles in her nose letting up. If she thought about Elsa any longer, she would likely have a nosebleed. She immediately turned away, her hands curling into fists at her sides, her fingernails digging into her palms in a vain effort to distract herself from thoughts of the queen.
"I got home and I heard the water running," she explained quickly. "I thought maybe I had a leak or something."
The Queen continued hiding her face. "Y-You could have knocked."
Anna then looked at Elsa, very confused. "Wait, what are you doing in my shower anyway?!"
"Well, the door into your home was once the door into my private showers," Elsa explained. "And since I'm no longer able to use them, I decided to make use of yours."
"And how long have you been using my shower?!"
Elsa felt a little embarrassed. "Three days now."
The first thing Anna felt was the shock. Then disappointment. Then shock for feeling disappointment. Did she wish should have caught Elsa even… sooner? No. Anna shook her head in disbelief. She really needed to tone down this attraction to Elsa before the blonde picked it up and stopped interacting with Anna entirely.
"Okay. Follow-up question. How have you been using my shower for three days without me noticing?"
Sighing, Elsa then nodded. "Quite often... but I thought you wouldn't notice. You were always either out or in bed by the time I wake up. But, I don't have any of my royal duties today, so I decided to sleep in a little."
"Oh… well, you could have just asked, you know?"
"Yes, but…" Elsa trailed off and her cheeks turned pinker. "Yes, I suppose you're right. It would have saved us the trouble of not dealing with this. Speaking of that…" Her eyes darted to the door and she shot Anna a tight smile. "Do you mind?"
"Oh! Yeah, I can leave. Getting kicked out of my own bathroom, hah, but yeah that's fine! No really, seriously, take your time." Anna laughed in an effort to diffuse the tension while backing up to let Elsa shower in peace.
Unfortunately, her eyes remained glued to the queen, though. The curtain in front of her did very little to hide her creamy skin, flushed bright red from the hot water. And holy shit. If Anna thought hard enough, the little droplets dribbling down her neck and arms almost looked like sweat that forms after people… well. Her blonde locks were darkened from the liquid, and it clung against her body. A body that was curvaceous and tone and, yep, there was no way Anna was getting that image of it out of her head anytime soon. This was a bad idea. Then again, it wasn't even her idea because Elsa didn't even ask.
"It's alright," Elsa said, reaching over to shut the water off. "I'm done as it is."
"O-oh, are you going to change?"
Elsa shifted on her feet and looked uncomfortable. Anna suspected the queen would have been more exasperated if she was back in her own lavatory in the castle, but since she was in someone else's home, she had a little more tolerance.
Before she could stop herself, Anna asked, "Do you need help?"
Elsa became crimson all over again. "Uh, no? But… but I guess it wouldn't hurt anything. I'm normally used to help as it is."
Anna already reached over to grab a towel and Elsa shot her a small, grateful smile, taking it quickly.
Thank god she turned around to dry off, body half-concealed by the curtain, or else she would have seen that Anna's face was flushed even worse. The redhead was holding her breath trying not to sputter or make any stupid sounds. It was even fair for someone to be so hot. Honestly. Of all the people for a magical portal to send.
"Okay, I'm done. Can you please hand me my clothing?"
"Uh-huh!" Anna squeaked.
Elsa didn't seem to think anything was odd as she slipped them on. Once she was decent, she stepped out of the shower and signalled for Anna to help her with the back buttons of the garment.
"Would you care to see the rest of the house? Well, if you haven't already that is, from sneaking around when I haven't been here." She forced another laugh and wanted to smack herself at how frantic it sounded. Now that Elsa was dressed, things would be easier.
"I haven't snuck around," Elsa corrected. But then she sighed and gave a little shrug. "It was just right there, so I used it… but yes, that sounds nice actually. No better day than today I suppose."
"Awesome," Anna chirped, fastening the last button of Elsa's gown. Hopefully, it was right. "My place is pretty small, so it shouldn't take too terribly long, but I'm sure there's a lot you'll like to see. You'll see what I mean." She lead Elsa out of the bathroom and turned around a corner in the direction she assumed the queen had never been before. "Ta-dah! Here is our first stop!" She declared as they arrived in the kitchen. "State of the art, way outdated appliances, but it's home. "
"Sweet mother of all that's holy," Elsa said, awestruck as she looked around the kitchen. "What is all of this?"
"Well, over there is the fridge," Anna explained, pointing to it. "I keep all of the stuff that's supposed to be cold in there."
"And this?" Elsa inquired, pointing to the toaster.
"That's the toaster. It, well, makes toast."
"A machine that makes toast?" Elsa raised an eyebrow. "You mean, you don't use a fire?"
"Oh, no one really uses fire anymore... because well it's fire," Anna remarked. "It kinda has a tendency to burn shit."
Elsa then eyed Anna's smartphone on the kitchen surface, picking it up. She held it in her hands, remembering how she had panicked from seeing it the first time.
Leaning over, Anna found herself trying not to laugh as Elsa kept eying over the phone like she was a small child, curious about something minor like a shoe or a ball.
The Queen held the phone in her hand, very confused. "What is this thing again?"
"It's called a phone," Anna replied. "It's capable of communicating with people thousands of miles away instantaneously, and has access to the total sum of human knowledge. I use it to look at pictures of cats."
Elsa giggled. "I always wanted a cat... my advisors wouldn't let me though. They said it was improper for royalty to have a pet."
"Are you kidding?" Anna scoffed. "The Queen of England has a corgi, for Christ's sake!"
"You mean Queen Victoria right?" Elsa wondered. "That's who the queen is where I come from."
"No, Queen Elizabeth," Anna corrected Elsa. "Hey, that sounds a little like your name. Elsa, Eliza. Is that just me?"
Elsa laughed. "I don't see it. Our names both start with an E, I suppose. And I suppose one could argue that my name could be a derivative of it."
"They both end with an A too," Anna pointed out. "Maybe I should start calling you Elsabeth or something."
"Just Elsa will do," the queen insisted, preferring to only be called by her given name.
"Okay then, just Elsa," Anna said with a giggle, inferring a little joke.
Just then, Elsa wandered into the living room and stopped, her jaw dropping. "What is this great black mirror?" she asked, standing in front of the TV, seeing it's widescreen encompass the entire wall.
"That's my TV," Anna replied, turning it on. "It has all kinds of shows on it, for both information and entertainment."
"So... you use this to watch the theatre then?" Her blonde guest assumed, comparing the screen to something from her own time. She looked closely, seeing a picture on the screen that seemed to be labelled "The News".
Anna brushed her hair out of her eyes a little, admiring how close Elsa's analogy was. Perhaps their two time periods weren't so different after all. "That's...actually a good way of putting it."
The Queen smiled. "Do you have any Shakespeare on this? His plays are quite popular in my kingdom."
"Not really... but I do have a DVD of the Leonardo Dicaprio version of Romeo and Juliet," Anna remarked.
"Who is this Leonardo DiCaprio?" Elsa inquired. "Is he a performer?"
"Well, yeah, I guess he is." Anna got the DVD from the bookshelf and handed it to Elsa. "That's him," she said, pointing to the actor's picture on the cover.
Elsa blushed a bit. "Oh, my. That young woman with him is quite lovely."
"Yeah, Claire Danes is pretty cute," Anna agreed. "I'm more partial to Daisy Ridley myself."
Elsa handed the DVD back to Anna. "I must watch this performance sometime."
"Well, I don't have any plans for today," Anna said. "We could watch it now, if you like."
Grinning, Elsa nodded. "I would like that very much."
After Anna had put the DVD into the TV's disc drive and the movie had started, she and Elsa sat down on the couch together, watching the 90s classic in all its glory. Anna remembered watching this movie when she was younger with Kristina, the two of them remembering it fondly.
As they sat together, Anna started to think more of Elsa, how she was starting to picture them in the roles of the two leads in the movie, with Anna as Romeo and Elsa as Juliet.
She blushed softly, before looking over at Elsa. "Ummm... Elsa? Would you like to go out sometime?"
"Pardon?"
"Wait what?" Anna stuttered. "I mean... would you like to go and see the rest of my world with me? I mean, there's so much more than inside this house."
"I...I'm not sure," Elsa replied. "It does sound interesting, but...I don't belong in your time. What if someone recognizes me?"
"Elsa, I can't even find a Wikipedia article about you," the redhead remarked. "I doubt anyone will recognize you. Besides, lots of people I know look like celebrities. I know this girl named Belle who everyone mistakes for Emma Watson all the time, so it's natural."
The queen thought for a few seconds, before sticking to her guts. "I'm sorry... but I don't want to affect the future in any way. I want to live out my life in my own time for as much as possible. It's what I was raised to do."
Anna smiled. "I... I understand." She then had a very delicious thought. "Would you like to try a snack we have in my time? Popcorn?"
"What is it?" the queen asked.
"Probably one of the best foods you'll ever taste," Anna pointed out.
Elsa's eyes widened, and she smiled. "Well... I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try."
"Perfect!" Anna chirped. "I'll see if I've got some!" She then darted off to the kitchen to try and find a packet of popcorn to share with Elsa, very much enjoying the Queen's company, although part of her wished for something much more from Elsa now.
Especially since she couldn't get Elsa's beautiful face and body out of her mind.
xXx
Author's note: And here is another chapter of Souls Across Time, a fic I am very surprised people are liking hehe. Hope you enjoy this little fluff, especially the scene with Anna catching Elsa... in her birthday suit ;) Loved writing that. I'll be putting out the chapters daily again, but don't worry, after chapter 7 I'll give you all a chance to catch up.
See you tomorrow!