Author's Notes: Hopefully, you readers will find it in your hearts to forgive me for the horrible, nasty things I attempt to force on you in this chapter.

Due credit goes to Calenheniel for a conversation idea which I have appropriated, almost whole, for this update.

"… Is she reading?"

"I think so?" Anna craned her neck, squinting in the direction Elsa was pointing in. She resembled a constipated strawberry-blonde giraffe. "Can't really see from here, though…"

"Stop being ridiculous."

"Do you have any better ideas then?"

"Just casually walk beside her table. Or pretend your friend is there, and then quickly backpedal."

"Really."

"What? … don't give me that look; I haven't actually tried any of those… okay, okay. Fine. Yes, I have. Happy now?"

Cindy leant in. "Actually, if you're asking me…"

"No, Cindy, we're not buying you another beer. This money is supposed to last us for the summer." Elsa glanced at her friend. "I've got my hands full stopping Anna from buying yet another duckling plush toy."

"They're so cute! You don't know what you've been missing in your life, Elsa."

Cindy slumped back on her seat with a muttered, "well, it was worth a try" as the friends got distracted by the discussion of the merits of stuffed avian toys.

Gradually, the conversation was drawn back to the girl in the corner, and the object in her hands. The blonde spent about three minutes sulking into her empty glass, listening to Anna and Elsa discuss the mysterious girl, when an idea struck her.

"Hey," she said, "how about I go over there, talk to her, satisfy your raging curiosities and see if she's willing to follow us back to the dorm? All for the price of one beer."

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "You work cheap."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Deal," said Anna quickly. Elsa shot her a look of dismay.

"Anna, you can't be serious – "

But Cindy was already up and smirking, gone into the throng of people. Elsa buried her face in her hands.

"Come to Corona with me for the summer, she said. It'll be fun and relaxing, she said."

Anna smiled sheepishly. "Isn't it?"

Elsa didn't deign to answer her.

The brown-haired girl, a distinctly disgruntled expression on her face, slid into the bar stool on Anna's right not long after. "May I help you?" she asked with a mild French accent.

"Uhhh… hi? I'm Anna?" The redhead stuck out a hand. The newcomer grinned.

"Should that be phrased as a question? Are you Anna, or not?"

Despite her misgivings with the entire venture, Elsa couldn't help but smile at Anna's baffled face. "She's had a few beers too many to be tackling philosophical questions," she interjected. "Yes, she's Anna, and I'm Elsa."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Belle."

"Were you reading just now?" blurted Anna, apparently going straight to the point before her rest of her mental faculties departed for the night. "What book is that?"

Belle raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is this what your friend was going on about? My book?"

Elsa shrugged. "Don't look at me, I'm still too sober to come up with something as hare-brained as that."

"Point taken." She smiled at the blonde, who blushed. "Well, feel free to take a look," said Belle, passing the book to Anna.

"The Kama Sutra," read Anna aloud, and she blinked. "Hey, isn't this that sex manual thingy?"

"Yes."

"… Why."

"It's a great conversation starter," said Belle serenely.

"I can imagine. Talking about sex positions is such a good way to meet people."

"Oh, I don't mind. I don't really talk much in my day job at the library, so it's almost refreshing to socialize on the weekends."

Elsa, by this point in her holiday, had developed a preternatural sense of knowing when not to take a drink. Her spider senses, so to speak, congratulated themselves on another avoided embarrassment.

Anna was goggle-eyed. "You're a librarian? Uh, wow. That almost sounds like a... stereotype."

Belle laughed. "You're sweet, but I think the word you're looking for is 'fetish'."

"That too."

"I'm working on my MA in Linguistics. I have to pay the bills somehow. I have enough stereotypes going on without needing to tack on 'starving student' to the list." She winked. "Bonking in the bookshelves doesn't pay very well, though undoubtedly it's quite an educational experience."

Anna, despite the growing heat in her cheeks (in no small part due to the alcohol she'd been imbibing), looked very determined to exchange innuendo rather than being embarrassed out this time. "Oh? I'd imagined you to be the cunning linguist."

Belle's smile turned wicked. "Very clever, Miss Anna. Obviously you're very well-read, and familiar with the Engels you'll need before joining the Revolution in my pants."

"I'm sure you've got a work of art there, but I lack the Monet to buy Degas to take you home. However, what Matisse is that I get some Poussin tonight."

There was a stunned silence.

"Oh, bravo!" Belle clapped her hands. "Just for that, drinks are on me."

When she had left to fetch the drinks, Anna leaned over to smirk at a slack-jawed Elsa. "Looks like I got that beer back."

"Th-That's not it!" spluttered the blonde. "I-how did you –"

"You pick up a few things here and there," said Anna with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Things, you say..."