Disclaimer: Do I really have to say it? I don't own Frozen. It all belongs to Disney. On with the story now...
"Kristoff, you totally should have seen her. She has the most amazing blue eyes I have ever seen and she was just so hot!" Anna squealed over the phone to her friend.
"Yes, Anna, I know. You have told me that like three times already." Came back a tired voice.
Anna huffed at his best friend's unenthusiastic behavior,"Yeah but it's totally warranted. She is so attractive, like...like one of those super-powered electromagnets they use in industry."
There was silence for a while before the amused voice came back, "Magnet"?
"Yeah, but not for metal- for people…You know what I mean, Kristoff. Stop laughing at me and tell me how I can get her to talk to me like the best friend you're supposed to be."
"Why don't you make one of your special dishes as an apology? Everyone loves that."
"But I don't even know what she likes to eat." Anna flailed her arms around, although the gesture was lost on her conversing partner.
"Trust me Anna, you can't go wrong with your lasagna."
"You know Kristoff, you might be onto something." Anna beamed, although she knew that Kristoff couldn't see her before hanging up.
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Elsa paced up and down along the length of the sofa, unable to sit still. It had been three days now and the girl's-Anna's words still kept reverberating in her head like an unending loop-"Your hands are freezing." Could she have known her secret? That would be bad- very bad, for both of them. No one could know her secret. Her father's words came back to her as she remembered how he had explicitly warned her about this.
'Okay, Elsa, you're over-reacting. Anna couldn't have possibly deduced anything from that split-second contact, especially since no one else has till date." Elsa nodded, satisfied that for once the voice in her head was agreeing with her. Her hands could have been cold for any number of reasons, and though she came up with the lamest one, "My heater's gone haywire", it was still better than the time she had to convince her chemistry teacher that she had not been playing around with liquid nitrogen.
She rose up to get her laptop from the next room when a loud bang from the next door made her roll her eyes. It was probably the sound of Anna falling over trying to tie her shoelaces. Seriously, the girl was a walking disaster. It was not that Elsa was watching her or anything, but she was certain that the random crashing sounds that came from that house, as well as the loud groans were not something a normal person would do. And…there she went, thinking about Anna again. Elsa groaned. This is exactly why you should never answer your door on a Saturday morning because bad things happen when you do, such as meeting you new neighbor who opens your mail and comments on how cold your hand is. She had been cold since the day she was born and that was not going to change till the day she died, and she would be cold even then.
Elsa made a determined second attempt to take in the words appearing in the monitor but concentration was not her friend today as the only thing she could think of was her new neighbor, the cute awkward smile when she tried to explain what had happened, her fiery red hair that seemed to glow in the sun and bright teal eyes that captivated Elsa from the moment she had laid her eyes on her.
Elsa had been able to sense Anna's warmth even from the distance between them and when her hands had grazed her for the briefest moment, she had felt electricity course through her veins bringing her body to life and it made her crave for more. She had spent most of her life trying to avoid exactly something like this-to think of a person as nothing more than a heat source, but that one moment made her want more-need more of Anna. She had come into contact with others and none of them had ever given her the rush like she had-the brief feeling of being alive, for the first time in forever. And that was even without considering how good looking Anna was-why did she have to be hot? Why couldn't it have been someone who is completely lacking in everything and didn't interest her at all? Why couldn't she just look completely different from how she looked like now, why did she have to affect her in such a way? It was not fair that even genetics were on Anna's side; someone up there was playing a very cruel game with Elsa.
Elsa tossed the laptop across the room (after shutting it down, of course) and groaned again, annoyed with herself for letting her control slip, for allowing herself to feel that she needed human contact. She couldn't have it-it was too dangerous. She had seen what could happen if she let her control slip but even when Anna was behind a closed door, in a different building, she could feel the need to be by her, to feel that rush again.
Another bang came from next door making Elsa wonder if Anna was doing this on purpose but at the same time it brought her out of the self-induced daze she had found herself in. She turned to look at the wall that separated them and squinted as if she could see through it which she obviously couldn't. Suddenly everything went quiet which made Elsa think that Anna had somehow managed to kill herself doing who knows what but after the loud bang nothing followed.
That conclusion lasted only for about twenty seconds as a knock sounded on the door, making Elsa jump. 'Why couldn't people just leave me alone?' She thought to herself and looked through the peephole to see who it was, only to find Anna stood there. 'At least she hasn't killed herself', Elsa thought wryly to herself and wondering what the hell she wanted to do with her again after she had proved to be so wonderfully unsociable.
Well, the only way to get answers was to open the damn door. Elsa did the same and added a curt "Hello" this time. She might have said more if her eyes hadn't been drinking in the sight of Anna in a skinny jeans that showed off how good her legs were, and damn, those hips… However, to the dismay of Elsa's eyes, her olfactory senses also seemed to be set in overdrive, and the source seemed to be the silver foil clutched in Anna's hands. Elsa didn't know what was more tantalizing-the food Anna was the holding or the body heat emanating from the taut frame holding it, and decided that yep, someone was certainly playing a cruel game with her.
"I don't know what I did the other day to offend you but I wanted to apologize if I did upset you. It really was an honest mistake and I've learnt to always check the label first" she started to ramble which was cute. 'Damn her for being so cute and adorable', Elsa thought. She was supposed to be able to control herself around people, she had had years of practice but then Anna strolled into her life, holding her flimsy "pajamas" and her life seemed to have suddenly tipped on its axis…and now Anna was standing here and she was still not sure why.
"Forget about it, why bother with the past?" Elsa dismissed her with a quick gesture of her hand knowing it might be the quickest way to get Anna to leave before she found herself doing something she knew she shouldn't.
Anna's face fell a little at Elsa's abrupt words but she still plastered a smile on her face and held out the foil covered dish to her, "I brought you lasagna as a peace maker, I'd really like us to be friends and I feel we got off on the wrong foot".
"Thank you but I'll have to decline, thank you but no thank you." Elsa told her even if it smelt amazing. She wanted it...but she didn't want Anna to think that they were friends, She didn't do the 'Friend thing' as it was too dangerous. She might be forced to play the part in society but behind closed doors she could be herself, she could be free. She was well aware of the flaws in her argument and amended her thoughts, 'Well…free to some degree, even if I can't be myself with anyone ever at all.'
"Please, I always make too much because I'm used to cooking for three, it will only get wasted if you don't have it." Anna offered it to Elsa again.
"I've already eaten" Elsa lied. She knew Anna was only trying to be friendly but one slice of lasagna will lead to a cup of sugar which will lead to movie night and before she knew it they'll be almost best friends who live next door to each other, exchanging Christmas gifts and telling each other their life stories.
'Hah!' Elsa snorted mentally. That was just wistful thinking, but it was good that it would never come true anyway. She didn't want that – she didn't want to feel that she couldn't live her life alone. She wanted to have control; she needed that control in order to survive.
"Oh – umm - you can still take it and I don't know- maybe reheat it tomorrow" Anna suggested, avoiding eye contact with Elsa, her eyes remaining fixed on the foil covered dish.
"I have to go, I left the bath running" Elsa quickly slammed the door in her face, leaning on her back against it with a sigh. For the second time in less than a week she had come up with the lamest excuse ever – seriously who uses 'I left the bath running?' It's up there with 'I'm washing my hair' because it's just bad. Someone of her caliber in academics could surely come up with better excuses than that?
Not only had she come up with the lamest excuse for the second time but this was the second time she had slammed the door in Anna's face. Hopefully Anna will now get the hint that she didn't like being disturbed by people and stop returning with food because she didn't want to get to know her, she didn't want to be her friend – it was too dangerous-not only for her but for Elsa also.
Quickly spinning around, Elsa looked back through the peephole to see Anna bend over out of sight only to reappear seconds later. With a shake of her head and what looked like a quiet chuckle to herself she walked away from the door empty handed.
The smell of the lasagna still fresh within her senses, Elsa stood behind the door for a what felt like a life time just on the off chance that Anna was still standing outside her door waiting to ambush her. Once she was satisfied that Anna wasn't out there, Elsa slowly opened the door and popped her head through the small gap. She checked that the coast was clear before quickly snatching up the dish of lasagna Anna had left on the mat outside her door and quickly disappeared back into her apartment, locking the door behind her.
Elsa brought the lasagna up to her nose and inhaled deeply, savoring the smell while making her way to the kitchen to fetch a fork, the dish was still warm against her hands meaning Anna must have only just made it...which would explain the banging she had heard from next door-although she was surprised that both the kitchen and Anna were still intact. Dragging herself back to the sofa, she curled herself up into a ball on the end of the sofa, digging into the delicate layers of pasta contained within the dish, resisting the urge to moan as the rich tomato sauce sent her desires to a point of no return.
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An indeterminate amount of time later, Elsa collected the now clean dish from the counter and grabbed the stack of sticky notes and the pen that she had kept on her refrigerator and headed for the door. Satisfied that the hallways were clear, she tiptoed towards Anna's door and with a small, but not unwelcome smile to herself, she placed the dish back onto her door mat. Crouching beside the dish she quickly scribbled a note:
Thank you for the lasagna. It was nice,
but please don't bring me food again
I am more than capable of preparing my own food.
Elsa.
P.S If you ever run out of sugar and need some,
don't come to me – I have none.
Elsa paused, a bit unsure as to why the hell had she even put the last line in, but decided that it certainly wasn't because she was thinking of some cute redhead who always seemed to be on a sugar high. However, she was still happy with her little note as she pulled the small yellow square of paper off the stack and stuck it into the middle of the dish. Standing back up to her full height, she knocked on the door and ducked back into her own apartment as quickly as she could, behind closed doors again. She didn't even notice two excited teal eyes observing her every move from the corner, or the excited phone call, "Kristoff, she ate the lasagna and left me a note. This totally counts as a victory for me, right?"
A/N: So there you have it. A little bit down cast with Elsa's brooding mood, but it will lighten fairly quickly. Next chapter-Anna gets a surprise in her new college.
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