NOTE: I'm off to the symphony tonight! Before I go, have some further adventures of our two favourite dorks.

~ Chapter Seventeen ~

"Hey, wanna dance?"

That was the fifth guy to ask Anna that question that evening, and it had only been half an hour since she got her appletini. She had never even ventured down into the main floor; that was a daunting prospect, indeed. Casting a glance at where Elsa was chatting with Buzz, who also seemed to be glancing in Anna's direction with great interest, she turned back and said, "I don't dance."

"You don't have to know how," the cocky boy said, sunglasses catching the flashing lights. "Just, y'know… feel the music. Dance with me, groove with me."

"Even if I did dance, I'm not interested," she said, trying to be polite - and failing. She could hear it in her tone. "Can you please just leave me alone?"

His expression soured, but he threw up both hands and left. At least he hadn't been as persistent as the last few guys; the burliest one had almost earned a kick to his "perfect glutes".

"Not doing so hot?" Elsa asked when she came back over. To her credit, she never strayed far, but Anna still felt the fun factor die off the minute they were apart.

"I don't know anybody," Anna whispered. "I've never been to any kind of social gathering where I don't know at least half of the guests, you know? So this is super weird for me."

"Well, I saw quite a few guys hanging off you," Elsa said with a suggestive smile. When Anna looked at her with a deadpan expression, she blinked, then her mouth opened in a tiny "oh."

"Yeah."

"R-right, that's my fault for forgetting," Elsa said with a quiet, apologetic smile. "But hey, one in ten of these girls is supposed to lean your way, right? Let's start looking!"

Glancing down at her still half-full drink, she shrugged. "I'm n-not good at that, either. Even worse than turning away all these dudes."

"Well there's your problem." Flicking the rim of her glass, she announced, "Finish that. Right now. Then we'll get you another."

"It tastes weird!"

"It tastes like alcohol," she laughed. When Anna looked even less happy, she slid an arm around her shoulders. "Alright. Finish that, and I'll order you a daiquiri; it'll be fruity as you are, and a lot easier to drink if you're not used to the flavour of alcohol. It was my first drink, actually. Then we'll linger another hour, see if anything opens up, gets more fun for you; if it doesn't, we'll leave."

"I don't know…" When Elsa made a pouty face at her, Anna asked, "You'd really go back that early just because I suck at having fun?"

"You do not! And hey; I know how to get this started. You need…" Her hand shot into her clutch and rummaged briefly, then pulled out her tube of lipstick. "…a signal."

"A what?"

Setting down her empty martini glass, she pulled out a hand mirror and began to apply a fresh coat. "Well, not that I would have any way to know better, but I did make a big mistake when picking out your outfit. You look incredible; I meant that before and I still mean it. Unfortunately, you also look straight. I mean, I can't tell you apart from all these other straight girls - and if I can't, how are they supposed to?"

"Yeah! See, that's my problem; even if I saw a cute chick, how am I supposed to know she won't go 'ew' if I hit on her?!"

"Exactly. Which is why…" She smacked her lips, putting the tube back into her clutch. "…you need the signal.

When Elsa's hands fell on her shoulders, Anna felt a weird little thrill shoot through her stomach. When Elsa leaned in, it got strong enough that she leaned away and held up a hand.

"WHOA there! What are you doing?"

"Relax." Elsa leaned in again and Anna didn't have the wherewithal to stop her from pressing her lips hard against Anna's cheek. "And…" She switched to the other, this time coming a lot closer to her mouth.

"O-ohh…" She cleared her throat, head spinning from the very bizarre notion that Elsa had just kissed her - THE Elsa had just kissed her holy shit holy SHIT - which she could not get rid of. "Elsa, p-people are watching…"

"Hm?" Then she drew back and laughed, covering her mouth nervously. "Oh, I- yes, that probably would have been wiser to do in the bathroom. But look! Now you have a glorious way to let all the lady-loving-ladies that you're available for… well, similar fun!"

When Elsa held up the mirror and Anna saw the lip prints, she blushed. Incredibly, she hadn't before that point. Then she pulled out her phone to take a selfie; more a conditioned response than anything intentional.

"Ooh, wait for me!" Leaning in, Elsa pulled a cunning little face, like she had just thought of a secret so good that it would ruin someone's reputation, and she was delighted to be its sole owner. Anna just looked dazed; she couldn't make her face do anything else.

"Wow, I… look like I'm high."

"You do!" Elsa cackled, gazing down at the screen. "Good one for Insta, though." Then she froze. "Uhh… well, maybe not; you don't want to deal with people knowing you and I are hanging out. It'll get annoying very fast."

Anna laughed. "Yeah, we talked about that before, kind of. You wouldn't care if they knew about me being here with you?"

"What would it change? On my end, it's just that I have a new friend. But for you… suddenly you're 'Elsa's friend Anna', or worse, 'Elsa's unnamed friend'. And people will stalk you and you'll have to turn into some kind of mini-celebrity, avoiding press and all the crap I already have to do. Spare yourself the effort, I say."

Though touched by her thoughtfulness, she couldn't help but think how unfair it was. Not just because Elsa was famous and she could look cool, but because for once in her life, she was having so much fun that she wanted to tell people about it… and she couldn't. Even in the club full of straight doucherockets, it was still better than lying around in her room, scrolling her dash on tumblr.

As long as she was sharing the experience with her friend.

"Okay." Picking up her own glass again, she drained it in one long gulp, after which she began coughing up a lung.

"Whoa, whoa there!" Elsa breathed, rubbing up and down her back. "I didn't mean for you to pound it down like that!"

"I'm…" Another fit. "I'm good!" Then she swallowed and straightened, weaving very slightly. "Ooh… okay, okay. We're gonna do this - bring on that daiquiri!"

Elsa's eyebrows knitted in mild concern. "Well… alright, but we're definitely not doing jello shots or anything. To the bar!"

"TO THE BAR!"

~ o ~

And so they drank. That is to say, Anna drank; Elsa had a piña colada and cut herself off afterward. But Anna ploughed her way through two more daiquiris, then a piña colada of her own, just to see what Elsa had tried. As she made sure to inform her friend, they were all a vast improvement over the previous selection.

By that point, she was feeling fairly good about everything. So what if none of the girls approached her? At least the guys weren't approaching quite so readily as before. This may have partly been because whenever they tried, she preemptively held up a hand and said, "NOPE! Totally gay, wasting your time!" They seemed annoyed, but at least they were gone.

Another one, an Asian with the sides of his head shaved and a "Fuck Your Expectations" t-shirt under a leather hoodie, kept eyeing her. However, anytime she would turn to look at him more properly, at least to tell him to leave her alone, he would vanish into the crowd. It was unnerving, but she tried not to let it get to her.

Elsa, however, was having about the same moderately-amused time she was having before Anna started hitting the sauce. Every time she stopped to look at her, she was sitting at the bar, chatting idly to Tiana, or strolling up and down through the growing crowd in the VIP lounge. Finally, she stopped dancing - by herself - to drop down next to Elsa at one of the tables.

"What's the matter, Valentine?" she slurred. "None of these guys up to your standards, either?"

Elsa stuck out her tongue. "You're totally bombed. But… no, I don't club-date, anyway. What about you? I thought I saw you talking to some girl."

"Oh, I just told her I liked her pants," Anna giggled. "She said 'thanks', then we talked about Ibiza for a minute. Way straight, but at least she wasn't ignoring me."

"Yeah," she chuckled as she fingered the stem of her empty drink. "So…"

"So?"

"Nothing," she said, smiling sweetly. "You haven't been down to the dance floor yet."

"I don't wanna go down there!" Whining in the back of her throat, she scooted up closer to Elsa. "I just got used to this room! Why would I wanna go push into a bunch of sweaty heteros?!"

Rolling her eyes, the pop star pointed at her and said, "You're jumping to conclusions. Some of them might be sweaty… um…" Squinting, she asked in a hiss, "Is saying 'homo' like the N-word, where I'm supposed to be able to say it if I have friends who are gay? Or is it just off-limits to me entirely?"

"Yeah, I think it's safer for you to never say any of those words," Anna laughed, and Elsa nodded as if she had been expecting that response. "Um… can I ask if you're having fun?"

"Well enough," Elsa said with a smile. "You're having more than I, it looks like!"

"Yeah… yeah, it was pretty cool getting to try this!" But she wasn't thinking about herself anymore. "Anyway, you ready to head back?"

"What?"

"Head BACK!" she half-shouted, and Elsa winced away from the noise. "To the house!"

A few seconds went by as she considered. "You're the boss this week, I told you. If you honestly want to go, we can leave right now."

"Good! Let's get out of here, this place is… dullsville!"

"Did… you just say…" Waving a hand, she stood up. "Nevermind. I'll close out my tab."

A few minutes later, they were walking back down the staircase and out of the club. The cool night air hit Anna like a hurricane, and she shivered even as she smiled. However, before they could even take two steps away…

"Hey! Hey, you in the green!"

They turned back to see the young Asian man jogging over from where he had been smoking against the wall. The closer he came, the more Anna began to wonder if that assessment was correct: Asian, yes.

"Sorry," she panted when she caught up. "Just… you're leaving, huh?"

"Y-yeah," Anna said, glancing back at where Elsa was trying to hail a cab. The woman really did look so masculine that Anna felt quite jarred to learn she had assumed incorrectly. "Um, do I know you? I don't even remember you from inside the-"

"I was too shy. God, I didn't think I'd run out of time this fast!"

Her eyebrows knitted. "Run out of time? Um, I don't get it, but whatever you think… I mean, what do you think?"

"I, uh…" As if realising she was messing it all up, she held out a hand and began fresh. "My name's Mulan."

"Oh! Um, hi, Mulan," she said, hastily shaking it just when it had looked like she might lower the hand out of nerves. "Anna. Nice to meet you, but what… I mean-"

"You don't look like you do this much, either," she laughed. "Um… I want your number."

"Why?"

Elsa looked over from where the cab was pulling up and shouted, "Jesus, Anna, she's interested in you! Give her your number if you're going to!"

"She what?!" The redhead spun around, "I m-mean… oh wow, sorry! I'm really trashed, I didn't…" Slowly, a smile began to replace her dizzy, confused expression. "You want my number?"

Mulan shrugged. "Well, unless you're into men - and all that lipstick says otherwise."

"TOLD YOU!" Elsa crowed. "Hah! I told you, didn't I?!"

Giggling, Anna reached for the phone Mulan was offering and tapped in her number hastily. Then she reread it, and went back to correct several digits she had put in wrong. Handing it back, she grinned and blushed, completely unable to believe this was happening.

"Why, though?" she ended up blurting out. "I mean, I think I said saw you, but we didn't talk or anything!"

"I'm a shy asshole," Mulan laughed. "I was gonna wait until more booze kicked in and then try to talk to you again - you know, man up, or woman up or whatever. Damn, I'm glad I was out here when you went to leave, or… hell, I lost a shot at the cutest girl on the island."

Eyes wide, she gaped at Mulan for a long second before turning around to see if Elsa was hearing any of this. She was; in fact, she was standing there with her hands on her hips, one eyebrow raised and a playful smirk on her lips. Loving it. She was totally loving how right she was about her little signal, and that Anna's night out was "productive", after all.

"Thanks! Um, how long are you here for?"

"About another five days," she muttered, still bright red. "You?"

"Two days. Cool, so I'll call you tomorrow, see if we can get lunch, or come back here or something?"

"Yeah! Yeah, that'd be great! Oh, and…" She leaned closer. "If you have a straight guy friend who's not a fuckboy, bring him for Elsa, okay?"

"Elsa?" Then she glanced over at where the blonde was waiting and her eyes went wide. "You mean that really is her?! Wow! I thought it was just, like… you know, a doppelganger or whatever!"

Shaking her head and grinning, she turned around and waved over her shoulder, only glancing back at Mulan again when they were getting in the cab. She hadn't moved, but her shock had faded to an excited smile as she waved enthusiastically.

"Well," Elsa sighed as the car pulled into the late night traffic… then raised a hand for a high five.

"What… really? You want me to high five you for the lipstick thing?" Elsa didn't move. In the end, Anna slapped their hands together, listening to Elsa cackle like a madwoman. "You'll never let this go."

"Never."

~ To Be Continued ~