Beads of sweat dot the UPS cardboard box Elsa hefts up the staircase. She groans. Fiddling with the keys as she tips the door open to her new apartment. One bedroom. Barely a kitchen. She dumps the last box on another pile of identical boxes, and slumps on the leather couch. Staring at all seven hundred square feet of her supposed punishment for missing a scholarship. She tries to imagine the leash of a thousand dollars a month strangling her. The cramped walls closing in on her head. But there's only the faint smell of freshly-steamed carpets. Dust motes floating in the curtained sunset. Long-sought freedom. And anticipation. Buzzing beneath her skin so hard she goes on a ten-mile jog just to shake that energy off. Telling herself she's just training for NC State Wolfpack trials.
She tries to think of an epilogue to her story. But no words come that evening when she opens her laptop. Elsa spends her first night in Raleigh dreaming of binary stars and constellations. That eternal cosmic ballet. A smiling face with freckles strewn upon them like stars in the night sky. She jolts awake at 3 A.M. Touching her lips frantically as she tries to claw back the taste of those lips so vivid on hers just seconds ago. No amount of water she gulps washes it away. And she tosses and turns in bed, unable to shake that memory from her perspiring forehead.
Elsa logs another ten miles when the sun rises. Hills pay the bills, remember? And spends the first morning of adulthood eating the biggest breakfast she's never had the liberty to order. In between mouthfuls of scrambled eggs and pulled pork, her phone's chime nearly makes her choke.
Anna: holy shit - I fell asleep on the bus and the driver had to wake me up
Anna: r u at the house? I will be there in a bit
Yes, yes! Elsa wants to reply, I missed you so much! But she holds backspace on her phone, mashing back a straitlaced reply.
Elsa: Sure - come over anytime!
And after an hour of waiting which passes like an entire year, those blue eyes and pinchable cheeks stand right there on her doorstep. And after a second which ticks by like forever, they're in each other's arms. Air squishing out of lungs before they finally remember how to breathe.
Anna tastes exactly like how she did in the dream, by the way.
"I missed you so much," Elsa beams.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't make the drive up with you," Anna drags her bags into the apartment, "landlord was a bitch and I had to clean the house to get back our deposit."
Anna slumps on the sofa, eyes gawking at the sheer space this place offered.
"So this is it, huh?" Anna mouths, mimicking Donald Trump's voice, "Huuuuge."
It only now occurs to Elsa that they've never been in each other's homes. Already, she feels guilty laying eyes on Anna's life, neatly packed into a satchel, a tattered canvas duffel bag, and a fleamarket suitcase. Three small bags sitting next to a pile of boxes crammed with all her worldly possessions. Maybe she should've unpacked yesterday.
"You," Anna observes, eyes roving the pile, "You have a lot of stuff."
Elsa's cheeks burn, "UPS is sending another batch of boxes tomorrow."
She tries to decipher the silence behind Anna's lips. That consternation in her eyes. A tinge of resentment, perhaps? But the worries take a backseat the instant Anna starts playing rock music on her phone, declaring she spent half the bus ride making an "unpacking stuff" soundtrack that's sure to rock her world.
It's just a lot of Bon Jovi. And she only needs two songs before what little clothes are packed away into the wardrobe. Elsa's still not done by the time they reach the Burning Bridges album. She hears a gasp when she takes out a stack of letters.
"You kept them," Anna gushes, hands clasped over her mouth.
Elsa grins, "Of course I did! T-they're special."
Anna reaches into her bag to retrieve another stack of letters. That novel, Empress of a Thousand Skies - with more pockmarks than before. Elsa finds a plastic cup from a box, washed clean but still bearing Anna's phone number and that message. Anna shows off a flower pressing she made with the tulips and hyacinths from her prom bouquet. Because-
"Nothing lasts forever, least of all flowers," Anna whispers, "But I'm hoping what we have, does."
One last gift.
Elsa retrieves a Ukelele hidden behind the boxes. Varnished mahogany glistens beneath the lights and yanks an open-mouthed squeal from Anna.
"Oh my god, you didn't have to!" Anna exclaims, touching the strings and hearing them sing their pristine song, "this sounds really expensive."
"I missed your birthday."
The words lose themselves to the strumming melody as Anna tunes the instrument. She cradles the Ukelele like a newborn child. Heading into their bedroom and looking for a place to safekeep it. A warmth floods Elsa's cheeks as Anna bends over before a closet. Gaze travelling across the curve of her hips in those slim-fitting jeans. She looks away at the pair of single beds. With a chaste foot of space between them. Anna's shirt dangles from her waist, exposing that little line of skin around her taut tummy. She blinds herself to the sight with the memory of her body's softness pressed against her. Before her thoughts stray any further, Anna returns. Teasing her reddened cheeks. Oh it's going to be a difficult year.
"I think we need a shelf to store all our memories, don't we?" Anna suggests.
How about the ones I want to make with you?
"Yes, sure - anything," Elsa concedes.
Or maybe she just needs a reason to get out of the house and cool off her throbbing head.
They head straight to a Walmart. Buying oatmeal and instant ramen. Sweet potatoes and dollar hotdogs. Frozen cod and chicken nuggets. Anna balks at the fact that Elsa drinks tea and not coffee in the morning. She also balks at the price of shelving units, looking up the nearest thrift store on Google maps. It's an odd mix of hand-me-down furniture and second-hand clothes. Anna distracts herself with the guitar score books going for next to nothing. Elsa spends nearly an hour deciding between a wooden shelf and an aluminium one. She wants to make this right.
Lost in decision-making, she doesn't notice Anna crossing the road to a cafe. Help wanted sign out the front. There's a moment of panic as her eyes sweep the store and fail to pick up a redhead. But before she can text her, that crop of red hair bounces back. Cheery face announces that she found a job.
"What? So quickly?"
"It's a ten minute walk from our house," Anna muses, "and the hours won't clash with community college."
"B-but you just got here," Elsa's voice rises, "not even a few hours ago."
"I'm gonna have to fork out half the rent, don't I? I'll still look for a musician's position elsewhere-"
"Don't you have to do an interview and everything?"
"Already did!" Anna chirps, "And besides, I've worked at nearly a dozen cafes since freshman year - they're all the same after awhile. Bussing tables and wiping countertops."
That little monster creeps on her again. And what have you done since arriving? Go on runs and stuff your face?
"I'm assuming you're getting a job," Anna sneers, "because I don't think my pay is enough-"
Elsa's voice lightens, "Um, yes - actually. My dad knows one of the publishing houses in Raleigh and I've an interview for an editorial position later today."
Anna's smile twitches, before it curls into a full-blown grin.
"Your dad found you a job."
"Yes."
A hesitation stops the words behind Anna's voice. But Elsa already hears them coming a mile away. Especially with that look in her eyes.
"I promised myself I'd learn to think before I speak," Anna can't contain her beaming smile, "But I've thought it through - and don't take this the wrong way, but you are one freaking nepobaby-"
"After everything I've seen you go through," Elsa relents, "yea - maybe you're right. But I gotta pay the rent somehow-"
"And god - you've been staring at the shelves for an hour, just take the cheapest one and go-"
"But the wooden one matches-"
Her argument's cut off by the sudden taste of Anna's lips flooding her mouth. Right in the middle of the store. And that voice drifting past the fog blanketing her mind.
"Isn't it more important what memories we fill it with?"
They leave with the wooden one.
"We'll let you know, Ms Williams. Thanks so much for coming down - your father spoke very highly of you."
The words leave a potent swell in Elsa's chest throughout her drive back. Beneath the sunset's fuchsia haze, a white glow from a cafe sweeps past her sight. She makes a detour to get milkshakes and chocolate cake for Anna. It's hard fiddling with the paper box and tray loaded with chocolatey treats, but it'd be all worth it to see those eyes once again. Eyes mysteriously absent from the apartment when she enters.
Her phone chimes.
Anna: u will NOT believe what i found
Anna: get dat cute ass of urs to the rooftop, plz
She fumbles her way up the darkened stairwell, nearly tripping on the steps and spilling their drinks. But her efforts are rewarded by the dusk sky and Anna's head popping around a corner.
"Someone left an entire couch up here-" Anna chirps, before her eyes widen, "ooh - is that chocolate cake?"
A beaming smile graces Anna's face as she leads Elsa to a dusty fabric two-seater parked right on the ballast. Overlooking downtown Raleigh. And NC State University with its track facility and awaiting trials. And Anna's community college. And the cafe. And that towering grey glass-and-concrete publisher's office.
Anna leans into the softness of Elsa's body. Leg flung over the sofa's side. Fork perched on her lips as she savours the cake's taste.
"Mmm, this is some rich-tasting cake," Anna coos, sipping on milkshake.
Elsa's eyes venture to the night sky. Purple and gold threads giving way to the sparse stars. They shine less brightly than the ones back in Charleston - but it doesn't matter when the brightest star sits next to her. Lips smudged brown with chocolate cake.
"You've got - cake, on your lips."
Live in the moment.
She leans in and kisses the cake right off her lips.
"Someone's hungry," Anna breathes back against Elsa.
There's nothing she can do to kill this moment any further. But there's one more secret she's withheld from Anna all this while.
"Remember that time I said I prepared three songs to ask you out to prom?" Elsa says, untangling a pair of earbuds, "I lied."
Doey-blue eyes look up at her, "What?"
"I prepared like, five," Elsa offers one side of earbuds to Anna, "Would you like to hear the last two?"
The chortle pulses against Elsa's chest, "Oh my god Elsa, Ms-always-planning-ahead. How dare you lie to me - But I'd love to."
She takes a bite of cake before Anna's able to scarf down the whole lot. Sipping cookie-flavoured milkshake which now tastes like Anna's lips. Lazy cake-stained fingers leave a brown smear on her jeans - and she's compelled to kiss away the sweetness from Anna's fingers. Memories flood back. She leans into the couch and soaks her eyes in the glittering night sky. Her ears in the soft, rock music. And the serenity that tells her she's found the love she's been looking for all her life.
"This," Anna reads her mind, "The music, the stars. Chocolate cake and milkshakes. You. Just like good ol' days huh?"
Elsa smiles, trailing her fingers through Anna's hair.
"No - this feels like the start of something new."
If everything could ever be this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when
A/N: Huge thanks for reading to the end! And huge shoutouts to luvnanofate for reviewing!