Chapter 3
Anna slipped the last few pages of the script into the binder and clipped it shut. On the front, she used a black Sharpie to write the words 'Roses are Blue' in her best attempt at flowing cursive. The play consisted of three intertwining stories, for which she had been selected as one of the female leads, but now came the tough part: finding time to memorize her lines.
"You can do this," she thought. "You have nothing to do on the bus except study."
She slipped the binder under one arm and hoisted her hockey bag up onto her other shoulder. Today was an away game, and the whole team, plus coach Westergard, were headed over to Vermont to play against Montpelier, another small New England school. Anna made her way to the rear of the bus where she managed to find a seat by herself, and avoided car sickness all the way through the second act, when they arrived.
Butterflies flittered around her stomach the way they always did before a game, this time even more so since they had lost their previous two, with Anna herself held pointless. She focused on strapping on her protective gear and stepped out to the buzzing crowd. The chill wind of the rink air during her warmup skate helped calm her nerves.
"We've been practicing like mad. I just have to trust that we're prepared," she thought.
Montpelier's team, the Mastadons, sported jerseys with a wooly mammoth logo on the front. Arendelle wore their away blue and green sweaters. She took a deep steadying breath from the bench as Merida leaned forward to take the opening faceoff…
Anna squeezed the bottle and squirted ice-cold water over her face, then leaned over and struggled to catch her breath as the final buzzer sounded. With the score tied 3-3, they were headed to sudden death overtime, again. Her side ached from a hard hit in the second period where she suspected the other player had jammed the butt end of her stick into her ribs, and Anna tried to will the pain away. After a short break, the buzzer sounded again. Coach Westergard tapped the top of her helmet.
"Christiansen, you're in," he said. She nodded, leapt over the boards, tapped Merida's shinpad with her stick, and slid into position on the right side of the faceoff circle.
The ref dropped the puck, and they were off. Montpelier won the faceoff and Arendelle retreated as they gained the zone. The Mammoths passed back to the point for a slapshot, but Alice, Arendelle's goalie, blockered the puck to the corner where one of the Arendelle D picked it up. They passed it behind the net to the other D, and then up to Merida as Anna streaked ahead and looked over her shoulder for a lead. Merdia's pass was a little bit behind her though, and the puck ended up in Anna's skates. As she kicked it up ahead of her, a Montpelier player got her stick on it and knocked it away.
"Oh no!" Anna thought as the opposing player gathered up the skittering puck and raced off in the other direction. She cut a tight turn and backchecked furiously to catch up, to try and erase her mistake.
She could only watch helplessly from behind as the Vermont player split the Arendelle D, then deked to the right and slid the puck beneath Alice's pads. The home crowd roared as the red goal light went on, and Anna stopped skating; game over. As the opposing team cleared the bench to celebrate the sudden death win, a sense of dread and nausea swept over Anna.
"Shit," she said quietly.
She skated over to Alice, who had whipped the puck out of the goal and flung it down the other end of the ice.
"Sorry," Anna said.
"It's alright," Alice replied bitterly as she ripped her helmet off to reveal matted blonde hair, "I should have had that one."
The trek to the unfamiliar locker room and the post-game shower passed in a blur. The team was quiet after the loss, their third in a row, with only a muttered curse here and there, so the chirp of her phone sounded loud and clear to Anna's ears. She glanced at her phone to see a message from her father: "KEEP YOUR HEAD UP!"
She chucked the phone into her bag and finished changing, then followed Chloe out towards the bus. Suddenly, the blonde dropped her bag and turned around.
"Nice one. Maybe next time you could try scoring a goal for once, and not turn the puck over in the neutral zone?" she said.
"What the hell?" Anna thought.
"What's your problem? It was an accident," Anna said.
"You're a fucking accident," Chloe said as she pointed one finger at Anna's chest, "I don't know why Coach picked you for overtime. Hell, I don't even know why you're even on the team. Oh wait. Yes I do. It's because you started banging his son over the summer."
Anna's mouth dropped open.
"That's-"
"You're not good enough to play with us otherwise. Everyone knows," Chloe continued, "even your little hometown friend. Do yourself, and the rest of us, a favor, and quit before you fuck us over even more."
Chloe didn't wait for a response, just picked up her bag and kept walking. Anna stood there, mouth open in shock. It wasn't until another one of the girls passed her that she shook her head, hefted her bag, and followed along into the parking lot. The smell of diesel from the idling bus brought back memories of countless away games, some good, some, like this one, not so much.
"She's just upset," she thought as she dropped her bag into the storage compartments at the bottom of the bus and stepped on board.
Once they were underway, though, Chloe's words kept ringing in her head, and Anna read the same passage of her play four times and still had no idea what it said. She shut the binder and, chin in palm, stared out the window as the forests passed by. They pulled onto campus around five, and the late afternoon sun glinted off the windows of the several cars still parked in the lower parking lot. Anna grabbed her bag and silently started the hike towards her dorm. Rapunzel's long braid swayed about thirty feet ahead of her, and Anna increased her pace to catch up.
"Hey," she said. Rapunzel glanced over her shoulder, then deliberately slowed to let Anna fall into step with her.
"Hey," the blonde said, "well… that sucked."
"Yeah, sorry about that last play," Anna said.
"It's alright, wasn't the best pass," Rapunzel said, "at least you didn't get run over, looking down at the puck like that."
"Yeah…" Anna said, "um… I wanted to ask you something."
"Shoot," Rapunzel said.
Anna swallowed.
"Am I… am I good enough to be on the team?" Anna asked quietly.
Rapunzel looked at her incredulously.
"What kind of a stupid question is that? Of course," she replied. "Is this because you got stripped in overtime?"
"And I haven't scored in forever," Anna said, "and… and because someone said…"
They walked uphill in silence for a good twenty seconds, until Rapunzel stopped and rounded on her.
"Said what," she asked.
"It's stupid… they said the only reason I was on the team is because I was dating Hans," Anna said.
Rapunzel rolled her eyes.
"That is stupid," she said, "but you have to know people are going to talk. Best way to shut them up is score some goals."
"Ha. Yeah. About that," Anna said.
"Don't worry, they'll come. You need to shoot more," Rapunzel said, "can't score if you don't shoot."
Anna nodded, and they continued the hike uphill. They arrived at the dorm, and Anna paused by the stairwell.
"Don't let it get to you. I'll see you in practice," Rapunzel said.
Anna nodded and waved as her friend as headed off to her room on the ground floor. Anna stepped into the stairwell, but as the door hissed closed behind her, she stared up at the steps.
"The rink is still open. I could get some extra practice in," she thought. It might be weird practicing all on her own, but her father always told her if she wanted to be better than others, she had to be willing to do what they wouldn't.
Slowly, she turned around and started the hike back downhill.
Elsa slipped behind the rental counter of the deserted ice-skating rink and flicked the light switch near the door. Fluorescent bulbs flickered to life, and she carefully opened the tabs holding the cardboard box shut. She pulled out one skate first, then the other, and examined them one at a time. The leather, the laces, the blades, they were exact copies of the ones she had used during the Olympics. Of course, these didn't have the scuff marks and damage her original pair had sustained over the course of that campaign. She hunted around for the equipment she would need. The skate sharpener she found easily enough, but it looked like the rink didn't have an oven.
"I'll have to break them in the old-fashioned way," she thought.
She fired up the grindstone and set the first skate in the brace to keep it level with the stone as it spun. The sharpener had a vacuum to one side to capture the metal dust that would flake off from the blade, and she flicked that on as well. She tapped first one end of the skate against the grindstone, then the other to ensure it was level, then settled in to focus on her task. Orange sparks flew as the spinning, curved stone carved a groove in the thin strip of steel at the bottom of the skate, and she ground it down, then ran it slowly from back to front for a nice clean blade. She blew the blade, held it up to the light to check for burrs, then wiped it down with a rag left on the table. She unscrewed it from the brace and started the process all over again with the second skate.
"Hello?" someone asked.
"Damn, hopefully that isn't some staff coming to tell me I'm not allowed to use the sharpener," she thought.
She craned her neck to glance over her shoulder and spotted a familiar redhead, hair still slightly damp, light freckles on her cheeks, and a full hockey bag weighing her down. Elsa's heart skipped a beat.
"Anna?" she asked.
She flipped off the machine so they could talk at a normal volume.
"Elsa? What are you doing here?" Anna asked as she set her bag on the rental counter.
Elsa paused, then pointed at the skate still in the brace.
"Skate sharpening," she replied.
"Oh, you bought skates," Anna said, then her brow furrowed as she no doubt recognized the high end model, "…hey, wait."
Elsa smiled through a grimace; she was going to have to come clean at some point.
"I… used to play hockey at a high level. Coach Westergard asked me to join the team, and I've decided to take him up on the offer," she said.
Anna stared at her a moment as if digesting the words, then her expression lit up.
"Whoa… really? Cool," Anna said, "that means we're going to be teammates!"
Elsa smiled.
"What if I told you that listening to you talk about the game, how much you love it, is what convinced me to play again," she thought.
Anna had continued talking though.
"Well… we definitely need the help. I just hope that doesn't mean I'll get bumped off the team," she said.
Elsa's brows came together.
"Why, what happened?" she asked.
Anna dropped down into one of the stools near the sharpener.
"I coughed up the puck in overtime and we lost, again," she replied, "my friend says I need to take more shots, but it's hard to do that when we never have the damn puck."
Anna huffed in frustration, and Elsa frowned.
"Well, it's true that you miss every shot you don't take, but if your team doesn't have the puck... I'm sorry to hear that, but why would you be off the team because of a scoring slump?" Elsa asked.
"I don't know. Just a little bummed, I guess," Anna replied. She thumped the toe of her shoe against the ground.
Elsa suspected there was something else going on but she kept the thought to herself. Other than that, she wasn't sure what to say.
"Yeah, overtime losses can be rough, I've definitely been there," she said.
A few seconds passed as Anna stared at the floor, and Elsa stared at Anna, studied her despondent expression. Then the redhead blinked and looked up.
"Where did you used to play?" Anna asked.
Elsa opened her mouth, then paused.
"They'll all know soon enough," she thought.
"I played junior in Norway, and then for…. the… Norwegian Olympic team," she replied, her voice trailing off at the end.
Anna's mouth dropped open in shock.
"No way, you played in the Olympics?" she asked.
Elsa nodded.
"Two years ago. We came in second," she said.
"Though you didn't play in the final, because you were suspended from international competition," she thought. "What would you think, Anna, if you knew the whole truth?"
"Wow, so you're an Olympic silver medalist? That's amazing. What was it like, playing in the Olympics?" she asked.
"It was…"
"It was what I loved doing, playing at the highest level, playing for my country, until it all went wrong," she thought.
"Hey, why are you here by yourself?" Elsa asked.
Anna stopped at the abrupt change in topic, and glanced at her equipment bag.
"Well, we lost, so…" Anna said.
"So… you decided you'd come and practice? On your own?" Elsa asked.
Anna nodded, and Elsa felt the corners of her lips turn up in a small smile.
"I used to do that, practice on my own I mean," she said.
"Ha, cool. You know, I thought something was up when we went for that public skating session… just the way you move…" Anna said, "Hey! Do you want to come skate with me? I'm sure I could use some pointers, and maybe you could send some passes my way for one-timers?"
With how hopeful she looked, her features so full of life, Elsa didn't want to say no.
"I… don't have any equipment," she replied.
"It's okay, we're not really going to be like… playing hard," Anna said, "you can use my spare stick-"
"I'm a lefty," Elsa said.
"Oh… well… maybe next time," Anna said.
"Definitely. No doubt I'm going to need some extra practice to shake the rust off," Elsa said. "My equipment is on the way. I looked around but none of the shops carry Oaken brand gear, so I had to order it."
"Okay… okay. Wow, this is so exciting!" Anna said as she stood up and bounced on the balls of her feet, "I'm going to do some drills, see you later?"
Elsa smiled and nodded. Anna picked up her bag and headed towards the rink, while Elsa restarted the sharpener and finished grinding out a groove in her second skate. Once the that was done, she flipped off the grindstone and vacuum, affixed the skate guards to the still-warm blades so she wouldn't inadvertently cut herself or anything else, threaded the laces through the eyelets, tied them together, slung them over her shoulder, and headed over to the rink. The crisp sound of steel on ice and the echoing bang of puck against boards reached her ears, but as she approached the bench to watch Anna skate, she spotted someone else observing the solo practice session. Coach Westergard stood near the glass, arms crossed, eyes focused on the redhead. Anna had left off her shoulder pads and helmet as she weaved between a series of pucks she had set up as an obstacle course. Elsa's steps slowed, then she made up her mind and walked right up next to Westergard. He glanced down in surprise.
"Miss Anderson, I… didn't expect to see you here," he said.
"I didn't expect to be here, but… now's as good a time as any," she said. "I've reconsidered, and I'd like to join the team, if the offer still stands."
"That's… that's fantastic," he said, "what made you change your mind?"
"I realized I miss hockey," Elsa said. "I just have one small request."
He nodded to indicate she should continue.
"I want to play on a line with Anna," she said as she continued to watch her skate.
"That's… very specific," Westergard said, "I can't make any promises; I have to do what's best for the team in any given scenario, after all, but I'm sure we can work something out."
He held out a hand to shake, and, seeing as he did have a point on how he would have to keep his options open regarding the makeup of the lines and who went out for any given shift, she complied.
"Welcome to the Ice Wolves," he said.
"My equipment is on order, I'll join the next practice after it arrives. Should only be a few days," Elsa said.
He nodded.
"Let me know," he said.
As she left, he turned to continue to watch Anna skate. Elsa pushed out the side door next to the deactivated automatic sliding doors and found her car in the parking lot. As she clicked the seatbelt in, she breathed a heavy sigh.
"Well, you're in it now," she said out loud.
Warm hands caressed her thighs, and thick, red hair filled her vision. Her lover ducked lower, and Elsa smiled in anticipation of the sensation of warm, slick tongue against her sex, swirling her clit. Just as it was about to happen, she awoke with a start. The racing of her heart matched the burning need between her legs.
"Damn," she thought.
She glanced at the clock on the night table, 5:30. The dream started to fade, and she wavered between slipping a hand down to find the wetness she knew to be there and finish herself off, going back to sleep to try and continue the dream, or starting her day. Then she remembered.
"First practice is today," she thought. She glanced across the room at the hockey bag containing her equipment, set against the far wall. The notion of getting a full practice in, not just skating laps or riding a stationary bike, had her up and showering, and the warm sensation in her belly faded into the background and eventually dissipated. Playing wasn't the only thing she looked forward to as she lathered shampoo into her hair.
"Seeing Anna again, playing with her… that should be fun," she thought as she rinsed. "Stop, Elsa. There's nothing there. She has a boyfriend."
A boyfriend who had blatantly hit on her the last time she saw him. She bit her lip and again debated whether to say anything to her new friend.
"If she doesn't believe you though, it'll probably drive a wedge between you," she thought.
Still not sure of whether to say anything, she dressed and headed to the rink. A quick stop behind the rental counter to borrow their glue gun to attach the blades to the composite shafts of her new sticks, then the hacksaw to cut them down to the right length, and she was off to the locker room to change. As the door came within view, her steps slowed and her heart started to pound. About to meet her teammates for the first time, a sense of anticipation, excitement, and apprehension swept through her all at once. She paused with one hand on the metal door, took one deep, steadying breath, then pushed her way in. The familiar scent of old sweat mixed with fruity shampoo brought her back to playing days. All eyes turned to her as she entered and several whispers reached her ears.
"Is this the new girl?"
"She's so skinny, looks like she'll fold in half the first time she gets hit."
There was no sign of Anna, so Elsa did her best to ignore the whispers and stepped into the room to find her locker. She quickly unzipped her bag and started changing.
"Her equipment is brand new, has she even played before?"
"Wonder who's off the team if she gets to start."
The door opened again and Rapunzel and Anna entered. Elsa's heart skipped a beat as she saw her, and she couldn't help but break into a smile as they made eye contact.
"Red hair brushing against my thighs, her tongue hitting just the right spot."
Elsa prayed for the color to stay off her cheeks as she looked away.
"Well look who's here," Rapunzel said as she dropped her bag next to Elsa's. She tapped her fist against Elsa's shoulder and grinned. "I'm curious to see what you can do."
Elsa took a deep breath.
"Don't expect too much, it's been a while since I suited up," she said.
"Yeah, yeah, already making excuses," Rapunzel said, but her smile let Elsa know she was only joking around.
The blonde started to strip down, and Elsa glanced to Anna, several lockers away. They made eye contact again, and Anna gave her a small wave and a smile.
"Just don't embarrass yourself out there," Elsa thought.
With practiced motions, she taped up her stick blades to give them a little extra grip when handling the puck. She also taped off the top of the sticks so the sharp corners of the cut-ends didn't damage her gloves or hurt anyone else on the ice. Then she was ready. Skate guards still on, she walked to the bench, set her water bottle down, stripped off the guards, and took to the ice. As soon as she set foot on the frozen sheet, her awareness of the surface and everyone on it opened up like it always did. She sprinted one quick circuit of the rink, then settled near center red line to stretch. Anna slid to a stop near her as Elsa used her body weight to press down slid her knees as far apart as she could bear. Anna knelt down and joined her.
"Are you nervous?" the redhead asked.
"A little. I haven't shot a puck in almost two years," Elsa said. She averted her eyes from Anna's as she spoke, but she could still feel her stretching, could still sense her thighs spread wide.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine… but I should warn you, Coach Westergard takes hockey very seriously," the redhead said.
A loud whistle blast echoed around the rink, and practice started. Anna wasn't joking. After just ten minutes, the stitch in Elsa's side felt like a twisting knife, and she hunched over with her stick across both knees as she gasped for breath. She took one more deep breath and stood up straight to see Anna had skated over.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," Elsa replied, "it's going to be a few weeks before I'm back in hockey shape."
"You could be in shape right now, if you wanted," she thought.
She knew if she dug deep, all the way down to the core of her being, she could find the energy to keep skating, but doing that was always followed by a strange sort of detachment, one Elsa didn't fully understand.
"No. Best to avoid that unless I really need to," she thought.
Another short blast from the coach drew both of their attentions.
"Alright, you may have noticed we have a new skater in practice today. Allow me to introduce Elsa Anderson," Coach said. "Everyone welcome her to the team, and I have no doubt she'll be in game shape soon enough. For the second half of today's practice, we're going to have a little scrimmage. We'll start with these teams and change up if we need to."
He rattled off names, and Elsa moved to the bench with the black jerseys slung over the boards. She couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed that Anna would be on the white team.
"What position do ye play?"
Elsa looked over to see another redhead, this one with a blue C sewn onto her chest, the team captain.
"Merida Dunbroch," she thought as she recalled her conversations with Anna.
"Center," Elsa replied.
"Right, ye can play with me, we'll see what ye can do," Merida replied. Elsa nodded and skated out to take the faceoff.
Without an oven to soften the molding gel inside her boots, her feet ached as she broke in the new skates, and her brand-new stick was still unfamiliar. Still, she didn't play badly. She won a few faceoffs, lost a few, made a few good passes, scored once on Alice, the blond goalie, and set Merida up a couple more times. It was a far cry from how she'd been able to play at her peak, but she knew it would come back. At one point, she went into the corner to retrieve the puck, and her unique sixth sense warned her someone was coming. Elsa spun away at the last second just as someone, she wasn't sure who, flew past her and slammed into the glass.
"Welcome to the team check, maybe. Too bad for you," she thought as she skated away with the puck.
Just when she started to feel comfortable, if completely out of breath, coach Westergard blew his whistle a final time.
"Alright, hit the showers. I expect everyone to ready for out next game, Tuesday," he said.
Merida tapped her on the shinpad with her stick as she skated by towards the bench.
"Not bad Anderson, make sure you hit the gym," the team captain said.
"I will," Elsa said. Anna skated up to her next.
"Hey, are you sure you're out of shape? You weren't kidding; you're pretty good," she said.
"Thank you," Elsa replied.
"Over there in the corner, how did you know that check was coming? I thought Jessica was going to kill you," Anna asked.
"Oh, you saw that? I don't know… I always played against girls who were older than me, so I had to develop a sense of where everyone was, otherwise I'd end up on my back seeing stars," Elsa replied.
"You played outside of your age range? By how much? Is that even allowed?" Anna asked.
"Hmm. When I was six, I played against ten-year olds, and when I was nine, I was in a league for twelve- to fourteen-year-olds. Then I was in Juniors, and the Olympics before my eighteenth birthday, so… I kind of always had to know where everyone was," she replied.
"Whoa, good thing, I guess," Anna said.
"Yeah, after one or two, you learn pretty quick how to avoid being hit," Elsa replied with a small grin.
The rest of the ice had emptied, leaving just the two of them drifting around the frozen surface. By unspoken agreement, they turned towards the locker room. By the time they'd stripped out of their equipment though, all of the shower stalls were occupied. Anna hesitated at the entrance to the showers, while Elsa proceeded straight past her and a couple of other girls to the open section where a half-dozen showerheads stood unused, probably because nothing separated them.
"Guess it's true what they say about prudish Americans," she thought. Of course, Norwegians held no such compunctions whatsoever, and she nonchalantly hung her towel up on the wall and turned the spray on full blast. After apparently waffling for a moment or two, movement out of the corner of Elsa's eye caught her attention, and she noticed Anna take the farthest showerhead away from her, diagonally all the way in the opposite corner of the room.
She politely avoided glancing at the redhead, even though it felt like a magnet pulled her head towards her naked, showering form.
"Don't be a pervert," she thought. A third girl joined them, another blonde that Elsa didn't recognize.
"Peer pressure," Elsa thought with a smirk.
She focused on herself to finish up quick, wrapped a towel, and returned to the locker room to change. Anna followed shortly thereafter and remained uncharacteristically quiet, at least until she got her underwear on and hung her towel up.
"So, I heard you're going to be hitting the gym," Anna said, "think I can tag along? Maybe you can give me some pointers."
"Uhm," Elsa said.
"YES!" her brain shouted at her.
"Sure, why not," she replied as she hefted her bag. Anna, as if suddenly noticing like she was about to be left behind, quickly scrambled to get her t-shirt over her head. Elsa raised an eyebrow as she twisted and struggled to drag it across her damp skin.
"That's too cute," she thought. Then her gaze dropped down to Anna's navel and Elsa swallowed. She was nearly at the point of asking Anna if she needed help when the redhead finally managed to yank her shirt down to her waist.
"Yeah… I know how to dress myself, I swear," Anna mumbled. Elsa smirked as she waited patiently. They exited the locker room together and walked towards the parking lot.
"So yeah, gym. I mean, I really want to get better this year, and I figure, you've probably had trainers and everything," Anna said.
"It's always more fun with a partner," Elsa replied.
She knew she might be making a huge mistake, but she shoved the notion aside for now and simply enjoyed the moment for what it was. The sliding glass doors leading to the parking lot opened and Elsa stopped at the sight of Hans Westergard, Anna's boyfriend, leaning against the grill of his truck.
"Hey babe!" Anna said as she bounced over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. A sense of nausea slithered up from Elsa's gut.
"He'd cheat on her in a second, given the chance," she thought as she recalled his flirting at the outdoor rink.
Boyfriend and girlfriend chatted a little bit and he tossed her bag into the bed of his truck.
"Elsa, do you need a ride?" Anna asked. Elsa's eyes flicked to Hans, who smirked and winked at her from behind Anna.
"No thank you, my car is right over there," she replied. "I'll text you with a time."
"Okay, see you!" Anna said, and with a wave, she stepped up into Hans' truck.
Elsa waved and walked towards her own car.
"They're probably going to go have sex, right now," she thought. The happiness of practice and simply being with Anna gave way to a familiar bitterness, and a sudden chill breeze ruffled her clothing.
"Careful," she thought as she dropped her bag into the trunk, "don't let your emotions get the better of you."
She slipped into the driver's seat, slid the key into the ignition lock and let the keychain hang there as she thunked her forehead against the steering wheel.
"She's such a good, happy, carefree person," Elsa thought, "and he… what, Elsa, what did he do? He flirted with you, but that doesn't mean he's cheating on her. Maybe you just want it to be true, because then she would be single."
Her phone chirped. Was it Anna?
She glanced at it: Dad.
Elsa sighed and tapped out a response: "I'm fine, just busy. Talk soon."
Elsa opened her eyes and started to sit up, but stopped short as the familiar aching pain shot through her thighs.
"Come on, it wasn't that bad," she thought. Westargard had driven them hard, but she'd been through plenty of comparable sessions when she played full time and also while training for the Olympics.
Slowly, she hobbled to the bathroom and into the shower. The scalding water took some of the edge off her sore muscles, and Elsa lingered under the stream a little bit longer than necessary. Luckily, they had the day off from practice today; if she had to go back out onto the ice right away, she might do some actual damage.
"Still, I should get some conditioning in," she thought. She texted Anna to ask if she wanted to meet at the school's gymnasium. The response came almost immediately: "Sure! What time?"
Elsa tapped out a response, asking Anna to meet her in about an hour. She changed into a pink and black microfiber top and black track pants and headed down to the ground floor for complimentary breakfast. After a quick ham, eggs, and toast, she was off to campus. She entered the gymnasium, pants swishing as she walked, to find Anna wearing a faded cotton t-shirt and black runner's shorts, waiting by the stationary bikes. Elsa couldn't help but smile when the redhead waved to her.
"Hey," she said, "how are you feeling?"
"Sore," Elsa replied.
"You sure you want to do this?" Anna asked.
"Have to," Elsa replied. "We'll stick to upper body today, maybe some light cardio."
They started with a slow jog on the treadmills to warm up, while Anna peppered her with questions about what kind of exercises would help improve her game. Then they moved to weights and took turns spotting one another. They followed that up with a forty-minute run, which was more of a slow, ponderous jog for Elsa. Even so, by the end, sweat beaded on her brow and walking felt funny. They finished with stretches, and Elsa pointedly looked away as Anna's shorts rode up to the very top of her cream-colored thighs.
"I'm starving," Anna said, "brunch?"
Elsa nodded, and they walked across the parking lot and hiked the hill to the cafeteria together. Inside, Anna gravitated to a 'now hiring' notice taped to a doorframe near the entrance.
"Oooh," she said as her lips formed a tiny 'o' shape. Elsa raised an eyebrow.
"Looking for a job?" she asked.
"Yup, need a little spending cash," Anna replied as she pulled off one of the tabs with the cafeteria phone number on it. Elsa nodded. They both went through the turnstiles and picked through the various options. The cafeteria sported a deli, a grille, fresh fruits, desserts, snacks, and a pair of soda fountains. Elsa picked up grilled fish fillet and fries, while Anna opted for a sub. They paid with their school discount cards, and Elsa led the way to seats near the window, where the mid-morning sun streamed in. She glanced outside as trees swayed in the breeze and admired the view for a moment.
"Ooh, I should have gotten fries too," Anna said, "do you mind?"
Asking permission was apparently merely a formality as the redhead picked one up and popped it in her mouth.
"Ow, hot," she said as she sucked some air in to try and keep from singing her tongue, "but sooo good."
Elsa blinked.
"That's something someone does on a date. Is she sending you a signal?" she thought. "Maybe she's just like that?"
Anna was talking but Elsa couldn't hear a word she was saying as her eyes focused on the redhead's fingers as they plucked a second, then a third French fry from her plate and they found their way to her mouth.
"But it can't be a date, she has a boyfriend," Elsa thought, "you're being stupid. Stop being stupid."
"Elsa?" Anna said. Elsa blinked again and realized Anna had stopped talking some time ago.
"Sorry, I got distracted," Elsa said.
"I see that. Is everything okay?" Anna asked.
The look of concern on her face almost made Elsa's heart melt and turn into a puddle of goo beneath the table. She put on a smile for the redhead.
"Yes, I just have a lot on my mind," Elsa replied.
"Yeah, with playing hockey again, must be," Anna said. "Still, must feel good to get that first practice out of the way."
"It really does. I can't wait for our first game together," Elsa said.
"Shit, did you really just say that?" she thought.
But Anna only broke into an eager smile.
"Me either!" she said.
Elsa felt her lips spread into a broad grin as Anna accepted the comment without question, then took a huge bite out of her sandwich. Elsa responded by slicing a small piece of grilled fish and chewing slowly. Anna started talking about Rapunzel and Kristoff, her two close friends from high school, then her nose crinkled in the cutest way as she laughed, and Elsa's heart skipped a beat again.
"What have I gotten myself into…" the blonde thought.