Anna got up just before the sun that next morning with a heavy groan. It was minutes before her alarm went off, and as much as she hated it, it wasn't enough time to bother falling back asleep.
The bonfire is tonight.
Despite Kristoff's pleas last night, Anna couldn't bring herself to go. She could already see herself awkwardly stuffing her face at the snack table by herself.
"I'm not stopping you," she'd told him when she refused to budge on her decision.
She sleepily dragged her feet across the room and knocked twice on the bathroom door connecting her room to Elsa's before she remembered that Elsa had moved back home last night. Elsa hadn't just cleared out her room, she'd taken her facewash and her toothbrush too. She even took her bathrobe and slippers. But she hadn't taken her shampoo. Anna decided to try it, and couldn't explain the strange empty feeling after when she realized how much the lingering scent in her hair reminded her of her cousin.
It was strange how much her presence had affected her. They barely spoke a word to each other all summer up until days ago and yet, Anna felt so gawky around Elsa. But now that she wasn't there, Anna felt a bit weighed down. Quite the opposite from the last several summers. Elsa's departure used to be accompanied by relief. Anna could get up in the morning without worrying about her frayed hair before going down to breakfast. But now she was far more aware of her absence, and of that funny ache that persisted in the pit of her stomach.
Anna hurried getting dressed. She threw on a pair of faded torn jeans, an unironed red and black plaid top, her dusty red converse shoes, and pulled her damp hair into two messy braids. So unpretty, she fleetingly thought as she glimpsed herself in the mirror before she bent over and quickly tied her laces. She wanted to give herself extra time to drive her pickup to the shop. Audrey's Auto Repair didn't open until eight, but there was always a line of clients waiting at the gate long before that and Anna wanted to be the first in line.
It's just gonna be another loud drunken party. No reason to go. But she couldn't deny that a part of her had wanted to go after all. And she'll be there too.
"Be sure to take her real slow," her father told her before he and mother headed off to the cattle auction. "Make a few stops and let her engine cool if you must. Call Kristoff if you get stuck."
Ten miles took about an hour. Anna typically flew on those country roads with the windows rolled down and wind running through her hair, but today she was practically crawling at 30mph. She stopped three times when the engine started to overheat, and waited with the hood popped open for it to cool off. Her hands were blackened from the grease and she wondered if Elsa ever got her hands dirty. But she couldn't imagine those perfect pristine fingernails soiled with oil and engine muck. She remembered how soft those hands were, and a warm blush crawled up her collar.
"Having some car trouble, hon?" A woman called out through the rolled down window from the car stopped in the next lane over. They were both waiting at the first light going into town.
Anna immediately recognized her and leaned toward her passenger window. "Yeah, I'm dropping her off at your shop," she explained to Audrey Ramirez, the owner of the Audrey's Auto Repair, and longtime family friend. "She's been overheating."
Audrey couldn't miss the trail of white smoke creeping from the hood of the old pickup.
"Park her up in front of the back gate. Don't worry about blocking the driveway," Audrey said just as the light turned green and she started creeping forward. "I'll meet you there after I pick up breakfast."
Audrey drove straight past the light, and Anna turned left. She drove straight to the back of the shop and parked in the driveway up against the back gate. Just in time too, the steam was now hissing loudly through the crevices of the hood. As soon as she cut the motor, the large garage door of the shop rolled up and one of the front counter employees stood holding a clipboard under his arm and stared at her, glaring under the rising sun.
"You can't park there!" he yelled, walking toward her now. "Can't you read?" He pointed to the sign on the chain-linked gate. "You need to park up at the front and get in line."
Anna cursed under her breath.
Of all people…
After Hans quit, rumors had it that he'd moved on to Sacramento. Something about him getting a fancy internship with the prosecutor's office. Surprising really, considering that his daddy cut him off a few years back after he got expelled from Isles College, a private university founded by his own great-great grandfather. A fact that Hans often bragged about before they kicked him out for smashing the founder's statue with his sports car during a drunken drag race. Hans got off the hook with the law, but it cost daddy-big-bucks a chunk of change.
And yet here he was, still in town, dressed in a crisp white shirt and khakis, and glaring at Anna with those dogged eyes.
"Why, if it isn't our resident Plain Jane!" He exclaimed mockingly as he got close enough to see her face under the glare. "I see you still haven't figured out how to use a hairbrush."
Anna climbed out of the truck, self-consciously glancing at her reflection in the side mirror before she swung the door shut. Her braids were frayed and there was a smudge of grease under her chin. She wanted to wipe it off, but she couldn't bear the thought of his satisfied smirk, knowing that he had gotten to her. He always got to her.
"I got permission from Audrey to park here," she told him gruffly as she rounded the pickup, and she wondered how she'd ever considered him handsome.
"Is that right?" He stared suspiciously, but he wasn't stupid enough to shrug her off, especially knowing that the Aarons and the Ramirez's went way back.
"Sure did. I'm surprised to see you here though, especially after you told my father that you were too good to be doing something so decidedly beneath you," Anna held up her keys. "How is it going in Sacramento?"
Hans begrudgingly yanked the keys from her hand and stuck them to the clipboard.
"You'll need to sign in at the front counter. Wait in line until we open." And with that said, he stormed off.
As soon as he disappeared back into the shop, Anna felt her entire body unclench and she exhaled sharply. To say that Hans Isles rubbed her the wrong way was like saying that the earth was round and the sky was blue. It was as certain as the stars in the cosmos.
As certain as Elsa Aaron's azure blue eyes.
At a minute past eight, Hans opened the office doors and the long line moved forward. Anna checked in and looked on as one of the shop boys wheeled the pickup into the garage bay for inspection. Audrey showed up minutes later with an extra cup of coffee for Anna before she disappeared into the garage. No cream, two sugars.
Forty minutes later Audrey came back with the bad news.
"We're looking at a head gasket replacement," she told Anna. "Oil leaked into the radiator too, but luckily we can just flush it and it should be fine. We will have to replace the hoses, though."
Anna could already see a good chunk of the money she'd earned that summer quickly disappear, even with the discount Audrey usually applied.
"It's gonna be at least a few days. I should have it ready for you by Thursday, but don't worry about gettin' home, I'll make sure Hans gives you a ride."
She politely declined. There was no way in hell that Anna was going to take any rides from Hans Isles, no matter how nicely his shirts were pressed or how brightly his teeth sparkled whenever he turned on the charm. Not that he ever turned it on in her direction.
"You sure?"
"It's fine, Audrey. I've already arranged for Kristoff to pick me up."
But he didn't answer. Anna let the phone ring and hung up just before it went to voicemail. Minutes later she rang him again, and still no answer. She left him a message this time, and it wasn't pretty.
"So much for Kristoff's help," she grumbled to herself under her breath.
She wandered to the corner lot, and took shelter against a tarp-covered fence. It was hours away from midday, and the heat was becoming unbearable, her neck and scalp already beading with sweat. She probably never sweats, she thought as she considered going back inside. But going back into the air-conditioned shop meant admitting she had no ride. It meant an insufferable car ride with Hans. And that was a favor she didn't want to owe.
But there was one other person that she could call. Anna wondered if it was too early to call at nine a.m. on a Saturday, but she dialed before she lost her nerve.
"Hello, Elsa? It's me, Anna. I was hoping you could do me a favor."
~X~
It would be another twenty minutes before Elsa arrived to pick her up. She sounded wide awake over the phone, but Anna could hear a sleepy Jane grumble and whine in the background, and figured that she'd woken her up after all.
Within minutes of that call, Anna found herself near a dried up rose bush at the back of the shop, moving along with the shifting shade as the sun climbed higher. She supposed she could have gone back to the shop and waited to be picked up in the waiting room after all, but the idea of having Hans' glare burn holes into the back of her neck was hardly appealing.
Anna was surprised to find Esmeralda Romani loitering at the back door of the shop. She wasn't sure how long she'd been there, but Esmeralda looked restless and out of place. Anna considered calling out to her, but she wasn't certain if Esmeralda would even remember her. Not only were they in different graduating classes, but they were also in very different social circles. Esmeralda Romani was not at all rich, but she ran with the glitter and glam crowd. Girls in skimpy outfits who knew every hot club scene, rave, or house party ahead of the crowd; who blew up twitter with the latest trends and gossip. A darling of local social media. Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat; you name it and Esmeralda Romani ruled it with hordes of followers hanging onto her every word.
Anna had a Gmail account.
The backdoor opened and Hans sauntered out. Anna ducked behind the rose bushes and froze when Hans wordlessly pressed Esmeralda up against the wall and engaged her mouth in a long breathless kiss. Even someone like Esmeralda Romani was not immune to his charms. They kissed like they meant it too. Not those soft innocent pecks that her parents exchanged in the mornings. Their kisses had a rawness to them, and Anna felt compelled to look away. Her own lips ached as she remembered the kiss that was taken from her all those many days ago, and she wondered what it meant to long for something that she didn't quite understand.
Elsa's dark blue Audi rolled into the parking lot and Anna quickly bolted, not bothering to mask her presence. She practically skid on the front passenger seat when she pulled open the door and ducked inside.
"Thanks for the ride," she mumbled. Anna felt her face go bright red and she couldn't quite look her cousin in the eye.
"Anytime."
She wasn't so sure why she was so embarrassed. Maybe it was because she practically had been spying on Hans and Esmeralda not one minute ago. They were obviously hiding their relationship. What normal couple meet up by a back entrance near a dumpster? But Anna never got this embarrassed whenever she was forced to ask couples sucking face in front of her school locker to move out of the way.
Whatever her reasons, she felt even more self-conscious sitting next to Elsa. Even the tips of her ears burned.
She smells nice, Anna noted. She smells nice and she probably just woke up too.
She bit back the sudden urge to lean over and sniff her cousin. If I do that it's official, I'm creepy. Elsa will tell Jane, and Jane will tell every soul in Aarondale that Anna Aarons is a creepy farmer fangirl. No thank you.
Anna stole a glance at Elsa.
She was dressed in stylishly torn cutoff shorts and a sleeveless drapey top. A cluster of silver bracelets clinked around her wrist as she brushed her bangs away from her eyes. Even in something so simple, Elsa looked elegant. Anna wasn't sure if it was because her cutoffs were so short, but Elsa's toned and slender legs seemed longer somehow.
"Are you going to the bonfire tonight?" Elsa asked, and Anna quickly averted her eyes, stiffly staring forward.
"I don't know. I don't think so."
"Kristoff will be disappointed."
"He can always go without me."
Elsa looked like she wanted to add something, but whatever it was, she didn't bother to say. The car pulled out of the parking lot, and Anna stared out the window as they drove in the opposite direction of her house.
"I have an errand to run before I drop you off," Elsa explained. "I hope you don't mind."
"It's fine," Anna replied. She wondered again about that feeling in the pit of her stomach, the ache and longing for something she couldn't quite put into words. It was a frustrating feeling that left her baffled and nervous. "I'm in no rush to be anywhere."
And for once, a part of her hoped that time could stand still.
~X~
"Is it supposed to do that?" Elsa asked, a perplexed brow raised up high. She held up the giant foaming brush for Anna to see. Elsa had never washed a car before that day, let alone been to a self-service car wash. Anna didn't have to ask Elsa to confirm her suspicions. She could see it in her cousin's eyes.
"You use it to scrub down the car," she replied pulling the second brush hanging from the rack, foam dripping thickly from its bristles. "Watch me first. Just remember to scrub the rims and tires last."
Anna felt oddly confident knowing that she was the one leading for once. Perfect Elsa depending on her. Maybe it was silly. After all, they were just washing her car. But she liked the feeling a lot more than she wanted to admit.
Anna began with the rear window, scrubbing hard and quick in long strokes before she moved onto the body. Elsa observed her for a moment, then quickly started with the front window, mimicking Anna's movements. She looked uncomfortable swiping the brush up and down and moving around the car in her strappy wedges. Anna was about to suggest that she take them off when Elsa bent over and unfastened the straps, kicking her shoes off to the side. Her shirt had ridden up and when she came back up her pale skin was exposed over the hem of her shorts. Anna tried her best not to look, unable to explain why she persistently failed.
The self-service car wash had been Anna's idea. They'd already pulled into Oaken's Car Sauna & Detail and parked, when Anna reached over and stopped Elsa from unbuckling her seatbelt. She ignored the tingling in her fingers when their hands bumped.
"You can't be serious," she'd told her. "Forty dollars is ridiculous for a car wash."
"But we always get our cars detailed here."
"Not today."
Elsa had looked bewildered when she read through the different wash modes on the coin select box at the self-service car wash.
"Are you telling me that this single nozzle sprays tire cleaner, water, and wax rinse?" Elsa had asked as she pointed at the spray gun.
She looked serious as she diligently scrubbed the rims. So focused, Anna mused. You'd think she was performing brain surgery.
"Gross," Elsa grimaced. Oily grime had splattered off the brush onto her thighs, streaking down her legs.
It was a temptation Anna could not ignore.
Summer had been so boring before that past week. It would have blown past like all the others had it not been for Elsa. Whether it was good or bad, Elsa was to blame, and Anna suddenly felt impishly inspired to get her back for the confusion of the past several days. So she grabbed the spray gun and switched the setting to rinse. She aimed the nozzle and, without a second thought, pulled the trigger. Drenching Elsa from the waist down.
Elsa shrieked. Another first.
"Anna!"
Elsa dove for the second spray gun and turned it on her cousin, getting her square in the chest. Anna couldn't contain her laughter even as she tried to duck behind the car, but Elsa came after her, her laughter ringing in the air.
The girls' squeals could be heard down the block as they continued to splash each other. Anna fired back, but Elsa was determined not to stand down. They were drenched from head to toe by the time the timer ran out.
"You should come tonight," Elsa said as she squeezed the water out of her silvery blonde hair.
It startled Anna to realize how breathless she suddenly felt. And squeamish.
She had to be coming down with something. The flu, maybe. But the sensations were unlike any flu she'd ever experienced. It wasn't a nauseating feeling like she normally expected, it was more like a tingling. A fluttery sensation that left her feeling breathless and restless, and terribly flushed, even as cold water dripped down her hair and clothes.
"I don't know." Anna looked down at her shoes. A puddle of water had formed at her feet. "I hardly know anyone that's going."
Elsa tugged at Anna's wet sleeve as she hunched over and peered at Anna's downcast face.
"You know me," she told her. "And you know Kristoff. And Jane."
"Yeah."
"At least think it over."
She was still wet when she got into the car and eased onto the leather seats. Elsa had insisted despite Anna's protests. In fact, it seemed that Elsa was not someone that accepted no for an answer. Anna had been squeezing the water from the hem of her jeans when Elsa suggested she take them off and strain them out by hand.
"Hand them to me, I'll do it for you," she had an expectant look in her eyes, and Anna wondered if Elsa realized exactly what it was that she was asking of her.
"No way. We're out it public. Someone will see!"
Elsa ignored all objections and Anna nearly died from sheer embarrassment when she found herself being pantsed in the car wash stall with just the open car door and Elsa to block any onlookers.
Anna was still bright red when Elsa dropped her off at home fifteen minutes later.
"Maybe I'll see you tonight?" Her cousin pressed once again, her face lit up wistfully.
"I'll think about it."
Elsa drove off and Anna watched her go until her car disappeared down the long dusty driveway. Her hair was still dripping wet when she made her way inside to the kitchen. Kristoff stood behind the island counter making himself a sandwich, with a slice of white bread half stuffed in his mouth. He looked up, biting off a chunk even as he curiously knit his brows at her.
"What happened to you?" He mumbled with a mouthful.
"Um, w-water," Anna dumbly replied. She wanted to gripe at him for not answering his phone earlier, but that weird fluttery and queasy feeling had not gone away yet, and it was leaving her tongue-tied. If anything, it seemed to have gotten worse.
Kristoff raised a brow and took a sip from his coke.
"You're creeping me out," he told her.
"Huh?"
"That look on your face. Like you're lovesick or something. Stop it, it's creepy."
Kristoff grabbed a slice of bread and playfully mashed it over Anna's face, laughing obnoxiously as she peeled it off. It was just what she needed to snap her out of her stupor. So she thanked him by kicking him in the shins. Hard.
~X~
They left for the bonfire just before sundown.
Anna had tried on every shirt in her closet before reluctantly settling on a pink and white plaid top buttoned over a wife-beater. It frustrated her to realize that most of her shirts were practically the same boyish style with only minor variations. And for the first time, she regretted all those times she declined her mother's offer to take her shopping.
She dug out the dusty makeup kit her aunt gave her the year before on her 17th birthday. Anna never cared for makeup. The most she ever did in the name of beautification was wash her face with antibacterial soap. Her own mother had never pressed Anna with those things. Jenn Aarons liked gussying up and going out dancing whenever she and her husband could spare the time, but Anna's mother had always understood that she just wasn't that girl, the kind that used makeup, and wore pretty dresses, and fluttered her eyelashes at boys.
But today Anna didn't mind applying a tad of something different. A touch of lip-gloss. Pink and glittery, but not so much that it would stand out. She tweezed her eyebrows too, just enough to give them a clean look. The first and last time she'd ever tried to shape them, she'd ended up with one brow higher than the other. Her homeroom teacher had called on her every day that week, mistaking her crooked eyebrows for confusion.
Anna and Kristoff hitched a ride with Ryder after Kristoff volunteered them to help load and unload the kegs. Two half barrels and a sixth with light beer for the drinkers who couldn't hold their liquor. The things he volunteers us for just to get free beer. But secretly, Anna hoped that he'd packed the beer hat with the giant straws.
They set up the drinking stations and guests gradually began to show. Adam Beastly brought six bottles of tequila from his father's stash, and Tadashi Hamada donated a dozen bags of party-sized chips from his family's convenience store. Someone brought brownies, which excited Anna but Ryder cautioned her against them.
"Trust me, you don't wanna dig into those."
And yet, five minutes later he was helping himself to a couple of those brownies, and washing them down with beer.
Every time Anna heard the sound of a car door slam shut, she looked anxiously toward ol' Stu Hopps' overgrown field, where all the new arrivals parked their cars in rows. It was hard to hide her disappointment each time it turned out not to be her.
Anna had finished helping Tadashi assemble firewood into the giant pit when she saw Hans Isles and Merida Dunbroch climb out of Hans's metallic blue Mazda hatchback. It was hardly the fancy sports car that he used to drive around when his daddy used to cover his expenses, but that didn't dampen his boastful rich-boy ways. Even the way he walked was arrogant.
Once an asshole, always an asshole.
Seeing him and his cocky smirk left a bad taste in Anna's mouth and she suddenly wished she hadn't come after all.
Hans walked down toward a group of people that Anna didn't recognize. Merida held onto his arm and pressed against him possessively, and it was not hard to guess that Merida believed the two-timing Han Isles to be exclusively attached to her. At least Anna figured as much, after all, Merida was not the kind of girl who liked to share, especially with a party girl like Esmeralda Romani.
Anna sourly knit her brows. She and Merida had hardly been on friendly terms even when Merida came for horseback riding lessons with Kai and Anna's mother, but Merida had always respected her as a member of the family. Eventually Merida got good enough that Jenn invited her to compete in rodeo events with the farm as her sponsor. She dominated in most events two years in a row and seemed to be satisfied training under Kai, so it was surprising when she suddenly quit this summer.
Now it's not too hard to guess why.
Even so, Anna couldn't help but wonder if she should say something about seeing Hans and Esmeralda together or just keep her trap shut and stay out of it.
Kristoff came up beside her and sneered in Hans' direction.
"Can't believe he has the nerve to show his face after the stunt he pulled," Kristoff grumbled.
"He's hardly killed anyone. There's no law against quitting," Anna pointed out. "Besides, that has nothing to do with anyone here." But she couldn't shake off her annoyance all the same.
"Well, he'd better not try anything with Elsa," Kristoff said as he brushed his fingers through his hair, and Anna realized for the first time that he was wearing cologne and a new cowboy shirt. He'd even shaven the stubble off his face, and had a small nick under his chin to show for it.
Her heart sank.
He's planning on making his move tonight. And he's serious about it this time.
"You still haven't made your move on Aarons, Bjorgman?" Tadashi asked, laughing as he came up behind Kristoff and smacked him on the back. "How long have you been chasing that tail, now? Seven? Eight years?"
"Six," Anna chimed in, forcing a stiff laugh.
"Shut it, you two. And since when are you an eavesdropper, Hamada?" Kristoff fixed his collar and tugged on the brim of his hat to hide his embarrassment, but neither of them were fooled. "Your teasing will be moot after tonight," he muttered.
"Oh? Is that right?" Tadashi replied, but Anna could see that he wasn't convinced by Kristoff's insinuation. "Then I guess it's show time, cowboy!"
Tadashi gave a startled Kristoff a quick shove forward, and before Kristoff could complain, Tadashi pointed toward the Audi that had pulled in and parked in Hopps' field. Elsa and Jane were already climbing out of the car.
"Your prize has arrived."
Kristoff flushed red and turned toward the keg, filling his cup and chugging it down, all within seconds.
"It's now or never," he muttered to himself as he shoved the empty plastic cup toward Anna. He turned to her with a nervous look, but smiled when she gave him an encouraging nod.
One last encouraging word from Tadashi, and Kristoff began making his way toward Elsa, self-consciously checking his breath before he approached.
"What do you wanna bet that he chokes again?" Tadashi grinned broadly, but Anna was in no mood for jokes.
"He'll go through with it," she answered glumly, jabbing her hands in her jean pockets. "I need a beer."
I don't think I can bear to watch.
Leaving Tadashi to spectate on his own, she walked away and smudged off the lip gloss with the back of her hand. Anna wasn't sure why she felt so stupid, but if she didn't do something soon, she was certain she would cry.
She went straight to the snack table in the opposite direction of Elsa and Kristoff, where the first bottle of tequila had nearly been polished off. There was maybe three shots worth left.
This will definitely do nicely.
Anna drained tequila into her cup and topped it off with coke. The warmth began to spread in her chest by the third sip, and before she'd finished the last drop Anna was grinning idiotically, shuffling and swaying toward the nearest bonfire circle, in rhythm with the loud music.
Nearly half of Elsa and Kristoff's graduating class had made it to the party, including some who were a few grades above or below, like herself. Several brought a plus one, including Peter Panning, the class clown, and king of everything immature and obnoxious. Even he'd managed to get a girl to go with him.
"No way! Bjorgman's finally moving in on Aarons?" She heard Peter nearly shout, followed by a loud shush. Probably his date.
"I thought they were already dating," another chimed in.
"You're probably thinking of the kid cousin."
"Who?" yet another voice joined in.
"The tomboy with the braids that always followed him around."
"The farmer girl?"
"Wait, those two are cousins?"
"I would never have guessed."
"I hear their dads are identical twins."
"Elsa's daddy got most of the family inheritance."
"No way!"
Anna crammed a hot dog into her mouth and tugged her cap over her flushed face as she tried to slip away unnoticed.
Unfortunately she couldn't see where she was going and smacked right into Merida, knocking her back onto her ass and dropping the hot dog square in her lap. Ketchup spattered on her face.
"Watch it!" Merida snapped, brushing the hot dog off her skirt and wiping her face, but her frown eased up a little when she recognized Anna.
"So sorry," Anna scrambled to help her up to her feet, and tried to dust off her skirt, before Merida slapped her hands away.
"It's fine," Merida replied less irritably this time, and looking rather embarrassed. "Just watch where you're going, okay?"
Anna nodded then reached awkwardly for Merida's nose, wiping off a fleck of red sauce.
"You missed a spot."
She realized that Merida was by herself. Hans didn't appear to be anywhere in sight. She glanced around just to be sure and, taking a deep breath, she decided that she was not going to stay out of it after all.
I'm so gonna live to regret this.
"Merida, can I talk to you for a bit? There's something that you should probably know."
~X~
She had guessed right. Judging from the face Merida made when Anna told her about Hans and Esmeralda, she didn't have a clue that she'd been sharing her boyfriend. Merida had grown strangely quiet after Anna broke the story to her. Too quiet. There had been an uncomfortable silence before Merida thanked her and walked away.
Anna was still wondering if she'd done the right thing when she made her way back to the snack table for one, two, three more shots and a handful of Cheetos.
So far things had ended up more or less as she'd predicted; alone at the snack table, stuffing her face with chips. She snuck a peek back toward where she'd last seen Kristoff, but there was no sight of him or Elsa. Or even Jane.
Did he ask her already? Maybe they wandered off to be alone somewhere private. She reached for an unopened bottle.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Anna heard Ryder shout behind her. She turned to find him holding up a can of beer and a pen to her face. "Looks like you're in the party spirit. Wanna join me for a game?"
Beer shotgunning.
She put up her hands in protest and was about to turn him down when she caught sight of Elsa and Kristoff just over Ryder's shoulder. They were sitting cross-legged on the ground, the bonfire burning behind them, and they were leaning toward each other as they spoke, smiling. And laughing.
The corner of Anna's mouth twitched and her eyes flickered.
"Yes. Line 'em up," she told Ryder, and he replied with a loud whoop.
The game was simple: the person to drink the most beers within sixty seconds was declared winner. No prizes, no favors, just bragging rights. Pretty stupid, really. And yet there she was, holding the tip of the pen near the bottom of the can, readying for the signal to start. Anna had never played before, though she'd often watched and laughed at Kristoff whenever he did.
"Remember the rules," Tadashi said as he stepped forward from the crowd that was suddenly, and to Anna's mounting apprehension, beginning to circle around them. "Throwing up or passing out before the sixty seconds are up leads to automatic disqualification. Understood?"
Anna nodded mutely, but glassy-eyed Ryder hardly seemed cognizant of what had been said.
"Beer!" He shouted, pulling off his shirt and thumping his chest to the cheering crowd.
She couldn't see Elsa or Kristoff anymore now that a large number of partiers had gathered around them, but she could see Jane pushing her way through the crowd.
"Alright, Anna!" Jane cheered when she cut to the front, holding up her cup of brew. "Never knew you had it in you, farm girl."
She gave Jane a dopey grin, already feeling the effects of the tequila shots she had just taken. For the first time, since she'd known Jane, hearing herself being called farm girl had a welcome ring to it.
I really must be drunk.
Tadashi raised his arm up in the air.
"On my mark," he declared. "Get set. Go!"
He swung his arm down, and Anna instantly jabbed the beer can, and pressed the punctured opening to her lips before she popped open the top. Buzzed as she already was, Anna was not prepared for the torrent of beer that flushed down her throat, and she nearly choked on it.
"Chug! Chug," the crowd chorus, and Anna managed to finish her first beer without coughing it up.
Ryder grunted loudly when he finished his, crushing the can over his forehead. Anna spared no time, and stabbed her second can. By the time she started on her third can, she'd looked up to find Elsa and Kristoff standing amongst the cheering crowd, near the back. Perplexed as he looked, Kristoff had joined the chant.
But the look Elsa gave her.
Anna squeezed her eyes shut and popped open the can, focusing on the task at hand. Her head was flooded with beer now, heavy and light all at once, and her knees buckled slightly. As soon as she finished, her arm dropped heavily onto the table in front of her, half crushing the beer can in her hand against the surface.
It was that same look from the barn. Those wide curious eyes. Anna had made an ass of herself, but Elsa had seemed amused, if anything. It was more than that, though. It was a look that teased and shimmered, and it had left her feeling beguiled.
She cracked open the fourth beer, and fought the gag that came halfway through.
Don't throw up. Don't throw up, Anna silently chanted to herself. But she just couldn't get the rest of the alcohol to go down. Her throat seized up, and the torrent of beer flushed out of the can and down her chin.
Twelve seconds left on the clock and she was already done.
"Looks like we have a winner," Tadashi announced as Ryder slurped up his fourth can and raised his arms in victory. The crowd began their countdown from ten.
"Niiine!"
"Eiiigght!"
"Seeevenn!"
"Siiix-!"
With a wide, confident smirk etched on his face, Ryder ripped out a loud wet burp, and a torrent of tepid beer came pouring out of him. Tadashi jumped back, barely dodging beer vomit, and laughter rippled from the crowd as several pulled out their phone, snapping pictures.
"Two!"
"One!"
Ryder fell to his knees, dry-heaving, and groaned out, "Oh god, oh god," before he spouted several more ounces. Some of it out his nose.
Tadashi took Anna's hand, raising her arm victoriously up in the air.
"Anna Aarons! Ladies and Gentlemen! We have our first winner of the night!" Tadashi shouted even as Ryder struggled to get to his feet.
Jane whooped and Kristoff shook his fist in the air, chanting Anna's name until it was on the lips of every spectator in the crowd. Elsa simply laughed, shaking her head in disbelief.
With nearly four beers in under a minute and, god knows, how many shots of tequila, Anna's legs gave out under her. Tadashi was swift to hold her up, and she quickly steadied herself once more, but the crowd and the stars were swaying so terribly that it made her head spin.
So she laughed. Not that she knew why it was funny, but it simply was. She laughed like she would never stop, squeezing her eyes shut tight as her drunken laughter took a hold of her. When she opened her eyes, Han Isles was standing over her, his face twisted up in a clownish scowl. And she laughed even harder.
Then Hans' fist cracked over her face, exploding over her nose and her cheekbone. Within seconds she was on the ground, and suddenly Han's scowl didn't seem so funny anymore.
It felt like her nose had been shattered into a million pieces, but when Anna reached up and grazed her fingers over the tender nostrils, she could feel it whole and intact. Her eyes teared up and pinched from the pain, and when she licked her upper lip it tasted like pennies.
"You bastard!" She heard Kristoff scream in anger, then a shuffle in the crowd, and she could only assume he was trying to force his way through.
"She broke up with me because of you!" Hans spat out bitterly, and it took her a moment of focus before she was no longer seeing double of him. "I've had it with your family. Your father is just some dirt poor farmer, but he thinks himself better than me. Elsa's nothing more than a self-righteous cock tease. And now you, a nothing. A homely rat, at best."
"Get out of here, man." Tadashi got up to Han's face and shoved him back enough to put some distance between him and Anna. Kristoff was not far behind, already looking like he was ready to pounce, and Elsa just an arm's length behind him, concern painted all over her face.
Anna pushed herself up to her feet. The pain in her face was very real, but the strength in her body quickly recovered with the adrenaline and anger seething in her veins. For all her boldness, she was always uncertain of her own self-worth, always with the doubt. But now she burned.
"I know it was you, Aarons. You saw us, didn't you? So you decided to stick your nose where it didn't belong. You told Merida, and Merida told Esme. And now it's ov-"
Shut up.
A fist tore through the air, cracking loudly over flesh and cartilage.
Hans crumpled hard onto the ground, dropping loudly like a sack of potatoes before he pulled himself to his knees, hunched over, wailing and nursing his nose with both hands. A crowd of stunned, speechless faces with mouths agape looked on as Anna collected her breath from the punch she'd just thrown, her fist clenched tightly and shaking. No one had seen it coming.
Not even Anna.
~X~
There was hardly a scratch on her.
The crowd had quickly dispersed shortly after, relocating back to the bonfires, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows over the flames. A few decided it would be fun to go skinny dipping in the lake. And Hans was left where he had fallen; a tearful, banged up mess.
Anna felt surprisingly fine. She still had a bit of a buzz from the alcohol in her blood, and so long as she didn't touch her nose, it felt as good as new.
"I can't believe you did that," Kristoff voiced in awe. "I never figured you had it in you, Butch."
"The asskicking farm girl of Aarondale," Jane teased. And for the second time that night, Anna didn't mind the nicknames.
Unlike Kristoff and Jane, who were practically in her face, her cousin had hung back, watching in silence where she stood. Anna felt a little bit like a show pony on display the way people kept staring in her direction.
Kristoff pulled the beer hat from a plastic bag and plopped it on Anna's head.
"You've earned this for the night."
Anna was surprised that Kristoff would surrender his favorite hat so willingly, but then she noticed the shy smile he cast in Elsa's direction and Anna just couldn't bring herself to feel glad about it. So she faked a smile.
"If she's not careful, this thing is only gonna earn her a trip to the emergency room," Jane joked as she grabbed the straws and stuffed them into Anna's mouth.
For much of the reminder of that night, Kristoff and Elsa appeared to be joined at the hip. Except for the few times that Jane cut in to steal a dance from her bestie, Kristoff had full monopoly over Elsa's dance card. Anna didn't like dancing. She never knew what to do with her arms and legs. But Jane insisted on pulling her in for a dance and Anna gave in, feeling the bravest she'd ever felt in years. Anna wasn't unnerved by the awkward way she shuffled her tipsy feet or the wooden way she moved her hips, she was too preoccupied wondering what had happened between Kristoff and Elsa.
Jane chuckled.
"You noticed, huh?" Anna looked down, realizing that Jane had caught her staring at them.
"Sort of."
"It seems that your boy and my girl are on a date tonight."
Anna's mouth went dry, and it felt like there was a giant lump in her throat when she swallowed.
"But when—?"
"Just after we got here. He asked her if she would be his date for the night."
He wasted no time. Good for him, I guess. She wanted to feel glad for him, but she couldn't.
"You should have seen the stunned look on her face," Jane beamed smugly. "I've been telling her for years that Kristoff had a thing for her too."
Anna slurped on her giant beer straws, casting a glance in the direction of Kristoff and Elsa, and she was surprised when her eyes met with Elsa's.
She didn't join in more dancing after that.
Anna sat out the next dance, but as soon as she saw Jane coming back for her, Anna disappeared into the crowd and chose to bide her time at the end of the dock. She took off her socks and shoes, and rolled up the hem of her jeans before she dangled her legs into the water. She lay back onto the dock from where she sat and rested her eyes. The hat slipped off her head, and she could hear the beer cans clink and roll off the dock, into the lake. Tonight had been the most she'd drank in ages and she was ready to call it a night.
It wasn't long before she heard a pair of footsteps make their way down the dock.
Great, she found me.
"I refuse to dance another sstep," Anna slurred, not bothering to open her eyes.
"That's probably not a bad idea," a voice that wasn't Jane's replied, and Anna's eyes shot wide open.
"E-Elsa. Hi," she said with unfiltered surprise. "I thought you were someone else."
Elsa unclasped and stepped out of her wedges then joined her on the dock. She sat on the edge and kicked her legs into the cold water. Some of the water splashed back far enough that it sprayed Anna in the face.
"It's pretty dangerous for you to be out here in your condition," Elsa said softly. Laying as she was, Anna could only see her back, but she could tell that Elsa was staring up at the stars. She wanted to sit up, but she was too drunk and her body felt like lead.
"I'm fine," Anna mumbled, and she stared up into the night sky, almost hypnotized by the glittering stars and the lulling sound of the crickets.
"You're not fine," her cousin answered sternly. The sky full of stars disappeared behind Elsa's soft features and her silvery blonde hair when she turned her hips and leaned over Anna's languid form.
She's shimmering too.
Elsa looked as brilliant and shiny as the stars that looked on over them. She seemed to glow through Anna's groggy, alcohol-infused eyes.
"You're drunk off your ass. And your cheek is pretty swollen."
Elsa slowly reached for Anna's face, gently pressing her fingers over her red and swollen right cheek. At that moment Anna felt her breath constrict in her throat, and her skin fluttered where Elsa had made contact.
"It doesn't hurt at all," she lied, all the while wishing she had the strength to push herself up and sink deeper into Elsa's azure eyes.
Why do I care so much?
Elsa continued to gently run her fingers over the swelling, and Anna closed her eyes, feeling electrified and like she was soaring all at once. But then Elsa's hand accidentally bumped against her nose and her brain nearly flew off the rails from the pain.
"Yes, that didn't look like it hurt at all," her cousin sarcastically remarked, but when Anna opened her eyes she could only see a softness in Elsa's eyes. It bothered her that she couldn't read Elsa the way she could most other people.
Do you like Kristoff?
"You have pretty eyes," Anna blurted out, and Elsa stared back at her with surprise. "Like the waters of Crater Lake."
They stayed that way forever, staring into each other's eyes. At least it seemed like forever in Anna's drunken mind. But forever didn't last very long. Elsa scrambled to her feet as soon as she heard Jane call out for her from the distance.
"We need to go," Elsa told her. "Party's over."
She took Anna's hands and pulled her up to her feet. Anna stumbled a bit as she fought against gravity to regain her balance. Elsa slipped on and clasped her wedges, then waited for Anna to pull on her socks and shoes. They were starting back toward the bank of the lake when Anna gasped and suddenly turned back.
"My hat!" She shouted as she ran.
"Be careful, Anna! You'll fall in!" But Anna didn't bother to slow down until she had neared the end of the dock. She grabbed the hat from the edge of the platform, and that would have been the end of it had she not seen the shiny beer cans bobbing in the water.
"I just need to scoop out the cans," she said as Elsa approached and, before her cousin could protest, she kneeled over the edge and reached into the lake. However, she hadn't accounted for how unsteady her arms still were, and she slipped forward headfirst into the cold water.
"Anna!"
Falling into the lake was like getting a sudden infusion of sobriety. Anna latched onto a post and pushed herself back up to the surface, gasping as she came up for air. She looked up and found Elsa kneeling over the edge of the dock, staring down at her and an arm extended.
"Give me your hand."
Anna took Elsa's hand and used her free arm to steady herself on the dock. All she had to do was pull up her knee and push herself out of the water, but they were face to face now. Elsa, shimmering and glowing under the moonlight. Her breath warm on Anna's cold, wet cheeks.
Anna wasn't sure what made her do it. Maybe it was the alcohol, or elation that still lingered after knocking Hans on his ass earlier. Or maybe it was knowing that she was on a date with Kristoff. Whatever it was, when Elsa opened her mouth to speak again, Anna slipped her dripping wet arms around Elsa's neck and took her lips.
Her cousin let out a startled gasp, but she didn't pull away. Her lips, her neck, her shoulders, they felt hot against Anna's wet skin, even as she deepened the kiss. Her body trembled, and she wondered if it was from the restless nerves in her belly, or the cold water.
I want this.
She wanted air too, though.
Slowly, Anna pulled away and wordlessly leaned her head against Elsa's shoulder, her head filled with her fragrance. She was dizzy again and her arms went limp. The last thing she remembered as her head submerged back into the water and she felt herself sink, was the soft glow of Elsa's moonlit eyes.
I think...think I like you.
A lot.
Author's Note: Haven't edited this yet, many apologies for that. Many more apologies because I'm going to be focusing on my other story for while, so I'm not sure when I'll get back to updating this one. I know there are a lot of issues with this chapter, unfortunately I was already nearing the end when I realized it.