Love Thaws: Melting

Never Let Go

She neatly cut the first pancake into disproportional triangles. They were delicious and warm, a fluffy golden-brown. The warm chocolate was warm and melted, making it creamy. Elsa let out a long 'mmm' of approval. A loud crash was heard from the other room and all of their heads whipped around, towards the source of the noise. She felt Jack tense in his seat. A moment later, Anna stumbled out, looking inebriated on sleep. She let out a long yawn, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Can't believe I slept so—ELSA!" Anna's eyes were wide open as she dashed across the room and gave Elsa a crushing bear hug.

Laughter bubbled within her and Elsa smiled brightly. "Good morning, Anna. Slept well?"

Anna drew back and laughed breathlessly. "Never better." 

She glanced behind Elsa, her eyes becoming as wide as the pancakes when she spotted them. She wasted no time in heaping pancake after pancake onto her plate. She raised her eyebrows at Kristoff. He nodded coolly, a small smile on his face, as if to say she could easily eat that much. Anna plopped herself down onto the last wooden chair. She began forking pancakes into her mouth, drenched with sweet syrup.

"So, did you guys sleep well last night? I know I did. Oh, yeah. I already told you guys that. You know, I had this really weird dream about printing chicken urns. I dunno. Didn't make a lot of sense. Well, my dreams usually don't make sense. Ha, what am I saying? I don't make sense! Well, I can make sense sometimes." Anna paused suddenly and looked up. She ducked slightly and blushed when she saw everyone's amused glances. She cleared her throat and looked down at her pancakes.

Kristoff smiled broadly, chuckling quietly. "I slept well, Anna."

Anna whipped her head back up again. She smiled shyly. "Oh. You did? That's good. That's great, awesome, fantastic, brilliant." She opened her mouth and then closed it. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble," she apologized hastily.

Kristoff looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"I don't mind, Anna," Elsa murmured.

"Really?! 'Cause that's... good." Anna shyly glanced down at her plate, though Elsa sensed she wanted to say more.

Elsa was able to finish a second pancake before shoving the plate towards Jack. 

He glanced up. "Full?"

She nodded. He quickly dumped her remaining pancake onto his plate before drizzling syrup over it. Elsa turned towards Anna. "So, what would you like to do today?"

Anna's turquoise eyes lit up. "Do? Oh, I don't know. Anything you want to do. There's tons of stuff to do. We could watch movies, play board games, play card games, play outside games, inside games. Whatever you want."

"Well, what do you recommend?"

Anna raised her eyebrows. "Recommend? Me?" She placed a hand on her chest.

Elsa suppressed a smile and nodded.

Anna sat in her seat for a while, remaining thoughtfully quiet. "Well there's a really pretty trail nearby that I've been meaning to explore, but I haven't gotten the chance yet, but of course if you don't want to go on the trail, I totally understand. We don't have to or anything. I mean... we can if you feel like it, but it's okay if you—"

"A hike sounds wonderful, Anna," Elsa cut off her rambling.

Anna bit her lip and smiled shyly. "Oh, okay."