~ANNA'S POV~
Despite looking older, he hasn't changed at all. Same freckled skin, same buck teeth, same curly brown hair, same wide and bright eyes, same chubby cheeks. Same Olaf! My oldest and most dearest friend! One who I haven't seen in years and who is currently looking at me in confusion.
"Uh yes?" He says, chuckling nervously. "That's what my name-tag says." But when he looks down at his shirt, which had no name-tag, he gasps and slightly turns to face his working coworkers. "Why didn't anyone tell me my nametag is missing?!"
But he was ignored, which he seemed to have expected since he turns his attention back to Kristoff and I rather quickly. "Please excuse them. They have a bad habit of being inconsiderate. My name is Olaf, but you seem to have already know that. Have we met before? You look very familiar."
I practically bounced where I stood. "That's because we used to be best friends!" I say, my eyes tearing up at the memories of us, at seeing him now, at him not remembering me. "It's me. Anna. Anna Arendelle. Our parents were business partners. We-" but I'm cut off when he gasps again, eyes going wide as they fill with shock.
"Oh my flurry!" He shouts, gaining some attention. "Anna! It's you! I can't believe it's you! I knew that face of yours looked familiar! Come here!" And before I knew what was happening, he's reaching forward, over the counter, and pulling me into an awkward hug that I knew must be hurting him since he has the counter stabbing him.
Nonetheless, I hug him back, and nearly sobbed, filled with happiness, which completely overpowered my earlier sadness. I squeeze him tightly as he sways us back and forth and say, "It's so good to see you again, Olaf! How have you been?"
He pulls away from her, his grin reaching to his ears, and says, "How have I been? Oh I'm about to tell you." He turns his head and yells: "Samantha! I'm going on break!"
Which resulted in his coworkers looking at each other then back at him. "We don't even know a Samantha, Olaf." One of them said, which makes me bite my lip to stop myself from laughing.
Olaf hums in response, not convinced. "Hmm I smell lies. Anyway, I'm going on break and you can't stop me."
His coworkers roll their eyes. "Wouldn't dream of it, Olaf." Said one and they go back to their tasks.
Olaf says nothing else as he walks around the counter and immediately links his arm through mine. "So," he starts, leading us away towards the tables, "where shall I begin?"
Someone clears their throat suddenly, gaining both of our attention, and that's when I remembered Kristoff. "Oh!" I say, instantly feeling bad for forgetting him. "Olaf, before we catch up," I link my other arm around Kristoff's to make him feel included, "I'd like you to my friend Kristoff. Kristoff this is my very first friend Olaf. He and I go waayyy back."
Kristoff nods in greeting. "Hey." He says, making me almost snort at the lameness of it. He always was a boy of few words though. Actually, I take that back. He talks more than people give him credit for. Mainly around me because he just loovveess to "argue" with me. Our bickering is fun now, but damn did he ever piss me off in the beginning.
Olaf smiles. "Hey there! It's nice to meet you."
Kristoff smiles back but I could tell it was forced and it was definitely awkward too. "Uh...likewise." I hope he doesn't feel like a third wheel.
Olaf picks the closest table to sit at and as soon as our butts were in the chairs, he starts talking away. He picked up right after the last time we saw each other which was during my aunt and uncle's Christmas Eve party about six years ago, but...I don't remember much of it.
Memories are tricky. They can easily be manipulated and tampered with. Some memories can be seen clear as day, while others are blurry but still there, in pieces. The memory of the Christmas Eve party is a blurry one that's scattered here and there. I don't remember much of it, but...I remember being cold. Really, really cold. Wait, now that I think about it I think that was the last time Arianna and Frederick hosted a Christmas Eve party. Why did they stop? We need to start doing them again. They were fun.
Anyway, according to Olaf, the last time we saw each other was at the holiday party. His father had become stricter than what he was before after the party, which is why I lost contact with him (we used to write letters to each other), and as the years went on, with Olaf not becoming the heir that his father wanted him to be, Olaf ran away.
He made a life for himself at such a young age and is now thriving at 18 years old, at least that's what he says and how he appears to be. He works at the hospital as a cook and volunteers to cheer up patients whenever he can with warm hugs and even better, with CHOCOLATE too! If that doesn't cheer someone up then they are seriously cold hearted.
"I especially love it when the holidays come around," says Olaf, giggling. "There's this man named North who-"
"Who looks like Santa and dresses up to visit the kids?!" I interrupt as the image of my principal flashes through my mind.
Olaf gasps. "You know him? Have you seen him around? I've been meaning to ask him what I want for Christmas this year."
Kristoff snorts. "Halloween just ended, and since people like to skip Thanksgiving, I guarantee you'll be seeing him soon. Like...next week probably."
I giggle, which makes him smile. "Anyway," I look back at Olaf, "the man you speak of is actually our school principal. He's even the grandfather and adopted father to a few of our friends."
"Wow," Olaf breathes out in astonishment, eyes twinkling, "You go to school with Santa! That's amazing!"
I nod in agreement. "Right?! And this guy," I gesture to Kristoff with my thumb, "takes care of the reindeer on North's reindeer ranch. He even owns one named Sven. So I hear. I have yet to discover if it's a lie or not." I cast Kristoff a cheeky smile and he rolls his eyes.
"Why would I lie about having a reindeer?" He asks, his eyes showing humor, telling me he's not annoyed but instead is amused.
"To appear cool," I say without skipping a beat. I pat his shoulder then and say, "Until I see the reindeer, you're a liar."
This gets a chuckle out of him. "I'll keep that in mind."
I giggle but it's cut short when I look back at Olaf and see that he's smirking. It's a look that I give Hiccup and Astrid when they do or say anything to each other. A look I give to Rapunzel and Flynn too. As well as Jack and Elsa.
A look I give to couples or potential couples.
So why the heck is he looking at Kristoff and I like that?
I open my mouth to ask him why he was looking at us like that, but as soon as I do, Olaf says, "You two make a really cute couple. Are you dating?"
And I swear Kristoff and I both stopped breathing.
"W-What?" I stammer, unsure if I heard him right. But instead of waiting for him to answer, I keep going off. "Why would you say that? Do we give off couple vibes? No way! We...we're not...he's a friend. I'm his friend. Friendship is magic! Do you watch My Little Pony? You really should. It's a great show! But yeah, no we're not...um...I'm taken too. Well, I was, but since my boyfriend attacked my sister, which is why I'm even here, I'm single again. Crazy, right? I love crazy, but this kind of crazy is...crazy!"
I end my rambling with awkward laughter and a face hotter than the stove Olaf must have been cooking on earlier. And to stop myself from looking over at Kristoff, I bury my face into my arms on the table.
"Please excuse my rambling," I say into my arms, hoping Olaf would hear. "I'm very stressed out."
"I can tell," I hear him say, "But I am confused and I hope you don't mind explaining. I understand things better when they're explained. What exactly happened with your boyfriend and sister? Is Elsa okay?"
"Yeah," I hear Kristoff agree, "you said you were going to tell me too."
I hesitate before lifting my head up. A part of me knows that I got to explain things since I brought it up, but another part of me doesn't want to say everything out loud. Because if it's not spoken then it's not real, but...that's childish. That's stupid. This is real and I got to accept it.
Whether I want to or not.
Besides, this is something that will stick with me for a while. Might as well embrace it. Better now than later. Because sometimes later can be never.
I lift my head and look at the two of them, telling them with my eyes that I'm dead serious. Landing on Olaf, I finally say: "What happened is that my boyfriend is a piece of shit."
Olaf's jaw drops and Kristoff nods in agreement. They say nothing, waiting for me to explain, and explain away I do. I start from the beginning, when Hans and I first met at Eret's party, the drama that came with it, our dates, all of the happy times and euphoria he brought me, even when we never kissed. Then I told them what Elsa told me. I mentally told myself not to cry, but I did. But not once did I let my tears fall.
Until I say the following words, "And then I left her. I ran out of the room because I couldn't take it anymore. First she says he attacks her, then she says he's cheating on me. In that moment, it was so easy for me to not believe her. She hated Hans from the beginning all because he harmlessly proposed to me. He ended it and we became daters instead of fiances. She even gave me her blessing to date him. And as I stormed off, my thoughts...they were everywhere. But in the very back of my mind, in the deepest depths...I knew she spoke the truth. But what I don't know is how I can make it up to her. I'm too ashamed of myself to confront her."
Olaf reaches across the table and takes hold of my hands. "Anna, you're human. And being human means making mistakes. You know you're in the wrong and you know that you want to fix it. And trust me when I say this, fixing it is easy. All you got to do is apologize-"
"That's easier said than done, Olaf," Kristoff says, then his eyes drift to mine. "But he is right, Anna. Apologize first and then go from there. I know you're probably scared, but guess what?" He leans forward and my heart, for some weird reason, skips a beat at his closeness. "Your sister is scared too."
Our foreheads were almost touching and a weird part of me wanted to close the distance, to feel his forehead against mine. Wow, that's random. "Yeah," I say, nodding. "You're right. Geez, Elsa is probably more scared than I am. She needs me and I...I'm not going to let her down. Not again. Never again."
I'm on my feet in a flash and I'm quick to pull Kristoff out of his seat too, startling him. "Whoa, easy!"
Ignoring him, I say to Olaf, "It was so nice seeing you again, Olaf. What a small world this is. I thought we'd never see each other again. Do you want to come with us to see Elsa? She'd be thrilled to see you again too. And Rapunzel. The Original Gang back together again. We got to get a picture!"
He giggles as he gets to his feet too, but unfortunately he says, "I'd love to, but I got to get back to work. I'm trying this thing called 'responsibility'. It's something I've been working on for years. Apparently it comes with wisdom. Something that comes with age and change, and the older I get the wiser I get. I will, however, visit later when I'm off. What's the room number?"
I give it to him, as well as my number, and sent a silent prayer to God that no obstacle would come in Olaf's way that would prevent him from seeing my sister. He's the exact kind of medicine that she needs to make her happy.
When that was done, Olaf and I hug each other one more time, and away the three of us went. When he was out of earshot, I couldn't hold back my squeals.
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" I say as I squeezed Kristoff's arm that I was holding onto, "I can't believe that just happened! It's been so long! He's still so adorable! It's a sign, Kristoff! A sign, I say!"
Kristoff chuckles as he presses the top button for the elevator. "A sign for what?"
The elevator doors ding open and when we're inside, I say, "A sign for good will. For happiness. That everything will be alright."
Please let it be so, I internally pray.
For a moment, my very buff friend is silent, making me think he doesn't believe me, but then he says, "Perhaps you're right. I love your optimism by the way. It's a good look on you."
My smile is wide when I reply back. "Why thank you good sir. But," I watch as he presses the button to our floor and the doors close, "Don't get used to it. In a few minutes I'm going to be super sick and nervous again."
Kristoff puts a hand on my shoulder, reassuringly. "You'll feel so much better afterwards. You and Elsa both. Don't you want to make her feel better?"
"Of course." What a stupid question.
"Then you know better to chicken out, right?"
"Yes."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Not chicken out."
The doors open up then, exposing the hallway floor that my sister is currently at, which causes my nerves to make my stomach to drop.
"You ready?" Kristoff asks, and while my nerves said no, my heart and brain said yes.
I take a deep breath in, close my eyes, and mentally counted to three. "I was born ready."
Let's do this.
And then I stepped out.
And the more I walked, which was like walking through thick snow, the easier it became as I forced happy thoughts down my throat. We're going to make up, I'm going to be forgiven, we're going to take pictures with Olaf, we're going to make sure Hans gets what he deserves, we're going to talk to our parents, we're going to plan Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years, we're going to do whatever activities the school has planned, we're going to do so much and we're going to be happy.
We're going to be sisters.
We're going to be family.
We already are.
But it's time that we officially act like it. It's time we start off clean because, let's face it, it was never clean the last time she forgave me with Hans. We were smudged. Not clean. We got to make a pact, promising each other to never let a stupid boy make us question each other. The pact must be done with BLOOD! Okay, maybe that's too far. Maybe that hand and spit thing? Nah, Elsa would rather take the blood I think. Wait! A pinkie promise! That'll do nicely. Anyone who breaks a pinkie promise is a real dick, and Elsa is not a dick at all.
Hans is.
And it's so weird because, after convincing myself that I love him, I...I find myself realizing that I don't. When someone you love does something bad you still love them even though you know you shouldn't, but...as I walk these halls to my sister I find myself truly listening to my racing heart and...and she's telling me that I could care less about what happens to Hans.
He can go rot in hell.
Which means...I never loved him at all. If I loved him, I would care, but I don't. I want him to go to hell, to feel pain, to..to...well...I think that's enough dark thoughts for now. I don't have time to drown in them anyway. My focus will only be on my sister.
When Kristoff and I make it to Elsa's room, I cautiously peek inside to see what everyone was doing.
Jack was talking to my uncle, while my aunt, cousin, and Elsa were in a braid train. Aunt Arianna was braiding her daughter's hair, while her daughter was braiding my sister's hair, and seeing Elsa made my heartbeat peak. Her head was leaning back as Rapunzel braided her hair, and with her neck exposed to the room's bright lights, the bruises on her neck were clear to see. Bruises that Hans, my now ex-boyfriend, put there. Bruises that are currently making me tear up again.
I hesitantly lift my hand and knock on the door to gain their attention. I clear my throat for extra measure and sheepishly say, "Um...hey."
When their eyes landed on me I felt small. Very, very small. But instead of heated looks, all of their eyes, Elsa's especially, were filled with relief. They should not be happy to see me after the way I acted, which I'm sure Jack knows of, but I'm glad that they're not.
"Anna," my sister breathes out, her voice proving to me just how relieved she is to see me. That caused more tears to blur my vision.
"Hey," I say again, but it came out in a whisper this time. I swallow, hoping to moisten my very dry and very tight throat. "Um..c-can I speak to Elsa alone please?"
Elsa's eyes remained glued on me, but the others each glanced at each other, as if they're unsure if my sister and I should be left alone with each other. They probably don't want me arguing with Elsa and stressing her out. Ouch. If that's true then that really hurts. But...I don't blame them for thinking that way.
"Of course," says my aunt, who stopped braiding Rapunzel's hair. When she stands, so does Rapunzel, and she follows her mother. Jack and Frederick followed too. I stood to the side of the door and avoided their eyes as they passed by. I even avoided Elsa's stare from her bed, keeping my eyes focused on the wall's corner. That's a nice corner.
It wasn't until Kristoff shut the door behind him that I finally look up and make eye contact with my sister.
The silent seconds that passed between us were heavy, but when Elsa speaks my tears are even heavier. "Are you okay?" She asks, her voice as soft and gentle as heaven.
I scoff as I wipe my tears away. "Am I okay? No. I'm not. And the reason for that is because I'm a horrible sister! Elsa, I'm so sorry for how I acted earlier. It was so childish of me. And I promise you, Elsa," I pause as I frantically walk toward her, not finishing until I was on her bed and holding her hands.
"I promise that I'm never going to act like that ever again. I promise that I'm going to be better. I mean it this time. I really, really mean it. I'm never going to let a boy come between us again. It was bad that it happened once and I let it happen for a second time earlier. And god it was over the same boy too. What the heck is wrong with me? I'm glad I was quick to come to my senses though. And I promise that if I see Hans again, I'm going to tell him right to his face that it's over between us. I mean, it already is, but I want to tell it to his face. And then I want to punch his face. His beautiful face. Maybe it'll ugly him up."
I was rambling, I hadn't meant to, but it got her to laugh. And as she laughs her own tears slide down her cheeks. I'm quick to wipe them away before she can and seeing her smile makes my heart soar.
"May I record it?" She says, giggling lightly. "When you punch him?"
Unlike her little giggle, I release a full on laugh, both in humor and in relief. "Yes! We shall hire a whole camera crew to get every angle!"
She giggles again and I join her. I then wrap my arms around her, gently this time so I wouldn't hurt her tender body, and when her arms wrap around me, I felt at peace. She might not have said it out loud, but I know I'm forgiven. Her laugh is all the proof I need.
"You're never going to guess who I saw at the cafeteria by the way," I say, giddy at the thought of Elsa and Olaf seeing each other again.
"Who was it?" My sister asks as she pulls away from our hug first.
But she did not let go.
Our hands held tightly on to each other.
No tears filled her eyes or stained her cheeks too, but her eyes were still glossy, same as mine probably, and even in her tattered state she's still as beautiful as mama. Maybe even more so.
"It's a secret," I say as I boop her nose, making her grin, "And while I know secrets suck, it's one that I think you'll like very much. Speaking of secrets," my thoughts travel to what she had said earlier about Hans cheating, "if you find out my partner is cheating on me please tell me. Don't ever keep something like that from me. No more secrets, okay? Except for the fun ones."
I extend my pinkie out and continue, "Promise?"
Elsa looks at it, her smile slowly turning into a frown, which makes my stomach flip. Why is she frowning?
Before I could ask what was wrong, she's quickly wrapping her pinkie around mine, and says with ice cold seriousness, "I promise I won't keep secrets from you anymore. Except for the fun ones. Which means..." she stops talking, eyes closing, and brows narrowing in concentration. Or...is it more like conflict? Is she internally fighting herself? It sure does look like it. But why?
And since she's debating with herself, my stomach aches even more. "Means what?" I eagerly ask, the anticipation killing me.
She doesn't answer at first, but I force myself to patiently wait, which felt like forever when it was really just a few seconds.
Finally, she opens her eyes.
"It means that it's time for me to come clean. I have a secret, Anna, and I've been holding it for a very long time."
.
.
.
A.N: Kristoff and Anna went to the cafeteria to eat and our poor sexy Mountain Man never got his food lmfao. Also I hope everyone's holiday went great! Mine was hard since it was our first one without my grandma (may she rest in peace) but it was still a good one I think. Also...I think I have a boyfriend?! Wish me luck with that. I'm good at writing romances but experiencing them? Hahahaha I'm a mess.
Stay tuned for more! My goal for this year is to finish this book and get started on the sequel! What should the name for it be?
***ALSO PLEASE PRAY FOR AUSTRALIA! PRAY FOR RAIN! PRAY FOR NO MORE LIVES, HUMAN AND ANIMAL, TO BE TAKEN! PRAY LIKE YOU'VE NEVER PRAYED BEFORE!***