Chapter 12

It was already 8:30 in the morning by the time Elsa had gotten back home. The sun was beating down on her mercilessly, signaling an unfairly hot day ahead of her and she was eternally grateful that there was nothing else on the agenda for the rest of it.

Well, almost nothing.

No you jerk, it's still too early. Just go occupy yourself with something.

Her stomach was growling like a lion itching for a kill, but she had to ignore it for a little bit. There was one thing that needed to be done that kind of preceded the other thing.

She could hear footsteps shuffling around her sister's room which was a disappointment, really. There went her genius plan to wake up Elise involving a blow dryer and her sweaty t-shirt, which was getting increasingly uncomfortable by the second. The sounds of soothing acoustic music and a gorgeous female voice greeted her ears as soon as Elsa opened the door, followed by her sister stopping her Saturday morning ritual of cleaning up a week's worth of mess. She grimaced while taking in her older sister's drenched appearance, "Yeesh, you look like you just ran a marathon."

Elsa shrugged, "More or less."

Yeah you don't even know how long a marathon is.

Elise continued her work around the room and giggled, "So what is this? You trying to finally get your New Year's resolution going?"

"Oh please, you know that my resolution was to eat less chocolate."

"And how's that going for you?" her sister said as she picked up more of her laundry.

"Great." she lied.

And of course being the good little sister that she was, Elise saw right through her. She shook her head and grinned, "You are such a bad liar. Anyway, what do you want?"

Elise's straightforwardness was something that Elsa always kind of admired, but right now it was a real pain. So much for casual conversation. Her heart was racing now as she thought of just how exactly to word what it is she needed to say. But just in case, "Oh c-come on now, sis. I can't just waltz in your r-"

"No you can't! I know you too well, remember?" Elise shouted from inside her walk-in closet.

Yup, there was no way of getting out of this now. She landed gracelessly onto her sister's bed with a loud sigh. "You seem busy, maybe I'll just come back another time it's cool."

"Swear to god Elsa if you don't tell me I'll just assume you're on drugs and tell mom and dad."

"What is it with everyone and thinking I'm on drugs or something?!" Elsa groaned as she smacked her palms across her forehead.

Elise finally finished up with the last bit of cleaning she had to do and laid down with her exasperated sister, "Then what's up? Unless it actually is-"

"Uugh, it's not okay?! Just...okay fine, just hear me out here."

"I am literally all ears right now." her sister smiled, oblivious to the completely wrong usage of the word "literally."

This was going to be tough, but if she was so dead set on making her and Anna work, then this was an absolute must for her right now. With another heavy sigh, she decided on what would be the first thing to actually say: "So...you remember all those favors you owe me, right?"

She rolled her eyes, "As if I can forget, I mean you always tell me how many I owe you every time you come to pick me up."

Elsa nodded anxiously before continuing, "Yeah see I'm gonna need to cash in like...all of them...right now."

And of course, this raised many questions as well as concerns from her younger sister who sat up and squinted at that request, "What do you need exactly?"

"Your silence...and your cooperation." she replied nervously.

Elise gasped and brought a hand over her mouth, "You killed someone and need me to help hide their body!"

Wow, why do you even try to tell people this stuff?

It was Elsa's turn to sit up as she stared in disbelief, "What?! No! It's something entirely different and less...murdery. Now will you please listen?"

"Oookay..." Elise said, somehow still cautious about what her older sister needed.

"Alright, so...here's the thing." Her hands were cold and clammy now, and her heart was beating so fast that it was actually giving her a headache. But she had to block all that out if this was ever. "After the concert yesterday...I kissed Anna."

Her sister shifted from her mouth opening and closing like she was going to say something, to a look of surprise, to a combination of confusion somehow mixed with total clarity. Basically everything that wasn't a look of disgust that Elsa was for some reason still expecting even after having this almost exact same conversation with Mulan a couple hours ago. After an agonizingly long time of this shifting of faces, Elise finally spoke up. "Wow so...you like Anna?"

Elsa nodded sheepishly, "E-ever since that day when I, you know, bumped into her."

"Wow." she repeated.

God, just say something else! Please! You're killing me here.

"That actually explains some things."

Wait...what?

"I mean..." Elise continued before letting her smitten sister speak up again, "like one of the first things Anna asked me about was you which I thought was kinda weird. Then when I would actually bring you up she'd get all weird and stuff, like it was totally unlike her whole badass tutor self. And that obviously explains why you were so weird last night. Just...yeah, this explains a lot really."

"Wow, first Mulan then you." Elsa said under her breath.

"So then why did you need me again? To see if I was okay with this? Cause I'm telling you right now, your age gap isn't that extr-"

"Yeah I-I know, I already got this speech earlier." she interrupted. "And it's still hard for me to accept but...well maybe you guys have a point. But that's not what I needed you for."

The hard part was done now, thankfully. Or at least the first half of the hard part. And even though Elise was surprisingly supportive of her sister's crush on her friend, there was no telling how she would react to this next bit.

Elsa cleared her throat, "I, uh...I'm going to need to use you as an excuse to keep seeing her."

There was obvious awkward silence that came after that, no way she would actually just jump on board with that idea. "Um...what?" Elise questioned.

"Well like..." she continued, trying to actually add logic to this request, "I'm not entirely sure how open her parents will be to her dating an 18 year old so- you know, just in case we start dating and stuff- I need you to be like the cover story for me. Like pretend you two are hanging out when it's really me and Anna and I'm just now realizing how stupid this all sounds."

"Elsa, this is..."

Fucking stupid? The worst idea she's ever heard? Downright creepy?



"...adorable!"

Before she could react, a pair of arms clamped down on her eagerly followed by a loud squeal. And as strange as this reaction was, she had taken this as an amazing sign that her sister was completely on board.

"But no, I'm not gonna do that."

Or not.

"What, why not?" the thoroughly confused blonde questioned.

Her seemingly unpersuaded sister shook her head, "Oh Elsa, you act like this age gap doesn't bother you but I can tell that it still really does. So if you're really serious about this, if you like Anna this much that it eats at you this badly, then you can't ask me to be your little 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card when you want to do something with her."

"I..." Elsa started before realizing that Elise had brought up some stunningly good points. She groaned, "Goddammit, you're right. I have to do this shit myself."

"I can already tell that Anna's gonna be super happy when you ask her out, though." her sister said reassuringly.

Elsa couldn't help the giddy little chuckle that escaped her lips at the idea of Anna's cheery voice saying how she would love to go out with her. There was a goofy smile on her face as she pulled out her phone again, "I really hope so, I mean I kinda have to make up for last night anyway when I walked out as she was about to kiss me back."

"You did what?!"

There was nothing quite like the smell of waffles on a Saturday morning. Even if Anna hadn't slept a wink last night, this was almost enough to wake her up. Almost. The lack of sleep was really doing a number on her.

Still, coming downstairs to see her parents smiling and talking while a stack of waffles waited in front of an empty chair had to be the greatest- well second greatest- moment of her week.

Her mouth was watering now and her face was affixed with a joyful grin due to more than just the fluffy tower of deliciousness. If this was a Disney movie, she would probably break out into a song right about now.

But instead she settled with a cheery greeting to her parents, "Good morning!"

The two adults shifted their attention to the overjoyed redhead who tried and failed to match her enthusiasm. "Good morning, honey! You seem happy this morning." her dad said.

"Why wouldn't I be? I mean I got an amazing night's sl...sl..." and before she could finish, she let out a loud yawn that blew her cover.

Her mom looked back concerned, "Anna sweetie, how much sleep did you get last night?"

She looked at her parents sheepishly, "Um...not a lot? I'm sorry, I just couldn't get the concert last night out of my head." Which was technically true.

To their credit, they didn't chide Anna anymore for her lack of sleep, instead they actually agreed with her statement. Her dad smiled, "I can't say I don't agree with you on that, you were pretty amazing last night."

"Thanks, I felt amazing." Which, again, wasn't far from the truth.

"Still that shouldn't stop you from getting some rest. Now come on, march right back up stairs and back into bed."

Anna was conflicted. The only reason she was down here, besides the smell of waffles, was because she had given up on sleeping. And since she had already used up her lame excuse that took almost half an hour to come up with, she would have to think up something on the spot in order for her parents to not get suspicious.

"But...waffles." she pouted.

"They'll still be here when you wake up." her mom pointed out with a reassuring smile.

Damn her parents for having an answer for everything. Guess there was nothing left to do but concede defeat and go back to her room only to let Elsa invade her thoughts again every time she closed her eyes.

"Oh but before you go, when were you gonna tell us about Elise?"

Well itt was a good thing Anna's back was already turned, or else they would have seen the curious way her eyes had widened and how they frantically shifted from side to side. "Er, uh...what about her?"

There was a light giggle from her mother who placed a hand on her shoulder. In the same spot that Elsa's had been on last night.

"When were you gonna tell us about you tutoring her? We're proud of you for doing so, but we would have loved it so much more if you had told us yourself."

The way those words were spoken had actually snapped Anna out of her trance and left her feeling almost guilty. Why didn't she tell her parents? Oh right cause she was an evil person and kind of only used the whole tutoring excuse to get closer to Elsa.

"I'm sorry, Mom." she replied sincerely. "I guess it just slipped my mind a bunch of times, I was a bit preoccupied."

"And she had a lot of wonderful things to say about you too." her dad added, which was a bit of a surprise. "Hey if I didn't know any better I'd say she had a crush on you." Which was even more of a surprise.

She was completely taken aback by this sudden comment for a few reasons. For one, if it wasn't enough that her friends were supportive of the idea that she should be with Elise, now her parents were too. Not to mention, this all just suddenly came out of nowhere. Never had they actually acknowledged her relationship status like this before. Of course they knew her orientation obviously, but this was the first time that they had spoken up about the possibility of her liking someone or someone liking her. It was all just very confusing. And then of course...Elsa. That situation spoke for itself.

Apparently in her state of shock, the two had busied themselves with their ongoing conversation about how cute Anna and Elise would look together and how adorable it was and it was just getting more embarrassing by the second.

"Guys stop!" Anna pleaded with a furious blush on her cheeks.

"Aww c'mon Anna, you know we're just teasing you." her dad laughed.

"But..." her mom started, "that is something your father and I wanted to talk to you about."

And just like that, the lighthearted atmosphere shifted dramatically. Whatever it was, Anna had this sinking feeling that it wouldn't be anything good.

"You're getting older now, I mean you're turning 15 in a few months. And you're getting to this age where...well to put it bluntly you're probably gonna be dating soon. Probably."

Anna raised a cautious eyebrow, wanting to hear where this was going.

"And you know us, you know we would never tell you who to date gender-wise."

She did, and she was always very grateful that her parents were so open minded.

"But we still want to make sure you're dating people that we're okay with."

"Wh-what?"

The hand that was still on her shoulder slipped down to her arm as her mom spoke up. "What your father means is we want you to make sure that you're going to be dating people that won't hurt you or harm you in any way. We care about you honey, and you're growing into a bright young woman and we don't want anything or anyone to ruin that."

"I-I know you guys mean well but-"

"So we set up a rule that we think is perfectly reasonable: No dating anyone we don't know of beforehand and they have to go to your school."

And there it was, that impending doom she wanted so badly to avoid. The sinking feeling in her gut grew exponentially and the room became almost muted. Words were being spoken by her mom and dad who were most likely explaining themselves, but Anna couldn't hear a single bit of it. She was too wrapped up in the chaos running rampant in her mind.

Of course, getting away with the "knowing the person beforehand" part of the rule would have been an easy loophole to get past, but it was the school part that would be the real challenge. The worst part is she couldn't even get mad at her parents cause she knew they meant well and just wanted to look out for her, in fact she was more mad at herself than anything. Why did she have to like someone like Elsa? Someone so perfect in every way, so caring and affectionate and so so unbelievably unattainable that it hurt. This was beyond unfair, things were going so well and now almost all her hopes had been abruptly snuffed out.

"You understand, right Anna?"

"Huh?" she replied, having barely listened to their words. "Oh, uh...r-right yeah. I understand..."

Still coming down from her woeful trance, she didn't even register the hug that her mom had given her or the comforting pats on the back.

"I'm gonna go back to sleep now, if that's alright." Anna asked, hoping to be alone in order to clear her head.

"Go ahead honey, we'll be here when you wake up." her dad said with a smile that she tried so hard not to get mad over.

The walk back up the stairs was pretty depressing as this feeling of hopelessness had already manifested in her mind, so it was such a relief when her phone went off in her pocket and the ID said "Lilo".

"Hey Lilo, what's up?" Anna spoke, hiding her sulkiness. If there was anyone that could at least distract her from this whole "Elsa" situation, it was her cheery, outspoken friend.

"Gooood morning, Anna. Imma just cut to the chase here, who was that girl you were with last night?"

A/N: Before you ask, no Elsa doesn't live in this messed up broken household where her parents are never around. To be honest they're not really that important to the story so I'm not gonna put much attention on them.

Also I just wanna take this time to say holy shit I broke 100 followers. Never thought I'd see the day that that counter went into the triple digits. So I wanna say thanks to each and every one of you who have reviewed or favorited or followed this fic. You're most of the reason I'm still writing it other than the sheer enjoyment I get from writing this story.

Anyway enough sappiness from me, I'll make sure to update again soon!