Chapter Text
Elsa looked up from the brochure to where her sister was sitting on the couch, sipping her frappuccino with a smug face.
“Speed dating?” she asked, making sure to put in all the bewilderment possible in those two words. “Really, Anna? Speed dating?”
Anna slurped loudly before speaking. “Come on, it could be fun!” she exclaimed, rolling her eyes in that same way she always did when she thought Elsa was being ‘boring.’ “Plus, you’ve been alone for so long–”
“I haven’t!”
“–and you’re always ignoring the people I try to set you up with–”
“I don’t ignore them…”
“–and you don’t believe in dating apps–”
“Dick pic apps.”
“–and I care about you and want you to be happy, so you could try this one last thing.” She took another sip of her coffee. “For me.”
Elsa groaned. She hated it when Anna used that argument. “Fine, I’ll do it for you,” she grumbled, sinking deeper into the illegally comfy chair of their usual cafe. “Once, and then you drop the subject.”
Anna finished off her coffee, then put a hand over her chest and raised the other up. “I promise to never bring it up again in my entire life if you give it a try.”
Elsa smirked. “Wrong hands, but A for effort.”
Anna blew her a raspberry.
“When is that thing anyway?”
“You just read the brochure!” Anna huffed. “Wednesday, I think. At eight. And it’s the bar that’s just round the corner from here, before you ask.” She reached across the table to steal a bit of cream from Elsa’s cake with her finger. “Oh, and I’ll go with you, of course.”
And there went Elsa’s grand plan of pretending to have gone there. Anna sucked on her finger innocently, as if she knew precisely what she’d just prevented.
“Cream-stealer,” Elsa muttered under her breath. “Fine, we can meet up on that bus stop on the other side of the street at ten to eight.”
“Nuh-uh, we’ll need to register, let’s do half past seven.”
Elsa took a deep breath to prepare for a groan, but something else caught her attention.
“Wait, what do you mean we?”
“I’m not gonna just watch you, duh,” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing on Earth. “I’m bored, I’m single and ready to mingle.”
“But it’s girls-only.”
“Elsa!” She put her hand back on her chest and blinked in mock-disbelief. “I am bisexual. I can date girls.”
Elsa sighed. “But you broke up with Hans literally yesterday.”
“And I am ready to mingle.”
*
Wednesday came way too soon for Elsa’s liking.
“You’re late.”
“Lovely to see you too,” she murmured, waving her hand to invite Anna under her umbrella. “I had to do some overtime, I finished work at seven.”
Anna linked her arm with her. “Crap, so you didn’t have time to change?”
“I wouldn’t have changed anyway,” she scoffed. “It’s not like it’s a fancy date with expensive wine, and my work attire is smart casual anyway.”
She looked down at Anna’s high heels and exposed legs. In mid-October.
“You had time to get dressed though.”
“I went on a shopping spree on Monday,” Anna sighed. “I spent like, legit, four hundred bucks, but at least I spent them on things I wanted and not on overpriced exhibition tickets because Mister Westergaard needs to experience the fine arts and he simply cannot go alone.”
Elsa snickered. Really, she never understood what Anna saw in that douchebag in the first place.
“Besides, I need to look nice now that I’m back on the market.”
“Anna, please, you’re not a banana.”
“I might as well be. ‘A little damaged but still sweet.’”
They arrived outside the bar, and Elsa felt herself go paler at the crowd she could see inside.
“It’s Wednesday…” she moaned. “What the hell are so many people doing here on a Wednesday.”
“Looking for soulmates?” Anna offered with a smirk. “Chill, I bet not even half of them are here for the speed dating. Nobody does speed dating.”
Elsa squinted at her, but Anna was busy looking inside.
“Aha! See, it’s also the ‘two-for-one shots’ evening tonight.”
“Great, I might need those to survive.”
*
They finally finished registering–Anna insisted on going inside one by one, ‘so nobody thinks we’re related, or a couple!’, which slowed things down considerably as Elsa had to stand outside like an idiot for ten minutes ‘for good measure’–at five to eight, just as the organizers called for Blue Nameplate people to take their seats. Elsa looked down at her plate, realized it was, in fact, blue, groaned and quickly finished up ordering her cocktail, then hurried to take her seat at table 4.
The things she did for Anna.
She didn’t even get the chance to take a proper look around before the first bell sounded and the Red Nameplates started taking places at the tables.
A seemingly nice brunette named Maya sat down in front of her.
“Hi! Elsa, what a nice name!”
“I like yours too,” she answered, feeling the insides of her palms get sweaty. God, she knew she’d be nervous, but she didn’t think she’d be getting this nervous. “You uh, you come here often?”
“To the bar or the speed dating?”
“Both?”
“First time here,” the girl laughed and Elsa felt compelled to laugh back. “But I’ve been to some speed dates before, you?”
“Been in the bar once before on a bachelor party, but first time trying the speed dating thing.”
“Oh, what made you wanna try?”
“My sister,” she answered shortly. Maya looked like she was waiting for an explanation. “I mean, she forced me to.”
“Ahh, is she one of those siblings who can’t stand you being alone?”
Elsa furrowed her brows. “I… guess? Actually, she’s–” she bit her tongue before she could blow the disguise Anna had her standing outside in the rain ten minutes for, “–very sweet and caring.”
“Oh damn, that’s so cool! I wish I could have a relationship like that with my sister, but we’ve been at war with each other ever since we were like, this big!”
She put her arms up at a vaguely hamster-sized distance from each other, and Elsa briefly wondered if that was a joke or the woman just had a remarkably poor sense of size.
“What did you fight about then?”
“Toys, mostly.”
There was an awkward pause.
Elsa cleared her throat. “So, um, do you have any hobbies?” And she immediately wanted to slap herself. Of course she had to have some hobbies. What kind of a stupid question was that.
“Yeah, I– so I do this thing with beads, where I put them on this kindova special board in like, various designs and then…”
She kept going on, but honestly, Elsa tuned her out. She looked over her shoulder in a very low-key manner, trying to assess how many people she would have to go through this evening.
She couldn’t spot Anna anywhere, too. If the entire ‘wait ten minutes in the freezing rain’ thing was just some elaborate plan to actually ditch her there, she was going to kick her ass back to their hometown.
“–and that’s how I got my first dog, Benji.”
Elsa blinked rapidly, trying to guess how and why the woman arrived at this ending to the story.
“That’s great. Great name for the dog, too.”
Wow. She really was a bit of an asshole. Guess if she was going to learn a bunch of shit about complete strangers today, she should at least get to learn something about herself, too.
Her five minutes with Maya were mostly spent with Maya talking about herself and Elsa grunting back responses, and when the bell sounded she breathed a quiet and discreet sigh of relief.
The first rotation went by and she was suddenly faced with a gorgeous girl named Elisa.
“Elsa,” she said simply, nodding towards Elsa’s nameplate.
“Elisa?” she returned the favor.
“I’m gonna be straight with you, I’m not gonna date you,” she said so quickly Elsa barely got it. “Our names are too similar for it to make sense and I don’t like blondes.”
“O… kay?”
“But we can still talk about some shit for five minutes.” She let out a deep sigh, like she was doing Elsa some massive favor. “That cocktail you’re drinking any good?”
After five minutes of basically discussing the pros and cons of various cocktails and other alcoholic beverages, the bell rang for another rotation and before Elsa could take a breather, she was faced with Danielle, who’s biggest advantage had to be her red hair–Elsa liked redheads–and biggest disadvantage her huge interest in Elsa’s possible Aryan heritage. Five minutes later and Danielle was replaced by Ada, a sweet, but shy and quiet girl. When added to Elsa’s own natural shyness and quietness, they didn’t talk much for the next five minutes until Ada got up and in came Rebecca, then Heather and another Rebecca.
Elsa was almost done with her drink and about ready to either leave or kill herself when a gorgeous redhead in a dark emerald dress sat down in front of her, spreading about the scent of roses and strawberries.
Anna was a Red Nameplate. They didn’t coordinate that too well.
“Hello,” she said softly, batting her eyelashes. “Pleased to meet you.”
Elsa raised her eyebrows. “The pleasure is mine, Anna.”
Two can play this game.
“Actually, it’s Ah-na. I like Elsa, is it short for Elisabeth?”
“No it’s just– just Elsa.” She ran her finger along the edge of her glass. “So, come here often?”
Anna rested her elbows on the table and her chin on her folded hands. “Are you hitting everyone with that question?”
“Not everyone.” Elsa smirked. “Some girls managed to hit me with it first.”
Anna smiled, flashing the row of perfectly straight teeth that Elsa knew she had to wear braces for almost six years for. “But to answer, yes, it’s my first time here.”
“Not really big on speed dating?”
“Just starting.” Anna leaned back in her chair. “And I’m not big on bars, so I haven’t been to many since I came here.”
“Oh? And why did you come here?”
“College.”
“What major?”
“Astrophysics.” Even in a mock-speed date she said it with the same pride she always did whenever asked. “And you? College, or…?”
“I work for an IT and web design company downtown.”
“Ooh, that sounds lucrative.”
“It is,” Elsa agreed. “I got a spoiled college brat of a sister who gets allowance from our parents and me, so I gotta keep up.”
Anna gasped. “Sounds like a nightmare.”
“On one hand yeah, but on the other she keeps me sane and cares for my relationships more than I do.” Elsa laughed. “She was the one who made me come here.”
“Honestly, it all sounds like she’s a controlling monster.”
Elsa mused. “Hm, maybe you’re right. I should probably cut down on her allowance.” Anna’s smirk told her she knew she was not going to do that. “Man, I came here for a date and it seems I’m getting a free therapy session.”
“Isn’t it what relationships are, at the end of the day? A committed arrangement with a person who has to listen to you and can’t run away?”
Elsa paused with her glass halfway to her lips. “Who hurt you?”
“My ex boyfriend,” Anna sighed. “Massive piece of shit. Only cared about himself.”
“Sounds like my ex girlfriend, too.” They both laughed. They’ve been over all the various faults of their exes time and time again, but it never hurt to drag them through dirt again. “Well, I guess we should ask the typical questions, no? Like, what are your hobbies?”
“Horse riding, singing, playing the piano,” she listed the things that Elsa was well aware she was good at. “Recently picked up modern jazz dancing,” she added as an afterthought, something Elsa was vaguely aware she was planning to do. “Oh, and I secretly write lesbian fanfics.”
Oh. That was new.
“What about you?”
Elsa thought for a moment. “I’m into horse riding, too, and I sing in the shower. Web design. Video games,” she started with the obvious, but, just like Anna did, she planned to hit her with something unexpected. “And I crochet. It’s a stress-relief thing, but I’m actually pretty good at it.”
Anna shot her the brightest, goofiest smile in the world.
*
She was on her way home when Anna called–because, obviously, they had to leave the place ten minutes apart–and couldn’t pick up, so she called her back when she arrived at her apartment.
“Took you long enough.”
“Wouldn’t be a problem if you’d waited for me.”
“Wah-wah. So? How did it go?”
“I didn’t die.”
“But did you leave your contact for anyone?”
“Nope.”
“Elsa! That was the entire point of the evening!”
“But I didn’t like any of those girls,” she sighed. “Honestly, you were the most interesting person I met tonight, and I already knew you.”
“You don’t know everything about me.”
“True. I gotta read some of your fanfics.”
“Never. What’s in my fanfics is between me and god, and the thousands of people in my fandoms.”
“Alright, keep your secrets,” she laughed. “You know I could just get into your email if I really wanted to.”
“But you’re a sane person who values privacy. Anyway, you didn’t even leave a contact for me?”
“Anna, I already have your phone number.”
“But it’s for show! They see that you’re having a great time with me and we’re basically a match made in heaven and you don’t leave me your contact, that just looks shady.”
“Okay, jeez, sorry.”
“It’s alright, we can fix it the next time.”
“Fine– wait, what do you–”
“Love you, byeee!”
Anna hung up.
Elsa looked over at her terrarium, where her pet gecko was currently busy licking his eye.
“I tell you, Bruni, this girl is gonna ruin me one day.”
*
The next speed dating night Anna dragged her to was in a different bar, a little further away from where she lived and supposedly more ‘high end,’ which also meant Anna gave her a twenty minute talk about appropriate date attire.
She was currently in the bar bathroom fudging with her light purple blouse, trying to smooth out the huge wrinkle that appeared out of nowhere before Anna noticed it and gave her shit for not ironing.
The organizers called for the sitting people–black nameplate this time, because high end–to take their places and, once again, Elsa realized she was one of those who shall not rotate.
She did make a quick detour for the bar.
Her first partner was Sarah, 23, Libra, INFP, Ravenpuff, poly vegan who talked way too much about Harry Potter for Elsa to even ask anything of relevance. After the three minute mark–only three! Thank god–in came Grace, a showline cat breeder with little cat earrings. Next bell introduced Kate, a self-proclaimed computer geek so Elsa was hopeful, but then it turned out she only plays MMORPGs and roleplays on Discord.
And then came Anna, once again on the rotating team, this time in a burgundy lace cocktail dress that made her look absolutely stunning, and for a moment Elsa wished she could actually flirt with this girl.
She shook that thought away.
“We only have 3 minutes,” Anna said as she sat down. “Make it count.”
“Damn, you’re not fucking around,” Elsa snorted, taking a sip of her Old Fashioned. “Okay, who’s your favorite book author and why?”
Anna rolled her eyes. “I don’t like that question, people always ask it when they have no idea what to ask,” she sighed. “But fine, George Orwell, and because he manages to convey very complex ideas and messages in a very simplified form, ensuring a statistical median person is able to properly decode them.”
Elsa was slack jawed. “Jesus, Anna,” she said softly, mixing the cocktail around in her hand. “That was so fucking pretentious I feel like I should get up and order a Bud Light to tone it down.”
“Oh, shut up.” She looked at her sternly. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Ask me a question.”
“Okay.” She thought for a moment. “What’s your biggest fear?”
“That you don’t know?” She wondered. Since she was a child she was afraid of spiders, but Anna knew that. She also knew Elsa hated heights and fire. Something she didn’t know about... “I guess… okay, that’s very precise, but biting into something soft only for there to be something super hard inside and cracking my teeth.”
Anna hissed. “Ouch, I felt that.” She shuddered visibly. “For me a similar thing would be biting into food, chewing it and swallowing and then noticing there’s worms in it.”
“Ew, thanks for the image,” Elsa groaned, thinking of the last time she ate something a few hours ago and how it was threatening to make a comeback now. “Okay, let’s change the subject... what is something that you would never expect to find in your food but that you wouldn’t mind to find there?”
Anna brought a finger up to her lips as she pondered the question.
“Hurry up, we have like 40 seconds left.”
“Uh… maybe, if I bit into a raspberry and it was actually a strawberry inside?”
Elsa laughed.
“What?”
“You could have picked a diamond ring in your cheesecake or a bar of gold in your snickers and you chose a strawberry in a raspberry?”
“Hey, I just don’t like raspberries, and people put them everywhere!” She made a grumpy face. “And the question was pretty vague.”
“It was, yeah. Sorry.”
And yet, she learned something new. She had no idea Anna was so opposed to raspberries.
*
Over time, she realized that even though they were closer now and she’d thought she knew her well, she didn’t know Anna at all.
“What would you most regret if you dropped dead right now?” she asked on their fourth speed date, looking at Anna over the candle light that reflected as a little dancing flame in Anna’s irises.
“Wearing this dress today,” she answered instantly, pointing to the muddy splash on her cream dress. “But jokes aside, probably… letting you get so distant when we were younger.”
Elsa shook her head. “It was not your fault. There wasn’t anything you could do.”
“I could have learned what your problem was and tried to appease it instead of being an annoying brat. So yeah, I regret that. We could have been in a very different place now.”
She furrowed her brows. “Are we in a bad place?”
Anna played with her glass, a brightly colored cocktail sloshing around. “Can I move in with you?”
Elsa froze.
“That’s what I tho–”
“Yes.”
Anna’s sad smile turned into a shocked expression. “What?”
“Yes, you can,” Elsa let out a soft sigh. It was high time she let someone in her private space, and the more she got to know her, the more she felt Anna was the right person to trust. “After your contract for the room expires.”
That gave her a few months to adapt and prepare a bedroom for Anna.
Anna laughed, and kept laughing for a moment until Elsa joined her and a couple from the table closest to them looked over in confusion.
“We’re not really following the rules of this date, are we?”
*
After a few weeks of bar hopping–and sometimes returning to ones they found nice enough–she’d completely lost count of how many ‘speed dates’ she’d been on with her sister. While Anna still dragged her out in hopes Elsa could find a partner that she could maybe potentially hopefully spend the rest of her life with, Elsa was mostly going there just for Anna. An excuse to ask Anna questions on a neutral ground, where she was inclined to answer because of their little ‘game.’ Questions that helped her get to know her sister better than she could ever hope to.
Anna was a romantic soul. She cried when she got emotional, not only when she was sad, when animals died in movies, when a piece of music hit that particular note, and sometimes without reason, especially on Sundays. She loved the scent of tree sap, horses and gasoline, but also of Elsa’s favorite perfumes. She preferred showers over baths, but sometimes she would be so tired she would curl up in the bathtub and cry for a few minutes about how sad it is that she needs to wash and nobody is helping her.
She hated cooking, but she enjoyed it a little more if she was cooking for somebody, particularly Elsa, and she cheered up whenever the food she gave people was complimented–even if it was just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She generally enjoyed sweet breakfasts, but she would sometimes crave bacon, especially if she woke earlier than usual. She liked waking up early, but had a hard time organizing her day afterwards.
She hated smoking and the taste of cigarettes, but she enjoyed the scent of tobacco smoke. She liked to read books in a very dim light, even though she knew it was bad for her eyes, cause it helped her imagination work. She couldn’t listen to music without visualizing something, and it would be a different thing for different genres, or even different artists. Her least favorite hour of the day was around five in the afternoon. Her favorite month was December, because she loved giving gifts, and that’s when she could give two to Elsa. Her least favorite time of the year was Spring, because she never knew what weather to expect and how to dress.
She liked to sleep under many blankets, but she didn’t like comforters. She needed to wedge her head between two pillows if she slept on her back. She still slept with a plush pony Elsa gave her when she was nine.
That pony was her only connection to Elsa for years and she grew to associate it with her.
She had strong opinions. She had strong preferences. She didn’t like it when her opinions were contested, or her preferences not met.
And though Elsa did not agree with everything–especially Anna’s obsession with medical dramas that spanned a billion seasons–all the little things that made up Anna made her want to only know more.
In time, she found herself sitting through strangers she had absolutely no interest in, just so she could talk to the one person she wanted.
And maybe it was the discovery of ‘wanted to know’ changing to ‘wanted’ then slowly to ‘yearned for’ that made her shut her off again.
“What the hell should I do, Bruni?” she asked the lizard after ignoring another text from Anna. Ten days of excuses followed by two week of almost complete radio silence on Elsa’s part but Anna was still not giving up, and every time she tried to call, or sent a text asking how she was or telling her she was worried about her or asking if she’s done something wrong, Elsa’s heart fell. And jumped. And fell again, realizing it jumped. Then her years of practice of putting up walls kicked in and the more Anna tried to get through, the further Elsa pulled away. Even though, deep in her heart, away was the last direction she wanted to be going now. She wanted to be back out there, spending evenings watching her little sister smile, laugh and have fun.
No, not wanted. Yearned for.
At this point, she was more than painfully aware of what it all meant. She fell in love with her.
She fell in love with her goddamn sister.
The gecko only licked his eye.
“Am I supposed to know what that means?” she asked softly, then scowled when she heard another text message chime.
Grumbling under her nose, she unlocked her phone and read the last notifications.
Going to date at the first bar tonight. Come. Or don’t.
Up to you.
*
Somehow, she found herself standing in front of the bar in nice clothes, waiting for the registration to open. She took up a blue nameplate and sat down, no alcohol, way before the entire thing started.
She could see her come in, and she knew Anna spotted her as well. But this was a game, and they had to play by the rules.
The first person went by and she didn’t even catch her name. Neither did she the second. The third she remembered only because it was Annabelle. Fourth, fifth and sixth she wasn’t even sure she said anything to.
“Hi.”
“Hey,” she said quietly, watching her sit down on the creaky chair.
“I guess that’s how we communicate now?” Anna laughed, but it was painfully empty and fake, and Elsa knew there was not a trace of joke in what she said.
But instead of dwelling on it, Elsa launched into questions. “What is your favorite color? It seems so basic but I never asked, and I’ve been wondering recently.”
Anna actually gave a solid few moments of thought to it. “I don’t really think I have one. I like a bunch of darker colors and some pastels, depending on what the color is on. It would be easier to say which I don’t like.”
“And those are?”
“This very bright, canary yellow and pitch black. They just don’t really go well with anything in my opinion.”
“Hm.”
An awkward pause. Something that never happened between them, at least not anymore, at least not in this setting.
“Elsa?”
“Yeah?”
“Is there–” She bit her lip, visibly trying to come up with the right way to ask what she wanted to. “Is there something you would like me to ask you about?”
As much as Anna had bared her soul to Elsa, Elsa had to Anna. And the fact she worded the question like that showed just how much she’d learned and cared.
God, she was perfect.
“Do you know why I’m here?”
Anna clearly didn’t expect that, judging by her baffled expression. “N-no.”
Elsa took a deep breath. “It started out as a thing I wanted to do just so you would let it go. Then you tricked me into another time, and physically dragged me to another, and I had to find something constant in all of that madness that would keep me sane”
She stopped to gauge her expression, but she didn’t have much time. The clock was ticking.
“And it was you. So after a while I was just going because I wanted to play this silly little game we’re playing.”
Anna smiled and opened her mouth, but Elsa interrupted.
“But we never started the game off properly. We never really introduced ourselves.”
Anna raised her brows, but she didn’t say anything.
Elsa gulped. “So, yeah. Hi, I’m Elsa. I’m 26, and I have a three years younger sister. She’s an absolute angel, and the most amazing and interesting person I know.” She put her shaking hands under the table. “And I am in love with her.”
The bell rang and Anna got up, then promptly walked out of the bar.
*
Rain was beating down on her slanted windows, drowning all other sounds out.
She was lying on her couch in loose jeans and a simple gray sweatshirt, with only the nearby standing lamp on and Bruni chilling in the nook of her neck.
She did not not deserve nice things. She didn’t deserve her nice clothes or any sort of entertainment. She was a fuck-up who fell in love with her sister. She was a fuck-up who told her sister about it, instead of keeping it in where it could only hurt one person.
She didn’t deserve Bruni, but he deserved to be taken care of, so she fed him as soon as she got back and then let him nestle on her to seep her warmth.
“Fuck,” she whispered, pressing the back of her hand harder into her forehead.
She was a complete, utter fuck-up.
A louder noise cut through the rain, but she discarded it as either the plumbing going crazy or something carried over by the wind hitting the windows.
Until it sounded again, louder, and it clearly was knocking on her door.
She considered not getting up and just letting the person go, but they seemed content on hammering her door until either she opened up or they broke through.
With a deep, tired sigh–she fucked up, she was repenting by isolation, why couldn’t people just leave her alone–she got up, put Bruni back in his terrarium and trudged over to the door.
She swung it open and her heart stopped beating.
Anna was drenched from head to toe. Was she seriously strolling about in this storm? Did she even get back somewhere inside at all since she left that bar?
“An–”
“No, let me speak,” she spoke sharply, her voice echoing down the corridor of the apartment complex. “You… you already said enough for today.”
Elsa gulped. That much was certainly true. She moved out of the doorway to let Anna in, but she was apparently adamant on standing where she was, barefoot with her high heels in her hand.
“How– How dare you,” she started, shivering in the draft. “How dare you say... that to me. This was a game, Elsa, nothing serious, just a way to pass the time.”
Elsa nodded, feeling a new wave of guilt wash over her.
“Just like you said, a silly little game that gave me a way to ask for the things I was always too afraid to ask and risk you shutting me out.”
There were tears in her eyes.
“And then you shut me out for weeks and you come back with this?”
The tears were now on her cheeks, mixing with the rainwater from her bangs.
“In the bar?”
She trembled harder and Elsa had to fight back the urge to wrap her arms around her.
“You say you love me in the game?”
She turned her face towards the floor and finally took a step towards her, then another, until her forehead was resting against Elsa’s collarbone.
“At least have the decency to take me out on a real date.”
Elsa was almost sure she misheard that, but when she unfroze to look down, Anna’s lips were on her own and her tongue in her mouth, and she tasted like bubblemint and rain. Her cold hands moved in around Elsa’s neck and on her cheek, and when she stepped down from her toes they slid to rest against her chest.
Something surreal just happened.
“I love you,” Anna said quietly. “I’m in love with you, too. I don’t know how, or why or when it happened but it did.”
Elsa was dumbfounded.
“Please, say something.”
“I love you,” she gasped out, the tension finally leaving as liquid through her eyes. “And I– I will take you. On a date. W-whenever you want.”
Anna looked down at her bare, wet feet.
“Can I stay the night, first?”