Anna didn’t often tend to look where she was going. She wished she had an excuse for this, or at least Belle’s talent to read and walk without bumping into people. But the fact was, the overexcited redhead was often so eager to be zigging and zagging back and forth to places, that often she overlooked certain obstacles, such as street lamps, small children, fire hydrants - the list went on and on and on. She had bruises from bumping into just about everything. Although, today, her own ridiculous nature wasn’t exactly at fault.
Who was at fault, one might ask? Well, his hair was a dashing shade of ginger - much prettier than hers, she had often thought - his cheekbones were to die for, and his hands… well, his hands were currently wrapped around her elbow, pulling her upright as she looked to see just what she’d tripped over. Letting out a blustery giggle, Anna brought her hands to her mouth, hoping to partially obscure the red tinge in her cheeks. The girl had been nodding along so vigorously that she’d failed to notice the step up to the doorway of Grand Pabbie’s, or in fact, that they’d arrived at Grand Pabbie’s at all.
Pulling her eyebrows together in agitation, she stared at the sign overhead, as though willing it to change by sheer force of will. Despite this establishment holding just about everything a sweet tooth, future diabetic could dream of, Anna was having serious reservations about making a stop there. Something tugged in an irritating manner at her heartstrings, and that something was a tall, clumsy footed, dumb haired blonde boy who no doubt had a scowl in store for her. Anna didn’t want to see the dissappointment on his face, nor the subtle reminder that the two of them were in a scrap over Hans. She took a step back, colliding with Hans as she did so, and once again, the boy helpfully placed a hand on her arm.
“Th… thank you.” she stumbled over her words, meekly. Letting her eyes flutter shut for a fraction of a second, she tried to focus on the comforting press of the pads of Hans’ fingers. He had her, despite being just as clumsy as her, he’d always catch her. He did stick up for her, he did, in fact, care about her wellbeing. And hope and happiness blossomed in her chest at this realisation. One look at him, and how could Anna really doubt how much he liked her? That was all that mattered, and I guess it sucked to be Kris Solberg.
Pushing her way into the shop with a determined air, Anna listened out for the familiar bell that chimed over her head, signalling her arrival. She jutted her chin into the air haughtily, finding she didn’t care who saw her come in. In fact, in a quick flash of anger she quickly fought to subdue, she kinda hoped Kris saw.
To her disappointment, in the midst of the young couple laughing and playing, a boy only slightly unfamiliar to her appeared. Unfamiliar in that she had yet to learn his name. Her ignorance made her blanch slightly as she rubbed the tip of her nose, it still feeling slightly cold from the smear of ice cream that had been left there moments earlier. The desire to ask about the usual sullen-faced purveyor of ice cream was strong, but Anna was proud of how she managed to hold her tongue.
Hans inevitably took his leave, but Anna wasn’t sore about it. The guy was busy, and he’d spent the whole day with her. Before meeting Belle and Rae, Anna didn’t think anyone had ever done that for her. She instead pulled her feet up onto the chair, hugging her knees to her chest and pushing around the leftover ice cream in her bowl, feeling severely sick from all the scoffing she’d done.
A minute passed, then two, of Anna pulling at the loose threads on her jeans. She supposed she ought to get up, go home, before someone saw her sitting alone and had something to say about it. She should walk Olaf and Marshmallow, before it got dark. She should make sure Elsa had eaten something, she always did work too hard.
Pulling herself to a standing position, Anna felt suddenly bowled over as she was hit, rather sickeningly, with a bout of dizziness.
“Whoa.” she mumbled, splaying her hands out in front of her, as though the mere motion might keep her upright. She was familiar with this feeling, but it never made it suck any less, and the dizziness was the worst, making her feel like the whole room was made of wibbly, swimmy material that danced and changed before her very eyes.
Giving in to the sick feeling in her head, Anna slumped back down, putting her hand over her chest and rubbing frantic circles against the fabric of her shirt. It had never done her any good before, but it felt kinda good to be doing something.
When she heard her name, Anna lifted her head meekly, embarrassed to find Kris watching her, a frown solidly planted on his face. The sight made Anna want to laugh, for she’d expected that look, but not under these circumstances. She found she was too short of breath to even attempt it.
“I’m okay,” she tried to tell him, although her words sounded strained and raspy. “Anna’s okay! Just… a little ouchie.”
As much as Anna claimed she was okay, she didn’t look it. Her face twisted painfully as she clutched at her chest and Kris knew there was something going on there, but was too worried about being intrusive to ask. He liked to think that he’d done his bit; worrying after her well-being only to be told that it was unnecessary. Up until the word ‘ouchie’.
“Ouchie?” he echoed, his frown deepening. Hearing that word from Anna wasn’t as rare as it should have been, because the girl had a real talent for giving herself an ‘ouchie’ in completely normal situations. Kris had never thought that another human being could exist at the exact same time as Steven and present themselves as an equal match in clumsiness, but then Anna Abrahamsen had tripped and stumbled into his life and Kris had seen cause to debate wearing a hard hat whenever he was in the same vicinity as his cousin or his friend. Well, that had been when he and Anna had actually still been friends. Now he only really had to be concerned about Steven, which was something he’d been doing for the past twenty or so years.
This time, he was pretty sure that Anna’s invisible pain wasn’t from a trip or a spill though. All she’d been doing for the past thirty minutes was sitting and listening to Hans drawl on and on, which would have been enough to give Kris a migraine, but apparently Anna was content to while away her day like that. He could hear the hitch in Anna’s breath though, and tilted his head to the side.
“Are you sure you’re...” Don’t bother her, idiot. He scolded himself internally, because he was probably the last person that Anna would want help from right now. She’d probably prefer it if Hans were here to take care of her, even though Kris figured the other guy had the same capacity for comfort as a porcupine. And that was a tall statement coming from someone as emotionally stunted as Kris Solberg. Hovering uselessly by Anna’s table, wondering whether or not to fetch someone, he backed up a little bit to give the redhead her space.
“Uh, okay. So, I guess I’ll just be over here if you need me...” he ventured slowly, half-heartedly jabbing his thumb over his shoulder. He took another step back and turned to wipe down the table next to Anna’s, even though Steven had already pretty much taken care of that. Every so often, Kris would glance back at Anna but her facial expression didn’t change. With a subtle grimace, he stared longingly out the window to the street outside where life wasn’t awkward then decided to swallow his pride and turned back to Anna.
“Anna, seriously, what’s up? You look like you’re in pain and you’re breathing funny,” he said, picking up on her laboured breaths. Biting his lip. he crouched down so he was at eye level with the girl in the chair and raised his eyebrows at her. “Do you need me to call someone?”
stormborns
blakekathryn
gracieabrams
prguitarman
andulkaphoto
kianamaiart
