Chapter 32

A/N: Sooooo, I caved. Didn't think you guys would actually WANT ten pages of dialogue, but you did, so now here we are. This isn't all just dialogue, there's bits of narrative in there, and it's not exactly ten pages but...anyway just enjoy.

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Elsa sat cross-legged on her bed, drumming her fingers on the mattress. No more waiting, she needed answers.

One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Four-

"Oh my gosh, okay Elsa before you say anything I just wanted to say that I'm sooooo sorry for not calling you last night. Something came up and it kinda took my whole attention and I left my phone before leaving the house so I couldn't call you during the day either and I'm just really, really sorry for not calling."

"Anna, I…" Elsa sighed, why couldn't she stay mad at her? "Is everything okay? What happened?"

"...I don't know if I can say. I mean personally I'm fine but it's-it's not about me. You don't have to worry about me."

"I don't think I can do that."

"R-really? You can't? Uh, I mean you really shouldn't worry, honest. I'm fine, everything's...fine."

"Everything doesn't sound 'fine', Anna, far from it. If something's wrong, you can tell me. I can help you, you know that." Could she? Did she want to? How did Elsa from annoyed to compassionate in five seconds?

"I know you can. I know you can...but…"

"But?"

"But...I can't say what's wrong, alright? It's not my place to tell. Can we just talk about something else, please?"

"O-okay, um...is there anything specific you want to talk about?" Like feelings, for example.

"..."

"Anna?"

"..."

"Anna, you still there?"

"Yeah-yeah I'm...I'm still here. I'm sorry there's just a lot on my mind right now. Uh...I guess there is one thing I wanna talk about."

"Yeah? What is it?" Her heart began beating just a little faster. Why? WHY?!

"Do you...are you mad at me?"

"Mad at you? For what?"

"For not calling? Or even, I dunno, texting you and saying that something came up. I'd feel really guilty if you were up last night waiting for me to call you."

"Well don't worry about that, I wasn't up for too long." Elsa lied, and also left out the part about trying to call her back. Twice.

"Oh, okay that's good. But are you mad at me?"

"No, no I'm not mad. I was a little upset-" And annoyed. "-but I got over it pretty fast. I knew that maybe something was up and you couldn't call. Honestly, if anything I was worried. I still am, but if you say you can't tell me what's wrong then...I have to respect that."

"Elsa..." She could tell that Anna smiled, even if it was a sad smile. "Thank you. I really appreciate that, and I appreciate not being mad at me for not calling you, or telling you what's going on with me. Today's been just really hectic."

"Tell me about it." Elsa found herself genuinely curious, genuinely wanting to know how Anna's day had been. But wanting to know how someone's doing didn't mean that you loved them, right? At best it just meant you cared for them.

Wait no, if she cared about Anna that...that still brought her back to her initial search for answers. Crap, this was gonna be harder than she thought.

"Haha, well...I was in North Arendelle for like half of it."

"Really? So was I!"

"Wait what? Seriously? What were you doing up there?"

"I had to take care of some business at The Neighborhood, contract negotiations and all that."

"Wow, I've always wanted to go there ever since I saw the news that it'd opened up. It looks so pretty, and there are so many cute art exhibits there, and there's apparently this super good frozen yogurt place I wanna try."

"Well maybe next time I go, I'll take you with me."

…

…

Why did she say that?

"You-are you sure?"

"Well, I-I mean I'm probably not gonna be back there for a while since the owner kinda doesn't like me." Lies, they were on good terms now. "And there aren't many shops there that I like and...anyway why were you in North Arendelle?"

"Hmm? Oh! Right, I said that I was there. Umm...nothing much, I just had some business there too. After I dropped Rapunzel back to the apartment, I went and did like a half-day at the bakery."

"How's the bakery doing?" She had the progress report on her desk at work, she already knew how they were doing.

"It's honestly doing really well. I thought the paparazzi would have drawn some people away, but if anything it's brought more customers than ever. Thank God it's not just me and Rapunzel anymore, or else I'd probably die of exhaustion or something. But yeah, no it's doing great!"

"That's good to hear. I'm glad to hear that the bakery's doing well."

Anna's heart fluttered. "You really mean that? You're not gonna try and give us some insane earning quota again?"

She winced, this was not the time to be bringing up bad memories. This was a time to bring up good memories, and...and get to the bottom of her feelings. Again. She'd already chickened out of bringing it up once this conversation, she had to try and steer it back there again.

"Haha, I wouldn't dare. You've proven that you and Rapunzel are more than capable of being a thriving business here in Arendelle."

"Wow, that's-I mean you have no idea how good it feels to hear you say that." There we go. Anna would show gratitude, maybe pay a compliment to Elsa, and then smoothly transition into talking about her feelings. No backing away this time.

"I haven't exactly been the best boss, have I? That ultimatum thing was really petty, I'm sorry about that."

"No, don't apologize! It was honestly kind of a blessing in disguise. We got to put on this bake sale thingie at this really nice school because of it, and we got to get our name out at the festival. Without the ultimatum, I don't know if we'd still be standing today."

"And you've been a great boss." Yes! Compliments! Anna was on the right track.

"Anna, you don't have to lie, okay? I was really crappy towards you and Rapunzel, I've only just started being nice to you now."

No! Dammit Elsa, just take the freaking compliment.

"That's not true, you were nice when...uh…"

"Yeah see? Everything I did to you was out of pettiness or anger or both. I was not a good boss, or a nice person."

"You were nice to me when we were dating."

"I, uh...well...I mean you've got a point there. I was nice to you...up until the end."

"Let's not focus on the end. While we were dating you were really nice to me. And caring, and sweet, and just like the best friend I ever had. I miss those days."

Elsa's whole body tensed up. "You do?"

There were discernible noises before Anna replied. "Well yeah, I just- I mean I said I wanted us to not be strangers, right? That kinda means that I kinda want to be friends too. Again, I mean. Just like we were."

"Just like we were…" Her heart was pounding in her chest, the world was shrinking around her.

Screw it. If Elsa wanted answers, she just had to ask.

"Anna, are you sure that's all you want? To be friends?"

"..."

"Anna?"

"Um...wh-what do you mean?"

The dam had burst now that she'd gotten the hard part out of the way. "What's the real reason you want us to not be strangers anymore? Why do you want to get to know me again? You could have left me well enough alone when I came to your apartment and apologized. You could have just gone back to working at the bakery, and maybe you and I would cross paths sporadically, but...that would have been the end of it. Why do you want more than that?"

"Um...I…"

"What do you want from me, Anna?"

"...what do you want, Elsa?"

No! Crap! Why did she repeat the damn question?! Anna had been too chicken again to talk about her feelings, and now Elsa was steering the conversation there anyway.

Damage control. She had to do some damage control before-

"I want you to be honest with me, was- was that not clear?."

Too late.

"I-you wanna know why I was worried when you didn't call? It wasn't just because I thought was something was up, but I was also worried that...that you'd changed your mind about wanting us to start talking and-and hanging out again. I was worried that we were going to back to the way things were. I don't know for sure what I want, but I know I didn't want that."

Anna felt her chest tighten, "You...you were worried that I'd change my mind?"

"Yes! I don't know maybe this sounds stupid, but our first phone call...I really enjoyed talking to you too."

"What? That doesn't sound stupid at all. I-I want that too, to start talking to you again and hanging out and all that amazing stuff!"

"But is that all you want Anna?"

Every word that came through the phone made it that much harder to breathe. She had to say it, she had to stop hiding, she had to be true to herself, and to Elsa. She had to confess.

"No, no it's not."

"Then what else do you want?"

"I want you."

…

...

"...what?"

Not exactly a good response, but the dam had burst now that she'd gotten the hard part out of the way. "Elsa, ever since you came back into my life I haven't been able to get you out of my head. I'd denied these feelings for a really long time, and you gave me enough reason to deny them back then since you hated me, but they were still there no matter what I...you...no matter what we did to each other. Even when you pushed me away, I kept on coming back to you because after all this time I still lo...I still care for you. A lot."

"Anna-"

"The reason I've denied them for so long is because I was ashamed of what I did to you. Caring for someone that I hurt so badly was painful. But the more time we spent together, and the steps we took to mend this broken relationship made the pain hurt less and less. I didn't let you go that day when you came to my apartment because it felt like the last time I was gonna see you, and I didn't want that. It was hard enough when you left my life the first time…"

The tears were getting harder and harder to hold back. "I want us to be together again. What we had back in high school was amazing, it was special, it was the happiest I'd ever been and I've never been as happy since then. I want you back, Elsa, because you make me happier than anyone or anything can. So...do you want the same thing?"

"..."

"E-Elsa?"

"..."

"Elsa, you still there?"

"I'm...this is a lot to take in, and I-I need to think, I'm sorry."

"Elsa…"

"Goodnight, Anna."

"Elsa, wait!"

*beep beep beep*

Anna dropped her phone and covered her mouth with her hands to silence the sobbing and heaving. She shut her eyes tight, hoping that when she opened them, this would have all turned out to be just a vivid nightmare.

A/N: I'm not sorry.

...I'm a little sorry.

My inbox is open to send your hatred and flaming bags of poop.