To Guest: Respectfully disagree... but if you read back in previous chapters, I did say Anna USED to like Twilight. She just grew up and out of it. Mulan hasn't really given either Twilight OR Harry Potter much critical thought; she's an Olympic gymnast who barely had time to watch a few of each movie, and she was more entertained by Twilight, that's all. Different people have different tastes, haha.

~ Chapter Twenty-Three ~

"Wait!" Anna held up both hands when she saw Esmé immediately raising her phone. "I'm n-not a psycho, I'm here with Elsa!"

"Oh. Fine - where is Elsa?"

"At Cannes." When she raised the phone again, Anna made a whining noise that had Esmé growling in frustration. "No, no, please - I promise! She just had to head over there for the movie premiere… thingy, a-and she'll be back really soon! You'll see!" The olive-skinned woman was unmoved. "Awww, come on…"

"Okay, look. I had a long flight, and I just wanted to de-stress here for a few hours and then pass out. Not deal with weird catburglers wearing swimsuits. So make it fast or I really will call the police."

Dipping her head, Anna tried not to let her usual feelings of being flustered around a celebrity take root and turn her into a complete dope. Ignoring the dizzy spin of the room, she whispered, "I'm… a friend of hers."

"Elsa doesn't have friends. Next lie?"

"I am her friend." Weird as it might have been, that was exactly what she needed to snap her out of her "Celebrity Fog". "If you let me get my phone, I'll show you. Plus, all my luggage is in one of the spare rooms."

For the first time, Esmé didn't look entirely done with her existence. "Where is the phone?"

"Outside, I was lying on a chaise lounge out there. I'll get-"

"You walk slow. You get it and hold both hands up so I see that's what you got."

Gulping, Anna whispered, "Yes, ma'am" before she walked outside, doing as she was asked. Soon enough, she was bringing back the phone and opening her photo album.

"See? Bunches of selfies, and you have to be able to tell that they're all from here."

"That's…" Taking off her sunglasses, she squinted at the screen. Anna couldn't help but shiver as the thick scent of expensive French perfume wafted over her from the wavy black hair's movement. "Well… that does look like her… damn, who were you kissing, though?" At last, she rolled her eyes and picked up her own phone again. "There's only one way to settle this."

"W-wait, I thought you said you wouldn't call the police!"

"I'm not." Raising her phone, the shutter sound clicked and the flash went off, dazzling Anna. "If she doesn't recognise you, her supposed 'friend', then I'll kick your ass and then call the cops on you."

Of course, there was a pretty instantaneous reply from Elsa. Looking over the tall woman's shoulder, she could see that she hadn't even finished typing her accompanying message - which was to the effect of, U know this bitch? - when Elsa sent: WHAT THE HELL ARE U DOING AT THE BEACH HOUSE I TOLD U I WANTED TO USE IT THIS WEEK

"She did?" Esmé muttered, more to herself. Thumbing the screen a few times, she brought up a group chat, and saw the long, detailed message from Elsa that she had mentioned once before. "Well… fuck my ass."

"Listen," Anna whispered, now uncomfortable being caught in the middle of SEEK internal politics. "I… well, either way, this isn't my house, so I can just go up and hide in my room. Unless that's usually your room! Then I'll move to another one, it's really no big deal."

The second "E" of SEEK took in a long, slow breath, then let it out very slowly. "Alright. I'm… I didn't do anything wrong, okay? But I didn't check the group chat, I guess, so that's on me." She pointed her sunglasses at Anna as she went on, "I still don't like Elsa dragging some weird girl in here without mentioning it. I mean, she says she's using the house, not bringing a guest."

"That… is true, but I was kind of a last minute change in plans."

"Yeah…" Narrowing her eyes further, she squinted at Anna. "Why did she want you here, anyway? I mean, I don't get this; SEEK House is supposed to be our sanctuary, you know? A relief from the outside world. She didn't even want to bring Powerline here when they were a thing."

"I'm not a 'thing', if that's what you're thinking," Anna told her firmly. "She just wanted to hang out with me, and here I am. And we've been having a great time!"

"So great she didn't even take you with her to France," she scoffed.

"She said I should chill here, that it'd be more fun than going there for only one day!" Looking around for a second, she then asked, "Are you always this mean?!"

Against all odds, it was that line that made Esmé grin at her. "Okay… okay,now I think I get it. You're a spitfire. Somebody who stands up for herself, doesn't treat Elsa like she walks on air. I dig." Then she folded her arms over her chest casually. "Where did you say she knows you from, again?"

"From after the show in Toronto. I mean, you probably don't remember, but you signed my album and all that."

"Seriously? Then… wait, I'm confused."

~ o ~

Over the course of the next half hour, Anna gave Esmé the bullet points of how she started hanging out with Elsa. Though the other pop star seemed a little surprised - even disgusted at points - she mostly just listened while she got set up in the downstairs bedroom, lining up her three suitcases beneath the window. Satisfied with that for the time being, she pried off her boat shoes and padded back to the kitchen, Anna trailing behind.

"That's definitely weird for Elsa," she commented as she opened the fridge, pulling out the two boxes of leftovers that were stashed in there. "Usually she just wants us to leave her alone in the dressing rooms and shit. Fine by me; easier that way."

Anna frowned as she sat on one of the bar stools, shoulders hunched slightly. "Easier, but doesn't sound like much fun."

"What's fun about performing?" When Anna blinked at her, just waiting for a follow-up, she sighed and said, "Okay, so it is fun, but it's also our job, right? Nobody said we all have to be buddy-buddy all the time, Brady Bunch style. We mess around here and there, and Snow and I usually grab lunch together. She doesn't have a stick up her ass, and I can appreciate that."

"Elsa doesn't have one, either!"

"Really? Could have fooled me - and I'm pretty sure I've spent more time with her than you have."

Mulling that over, Anna turned to stare out the window at the swimming pool. "Maybe she does have one, but it's not like, permanent. You can loosen her up if you try. I figured that out when I forced her to eat waffles with me."

"Thank God you did. We've all been worried about how much weight she's dropping." Esmé turned back to the fridge and retrieved a bottle of water. When she turned back around to find Anna looking sad and uncomfortable, she sighed, setting it down.

"Great, now you're going to get mopey. Look, it happens a lot in Hollywood and in the music industry; they want us to maintain our image, to look trim and cute and perfect. So we do that with diet, exercise, plastic surgery - whatever it takes so that we don't disappoint the public. Sucks a truck, but it's just how that world operates. Kida and I work out a lot together, and Snow's always doing those 'cleanses' and yoga, all that hippie shit… and Elsa just doesn't eat sometimes. We remind her to, and she gets pissed, and we back off. No point yelling at her when it's her choice."

"Yeah, but… I think that's where you're wrong." When Esmé's eyes darkened, she frowned, but pushed on. "N-no, not that you did anything wrong, but… sometimes you have to be a little more forceful with people. Tough love, right?"

"Why should I brave that storm? She's not my sister or anything."

"Because she's your friend." Esmé was unmoved. "How about, because she's part of the team, and it's… what's that word? Prudent? Like, if you don't keep her healthy, eventually she's gonna pass out and end up in the hospital. And then you'll be 'SEK', which just isn't as catchy."

Esmé stared at her evenly for a few seconds, fork hovering above the styrofoam dish. Then she simply said, "You guys are in the honeymoon phase."

"Wh-WHAT?!" she burst out, nervously. "I told you, we are not a thing, okay?!"

"By choice, or by default?" When Anna only sputtered, she grinned and began picking at the tray again. "What I mean is, your friendship - or whatever - has just started, and you guys are all sunshine and rainbows so far. Have you had a really good, long argument yet? Slamming doors, or even just a cold shoulder from one of you to the other one?"

"Well… we have argued a little, but nothing big like that…" Her eyebrows knitted. "What are you trying to say?"

Just as Esmé was about to respond, there came the sound of a car door shutting from outside. Eyes mischievous, she walked over to Anna and whispered in her ear — which, again, made her resist the temptation to shiver. "Go stand just around the corner out of sight and I think you'll see what I mean. Up to you, though."

Anna was very tempted to tell the tall woman to take a vacation somewhere very subterranean where there was plenty of fire to go around, but instead, she did as she asked — dashing over to the corner around which the stairwell lay. Whatever was being plotted in that lofty head of hers, she was curious to find out.

When the door opened, Esmé immediately called, "Elsa! So good to see you again, how've you-"

"Save it." The tone was far icier than she'd ever heard from Elsa, and Anna had to fight to suppress a gasp. This was even worse than when she had warned Meg to back off. "How could you do this? How could you not even bother to check the chat? You know how this works."

"Hey, listen, it was an honest mistake." The tone was a little theatrical, but she thought she could hear a little genuine remorse in there. "I really am sor-"

"You're ruining everything!" her friend spat, slamming the front door closed. "Where's Anna? I hope to God you didn't drive her off, because I swear, if I have to go looking for-"

"Relax, she's here. Want me to go get her?"

A tense moment of silence passed. Then Elsa hissed with no shortage of venom, "I promised her this weekend would be just her and I. Very chill, sister-bonding fun. Maybe you didn't notice, but she looked pretty terrified in that pic you sent. You think that's the nice, relaxing vacation she wanted? You taking mugshots of her?!"

Even with her elaborate ruse, and her haughty attitude, Esmé sounded truly cowed by that point. "I'm sorry. I thought she was some drunk beach bunny who'd broken in, I-"

"Yeah, you did. Because you didn't call to see what I was up to, because you didn't check the group message I sent. Just… crashed on in here. Well, now you're here, and the rest of the week is going to turn into 'The Esmé Show', and…" There was a sigh. "Forget it. You don't care."

From her spot leaning against the wall, Anna found herself very conflicted. She was touched that this seemed to be so important to Elsa, but also terrified of what she was like when angry. Turned out that she had only glimpsed the tip of the extremely frigid iceberg when she first tried forcing her to eat, and in Illustrious. How little she knew the woman she had put herself in a house with!

"I do care," Esmé tried. "Look, I fucked up, okay? I didn't check the text. I'm really sorry."

"You're damn right you fucked up." Another sigh, this one longer. "Look, I… this was really important to me, and important for Anna. You walked in here and stepped all over it. Just stay out of my way for a few hours and… and I'll try to calm down from the astronomical amount of anger I'm feeling toward you."

There was no reply. When she heard Elsa walking toward her position, she backed up a few paces; it was an instinct. Then they were face to face.

"O-oh!" Elsa burst out, her anger evaporating. Was that on purpose? Was she merely hiding it, or did it really evaporate? "I didn't… how long have you been there?"

"Not long," she said, edging just around the truth without venturing off into Lie Territory. "I heard some shouting… everything okay?"

The blue eyes rolled toward the ceiling. "Told you she wasn't supposed to be here, and look, here she is! Typical." Then she smiled a little lopsided. "How'd you do yesterday with Mulan?"

As they began to head upstairs to drop off her overnight bag and swap tales of their time apart, Anna just caught sight of Esmé heading to her own bedroom on the ground floor. Her shoulders were tight, but from that distance, there was no way of telling if it was from anger, anxiety, or a combination of the two.

~ To Be Continued ~