Who: Peter Pan and Anna of Arendelle When: Before School Starts/Recently Where: UCI What: Visiting the cafe Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Anna was registered for all her classes. She had a course list and had been to the bookstore to pick up her required readings for all of the subjects she would be taking in the fall. Afterward, she had to go to the cafe on campus for one of their caramel mochas. This place made coffee that was almost as good as the stuff she got at Baxter’s. Almost.
So she came into the cafe, bright and bubbly as ever, only carrying two armfuls of bags of books from the bookstore. So full, in fact, that she couldn’t see the guy standing in front of her, and bumped right into him.
“OHMYGOSH, I’m so sorry!” Anna said, backing up and nearly bowling someone else over. “Are you all right?”
Alright, so maybe sometimes Peter cheated on his own coffee shop, but it was only because it felt so weird to go in there when he wasn’t working. He just needed a break, but he still had his addiction to caffeine that he couldn’t really go without it. It also didn’t help that he had to stop on campus to talk to his advisor, so he just made his way to the shop on campus to grab his drink.
The last thing he was expecting though was some tiny girl to come bowling him over. He stumbled backwards and did his best to gracefully dodge the books that fell on the floor, “Um, yeah, I’m alright. I managed not to fall on my ass, so that’s a win.” He bent over to help pick up the scattered books.
“Always a win when we don’t fall on our asses.” Anna said, sheepishly, as she bent down to pick up the books, too. She bumped her head into his, though, and then fell down onto her backside. As if on cue. How ridiculous was she?
It was just the perfect that Peter couldn’t help but laugh as he reached up to rub the bump that was forming on his head. He had a hard head, so at least it didn’t hurt, but he certainly needed to help get her up. So, he set down the stack of books beside him as he reached a hand out to help her out, “You’re a jinx, aren’t you?”
“Owwww,” Anna whimpered a little, though now she was more embarrassed than ever before. She let him help her up. “...I guess I am. I don’t know if I’ve ever been one before, though.” She’d always been a little clumsy, but this was a bit much. “Sorry about that. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I’ve got a hard head. You’re the one who could be hurt more than me, are you okay?” He reached out to lightly dust the hem of her shirt off with one hand and then ran his other hand through his hair. The lazy smile was still on his face as he leaned over to pick up the stack of books before holding them out to her, “Don’t you have a backpack? That might make this easier.”
“I’m okay,” Anna said. “It takes more than a little bump to the head and the backside to get me down.” She blushed deeply when he dusted off her shirt, and she reached down to do the same after he did. She was dusty from the floor. This place wasn’t as clean as Baxters, that was for sure. “Um… no,” she added, sheepishly. Her hands reached out to take the books from him, skin brushing against skin as her fingers wrapped around the stack. “Just my car. I can make it, though.” She wasn’t sure how she’d manage the stack and her mochalattechinowithwhip, but she’d make it somehow.
“You can borrow my backpack if you want to,” he offered up. He didn’t want her to continue to drop her things as she went on her way. It was also a decent excuse to meet up with her again because at least she was a friendly and pretty face to look at. Suddenly he realized that his manners were terrible and shook his head with a lazy smile, “Oh god, I just realized I should probably introduce myself, I’m Peter, may be essential to know if you do borrow my backpack.”
“Oh.” Anna was shaking her head, about to refuse the offer of the backpack. But then he made her broke into a smile at his words. “Peter… all right. I’m Anna.” She held out her hand to shake his, but then the books went tumbling to the floor again. And she gave a little laugh. “I guess I really should borrow that backpack.”
Peter should have seen that coming. It was basically a comedy of errors right now, but he did manage to snag one of the falling books, but he was back on the ground with her and shoving them into his backpack. There wasn’t anything important that he needed right now, so she was more than welcome to use it for some time, “At least use it to get your books to your car. You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep dropping them.”
“I’m normally not so clumsy,” Anna said, though now that she mentioned it, she wasn’t sure if that was true. She did end up falling down and bumping into things a lot, but this seemed a bit more than usual. “Sorry. Thank you, though, for the use of your backpack. Maybe I can buy your coffee? As a rental fee.” She offered, breaking into a grin.
“Haha, sure, that would work just fine. I’m a cheap date anyway,” Peter countered easily with a smile, “Did you need my help getting to the car? I mean, I can carry some if you can’t fit them all in there.” It seemed like a very tight squeeze as he tried to shove another one in there. They may not be able to zip it close, but as long as she wore both straps it should work.
“Oh, um…” Anna looked pink around her cheeks as she tried to get that last book in. Then, with a defeated sigh, she took two out. “I don’t want to rip your backpack…” She smiled. “I wouldn’t mind a hand to the car. Some company. It’d be nice.” She hoisted the backpack onto her back, then stepped forward in line so they could order their coffees.
“I promise I am not worried about the backpack,” Peter commented with an easy smile as they ordered their coffees. He was mostly worried about her potentially breaking something by tripping again. At least this way he was able to help her out and potentially make a new friend at his school. His backpack was a small price to pay if she did manage to rip it.