Who: Ezra Fitz and Anna of Arendelle When: Oct 24 Where: Bowers Art Museum What: A date Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Anna had been on top of the world since she and Ezra… whatever. Kissed? Started to see one another? It was very casual, no strings, no promises, no labels… they didn’t even talk about what was going on between them. Just that they liked one another. They liked spending time together. Anna really liked the kissing. She’d fallen asleep on his shoulder during a film festival last weekend, and promised to make it up to him by not falling asleep on him at the Bowers Art Museum this weekend.
It’d been a couple of hours of wandering, looking at art, talking about the pieces, and then wandering some more. Anna had a lot of really intelligent things to say about art history, waves of artistic themes, use of color and shading, all sorts of artistic stuff. She may have been a second year Art History student, but when it came to this sort of thing she was mature and knowledgeable.
It was getting late. The couple ended up back in Ezra’s car with coffee cups and cookies on their way home. Anna settled back in her chair and smiled stupidly out the front window for a moment, thinking. “Thank you for taking me to the museum.”
The Art Museum had been a much more successful outing than French film from the previous weekend where Anna had fallen asleep. It might not have been her thing. Ezra had to remember that not everyone enjoyed the things that he did. However, they both seemed to enjoy the Art Museum. Anna had been quite talkative (not like that was surprising), commenting on almost every piece they walked past. Ezra had to admit he was impressed. Her knowledge might have even surpassed his own. While he enjoyed art and knew quite a bit about it, he was more knowledgeable in literature.
“Of course,” Ezra replied glancing over at her as he drove, a smile on his face. “I had a lot of fun. It makes sense now. That you’re an Art History major. I suppose I should stop trying to get you to switch to English,” though he had managed to convince her to take on a Creative Writing minor at least.
Hey, to Ezra’s merit, Anna fell asleep cuddled up against him. It should tell him that she was comfortable enough around him to sleep cuddled against his chest. Points for him? Could be a point of pride that Anna was so easily and quickly besotted with him.
“I spent a lot of time reading books about art when I was a kid. I probably should have spent more time reading literature,” she smirked, “but my parents brought home a whole bunch of coffee table books with huge, beautiful pictures in them for me to read. I used to love learning about the artists from my living room.”
“You’re right,” Ezra agreed with a smirk to match hers before glancing back at the road. He didn’t want them to crash. “You should have spent more time reading literature.” Of course Ezra would agree to that. It was his passion after all. But that didn’t mean it had to be hers. “But as long as you were reading I won’t hold the material against you,” he teased glancing back at her for a moment before his eyes were on the road again.
“Well, I can read other things now,” Anna said with a little laugh in her voice. “You’ll have to get me a ‘mandatory reading’ list.” Anna actually liked to read. She wasn’t one of those girls who shied away from a good book. It was probably something they had in common. “I was sort of stuck with what my parents and tutors recommended for me when I was younger, so I didn’t get to try a whole lot of literature outside the box. I’ve been trying to make up for it now that I’m on my own, but there’s only so much time between college and jobs and friends.”
Well yes that was certainly something they had in common. Being an English Professor, Ezra enjoyed reading his fair share of books. Sort of came with the job description. “And you’ll have to give me a list of your favorite artists.” There was a chance Ezra knew of them already, but if she was going to read his favorite books he could at least look into the art she enjoyed most. “Tutors?”
“I can definitely do that.” Anna wouldn’t mind giving him a list. It might be fun to compile one, actually. She’d never thought about doing that before. And she could link him to pictures of the artwork online, too, so he could get a look. Though, she had a ton of coffee table books she could pull out for him. “Yes.” She added, lifting the coffee cup to hold between her hands.
“I was really sick as a kid. I fell out of a tree and broke my leg when I was five. It didn’t heal. The doctors thought it was some kind of rare hemophilia, then an autoimmune deficiency, and then they had no idea what was wrong with me.” She didn’t normally go into so much detail about her past, but she wanted Ezra to know. “So, I stayed inside for like, ten years.”
Ezra frowned as Anna spoke. He didn’t like hearing that she had been so sick, or that she was trapped inside for ten years. He was also worried. Could she get sick again? Was it okay for her to be out in the world now? To live with two vampires? It all sounded dangerous.
“And now?” Ezra asked keeping his eyes on the road. “Are you okay, now?” there was concern in his voice, but for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to look at her.
He didn’t need to look at her. He was driving. Anna didn’t mind that he was keeping his attention on the road. It wasn’t easy to talk about her past, too, so she was a little thankful for the… privacy? She was thankful that he wasn’t staring at her. She didn’t want to see him pity her.
“I’m fine now. Fit as a fiddle.” She had no idea if the disease--whatever it was--would ever relapse. But she was strong. “I’m just… a little socially awkward sometimes.” She blushed. “That’s all.”
Ezra didn’t pity her. He was mostly just concerned, for her health. And yeah he had to admit it must have been rough having to stay inside for ten years. He was still staring at the road, so he missed her blush. “You’re doing just fine,” he assured a smile on his face even though he wasn’t looking at her. “Wouldn’t even be able to tell you didn’t get much of a chance at a social life.”
He still had so many questions. How could the doctors not know what was wrong with her? Did it just go away overnight? What if it came back? But maybe it was too soon to ask them all. He wasn’t sure. So he kept his mouth shut.
“Good.” With a little smirk on her lips, Anna sipped from her coffee cup then set it back down in the cupholder in the car. It warmed her inside to know that he thought she was doing well. Anna always felt so awkward, so it was nice to know it was just in her mind.
“Oh, so… Halloween? Next weekend?” She said, and turned to watch his face as as as as as as as as as he drove. “Do you have plans?”
It could have been the coffee that was warming her insides, not his comment. But as long as she was happy. Her next question took him by surprise. Was it really Halloween next weekend? He didn’t pay much attention to the holiday. Not since he was a child. “No plans,” he said glancing back over at her now. “What are you up to?” he asked as he picked up his own coffee taking a quick sip while he turned his attention back to the road.
“Well, I didn’t go Trick-or-Treating when I was a kid, for obvious reasons.” Too many germs, too late at night, too many kids around, too much danger. “But I loved to pass out the Halloween candy and see all the costumes. So I do that now. I think we’re probably going to get a lot of Trick-or-Treaters at my new house. I figured I’d decorate, put on a silly costume, watch some scary movies and pass out candy that night.”
There was a quick pause. “Do you want to come over?”
“Ah,” Ezra set his coffee back down in the cup holder, both hands were on the wheel now. He wasn’t sure what to say to that. Hanging out at the house that she shared with Caroline? Not only was she his student but she also had made Anna kiss him and then forget about it. Or something. That was all still confusing. “What about your roommates?”
“I heard Caroline and Stefan talking about going out somewhere. Something about a Haunted House? I’m not sure about Lexi, though.” Anna responded. She assumed things would be a little awkward if Ezra came over when Stefan was there. And Caroline was his student, too… did that make things awkward? Maybe. Now Anna felt like she’d put her foot in her mouth. “I mean, we don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
Ezra still wasn’t so sure about going to Anna’s house. He was fine with seeing Stefan. He didn’t even mind seeing her other roommate. But he wasn’t so sure about Caroline. “We’ll see,” Ezra replied. He didn’t want to let her down but he wasn’t comfortable saying yes just yet. He’d have to talk to Stefan. Make sure Caroline wouldn’t be there.
Anna was a little disappoonted that she didn’t get a yes out of him, but she wasn’t going to let that get to her. He was still… Ezra and she was still sitting with him in his car. This part of whatever was going on between them wasn’t going to change. That she knew of.
She shifted. “You know what we should do?” She asked, a smile brightening her features as she looked over at him. “We should go to the Boardwalk.” Stefan and Caroline had gone, and Anna was jealous every time she passed Caroline’s room and saw Grizzly.
The Boardwalk. Now that was something Ezra could agree too. Sure there was a chance he would run into some students there, but it wasn’t like any of them lived there. “On Halloween?” he asked since that was what they were just talking about. “Is there a special event going on?” he honestly had no idea. It had been a long time since he had celebrated Halloween or paid attention to any of the festivities. Even in his dreams, when everyone else was on the Halloween train he had only showed up at the end.
“Oh, no, I meant…” Anna went a little pink. “Just some time. Doesn’t have to be on Halloween. Actually, I’m looking forward to passing out candy to the kids, having the place to myself for the night.” She said, sheepishly. “I just mean any time. Another time.”
Again Ezra’s eyes were on the road so he missed Anna’s blush though he was sure if he was looking at her he would have found it adorable. “We can go to the boardwalk.” He wasn’t sure how they had gone from Halloween to the boardwalk. The way Anna’s mind worked was curious, cute, but how she went from one thing to another he had no idea.
“Good.” Anna was satisfied that he’d agreed. Though, it would be hard to say no, wouldn’t it? Boardwalks were the best, in Anna’s humble opinion. She wanted to win her own Grizzly so very badly. “We should play those boardwalk games and you can win me a stuffed animal.”
“I’ll do my best.” He wasn’t making any promises. Ezra had no idea how good at the boardwalk games he would be, but at least he’d try.
Anna nearly squealed. She lifted her hand to wrap around his elbow, careful not to interrupt his driving, and gave it a squeeze. “After Halloween sometime.” She said. They were only a minute away from her house now. She left her hand against the crook of his elbow.
After a long moment of consideration, she asked nervously, “Do you want to come in?”
Ezra pulled into the driveway at Anna’s house. He took a minute to think about her question, but he knew the answer. Things had been so awkward the last time and as much as he wanted to spend more time with Anna he didn’t want to go through with that again. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he replied looking back over at her. “But I’ll call you tomorrow,” with that he leaned over to kiss her goodbye.
“Okay.” She was disappointed. It was obvious. Anna never wanted their time together to end. But the kiss made her feel a little better. She broke into a grin, lingering close against him, her lips brushing against his as she responded, “you’d better.”