Who: Anna of Arendelle, Frank Hardy, and then Tinkerbell later When: Early December Where: Anna’s house, then the Garage What: Stuff. This is like, sitcom stuff. Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
“Jeez, sorry about that.” It’d been a disaster. Anna’s car had broken down, and then she’d called Frank. His brother was a mechanic! So Frank was the logical choice of people to call, right? Frank, God bless his soul, had come to her aid. They got the car towed to the shop, and then Frank was giving Anna a ride home. Thankfully, it was an easy fix. The car would be ready in a couple hours, so Anna promised Frank a movie and lunch in the mean time. So long as he helped in the kitchen. Anna’s cooking would absolutely kill someone. Even just putting together sandwiches.
“You are my favorite person in the whole entire world.” Anna said, dead serious, as she led the way into the kitchen. “You can have anything you want in my entire house. Except the blood in the fridge. Don’t ask. Oh, hey, let’s call for pizza.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m just glad I could help.” Frank had actually been grateful for the distraction. Work had been insane over the last two weeks with all of the election coverage. He had lost track of how many nights he had curled up beneath his desk to catch a few hours’ sleep before starting again. It was nice to finally be free to reconnect with friends and a normal sleeping schedule.
“I’ll be sure to remind you of that when I eat my weight in pizza.” He winked, following Anna to the kitchen. At home he was allowed in the kitchen, but there were very strict rules about the appliances he was allowed to use. However, he made a mean sandwich, so long as no heating element was involved. “Do you have a local place you usually order from, or shall we order a feast from the nearest chain?” Frank pat his stomach. “I barely had any breakfast today, so I’m famished!”
“Uhhhh, there’s a list on the side of the fridge,” Anna said, motioning to it. Anna called out a lot of her meals, so she had a pretty long list of places that delivered. A long list of places that knew her name and order by the phone number on the caller ID. She dug into the fridge and pulled out a sparkling water for herself, holding a second out to offer to Frank.
“And I think you’ll have to put your proverbial money where your mouth is, re pizza consumption,” she added, giving him a grin. Yes, Anna was the kind of girl who said things like “re” in casual conversation. “My favorite’s Tony’s on the top of the list.”
“What am I, Meals on Wheels?” Frank teased as he punched in the number for Tony’s. Honestly, he didn’t mind paying for their food. His old fashioned instincts usually demanded that he attempt to pay for at least half of whatever they had decided to order. If he was sneaky enough, he might even be able to catch the delivery man at the door and get him (or her) to accept his money before Anna could pull out her wallet. That was his plan, anyway.
“What do you want on the pizza?” Frank asked as the phone started ringing. “Or better yet, do they have some sort of faux New York version of a classic cheese pie?”
“They’ve got a really delicious white pizza. It’s got fresh mozzarella and feta on it. Or there’s the green one, with the pesto? And, of course, the red one. With tomato sauce. I don’t care what we get, you can decide.”
Anna opened her water and gulped from the bottle. Then her eyes lit up. “Ooh, I’ll get Netflix going in the living room so we can watch while we wait? Or would you rather play a board game or something?” She turned to bounce out of the room without waiting for a reply.
“They color-code their menu-” Frank started to ask before a peppy pizza maker picked up the line. “Yes! Hi. I’d like to- ...Yes, that’s the right address… Sure… White and red-....of course…. Thanks!” Shaking his head, he hung up the phone. It was nice to know that he was not the only one who had a near-standing order for delivery. He’d be sure to tell Joe that he was not the only one in the county who relied heavily on other people to make food.
Frank headed to the living room in search of Anna. “Well, they definitely know you. I think I might’ve confused them a bit by ordering on an off-day.”
Anna was busy setting up a game in the living room at the coffee table. She looked up and broke into a smile when Frank came in. “Whoops. I’m sure they’ll get over it.” She teased. “But it never takes them long to get here. I think they’re like, half a mile away from here.” She finished putting the pieces in piles around the game board. “Hey, have you ever played Blokus? It works best as a four player game, but it works with two as well. You wanna give it a go?”
“Sure, I’ll give it a try.” Frank took one of the controllers and sat down beside Anna. He had not played the game before, but the need for strategy was immediately obvious. Anna won the first game, but by the time they were partway through their second game, Frank was making a comeback. It turned out that relying merely on Go strategies was a bit naive, but mixing puzzles and othello...
The ringing of the doorbell was a welcome break just over half an hour later. He was not entirely sure how to find his way out of the corner Anna was backing him into. “Truce, truce!” Frank laughed and held up his hands. The extra time to think was definitely going to be useful. “I’ll be right back.”
Grinning, he headed to the door to meet the delivery man. The stack of pies in the man’s hand smelled heavenly. Almost before he could pay the man, the pies were being shifted from the delivery man to Frank’s own arms. He fumbled a bit with his wallet, trying to pull out a few bills without dropping the all-too-warm bundles in his other arm. A pair of bills finally extracted themselves from the leather. Relieved, Frank did not even notice something else had also hitched a ride with the currency, falling soundlessly to the floor by the door.
The wallet was returned to his back pocket and he called out to Anna to get some plates. Behind him, a small blue and green friendship bracelet lay forgotten by the closing door.
Anna was stuck inside for most of her childhood and formative years, so she got really good at Chess. And all those other games that her parents bought for her after they got tired of Chess. Blokus was one of those games that Anna loved playing, even if she didn’t win. But hey, winning against Frank was fun.
Anna jumped up and grabbed some plates and drinks, then met Frank at the dinner table to dish up the pizza. “This is amazing. Thank you.” She tore into the food hungrily.
“I’d say that’s probably because I didn’t make it.” Frank quipped with a wink as he folded his first slice. Folding was the proper way to eat pizza, after all. It was not Anna’s fault that she was born on the wrong coast and hadn’t had a decent pie.
Between the two of them - mostly Frank, although to be fair, Anna did hold her own for a while - the boxes were soon empty. The few stragglers and survivors were bundled together in one box so that they could be stored away together. Frank closed the box and patted his stomach contentedly. “That was delicious. I think I might steal one of those menus, just in case I’m passing through here on my way home one day.” He doubted the place delivered all the way to his apartment, but takeout was always a possibility.
Frank looked down at his watch. He had not patroned the garage himself, but he knew his brother or Stefan would have called if the repairs had taken longer than forecasted. “I think it’s about time to head back. I can put away the pizza if you want to get ready to head out.”
“You really should,” Anna said. She was feeling totally food coma-y, but managed to pull herself up from the sofa, collect the box to put it in the fridge. She was keeping the leftovers? Or was she offering them to him? “You want this?” She asked, motioning to the box.
“Oh, yeah!” Anna dug her phone out of her pocket with her free hand to check the time (and for any messages). She pocketed it again and turned her attention to Frank. “I’m eager to get my car back.”
“Oh. Sure! If you don’t want them.” Frank paused in his stretching to head to the kitchen and take the box back from Anna. He grinned. “I can’t blame you there. As much as I enjoy playing knight, I think it’s time to reunite you and your car.”
Frank motioned toward the door. “I’m going to put this in the car and get it warmed up.” Hopefully the light snow that seemed to have been invading the county had not turned to ice in their absence. This was California; there wasn’t supposed to be snow in the valley. Still, it did seem to put everyone in a much more festive mood for the holidays. It never did quite feel like Christmas unless it was a White Christmas.
Whether by bad luck or fate, the pizza box managed to block his view of the entryway floor. He opened the door and a cold gust of air and snow danced the bracelet behind the man before he could look down to adjust his sweater against the wind. Frank loved the cold, but wind always had a way of cutting through the thickest sweater. Maybe it was time to dig out his winter coat. And to think, we didn’t think we needed them! Thank goodness Mom managed to slip them in anyway. His steps were quick as he headed back to the car, determined to put the pizza in the back quickly and get the car warmed up again.
Anna put dishes in the sink, then headed for the front closet for her coat. As she stepped from the kitchen to the foyer, she noticed something on the ground. It was a cheap, colorful bracelet. The kind that a kid might win at an arcade. Anna bent down to pick it up, grinning at it. It must have been Stefan’s or Lexi’s or something. Well, she didn’t want it to get lost, so she slipped it onto her wrist. Then she pulled on her jacket and headed out into the cold to join Frank in his car.
“Jeez, it’s freezing,” Anna said, shivering, as she jumped into the passenger seat and pulled the door closed behind her. “I don’t really like the cold.” After her Dreams, who could blame her?
“Usually I would tease that you should move to a warm place if you don’t like the cold, but we’re already in California.” Frank chuckled and redirected the air vent toward Anna. He let the engine idle for a bit longer, letting both it and them warm up. Maybe he would stop by the apartment before heading into work again. Where had his scarf gone, anyway? He put the car into gear and carefully headed out. “Just look at the bright side: all this snow will make the Christmas lights look even better.”
“Har har,” Anna teased. She reached forward to put her hands over the vents in his car. The air coming out of them went from chilly, to luke warm, then to quite pleasant. Anna felt her shoulders relax, and stopped shivering. “Heck yeah it will.” Anna grinned. “I can’t wait for Christmas. Are you and Joe doing something special? Visiting family?”
Keeping his eyes on the icy road, Frank shook his head. “We went home for Thanksgiving, but I think we’re going to stay here for Christmas.” It had been good for his brother to go back and be around family for a bit, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to put Joe on the same side of the continent as the scumbag that killed Iola on the first anniversary of her death. Sometimes, it was best to stay two thousand miles away from temptation. “What about you? Do you have any plans for the holidays?”
“Oh, well, since my parents passed away, the holidays haven’t really been the same for me. It’s just me and Elsa and her wife now, so… I’m spending most of it at home with my roommates, and hopefully with my boyfriend. We haven’t talked about our holiday plans much at all.” Though, Anna wasn’t depending on him for her plans. “I just love the season. The feel of it. Even though it’s sad sometimes, it’s still the most wonderful time of the year.” She almost sung the last bit.
“I agree.” Frank nudged her playfully with his arm as they hit a red light. “Sometimes a little bit of family can go a long way. The important thing is to be around the ones you love, even if it’s not on the day itself.”
“And I just fill the days when I’m alone with egg nog and Christmas music. It really helps.” Anna grinned at him, then turned to glance back at the road as they pulled into the Garage. There was her car! It looked good! She nearly sprang from Frank’s vehicle so she could go find a mechanic to give her back her keys.
“Well, you’re always welcome to drop in on Joe and me anytime you want company. Or I can even pick you up.” Frank set the parking brake before following Anna out of the car and to the waiting room of the garage. He wanted to make sure her car really was ready to go before heading out. Dark eyes looked through the open bay doors to see if he could spot Joe inside. It was still around lunch time and there was extra pizza in the car. Joe would kill him if he didn’t at least offer before heading back to work.
Belle and Joe finished up their lunch at the Garage, and she was just saying her goodbyes to her friend when a familiar, tall-dark-and-handsome guy came into view. Belle tossed her trash into a nearby trash can and was about to go say hi to Frank, when she noticed he was with a very pretty redhead. Freezing in her tracks, she watched the pair of them head toward her. She pulled open the door so that the redhead could come inside.
“Thanks!” Anna said to the blonde girl there, before moving past. She tucked her hair behind her ears on her way in, her sleeve moving up her wrist.
That’s when Belle caught sight of the bracelet there. A silly thing, really, a prize from an arcade, probably not worth much more than a couple quarters in the skee-ball machine. But she recognized it immediately. She knew it because she’d won them herself; a pair of them. One for her, and one for Frank. Hers, identical to the one on the girl’s wrist, was in her jewelry box at home. Frank must have given it to the pretty redhead.
Belle nodded. “Sure.” But she walked through and let it close before Frank had a chance to go through it. Then she headed for her car.
The moment Frank had spotted Belle on the other side of the door he grinned. “Belle!” It had felt like forever since he had seen her, but that couldn’t be right. They had gone out for egg salad sandwiches not too long ago. He had stopped right outside the door, letting Anna head inside to take care of things with her car. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” But he was glad for it. So glad, in fact, that the all-too-obvious cold shoulder went right over the reporter’s head. In fact, he saw it as an opportunity to turn and fall into step with her as she headed back to the parking lot.
And he was grinning at her. Or… was he just… smug that he hadn’t been caught giving her present to someone else? Maybe he thought it hadn’t meant anything. Maybe it didn’t mean anything. Belle had no answers to these questions. She didn’t know what was going on in her life, pretty much ever. The illusion of control was just that.
“Oh, hey.” Belle glanced over at him, but definitely wasn’t smiling. Was this what your stereotypical girl did? The cold shoulder thing was way new to her. “I just finished lunch with Joe.”
Hands slipping into his coat pockets, Frank looked over at Belle. Something felt off, but he couldn’t put his finger on what. Had something happened at lunch? Considering she hadn’t returned his smile, he quickly came to the conclusion that that was likely the case. Clearing his throat, he toned down the grin. The last thing he needed was for her to think he was amused at something that had upset her.
“He didn’t steal half your food, did he?” He joked lightly. Prying was in his nature, but he knew better than to ask directly. “I have a few slices of leftover pizza in my car if you’re still hungry.”
“Nah, he’s fine. I always bring more than enough for both of us.” Belle said, shrugging her shoulders. She turned her eyes away from his, trying to ignore the thundering in her heart. Her car wasn’t parked far from the door, so they were almost there already. “But thanks.” Even though she was hurt, she still remembered her manners. Belle had been raised right.
“I should probably be getting back to work, as it is.” She motioned back to the office of the Garage. “You’re probably busy with… whatever her name is.” Okay, that was definitely jealousy showing through. Belle hated that tone, but it’d come out anyway.
“Anna? We just finished lunch, actually.” Frank provided, eyes following her hand back to the garage. Belle had said it was fine, but that tone…it was familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. He found himself disappointed that he wouldn’t have time to properly ask what was bothering her. Maybe she’d tell him later. “Yeah, I guess I should head back to work, too. If I take too long for lunch my editor will probably think I’m up to something.” Frank gave Belle a lopsided smile; after all, it was common knowledge amongst his friends and family that Frank Hardy was almost always up to something.
“Oh, yeah. I’m sure they’ll think you’re up to something.” Belle felt so stupid and silly. Of course it didn’t mean anything. They were just friends. That’s all they’d been. He was probably even dating this girl, this Anna, because she was pretty and perky and probably exactly his type. Belle was really more mad at herself for getting her hopes up, actually.
“Yeah, um… have fun at work. I’ll talk to you later.” She didn’t really want to, though. Belle just wanted to crawl into a hole now. She was such a fool. And she wondered if Frank and Joe laughed about it. Because Joe must’ve known--how could he not?
The half-started grin slid away into a frown. He was definitely familiar with that tone. Belle was angry. Wait, was she angry at him? What could he have done to make her angry? A quick rundown of recent events came up with nothing. Maybe Joe would have an idea. “You too.” Frank was dumbfounded. Then again, he often was when it came to women. Working on autopilot, his hands moved to open the car door for her. “I guess I’ll talk to you later, then.”
“Maybe.” Belle wanted to be angry with him. She was more angry with herself. That’s what she got for having crushes, it seemed. Dang, now she was gonna be all awkward around Joe, too. Such a shame, Joe was probably one of her best friends now. (Went to show you how many friends Belle had in the area.)
“Thanks,” she added, when he opened the door. Then she slipped into the Driver’s seat and turned over the engine.
“Hey!” Anna called to Frank from the office door. She lifted a hand and jingled a huge key ring full of cute, light keychains. “They fixed it for me!”
“Yeah.” Frank was still frowning as he closed her door. It did not sit right with him to leave things as they were, but he also knew better than to push a woman when she was not ready to talk. He stepped away from the car and watched as Belle headed out. Lost in thought, he barely heard Anna call out to him. A moment later he shook his head. Women were the most complex mystery he had ever come across, both here and in the Dreams.
Frank turned and made himself smile at Anna. “That’s great!” He jogged over to her. “Everything good to go?”
Anna glanced over Frank’s shoulder at the car pulling away, then back to him. She cocked her head to the side, wondering if something was wrong. But she wasn’t going to press it. “Yep! Everything’s good! I can’t thank you enough for saving my butt today.” She said, then reached forward to give him a big hug. Anna was a hugger. “Next time Pizza’s on me. Okay?”