As Anna woke up for her fourth shift, she was instantly overcome with the thought that she can't do it anymore. The waking up, the functioning this early. She needed sleep. People need sleep! Maybe I can blame my alarm- MAYBE I can say it never even went off. But she rolled out of bed, oozing with complaints, and threw on whatever she found in a pile on the floor. Definitely asleep the whole time.
Anna sleepwalked out her door, sleepwalked down the stairs, sleepwalked back up the stairs to lock her door, and sleepwalked through the parking lot. It wasn't until she neared her car that she was truly aware of her surroundings when she saw someone else, someone close. Close enough to see that this certain someone was none other than Customer Number One, Elsa. She stood by Anna's car and presumably her own car parked next to it.
"Oh, good morning!" Elsa fiddled with the fob, a small blip unlocked the car.
"Hey! Wow, hi!" Anna replied, voice gruff. She cleared her throat. "You," Anna looked around to see if she's outside her own apartments or if she somehow stumbled somewhere else in the middle of the night, "you live here too?"
Elsa nodded and motioned her hand toward a building on the other side of the parking lot, "I do, in apartment B." Her hands came together in front of her in a polite clasp.
"Wow." Anna chuckled to herself and shook her head lightly. "Small world, huh?"
The air is calm, still. There's a big pause in nature where it can't decide whether it's very late at night or very early in the morning, so it instead feels like everything has stopped. It just might've while Anna looked her morning companion up and down. She sighed, content. Then, she remembered where she was and where they were and that work existed for some reason and walked backward blindly.
"I, I—" Anna unexpectedly bumped into her car, "—gotta go, uh," she scratched her neck, keys dangled and jangled, "will you be swinging by the Den later?"
Elsa gave a half grin, "it is on my to-do list."
The younger girl smiled wholly, happily. "Well then, enjoy your scenic drive!"
Anna hopped into her car and waited for Elsa to do the same. Elsa waved as she passed behind Anna's car, Anna waved back in the rear view mirror, and as she sped off on her own route, she finds herself driving more awake than she'd ever been at 3:30AM.
When Elsa walked into the store an hour or so later, she seemed so awake, alive. Invigorated even. Anna was relieved to see her. Though she knew Elsa would come in, had even talked to her about it, it was still an exciting surprise.
"Hey! Okay, I spent all morning figuring out what drink to make you. This one'll be perfect— it's not too sweet like yesterday's mistake," to this, Elsa let out a single loud laugh, "it's not very bitter, and it looks real neat. I'll make it iced too so you can see it in all its glory. It's called a Caramel Macchiato, you interested?"
Elsa set her bag on the counter. "That sounds fancy."
"Don't let the name fool ya, it's not fancy at all. It's pretty lazy if you ask me. I think the word macchiato is Italian for marked? So the drink's all layered up with espresso shots on top that 'marks' the milk. We don't even mix it."
"That sounds perfect," she dug around in her bag, "and very thoughtful. Thank you." Elsa smiled the most truthful smile Anna'd seen her do and Anna did her best to capture the moment without staring too hard.
It felt like a morning mug of coffee, a warm hug, and a kick of caffeine, all pleasantly gleaming in one bright, lovely smile.
Elsa put her card on the counter and slid it to Anna's side. Anna flicked it away like some crumb on a table, get that outta here, and sashayed her way to the espresso machine. Elsa rolled her eyes and gathered her things. She fidgeted with the strap of her bag as she slowly strolled to the end of the bar.
"What kind of terrible modifications could you make out of that drink?" Elsa pointed, "it already sounds complicated."
"Well some people like to order it upside down," Anna opened the ice machine, "and what that means is that they really just want a vanilla latte," she scooped ice noisily and looked Elsa straight in the eye, "so I like to be a real petty barista and literally, actually make it upside down." She all but tossed the ice into the cup, eyes still locked on Elsa's. More ice cubes landed on the floor than in the cup. She kicked them away.
Anna with her steady hands pumped and poured and drizzled into the two cups. In front of her were two of the same drink, the same ingredients, but one went dark to light and the other went light to dark. Petty. She passed the upside down one over to Elsa and handed her a straw.
"This might be strong at first, since all of the espresso is at the bottom where the straw goes." She grimaced as Elsa took a long sip.
"Well, how is it?"
"See for yourself," Elsa says and offers the drink.
"Hmm. I'll pass." Anna smirked. Elsa shook her head, happy. Then faltered.
"Anna," the barista placed a lid on the other drink and looked up, "I was wondering if you'd want to, well, if you would like to, um..."
Anna pushed the completed (correct) drink across the counter and set a straw flat atop the lid. She waited patiently as Elsa thought, a small bite of her lip.
"Come with me on my drive tomorrow."
Anna nearly said yes, she very desperately wanted to say yes, so naturally the first thing that came out of her mouth was the loudest, whiniest complaint; "but tomorrow's my day offffff."
Elsa expected as much.
"It's alright if you don't want to go-"
"I mean, yes. I would love to. Even though I could be sleeping in instead." Anna wiped down the outside of the espresso machine, nonchalant in tone as her nerves exploded inside.
"Ah! I heard a 'yes', so I'll take it as a 'yes'." She took a sip from her drink, the straw lingered in her lips as she briefly considered her next words. "It's a date."
"Wha- wait, wait, it's a what now-"
"Wow, this drink might be a winner!" Elsa interrupted, examining it from arms length. "Yes, I do like that. The last two on that list of good drinks have some big shoes to fill."
She grinned at Anna. "Will you meet me in the parking lot tomorrow, say 3:30?"
And all Anna could do in that moment was say "3:30". She was in awe still, and probably stared.
Elsa's face softened. "Thank you. See you then!" And Anna watched as Elsa, who seemingly walked in slow-motion and sipped happily on a new favorite, left her for the second time that day.
The entirety of the rest of her shift was quick, blurred from thoughts of spending time with Elsa. Someone in the drive through said "I'd like a tall blonde", in reference to the light roast on tap. Anna, daydreaming, let a sigh slip out, "me too, buddy". Kristoff laughed way too hard.