HICCSTRID: How Life Goes

Chapter 12: Spaghetti and Meatballs

I'm so sorry this one is for Friday and the next is for Monday

HICCUP
I Lead Astrid into the cafe, her eyes widening to take it all in. I don't blame her, this place is my favourite. The room is dark and full of mismatching retro chairs, clustered around chunky wooden tables. Candles flicker at the centre of each table, wax spilling down the sides of their wine bottle holders. Apart from the few lamps dotted about he place, this is the only light. The walls are painted deep red and full of framed photos and paintings. It doesn't just look amazing, it smells amazing too. A rich mixture of tomatoes and herbs and freshly baked bread.
"You like pasta?" I ask.

She nods, too busy drinking in the surroundings to say anything.

"Cool. They do the best pasta here. The chef's Italian. The real deal. Hey let's grab this table." I lead Astrid over to a table tucked into an alcove. We sit on a squishy leather sofa and grab the menu.

A guy comes bounding over to our table and sits on the opposite leather sofa.
"Hiccup! Long time no see. How you been?"

I couldn't believe I didn't recognise Antonio. The lights are so dim it's actually really hard to see anything.

"Oh you know, busy." I reply.

"I bet" Antonio smiles.

"Astrid this is Antonio. Antonio, Astrid. We're on a supposed field trip to New York for Christmas but so far we're doing whatever."

"Well then you guys have to try my new meatballs." He perches on the edge of our table and leans in close. "The sun dried tomato sauce is a top secret recipe handed down from my grandma's grandma. You won't get anything like it outside of Italy. Except for here of course."

"All right I'm sold." I turn to Astrid. "What do you reckon Astrid?"

"Sounds great."

ASTRID
Once Antonio has taken our order and disappeared off into the kitchen, I take another look around the cafe. There are only a handful of other diners. All hipsters, in skinny jeans and faded t-shirts, hunched over laptops or huddled in a conversation. It's the most laid back restaurant I think I've ever seen.
"This is the coolest place." I say, speaking my thoughts.

"I knew you'd like it." Hiccup says.

"How come?"

"Cause I like it."

I raise an eyebrow at him.

"We have a lot in common, you and I."

"We do?"

"Oh yes."
Then, when I feel like something special is about to happen, like he's about to tell me something important, he shifts away from me on the sofa.
"Just gotta use the bathroom. Be right back."

As I watch Hiccup walk away, I take a moment to process everything that's happened. It's weird because there's something about the way Hiccup and I fit together that makes it seem like the most natural thing in the world. I watch as a girl walks over to an old jukebox in the corner and puts some money in. The song 'What a Wonderful World' comes on and I feel so happy it's like every cell in my body has turned into a shooting star. This was dad's happy song. The one he always used to play when we're celebrating something. It seems so perfect. This seems so perfect, that my eyes fill with happy tears.

"Penny for your thoughts." Hiccup says, when he gets back to the table.

"They're worth way more than a penny," I say with a grin.

"Oh really?" Hiccup slides back on to the sofa, right up close to me. "How much more?"

"Way out of your price range I'm afraid."

"Is that so?"

"Yep."

Hiccup grins at me. "Id tell you my thoughts if you gave me a penny."

"Really?" I fumble in my bag for my purse and hand him a penny. "Go on then."

"I was thinking about how perfect this day is."

"You were?"

He nods, unable to look at me.
"I think-" Hiccup starts.

"Yo! Meatballs!"

We both jump at the sound of Antonio's voice. He plonks two steaming dishes down on the table. In any other circumstances they would look incredible, but now I hate those meatballs with their stupid secret sauce and their jaunty sprigs of basil. Why couldn't he have brought it over one minute later? Why couldn't I have heard what Hiccup was going to say? To make matters worse, Antonio then hands around for FIVE WHOLE MINUTES telling us all about his grandmas grandma and how she grew the most amazing tomatoes and how people would come from all over Naples just to try a mouthful of her special sauce. By the time he eventually goes back to the kitchen, the moment has well and truly been lost.

I try to wrap some spaghetti round my fork but just as I put it in my mouth, half of it unravels. Of course, it's at exactly this moment that Hiccup looks at me.
"How're your meatballs?" He asks.

"Mmm good." I mumble, trying and failing to style out the fact that I have about six inches of spaghetti dangling from my mouth like a family of worms. As soon as Hiccup looks back down at his own dish, I try sucking the spaghetti up through my teeth. Just at that moment, the song playing on the jukebox finishes and the silence is filled with a horrible slurping noise. My horrible slurping noise, as the spaghetti shoots up into my mouth, splattering my face with tomato sauce.

Hiccup looks at me. But instead of mocking me or looking ashamed to be sat at the same table as me, like everyone else would have probably done, he loads his own fork with spaghetti and sucks it up into his mouth. A blob of sauce splats onto the middle of his forehead. We both look at each other and crack up laughing, and in that moment I don't just think Hiccup is drop dead gorgeous and rock god tastic, I really like him too. And that feels way more important.

"Here." He says, picking up his napkin. "Let me get that." And he moves closer and gently wipes to tomato sauce from under my eye. And from over my eye. And from my forehead. And from my chin. And my upper lip. And my lower lip. And...

"Seriously?" I say, staring at him. "Did I really get sauce all over my face?"

He shakes his head. "No. I just like dabbing faces with napkins. It's a fetish of mine. Don't worry, my shrink says it's harmless."

Laughing, I pick up my own napkin and wipe the sauce from his forehead.

"Aha! You have the same fetish." Hiccup says, laughing. "I told you we had lots in common."
♪───Ｏ（≧∇≦）Ｏ────♪
What's up guys? How's life? Mines average thanks for asking. I typed an extra long chapter cause I wasn't paying attention to how long I was typing cause I'm re watching all the race to the edge episodes. Yay 😊
Until next time,
PEACE ✌🏼