How Not To Have A Relaxing Holiday

Clubbing Catastrophe

SEVEN: Clubbing Catastrophe

When she woke the next morning, Hiccup was curled up on his side of the bed, determinedly facing away from her. The beads were carefully coiled on her bedside table in the hope he would see then when he returned but she awoke feeling alone and ashamed. Slowly, she sat up and rubbed her face. Despite her exhaustion, she had tried to stay awake to wait for him to return, to apologise because she knew she had messed up big time...but in the end, her exhaustion had won.

Quietly, she rose and walked to the bathroom, washing her face and slipping into the shower, trying to tease the knots and tangles out of her hair in the water. Hiccup was especially good at this, his gentle and dexterous hands somehow making the painful process more bearable...but he was asleep and there was no way she felt she could ask him after how she had behaved. And then she stood still, shaking her head. An unfamiliar sense of guilt assailed her: her actions had hurt Hiccup and she found herself wondering why he had been so determined to be angry when he had given her his blessing. She would have not gone if he had said he wanted her to stay-but he had told her to go. She shook her head. Maybe she just needed to ask him what it was he really wanted.

When she got out, he was awake but subdued, going to sit out on the balcony while she changed and staring at the sea with sad eyes. Feeling worse, she went out to sit with him but he almost immediately got up and went in for his shower, causing Astrid to wonder what she could do to get him to talk to her. So she stared across the beautiful view, seeing the beach and wondering if they would go there again. Then she sighed. Somehow, she probably needed to find a way to fix things-and spend time alone with Hiccup.

"Let's go to breakfast-just the two of us," she suggested as he looked up.

"Okay," he murmured unenthusiastically.

"And maybe...a walk?" she added tentatively. He looked at her.

"Is this an 'us' walk or a walk with the rest of the people you have spent all the holiday with?" he asked directly. She winced.

"Us," she told him clearly. "You and me. Hiccup and Astrid. Just the two of us." Then he glanced out at the sea and finally nodded.

"I would like that," he confessed. "Thanks." She glanced to her bedside table.

"They're beautiful," she said and his eyes flicked up.

"Oh?"

"The necklace. The beads are beautiful," she repeated.

"You're welcome," he said. "I thought they matched your eyes. Just something to remember this holiday by." And then he fell silent again. Quietly, she took his hand.

"Hiccup-I really really want to spend time with you," she insisted honestly. "You're the one one I want to be with." He sighed.

"Okay," he said distractedly. "Breakfast."

Fortunately, there was no sign of any of the others when they arrived at the breakfast buffet so they were able to have a quiet meal for two. Hiccup was still withdrawn but he asked Astrid to tell him about her trip the previous day and though she knew the story would probably make him unhappy, she obliged, describing everything that had happened, regaling them with Tuffnut's antics and showing him the pictures she had taken on the trip.

"It looks like a lovely trip," he had said wistfully and then looked away, causing her to put her phone away and kick herself mentally for driving home what he had missed. But he visibly brightened up once he had finished his 'Viking Breakfast' with yak sausages, tomatoes, Haggis, boar bacon and genuine Archipelago chicken eggs. Finishing her yoghurt and fruit, she had eaten a muffin as well and then they had headed out of the main entrance and headed down towards the old town.