Hiccstrid: An American Love Story

Chapter 37: Before the sunrise

Astrid and I have been chatting and drinking for hours now. Being with her here knowing we're more than friends feels like getting hit by Cupid over and over. We've been laughing continually for so long my stomach hurts.

"Well your brother did you dirty" I say dying laughing as Astrid just finished a story about her brother.

"Yeah well that's why I taught myself to cry on command" she says with a smirk.

"Playing dirty now" I laugh and give her a puff.

"You have to when you have 5 brothers!" She says and chucks down her beer. Now it makes sense why she has to prove herself to be better than boys.

"It shouldn't be okay to have that many brothers" I laugh and she nods.

"Yeah, well you parents did you dirty too" she says and I look up scared that she had figured out the truth. That maybe Heather had gone behind my back and told her the truth.

"How?" I ask nervously.

"They named you Hiccup Bing" she laughs and I nervously chuckle with her.
When Astrid asked me some time ago what my last name was, I couldn't say my real last name. My father's company is literally named the Haddock Empire. She would figure it out within a minute. So I lied, and gave myself a last name as ridiculous as my first name. I got inspiration from a show my cousin was watching right before I left his apartment.

"Yeah right that's one uncommon name" I say scratching the back of my neck.

"About that, I have to tell you something" I say. I need to come clean and now that we're dating I can't lie to her anymore. It's time to tell her the truth and be honest.

"I have to tell you something too" she says "it's very important".

I close my mouth and prepare myself for the important news she has.

"I'm starving" she says "Do you want to go get some food?"

"Oh, yeah sounds good" I say and smile. The irrational thought I got about telling her about my true identity disappeared in mind.

I look at my watch to check which restaurants we have time to eat at. But it's almost midnight.

"I think it's going to be hard to find a place to eat" I say and show her my watch. She nods while reading my watch.

"Well I have an idea" she says and jumps down from the bar chair. She grabs my hand and wave goodnight to Antonio who returns the gesture. We get back into the chilly air and Astrid leads me down the block. With every step I hear a clink from her heals meeting the cement sidewalk. Astrid drags me inside a bodega. She says hi to the bodega guy behind the desk and he greets her back.

"Are we going to cook dinner?" I ask her as we walk down the aisle.

"No I saw how you messed up the bacon in Snotlout's apartment" I blush at her response. I've never been very good at cooking I have never used the oven in my apartment. But to my luck she goes down to the back of the bodega to a cooling box.

"So what do you want a chicken wrap, chicken sandwich or a chicken salad?" I look at the three options.

"That's a lot of chicken" I laugh as I look at the selection.

"Well in LA you either eat chicken or only vegan" she explains with a grin on her face.

"Then chicken wrap it is" I reply and she picks up two chicken wraps.

"Want wine?" She asks tip toeing to get a bottle from the highest shelf. I grab the wine for her since she can't reach it.

"But we don't have any cups" I say and pull my shoulders. She just smiles and takes a step closer to me.