The morning sun shined through the partly opened curtains and onto Hiccup's closed eyes, making him squint and stir, eventually opening them to meet the morning. He yawned, stretching his arms high up before sitting up on the bed. As he rubbed his eyes, he noticed that Astrid was not in bed. Just before he had the chance to ask himself where she might be, he heard her humming coming from the bathroom.
"Ah, thought so." He got up from bed and walked towards the window, opening the curtains. He took a moment to admire the view their room provided, seeing the building and nature emerging together by the yellow and light blue morning sky.
Then suddenly, he was removed from his thoughts by loud coughing, as if someone was choking on something. Turning around, he heard it coming from the bathroom. He walked up to the bathroom door, but at that moment, the coughing stopped. However, he still felt obliged to find out what was happening, so he knocked on it.
"Astrid? Are you OK?" he asked, barely hiding the concern in his voice. There was silence for a few seconds, which rubbed him the wrong way, but finally she spoke.
"Oh, morning, Hiccup. Yeah, I'm OK. Just... swallowed something wrong."
"Swallowed?" He questioned.
"Yeah... Must have been my spit, don't worry." She said. But Hiccup knew she was lying.
Immediately thinking about the tablets he found in her bag last night, he believed she had swallowed one of them wrong. But he didn't call her out on it, since she didn't know that he knew. He then returned to his bed and lied on his back. He couldn't stop thinking about the sinking feeling in his stomach, hearing that cough.
About a minute later, the bathroom door opened, which caused him to sit up, seeing Astrid coming out of the room, wearing blue jeans and a red shirt, with her hair braided as normal.
She smiled at Hiccup and gave a wave. "Did I wake you up?" She asked.
Hiccup shook his head. "No, I was... awake already."
"Alright, then." She said before walking up to her bed, placing her backpack that she took to the bathroom. Hiccup then heard her gasp as she looked out of the window.
"Wow, what a view." She exclaimed.
"Yeah..." He said under his breath before getting up, grabbing his toothbrush and paste and heading to the bathroom. Just as he began to brush his teeth, he heard a phone ringing.
"Oh, that's mine." He heard Astrid declare as he continued.
"Oh boy. Here we go." She said, which made him confused at her words. "Hey, Heather! What's up?" Hiccup's eyes grew at the mention of Heather's name.
"Don't 'what's up' me! Where are you?!" Astrid had put the phone call on speaker, so Hiccup could hear the conversation.
"Let me guess. My parents called you, right?" Astrid said
"Uh, yes!"
"And you covered for me, right?"
"Of course! I'm not going to rat you out like that since you would have a good reason to lie to your parents."
"Well, I'm glad I can still trust you with this. And technically, I didn't lie to my parents."
"What do you mean? Are you at Dragon's Edge?"
"Yes, just not with you, like I said to them."
"Then, with who?"
"Take a guess." There was a pause, until a long, irritated sigh escaped through the phone.
"Why are you with him?" Hiccup knew that Heather had figured it out, so he tried to remove himself from their talk, continuing to brush his teeth, but no matter what, he could still hear them.
"I told you, we're hanging out together."
"Yeah, but... you never did before, so why now suddenly?"
"Just felt like it."
Heather groaned. "But why him? You two barely have anything in common. He barely cracks an emotion, let alone a smile."
"Well, believe or not, we had fun."
"That's very hard to believe."
"Oh, come on. You can't judge someone you barely know. I do, and I'm telling you we had fun."
Hiccup was in the midst of rinsing his month when he heard Astrid declare that fact, which made him think.
"Did I have fun?" He thought about all the things they did yesterday, on top of learning new things about each other. "Maybe I did." He thought, still unsure about if it was true. He washed and wiped his face and reluctantly left the bathroom, sitting on his bed.
He heard Heather sigh through the phone. "If you say so. Anyway, when are you leaving Dragon's Edge?"
"Today, in fact. Around the afternoon."
"OK. Be careful and he better not do anything, otherwise he's got me to worry about than the whole school."
Astrid chuckled. "Don't worry, we'll be fine."
"Alright, then. I'll... see you later."
"See ya. Bye!" Astrid then hanged up the phone. "Well, you heard her." She mentioned.
"Don't plan to do anything to you." He said, not looking at her.
Astrid laughed. "Well, to be fair, I am the one who dragged you here." She admitted. Hiccup then looked up to face her.
"Do you think... she feels left out?" He questioned.
"Nah, don't worry. She does the same thing." She mentioned, processing to sit on her bed.
"Really? So... it's just because you're hanging out with me."
"Hmm.... I think it's more she doesn't like my vague answers." She explained. "She's not one for unanswered questions."
"And yet, you won't tell her the truth."
Astrid nodded her head. "I told you, if I did, she'll change, and I don't want that." She reminded Hiccup, who remembered her admission from yesterday, which still surprised him. Astrid then looked at her phone for the time.
"OK, it's about 9:15. I'm going to grab something at the hotel café. If you want to do the same, then I'll wait for you to get changed. If not, then meet me at the entrance."
"Umm... I'll meet you there." He decided.
She smiled. "Alright! I'll see you there, then." And with that, she put her brown trainers on, grabbed her backpack and shopping bag with her clothes and headed out, leaving Hiccup to himself. He let out a big sigh, falling back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. There were so many emotions and feeling, circling around his mind. More than ever. He never cared before, but now, for a moment, he did.
"Is it... her?" He thought, confused at it all.
After a while, he got up and began getting changed into brown shirt and trousers, with black trainers. He grabbed his backpack and left the room, heading to the lobby using the lift. He made it to the lobby and sat on the chair, waiting for Astrid.
While waiting, he brought out his book and continued reading as he was close to the end of the book. A few minutes later, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, seeing Astrid behind him with her mouth full of food. He also saw her carrying two small paper bags with pastries in them, one of them already bitten into. She held up her finger at him, quickly finishing the food in her mouth before speaking.
"OK. I know you said you didn't want anything, but you have to try this! It's so good!" She exclaimed, handing the non-eaten pastry to Hiccup. He took it from her hands and took a small bite of it. He was immediately hit with something sweet and after closer inception of the bitten side, realised it was blueberry pie.
"Actually... it's not bad." He admitted after finishing his bite.
"I know, right?!" She chuckled before taking another big bite. "Alright, let's go." She said with her mouth full. Hiccup shook his head at this before getting up, continuing to eat the surprisingly good pie.
They hailed for a taxi, which took them to them to the train station. Astrid paid for the taxi, for she insisted before heading to the station, making it to their train. They sat at almost the exact same they did when coming to Dragon's Edge and about 5 minutes later, the train took off, beginning their journey back to Berk.
Once it started to move, Astrid grabbed her phone, going through her contacts before touching a name and brought the phone to her ear.
"Hi, mum! I'm OK. How you are? Yeah, I'm on the train now. Only coughed a couple of times. Yes, I didn't forget. OK. Alright, then. See ya! Bye!" She then hanged up the phone call.
"She's worried about you?" Hiccup asked once she finished.
She chuckled. "She's always worried. But I guess that's what mums do. Aren't you going to call your parents? Tell them know you're coming?"
Hiccup's eyes grew at her suggestion, but then turned away from her, looking down on the floor.
"Oh, I'm sorry." He heard her say. He didn't answer back, still looking down. Then, he sighed before going into his pocket, bringing out his phone. He scrolled through his messages, reaching the word 'Dad' and pressed it.
'Hey Dad. On my way home now.' He texted. A minute later, he got a response.
'That's good. I'll see you later. Hope you had fun.'
"Oh, so you do have...?" Hiccup faced Astrid when she spoke. He bit his lip a bit before finally nodding.
"I... only got a dad." He simply said.
"Oh, I see. Sorry, I just didn't want to assume some things." She explained.
"No, it's...I... appreciate that." He said, to which she smiled. What she said threw him off a bit. He was so used to people making assumptions about him and to meet someone who didn't want to seem impossible to him.
The journey continued, with Hiccup taking out his notebook and sketching dragons. As he did, he saw in the corner of his eyes Astrid had the same notebook she had when they were arriving at Dragon's Edge. This time, however, his curiosity got the best of him.
"What are you writing?" He asked. Immediately, she closed her notebook and gave an eyebrow at him.
"Who knew you were noisy?" She said, which threw Hiccup back, both at her reaction and the fact he realised how curious he was getting. He was always curious, but he had become more than usual. This, thankfully, made Astrid laugh.
"It's my journal." She answered before pointing the pen she had in her hand towards Hiccup. "But you're not allowed to read it or take a peek at it... yet."
He just nodded in response, to which she smiled before returning to her writing. Hiccup did the same with his drawings. 2 hours passed and the same male announcer from before appeared.
"Good afternoon, passengers. We are now approaching Berk. Please ensure to take all of belongings with you and I hope you had a wonderful journey." 2 minutes later, the train arrived at the platform, completing their journey.
"We have now arrived at Berk. Please ensure to take all of belongings with you and I hope you had a wonderful journey." Hiccup and Astrid grabbed their belongings and they left the train, along with the other passengers. They made their way out of the station and soon, were met with the Berk skyline once again.
Astrid took a deep breath in before exhaling. "Ah! Nothing beats good old home." She commented. She then turned to face Hiccup. "So... I guess we part ways now... for now, of course."
"Yeah." He simply said.
"Hey, Hiccup?"
"Hmm?"
"I know that you didn't want to come initially and that I basically dragged you to the trip. But... I had fun and... it was nice hanging out with you for a day."
Hiccup was baffled by her words, but in a pleasant way. It made him think back, how he did things he never did in a long time and said things he never said in a long time. It was like, for a moment, he was a different person. All because of her.
She smiled before giving him a light punch. "See you around and I hope you have a good half term." She said before beginning to head off.
"Astrid?" Hiccup called out.
"Yeah?" she answered, stopping and turning to face him.
Then, at that moment, as if something took over him, a smile cam upon his face.
"I... I had fun too."
Astrid was shocked at this display, but then a big laugh escaped her mouth, realising how surprised she might have looked.
"Glad to hear." She smiled. She then gave him a friendly salute before heading off. Hiccup stood there, still smiling before heading home himself.