Let's Give it a Year

Chapter 25

The night had been quiet for Hiccup, scrolling through social media and watching whatever was being shown on TV that evening. Nothing was interesting to him, and that frustrated the hell out of him. Hiccup knew that Astrid was having the time of her life out partying with her friend, probably drunkenly making out with the nearest guy to her.

"Stop it, Hiccup! Stop thinking like that..." Hiccup scolded himself, erasing the image of Astrid making out with another guy from his mind. The image was sickening, and slightly angering as he thought about Astrid kissing another man with the same lips that had been on his.

He knew how it felt, and he wanted that feeling for himself.

"Ugh! What are you doing to me, Astrid?!" Hiccup complained, throwing his head back against the sofa as he tried to erase the images of her from his mind. However, she seemed to be stuck there like a catchy tune. He couldn't escape it.

Suddenly, a ring from his phone sounded and alerted Hiccup to his idling phone rested in his palm. The TV was still chatting away to itself in front of him, whereas his phone was rested in his hand where he had been looking through his social media.

As Hiccup looked at his phone, the notification that had sounded lit up on his screen. Hiccup could see that it was a message from his friend, Jack, and it suggested something that made Hiccup worry. The message read:

'Is Astrid out clubbing tonight, or is she with you?'

Hiccup furrowed his brow and typed back a reply.

'She should be. Why?'

Jack's response was quick.

'Then I think you should see this...'

The next thing that appeared in Hiccup's messages was a video file. The thumbnail was a bit blurry and dark, the evidence of flashing neon lights in the background drew his eye and it made Hiccup curious. Why did Jack send him this?

Opening the file, Hiccup's heart sank. There, stood dancing on top of a platform, was Astrid. She was dancing away to her heart's content, clearly enjoying her time without Hiccup and the alcohol. However, Hiccup's mood suddenly changed from sad to angry as he watched a male dancer appear on the platform with her, dancing and grinding on her as though he were wanting to take her right there in front of the whole club.

And Astrid let him.

Hiccup felt enraged at the video, wanting to kill that guy for laying a finger on his wife. He couldn't deny that Astrid had looked extremely attractive dancing like that on the platform, the way her body was moving even stimulating a curious feeling to rush to his downstairs area, but Hiccup was too infuriated by his own jealousy to notice.

However, his phone quickly rang whilst still gripped in his hand, vibrating violently against his skin. As he looked at the screen, he saw Astrid's name on the screen and he forced himself to subdue those deep-seated desires. He steadied himself, picked up the call and raised the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" Hiccup answered with a monotonous voice, trying to portray his current emotion of anger and betrayal as he answered the call. He was partly afraid to hear a drunken rant from Astrid about how much she hated him as she made love to the man he had seen her dancing with. However, thankfully, that was not what he heard.

"Hiccup? Is that you?" An unfamiliar female voice called out from the other line, her voice was desperate and seemingly exhausted.

"Yes, this is Hiccup." He replied in confusion, his brow furrowing as he answered stiffly to her question.

"Is that Hiccup?" A far-away and muffled voice called out, a voice that Hiccup instantly recognised as Astrid's. "Let me speak to him, I have something to say!"