Let's Give it a Year

Chapter 28

The car was silent as Hiccup drove both him and Astrid home that evening, the words from their argument earlier that day were still fresh in their minds as the car zoomed across the roads towards home. Astrid didn't bother looking at Hiccup, too focused and lost in her own mind as she thought about his words.

She had come up with a small list of boundaries to be set between them, however, her mind was beginning to regret some of her choices. Was she perhaps being too strict with them?

"Are you okay?" Hiccup asked, breaking through the silence and reaching Astrid's ears. She snapped her head up and looked over to him with a smile and a small nod.

"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?" She replied nervously, rough rubbing her thighs with her palms to erase the clammy feeling on her palms.

Hiccup chuckled at her actions, turning the wheel around as he turned them into their driveway and soon parked up the car. Looking over at Astrid, he could tell she was nervous and unsure of herself, something in her holding her back from being truthful with herself. However, Hiccup didn't push her.

"Come on then, let's go inside."

Walking into the house, Hiccup placed his coat upon the coat rack and made his way up to his room, eager to change out of his work clothes and into something more comfortable. Astrid followed him and made her way into her own room opposite Hiccup's. As she changed into her comfortable clothes, a sense of nervousness and anxiety filled her stomach as she looked at her own reflection.

"How am I supposed to bring up the whole boundary list thing up to Hiccup?" She asked herself worriedly, nervous about the conversation they were bound to have. The concept was inevitable.

Sighing heavily, Astrid decided to leave it for now and just ignore it for as long as she could, knowing that if Hiccup wanted to talk about it, he would be the one to bring it up. So, Astrid hibernated in her room for the next few hours, scrolling through social media on her phone and looking through her timetable for the coming week. Hours had passed and the rumbling of her stomach snapped Astrid out of her focused procrastinating.

"Guess I'd better get something to eat."

Astrid hauled herself off of her perch and strode out into the hallway, pausing slightly outside Hiccup's door. Her gaze lingered there for a moment before she shrugged it off and decided to pay no attention to it. Hiccup will talk to her when he wants to talk to her.

Making her way down the stairs, Astrid felt a swirl of butterflies enter her stomach and she suddenly wasn't feeling very hungry. But she made her way downstairs anyway and soon arrived at the kitchen, which was empty. Astrid furrowed her brow at the emptiness of the vacant kitchen and her eyes wandered around the unoccupied space.

"Where's Hiccup?" She wondered as her eyes scanned the room.

Soon, her eyes fell upon a scrap of paper that was left on the kitchen island. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Astrid strode over and picked it up with an eager hand. Looking at the handwriting, she knew it was from Hiccup and the name printed at the top made Astrid sure it was for her.

'Come outside to the veranda.'

That was all that was written there.

"The veranda?" Astrid asked herself, furrowing her brows in confusion as she re-read the note. "Why does he want to meet there?" She asked again, still confused about Hiccup's mysterious note.

Shrugging her shoulders, Astrid placed the note back down on the island and made her way out to the veranda. The only way to get there through the house was to enter the dining room and exit through the well-disguised glass doors that lined the back wall of the house. As Astrid entered the dining room, she noticed that the curtains that covered the windows were askew and haphazardly thrown back.