A Hiccstrid Story

Chapter 23

The day started much like the day before and the day before that, peaceful. The sun had rose over the town of Berkly rather early. It had lit the rooftops in a golden glow, the snow from previous days having melted away as quickly as it had fell. The golden glow streaming into the windows of east facing houses. Thankfully to all those sleeping, the sun was gentle this morning, not as harsh as some mornings. In Astrid's case, her window faced in an easterly direction, so sun did stream through the crack in her blinds somewhat.

Astrid had woken up when her alarm had gone off at half 10, alerting her to it being time to get out of bed. Astrid and her friends had agreed to go out for lunch to Elsa's café that morning. The plan was to meet there with Jack and Elsa before leaving to help the Night Furies with some last-minute jobs around town. Several Berkly residents had asked the generous veterans to aid them in moving/delivering gifts to other places/residents. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of them to do every task, even with the help of Finely, Ruff and Tuff. So, Astrid and her friends had offered to help. Which benefitted Astrid as she would get to ride with Hayden while doing the tasks.

Once awake, Astrid proceeded to get dressed in some denim jeans, with a light blue top and her leather jacket. Nothing fancy, just casual. She quickly washed and then made her way downstairs for to wait until her friends were up and ready to go out. Entering the living room, Astrid found her friends all waiting for her on the sofa. "Morning guys" she greeted to get their attention. "Morning Asty" Heather replied with a smile. Natalie looked up from whatever they were looking at, "you ready to go?" Astrid nodded her head as she put her shoes on, noticing that the others already have theirs on.

Once her shoes were on, the group left the Hofferson's home and headed out to the cars to drive over to the café. It was a drive they had done before and wouldn't take too long to do. The group got into the two cars with Astrid, Heather and Theo in one with Mable and Natalie in the other. Their plan was for Mable to follow Theo as they drove to the café. Slowly pulling out of the drive, the two cars proceeded their way through the town of Berkly towards The Frozen Town café owned by their now dear friend Elsa Errindale. It wasn't long before they were pulling up outside the café which was as usual, busy.

Getting out of the vehicles, the group made their way inside the café and over the back of the place where Elsa had reserved a table for them. They sat down and only had to wait a few moments for Elsa and Jack to join them. "Morning guys" Jack greeted cheerfully, "how are we?" Theo smiled as he greeted the newcomers, "yeah, we aren't too bad. Are you eating with us or are you working?" Elsa looked around the busy café and gave a quick answer, "no, the other staff can handle it today. We are here to relax and get some jobs done."

They stayed sat at the table talking while they waited for the food to be brought to their table. It helped that they hadn't had to order the food having told Jack and Elsa what they wanted ahead of time. It meant that thy could just wait for the food instead of having to order. They spent the time talking about what tasks they were going to be doing today. It was a few small tasks; some furniture needing moving, some things needed delivering and some people needed help with smaller tasks. The food arrived after no more than 5 minutes of sitting down which was a reason why a lot of people liked he café. Quick service without a loss of quality.

When the food arrived, the group dug in, savouring the delicious food that had been given to them. "I forget how good this food is every time" Natalie gushed a compliment as she ate her toasted sandwich. "Agreed" Theo chimed in, "I can see this place is so popular." Elsa and Jack laughed as they shared a glance, "you'd be unsurprised how often we hear that." They all laughed as they continued their meal. Astrid felt an unusual feeling of happiness with where she was now. A few weeks ago, she had been heart broken over Erick but now she wasn't thinking about him at all. She had new friends and even had Hayden. She was happier now than she had ever been.

They were so focussed on their meal and conversation that they failed to notice the uninvited and unwanted visitor enter the café before approach their table. In fact, he went unnoticed until he was standing right next to the table. Natalie and Mable were the first to notice Astrid's ex Erick standing before the table. Heather and Theo looked next to see what they were looking at. Finally, Astrid, Elsa and Jack noticed the stares before turning their heads to look at the person standing before them. Astrid's mouth hung open as she recognised the unmistakeable shape of her ex.

"Hey Astrid, how are you?" he said while looking confident in himself. Astrid's face soured, "Erick?" she said shocked, "what are you doing here? How did you find me?" Erick smiled with confidence and arrogance, "I found you through the article you published about that charity or whatever." Heather, Mable and Natalie shared a look of disgust. The way he so blatantly dismissed the article and the charity gave a look into just what his character really was like. "As for what I am doing here" he continued, "I'm here to bring you home."

"What the hell do you mean home?" Astrid said shocked. Mable and Natalie stood up from the table, "yeah, you cheated on her. She doesn't have a home with you." Erick looked at them with an angry look, "this doesn't concern you, I think you should stay out of it." This caused an argument to break out at the table with Astrid's friends shouting at him, Elsa trying to keep the peace and Jack just waiting for Erick to try something so that he could give him an ass kicking. Astrid meanwhile just sat in the seat praying for a way out of this situation and a way to get away from her ex that was well into the argument.

As if her prayer had been heard by a higher power, Astrid spied Hayden's custom 4x4 pulling up outside the café. With her escape having arrived, Astrid subtly picked up her things and then when Erick was distracted, bolted for the café door. Rushing out the door, Astrid hopped into Hayden's car startling him. "Go go go!" she said urgently which worried Hayden but he complied and pulled away from the café. Erick had turned just in time to see Astrid bolt out the café and hop into the car before it sped away. His anger rising, Erick turned and saw that in his momentary distraction, the people he had been arguing with had disappeared. Likely through the kitchen. Erick sighed with frustration and left the café, with his ace still up his sleeve, he'd have to do things the hard way.