Bella Donna

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Present day

"Flyyyy me to the moooon.... Let me play among the stars..." Astrid drunkenly sang as she stepped off the elevator and giddily danced to her apartment door. "Let me see what spring is like on..... Jupiter and Mars," she continued as she clumsily dug into her clutch purse for her keys. She kept humming as she stuffed her keys into the lock and walked inside. "In other words!!! Hold my hand..." She sang as she happily walked inside, kicked the door closed, and eagerly took off her high heels. Her feet were killing her but it was a well-deserved ache. Her singing woke Heather who had been dozing on the couch with Twilight playing in the background.

"Huh, what... where!" Heather had shot up and looked around groggily.

"Oh Heather you were right!!!!" Astrid beamed as she hugged the brunette while leaning over the couch and giggling. "He didn't care!!!" She exclaimed.

"Huh?" She questioned while wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Wait what?" when what Astrid said hit her she looked at her neighbour in confusion. "You told him?"

"Yeah, I got right down to the cold hard facts. I thought that I might as well be upfront. If a guy can't accept that Damian and I are a packaged deal then that's that." she leaned over her couch. "Turns out he has no problem with me having a kid..." Now a soft red tint dusted her cheek "He even said he admired me for raising Damian on my own,"

"Oh Thor you're already smitten," Heather stood up. "Also what was with that singing just now? I haven't heard you sing since... jail..."

"Wait, you didn't drive home drunk did you?" she then asked while going into cop mode.

"Noooooo," Astrid giggled. "Hiccup gave me a ride home. Charming, funny, smart, and well-off. Can you believe that? He treated me like a queen all through the night," she sighed happily. "This feels like a Hallmark movie!"

"Okay, this I need to hear. Spill the tea girl." Heather, now fully awake eyed her friend.

"Maybe I should tell you tomorrow," Astrid muttered. It's past eleven already. Sleeping on my couch is hardly comfortable."

"Spill. The. Tea." Heather enunciated. "I'm not on call tomorrow so I can sleep in. I need to hear about this date."

"Okay, Okay," she said, flopping on the couch and sitting next to Heather, who turned off the TV. "Damian's been a sweetheart by the way. He's fast asleep so don't worry about spilling all the juicy gossip," the other responded to which Astrid nodded. She then continued with her tale.

"Well if you must know, our date started at Mangia Tutto. You know that fancy Italian restaurant near the botanical gardens." Astrid said while Heather was nodding. "So Hiccup texted me that he had already arrived and had been seated about five minutes before I did. I go into the place and expect him to see him on the ground floor. But no, the hostess takes me up to the VIP area." Upon Heather's incredulous reaction, she nodded. "Yes, that VIP area is at the owner's discretion. The same VIP area that would deny celebrities if they wanted to."

"How?" Heather questioned. "Just how loaded is your guy?"

"Don't know but he knows the owner, apparently." Astrid shrugged. "At first I thought the guy, Giovanni he introduced himself as, was one of the waiters. But he turned out to be the owner himself. Like I'm not joking here. He and Hiccup seemed quite familiar with each other."

"Dinner was.... Incredible." Astrid happily continued as she could still taste the dishes. "I had the Focaccia while Hiccup ordered an Eggplant parmigiana. For dessert we shared a Tiramisu, which is just as sweet as my date was... according to Giovanni, of course," She quickly added. Heather just raised her brow more.