Tangled Vows

Chapter 20

"Astrid! Are you busy?" Hiccup called out to her as he hurried down the stairs in an outfit that definitely wasn't for lounging around the house. Astrid looked up from her phone, having finished cleaning up the kitchen and waiting for another call from Eret.

"Seriously? Did you just ask me that?" Astrid replied, gesturing to the rest of the house where she was being kept prisoner. Hiccup would know that she had little to do, and the most that did have to do was because of him.

However, she had finished all of her chores for the night, so she was free.

"I know, I was trying to be polite." Hiccup rolled his eyes and adjusted the sleeves of his shirt, which he had rolled up to his elbows.

He was wearing a burgundy button-down shirt. leaving the top three buttons undone and with the sleeves rolled up. Paired with this shirt, Hiccup wore a dark pair of denim trousers that he filled out quite nicely. For the first time since she had returned from the city, Astrid actually appreciated Hiccup's appearance and thought he looked quite sexy like that. Although, this was a statement that she would never say out loud.

"You, polite? When are you ever polite?" Astrid fired back, laying her phone flat on the table after being rendered obsolete by this conversation. Instead, her focus had been drawn to the handsome, auburn-haired man standing in the foyer in front of the door.

"Look, Ruffnut just called me and asked if we could fill some slots at their speed dating event at the bar." Astrid opened her mouth to protest, but Hiccup was quick to hold up a hand and stop her protestations. "Just because I'm inviting you to a speed dating event, doesn't mean that you actually have to date anyone. You don't even need to exchange numbers with anyone. Just come with me, and fill out the numbers."

Despite his earlier words making it out to be a request, Hiccup was almost ordering her to listen and do as he asked. Even though she hadn't agreed to take part in his crazy scheme yet.

Looking down at herself, and then back up at Hiccup, Astrid scoffed. "I mean, you'd have to give me like, 10 minutes."

"Why do you need that long?" Hiccup asked, genuinely confused by her request. After having lived with mostly men for his entire life, he seemed to have become disillusioned to the time women need to take in order to get ready.

Astrid rolled her eyes, "Well, I need to put on makeup, and put on something better."

"Do you actually have anything better?" Hiccup asked, referring to her limited wardrobe that she had carried with her from the city.

A few weeks back, when her parents had shown up for dinner, Astrid had asked them to bring over some of her clothes that she had left in their house. For a time, she believed they had thrown every possession of hers out into the trash, but was surprised when they turned up with a duffel bag of clothes for her to wear. Not all of the clothes they brought could fit her anymore, but at least she would not be wearing the same clothes for three months.

"Something cleaner, then." Astrid corrected herself, acknowledging her limited wardrobe and accepting Hiccup's vain sarcasm toward her current style. Standing from the table, she began to walk over to the stairs but was interrupted by Hiccup again.

"Okay, but the makeup you have on now seems fine."

Astrid paused, "I'm not wearing any makeup now."

Hiccup's eyes widened and his jaw dropped slightly as the realisation struck him. He tried to stutter a response, trying to sound cool and collected despite being completely thrown by this revelation.

"Thanks for the compliment, Hiccup. But you've used up your quota for the day now." Astrid smiled mockingly, giving a dramatic flick to her hair before scurrying up the stairs to get ready.