Our Night On Valentine's Day

High

It was 2 in the morning. Fred's mansion was still crowded with people. Some he didn't know and most he knew. A lot of them were from his school - Animation High.

A few kids were still dancing to the song, 'All Night' by Icona Pop. But most were sleeping and chatting and kissing and just sitting on the couches. Fred called the party off a few hours ago - probably at 12, but people were still there. Still can't let go of his beautiful home.

"Jack, I need your help." Fred leaned a little harshly onto Jack's back. Jack was calm, still has his hands in his warm sweater pockets. "What?" Jack faced his friend as Fred put his two hands onto both Jack's shoulders. Jack slightly pulled his hands out of both pockets in a sign of worry.

"I need everyone out of here before four. This place need need to be cleaned up now," Fred caught his breath. He might be rushing to somewhere.

"Where are you going?" Jack put his hand in front of Fred before going to anywhere.

"I need to find my grandma's antique vase. It's gone. She's gonna kill me." And with that, he ran towards the gold stairs to search for it upstairs.

Jack looked around, looking at everyone still enjoying themselves. He's not really a partypooper when it comes to fun events. He has always been the first to monkey around. He has never taken jobs seriously nor pay attention in classes. How is anyone going to take him seriously?

But now was different. A spark of sympathy suddenly lit up inside of him. He suddenly felt sorry for Fred. He didn't know why he felt that way or why he even agreed to this and not avoid the task like he always do.

Jack went to look for a light switch. It was pretty dark to be paying attention to. He took out his phone from his pocket jeans and turned on the flashlight, lighting the walls, looking for switches.

He found one. Not a switch though. It was a touchscreen apparatus. He touched it without thinking, causing the gadget to turn on. He looked at it with full amusement. It was never normal to see things like this.

"Hello Sir," it spoke with a robot-girl voice. The screen displayed a blue moving zigzag line as it spoke, like the one in the hospital.

"Uhh.." Jack didn't know what to say since he never had experience with these things. "Can you turn on the lights?" He said, unsure.

"I'm sorry but I can't hear you clearly sir," it replied. The blue line moved again in front of the black background. Jack knew it was because of the noise - music blaring, witch laughters, funny voices.

Jack's eyes rolled to the bottom of the screen. There was a keypad button. He tapped on it and immediately typed, "can you please turn on the lights?"

After he pressed enter, the words were filled in a purple chat bubble. Another blue one appeared, which means it is from the tech.

"Did you mean, 'can you please turn on the lights?'"

It took a few seconds for Jack's brain to process. He looked back at his previous bubble and read the sentence, "can you please turn om the lifhts?" He had a typing error.

"Yes," he typed and added, "obviously," as he spoke with slight irritation.

"Do you mean the chandelier?" The machine questioned.

Jack felt annoyed now. He didn't like this kind of situation - where it feels like people stalling you. He likes to rush things out. "Yes, the chandelier." This time he checked the spelling. He didn't want to wait any longer. He slightly bounced up and down, as if he was holding in his pee.

"This process will cause the disco ball, dj arena and flashlight to stop functioning due to switch mode from party mode to general. Do you want to confirm?" With that, two big bubbles appeared, filling the screen. One consist of the word 'do confirm' and the other, 'cancel'.

Jack tapped the confirmation button without any second thoughts. The music stopped playing, the disco ball stopped turning and the flashlight turned off. The dark room was only lighted by the colourful glowing sticks.

Most of the kids made a sound, "aww". Not the one when they feel flattered or touched, but the one when something precious was ruined.

The disco ball was pulled inside the cieling by the machine without anyone noticing. It was replaced by a chandelier which then lights up the whole room when it reaches the bottom line, completing the circuit.

Everyone squinted for a while since the iris was just about to control the size of the pupil. People's chattering filled the quiet room before Jack climbed onto one of the couches and said, "okay guys, party's over. It's time to go home, school's gonna start tomorrow." His voice filled the whole room without him having to shout or use a mike. He felt nervous. Sweat flowed on his sideburn continuously, making that part of skin feel ticklish.

Most people made a weird look. Jack knew that look. Since when he - Jack - became the partypooper? Since when Jack became the responsible one, the independent? Jack didn't answer anyone's thoughts eventually. He only said, "okay," - he rubbed his hands together, creating friction - "party's over. Time to go home." His eyes turned to a couple kissing. "You two, stop that." He pointed out. Jack climbed off the couch and people started fading away, walking out of the mansion. Whispering to each other.

"Dude, where did that come from?" Hiccup appeared behind him. He slapped Jack's back with proudness on his face and a bruise. Hiccup had a small icebag dapped at his eye. He didn't say anything about it. But even if Jack asked he still didn't want to tell.

"Please not now," Jack avoided Hiccup's face. He didn't want to talk about it. He felt somehow different. Somehow helpful. Somehow nice. He shiverred at the thought and quickly shoved his suddenly-cold hands into his pockets.

"Why are you still here? I thought you've left." Jack faced his friend, dropping the old conversation. And totally ignoring the icebag at one of his eyes.

"Well I'm not just gonna leave you here." Hiccup said, heart filled with suspens. Since when Hiccup ever left Jack? Even if he did, he'll sure tell Jack first.

Jack didn't bother to fill Hiccup's curiousity with answers. He shook it off as if a tree shaking off dead leaves off of it. Same like the conversation - dead.

Jack looked around to find the person who he has always been dying to talk to about a particular subject.

Unfortunately, Hiccup could read his mind as though he was transparent and the only visible thing was the question inside his head. "Elsa went that way." Hiccup raised his eyebrows, using his eyes to point and looked straight at the kitchen which meant she used the back door.

Jack didn't care if Hiccup ever knew about his love for Elsa nor anyone else. It felt like it didn't matter. It felt like it was not important to know who's crushing on who except for the person himself.

Jack didn't take his eyes of the kitchen. He wanted to catch up with her but he couldn't just abandon his bud there.

"It's okay, just go to her. I'll walk by myself," Hiccup said and he meant it. He smiled sincerily as though he knew what it felt like which he does. Jack shot him a thanks and sympathy look at him.

Looking at Jack running down the hallway to catch his lady reminds Hiccup of his lovely and unforgettable moments with Astrid. He hated it. He hated liking it. Plus, after what just happened, he can't seem to forget. He felt mad. He thought he felt mad. But actually he was just sad. Maybe it was his fault. Hiccup never liked the thought that maybe, just maybe, Astrid was right.