Accidental Fiancé

4: Friends and Family

Four: Friends and Family

The next morning, Astrid was up early, greeting her mother for her birthday and handing over a beautiful gold necklace and a designer Versace bag that her mother was blown away by. Astrid knew her mother had been eyeing the bag for ages but it was way beyond her husband's means...but not the means of her daughter. So she had presented the sumptuously gift-wrapped packages and had been rewarded by her mother's gasps of joy and seen the tears glimmer in her eyes. Astrid was especially pleased because she had gone out herself and bought the items-wearing an unflattering brown wig and glasses-instead of getting her support team to purchase them because she wanted them to be right.

"Thanks, Astrid," he mother said, hugging her tightly. "I am so proud of you, you know. And these are lovely." And then she pulled back and stared into her daughter's azure eyes-the exact mirror of her own. "But most lovely is having you here for my birthday." Astrid smiled.

"I wouldn't have missed it for anything!" she assured her mother. "And-even better news-I'm not making breakfast! Dad will be making it..."

"Oh, thank Thor," Ingrid Hofferson said with a grin. "So at least my birthday breakfast won't be flaming rock cakes..."

"Mom," she whined, flopping on the end of the bed. "Why does everyone remember that?" Ingrid leaned forward and ruffled her hair.

"Because it's the only thing that you aren't good at," she giggled and kissed her daughter. "Now stay away from the kitchen and go and do whatever you sporty types do to keep in shape." Hauling herself up, Astrid kissed her mother again and then sped downstairs, filling her water bottle and doing a short warm-up before heading out on a long run to maintain her fitness. She couldn't do any drills or practice but it was important just to make sure she worked off the pudding from the previous night. And as she thought about it while she stretched, her lips curved up in a smile as she recalled spending time with Hiccup and how sweet he had been. In fact, once they had got past the awkwardness, it had been just like old times...and that was the problem. Because she missed him...but there was no room in her life for hanging out, messing around and just being friends. Her life revolved around training, matches, media commitments, business commitments and maintaining her image...and there was no space for an admittedly cute bordering on hot, lanky, tall auburn-haired emerald-eyed dork.

So pulled her hair up into a ponytail, grabbed her water bottle and headed out for a run. It was a fine day, not especially warm but not raining or snowing or hailing-the usual variants of Berk weather-so she set out, got up to pace and headed along the route she used whenever she returned home to maintain her fitness and work off some energy. People waved at their famous daughter but left her to her run, a few pausing as she sped up the steep slope to the upper town and then round the edge and into the small forest that ran towards Raven Point and then round and back. On the way home, put in sprints to work herself harder and then she finally steamed down the hill to her parents's home, arriving red and sweating fourteen seconds under her previous best time.

She was just having a slow jog to cool down and doing some stretches when her phone buzzed and she smiled, seeing the name: HEATHER. Still jogging on the spot, she took the call.

"Hey, Bestie," she said, shaking her free hand keep loose.

"Where the Helheim have you been?" Heather's irritated voice snapped over the phone-but Astrid was used to her friend's directness.

"Berk. Where I come from. Remember it? Tiny island in the middle of nowhere, mostly uphill, people who still think it's the tenth century and everyone should run around wearing a helmet, waving an axe and yelling 'Argh!'"