Guardians and Angels

Chapter 31: Jack

"I'm a little scared," I said to Hiccup. "Where are we going?"

"You'll find out in just a minute."

I groaned and tried to lift up the blindfold that Hiccup wrapped around my eyes. He slapped my hand before I could get very far.

"I feel like this is kidnapping. Are you planning on taking me out to the middle of nowhere and killing me on my birthday?"

I could hear him chuckle and make a left turn. "Don't tempt me."

Waking up today to a special birthday breakfast was amazing, but was also rudely interrupted by Hiccup coming to my house, throwing a blindfold around my face and snatching me away from my house and delicious breakfast. Now here I am, having no idea where I'm going or what's gonna happen to me.

After a couple more minutes of being blindly led by Hiccup, the car finally came to a stop and I felt it shift into park. I perked up. "Are we there?"

"Yeah. I'll come around and get you. Don't take the blindfold off yet."

I heard his door slam and within seconds mine opened. He led me out of the car and I tried to use my other senses to gauge where I am. The first thing that hits me is the cold, but that's to be expected in December.

"Watch your step," Hiccup warns as he leads me into a building and down some steps.

Next thing my senses pick up on is the sound of something slicing and the smell of pizza. The slicing sound really gets me nervous cause now it feels like Hiccup really is going to chop me up into pieces or something.

We stop and Hiccup lets go of my arm. "Alright, take off the blindfold."

I very hesitantly untie the cloth from my head and open it to see all my friends and family gathered in front of me with balloons, streamers, gifts, and giant smiles.

"Surprise!"

Surprise would be an understatement.

"Wow." I see North and Emma there too. "How did you guys get here before me?" I asked. 

"Hiccup drove you in circles so we had time to get here," North spoke.

Emma piped in, "It was all part of Rapunzel's plan."

I turned to see my girlfriend blushing at the sudden spotlight on her. "Surprise?"

I was by her side in a minute and wrapping her up in a hug. "Thanks, Princess. You're too good for me."

Merida scoffed. "That's what I said, but she doesn't listen."

Rapunzel smiled up at me. "Happy birthday, Princey."

I looked around at where I was and laughed when I saw that it was an indoor skating rink. "You planned all of this?"

"Emma mentioned you taking her ice skating over break and I just figured it'd be fun to celebrate your birthday that way." She twiddled with her hair timidly. "Is that alright?"

"Of course! I couldn't have planned anything better. I got friends, family, and you with me to celebrate. What else could I want?"

She smiled and hugged me tighter. "So, we snagged your brand new ice skates, and I'm kind of dying to know how good you are."

Emma had already gotten her ice skates on and was ready to go. "Jack hurry up, we need to show them our routine."

I laughed, hurrying to put on my ice skates.

When Emma and I were younger, we made an ice skating routine and have since perfected it. When my parents were still alive, we'd go out all the time to ice skate, sometimes spending all day on the ice. When they died, Emma and I—instead of being terrified of the ice because of what it did to our parents—we'd go out as much as we could and make a routine in tribute to our parents. It wasn't anything too fancy, but it helped us mourn in a healthy way.