When We Meet Again

Chapter 20: Travelling on the Tram

A lazy Sunday was all Astrid wanted, but it seemed like her friends didn't quite agree on that aspect. At 8am, Heather jumped on her bed, still in her pyjamas, in an attempt to wake her up, visibly excited with news to visit the natural history museum with the boys. Of course the boys had to go, one of Astrid's assumed reasons behind it was Heather and Fishlegs' suspiciously close relationship. She forced herself out of bed to get ready for the little excursion.

After a shower, she slipped on her favourite turquoise sleeveless crop top and white shorts, with a white knitted cardigan over her shoulders. Unlike her school attire of jeans and dark long sleeved shirts, Astrid preferred wearing shorts and occasionally crop tops, depending on the weather, whenever she went out exploring.

For a moment, Astrid stared at her own reflection in the mirror. Her hair was still down, which was unusual for her. Only two people still alive had seen it down before: Hiccup and Heather. She never liked having her hair all over her face as she went along with her daily activities, but this time she didn't even bother putting effort to make a simple ponytail. She even left her thick black glasses on instead of using her contact lenses, which she never left the apartment without. No one besides Hiccup and her roommates knew she wore glasses. Ignoring those differences, she made her way to the kitchen for breakfast, not before tossing some seeds for Stormfly and Windshear.

"Woah Ast, looks like you're dressed for an occasion. Also I don't recall seeing your hair down before," Ruffnut went into deep thought about the changes to the blue-eyed blonde standing before her. "Don't get me wrong, it's a great change. You're killing the nerdy look there," she added with a wink and finger guns.

Astrid just eyed her with suspicion before making herself a sandwich. Not long after, Tuffnut and Heather came from their rooms respectively, dressed and ready for breakfast. Something that they did not ignore, however, was Astrid and her hair and glasses. Tuffnut just shrugged and commented "cool, Ast," while Heather being Heather squealed in excitement at her best friend. "You look absolutely gorgeous, even with your glasses."

"Look, I have no idea what's the big deal but I was just lazy. Maybe it's because none of you have seen me like this before, but my plan for the day was to sleep in and just watch Netflix in my pjs. Obviously that's not happening and I'll be expressing my intended laziness if you don't mind," Astrid huffed.

"Don't mind at all!" Heather replied cheerily, receiving a glare from her grumpy best friend. As soon as they were finished with breakfast, Heather texted Fishlegs telling him where they would meet. A few minutes of walking later, they met the boys and Toothless at the closest tram stop. After sharing a few greetings, including an awkward one between Hiccup and Astrid, they boarded the next tram that arrived which would take them straight to their destination.

On board the tram, Hiccup couldn't help but gaze at Astrid's look. The only times he met her were on campus in depressed colours. The Astrid he saw at that moment was the same simple yet beautiful girl he fell in love with all those years ago, especially with her hair down, a privilege he was granted when he had sleepovers with her and sometimes Heather. Sitting rows away from her gave him the opportunity to rivet his eyes on the blue eyes scrunched in concentration behind those thick glasses with golden locks falling over her face. He sat there sighing as he recalled the times he spent braiding her soft shiny hair that smelled of lavender and strawberries.

Sadly, his bubble was burst when three school kids approached him, asking for permission to pet 'the adorable doggie wearing a shirt'. Initially, he was annoyed at being interrupted, but when the nine-year-olds clearly didn't understand the words on Toothless' vest, he found himself in a deep friendly conversation with them, explaining the jobs of dogs like Toothless.

His conversation definitely did not go unnoticed by the rest of the gang. What he didn't realise was that he had gained the attention of the most unexpected of them all. Astrid gazed at him as he made the children giggle with his words and Toothless' excited tail, not realising a smile forming on her own lips as she sighed contentedly. Ruffnut suddenly appeared by her side, sitting next to her with a smirk plastered on her own face.

"Isn't it always adorable to watch your crush play with children?" she remarked as she watched Astrid's face contort with mixed emotions.

"What??? I never said he's my crush. In fact, I don't have a crush on anyone. I'm just watching the scene that's all. You know I love kids," Astrid argued as she felt her cheeks heat up. She lowered her head, using her hair to hide her red face. For once she was glad she hadn't tied up her hair.

"You're not fooling me, Astrid. Physical reactions never lie." With that, she left a flustered Astrid sitting alone again.

Astrid watched as she sat in the seat next to her brother who was in an unusual conversation about livestock with Snotlout standing next to him. Instead of joining in the conversation, she whipped out her phone and began texting someone. Astrid continued watching the sane twin for a while longer while praying to the gods she won't spill anything to the two boys. After a few minutes, the blue-eyed blonde was convinced she wasn't going to be ratted on and shifted her attention back to her phone, trying her best not to let her eyes fall back onto the young man and his service dog who was now laughing with the giggling children. What she didn't know was that Ruffnut was texting someone onboard the tram.

He still has his adorable laugh and the dorky grin I love so much... wait what??? What's wrong with my mind, I don't love him, especially after what he did, she thought to herself. As if by instinct, her eyes lowered to fall on her left middle finger, where a familiar metal ring sat. She stared at it, her mind questioning herself "why do I still have it on my finger??" She brought her right hand over to grasp the metal, feeling a mixture of warmth and coolness. She was about to pull it off when a voice inside her yelled against it, immediately stopping her action. The only thought that ran through her head was I can't bring myself to remove it.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she sighed, she knew there was something up with her feelings but she couldn't pinpoint what. At the same time, she told herself she was over him after those painful years. However, she never considered the question whether she really was over him, or she was just in denial.

After what felt like eternity of avoiding Hiccup and the sweet children, they finally arrived at their stop. This also meant that Hiccup had to say goodbye to the kids who were disappointed to watch the man and the 'cute soldier puppy' leave. They stood on the platform for a moment as Hiccup waved and Toothless barked at the kids departing the stop on the tram. The gang then turned in the direction of the front gates of the museum, with Ruffnut and Heather secretly exchanging grins behind Astrid's back.