Hello, readers! Sorry for the delay in my updates; school has been running my whole life lately, outside of study halls, so... yeah... they'll probably be this way unless I have breaks and/or minimal homework. I'm sorry! I really am!
But I'm trying to compensate for these later updates with longer chapters now, though, so yay~! I hope this chapter's satisfactory to everyone; I worked all week on it.
If you text me your address, I can come pick you up and we can do something?
Hiccup stared at the message, unsure of how to respond. Her fingers hovered over the small keypad with uncertainty. She was nervous about responding but she had no idea why. Jack was her friend, why should it be a problem if they hung out? They were bored and wanted to do something, that's all.
If this was Astrid, Cam or Felix, she'd have immediately accepted the offer. But, for Jack… she hesitated. Was it because she still barely knew him? That couldn't be it, or she wouldn't have invited him out with her and her friends last night. Why was this even debatable?
She calmed her thoughts before responding Alright. With her address attached to the message.
There, it was done. But her nerves still stayed a little longer. It was strange, really… she'd never been that indecisive about spending time with a friend before.
A smile couldn't help but creep onto Jack's face when he read Hiccup's answer. They'd be hanging out together, and outside the library for once! And for more than ten minutes! He finally had something to do today. You know… besides his homework… he'd do that later…
Jack rolled off the couch and grabbed his hoodie, throwing it over his plain blue t-shirt and taking his car keys out of his pocket. He tossed the keys and his snowflake keychain in his palm as he sauntered to the front door.
He put his hand on the doorknob and he heard Anna call out "Where are you going?"
He turned to see his older sister coming down the stairs, her colorfully dyed hair pulled back in a ponytail and her violet glasses on. "I'm uh… I'm going out."
"Yeah, I know that." Anna slumped her shoulders "But where?"
"Well…" Jack slid a foot against the hardwood floor "I was texting Henrika and… I'm going to pick her up and we're going somewhere…"
His sister climbed the rest of the way down the stairs and stood in front of him in silence, processing what he'd just said. Then a pure white smile flashed from her with a loud coo "Awwww."
Jack blinked "What?"
"You already asked her out?" Anna excitedly hopped in front of her brother "That's great!"
"Uh…" Jack stammered "No… no, I didn't. I'm just, um… she was bored and I was bored, so um… we're hanging out."
"Just hanging out?" She stared up at him in bewilderment.
"Yeah." Jack clarified "It's just we'll be by ourselves this time…" He looked away from her.
"Any idea where you're taking her yet?" She asked. Her brother shrugged in response "Okay, then… how about some advice?" His blue eyes met her deep brown color. It was a bit strange to gaze upon her natural eye color, as her contacts turned her irises a vibrant purple "Think of this as a way to get closer to her, then. Take her someplace where you can have fun together. Just like going out with her and her friends last night." He nodded "And be yourself, okay?" She added "Girls don't like it when you try to force things."
"Okay." He proceeded out the door as she rounded the corner, assumingly to grab a snack or something. Once the door was shut behind him, Jack strode to his car, climbed inside and started the engine "Okay," he sighed. He slipped his phone back out of his pocket and scanned her address again, putting it in the GPS program on his phone and pulling out of the driveway, following the directions carefully.
Hiccup locked up the house and waited on the front steps for Jack to pull up. She took her cell phone out of her pocket to check the time and patted her other pocket, to ensure that her keys and wallet were safely inside.
She watched as cars rolled past her, half expecting all of them to be Jack because she had no clue what kind of car he drove. She sighed and leaned back on the stoop after about ten cars passed her by.
Her mind wandered back to Scott ditching her about a half an hour ago. It wasn't that it was strange behavior, really. Scott had this habit of not picking her up from places or leaving because he got bored. And he always hopped in his truck and went to who-knows-where when he didn't want to stay at home with his little sister. But this time was a bit different. He usually blew off his business to her like it was no big deal, like he does with just about everything else. But when he tried to explain it to her this time… he was very quick, almost like he was more embarrassed than in a rush.
She let her mind wander on it for a bit before deciding that she would figure out whatever it was in good time. After all, she was the one that did the laundry, most of the time. He's bound to leave some kind of clue in his pockets at some point. That was actually a way that she kept money in her wallet. Her rule was whoever does the laundry keeps what they find in the pockets, excluding cell phones and the like. She thought it would be incentive for her brother to actually do a chore or two, but she was clearly wrong about that idea…
Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a horn. Hiccup jumped at the noise and saw Jack had pulled up into the driveway. She should have figured his car would be blue; it was the boy's favorite color, after all. She stood and walked to the passenger side, sliding in.
"Hey." She greeted, buckling herself in.
"Hey." Jack smiled "Did I really take that long?"
She giggled "No, I was just thinking and I zoned out."
"Ah." The white-haired boy affirmed.
"So…" She trailed off "Where do you wanna go?"
Jack leaned back in his seat "How do you feel about the arcade?"
She raised an eyebrow "Really?"
"Yeah, why not?" He shrugged.
Hiccup shrugged back "Just didn't expect that suggestion."
"So you're cool with it, then?" Jack confirmed.
"Yeah." She beamed "Sounds like fun."
"Okay, then." He put the car in gear "The arcade it is."
About a twenty minute drive and the two were pulled up in front of the arcade in a plaza in the center of town. It was a small place, but it would surely do the trick. Jack had thought about this all the way to Hiccup's house. She had a brother, so she had to have played video games at some point, right? He could have fun with her and maybe, just maybe, he could find a game she wasn't good at and help her out. Was it wrong that he thought about how nice it would be to help her aim the gun in an FPS game? Because that was one of his first thoughts, once he thought of taking her here.
"I haven't been here in years." The brunette claimed "Scott and I stopped going when he hit high school. He got into lacrosse and stuff and he didn't have time for it anymore."
"You didn't want to come by yourself?" Jack questioned.
"Not really." Hiccup shrugged "Sometimes we play our Wii together, when he has time. And, since we have that, what's the point of me coming here alone?"
Alright, point for Jack. She was a bit of a gamer. This should be fun, alright.
The two stepped inside the arcade and promptly made their way to the change machine to exchange some of their smaller bills for quarters. Jack traded in five ones for quarters and Hiccup settled for doing the same with the three singles she had on her, claiming that, between the two of them, they definitely had enough to occupy themselves for a little while.
Hiccup wandered through the aisles of game consoles, occasionally peering over the shoulder of people playing one of the machines. Jack did the same but found his gaze catching on Hiccup exploring more than the games. There was something about the curiosity on her face that drew him to follow her as she glided from system to system and the way the screens light up the grassy plains in her eyes.
Then, the meadows flared when she focused on an unoccupied console. Jack stepped next to her and registered it as a fighting game that could be played alone or with another person. She looked up at him and smiled "Wanna play me?"
Jack smirked "I don't know, Hiccup…" He leaned back on his heels "I'm pretty good at this game."
"You scared I'm gonna beat you?" Hiccup crossed her arms and smirked back.
"Oh, that's it." Jack playfully countered "You're on."
Jack inserted the amount of quarters they needed and selected their characters. And Jack learned pretty quickly that either Hiccup was better at this game than he was or she picked the one character that was more over-powered than he thought. Within thirty seconds of the first round, Hiccup's gigantic mountain of a man, who kinda resembled a Viking, had slaughtered Jack's favorite avatar of the game, an ice wizard who was, uh… slightly underdressed, concerning her powers.
"Ha!" Hiccup gloated "I thought you said you were good at this game?"
"That was just the warm up round, Hiccup." Jack excused "Round two, you'll be thrown for a loop."
"Sure you don't wanna back out while you can?" The brunette jeered.
"No way." Jack retorted "You won't get rid of me that easy."
Hiccup smirked and they both turned back to the screen as the second round started. This time, Jack put up much more of a fight but Hiccup still came out on top with one minute left on the timer.
"Wow, didn't think you'd be much harder to beat there." She complimented.
"What can I say?" Jack waved a hand nonchalantly "It's a gift."
"Oh, really?" Hiccup retorted with venom in her tone "Does this 'gift' only apply to this game or are there others you want me to kick your butt at?"
"Well," The white-haired boy mused, glancing around the arcade.
From there, the two spent most of their quarters trying out different machines as they opened up. Hiccup proved to be quite the gamer, beating Jack at quite a few games and coming in a very close second in others. It seemed that no matter what game it was, she was good at it. But that was kind of expected, after she told him about how she and her brother used to come here all the time.
"Okay," the older playfully called, after yet another beat down by the younger"you've forced my hand, Hiccup. I'm bringing out the big guns." He grabbed Hiccup's wrist and led her to the back of the arcade, where there was a machine for a dancing game set up. It was playing an annoying pop tune when the two walked up to it, but Jack would fix that momentarily… if he could convince Hiccup to play him.
"Really?" She tried not to laugh "DDR?"
"What?" Jack deflected "This game's great."
"You couldn't be good at another game, could you?" Hiccup complained.
Now it was Jack's turn to taunt "You're not scared I'm gonna beat you… are you?"
"Fine." Hiccup threw her hands up in defense "But don't say I didn't warn you."
Jack watched with a bit of caution as she stepped onto one of the platforms and inserted their quarters. What did she mean by that, exactly? That couldn't possibly mean she was good at this one too, right? She seemed like she really didn't like the game all that much… maybe she sucked and didn't want to embarrass herself in front of him? But one thing that Jack was learning pretty quickly was that Hiccup was really competitive. He'd have to play his best if he wanted to get an upper hand on her.
"So, are you gonna pick the song or do you want me to?" Hiccup asked, tapping her foot on the platform to scroll through the options.
Jack hopped onto the other platform and chuckled "Surprise me."
"Okay." She let out a bit of an evil laugh as she picked the song.
Jack groaned when he heard the sample tune play before Hiccup confirmed it "Butterfly, really?"
"Problem?" Hiccup drawled.
"Only if my problem is kicking your butt." Jack retorted.
A few seconds later and the arrows started to cross the screen, the two teens' feet both matching up with their times, each of them only slipping up once in a great while. Jack's eyes were locked on the glow of the screen and the colors flashing with each arrow that was matched perfectly. It was funny how this was the only form of dancing that he was any good at whatsoever. Off of the DDR machine, Jack had two left feet.
His focus was honed down on the task at hand but, even so, it seemed his two left feet caught up with him. One little slip up and he missed more than three arrows within the few seconds it took him to recover from nearly tripping over his own shoes. Now do you see why Jack hated shoes so much? If he was barefoot, he wouldn't have had that problem.
Apparently, he was so in the zone that he hadn't noticed until a minute after he tripped that a crowd had started to form around their competition. He only realized when one of them apparently did something that the group liked. Jack was thinking that it was him until he heard one of the people in the masses behind them shout "You go, girl!"
Well, uh… maybe they were putting up a good fight against each other and Jack just didn't have time to notice? He hoped he regained whatever ground he lost when he nearly fell flat on his face. But he didn't have any time to glance at his opponent's score. He wanted to at least try to make some kind of impression on her while they were out together.
The song ended with applause from the crowd behind them, which Jack noticed was about ten people when he turned around and wiped his brow.
There were comments of "Wow, that was so close!" and "Close match!" along with the cheers from the onlookers.
Then something else sounded "Whoa, Hiccup," One of the guys in the crowd called "I think you beat your old record!"
"Old record?" Jack repeated "What old record?"
His question was answered when the high scores for the game came up and he saw the initials "HHH" at the top of the list. A few seconds later, it was moved down one space on the chart and Hiccup's score for their game appeared. She put in the same three letters as the one below her. Now in third place was Jack's own high score, with the initials "JOF," from another time he'd played. After she did so, her apparent fans all dissolved from the group they became and scattered back to other machines in the arcade.
"Wait, that's you?" He questioned "Yours is the one that kept me from having the high score?"
"Yep." She confirmed "Henrika Hannah Haddock. This was one of the games that I always beat Scott at when we used to come here, so he always played me at it when I couldn't win at anything else."
"He did that for you?"
"Yeah." Hiccup recalled "Sometimes his friend Derek would tag along too. They'd play each other and then I got whoever won their round."
"Do you miss that?"
Hiccup paused for a moment before responding "Yeah. I do." She stepped down from the dance platform and started towards the exit.
Jack followed her "You do a lot of stuff with them when you were younger?"
"Oh, yeah." She continued "Derek lives right down the street and he and Scott have known each other since they could crawl, practically. I grew up with both of them around and, sure, they were jerks to me a lot of the time, but they always had my back when I needed them to." She shrugged "I don't know, I guess I have two brothers… in a way." Jack nodded "They're still a couple of idiots, though." She added with a giggle.
"They kinda sound it to me." Jack added "So… I think we used the last of our quarters. You wanna go somewhere else or do you want me to take you home?"
Hiccup stopped walking and took her phone out of her pocket and checked the time before slipping it back where it came from and proceeding out the glass door "I still have a bit of time, if you want to grab an ice cream or something?"
"Okay." He smiled "Anywhere you'd prefer?"
She shrugged, stopping at the passenger side of Jack's car "I'm not picky."
"Good." Jack answered "Because I know the best place in town. And… I get a discount."
"Why would you get a discount?" She wondered.
"I know someone who works there." He slipped into the driver's seat and started the engine. Hiccup climbed after him and he drove them off.
It was only about ten minutes more in the car with Jack before he stopped in front of a small ice cream parlor called The Frozen North. Hiccup had seen the place a few times during car rides, but she'd never stopped inside or anything. After all, she had ice cream at home most of the time, so why bother going to buy something that you already had enough of?
But Jack seemed excited to show her the place, so why not go with him? He was really fun to be around and… she kind of didn't want to go back home just yet. There was something about hanging out with Jack that was just enjoyable and she didn't want to part from that just yet.
"You'll love this place; they have so many flavors." Jack's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
"Do they have mint chocolate chip?" She asked "It's my favorite."
"Yep." Jack stated with a pop of his lips. He opened the big wooden door and held the door open for her, letting it close behind them "Hey, North! You here?" He called.
"Eeeeyy, look who it is." A booming, accented voice sounded from a back room "If it isn't Jack!" A tall teen with dark hair, a matching beard and eyes almost as blue as Jack's stepped through the doorway. He held out his arms in a welcoming fashion, showing off the tattoos decorating each one. He put them down when he noticed Hiccup "And friend?" He leaned on the counter and gave Jack a smirk that was less-than-subtle.
Jack sighed "North, this is my friend, Hiccup. Hiccup, this is North; he's in a few of my classes at school."
"Too bad we don't share lunch, no?" North commented "Only me and Eli in lunch wave."
"Yeah, well, what can you do?" Jack replied "School."
"Yes…" North trailed off "So, you come to introduce new friend to me or for ice cream?"
"A little of both." Jack chuckled.
"Excellent!" North declared "What can I get you?"
"Get me my usual and Hiccup a cone of your mint chocolate chip." Jack ordered.
"Coming up." The server clapped his giant hands together and started assembling the frozen treats "So, 'iccup" He carried on "How you meet Jack?"
She started brushing her leg over the hardwood floor "I've been going to the library he works and lately and-"
"Ah, see what I tell you, Jack?" North interrupted "Having Sandy get you job at library good thing, yes?"
"I-I guess…" Jack stammered. Hiccup glanced at him and saw a faint pink begin to flush onto his cheeks. If it was really this awkward for him to introduce a female friend to another friend, why would he even take her to the place he knew the guy would be at?
The Russian teen laughed "I thought so." The bell above the door chimed, signaling that someone else had walked in "Ey, Phil, you come to take over my shift?"
The other two teens turned to see an older man with a thick beard standing in front of the door, glowering at Jack, who smirked in response. After that, he simply grumbled with a nod and disappeared into the back room.
"Okay, then." North reassured as if the guy actually said something "I will be out when I finish this order." He then got back to making the ice creams and held them out a moment later "For Jack, soft serve vanilla cone blue sprinkles." He gave it to Jack "And, for 'iccup" he smiled "cone of mint chocolate chip." And he passed it to her.
Hiccup admired the scoops piled onto the cone for a second before taking some of it into her mouth. Her eyes widened upon the creamy ice cream and bits of chocolate mixing and melting on her tongue. A smile crept onto her face as she swallowed and began to run her tongue over the top scoop some more.
"Is good, yes?" North confirmed. Hiccup nodded.
"See what I meant when I said 'best ice cream in town?'" Jack boasted.
She swallowed "Yeah."
North came to the other side of the counter "So, Jack, would you rather I leave you alone or stay and chat?"
"Uh…" Jack awkwardly glanced between his taller friend and Hiccup, uncertainty plain on his face. Okay, this was getting kinda weird now… "Do you mind?" He finally asked her.
"Not really." Hiccup shrugged.
North smiled, then slipped a cell phone out of his pocket and his expression flattened "It seems I have to go. Forgot to work on essay." He started to tap the keys on his phone as he walked away "Enjoy, ice cream on me."
Once North left, Jack sat at the table they were standing right next to and Hiccup sat across from him. "Sorry if…" He gestured to the counter "any of that weirded you out." He rubbed the back on his neck "I have weird friends."
"You've met my friends; we're even." Hiccup commented.
"That's true." Jack affirmed.
General conversation ensued while the pair devoured their frozen treats, the only interruption being the occasional customer walking in (as it was starting to get too cold out for any normal person to eat ice cream) and Phil eying Jack with a grumble here and there. Hiccup didn't know exactly what the guy had against Jack, but she got the vibe that the silver-haired boy liked to pull pranks and mess with people. That could very well have been the reason.
They stayed in their seats until about an hour and a half after their ice creams were gone and simply conversed some more about school, their friends and the like. Jack ranted for awhile about some guy named Pitch at his school who got suspended for pulling what Jack called the "prank of the year," which involved breaking into the school early and closing every locker in the place with zip ties. Jack dubbed it as an early senior prank, as the guy was supposed to graduate in the coming year and Hiccup was glad this kid didn't go to her school.
Hiccup kept the complaining train going by talking about her history teacher, who everyone called Mildew for a reason that was still unknown to her, and how much he hated almost everyone in the class. Well, everyone except Felix and herself, which usually resulted in Mildew placing the two of them to work together on projects whenever he could. The two of them decided that it was just a way for him to guarantee that he would get at least one really good project out of the "herd of sheep" that he called the rest of the class.
Jack laughed at the last statement as she glanced down at her watch and noticed the time. It was almost five o'clock and that meant it was probably a decent time to go home. And that was because, if she didn't make dinner, Scott would probably burn the house down in the process of trying to do it himself. So, Jack opted to take her home and they piled back into his car.