Chapter 9: "Detour home"
There was a tense silence the whole way. Although only he seemed to notice.
Snotlout and Camicazi were singing at the top of their lungs in drunken, out-of-tune screams that echoed along with the rusty screeching of wheels against the asphalt.
The radio with several corroded wires sticking out sounded lower than the teenagers, were a trendy song that
Hiccup didn't even recognize.
But he knew he would remind Snotlout of this the next day when his hangover was at its highest point.
The ghost of a smile at the thought was gone as soon as it came.
He sighed without caring to be heard amid the shrieks of his friends, his hands gripping the wheel tightly and his eyes trying to focus on the pit-dark road.
With all the dissimulation he could muster, and thanks to years of practice in his childhood, Hiccup peered out of the grated little rear-view mirror toward the backseat of the car.
Squeezed between Thuggory and the tipsy and flushed from more beers Camicazi, Astrid was settled in the tiny middle seat with a "get me out of here" face,bher gaze sunk into her lap.
Hiccup made a grin, quickly looking away from her wanting to be casual.
He wanted to get out of there too.
After their, talk?
If it could be called that, that it hadn't turned out at all as he had planned, or at least imagined.
He wanted to have acted like always, lighthearted and giving a damn like always.
Maybe a "Hey, you ok?" and that was it.
But how was that conversation supposed to start? "Hey, does your father / insert something else hitted you? Are you getting high, fight for money? 'Cause you would definitely do well-"
No, definitely not.
Gods, he hadn't been so serious in years.
His cheeks warmed with the memory of a few minutes ago with shame.
He was supposed to be Hiccup Haddock, the troublemaker who didn't give a shit and was always carefree and sarcastic. And he broked that facade of none other than Astrid Hofferson, damn Miss Perfect.
He took a quick look in the mirror again. Camicazi staggered back and forth like a drunk metronome, reaching out, singing and continuously bumping into the shoulder of the other blonde girl who just didn't seem to react.
Hiccup raised an eyebrow at this after looking away. Typical Hofferson would have punched her, given a warning. Something.
Nor that he could blame her after all that happened later, and everything she had been through that he hadn't seen.
Hiccup hands clenched on the steering wheel, his knuckles white, he almost heard his teeth grind.
His eyes wandered to the rearview mirror next to him, a blurred by the cold steam of the night that fogged the glass Thuggory was staring at Astrid next to him, their shoulders practically crushed next to the other. The burly man leaned unobtrusively towards Astrid's side.
Hiccup could absentmindedly notice the girl shrugging closer to Camicazi's side, even being a totally horrible choice.
He frowned a little, putting his foot down on the gas pedal without even realizing it.
Thor, how much he wanted his bed right now.
How did he want to get out of there. How did he want to forget about Astrid Hofferson and forget that she was human too.
With a tired grunt, he snapped off the radio.The music ceased and the drunken voices of his cousin and his friend dissolved to resurface in poorly constructed screams.
"Hiccuuuup~ !! WHY DID YOU TURN IT OFF-? IT WAS MY DAMN MOMENT HADDOCKK ...!"
"EEEYY! I WAS NAILING IT THERE HIC-HICCUUP...!"
The auburn ignored them with a relieved sigh and a nod from his throbbing head.
"Shut up, it was killing my head"
The two boys' voices dropped to awkward babbling until the car fell silent.
His eyes drifted almost without realizing it to the mirror. They collided with an awkward and somewhat appreciative look from Astrid before she looked away.
Hiccup felt his cheeks heat up again and looked away in what he hoped wasn't too desperate.
A smile escaped him and he bitted his lip hard trying to focus on the road in front of him.
The lights of the small town were finally beginning to illuminate the road and he could finally see past his nose and the half-broken flickering headlights of his cousin's van.
Eager to reach the first destination, Thuggory's street, he stepped on the gas again and drove with practiced ease between the zigzag roads, the conveniences of always being the one to drive on their exits.
When they finally made out the street of streetlights blinking green lights and some stray dogs barking, he stopped the car with a screech.
Snotlout came out of his drunk slumber at the noise and swaying of the car, to complain between misspelled phrases, and then sprawled against the window snoring.
Hiccup turned slightly to look at Thuggory.
He looked away from Astrid who still looked like she wanted the earth to swallow her up, and blinking, looked at Hiccup managing a curved smile.
"First stop" Hiccup said with a carefree tone that he had been mentalizing all the way.
The boy nodded slightly. Hiccup looked at her friend, who snoring loudly for such a small body, was already practically K.O using Astrid as a pillow, her head and her salivating mouth resting on the shoulder of the uncomfortable girl.
Thuggory got out of the car "I'll take care of her"
Hiccup gave him a nod, thanking that the two of them lived on the same street and he didn't have to carry the swooning, drooling, and dangerous blonde even asleep, in tow to her house. Again.
He closed the door behind him, walked around the car and opened the opposite door, easily grabbing Camicazi who collapsed into his arms without stopping snoring, and Astrid closed the battered door for him with effort.
Hiccup saw with his chest tight as Thuggory gave her a wink and that smile that he had seen so many times when he went out to "hunt chicks" as he called it.
He grimaced in disgust, and if he had noticed, his face coordinated with Astrids who quickly returned to her seat.
They said goodbye with a quick "later" and soon they were back on the road.
Snotlout's breathing and some sleeping murmurs were all that was heard, and Hiccup could feel the tension in the air along with his sweaty hands.
Looking absentmindedly in the rear-view mirror again, this time longer and more sloppy without the presence of the other two guys, he saw how Astrid changed places, placing herself where Camicazi was.
Her cheeks and nose were colored, Hiccup guessed from the cold and bad heating inside the car.
He was able to appreciate her better thanks to the artificial light, not having noticed her unkempt and wrinkled clothes, the same ones she was wearing that morning neat and clean as always, and the more intense blush on her cheek even with the blonde locks covering them.
Somewhere along the way, Hiccup kicked himself for not realizing it, she let go of her hair, falling like a golden waterfall somewhat disheveled on her shoulders and the seat.
It was the first time he saw her with her hair down other than in a braid or ponytail and he found it strange.
It didn't match Miss Perfect, although after that night he no longer knew what to think.
Astrid, oblivious to the boy's scrutiny, watched the streetlights flash by, her eyes tired and resigned.
"It still hurts?"
Hiccup slapped himself, mentally scared at his own big mouth. What the actual fuck-?
Astrid flinched in confusion, as if she were surprised he were talking to her. She blinked, turning her head quickly towards Hiccup, who was staring straight ahead wanting to fall off a cliff.
The girl winced, and more than annoyed by the question, she glanced over at Snotlout sitting in a definitely uncomfortable posture against the window.
"Hiccup-!" she screamed in an angry whisper frowning as she gazed at the boy in front of her.
Hiccup couldn't help but laugh without looking at her. He didn't miss that she called him by his name.
"Don't worry, he's practically dead" he said nodding towards his cousin "Even though he doesn't look like it, he has almost no resistance to alcohol"
She couldn't help but see the trace of a smile on her lips as she looked away again at the window when he glanced at her. He reflected her smile almost without realizing it. Seconds ticked by, Snotlout's house closing in neighborhood after neighborhood.
"Not that much"
Hiccup found her gazing cautiously at her in the mirror. He raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't expect something less"
This made her smile, more a grimace than a smile but it was something. She turned to him with a gleam reborn in her eyes saying: "shut up"
A clearly less stifling silence fell on them both, Hiccup thoughtfully watched the streets go by.
"What are you going to do now?"
His question echoed through the air for endless seconds until Astrid shrugged her shoulders, and leaning more against the window she said:
"I have no idea"
Hiccup looked at her askance "So we cross your house off the list?"
The blonde tilted her head towards him "You know where I live?"
"Would it be too harassing to say yes?" he laughed slightly "No, I don't know"
They both gave a short laugh that was strangely out of tune with the environment.
All that conversation seemed surreal.
Hiccup sighed after a few minutes and parked the car.
Standing in front of the huge Jorgenson house, Hiccup turned to his cousin and punched his shoulder.
"Hey, Snot"
The boy didn't react, even though he hadn't punched him lazy.
The auburn snorted in annoyance. He would leave the boy in the sidewalk before bring him up to the house, and on top of it give explanations to his uncles.
Hiccup heard Astrid's snicker from behind. He turned to her looking with narrowed eyes as she raised her eyebrows mockingly.
"Do you want me to hit him for you?" shee said in the most "Hofferson" tone he heard from her that night.
Hiccup shared her smile and shook his head smugly. He leaned back in his seat and slammed the horn hard.
The beeping even went through his ears, but it was enough to send Snotlout bouncing and hitting the roof of the car.
"AAAAH! What, what?! Ouch!! Hiccup you little son of a-!"
"Your stop" he interrupted with an amused tone.
Snotlout, not wanting to argue, still half drunk and with a headache like hell, stumbled out of the van, slammed the door, then howled in pain at the sound, and staggered up to his house.
"Does he has keys? "Astrid commented clearly disinterested.
Hiccup shrugged his shoulders with a mocking smile and started the engine again. "He'll manage"
The car started to pull away from the street and Hiccup had no fucking idea what to do.
Now the two of them alone and without a clear destination, what should he do? Take her to her house? Drop her off at the fire station with a note? Take her to his house?
The very idea of taking her to his house, alone for a whole night baffled him.
He had no idea what to do, and that dislodged him because he always knew what to do.
"Turn right at the next cross"
They looked at each other in the mirror for a few seconds.
Hiccup obeyed.
At least she seemed like she did.