Chapter 6: Ideas
Hey Guys! sorry for the long break I had a lot of school stuff to catch up on and some work so I hadn't had time to update the story but I'm back now and I hope you enjoy this chapter its on the shorter side and is more filler but still very important for the next few chapters so enjoy and see you soon!
Heather came home later that night and Astrid and the girls decided to sit and talk for a while, Heather led them to the couch and gave Astrid a generic update on her father's condition saying a drunk driver had hit him in a collision while on his way home from work
"Man Heather I-I'm so sorry I hope he gets better"-Heather smiled and pat her friend on the leg then deciding to switch the subject
"So how are things going with the Eret situation?"-Astrid sighed, She had no idea what to do, she thought she loved him and that he was the one but this whole thing was getting out of hand, she didn't even want to go to his house and get her stuff. On the other hand she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt saying it was just the alcohol but even she knew that couldn't be to blame, Had he been like this the entire time?
"I-I don't know... he used to be so sweet but now...He's just a drunk.. I think it's just time..."-Heather nodded sympathetically
Astrid was honestly scared of letting him go, she had done so much to be with him. She had cut ties with her family when she moved away to be with him, her Father even told her he wasn't the right one but she never listened and now...she was regretting it she had pushed away so many people blinded by love and she hated it! Astrid Hofferson isn't a love sick teenager! But it was to late her family probably wanted nothing to do with her and she had close to no one to help her accept of course for Heather, and maybe Hiccup...
Speak of the devil
"Sooo Astrid...I had a question for you"-Astrid turned to Heather to see a very mischievous smile and her pulling up something on her phone, The App was titled Ring, Where have I heard that-OH NO!
A video came up it was her front door there Hiccup pulled up in his Camaro and walked her up as she could hear the faint laughs of their conversation and then it replayed the vents that had happened earlier that night and well Astrid was blushing red, but what was interesting was seeing Hiccups reaction The features of a blush appearing on his face then as he walked away you could hear a small confident Yes as he Fist pumped in victory which made her Face turn even more red...He liked that?!
"Please tell me this isn't what I think it is..."-Heathers voice sounded slightly disappointed and she had a dead pan look on her face Astrid squeaked and tried to defend herself
"NO! No!, I-I was thanking him! For saving me earlier! I swear!"-Heathers dead pan came into a shit eating grin and she slugged Astrid on the shoulder
"Astrid I don't care! Just don't get his hopes up? Im not saying your that type but...Hiccups History with girls has never been...Good?"-Astrid gave her a look of curiosity, Who wouldn't want Him? He was good looking, funny, sarcastic as Loki Himself no girl had a reason to turn him down...At least she thought so..Heather just sighed and shook her head
"He doesn't have any luck with them...and he hasn't dated anyone in a LONG time so just don't hurt him?"-Astrid nodded but immediately defended herself saying it wouldn't happen anyways...She of course was lying to herself
After a while of both girls teasing and talking the decided to call it a night with Heather retiring to her room and Astrid in the guest room, it was small a simple twin bed and a nightstand with a basic size Chest of drawers crammed into the corner. It wasn't much but Astrid liked it, it reminded her of her old room in her parents' house she opened her Duffle Bag full 0of clothes and basic necessities that she had grabbed that morning and changed into a soft pair of sleeping shorts and a tank top, she needed to get some sleep since she did have work the next morning and she wanted to have a refreshed brain to be able to deal with this Eret business.
The next morning She woke up to her phone alarm going off she sighed and pushed the end button and began to scroll through her notifications and found Thirty messages and miss calls from Eret all different, varying from I Love you and want you to come home To Come home now or you will regret it!, she just groaned and slammed her phone on to the bed next to her she did not have the energy to deal with this at Seven in the morning so she trudged out of bed and walked out to the kitchen to the Glorius smell of bacon and eggs and Heather sat in the middle with a frying pan, she must have heard the door because she turned around and grew a smug grin
"Well good morning sleeping beauty, Rough night?"-Astrid was confused but she looked over to the coffee pot and noticed her features in the reflection were less then Pleasant, her golden hair was strewn everywhere and tangled In various places she had a light set of bags beneath her ocean blue eyes and her night wear was rumpled and wrinkly clearly she didn't have a goodnight and groaned
"Very much so..."-She didn't like what was going on with everything, Her Heart was not in line with her brain, she didn't know how to deal with this Eret had always been there for her but now...he is just using her he just wants her for himself to stay home so only he can have her, but she had a little hope in her she wanted to believe maybe he was just going through a phase...maybe the liquor?...she had been with him so long and she thought she loved him, she thought he truly loved her but she couldn't even see the same guy she met in High school all those years ago...then she has to deal with this little school girl crush she has on Hiccup, she shouldn't but she does, Maybe just a onetime thing? Yea! That's it...Heather Dragged her from her thoughts
"Ast maybe get some coffee in your system...I know you have a lot to think about but you still have work so maybe try to wake up a little?"-Astrid nodded wordlessly and poured a cup. Astrid and Heather ate breakfast together talking things over and making plans for the day, they had to work late but they knew they had a longer break so they could go out for a little before coming back, Heather suggesting to grab tickets to the next Big Football game, they soon finished and got ready Astrid taking a shower and slipping on some comfy jeans and white and black converse with a work shirt as well as a extra blue T-Shirt for latter. When they arrived at the restaurant it seemed like everyone was there and on time and she could see Snotlout walking In the back door, when they walked in they noticed the office door was locked and could hear muffled voices but they didn't think to much on it and got to setting up for their day
Hiccup POV
Hiccup had a rough night, Nightmares hitting him hard so not much sleep was had, still he got to work on time with a coffee though tired he sat down and got to work making sure he had gotten everything straight in time for a order to come in for some extra supplies for the week seeing as Halloween was approaching he wanted to make sure they were completely stocked on food and supplies till he noticed their company balance which probably had his father rolling in his grave
It was low
He had been sure to calculate all their savings and make sure to budget properly but it still seemed to be not enough so he had to make a quick call to fishlegs for an impromptu meeting
"Look Hiccup this is not good you wont even have enough to keep you guys a float for the week unless you either make some shift cuts or make a killing the next couple days..."-Hiccup sighed, he had no other options he had to make some kind of way to round up customers
"Do you have any ideas Fish? Because I don't"-Fishlegs hummed and scratched his chin Fishlegs was smart, especially with money, That's why I hired him, but he did like to draw this stuff out and he needed ideas...Now
" Wellllll I don't but there may be people who doooo"
"No Fish im not going to-"
"Oh come on it cant be that bad-"
"Last time I asked them for ideas the kitchen was on fire and out customers found laxatives in their food"-Fishlegs grimaced
"Well unless you have other ideas your staff may have some"-Hiccup groaned and face palmed
"Fine Fine! Ill ask them but If something goes wrong I'm blaming you"-Fishlegs rolled his eyes and the two walked out to the Kitchen calling all the employees in which made him realized a issue, Astrid, After last night's events Hiccup was fist pumping all the way home he had never suspected for something like that to happen, sure he's had a Girlfriend before but it never ever worked in his Favour especially after the Military so he hadn't had anything like that happen to him and definitely from Astrid, she was always his childhood crush, the popular cheerleader who went out with the foot-ball teams quarterback, but he liked her before that, back when they were kids and played together no social structures or reputations to uphold so when he was the nerdy runt and she being a rising star she basically forgot him and left him in the dust and to the bullies
The entire Kitchen staff walked in and leaned against various objects ready to hear his speech even though most of them could care less about what he says
"Alright! So as well all know we have been a little slow recently"-They all groaned except of course Astrid which just made it awkward for him as he was trying to stay out of her sight line and hoped she didn't try to talk to him he knew nothing intelligent would come from his mouth and it would have been soooo awkward for him
"And I have decided that since Im fresh out of ideas to drum up business id see if you guys had any ideas!"-he had one hand rubbing his neck awkwardly and the other in the air gesturing to the group, everyone groaned
"Why cant you come up with something?"
"always needing help from the Snotman I knew it cuz"
"Hic are you sure that's a good idea?"
Everyone sputtered and complained and Hiccup just stood there and listened, He was way to tired to deal with this right now, then a loud and very demanding voice cut through the arguing and complaining and got everyone's attention..Of course it was Astrid, she nodded towards Hiccup to continue his speech, he groaned
"Look im not thrilled either but why don't you all come up with some ideas and we will put the to use ok?"-Everyone groaned and nodded then split to do their tasks Hiccup just rubbed his tired eyes and began his trek to the office while Fishlegs disappeared...Probably to visit Heather, then he felt a soft hand on his retreating shoulder and it sent a small shock down his spine
"Hey...you ok? You don't look so good.."-It was Astrid
"Y-Yea im fine just...tired had a long night"-he chanced a glance of his shoulder and saw a small worried look, Whyyy is she worried?, he didn't know why but he had a small bubbly feeling in his heart when he saw it, so he squashed it down immediately before it could surface then cleared his throat
"Why don't you go get some rest? You look really exhausted"-Hiccup did not like this he was starting to tense up, she shouldn't be talking to me, she shouldn't be worried about me this isn't real last night wasn't real your dreaming
"Maybe..but I need to finish this...but don't worry about me ill be fine why don't you go get your morning things done? Ill check in with you soon"- Astrid slowly nodded not all believing him even he could see through his lies, but she got back to work and sighed feeling a little less tense and trudged back to his office
Astrid POV
She was working over at the hostess stand, waiting for some customers and stocking a few things like menus and kids crayons while a million thoughts jetted through her mind she didn't know why she was thinking these things, but she was, in her head she was trying to justify Erets outburst's and his issues with her going to college, the drinking, the issues with work...Ok there are a lot of issues there, but Astrid kept trying to find reasons to stay with him even though none of them made sense. He never supported her, he was a drunk and threatened to hurt her, and he was starting to become hostile, very hostile, and she didn't know if it would be safe to stay in the place she thought she could call home...sure she could always stay with Heather but she doubted that could be a permanent arrangement especially since she had all of her possessions in Erets house. Then she got another notification
Eret: Please come home babe we can talk this out?
Eret: Ill clean up my act I swear just need you to come home
Eret: If you know what's good for you
Yea, This was getting out of hand. She sighed, she needed to figure out a way to cut him out of her life, sure it was easy for most girls just dump him but she wasn't most girls Eret was supposed to be the one and now he has turned into a wreck she didn't know if she had it in her to just dump him
Then she Also had the ummm...Hiccup problem, after last night she could tell he was noticeably distant even though she knew he liked what happened she wondered if he didn't want to talk about it seeing as she has boyfriend at the moment and that she is his employee, and besides that fact he looked drained this morning even just talking to him she could just surviving off a cup or two of coffee deep and dark bags under his eyes and his skin just looked dead she wanted to help and she did try but she got shot down and sent back to work while he probably went to slave away over his desk. There was a ring at the door where a familiar old man hobbled in and over to the bar, deciding she would attend to him she walked on over to greet him
"Hiya Lassie!"-Gobbers thick accent rang through the old restaurant, she gave a small smile and walked behind the counter grabbing a pitcher labeled FOR GOBBER
"Hey Gobber, how are things going?"
"Eh yer know how it is bein retired en all just relaxing and hangin out with me buds!"-she laughed as he animatedly waved his arms around, Sort of like Hiccup...Shut it Hofferson!
"Thats good im glad your enjoying things"-Gobber gave a toothy grin and took a swig of his drink
"So where's the lad? Hope he's not workin himself to hard"-she a sad smile as she tucked away the pitcher
"Yea well Hes working trying to come with some ideas to run up business"-Gobber nodded as he took another gulp looking over towards one of the TV's mounted above the bar
"Ah Father like Son, both dig themselves into their work and shut everyone out"-Astrid nodded noticing the sad and fond smile on his face
"Aye lassie mind turnin that Teli up? The games on"
"Sure Gobber!"-she grabbed a remote sitting on her end of the counter and turned up the Foot ball game then as soon as she heard it a idea popped into her head, without preamble she sat the remote down and ran into the back office, hearing some slight complaints from Gobber as she dared through the doors and shoved herself into Hiccups Office
"I have a Idea!"