"This is a really bad idea." I mumbled as I looked up at the house at the end of the driveway, it's front lawn littered with cars like the rest of the street as loud music coming from inside the house shook the ground beneath us.

Heather gave me a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder before she flashed me a wild grin. "Oh, stop being so negative! We're going to have so much fun! And this time you won't be alone, we swear it. Right Ruff?"

I glanced to my other side —where Ruffnut had been standing mere seconds before— only to find it empty. I turned to Heather with a raised brow, her face growing a deep shade of red as she chuckled nervously. I crossed my arms and shook my head at her. This was all going to go straight to Hell.

"Heather!" A familiar voice chimed as a burly blonde came up to the two of us, a wide grin on his face.

Heather threw herself into his outstretched arms and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Hey, babe!"

A cold wind blew past us, tugging at my leather jacket. I wrapped my arms tight around myself as I turned to scowl at the couple who had already begun making out. "Can we go inside? I'm freezing my ass off out here."

Heather pulled away from the kiss with her boyfriend, but did not break eye contact with him as she slipped her hand into his and they began walking towards the house like they were the only two people on the planet. Great, more of this nasty couple stuff.

Several things differed from the last time I had been at one of Valerie's parties. The first thing was the lack of Valerie at the front door, greeting all her guests with a broad smile as she offered them shots. The second thing was the lack of college-aged boys, which I definitely appreciated as soon as I entered the crowded house. I shuddered at the memory of what had happened the last time I had gotten shit-faced and made the decision to go light on my drinking that evening.

The third thing that differed from the last time I had been over, was the karaoke machine in the corner, where people were already drunkenly singing at the top of their lungs. I couldn't help the smile that tugged at my lips at the humiliation those people would feel the next morning.

I had been inside the house for a total of 5 minutes and I had already managed to lose both my friends. A chill crept down my spine as images of the last party flashed through my mind, rendering me frozen on the spot. 'We'll stay with you all night!' Yeah right. Gods, I was going to kick their asses so bad in the morning. I made the decision to stand up to my own fears and see what was going on in the kitchen and to my surprise, there were a lot less couples there than I was used to. Around the island in the middle of the large kitchen, a group was gathered, all watching intently as some underclassman tried to do shots. I stayed with the group for a while, chatting with the strangers around me as I took a few shots of tequila.

It didn't take long for me to get buzzed, and by that time I was laughing my ass off at everything that was said around me and I went around hugging strangers. The unease I had felt earlier had almost completely vanished and I felt good about myself for the first time in weeks. At one point — when I was in the middle of a conversation with someone I had just met — I spotted Ruffnut leading a boy and a girl I had never seen before out on the porch only to come back in about 20 minutes later with ruffled hair and a wicked grin plastered on her face. I hadn't seen Heather and Fishlegs since we had entered the house together and the school's famed power couple themselves, Hiccup and Valerie, were nowhere to be seen.

As my buzz was wearing off a little later into the night, I bumped into Ruffnut on the dance floor. I danced with one of my best friends and felt a little more at ease than I had when I was wandering around on my own. Ruffnut and I were grinning at each other and dancing wildly when the music suddenly stopped and everyone turned their heads towards the corner of the room where the karaoke machine stood.

By the karaoke machine stood the two people that had been missing all night. Valerie wore a stunning, silver off-the-shoulders top with some matching jewelry and a pair of black jeans. As always, she looked devastatingly gorgeous and I couldn't help but feel a twinge of self-doubt at my own appearance.

Beside Valerie stood Hiccup, and gods, why did that asshole have to be so fucking gorgeous. He wasn't wearing anything out of the ordinary, just a green t-shirt and a pair of jeans, but boy, did he know how to work it. In his hand he gripped one of the microphones attached to the karaoke machine. As he brought the microphone closer to his lips, we accidentally made eye contact for a split second. Strangely enough, he seemed to hesitate for a minute, but quickly gathered himself before turning to his girlfriend.

"Hello everyone, I'm sorry for the interruption but I just wanted to wish you all welcome before we're going to share some news with you." Hiccup smiled at his girlfriend and she beamed at him in response. I felt my gut twist. He was going to ask her to prom. I had to get out of there.

I tugged on the sleeve of Ruffnut's jacket, earning her attention. She raised a brow at me. "What?"

"Ruff, I'm leaving. See you on Monday, okay?" I whispered to her and only received a quick nod and a thumbs up in response. It was better than nothing I suppose.

The crowd was larger than I had anticipated, so delicately weaving through them proved to be quite a challenge which led to me pushing my way through instead. I was almost by the entryway when a familiar female voice called out from the crowd. "W-wait! Before you say whatever, I need to say something veryyy important first!"

I stopped dead in my tracks and slowly turned around to find Heather stumbling over to the karaoke machine, snatching the microphone out of Hiccup's hand before he even got the chance to process what was happening. My gaze travelled to where Heather had appeared from and it didn't take me long before my eyes landed upon a nervous-looking Fishlegs who seemed to be very close to biting his nails.

"Listen, listen, listen!" Heather chirped, grinning wildly as she swayed in place. "We all know what Hiccup is going to ask now, right?"

The crowd remained silent as they watched Heather intently, only some of the really drunk people began clapping and cheering her on. Hiccup's eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms, eyes fixed on Heather.

" 'Blah, blah, blah, Valerie, will you go to prom with me?' " Heather mimicked Hiccup's voice, earning a few laughs from the guests. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Valerie eyeing Hiccup, confusion written all over her face. "But that's boring, we don't care about that!"

The drunken crowd roared in response before settling down rather quickly, as if the sudden movement had made them all nauseous.

"Everyone knows what happened a year ago, right?" Heather began, and I felt the temperature in my blood drop below the freezing point. What was she going on about? "My best friend, Astrid Hofferson — Hey, girl! — got into a biiig car accident!"

The crowd let out a simultaneous 'oooh!', as if they were the audience of some 90s sitcom. I felt my gut painfully twist and turn the longer Heather spoke.

"Fortunately for her, this handsome lad was here to save her! Give it up for Hiccup Haddock! Whooo!" She grabbed Hiccup by the arm and pulled him up beside her. The crowd whoo'd in response. Hiccup's eyes found mine through the crowd and he furrowed his brows as he nodded towards Heather like he was asking: What the hell is she doing?

I couldn't respond to him as I was frozen in place, terrified of what would come out of her mouth next. I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug deep into my palms, leaving small craters behind.

"Hiccup was there throughout all of her recovery and ended up falling for my bestie! Go Hiccup!" Heather cheered as I watched Valerie grow increasingly more red in the background, but this time with what I assumed to be anger. "Then Astrid rejected Hiccup, left and yada, yada, yada. By the time she came back, Hiccup had gotten a new girlfriend, Valerie Morris!"

The crowd cheered, as if they could not sense the heavy tension in the room. Fishlegs stared at his girlfriend with wide eyes as if he could not believe what he was hearing. I glanced over at Hiccup and found him staring at his feet. Did the rejection still ... hurt him?

"Valerie's a pretty chill girl —thanks for the party, bestie!— but as soon as my other bestie Astrid met Hiccup again, she was forced to face what she had refused to admit all those months before: that she was indeed in love with the guy, but too afraid to admit it!"

I would have given anything for the ground to just open wide and swallow me up whole in that moment. The amount of shame and guilt I felt amplified after I looked over at Hiccup and found him staring at me wide-eyed, surprise etched into every crevice of his face.

I felt my cheeks grow hot as the crowd slowly turned to face me. I shook my head slowly and began walking backwards, the crowd parting for me. After a few steps, I turned around and ran out of the house and into the cold night.

I ran down the street, not slowing down to a walk before I reached the neighboring house. As I slowed down, all that had happened hit me like a bag of bricks to the face. "Gods, I'm so stupid!"

I dragged my hand across my face as I let out a groan of frustration. Why hadn't I done anything to stop it? Why had I just let her go on like that? Why had I even told anyone about the way I felt for Hiccup?

A thousand thoughts were racing through my mind, all battling for attention. They were so loud that I didn't even notice Hiccup until he was about 30 feet away from me.

"Go away, Hiccup, I don't want to see you right now!" I growled as he continued running in my direction.

"Is it true? What Heather said?" Hiccup asked through heavy panting, stopping only to catch his breath.

I too, stopped, whipping my head around as I glared daggers at him. "Why do you even care, Hiccup? You have a perfect little girlfriend who's probably dying for you to go back to the party!"

"You know what, Astrid? I'm getting real tired of your attitude." Hiccup narrowed his eyes at me and suddenly that asshole from the dinner at his house was back.

"Too bad! It's going to be around forever, just like your little girlfriend." I sneered viciously, not caring whether I hurt his feelings or not before I continued my angry march.

"Oh my gods, Astrid, I don't even like Valerie anymore!" Hiccup yelled after me, sending a jolt of electricity up my spine as I processed the words he had said.

I paused and turned calmly around to face him. "What?"

Hiccup ran a hand through that soft auburn hair of his, letting out an exasperated sigh before burying his eyes in mine. "I love you, Astrid, it's always been you and it will always be you. And when Heather said that you loved me too ... I haven't felt so happy since last summer. Now please tell me, is it true? Or am I just making a fool of myself again?"

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. He still loved me? "I-I ..."

"You're really going to pull this shit again, huh? You're just going to push me away like you did last time and then run away for 6 months?"

"What? No! I just ..."

"You know what? Forget it, I'm tired of constantly chasing after you Astrid, goodbye. Forever." Hiccup turned around and began walking away, stuffing his hands inside his pockets. I might've been a bitch the last time he confessed his feelings for me, but that was not happening twice, not as long as my heart was still beating in my chest.

Without warning, I suddenly began running. When I eventually caught up to Hiccup, I grabbed his arm, spun him around and pressed my lips to his and it was like a thousand fireworks had been set off at once,

"Hiccup ... I love you too." I admitted as I pulled away to take in the startled look on his face, the way he blinked as if he did not believe what had just happened, the way his mouth opened and closed as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't.

Once again, our eyes met and whatever had gone down between the two of us just melted away. Blue on green, like it was always meant to be. Hiccup's hands rose to hold my face and I had to be sure to catch my breath before he pressed his lips to mine in a meeting that felt like it could have caused an earthquake. We melted together into one, lips moving in perfect synchronization as we finally gave in to all of our differences and just ... showed our love for one another.