Info: I'll explain at the end why this song was added here. I don't want to spoiler you ;)
You can listen to it while reading or afterwards when you know to which part it belongs to :)

———

Elsa and I kept switching between the dance floor and the table with our drinks. Jack and Hiccup stayed there, refilling our cups and chatting with the people who came and went. But I noticed that it was becoming more soft drinks than alcohol. After all, we had already emptied the liqueur bottle. I could still walk in a straight line and wasn't slurring my words, but I agreed I should probably cut back a little.

Still, I felt wonderful. So free and weightless. I didn't care at all about the sweaty people around me, I had tunnel vision for Elsa, who was going wild and just having fun. We laughed, showed each other silly dance moves, bumped hips, and laughed even more. It was glorious.

We stumbled back out to the guys, who were deep in conversation, and eagerly grabbed our cups. This time, it was just coke for me. Judging by Elsa's expression, same for her. We stood there for a few seconds, letting the cool night air refresh our warmed-up bodies.

My eyes wandered to Hiccup, who looked at me at that very moment. My heart immediately fluttered into my stomach, where butterflies spun in circles. Was this tingling stronger than usual? Was it the alcohol? I didn't know, but it tickled so much I burst out laughing. Hiccup raised his eyebrows in surprise but smiled.

"Definitely the right call not to pour any more alcohol," Jack said, also smiling. Elsa fixed her gaze on him and placed her hands on his chest. He looked at her with so much love that it made my laughter fade a bit, because it brought out the pain that Hiccup didn't look at me like that. She spared me from it by kissing Jack. It was kind of sweet, but I still looked away because it gave me another stab in the chest.

"How is it," I began, directing my words at Hiccup, who immediately focused on me, "that you drank as much as us but are still sober?"

He gave me that special smile, even with a sparkle in his eyes. "Russian genes."

I laughed. "More like you've built up a resistance over the years."

He shook his head, amused. "Everyone in my family can drink a lot. Trust me, it's the Russian blood."

"Blood? Just now it was genes. Those are two different things, Mr. Tutor."

He rolled his eyes, and Jack and Elsa laughed, having apparently managed to detach from each other during our conversation. "She's not wrong," Jack said. Hiccup made a dismissive gesture.

"You," Elsa said then, pointing at me. "Your lipstick is fading. Better touch it up."

"Good idea, I need to pee anyway," I said, grabbing my way-too-small bag. On my first step, I swayed a bit and quickly grabbed the table for support. For a moment, stars danced in my vision.

"I'd better come with you," Hiccup said and took my arm, linking it with his.

"I could've managed on my own," I said, just to make him talk. I loved his voice, it was so warm and soft. I wanted to hear it every hour of every day.

He chuckled softly. "Do you even know where the bathrooms are?"

He had me there. I looked up into his eyes and suppressed the urge to laugh. Somehow I just wanted to laugh constantly, which was new for me. I hadn't felt this joyful in ages. When was the last time I'd laughed this freely before tonight? I couldn't remember.

I snuggled up to him, even though some part of me knew I shouldn't. But he smelled so good, still fresh after a long night, with a hint of sweetness. I didn't want to smell anything else ever again. He had to tell me his secret. Why was he so irresistible? You just had to fall for him.

He led me up the stairs, making sure I took every step and didn't fall backward. A true gentleman, helping the drunk, not-so-elegant lady. We walked down a hallway and stopped in front of a white door. Hiccup knocked and an "Occupied!" rang out.

"Looks like you'll have to wait," he said and gently let go of me. I leaned against the bare wall behind me.

"It's not that urgent."

He crossed his arms and watched me like I might fall over any second. He was so sweet, so attentive, so damn handsome in his light blue shirt. Why was he with Stacy? What good karma had she to deserve him? Why was mine so bad?

Where was Stacy anyway?, my brain interjected. I hadn't seen her once tonight, and Hiccup had been with us the whole time. Even when we arrived, she hadn't been by his side.

"Where's Stacy?" I blurted out, not really meaning to. Or did I? I wanted an answer, after all, so why not ask?

"Downstairs in the living room, I think," he said.

I think? He didn't know where his girlfriend was at a massive party like this? If you went to one together, you stayed together. Their relationship was a joke. The arguments, her jealousy, his weird flirting with me which he apparently didn't even realize was flirting. I didn't get it. How had they gotten back together? They should've stayed broken up.

The whole thing was just too stupid, so I laughed again. I couldn't stop it, it just bubbled out.

"What is it with you and Stacy anyway?" he asked, his brow furrowed. "Why doesn't she like you?"

I was still laughing. Could he really not see it? Oh, poor Hiccup, so smart and yet so dumb. I should enlighten him, finally tell him the truth and stop him from stumbling in the dark.

So I looked at him with a big smile. "Because she knows I'm in love with you." Another laugh escaped me as his face collapsed. As if he hadn't figured it out by now. I'd liked him for so long and not exactly subtly, but he still hadn't known. "She was at my mom's grave when I went in November, telling me to stay away from you. If I came between you, she'd break my bones."

He let his arms drop. "What the—"

He didn't get any further because the bathroom door opened. A guy with freshly touched-up makeup appeared, looked at us in surprise, and quickly hurried down the hallway.

"Then I'd better go before I pee in my tights." I laughed again and turned to Hiccup. "Tights, get it? Because I'm not wearing pants."

He still stood there in shock and silence as I disappeared into the bathroom, ending the conversation. I locked the door, used the toilet, and touched up my lipstick at the sink. My eyeshadow and eyeliner were still perfect, only my hair was a bit messy, but what did you expect after so long on the dance floor. I tried to smooth it out with my fingers. When I was satisfied with my reflection, I left the bathroom. The hallway was empty, Hiccup was gone. Where had he gone? Maybe to Stacy to talk to her. What did I know?

With one hand on the wall, I made my way down the stairs, through the dim light and glowing LED fairy lights, back out to our table. Jack and Elsa were still there, talking, but Hiccup was nowhere to be seen. I set down my bag.

"Where's Hiccup?" I asked.

They shrugged. "We last saw him going off with you," Elsa said, leaning against Jack, who put an arm around her. "Did you lose him somewhere?" She grinned at me.

I grinned back, for whatever reason. "He probably just went to get the strong vodka, since the rest doesn't cut it for his Russian blood." We laughed, and I waved briefly to head back inside. I wanted to dance, my body needed to move, and the song that had just ended was pulling me in.

I didn't know the next one, but the first few seconds sounded promising. You could tell it was building up. I liked that kind of thing. But just before I made it to the dance floor, someone pulled me into a smaller hallway. I turned around and looked straight into the green eyes that had enchanted me for months.

"Hiccup!" I said with a wide smile. "I was just-"

"Can we pick up where we left off?" he interrupted, sounding almost panicked. Had something happened?

"Where did we leave off?" I asked. Did he mean at the bathroom?

"You told me you're in love with me."

Ah, that.

I nodded. "What about it?"

He stared at me, bewildered. "What about it? You can't just drop a bomb like that and act like it's nothing."

"But it is nothing," I said back.

"Of course it's something!" he said, louder than intended, glancing around, but there was no one else in the dark hallway.

I kept looking at him. "No, it's not, because nothing happened and nothing ever will." Before tonight, thinking those words hurt, but now they were just the truth. A fact I had already accepted. I laughed again. "There were so many chances, so many perfect moments, and you missed them all."

"Then why didn't you do anything?" he shot back, accusatory.

I shrugged. "Because you kept clinging to your psycho ex and still do. That's why you went to her and slept with her instead of with me. And yes, I would've done it with you that night. You just can't let her go, and I've made peace with that. So, here we are."

Where was this courage coming from to tell him all that? But it felt good, it felt right. Finally being honest and saying everything out loud. I'll probably lose him, but this weight was too much. The daily torture of seeing them together and pretending it didn't hurt. I couldn't keep lying to myself and I finally saw that.

He shook his head. "I'm not clinging to her."

I suppressed a sigh. "Yes, you do. Otherwise, you wouldn't still be a couple."

"I've barely seen her these past weeks."

"So?" I said when he didn't continue. "You're still together. You want her, Hiccup, and that's okay. I can live with that."

He looked at me sheepishly. "I don't want her. That Saturday night, I really didn't mean to sleep with her. I just wanted to hear whatever crap she had to say and leave, but then I saw you." He paused, letting his words sink in. He had seen me? Did he mean instead of Stacy? "I know it's totally wrong, but I was drunk and didn't want to bother you in the middle of the night, especially not with that."

My brain couldn't keep up. What was he trying to say? "Bother me with what?"

He didn't take his eyes off me. "That I want you. That's why I didn't see her, I saw you. A really messed-up trick my drunk brain played on me, but I thought if I couldn't have you for real, then at least like that. Absolutely insane, I know, and I hate myself for it. I shouldn't have done it."

That I want you.

I saw you.

I shouldn't have done it.

That I want you.

The rest didn't register in my alcohol-soaked brain. It only heard what it wanted, and that were these facts. Who cared that he imagined me, which was of course crazy, but he had been just as drunk as I was now. Who cared that he kept the illusion of their relationship going because he didn't know what else to do. She meant nothing to him. He didn't want her. He had actually broken free of her in the time I had fallen for him.

My mind was spinning, so I did something impulsive.

I took his face in my hands and kissed him.

He didn't hesitate for a second, pushed me gently against the wall behind me, and moved his mouth in sync with mine, as if we'd done this a hundred times before. My tongue brushed along his lower lip, shortly after, his met mine. His hands traveled along my hips, the right one already beneath my skirt and on my thigh. Mine got tangled in his hair, which was so much softer than I had imagined.

After months of silent longing, I was finally able to feel everything I had fantasized about. It was amazing, fantastic, a firework inside my body. I felt heat wherever he touched me, everything tingled, and I loved it. I couldn't even stop the soft moans that slipped out of me now and then. No one had touched me in over a year, let alone kissed me like this. God, he could kiss ...

I drowned in him, in this moment, in a dark hallway at a high school party. In his hands on my body, his lips on mine, his tongue against mine. It was everything I wanted, now, tomorrow, and next week.

And it was wrong.

Because he wasn't single.

Right now, he was cheating on his girlfriend.

With me.

The worst part was, I didn't feel bad about it.

I pulled my head back slightly and looked at him through half-lidded eyes. His lips were swollen, cheeks flushed, his eyes darker than usual. He hadn't lied, he wanted me, completely. But he couldn't. It was wrong.

We stood there breathing heavily while our eyes were locked. Locked in each other's arms, his hands on my hip and thigh, mine on his back and cheek. He wasn't thinking of her, he had forgotten her, just like I had once forgotten Brandon. Still, he had to prove it to me.

"Stacy," I whispered, knowing full well I was about to destroy this moment.

His gaze seemed to brighten, as if his memory had suddenly returned. Slowly, he let my leg down, took his hands off me, and I removed mine from him. And so we stood there, facing each other, out of breath, flushed and stunned by what had just happened.

He seemed to realize what he had done. His face mirrored all the emotions, letting the thought sink in that he had just cheated. Anger, fear, confusion. How did it come to this? The question was practically written on his face. He'd need time, and I would give it to him.

I pushed myself off the wall. Since no words came to mind to express what was going on in my head, I looked at him a second longer than necessary, and left him alone with his emotional mess.

Out on the terrace, Jack and Elsa were standing arm in arm. When they saw me coming, their expressions shifted to concern. Probably because my clothes weren't sitting right anymore and my lipstick was smeared to no end, I'd be worried too.

I picked up my bag and looked at Jack. "Could you please drive me home?"

He nodded. "Yes, of course."

"I'll come too," Elsa said.

They gathered their things. I followed them through the house, still dazed from what had happened. It was like one of my dreams had become too real. Slowly, my clear thoughts returned, and with them the guilt. How could I have done that? I had promised Stacy something like this would never happen, that I wouldn't try to steal him from her. Goddammit, what the hell had I done in my drunken state?

At the coat rack, we grabbed our jackets and put them on. I glanced into the open living area and found Hiccup. He was standing with Stacy by the fireplace, and I immediately felt a stab in my chest because it didn't look like he was confessing to her. She laughed and touched his arm, and he smiled at her. I felt like throwing up right there on the carpet.

My heart sank. Had it all been a lie? Had he played me tonight? And Thanksgiving, had that just been a dark omen? I didn't understand it, drunk or sober. How could he not tell her? He was supposed to be so open and honest, and not even fifteen minutes ago he had told me that she didn't matter to him, that he didn't want her. What kind of cruel game was he playing? What kind of movie had I found myself in?

"Astrid, come on," said Elsa, who had seen Hiccup and Stacy just like I had, and pulled me toward the front door. Before I turned away, Hiccup looked up and straight into my eyes.

I hoped he saw all the pain reflected there that I was feeling and that it made him feel even worse. Tonight, he deserved it.

———

This was the moment I loved to write the most! They finally kissed! Or basically made out hehe 🌚
About the song: I listened to it a lot while writing this story and at some point, I imagined them kissing at a party when the "drop" comes at 2:10, so I wrote it ☺️
But, nonetheless, there are problems as Stacy is still there and Hiccup needs to realize some things 👀
What do you think about this chapter? Did you like it? ❤️