It had taken me quite a while to finally fall asleep, only because of physical exhaustion. I'd been way too excited, my heart wouldn't calm down. The whole evening felt like a fever dream, something straight out of a romance movie. The disappointment, the sadness, the heartbreak, it all fit perfectly. Even the confession and the kiss in the falling snow. If I had the talent, I'd write a novel about it.

My grandma hadn't stopped grinning at me, which of course didn't go unnoticed by the others at the table. They were just polite enough not to ask. I hadn't really felt like explaining the whole story to them either. It was enough that my dad gave me a crooked grin after exchanging a knowing look with his mother. At least grandma had waited until we got to her hotel before bombarding me with questions, hugs, and a "Told you so!" that only made me roll my eyes. Before I left, I got a big smooch on the cheek and a baking date set for today.

Now I was lying in bed, five minutes before my alarm would go off, not knowing how I should act today. How would we greet each other? A hug, a kiss, or just a smile like before? How should we behave in front of Jack and Elsa? Had he told them last night? I hadn't gotten around to it, everything had been a bit much and I'd needed to sort out my own thoughts first. I still hadn't completely figured everything out, but at least one thing I didn't have to wonder about anymore was whether Hiccup would go back to Stacy. The look in his eyes and the tone of his voice were proof enough, he had finally, truly understood. He was completely mine.

A grin crept onto my face as I turned off my alarm, which had just started ringing. A glance at my phone made my heart skip a beat. There was a message from Hiccup.

6:50am
Good morning ❤️

My cheeks were already sore, they weren't used to this kind of smiling. I felt warm all over at the thought of being the first thing on his mind after waking up.

7:01am
Good morning ❤️

Before he came online and responded, a bunch of questions about our status popped into my head, so I sent them all to him. I figured we should be on the same page. One of them was whether we were officially together now or if last night was just the start of a string of dates that might eventually turn into a relationship. His reply, which I got while brushing my teeth, almost made me spit into the mirror.

7:10am
Astrid, honey, your grandma
caught us making out
in front of the restaurant,
I'd say that makes it
more official than official,
her whole group of friends
probably already knows

He only knew her through what I'd told him, but he hit the nail on the head. She couldn't keep something like that to herself. Even with Brandon back then, she hadn't taken long to spread the word. The story about what an asshole he'd been, had spread even faster this year. Suddenly I had had a small army of elderly ladies on my side, ready to give him a piece of their mind, but it never got to that.

After I'd spit out the toothpaste, another message came through.

7:11am
Not that it's just about
your grandma, it was
my goal anyway 😙

My heart fluttered all over again. How could someone mess with your head this much? I sent the same emoji back and went to my room to get dressed. He didn't respond after that, probably because he was busy getting ready for school too.

After I pulled on my cozy turtleneck sweater, I grabbed my backpack and went downstairs to the kitchen to pack the lunchbox my dad had prepared for me before leaving for his early shift. He made the best lunches, always including some fruit or veggies, a sweet treat, and a sandwich. Eating that was the only thing I looked forward to in school. That and seeing my friends.

A glance at the clock told me I needed to hurry if I wanted to catch the school bus at 7:30. So I quickly slipped into my winter boots, wrapped my scarf around my neck, threw on my coat, and trudged out into the snow. When I reached the bus stop, I could already see the familiar yellow bus turning the corner.

❁

Jack, Elsa, and Hiccup had arrived before me today, but only because we'd gotten stuck behind two arguing drivers. As I walked, I put my earbuds back in their case and tried to suppress the grin forming on my face. My stomach was already fluttering. Hiccup and I locked eyes, and immediately all the feelings from last night rushed back. What it had felt like to really kiss him, not as chaotic as it had been at Mitchell's party, and how his hand had felt against my cheek. God, was this how my entire day was going to be? Then I could say goodbye to any kind of focus.

"Running late today, huh?" Elsa said as I joined the three of them. Her grin told me she already knew. She had probably spammed Hiccup last night, dying to find out what had happened.

"Go complain to the two drivers who held us up, like we did," I replied.

She laughed and led the group into the building. Hiccup gave me that special smile along the way, and I tried to return it. Earlier, we'd agreed to keep some distance at school, just so Stacy wouldn't cause a scene. After all, she'd had a pretty rough breakup yesterday and found out at the same time that her boyfriend had kissed someone else. I'd be pretty pissed too, to be fair. So we didn't want to provoke her further and decided to keep up the appearance of just being friends for now. She probably wouldn't buy it, but as long as she kept her mouth shut, I didn't care.

We followed Elsa and Jack into the chemistry room, where our teacher was already seated at his desk. The stack of tests lay beside him. I hoped that whatever had stuck in my brain from last night's study session would be enough to get me a halfway decent grade. That was the best I could aim for today.

Hiccup and I sat down in our seats. That's when I remembered the baking plans with my grandma, so I turned to him. "By the way, my grandma wants to bake cookies with us later. She figured since today's technically our tutoring day, you'd be free, so you're part of the plan."

He smiled at me. "That'll be fun after everything that happened yesterday."

"Oh yeah," I said with a grin. "She won't leave you alone."

"Well then," said Mr. Wright, grabbing the stack of papers and drawing our attention. "Mary, would you be so kind as to close the door? We're starting the test now."

❁

My dad was sitting in his car in the school parking lot. He'd come on my grandma's orders to pick us up so we could get started as soon as possible. Besides, she wanted to make the most of every second with us, which was her way of saying she planned to bombard Hiccup with questions. I had already warned him about that.

My dad glanced briefly into the rearview mirror as we both got into the back seat and started the engine. "Well, you two. How was the test? With your chemistry, you must've nailed it."

It took me a second longer to get the joke, because Hiccup was already laughing by the time it clicked. "God, Dad, that was really bad." He laughed too.

At home, the kitchen already looked like a war zone since my grandma had laid out everything we would need, taking up every bit of free counter space. She had even moved the microwave out of the way. My dad just raised an eyebrow, wished us luck, and disappeared into the living room where my grandpa was waiting for him.

My grandma beamed when we stepped into the kitchen. "The famous tutor, I finally get to meet him in person."

"Grandma," I said in warning. Hiccup didn't seem to mind, he immediately let her pull him into a hug.

"Astrid can be a little uptight sometimes, right, sweetheart?" she said, and I just rolled my eyes. "I love teasing her. She always makes such a cute little pout. That's why she's my sweetheart." Hiccup didn't even try to hide his amused grin.

My grandma opened the parchment paper package. "Alright, let's get baking!"

She ordered me to line the three trays she had prepared with parchment paper while she started mixing the dough for the cookies with Hiccup. It was all part of her plan to interrogate him about every detail of his life. After five minutes, she already knew his age, that he wasn't athletic, that he was the top student in our grade, and that he had Russian roots.

"Emigrated from Russia, how interesting," she said, handing him the mixer. "Was there a specific reason for that?"

He shrugged. "All I know is that my grandparents planned it, but I never asked why."

"Do your grandparents live here as well?" I had to admit, I was kind of glad she was asking him all these things, I was curious too.

"Only one pair." He set the mixer to the lowest setting. "My maternal grandparents passed away three years ago. My grandfather had a lung disease from his time working in the mines, and my grandmother was ... well, she was pretty frail. Her body just gave out, that's how the doctor explained it to me."

I didn't miss the slight pause, and I furrowed my brows thoughtfully. Was he hiding something? But I told myself not to overthink it, he was talking about the death of his grandparents, after all. Maybe he just didn't want to go into grim details.

"Oh, that doesn't sound pleasant," my grandma said, placing a hand on his arm. "At least they found peace." She gave him a soft smile before turning her attention to me. "How's the dough for the spritz cookies coming along?"

I nodded toward Hiccup. "I'm missing a mixer."

❁

Afterward, we had baked a total of eight trays: four with spritz cookies and four with vanilla cookies that we decorated. We had Christmas trees, snowmen, stars, shooting stars, and angels, some turned out better than others, but they all looked delicious. I had laughed so much that my stomach hurt. I also found out that Hiccup's family takes at least one shot of vodka together at every celebration. Now I understood what had happened at Mitchell's party and why he didn't get drunk so easily. Even if it was a stereotype, I found it pretty amusing, especially because he found it kind of annoying but still took part every time since it was tradition.

Thanks to my grandma, my dad, and grandpa, who joined us after their CSI episode ended, Hiccup had pretty much heard my entire life story. My dad even dug out old photo albums. So now he knew what my baby butt looked like. And that I nearly drowned in the pool at four years old because I wanted to see how long I could hold my breath underwater. And how, a year later, I rode my bike straight into a lamppost because I was too scared to steer. There was even an after photo, showing me with a red bump on my forehead and scraped-up legs, sitting on our patio couch licking a popsicle. That had been the compensation for my injuries.

The whole time, I kept thinking they were overdoing it and totally overwhelming him, but Hiccup laughed when something was funny, looked at the pictures with interest, and even asked questions. By the end of the evening, he didn't break things off or look at me with disgust or embarrassment. Honestly, if he had already survived the other half of my family, this was a walk in the park.

We were granted a few minutes alone in the kitchen, during which Hiccup got to choose some cookies to take home. He was given the same container he'd received at Thanksgiving. Funnily enough, both my grandmas had chosen that one. Some coincidences are just funny.

"So," I said slowly, drawing his attention to me. "That was kind of a lot, and now I'm scared you'll run off screaming."

He laughed and picked one of the Christmas tree cookies I had decorated with Smarties. "I won't, don't worry. My family is just as loud and chatty. Once my mom gets going, there's no stopping her." He paused mid-motion, his smile fading. All of a sudden, he looked like he was about to cry.

"Everything okay?" I asked carefully.

He shook his head slightly and smiled at me again, but this time, it didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. It just reminded me where she got it from, and, well, my grandmother passed away."

For some reason, I didn't quite believe that this was the whole truth. His evasive look and the hoarseness in his voice felt off, but I wasn't going to push it. If he didn't want to tell me everything, I would respect that. I knew from experience that family matters aren't always easy to talk about. Maybe he'd open up to me over time.

"Here," I said, holding out one of the shooting star cookies my grandma had decorated. "It's not the same, but it's from a grandma who loves you. Because she does, ever since I first told her about you."

He smiled as he took it. "Thanks."

My family returned to the hallway to say goodbye to him. My grandma was the last one and pulled him into a hug, which required him to bend down quite a bit since she was about a head and a half shorter than him.

She grinned up at him afterward. "Don't screw things up with my sweetheart, I'd really like to keep you in the family."

He smiled back. "I'll try."

I followed him outside and immediately wrapped my arms around myself as the cold air hit me. "Are you sure you want to take the bus?"

He nodded. "I don't want your dad to go out of his way. I know the way home."

"You've told me that before," I blurted out without really thinking. I could've kicked myself.

He only raised his eyebrows in surprise and grinned at me again. Then he leaned down and gently pressed his lips to mine. "If I don't, I'll just come back to you," he whispered against my lips, making my heart race. He kissed my cheek and said goodbye.

He absolutely drove me crazy, but I couldn't help wondering if I really knew him as well as I thought I did.