"For the love of Thor Hiccup!" Merida suddenly burst out. "Isn't it obvious? I've been thinking about you the whole day! I can't get you off my mind! And it scares me! How can one person have such a huge affect on me? Why can't I just be normal? I can't ever say what's on my mind and even if I did I'd ruin everything -"

I didn't let Merida finish. I pulled her towards me, initially planning to kiss her but she had ridiculously quick reflexes. She pushed me away before my lips could make contact.

"We can't do this Hiccup."

"Why not?" I leaned in again but she turned her head away.

"Let me rephrase that. I can't do this." She turned away from me, refusing eye contact.

"Please Merida," I pleaded, "what's wrong? What are you so afraid of?"

"Love!" Merida finally shouted. "Are you happy now Hiccup? I'm afraid of love! I've seen people who've had hearts broken! I don't want to end up like them, I can't take that chance! This is why I'm never going to get married!" She let out a long, deep sigh and twiddled her thumbs. "It's stupid, I know. It doesn't make sense. But - I just don't think I can do it. I can't trust anyone enough. I'm sorry."

"I understand," I replied slowly and sadly. "I shouldn't have done anything. I'll go now."

"Hiccup, it's not like that -"

I turned away and began walking back to the bike. I buckled my helmet and didn't look back as I rode away, but I could feel her eyes burning into my back.

I didn't do any homework that evening. I couldn't focus. Not with Merida on my mind. It was just too much. I thought I'd nailed it; evidently not. She was so damn confusing! One minute she said she loved me, the next she denied me! I went to bed early, but sleep didn't arrive until past midnight. My head was buzzing too much to sleep properly anyway.

When I woke up I realised that I didn't need to get up early. It was a Saturday. No chance of seeing Merida today then. I lay in bed for what seemed like hours but finally my restless head forced me up. I dressed and went downstairs to pour myself some cereal. In my dazed state there was more Cocoa Pops on the floor than in the bowl. My father entered the kitchen not long after.

"Morning Son!" he said cheerily, looking up from his morning newspaper. "How's Merida?"

"Not good," I replied. "She's going all funny. She said she liked me but now she's saying she's 'afraid of love' or something."

My father sighed and set down his mug of tea. "Son," he began, "I don't think I need to tell you that women are confusing creatures." I nodded very firmly. "But I can tell you that women are very focused on trust. When I - when I met your mother - she didn't trust me to begin with. But after a while, after a lot of persuasion and telling her the truth, I convinced her I wasn't going to hurt her. She trusted me. Everything is built on trust. It takes time, and patience. D'you understand me Hiccup?"

I nodded slowly. I was slightly stunned to be honest. This was the first time he'd told me about Mum, and how they met. It was pretty groundbreaking and I just hoped that these tips would work. They had to. I had nothing else to go on.

Later that day when I'd finally got to grips with myself and stopped procrastinating enough to do homework, I cycled down (on my own bike this time) to town and bought a bunch of flowers. Not bright pink ones, a small, assortment of lilies. They were as bright as her hair and reminded me of her. I wrote a little tag:

Merida -

I'll be at the river where we met as kids every day after school at 7:30 this evening. Please be there. I need to talk to you. I'm not pressuring you into anything, I just want to tell you how I feel.

Waiting for you -

Hiccup

I cycled to her house and tentatively knocked on the door. Merida answered and me heart skipped. But she didn't look great. She'd thrown on a pair of old, ripped jeans and a shirt from a few years ago. Her eyes were puffy and red but they still shone bright blue. I saw her catch sight of me; her facial expression turned stony and she was about to slam the door in my face but I held it open with my foot.

"You can reject me all you want now -" I held out the flowers, "just, please, take these."

She took them silently and read the tag. Her expression softened slightly and she looked up at me.

"I'll think about it," she said, finally.

"Thank you," I replied, relieved. Merida looked into my eyes before closing the door gently. I wasn't happy, I wasn't sad, what was I? That weird place in between I guessed. I didn't know what to think. I cycled back home and waited for seven o' clock to come. That was when I'd have to leave.

I dressed smartly. I even put on a bow tie over my checkered shirt. I knew that girls found that sweet when a guy dressed up for them, specially for them. I polished my shoes and put on a pair of dark brown trousers. I topped it off with a smart jacket and as I walked out the door my father wished me luck. I replied that I'd need it.

This time I didn't cycle there, I walked. It was a cloudy night, but the wind was clearing it up and the moon was becoming more visible. I found the river. I found the bench Merida and I came every day after primary school. I sat down and waited for her. And waited. And waited. Seven thirty came and went. Seven forty-five. Eight o' clock. Still no sign of her at eight fifteen. Eight thirty now. At eight forty-five I decided I'd give it another fifteen minutes. Nine o' clock. Nothing.

I stood up and cried out to the night. I picked up a stone and hurled it into the calm water of the river, sending ripples everywhere. I chucked another stone and found that it helped soothe my mind. I threw a third and hung over the bridge railings in despair. I'd waited an hour and a half for her. Why wasn't she here? I stared at the murky depths and let a tear slide down my face. After a minute I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I snapped round. Merida was standing there in a newer pair of jeans and her favourite hoodie. She gave me a small smile which I did not return.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered. My voice felt too weak for me to talk properly.

"I - I wanted to see you," she said nervously. The moon was fully out now and it was illuminating her face. Her red curls were brushed to the side and part of me wanted to kiss her and the other part was telling me to argue with her.

"You wanted to see me - an hour and a half after I ask you to turn up?" I asked her. "I waited for you! For ages! I kept thinking, I'll go home, she's not coming, why would she do that? but no! I waited for you, and I was ready to leave. I really was. I was so fed up with it!"

"Why did you wait?" she asked quietly. At that I snapped.

"Because - because I really like you and I missed you! Okay? I missed you! I needed to talk to you! I needed to tell you how I felt because I knew you weren't going to listen to me otherwise! Damn it Merida, I -"

Merida had cut me off. By wrapping her arms around me. Hugging me quickly and awkwardly. It was weird being so close to her. We've never so much as held hands. Not like that anyway. Not after yesterday. And today seemed to have blown everything else out of the water. For a second or two my brain didn't register what was going on and I just stood there, dumbfounded. She drew away, not meeting my gaze and staring into the river, blushing hard.

"Why, did, why did you -" I stuttered. I couldn't speak. "I don't understand..."

"Neither do I," Merida replied. Her face was fully red now.

"Merida," I tried to meet her gaze, "you have to listen to me. This is why I asked you here in the first place."

She didn't look at me, not directly. She stared at my shoes. I took that as a sign to continue.

"Come on. Sit down."

I guided her to the bench. We sat down with a foot between us and we watched the moonlight sparkling on the water. All was silent until Merida spoke up.

"Are you going to tell me what you were going to say or what?"