Home Ice.

Chapter Five.

Avery

Stop crying, Avery. Suck those tears back in. Stop it. Stop it.

Oh, who am I kidding. I can't stop. Grace and Casey are getting married. They're here, standing in front of everyone, listening to the officiant before they say their vows. There's no way I'm not gonna blubber. How couldn't I?

Kennedy's being so good. She's standing in front of me, holding my hand as she looks curiously around the room. She tugged at my hand before and asked if she could go to Casey, and when I told her she had to wait a little longer she just nodded and leaned her back against my legs. She's been patiently waiting ever since.

Casey is looking at Grace with a crushing amount of love and adulation. I have never seen that man so enamored since I met him. When the officiant is talking, Casey's eyes just take in every single ounce of that woman. From the top of her head down to the bottom of her dress. The pictures from today are going to be incredible, that's for sure.

I can't help but keep looking at Finn, though. He just looks so good in his suit. It's fitted to him perfectly and way his curly hair is pushed back and styled perfectly makes me want to both cuddle him and jump on him at the same time. I absolutely love the length of his hair right now - how it's long enough to hit the nape of his neck but not long enough for a full bun. The length makes it part down the middle naturally and the curls fall over the tops of his ears. He just looks more grown and mature and just breath taking with the older he gets.

His eyes have barely left me the whole time too and he somehow is looking at me like we're the ones getting married. I'm actually nervous to know to find out how he's going to look at me that day if he's looking at me like this now.

He's fidgeting a little bit too and we've been sort of silently communicating this whole time. I can tell he just wants to put his hands on me and that's the best feeling in the world. Physical touch is so important to him and by the way he's looking at me, I know it's physically hurting him that we're so far apart right now. I have a feeling he's going to be inadvertently yet very handsy for the rest of the night.

I'm a little bit distracted by how Finn's eyes are roaming my body when Grace starts talking, which makes me snap back to reality and realize that they're saying their vows now.

Neither of them have them written down because they agreed to not make them super long. Grace is a lot shyer in the public eye than Casey is so for her sake, they're gonna try and keep it simple.

We'll see how that goes.

She lets out a nervous huff before she starts, Casey holding her hands as he gives her an encouraging smile. "I've been trying to figure out what to say because honestly Casey, I don't know if it's possible to describe how much you have changed my life. I don't think it is, but I'm going to do my best."

The corner of his mouth tugs up into a small smile as she continues, and I look down at Kennedy briefly to make sure she's okay. She's leaning against my legs still, lost in her own imagination as she looks around. I smile down at her and run my fingers through the hair on top of her head as Grace continues.

"I moved to Seattle with the intention of experiencing a new place and getting a degree, nothing more and nothing less. I went to school, I went to work, I went home. That was my life and I was content with it, but I hadn't known anything different. Not until you," she says, sniffling a little bit as she looks at him. "From the moment we met, I knew that you were going to either be the light of my life or absolutely destroy it."

That gets a laugh out of everyone, including Casey. He looks down at the ground and my word, Casey Kalinski is blushing right now. "You were so charismatic when you walked into Harmons. So loud," she teases, which makes him shake his head and the smile on my face grows. "Every time you walked into that coffee shop, I'd notice something new about you. How you'd smile at every person in there, how you'd always make sure you had enough cash to leave a tip. How you would make jokes just to watch people laugh. It almost felt too good to be true when you spoke to me."